best way to begin a new year

i loooove this movie.

and i love new years.

what a hell of a year it's been for me!

i need this new year as a time to act.

act upon my desires. act upon my now.

every day i choose to act.

ROAAAARR

so aaron has a dinosaur scarf that he wears everywhere.

his mom made it.

it's awesome.

see? i told you?

everywhere.

those photos are at least a year apart.

you'll notice, also, that my head is exceptionally bare in the second photo, the immediate above.

but

NOT ANY LONGER.

because i now have a matching dinosaur hat.

his mom made it. <3

which, of course, leads me to making matching dinosaur noises.

which, obviously, go very well with the matching monster (or perhaps, dinosaur?) feet.

just doing my daily rounds

and found this very cool mountain ring.

i pretty much love it, as is the purpose of this blog.

ya know.

yeah, ya do.

:)

sweat once a day!

i very soon will live down the street from lululemon.

this is their manifesto.

and a pretty darn good way to begin a new year.

i mean,

it's alright

it's lululemon

but it's definitely not bad.

i'm picking and choosing, especially since i'm tired of the "do one thing a day that scares you, thought."

it's good.

it's just used up.

and, also, sometimes, i just want to curl up and eat peppermint.

that's not scary, and that's the point.

but.

this is good.

embrace some good, this year.

the lululemon manifesto

• Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp.
• A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.
• Do one thing a day that scares you.
• Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.
• Write down your short and long-term GOALS four times a year. Two personal, two business and two health goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. Goal setting triggers your subconscious computer.
• Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.
• Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.
• That which matters the most should never give way to that which matters the least.
• Stress is related to 99% of all illness.
• Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.
• The world is changing at such a rapid rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you 2 steps behind. DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW!
• Friends are more important than money.
• Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life.
• Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.
• Don't trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.
• Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.
• The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.
• Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water, Vancouver will do nicely.
• Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefits to your body and brain.
• Practice yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.
• Dance, sing, floss and travel.
• Children are the orgasm of life. Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them.
• Successful people replace the words 'wish', 'should' and 'try', with 'I will'.
• Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment.
• Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top, and will give you a lousy life.
• lululemon athletica creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress-free, we believe the world will become a much better place.
• Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.
• SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.
• Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur.
• What we do to the earth we do to ourselves.
• The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness.

ye olde front porch steps

We take family portraits every year on Christmas.

and i love it.

we all pile onto our porch steps

and start goofing around.

last year, i wore a cat hat

and someone is always making faces or grabbing private parts or sticking feet in someone else's face.

and then mom does a great job of taking "couple photos."

duane and his wife.

jared and cara.

and this year, me and aaron.

of course the sibs in the background always have a lovely time with Couple Photos.

as documented here, obvs, when chester and stephanie stole a little face-time in the back of my adorable pic with aaron.

HEY

i'm back.

lots of posts about texas coming your way SOON.

it's aaallllmmmmoooossssttt my favorite holiday!

sophia loren

apt. soon!

peter gilroy

merry merry!

Happy December 24th!

tango bots

tango bots

so here's a good story.

once upon a time, i was hanging out with a boy named aaron clements and it was kind of fun.

we talked about everything.
i mean, EVERYTHING.
i just did not have time to not be open and honest and curious all the time
so i asked aaron all kinds of questions
and he always answered me right back.

so we took walks and hung out and sat in bars and guessed things about people there.

we started laughing together,
and we started relaxing, together.
i began sharing.

one night we were going to hang out
but i had to walk a dog
so aaron asked to come along and i went to pick him up at his house.

i had never been there before!
and he had just redone his kitchen.

he opened the door, i turned the corner,
and
BAM!
i was in a beautiful kitchen.

the floor was gorgeous.
all oak colored and pretty.

and
BAM!
i couldn't resist,
i laid down on it.

it was luxurious.

aaron stood at the door and we chatted for awhile.
after about thirty seconds, i begged him to lay down on it too, it was just too amazing not to share.

and he did.

he laid down on one part.

and i stay down on another.

pretty far away from each other.

