it's just a little crush

Yes, I have a crush and a few of my close friends know all about it. It's a person at work (and really if you think it's you it's probably not, and if you want to confirm ask me, I'll be honest) - who totally does not follow any context clues. I've been subtly or not so subtly trying to at least make the friend radar for the better part of a year. I find the whole working together thing makes this super complex as I do not want to cross that line of too far to go back and it's so awkward at work - I like my job. Oh well, it might just be one of those things that I just enjoy day dreaming about because I am too much of a coward to really do anything about it. Have you ever had one of those oh so awkward crushes as an adult?

(love letter photo from google)

holding out for a hero

Confession time- I am in a book club this year, and well I still have several weeks before we starting meeting, but I cannot for the life of me motivate at all to start reading Life of Pi. I really want to, however the book seems a bit heavy and I keep looking at the book, and then I keep reading books from the young adult series by Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I feel about fourteen because I am totally loving the storyline, and the characters. I get to the end of one book and I am eagerly awaiting starting the next installment. It's great picking up a series that's been completed so you aren't waiting publication dates. I am enjoying the lightness of the series- it's Harry Potter-esq but unique so that it doesn't feel like a new version of my beloved Potter days. I am finally on the last book of the first five books (there's a second series with Percy- so excited), so I am hoping that I can feel concluded for a few weeks so I can read the book I am suppose to.

(picture from Pinterest)

gobble gobble gobble

Happy Thanksgiving week dear readers. If you are one of my readers from aboard, this is the holiday Americans like to gather around the table and chow on home cooked favorite foods, and give thanks for the things in their lives. This is typically followed by a day of trying to kill your neighbor at a black Friday sale that is too good to be true. I thought I'd share a few things I am most thankful for this year with all of you.

• little Norby for being the sweetest little baby nephew so far and making this a really fun time to be with the family (please stay little for a tiny bit longer, please?)
• the full year of traveling around the United States - I visited: Texas, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, and California. If I include the state I work in, and the state I live in, I spent time in more than 1/5th of the states at some point this year.
• friends near and far, who are always up for a visit, time together, making me be a better person, and reminding me regularly that you are the family I choose, and I am happy to have you all.
• family - the blood relatives, who put up with me still, and care about me despite my shortcomings

Happy Turkey Day to All - Enjoy and be good to everyone.



(photo from pinterest)

if i were

Oh boy, I found this little "If I were" list on Charlotte's Web - a new found blog I cannot get enough of (how come everything British sounds 100% more dignified?). I thought I would play along...


If I were a gemstone, I'd be sapphire
 If I were a scent, I'd be jasmine with sandalwood
If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be a pair of playful black pumps
If I were the weather, I'd be a summer rainfall
 If I were a facial expression, I'd be a wink

If I were a car, I'd be a vintage convertible beetle
 If I were a time of day, I'd be 7:30PM
 If I were a month, I'd be June
 If I were a place, I'd be the beach
If I were a liquid, I'd be a glass of red wine
 If I were a taste, I'd be something nutty

If I were a sea animal, I'd be an otter
If I were a food, I'd be macaroni and cheese
If I were a colour, I'd be dark blue, with green polka dots
If I were a musical instrument, I'd be a piano
If I were a flower, I'd be a sunflower
If I were a song, I'd be "a beautiful mess"

If I were a planet, I'd be undiscovered
If I were an object, I'd be a window
 If I were a fruit, I'd be an apple
If I were a sound, I'd be soft breeze through trees
If I were a day of the week, I'd be a Sunday.


(photo is my own, taken at Borderline State Park)

you gave love a bad name

Online dating- I’ve often grappled with doing a post on this, because well it still seems a bit taboo to me even though I think I’d be hard pressed to find people who haven’t at least tried it at some point in their lives. I know many people who’ve had very successful relationships with people met on dating sites, some even married. I am currently trying my luck on two sites, as my mother is constantly wondering if I am dating enough (love you mom, and don’t worry, we are looking at quality here not quantity) and I have a few pet peeves when it comes to interactions on these sites. There must be a way to stop the madness, really (or is it Honestly – T? – can you confirm?). First of all, I don’t understand when someone emails you “hi, I like your profile, we should chat”.  Ummm, hello? What exactly did you like about my profile , can you please at least pick out something I took my precious time to write hoping it would lead us to something to chat about? It could be as easy as telling me about loving dogs too, or that you like to drink, I don’t really care what you pick out, but please pick something. I really think that’s the laziest approach  to finding a date, please don’t copy and paste your blanket email into the message box for all of us. I get that we are all looking to go out have a good time, and it probably will not be a love connection but the tiniest bit of effort goes a long way. I also cannot stand text message slang in emails, look I am not the best speller in the world, but I shouldn’t feel like I am receiving a text message from a fourth grader. Misspelling a hard word, fine – too lazy and typing l8er or 2 c if u want 2 hang out, come on now, we are adults – impress me with your ability to make your computer’s spell check do its job. Not being able to  These are two things that actually will cause me not to respond back to a gentleman, unless he is completely channeling Ryan Gosling or Channing Tatum – if you’re that good looking perhaps the brains aren’t needed (kidding of course).
Have you ever done online dating? What's some of your pet peeves about it?


