happy halloween!!! X 3.

When our uber-original idea for a Halloween costume was aired on the Today Show + in a window display at American Apparel, Carly + I decided that maybe the once popular, iconic Troll Dolls were making a comeback this year so we abandoned our nude unitards + inspired by a boy scout shirt Carly found in a vintage shop in Echo Park, we came up with these lovely costumes:

 Carl Fredricksen + Wilderness Explorer Russell 

 . Friday night we went to a bar in Hollywood rented out by Harvard alumni/people in the entertainment industry so the combined intelligence + vested interest in the film industry made our costume(s) a huge hit! 

Last night, we went on a mini pub crawl in Santa Monica with these hooligans (the guys Carly works with dressed up as wrestlers .... here is 7 of the 9 of them!) + needless-to-say, we had a lot more explaining to do as we were not "sexy einstein/sexy old man + sexy girl scout/sexy balloon boy tied together with balloons - Happy Birthday!!" as some intoxicated people thought.

Perfecting my perpetual scowl + Carly's alarmingly sunny disposition

 in the back of a cab with our balloons that floated above us in the bars all night ....

When your routine for getting ready to go out includes glueing on eye lashes, spray painting your hair grey + stopping at a costume shop to buy a fresh bouquet of balloons, it really is a lot of dedication but it's not stopping us from celebrating a third night in a row.  Tonight we are headed to West Hollywood to watch the infamous parade + hang out with some of LA's finest drags. Happy Halloween (weekend!)!!!  =)

little bit of childhood.

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.

peace out, reality.

I really tried to be an adult this week but when the realization that my heart strings were tied in a horrendous knot that I wasn't quite strong enough to detangle (yet) sent me in to a full-blown anxiety attack, I drove my panic-stricken self straight to the airport + booked an upright seat on the next flight out... Where could I go to get out of the balmy weather + gale force winds of Winnipeg? What is the one place that it's okay to put off adult responsibilities for a week + shift my every focus to constructing the perfect costume to celebrate Halloween for the next 3 nights in a row? Where could I find the tastiest lattes paired with the most enlightening coffee talk? No other than my happy place ... L.A.! Nothing calmed my heart like flying out of Chicago at sunset + flew west in to a perpetual orange sky before landing amidst the traffic + lights surrounding LAX which has always been ironically appeasing for me. This morning, Carly + I walked to her fave coffee shop to gush about life over these delish lattes made by 3 adorable baristas. Off to find suspenders, loafers, + horn-rimmed glasses. Peace out, reality. See you, Tuesday.

miss those lips.

squirrel seeks chipmunk.

The 2nd Book in our "I Judge Books By Their Cover" Book Club - Happy Reading!!

helms.

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Helms! What a fabulous wedding this weekend with all the family! My cousin, Meghan, was an absolutely stunning bride! =)

coming home.

Last weekend was just what my heart needed - a great homecoming with my best friends recreating our favorite college memories! Friday, Jess + I made the 8 hour drive (from Tennessee) to Gainesville in which we sang at the top of our lungs the entire way just like our numerous road trips in college! We rendezvoused with Carly + Megan at the mall to stock up on gator gear + get my eyebrows threaded by Veena (just like old times)! 

After getting ready together (borrowing each other's clothes + make-up) we headed to the stadium for Gator Growl, the country's largest student run pep rally! Aziz Ansari + Kevin Hart performed! 

Then we headed out to Swamp, one of the best bars in Gvegas, + caught up over pitchers of Blue Moon! 

Saturday, we went to Satchel's, our favourite pizza place before heading to campus to tailgate until kick-off! While this is a "rebuilding" year for the Gators, we still had a lot of fun at the game cheering our hearts out for our boys!     

It was a tradition in college that we always made breakfast or went for brunch on Sundays so before we left Gainesville, we went to The Flying Biscuit for brunch!

