life, liberty and be good to one another

Happy Independence Day!

Here's to remaining true to the best of our founding principles and to having the wisdom and courage to evolve, change and grow when it's necessary. Here's to remembering that...

... to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that

respects and enhances the freedom of others. ~ Nelson Mandela

and may we be ever mindful...

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please,

but as the opportunity to do what is right. ~ Peter Marshall



Thank you to those who have served our country... whether it was overseas or at home in a uniform, in a classroom, by delivering our mail or cleaning our streets or feeding the hungry, raising children to be responsbile and productive citizens, increasing our nation's knowledge and production capacities... whatever it is you do, you have the opportunity and the responsbility to help make our nation a force for good in the world.

And because I don't want to lecture too much, enjoy your BBQs, pool parties, beach days, fireworks and Pinterest-inspired red, white & blue desserts. I leave you with this...

a little getaway

The last few years I have really not liked the celebrate my birthday... I feel like I haven't accomplished half the things I want to and thus inadequate to celebrate. idk. Well-meaning friends the last couple years have asked what I wanted to do and honestly I kind of jut want to be alone. I"m a terrible person.

Anyways so as 30 approached and I didn't even want to think about it, I was delighted that we had a Hampton Inn voucher to use (thank you grandparents sharing your unused Hilton points!). I didn't want to spend a lot of money--we only had one night--so we couldn't go far, but luckily Temecula is just a one-hour drive and makes a delightful weekend trip :)

We spent a few hours lazily driving past the wineries, having In&Out, talking to a really interesting artist working at a small gallery, and learning stuff at a short wine tour. The hotel was lovely, the town is cute (despite closing for the night waaay too early and leaving us with nothing to do but take a look around Salvation Army and then watch a movie in our room) and we went on an unintentionally 5.5mile hike the next day, followed by bbq.

All in all, a really great way to turn 30. And my family was fantastic. And my friends were sweet. And I am extremely blessed.

I'm just not done yet so I'm not ready to celebrate myself :)

Callaway Winery

 

he was really excited for the winery tour.

 

 

How hot is this guy, #AmIRight

sip sip sip

 



Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve

 

 

Cool old adobe buildings on the reserve...former ranch hands' quarters.

 



 

halfway through our accidental 5.5 mile hike :)

 

nom nom nom

 

 

 

 

Three Ways on a Table

What a difference a hyphen makes (or lack thereof).

So when Katie Bower said it was tablesetting week I got stoked. I love this stuff. Like every Christmas I set the table for four and leave it out for like three weeks even if we're not having company. So even though I was short on time and wasn't trying to wine-and-dine anyone, I wanted to get in on this link party action. So last night I threw together a few tablesettings... like anyone else, I shopped my stuff for things already on hand to put these together. Looking back on my photos now I wish I had played around with different seating arrangements, etc... but it's a small table in a multi-purpose room so only so much you can do, right? I might have to do this again with a little more prep time and some clearer vision...  but I guess what I can take away from this is that a table can totes be thrown together using what's in your kitchen  basically anywhere in your house or yard in not a lot of time. :)  And the important thing is the people sitting around it sharing good food and good times. #awwwh

 #1 - Blue Period

Looking around I noticed I had a lot of shades of blue... I thought something like this could be a cute "Little Boy Blue" luncheon for a Mommy-to-Be, or could be a "Something Blue"-themed bridal shower. Really you could do this with any color, right? Just go around and pick up pretty things you already have that are pink or yellow or red or whatevs....

The napkins are paper ones that I picked up on clearance at Michael's after Easter... so clearanced they were practically free (but not quite). The clear square plates are semi-disposable ones (like they will last through a few gentle uses and handwashings but aren't super heavy-duty) that I grabbed at Party City for E's birthday brunch a few months ago. For about $1/per plate (should've brought a coupon!) I thought they made a good impact--they lent the clean, modern look I wanted for that brunch, allowed me to have 20 matching plates, and held up better than most paper plates. I should note that I really wanted some bamboo semi-disposable plates (like these) but I took so long to decide that I ran out of time to order them... next party...

