wine and rainbows

it rained here for the first time in a really long time yesterday. i love the way the air smells after a summer rain, like heat and wet asphalt. it's so comforting. after the rain stopped there was the most incredible double-rainbow stretching all the way across the warm gray sky.

i was at my friend's house, eating a delicious and all-vegan dinner that she had cooked for me and some of our friends. we all drank wine and talked for hours and hours and it really was the most perfect evening.

boy clothes

i like alan's clothes... in fact, when i'm at home, i'm usually wearing more of his clothes than mine. his tee shirts are softer than mine and they smell like him. my favorite sweatshirt used to be his before i claimed it for my own. and there is a pair of his boxers that i have worn to the point of being useless with holes. i just love being all wrapped up in alan-clothes... feels like home.

ticket day

today is ticket day - the day that tickets to the redskins-cowboys game in dallas go on sale. ticket day is a stressful day. i am always on the phone with alan and we are both trying to get tickets the second they go on sale at 10 am and we usually have at least one or two other people trying at the same time so that we can get the best seats possible. it is... an event. this year, because it will be the last time that the redskins play at texas stadium, the tickets were nearly impossible to get. in fact, we had to buy our tickets on ebay... but, at least we got them.
let the countdown begin!

hi, my name is olivia...

...and i drive like a grandma.

i go the speed limit. i keep three car lengths between my car and the car in front of me. and so...

i don't get speeding tickets. and i get better gas mileage.

happy birthday, whitney!

another lazy sunday

another lazy sunday spent hanging out at the pool with friends and family... the best way to beat the texas heat!

early morning walks

i am thankful for the sweet sparkle of dew in the early morning sun, the quiet dance of dragonflies as the sail through the air, the baby dove perched on top of the fence, the long shadows cast by sturdy trees, the brown spotted frog hopping in the grass, and the brightness of the light reflected off the surface of a placid lake.

the only dream that matters

"and if it all falls apart, i will know deep in my heart, the only dream that mattered had come true. in this life, i was loved by you."

- colin raye

happy anniversary, mom & ronny!

sore muscles

it's nice to feel a little bit of soreness after a workout... it reminds me that i do, in fact, have some muscles (no matter how small) and that they like to be used every once in a while.

clean sheets

i love getting into bed when the sheets have just been washed and they smell all clean and happy... and it's always the very best sleep, too.

christian the lion

this story (and the video that goes along with it) are absolutely amazing and just so heartwarming... kind of reminds me of how scoop acts when i get home from work. ;)

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25797678/?GT1=43001

petsmart lunches

when i was at my last job, my coworkers and i used to go to petsmart at lunch sometimes to play with the puppies and kitties that the spca brought there. we were all such suckers for anything cute and cuddly, and of course we always wanted to take every single one home with us (one day i will have a ranch in colorado filled with all of my adopted pets!). obviously we couldn't do that, but it was nice to go back to work with a little bit of warm fuzzy-ness...

happy birthday, haley!

strawberry daiquiris

i heart strawberry daiquiris... they're so pink and fruity and girly and delicious. i don't drink them very often, but this weekend was a weekend of summer celebrations and a little bit of daiquiri happiness seemed to be in order...

the essentials

"the grand essentials of happiness are:

something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

- allan k. chalmers

five years

five years ago, at exactly 7:00 pm, alan knocked on my door to take me out to dinner. he opened the door of his red pick-up truck and i climbed in (my very first time in a truck!). we got lost on the way to p.f. chang's, but eventually we found our way there. the wait was pretty long, so we got drinks from the bar, sat down on a bench outside, and got to know each other a little bit better. i think we were both pretty nervous and i, of course, am painfully shy, so i couldn't tell if it was going well or not. when we got to our table, alan ordered lettuce wraps and we proceeded to make ginormous messes of ourselves (ooh how romantic)! for dessert, we shared an order of delicious banana spring rolls.

i guess we weren't quite ready to go home when dinner was over, so we went to a hotel bar where we knew our mutual friend would be working. i told her i didn't know if it was going well or not, and she promptly yelled at him for not talking enough. we talked and talked for a long time - we discovered that we shared a love for the simpsons and the redskins and the movie monsters inc.