Sunday night, Carly + I went to Daniel Tosh's stand-up in Tampa Bay before Jess + I drove to Nashville Monday night. I left my camera but we met up with some of Jess' new nursing friends from Vanderbilt + my first + favorite friend from college, Liz! She is the one of the most fabulous people I know + I am so glad we have kept in touch the last few years! Now back in Knoxville for my last week with Reese, I'm not sure how I am going to leave on Monday....

...I long to live a life again filled with laughter + sunshine!

sea of orange + blue.

hush, my clamoring heart.

My fragile heart,

It's okay to cry.

You loved with your entirety and now that that love has left you, you feel hollow. 

To fear you may drown in your tears is a part of the healing process; a poetic washing away of the heartache that encumbers you now. 

A fierce burning almost crippling in your chest, as one heart separates back in to two.
The pain catalyzed by the severing of ties can be immense but know that time truly does heal. 

It is time to redirect your focus on reclaiming your own happiness.

Find solace in knowing you have made the right decision in letting go.
It is not a failure.  It is a life lesson. 

It may be hard to discern tangled up in a web of happy memories and "what could have beens" but now you must unweave the heart strings woven around a fairy tale that doesn't exist. 

You shared many laughs, many goals, many moments of intimacy. 
He knew you well; in your rawest form. 

Sometimes no amount of shooting stars or pennies can make your wishes come true + when you realize this, you have to dream a new dream.

You will feel him next to you while you dream.

It is okay to miss him.

It's okay to cry.

tailGATORs.

Last Saturday, me + my roomies decided to have a tailgate before the game since kick-off wasn't until 7:00 pm. We spent about forty-five minutes finding our tailgate essentials ... not a tent, cornhole, satellite tv or a keg ... but a trunk, bud light lime, gator coozies + sugar cookies with orange & blue sprinkles! 

 A bit of amateurs at drinking being 2 years out of college + never drinking much while in college either, we couldn't consume our 24 case fast enough so we started shotgunning beers .... ironically, the lady we asked to take these pictures was a DUI attorney + was "happy to help us later!" Pretty hilarious that it wasn't until a reunion two years later that we all shotgun a beer together for the first time! Miss these girls so much already! Can't wait for our Roommate Reunion 2011 - tentatively set for MLK weekend in PHX! Love, love, love you girls! =)

 

paradox.

“I have found the paradox,

that if you love until it hurts, 

there can be no more hurt, 

only more love.”

-Mother Teresa

happy 25th, meggie weggie!!

Today is Meg's 25th Birthday and in three days I will get to celebrate with her in Gainesville! =)

One of my fondest memory with Meg was when Carly + I met her in Scottsdale for a fabulous spur-of-the-moment weekend trip! I never posted pictures from our night out together because I drank waaay too much Sangria before we even got to the bar + am super sweaty/double-chinned/bloodshot eyed in every picture.... not the most flattering pictures but so much fun!!!!

I'm assuming we'll take tons of photos just like these ones this weekend when the Hussies of 2708 (the very sweet nickname our college neighbors gave the four of us!) reunite in our old stomping grounds! =)

lucky stars.

          She thanks her lucky stars.

Today is (Canadian) Thanksgiving and to me, it is toooo weird to celebrate Turkey Day 1. in October 2. Without a parade and 3. Without going to bed dreaming of all the door busters I would get in the morning ... therefore I forfeited. But seeing as I did receive a few texts wishing me a happy T-giving, I spent a great majority of today pondering what I am thankful for + because my brain has a crazy confusing thought process, I organized my thankfuls in the order that I encounter them in a day. Then I limited the list to 8 as I have a habit of getting carried away:

1. Caffeine + Hazelnut Cream + Splenda. Must. Have. It. Everyday. I can't think of a more ideal way to jumpstart my day than a freshly brewed cup of half coffee/half cream + 3 Splendas. The sweeter the better for I am a firm believer that all things in life should taste like cake!!

