Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I'm a Wiiiiiiiiiiner!

I never win contests or raffles anymore... I think I used up all my luck when I was a kid because I used to win everything. I even won "Nick-or-Treat" one year from Nickelodeon, top that! So when I was 16 & paid $20 for a raffle ticket to win a car... & didn't win... I was completely shocked. Ever since my luck seems to have run out.

UNTIL NOW! I won something! And not just anything, I won something really good. A $50 gift card from AlyGatr's Everywhere's Blog-o-Versary giveaway! Alyssa's one of my favorites, plus I was having a very difficult week, so I don't think anyone else in the world could have been as excited as me when I got the email. Thanks, Alyssa!

Now the tough part... what do I spend my $50 on? I don't think I've ever been in this situation where I have a certain amount of dollars to just spend on whatever, usually my buying is need/want-based & the dollars have to be factored in... I'm out of my element! So I'm trying to be practical (aka not buy anymore shoes) but I could really use some help. What do you think I should get?

Option #1 -

A mini sewing machine! I don't sew yet, but I'd like to. I often think "If I had a sewing machine I would (insert project here)" But would I really follow through? Maybe!

Option #2 -

What kind of grown-ass-woman doesn't own spices? Seriously? (one that's never had a wedding registry, that's who!)

Option #3 -

I could be hostess with the mostess? French press & teapot with infuser... I could make fresh grounds & use loose leaf teas! How's that for classy?

Option #4 -

I needed more frames anyway...

Option #5 -

Something for my "temple", rather than just my home. Plus I always have to borrow a mat at my yoga class.

See, give me $50 to spend & I mentally spend $250. I just can't decide! Help!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

WA Memory Jar


Didn't my memory jar from Washington turn out great? It gives me hope for the long run with this crafty project. The NYC jar was a little campy but I'm really loving this new one. I tried to save absolutely everything, & even though most of it didn't get used at least a had a variety when thinking "hmm that spot's a little bare, I need something else near the bottom..."

In my Jar:

  • wildflowers from a hike

  • Theo chocolate wrapper (google it, they're amazing)

  • wristband from underground tour

  • Starbucks sleeve

  • Jr. Ranger badge from the national park

  • Seattle skyline trinket


I took my own advice & this time used a wide-mouth jar, it made everything a LOT easier. Can you imagine trying to place those dried flowers with knitting needles? More advice...

  1. be aware of seems in the glass, they're really easy to go unnoticed until you're staring at the final product

  2. keep EVERYTHING, like I said earlier

  3. get 1 cheesy planned trinket that will help clarify location. I looked at key chains, magnets, & finally found this little jewelry thing (at least I think it's a jewelry box, not sure what else it could be) at the airport before I left


Try to use your imagination, can you see how lovely they'll look once I've racked up a few more locations? I'd love to hear more idea on how you preserve memories from the places you've loved.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Week 28


Oh hey there, lovely ladies... why so dolled up?


This is me & Emma last year at our friend Sarah's wedding. Tomorrow all the same key people will be involved, except Emma will be trading in her sultry red for beautiful while (& Sarah & I will be playing drunken sand volleyball in our dresses). I'm so excited to see such a wonderful, sweet friend get MARRIED! The Month of Love continues....


And just for nostalgia sake, allow me to flash back even further to when the bride & I first met. Apprenticeship 2007. It was supposed to be a year-long, intense, church class... which sounds terrifying... but I ended up making some of my most fabulous friends right there. You can really sense the fabulousness just by looking at us, can't you? (No? Ok... well.. have a good Friday anyway, I guess)



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Head over to Christopher & Tia to link up with a Flashback of your own!


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Washington Vay-Cay: Seattle Edition

Seattle is such a quirky city! Everywhere you look there's something strange to look at. Something about it felt so homey, like I've lived there in a past life... or maybe it just has some Pittsburgh-esque qualities. Either way, I felt totally at ease in my new city.

Of course it probably helped to have a mini Pittsburgh reunion on the west coast! Jen spent the whole summer in North Dakota, Katy had just biked across the country, & Caryn just moved to Seattle a week ago... & we were all together. Just like at home... but on the other side of the country.

We've already discussed I'm not much of a tourist-y traveler so I didn't go up the Space Needle or any of that nonsense. But I did walk the streets, eat lots of good food, go thrift shopping, pay my respects to Kurt Cobain, & scout out the weirdest sites Seattle had to offer...

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="2"]

Monday, August 23, 2010

Forest Fires

Before I move on to stories about Seattle & city adventures, I want to take a time out to share my favorite moment in the mountains...

