Favorite Things Friday

A bit different this week, because honestly, not much good has happened (yet) this week - it's been a lot of working hard to not see results yet. But lots of good will be happening in the next week. 

Also, no theme.  My brain isn't doing themes right now.

I probably would have skipped it all together this week but I really wanted to link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk Blog because I've so enjoyed "meeting" new bloggers and discovering their sites since I started linking up!

Top Five Favorite Things That Will Happen in the Next Week

1 - Today is the end of our fiscal year at work.  That means it's the culmination of all the work we've been doing in my office for the last year.  As a fundraiser, it's so rewarding to see gifts coming in from people you've been talking to all year.  If you haven't supported your alma mater later, make a gift today, no matter where in the fiscal year you are.   Trust me when I say you couldn't have gone to college without alumni support - even if you weren't a scholarship student.  Pass it on!
A little secret to my friends out there - if you make your gift right at the beginning of the fiscal year (Augsburg and Belmont peeps, this applies to you right now!) you won't get the "annoying" (in quotes because I love them!) phone calls asking for money, you'll cut down on the amount of mail you get, and you'll make a difference in the lives of students for the entire academic year!

2 - I'm moving today.  Finally.  I feel like I've been packing boxes forever, even if it's only been a week.  I cannot wait to live in a bug-free, air conditioned place again.  The 102 temps coupled with lack of central air probably explains why I'm so exhausted.  That does mean it's the last possible moment for you to weigh on the room layouts!

3 - The drive to Wisconsin this week will be long but therapeutic.  I can't wait to plug in the iPod, turn on archived NPR podcasts and get out on the open road.  I'm probably driving over night on Saturday night because I don't have AC in the car and the temps are supposed to be off the charts again.  Going to be a long night but also some much needed time to clear my head.

4 - Floating in Mom & Dad's pool.  Some of you know that I am ridiculously anal about wearing sunscreen.  This morning alone I put on my daily moisturizer (SPF 30), my facial moisturizer (SPF 20), and gradual fake-tan moisturizer (SPF 20).  When I leave to walk across campus later, I will spray myself down with SPF 50.  All of this is to say that I am usually the whitest person on the planet (hence the fake tanner), but my skin will be healthy when I'm old and I *fingers crossed* won't have to deal with skin cancer ever.  So even though I will be slathered up with ridiculous amounts of sunscreen and won't get a tan out of the pool-floating experience, I will get to relax at least a little.  Hopefully with a book and a fruity cocktail.  I've made it know that I will work 23 hours a day next week to be ready for the wedding as long as I get one hour every day in the pool. 

5 - T-minus 8 days til the wedding of the century!

Early Morning Musings

My girls and I are very used to being alone.  Just the three of us.  A little person-cat family with habits all our own.  Not really all that different than a person-child family.

Every morning, sometime between 4:00am and 6:00am, Charlie (the baby) wakes up, crawls up to my chest, looks lovingly into my face and lets out this truly pitiful, questioning “MEOW” that I have come to realize means “Mommy, is it time to get up and play yet?”  Typically, I pat her head until she snuggles into the crook of my arm and we drift off to sleep again.  At least until she wakes up a few minutes later and repeats her morning ritual.

Lady Bug (the older sister) will sleep as long as I sleep.  She harrumphs her way onto the bed every night, sprawls in the small space between my left side and the edge of the mattress, and falls asleep with her head rested on her paws.  Most mornings, I wake up to her squished between me and the edge of the mattress, sprawled to get the best angle of the fan, with her head on her paws – in absolutely the same position as the night before.  She meows a little meow at me and snuggles in until I’m ready to get up.  Lady knows that when I am ready to get up, the world will start moving very quickly around her and she relishes quiet moments like this.

Today, Lady Bug got up a bit before me.  When she realized she was up a little early, she climbed back on the bed and laid her head on my leg, waiting patiently until I got up and turned the bathroom faucet on for her morning drink of cool running water.  Charlie ran circles on the mattress, twisting and turning, rolling around to rub her head on the cool sheets, meowing and whining as if it was the greatest injustice that I was not yet ready to get up and play.

To be greeted by my babies every morning is a wonderful thing.  Every single day, I wake up knowing that where ever I am, I am home.  I may not have a husband or children, but I do have my own little family.  In the next four days, we will switch apartments again – this will be the fourth apartment Lady has lived in during her three short years of life – and then pack up the car to drive north to Wisconsin to see the family and celebrate my little sister’s wedding.  The girls will be with me for every step of the way, calming my stress and allowing me to calm theirs.  We will experience virtually the same morning ritual that we always do, only we will be in my parents’ basement instead of our own bed.  We will wake up every morning and have a bit of quiet time before the rest of the world intervenes.  It’s moments like these that I live for, that keep me grounded when the world seems a little too crazy for comfort.

