Vanishing Act *Phew*

I hope I have it all out of my system. This disappearing act. It has been two months since my last update. As you can imagine a lot has happened...

The apartment is, for the most part, completely unpacked. Fall finally arrived in Seattle, which led to pumpkin frenzy: pumpkin patch excursions, pumpkin-spiced americanos and of course, Trader Joe's ever famous Pumpkin Bread Mix. There has also been a lot of Fall themed crafting, both at preschool and at home. Personally, I am loving the coffee-filter leaves as window decor. So fun and easy!

 

 

I wish I could say that I have been off on some grand adventure for the last two months, but in reality I have been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of working. There have been two weddings, a bachelorette party, a handful of birthdays, too many good-byes, a few welcome-backs and a surgery. A lot has happened. So much has changed and yet, everything is the same.

I have been mulling over how I can change my life. What can I do to improve on where I am now? How can I work with what I have? It was time to get crafty. I came to the conclusion that it starts with me and my relationship I have with myself. I am hoping I can make some positive, long-term changes. One day at a time.


Cheers! Wish me luck.

J & Me at a wedding in August

6.19 to 6.24 (picture heavy!)

Sorry for the picture dump. Most of my week was spent with the girlfriends. Many friends were coming and going that every night I had plans with another friend who was leaving town or had just gotten back from extended time away.


T U E S D A Y

Tuesday night I grabbed a quick happy hour bite at La Isla and then met up with M for some much needed foot pampering. We went to LT nails in Ballard. It was a truly wonderful experience with the nicest little Asian ladies and not too badly priced. After that, we had late night happy hour at Shiku, where H joined us, on Old Ballard Ave. Even later that night, J asked me to pick him up from Golden Gardens but ended up staying out longer than intended.


W E D N E S D A Y
Unfortunately, no pictures for this day... I took my first Capoeira class with S at Axé Capoeira Studio on 15th Ave E. If you haven't heard of Capoeira, please youtube it. It is a mixed style of Brazilian martial arts and dance. The class kicked my butt but was a fun way for me to break up my normal routine. I will definitely give Capoeira another try.

T H U R S D A Y

Thursday I met up with my friend, A, who I hadn't seen in over a year. She just finished up her degree at UW and was preparing to move back to California. A and I studied abroad in Paris together back in 2008. K (who also studied abroad with us) and J (much to his dismay) joined the fun. We spent the night gorging ourselves on Cha Cha happy hour and vegan desserts at Plum Bistro (my favorite restaurant).


F R I D A Y

Friday I met S and H (spent a lot of quality time with her this week) for happy hour at Meza for S's send-off to Paris. The afternoon turned into a quiet girls night at S's place filled with bubbly, a bit of Beiber and The Mask of Zorro. My dear friend, S is getting married during the July-August months to her longtime boyfriend. I will miss having her in Seattle and am disappointed that I will not be present to celebrate such an exciting day with her. xoxo, S!!


S A T U R D A Y

For those that are not soccer fans, it is the year of the Euro Cup. Despite my ties to France (I am fond of their national team, took 2 years of college french and studied in Paris), I have been a long-time supporter of the Spanish. Gotta love me some David Villa and Torres! I was pumped to celebrate Spain's 2-0 victory. J and I arrived at Café Pressé, 2 minutes after kick-off, to find the front of the house packed and no available tables or bar stools. We reconciled to wait, which turned out to be for the entire game, before a spot opened at the bar. It was well worth the it.

J and I also saw Brave. Being the emotional and sensitive girl that I am (I grew up with my mom and two younger sisters), I LOVED the movie. I totally understand the complicated mother-daughter relationship.



S U N D A Y

Sunday stands for lazy day. J, his roommate (also conveniently named J) and I woke up just in time to hurry to The Dish for some fantastic brunch. The Dish is one of my favorite breakfast spots. Seriously, if you haven't gone, do yourself a favor and GO! I have had their biscuits and gravy, eggs benedict, and tofu scramble... you can't go wrong. This time I decided to mix it up and order the Slacker Especial. It did not disappoint. Afterward, I dragged the boys back to the house in time to watch the Italy v England game. It was very exciting to watch them go into overtime and then into penalty kicks.... the boys hid in J's room while I sat on the couch screaming at the television.

The rest of the day was spent with a pastry, magazines and eventually the new Wes Andersen film, Moonlight Kingdom, which I actually really liked. I thought the plot was simple and quirky in a very charming way. Please go see it.






If you read this whole entry I am sincerely impressed. xoxo  -C

Monday, fun day!

Happy Monday, everyone. Another work week has again commenced. Those who know me personally are aware of how I live a bit chaotically. I can be a bit of a spaz and all over the place. There isn't really any kind of method to my madness. On that note, I would like to present a mish-mash of (random) things on my mind today.

