high high #35

this could be the best high high ever, the highest of my highs...

getting a little goofy after brunch at le grande [where else] + drinks at crave.

my bestest of my best friends: r, w, me + j.

otherwise known as: samantha, miranda, carrie + charlotte  : )

i have loved spending time with these girls so much i am trying to scrape together some funds to stay another week... if only!  i know i've been pretty much mia during my visit here, but as much as i love blogging, i love playing outside with my family + friends even more.  so the blogging has been put o hold, but boy do i have a lot to say!  and also i have been working on lots and lots of changes for the blog, which i am hoping to roll out semi-soon.

so keep stopping by, and i'll be back in a day or two - unless i get to stay in denver another week ; )

til next time!

high high #34

look what's comin my way...

yahooooo!  i've been lusting after these for a while, and when i did my usual price check online today, there they were.  inexplicably on sale, with free shipping, and in my size.  a whole $56 less than just a few days ago!  my brother will hate them.  he has this theory that as soon as we get a sprinkle of rain or a few flakes of snow, boston females break out their rain boots.  i've promised him i won't be that girl - but let's be honest.  with boots this cute how can you not want to wear them any chance you get?

besides online shopping, i haven't been doing much lately.  actually, i've been a little under the weather and just haven't had much energy to do anything [nor is anything interesting going on around here to share].  we have been back from montreal for over a week now, and i still haven't put any pictures up - but i will try and get to that tomorrow or thursday.   

but for tonight, i am going to go back to listening to the rain and snuggling on the couch with my love :)

til next time [which won't be far off again]...

high high #33

what can i say, i am easily amused.

it's a silly little thing, but my cat moussie destroys just about everything.   he enjoys eating fresh flowers, knocking over my vases, dragging his tail through wet paint, eating straws, stealing twisty ties to hide in shoes, and dipping his little kitty paws in everything from coffee to V8 splash to my water.

so when i was at my wit's end today, pi made me this.

it's basically a grown-up sippie cup (he drilled a straw hole through the lid of an old mason jar).  but it's almost totally cat-proof.  he can still eat the straw, but that isn't so bad.  but this is my high high today because it's just one of those totally small but incredibly meaningful things my husband does that remind me of how much he loves me - and how much i love and appreciate him :)

he's pretty much the best.

but the cat...

not so much. 

for tomorrow - i am super backed up on photos (i haven't even posted pics of my last trip to nyc to visit my little captain!) so i'll get on that.

happy monday! :)

high high #32

ever have one of those moments... music is playing, but you aren't really listening to it.  and all of a sudden you are hearing something, for the first time, that just speaks to you.  it sounds just right, and when the lyrics begin it's like the universe is speaking to you [as one of my friends put it]. 

i had one of those moments today, and as a result, discovered an awesome band i am totally in love with.  thanks, pandora-half-moon-radio!

so here is the song that has completely memorized me.  it came on just as i was writing what was a particular emotional few pages of my book, and the words spoke to me.  i would recommend not watching this video because it's stupid, but open it in another tab and just listen to the song.  enjoy :)

here are the words:

go, lovely, go far away
i've set you free
cause i know that we belong
held in arms of the sea

and there's other things
are all on your mind through the day
and it's understood to me
we belong in freedom's way

well, i heard the daylights long
and the seas are slight but the breeze is strong
hope fills my sails, and, and i'm gone
but man, it feels like home

and i know this is all that i've dreamed of
cause i feel like living when the life comes back to me
the sun shines on my face and i feel hope

well i know the blood runs strong in your heart
but it beats harder for the life in you to grow
and you smile cause you know
this is where we belong

***

but just because it's wednesday, and i love you all, here is another awesome avalanche city song.  this video is pretty cute.

high high #31

she & him tickets purchased for their show in boston!

i haven't been to a concert since U2 back in may of 2011... craziness.  i do love going to concerts, but i don't do it very often at all.  but pi, being the most amazing husband he is, found out that she & him are on tour and are stopping in boston to do a show in june - and ticket were going on sale this morning.  so we set reminders for 10am, hopped online, and got two prime seats at a very reasonable price.

