Peepish

I have been feeling pretty peepish these days.
 
What is peepish you say?
 
Well watch the first part of this. It may illustrate "peepish" for you.
 

 
So clearly I have felt like I am expanding. You know how it goes. It gets colds. You get cuddly. I just get cuddly by packing on warmth with my own layers rather than sweaters!
 
After our Utah Thanksgiving and three days of skiing (more on this later!) I felt pretty good about well I did on the slopes. The few days of activity doing something I love really got me motivated to get to running.
 
I've been pretty good in getting to the gym after work and putting on down some miles each night. It is amazing how quickly any glimmer of being in shape can disappear if you don't keep up your routine. Luckily, I am getting my legs under me, and each run feels better and better! Hopefully with more skiing around the corner I will keep motivated and will defeat that microwaved peep feeling!

Surprises

I love a good surprise. I don't need them all the time, and they hold a level of specialness if they are kind of rare.
 
There are some marked moments in my life where someone really knocked my socks off and here they are with my latest surprise that is beyond exciting.

The first surprise that makes some of my top lists was an Easter morning when I was maybe 6/7 (maybe younger?). A week or two before Easter I had been at the Albertson's (Boise's main grocery store when I was a wee little one) and up near the cash registers there were stuffed animals hanging from poles where they had the magazines, gum and all that good stuff. There was a GIANT yellow bunny, that was holding a bright orange carrot. For whatever reason I was enamoured with this fluffy monstrosity of a rabbit. Sadly, despite my pleading, bargaining and possible tantrum (mom I hope I wasn't that bad!) we left with only groceries and no bunny. Pretty sure I would never see him again, I moved on.

Easter morning came around and in my family we get some pretty elaborate Easter baskets. Candy and a few gifts from the "Easter Bunny". My sister had gotten a pretty awesome gift (maybe shoes? maybe a sweatshirt?) and I had finished opening my basket so I headed off to the TV room. I came around the corner to sit in the chair I always curled up in annnddddd..... THERE WAS THE GIANT YELLOW BUNNY!!

I grabbed that giant bunny, trucked on out to the dining room with a huge smile and felt like my little child heart would just burst with love and delight!

Now I still have the giant bunny, so clearly this surprise really stuck with me!

Much later down the road I was gearing up for that epic birthday where you cross the threshold into complete freedom and become a legal, card carrying, alcohol purchasing 21 year old. Originally my sister and I had talked about her flying to Seattle to possibly celebrate with me and for whatever reason, plans kind of fell through and I planned a big shindig with 20ish of my sorority sisters, friends, and business school peeps. I was kind of sad Nicole wasn't going to be there, but I also knew I had tons of great friends to celebrate with.

A huge group of people came (which was horribly flattering!) and we started to take seats around the various tables that had been reserved just for us. There was a chair in the middle of the table that I decided to take, and when a friend asked if they could sit next to me, my sorority sister, Carly, practically jumped out of her chair with a "NO! We are...umm...putting gifts there". I was like " Say whhhhaaatttt?". Regardless, I just started to get settled in for a yummy dinner and while finding a place for my purse I caught a glimpse of someone familiar walking into the room. Then it hit me! It was NICOLE!

Carly had contacted my sister after I had told her I was bummed that I wouldn't get to have Nicole celebrate with me and they crafted a very sneaky surprise to have Nicole surprise me. It has gone down as by far one of my favorite birthdays.

Now these have both been some of the best surprises, for various reasons, but lately someone else added to my list of great surprises people have done for me.

It was a few Saturdays ago, and I was in the mood to just be kind of alone and opted to camp out at my favorite coffee shop for the morning. N had mentioned heading to REI that day, and I was dragging my feet as I was just enjoying some of that quiet time and feeling a little homesick by myself. After a sufficient amount of time sipping coffee, reading blogs, devouring a cupcake and people watching, I finally let him know I was headed home and would be up to go to REI if he wanted. He said he was and that I should come over and meet him at his apartment.

