the good ol' days.

unless you live under a rock, you know that the office ended forever on thursday.  it was my all time favorite tv show for sure, and like many other fans i really felt like i had a bond with the show.  so i delayed watching the finale for a few days, thinking that if i didn't watch it live on thursday then it wouldn't really end, at least not for me.  but yesterday was the day that i finally said goodbye.

i could sit here and write about my thoughts on the finale almost all day, but i know no one would want to read that.  in the last six minutes of the show, the characters gave their last interviews of the 'documentary.'  it was touching, heartwarming, and super sad.  but there was perhaps the line that struck me as a person more than anything else, thanks to the wisdom of andy bernard:

"i wish there was a way to know you are in the good ol' days before you've left them."  

i sobbed for a second and kicked my husband's leg on the couch.  we have had this discussion many, many times i feel like.  it's hard to have that level of awareness to know that you are experiencing a moment that will forever be important to you.  and i'm not talking about big ones, like the birth of a baby or marrying your love.  i mean the little things.

for me, it's the time i spent back in prague.  the day philip and i ditched class and spent the day walking through the city, and we bought loose-leaf tea and walked back to my apartment to drink it and talk.  it's the day that my two best friends and i took a plane, a bus and a train to meet our three best guy friends in venice, and we walked down the middle of the street with our giant backpacking bags to our hostel, which was actually a b&b super far out of the city.  it's the time we threw a party to say goodbye to our friend j's last newport cigarette, because that was all he smoked and you couldn't buy them in prague, and his supply from home was gone. 

i can honestly say that i think i have that gift, thanks to my deep-rooted penchant for nostalgia [to a fault sometimes].  the last time our whole crew had dinner before our last night bar-hopping, i had to excuse myself from the table, and parked it on the curb outside the restaurant to cry.  i knew that the upcoming goodbye with people who i felt knew me best would be one of the most difficult things i'd ever have to do.  i knew what was coming and what i had experienced in the past few months, and i even knew that what i would see in the coming months in prague wouldn't be as perfect.

PI and i discuss this because where i have that ability almost too soon, before the goodbyes even come, his is delayed.  very delayed.  it wasn't until seven months later that he finally was hit with the fact that we will never go to those same places with those same people, that it would never be the same.

photo from my good ol' days, with my bestest crew, rome 2006.

but andy's words were just perfect.  and they speak to the tendency of people to look ahead to the future and to back to the past with rose-colored glasses, rather than enjoying what they have at that moment. 

after i heard andy's thoughts and sobbed a little more, more poignancy came.  the last words of the show, again, seemed to speak to me, especially together with what andy had admitted.  pam had the honor of ending the show with:

"there's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. isn't that kind of the point?"

as my girlfriend W put it, those words need to be framed on the wall of everyone's home.  as a reminder to live in the present, to admire the beauty of mundane moments.  because it's there, if you look hard enough.

to hear andy + pam's words for yourself and catch the last few minutes of the office, check out hulu.  and grab a box of tissues.

til next time...

gettin sentimental.

i had to take PI to the airport tonight for another business trip.  we are kind of getting used to these little trips, and it's a little less weird now when i drop him off at the airport.

but when i got home tonight, i was getting changed for bed in our room, and i was thinking how much i miss him already.  he's only been gone a few hours, but i miss him being around so much.  i looked over at his side of the bed, which is pretty messy.  and i thought how lucky i am to have his mess around.

see, we did the long distance thing.  and i don't mean we lived a hour away from each other - for almost half of the first year we were together, we lived on different continents.  he was in LA, and i was in prague.  not exactly easy to handle.  and there were times when i didn't know if it would work, if i would ever see him again.  and there were times when i didn't think i could handle the distance anymore, and didn't know what we would do once we were on the same continent, since we would still live in different states.

needless to say, we worked it out.  he graduated and moved to denver so i could finish school, then we moved together out east.  and here we are, almost seven years later.

