favorite things

1. favorite day: next friday. that's when lp gets home!!

2. favorite color: red and green!!! hooray for christmas!!

3. favorite dream: that guy up there. i cannot wait until we get back from brazil so we can get our pup. one of our friends is also going to get one so we're going to get siblings!!! i'm so excited, i want to pee my pants.

4. favorite thing to wear: boots. i just got some hunter boots and some awesome knee high boots. it's been raining constantly, so i've gotten lots of use out of the hunters and the cold front is (finally) blowing through, so looks like i'll get more use out of my other boots too!

5. favorite person to spend the weekend with: my neighbor friend mike. last weekend we decorated his house for christmas with garland, tinsel, lights and bows. it's amazing.

6. favorite piece in the house: my tree- duh. i sit here at night with only the tree on and it's so peaceful.

7. favorite food: weirdly, i've been eating apples like they are going out of style. like almost every night i have one for dinner.

8. favorite activity: yoga. been going 3-4 times a week. i think it's been balancing out my grumpiness since lp has been gone.

9. favorite toy: my new kindle fire. it's been fun!!!

10. favorite drink: english breakfast tea. cannot seem to stop drinking it!!!

count your blessings

on the christmas station this morning (don't judge, been listening to it for a week) they played a little ditty by barry manilow called 'count your blessings' and it made me actually start to count my blessings. i have to admit, for as stressed as i get about money or lp being gone or whatever, i'm super blessed. here are a few of my blessings:

1. in two weeks, lp will be home. we've definitely had our fair share of being separated. i mean, when he was in grad school IN LONDON we only saw each other like every six months. this time has been a lot harder, i think because i'm so used to him being here everyday to make me laugh and hug me and make me feel good. but, i'm blessed because at least he's coming home. i do realize that some people have a significant other leave who doesn't make it back, so there's a blessing in his coming home. in two weeks.

2. my family. they are really pulling out the stops these days. my mom sent me flowers, two cards and called several times on my birthday to make sure it was a good one. she also always calls me (or picks up if i call her). kenny has sent me a card for every little holiday in the past two months to cheer me up. mark flew me to st louis to visit one weekend. i'm so lucky to have a great family.

3. our house. we've been so fortunate to find an adorable home with plenty of space for us. plus, it has a backyard and a fireplace, which are now 2 of my most prized possessions.

4. i have a job. enough said.

5. i have some really great friends. friends who send me cards, skype to see my face, take me out to cheer me up, come over to sit with me and generally just are badasses.

hope that you're all blessed and able to give thanks today for those blessings!!!

leaves, leaves, leaves!

one of my favorite things about living on the east coast is the leaves. in texas, everything just goes from green to brown and back to green. but here, oh my, the leaves turn all sorts of pretty colors!! i'll admit, it can sometimes be a little annoying because eventually, there are leaves EVERYWHERE, but i still haven't lost my excitement about pretty leaves. there's a tree outside our house, which has decided to turn it's leaves a pretty yellow color and is slowing giving all the leaves to our street. this morning when i walked out, it was like it had snowed. only with leaves. (please ignore the horrible black scratches on my car)

this is the sidewalk- leaf/snow!!!!!

my car. somewhere under there.

front steps- perfect for keeping our house clean and leaf free.

this and that

i've been bad at uploading photos, so although i haven't taken many recently, here are some from the summer!!! first up, the block party. so fun, so many puppies, so much food.

mike and my favorite fat pug across the street!!!

our block, the random folks, the grills- it was a success!!!

note the arbor mist (2 bottles!!!). that's the kind of hood i live in!!!!

these next ones are from when lp's sis came to visit. we walked past those darn "occupy dc" people. this was before the tents. this park now looks like woodstock.

then we went down to the capitol. it's one of the things that lp and i do when we're bored sometimes. it never really gets old seeing that big old building and thinking of all the history.

admission of guilt

i'll admit it- i turned on christmas music already. i can't help it, i love christmas so much!! i think i probably got my addiction from my grandmother (shout out, grandma moore!!!) who celebrates christmas like it's her job. each room in her house used to have a christmas tree (some were tiny!!), we decorated buckets of christmas cookies and on christmas eve, someone had better get out their guitar and start belting out some christmas tunes or she was not a happy camper. i loved all of it- the glitter (GLITTER!!!), sparkles, tree decor, cookies (we all know how i love me some cookies), music- everything. as i got older, i couldn't wait until thanksgiving day. not for the turkey, which i never really eat, but because i knew the local radio station majic 95.5 would start playing christmas music and tbs would start playing christmas movies. i mean, who doesn't love 'a christmas story' - "you'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out?" all of this has led to today, when i turned on christmas music on nov 18 because i couldn't wait any longer and am contemplating putting up my tree tonight.

feelin the love

update on my life: i've been busy. since lp left, i've been keeping very busy. lots of yoga and running, lots of drinks with friends and lots of sleep! a few weekends ago was halloween. mike and i (picture 1 below) went to a party at a friends' house. i hate dressing up (because i'm awful at thinking up costumes!) so i dressed up in lp's old navy clothes! the following weekend, i met up with my friend's eileen and blair (pictured below #2). eileen and i started off having lunch at a place called pearl dive, which has an indoor bocce court upstairs in the bar. OF COURSE we had to play after lunch. blair came to meet us and we sat around having delicious frozen drinks and chatting. which led to more drinks. which led to grabbing some cheese and bread at whole foods, taking it to eileen's place and having champagne! one of my favorite days!!! next up, my birhtday!! as soon in picture # 3, i got lots of flowers. lp surprised my by sending me flowers! from africa!! they're the lillies in the middle (one of my favorite flowers). he also sent a present to mike's office. such a sweetie pie! i was so surprised. on saturday, blair and chris and shawna and i all went out. blair is awesome and brought me treats- tiny glitter cowboy hats and crazy sunglasses (picture #4 and on). we had a great time!! who knew tiny hats could create such a stir? seriously, EVERYONE asked about the hats, we got free drinks and most of all, we looked hilarious. i loved it! the past few years my birthdays have involved silly accessories for the guests involved and these were great additions. enjoy the silly pics!!! ps- lp comes back in 3 1/2 weeks. countdown to commence shortly.