life as of late, ala instagram

Look for the good and you will find it. Last week, my darling bestie, Carly, went to Kelle Hampton's book signing in our hometown, just for me. She sent me picture updates throughout the evening + it made my heart feel so inspired as Kelle signed my very own copy of Bloom, take care of those babies... Thank you, Carly! I am so thankful for the wonderful friends in my life who would go to a book signing, just for me. Life is in full {cherry blossom} bloom around these parts with the anticipation of new arrivals + the sprinkle shower {complete with make-your-own personal pan pizzas} to celebrate. Summer in Seattle is serious + opening day was definitely a reminder of the sweet summer nights that captured my heart last year + said feeling definitely compelled me to extend my contract at The U another four weeks on Thursday! =) Trophy's hi hat cupcakes on Easter, a sewing machine's first breath + a new appreciation for happy hour has this uber busy, full-time grad student/traveling nurse maintaining balance + enjoying the small things sans guilt when your only night off to watch lectures is spent drinking pomegranate mojitos or embracing a new hobby with Raechel's Sewing 101. As the tag line of Bloom implies, it is up to you to make the conscious decision to find the beauty in the unexpected and when a {ahem!} rerouted flight made me fear I was going to miss my roommate reunion but {thankfully!} brought me to Chicago the following day on Friday, my heart was tickled sunset yellow when Meg + I reunited completely unexpectedly. Meg: What's up, girlie? Me: In Chi-town! Last time I was here, I was with you! So fun!  Meg: At Midway??? Me: Oh my word! Yes! Where are you?? Meg: I just landed here! Yes!!! We ended up being on the same flight, boarded simultaneously so we were able to snag seats next to each other, where we played MadGab + talked each other's ears off for three straight hours on the plane. When our suitcases came around the carousel next to each other at baggage claim, I smiled + thought: this weekend was just the escape that I needed + the universe agrees.  

opening day, pdx + a 10K.

Last weekend, Heather + I soaked up the 60 degrees + sunshine that permeated the Pacific Northwest just long enough to renew my faith in Mother Nature's promise of summer for us to enjoy opening day at the Mariners Game Friday night, head to Portland Saturday afternoon and run a 10K early Sunday morning. We stayed at a quaint, historic hotel downtown within walking distance to a lovely sushi restaurant and more importantly, a froyo bar. The race appropriately titled "Bridge to Brews" started at one of Portland's many breweries, took you over the Fremont bridge, down through the Pearl District and then back over another bridge before ending at a finish line outside the brewery with many pale ales on tap. When beer for breakfast did not satiate the starvation mode I entered after running six miles, we waited in line with batman + all of PDX's weird quirky locals {Portlandia is real, y'all} to enjoy one of Pine State Biscuits delightful Reggie biscuits... complete with fried chicken.  Before heading back to Seattle later that evening, we meandered through the copious number of beards + tye-dye Saturday Market near the waterfront and took advantage of the no sales tax awesomeness that just might be the only reason I would ever return to that eccentric? city. 

the greater part of life is sunshine.

Three weeks shy of the four year anniversary of our college graduation, I am over-the-moon excited that this weekend has finally arrived... where I will giggle in the grass with these three lovely ladies and bask in an immense amount of sunshine, the greater parts of my life, for certain. We will reminisce about our college days and dream about our futures and plan the moment in time when our lives will lead us all back to the same place. We will laugh until our cheeks hurt, start dance parties in public bathrooms + relish in the silence that emanates from those precious moments where we know exactly what each other is thinking without saying a thing. Here's to hoping Monday never comes. 

cross-process cherry blossoms.

fingerpainting with Reese.

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

sea to sky::birchwood to blackcomb::spring break.

Over spring break, I snuck up to Whistler Village with Sammi for a fabulous date full of sushi, whipped cream flavoured vodka, {attempting to} snowboard, and the most incredible views I have ever laid eyes on. I felt like I was in a dream as everything was covered in a blanket of white snow but the skies were so blue and the sun shone so bright. At the top of the peaks, it almost felt like you could touch the sky. We stayed at a quaint little chateau nestled between two giant mountain peaks. Taking my ?talented self nearly an hour to go down one run, it filled my heart with utmost delight when we called it quits and headed to a bar at the bottom of the slope for caesars. As if the gator gods planned it themselves, we caught the last 2:40 seconds of March Madness when the Gators lost before stopping at every vista to breathe in the fresh ocean air on our drive back to Vancouver! I'm sincerely going to miss these bi-weekly bestie dates. 

life as of late, ala instagram.