i am so excited!  and just for those of you who haven't heard or seen she & him [what, do you live under a bridge?!], here's their promo music video for why do you let me stay here. 

enjoy!

high high #30

what can i say, it's the little things that make me happy.  and today, it was going out for happy hour with an old friend i haven't caught up with in years, who lives out in boston.  so i walked from my new apartment down to back bay, which was lovely, just taking in the sights of my new city.

i love it.

happy friday all, and goodnight!

xo

high high #29

we got the apartment!

yes, we finally have a place to live here that isn't my dad's spare bedroom/home office.  now i promised a few pictures once it was official so here you go.

to the left of the entrance - amazing fireplace!

lovely kitchen, more counter space than at home!

courtyard-facing loft means nice views, less noise

view from the kitchen into the loft

 and, as with yesterday's high high, today's comes with a low also.  the city of boston is impossible to move into.  all moving trucks have to have permits, and you must apply for these well in advance of your move, and you must have the meter numbers that you will be blocking, and you must PAY for how much those meters would bring in had you not been blocking it all day.  so i'm still working on figuring that out.

but huzzah, we finally have our boston loft!  kind of feels like we are moving backwards in phases... that phase of your 20-something life when you have the nice apartment in a great part of a magnificent city is supposed to come before you buy the house and go back to school.  but that's ok - i'm just happy to finally be home :)

til next time...

high high #28

 

this is so unbelievably true it's depressing.  drop me in the middle of the city [nyc] and i can find my way where i need to go.  now here in boston, my new city?  nothing.   it's awful.  

now you might be wondering why this is a 'high' and not a low.  few reasons - first, i don't count my lows because that's depressing, and 2 -i am getting to know my city.  getting on the T [what they call the subway system here] and heading to allston to a tattoo shop.  jumping on for two stops to our new local movie theater.  figuring out which stop takes me to my brother's office in cambridge, and which one takes me to the closest madewell on newbury st.  i love that feeling of getting to know a new city - and i feel like i am getting to know mine.  

we are till waiting to get confirmation of our apartment, but it should be sometime in the next 5 days or so with the holiday.  then i will really feel like i can get to know our new home.

til next time...

high high #27

every year, PI and i go to the nutcracker before christmas.  it's one of our traditions, and we usually go all out.  there's a fancy dinner beforehand and sometimes cocktails after the show.  but one of my favorite traditions of ours.

and today, we got our nutcracker tickets! and, of course, we are having dinner before at our favorite place ever.

the denver ballet does an amazing job. can't wait for our holiday themed date among the insanity occurring in my life right now.  i have a serious case of senioritis.  i can't concentrate on any homework and can only think about the move, christmas, shopping, our party, and christmas themed cocktails.  true story.

ok, gotta try to get back to reading about american political thought.  boo.

high high #26

guys, this was in my email in box this afternoon.



WHAT?!  i am graduating with honors.  i can't even begin to say how actually happy this makes me.  when i think about when i first was going back to school how impossible it all seemed, i never even thought about honors.  i actually said i wouldn't walk in my graduation ceremony because, 'it would be different if i were graduating with honors,' i justified.  and now that i am, i am going to walk in my graduation ceremony.

which means i get to go buy a new dress :)

and, in case you were wondering, graduation is now less than a month away. 

high high #25

it was a pretty amazing day.

it started out with work, but it got kind of amazing afterwards.  PI & i went to pick out or christmas party invitations from our favorite stationary shop [i CAN NOT believe that it's already time for christmas party invitations!].  they are amazing - can/t wait to share pics!

but after, mom and i had an amazing spa day at  izba.  we had body masques, beating with banya leaves, and an amazing rubdown by a man named dimitri.  after we were sufficiently relaxed, we went for wine and cheese at cellar.  i would highly recommend it :) 

it was an amazing relaxing mother-daughter day... and we don't do it often enough.  it was pretty awesome.

hope you enjoyed your saturday!

xoxo
 

high high #24

today was another amazing high of all highs.

that's right, president obama [again].  it was just last october that the first snow fell on the eve of obama's visit to my school, which was one of my highest of all highs.  my gf and i had front row seats standing spots and it was the most awesome thing ever to see a sitting president give a policy speech. 

well, he did it again.  the volunteers in northwest denver - which i have been a part of since july of last year - have been so amazing that the president came right to our very own sloan's lake to give a rally this morning after the debate.  and guess who got to volunteer?

