i'm too busy dreaming

This weekend was spent relaxing and shopping!

I've been looking for a new main purse for a while now, because my old one is tattered and looking a bit busted. I couldn't really find anything I liked, even though I really only have two qualifications: big enough for my 13" laptop and not black or tan. When I was in Payless on Saturday buying new sneakers -- since my old ones did this a while back:

While I was there, I spied my new bag! It was on sale. It's pretty and pristine...and white. So you know it won't be white for too much longer. But for now, it's pretty and I like it.

(old | new)

(those white patches are where the fake leather has started to crack on the old bag. i know.)

I also spent some time trying on other shoes. I found a pair that I wanted that were on clearance, but couldn't bring myself to buy them because they are navy and they only go with two out of my three pairs of work pants and with very few of my work tops. But when I went back with Nate yesterday to get him some new work shoes, I wound up getting them, and another pair, because I just couldn't leave them sitting on the shelf for $12. I'm wearing them today and trying to get my feet used to wearing heels again, instead of flats. As it is, I'll probably have to alternate whiel I regain some flexibility in the ball of my right foot, which I had surgery on in 2003. My calves are also killing me, which I think is a combination of walking around in these in the store and then walking around in my Toms/sneakers all over downtown. It's just sad. Sad!

In any case, the other pair I bought is tan and meant to replace some old and dirty tan wedges Nate has been trying to get me to throw away for a while.

(new | old)

Not sure if you can tell, but the dark spot on the toes of the old shoes are DIRT. Ew. Showing them to someone besides me and my boyfriend makes me glad I threw them away.

Today is vaguely sunny and it's my friend Leslie's birthday! She is the last of the lifeform to turn 25. We are now, collectively, 100 years old. What a crazy thing to think about!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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I'll leave you with this thought for today:

I think it's a good motto to live by.

-C

Anyone else have a hard time letting things go? (p.s. by "thrown away" I mean, the shoes, bag and a pile of underwear that I really shouldn't be wearing anymore are sitting by the door, waiting to be thrown away. Err...what?)

once you wanted revolution

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oh. em. gee.

those SHOES.

simply, fabulous.

-C

Friday Confessional

Because I have some confessions.

1) I am one of those people who listens to a song a MILLION AND TWO times when I really like it. I've had to stop myself from doing this recently, because I've done it so much in the past that I can't listen to the song anymore. For, like...YEARS. That being said, when I find an album I can listen to all the way through, it makes me do a little dance of joy. So I discovered a song, which lead me to discover the album it comes from. And I've been listening to it at work...on repeat. I've added my current obsession, Withershins by Smoosh (a band made of sisters from Seattle,) so you can play it if you like. And be obsessed, like me.





2) I love to buy food. I buy things even when I know I don't particularly care for them (see: yogurt.) Because I love having options, and I love grocery shopping. And I'm a sucker for trying what other people like (it's a bad idea for me to be reading all these food blog!) And cute advertising. And a sale. Basically, I'm just a sucker!

3) I want to be one of those girls that always looks put together -- has makeup on, has her hair done, has accessories. But usually when I wake up in the morning, I'm sleepy, and all I want to be is comfortable. Conundrum.

4) I kind of want to be famous. Kind of. I go back and forth.

5) I often wear the same pair of jeans for a week without washing them. I do check to make sure they don't smell horrible before I put them on, but...yeah.

6) I have an irrational fear of somebody coming in and stabbing me while I'm in the shower, even when I know all the doors are locked. You know, like in Psycho? When I was younger, I had to have a clear shower curtain, so I could see into the bathroom. Now I've moved past that, but I still freak myself out sometimes and have to stand where I can see both sides of the shower curtain while I'm in there. Which is problematic when you're washing things like your face and you need to close your eyes...

7) I have super dry skin, which is exacerbated by the fact that I love taking really HOT showers. Which makes me itchy, especially in the winter. And I know if I just put on some lotion, I wouldn't be as itchy. But I don't. It's a vicious cycle.

8) I HATE the top sheet. This drives Nate insane, and he keeps asking me why we bought one (uhm...because it comes as a set? helloooo?) I move around a lot when I sleep and wind up tangled in the sheet at points. This leads to me hiding the top sheet under the bed or in the closet, so it doesn't get put on. But I also make the bed most of the time, so...hah!

