between two lungs {florence & the machine}

I'm 80% moved into my new apartment. If I don't have to pick up another box anytime in the near future I'd die happy. Since last Sunday, I've spent everyday this week packing and moving and pushing and unpacking and cleaning and dragging and hauling and driving. Even though I give away things to Goodwill all the time, my personal belongings seem to multiply and multiply.

Apart from the brief update to let you know I now have reliable, high-speed internet 24/7 {which subsequently means I will be a blogging fiend in the months to come}, I just wanted you to know I will be making some changes to the blog in the next couple of weeks. I already have some things in motion and can't wait to share them with you. I hope you like them as much as I do.

I've missed writing, and I needed to work on it more this summer but time slips by and episodes of 90210 have to be watched. August is my renewal month. I have alot of things planned so bear with me, bear with my blog being under construction for a while and I promise it will be worth it.

Happy Saturday to all of you...mine is spent doing more of my favorite activities from this past week and hoping {fingers crossed} that somebody from Craigslist will buy my couch.

Looking forward to some pool time next week to unwind from all this stress.

Ta-ta darlings!

8 things I'm excited about this weekend.

The new Red Hot Chili Peppers' album.

I start moving into a new apartment where all my stuff won't smell like old, stale smoke.

Belated birthday cards in the mail.

Watching Something Borrowed again at the $2 theater.

The O.C. on DVD from Netflix. 

Cupcakes.

Sleepover with Cousin Hannah. 

Fresh Laundry.

just blew in from the windy city {doris day}

This is my first blog post from my last year in my 20s. Did you follow that?

I've been back from Chicago for 5 days, and I think I've finally recuperated. Our last two days in Chicago were spent walking the shops on the Magnificent Mile {something I grew tired of very quickly due to the massive amounts of people on Friday afternoon and no money to buy any of the goodies we saw}, and going to Millennium Park and the Shedd Aquarium.

Unfortunately for us, the last day of sight-seeing was muggy and hot as the heat wave approached Chi-town.  It kind of dampened my spirits as it was too much of a reminder of what we were heading back to on Sunday. We saw the "bean" in Millennium park, and ate at the Billy Goat Tavern. 

 

At Millennium park they had a splash area, and they had tall statue-like structures at each end with a smiling kid's face projected via tiny screens. When the kid's eyes would close, the mouth would form an O and water would start shooting out from the 'mouth.' It was really neat to see. 

Kirbs liked the aquarium, and it was neat because we saw sharks and beluga whales (where thanks to my preschool teaching years the verse 'baby beluga in the deep blue sea...' ran repeatedly through my mind for an hour) and dolphins and tropical fish. It was neat to watch Kirby as he eyes tracked the dolphins while we watched them swim underwater.

We caught a water taxi across Lake Michigan back to Navy Pier, and while the Garners opted for walking the rest of the way, my weary feet (which were in tennis shoes despite my wearing crop pants...I was beyond being fashionable by the last day) couldn't handle anymore, so I caught a water taxi down to Michigan Ave. by my lonesome. I gazed at the silhouettes of the buildings against the sun dropping one last time while listening to Bob Marley playing over the loud speakers and thought, "It doesn't get much better than this." 

Saturday night we enjoyed one last night of deep dish pizza from Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza. This was our favorite by far. Delicious! I wasn't so sure about the cheese on the bottom and sauce on top at the beginning of the week, but by our last pizza, I was won over.



I was up at the early hour of 5am to catch a cab back to the airport for a 7:45am flight. After grabbing an iced  caramel macchiato for the flight home, I boarded the plane bound for Nashville. It was bittersweet leaving Chicago. I was ready for my own surroundings and schedule again, but I was sad to leave such an exciting place and seeing my nephew on a daily basis. I had a smooth flight back and by 9am I was back in Tennessee for my birthday eve.

Many thanks to the Garners for taking me with them to Chi-town. I can't wait to go back on my own time, maybe for a girls' trip. Who's with me?!

Chicago {concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do}

Chicago is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities! So far we have spent 3 days and 2 nights in the big city and its been spectacular.

