[ the unthinkable has happened ]

I have become more of a girl than I ever thought would happen.

Not only am I bringing actual make-up on vacation (more than just concealer and chapstick, I mean)... I couldn't decide what shoes to bring.

So I'm bringing FIVE pairs.

FIVE.

What?

When did this happen?!?

I also threw a dress in my bag, just in case.

Mom... I hope you're happy! You and Sarah's evil plan to make me girly seems to finally be working! ;)

[ it's vacation time ]

I am officially on vacation!

I leave tomorrow night on a red-eye to Boston, and then I'm having three solid weeks of no-work-bliss. Where am I going for three entire weeks, you may ask?

Well....


All over the damn place!

I'll be in Massachusetts Friday morning through Tuesday morning (in a different city each day); New York City Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening; Baltimore Wednesday evening through Saturday morning; Raleigh for Saturday; Greenville, SC from Sunday through Thursday; then back to Raleigh from Thursday to Tuesday. Then back to Phoenix on Tuesday, July 15th.

I'm so incredibly excited for this trip. I'm going to be seeing a ton of my friends... most of whom I haven't seen in over a year... some of whom I haven't seen in three or more years. Plus, I'll be seeing pretty much my entire extended family, whom I haven't seen since my sister's wedding last March. It's gonna be freaking awesome.

So, if you notice a long lapse in posting here, for once I will have a legit reason. I still haven't decided if I'm going to bring my computer with me or not. I barely have any space left on it, so I'd have to do a bunch of frantic moving-files-around and backing-shit-up tomorrow before I leave in order to have space for any pictures I take while I'm gone. But if I don't bring it, I'll only be able to take photos until my cards fill up, which will probably be really really fast, because I'm going to hopefully be shooting a lot.

So, I guess I should probably do the frantic moving-files-around and backing-shit-up tomorrow, so that I can bring it, so that I won't have to watch how much I shoot. I am bringing several cameras... a couple film and two digital. But, if I bring my computer I won't have to worry about it at all.

Therefore, thank you blog, for letting me argue with myself on you, because now I've made a decision.

If I don't post for three weeks, see ya in three weeks! Have a rockin' Fourth of July!

[ gilmore girls makes me sappy ]

So, I'm sure I've mentioned before that I absolutely love Gilmore Girls. It remains my favorite television show of life, and I have the entire series on DVD. Every once in a while, I pull it out and watch random episodes or entire seasons.

So I watched the last two episodes of the series and then watched parts Season 4 recently, and I gotta say... it makes me so damn sappy. I freakin' well up like once an episode! What the hell?!? I've never ever been much of a crier before... why is Gilmore getting me weepy? When Rory graduates Yale, and Richard tells Lorelai to just enjoy the moment, I get teary. When Rory gets her job and says "What about the rollercoasters?" and Lorelai is clearly trying not to cry, I do it for her. When Richard has a heart attack, I'm a freaking disaster. When Luke and Lorelai finally get together (both at the end of Season 4 and at the end of the series), I get so sentimental and gushy. When the whole town is cheering for Rory at the party in the last episode, tears are racing down my face.

Whaaaat is wrong with me? When did I become a sap? Now that I think about it... I cried when I was watching the Sex and the City movie, and Carrie confronted Big in the street and thwacked him with her bouquet. When did that kinda stuff start making me cry?

A few years ago, it would have been hard for me to remember the last time I had cried. I mean, I kind of giggled when Kate Winslet dropped Leo to the bottom of the sea in Titanic. Now, I'm afraid to watch the whole movie, just in case I finally do get weepy when that happens. Where did my cruel, hardened heart go?

Maybe I got sappy and sentimental at love and loss because I lost love. Stupid love life being nonexistent right now. Bah.

I'm going to go watch some more Gilmore Girls, before I have to go to a photoshoot. Maybe I'll make it through an episode without crying like a baby.

[ one whole year ]

Today is my one-year blog-o-versary!

One year ago today, I started this sucker. We've had good times and bad together. Sometimes I have neglected it. Sometimes it's felt like my best friend.