Anyways, since I didn't actually have much blue in the way of dishes--ours are a pretty beigey-brown ceramic and our "formal" dishes in the next setting are pink--I thought the clear and beige worked without messing up my blue color scheme. One day I'll have enough money to buy and room to store tons of cool dishes and have parties every week. I just need more friends. and money and cabinet space.

#2 - Garden Party

Why didn't I make nametags for this? I think something like this could be so pretty on a nice patio for brunch or lunch. I used some doilies from a box my grandmother cleaned out from her linen closet. Since I didn't have four matching doilies for placemats I just cut some squares from some cute, vintage-y fabric found at Goodwill awhile back. Since I was already using doilies and old-fashioned dishes and vintage-y fabric I tried to add a few sparkly elements too, to avoid looking too "Little House on the Prairie (at least that's what I was aiming for there)."

Let's talk about the Franciscanware. I fell in love with it sometime in high school or college and same grandmother has since gifted placesettings and some coordinating pieces for birthdays and holidays. It's timeless and beautiful and very "me..." I knew we wouldn't use really formal china enough to warrant the expense (and we have absolutely no room for it anyways)... but these dishes I like to use anytime we have a small gathering, and I usually end up mixing and matching with the beige dishes and amber-y everyday glasses that we have.

I gotta' be real, but this is very "me" in all it's pink, girly glory. I actually did something pretty similar a couple of years ago when I had a "No Boys Allowed" Valentine's Day dinner for a few girlfriends (except that we couldn't all fit around the table so it served as the buffet while we took the "fine china" to the couch and floor like a sleepover). I also use the plates and usually these green seeded-glass goblets (people LOVE drinking out of these, it's pretty funny, actually) when I set the table for nobody at Christmas... I'm not going to get special "Christmas only" china and I typically end up with some pink elements in the Christmas decor anyways. 

 #3 - #BringBackTheBrown
So because I wanted to do something a little more creative (and because I'm me), I chose a Padres theme... but it had to be the old-school brown and orange and gold colors. I'm very much a fan of bringing back the brown (I recommend this petition), and the colors totally work with our beige dishes and amber-y glasses. Also, I'd like ask all of those people who pooh-pooh the idea of the Padres wearing brown because they say it looks like... well, pooh... whether this looks like poop. Be real, I can take the criticism because I don't care, I love the brown -- it's a sophisticated neutral and can be paired with pretty much anything.

The cool honeycomb-ish napkins were from Target's Dollar Spot back around Thanksgiving... I have a stash of party napkins on hand for many occasions... or for when we run out of regular napkins. I should note that this allowed me to bust out the baby shower napkins when a friend came over for dinner and surprise-announced she was pregnant (congratulations!)

It's hard to tell but I used a brown beverage tub and stacked a book inside so that the signed baseballs, bobblehead and other stuff could be seen on top. I grabbed that plastic grass from it's usual residence on our bathroom counter because, baseball = grass (I believe there ought to be a Constitutional amendment outlawing astro-turf). A couple of playoff rally towels and my first Padres shirt are draped over the tub. Some of my baseball books are stacked on either side with other souvenirs... though, if this were a real party I'd probably put a lot of this stuff on the coffee table where guests could take a look at it not near their food... because a baseball dinner needs something like yummy bbq.

I'd love to do this party for real... though I'm thinking it would be better on something like a long picnic table. Have some friends over for bacon-wrapped hot dogs, nachos bar, Cracker Jacks-inspired dessert, beers... and of course the game.

So thanks Katie for the inspiration! Fun way (for me) to spend a Thursday night :)  You can see everyone's fab work on her most recent post with the link party.

Here's a few more from over the years.... but I gotta' work on taking more pics BEFORE the party and not after when the food is half-gone and I've cleared the dirty dishes. ha. These include a couple tables from Christmas, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving and our Mad Men party :)

Happy Tables! 