Brandi & I were driving up a big mountain on this tiny dirt road, & to keep myself from staring down the sides of the road at our certain demise I tried to keep my eyes on the trees & plants all around us. As we drove up & up & up the scenery changed several times, different tress & such. Then we got to this one section where the trees were all black & dead, there had been a forest fire there several years ago. It would have been sad to see, except that there were flowers everywhere... apparently fires that happen naturally aren't anything to mourn because the burning of the old allows the growth of the new.

 


This struck my heart in just the right way at just the right time. It's not a new idea, just this Sunday the sermon was about the beating wheat takes to become good bread & even wheat needing to die to become a seed for more wheat. Hell, I even have a similar lesson tattoo'd on me... a phoenix on my foot with the phrase "delicious ambiguity" on my ankle to remind me not to fear the future because if even if I crash & burn you get up & start over.

But some lessons you need to learn over & over. Just because it's in ink doesn't mean I always believe it.

I guess I'm at a point where I feel like everything's about to go into flame, like my own personal forest fire is just around the corner. I haven't felt like I'm on the right path for a while now, which is why work gets me so stressed to the point of panic sometimes. Like I'm making a living but not making a difference. Well I won't go too deep into all of that, there's more to it than I can blog about & my emotional rants seldom lead to good reading. Something's not right, though, & it's sitting there like a powder keg.

 I fear it somedays. I kind of hope for it somedays. Maybe I'm already in it & don't realize. (or worse, maybe I'm expecting something that won't actually happen?)

Here's what I know: things never stay the same, good or bad, but we'll always get through it even if it means starting from scratch. Here's what I hope: if it does all burn to the ground, something beautiful will grow.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Washington Vay-Cay: Wilderness Edition

Home again, home again. I had such an AMAZING time on my little vacation, I really didn't want it to end. Of course no one ever really wants vacation to end, but this trip took me by surprise... I actually loved the wilderness part way more than the city of Seattle. Who would have ever seen that coming? Not me. I want to tell you every story & show you every photo but there's just not time for all that so let's try it this way & you can scroll through whichever photo you want in the galleries...

Where?


I stayed in the "town" (& I use that term very loosely) of Diablo, WA out in the North Cascades mountains. We're talking REMOTE. Wilderness isn't an exaggeration in the least. But it was soooo gorgeous.  There was a moment where I walked outside to sit & read on my first day, I literally STOPPED in my tracks & couldn't move, it was that breathtaking!




Who?


I was visiting my old college buddy / sorority sister / former co-worker Brandi (aka B-Stew... no matter how much she fights it, that will always be her name). She's out there for school & wants to be a park ranger. I've missed her SO much & it was wonderful to get to hang out, make fun of each other, talk men & be ridiculous!




What?


B-Stew took it easy on me & I really appreciated that, it would suck to come home from vacation & be too sore to move. We hiked a little mountain, drove up a really big mountain, swam in a river, sun bathed by a lake of that CRAZY BLUE water, made memosas, canoed, had a camp fire, went to the national park, & rocked out to a drunken Glee dance party. It was the BEST.


I may have teased her the whole time, called her a hippie, asked way too many questions about wild animals, & embarrassed her by singing to a deer... but I really did love it out there. Was I out of place? Completely. (I'm a rolling suitcase matching set in a world of hiking backpacks) But sometimes you need to get a little out of your element.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Week 27




The other night I went a little crazy & decided I couldn't live another day without organizing my craft bin. (all I want in life is a craft room but I live in a studio apartment so it was crafting or a bed... a tough decision) So I sprawled out everything I own & thoroughly reorganized... & came across some forgotten items. A ticket stub to "Spirit of the Dance" from college... why would I possibly have kept this? Then I found another: 3 Doors Down. And another: Red Hot Chili Peppers. And then I figured out why I had never thrown away these random stubs... Matt.

He was my first serious boyfriend, first love & all that jazz. It's fitting since all week I've been talking about this being the Month of Love, let's chat about a ye olde love. We dated during freshman & sophomore year of college, & unlike most of my boyfriends I can't think of a single bad thing to say about him. (other than the fact that he dumped me... but even that's not a bad thing in the long run) My favorite memories of all time were every semester we'd go to the Military Ball since he was in ROTC. It was like a fairytale... grand ballrooms, formal gowns, and slow dancing with a man in uniform. *swoon* We still see eachother occasionally through mutual friends & it's always great catching up with an old friend, but we're totally different than in those sepia-toned memories of kids in love. haha It's like Streisand & Redford, misty water colored memories of the way we were.