Let's see... how has my life changed since starting this blog:

+ I moved across the country
+ I planted the seeds of starting my own business
+ My longest romantic relationship to date ended
+ I visited the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for the first time
+ I took large strides towards making friends in a new place
+ I lived in two different, but equally awesome, apartments

I'd say that overall it's been a pretty good year. It was my twenty-third year of life; my first year on my own; my first year being away from my college friends; my first year as a college graduate; my first year as a real adult; my fifth year knowing that photography is what I want to do with the rest of my life; my fourth year of not calling Sandwich home; my first year of not worrying about exams and tests and due dates; my third year of being a twenty-something.

It's pretty fitting that I started this blog just three days after my birthday. With every year that I get older, this blog will be another year older too.

I wonder what this year will bring for me. I've officially started living my twenty-fourth year of life. Is it right to say it's my twenty-fourth year of life, when my age is twenty-three? I've been alive for twenty-three years, as of three days ago, so now I'm starting the twenty-fourth year, right? I'm going with it.

Anyone else's blog-o-versary coming up? How long have you been blogging? What's changed in your life since you started?

[ yesterday was my birthday ]

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday! Woot!

I stayed home from work, and basically just bummed around and relaxed all day. I did some reading (Harry Potter One in Italian and a few chapters of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier), playing video games (old school Mario on Super Nintendo), and movie watching (Amelie, although I fell asleep part-way through... must have been tired).

Then Jesse (yes, my ex-boyfriend) took me out to dinner (not on a date, for those of you who thought, "What?!?") to this Mexican restaurant called Sam's Cafe that's right near my apartment, and has amazing Southwest Shrimp Quesadillas (shrimp, goat cheese, roasted corn, rice... soooo good) and tasty margaritas. And our waiter was wicked cute, and carded me for my margarita, and then gave me free cheesecake because it was my birthday! Score!

Overall, it was a good day. I got a bunch of emails, Facebook messages, text messages and phone calls wishing me a happy birthday.


In other news, My Boys is back tomorrrrrrow night! So excited... I finally get to find out who PJ brought to Italy. I'm pulling for Brando or Alex. I really hope it isn't the baseball player or Thorn. You should watch it!

In other, other news, I love working at the office downtown. We share the space with an architecture company. Three really cool guys work there, and one of them has taco nights pretty frequently. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the next one. And another one owns a coffee shop a few blocks away, and frequently brings us back free coffee. Today I got a delicious iced coffee, for absolutely zero dollars. Awweeeesome!

Happy Hump Day :)

[ the search for the perfect bathing suit ]

I am on a quest for a bathing suit that I like and that flatters my body. Unfortunately, I have a weird body type. Whenever I read articles about the best bathing suit for your body type, I'm always a combo of several different types.

I'm relatively short... 5'3" to be precise. I'm relatively athletic, with some extra cushion in the stomach area that I'd love not to be on display. I've got a really short torso, paired with pretty long legs... my legs are actually over half of my height, from heel to hip. I've always been lucky with the muscle in my legs... no matter how much soccer I played or how much weight I could lift with them (when I was at my peak fitness level, pretty close to twice my weight), my legs have always stayed pretty lean. I have a small butt. And to top all of that off, literally, I'm a D-cup.

I'm definitely not willing to rock a bikini. I'd prefer a one-piece, but will probably need to end up going with a tankini of sorts, because of my tiny butt and big boobs.

Anyone have any tips? Know any articles that will save my sanity on this issue? Because the only bathing suit I own is a probably six-year-old Speedo one-piece. You know, the kind with the circle cut out of the back. And it's a crazy green pattern that officially hurts my eyes. And I live in Arizona now, and it's damn hot. I'd like to be able to take advantage of the pool that is literally right outside my window, without feeling like I look like an absolute idiot. And without looking chubby.

Help!

[ dangerous occupation ]

Anyone who thinks being a wedding photographer isn't dangerous, listen up:

This weekend, I second-shot at a wedding with my boss. For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the ceremony, I shot from on top of the roof of the resort.

On top of the roof, people.

And to get on said roof, there wasn't a staircase or a ladder or anything. Nope.

That would be easy.