Mid-Life Inventory

This evening I'm heading to a 30th birthday party for a girlfriend I've known more than 15 years. Last week went to a 30th birthday party... and  one-year-old's party (Circle of Life, am I right? Also, we know too many people born in May).  And my own 30th is coming up.

ugh. Thus, a minor self-reflection below. I'm sure I've overlooked a million things.

Including but absolutely not limited to, and in no particular order:


Things I Regret:

1. Not taking better care of my skin starting when I was like 10-11 like my mom told me...
2. Basically every beauty product I used and decision I made in like, freshman year of high school (Sun-In, mauve lip liner, starting to pluck my eyebrows when I didn't know what I was doing...).  
3. Taking high school perhaps a bit too seriously sometimes...the last semester of senior year when I stopped caring as much was so fun :)

   

   See below Section 4, Number 5

4. Not somehow being alive to see The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison perform live in their heyday. 
5. Not sticking with my junior high instincts of pursuing a career in occupational therapy or nursing.
6. Not being a teeny bit more demanding on my wedding day because it would have helped with keeping other people on time and making sure that I had a few pictures that we didn't get and I now wish I had :| (but in the end I'm married and that's all that really matters)
   
7. Not going snorkeling or hiking on our Hawaii trip...but I guess that means we'll just have to go back!
8. Not being more outgoing at networking events and other such opportunities I've had/attended. I mean, that's pretty much the point, right? I still have wallflower tendencies sometimes (not the best for someone working in public relations) and I need to work on that. 
9. The realllly strong Malibu-and-DietPepsiLime that Heather mixed in the back of her car at a Lambda Chi party and then chugging it because it had started to overflow our Disney Princess sippy cups. Also, every other libation I consumed that night. Also, every time I've had vodka (thankfully not many).

   

   You win, Bartles&Jaymes.

Things I Don't Regret:

1. Accutane.
2. Working hard in high school because I ended up with a great scholarship to my first-choice college and had a wonderful time there and came out with a real education that prepared me for actual careers I wanted to obtain (Of course I've since kinda' changed my mind, but nevertheless).
3. Spending two relaxing days just eating a long breakfast with my grandparents and laying on the beach right outside our hotel in Hawaii instead of driving to the touristy hiking and snorkeling destinations and fighting the crowds.
4. Chocolate or coffee. ever.
5. Haircuts. It grows back.
6. Late night and ridciulous adventures with Heather, Jackie and AGDs in college. Every midnight trip to get ice cream at Rite-Aid, every all-nighter to work on Recuitment or GreekWeek, the time we made a batch of Rice Krispies Treats in the middle of the night at Heather's and just ate them out of a bowl (They never made it into a pan to become squares), Sisterhood Retreats ("We're sleeping on Effing linoluem, bitches!!") is a great memory.

Things I Want to Do More Of:

1. Botox
2. Recording and/or documenting my parents' and grandparents' and other family members' memories, histories, and advice.

   

   NanaAnn and Papa

3. Help people, animals and the environment. Make a difference. Promote positive, sustainable change. 
4. Camping (E and I are planning our first--of many, hopefully--trip in June!). 
5. Traveling in general. If possible.
6. Lean In.
7. Find unique and thoughtful ways to support and encourage my husband and show him that he is loved in creative ways... little things that remind him that I'm always thinking about him.
8. On that note, I should do the same for everyone I care about. 
9. On that note, I should do more nice things even for people I don't care about or even like.
10. Reading all the books. I started a list here and I'm wanting to work my way through Rory Gilmore's reading list and this one.
11. Getting news on world affairs and current events from many different sources. I don't want to be that person that relies solely on one outlet (especially when so many for their news.)
12. Shopping for clothes based on quality, not quantity and/or whim. I'm getting better at this (not buying things I'm lukewarm about); and it doesn't mean I want to only shop at high-end places, just that I have usually gotten by a lot of the time with pants that are not quite the right fit and sometimes just pinned up instead of hemmed... or kept shirts that didn't quite work with anything else I owned...or tried to wear a dress three times and each time I'm like "Eww," but each time I hang it back in my closet. Life is too short, my disposable income is too valuable (and limited and needed elsewhere) and my closet space is too lacking to have stuff I don't really like, especially when I have a much better idea of what I do like and looks decent as I've gotten older. Kind of that "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have," thing... I want to dress as the competent, put-together person (but not stuffy or snobby or overly fancy) person I'd like to be.
13. Seeing live music. It doesn't have to be big ol' fancy concerts (San Diego has many great free summer concerts in the parks and such), but I always enjoy live music. 
14. Work on better food prep and menu planning. I’d like to be one of those people that has a freezer full of prepped meals that are ready to go into the crockpot, and who has their pantry organized (ours is a living nightmare to keep clean and organized due to the fact that it’s too narrow for how incredibly deep it is, so I have the hardest time keeping things in order and easy to reach.  Anyways, I’d like to do a much better job of planning our meals because it would help us to eat healthier, cheaper and waste less. All good things.
    

