Just like heaven

When I was a Junior in High School I was dating this guy named Jim.  On New Year's Day he picked me up in his mother's white Pontiac and we drove down to Elmwood to walk around.  Playing in the car was The Cure's Just Like Heaven.  I was wearing a navy sweater from the Gap with a kelly green turtleneck and I felt really cute (I was a little preppy prepster back then).   Whenever I hear that song all I think about is romance and sweetness and first love.  *sigh*

Happy New Year readers.  I love you all.  xoxo

P.S.  Jim turned out to be an asshole 3 years later.  Typical.

Top 10 of 2009

I love lists.  LOVE.  THEM.  So I thought I'd make my own little Top 10 List of 2009.  Just random things I loved this year!

Best TV Show of the year.  Need I say more?

Best book series (tie between Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse Series).

Best baby born in 2009.  My little God daughter.  AND she's officially walking. Look out!

Best baby who turned 2 in 2009.  SO glad I was able to spend time with this muffin twice this year!

Best girl who turned 7 in 2009.  And now with 4 missing teeth?  Get out of here.

Best boy who turned 4 in 2009.  Oh this boy...he's just really very awesome.

Best reason to get together with people you haven't seen in 20 years (okay, I've seen all of these girls in the past 20 years with the exception of one, but it was my HS Reunion so I saw MANY people I hadn't seen in 20 years that weekend).  Thankfully I've kept in touch with one or two from that weekend and I'm so glad I have!

Best electronic devices I bought this year, hands down.  What would I do without my iPhone and Mac?  I really don't even want to think about it.

Best movie of the year.  I just love this movie and I could watch it a million times.  You go, Robert Langdon.

Best music of the year.  I don't even know where to begin, but let's start with this:

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

this

and this

There is so much new music I bought this year that I love, I could make (quite) a few blog posts about that alone.

Anyway, I can't believe 2009 is practically over.  God, time flies.

Be safe tomorrow night!  xoxo

Hair don't

I have a bad habit of deciding I want a change and wanting it NOW.  That happened to me on Sunday.  I have thick curly hair and it needs to be in long layers and thinned out so I don't look like RuPaul on a bad day.  Well, around 9pm I decided, "I can do this!!!".  No.  No I can't.

My hair is now about 4 inches shorter than it was.  And while curly hair can hide a myriad of mistakes (and thankfully that's true in this case), I really should have all cutting apparatus removed from my home.

Thank God my hair grows crazy fast.

Not Awesome

THIS...

is not awesome.

Even though it's not awesome it's timely as I discovered all of these movies I purchased but never watched.  I guess tonight is the night to start!

Just so we're clear.  Snow = ew.

Dear Diary...

I've always kept a journal.  When I was an itty bitty girl, I kept a journal.  H.S., college, adult life - lots of journal keeping.  My blogging has taken the place of 98% of my journaling, but I still keep my journal (always spiral bound) for the things that are just for me.

I asked for the Keel's Simple Diary for Christmas and my sister bought it for me!  Yay!  She was very upset with me when I tried to buy it at the CB2 store in Soho (the same trip I decided to buy a TomTom, which she thwarted by having me borrow one, only to surprise me at Christmas with one...I'm a sucky gift receiver).  It's basically an undated, easy, sarcastic, fill-in-the-blank journal.  And I lurve it.  Check it out at Taschen.

Click on pics for bigger view.

Community

When you are in the market to buy a new (or used) car...go to Northtown Automotive Group here in Buffalo.  I can hear you now..."plugging an auto dealer now, what's next?", but hear me out.

My dear friends, Chrissy and Knuck are truly 2 of the kindest people I know.   As you know my car recently decided to blow up and my Ford dealer was pissy with me AND had no car for me to take while mine gets fixed (and a transmission job isn't a 20 minute doing).  I was so upset.  No car until it gets fixed?  Awesome.  So I called Knuck, who's the CFO of Northtown for some advice and he not only gave me great info for a call I'll be making on Monday to Mr. Dave Smith himself (of Dave Smith Ford fame), but gave me his car while he's out of town.  WHA?!

These 2 are SO freakin' humble it drives me up a wall, but trust me they are incredible people and if you're out to buy a car, might as well support a company that employs such awesome people (truly there aren't enough superlatives to describe this family, and I won't go into all of the incredible and selfless things they do for others so as not to embarrass them...suffice it to say it's a lot.  And I love them.).

So that's all I'm saying, just support companies that support good people.

over and out.  xoxo

P.S.  A big thanks to my mom for the car the last 2 days.  She's taking a little trip this week and taking her car with her, but I know she's let me borrow it if she weren't going anywhere.  Love you THIS much mom!  xoxo

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you're all having a beautiful day. I'm exhausted and I'm ready for a long winter's nap. We've had a great day and all got lots of goodies.

