Don't Sneak

StoryCorps is back with it's latest animation and it's possibly one of my all-time favorites. 

I've heard this story many times and it remains within the top 5. Such a powerful message from a time where compassion and understanding of LGBTQ was not common.

If you like this story, make sure to check out the StoryCorps podcast here for a little follow up from Patrick. 

♥

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!
I'm missing the ocean water like crazy right now.
Wishing I was in French Polynesia on a sailboat!

My most recent favorite story on Storycorps. Do yourself a favor and listen to this story - it will blow your mind and make you smile!

This Lauryn Hill cover song of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" is so good.

VW is making an electric camper - complete with the classic retro look! Road trip!

Really? A new Seth Meyers + Amy Poehler video!

More reasons to go take a hike...like I needed any! This photo was taken at KM 82 at the start of the Incan Trail towards Machu Picchu in 2010.

EDIT: THIS IS MY FAVORITE FRIDAY FAVORITE! Love should always win. ♥

This weekend there are a few birthday celebrations to attend and some work around the house to be done, but I'm excited to spend time with friends and take it easy.

What are your plans? Whatever they are, I hope they are wonderful!
xo

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! 

This quote is making me happy this morning. Reminders like this nice to read, and often. :)

Really interesting article about back pain and how some cultures have zero back pain issues. Must be nice (especially with age, am I right?)!

This pin is speaking my language!

Check out the world's most remarkable trees. Pure magic.

Life lessons from Nick Miller. He's my favorite character on "New Girl."

I need this mug. Perfect for back porch coffee time. :)

Advice for those in their 30's. 

My truths: #1, #5, #6, #14, #18, and #35. I need to get better at #2, #16, #21, #23, and #24.

Liz Lemon is the best. #myhero

Lover's Point in California. Bucket list addition. 

Incredible letter to all men from one of my favorites. I totally agree on her stance on what makes a man sexy...and guess what? It's not apathy.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

I'm in LA next week for E3 and looking forward to seeing my friend, Lily!

xo

Thursday Tunes: Anna & Elizabeth

I am loving this NPR Tiny Desk session with Anna & Elizabeth!
I am a huge fan of multiple parts of their concert: Appalachian music, banjo, fiddle, storytelling, and amazing harmonies. Being such an advocate of the human voice and capturing stories and music, I love what these women are doing. It's also awesome that they sound incredible!

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Check out more of their music here.

Lastly, if you love Appalachian music, check out the movie "Songcatcher" that shows a bit of how folk music was recorded in the poor Appalachian states in the early 1900's. There's a great duet, "When Love Is New", with Dolly Parton and Emmy Rossum on the soundtrack.

xo

Clean Streets

Here's the latest Storycorps animated short!

As always, it doesn't disappoint. 

It amazes me how much the human voice and our relationships can impact the world. Whether someone is a teacher, employee, parent, or garbage worker, there is the opportunity for greatness and friendship. There is also a great deal to be said about a strong work ethic and a good attitude!

Enjoy.

♥

Wise Words Wednesday: Amy Poehler

I finally finished the Amy Poehler book "Yes Please" a few weekends ago and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes. It's such a great book filled with funny stories, emotional insights, and inspirational ideas.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“People are their most beautiful when they are laughing, crying, dancing, playing, telling the truth, and being chased in a fun way.” 

“I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.” 

“Telling me to relax or smile when I’m angry is like bringing a birthday cake into an ape sanctuary. You’re just asking to get your nose and genitals bitten off.”

“I think we should stop asking people in their twenties what they “want to do” and start asking them what they don’t want to do.” 

“Hopefully as you get older, you start to learn how to live with your demon. It’s hard at first. Some people give their demon so much room that there is no space in their head or bed for love. They feed their demon and it gets really strong and then it makes them stay in abusive relationships or starve their beautiful bodies. But sometimes, you get a little older and get a little bored of the demon. Through good therapy and friends and self-love you can practice treating the demon like a hacky, annoying cousin. Maybe a day even comes when you are getting dressed for a fancy event and it whispers, “You aren’t pretty,” and you go, “I know, I know, now let me find my earrings.” Sometimes you say, “Demon, I promise you I will let you remind me of my ugliness, but right now I am having hot sex so I will check in later.” 

