I love you. but...

I love you blogworld. But...


my parents are in town.


And I think I love spending time with them more.

Which means Memory Monday and all posting is suspended until they fly back into the western sunset later this week.

Please don't take offense! I will be back soon to tell you all about my adventures with them!

In the meantime, go to Love Love Love and check out the Peanut in his palm Sunday outfit!

Sending some Love Love Love

Not only is this the title of one of my favorite songs by Tristian Prettyman it is also the title of my sister's new BLOG!!! That's right, now I legitimately have a "sister blog". A brief introduction of one of the people I love most in the world.

Nicole is my older sister and she lives on the other side of the country (or shall we say the "right" side of the country?). Anyways, Nicole is beautiful (gorgeous! But taken...sorry guys...and like really taken....as in check out the bling on her left hand taken), athletic (runs, bikes, hikes, skis, rafts, kayaks, etc, etc.) , amazingly smart and talented (architect), and mom to the most adorable baby you will ever lay eyes on! Little Peanut is seriously the biggest joy I have ever experienced in my life (yes I know, not even my child) but he is a blessing and she is such a great mom (and J is a great dad!) to him!

That is a super quick overview of Nicole the person. Nicole as a sister...

is amazing.

So go get yourself some LOVE LOVE LOVE and go check out her blog. Blog readers meet Nicole; Nicole meet my blog readers.

This is a super bad photo (photo of a photo) but this was when we were in Victoria for my graduation celebration and Nicole and I found all these stuffed animals and we started taking pictures holding their hands, high fiving them, attacking them, etc and there is a series of them. Pretty darn cute we are!

The Family Takes on DC

Today is the big day!!



My mom and dad are coming to visit me in DC!!! My mom came out last March with her good friend Victoria, who is Ben's mom and I had a great time with them here last year. Now that both my parents are going to be here I am so excited to show them around my new neighborhood and show them the city. I don't believe my dad has ever been to DC, so there is a lot to show him! I did have some trouble getting tickets to do all the touristy things- but I think we will manage to stay busy while they are here.



Some things I would really like to get to show them and are on the agenda:



Capitol tour (minus me which is okay since I have done it 5 times now)

Smithsonians (minus me as well-work calls)

Air and Space out by Dulles (excited since I have never been)

National Cathedral Tour

Tour of my office (for my dad)

See the White House (Bo I hope you are outside playing!)

Arlington National Cemetery maybe?

Old town Alex/Mount Vernon?

Spy Museum?

Newseum?

Archives?

Of course we will do the monuments and memorials



I am tentatively planning a dinner at my apartment for us to have a night in and so they can see my new living situation (since I adore it!)



I really can hardly control my excitement! My family really is great, and while I am sure we are dysfunctional like every other family out there- I love 'em! Counting down the hours till I pick them up at the airport!

Twirly Skirts

I was checking out the Wedding Section over at MarthaStewart unwinding from a generally insanely busy day. I saw these stunning dresses and just thought I would share. These are both stunning! I love the skirts on both of them. I am starting to find that I really like the really textured, visually eye-catching skirts on wedding dresses. The only thing about the one on the left is that the top piece of fabric looks a bit like a napkin since the point is facing directly down. (nothing that alterations couldn't fix) The one of the right reminds me of frosting. Beautifully delish!

Also if you are looking to amuse yourself for a bit and indulge that attraction to wedding stuff head over to theknot.com and try out their "inner bride" tool. This is what I created the other day:

11 Things Men Don't Know...I am sure it is more than 11!

So MSN had this on their homepage today: 11 Secrets Men Don't Know About Women. Some of the highlights:

1. Women don't like explosions- in art of life.
6. A clean apartment will get you more bedroom antics than you'd think.
9. Every woman like wedding stuff. Even lesbians.
11. Women would rather be with you. We like you. Honestly, we talk about you all the time.

And now for 11 things men might not know about me.

1. Cook with me....and I'm yours
2. If you clean...I'm attracted.
3. If you thank me for cleaning...you are a keeper.
4. I like the finer things in life but I much prefer a night in with a movie and a pizza with beer.
5. It is really cute when you walk on the outside of the sidewalk and you make sure you aren't leaving me in the dust with my short little legs.
6. Don't you dare play iPhone if I am crying.
7. If I am "organizing" --it is bad. It means I am trying to find control so I don't lash out.
8. Don't ever say "What now"
9. If you need to ask me what engagement ring I want...I'll say no.
10. You better be able to change a tire, unclog a toilet and kill spiders. I can do all these things, but I would rather not.
11. If it involves Creme Brulee...you better let me have the last bite.

What does the opposite sex not know about you?

Memory Monday: Pick-Up Lines Continued

This memory is courtesy of Carly over at Life's Lemons and Limes and her comment on my last post about my crazy elevator adventure the other day.