I had to duck through a couple overgrown trees, and hop across a small gap onto the roof.

And every single step I took made the roof make scary noises.

And the roof was of course, not flat, but sloped. So my worth-shit-absolutely-horrendous-balance had to actually work for me. Luckily, I only almost-fell once. Maybe twice.

And of course, my boss got a total kick out of me being up there, and snapped a few photographs of me. In at least one, I look absolutely terrified.

Photographic proof coming once I gank the pics from work.

[ update on life ]

Once again, it has been forever since I've posted. Almost three weeks. Myyyyyy bad.

I've actually been really busy. To prove my point, check out this tiny screenshot of my calendar for this month:


So it's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been working down at the studio three days a week; there have been a couple weddings recently; I've actually had quite a few of my own clients recently; I've been having events with my Meetup group pretty regularly, as well as hanging out with some of the members outside of the group; and I just started working with another business, a health product that has actually been working wonders for both my back pain and my allergies since I started using it, and will also help me get out of the rat-race before I hit 30.

I also recently decided to make a serious effort to do more reading, less television-watching and less random-internet-surfing. Reading more and having more to do has equated to less general time on the computer, with means less blogification. I used to read voraciously when I was younger, and it recently came to the point that I couldn't actually think of the last book I had read. I have definitely successfully changed that: since the middle of April, I've read six books, and I'm working on a couple more.

One of the books I just finished (as in about an hour ago!) is The Bounce Back Book, by Karen Salmansohn. It is a great little book of 75 tips on "how to thrive in the face of adversity, setbacks, and losses." The tips are amazing for helping you through hard times in your life, both small and huge. It's a really quick read, and totally beneficial. Some of the tips are the types of things you should incorporate into your daily life whether or not you are in a particularly tough spot.

Some of my favorite tips, which I'm going to work on bringing into my everyday life:

#10: Happiness is a choice, not just a matter of genes or good luck.
#22: Give yourself 120-second recharging sessions.
#35: Don't just write a "To Do" list. Write a "To Be" list.
#55: Sing your heartache out.
#58: Cultivate the habit of zest.
#70: View change as chance.

(All quoted from The Bounce Back Book)

Obviously there are sixty-nine more amazing tips, and lots more detail to the six I shared with you. I highly, highly recommend picking it up. It's less than $15, and worth every single penny.

So after that crazy tangent, I'm once again apologizing for being away so long. And once again, I am promising to try to be better. I should post about the fun things happening in my life, instead of just doing the fun things, right?!? Indeed!

[ my middle name should be random ]

And now, a random sampling of the haps of my life:

I know I'm wicked late to jump on the bandwagon, but I finally saw Juno. And I heart it just as much as every other person who has raved about it. I watched it two times this weekend, and contemplated letting Blockbuster charge me the extra $20 for keeping it. In the end, my desire to actually have money in my pocket led me to return it today.

As much as gas prices suck, I'm actually pretty okay with it. Mainly because my car gets rockin' gas mileage. I kept track this time around, and since my last fill-up, my little Suzy got an average of 29.64 miles to the gallon. GO SUZY!

I named my bike Lily. For absolutely no reason. She's a blueish green, and doesn't even look particularly feminine. But I looked at her and said "Lily." First thing that popped to my head... sometimes shit just goes down like that.

Speaking of names, how do you refer to yourself? My whole life, I've been Becca to my friends and Rebecca to my family, teachers, professors and bosses. But now, I always introduce myself as Rebecca, so that's what most people I know in AZ call me. But I called a couple old friends from good-ole-Sandwich today, and I actually stuttered when I was saying who it was... "Hey! It's Rebe... Bec... Rebecca. Becca (last name)!" I didn't know my own name for a minute. It was weird.

And lastly, I know I already mentioned this once, but if you haven't checked out She & Him, Volume One.... DO IT NOW!

[ happy april ]

Happy April!

I know, I know. You're thinking, "Wait!?! A real post from Rebecca?!? No freakin' way!"

It has indeed been a while since I have posted something that wasn't a list. I have been unmotivated. It has been pathetic. I've had plenty of time to post, I just haven't wanted to.

