Makes me smile

What is the one small thing that always makes you happy?

Curling up in super soft, super unsexy sweats

When there is a train pulling up right as I walk up to the station

A single glass of red wine

A cat curled up on my lap

Clean sheets

New socks

A clean room with a lit candle

When the pizza/thai delivery man rings the buzzer

A new, good iPod playlist

The moment a tough workout is over

Girls nights in

Being the first person in the office in the morning

Lunch out with co-workers

Falling asleep on the couch while the boyfriend watches TV or plays video games

Random text messages from friends

Dropping lots of new bags on the floor after a successful shopping trip

An afternoon cup of rice green tea

A stack of stapled papers

{Photo}

Pick up a book!

I am the queen of collecting unfinished books. Not simply unread, but started, put down, then never picked up again. I'm embarrassed to admit my current count right now, but I am at 10 unfinished books on my bookshelves. I spent a really enjoyable part of my afternoon today laying on my love seat next to the window, letting the sun stream in on me while I read The Girl Who Played With Fire. In truth, I really just needed to get out of the now permanent winter groove on my couch, but I think I might have to make this a habit.

I went through the unfinished books currently waiting for me and I'm trying to organize them into a queue.

The Lacuna

Eclipse

The Magician's Assistant

The Gargoyle

Monster of Florence

Vanished Smile

A Wedding in September

The Lace Reader

When the Emperor Was Divine

The Alchemist

{Photo}

Books I actually haven't started but need to:

Ines of My Soul

Paula

Travel Writing

{Photo}

Books in the mail:

The Omnivore's Dilemma

In Defense of Food

{Photo}

And don't even get me started on my magazine stack...

Happy 2011!

I love the new year and the fresh start it brings, but I also love reflecting back. I tend to think back on my year and accomplishments more on my birthday, so because this is the end of a decade (um, weren't we just worrying about Y2K like last year?) I have been thinking more about that. This past decade has been all about learning to drive, figuring out boys, figuring out myself, earning degrees, traveling, fun times, eye-opening experiences, new jobs, many new homes, lots of friends, and so much love. I can only imagine that the next decade will bring much of the same, but I'm at the point in my life where my friends and I are turning a corner, and I have a feeling that this next decade will bring more weddings, mortgages, less new jobs, and babies.

{Photo}

Last year I said that I don't like resolutions and prefer to be in a constant state of improving myself (sounds a bit elitist now ha). This year I actually have resolutions, but I'm trying to make them narrow enough so that I can feel some sense of accomplishment with each.

Resolutions for 2011:

1. Eat less white sugar. I'm a total sugar baby, but I'm going to make a conscious effort to say no more.

2. Take more photographs. I got an awesome camera for Christmas last year and I want to take advantage of its features more. Sometimes I get so busy living life that I forget I might want to relive it at some point.

3. Get into good music again. I ran with a fairly artistic crowd in college and would always have new good music passed on to me. Since then I have become such a Top 40 girl.

{Photo}

4. Use the subject line of emails. Simple.

5. Train for something. Anything. Since racing nearly every weekend in high school and college, I have literally run 3 races (one of which was the Chicago Marathon, which hardly counts as a "race."). Although I still run many times a week, I have lost the competitive drive and would like to get that back.

6. Keep my apartment clean on a daily basis. Every weekend it seems as if I'm spending several hours cleaning (including today; I'm starting my new year spic and span) and it would be nice to do just a bit each night.

7. Procrastinate less. Today.

{Photo}

Judging by my celebration last night to ring in 2011 (I am sore head to toe from the amount of dancing that took place), it should be a good one.

{Photo}

Christmas Tradition

As I've gotten older I've realized how much I really appreciate and love my family's Christmas traditions. I think as a child you assume that everyone celebrates Christmas in the same way that you do, with Santa taking center stage of course. Perhaps as we get older and meet more people we learn about others' traditions, and, as wonderful as their holidays sound, we love ours even more. Some of my family Christmas traditions include...

{Photo}

Twink, the elf. Every night in December I would tuck Twink, a small elf doll with a bell for a body, into bed beside mine and during the night he would bring me small gifts to find in the morning.

Lunch under the tree at the Walnut Room. My parents and I would go into the city every year before Christmas and wait in line for hours to eat lunch under the Christmas tree at (then) Marshall Fields. We'd then take a walk around the store outside and view the decorated windows.

Last minute shopping. My Dad and I would always race to make it to the store before it closed on Christmas Eve.

Fish on Christmas Eve. My great-grandparents always followed the Catholic tradition of not eating meat on Christmas Eve, so my family has always had fresh fish for dinner that evening. Fish and pierogi, yummm.

Wrapping last minute presents. I would always wait until Christmas Eve to wrap my gifts while watching A Christmas Story. I wish this was for sentimental reasons but it's mostly because I'm a procrastinator.

Biscuits and gravy on Christmas morning. I love that my dad's mom is southern because it makes for a delicious and fun Christmas breakfast!

{Photo}

It's been a while (again)

I started my blog for me. Its objective was to serve as a journal to me, something I could look back at and relive parts of my life. Lately, as evidenced from my lack of posts, I have been enjoying living my life rather than reflecting on it. But whenever I see simple fill-in-the-blanks on other blogs I feel compelled to post them as a quick and dirty snapshot of my mind at the moment. So, the game of fours...