One of my favorite places to study in college was the University Village Starbucks . It is my understanding that this location is the most heavily trafficked Starbucks location in the world (even over the original location by Pike Place). This could totally be UW urban legends taking form, but I buy it since it was always an adventure to find a table to sit at. When you would go in you would first have to scout for a table by watching people's every move to see if they were about to leave and then staking your claim by unpacking all of your study materials and then go get in line to get your beverage.

My late nights at Starbucks usually involved a sorority sister and this particular night I convinced Carly to keep me company while I "studied". I vaguely remember Carly was working on a crossword and I was reading for Philosophy of Dance class (amazing class, by far one of my favorites in the UW dance department) but we were also bitching about men and I was venting my frustrations about my then long distance relationship.

There were two guys sitting next to us and they occasionally offered a word for Carly's crossword puzzle. The night wore on, we bitched, we studied, we worked on that crossword and the hours just ticked on by. The boys next to us decided to leave and one of them comes over, slides a piece of paper with his name and number on it over to me and says a horribly provocative and revolting pick-up line (I would be ashamed to document it here) but use your most gross disgusting imaginations and you might come close to what he said.

Needless to say Carly and I just about had our jaws detach. It was unbelievable! Granted I seem to have a knack for picking up guys in Starbucks (definitely ended up dating a guy I met in Starbucks) and to this day I still tend to find myself making some odd connections in Starbucks. But this might top all of my Starbucks experiences.

Horrible Elevator Encounter

A quick little story for your Friday amusement.

Yesterday I was headed to an HR professional development lunch that meets every month. I was wearing the safari skirt and a black top, big-ass-jason(coworker)-would-say-don't-f-with-me-sunglasses, rocking my gorgeous green bag, legs-for-days (as much as you can being 5 feet tall) in my favorite wedges, and generally looking like a woman on a mission. I sign it to the building and head to the elevator bank where I holler for a guy who just got in to hold the door. The following conversation resulted:

"What's goin' on on the 7th floor?"

"A HR professional development lunch"

"Oh really? And you belong to this?"

"Yes"

"Maybe I should come develop myself with you"

O. M. G.

Did that really just come out of your mouth sir. And we are not talking about some eligible bachelor type who I would have accepted and after work drink invitation from. We are talking about someone who most likely had children and no business saying such a comment. Never mind the fact that it was sleazy, slimy, and so NOT the way to woo me.

So my own business version of a Greys Anatomy elevator scene...fail.

Channeling my Inner Carrie

image courtesy of MizPosh

So it appears that our internet is back up and running strong. Amen! So we are back in business and I have some serious blogging to make up for!

Not sure if it is the fabulous weather we are having in DC (I'll explain more in a minute), or just a Q1 crisis manifesting, but last week I was just kind of an emotional flailing windmill of emotion. (The weather thing is like this (thank you Erin for helping me identify this): but it gets really nice out and you starting thinking about being outside and doing outside activities, which usually include people, so then you think about people you miss and then the places you miss follow there after)

Maybe I am making this up, but I vaguely remember a Sex and the City episode where Carrie discusses if "Women can have it all". (Or maybe this is me clumping together the entire plot of Cashmere Mafia) anyways...I think I am having an Carrie moment with my life. I am finding myself asking "Can I have it all? Can anyone have it all? What is "all"?".

Interestingly I believe my sister while I was home had made a impromptu NYR to not use the phrase "You can't have it all", but we later decided to just not use it as often. So here I am evaluating my life, looking at what I "have" and what I "want" and what I "need". All very vague, self defined, and subjective terms and things to evaluate.

Here is what has been dashing through my head. Here. Now. I am happy. I have made friends in DC. I have a steady job that I enjoy at a normal level. And I have learned more and grown more in the last year and a half than I ever could have imagined. Here. Now. I also miss my family. I miss my sister. I miss my nephew and worry that I will regret being here, rather than watching him grow up. What kind of an Aunt sees her only nephew ever 6-7 months! (Not a good one that is for sure). I know that I can not always live out here, I miss people too much. BUT I have a split personality (Thank you very much Gemini) and part of me is a sentimental, hopeless romantic who believes that all ends well, and relationships are the central, pivotal, revolving point for life. And then the other side of me is hungry. Hungry for a career where I see a difference, where people value what I do, see value, feel value and need me. And as I write this I can see how many people would say "Well these two things CAN go together, in fact they could be one in same". True. Easier said than done blogworld.

I am struggling with what decisions I am making "for myself" and what decisions I am making "for others", and if there really are such ways to categorize decisions.

Some more things I feel rather sure of right now. I got something I never thought I would get. I am constantly surprised at the fact that not only have I survived out in DC, after a breakup that was the sole reason I moved here, but I thrived and have really grown into a person that I am comfortable with. Proud of in fact.