However... now I am busy.

I am currently the type of busy where the only way to survive is to be insanely productive. I am the type of busy that I love and crave and seriously can't live without. I am busy with work stuff, fun stuff, volunteer stuff.

I am busy.

I'm the fruit loop who hates having nothing to do. I was the weird kid in grade school who hated summer vacation because after a week of hanging out and doing nothing, I was bored. I was the kid who played on four soccer teams at once, just to have something to do. I was the high schooler who got up early to do some extra homework, went to school for the day, read during lunch, stayed after school until 5 o'clock to help with the theatre company's production of South Pacific, raced home to change into practice clothes, drove 45 minutes for a 2 hour soccer practice, drove 45 minutes home and then did homework until midnight.

And I'm the kid who loved that.

I like having stuff to do. I am insanely productive when I have an insane amount of things going on. I am at my best when I have too much happening. I am happiest when I'm running to and from things. I am blissful when I don't have time to watch television. I am ecstatic when I have to spend all my time doing something.

And now I am busy. I am happier than I've been in a while.

Simply because I'm busy!

And you, my dears, have the following posts to look forward to (I guess I'm still in list mode!):

1. My new decision on what the most romantic part of a movie is
2. My mother's insane jewelry making skills
3. My first-ever visit to the Grand Canyon
4. My new soccer team
5. My insane LWL meeting on Monday night
6. My first-ever blog award (which I'm so excited about!)
7. The Phoenix Film Festival, at which I'm volunteering this weekend

And probably more that I can't think of right now, or which haven't happened yet!

Now I've got to do some work, before I head back to work! (I love this!)

PS: If you haven't already, check out She & Him! AMAZING!

[ march 24: favorite days ]

This list was actually really hard, and is still really short, even after a lot of thought. I wanted to pick days that I can remember being totally and completely blissfully happy. Unfortunately, I have shit for memory, and can't remember very many specifics of my childhood. So, I have only seven examples of days I was blissfully happy, in no particular order.

• The day I found out I got a scholarship to UD. My mom called my high school, and had the whole office searching for me because they all knew who I was (for being a good kid, not a trouble maker!). I seriously thought someone had died or something, because such a ruckus was going on. But then I found out that it was good ruckus -- I got a really amazing scholarship to a really amazing school.
• High school graduation. I was totally the kid who was absolutely dying to get out of my small hometown. I couldn't wait to get out of high school and move on to bigger and better things. I was so happy the day of high school graduation, because I knew that it meant only three short months until college.
• Scoring a penalty kick in a soccer game in Italy. I played soccer most of my life before I got hurt. Hell, it was my life before I got hurt. One summer, when I was fourteen or fifteen, I played two tournaments in Europe, one in Rimini, Italy and one in Vittoria, Spain. I had played defense for most of my soccer career, so I never got many goal-scoring opportunities. But for whatever reason, my coach picked me to be on the the kickers on PKs at the end of a tie game, and I actually scored! I can't for the life of me remember if we won or lost in the end; all I remember is that I scored a PK.
• College graduation. I was so excited to start a new life. I was also so incredibly bummed to leave all the amazing friends I made in college, because I was basically the only person to venture of the East Coast. But I was so ecstatic that I had finished college. I got a degree in something I absolutely love, I managed to learn a second language pretty well, and I met some of the best people on the planet. College was amazing, and graduation was so much fun.
  
• The day I got a job out here in AZ. I had flown out from Delaware to Arizona for about 36 hours, specifically to interview with the wedding photographer I work for now. It was a couple days before I heard from him, but when I got the message saying that I got the job, I was jumping up and down and could barely contain myself. I was actually at a movie theatre, and had to leave the movie to listen to the message. I'm pretty sure I cheered and yelled out loud, and possibly scared a few people. I was excited!
• Homecoming Day, senior year of college. Started the day bright and early with beer and bagels, went to the game for a bit, came back and just chilled all day with some of my favorite people. I think beer pong was played for about 14 hours straight. We watched cartoons, and movies. We napped. We went to get coffee and play on the Green. We wandered around campus taking ridiculous pictures, and hanging with the UD goats, Chloe and Lucinda. It was just an amazingly perfect day.
  