As Christmas Eve treat, on the way home from church, my transmission decided to die. Merry Christmas!! The car isn't even 2 years old so thankfully it's under warranty but it's just the hassle if it all. Instead of doing what I'd like tomorrow I'll be at the car dealer handling this crap.

Urgh.

Enough of that though...truly enjoy today. Xoxo

Merry Christmas

From my pink tree'd home to yours.

...

…

Oh how I love you ellipsis.  It's my favorite form of punctuation, and I dedicate today, Christmas Eve Eve, to you.

Where are you Christmas?

I'm so not feeling Christmas this year.  And I hate it.  It's always been my favorite time of year and this year I'm just...eh.  I thought at first it might be because I'm getting old.  Not that 38 is ancient, but let's face it, I'm not having trouble falling asleep at night wondering if I can hear Santa outside.

Then I thought it was because my dad's not here.  But he passed away 3 years ago, so I've had 2 years to practice the holiday without him (it still TOTALLY sucks though).

I don't know.  Can't figure it out.  I mean, the kids are the perfect ages.  It's awesome hearing them muse about Santa and what they'd like to see under the tree.

Maybe Friday will be different.  Who knows.

In other randomness...I saw a little kid drinking out of a red Solo cup the other day and my immediate thought was that they were way too young to be drinking.  For some reason in my mind the only thing you drink from a red Solo cup is booze.

Movies that kill me...

This will be added to the long list of Movies that Kill Me.  The end of this movie?  Forget it, I can't handle it.  I cry like a baby.  It's such a beautiful story about hard work, perseverance and a father's love for his son.  Ugh.  Some other movies on the list include:

• The Namesake
• Ponette
• The Pianist
• Legends of the Fall

Just a taste of the depression you can experience in an evening of movie watching...

Have a great day! J xoxo

P.S.  Meg, I love the shoes too! :)

I'm loving this navy dress from J. Crew.  It reminds me of something a woman in the 1940's would have worn.  Too cute.

Adventures in pedicures...

My new favorite nail color (OPI's Don't Toy with Me) is discontinued.  In my opinion, when a salon has nail polish which they use to polish said nails, they should be forced to have it for sale.  FORCED I say.  Because I have now spent the better part of my evening trolling around on eBay to find it.  Fortunately, I did.

Hmpf.

Here comes the...

No, not bride.  But that is what this post is about.  Having been divorced for a bit I thought I'd never want to get married again.  I've been rethinking that statement lately for no other reason than I've decided not to be so close-minded.  Just because one marriage didn't work out doesn't mean another can't.  I'm still not 1000% sold on the idea, but its something I've been noodling.  I've kept myself pretty detached romantically - trying to keep any relationship casual enough so I don't fall too hard or deep and so far it's worked.  Who know, we'll see.

BUT I am a girl, so of course I think of weddings and the pretty trappings that accompany them.  IF I were to get married again here are a few of the ideas I have running around in my head (click on the pic for a bigger view).

Oh, and speaking of David Gray (from yestserday), his song Please Forgive Me makes me want to fall in lurve. xo

As far as credits for the above go, the blue dress is Valentino.  The girls in the green dresses is Red Photo Co., the yellow inspiration board is from Lucky Me.  The photos of the couple with the yellow scarf is James Christianson, the photo of the feathered veil is Brianna Graham, and I cannot find the invitation for the life of me.

Mr. Gray

My favorite artist of all time, by far is David Gray.  Love, love, love him.  And I was beyond psyched (yes...psyched) that he'll be coming to Buffalo in March.  I jumped online and got my grubby little paws on my tickets right away.  Can't wait to see him live!

If you don't know who he is, hop on over to iTunes and listen to my recommendations:

• Please Forgive Me
• This Year's Love
• Ain't No Love
• Babylon
• Shine
• Freedom
• Slow Motion

Plus...he wears suits.  Have I mentioned that I love a man in a well tailored suit?

I play entirely too much Scorpion Solitaire on my iPhone. I'm just putting it out there.

New York, New York

I had business in NYC last week and my sister and the kids came along to have fun while I slaved away!  Here are a few pics of the fun they had! :)

Miss Maddy at Rockefeller Plaza (5th Ave is behind her).

Flags flying at Rockefeller Center surrounding skating rink.

The budding photographer capturing some shots of the graffiti.

One of the windows at Saks.

Sherri and the turkeys at Rockefeller Center.

And really?  In my I love Men post I left out John Krasinski?  Really?  John I'm so sorry.  Once you dump Emily Blunt I'll meet you for drinks to explain it all.  xoxo  (Look at him...he looks all angry at me.)

Have a great day and keep warm.  It's only 20 degrees here.  NOT loving that.

My kind of Christmas communication...