“Change is the only constant. Your ability to navigate and tolerate change and its painful uncomfortableness directly correlates to your happiness and general well-being. See what I just did there? I saved you thousands of dollars on self-help books. If you can surf your life rather than plant your feet, you will be happier. Maybe I should have called this book Surf Your Life. The cover could feature a picture of me on a giant wave wearing a wizard hat. I wonder if it’s too late. I’ll make a call.” 

“Treat your career like a bad boyfriend. Here's the thing. Your career won't take care of you. It won't call you back or introduce you to its parents.Your career will openly flirt with other people while you are around. It will forget you birthday and wreck your car. Your career will blow you off if you call it too much. It's never going to leave its wife.Your career is fucking other people and everyone knows but you. Your career will never marry you. (...) If your career is a bad boyfriend, it is healthy to remember you can always leave and go sleep with somebody else” 

Do yourself a favor and read this book NOW. You will enjoy every second of it, I promise! I'm sure you'll be like me and wish that Amy was your best friend after this and feel like she would agree if only you got to meet her...a girl can dream! ;)

xo

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!!!

I am totally craving these tacos! 

Our best friends, Victor and Anna, actually made them for us a few weeks ago and they were amazing!

 Check out this adorable video of 3 dogs napping on top of each other. I'm assuming it's no surprise that I love this! :)

This is my favorite nail color for Spring! I must get it! 

I really need to download this Storycorps app immediately! I am such a huge fan of Storycorps (see here, here, and my all-time favorite here) and the human voice.

Have you seen this heart-breaking photo of a Syrian girl who thought the camera was a gun? Why can't people live in peace together? 

 Rare photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono? Yes, please!

Even though everyone in the Southeast is probably planning on attending, this lineup looks incredible! Brings back so many memories of my youth to see all of these bands together! Also, the fact that The Masquerade is 25 years old blows my mind! I'm surprised the top floor hasn't caved in after all of these years...

Hope you have a great weekend!
This weekend will be packed with family visits for the holiday, but thankfully we'll have good weather!
xo

Friday Favorites

Despite the cold weather, I'm dreaming of sunshine and there surfboards.

This Dolly Parton interview is so lovely and genuine. I love her sense of humor and humbleness! 

"I'd like to think I have a brain underneath this wig and a heart behind these boobs" - Dolly

Poppies have always been my favorite and now Big Sur has moved up on my bucket list!

A very interesting research article that shows that raising children without religion may be a better alternative.

“For secular people, morality is predicated on one simple principle: empathetic reciprocity, widely known as the Golden Rule. Treating other people as you would like to be treated. It is an ancient, universal ethical imperative. And it requires no supernatural beliefs.”

This love letter from Johnny Cash to June Cash has been voted the best love letter ever. Do you agree?

A magical quote.

Hope y'all have a great weekend. 

I'm happy to say I'll be taking it very low key this weekend and trying to stay warm!

All my love!

xo

Thursday Tunes: NPR's Invisibilia Podcast

This week's listening suggestion is a little different: a podcast.

Like most people, after the podcast, Serial, ended, I wanted to find a new podcast to listen to while commuting to work. I ended up finding Invisibilia and was hooked right away. The podcast

"Invisibilia (Latin for "all the invisible things") explores the intangible forces that shape human behavior – things like ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions."

Since I studied Psychology in college, I've always been fascinated by human behavior and the way in which people interact with each other and their surroundings. Each week has a different theme and features stories of unique people (like Martin Pistorius (not to be confused with Oscar Pistorius) and Daniel Kish).

Some of my favorite episodes include the "The Secret History of Thoughts" and "Fearless."

Go listen to the episodes and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Enjoy!

♥

Rare Elliott Smith Interview

Ever since high school, I've been a huge Elliott Smith fan. "Either/Or" is still one of my top 5 albums, hands down. I have my best friend, Sasha, to really thank for this love. I'll never forget when he died...it blows my mind that it's been around 11 years (I think I was about 19 when he died). Sasha even wore a handmade "Miss Misery" shirt the morning after he died. The world definitely lost a bright light and talent back then so it's so magical when new songs or interviews are released. They just don't make them like Elliott Smith anymore, you know?