and we chatted.
some more.
just chatted.

and i don't know what did it
but i rolled over to him.
rolled over, curled up
a secure, small cuddling

he petted my hair
and we held awhile

then he suggested we go,
and we did.

months later,
as we dance and read and cook and prank and snort with laughter
in that kitchen
i'm so happy we've ended up here

i found this print a couple of weeks ago
and it made me so happy!
aaron and i have a thing with dancing
and then, again, when he replaced all our body parts with metal.

ooooooh pretty

 

gosh! this is funny!

i saw this wrapping paper two weeks ago and didn't post it.

now the wrapping holidays are almost gone!

ah well, you could always use it for a birthday, or something, find SOME REASON to have excellent wrapping paper.

so it's a hamburger.

that's funny. :)

fancypants lunch

i used to think that i loved breakfast.

i used to think that i adored it.

and i did.

i mean, it's good, right, it's delicious.

there's nothing wrong with breakfast.

but then two things happened to me.

the first -

i went to Taste of Belgium.

for lunch.

for heavenly, deliciously lunch.

incredible.

in the midst of my day, i find myself

in a beautiful, contemporary restaurant

poised

posh

perfect

and so quietly shocked that i'm having such a nice time!

and then

the second -

jean robert's Table.

have you been?

i can't believe i have.

i had a business lunch there one day.

and by "business lunch," i mean,

i met a friend and asked questions about jobs and it was during the business day.

BUT SERIOUSLY.

srsly the nicest restaurant i have ever been to in my life.

AND I LOVE ME SOME NICE RESTAURANTS.

and then it hit me.

sure, breakfast is great and wholesome and healthy and wonderful.

and dinner, too, is super special and nothing compares to Special Dinners on Special Nights.

but, lunch?

Lunch takes the cake, my friends.

If you've got yourself a fancy-schmancy lunch, you've got yourself the best day of your life.

anything can happen on a Fancy-Lunch day.

seeing red

i love them all.

i always want beautiful red dresses.

modcloth does it right, often, with red.

(othertimes, not so much. but red is good!)

broke-girl $olution$

i bought blank white cards eons ago from michael's.

i love cardstock.

and having paper on hand is freaking refreshing.

came in handy when i started doodling christmas cards for my bosses.

if you're broke!

draw a picture on thick paper!

and write something nice inside.

it'll go far, believe you me.

How to Have a Great Trip To Texas

How to Have a Great Drive to Texas

Lessons Learned from an Experienced Traveler

1. Clean your car.
Vaccuum it, most importantly.

Nothing says "fourteen hours of comfort" like dropping ketchup or coffee onto a clean palate.

2. Pack the trunk the days leading up to Launch-time.
Makes those hurried, pressed, last minutes so, so much more breathable.

3. Day-of? Give yourself a special, relaxing breakfast.

Taking this time for yourself
will set you up for whatever may come.

4. Most importantly: wear those freaking comfortable underwear.
You know what I mean.
Nobody is happy with wedgies and raw buttocks for fourteen hours.
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

listen up, world

listen up, world

there is one thing, and one thing only, that makes me KNOW it's christmas time.

you know those things that just resonate so thoroughly through your body that all you can do is sit and feel them? the things that come along and YOU JUST KNOW they're right? THOSE things?

bam.

little.

debbie.

christmas.

tree.

cakes.

that's my holiday Know.

i don't know why!

we ate them as children, and i loved them!

i used to pull all five of them out of the box to see which one had the most sprinkles on it before eating one.

and in our household, snack time was 3:30-4:00, no eating after 4:00 pm, till dinnertime.

so if you missed your window of little debbie opportunity, boy oh boy, were you SOL.

not only that, but the little trees came around once a year!

they were so cute!

so heavenly!

so decadent!

(to a small child.)

pretty much my modern-day equivalent of going to a cupcake bakery.

but that's it, my friends.

no, it's not the christmas poinsettia plates, the stockings down the stairs, the christmas village.

it's the little debbie christmas tree cakes

and i JUST KNOW THEY'RE GOOD.

hee heehee

found this old picture of the 2010 j. crew collection...

