end

thank goodness.

i am thankful that the month of july is coming to a close.

i look forward to a new month. i let myself go and let current anxiety fade.

i have had five straight nights of wickedly vivid dreams. this usually means my mind is racing, even while sleeping.

i am trying to figure things out. i am constantly trying.

during the last days of each month, i stop trying so hard,

and just try to be.

msp

back to msp::yippee!!

it is excruciatingly hot here in phoenix.

this weekend the bf and i will be in msp to catch up with friends and family.

i am having dinner and drinks with my girl n on friday evening. beaujos. sigh.

saturday i am getting a haircut. thank goodness. the last time i went in it was april. yes. april.

at some point we are going to meet up with the bf's mom, who will be driving down from duluth. saturday evening we will go to church to see his brother and kids.

saturday night::hopefully friends and drinks.

sounds so perfect, doesn't it??

process

i just bought this dress.

on sale. from $228 to $59.95. yippee!

i am deliriously happy about it.

i love getting a good deal!

this is how the bf and i approach every major (not that there have been that many to date, but you know, furnishing an empty apartment kind of includes some bigger purchases).

i usually know what i want. the getting it, however, takes a bit more time. when i find a dining table that i like, say, a saarinen round dining table, i know that giving the bf the actual retail price would cause heart palpitations.

so, i do my research. i find similar tables, knock-offs. ikea. i put spreadsheets together. pros and cons. sample swatches. i ramble off alternatives and pricing options and justifications to the bf (along the lines of "and when we get the real dining table we want, we can still use this table as a funky bedside table!"), and thus, i end up getting a perfectly functional (yet still totally my style) table for $70. yeah. we found it on craigslist.

i kind of love that, no matter how much or how little we have, we will always make do. and will make do wonderfuly.

time

i am not going to lie.

i cannot WAIT for this movie.



we're talking, i cry during the previews. somebody help me and bring me august 14.

sundae

a lazy sunday.

the bf and i made breakfast sandwiches when we woke at 9 this morning.

by noon, i was ready for a nap. zzz.

at 2, we had leftover lemon spaghetti and watched burn after reading (it was okay).

now, the bf is taking a nap and i am tidying up.

we are going to have tilapia for dinner tonight. i am trying to persuade the bf to take me to cold stone for some ice cream dessert (i have lately discovered the joy of taking lactaid pills).

i really adore lazy sundays.

best

the bf and i are both equally in awe of his current boss.

tonight as we were putting new sheets on the bed, we were talking about her. her strength.

the bf said, "i'm telling you, she is going to be the next jack walch!"

pause.

i said, "you mean jack welch?!"

we collapsed on the bed together in a fit of giggles.

walch. i am still laughing about it.

#*&$^&*

please, please, please:

do not text me for a buddy pass because your so-called boyfriend with the drinking problem missed his flight because he spent his remaining money on a beer that he drank while his flight was boarding and now has to spend the night at the airport while trying to get home from visiting his ex-girlfriend.

please.

yves

when: last night

where: bed

doll? do you like the name yves? spelled y-v-e-s?

the bf: yeah. that's a pretty cool name.

and then the rest of her life, everyone will call her yah-vez?

the bf: yeah. they will do that.

sigh. such is life. and people. stupid.

pyrex

i am obsessed.



so delicious. tiffany blue. yummy.

temp

i needed a day to recup after the weekend.

friday night wedding. so lovely. e and i were the only ones seated up in the balcony. oops. i made jokes about the ushers banning asians to the upper deck of the chapel. the highlight of the reception was when the bride and her two sisters did the worm across the dance floor. fabulous! two martinis and two glasses of wine later, it was time to go.

we ended the night at the bulldog on lyndale. pretzels with cheese. ginger ale. yummy.

i spent saturday with my bros. good times at dim sum in the morning and bubble tea in the afternoon.

northeast social for some drinks and apps. and fabulous company. four beers later and all of a sudden i was trying to set my double As on the table. thank you, s, s, b, n, j.

and true to minnesota weather, the nicest day was when i got to take a drive to the airport and fly home. natch.

pkg

here's another peeve of mine:

using styrofoam for shipping.

there's nothing worse than ordering something wonderful online and waiting to receive it...

when it arrives: signing for the package. smiling in anticipation.

grabbing the scissors. ripping into the seams of the box.

reaching in...and coming up with a fistful of peanuts.

you try to shake it off, but alas, styrofoam sticks to you. it gets all over the floor. on your clothes. stuck to your purchase. clinging to everything and as you shake all about, it clings harder. it is relentless. and horrible.

i always try to specifiy that i prefer packaging without styrofoam (recycled anything is good). i like envelopes over boxes. i wish the world would work the way i want it to.

ugh. how uncivilized.

facet

wow.



i get to wear this ginormous rock for a wedding friday evening. yes.

cahleef

such a wonderful weekend!

got to flagstaff and had a nice lunch at the altitudes bar & grill. okay food. the veggie burger was a bad choice.

after lunch, we went up to the lava flow trail at sunset crater. i kept looking for the crater, but i think we might have missed it. the trail was a lovely one mile jaunt throw old lava flows from sunset crater, which used to be an active volcano.