1. Bubble tea: the perfect after-school treat. I have Taro and Lychee in my photo

One of my favorite bubble tea places: Wow on "The Ave"

2. Madewell: Over the weekend, University Village had their annual sidewalk sale. This meant that all sale items were an extra 40% off at Madewell... pictures to come if I can get over my embarrassing lack of self-control.

That's right, two bags! Oh the glorious goodies hidden within

3. Fabulous dinner and wine with J: despite my resolve to eat less gluten and dairy, tonight we indulged in butter, a baguette, cheese, tuna and portobello mushroom caps!

Malbec & "Julie and Julia"

4. "At Home" beauty remedies: about a month and a half ago, my good friend K got me hooked on washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar (I have been meaning to blog about this). Since then, I have been thinking about other natural remedies. You can find some great "do it at home" recipes for your hair and skin, as well as some insightful beauty tips  at Free People's BLDG 25 Blog.

Happy Monday, everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their week. xoxo

*image found at linked blog

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Happy 2 years! (& one week)

Charleston, SC back in April

I have been working on this post for an entire week, reflecting on the last two years. I wanted to pay my respect to such a life-changing milestone... This picture from my recent trip to South Carolina reminds me of this post graduation process that most of us are dealing with. Saturday the 9th marked the anniversary of my graduation from the University of Washington. I happened to have a view of Safeco Field and the graduation festivities that day. Though I could not see inside, I saw rows and rows of young graduates and beaming parents hurrying into the stadium (UW's is under construction). It feels like yesterday- the excitement and relief of finishing that last final and celebrating our freedom. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown.

My sister's graduation: a few weeks before my graduation 2 years go

Post graduation trip to Europe: @ Colosseum in Rome, I like to make silly faces...

After my trip, I returned with excitement for the future. So many things have happened and changed in that time: my internship at the Seattle Art Museum, being broke and living off ramen in my basement studio on Capitol Hill, meeting Mr. J at Best Buy, the end of 3 years at Julep...

I told you, I LOVE to make cheesy faces

Since then, I began working full time as a preschool teacher. It has been a wonderful and enlightening 7 months since I started there. You fall in love everyday with some ridiculously cute thing some child does and then a mere seconds later someone pees on you... Oh the beauty of Pre-K!

It is hilarious (now!) looking back at the tribulations we have all faced/are facing and how we have survived graduation during these trying economic times. Cheers to everything we have accomplished and what we will achieve in the future! xoxo

Love the one you're in!

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Today I was struck by an overwhelming feeling of stagnancy (perhaps it is the Monday blues). It occurred to me today that we are in the first week of June... which means we are half way through 2012! Like the vast majority of New Year's well-wishers, I made the resolution to drop some weight. About 30 pounds to be exact. No small feat, especially for this self proclaimed food addict.

Similar to many new post-graduates out there, life after college did a real number on my bank account and emotional sanity. For about a year and a half after graduating in June 2010, my life revolved around counting every penny, cupboards full of top ramen and ultimately that moment of weakness when you dip into your savings to indulge yourself in a night out or some must-have article of clothing.  By April 2011, I found my entire savings account depleted. No surprise, right? Well the stress of living so frugally and consisting off of cheap processed foods took on a toll on my body. Around 30 pounds to be exact.

By New Year's 2012, I was in a (slightly) better financial place and mentally sane enough to attack my extra baggage. My first and second months of working out and eating healthy were moderately successful. Spring of 2010, I was living off of a vegan diet and had, prior to that and through half of 2011, been a vegetarian- my body was loving the whole fresh fruits and veggies it had been missing and felt at ease letting go of most animal products (damn you, sushi and cheese!). I was able to drop about 14 pounds in that time. However, I am not someone who enjoys counting calories, logging workouts or meals. By the end of February, I had convinced myself that I needed a (short) mental break since I was beginning to feel manic about counting and logging all of those calories. Well that short break turned into a two month hiatus...

So here I am now 6 months later, feeling so far off of the bandwagon.

The reason I wanted to approach this topic today is because lately I have been feeling pretty blue about having lost sight of my goal. Ultimately it comes down to my need for discipline, but that is a whole 'nother beast to tackle! My struggle with weight loss, that so many women face too, is finding that sensitive balance between feeling good about yourself while being healthy, and feeling free (or unafraid) to eat. I find that my relationship with food becomes unhealthy during a time that I am actively trying to lose weight. It becomes a vicious cycle of abstaining and emotionally binging. Earlier today I happened upon an image I wanted to share with everyone:

photo found here 

This image reminded me of something I had been forgetting: to love my body for all its quirks and everything that it allows me to do. We are all glorious and beautiful in our different shapes and sizes. For those of us still trying to hold on to our hope of making a change- Don't give up!! I hope this image inspires you as much as it does me.

Again, happy Monday and xoxo!