things i am thankful for: day 2

we are moving today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



there is still much to be done, what with cleaning, unpacking, arranging {and rearranging}, and christmas decorations, and general decorations, but i'm trying hard not to stress about any of that.  my goal for this week is to just enjoy this moment and the start of this new chapter.

things i'm thankful for: day 1

picture here

WARNING: this post is mushyville, population 1.  don't say i didn't tell you.

i am beyond grateful for my wonderful amazeballs beau.  this past week was so, so great.  i fell in love with him even more.  we had so much fun at home with his family. we ate ourselves silly at thanksgiving dinner {my pecan pie was a HUGE hit with his dad and his sister's boyfriend}, played a rowdy couple of rounds of board games with the other thanksgiving guests, did absolutely nothing on black friday other than watch college football, had "double date" day saturday with his parents {chick-fil-a + target + a double-feature of 'sleepless in seattle' and 'white christmas'}, tailgated and watched the ravens win last night, and just generally enjoyed one another's company.  i loved spending time with him and his family in his natural habitat, if you will, and getting to know all of them a little better.  and i may have indulged in my favorite high-maintenace starbucks holiday drink almost every day {we don't have a starbucks anywhere near small town, va so this is a big deal}.

last week, more than any before, made me realize how blessed i am to have him in my life.  he calls me on my bullshit, but he loves me for it.  he makes me laugh all the time, but he knows when to be serious.  he takes such good care of me and protects me, but encourages my independent streak.  he is so good to his family.  and he ain't too bad on the eyes either!  i am a lucky girl.

happy thanksgiving!

hope you're enjoying a day filled with delicious food, tryptophan naps, the macy's parade, and some football.  good luck to those of you braving black friday tomorrow!  the only thing i will be braving is my couch to 5k running bit.

a smattering

are you still there, dear readers?  sorry i have once again gone MIA.  between work and getting ready for our move, i feel like i haven't hardly had a moment to sit still.  i'm still a bit frazzled {thank goodness for a two-day work week!}, so please forgive my random stream of consciousness post below.

*i've lost 5 pounds since i started fit train friday!  i would like to lose 10 pounds more.  my goal is to be down another 5 pounds by the beginning of 2011.  that would put me just slightly above where i was this time last year.  and it's good motivation not to overdo it at all the upcoming holiday festivities.  not that i'll be denying myself pecan pie or mashed potates, mind you.

*speaking of pecan pie, tomorrow i'm headed to maryland with the beau to spend thanksgiving with his family. while i'm looking forward to seeing how many ways one can incorporate old bay into a meal, i needed to make sure i had a taste of home.  being from the south, i can't have a thanksgiving without pecan pie, so i offered to bring one.  my grandfather was a college professor back in the day and the first lady of the college where he worked was famous for her pecan pie.  my grandma managed to get a hold of her recipe, which she passed on to my mom, and she in turn passed on to me.  i make two adjustments: one, i use smitten kitchen's all-butter pie crust recipe.  it really is the best.  two, i add bourbon.  because i can. and because it's delicious.

*the big move is in t-minus one week. yikes! my apartment is currently a maze of boxes, bags, and rooms in various states of packing. bad news: i've got a LOT of work left to do.  good news: this move is the swift kick in the pants i needed to trash or donate a lot of the clutter i've accumulated in the past twenty-five three years.

*on the advice of preppy 101, i did my best eddie ross and headed to the goodwill a few weekends ago to see if i could find any steals for the new house and boy howdy, did i ever! two pairs of lamps for a grand total of $14.  and they are GORGEOUS.  a pair of brass lamps {for my operation tory burch living room project} and a pair of bronze-y, brown laquered lamps for the master bedroom. pics to come.

*i started the oil cleansing method last night. i'm starting out with a mix of 50/50 castor and extra virgin olive oil with a little bit of grapeseed oil mixed in.  i'm doing it every other night for the first week or so just to see how my skin reacts, but i'm very optimistic and feeling good about putting natural products on my skin.

*i am so excited for this week.  the period between thanksgiving and christmas is my absolute most favorite time of year! i will be ducking out on blogging {again} this week while i enjoy some QT with the beau and his family, but will be back next week with a post-turkey day series on things i'm thankful for and then a series of my favourite things.  i hope you all enjoy a wondeful week of celebrating and relaxing with your family and friends.  travel safe, eat lots of yummies, and be grateful for where you are in your life.

lots of love!

pressing matters

i had a post all ready for today about decorating the new lovenest and scores from over the weekend, but it came to my attention yesterday morning that there are more pressing issues of an international diplomacy nature that require my thoughts.

squeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a royal wedding!!!! i'm so excited! i'm a bit of an anglophile as it is {see: obsession with scones, hunting dogs, jane austen, tartan, cottages, and wellies} and this is just going to send me {and the rest of the world, it seems} into overdrive.  i've always been more of a prince harry girl myself {i think it's the whole ginger thing}, but i just adore kate middleton's style.  she's such a modern sloane ranger and i love that she dresses in a modest way that's still sexy and stylish {teenages and hollywood starlets take note: when you wear underwear and cover your naughty bits, you get proposals from princes.}  so below, a few favorites in honor of the new future princess!

and one from the engagement announcement at st. james's palace yesterday. LOVE that he proposed with diana's ring!

best wishes to the happy couple!

tres exciting news!