Things I Miss:

1. Mattie. My grandparents and Uncle Jimmy. 

   

   My Grandma Carol and Grandpa Jim

    



2. Not having to pay for rent, most bills, a general lack of being an adult.
3. On that note, road trips with the family when we were kids.
4. Volleyball (I know a few people who would be interested in a semi-competitive indoor league that isn't too expensive and isn't in North County, if anyone knows of something or has access to a gym)
5. In general, being in shape without having to really work on it because I played sports for fun pretty much year-round. ughhhh mid-life and extra-curricular activities.
6. Boy Meets World. Mostly this guy (yay reruns).
   
7. The Padres brown uniforms. 
8. The tan I had the summer that I was  lifeguard.

   

   I wish this came close to conveying how brown I was. #WhiteGirlProblems

Things I Want to Learn:

1. Spanish (more fluently... I'm understanding it a bit better, but I don't think I'll ever really be comfortable speaking it... :|  )
2. How to surf...at least enough to get out there and enjoy myself.
3. Better personal financial management.
4. Occupational therapy (career change coming as part of my 5-year plan if I can get into school and figure out how to pay for it!)
5. How to play tennis...because now that I understand it I really enjoy it and because I have come to realize that tennis players have the best-looking bods out there. 
6. Better mindfulness... my attention span is getting shorter and shorter, I swear.
7. How to do more basic maintenance and repairs around the home, yard and for my vehicle.

Things I Want to Try:

1. A Lifestyle Lift (or, as my brother more realistically suggested, change my outlook instead)
2. Adopting a dog... like the first family dog for E and me.
3. Stand-up paddleboarding. It looks relaxing and I've heard it's great for your core.
4. Being a homeowner :\
5. Being a mom :\
1. Re: #4-5, the disgruntled face is because neither has happened yet and I feel like I'm way behind.. in life.
6. Really dark hair. Like this-ish. Darker than I've gone before:

   

   Go darker, yes?

7. Possibly opening an Etsy store or somehow having an independent, creative teensy business....? I don't know what I'd do though, since I don't have a specific "thing" and anything I can do someone else can do better and I'm not a savvy businessperson at. all.
8. Being a Padres season ticket holder someday in life.
9. New places...like restaurants, day trips, museums, etc. As much as our time and budget will allow. I get stuck with the same old activities and there's so much more out there, ya' know?
10. Host a fondue party. Sounds fun, right? Also, when we one day have a big enough house and yard (see #4) I'd love to host a kick-ass Halloween party, New Year's Eve party, and have outdoor movie nights with themed food and beverages to go with the movie.
11. To do something awesome for my parents... like send them on a trip or buy them a house awesome. I don't know anyone who deserves it more.

Good Choices I've Made:

1. Marrying this guy. Absolutely.
   
2. Alpha Gamma Delta--Greek Life isn't for everyone but it offered me great learning and engagement opportunities on campus and became my home-away-from-home while in school. I gained confidence and a wonderful network of women I am proud to call sisters today.

   

   Just a few of my Littles and Grand-Littles. Amazing.