...so naturally i suggested that we go watch monsters inc. at my apartment (don't get any funny ideas! i'm not that kind of girl). when we got to my apartment, we discovered that i did not actually have monsters inc. but i was absolutely positively 100% certain that my room mate did. unfortunately, her room was locked, so we had to break in (again, i swear i'm a really nice girl) only to discover that she didn't have it either.

so instead we opened a bottle of wine and watched lilo and stitch. and we got all the way to the end before he asked me, very politely, if i was opposed to kissing on the first date.

:)

toothbrush + koala facewash = goodness

whenever i feel gross or whiny or irritated or just plain tired, a good tooth-brushing-and-face-washing will always do the trick. it's super refreshing and it just makes everything...better. it's hard to feel whiny with minty breath and a freshly cleaned face. (plus, my face wash has a koala on it. you can't be irritated at a koala.)

owls

i like owls...

these ones look like scoop!

a kitty finds a home

my friend's friend took in a cat that someone had dropped off at a gas station (who does that?!) - he couldn't keep the kitty because of his dog, but he did find a good home for him.

stories like this make me happy.

happy anniversary, tina and jason!

yours

you, with your hand outstretched
finger on the key
this lock that you release
is opening but isn't free
and i hope that you can see
how it beats inside of me
instead of pushing fear aside
i want to run, i want to hide
i am vulnerably yours
she, who is wanting me
whose touch can make me cry
i can only understand
by never asking her why
hear the contradictions fly
and as hard as i may try
every truth becomes a lie
in the ache of her reply

i am passionately...
yours
and the saddest eyes are
yours
and the softest skin is
yours
and the hope i borrow is
yours
so won't you let me in, i'm
yours
all that i begin is
yours
every prize i win is
yours
at your feet again, i'm
yours
all i am is
yours

all i am is wanting you
i've fallen down and i can't seem to come to
if i shoud die before i wake
i commend my soul into this ache
up above the world so high
where the water tends to meet the sky
she's all i'm after by the toe
and i won't let go
and i wanted you to know
that if you reap what you would sew
i would take it blow by blow

all i am is
yours
and the saddest eyes are
yours
and the softest skin is
yours
and the hope i borrow
yours
so won't you let me in, i'm
yours
all that i begin is
yours
every prize i win is
yours
at your feet again, i'm
yours
all i am is
yours
yours


blues traveler

accents

i could sit and listen to people with fabulous accents talk all day, even if i didn't have a clue what they were saying. why does english sound so much better when spoken by foreigners? why is it that an accent suddenly makes everything sound so much more glamorous and romantic? i wish i had such magical powers...

vegan cheese

last weekend alan and i stopped at sprouts - which is a place that i love and cherish all by itself - and while we were browsing the vegan cheese section, we came across some vegan parmesan. i decided to give it a try (even though i have heard many many scary stories about non-dairy cheeses). so when i got home, i made my fake spaghetti (made from tofu!) and put my fake cheese (also made from tofu!) on top of it and i was stunned to find out that it did, in fact, taste delicious (and a lot like parmesan)! i was pretty excited about it really, but i think alan was even more excited than i was... he's pretty cute sometimes (i think he likes me maybe).

free slurpee day

today, if you do not already know, is free slurpee day at seven-eleven. after work today i took alan for his very first slurpee (of his whole life! i know! ridiculous! he grew up under a rock. but have no fear - i am here to rescue him from under-rock-ness!).

it was really... sweet. and cold.

so, no complaints.

happy free slurpee day!

oh, happy day

oh, happy day! alan discovered this morning that we now have hgtv and food network in hd! as if it weren't hard enough already to watch food network without eating everything in the kitchen... oh well.

the wisdom of winnie the pooh

"if ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart... i'll always be with you.”

"you can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. you have to go to them sometimes."