 

helping direct traffic at 6am

yelling 'fired up, ready to go!' at supporters at 5am will wake you up!

 it was an awesome day, and i was so happy that philip came out to volunteer with me.  i had to convince him a little, but in the end he had a great time too.  some more pics of the day below.

the line right before the gates opened at 7:30am. we were still letting people in at 9:30.

 

 

gorgeous colors for the president!

ok, not a great shot.

turns out volunteers don't get the good spots.  but that's ok :)

freezing, tired, hungry, having to pee - but so happy to support our president.

i have to say, there were so many awesome things about this morning.  one of the things i loved most was seeing people in my community i knew as i took their tickets and helped them get in the doors.  i saw people from school, friends i volunteer with, and even my house rep [who greeted me with a hug and knew my name!].  it makes me so proud to be a part of my community - the work i have done over the past year with OFA has made us part of a community i didn't know before.  that's an amazing feeling to me.

i was so proud to have obama right here in our backyard.  i know how hard our supporters in this area have worked, and it was so fantastic to see how excited people in our neighborhood were to see him.  i think we represented the highlands well, and i like to think that he'll come back again sometime :)

but in true alaina fashion, here was my day:

• volunteer for four hours at obama's rally
• go to class
• go to work
• get my flu shot
• get my hair cut
• come home and cook dinner

all in a day's work.  but you know what?  i wouldn't change it for anything.  love love love my life right now, especially today.

til next time... :)

high high #23

TGFHH.

thank god for happy hours. with your best girlfriends.

after a rough couple of days, there's nothing quite like talking your problems out with your girlfriend. at happy hour.  over $2 tecates.

especially when you are reminiscing over a high school friend who just passed away.

it's the simple pleasures...

high high #22

i love waking up to good news!  especially when the news is that four of my photographs have been selected to be shown at an art exhibit in the new city hall here.  there was over 240 pieces of art submitted, and each artist can have up to five displayed.  so i'm pretty lucky :)

i'm somewhat of an amateur photographer.  i love photography, especially travel photography and portraits (though i'm not really good at portraits).  this is the first time my photography will ever be on display or for sale, which i am thrilled about.  i've always been told i should pursue photography, and i've never taken it too seriously.  it's just something i like to do and if i sell a few here and there, well then that's just fantastic.

so the theme of the exhibit is "bountiful living," which is a little ambiguous.  i submitted some photos that seemed 'bountiful' to me, that were calming and happy.  they selected three that i submitted for that series.  i also submitted a few of my travel pictures for another possible exhibit, and one of those was selected as well.  so i'm a little surprised at the fourth one since it doesn't seem to fit in with the theme, but i'm delighted nonetheless! 

and the chosen photographs are...

alaska, june 2008

paris, june 2009

the netherlands, may 2007

and the surprise pick - paris, june 2009

 til next time...

high high #21

my new crate & barrel bowls finally arrived!

i have been wanting these parker nesting bowls forever, but for a few years they stopped making the blues and greens that i wanted.  and then a week or so ago - they were back!  happy day for me!  bonus: it's a set of 5, and when i opened mine today the second smallest bowl was cracked.  so i called up customer service, and they are sending me a while new set for free!  thank you c & b!

i know that my last high high was also about something i bought, but hey.  it's been a slow month.  i'm in summer school, working like crazy, and philip is out of town for two weeks.  plus i can't drink.  so there isn't much going on around here except for some online shopping :) 

til my next purchase! 

high high #20

today i ordered new sheets.

now i realize that, in itself, isn't super cool.  but there are two things i love about this:

1 - garnet hill flannel sheets are kind of a big deal.  they are super fancy, incredibly warm, and very expensive.  luckily the color i've been dreaming of is being discontinued, which equals a 40% discount for me.  sweet!  we got a pair as a housewarming gift and i've been in love ever since.  these sheets are so warm folks, that in the winter i wash them on sunday mornings and then put them right back on my bed that evening.  there are no other sheets on our bed from november through february.  no joke. 

