life. or something like it.

i've been busy. busy running (i'm up to 10 miles for my long runs now.) busy working (writing copy for clients that include Sonic, 24 Hour Fitness and Dawn Foods.) busy eating ( a mostly-vegan, all-vegetarian diet.) busy being a wife ( five months next week.) busy being a sister (my sister is on bed-rest, i threw her a baby shower. my brother is in town from israel. with my pregnant sister-in-law. threw them a baby shower, too.) busy being a dog mom (lots of walks and treats.) and mostly, busy living life. remembering what it feels like to have a full-time job. remembering how to fit in running and eating and relaxing and wine-drinking and tv-watching and reading and church and small group and god and family and haircuts and a 40 plus hour-a-week job that i love. really, i love it.

have i told you that?

so i guess you could say i'm busy being blessed. but i hope to be around here more often.

stay tuned.

failing.

i am a bad vegan.

i like cheese too much. and m&ms.
actually, screw 'liking' m&ms. i love them. i am IN love with them.

avoiding meat, however, is easy.

i don't like it that much. it's heavy. and makes me feel icky.

but if i was presented with a bowl full of cheese sprinkled with m&ms, i'd probably eat it.
well, i might stick it into the microwave first and get things all gooey and melty. and then, then i'd eat it.

because i can't say no to cheese.
or milk chocolaty, candy-coated goodness.

there is nothing new under the sun.

or

all art is theft.


one's picasso.
one's from the bible.

both make you think.

thoughts on aging.

i looked at a picture of myself yesterday and i had a panic attack.
seriously.
there was just something about my face looking older. the way faces get when they start to mature into their last several decades of life. and then there was my hair. which is neither cute nor stylish right now. and it was just kind of hanging there around my mature-looking face. hanging there as if to say that i'm now too mature for a cute, fun hairstyle. and i probably should not wear shorts anymore.

but it's summer. and it's too hot for pants. at least on the weekends.
so i panic-attacked. and b talked to me. telling me the most loving, supportive things. and i cried because i feel so disconnected from my body. i go run 9 miles and then wonder why my body would be sore. or i look at a photo of myself, almost 31, and wonder why i would be starting to look older. my mind has just begun to accept my 21-year-old body and now i'm turning 31 and my mind is a decade behind.

why?

yearning for fall.

i'm sitting on the screened-in enjoying the 70-degree weather and debating whether or not to make oven fries tonight. oven fries or left-over quinoa salad. that i put way too much vegetable broth in this time so it's sorta soupy and sorta gross. although, b likes it.

he said he likes it better soupy.

he's cute.

i'm also sipping sauvignon blanc. i get a 10 percent discount at cellar rat now because of my new job, so that's been pretty great.

what's also good to know is that spin (the pizza place) sells one of my favorite wines by the bottle for only $3 over retail. that's pretty good. you know, for when you want a bottle of wine with your pizza. which is every time i go.

so this weather today is amazing. i wore a cardigan to the office because it's always cold in the office and i got to keep it on all day - even when i walked to my car. outside. in the same neighborhood that, mere days ago, had a heat index of 110.

tomorrow it will be hot again.

but today, today is reminding me of fall.
and i'm anticipating scarves and boots and warm apple cider. soup and casserole and cozy pajamas in front of the fireplace. toasting marshmallows that i may or may not make by hand and stacking them onto graham crackers that i swear i'll make from scratch. all squishing a perfectly melted chocolate bar. and maybe, just maybe, sprinkled with a pinch of sea salt.

because that is how i roll.

a few shots from this week.

just like in mid-december.

it's the mid-august blahs.

the it's-too-hot-to-go-outside blahs.
the there-are-three-million-mosquitoes-in-the-yard blahs
the even-the-screened-in- is scortching blahs.

so these nights are boring.

because watching tv gets old.
so does being on the computer.
reading.
cooking.
eating.
drinking wine. (what?) yes, it does.

so we need a project.

our idea: restoring old furniture.

we have a corner in our bedroom that needs bookshelves and a reading chair.

so we want to find vintage ones to make uniquely ours.

but we've never done this before.

this could get interesting...

obsessed.

things i love (the august 2010 edition.)

air conditioning
ceiling fans
screened porches with ceiling fans
quinoa
raw goat cheese
heirloom tomatoes
curly leaf parsley
my freckles
bronzer
being okay not wearing any bronzer
the pair of jeggings i bought while tipsy
arcade fire's new song "suburban war"
not living in the suburbs
raw cashew butter
cheese-free pizza at spin
finding new drinking fountains on my running routes
long runs
weekends
always seeing someone i know while i'm running
the small-town feeling of my neighborhood
not living in a small town
my work-provided iPhone 4
watching movies at movie theaters that serve wine
or on the couch
with my husband
and dog
and the cat trying to scratch my chair from west elm,
which is also a love -
i love that chair
and the cat,
the cat, too.

quinoa salad. vegan. organic. dinner.

some things i'm passionate about.

if you want to learn more, click the links.
i haven't gone crazy. i'm just opening my eyes.


people are stupid. animals should not die from eating plastic water bottles because they shouldn't have plastic water bottles floating in their area.

the grocery store is one of the most deadly places we can go. don't believe me? watch this.

many of us are being medicated unwillingly every time we drink or use tap water.

how.

sometimes it's remarkable
how much we
can go through.
and still remain standing,
breathing,
loving,
living,
moving forward.
i guess that's what's called the resilience of the human spirit.
i mean every day
something happens to someone
something bad
that impacts someone else
just the pure ugliness of it all
seeps so far beyond
the person it originally happened to
and still
we go on.

i like this one, too.

hi.

i have this letter i want to write.
to an old friend.
about how she is wrong about me.
and how she's being immature and mean and small-minded.
but.
i'm not going to write it.
at least not now.

so instead, i'll tell you that i saw inception this weekend.
and gave my sister a baby shower.
and went to spin for pizza.
and then to la bodega the next night.
and paid $9 for a plate of four tiny asparagus wrapped with like half an ounce of smoked salmon.
and then waited 30 minutes for this squid thing.
that ended up being too salty and gross and anyway, what happened to that place?
new management?
new chef?
seriously.
i'm being serious.