2. My running shoes + my IPOD.  I have run a lot of miles in the sneaks I currently own and I think of those 1 full/2 half marathons every time I lace up my shoes ... and then feel the ground beneath my feet because there is not much sole left in them. While I cherish the memory of running with my disc man + it skipping with every step I took, I'm so thankful for every IPOD I have ever owned. Idk how anyone can run long distances without music to drown out the breathlessness and as a lover of lyrics, sometimes I literally get lost in the words of the songs on my "working on my fitness" playlist. 

3. Sunshine. I wish I could bottle it up + keep it in a mason jar in my pocket.

4. My agenda + coloured pens.  I've had an agenda a.k.a. "my life" ever since I started acquiring semi-important responsibilities when I quickly realized I am a very disorganized person and when combined with extreme procrastination = dropped balls everywhere... My agenda helps me juggle it all but I will only write in it with pretty coloured pens! My rainbow of checked off boxes really could be one of the obscure pieces of "modern art" featured at the MOMA! Consider this my pretentious description of my work.

5. Great Conversations. There is a strong correlation between how long I have known someone and how much I enjoy the conversation. At times this state of mind hinders me from letting in new people but I can't refrain from a good reminiscing sesh to relish in + will seize every opp to revisit my childhood/college years/days with my mum with old friends/great family. i.e. I've known Kara my entire life, (obvi) + this past week has been filled with great convos!  

6. Coffee shops + book stores. I think I frequent one or the other every single day of my life + especially love it when the two are combined! They both have such magnificent aromas. They are both great places for people-watching... + eavesdropping (6a. I have a guilty pleasure of listening in on the conversations occurring around me). They are both perfect environments to think.    

7. Traveling + photographs. The world is my oyster + I am determined to find the pearls in all the magical cities in the world. I am incredibly attracted to the stamps in Mitch's passport + I am determined to fill up mine by the time it expires in 2013. The only thing fabulous about a vacation ending is all the photographic memories I return home with!  

8.. Heads-up pennies. Wish bones. Lucky stars. Vehicles that enable me to dream the life I live + live the life of my dreams.

scrub-a-dub-dub.

Kara, Reese + I have been doing a lot of relaxing this past week! My favourite places to relax are by the pool + in my big, comfy bed until 11AM. Reese's favourite places to relax are on your chest + in her swing! She loves her spa bath (complete with jets) for very brief moments too! =)

waiting for superman.

It's so like you just to show up at my door
And act like nothin's happened
You think I'll sweep my heart up off the floor
And give it to you
Like so many times before

Gone like the wind under Superman's cape
Like a thief in the night I made the great escape
I'm not the kind of girl that keeps making the same mistakes

TIME.

I have only read TIME magazine twice in my life and I know this because two very exciting discoveries came from both of those reads. The first time I read it was 3 summers ago. I was at the gym and it just so happened to be the 'zine stuffed in to the back of the Stairmaster. I had been searching for a book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire after overhearing several different conversations but didn't have the courage to ask total strangers the title and since I wasn't looking in the Teen section, I couldn't locate it. As fate would have it, there was an article on Stephenie Meyer describing the dream she had about a girl named Bella + her forbidden vampire love, Edward. I'm pretty sure I flew off the Stairmaster at the exact moment to buy Twilight and spent the rest of my summer reading her juicy vampire fairytales.  My second fabulous TIME read was on the plane down to Knoxville. There was a pregnant woman on the cover and in big bold letters it said FETAL ORIGINS: How the First Nine Months Shapes Your Life. Being an (insightful) NICU nurse, over the past two years I had found an amazing correlation between the temperament of babies and how much it often matches that of their mothers. I always mentioned it in casual conversation to colleagues/family like "What a weird coincidence, eh?" but in my head, I was thinking, "This is huge!" and apparently TIME magazine thought so as well when they made this http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html the cover story last week! I just find it fascinating that the biggest risk factor to some of the most deadliest diseases (Diabetes, heart disease, obesity) could be a fetus' experience in the womb!

southern comfort(s).