Go here to see this video and more on the interview. 

There's also a new documentary about Elliott Smith out called "Heaven Adores You." Check out the trailer below and watch your local listings. I hope it plays in ATL soon!

What's your favorite Elliott Smith album or song?

♥

Storycorps: Honoring Veterans

Storycorps just recently posted 3 new animated shorts focusing on stories from war. Each story focused on different views and tragedies from war. Check out the other shorts: "The Nature of War" and "The Last Viewing"

I should warn you that these are pretty heart-breaking!

xo

Nothing Good Gets Away

I am a huge fan of John Steinbeck and Letters of Note so when I read this letter from John (written in 1958) to his son a few years ago, it instantly became a favorite. I figured it was time I share this piece of advice to anyone who has fallen or will fall in love....

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

Pretty amazing and insightful, isn't it? 

I love that John isn't trying to decipher his son's feelings, but is just celebrating life and love (in love's various forms).

If you have someone you love, live it up!

xo

Read more letters here and here.

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Wise Words

Some days, a really good quote serves as a perfect reminder that we are all human. Fighting the good fight together.

I recently started reading The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World by HH the Dalai Lama. One of the focuses in the book is that despite close encounters with hardship, disappointment, and failure, one must maintain a belief in the value of optimism and resiliency.

I've been really focusing on my positivity to help focus more on the good things and less on all the hurt in life.

It's always worth the effort to find strength to keep going and seek out those rare moments of beauty and peace.

Inspiration: Before Sunrise

I am currently under the weather and stuck in bed. Sounds luxurious, no?

This weekend, I ended up watching "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." I believe that I've seen both of them before (although I haven't seen the final film of the trilogy, "Before Midnight," yet), but I didn't remember either film. 

I forgot how lovely and romantic the films were...I mean they are based in Vienna and Paris, but the dialogue is perfect and poignant. The story line follows two people who meet on a train and spend the night together in Vienna and then they reconnect 8 years later in Paris. Both films have very little action, because the focus is on the conversation and connection between Celine and Jesse.

Both movies left me feeling enamored and nostalgic for Europe.
Swoon...

Here's a little fashion inspiration from "Before Sunrise"...

Before Sunrise

If you haven't seen these movies, what are you waiting for?

"If there's any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed, but…who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt." - Celine, Before Sunrise
xo

Friday Favorites

Naturally, this picture is top of my favorites this week since as of today, I've been in Paris for a little over a day. Hopefully, as we speak, I am sitting in a park with cheese, baguette, and some wine!

How awesome are these shirts? I think I need both of these.

Humans of New York has become one of my favorite daily reads. I love stories about the human voice and experience. Maybe it's because I was a Psychology major...

Pros and cons of marriage. Interesting read since the marriage rate is currently the lowest its ever been in history.

With my upcoming travel, this peek into a day at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta is really fascinating.

This movie looks amazing - so many of my favorite actors!

I'm usually not too into movie star crushes, but I kind of have to agree with these crush-worthy article on Chris Pratt. 

I could be down with this. Well minus the scotch...

Bon weekend!

 Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Germany! 

♥

Friday Favorites

These flowers are the stuff of dreams. I want to go to there!

Another trip down memory lane of Athens, GA. This video with all the familiar faces made my day! Time for an Athens weekend...right, Lily? :)

Another dog story...surprised? This one breaks my heart, but still somehow has a happy ending. "Before Duke died, he lived"...I need some tissues ASAP.

These colorized photos from history are pretty incredible. My favorite is this one, because I'm a sucker for Jimmy Stewart (aka Mr. Lucky).

 Seven movies to watch when you want a good cry. I think this article was written specifically for me; however, they are missing some crucial ones: Steel Magnolias, The Color Purple, and Fried Green Tomatoes! 

Looking for the best brunch places in ATL? This list nails it! Although, they are missing the Heuvos Rancheros from Gato Bizco.

A sweet friend of mine sent me this Moth podcast story since it is one of her favorites and mentions Paris..I really enjoyed it! Funny and touching...

 Could you imagine coming across these wild horses in this setting? Makes me think of this song...