The only glitch in our trip so far has been our hotel room. The first night Kirby decided to start crying around 11:30pm and could not be consoled. After about 30 minutes we heard a knock. Kirbs had gotten security called on him. They asked that we move rooms, and after much frustration we packed up our bags and were switching rooms at 1am. Nobody was excited. Especially me. I had to trade my comfy bed for a sofa pull out. We didn't get much rest the first night but awoke to a beautiful view in our new room on the 38th floor overlooking Lake Michigan and Navy Pier.

We spent our day taking an architecture cruise on the river through downtown Chicago. Nothing like a late sunny afternoon with a cold drink and a great view. I'm not missing the heat and humidity of Tennessee. It has been pleasant and cool, and yesterday was only 61 degrees with a cool breeze at 6pm. Not looking forward to frizzy hair and a sweaty face upon my return to Nashvegas.

Tuesday evening we came back to find out we had been moved again to a smaller room and I would now enjoy the ever-luxurious roll away bed. Needless to say, I was not excited. Fortunately for us, our bell hop, Leo was ever so kind and went downstairs after moving us into the cramped room and explained our situation further to the manager. He soon came back with news that they would comp us the room next door so I now have my own privacy with an ultra comfy king sized bed and a large picture window. Granted I had to move my stuff into 4 different rooms in a little over 24 hours, at least now I can party like its 1999.

Today we were lazy but walked up Michigan Avenue to the Tribune building and across the river. I never grow weary of looking at the gorgeous skyline with its never-ending skyscrapers.

Dave and Ashley went on to a Cubs game for their 4 year anniversary which is today, while Kirby and I perused Nordstrom's and Sephora. We were trendy indeed. I even bought an Oprah truffle from a candy boutique in the 4 story shopping center.

I think tomorrow Kirby and I might go look at more shops and maybe I can use his sweet cheeks to pick up some of the handsome business men that walk these streets. He does get a lot of looks when he wears his sunglasses.

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drove to Chicago, all things go, all things go...{sufjan stevens}

Being that I'm blogging from the smartphone, I have no control over layout. Forgive me.

My first day in Chicago has been fabulous. I was a rockstar on the hour flight from Nashville this morning and was beyond excited when I landed in the windy city. Chicago is gorgeous and hip and clean and just cool.

I shared a cab ride with two random old ladies (Anna from Virginia and Philipa from England). Not quite the dreamy rich guy I had hoped to fight over a cab with {I'm looking at you, romantic comedies}, but stimulating nevertheless. They were both retired principals who are here for the same conference as my sister.

We are staying at the Marriott downtown on the Magnificent mile. Not sure what that means but the view of downtown right outside our window is magnificent indeed.

We spent our first day walking everywhere...everywhere...everywhere. Did get to ride the El a little bit, but overall we probably walked at least 8 miles, with cute baby Kirby in his stroller, attracting the attention of 'Chicagoians' all over. One lady said he should be on tv, while a police officer said he was so cool he wanted a picture of him in his wallet. Hey, me first buddy!

After our lunch in which I ate my first real deep dish Chicago-style pizza at Gino's east, we saw a motion picture being filmed on our walk over to the El. I looked for famous people but none were to be found.

We then rode to Lincoln park to go to the zoo. By rode I mean we saved a few blocks before 30 more minutes of walking until we got there. I didn't mind because it was a warm and comfortable 80 degrees with a cool breeze from lake Michigan blowing towards us most of the day.

I could tell you more stories about my adventures today but I'll leave you with these few thoughts before I lay in a very comfy bed with very weary bones.

I love this city.

Everybody honks, all the time, just because.

I looked real snazzy with my big pink Coach bag my friend is so graciously letting me use. Maybe one day I'll have my own.

The red velvet cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory my sister brought back to the hotel tonight for me was delicious.

Marriott uses Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy for their little shampoo bottles. I've already packed them away in my luggage.

I realized I'm not really an expert flyer, as evidenced by exceeding the baggage weight and getting in the family/medicine line at airport security behind old people and kids galore. I survived.