3. Our Lafawnduh-the-Honda Element. Awesome little car. I'd totes get another.
4. The arugula-pear-prosciutto pizza my sister and I shared on my Dad's birthday.

Anyone else with a birthday coming up? Anyone hate the number 30? Got something I should add to my list (hopefully not a regret)?

Carpe the eff outta' the Diem! Viva your vida to the fullest. Share your Blessings. Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better.

crushin'

man-crushing, to be precise.

or maybe it's idolatry.

or uncanny.

when I saw this article the other day... (awwwh...)

it reminded me of E's hair making the transition from this

to this

and so I searched and found this - "The Evolution of Roger Federer's Hair in Pictures (oh Internet, you come through again)..."

and subsequently came up with this:

 

to be fair, as E pointed out, he went to the current short length about three months ago so he wins that round.

 

I jut thank goodness E never went through a bleach phase.

 

so basically what I'm trying to say is that the guy would've (still would?) marry Roger Federer if he could and they would play tennis together forever and be happy.  Also that I really need to make a decision about whether I'm going to let my hair keep growing or do my usual and chop it off about the time it's just starting to long.

 

 

and... a much as I give hima hardtime about it, it's pretty cute. now if he can work on an RF paycheck to match the hair, we'll be golden. ;)

 

 

 

Live Every Day Like It's Earth Day

Last week was crappy, right?


So I suppose it's nice and fitting to start this week with a renewed dedication to protecting the earth with sustainable solutions and a commitment to protecting our planet and our humanity.

Side-note: When I was in 7th/8th grade and we all had those binder with the presentation sleeve on the front, the cool kids collected each others' StarShots pictures in matching outfits with too much makeup, but I.... well, let's just say that I used my presentation sleeve to promote the Padres' sweep over the Dodgers to make the playoffs in '96, and among other things, made a collage out of National Geographic-type publications to promote Earth Day and my adolescent, idealistic Earth-saving goals. I don't think anyone cared or understood, but my goals in that regard remain unchanged. Also that remains one of my favorite Padres/Dodgers memories.

Anyways, no time for significant introspection on my part but I couldn't let today go by unnoticed, so here's a few quickies:

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” 

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

Anyone know where this beautiful graphic came from (besides Pinterest?)

• A few of my fave Earth-saving Tweeps: @WiLDCOAST @iloveacleansd @Katerva @nature_org @NOAA @SurfriderSD @cleanupday
• Adopting a manatee was always on my bucket list and my parents made it happen for my birthday last year :)  Flicker is my girl in Tampa Bay - http://www.savethemanatee.org/default.html
• I went to day camp here for a couple summers as a kid and it's always been one of my favorites to visit; I highly recommend an afternoon here if possible: Living Coast Discovery Center
• Take action :)  http://act.earthday.org/

Happy Earth Day, now I'm crying (seriously, it makes me teary and it's rather pathetic) #LetItGrow

Go take a walk today! I have to say I'm blessed to have experienced some pretty amazing scenery (and company!) in my day and would share a million pictures of the amazing places my parents took us to over the years if I had taken the time to scan them in, which I guess I should really work on:

Go hug a tree and pick up cigarette butts, 

Love you for your brains ;)

So we're late to this party, I know, but we are SOO into The Walking Dead. We starting with Season 1 in early December and despite my declaration after each of the first 4-5 episodes or so of "I have a headache from the stress, I don't think I can do this," we sped through Seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix before eagerly recording (and speeding through) the New Year's Season 3 marathon (This brilliant "The Emotional Roller Coaster that is The Walking Dead…" pretty much reads my mind and verbalizes all my feelings). I wish we were this dedicated to things like managing our finances or health care or vacuuming.

So when the mid-season premier of Season 3 came around and fell just a few days before Valentine's Day I was inspired by this dad to make a cool Zombie Survival Kit to celebrate. And since I didn't get a write-up finished in time for said mid-season premier, I thought I'd save it and offer it now. You now have 1.5 days-ish to put something together as an end-of-Season3 gift and/or Easter Basket for a zombie enthusiast.  Sooo here ya' go.