But can we Have it all?

Is it a myth? Can we be the women who are loved, love, who are successful, martha-stewarts at home, fashionable, fun, outgoing, driven, family oriented, and there for every person who we love and cherish in our lives? In Sex and the City terms maybe I am looking to blend Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and a dash of Samantha ;) ?

Is anyone else scared for when I turn 25? If this is my 23 yr old crisis I can only wait to see what the 1/4 life crisis will look like!

Bear With Me!

Our internet has decided to rebel and become non-responsive at my apartment. Posting will be limited until I magically figure out how to correct it, or I throw the router out the window and start again. Memory Monday to come!
Image courtesy of The Confluence

Ballet-Inspired

In my nightly perusal of Martha Stewart Weddings I stumbled across the section on Ballet Inspired Weddings. Here are some of my favorite inspirations:
Photos courtesy of MarthaStewart.com

And yes if I did a ballet inspired wedding, my bridesmaids would have to wear point shoes. I am sure that just discouraged a lot of you from wanting to remain friends with me.

Spring is in the Air

It has been absolutely stunning outside the last few days. I got to rock my new ensemble from Target (brown leggings, teal skirt, navy blue tank and a white cardigan, complete with pearls of course!) *note to self: time to go buy more spring/summer clothes!

This weather reminds me of one of my favorite past times in Seattle:

Greenlake!

This is one of my favorite places in Seattle. Just a short walk/drive from UW's campus there is a beautiful little lake with a great walking path, tons of people with dogs and friends. Starbucks and a cute wading pool that little kids play in during the hot summer months. I used to love going to Greenlake, grabbing a cup of coffee and strolling around the path with my friends, chatting and gossiping like sorority girls do.

On a sun day in Seattle this is such a great spot to go people watching, read a book in the grass, go for a run, hang out with friends, rate people's dogs on a scale of cuteness and even rent a paddle boat! You also tend to ALWAYS run into someone you know which is something I love. Or you might just see Dave Matthews with dog.

I have fond memories at Greenlake and even when I go back to Seattle to visit I request to go walk the lake with my friends.

photo courtesy of: Idealog

With my ladies my last trip to Seattle

I am in Heaven

Right now (yes this VERY instant) I am savoring my first attempt at homemade macaroni and cheese.

It.

Is.

Delish.

I am totally ok now with the extravagant amount of money I had to spend on cheese for this delightful spoonful of flavor. And sadly I will have to talk myself into eating craft macaroni and cheese ever again.

Not only am I really enjoying the final product of this recipe. I also have to say there was ZERO talent needed to make it AND the amount of effort was fairly minimal.

I feel like there are endless possibilities for mac n' cheese recipes so I am excited to keep trying some more. But for now, I really suggest you try this one. My delish meal ended up looking something like this:

Memory Monday

Freshman year I was picked to be my chapters Miss Greek representative for the annual Miss Greek pageant. Now before you double over in laughter, or write me off as a pageant queen let me tell you...it was HARD work! We had a fundraising goal of $7,000 and when you are a full time student you hardly have time to find $7,000. My chapter also had some strange rules about contacting alum and what not, but my chapter got behind me %100 and somehow from all the random fundraising events we did, we had one of our best years for the pageant!

My pledge class helped organized a date auction. The living room of my house was packed! Guys sitting EVERYWHERE! The girls got really into their costumes and we had everything from Barbie to a sexy scientist. We all got to pick a song and had a witty introduction read about us, and then the bidding began! Needless to say we raised A LOT of money that night! I really hope I thanked my pledge class enough for supporting me and putting themselves through this!

In the end we didn't win any of the awards that year for Miss Greek, but we raised a lot of money, I had a ton of fun being our representative and teaming up with Carly to show off my fiddling skills (yes, that is right...I play the fiddle. I am from Idaho. I am pretty cool. I know.)

Martha Martha Martha

I feel like I had a fairly productive weekend (granted NOTHING got checked off of my personal to do list. sigh.) running errands, taking care of puck, cleaning, etc..

Reader's Digest Version:

Friday night I enjoyed some comfort food.

Saturday I met up with a friend for lunch, battled target, B&N, Pier 1, and pretty much any other suburbanite store you can think of. Then enjoyed a cup of chai at Buzz (which I miss! One sad thing about leaving my apartment in VA).Saturday night I had coworker/friend(s) come over to partake in some wine and watching wedding crashers.

This morning I was up earlier than I usually am on weekends, which actually was very nice (despite the fact that my eye lids are heavy right now) but I took care of Puck and the ran some more errands (i.e. grocery store, paper source, macys, and also got to watch the Caps practice for a bit while I was in Ballston). I also had a ADPi Board Meeting tonight and then came home, drank some wine and baked some cookies. I also managed to watch Julie and Julia today which I have wanted to see for quite some time.