Four TV shows that I watch:

The Good Wife

Modern Family

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Grey's Anatomy

Four things that I'm passionate about:

Maintaining a lot of strong relationships

Equality under the law and justice system

Animal rights

Healthy living

Four words/phrases I use a lot:

"Hi love"

Awesome

"So good" (when referring to anything I eat)

Snugglebug/snuggleface/snugglemonster/snuggle[fill in the blank]

Four things I've learned from the past:

Don't regret anything

Don't take any moment for granted

Don't wish time away

If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen

Four places I would like to go (that I haven't been):

Thailand

Argentina wine country

Norway/Sweden/Finland/Russia

Mexico

Four things I did yesterday:

Got my hair cut in an attempt to fix last July's disaster

Went Christmas shopping

Talked to three of my favorite people on the phone

Made up my own workout and rocked it

Four things I am looking forward to:

Christmas (obvi)

Going back to work (turns out I get bored easily)

Warm weather!

Summer of weddings, part 2

Four things I love about winter:

Winter clothes/boots/accessories (so much better than summer clothes to me)

Watching it snow when I don't have to go outside

Having the heat on instead of the AC

The way it makes me appreciate summer

{Photo courtesy of a Tiffany & Co. ad}

Four things I love about this photo:

The hot guy

Dragging home a Christmas tree

With a (large) Tiffany bag

And how I can imagine he's coming to meet me ; )

Happy little weekend

1. The first thing I do in the morning to start my day is... jump out of bed and head to the gym before I have time to change my mind.

2. Today I wish I was... exactly where I am- in my new apartment after getting back from a great weekend in the suburbs with my boyfriend, being lazy with my new sweet foster cat.

3. If I had an extra $100 in my bank account today I'd... probably buy another pair of Tory Burch flats. Or Hunter rainboots.

4. Tomorrow is... Monday. That's pretty much it.

5. Two things that don't go together are... Myself and anything related to finances. But I'm working on it.

6. Something I can never pass up at the grocery store is... trail mix, cereal, ice cream.

7. The last time I tried something new was... an AWESOME Martha Stewart recipe for healthy mac and cheese. Supposedly it only has 200 calories per serving, but I don't believe it.

{Image}

The sunny side of law

Wow. Just wow. I saw this design plan for a DLA Piper office in the Netherlands and immediately thought, no, no way, this can't be the same law firm that I know. After some research it is confirmed- the coolest law firm ever exists in the Netherlands. The DLA office in Chicago is impressive, have no doubt, but impressive in that it has an endless supply of mahogany, law books with green and gold spines, and file cabinets. How wonderful would it be to be a lawyer where beauty is appreciated.

"The DLA Piper office is a rainbow-colored space designed to play off the changes in the sunlight throughout a typical day of work. The side of the building that gets the most sunlight is balanced with cooler tones, while the side that receives the least is compensated with warm tones." {Design Crush}

Happy birthday to me

Birthdays are for...

Reminding you that you're so loved

Reminding you how much you love your parents and family

Reconnecting with old friends

Feeling okay about eating as much cake as you want. And french fries and chip dip

Reflecting on the accomplishments of the past year

Realizing how incredibly different life was one year ago and being excited to see what the future holds for the next year

Starting to consider not ignoring ads and coupons for anti-aging products

Feeling so lucky...

{Photo}

"We are always the same age inside."

-Gertrude Stein

Sweet home

I canNOT believe that today is August 27! Where did summer go? That's right, my summer didn't begin until July 28, so of course today feels like a lazy day in June. And, no back to school for me, so lazy days stretch a little longer than usual. I'm loving it though, and loving my déjà vu days spent on a blanket in the sun from my favorite new spot in the city, finished off with a trip to the new self-serve fro-yo place (that has red velvet fro-yo!). After spending the past few days here, I decided that if I could build a house anywhere in the world (Italy aside) I would build it right here on these rocks.

Did not have my camera with me, so photo courtesy of this great photographer

Maybe, you're gonna come back

Sometimes things just get so far out of hand that you can't bring yourself to address them. Read: my blog.

My absence is inexcusable. Or, perhaps, entirely excusable, considering I have: travelled to New York City...missed my flight back to Chicago by an entire day...on purpose...traversed back and forth from Chicago to my parents house to kitty-sit on several occasions...for three very needy cats...been a bridesmaid in a good friend's gorgeous wedding...spent hours upon hours studying and taking a tiny little test called the Illinois Bar Exam...vacationed in Napa Valley...fallen in love all over again with wine...endured the fog in San Francisco...relaxed on the coast of Carmel...driven all the way south on the winding Pacific Coast Highway...eaten tacos and hung out with pandas and koalas and seals in San Diego...lost the love my life in animal form...spent all my other free time enjoying my still-favorite city ever, Chicago...all while ignoring the blog world.

But I'm back, ready to begin a new chapter with a new home and new job, and it took a night with this fabulous blog to realize that little by little I can come back.

Though I still wish I was here.