Thursday Links

It's a dreary, cold Thursday in Portland.  We changed the clocks back this weekend and although it was nice to get that extra hour on Sunday, it's now dark when I leave work at 4:30pm.  What a bummer. 

This is the time of year when I have to be careful.  Careful not to slink into sloth-like behavior.  I need to make myself go to yoga, walk the dog, and keep myself busy with to-do lists, projects, and crafts so I don't go insane...and gain 20 pounds in the process.   This is also the time of year however, when I get anxious for Thanksgiving so I can ease my way into a food coma, deck out the apartment in holiday decor, plan awesome gifts for family and friends and soak in the first, beautiful, snowfall.  New England certainly can have it's drawbacks but man, I love it here.


Here are some lovely links from this week:

Interesting article on what children around the world eat for breakfast from NY times.

Really beautiful post on raising a daughter from a dad's perspective

Super excited (and nervous about how it will affect by bank account) for the ABM team and the lauch of their new shop

100 tips on how to destress

Really looking forward to reading this

This news anchor being awkward.  Just give in & admit that you like TSwift.

Wishing this show didn't get cancelled.  Netflix reruns forever.

Can't believe it's been 10 years since mean girls. Also, is butter a carb?

xoxo

So, I'm a wife now

Photo by Cait Kimball Photography

I've been a little busy lately, to say the least.  Planning our wedding, getting married, celebrating, and going on a honeymoon.  Honestly, blogging has been the last thing on my mind.  Priorities, man.  I've been back for the past week and felt the urge to write again.  This blogging thing is a little weird sometimes.  I'm generally a very quiet person.  I don't share much and I have a hard time opening up to people, even close friends; let alone strangers on the internet.  But today, I missed writing and have been thinking a lot about who I am and what I want.  I guess that comes along with the new "wife" title, right?  I'm really glad to not be a fiance or bride anymore.  I get to just be a wife, who isn't always busy with wedding plans.  I can just be normal again.  It got me thinking, though.  What is my normal?  What are my goals for this new stage in my life?  What kind of wife, friend, woman do I want to be? 

There's also a lot of omg I'm married to Andrew!! I'm his wife! he's my husband! kind of stuff going on in my brain too.  I've honestly never felt so much love in my heart than I do now.  It's a bit unreal dancing at your wedding reception and looking around at all of the people you love most, who traveled all this way just to support and celebrate with you.  My heart was bursting with so much happiness.  When it was all over, I felt so content and overwhelmed all at once.  It is the weirdest, best feeling.  Anyway, I'll post more about the wedding and honeymoon eventually.  Once we go through the zillions of photos we took (yes 5 memory cards for the camera was totally necessary for our 2 week trip) and I get back into the swing of things again.

xoxo

Little Letters: Beach, 3 legged dog, & sanity

*photo by my talented man, Andrew.

Dear Spiders:  I can't wait until it's winter and I don't have anxiety about where you may be lurking all over our house and basement.  It will be too soon if I never see you again.

Dear Ingrid:  I'm sorry I'm missing your show at the State this Friday. A girl's gotta eat and right now we can barely afford that.  

Dear Beach Days: please last forever, won't you.

Dear creepy guy at the beach:  Since when is it appropriate to put a fish head in front of someones face when they're trying to sleep.  My friends and I will have nightmares foreverrrrr.

Dear 3 legged dog:  I wish I could've snuck you into my car and taken you home.  You were the happiest dog I've ever seen.

Dear Jersey Sheets:  I don't know how to quit you.  If it weren't for you, I'd actually get to work on time. 

Dear Mom: I miss you and cannot wait for you to visit in a few weeks.  We have lots of outdoor fun and shopping to do! 

Dear Sanity: I miss you too.  It'll be good when I feel like I have you back again.

Dear Self:  Stop being so afraid to dream big and work hard.  

Dear Weekend:  I've been dreaming about you since Monday.  It's me, you, and good book this time around.  Now doesn't that sound nice?

Dear Jenny Lewis:  Your new album is freakin' rad. 

Dear Coffee:  I'm glad Andrew made me finally try you 2 years ago.  You are the perfect start to a gloomy day. 

xoxo.

Growing Up

Last weekend I went home to Massachusetts to visit my parents, pick up the girls bridesmaids dresses, and celebrate my best friends parents surprise anniversary party. My parents were having a yard sale with a few other neighbors on Saturday and mom had pull out all mine and my brothers belongings that they've been storing since god knows when. I didn't have too much. I naturally love to clean, organize, and declutter so I rarely keep things I don't intend on loving forever. I am also extremely sentimental so I may not have all my old soccer balls, games, clothes, etc. but I had 2 boxes filled with journals, artwork, love notes from old boyfriends, movie & concert stubs, every birthday card I've ever gotten from family and friends. Some may call that crazy...which is true, I guess, but I am so glad I'm sentimental and kept all those things. 

 I had such a good time reading through old journal entries, revisiting my awkward middle school years (I "loved" a new boy every day apparently) and remembering old hopes and dream for my future self. Some things made me tear up; like notes from my grandma who passed away a few years ago, some journals during a time in my life when I was incredibly lost, and just general nostalgia. It made me think about how far I have come and also how far I still have to go. I was such a dreamer, then a follower, then completely lost, and then found myself somehow again. Life is a pretty weird, cruel, confusing, beautiful, amazing thing and I am so grateful that I wrote so many thoughts, experiences, and memories down. the good, the bad, the horrible, the perfect. I will cherish them forever (I seriously contemplated burning my middle school diaries though!)

Although, I still write in journals it sparked my interest to write in them more than just once a week - to not feel like I have to have a particularly great story in mind, but to write anything, everything down. for the joy of it; so years and years from now I can reread them and look back on my twenties the way I look back at my teens. And maybe someday my children or grandchildren will read them and see the real unedited me. 