To touch on something that has changed my life:

Photo Courtesy of Macys.com

I bought three of these, one small, medium and one large for my flour, sugar and brown sugar. Naturally Martha would have such a great product! Airtight, easy grip side for pouring, the measuring cups are awesome (never wash a measuring cup for flour again!) and I love the teal/turquoise! They aren't as visually appealing as the jars I used from IKEA but I think much more practical and were a good investment for a long time to come.

I certainly did not have enough weekend! I could use 3-4 days to just relax and work on that personal to do list! Especially when the weather is so spectacular!

Do What Makes You Happy

Never mind the fact that this is the first time in my young adult life that I can kind-of-sort-of-pretend-to-support-myself but I am half (ok almost all the way) thinking that giving that up to be Jamie Meares intern. If I could move to NC overnight I would beg this woman to let me be her minon. Honestly...she is a design genius. I am planning a pilgrimage to her store that recently opened and sports some of the most amazing furniture, accessories and design items I have ever laid eyes on. Mrs. Meares...consider this my application:

I think you are awesome. You also own the Giraffe measuring spoons from anthro. which when I saw in one of your pictures I knew I was going to blog crush. I think I am pretty awesome too. I think being your intern would be a turning point to finally do something I love.

So if you are thinking a remote intern could benefit you in anyway, shape or form. I say "Pick me. Choose me. Please. Please." Legitimately...I would love being your intern.

Well if you want to try to beat me out of my dream internship...head over to isuannee right now and steal Jamie away from. I will forgive you. Maybe. Someday. Not.

Driving me crazy!

My skin feels like this:

Image from here

Scary I know!

And it doesn't matter how much of this:

http://www.thebodyshop.com

The "nut" fragrances are my favorites!

I put on, my skin just sucks it up like a dry sponge!

Maybe this will help?

image courtesy of Deal Finding Chick

International Badge Day- Memory Monday

So today was International Badge Day so naturally I had to rock my ADPi pin to work. So I put on my cute new dress, curled my hair and rocked the pin like my presidency days. So in combination of International Badge Day AND Memory Monday (yes I know, a bit late today) I am going to write about my bid day experience.

Recruitment was awful! No one tells you (well at least no one told me!) that finding a sorority is usually not the most enjoyable experience.

I started out optimistic, thinking that I was bound to end up in my sister or my mom's houses...and quickly discovered that it just wasn't going to be a "mutually beneficial" fit. I called my mom more times than I care to remember crying that I had made the wrong decision to go to school at UW and really made the wrong decision to join a house. Bless my mom and her judgement, but the next thing I know my mom tells me that my sister was driving over from school in Idaho where she was in graduate school at the time to be with through the rest of recruitment.

I remember waking up the morning of bid day and my sister and I went to a Starbucks in UVille and I was so nervous I could hardly eat. Out of my three houses I had left, I knew which one I wanted to be in, and deep down I knew that I wouldn't say yes to the other two. Nicole was so sweet and counselled me through the whole morning.

Standing on the stairs that going down into the big beautiful quad on UW's campus I remember getting handed my bid card. Frantically I ripped open the white envelope when they said "go" and frantically started reading my bid card. There were screams all around me and girl running to their respective houses banners that were set up on the lawn. I read, re-read, and re-re-read my bid card thinking "what the heck! What house am I in?". Unfortunately ADPi didn't have the most straightforward bid cards! My bid card said "Alpha Theta Chapter" which is the chapter of ADPi "invites you...blah blah blah"...well thank goodness I finally figured it out!

My wonderful sister caught the whole experience on camera as I ran to my house and put on my matching t-shirt and joined the girls that I had no idea would end up being some of the best friends I would ever know.

After the run, yes a literal run to the house and all the millions of photos that get taken, my sister helped me go back to the dorm and load up all of my stuff to take back to my sorority. Once I got moved in my sister had to head back to Idaho in time for classes and studying and I said a teary goodbye. (I am the most homesick/sentimental person!).

Later after starting to put away my worldly belongings I found a card tucked inside my purse.

I have kept the card to this day, and now it is in my office to remind me that I am "simply fabulous". But inside the card my sister included the letter she had sent to her sorority recommending me as a sister. To be honest, I am not sure I have ever read that letter to this day and not gotten completely choked up with tears.

After all that drama it is so amazing to see that I ended up joining an amazing chapter, made amazing friends, had a wonderful 4 years living in the chapter house, became president, and still love calling myself an ADPi! And while I love my sisters, I have to say that my real sister made all the difference and I owe it to her that I did end up having such a great sorority experience!

My pin that I rocked today to represent! Like It, Love it Alpha Alpha Delta Pi!