happy new year's!

what are you doing for new year's eve?

i love this amazing video. it's two of my favorites ever and i'm always a sucker for the ukelele!

we're hoping to lay low this new year's and spend it at our house with a few friends. typically new year's eve is my least favorite holiday because it's always underwhelming so this year, no definite plans are fine by me! despite the unseasonably warm weather, all i can guarantee is that the fire pit will be lit!

although i am not a fan of nye, i am always inspired by the coming of a new year. hard to believe 2011 went by so quickly! 2011 was a memorable year with us adopting townes from the pound, traveling to chicago, nyc, amelia island, weekend trips to the mountains, getting a new car (to replace the identical car trashed in 2 accidents that occured 18 hours apart), having my best friend gradauate with her masters and move back to ga (!), my friends getting married and having babies, and learning to swing dance. these are just some of the great things from 2011 so i can't wait to see what 2012 will bring!

i hope you have a happy and safe new year's celebration! ♥

"cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right" - oprah

adjust the sails

i can't remember where i found this print (please let me know if you know so i can give credit) but it's very inspirational for me, especially right now in my life. although i can't complain with my life these days - i have a wonderful husband, dog, house, family, and great friends, but i feel like there's something i'm missing out on or afraid of. i've got a very secure job that treats me well - but is it what i'm truly supposed to be doing? am i going to regret it one day?

even within myself, i need some adjustments. i haven't been motivated (especially in the eating healthy and exercise department) and my body is paying the price. it may sounds crazy but when my body isn't right, my mind isn't right. so it's time to tighten the sails and change my direction. nothing drastic required but a slight change of course is definitely overdue. the new year quickly approaching will help too.

2012 will be the year to finally learn sailing - we've been talking about it (here and here) for a while now and we need a hobby that requires me to be outside. being on the water is an added bonus!

what's your biggest hope for the new year?

dreamy iphone cases

i've had the iphone 4 for a few months now and i have always had a grey and white case, but these cases from society6 may be a good upgrade with leftover xmas money! these are some of my favorites:


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i'm not sure of the case quality so if anyone has gotten a case from here, let me know your feedback please!

why hello!

so i've been going through a phase for roughly 2 months where things have just been so busy that this blog went on the back burner. which to most everyone, it doesn't matter. but to me and my few loyal readers (hi husband! hi beth!) it's been so sad that i haven't been updating. we've had so much fun the last 2 months and yet i couldn't take the time to share, but it's time to get back on the saddle and remember that this space is for me, first and foremost, to document things i love and do.

right after my last post, we left for a weekend in blue ridge, ga and it was so peaceful that it was so hard to come back and plug in - so i didn't. but i'd love to share some pictures from that WONDERFUL weekend because it is a weekend and place worth remembering always.


we went up to blue ridge with some of our closest friends and it was so fun. we ate lots of good food (homemade fried green tomatoes, yumm!), had dance parties (glow sticks), hiked at fall branch falls, and spent a lot of time by the fire. we were in the middle of a huge corn field and right on the river! i'll let the pictures of the house speak for themselves!















it was so hard to leave! on the last day my family came up and spent the day with us and it was our first time to have a vacation really since j and i have been together. it was short but sweet.

i hope for lots more cabin trips for 2012. speaking of, i need a 28 things to do list before i'm 28. maybe that will help keep me inspired and accountable!

♥

windy city

for our second wedding anniversary j and i went to chicago for the weekend! j had a work conference so we flew up early to have a quick getaway together and it was nice that his flight was covered! we stayed at the marriott magnificent mile and it was perfect for sight-seeing and walking around the city. we lucked out and had amazing weather in the 70's (it was almost too hot)!

we got in around lunch time on friday and immediately went to giordanos for some deep dish pizza. i still prefer NYC pizza but it was still pretty dang good!



afterwards we headed to the sears tower (which is now called the willis tower - this definitely confused us at first) and went up to the skydeck. the views from the 103rd floor were incredible!



the "ledge" was pretty scary at first but such a fun idea. it definitely took me a minute to trust the glass!


afterwards we took a cab to bucktown to visit one of our closest friends, bari. it was so great to hang out and meet bari's dog ricky (richard pryor). i think my projected feelings about missing townes were pretty obvious! by the way, i discovered that chain mail (armour) would be a great gift for any guy in your life - they all love it, seriously.


on saturday, we walked around the city for a long time and walked down to millenium park.





we went to the art institute of chicago and had the best time. unfortunately they closed earlier than we expected but we still got to see some amazing pieces! we could have stayed there all day so make sure you give yourself enough time if you ever go to this incredible museum.










after a late lunch at potbelly's (yummm!) we headed over to buckingham fountain (married with children!) and the waterfront. we had the best time watching the sun go down while overlooking the sailboats and navy pier. this was probably my favorite time the whole weekend!





on sunday, we headed into lincoln park to visit the free zoo. it was incredible and the weather was p-e-r-f-e-c-t! we followed up the zoo (the were my favorites) by some classic chicago [veggie] dogs!





can you tell i was super excited about the veggie dog?

we headed back downtown and walked around the city to do some window shopping and we even stopped by the apple store following the recent sad, untimely death of steve jobs.




we decided to take the architecture river tour of the city and it was so fun! i definitely recommend this boat tour - it is scenic, informative, and shows you a totally new way to see the city of chicago!






we ended our last night at the incredible thai restaurantstar of siam. it's always such a treat to have such easy veggie options!



we had the best trip to chicago and i think between this trip and the last trip, we saw almost all of chicago's main tourist staples (with the exception of wrigley field). it was the best way to celebrate the 2 wonderful years of marriage to my best friend! ♥