2 - there is something kind of grown up to me about making that kind of a purchase just because you want to and you can.  it made me kind of happy :)  i saw the sheets, decided i wanted them, and hopped online and bought them. 

yes, this kind of stuff makes me happy these days.

another great thing that happened today is that i turned in my first paper for my summer class, which means i'm 1/3 of the way done.  i like that!  but unfortunately, none of these things can make up for my low of the day - philip left for two weeks for school.  i'm all alone and very lonely :(

til next time...

high high #19

today was pretty great.  i was driving to work when i sent a text to my dad (who is awesome by the way).  we text a lot, because he's technologically savvy and the more to-the-point the communication is for him, the better.  and he called me rather than texting me back, and we talked the rest of my drive to work.

that doesn't happen often, so it was pretty awesome.  i get along with both of my parents super well - but while my mom and i are girlfriend-close, my dad and i sometimes butt heads.  i think it's because i am really similar to him, and i don't know how much he likes that :)

anyway, i don't blog about my dad much because he's 2000 miles away from me, but it was a great part of my day.  the rest of the day was pretty good too - meeting for a committee i really like being on, midterm which i knew all the answers to and got home early, cleaning the house (which i always kind of love) and then relaxing with p.i.  what's not to love?

waiting for our turn to walk down the aisle

he made me laugh the whole way.  i totally loved it. 

our dance to our song - 'angel mine' by the cowboy junkies. 

i have lots of fun things going on this weekend, so i'll be back!  it's been a slow week but soon i should have some updates of a new house project... so stay tuned.

til next time...

xoxo

high high #18, plus fill in the blanks!

whew.  whadda day.  i worked 12 hours, finished my final project, and came home to a few surprises.

1 - a pre-mixed martini, courtesy of my husband who knew i had a rough day. 

2 - a surprise from my momma. 

now, my mom is big on surprises.  there is no doubt in my mind that she loves surprising people more than she loves being surprised.  so when she texted me tonight to call me once i got home and settled in because she had a surprise for me, i wasn't surprised about the surprise.  a lot of time she goes shopping and picks up something for me, or takes me shoe shopping, or something fun like that.  but this time she said she made me something.  so i went home, i settled in with my martini (!!!) and gave her a call.  

she told me she made me a board on pinterest.

now, let me just say that i introduced my mom to pinterest last weekend, and she's obsessed.  she loves it. in fact, she spent a good portion of her time while at my house playing on pinterest with me.  so today, she said she was playing and saw a lot of things that she thought it would like, so she made a board to pin them all to.  so i logged on to check it out. 

if you want to get to know me, just check out her board on pinterest.  it is absolutely astounding how well this woman knows me.  she has literally ALL of my favorite things on there - russia, shoes with bows, philip seymour hoffman, my celebrity father, artsy graffiti, the beach, brooklyn, inspirational quotes, bauble necklaces, david hyde pierce, uneven manicures, the avalanche, truman capote, mosques jack goes boating, kings of convenience, kir royales, pilsner, the obamas, owls and my favorite book.  it's amazing.  she even pinned a picture of my ex (???).  now THAT is impressive.  i am so blessed to have an insanely awesome mom who is not only a wonderful mother but also one of my best friends.  

and if you are looking for anything awesome on pinterest, just check it out.

and since it's friday and i'm blogging, here are my blanks... 

1.  when i wake up in the morning, the first thing i do is hit the snooze button if at all possible.  if not then i usually pet mussolini, my cat.  then we go into the bathroom together (seriously, he follows me) so i can brush my teeth.

2.   i can hardly wait for finals to be over for the semester.  and then school to be done forever.