it's not our anniversary, or his birthday, or anything else.  it's just a wednesday in march when i remembered what it was like to never have him around.  when text messages from him were something special, because it cost so much money to send international texts.  and it's funny, because even if i wanted to get annoyed about his messy side of the bed, i couldn't.  because the truth is it makes my heart so happy to see his stuff lying around on the floor of the apartment we share together.  nothing could make me happier. 

ok, i know that was kind of sappy... but all you couples out there who have struggled with distances, you know what i am talking about.  sure, it's difficult.  but it was also one of the best things to happen to our relationship, because we had months to get to know each other [you really have to be creative to come up with things to talk about] and to build up that trust, and i know our relationship is all the more strong for it.  sometimes we joke about if we would even be married now if we hadn't had months of time apart. 

but even after all this time, somehow i love my husband more now than i ever have before.

alright, that's enough from me for tonight!  go hug someone you love : ] 

falling in love... venice, october 2006

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! :)

memories of istanbul.

over the weekend, PI and i decide to re-live our honeymoon a little bit. 

when we went on our honeymoon, we had the most amazing time.  now i am sure everyone has an amazing time on your honeymoon [how could you not?!], and ours was no exception.  i thought our honeymoon perfectly suited us.  we didn't pick a traditional honeymoon spot like jamaica or hawaii, but instead wanted someplace where we could see some history, take in a new culture, but also relax... you know, have a real experience.  so we decided to go to istanbul.

and it was just right for us.  not only did we get to see places like the blue mosque and the hagia sofia, but we were able enjoy the water on the bosphorous and the border between europe and asia. 

but, just like many honeymooners, we were tired.  all the planning and traveling that we had to deal with for the wedding [especially we had left brooklyn a week before the wedding to see the plans through in denver, then on to turkey from there] had left us just wanting to relaaaaax.  so, we would generally sight-see during the morning, then after stopping for some lunch, would find a cafe and sit for the rest of the afternoon.  we'd order a nargile water pipe, get out a deck of cards, and sip some mint tea. we would smoke, talk, laugh and just be together all afternoon.  and we still talk about how amazing those times were, while we sat around and dreamed about what our married life would be like.

enjoying the sunshine and comfy pillows

view up from our fave hangout

view to istiklal caddesi, one of istanbul's busiest avenues

so, tired of being snowed in our loft out here, we decided to venture out for some turkish style fun.  we woke to more snow on saturday morning, but by the afternoon we were heading over to allston to an authentic hookah lounge, habibi.  not sure if any of my readers are actually looking for an authentic hookah experience in boston, but if you are, this is it.  we spent the afternoon enjoying rose and lemon mint hookah, sipping mint tea, and remembering how amazing our honeymoon was five years ago, and plotting our next trip. 

the hookah - and mint tea - was amazing!

yesterday i cracked open my new book - the glass of time - and completely devoured it.  i am already halfway through it after more snow yesterday encouraged us to hole up with tea, blankets and our books.  pretty lovely weekend if you ask me.

pi is off to la tomorrow for work, so i'll be hanging out here solo.  i'll probably finish that book by tomorrow.

enjoy your monday off!

xoxo

where to go, where to go...

a few things have been brought to my attention.

1. PI + i are  celebrating our five year wedding anniversary this september! 
2. i have over 100,000 united frequent flier miles
3. we haven't been on a big trip since morocco in 2010

it's the perfect storm guys.   PI + i try to leave the country at least once a year, and it's time for us get serious about our trip for this year.  last year we needed a trip pronto, and ended up running away for a long weekend in jamaica.  i have a feeling we will be heading to a new continent this year, however.

but here is the problem - WHERE SHOULD WE GO?

quite literally, PI and i want to go everywhere we haven't been before.  and while we have done a lot of traveling, there are still more places that we haven't been than places we have been to.  so we are starting to make lists of where we want to go.  the list is still growing, but here is a short list of the places we are seriously considering and looking in to:

GREECE

 

 THAILAND

 

INDIA

so... who knows.  it could be another 500 places too - but this is what we are thinking so far.  i can't wait to pick a place, a time and start planning.  there's nothing quite like having that anticipation that all builds up to the moment i am sitting with the love of my life on a plane, holding hands as we push back from the gate to go somewhere new.  we fell in love while we were traveling, and for the first year we were together that's all we did. from meeting in prague, to falling in love in italy, to making our relationship official in poland, to getting engaged in barcelona... there's just nothing i love more than being alone with my love in a new country.  can't think of a better way for us to celebrate our anniversary this year.