So what do you do with the ticket stubs? Is it ok to throw away fond memories, is it weird to keep them when it's from a relationship that's many many year in the past? I debated & eventually realized my college scrapbook has a pocket in the back! What a great compromise, they'll stay tucked away but not in a way where I have to make the conscious decision to keep them every time I organize. Because let's be honest, when am I ever going to be like "man, if ONLY I had that Red Hot Chili Peppers ticket" & yet at the same time that was a damn good concert... I mean Queens of the Stone Age opened!


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Head over to Christopher & Tia to link up with a Flashback of your own!


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Seattle Bound



Tah-tah, friends! I'm heading on holiday to the west coast! Tomorrow's flashback will be the last you hear from me for an entire week! (Eeek! Can I handle a week without checking in? I'll have blog withdraw for sure.)

My wonderful friend, B-Stew, moved out to Washington to be one with nature & hug trees for a while (& calls it getting a masters degree). So I guess for the next few days I'll be hugging a few trees myself! The first 4 days I'll be out in the wilderness where she lives in the North Cascades, & then the last 2 days she's taking mercy on my city-girl soul & letting us run around Seattle.

My goals:

  • Don't get eaten by a bear or hungry hippy

  • Find the troll, gum wall, Lenin statue & other Seattle oddities

  • Visit every Nirvana memorial in existence

  • See the Pacific


When I get back the school year will start & I'll be in the midst of craziness, but I'll try to put that out of my head & just breathe deep the west coast air.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A Little Birthday Vino

They say a little red wine is good for the heart. I say an afternoon of wine with the girls is the best thing for the heart... ever.

One of my most lovely friends, Emma, had a birthday this month & it's impossible not to celebrate the birth of a lady like that. (She also happens to be another main component of the Month of Love & is getting married in just 2 & 1/2 weeks!) But as much as this little day trip was for her, I think it did all 3 of us a world of good to take a day-cation with the girls to laugh & drink wines.

One of my favorite moments was the conversation to plan this, apparently the minds of Sarah & I work in strange ways but to good results. This was literally our thought process... Sarah: "What could we do that would be relaxing?" Me: "I don't know... Where could we find lemon trees?" "Ooo, the Mediterranean" "Yeah, where are there Italians? Near wine." haha What? I wish I could share more of my favorite moments of the day but they're really not appropriate for public reading. I'll just have to cherish them in private... & laugh out loud when I think of them... & make people uncomfortable about me laughing to myself.

The whole experience was SO lovely. Sampling wines, sharing fruit & cheeses, a delish fire grilled pizza, more wine, being waited on, the perfect weather & our umbrella shaded table. Lovely. I actually wish I could share where to have such a day for yourself, but I can't. It was just so special that we made a pact to never tell anyone else about it. It will remain our private little oasis. (ok let's be honest, there are only so many wineries in western PA, you could probably figure it out if you really wanted to. But I'll never tell.)

Monday, August 9, 2010

Lace & Buttons Headband

I had a special request from a special friend... make a headband to match her shoes for last weekend's wedding. Just another story about the Month of Love. (In case you didn't read yesterday, we are currently IN the month of love. I have declared it so, let it be written.) The inspiration: light blue sneakers with orange polka dots to go with a navy dress.

The supplies: I found the orange lace hem tape in the perfect shade, and I wanted to go with buttons to mimic the polka dots on the shoes. Once I found that big button with the flowers it all started to come together.


Not only would I do anything for Lena, and I enjoy being crafty, and it's the Month of Love... as if that weren't enough reasons to get into the project... I also just got a sewing box from Goodwill the other day that I was excited to put to use! And to my most pleasant surprise, it came fully stocked! Threads, needles, thimbles, measuring tapes, clasps, random old buttons, everything you could hope to find in a second-hand sewing box. I'm so excited!


Oh yeah, I tried curling my hair at the same time. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hope, BUT the headband DID. (stay tuned, when my hair grows out a little more I hope to be able to rock Marilyn-eque curls)

Here's what I did:

  • measured out the lace hem tape to the size of my head with the hair-tie connector loose

  • I used a piece of plain orange ribbon on the under side of my lace as my sewing base to attach  everything that needed to be sewed on

  • on one end I folded a triangle with lace & ribbon to attach a button as the clasp

  • sewed the hair-tie with a strip of ribbon on the other end to complete the clasp

  • pinned a long strip of ribbon lengthwise slightly offset from center where I would sew on all the decorative buttons & cut off the excess once I had them all sewn in place (you can hardly see the solid orange ribbon peeking though)


Tah-Dah!!!!!