...was tickled to see how closely it resembled the costumes from the play les miserables. :D

whine whine whine it's so beautiful

...and no longer even available online.

someone please buy this dress at your closest anthropologie

 in an anthro size 6 and

immediately

sell it to me.

i'll pay you in whatever your heart desires.

all i want to do is belt this with a brigh teal sash and drink mojitos in the sunshine.

and i don't even really like mojitos!

such is the power of such beauty.

i flipped my lid when i found it on the sale rack at anthro.

i again flipped my lid when i saw it was forty dollars.

and THEN lost it, again,

when, like usual,

everything i love goes on sale when i have no money.

HOLIDAYS! CURSE YOU HOLIDAYS!

but only for two seconds because actually i love you so, so much. besties! 



etc breaks my heart wide open

i may have had one of the most beautiful Christmas experiences of my life last night.

on a whim,

and by "on a whim," i mean,

as soon as i saw an instant of this Event happening,

meaning, "as soon as it became publicized on facebook,"

i found myself downtown at Ensemble Theatre for their "Expectations of Christmas."

Honestly, I had no idea what it was going to be.

All I knew was that ETC is a theatre

My life rocks in theatres

i <3 ETC

and i needed to be there.

so i did.

i re-arranged my schedule.

I scrimped ten bucks off my budget (srsly, gulp)

and i got my butt down there.

i looked hella cute.

off-white vintage lace column dress

 four inch seychelles wedges

spirited smile, pretty eyes

NOW

I've been spending a lot of time around Ensemble Theatre lately

Aaron works there, so I show up occassionally with him,

(he took me there on our first date, which, of course, was adorable and awesome and ohmygod,)

and i've been volunteering there, too,

with the Children's Education,

 the Fairy godmother program.

So I've been spending a lot of time around Ensemble Theatre lately.

Time.

Amazing thing, isn't it?

Invest it wisely, invest it well.

And let me tell you, ETC has given my time back to me, ten-fold.

The show was simple.

a fundraiser, for Tender Mercies,

A bunch of cookies, water, coffee,

and then a whole slew of performers and artists onstage.

They don't do much, when you look at it

they sing

the read

they tell stories

they share

but OHMYGOD isn't that enough?

i sat in my seat

blessed

happy

content

and peaceful

i cried thinking of my family

i cried thinking of my love

i cried because i was so happy.

being able to sit and love and share

is an amazing gift.

etc broke my heart wide open

in just the perfect way i continuously look for

<3

this is a christmas

 where everything that is right

is happening.

i am working hard.

and it is right.

i am working well.

and it is right.

and again,

again,

i embrace my happiness, my dreams, my life

and i share it.

my time is and will always be well spent

with love.

Merry Christmas to you all.

It's early, I get it, but it's appropriate. :)

Give freely, give openly, give expressly, and

notice

when you are loving the life you live.

christmas cookies

 i mean, today, and every day of my life,

i

love

christmas

cookies.

is there anything better?

no wisecracks, aaron clements,

and NO, there is not a single thing better than christmas cookies.

the perfect christmas cookie recipe has to be complicated enough to be an Event.

it has to be Special.

but

in my family

it also has to be kind of easy

i mean, you'd think we were baking and cookie specialists

but man, oh man, are we not.

except, surprisingly,

for Duane! yay duane!

who baked his face off when he lived at home before landing a job and a wife.

Duane's cookies are always TO DIE FOR

and I DON'T EVER UNDERSTAND WHY.

he makes the kind of cookies that you eat, like,

SEVEN OF THEM

before telling yourself you need to stop

and then, by that point,

you just CAN'T.

you have a HUNGER Duane's cookies

and that hunger is never satisfied.

i remember begging him for months to send me cookies up in cincinnati.

i remain a beggar.

ANyway, I am in love with Christmas Cookies!

There is NOTHING BETTER

and few better ways to spend the holidays at home.

Chester makes an excellent baking partner and conversationalist,

and I dream of whipping up batches of yum with him, soon. :)