Do it now!

Lately I have become a total mantra person. I get this phrase in my head and it's like I march to its beat until a new phrase comes along. Right now:

Do it now Do it now Do it now!

I'm fairly certain that this came off my Lululemon manifesto water bottle (I spend a lot of time staring at all the sayings when I'm bored, although the "Children are the orgasm of life..." one bothers me slightly). I have such a bad tendency to take off my clothes at the end of the day and toss them on the desk or dresser and say, I'm tired I'll get them tomorrow. At the end of the week I literally pick up piles and piles of clothes to put away. This awful habit makes my "cozy" apartment go from cozy to cramped really quickly though. So lately it's "do it now!" Get a mantra, it will make your life good.

{His Master's Choice, Etsy}

Slow down

Do you ever just miss a time and a place so much that it hurts? It happened to me as I was getting on the train today- I had just finished a particularly long and fairly mundane day and I was starving, and with all my might I wanted to be back in college, going home from class to meet my roommate to spend an hour or so at dinner together. That hour was the most relaxing part of my day, when everything else disappeared except for the space we were occupying. That hour felt like one giant exhale and the world wouldn't start again until the next morning. Since leaving, life kind of feels like a never ending inhale.

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Sweet home

Forbes just came out with a new list titled "America's Most Miserable Cities" (Forbes does not = blog). I personally find the article to be depressing and the photo slideshow even worse (pictures of miserable-looking people, inmates, crime scenes, ect). It was so sad to see that Chicago is ranked 10th (and I was appalled to see that St. Louis, a former home, is ranked 7th!). So for a quick afternoon pick-me-up, I'm firing back at Forbes with the best things about Chicago.

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*Running on the lakefront in the summer at sunset while hundreds of people play beach volleyball and you have your own little race with the guys on the path in front of you.

*The free concerts in Millennium Park during the summer, packed with people eating picnic dinners and drinking bottles of wine.

*The Cubs- doesn't matter if they lose, Wrigley Field has the best energy and is the most fun stadium. Ever.

*The architecture, especially the way that most of the buildings on the river and in the Loop have ornate clocks on them so that I always know that I'm 5 minutes late for work.

*The always slightly-green river.

*The fact that we have a highly efficient public transportation system that makes owning a car seem like a silly idea.

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*All the museums, especially their free days in the summer and winter.

*Being able to pass by one of the tallest buildings in the world without even blinking.

*The skyline. Best view from the north: North Avenue Beach. Best view from the south: Shedd Aquarium.

*The Chicago Marathon- there is not a marathon with a better course (flat!), better crowds, or better time of the year (autumn leaves!).

*That you can walk pretty much anywhere if you have the time. I wouldn't consider it crazy if you walked from Lincoln Park to the Loop.

*The ingenuity and creativity of the chefs at local restaurants and how they aren't afraid at all to take risks.

*Lincoln Park (the park). Everything about it, but especially the free zoo.

*How even though winters are rough, I appreciate warm days and sunny days infinitely more.

*The Bears. Especially their big shouldered fans.

*The Mag Mile. But only on weekday mornings when there are little to no tourists.

*The harbors on the lake and how excited I get when they start filling up with boats again.

*The very distinct personality of every neighborhood (even if I have been called "a Lincoln Park sort of girl").

*That Southwest flies into Midway.

*The Bean/Cloud Gate.

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*Summer events. Especially the Taste of Chicago.

*The art, flowers, and sculptural objects along Michigan Avenue.

*Chicago's green movement, which is one of the most aggressive in the nation.

*Chicago-style pizza. And Chicago-style hot dogs. Nobody does it better. Can I have one now actually?

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Ashes to ashes

I admit, I have been avoiding my blog. I like to think of it as "saving up" for the next 40 or so days, as my Lenten promise is to give up reading others' blogs and write in mine more. I always try to give up something I really love and will be a challenge (in the past I have given up sweets multiple times and chocolate once- it was pretty awful), and blog reading has really taken over my evenings. Therefore, I will focus less on others' wonderful lives and more on my own equally wonderful life. I'm slightly worried that my fashion sense will suffer and my home decorating ideas will wane, but no big deal. It looks like I will be spending Easter with a chocolate bunny and lots of blog catching up!

Ribbon and sparkles

I sometimes wish I could be Martha's protege. I'm loving this idea she had to repurpose old jewelry and make some handmade pretties.

Brooch into bracelet.

Bracelet into belt.

Necklace into bib.

String up some pearls.

Fancy beads.

Images via Martha, brought to attention by Design Crush

Mid-afternoon horsing around

Wouldn't these be adorable with riding boots (kinda like my brand new pair that I love right now)?

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Spring bird, is that you?

I think it's almost Spring. Ok, who am I kidding- it's January 22. In Chicago. I have noticed birds chirping like crazy on my street all week though, which gives me hope. I have a nice three-day weekend ahead with virtually no plans, how did that happen? I think I will spend the weekend relaxing from my first full week back in school and trying not to starve since someone around here is doing P90X.

Eye tickle

I like pretty things. I like cute things. I have a little fit in the grocery store every time I walk past the mini-bananas; they get me every time. This website- Lovely Package- is like a whole website of mini bananas and other little pretties and products. Enjoy.

What's your bra size? Are you an apple, orange, grapefruit? Hopefully no grapes or watermelons.

Two Swiss innovations, one sweet product.

Tea that hangs on the edge of your teacup. Equally adorable and functional.

Pasión

Today was the first day of my LAST semester of school woo hoo! No more letters after my name thankyou, I'll stop here. I can't believe that I'm about to dedicate a post to limited liability corporations and partnerships, but I'm doin it. No, don't stop reading. One of my new professors today was just so excited and passionate about limited liability that I couldn't help thinking, "if we all loved anything half as much as this man loves limited liability then the world would be a wonderful place." I consider myself a pretty passionate person, but I'm more like easily excitable love everything deeply until I get tired of it. This man was like talk for hours and hours about a subject and not realize what time it is or where he is and that he is talking to himself. If only we could all be so passionate...

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Haiti

This weekend was my first weekend back in Chicago in a whole month! It truly was a ton of fun- reuniting with my boy, shopping with my college roommate, going out for her birthday, playing DJ at a friend's party, and ending the long weekend gorging on dessert.

The weekend was of course slightly overshadowed by the tragedy occurring in Haiti. However, being perhaps the biggest (and sometimes slightly most unrealistic) optimist ever, I preferred paying attention to the stories of hope, joy, and reunion. Every time a family spoke about how they had found their child, just a few short weeks short of adoption, alive, it made me smile. When I heard that pilots carrying valuable supplies had no tower or guidance when coming in to land and instead simply communicated as a team via radio, guiding one another down, my eyes teared up. Every small act of kindness that I have seen, especially the rambunctious little boys on my street selling hot chocolate for their Haiti fund, has warmed my heart.

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