3.  the quickest way to my heart is sharing my ideology because if we don't see the world the same way, how will we agree on anything else?  also - a good sense of humor :)

4. a little known fact about me is that i am an aquarius in every detail of my being.  i'm individualistic, assertive, humanitarian, eccentric, opinionated, idealistic and can be detached.  i'm one of those people that really identify with my zodiac sign.

5. the best part about my job is  [i don't blog about my job - so i'll blog about the best part of my volunteer job] working with people who are so passionate about what we do.  this isn't work, no one makes them come.  they come because they care, they believe and they want to make a difference.

6. something i just couldn't live without is music.  music music music music music.  also good beer.

7.  something useful that i wish i knew how to do is  speak another language.  in my life i have taken french, latin, greek, italian and czech.  i only know some french today and the rest is basically gone.  i can understand some italian but can't speak it - i got rosetta stone from my dad for christmas and it is the first thing i want to do once school is done.  i can't wait.

ok guys, it's off to school for me this weekend, for my LAST WEEKEND!  wish me luck! 

til next time... :)

high high #17

high high of the day week month - meeting aj jacobs.  he is every bit as awesome, funny and friendly in real life as you would imagine he is from his books.

me & aj jacobs!!!

it was all thanks to philip (of course), who discovered that the author would be at the tattered cover lodo to promote his new book, drop dead healthy.  i will admit that with the craziness of school, i haven't had time to do anything, let alone read books for fun.  but i've read all his other work, from articles (my favorite is my outsourced life!) to his books, such as the know it all and my absolutely favorite - the year of living biblically.  if you haven't read it and are looking for some summer reading, definitely check it out (since i started this blog there there have been links to purchase my favorite books from amazon under 'i pledge to read the written word').  his discussion was fantastic, and afterwards he stuck around to sign everyone's books, take pictures and chat about just about anything.

now why is aj jacbos so insane cool?  a few reasons.  first of all, he's one of the reasons i've flirted with judaism (more on that later).  second of all, after i finished the first book of his that i read, i looked him up online.  this was in my previous life.

in my previous life i wanted to be a writer.  badly.  i had the beginnings of a novel, the beginnings of a memoir and have penned a few short stories.  my first go-around in college was in the pursuit of a creative writing degree - although what you do with that i still have no idea.  i've written for magazines and websites, and for a short time did a good amount of freelance travel writing and sports writing as well, while i was living in brooklyn.  i wanted to be a writer and didn't know where to start if i didn't want to just be freelance.  so, i had just finished the year of living biblically.

i thought aj's book was great and he seemed so approachable, so i found his website and sent him an email.  for some reason i thought this was a good idea.  it was my first fan mail ever, at the age of 23.  i told him that his book raised some interesting questions in my own life on religion.  and then i asked for his advice, since i considered myself a struggling writer.  and you know what?

he emailed me back.  not just some generic, canned response either - he gave me the name of his friend at esquire in charge of internships, his direct line, and said to say that he referred me for an internship.  how awesome is that - this guy had no idea who i was but just figured he'd help me out.

now i ended up moving to denver, so in case you were wondering i was not an intern at esquire (but how amazing would that have been?).  i moved back to denver, did some serious soul-searching, and arrived at my current destination of student and dedicated OFA team leader.

so when i met aj and he signed my book, i reminded him about his email to me about the internship.  he said he remembered (who knows if he really did) and asked if i got the internship.  while he signed i told him (in brief) about my move to denver and change.  he thought it was great, and even said he supports obama.  we took a quick picture, and i left on cloud nine.  when i got home i peeked open my new book, and saw this:

now that is a good day.

til next time...

high high #16

how can i have a high high of the day when it isn't even halfway over yet?

because today i was reminded that in just one short month i will be waking up in franklin, visiting my insanely awesome sister anne.  and not only that, but i will be DONE with the semester from hell.

remember my trip to tennessee last year?  yeah, exactly - and i didn't even have anything to let loose from.  it's going to be wonderful.

what's your high high today?

til next time! :)