Inventory: Winter 2015

Making: time to take care of myself these days. 

Cooking: At some point, this cauliflower risotto that Kaitlin made a few weeks ago and raved about. 

Drinking: my tenth glass of water for the day. Trying to keep that dry winter skin hydrated from the inside out!

Reading: Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates, and enjoying it so far. 

Wanting: my one-month shopping hiatus to end so I can see if Express still has that perfect black skirt. 

Looking: forward to the orchestra this evening!

Playing: Trivia Crack ad nauseum against Mike (we're astonishingly intelligent and well-matched, although I tend to get the sports questions wrong...).

Wasting: time at work dreaming of my upcoming Mexican vacation this March with Kelsie!

Wishing: that that 40-degree January weather could have stuck around for the rest of the winter...

Enjoying: the good hair day I'm having today. 

Waiting: to decide on a locale for pre-orchestra cocktails!

Liking: Jake Ballard running around on my TV screen in his underwear during "Scandal" last night!

Wondering: why my neighbors' baby has decided to wail at 5:15 am for the last ten days straight. 

Loving: "Gilmore Girls." I'm so hooked. I want Rory to be my best friend. 

Hoping: that Mama, Emmy and Jonny Schwegs are having a blast in Ohio this weekend!

Marveling: at how fast my least-favorite month went this year. Thanks, January, for sucking way less than usual. 

Needing: to hit up the Clinique counter sometime soon. 

Smelling: the Apple Orchard cleaning spray I just used to wipe down my center island. It's so fresh!

Wearing: a KILLER pair of heels.

Following: up on fraudulent card charges, ugh...but thanks for awesome customer service, Wells Fargo!

Noticing: the blooms on my daffodil shoots. So insanely happy. 

Knowing: that I'll need to make up the gym tomorrow after skipping today. 

Thinking: about our itinerary for Paris this May after reading this book. 

Bookmarking: recipes for Superbowl snacks in preparation for Sunday. 

Opening: a bottle of wine before Claire gets here!

Giggling: while dancing around my apartment blasting songs from the 60s and 70s and cleaning things up and getting ready for an awesome evening. 

Feeling: incredibly happy, positive and excited about things coming up in my life. 

life lately: january

Just little catch-ups of fun goings-on that don't quite fit into other places or posts:

Earlier this month, Hannah, her roommate Sarah and I met up and celebrated Jordan's birthday! Jordan is my "work husband" from my time at EY--we became besties pretty much our first week of training, once they taught us how to use EY instant messager. From then on out, I blame him for at least 50% of my unproductive time at the office...and love him for it. We hit up The Saloon in downtown Minneapolis for a night of dancing and hilarity...it's always a memorable part of my January social calendar!

First official #Rojogram of 2015! Kelsie, her friend Ellie, and I are going to Mexico right before Easter, and on a chilly, blustery Sunday, we met up in Edina to officially book our flights and spaz out about how excited we are. What better way to celebrate finding cheap Southwest flights than with the most potent margaritas I have found to date in Minnesota, and the rainbow-pretty and delicious Rojo guacamole? 

Keeping my Mexican vibe alive...my parents and I go visit my lovely Grandma Lo every few weeks, and it's always a great time. This visit, however, was noteworthy because it turned into a totally spontaneous quest for tequila after a random conversation turned to margaritas. Lo's always loved Mexican food, and my Grandpa Leo was never a fan...and on a lovely, warm, sunny day, nothing sounded better to us than chimichangas, chips and salsa, and a margarita on the rocks. 

How cute is my grammy?! After splitting a bottle of wine at Grandma's house (we know how to party), the four of us loaded into my dad's truck and ventured to La Cucaracha, a great hidden gem in St. Paul's Summit Ave neighborhood. The margaritas were smooth as can be, the chips are baked daily in-house, and our meals were perfection...definitely assuaged the sorrow of Pete Carroll's last-second win over the Packers in the NFL semis. 

My book club is the stuff of basic-girl legend. We're about as stereotypical as a 21st-century book club comes...there is always wine, we rarely read the book, and 90% of our sessions are devoted to discussing each other's personal lives. Our January meeting lived up to all our usual expectations. I didn't even read the book on time this month (but did devour it after the meeting!), but we had a blast "discussing" Anita Diamant's The Boston Girl and savoring Cristina's on-theme mini Boston cream pies! 

