here's what's up.

contemplating: What to do with my hair. It's in this place where I'm really trying to be good and grow it out, but I also haven't gotten a trim in an embarrassing amount of time. I'm torn between just getting a healthy trim, or cutting the necessary inch or two off that would be needed to ditch the obnoxious leftover layers from my pixie cut. go.a.way. layers!

looking forward to: The rest of How I Met Your Mother! Can't wait to see how they wrap it all up.

thrilled with: All three of the dresses I ordered from Ruche. Haha, woops. I was supposed to narrow it down and return some, but I just can't. And won't.

bummed about: Downton Abbey being over. AGAIN. Ten months is too long to wait for another season of a fantastic show. It feels like we just got started up again!

reading: In Praise of Slowness and really loving every word. Amen to slowing the heck down!

anticipating: Some big life changes coming up mighty fast. Stay tuned for that.

coveting: These sandals for meandering on summer days, and one more dress for my collection.

eating: Mostly vegetarian these days! Check out these recipe ideas.

anxious about: Super long to-do lists, and money. I hate that :/

learning: A lot about website hosting, Wordpress, and what goes into website building. Stayed tuned about that too :)

And that's what's up. Have a good week!

leap into the ripe air

excerpt from I Will Wade Out by E.E. Cummings

Spring, where are you? Are you coming soon? 

It was in the 50's all weekend. I even washed dishes with the kitchen windows open! It was so glorious. Currently, we can see our grass. I don't want to get too attached because it's supposed to snow for the next two days. The words "polar vortex" have even been thrown around. Totally unacceptable. I hope spring is coming to all of us soon!

25's a-comin'

My 25th birthday is fast approaching. Whoa. Here are some things that have been catching my eye. I'm not usually a dress-wearer, but I've been realizing lately that it could be because I'm not thrilled with my current options. I think I need some casual dresses that are more my style. All of these would look great with a pair of clogs, no? :) I got an amazing (and very rare) Ruche coupon a few days ago, so I snatched up all three to try them on!

1. madewell tomboy workshirt (have it in green & it's fabulous) // 2. essie chinchilly. so great for any season // 3. a top I've been eyeing from H&M for quite some time // 4. farmer's market tank dress from ruche // 5. aftermath striped dress from ruche // 6. starboard striped midi dress from ruche

the ranch home: what's not to love?

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It all started when I saw Shiva's modern ranch home tour on Apartment Therapy. From that point forward, I think I was hooked. Most people would look at ranch homes and think they're just dull and dated. But lately I've been looking past all of that and seeing these homes as a fabulous blank slate. So understated and simple. Here's why I think they're so wonderful:

- Single floor living for a first house, or early on with small children: no gates, no laundry hauling, no vacuuming stairs. All wins.
- Because of the single floor living, they usually are extremely easy to open up. I long for a very open floor plan some day - great for entertaining!
- Easy to make additions as a family grows: Out the back? Off the side? On top? Garage? Sure. Whatever tickles your fancy.
- The front of the house is usually blah enough to be a canvas for whatever style landscaping you want to add. I've seen some pretty awesome privacy fencing, plantings, pergolas, and even wrap around porches in my research.
- Small: easy to heat, easy to clean, keeps one from acquiring to much junk, cozy.

So yes - one would initially have to look past shag carpeting, linoleum and those dark kitchen cabinets with the colonial hardware. But past that could be a bright, sunny, small, open, unique modernized ranch home. Maybe someday :)

clogs

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

In honor of loving things - I’ve been completely enthralled with these clogs lately (in Cognac or Bordeaux). Will and I are people who love our shoes. Each shoe purchase is deliberated over for what seems like months, and because of that, we are obsessed with nearly every pair we purchase. 

For the most part, we also love the other’s taste in shoes. Will wears the Timberland Earthkeepers, Clarks Desert Treks, these adorable Sperry sneakers… I love them all. And he loves my Madewell riding boots, my Clarks Fairfield “sneakers”, my Bensimon flats, my New Balance Minimus running shoes. But every once in a while, we are in very different camps. He hates my Sam Edelman ankle boots, which obviously makes me want to throw his opinion straight out the window. 

I’ve been really digging the look of these clogs with some cute skinny ankle jeans. I especially love it when the top is baggy and cozy. The clogs seem like a clunky, care-free way to add style and “dressiness” to an outfit. I’m not one for dainty shoes (I rarely wear heels), but these are tom-boyish enough to get it done. It’s like “I’m kind of frumpy and messy, but I still have stylish shoes - so there.”

If I ever got these though, I think they would quickly be on Will’s hate list and he’d want to toss them straight out the window.   ;)

something else that's new.

Here’s something new around these parts: a few weeks ago, I got glasses!