• The day I landed in Italy for my study abroad. I had been dying to go back to Italy since the soccer tournament. When I figured out I could fit an entire semester in Italy into my schedule, I was beyond thrilled. But nothing can compare to how I felt landing in Rome... knowing I was going to be there for four whole months. Just thinking of it now gives me goosebumps. And makes me want to go back again!

What days in your life stand out as completely blissful? I'm talking happiest you can remember being.

[ spring training and inspiration ]

I went to a Spring Training game on Sunday: The Padres vs. The White Sox. And I have got to say... I freaking hate baseball. It's boring. Simply not for me. I need more constant excitement in sports... give me soccer, football or hockey any day. Good thing I brought a book.

Two shots from the day:




And I'm currently using my bulletin board as an inspiration board until I decide on a more permanent inspiration board or buy a second bulletin board. Right now all the images are portraits from various stories or ads in the February issue of W Magazine. My favorites are the images of Kate Bosworth for Calvin Klein. Awwwwwwesome.



What inspires you? Do you put those inspirations up for you to see at all times?

[ productive and fun weekend ]

Oy, galapagos.

The apartment is starting to come together. I have officially finished / admitted defeat to painting. The lighter color looks absolutely gorgeous (and happens to match the cabinets in the kitchen area perfectly), and the darker color is just what I wanted. It's a bit splotchy in some places, but after about thirty hours of painting this weekend, and four to five coats of the darker color, I simply can't paint anymore. Now I'm slowly shoving all the furniture back up against the walls (as opposed to clustered in the middle of the room, four feet from all walls, with a giant plastic drop cloth covering it all), finally putting away the rest of my stuff, and clearing out the cardboard boxes from the IKEA furniture that I was using as makeshift drop cloths.

Pictures to come when the place doesn't look quite so much like a disaster area.

I actually had quite a fun weekend, in addition to my painting craziness. Thursday night, I went to a British-style pub called The Rose & Crown with a Meetup group. The pub is so freakin' cute. It's in a historic downtown house (a theme I've noticed around the area), and since the house is historic, the rooms can't be altered architecturally, so the pub is a bit disjointed, but I think it just added to the charm. One room had a small pool table, most had tables and bars. We sat out on the patio, and were perfectly comfortable (yes, in February, after dark... still can't get used to the warmth during the winter here!). I met a bunch of really nice people, and will definitely be going to future events with this group.

Friday afternoon, I went to downtown Tempe to go to a Lunch with Ladies Who Launch (Sunny... I promise I'll do a post devoted to LWL soon!). As always with LWL, the meeting was great. I met a bunch of really nice women, and we had a blast. The place we went is called The Center Bistro and it's an organic-type restaurant. A little pricey, but the food was amazing.

Saturday morning, I drove over to Bevla's (my LWL leader) house to shoot some images for her website, and to get a haircut! Finally! I haven't gotten a haircut since I moved to AZ... eight months ago! Bevla's been a hair stylist basically forever, and was a celebrity stylist for a while actually... she got to tour Europe with Prince! So I totally trusted her to clean me up. Here's a kinda shitty picture (taken with the Photobooth on my computer) of the new do, with the pretty pretty new wall color behind me. Note that I match. My favorite color is orange... can you tell?


Yay for new hair!

And then on Sunday, Jesse and I hung out. He helped me pick out a DVD player (no more movies on the computer!), and then we went to lunch at a really great sushi place, and then just hung out at his place for a while.

All in all, a very good weekend.

And today, I walked over to the Italian market that's around the corner to see what it was like. It's pretty small, not a ton of variety, but just enough items I'd prefer to get from an Italian market. I picked up a couple things: some pesto sauce, an Italian seasoning mixture, and some Pizzelle cookies. I think I'll be having a nice Italian dinner for myself tonight... pasta with pesto, with some Pizzelle for dessert. Yum!

[ good points of today ]

I walked to and from work today. It's a half mile each way, which means that if I continue this, I can walk a full mile three days a week, without feeling like it's doing exercise! Woot!