Aside -- I have to say... this second half of Season 3 has been a bit frustrating; up-and-down, compelling then boring. I think what I loved about the earlier shows is (although as a general rule I REALLY don't like apocalyptic, end-of-the-world-y fiction... History Channel hypotheticals are ok) was that is was unchartered territory... I mean, what do you do when civilization is basically gone and you're about to get eaten every other second? The small victories were so good and I felt like we were slowly peeing back layers of characters. Now, I'm like, "dude let's get it on with Woodbury already and let the chips fall where they may. And why for the love of all that is holy has nobody just shot The Governor when they had the chance?" I did love the episode where Rick finds Morgan again, and Glen and Maggie's engagement, and the really sad goodbye to Merle (yes he was a jerk but could he have been rehabilitated if he'd stuck around long enough? Was his last act really unselfish? Did it not break your heart when Daryl found him and had to put him down? I was really hoping he would've taken the Gov. out and then the finale could be a really nice wedding episode...lame? If nothing else, please don't let Daryl wear sleeves. End Aside.

Ok, so. I made my darling a Zombie Survival Kit. I didn't reinvent the wheel, I'm sure there are other and better such kits out there, but here was my jam--I wanted it to be affordable and I wanted to incorporate items that E would actually use. And I wanted it to be fun... this isn't like, serious emergency prep here. So with that in mind you could basically put anything in a Zombie Survival Kit for your loved one and just come up with some goofy explanations for each item. Or you could follow that awesome dad's example and package candy in fun ways, Here's what I did:

• Socks (I try to replenish his stash every Christmas but since I missed it this year, V-day was perfect timing) - "For when you need to run like hell"
• Underpants (I can only hear that word in Cory Matthews' voice, and again, I make sure he gets some new pairs annually) - "For when the you-know-what hits the fan"
• Duct Tape - "You can never have to much," Bungee Cords (because we'd been saying we needed some for the car), a flashlight to keep in his glove compartment... all from the 99 cent store and things that are useful for survival
• Gatorade - "Avoid Contaminated Sources of Water"
• Lifesaver Mints - "Because I couldn't wrap Daryl Dixon"

• And because he's been threatening to buy a crossbow, I was totally stoked to find this mini one at Party City, and in a moment of perfect timing, found a Groupon for a local amusement park for unlimited laser tag, a laser maze, ropes course, rock-climbing wall.... So I told him it would be great survival training (only with no blood, hopefully).

There's some awesome ways to package this (a metal lockbox or nice backpack, maybe?) but in the interest of time and money I used plain craft paper and printed some labels. I wanted my writing to look like some hastily written memo to fellow survivors, mission accomplished? Oh, and red paint.

He liked it.

How cute is he? :)

 Some other ideas for your Zombie (Walker) Survival Kit:

• Trail Mix
• Canned Foods
• Twinkies or Top Ramen - "Shelf Life Will Survive Any Apocalypse"
• Batteries
• Nerf Gun or Water Gun
• Water Bottle
• Swiss Army Knife or multi-tool (he already had one or I would've added this)
• Band-Aids, Advil, vitamins or other first-aid supplies
• Gloves (gardening/work gloves?)
• Gas Card
• Road flares to keep in their trunk in case of emergency
• Hand Sanitizer - "Let's Be Real, Zombie Guts Are Not Sanitary"
• Condoms - "As Exemplified by Lori Grimes, Unprotected Sex During the Zombie Apocalypse Can Complicate Things" (do not take this as my endorsement for giving children condoms)
• Gift certificate to play paintball, go to a shooting range, take archery lessons or for one of those cool Zombie Run 10k races
• You could package small candies like M&Ms and Skittles in old (cleaned) prescription bottles, package Fun Size candy bars in BandAid boxes, or wrap up Fruit Roll-ups in a roll of gauze so that as they unroll it they find more treats
• This awesome shirt which probably accurately describes my fate in the zombie apocalypse

Have fun!!