I think my sister and Dave are making out on the bed beside me. This is weird...

Goodnight friends.

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just showing off.

I just wanted to say I have a pretty cute nephew.

And I'm really excited about hanging out 

with him this time next week in Chicago!

Kirby rocked his 4th of July outfit. 

Love those fat cheeks.

Love that smile even more.

tonight's today {jack peñate}

I just got home from watching my friend Lisa Bell, along with hundreds of others, compete in the Knoxville Pilot Fireball Classic 5k. I've never been one who goes to 5ks just for the fun of it. Cousin Hannah asked if I wanted to go along and cheer her on and I thought it'd be nice to spend the eve of July 4th outside in downtown Knox. Secretly I hoped maybe some fireworks would be involved, but alas, there were none. It turned out to be a better show than fireworks would have been. 

Something about watching runners, some who's legs work faster than I could ever imagine as they crossed the finish line in under 16 minutes {that's basically like running a mile in 5 minutes for those who can't keep up} and others who ended the race with a slow but steady pace, was mesmerizing to me. Seeing people of all ages and body types, some who's faces grimaced in pain while others seemed to breeze by like they were out for a stroll, hit a chord within.

Maybe it's because I've never been a runner {I'm barely even a walker}. 

Maybe it's because I'm so good at being lazy I wonder what it's like to push your body so hard for no real reason other than satisfying your own competitive nature. 

It could have been watching kids, as young as 5 or 6 complete a 5k right alongside their parents. 

Perhaps it was seeing a young teenage boy in a motorized wheelchair or an older man with a walker who sprinted his last few steps to the finish line while I looked on with tears in my eyes. 

It was so inspiring. It was so motivating. I watched in silence, wondering what it would feel like to push my own body to its limits, imagining how it would feel to successfully complete my own first 5k. The pain, soreness, sweat, and cramps would all be worth it to say I did it, wouldn't it? Just knowing I'm strong mentally and physically would be compensation enough to make it all worth while, right?

Yesterday, as I was lounging by the pool with cousin Hannah, I read an issue of Vogue that's been sitting on my coffee table since January. {Yes, I have a subscription to Vogue. Something about looking at the ads and articles with pictures of clothes and hair and makeup so starkly different from anything I see in Knoxville, appeals to me.} In it was an interview with Natalie Portman and she said something that really hit me. Maybe it's something that I've known before but lost track of, or even if I've known or lived it recently, it hadn't really processed. She said, 

"I'm tough on myself in terms of the standards I want to live up to, but that's also part of my pleasure: knowing you are being your fullest self. Being your fullest self is a lot of work."

Being your full self IS a lot of work. But in the end it's worth it, right? Being your full self means you're not satisfied with days on the couch or taking the easy road. I read that about 5 times, thinking the whole time...what have I been doing!? Why am I not being my fullest self? Why am I content with not pushing myself further? 

Cousin Hannah showed me some information from the website, From Couch to 5K, a couple of weeks ago and I hadn't thought much of it since until now. Combine that with the realization I want to be my full self and watching those runners tonight and you get a new goal. I want to do a 5K. I don't want to walk it. I want to run. I want to be that person panting, holding their side, who's will seems gone until they see the finish line and their legs find a new life and they cross the finish line hands raised, drenched in sweat.  I think it's totally possible. I think I'm capable.

My inner skepticism is saying to me now...Me? A runner? {this is the part where I stop typing, look off and shake my head...}

But I'm just going to have to kick that doubt in the butt.

So my goal is to run the Susan G. Komen Knoxville Race for the Cure on Saturday, October 22, 2011. I guess that means I won't be getting anymore Turtle Sundae Shakes from Sonic anytime soon...this one I'm sipping right now is delicious.

red, white, & blue {happy 4th!}

I hope you have a splendidly patriotic

& festive 4th of July weekend. 

So far I've done this...

And eaten lots of this...

I hope you see lots of these...

And maybe spend an evening doing this 
{as I did last 4th}...