-C

Do you have confessions? Link 'em here! (or check out some other confessionals at Mamarazzi's!)

floating down the river (top 5 thursdays - music!)

Love this topic! It's hard for me to make a list of only 5 songs, but here goes:

(excuse me while I sit here and stare at things for five minutes because this is HARD for me. UGH.)

1. I Want it That Way (Backstreet Boys)

This song is for my sister. Because it's our song. We would sing it to eachother, upstairs in Browning (our houses were known by their street names, because my parents bought houses as our family got bigger, and then kept the old ones and rented them out -- we were not super rich, I promise.) We would text eachother when it came on the radio. We occasionally just text eachother the opening lines. Because it is ours. We're not even really that big of Backstreet Boys fans...

2. Wannabe (Spice Girls)

Because seriously, what girl didn't want to be a Spice Girl? My best friend, Jess, and I used to dance around to this song. We knew all the words. I was Ginger Spice, because I had red hair, and she was Scary Spice because, well...she looks kind of like Scary Spice. ;)

3. Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

So this song isn't all that old, but it reminds me of first hanging out with Nate before we were dating. Specifically, the first time we went dancing with the other memebers of our a cappella group (where we met,) this song came on. We got fed up with not knowing the words to this "new" song and told the other person we would have it memorized by the next time we went dancing. The rest is history!

4. Call on Me (Eric Prydz)

I didn't discover this song until college, when it was played pretty much every Tuesday 80's night at AJ's on the roofdeck dancefloor. AJ's is nasty, but it's where I gained some of my best friends in college and discovered my love for ridiculous 80's powerpop. And seriously, the roof deck would sway if too many people were up there. And if you started jumping up and down -- because that's what you do to 80's songs -- they turned off the music until everyone stopped, so we didn't go crashing down through the roof of the building below. Now, I just get all dancy when I hear this song. I wish it would last forever

5. For Good (Wicked)

This song reminds me of my friend Megan. She's very far away now, and getting married next year. We aren't as close as we used to be, but I love her. Back when we met in high school and were roommates freshman year of college, this was going to be the closing song of our senior recital. Well, we never really got there. But this song (really this whole musical) reminds me of her. She helped me grow up, and be stronger than I thought I could be. We were ridiculous.

I have so many more I could put here: Africa (Toto,) Our Children (Ragtime,) Ironic (Alanis Morisette,) The Luckiest (Ben Folds,) The Next Ten Minutes (The Last Five Years.)  I have so many memories, associated with so many things because I live my life through music. It's part of being a musician. =)

Wanna do this and link up? Go here!

-C

(I was trying to think of songs that reminded me of all three of my best friends from high school, and I couldn't come up with anything that wasn't choral. I have individual songs: Cotton Eyed Joe -- Jessamyn, you know what I'm talkin' about; The Rose - for my Leslie...do you guys remember anything I'm missing?)

concrete jungle where dreams are made

Empire State of Mind always reminds me of my friend Zoe. She's from LA, but moved to Boston for a year or so (where I met her,) before she moved up to NYC. Now she works for Food Network (! -- that exclamation point represents my seething jealousy.) And she does a mean Alicia Keys impersonation.

Last night out before Nate and I left on our adventure!

We are both from non-snowy places, so we get real excited about snow.

I've decided that there's no point in checking the weather for any reason other than the temperature here in Seattle, because it was supposed to rain all day yesterday and it didn't do anything until about 6PM, when it decided to thunderstorm and hail, as Nate and I were walking home from the grocery store. Today was supposed to be mostly sunny, and it's been raining since I left the house at 7:45 this morning.

I love grocery shopping, but sometimes going to the grocery store (especially on Sundays, when it's a made house) makes me feel like this:

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Hehe.

In any case, we made burritos last night for dinner, because our fridge is malfunctioning and likes to freeze things. So I asked Nate to put the chicken that was in the freezer in the fridge to defrost and it didn't. So we used the ground beef we got, instead. I cooked up some mushrooms, onions and yellow corn to put as the filling (Nate added green peppers and jalapenos -- so spicy!) and we stuffed it inside burrito shells with some iceberg lettuce and cheddar cheese. It was super delicious, and there was plenty left over, so I have the makings for a taco salad for lunch!

