christmas drinks

i've recently 

and by "recently"

i mean, "always--but sometimes moreso than others"

again

hit my poor woman stage.

it's the part of life where i accomplish something big

and it takes a little bit of cash to do so.

on that note--i've never really mentioned the fact that i feel like i'm just now learning how to save money.

THANK GOD.

at least i only went through about 20% of my life not saving money.

now i can set myself up for success for the rest of it!

(or as much as possible.)

ANYWAY.

i one day had no money

so i bought a glass of bistro red from a local bistro.

IT WAS AMAZING.

a blend, a good slightly tannic blend

that covers the palate and just tastes good and darn easy tasty.

easy to drink.

amanda,

philip's sister,

bought a box of it for christmas.

we drank it.

A LOT of it.

yum yum!

perfect for the holidays.

celebratory

inexpensive

substantial.

an easy way to be boozy without being a slob. :)

this belgian framboise sure does hit the spot in terms of special drinks.

unlike mixed drinks, it offers an uncomplicated but full flavor.

syrup-y, smooth, raspberry,

hits the tongue full force and leaves you wanting more.

i practically drank a complete 750 mL bottle during a three hour game of tripoly, 

handing off two glasses to philip's dad and sister.

YUM YUM.

blessings

hey.

know those moments where you reflect?

know those times where you pause, and gasp, and pull all the air you have into your throat and sigh out with bright eyes and a happy heart all the good you have inside of you?

know those times where you choose to throw yourself forward into the unknown, trusting that whatever you have ahead will certainly be more exciting and more fun than anything you've had behind?

know those times when you laugh all night, laugh all morning, laugh all evening and all throughout the day?

know those times you finally relax and breathe and re-focus when you see someone you love, THAT someone you love?

know those times?

i have those.

my blessings.

i am so blessed for Philip. so blessed to have him in my life.

i love him, and i'm keeping all the promises to myself i ever and always decided to make.

leaping.

terrified?

hardly, when i really think about it.

EXHILIRATED is more like it.

pushing the limits

pushing my limits

encouraging and coaxing me onward and forward and onward and forward and continuous.

i think about the scary things sometimes.

but i'll figure them out.

philip and i are laying side by side in bed right now.

he's playing words with friends

and just rolled over to kiss me.

he has no idea i'm blogging about him.

we hold hands together in the middle of the bed and i type one-handed till it gets less romantic and more annoying not to use two.

my blessings.

my spirit.

my soul.

my loves.

my courage.

blessings.

moving update

of course the holidays were beautiful.

my first holidays away from home, and i loved them.

however, the holiday post is going to wait.

we're moving!

and there is sooo much to do and keep track of.

thank goodness i'm a detail-oriented kind of gal. there are soo many little things to do and keep track of. this morning i laid in bed and made lists for every day leading up to the Big Move. all the visits, errands, packing days, everything, and fitting it all in around my work schedule. madness and chaos.

but an update is an update.

phil is still selling his car.

i'm still trying to find someone to take over our apartment.

we'll see what happens after we get those two things finished.

i'm looking forward to making a home in new york city!

3 am

"Philip! Philip!"

I said.

I crawled into bed. on the tiny side. there was 3/4 bed on the other side.

"philip, i have an amazing idea!"

berrrrrrughhhh, he said, and I pushed him onto his back and grabbed ahold of his shoulders.

i pulled my face really close to his, kissed him on the cheek, then started jabbering about a script i just had an idea for.

philip grinned in disbelief. it was nigh 3 am.

"sweetheart, i love you, but it's 3 am," he said.

i know! i exclaimed! i know! i know what is happening right now! you're sleeping and i'm excited! and i'm going to keep telling you my plan!

and i did.

and then i was too excited to sleep, so i got up and wrote a script for a 1.5 minute mini movie called, "Grown Ass Woman."

Then I wrote the shooting schedule, and scene breakdown, including wardrobe and location.

Then I went to bed.

3:14 am.

Wahoo!

philips

philip was looking at my blog.

"i get to be your ugly boyfriend," he said.

NOOOOO!

i immediately cried.

"you are Handsome Philip."

you'll need to put handsome philip pictures up, he said.

this is handsome chef philip.

(you can tell he's a chef by the socks.)

this is handsome halloween philip.

we're kids. he's 9, i'm six and a half.

this is handsome cutie friend-of-animals philip.

he had birds all over him!

this is handsome my-mouth-is-full-of-food philip.

very worth it.

this is handsome d-bag philip.

(he made me say that.)

and here we have handsome russian philip.

he likes to dress up and be beard-y.

my point is

handsome philips

are all philips.

so THERE, philip!

ticketing!

i bought tickets today!

one way tickets to NEW YORK CITY.

and when i did,

i was just about ready as heck to 

LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE

right away.

it's not about leaving, per se.

it's about FLIGHT.

it's about TAKE OFF.

it's about DREAMS and SKY and LIGHTNESS.

it's about me

and my life

and getting to what I've been working for 

for

WELL, LIKE FOREVER.

needless to say,

i was bounding.

i am light.

and i am ready.

stay tuned!

up next!

renting the apartment

philip selling his car

us packing everything up in ten days

and then the biggest adventure begins!

love,

allyson

aaaand we're back!

Hey, Folks--remember me?

I went on super sabbatical for ages.

Turns out, I'm bringing sexy back.

and by "sexy back," i mean, I'm back in the blogging saddle and ready to advocate for myself.

I thought about creating a new blog, but why? I have this beautiful one going strong with history and character, and besides, I still love all kinds of new things every day.

Today I love this, today I love that.

Today I love a glorious return.

In case you don't know the good news, and seeing how my last post on September 18th was about moving to New York, I am HAPPY TO INFORM YOU THAT I AM, IN FACT, MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY on January 13th.

It's a bit more complicated than that.

Philip got an offer to work with wd~50. He has a friend who works there, and person to person got a call and an email to show his stuff for a couple of weeks and learn a bit about what cooking in the Big Apple is like.

We were both thrilled, of course, and I very quickly encouraged Philip to go.

Long story short, and I don't remember who posed the idea first, but Philip and I both thought that, well, heck, I'll never have enough money and the time couldn't be any more opportune than now to GO, to MOVE, to GET THERE.

So I started looking at what GETTING THERE would mean at this point in my life.

What it means, technically, is couch crashing. It means we arrive in NYC on January 13th, and stay a week with a friend here, and a week with a friend there. I have two weeks of lodging in the books, and figure that gives me enough time to get a few jobs and begin scraping some NYC rent money together. We'll be packing up all our things throughout Jan. 1 and 10th, and pay our rent through February in the hopes that someone will resign a lease with our landlord and help us get out of our contract. 

I did have a lovely job interview with Mt. Sinai Medical Center's PPHS office, in the hopes of returning to a quiet and focused life of research compliance. Restaurant Management sure has been fun, but man oh man if it isn't exhausting. :)

So I'm planning on just seeing what happens!

Next step is to find someone to take over the apartment, writing a couple of heartfelt thank-yous to friends here in Cincy, and packing up what is making the move/tossing out what isn't. 

I'll need to print off copies of my work resumes and my acting resumes, print out headshots, and make certain I can locate my business cards and voice demos (which I'm finally going to be able to use.)

I need to collect legal documents for both Philip and myself, documents that help us get jobs or new bank accounts, and have all our references at the ready for work and apartments.

Mostly, mostly, I need support and momentum. My landlord is expressing his disdain for this plan, and I need the momentum to prove to him that we can and will do this move! 

Now, who's with me?!

Love,

Allyson