the weekend + committing to...

happy monday, friends! did you have good weekends? i had a really great one--it began friday night with after-work beers with new friends; then continued into saturday night with conversation, more fantastic dinner, and movies with an old friend; and finally ended with a completely relaxing sunday--most of which was spent indoors. so in spite of the fact that i completely lost my debit card (oops) and the orlando magic lost the first game of the eastern conference finals to the boston celtics (i am a hardcore magic/nba fan, dating back to, like, age 12), i give the past three days an a-plus. as i said to a friend in email, life is feeling like spring right now. 

speaking of spring, and as a segue into this week's "committing to..." and the photo above, i wanted to share something that i read on the lovely jane flanagan's blog with you. jane mentioned arthur shopenhauer in one of her posts last week, and his theory that "aesthetic experience is the negation of will; a moment when we transcend our own needs in lose ourselves in the object of perception." i just love that, and jane summed it up so well. i am a person who feels things pretty intensely--probably too intensely, if we're being honest. but i wouldn't trade the overwhelming, indescribable feeling i get when i look at something beautiful--like your blogs, like art, like perfectly written text, like a flower, like the sun setting over the gulf of mexico--for anything in the world. those moments of aesthetic experience are priceless, and i cherish them. 

that's why, after reading more about shopenhauer and seeing this photo, i resolved that one of my commitments this week is going to be exactly what that chalkboard sign says: live in the moment and make it beautiful. here are the rest of them:

+ bask in the beauty my friendships, both new and old. adele, one of my favorite singers, said it best: "the people i've met are the wonders of my world."

+ open myself up to possibility. i'm feeling like it's everywhere right now, and after a couple of weird weeks, that's so refreshing.

+ working on being on time for...everything, really. um, you guys? timing is not really my thing. i need to be better at it.

+ as usual, exercise and eating well. 

+ continuing to try to pause in certain areas of my life, as g. put it. i think that will actually help the whole "living in the moment" thing. 

and you? what are your little goals for the week? xoxo

{ image via bee }