From today on, I start work at 8am instead of 9am, which means I can either take a long lunch break and end my day at 5pm, take a short lunch break and end my day at 4:30pm, or eat lunch at work and end my day at 4pm. I love options.

I have these AMAZING jeans. They're cute-butt-jeans. And by cute-butt-jeans, I mean good-lord-they-make-me-feel-so-freakin-hot-jeans. And I haven't fit into them for a really long time, because I had gained some weight. These are those type of jeans that practically every girl has that they keep because maybe someday they'll fit again. And you feel like an idiot because you know they probably won't ever fit again. However.... today I pulled them on, and they fit perfectly! And not only did they fit... but they're a size 8. And as much as I typically don't care about the size of my pants, I was pretty stoked to be rocking non-double-digit pants today.

My amazing jeans got me cat-called today. By a construction worker. Although incredibly cliche and typically downright insulting, today it made me smile.

The really cool architecture guys that we share our office space with recommended an amazing place for lunch called That's A Wrap. Holy moly tasty deliciousness. I got a veggie wrap, and it had zucchini, asparagus, carrots, eggplant, feta cheese, rice... all warm and amazing, with a wicked good sauce and wrapped in a spinach tortilla.

Good day, today.

[ birth month traits ]

I'm currently sitting in my apartment, surrounded by bags of books (I've uttered the phrase "I read too much" A LOT the past couple of days... lugging big bags of books is not fun!), empty and full HUGE cardboard boxes (from my new IKEA furniture... pictures to come when this place isn't such a sty), and other random shit that doesn't have a home yet. I'm totally and completely hijacking someone else's internet, while I wait for mine to be turned on today, "sometime before 7pm," as the man from Cox said. I'm trying to decide if I should go to the grocery store and buy some food (because right now I have Mac & Cheese, pasta, Special K, oreos... and nothing else), finish building my IKEA furniture and try to clear out the cardboard that has taken over my apartment, go to Home Depot and pick out paint colors, or go back to IKEA (for the third time in a week) and get more storage solutions and other accessories. I'm going to do all of that (hopefully today), but can't decide what to do first.

So instead, I'm perusing 20-somethings members' pages and blogs, and finding fun things to post. For example: (I have since closed the page where I found this, and I only copy/pasted part of it. Sue me.)

You're supposed to find your birth month and say which of the traits apply to you. If I find the whole post again, I'll post a link. Here's my month:

JUNE:

Thinks far with vision: I'd like to think so. I'm working on expanding my visions for my photography business.
Easily influenced by kindness: I think most people are. When other people are nice to you, it's easier to be influenced by them. Although, I'd like to think I'm not easily influenced.
Polite and soft-spoken: Umm.. polite, yeah. Soft-spoken... no way in hell. I'm freaking loud.
Having ideas: Yes, yes.
Sensitive: I guess.
Active mind: Most definitely.
Hesitating, tends to delay: If that's the same thing as thinking things out a lot, then yes.
Choosy and always wants the best: I suppose. I know what I like and what I want.
Temperamental: I wish I wasn't, but I definitely am. I'd like to think that as I've gotten older, my ridiculous temper has calmed down, but I know I still am temperamental.
Funny and humorous: Most of my friends definitely would agree with this one!
Loves to joke: Yes, yes. Sometimes too much. Although I'm not really a fan of practical jokes. I think they're kind of mean.
Good debating skills: No idea. If you replacing "debating" with "fighting/arguing" then probably yes. I'm too hotheaded to debate, I think.
Talkative: Most definitely.
Daydreamer: Yep.
Friendly: I am indeed! Be my friend!
Knows how to make friends: I'd like to think so, however I've been having trouble making friends since I moved out West. But it's getting better!
Able to show character: I guess so. Does this mean showing your personality well?
Easily hurt: Ummm... I'm not really sure. I think I'm lucky in that I haven't been horribly hurt by a lot of people. I've had the best friend who bailed on me and picked the boyfriend over me, which sucked A LOT. Of course I've been dumped and hurt that way... but I don't think being hurt in general happens a lot to me, which is good.
Prone to getting colds: I'm actually quite healthy, and rarely get sick, but when I get sick... I get SICK. I once had strep throat for like a month and a half. In college, I had a mysterious illness for pretty much an entire semester (I only ever went to the campus health center because I hate going to the doctor... and if you aren't pregnant or don't have strep, they don't really know how to deal with you). I dropped a bunch of weight, was never hungry, and was completely and totally exhausted. It wasn't mono or lyme disease (got tested for both). I'm just a weirdo.
Loves to dress up: Not so much.
Easily bored: Definitely. My family would always joke that that's why I never really had longterm boyfriends. I would get bored in about a month (3 months was the record until J came around), and break-up with them. In general, I always am looking for new things to keep myself from being bored. I'm the weirdo who was ready to go back to school after about a week of summer break, just because I would be bored to tears.
Fussy: I equate fussiness with infants, so I'm going to say no.
Seldom shows emotions: I show happy emotions all the time. It's the sad ones that I definitely hide.
Takes time to recover when hurt: Holy moly yes.
Brand conscious: Not really. I love my Dove soap & shampoo, and I'm obsessed with Apple, but the brand loyalty pretty much ends there.
Executive: I try to be.
Stubborn: Oh good lord yes. I'm definitely one of the most stubborn people I know, and I'm sure most of my friends would agree.

