and speaking of sunrises...

today is my mom's very last day of work!

she has worked so hard for so long and i couldn't possibly be happier for her. after years of working and sacrificing and doing mom-things and lawyer-things, she is free to do what she wants and pursue things that make her happy. (p.s. thanks for doing all those mom-things...) all i wish for her is that this new era of her life is perfect and wonderful and incredibly fulfilling.

congratulations, mommy!

sunrises

in the mornings most days i get to see the sun rise as i get ready for work. i love to watch the colors change so dramatically and beautifully in what seems like only a minute... my favorite is how the horizon can exist in such bright brilliant oranges and reds while the top of the sky is still deep dark blue. when you view the sunrise (and its reflection on the lake) through the black silhouettes of the trees outside our third floor window, it just looks like a painting, or a dream... and as the blues get lighter and lighter, the clouds reflect brilliant pinks and oranges, and there seems to be so much hope in them for this new day. i try to take at least one timy moment to admire each sunrise, for they are all so different and the next one is certainly not guaranteed.

tivo

dear tivo,

you are, without a doubt, the best gift i ever got that i never even thought i wanted.

you have revolutionized the way i watch television.

i haven't seen a commercial in months. you allow me to watch every single episode of my beloved oprah, even though i am never home at 4pm on weekdays. i no longer have to schedule my social/work/love life around a primetime television show, and i never have to miss one show just because it is on at the exact same time as another show that i want to watch. you alone kept me sane during the writers' strike with your endless supply of hgtv and food network programming. no more "reading" or "talking" when there's nothing on tv -- there is always something on tv. you even suggest other shows for me to watch!

thank you for making my life complete. and also disgusting.

with love,

olivia

happy birthday, andrea!

oprah

ummmm who doesn't love oprah? seriously. i have learned so much from her and she makes me cry like every day. she does so much good with all of her money, power, and influence. plus she says va-jay-jay a lot. is that how you spell va-jay-jay?

love oprah. love nate. love doctor oz.

last night i finally got around to watching the valentine's day episode and fell in l.o.v.e. with oogy the dog. how freakishly cute is he?!? and what a story!

p.s. adopt adopt adopt! there are millions of homeless animals all across america that need you to take them home and love them!

weekend projects

this weekend was so special! my college roomie elysa invited me to help paint a mural in a very special nursery that belongs to her friend andrea, who is possibly the cutest and sassiest pregnant lady ever.

i can't remember the last time i took time to make art that didn't come from my computer at work. and it's been a while since i got to spend so much good quality time with elysa (we're all so grown-up and busy these days), not to mention it was so much fun to meet the fabulous miss andrea and her hubby and animals. definitely looking forward to finishing the project tomorrow night!

naps

i am no good at naps. it always takes me way to long to fall asleep and way too long to wake up. i'm a groggy grouchy mess for hours after a nap.

however, this morning at approximately 3:42 am i woke up and found myself under attack by what could only have been those gross scary bad guys from the mucinex commercials. for the next three hours i was up and out of bed every six and a half minutes (only a rough estimate) to blow my nose and/or cough up nastiness into the sink. finally i gave up and got out of bed, thinking i would be able to go about my normal everyday routine and be just fine.

ha.

at noon i took my puffy-eyed mess of a mucus ball booty back to bed. for like three hours. and it was awesome.
i still woke up all groggy and grounchy, and it still took me like a million hours (i know! long time!) to fully recover, but i feel so much better. i don't feel great, but at least i'm not dealing with crazy fatigue in addition to all the other junk.

now back to the oscars. hello, jon stewart. :)

saturday nights

what could be better on a saturday night than leftover vegan pizza (thanks andrea!) and a dvd from netflix? ahhh, the joys of marriage...

bonus day

i know money doesn't buy happiness, but all the same i surely am super excited about the bonus i got today! straight into savings it goes, naturally. happy friday to you!

the last banana

alan always leaves me the last banana. it may or may not be because he is afraid of what might happen if he does not leave me the last banana, but either way i feel loved.