Color Inspiration: 50 Shades of... Purple?

I hate how busy I am right now.  Combining busy-ness with lack of Internet, it means the blog is being put on the back burner.  I have so many things I want to write about.  The good news is that next week I'm on "vacation" (aka - the week leading up to the greatest wedding ever) so maybe I'll have a little more time to blog.  Let's hope I do.  I don't like neglecting my faithful readers.

Ok, back to the point of the post.

Last Wednesday, I showed off my Warm Watermelon inspirations.  Friends from college will attest to the fact that I was obsessed with anything pink at that time.  I still love warm, bright tones but I'm not as into the bubblegum pink anymore - thank goodness.

I've now moved on to purples.  My current apartment is almost all greys and purples.  The new apartment will be even more greys and purples.  One of the writers for Sex and the City once described their philosophy for decorating Miranda's house as making it look like a soft bruise - or something like that - and apparently I liked it because my house is the same way.  It's my philosophy that as long as it's in the purple family, it matches so at least it's not lavender on lavender or plum on plum or whatever.

Today, I needed a little bit of purple in my life.  It calms me.  I planned to wear a white linen shirt dress I just bought but didn't want to stick with the white belt that came with it and the predictable pumps that I originally paired with it.  Instead, I applied my purple-matches-purple philosophy and came up with these accessories.

Everything except the nail polish is ancient. 

• The shoes, as you can see, have been worn to death but I love them.  If I remember correctly, my mom purchased them for me while I was still in college... from Sears.  
• The belt was a rummage sale find that an old roommate left behind when she moved out.  
• The necklace is Lia Sophia but was purchased while I was still in college.

Do they all actually match?  Probably not.  But the necklace has all of these shades of purple in it, the shoes aren't touching the belt and the nails are just finger nails, afterall.  So I don't care.

It's really livened up the basic white shirt dress.

If I were any good at taking photos of myself, I'd share the whole ensemble.  But alas, I'm not.  Sorry to disappoint.

(Let's also take a moment to see the larger view of the picture above... Yep, more purple).

Favorite Things Friday

Hey friends!

No theme this week because, quite frankly, I'm too tired to be creative and theme-y.  Instead, I'll stick closer to the High Fives for Friday format that Lauren at From My Grey Desk uses.  Sorry if that disappoints in any way.

1.  I'm moving to this building!  (Also, my post from yesterday didn't publish somehow and it's a fun and interactive one so keep scrolling and enjoy yourselves.  At this point it's already a little outdated but it'll do!)

 2.  My baby sister gets married TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!  Ah!!!  Way back when they got engaged (two years ago) I planned to write a post about them and it never happened.  Expect wedding posts soon.  Because really, after I move next week, that's all I'll be thinking about for a good week!

3.  That nail polish from yesterday is still a high-five.  Seriously.  It's rocking my world.

4.  The blog address has changed - subtly.  I started the blog before I had two little munchkins (the photo is from the first day I had Charlie.  My how they have grown.) and never got around the changing the address.  So I've finally added the "s" officially instead of just having an (s) in the title.  I needed to make the change now because.......


5.  My dear friend Lindsay (why do I always call her that when I write about her?!) is in the process of helping me revamp the blog.  Stay tuned, friends.  I'm jazzed about the upcoming changes and am so happy she's forcing me to stop procrastinating.  Even if she is a total pain in my butt for adding one more thing to the to do list right now.


Happy Friday!

Behold, The New Apartment

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a love / hate relationship with moving.  Like, I love living in my new places and trying new parts of various cities but I hate packing and the physical act of moving.

So I've decided to move yet again.  In a week.  Two days before I leave to go home for my sister's wedding.  During the busiest work week for the year.  Sheesh. 

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've probably read my rants about my loud neighbors and the weird bugs I get in my current apartment and all of that.  I've done the pretty big, really old house with lots of character that costs a fortune to heat and cool for the last year so I'm changing to the opposite end of the spectrum.

I'm renting a studio in a high rise apartment building right down town.  In a building with an indoor pool and hot tub, one block from where I hang out ALL THE TIME and only 5 blocks from work.  Above the library.  (Which of course means more book reviews coming soon!)

Yes, downsizing is a little scary.  But I'll be saving money, will be in the heart of downtown, and have a killer view out my window.  You'll have to wait to see pictures until I'm all moved in an settled (exciting things coming your way, trust me!) but in the meantime, I need a little advice on this whole downsizing thing.

If you want to help with some furniture arrangement / give me some input on my ideas, feel free to click the link below.  If you'd rather be surprised, then don't.  Up to you!  (But really, I could use the help.)