Now... I must go do something productive. I think I'll work on furniture for a while, and then go grocery shopping. Laterrrrrr.

[ thank you ]

Thank you to anyone who commented or emailed me regarding my recent break-up. I know I haven't responded to anyone, but know that I truly truly appreciate all the kind messages. I've been completely swamped this week, and now have about 50 emails and well over 100 blog posts to catch up on, so I haven't had a chance to thank the people who reached out to me.

In amazing news, today I graduated from my Ladies Who Launch Incubator Intensive Program, and am enrolling in the ongoing program. The intensive was so, so, so amazing, and I absolutely cherish the women I met through it. I definitely made some great friends!

Also, I did indeed find an apartment to move to, and I am actually moving on Thursday! So soon, so crazy. It's in a great location, and it's a perfectly-sized-for-one studio. I'm getting all new furniture and am going to decorate it in a completely different style than my current place, so that's ultra-exciting.

I do promise I'll return with regular posting soon, I'm just not sure how soon!

[ it's been a week... again ]

I have simply not been in the mood to blog lately, which sucks because I do have some fun things to post about... Ladies Who Launch, for one thing!

However, about two weeks ago something happened that has left me stressed and pretty bummed, and not wanting to blog at all. Jesse & I broke up, and I have decided to move out of our shared apartment instead of staying until the lease is up in June. So I've spent the past week trying to find an apartment, which I think I may finally have succeeded in, and blogging just wasn't that important. In fact, I debated even posting about it at all, but in the end, I realized I started this blog to write about my life, and Jesse was, and still is, a big part of that.

Luckily, we're definitely going to remain friends... no worries there. But moving out is the best decision I could make.

So I promise that once things have settled down, or maybe even sooner, I will be back in full force, blogging about inane and silly things, as well as meaningful ones every once in a while!

[ resolution time ]

New Years has come and passed, and I actually made a resolution this year. Just one resolution, but it's a multi-parter and pretty all-encompassing.

My New Years Resolution is:

To strengthen myself, mind, body and soul.

Yeah, it's kind of a doozy, but I'm already doing pretty well with it, and it isn't one I see myself breaking anytime soon. Don't really get what I mean? Well, let me explain:

I never want to stop growing. I never want to stop learning. I never want to stop trying to be a better person. So instead of just randomly, throughout the year, doing one or two little things to grow and better myself, I'm going to make it a point to do as much as possible to better myself. I want to be a happier, healthier, wiser, more educated, more interesting, more passionate person come 2009.