(photo from The New Yorker)

lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

One of my secrets to returning back to work after a vacation, is to try not to come back home the day before you return to the office. Every time I don't follow my own sage advice, I always feel like I am behind on the week, because I didn't get time to do some of the things one would normally do on a weekend- grocery shop, laundry, unpacking the suitcase. The extra day gives me time to get into a bit of a routine without having to deal with the stress of the office as well. I usually try to make it to the gym and take a walk. The next day going back to work is so much better because I've had a day to get back to reality.
(photo)

here in this diary

I am not big on keeping a written diary- I think mainly because as a kid I didn't trust that my big sister wouldn't have read my journal and use it against me at some later point. Also, I just never had the patience to maintain one, so the idea of keeping one has always been interesting to me - what a way to reflex on things, or just sort thoughts out on paper. I was inspired though to at least consider maintaining one after spotting these hysterical journals from Knock Knock- I loved the sarcasm right on the cover and the prompts on the pages of the journal.

happiness is

I am feeling happy today about the following things:

a well stocked bookshelf
a long weekend planned in the very immediate future
new t-shirts in bright colors (and on sale)
plans to see a new movie tonight, and probably not be able to sleep later
a salad from my favorite place near work

and of course that the weekend is finally here!

foolish games

I wish I had a cleaner apartment, since I live alone I find it quite easy to turn about every room into a place to lay clothes down, drop my purse and work bag, and leave dishes in the sink for days. I know, it’s sloppy and not fun to clean the entire place when people decide to visit for the weekend, or when I decide to put my hostess-ing skills to test and invite friends over for dinner.  Long ago, to combat some of my lazy ways around good housekeeping, I started playing my own game while I watch TV at night, I like to call it “10 items or more”. The general gist is that when there’s a commercial break (which means not fast-forwarding during DVR’d shows), the goal is to try to get 10 items back to where they belong in my apartment. Once the commercials end, I can happily view my show, until the next break, and the game kicks off again. For some reason, this absolutely silly game works for me – like my own little minute to win it, and before I know it, I am convincing myself to put a few more things away, or wipe down the counter, or sorting out the closet.  All of a sudden those daunting chores don’t seem as bad, and oh wait all I have to do is vacuum? How did that end up to be?

Does anyone else trick themselves into cleaning?


(photo)

that's my job you see

I still sometimes think of myself as not a grown up, despite the fact I live on my own and have a job. I do like what I do, and feel that I enjoy my career, but sometimes I like to think about what I would do if I could do anything.  Currently on my list of dream jobs are: 1) Ninja – this is just plain cool, 2) Dog Trainer – such as seeing eye dogs, 3) Sommelier – hey I like wine why not make a career out of it. Do you ever dream about what you could be doing if anything was possible?

(photo)

you might say I'm a dreamer

Do you ever dream about celebrities? I sometimes will put famous people in my dreams, yet they are never typically doing very celebrity type things. I recently put Blake Shelton in a dream where I was at an airport, for some reason he was traveling with two five year old boys that were twins, that appeared to be his sons (he doesn't have kids but he did in my dream).  It was actually quite strange as he asked me to get him a coffee before we boarded the plane, which I was more then willing to do - nothing like getting a celebrity Dunkin Donuts as a pre-boarding snack. I attribute the dream to all the episodes of The Voice, I watched over the spring- I must have just thought Blake seemed like someone who would ask me to buy him coffee.

(photo)

I wish I was little bit taller

One of my favorite tricks for solving short skirt issues is to order tall sizes. I am by no means tall, but I have found that I prefer longer options, nothing too far above the knee, particularly around work. Tall sizes tend to provide those extremely valuable itches that keep certain items appropriate for work, instead of just for playtime wear. This dress from The Gap, is a perfect example of one that in the normal sizing would have been inappropriate for my office, but at the tall length for me is perfect.

it's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees

I

Walking around even a Christmas tree shop, smells divine at this time of the year- it makes me a bit nostalgic for the tree farm my family use to visit when we were young. We'd pile into my dad's baby blue van (always called the full name, never abbreviated) and drive out to the farm to go select out tree. It was always an adventure, and I remember doing this trip in the day time and some times in the evening when it was dark. It was still the time when snow actually was a fairly regular occurrence in Massachusetts and it would be cold and we could crunch through the snow looking for the perfect tree to bring home. My dad would be responsible for sawing it down, and we would stand in wonder as we loaded the tree on an old fashioned sled to haul back to the baby blue van. I love the family memories the holiday season creates, and even though it's been far too long since the family went in search of a tree, I can only look back fondly of this memory my parents helped create for us now. The smell of pine and balsam firs will always be favorable in my mind.

ribbon with a bow on it

Pretty new underwear, and there's nothing wrong with showing it once in a while. I love girlie details like lace and bows, with the comfort of cotton.  These frilly ones are from Honeydew - a company with a lot of options including some retro looks from the sixties, and animal prints (yes, animal print- expect me to post something about animal print, whenever the opportunity arises).  I personally think matching sets are a necessity for every lingerie chest - they make the wearer feel amazing - and shows that you take the time to look your best from head to toe.