well, this weekend, i went to school and philip went to work. and we gots ourselves a new tile floor.
fancy new tile!
i was a little worried to be honest... at dinner on friday night, philip made a comment to mom about how the tile 'doesn't match at all,' so i was a little worried. that wasn't quite what we were going for. but because of our crazy time constraint, we had to go to home depot separately, take pics of the tile we liked, and text them to each other. we are such a modern couple. but i was a little unsure that we were making the right choice via SMSing. i mean, we didn't have the shower tile to compare to and we were kind of just choosing blindly. but the results are - so far - kind of AWESOME. i love the way the new grey tile has amber striping that perfectly matches our shower tile. our old shower curtain is still up. but that will be changing soon too.
floor is done! just drying now.
tile shot with new shower. disregard the curtain.
yesterday i was charged with the task of picking up our new bathroom vanity from ikea. it was the ultimate test of trust in my marriage - me, a credit card with no balance and time alone in ikea. yikes. i only picked out a few extra things... the bulk of my time was spent picking up the box of the bathroom vanity, trying to push the cart to jim (our subaru legacy is named jim), then going BACK inside to pick up the sink, and loading that into jim. not the best two hours, but i did get a little something as a treat for myself :)
helloo! i wrote all these out yesterday and forgot to post them. brilliant, right? anyway here are the blanks from yesterday. i guess i was just so excited to go to a costume party! pics of our costumes to come later, but right now i'm heading off to school... be jealous.
1. when i was a kid i wanted to bean actresswhen i grew up.don’t ask me why but i’m glad i wizened up.
2. as an adult, my dream job would beworking at a non-profit where i could really make a difference, or maybe working on a political campaign.
3. when i was younger i wanted to be just like…you know, i actually don’t have an answer for this. i didn’t ever want to be just like one person. there were a few really amazing female role models in my life and at different times i wanted to be like different parts of each. i guess i was just that lucky :)
4. the childhood halloween costume that i remember most was when i was a jack-in-the-box. it was so cool. my mom made it for me out of a big square box that we painted bright, primary colors and hung around my waist with suspenders. i was in 5th grade.
5. my favorite childhood toy wassarah. she was a ‘baby bubbles’ (did anyone else have one of those?) so if you put water in her mouth and then squeezed her hand she would blow bubbles. i still have her and she looks like chucky, because i dragged her around everywhere when i was little.
6. the time i got into the biggest amount of trouble when i was a kid was when ioh god, i have to pick just one? i was grounded my entire junior year of high school. sneaking out, throwing parties, drinking, skipping school, you name it, i did it (unfortunately).
7. i get daily inspiration fromthe 15 minute drive to my office after i drop philip off, when i am totally alone and can turn up my music. i get all kinds of ideas for my blog, for my house, for books i should write, places i should go. and then i pull up to my office (sigh).
i know it's only a little after 2pm, but i can honestly say i reached my high point of today. most likely the high point of this week. and probably the highlight of my entire month/end of year.
today i saw president obama speak at UCD.
it was amazing. my girlfriend and ex-roomie rachel and i met at 6am at starbucks off campus this morning. after fueling up on giant hot coffees, we trekked through the snow to the line. we were only a few hundred people back. we stood outside waiting to be let in for a good two hours or so until they finally opened the doors. once inside, we waited for another two hours - but with an AMAZING view of the podium where the president was set to speak. we held our spot, listened to some interesting opening bands, and before you know it he arrived.
i guess what i experienced is like what teenage girls who see justin timberlake experience (or whoever teenage girls like now, when i was 13 it was justin timberlake). i got a little shaky and a little teary and kept saying, "ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod," over and over and over again to rachel. and that was all while he was just waving to the crowd. he finally got into his speech - he has this way of speaking to a crowd of people but all the while it feels like he's only talking to you - and had some amazing news to share about student debt relief. it was a great speech and he went into detail about the struggles he had starting out, and how it's hard when young people graduate with a degree and can't find a job - so the have to hold off doing things like starting a family.
anyway, it was my first experience seeing any president live, and i was especially psyched to see a current president. and there are literally no words to describe my joy at seeing my favorite president and one who i am actively helping to get re-elected. i felt so much pride in being involved with my volunteer work while he was saying to the crowd that he needs our voices. it was such a wonderful experience.
so i'll stop the obama-love-gushing-fest here and share some pics. because i need to work on my paper and take a nap :)
snow while waiting outside - 6:30am
biggest smile ever
the line went all the way to speer behind us!
me & rach
how???