 

Sunday, August 8, 2010

A Wedding Gift

Mark your calendars, it's the Month Of Love. Just this month three of my most wonderful friends are getting married to amazing people... two of which got married to each other this weekend! It was the first time in my life that I was equally close to the bride AND the groom, which made me twice as happy! And it's also the first of my guy friends to tie the knot... isn't that odd? It's always been my girlfriends' weddings so far, but funny how it's a totally different feeling to watch one of your guys become a husband.


Caitlyn & Denman's wedding was perfection... it was simple, lovely, & tons of fun. Here are a few photos I stole from friends:




Side Story: I almost broke my nose on the day of the wedding! I was trying to take my bicycle out of my car & something snagged the handlebar which made the other end of the handlebars WHACK! Everything went black & I almost vomited, but luckily no break & I still looked good on the dance floor that night.

I wanted to show you guys the gift I got for them... see it was a little difficult to decide because Denman & Caitlyn aren't like your normal couple. There was no Bed, Bath & Beyond registry, they're a little too down to earth to expect people to buy them a $30 toothbrush holder. So I wanted to get them something original that matched their personalities.

What I came up with was a little artwork... from one very non-artist to two very very talented artists:



If you're trying to figure out what the left piece says, it's "The Rookes est. 2010". I love a new family sharing the same name, it just feels so special & needs to be celebrated. And I made it myself!

The piece to the right is really just an added bonus that I'm not as sentimental about but it's practical. It was a download shared by How About Orange to plan dinners with dry-erase markers. It's not an original from me but I think they'll put it to good use. Frames are second hand.

Very sincere congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Rooke! You both know already how much I love ya' & I couldn't be any happier for you 2 & your brand new wonderful marriage!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Week 26




Back in my sorority days I spent a LOT of time volunteering. It was a community service sorority afterall, so that's pretty much all we did. My favorites were always the blood drives. It was so exciting I'd take the whole day off class! I just love medical stuff so carrying blood across the room or waiting for people to pass out is the BEST! It's a little sick, I know, but next time you give blood I guarantee there's someone like me just hoping you bite it. haha Sorry.

But sometimes we needed people to be less directly involved & go out to get some recruits. That person was our Blood Hound. You  put on the dog suit, walk around the Oak Grove, hand out lollipops & give hugs... for the cause of course.

That's me in the Blood Hound costume. Probably Fall of 2004. The mystery of the Blood Hound was so much fun, I'd hug friends & enemies who had no idea it was me inside. I remember a guy I was kind of seeing (who of course did NOT know I was in the Blood Hound) got a little bit fresh with me & I thought "Hey buddy! You don't know who's in this costume, it could be anyone. It could be a NUN. You're kind of a jerk & I don't like you anymore." So that was the end of that. But it didn't really matter, who needs college boys when you've got 30 sister to love ya!


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Head over to Christopher & Tia to link up with a Flashback of your own!


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Confessions on Obsession

Dear friends & readers & reader-friends, I have a few confessions that I'd like to own up to...

  1. I have an obsessive personality. It's rare that I ever just like something, if I like it I LOVE it & need to know everything about it.

  2. I google too much & can find anything. Seriously anything. It's borderline scary.

  3. I think celebrities are my friends. I love the celeb gossip trash a little too much, take tabloid breakups a little too personally, & crush a little too hard on gorgeous famous men.

  4. I need a life. I spend my time obsessing over very strange things that don't effect me or my life at all.

  5. I'm about to open up a big ol' can of crazy.


I just spent an embarrassingly large portion of my night on a mission to find the truth about this photo...


It would appear to be Matthew Morrison (aka Mr. Schuester from Glee) (aka Fabrizzo from Light in the Piazza) (aka gorgeous man that makes my heart go pitter-patter) making out with a dude. Noooooooooo!


Should I care? No. Does it matter if he claims to be straight & got busted? Nope. Does this effect me in any way whatsoever? Not at all. Am I just a little bit heartbroken? YOU BET.


So I did what I do best... I stalked him online until the truth was revealed. And the truth is: IT'S AN IMPOSTOR! That is not Matthew Morrison. Thank sweet little 8-lbs 2-oz newborn baby Jesus!


I should really be horrified & embarrassed to admit this is how I spend my time, but I'm comfortable enough in my crazy to elaborate even further... Thanks to the dlisted blog for breaking it down for me, they really took a lot of the detective work out of this & probably saved me hours. As you can see by their side-by-side comparison this could not be Matthew Morrison. The impostor lover-boy is missing a mole, has different earlobes & a different hairline.



