what are you doing this weekend?

happy friday--aren't you glad it's the weekend? i am. this week has been chock-full o' stuff, so i'm looking forward to having a few days off to relax. i want to run a few miles, buy a few fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market, and snooze for a few extra minutes (ok, a few extra hours). and but above all, i want to spend a lot of time with friends in the sunshine.

what are your plans? please share. xoxo

p.s. goodbye, j.d salinger. like it did for so many others, the catcher in the rye changed my life.

p.p.s. there is a tiny piece of candy corn stuck beneath my space bar that i just.cannot.get.out. so please excuse any odd spacing in this post that i may have missed. i love candy corn, just not in my laptop's keyboard.

p.p.p.s. (while i'm on this random postscript kick, which was supposed to start off seriously, i might as well keeping going.) i am incredibly late to this blog's party, but i amtotally loving the rockstar diaries. it is so, so charming. and naomi and josh's puppy? let's just say i've added bulldog to the list of options if (when!) i ever get my own dog. (c'mon, oscar would totally love a canine brother.)

{ photo via {this is glamorous} }

sweet you rock and sweet you roll.

i'm having one of those weeks where i really-truly-honest-to-goodness feel everything. this usually means i'm on the verge of some kind of personal breakthrough, but man, it's made for an interesting few days. when i laugh, it's hard. when i cry, it's hard. if i a watch a good movie, i come away more affected than usual. and songs...oh, songs. last night i listened to justin timberlake and matt morris' version of "hallelujah" six times in a row, and then three more before i went to bed.

please tell me you've had these weeks before. i feel like i want to tell people who come into contact with me, "handle with care. i'm en route to something right now."

anyway, all that being said, you can probably imagine how i felt when i saw yesterday's t.ruffle. candy for my soul, indeed. you agree, right?

{ image and text via those lovely t.ruffle girls. }

clouds in my coffee.

or maybe just the cutest marshamallows ever in my cocoa.

if this photo doesn't make you smile, well...let's just say i hope it does.

p.s. happy wednesday!

my new mantra.

"the art of being yourself at your best is the art of unfolding your personality into the person you want to be. be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others."

--wilfred peterson

{ image by serenity, via mary ruffle }

home inspiration: sunny living room ( + "committing to")

i would like my living room to look exactly like this, please. love the sunshine-yellow sofa and the pops of color everywhere. a sofa is my next apartment purchase, for sure, and this one just changed all the rules.

i've also decided to start a new monday feature that i'm calling "committing to," for lack of a better title. this weekend, i completed my first 4-mile run ever, and i was totally pumped that i committed to something, worked toward it, and completed it. (sad to say, sometimes i'm way less follow-through and way more get-excited-and-then-forget-about-a-project. i'm working on it.) so i thought i'd start mapping out my little aspirations for the week, just so i can hold myself a bit more accountable--and maybe you can share your weekly goals, too.

here's what i'm committing to this week:

+ continuing to work toward getting my finances under control.

+ planning out meals to take to work so i don't go out to eat every day.

+ spinning on monday, running on tuesday and wednesday, and 20 minutes of pilates every day through friday.

+ reaching out to my friends more. i've been a little distant and i know it.

+ being a better blogger and commenter. (speaking of reaching out...)

+ completing a massive work project and doing it well.

how about you? what are you committing to this week?

{ image via laure }

what are you doing this weekend?

happy friday, lovelies--and happy weekend! what are your plans? i'm running my first 5k ever (i'm so pumped!) with three of my fabulous co-workers, then meeting up with friends and more co-workers later for sushi and drinks. i also really need to clean my house, but i'm thinking i'll save that for sunday.

what are you up to? please share--see you back here on monday. xo

{ beautiful transparent butterflies found in central america via here. }

valentine's day.

i think this movie will make for part of a super-fun, single-girls-only, paint-the-town-red-but-not-valentine's-day-red night out, don't you?

so awesome.

after a freakishly un-florida-like 10-day cold snap, the weather this past sunday was finally nice enough for me to put on my flip flops again, go for a long jog, and then spend an hour or so walking around the park by the bay with two friends and their dogs.

on our travels, we met up with a few other friends and settled into the grass to talk to them. all of a sudden, someone said--and i quote--"is that...a church? floating toward us?" needless to say, we all snapped our heads around so fast we practically got whiplash to see what the heck was in the bay, and to the shock of everyone of us, a church-boat was indeed floating through the water toward the marina--apparently, it needed to fuel up.

seriously, guys. a church-boat. how awesome is that? and it's actually pretty!

one of the friends i was with discovered that the vessel is used for weddings and is owned by weddings on water, a local company. needless to say, my fictional plans for my own wedding have been a little revised...

{ images via weddings on water }

hi.

hi.

happy monday.

how are you?

i'm doing pretty well. after a ridiculous head cold and a busy-busy-busy week at work last week, i feel like i'm finally back in the swing of things. i have an equally busy week coming up that i'm capping off with my first 5k run(!), but i feel better. and honestly, as i read updates on the haiti situation, and listen to my dad (a therapist) talk about his experience grief-counseling haitian workers at a very large orlando-based company--about how they're all waiting to see survivor lists to find out if their loved ones are still alive--i realize that my "better" is pretty freaking awesome, considering. (by the way, have you donated to the relief efforts?)

so there's definitely that.

how are your mondays, my loves? and how were your weekends? please share.

{ pretty photo by nikole. a little sweetness to kick off the week is always good, yes? }

new things, new year.

i had much more planned for this post, but then i came down with a head cold and, because i'm a baby, i'm about to go crawl into bed with a cup of tea, a magazine, and my cat. so i'll just share this photo of my new 2010 calendar. it's by catherine campbell, and i think it's gorgeous. plus, i can frame each month after it passes.

rainbow connection.

you guys. these "crayons"? they're made out of food.

how awesome is that?

light up my life.

i have a confession to make, friends: i am a sucker for twinkle lights. a serious sucker. i want to hang them all over my house. i think they're magical. and you better believe a portion of my future wedding will take place outside, with white twinkle lights strung through green-leafed trees and the smell of honeysuckle wafting through the warm spring air.

so when i saw this photo, via weheartit, i squealed a little, because how cozy does that bedroom look? the white twinkle lights? the wood? the little candleholder with the angel wings on it? perfect.

happy, happy tuesday. i hope this first week of january is treating you well so far. xo

a little pretty.

happy monday! happy 2010!

how were your long weekends? mine was grand. i spent thursday night ringing in the new year with my favorites, friday recovering (oh, mr. patron...you were my friend, then my enemy), and the rest of the weekend relaxing, shopping, and spending time with friends. and now a new week is here, the first of a new year, and it's time to think about work and those resolutions i posted a few days ago. i'm already one-up on the wear prettier underwear thing; i just need to get back into the run-a-5k mindset.

speaking of pretty, how lovely is this illustration by carolina melis? pretty lovely, i think. i hope you enjoy it as much as i do. xoxo.

i love 2010 so far.

one of my favorite pictures from our new year's eve celebrations, especially with the big, gold, glittery 2010 in the background. because that's what i feel like this year will be: big, gold, and glittery.

{ these are my pretty friends: c., me, m., s. we're missing two, but these girls are a piece of my heart and 2010--or any year, really--wouldn't be the same without them. }