I'm so used to pen & paper that it's been a struggle to remember to post on this blog. One of the main reasons I started this blog though was to document my life and share that with friends, family, and the blogging community. I'd love it if someday I could look back on this little blog and feel the same as I do about my journals. What are ways that you document your life? 

Happy Weekend! xoxo

Scattered

I'm feeling a little scattered lately. too much on my mind. too hard to focus. 

Since I'm a list maker at heart I was inspired when I saw this post from a blog that never fails to showcase all the beautiful details in this world. Work has been crazy with an upcoming event at the end of this month plus my mind is constantly in wedding planning mode. I haven't even begun to really think about the things I need to finalize for our honeymoon, and finances haven't exactly been great lately so budgeting and planning our expenses has been occupying my mind as well. yikes.  I need to go crawl under a rock for a bit. 

Eating / watermelon & cherries. oh summer, you make my fruit loving self so happy. 

Drinking / an iced chai that he made for me this morning (I should go away for a weekend more often! I think he missed me.) 

Practicing / patience and yoga 

Mastering / karate...just kidding...the art of slowly simplifying my home and buying smarter and less often. Learning / how to use my DSLR on manual. it has been a very slow and confusing process. 

Trying / to be a better version of myself. 

Playing / ladderball in the backyard with mom this weekend. 

Finishing / my to-do lists! (wedding list I'm talking to you!) 

Reading / "A Time to Kill". Next on my list is the final book of the Divergent Series and Neil Gailmans new book! Also, I think #GirlBoss would be a great honeymoon read. thoughts? 

Remembering / how lucky I am to have the friends, family, and life that I do. 

Wearing / the cutest pale violet/pink nail polish

Cooking / so many eggs. need to switch it up this week. 

Working / hard to be live healthier 

Traveling / to the London, Scotland, and Ireland in just over 2 months. eeeeek!!!

Wanting / to reprioritze my time so it involves more friend time and beach time. 

What a simple way to put my thoughts and in-the-moment-life down. xoxo

This is how I feel...

...Very very happy! My brother and his girlfriend are visiting us this weekend! We plan to eat lots and lots of food, drink lots and lots of beer, wander downtown, and soak in all the gorgeous sunshine. (with lots of SPF 50!!) Then, my parents will be here Sunday & Monday. Monday, we're playing hooky from work and instead going to our wedding venue for a tasting and event plan walk through. We are also meeting with our adorable florist. Plans are coming together folks and that makes me happy. #1 - because I'm a planner/to-do list freak and #2 - because wedding planning is much more detailed than I could have imagined and I'll be very grateful when my brain can be used for other things. #3 - that means we're getting closer to the day (and the honeymoon!) THEN later next week we are playing hooky again and packing our bags to head to Winterport for my friend's wedding! She is getting married on the 4th of July (pretty sure so she can get free fireworks!). I'm her day of coordinator, so we have lots of fun detailing on the 3rd and a delicious rehearsal dinner at a local Irish pub. It's going to be beautiful and I'm going to cry. I'm such a sap. One more reason? Exactly 3 months from today I will be drew's wife. finally! finally! so. many. good. things. I hope you have lots of good things in your week too. kloveyoubye.

Sundays forever

we have officially deemed Sundays as our "date days". Since Fridays are saved for crashing at home after a long week with nights out with friends Netflix and wine at home, and he works on Saturdays; Sundays it is…our day to do whatever the heck we want!  Last Sunday we went to Boothbay Harbor and this Sunday he surprised me with a ferry ride out to Long Island!

The ferry took about 45 minutes. Is it weird that it might have been my favorite part? Something about being on a boat, with the fresh ocean air, and sunshine is just so good. The pastries and peaches I picked up at Rosemont made the ride pretty freakin' good too. ugh delicious. The only downside was this awkward middle schooler who kept photobombing my pictures. It was cute the first time, but got old...quick. where's your mom anyway, kid?! punk. First stop when we got to the island?  the general store (the only grocery store on the island) for some gatorade and expired gum & blow pops! Next? Explore!  Their beach was heaven. Unlike our beaches, it was quiet and peaceful. There were less than a dozen others there. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. Naturally, he started scoping out shots and clicking away with his camera. I pretended to want to take pictures for a moment, but really I was on the hunt for crabs and other sea life in the rocks. I can't help it. I like to play. I know, I know. I should be practicing & learning how to fully use my DSLR but...ANIMALS! NATURE! NO SHOES! OH MY!  We layed on the beach for a bit and then walked around the rest of the island before catching the ferry home. Long Island is beautiful, but had a bit of that creepy islandy vibe..like..a mystery thriller TV show, where someone turns up dead and the nice sheriff questions everyone and seems so concerned but you find out the nice sheriff is really the murderer and there's no one to turn to and the ferry is unexplainably out of service and you're stuck there so you just run. You still with me? Harper's Island anyone? No? Just when I thought we could be friends. 

The ride back home was nice, but chilly. good thing I like to cuddle. we people watched and laughed and kissed. We hit up Flatbread Co. for the best veggie pizza (mushroom medley, goat cheese, mozzarellla, parmesean, and green onions. drooling just thinking about it) beer, and coffee (to warm me back up). God, that place is amazing. best pizza, fresh salad, and awesome vibe. We walked around the Old Port, window shopped, and walked back up the hill. Then date day took a turn for the worse. And by worse I mean I'm a huge baby and had a really bad sunburn and stomach ache so I complained about having to go get groceries with him and then I cried because riley scratched my sunburnt legs. ughhh I can be so lame. but it's okay because he was so kind and put ice on my burn and kissed my forehead and only made fun of me a little bit. Sunday success!