And tonight I'll be able to sleep soundly knowing that even if I was the last woman on earth who would ever have a chance with a dreamboat like Matthew Morrison, at least I still have 1/2 the population beat because I am a woman & he doesn't like men. That makes me ranked at least at 50%.  *le sigh* Sweet dreams, fellow crazies who actually read through all this nonsense!

Real Food

I'm 3 days into a week long food challenge... only eat real food, unprocessed with nothing unnatural added. It was Mark's idea but we had very different motivations to challenge ourselves. His mostly revolved around wanting to cook big meals with friends from scratch. Mine more revolved around being healthy. I hate to cook & I'm lazy. But I'm hoping that a week long struggle to force myself into planning & cooking fresh things might shift my habits a little. So a visit to the farmer's market was definitely in order.



Doesn't that all look delish?

Last night I made portabellas stuffed with quinoa, broccoli, zucchini, & pepper. I should have taken pictures but I was so proud of myself I just ate it right up! I'm not a great cook... that's quite an understatement... so I'm particularly proud of myself right now.

Yes that is bread you see above, but we're counting anything that has all natural ingredients... things our great-grandparents would recognize as food. So I had a loooong talk with the guy at the market (much to his chagrin, I'm sure) who promised me the flour was unbleached & met all the rest of my standards too. Thank goodness because I don't do well without carbs. Or coffee. Carbs & coffee, mmm.... (Lauren, focus!)

This challenge is coming at the perfect time for me. I'm feeling a little emotional about food. Do you guys ever get like that? I think my friend Emma pointed it out to me how food struggles are harder than most because it's not like you can avoid eating the same way you can avoid bars if you struggle with drinking. You have to eat, but eating right takes so much planning & effort & time in the kitchen. Then again if I devote that much time I start to go a little crazy & over analyze everything & feel guilty about any screw ups, which is also no good & unhealthy. It's a balance.

I guess this is all coming to a head because my Dad is having heart trouble. He'll be just fine, don't worry folks, now that we know what's going on it's all under control. And as it turns out it's more electrical than health related, but for a few days I was SURE this was because he doesn't eat healthy. Beyond doesn't eat healthy, he actually criticizes me when I do eat healthy. Teases me about being on a diet, which I don't consider eating right a new diet... it's just eating. And then a few days later will criticize my weight. What the heck... do you want me to loose weight or eat Chinese Buffet with you because really I can't do both. And at the same time he's diabetic & has had 2 strokes which makes me pretty certain he's going to kill himself with food. So when this new heart thing showed up I was SURE this is the beginning of his downward spiral. Turns out it's not, but it still shook up a lot of emotion. (I'm not even sure I should be sharing all this, but it's how I'm feeling & I'll try to trust you guys with that.)

So it's good timing that for at least this week I have a plan. It'll help me avoid all kinds of emotional eating (overeating, undereating, comfort foods, no calorie/no nutrition foods, the whole spectrum... unlike TV not everyone dives into a tub of Ben & Jerry's when they're emotional.) And like I said at the beginning, I'm hoping to instill some new habits that will last beyond this week. I'm feeling really good about this week-long plan. Day 3 out of 7... check!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Groundhog for Dinner


I remember Dad once telling me how Grandpa shot a groundhog or some similar animal in their shed & served it for dinner back when Dad was just a kid. Well I think I've already explained once or twice that I am most definitely a city girl. Never did I imagine that some day I'd be telling a similar story. Sure I expected to eat strange things in posh restaurants during my lifetime... snails, turtle soup, maybe even grasshoppers... but never groundhog.

"Hey my brother shot a woodchuck the other day. I think we're gonna make curry out of it."

I should have been grossed out or sad. I should have said "Oh no, not Punxsutawney Phil!" For some reason my only response was immediately "Invite me!" Wait, was that my voice? I guess it was because last night I had woodchuck curry. And it was delicious.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Meet Blue

It's just not summer in the city without Blue... (my bicycle)


Friday my car was in the shop & I missed my bus to work so I ended up taking a vacation day... & it was everything a vacation should be. Sunshine, lovely friends, & fresh air. It refreshes the soul a bit. Blue was finally all fixed up & begging to be taken all over town. Plus Lena just returned from a trip to Europe, I can't think of any better way to spend a Friday. Can you?

We headed over to Lawrenceville (5 miles), chatted with friends, then made our way home through the Strip District. (our market area... not strip clubs, I promise) Stopped in Salem's middle eastern market for lunch. YUM and a half! Through downtown & then the jail trail. By the end my legs were sore, it's been a while since Blue & I have had a journey like that. And my ass was killing me! Bike seats take some readjusting. Oye. But it's really a small price to pay for such a lovely day.