And finally, just something that really made me smile: on Martin Luther King Day, our elevator bays at work got quote-bombed with MLK-isms. It was probably unprofessional of me, but I pulled a Buddy the Elf and stopped the elevator on every floor to get off and read the quotes. Here's my fave: 

January, you've been good to me this year. Thanks--I needed it. 

Ten easy ways to brighten a day in under five minutes.

I may or may not have employed (most) of these this weekend: 

1. Google Image search "ducklings." 

Enough said. 

2. Google Image search "Prince George." 

Again, enough said. 

3. Google Image search "Kate Middleton funny." 

Okay, but really, enough said. That said (tee hee), I'm a big fan of Kate Middleton for the Win and The Inner Duchess of Kate Middleton.

4. Clean something. As simple as wiping down the bathroom counters or running the vacuum quickly...it makes me feel productive and in control and self-satisfied. 

5. Mess around with some kind of new and different makeup in the mirror. I'm veeery into playing with red lipstick. Maybe someday I'll get brave and wear it out of the house!

6. Hop on Trip Advisor and check out pictures of your next vacation destination. For me, that's El Dorado Royale, the resort Kelsie, Ellie and I are headed to in March! Isn't it gorgeous?

7. Give Kaitlin or Laura a call. Even five minutes of talking to them between work and activities makes me smile. 

8. Make a list. Life goals, clothes to get rid of, meal plans, dream travel destinations, a basic to-do list. Bonus points if it's written in turquoise Sharpie pen, like mine tend to be lately...

9. Watch any Saturday Night Live clip that causes uproarious laughs. I love the Brookie & Friend clips advertising luxury items, and Emily just posted this gem on my Facebook last night. 

10. Play a phone app. I'm super into Trivia Crack right now (I blame/thank Mike), and I just downloaded Duolingo to work on my French!

High(light)s and Lows

So it's been radio silence over here in blogland lately, but I promise I have a good excuse! My friends, I had the flu. And it's been a hell of a past few days here. Just a quick catchup on my survival (or lack thereof), starting with the lows to get them out of the way.

Well, for starters, my lovely immune system picked the best weekend ever to kick the bucket. Pause...not. Hannah, her roommates, our friend Caroline and I bought tickets to Sam Smith at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium months ago, and the concert was Saturday. I was 99% sure I wasn't going to make it, and 100% in denial about that fact until it just plain became inevitable. Talk about a total bummer! Fortunately, Hannah's friend Tara was able to take my ticket, and I've assuaged my sadness by listening to him on loop on Spotify and watching Hannah's many videos from the concert. How cute are these ladies?! Look at the signs!

Funny story: one of the admins at my office saw Sam Smith in person right after the concert grabbing some Cossetta's. He obviously knows what's what in Saint Paul, is all. 

This weekend was also Crashed Ice in Saint Paul, and it happened to be a stunningly gorgeous mid-forties weekend weather-wise. Of course, I missed this as well, as I didn't leave my bed for approximately 22 hours straight unless under bodily-enforced duress. Fortunately, I'm a glass-half-full person, and I managed to find a few high points in all the sickness. Namely: 

-On Thursday, before I totally fell apart, I went to my beloved stylists at Cole's for a cut and color. My hair had the January blues in a big way--I called my mom spazzing from the car threatening a drastic cut and dye job. Instead, I came in with this photo for inspiration: 

She's perfect. Teresa and Jen talked me off the ledge and I left with light, face-framing layers and beautiful highlights: 

Next time you think you spot the Duchess of Cambridge walking around the Twin Cities, your double-take shall be forgiven. It's just me rocking my utterly lovely new hair. 

Other weird but looking-on-the-bright side pluses to a weekend of illness: 

-the flu is an excellent way to jump-start weight loss. I lost six pounds in three days. (Yes, medically-intelligent friends, I know it's all dehydration and I will gain it all back as soon as I can stomach more than Saltines and dry English muffins.)

-Diet ginger ale. I powered through an entire two-liter over the weekend. No shame in my game. 

-The flu is also a great excuse to power through all of Season 4 (and half of Season 5) of "Gilmore Girls" in bed. You just can't watch Netflix for 12 hours straight on a 50-degree day in January unless you have a viable excuse. Like you can't move because your body hurts so much. 