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.

october catch-up

well, i promised a blog post before the end of the month - so i guess i'm getting it in just in time!  it's been a crazy month, with finishing up one weekend class, starting a new weekend class, celebrating PI's birthday, and dealing with something new i am not at liberty to discuss just yet...

blowing out 28 candles

for PI's birthday, i booked a weekend getaway at the stanley hotel up in estes park.  it was perfect - from the halloween-esque atmosphere of the hotel.  it was the only weekend i had off between my two classes, so it was the perfect time for a little mountain escape.

it was such a relaxing time, and with fall the colors changing were gorgeous.  we got some pretty good pictures too.

 

elk just in front of the hotel our first afternoon

my shadow and the elk - soooo close!

maybe one of my favorite pictures of PI ever

evening at the state's biggest whiskey bar at the stanley

driving through the mountains on the way home

mountain goats in the way home

 

stopped for pumpkins on our way home

it was a lovely weekend.  i'll post some pics of our halloween costume tomorrow, and this weekend we are headed BACK up to the mountains to visit some friends of ours.

hope you are enjoying your fall as much as i am, and stay tuned friends...!

48 more days

til graduation! 

xoxo

jamaycation + auntiehood!

well, it’s been back to the real world for me!  we got back home from jamaica late last night – what an amazing trip it was.  the trip down to montego bay was a little hellish, but luckily philip & i are so good at traveling together (read: we don’t get frustrated and we keep one another entertained, mostly like little kids) that we didn’t even let our eight hour layover in ft lauderdale get us down – not even when it was raining so hard we couldn’t go outside to get a breath of fresh air… not that it would have mattered because when i did try to walk outside the hot, humid air hit me like being slapped in the face by a hot, wet towel.  gross.
 
the long layover, shitty airlines (never fly spirit!), and bizarre hour and a half drive from the airport to our hotel in runaway bay all proved worth it once we finally got to the resort.  after checking into our room overlooking the ocean, we headed to the outdoor bar to sit down and finally relax.  i don’t know if any drink has ever tasted as great as that pina colada tasted.  we spent our weekend laying on the beach, talking, reading, laughing and sipping any fruit juice we could put rum in.
 
i should say that i am a water person.  i am totally obsessed with the water.  there are a few possible explanations for this – i grew up spending my childhood and all of my summers until recently on our family’s beach in port jefferson.  now i don’t necessarily believe everything about my zodiac sign, but i am an aquarius.  and aquarius are the water-bearers, and usually have an affinity for water.  this could not be more true in my case.  every time we’d go to the beach as kids, i spent the entire day in the water, and even now as an adult i can’t visit either coast without heading to the beach to just get my feet wet.  i’ve never been one of those women who goes to the beach to sunbathe and not swim – you’ve gotta do both!  so needless to say, we swam a lot and even rented snorkels on our last day, which was such a blast.  the best parts of the trip were the moments when it was just philip and i in the water, goofing around in the sea.  or the night we took a bottle of wine to the beach and sat in the beach chairs, in the dark, listening to the waves and drinking wine.  it was so romantic.

view from our balcony

view of the ocean from the pool with swim-up bar!

can't get enough of the ocean...

our spot for three days on the beach

me + my first love - the ocean.

courtesy of rocks on the beach and my camera timer!

saying goodbye - lobby of our lovely hotel

but the most amazing part of the weekend didn’t happen jamaica, it happened about 2000 miles north of the island up in new york.
 
my beautiful, amazing, strong cousin N had her baby two and a half weeks early!  little jack michael arrived early early sunday morning… while i was talking to philip, saying there was no way she’d have the baby while we were gone because she wasn’t due for almost three more weeks.  ha.  here is the picture of the little angel and my newest nephew!