PACKED gym!
state flag
there he is - the president of our country. and what a view!
his smile melts my heart makes me proud to have elected him
really. how can it get any higher than this? this might be the highest of all high highs...
buh-bye old nasty bathroom tile and vanity. you've overstayed your welcome :)
soon that space will have this:
IKEA baby!
but for now we are still doing some work. here's a few pictures of the tile being ripped up yesterday:
i'm helpful :)
man at work
my sexy husband :)
makeshift medicine cabinet on philip's shoe shelf
haven't quite emptied out the old bathroom drawers yet
there's plenty more to come! i'm picking up the vanity on saturday from ikea :) i still need to find a mirror, we need to pick out lights and paint colors, and a new toilet (glamourous, i know). not much is going on now but a lot of demolition - but i'll have more updates soon!
i already know what my high-high is going to be tomorrow... so stay tuned!
wahoo! new series! like most little kids, around the dinner table my brother and i would talk about our days at school to our mom and dad. my mom, being the awesome outside-the-box mom that she is, came up with one question that everyone at the dinner table had to answer.
‘what was your high high?’
meaning, of everything you did that day (or maybe that week if we hadn’t all sat down to dinner together in a few days), what was the absolute best? i thought it would be fun to start sharing my high-highs. it probably won’t be every day, but that’s ok. we’ll start today.
high-high #1: ‘brand new shoes’
no, i didn’t get to go shoe shopping today. i did however finally crawl out from under that rock i’ve apparently been living under and discovered she & him. i had heard of them before, but on saturday while i was getting dressed for the wedding i needed something jazzy to listen to, and finally downloaded two of their albums (vol. 1 & vol. 2). amazing. zooey deschanel has joined the ranks of women i would be gay for (including rachel maddow and mandy moore). so anyway, i had my new favorite artist on shuffle this morning while driving out to work, and this song, ‘brand new shoes,’ came on. boy is that a damn good song.
i had some brand new shoes
they were all red but they gave me the blues
and they are runnin away, they left me a letter
it’s just like you told me it’d be
it’s nothin nothin nothin
nothin at all
we are all made of air
there’s stars in my eyes and there’s sun in my hair
and i’m runnin away, it makes me feel better
it’s just like you told me it’d be
it’s nothin nothin nothin
nothin at all
when it comes down to this
i’m neither sorry nor cross nor unfit
and i’m runnin away, there’s smoke on my sweater
it’s just like you told me it’d be
it’s nothin nothin nothin
nothin at all
i had some brand new shoes
they were all red but they gave me the blues
and they’re running away, they left me a letter
it’s just like you told me it’d be
it’s nothin nothin nothin
nothin at all
at all
at all
lovely. i can feel an obsession with this song coming on. and what is it about new shoes that makes you want to just run away in them (see: sia’s little black sandals). maybe running away is just nothing at all. sometimes i wish it were that easy :)
side note - if you want to check out zooey's awesome website it's hello giggles, on my blogroll.
but not tonight… i have a good friend over for a glass of wine. til next time… what was your high-high?
ohhhh myyyyy goshhhhh what an amazing wedding friends :)
it was so beautiful, so genuine, so full of love. and to be totally honest, it was without a doubt the best wedding i have ever been to (not counting my own, of course!). the ceremony was at st. john's, where we actually were looking at having our wedding. the weather was stunning - golden and orange leaves falling and crunching everywhere, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing just right. the reception was held at one of our family's favorite places (our usual brunch spot, and we held a morning-after brunch the day after our wedding), the mercury cafe. catering was provided by a new awesome place we found over the summer, which uncle rich & beth apparently love too, yak & yeti. it was so eclectic and very, very uncle rich.
the new mr. & mrs. o'dell
magical!
this morning we hosted brunch for some family before everyone left this afternoon. philip and i took the afternoon to relax... had lunch out and then went and saw margin call. really good! check it out if you have some time. side note, who the the hell is this guy and why am i just now learning of him? i might have to do some rearranging on my list...
when we got home we sat outside and enjoyed one of the last few days of this lovely fall weather. we are getting snow wednesday night and our first winter storm advisory starts tuesday. it'll all be over soon. but as we sat outside and talked about the future, we realized that this was the last weekend we really have off until january. here's a look at what we've got goin on:
this coming weekend: school for me, last meeting of public policy
weekend after that: my first weekend of school for my next class, organizational change
weekend after that: i work, then we leave for NY!