See? Little Miss Sunshine over here. I did my best to feel better with hot baths and cozy socks and lots and lots of sleep. And as soon as I could hold my head up without the room spinning around in circles, I dragged my less-sick ass to Bachman's for emergency doses of green, healthy, growing things. 

Doesn't that just LOOK like spring? Yellow is my favorite color, flowers are a natural mood-lifter, and just seeing things grow makes me feel like spring is around the corner. 

Finally, just to make sure this up-and-down post ends on a high note, this was my view after an early morning wake up on Saturday. I may have felt sick as a dog, but could you imagine a more perfect affirmation that life is beautiful all the time? You just have to know where to look. 

ghosts

It's a funny thing, having lived so much life in Minneapolis. I've built myself a city that's haunted by my past self. Selves, even. I drive around or walk here and there, and most of the time, I stay in the present...focused on getting to the store, making it to happy hour, or not being late to the gathering. Sometimes, though, I get taken off-guard, and that's when the ghosts creep in. 

It happens to me at work, sometimes. I spent a weekend in St. Paul with the Band of the Fighting Irish for the Frozen Four once. I now park at the hotel the band stayed at, and we have work happy hours at the bar where the official pep rally was held. Sometimes, I sip my beer and look up and can see myself, 30 pounds thinner from mono and a flirtation with an eating disorder, clutching a piccolo and wearing a hockey jersey so big it could drown me. I had my first pair of skinny jeans on, and I never considered that the glittering, glassy building just across the street would one day be the source of my professional fulfillment. 

Restaurants haunt me. The tiny taco bar where my parents took me for my 25th birthday while he was at a class he hated, where he took me mere days before we broke up and sat at the table on the front porch. I've come dangerously close to car accidents when the ghost of that embattled couple catches me off-guard there. The window tables at Chino Latino will never cease to draw my eye, an old Lizzie trying to cheer up her depressed boyfriend with s'mores and the cheesiest jokes. And Culver's...Culver's will forever be the road trip food that conjures the old two of us, leaving our ButterBurgers and chicken tender memories along I-94 en route to weddings, football games, training.

Crave still echoes for me with the devil-may-care laughter of my mother, godmother, sister and cousins on a girls' day that included one too many lemon drop shots. Pizzeria Lola will always trigger memories of cat plates and photo booths and my dad's "lack of a sweet tooth." 

The corner booth in the bar at the Smack Shack is redolent with memories of Kaitlin, a bartender with a sense of humor, and a coloring-book kids' menu placemat. 

It's the apartments, though, that are the true graveyards for me. Every time I drive past Laurel Village, I count down the corner windows from the roof, 25 down to 19, and look to see if the lights are on. Sometimes I swear I can see my past self out of the corner of my eye. Biting back tears of frustration with EY and letting that view...god, that view...be the balm that soothed the angst of a brand-new stab at adulthood. Lit up for a party that brought the weirdest, most electric mixes of people together. 

Or that shithole on the corner of Nicollet and First...the white-washed brick, the vagrants drifting across the street. The rows of tall, narrow windows, behind which I know the radiator squeaks and the floorboards squeak and the faucets all squeak. The streaky windows I peered through, trying to spot my apartment in their vista because I was so besotted with the boy who came up behind me and hugged me close and made me think this was forever. 

222 is still the only place I know I'll always see myself. Leaning up against the corner of the railing on that rooftop deck. Hot pink gym shorts on, taking a day of actual PTO to "finish up the move." Waiting anxiously for him to get home so we could swim and decide where to order takeout from--we hadn't unpacked all the way, the place was too new to cook there. I remember the feeling of the concrete burning my bare feet, and watching the passers-by look up at me. In my mind, I was having a Princess Jasmine moment...being on the inside, with them looking up and wanting in too. Now I'm back on the outside and I know how much misery was on its way for that girl on the deck, and I'd never want to be anywhere but on the outside looking in. 

Sometimes I think about the ghosts I'm creating right now. I dream ahead to a day five, ten, fifty years down the road when I drive up to my building from work. I look at it through those far-away eyes and wonder who I'll see when I look at those windows on the top floor someday.

I like to think that I'll remember this place as the one where I put down my roots and took some time to grow back my wings.