Happy Friday, folks

Tonight we have a double date with our friends at Panahar Bangladeshi. YUM! I'm going to have to work out hard so I can eat their mixed naan...it is so good! We also have a cookout planned with some friends this weekend - looking forward to letting the dogs play (well, considering they are both super chill, they kind of play together...haha) and planning some Fall camping and hiking trips!

À la prochaine!

♥

The Importance of Self Care

I recently came across this photo and it really got me thinking...

As I get older, I find myself putting a lot more effort into taking care of myself. Those nights of going to bed wearing makeup or not putting on moisturizer are things of the past. Socially, I try very hard not to be closed off to people and judge them without taking the time to walk in their shoes (or at least smile and say hello). I also make an effort into saying "yes" to more awesome things and "no" to things that I don't want to be a part of.

Like everyone else, I spend most of my time aiming to "be happy" or talking about ways to achieve that fulfilled-feeling; however, I think I prefer the idea of "self care" more than happiness.

Here's why...taking care of yourself, mentally and physically, really opens you up to feeling more positive and then spreading the love and good energy, don't you think? With self care, there are still good days and bad days, but there's more of an idea of forgiveness and growth. When talking about happiness, it feels more concrete (i.e., you either are happy or you're not) so maintaining seems a bit more difficult. 

When times get tough, I always notice that the first thing that I let suffer is taking care of myself: I may not work out as much, socialize with friends/ family as often, do things I love, or treat myself (with flowers or a long walk in the woods :)). When I am in a good place, I make the extra effort to make others smile, I dance (as much as possible), I'm more patient and calm, I prioritize volunteering (like giving blood today, for instance!), I take pleasure in the simple things by being truly present in the moment, and I really grow personally. When I'm focusing on nurturing myself, I am typically more cognizant of my body and more gentle in my opinion of myself. In turn, I become very aware of those around me and their battles; therefore, I try to be more caring and engaged.

[photo]

I hope you spend a little time today focusing on yourself and caring for your body and mind; more so, I hope you pay it forward and find ways to slow down and really appreciate each breath and those you love.

Namaste!
xo

Friday Favorites

My kind of ladies! I love their bathing suit bottoms!

These 20 things to start doing in relationships with others and yourself are awesome! #6, #15, #17, and #20 are my favorites!

I think everyone feels like they want to connect and know more about other people, but sometimes it's hard to think of what to ask. These great questions from Storycorps help to encourage conversation. I can't wait to use these! I just wish I could go back and ask my grandparents some of these questions...

 Huffington Post just listed 50 cities to see in your lifetime. This is a bit depressing, but I've only been to 5 of these locations! Ugh...however, I am going to #15 in a month! More on that soon!!!

These 27 photos of amazing people with animals just made my day. I am such a sucker for animals and I hate to see anything/ anyone suffer so kuddos to these awesome human beings! My heart can't handle #6.

Being vegetarian, I love this photo so much. I get asked on a daily basis the following question; "if you don't eat meat, how do you get any protein?" I know other vegetarians feel my pain. I'll just start showing off this photo instead of answering. :)

This guide gives a full breakdown the whole "turn down for what" idea and it is hilarious! The list of things worth turning down for will have you laughing out loud!

Hope you have a fun weekend - spent getting turnt up!

xo

A Good Man

I love this new StoryCorps animated video. They have a new initiative called OutLoud which is "dedicated to recording and preserving the experiences of the LGBT community." Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Check out some of my other favorite StoryCorp animated shorts here, here, here, and here!

Featured Artist: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

 

I've always loved street art and thankfully Atlanta's street art community has grown significantly since the non-profit Living Walls came to Atlanta. Their mission is "to promote, educate and change perspectives about public space in our communities via street art." Pretty amazing, right?

Well I am loving the work of Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (along with every other woman). Her work really resonates with me and carries such an important message for men and women. Hopefully these visual reminders in conjunction with the #yesallwomen movement will really help open some minds and show women out there that they are not alone. It's unfortunate that women grow up feeling that harassment is normal and to be expected. I have been told multiple times by men (strangers) that I should smile which is so unnerving...especially when I probably smile more than most people!

 

Check out this awesome video of Tatyana Fazlalizadeh and her work:

Hopefully our generation is taking steps in the right direction and we can all feel equal and more safe.

xo