hello, darlings! apologies for my absence over the past week or so.  things have truly been nuts in and out of the office and i feel like i haven't had a moment to spare.  but it's all worth it because i can now announce to my sweet readers that the beau and i are moving in together!  {kind of an appropriate post based on the last one, no?} we are very excited, a little nervous, but mainly ready to get this show on the road.  our move-in date is december 1 {fingers crossed}.  since he has very little {read: no} furniture to bring to this relationship {i'm not complaining.  no icky, ugly bachelor-pad furniture to deal with!}, it's mainly just moving all of the stuff i have and his clothes, so it should be a relatively easy move.  i say "relatively" because let's face it, moves are not easy.  or cheap.

can i just say how beyond excited i am for the blank canvas of a new {to-us. rental.} house?!  his parents have generously offered to buy us a new couch as our christmas present, and i'm using that as the catalyst for my ultimate goal of having my home look like the tory burch store in seoul, south korea. 

images courtesy of tory burch

i've gone slightly bonkers looking for brass anything and everything on ebay and craigslist.  i'm hoping the beau will be on board with getting a white/cream-colored sofa. and he won't notice if i slooooooooowly start to add bright orange and hot pink accents everywhere, right? RIGHT? and maybe a bit of leopard-print, just for good measure...

i can't wait to start moving in and posting pictures.  for those of you who are living with your hubs or significant other, any tips or advice you have would be much appreciated!

bon weekend, mes amours!

ch-ch-ch-changes

i'm not sure if you're interested in reading this post or not, but all i know is that last december, i needed to read this.  so here's hoping it helps someone with a broken heart out there.

a year ago this weekend i began dating the guy who would hurt me more than anyone else ever has.  we met the first weekend of october 2009, introduced by a mutual friend {hi, k! i still love you!}.  he was everything i thought i wanted: older, southern, flirtatious, a resident at a prestigious hospital...good on paper guy.  he began aggressively pursuing me.  i resisted because, to be perfectly honest, i wasn't interested.  {note to self: that was a sign.} but he came to town again a few weekends later for k's halloween party.  and that weekend, i relented and we made plans to go on our first date the following weekend.

well that first date turned into two dates in the same weekend.  and those two dates turned into a two-month whirlwind clusterfuck.  the next weekend i was driving four hours to watch him run a half-marathon and spend the night with some friends of his from med school.  the next day was strolling hand-in-hand through streets talking about where we would want to go on a honeymoon {i wish i was making this up.} that was the weekend he asked me to officially be his girlfriend. 

he flew home to spend the week of thanksgiving with his family.  we talked every night that week for hours on end. he asked me to come home with him over new year's and meet his family.  i picked him up from the airport when he got home and we spent every minute of that weekend together.  the next weekend he told me he loved me and that he had thought about our future. the weekend after that he came to visit me for less than 24 hours in between shifts just so that he could attend a christmas party with me.

and the next weekend, everything changed.  we had big plans that weekend to exchange christmas gifts {which i agonized over picking out and spent a small fortune on} and go out for a fancy dinner.  he had gone on and on about how excited he was to give me my gift because he just knew i would love it.  i noticed he had been acting {sounding?} strangely on the phone that week, but i assumed it was because they were busy and short-staffed.  i arrived at his house that friday evening in the middle of a torrential snowstorm.  i got to his house before he did.  he came in, barely said hello, and told me he was going to take a shower and head out to play poker with some friends.  whoa. 

i asked him to come sit with me and tell me what was going on.  and he launched into a speech about how we were moving too fast {true enough, but he was the one speeding things along.  although i realize i wasn't doing anything to stop it.} and he was scared and not ready to be in a long-distance relationship {we lived about an hour apart} but that he was crazy head-over-heels for me.  he just didn't know how to make it work.  he said over and over that he didn't want to end things, but that he didn't know how we could continue.  he still wanted to exchange christmas gifts.  he was right...i loved my present.  i found out that he had made dinner reservations {the night before?!?} for that weekend at my favorite restaurant in town and had specially requested that the chef prepare my favorite menu item.

and then he left to go to his poker game.  i was a sobbing, shocked wreck.  i couldn't leave because there were 2 feet of snow on the ground.  so i was stuck there with him until monday.  the most agonizing 60 hours of my life.  snowed in a house with the guy who just unceremoniously dumped you.  because that's what he did.  i think deep down i knew that although he said he didn't want to end it, that he actually did.  i drove home that monday to spend christmas with my family, holding on to that last bit of hope that he would keep his word and call and think things over and find a way to make things work.  he didn't call until christmas eve.  we spoke briefly and he promised to call on christmas day.  which he did, but while i was having dinner with my family.  i called him back.  no answer.  i left a message. no response. for three days.

then i received an e-mail from him saying he had flown home for the new year's holiday {where i was obviously no longer welcome, despite the fact that i had purchased a plane ticket at his insistence} and was taking time to think about things and would call.  we spoke for a few minutes on new year's eve.  he said he still wasn't sure and that he would call when he got home.  and that is the last time i ever heard from him.  no closure. no explanation.  just silence.

i waited a week, determined that he would call.  until one day when i realized the phone wasn't going to ring.  i went to the post office and put his housekey in the mail to him.  and went to a bar with friend k to drink away my sorrows.

and that was the night i met my beau, the love of my life.  the man who loves me unconditionally.  even when i'm bratty and moody and whiny. who takes care of me when i'm sick and cleans up after my dog and cooks dinner for me and brags on me to his parents and friends.  who every single day i feel unbelievably blessed and grateful that he chose me.

having my heart broken is the greatest thing that ever happened to me.  you always hear that love finds you when you're not looking for it.  the only thing i was looking for when i walked in the bar that night was another tequila shot and a way to stop crying.  and love found me.