At first, I was a bit insecure about the way they fit my face because I think they look a little large for my long and narrow face. However, they’ve grown on me and I’ve received nothing but compliments on them. I also don’t need to wear them all the time, so that helped me ease in. Upon further study, I think they work well with my face shape since they and my face are both kind of square-ish. Also, they are for distance, so the big lenses really help me gather everything in my line of sight and bring clarity!

I had been getting headaches more and more frequently, and Will and I had conducted some tests while driving to compare my vision with his. Turns out, I wasn’t able to read most road signs until the very last second - a tad unnerving. I also noticed that when viewing presentations at work, I had to literally stop looking at the screen and just listen in order to prevent a headache, no matter how close I was sitting to the front. It was clearly time for a test!

I’m so glad I got them. Honestly, since then it has been amazing how clear everything looks. It’s like I didn’t know what I was missing without the comparison. While watching TV now, I will start with my glasses on and then lower them from time to time throughout the episode (ie: Downton Abbey) and the contrast makes me feel practically blind. It’s shocking how much I must have been straining my eyes before. Thank goodness for the new spectacles! Love ‘em. 

2014

[photo I took the afternoon we chopped our Christmas tree down... over 2 months ago?!]


Well, hello! It’s been quite some time. Here’s what we’ve been up to since last time around…

- I traveled to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. Will ended up having to work unfortunately, 
but he was kind enough to still send me on our planned trip, and I had a wonderful time.
- We hosted my brother and sister-in-law from San Diego for a few days here in PA, 
and they joined us for the aforementioned tree-chopping.
- I had nine days off around Christmas and we didn't travel anywhere. It was so amazing and lazy. 
It consisted of lots of things around the house, sleeping in, and 7 full seasons of How I Met Your Mother. Judge away!
- We had a super relaxing Christmas day.
- Climbed some rocks.
- We visited some dear friends from our church in MA who have recently moved to State College, PA. So good to see them!

It seemed like I was barely getting my hands around 2013 and it slipped away. We were just reminiscing about where we went for dinner last Valentine’s Day and the memory is so clear. Could that honestly have been a year ago? How does this happen? I had so many hopes about what I wanted 2013 to look like, and before I knew it, I was stuck in a routine that I couldn’t get out of: work, home, dinner, TV show, bed. Sure, we occasionally strayed from this formula, but more often than not we were stuck in it. I hate that.

After looking back and feeling a bit dismayed about what 2013 became for us, I came across of list of forty things (ambitious, I know) that I wanted to accomplish last year. And you know what? I actually did twenty of them! Maybe one needs to make an unreasonably long list so that when one only accomplishes half, it’s still twenty things completed! Probably not the best advice for the everyday list, but for a barely-addressed-year-long-to-do-list? Why not.

Some of them were bigger feats than others: pay off vehicles, boost up savings account, start planning a trip. But it’s nice to even acknowledge the small things: buy a new bath mat, hem some curtains, paint some furniture. After analyzing the twenty things that we did accomplish, I realized 2013 was a year of slow and steady progress, moving ourselves in the direction we want to go. Did we do anything incredible that friends and family should know about? Not really - particularly noticed when I was scrounging for Christmas card material. But we did steadily propel ourselves toward the next chapter of our lives, and that is not a wasted year. 

One goal that I’m particularly proud of achieving last year was to read more fiction. In early January, I made an account on Goodreads, compiled my lists of books, set a goal, and read 15 books last year! That's a big deal for me! Granted - not all were fiction, but like I said - baby steps in the right direction. Now, I’ve developed reading as more of a life habit and continuously have a book out from the library. The even babier-baby-step that got me here was when I decided to just read for 15 minutes every night before bed. That practice helped me to just be in a book, and then more regular reading came from that. 

I came across this list of questions to reflect on the past year, and I’m considering pondering over them (sorry - can’t remember where I found them!). I emboldened the ones that strike me most.

1. Where in my life do I feel stuck?

2. What am I most proud of in this last year?

3. Am I passionate about my job, or career?

4. What have I learned this year?

5. What have I been an example of?

6. How have I been open minded?

7. What new experiences, people or places did I experience?

8. How did I express myself creatively?

9. What projects did I start? Did I complete them, or procrastinate?

10. Did I get in my own way and make excuses?

11. In what ways can I restructure my time?

12. How have I been a good and supportive friend/spouse?

13. Have I been unfair to anyone?

14. Who do I need to forgive in order to move forward?

15. What (or who) do I need to let go of?

16. What old habits am I ready to get rid of forever?

17. What habits would I like to integrate into my life?

18. Am I healthy in mind, body and spirit?

19. What do my finances say about my life?

20. Am I spending my free time in healthy and productive ways?

What do you think of these questions? Do you spend time intentionally analyzing the past year? 

If you do, I'd love to hear how. I hope 2014 is starting off on the right foot for you all! :)