When I arrived, he let me get down the hallway from his entrance and then says "I have a surprise for you, but you have to close your eyes". So I squeeze my eyes tight, and he steers me into his room, for me to open my eyes to feast on these beauties:

 
 EEEEK! I still can't get over it! I love them so much! When we went to Colorado last year to ski together (btw...huge step in a relationship :) ) I got to demo these for a day and I loved them. For months I had tried to find a pair I could afford, and sadly just couldn't squeeze them into my budget. Lucky for me, I have a very very very thoughtful, and loving guy in my life who even wrapped them in a big red ribbon and bow. Oh! Did I mention he had my family ship my new ski boots out and he put my favorite candy (nerds ropes!) in each boot! Ah-mazing! Talk about a Merry Christmas for me!

What have been some of your favorite surprises? Do you like surprises? I can say that some people reallllly don't like them.

If you want to read about a blog friend's post on surprises today you can check out Newlymeds and her experience with a surprise party for her sister!

ps. When I am home I will try to take a picture of the bunny. He is REALLY epic.

Baby on Board!

For the Royals that is....

Christmas came early, when Wills and Kate announced that they are expecting today!

I could not be more excited for the royal couple and the future babe! If you are anything like me you practically fell out of your chair at work today with giddy excitement. I loved having multiple people tell me I was the one to break the news to them and how it "was fitting it came from me".

I love me some Wills and Kate! Congrats to the happy couple and if you've heard, we can hope that Kate will be feeling much better soon after some nasty morning sickness!

Now if you will excuse me I need to figure out what I am going to send them as a baby gift and also start a Pintrest board on all things baby I think Kate should have! Oh, and I need to get my ad up to be their au pair. I also need to figure out how to make sure that my offspring will be eligible for an arranged marriage, or to study abroad with the little royal!

Ballet Fashion and Reading

I love anything ballerina themed: parties, movies, cakes, art, and clothes. I could get suckered into buying just about anything if it looks like a tutu or leg warmers. Ruche just released a look book all ballerina and all me recently. I can't tear my eyes away from these awesome images!

I love a soft grey and pale pink paired together. Timeless and classic. Also love that high necked meshy white leotard! Classy look!

Love the stripes, but more so love the meeting or urban and classical here. Pointe shoes meet concrete. My hearts goes lubdub.

Red shoes (nice historical tip of the hat if you ask me). Tulle skirt. Glitter. Low knotty bun. Yes. Yes. And some more yes.

In other dance related news I have started reading Apollo's Angels looking at the social history of dance. I saw this book almost two years ago now, and I am just not getting it on my reading list. In the first 35 pages it has given me more to think about regarding ballet than I have mulled over in a long time. It is a meaty read. Not really leisure reading. Thought provoking and educational. If you like that sort of thing when it comes to dance.

(Also when I took French in high school I went through a few years were I would spell danse. How refined of me!)

 

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Cake Art

It has been awhile since there has been any wedding inspiration around these parts. That baking binge I was on for awhile required my attention to be focused on recipes and different kinds of cheese (but more on that later). A slow afternoon allowed me to stumble across a NY Magazine article showing cakes that were inspired by art. Considering some cakes can end up being a monstrosity of fondant, pipping and embellishments, these were refreshing, and would add a touch of personality to the big day.

( via NYMag)

Another cake that really caught my eye lately had nothing to do with weddings, but the flavor and frosting looked amazing.Not to mention the mini marzipan animals were too cute. It was featured in an issued of Martha Stewart Living (oh Martha, be still my heart) a few months ago, and every time I flip through the article I think how I need to try to make the basic cake recipe but also how I need a lot of money, a swanky place to hold a one year olds birthday, and a one year old!

(All images from the Martha Stewart Living October 2012 Issue)

Anyone else dying to have those little animals on a cake. So cute. I love.

 

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