In other news, I got my beauty bag from Target! Free things rock my life.

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You can never have too many small makeup bags! I also love the book of coupons and the extra moisteurizing chapstick and lotion (because I am always extra dry-skinned.) The only thing I'm not positive I'll use is the hot pink lip gloss sample. My lips are naturally pretty pink, so I don't like to add a whole lot of color to them. (And by 'not use,' I mean I'll probably put it on at home, decide it's way too much color and take it off before I leave the house.)

Also, I always read about people bookmarking things, and I'd like to take this time to mention my favorite way to bookmark: SVPPLY

Basically, it's like a feed for your 'want to buy's, with an easy-to-install bookmark app that allows you to add things from outside sources to your feed. You can also follow people and see what they're adding, and add them if you like their taste! I can't share my feed on here, because I use it to keep track of things I think would make good gifts for people, but I did find that grocery bag on the site. So check it out! (and if you really want to see my feed, you can e-mail me.

-C

keep drinking coffee (ten on tuesday)

Lovelies, I have not even had a moment to breathe since we got back. Our flight out of Atlanta on Monday evening was delayed an hour and a half -- just long enough to make us miss our connecting flight in Houston. They put us on the next flight with no hassle whatsoever, but it meant instead of getting into Seattle at 9:30PM, we got in at 12:30AM. Which is about 20 minutes too late for the last train back to the city, so we had to take a cab. We pretty much got home, dumped our stuff and fell into bed. When we have an entry up on the travel blog, I'll let you know! For now:

Ten on Tuesday! (brought to you by the lovely Chelsea)

1. What is your idea best date?
I love the thought of surprising someone with a show, concert, game, etc. that they really would love to attend but didn't buy tickets to. I know I'd love a surprise Ben Folds concert, ya know? However, I'm also partial to driving dates. Where you drive for a while, and then park in a spot and just talk. This works best at night, when you can see the stars and there aren't many people around where you go. A deserted park at night is just so romantic. =)


2. How long does it take you to get ready to go on a date?
About the same amount of time it takes me to get ready to go out to anything I feel deserves makeup and hair doing -- 30 minutes? Makeup: 10 minutes, Hair: 10-15 Minutes, Clothes: 5-10 minutes? It depends. Most of the time I don't do my hair, cause I'm lazy.

3. What would you wear on the date?
It depends on the date, but usually jeans and a nice top. I like to be comfy, especially if I don't know the person very well. Once we start getting a little serious, then I break out the fancy stuff.

4. If you are married, how often do you go on dates? If you are single, when was your last date?
Hah! Well...we went out to dinner and to a wedding this last weekend, does that count?

5. What was your worst date?
I've never really had a bad date, I don't think. I haven't been on many dates, though...normally I just start dating the person exclusively. And then even if the date is bad, the person is awesome, so it doesn't matter!

6. Do you/Did you kiss on your first date?
Sometimes? Usually. I don't like that awkward 'before the first kiss' tension =P

7. If married, how long before you knew he/she was the one? If single, how long before you know if the person is marriage material?
I usually know pretty quickly. I knew with Nate within a month. Because after it was new, it was still awesome.

8. Do you prefer day dates or night dates?

I don't have a preference. Recently, I've become an old lady, and I like going to bed early, but I still enjoy a good night-time date. And I also love being able to spend the entire day with a person, and have a day date continue into the night. Those are the best.

9. How old were you when you first were allowed to date?

I remember going on my first date in 8th grade, but I don't remember ever having an age where I was "allowed" to start dating. I didn't really have a huge interest in it until 8th grade, so maybe that's why.

10. What is the most embarassing moment you have had on a date?
This is another thing I've never really experienced. I like to have a good time on dates, so if that means I have to laugh at myself, I can handle it. I've been fortunate.

Reppin' the 404

Hey y'all! Currently waiting to board a plane in Atlanta after an awesome weekend! Will post more soon!

-C