next stop: the wine loft. a place where you bring your own food but the wine and beer flow freely. we played a game of trivial pursuit and lost. like, way lost. as in, BIG.

we checked into our hotel and checked out our digs. the bf, friend m, and i shared a suite. nap.

dinner at pasto, dining al fresco. i ordered gnocchi verde and the fried eggplant stack with taleggio, grilled tomatoes, pine nut butter and red pepper puree. the gnocchi was amazing. divine. i was eager for my main course. when it arrived my eyes widened, then my face fell. the "small" plate in front of me was in fact hamburger pattie sized eggplant slices deep-friend and breaded with thick slices of tallegio. ugh. how disappointing.

after dinner we hit rendezvous at the hotel monte vista. more drinks.

we hit the sack pretty hard that night.

in the morning, we drove up to the snowbowl and took the skyride to take in 70 miles of arizona. it was beautiful.

lunch at the weatherford hotel on the zane grey balcony. the turkey burger and ginger ale was wonderful.

on the way back, we stopped at walnut canyon and the island rim trail. they say the trail takes one hour. the bf and i did it in 22 minutes. take that.

the ride home was nice and quiet. such a full weekend. in so many ways.

flagstaff

off to flagstaff, arizona tomorrow.

we need to escape the 114 degree heat oncoming.

how? by driving two and a half hours north to 85 degree weather.

81 miles south of the grand canyon is flagstaff.

dinner.

drinks.

and perhaps a good ghost story or two (ooh!).

skyride.

hike.

whee! i want to go to there. now.

ups

yesterday i waited for the ups man to come knocking on our door.

anywhere from after 2p to after 5p. wide open timeframes.

i sat and watched the wedding singer on tv. i left the door open when i ran for bathroom breaks. i opened the door and peeked to make sure i didn't miss his knock.

it was like being a teenager waiting for a boy to call.

except this time, he didn't.

whatever, ups man! i am better off without you! i deserve so much more. sniffle.

peace

okay.

i am putting it out there in the universe.

with open arms and an open heart.

i am ready to give it up and get over it.

and receive whatever comes back to me.

thank you.

lisag

meeting gfs at this wine bar tonight.

i am trapped in a downward spiral today. down in the dumps. happens most mondays, but especially this week because my little friend found me.

i don't want to go out. but i know i should. and i know i will have fun.

i'm just having a hard time dealing today.

and i don't want to talk to anyone.

i have been hitting "ignore" on my phone all morning. just too tired.

i'm allowed a blue day once in a while.

intuition

i went to an intuition workshop last week.

over a lychee martini i listened to jessie (in a bright, sunny yellow dress and a pixie haircut) talk about the importance of knowing yourself, and about how when you make a decision that is right for you it will be like remembering.

i loved how she is captivated by wonder, how she talked about empathy, how she is in tune with the world. she used words like "magic" and "love" and made hand gestures across her heart. like a sprite.

many of the women in the group spoke of "not being able to make a decision" and feeling "overwhelmed." i didn't get it.

i identify strongly with my core. i have a strong sense of self. and conviction.

when i make a decision, i stand by it. i look for clues in the universe that affirm the choice i already made. make it. live it. love it.

and i never, ever make mistakes. grin.

shorts

i survived at least five years only owning a couple pair of shorts that i never wore.

i lived in minnesota, where shorts are a luxury, only something one needs to break out on the hottest day(s) of the year (two or three if we were lucky).

here in arizona, shorts are not an option, they are a necessity.

for aeration.

so i found myself longing for the airiness of a skirt combined with the ability to sit however i pleased. air + hide the goods - (skirt) = shorts.

omg. even in theory i am so bad at math.

anyway, i finally purchased a pair of shorts from j.crew this year. i am restarting a love affair with j.crew as they make such dreamy outfits out of a skirt, a t-shirt, and a cardigan and a randomly placed flower. swoon.

i bought a size 2, to be safe (i am short! ha! get it?), and was delightfully surprised when they were too big. in contrast, my jeans are sometimes like sausage casings. there's a good reason that the bf calls my legs porkers. i swear i can hear the side seam screaming on some days.

anyway, i bought a pair of 0s, and i am in love with them. my legs are seeing the light of day and finally getting some burning-hot-lava-sun on them. in arizona, that just means more sunblock for more parts of my body. perfect. i love working more to be more comfortable.

i completely forget the point of this story. other than i bought shorts. so there.

day

happy july.

a new month. another trip to minnesota. grin.

i spent the morning transferring files from my old laptop to my new one so that i can bring the old one to my brother. he is very excited. i alloted 9 hours to get the job done. i don't know how i miscalculated so badly, but i thought that four years worth of documents, images, music, and downloads would somehow take more time. i mean, this is my life we're talking about! two hours later i find myself with time on my hands and wondering if i should have saved more.

but i do like a great clean out from time to time.

i'm one of those people that like to have the entire place clean before leaving on any trip, two days or two weeks. today i am doing laundry, bringing recycling to the drop-off, cleaning salinger's bowl and stopping by ups before we're off.

it's obsessive i know. but it's so lovely to come back to a nice home.

happy (and sparkly clean) holiday weekend!