...and i get the last banana.

in my daughter's eyes

so it looks like the theme for february is country music that makes me cry... here's a martina mcbride song for my mommy:

In my daughter's eyes

I am a hero

I am strong and wise and I know no fear

But the truth is plain to see

She was sent to rescue me

I see who I wanna be

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal

Darkness turns to light and the world is at peace

This miracle God gave to me gives me strength when I am weak

I find reason to believe

In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand around my finger

Oh it puts a smile in my heart

Everything becomes a little clearer

I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart has had enough

It's giving more when you feel like giving up

I've seen the light

It's in my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future

A reflection of who I am and what will be

Though she'll grow and someday leave

Maybe raise a family

When I'm gone I hope you see how happy she made me

For I'll be there

In my daughter's eyes

happy birthday, mommy!

alan sleeping = endless entertainment

alan is so freaking cute when he sleeps. he gets all twisted up in some places and all stretched out in other places. and when i get out of bed in the morning he migrates over to my side of the bed and buries his face in my pillow. he's like a cat and a little kid all at the same time with all that cuteness.

extroverts

i have to say that i probably would not have very many friends if it weren't for the existence of extroverts. i myself am painfully shy, and very quiet (until you get to know me, anyway. then i won't shut up. you'll beg me to shut up).

anyway, i met most of my best friends because of the outgoingness of others:

carolyn is as outgoing as they come. i think i was hiding in the corner at after-school care, pretending to be outrageously fascinated with my notebook, when she came up to me and asked me what i was drawing. nearly thirteen years later and we are still the best of friends.

amanda is the type of person who could be friends with a rock. five seconds after meeting her you are hugging her and telling her your life story.

i met elysa (not an extrovert) and eventually hollie because of elysa's incredibly outgoing friend kaity, who poked her head into my dorm room on the first day of moving in and introduced herself and elysa.

yea ri followed me home from design class and yelled at me until i talked to her.

and then there's tanja, who i met during an all-night art-project-finishing extravaganza in our dorm's community art room. i don't think i had ever met her before, and suddenly she was at my side telling me her life story (which i tease her about constantly, but i think is the greatest thing ever). we spent the rest of the night getting to know each other (and of course finishing our art projects) and were the first ones in the dorm cafeteria when it opened, where we ate raisin bran and continued talking and talking and talking. it's hard to believe that was almost seven years ago!

and so today i am thankful for all of the extroverts out there, who make this world a friendlier place to be.

happy birthday, tanjarine!

lazy sundays

beautiful day today... the sun is shining, and even though it's a little bit chilly outside, it's been a perfect day for having brunch with family and running errands. now i'm back home with my hubby and my kitty and we're all looking forward to a lovely and peaceful evening in.

rainbows

i saw a rainbow today, just a few minutes ago actually. it was another grey day today, and rainy and cold too, all day long.

and then, maybe an hour ago, the sun poked through the clouds just a little tiny bit while it was on its way to bed. and against the gloomy steel grey sky, you could just make out a rainbow; a glimmer of hope and happiness amidst a cold and ominous backdrop.

i hope you find a rainbow today, if you need one.

sunshine and rain

today is a very grey day.

but you cannot appreciate sunshine if you have never experienced rain.
you cannot know happiness without knowing tears.
you cannot know bliss without knowing pain. or love without loss.

i am thankful for grey days, as i am thinkful for loss, pain, and tears. they are all lessons; reminders to acknowledge and appreciate the things you have in life.
i have been blessed to have so many amazing people in my life, i have experienced so many amazing things, and i am so incredibly thankful for all of it.

country music love songs

umm so i already said i didn't care much for football until i met alan. well, i also didn't care much for country music. in fact, you could say i hated it. with a passion.

i realized, however, that i was going to have to learn to at least tolerate it, if we were ever going to be in a car together. so i listened. and, just like i learned to love football, i learned to love country music. i know! i'm almost embarrassed to admit it!

anyway, i'm convinced that the key to appreciating country music is to either be

(a) a drunken hillbilly or

(b) stupidly in love,

depending on the song of course.

i am not a drunken hillbilly. but i do love a good country music love song. the thing about them is that they are so honest, and so simple, but so full of all the most perfect words to describe what it is to be in love with someone. i am almost guaranteed to cry when i listen to one.

to illustrate my point, here are the lyrics to a keith urban song. just try not to cry:

The first time I looked in your eyes I knew

That I would do anything for you

The first time you touched my face I felt

Like I've never felt with anyone else

I wanna give back what you've given to me

And I wanna witness all of your dreams

Now that you've shown me who I really am

I wanna be more then just your man

I wanna be the wind that fills your sails

And be the hand that lifts your veil

And be the moon that moves your tide

The sun coming up in your eyes

Be the wheels that never rust

And be the spark that lights you up

All that you've been dreaming of and more
So much more, I wanna be your everything