 

i am already officially in love with him.  he's an angel.

one more week of maycation...

jamaican me crazy!

disclaimer: there are no shortage to silly jamaican jokes and puns that i can come up with, so if those will annoy you don't read this. 

so philip and i have been trying to plan a trip for memorial day weekend.  we've been hoping to get out and visit some family, because we have a few days off work and we haven't been on a plane since january (which doesn't sound long, but is a record for us).

but while trying to decide where to go and who to visit, i jokingly said we should blow it off and go on a getaway the two of us. after joking about it for a while, we looked into it 'just for fun' and, well...

we are headed to jamaica a week from today!

well, really, it's a week from tomorrow since we don't get to jamaica til thursday :) we found some awesome fares and a pretty reasonable all-inclusive, so we are headed out.  the last time the two of us were on a trip just US was october 2010.  when we got together we decided that we would leave the country at least once a year, because travel is really important to us and we didn't want to sacrifice it just because we were getting married.  well, in 2011 we decided to put that trip money towards a newly remodeled upstairs bathroom, so we didn't get out of the country. and it's been weighing on us ever since. we've talked about doing an all-inclusive for over a year now. neither one of us has ever done the whole mexico-spring-break-all-inclusive thing. our trips tend to be a bit more cultural - morocco, spain, paris, prague, etc. but secretly i've always fantasized about laying on a beach, drinking and playing in the water with my husband. and since i'm absolutely terrified of mexico right now, we were able to find a good compromise in jamaica.

maycation just stepped up to a WHOLE new level.

oh good god - i just had the realization that i have to put on a bikini in one week. scary shit.

and NO - i haven't forgotten to update you all on my tennessee trip - i'll post some pictures soon!

hello world!

hi friends!  yesterday was a big day... I FINISHED MY SEMESTER!  technically, i still have class this week on wednesday night, but i just have to watch the last few final presentations.  i am DONE.  i finished my last final yesterday afternoon, and as soon as i finished, all i could think about was sleep.  so i laid on the couch and slept for a few calming hours.  it was amazing. 

the most proper way to celebrate i could think of was to take my amazing husband out to dinner wherever he wanted.  i truly believe the only reason i survived 17 credits this semester was because he was there, supporting me, making me dinner and helping me whenever i needed it.  he's amazing.  so we went out for a lovely dinner at bistro vendome, one of our favorite french places.  a few martinis were enjoyed at the bar, then we waited for our table outside.  but just as soon as we were headed outside to be seated, the sky opened up and it started pouring.  the end result?

view of the patio from our table

a table right in front of the wide open back doors to the garden with a front seat to the thunderstorm.  it was lovely, so beautiful and romantic.  after we closed down the restaurant, we headed over to a cote for some french cocktails to wind the night down.  it was the perfect evening and a fantastic way to start my maycation!

today i slept in super late.  i can't even describe how amazing it felt to just sleeeeeep in with no worries or anything to do.  we hopped on our bikes this afternoon for some bike-and-beer fun. 

i can't believe the hardest part is done - and i think this was a perfect start to my maycation :)

how was your weekend? 

xoxo

FITB saturday

well, yesterday was miserable. and i didn't get to do anything near a computer (including homework!), so today's blanks are being brought to you on saturday.  and today lauren's blanks are love-themed, thank goodness, because right now i am more thankful for philip than ever before.  he's the one that holds my crazy world together.  that being said...

1.  the love of my life is  philip - obvi :)

2.   falling in love is  one moment.  there's that moment where you realize, 'oh my god, i'm in love with him.' it happened to me with philip when we were riding on a bus.  we were headed to the tree lighting ceremony in old town square while we were living in prague, and i was worried we were going to miss it.  he was putting so much effort into us getting there on time, and i remember looking at him and for the first time thinking i was in love with him.

3.  marriage is  so much fun.  i honestly love being married, and some of the most fun we have had is during the last three and a half years.

4. the longest relationship i've ever had was  my current relationship of five and a half years!  we got engaged after four months, the rest we've been married.

5. the key to a good relationship is  communication.  talk, all the time.  bring even the little things that bother you up, and in the end the rest is easy.