It's only been four days of recovery but I already feel 100% American again and wow! how I've missed some of my favorite southern comforts. We went straight to Moe's from the airport and yummmm, the moo moo Mr. Cow still tastes like delish college-diet-on-a-budget! Kara and I ventured out on Wednesday and took Reesey P. for sweet tea at McAlister's and to Target for her very first time (She loved it!). Thursday we took Reese to Duck Duck Goose, a crazy insane consignment shop that only happens 4 days a year ... the lines and crowds kinda reminded me of black friday except it was exclusively stay-at-home-moms fighting for the gently used.      

We also went to a couple of the super cute baby boutiques here and had lunch/shopped in the market square downtown. Reese has been so fabulous on our little outings in her MOBY wrap, we took her to lunch for a third day in a row on Friday to meet Creed's co-workers (who are just like the characters on The Office) at the most apropos place, Chili's. In between our adventures and our cuddles, I have managed to delve in to all my old past times - running (an entire 3.2 miles!), laying by the pool (I don't think I've seen a pool since practically living by one every afternoon in LA) and GameDay in which we spent the entire day today watching college football! =)

My heart has been so content in Tennessee, I have completely forgotten I even reside in Winnipeg, lol.  It feels so fabulous to not have to worry about the weather randomly dropping to negative temperatures and my flip-flop clad toes freezing off! It feels so fabulous to grocery shop again and buy all your favorite things without crossing a border and for less than $200. It feels so fabulous to feel so close to my besties ... within driving distance, can pick up the phone at any time, reunion next weekend!! All my (southern) comforts have returned to me and  life just feels fabulous.

boppy.

smiles.

reading with reese.

For anyone who knows me even in the most impersonal way possible, they would know that all through college I was a nanny to the most precious newborn baby girl and little did I know that tiny baby would grow up to be the smartest little girl in all the world. Sidebar: Little did I know, I would also wish everyday that I could be Miss Kate's nanny for the rest of my life. It was absolutely the best job in the world. End sidebar. At nine months old, she was recognizing animals (particularly by their tails) at the zoo. At one year old, she could tell you what every animal said including but not limited to domesticated and feral cats, worms, goats, goldfish and squirrels. By the time she was two, she had a bigger vocabulary than I did. Coupled with an eloquent mother with a Ph.D in English, I credited this baby genius syndrome to the amount of books she had read to her in the first bit of life. I am positive that Dr. Seuss + Pat the Bunny were a huge contributor to Kate: a child prodigy and that is why I could hardly wait to start reading some of my, I mean Kate's, favorites to Reese. I was (secretly) impressed that I still had the Sandra Boynton series and Brown Bear, Brown Bear committed to memory. Its like riding a tricycle! =)

twenty-four.

The day after my 24th birthday (and bday dinner with these 2 sweethearts!) I started to write a blog post entitled "obsoletely twenty-four" analyzing why as you get older, birthdays seem to become more and more meaningless (less parties, less cards, less cake). Never one to enjoy celebrating my own birthday, I wasn't really sure why it even bothered me so much this year that throughout the day I never reached that warm, fuzzy feeling of specialness where your whole body internally shouts "Today is my day! I am another year older!" I kept thinking to myself, "Is this another one of those sobering coming-of-age (mile)stones, another rock dimming the light of the child inside you... kinda like finding out the Toothfairy doesn't actually exist when you discover an entire mouthful of incisors in your mum's jewelry box? ... where you realize you are really just a boring adult now whose imagination doesn't expand beyond primary colors because if that's what this is, I don't want to be 24. I want my fuzzy wuzzy browns and atomic tangerines and therefore, I am quite happy staying 23 a wee bit longer, at least until there's a bounce house and a funfetti cupcake tower and a unicorn pinata to properly commemorate me turning another year older.