When you wake up, I'll be the first thing you see

And when it gets dark you can reach out for me

I'll cherish your words and I'll finish your thoughts

And I'll be your compass baby, when you get lost

I wanna be the wind that fills your sails

And be the hand that lifts your veil

And be the moon that moves your tide

The sun coming up in your eyes

Be the wheels that never rust

And be the spark that lights you up

All that you've been dreaming of and more

So much more, I wanna be your everything...

okay, wipe your tears and carry on.

happy valentine's day!

good advice

got this in an email the other day and i thought i should share...

life is short -- break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love
truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you
smile.

i hope you do something that makes you smile today...

love notes

so maybe it's just my normal state of being that i feel all mushy and lovey, or maybe it's because it's valentine's month, but i came across this little note when i was going through some old emails and i just about melted.

back story -- alan had to go to china for ten days back in september for work. since we started dating in july of 2003, we had never spent more than 48 hours apart. ever. and i think that 48 hours happened like once. so it was rough knowing that we weren't going to get to see each other for over a week. and we didn't know if we were even going to be able to talk to each other. he wrote me this note during his flight:

I just want to apologize to you for it taking me going to China to

truly appreciate you. I have never missed anyone more than I do

you right now. 5 hours into this plane ride and my heart hurts so bad.

I've started coming up with ways to turn the plane around....

all of which end with me in jail. I can't wait to come home to you.

i know. kinda makes you want to throw up, right? but if you can get past the nausea, you'll see why i happen to think i am the luckiest girl in the whole world.

sunday life

well, football season is officially over. it was quite a year.

my favorite team made it to the playoffs after a less than spectacular season and the tragic loss of a star player. they beat their biggest rival in the last game of the regular season. the best coach they have ever had retired (again). two of their former stars were voted into the hall of fame (finally!). they recently hired a new head coach, and who knows how that's going to go. no one will ever be joe.

and somehow the giants managed to win the superbowl. i think i'm still in shock! good for them. i think the good guys deserved to win that one.

all three redskins that played in the pro bowl yesterday honored their late teammate sean taylor (who was also voted into the pro bowl) by wearing number 21 on their jerseys. the nfc won the game.

and so the 2007 nfl season has officially come to a close. this season will not soon be forgotten, at least not by me. it has been a rollercoaster indeed... and while i will miss the weekly games, i am certainly thankful for the small amount of freedom that will be added back into my weekends.

daily scoop

okay not really... but i was going through all of the pictures on our computer and i found this one of scoop looking incredibly mischievous and it made me smile!

the daily coyote

if you haven't visited the daily coyote yet, you are missing out! what an amazing blog.

the story is intriguing, the photographs are stunning, and i think i'm officially addicted. it's such a great reminder to pay attention to the little things in life, like sweet happy moments or the grace of a beautiful animal.

if i had any kind of photography skills, i would start a "daily scoop" blog. but i think that people might get tired of pictures of my cat sleeping and eating.

happy birthday, audra!

oh, the weather outside is...

uhh have you been outside today?? holy crap it's amazing out there. the sun is shining, it is a beautiful 68 degrees, and there is just the right amount of breeze happening. absolutely perfect.

sudafed

i can breathe! i'm hyper! it's friday! yAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAy!!

google

as one of my many beautiful, talented, and intelligent friends once said, "google owns my life." when she said it (or typed it, rather) it sounded crazy to me. at the time, i was new to gmail, and i had yet to discover the bountiful wonders of the google empire. my experience was limited to email, search, youtube, and google earth. many months later, i have now fallen head over heels in love with reader, calendar, docs, and of course, blogger. i mean, seriously, everything is in one place! and you can go to it from any computer! pure awesomeness. anyway i know there are about a million other applications to explore as well, but i still feel so new to computerland, so i'm going to pace myself.

happy birthday, lelysa!

my partner in crime

how do i even put into words how thankful i am for alan? he is my hero, my biggest fan, my husband, my best friend; he is so much a part of who i am that i can’t tell where i stop and he begins.

he is amazingly kind and thoughtful, selfless and loyal, honest and respectful. he knows better than anyone in the world how to make me smile, laugh, yell, cry – and yet i know and trust that he would never in a million years dream of making me cry.