6. i feel loved when  someone does something thoughtful for me at the right time.  like when i come home from school after work and philip made me dinner that he knew i would like.  or when people take the time to do things for me when their own lives are so busy and chaotic too.

7.  my favorite quote about love is from my favorite book extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran foer.  it's long - but it's about a boy and a girl who are best friends and talk between their apartment buildings on a telephone made out of a tin can and string:

the strong between them grew incredibly long, so that it had to be extended with many other strings tied together: his yo-yo string, the pull from her talking doll, the twine that had fastened his father's diary, the waxy strong that had kept he grandmother's pearls around her neck and off the floor, the thread that had separated his great-uncle's childhood quilt from a pile of rags.  contained within everything they shared with one another were the yo-yo, the doll, the diary, the necklace, and the quilt. they had more and more to tell each other, and less and less string.

the boy asked the girl to say 'i love you' into her can, giving her no further explanation.

and she didn't ask for any, or say, 'that's silly,' or 'we're too young,' or even suggest that she was saying 'i love you' because he asked her to.  instead she said, 'i love you.'  the words traveled the yo-yo. the doll, the diary, the necklace, the quilt, the clothesline, the birthday present, the harp, the tea bag, the tennis racket, the hem of the skirt he one day should have pulled from her body.  the boy covered his can with a lid, removed it from the string, and put her love for him on a shelf in his closet.  of course, he would never open the can, because then he would lose its contents.  it was enough to know it was there.

happy weekend friends :)

"

finally - first blanks of the new year!

whoo - i'm finally able to play fill-in-the-blank friday again! AND it's about travel, so double whoo whoo!!!

1.   my favorite place i've ever traveled to is AGH! hardest question ever!  i know this is cheating, but my top3:

• barcelona
• morocco.  there's something about the middle east and africa that i love.
• italy - the whole country.

2.    russia  is somewhere i'd love to go someday.  ideally the trans-siberian railway.

3.  i pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by talking and dreaming with my love. also listening to music or watching shows with him.

4.  my three must-haves when i travel are my camera, my good-luck airplane travel charm (which has the most amazing story behind it) and music.

5.  my favorite travel companion is obviously philip. we travel so well together.  i'll never forget the first trip we ever took the two of us - it was the first time we were going to be alone for an extended period of time, and i remember worrying to my girlfriends ,"what if we can't travel together???"

6.  the craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is bshhhhh.  so many.  here's probably my top three: 

• on a train ride from amsterdam to prague with my buddy de los three people committed suicide by jumping in front of our train, we were stuck for hours.  
• on our honeymoon in istanbul i got in the middle of two turks fighting, i got pinned against the wall by a man who was being kicked by police officers.  
• while making a tight connection in berlin from nyc to prague the first ticket agent ripped my ticket in half, saying i wouldn't need it, and then they refused to let me on the plane for not having a ticket. 

7.  the most exotic food i've ever tried while traveling is  probably duck.  i don't do well with exotic foods, or meats anyway.  we were out to dinner our 2nd night in paris and i told philip to order for me (french is his favorite food), and he ordered me duck confit.  i was kind of pissed since i don't really eat meat, but oh my god was it delicious.   literally ate it every night for the rest of our trip.

now a little update on me:

i finished the script, school is well underway and i will update soon - this weekend!

xo

alaina

high high #13

7:20am - arrive at work for 7:30am morning meeting

1:00pm - lunch break

1:30pm - lunch break interrupted, go back to work

4:30pm - leave work to go home, 30 min commute

5:00pm - rush to class that starts at 5pm, show up a few minutes late

7:50pm - get out of class & finally head home to scrounge up dinner and work on the script

8:00pm - come home to candlelit dinner of rice and veggies (delicious!), open bottle of wine, and a pint of my favorite ben & jerry's, all courtesy of my amazing husband philip.  i don't care how bad that ice cream is for me, it's the best.

but really, philip is the best of the best for making everything that is awful wonderful again. 

:) :) :) :) :) 

love.

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!).

until then... i'll go to sleep and dream of love.

dreams of italy.

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.

til next time friends...