NY for 10 days (yayyyy!)
first weekend home after NY: class again
then we have the holidays and our annual holiday party
new year's eve in CHICAGO!
ryder's 1st birthday january 6th and we'll go to LA
so what all that really means is... we are going to be doing a TON of work on the house in the next few months before company comes for christmas! demolition on the bathroom tile starts tomorrow...
but until then, here's a few great shots of the family from the wedding. i can't believe just one month until the next wedding!
hi friends. not really in a blanking mood. today's were about fall, but i kind of did that. so i searched for an old fill-in-the-blank about what i wanted to talk about:
love.
but i couldn't find any. so here we are. i was in the presence of true love tonight at my uncle's rehearsal dinner and my head is still spinning. and not true love like, 'oh, they were first loves,' or, 'it was love at first sight, the were engaged right away.' but real true love. it was so awesome. i love love. it's the best :) there's something about being around THAT couple, the one you know is really going to make it. it's inspirational and it just makes life that much better. i was listening to my uncle tell the story of how he met his fiance, and how he literally searched for her after just seeing her at a few jazz shows. and philip and i were talking about how everyone should have a story like that - even if your story doesn't happen when you think it will, or when you want it to, or if it involves someone you never thought it would involve. everyone should have that one true love that they grow old with.
sigh. anyway i have a big day tomorrow - work early and then straight to the wedding, no time for even getting my hair done (much to my dismay). so i'll try to catch you all up on sunday (and i'll give you another halloween costume hint!).
today marks a very special anniversary for me. five years ago today, i boarded a plane from prague to milan with two of my best friends. we were meeting three of our friends in venice and were backpacking through italy for ten days during our fall break from school. we met the boys right in the middle of one of venice's iconic bridges, with bottles of wine in hand (their hands, not ours).
i'll never forget those ten days. when the girls (nicknamed 'us three' because the three of us were totally inseparable) and i got back to milan on the 10th day, i remember finally calling my mom (i had spent the whole trip not calling, texting, emailing, facebooking or anything). the girls were at a gelato shop relaxing before our bus ride to the airport. and when my mom picked up and asked me, "how was the trip?" i remember my voice breaking just a little as i said, "it was the best 10 days of my life." and i could hear her choke up on the other end, too.
i don't know what or why or how, but something changed in me during that trip. i started my journey becoming the person i am now, accepting my worldview and my independence. and most of all, those 10 days in italy was when i fell in love with philip. at the time he was just a friend i was traveling with, but it was on that trip that we started becoming 'us.' it's just one of those times in my life that is very hard to explain but i think of those 10 days all the time, and especially from the 20-30 of october. there will always be stress in my life, work, school, mortgages, family problems.. but there will always be italy :)
a few pics of my favorite people from that amazing time in my life... and many more pics here.
on the train from milan to venice - our first stop
'us three' in venice, our first day, 21 oct 2006
birds + st mark's square + rain = an awesome experience
my five travel buddies
2nd leg of the trip - florence - 24 oct 2006
laying outside a bridge at 3am, ponte vecchio in the distance. why not?
my five friends and the coliseum - 26 oct 2006
i wished for him in the trevi fountain. my wish came true :)
drinking on the spanish steps, our last night in rome - 26 oct 2006
train from rome to la spezia, the best train ride ever. 27 oct 2006
quick dip in the ocean when we got to riomaggiore
hiking the trail of love - 28 oct 2006.
headed back to prague a changed group. 30 oct 2006.
i'm awful - i jumped right into birthday weekend and totally skipped our trip to california! for shame. over columbus day weekend i took a day off (hugh sigh) and we flew out to LA for the weekend to hang out with family. thanksgiving we will be in new york, christmas we will be here in colorado, and so that meant we wouldn't be able to see the family and little man until at least 2012. and that would not do. so for philip's birthday we received two airline tickets courtesy of my generous father-in-law.
we flew in late on friday night and stayed in santa monica with philip's father and step-mother. saturday we were able to sleep in, take a lovely walk through the city, and go see the ides of march. huzzah! the rest of the weekend we stayed at the martino nest, aka my sister-in-law's house. it was awesome. here are a few pictures of our lovely weekend away. enjoy! :)
grapefruit gelato on montana ave!
such a good picture of my love :)
the family at everyone's birthday dinner
little man's amazing smile!
little man and uncle philip
that shirt makes me look HUGE. walking with cathie & katie.
the new swing
bianca's house is adorable, so creative!
the birthday pie for the twins
make a wish :)
and, as promised, here's another halloween costume hint... hope you like the new blog halloween layout!