before i met alan, i probably thought i knew what it was to love someone, but i didn’t. he has taught me so much about myself, about relationships, about life. i don't know what i did to deserve him, but i thank God every day for bringing him into my life.

happy birthday, alan!

and

happy birthday, marcus!

chocolate

anyone who claims to not like chocolate is a liar. either that or they just haven't had good chocolate. nothing in the whole world is better than a really good piece of chocolate. this fact is not up for debate.

besides being intensely tasty and delicious, chocolate makes you happy.

it contains sugar, tryptophan (a precursor to serotonin), phenethylamine (the "love" chemical), and caffeine.

according to wikipedia, "a study reported by the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in one's mouth produced an increase in brain activity and heart rate that was more intense than that associated with passionate kissing, and also lasted four times as long after the activity had ended." ...something to think about this valentine's day, anyway.

and, studies have also shown that dark chocolate has certain health benefits -- it may help lower blood pressure, and it definitely contains lots of good-for-you antioxidants.

so, anyway, chocolate is fabulous and i love it.

happy birthday, ronny!

grown-up toys

this weekend, alan and i purchased the best grown-up toy that ever existed in the whole world ever: the dyson dc07 all floors vacuum. we were grocery shopping at our local mass-merchandiser when alan saw it. on sale. at a ridiculous price.

so, i put my foot down. we have been needing to replace our dinosaur of a vacuum since before i can remember. it is ginormous, heavy, moody, noisy, and all it does is push stuff around instead of sucking it up. not to mention the cord is way too short... or should i say, was. it is no longer with us.

the glory of the dc07 can not be put into mere words. it is quiet, it has all kinds of fun and useful attachments, and it is completely bagless. the amount of filth that it removed from our carpets was quite disgusting. and the cord is so long! we have vacuumed three times since we got it. i think alan is secretly in love with it. i think i am secretly okay with that. who knew i would ever get so freakishly excited over a vacuum cleaner?

football

so the thing about football is that i never really cared about it that much until i met alan.

before that, i used to work in a sports bar type situation for a while and i had learned to pretend i cared about football, but in reality i didn't know anything about it and i only cared about it to the extent that it might affect my income (happy fans = bigger tips).

however, i was born in washington, d.c. and i was raised a redskins fan, regardless of whether or not i even knew what that meant. living in dallas, you don't meet many redskins fans. at all. i have my suspicions that my allegiance to the redskins, and not my superior first date skills, is what earned me a second date with alan, but i suppose i'll never really know... over time, i learned more about the game and grew to genuinely enjoy watching it. it's been such a bonding experience for us - we watch every game; we go to see our team when they come to dallas every year; we celebrate the victories and mourn every loss, on and off the field.

for a lot of people, football is just a game. and i understand that - i used to be one of those people. but the thing about football (and any other sport) is that it brings people together. today, on this most sacred day of football, i am thankful for the game itself, and for how it has changed my life and brought me that much closer to the people i love most.

oh and p.s. go giants!!!

photo by scott and tem juarez

happy groundhog day

punxsutawney phil made his official prediction today, and it looks like we're in for six more weeks of winter.

thank goodness we have our nintendo wii! we decided we wanted one about four months ago, and of course they've been impossible to find since then. alan started stalking gamestop and walmart and target and everywhere else he could think of that might have a wii and he finally found one on wednesday!

i'm not a video game person; my favorite video games of all time include arcade-style galaga and super mariokart for the nintendo 64. anything more sophisticated than that will both intimidate and terrify me. but the wii is the most fun i've ever had playing a video game, and i love the fact that it gets us off the couch (and the fact that i can kick alan's booty at baseball)! the perfect indoor activity to keep us busy for six more weeks!

tgif

well i'm pretty sure january was like the looooooongest month ever. gray. cold. a constant struggle for the survival of my sanity and my happiness. so i for one am incredibly thankful that it is finally february! happy february to all of you!

things i love about february:

1. it's not january.
2. aquarians. and pisces-es. so many of my most favoritest people were born in february!

3. the superbowl! (btw i am a part-time giants fan this weekend!)

4. the pro bowl!

5. mardi gras. never been, don't ever want to go, but if it has to do with new orleans i love it.

6. valentine's day. (awwww)

other random things about february:

1. american heart month (today is national wear red day! did you wear red??)

2. black history month

3. library lovers month (omg!)

4. pet dental health month (what?)

5. groundhog day (tomorrow)

6. presidents' day (2/18)