I'm not jumping into this thing like a cannonball into the deep end of the pool. First of all, I hate deep water, so I would probably never do a cannonball into the deep end of the pool. And secondly, I don't want to give up on this because it's too much, too soon. So I'm easing into things. I'm taking time out to read everyday, even just a few pages. I do a couple Sudoku puzzles before bed a few nights a week. I'm easing into a workout routine that I know I will be able to stick to (including resistance workouts, pilates and hiking). I'm taking note of one nice thing I do for myself everyday. I'm thinking of signing up for a class at the local community college. I'm thinking of teaching a class at the local rec center. I'm moving forward full steam with FiveGoodGoats: going to my Ladies Who Launch incubator meetings (more on that later), participating in monthly networking meetings at a local improv theatre. I'm viewing growing not as a right, but as a privilege, as something I look forward to everyday. I'm making a conscious effort to eat better.

Here's to being happier, healthier, wiser, more educated, more interesting and more passionate!


[ ps: new header up above, and don't miss the vegas post below! ]

[ i'm alive, but barely ]

Just quickly checking in. I have several great things to write about: the Vegas, the parents' visit, New Year's resolutions, good and fun things coming up this month.

However, I'm currently battling a cold / lingering allergies from the Vegas, and have absolutely zip for energy. So I'm climbing into bed at twenty of nine, because I have to work tomorrow, and I'd like to be at least semi-conscious.

Hope everyone's holidays were excellent. I enjoyed reading the 50 or so posts I missed while I was out of town.

And with that, good night!

[ suffering from blog neglect ]

My blog is suffering, that is... not me. I am a bad bad blog owner. Poor poor blog has just been sitting here for a whole week... sad, alone, neglected. I think it's starting to get a complex. But I have returned, with both words and pictures! I am so sorry Bloggy. It was my bad.

Annnnyway.

This week has been a good one. Jesse & I decided to celebrate Chrismukkah all in one day and a few days earlier than we had originally planned. We had put all our gifts under the Chrismukkah Cactus, and one of us got really annoying and pushy, saying they wanted to open the gifts now, because that person could see them and it was like they were taunting this person. Just laughing and mocking... "You can't open us." This person swears that they even saw one of them stick its tongue out. This person has never been good about being denied a gift that is in plain sight.

(It was me.)

And so, Chrismukkah came early, and was super good. The gifts were mainly of the music and movie variety, but I also got a Wii for Jesse (which we love, and play frequently) and Jesse replaced my favorite favorite book that the Post lost (Portraits, by Steve McCurry... I highly recommend it), aaaand got us tickets to see The Nutcracker tomorrow night!! I am so incredibly excited! I love love love love The Nutcracker. Love it. We saw it last year in Delaware, and it was so good. And this year will probably be even better!

I also received my gifts from my parents and my big sister, both of which I was allowed to open immediately (because I already knew what they were, and even if I hadn't... the boxes they came in were a dead giveaway). My sister gave me one of those amazing coffee machines that you put the little cup of coffee grounds in it, and you get a single cup of coffee in about a minute! Which works out so very well for us, because Jesse doesn't drink coffee. And with this, I can never be wasteful with my coffee! Woot. And my parents gave me the scanner I really really wanted, which I've had some fun playing with.

I can't yet report on what the fam got from me, because they aren't allowed to open their gifts until the big day! I love the holidays!

My parents are coming here on Christmas day, and taking Jesse & I to the Vegas for a few days!!! So very excited. I've never been to the Vegas, so it should definitely be a good time. We're going to see The Rat Pack Strikes Back and Stomp. So excited. I can't wait to see my parents... I haven't seen them since September... it has been too long.

I used my fantabulous scanner to scan an image from Real Simple magazine of the planner I'm going to get... once they're back in stock online and I can actually purchase one. It's pretty and has a sweet yellowy gold cover and it's blocked out the way I like with lots of room for each day. Mmmmm... immediate love:


This planner was, of course, discovered after buying two planners, one from Target and one from the Hallmark store, and hating them both. They are now sitting on the table, with their respective receipts, ready to go back.


Saturday, after Chrismukkah, Jesse & I drove down to Tempe and walked around a really nice park before hitting up Ikea to see if they had any sweet winter deals. No such luck there, but the park was pretty! Pictures follow:








To all those in blog-world... Happy Happy Happy Holidays. I am so glad to have participated in NaBloPoMo and to have 'met' you all. Love and wishes of happiness to you and your families!