The past few weeks have consisted of an immense amount of going through the motions... school//work//clinical//repeat... hardly noticing when entire weeks pass by and shocked when the calendar page turns over revealing another new month... but I always notice when my hectic schedule affords me the opportunity to witness the sun coming up over the ridge to paint the sky orange... a peaceful moment found in the orange-ish golden lining to being awake before the rest of world.  

The in-between time has been comprised of a little bit of running and a lot of inner reflection, when it's just me, a cool breeze at my back and the 9minute40second pace by which my sneaks hit the pavement. I ran a 5k a couple of Sundays ago around Mercer Island + I set a personal record with what felt like an elephant sitting on my chest still recuperating from the plague. Only four weeks until my half marathon through the Redwood Forest in NorCal. Eeeek.

I have devoted a small amount of my time allotted for training to hot yoga + have become increasingly fond of the family-style garage gym that is crossfit. Apparently, good-looking coaches who give great high fives are exactly the motivation this girl-in-a-fitness-rut needed. Muscles I didn't even know I had are sore thanks to their make-me-wanna-vomit WODs. 

Braids + tart deco by Essie make me oh, so happy. I've dreamed of vampires every night this week when I would only make it through twenty minutes of Breaking Dawn before drifting off in to a five-hour coma. They were lovely, little dreams. Trying to maintain balance with rest + relaxation, I treated myself to an afternoon at The Beauty Bar {thank you, Groupon!} after a 9 day stretch of work + class + clinicals. It was exactly what I needed to make it through the four day stretch that followed. 

I constantly try to decide... in the shower, over a delightful breakfast at serious biscuit, at 3AM when I can't sleep... where I want to be in less than two months... six months... nine months... and at this time next year when I will have graduated. Alaska? Hawaii? Florida? California? Texas? ...Not just in the geographical location sense but where I want my heart and mind to be, too. Where I want to invest my love and begin a new life. The thought of leaving the Pacific Northwest deeply saddens me... but the thought of staying longer than this entire year petrifies me even more. What's a twenty-something stricken with wanderlust to do?

Weekends in Whistler with Sammi, the return of my dear friend, Heather, to Seattle, fro-yo + Hunger Games night with seven lovely girls I work with and date night with the roommate to see Mamma Mia! at the Paramount Theatre followed by the most delectable dinner at the Purple Cafe for the finest lobster mac & cheese these taste buds have ever known {coupled with a sweet wine flight} make me never want to leave this corner of the World! 

As of late, I have less than two months left in this pretty little part of the planet and I fully intend to take advantage of the ales brewing and tulips blooming and the good music underground and the whales migrating and the wineries aging. You only live once, right?

Precisely. Which is why I played the lottery for the second time in my life last week... and much to my wily ways dismay, I am still not a multi-millionaire... but it is Friday {a good Friday, at that!} and tomorrow is my one day off + they're calling for sunshine! Praise Helios + have a happy weekend! =)

ahhh, april + random ruminations.

aaaah, it's already April. I'm not really sure what happened to the month of March (I most certainly did not blog about it)... and it breaks my heart a little that hardly a single fleeting moment in March has been documented. It bores me to complain talk about work + school {which literally consumes all of my time} + other mundane elements of life. I assure you this blog will never be a recap of my every move if I can't apply beauty + meaning to each one of the moves I make... 

I'd be lying if most of last month wasn't spent pleading with Mother Nature for sunshine, wishing to hibernate until next March {when I graduate} + pondering why my passion wasn't for cupcake decorating instead of saving lives... because I assure you if the opportunity would have presented itself to jump neonatalship and spend the rest of my life carving fondant, never having to worry about my red velvet with cream cheese frosting's heart beat or my triple valrhona chocolate with hazelnut buttercream's social issues, I would have gladly walked off the plank in to a cupcakes + icing abyss last month. 

I found myself within the walls of a NICU nearly every day {and the trend will continue on through all of April} and although a lot of exciting things happen behind that locked double door and I seriously learn fifty-seven new things a day in the sterile environment I currently call my second home, I'm sworn to secrecy by a little privacy act by the name HIPAA... and can't tell you any of it. Not even about that sixth digit I assisted in removing. 

I had actually been flirting with the idea of taking a blogger-break... since I started grad school, essentially. When I met my wit's end last month at work during finals week, a hiatus occurred organically... I put my virtual feet up + let many unfinished drafts go unpublished... so I could catch up on the rest of my overcommitments, beginning with matching my socks.

It was unintentional and saddening but oh my word, does it feel fabulous to be back... about as fabulous as the sparse sunshine reflecting off the bricks of my hogwart's-esque campus.