"if you live to be a hundred, i hope i live to be a hundred minus one day, so i never have to live without you."

no more migraine

migraines are the worst. i remember the first time i ever got one - i was at work early one morning and suddenly i got a weird scary blind spot and my vision got all crazy. of course i googled "temporary blindness" and convinced myself that i was having a stroke. then i took some aspirin and spent the next couple of hours under my desk avoiding light... and eventually it went away.

i haven't gotten a migraine in a while, but unfortunately one snuck up on me tonight before dinner. i think i caught it pretty early though, because my eyes are back to normal and i only have just a slight headache (and obviously i'm okay enough to be typing at my computer). so, it could have been way worse and i'm just thankful that it's not!

chopping vegetables

i don't know why i love chopping vegetables, but i really do. it's therapeutic or something. fresh vegetables are so pretty and colorful and they always smell really really good.

happy anniversary, andrea and david!

wall-e

we went to see wall-e today and it was so good! go see it now!!!

the characters are so lovable, and even though there's plenty to laugh about and lots of amazing graphics, the movie has a real and meaningful message. loved it loved it loved it!

happy birthday, kate!

americana

yesterday we spent the day at alan's great-aunt's house on eagle mountain lake. we got there in the early afternoon and had some time to catch up with aunt m and enjoy the stunning view from the beautiful back yard. our good friends came a little later and brought their impossibly cute 19-month-old daughter with them. the boys played football in the lake while the girls spent most of our time in the shade. dinner was at seven, when we were joined by ten or so of aunt m's friends and neighbors for a ginormous feast of way too much delicious food. once our bellies were full of burgers (mine was a portobello of course) and cobbler (ice cream is vegan, right?), we headed down to the dock for fireworks. we had the best seat in the house! the next-door neighbors must have spent a fortune on their fireworks, and the professional display was only a little farther down on the lake. it was an amazing show at the end of a picture-perfect fourth of july.

happy birthday, sarah!

independence

"nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."

- napoleon bonaparte

"freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."

- dwight d. eisenhower

"those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

- abraham lincoln

"there are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought."

- charles kingsley

"freedom is the oxygen of the soul."

- moshe dayan

happy independence day!

the sanrio store

everyone who knows me knows that i love hello kitty. but seeing as i live with a boy now* and i am no longer six years old**, i try to limit my consumption of hello kitty merchandise. but i do allow myself to indulge in a little hello kitty bliss every once in a while, when i visit the sanrio store. it's more hello kitty-and-friends per square foot than anyone could have ever thought possible, and every time i go in there i instantly revert to my little-girl self, looking at every single item, touching everything, and wishing i could take all of it home with me. it's like a super-concentrated cuteness-and-happiness injection.

*i scared the crap out of alan on our first date when he saw my hello kitty bathroom (shower curtain, towels, trash can, toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, stuffed kitties)

**in actuality i did not get rid of my crazy hello kitty collection until i was almost out of college.

on the border-versary

five years ago today, my friend tonya called me and invited me to join her and some friends for drinks on the patio at on the border. i almost didn't go, but it had been a while since i had seen tonya, and on the border was pretty much right next door to my apartment complex.

alan was there (his roommate was tonya's boyfriend/now husband). we had met once or twice before, but we'd both been dating other people, so i'd never really paid attention to the fact that he was actually kinda cute... and sweet... and funny...

by the time we were all leaving the restaurant, i wasn't quite ready to be done talking to him - so i convinced tonya to bring the boys over to my apartment so we could hang out at the hot tub (man this sounds cheesy...). anyway, i did get to talk to alan a little bit more and at the end of the night he asked if he could take me out on a date.

i remember telling my mom about him the next day. i just had such a good feeling about this one.

our first date was two weeks later... and the rest, as they say, is history.

water bottles

a while back i traded in my one-use plastic water bottles in favor of refillable plastic water bottles because they were more environmentally friendly, less expensive, and better for me. then i found out that my reusable polycarbonate plastic water bottles were made with a harmful chemical called bpa (bisphenol a) that leaches into your water and can cause chronic toxicity in the human body. yuck! so i ordered some fancy new stainless steel water bottles that are toxin-free and non-leaching. hippie-approved and pretty! they come in fun colors and i wanted to get a pink one but something tells me alan wouldn't have gone for that...