I've posted about this company before, and my love for their snarky and sarcastic greetings.  Well, thanks to Dooce's Gift Ideas I've discovered another company I've fallen in love with.  It's called Shinebox Print

and the gift tags have a bit of the personality seriously lacking in those normally affixed to gifts I receive.  Here are a few of my faves:

Also check out the Unmentionables.  I have a few thousand people I'd like to hand those out to!

Happy Tuesday! xoxo

Men I love...

I love men.  These men in particular...

The last guy is from this show called The League FX.  Isn't he just the cutest??

I've decided I like guys with brown eyes and curly hair.  Now you know.

Get ready to not believe...

OK I'm going to make this short and sweet because I fear if I stay awake any longer something ELSE will happen to me.

So we're leaving Albany today after my business trip to NYC/Albany.  The weather is looking bad so we leave earlier than planned.  Once we approach Syracuse the weather gets bad and start sliding on the road, proceeding to spin around one and a half times and end up the wrong way on the thruway.  My car slammed into the guard rail and thankfully it suffered minimal damage.  My psyche, however, didn't fare quite as well.  While we were spinning a car nearly missed us and we nearly went off the large cliff on the side of the road (thank GOD for guard rails...and a little heavenly intervention - at the speed we started spinning I'm not sure how that guard rail held us).

Fast forward 2 hours ahead and I see a deer in the road (in the dark) against the headlights of the cars.  The deer cuts to the edge of the road, the car next to us hit it and we then had to hit it again as it flew towards us.  HORRIBLE thing to see and accident #2 was behind us.

THEN we finally get home - I decide to go to the car wash on the corner to get the NYC grime, guard rail gunk and deer remains off of my car and I got STUCK in the bay.  It's the kind that you drive in and the door closes behind you, and then when its done washing your car the front door opens.  Only...the front door never freakin' opened.  Yeah.  I finally, after sitting there for who know how long, saw an emergency exit button.  So I got out, hit the button, some massive hydraulic squealing ensued and the door opened.

I made a bee-line for my house and I'm getting into my safe bed and far away from my car.

Un.real.

I know. I know. I know. I did a sucky job of blogging on the road and I'm sorry. I'm headed home now (in wintry conditions...say a little prayer) and I promise to blog all week. Pinky swear.

In NYC meeting with some clients today and tomorrow. No snow here thankfully! I'll be blogging from the road so don't you all worry! (I can actually hear the collective sigh of relief). Have a great day!

Hey little birdie...

Look at this bird!  It's real too!  It's called a Lilac Breasted Roller and I'm in love with it!  I saw it in a magazine last night and had to run to my computer to do a little more research.  We'll never see one around here as its a sub-Saharan/Arabian Peninsula bird, but I love it nonetheless.

I mean really - is it not the prettiest little thing you've ever seen??

Blog Heaven

I'm a blog reader.  Big time.  Not sure why I'm so fascinated with blogs, or why I keep one actually, but I enjoy sitting at my desk first thing in the morning, reading the blogs I have bookmarked and drinking a big old cup of coffee.  It's the ritual of it I think.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite blogs with you.  There's a random mix here.  Some are people I know (Meg's blog, Shannon's blog), some are photography related (delicious eye-candy, much of which is wedding related for no other reason than the images are stunning - Lucky Me!, 100 Layer Cake), others are hilarious (Dooce) some are just inspirational (Nie Nie).  I decided to leave out the zillion art related blogs I read but did include one scrapbooking blog because I love her stuff (Just Us)

This is only a smidge of what I read, but I thought I'd pass the info on slowly.  No one needs blog overload during the holidays!  Enjoy discovering new blogs to read (but of course, don't neglect my little blog - I'd hate to have you leave me for cooler pastures...)!

Meg's Blog
Shannon's Blog
Dooce
Just Us
100 Layer Cake
Lucky Me!
Nie Nie Dialogues

BFF

I wanted to take a post to dedicate to my friends.  My honest to goodness, never let me down friends.  Nothing has sparked this post.  I'm not mad at anyone, thereby appreciating my besties even more.  I'm just appreciating them for no reason whatsoever.  I was going to go all yearbook and put first and last initials (Friends Forever AB, CD and EF!), but then I decided that you know who you are.  And I love you.

And because I hate posting without a photo, here's the toothless wonder getting ready to go out and play in the snow.

Otis

Okay so I'm sitting at the American Red Cross, all ready to donate after having gone through the same 87 questions to make sure I'm safe to donate (and no, I've never had a derma brain graft, taken cow steroids or had sex with a man who's had sex with another man for drugs or money - just in case you were wondering).  They're pretty busy on Friday's apparently (note:  don't go on Friday) so I'm in the waiting area.  And there sits Otis.  Who is Otis?  Otis is:

• Eighty-three years old
• Just sold all 135 acres of his farm to 3 of his 7 children
• Had a son who died 8 hours after birth (they didn't have to name him back then, they just call him 'baby boy')
• Has either worked on a farm his whole life or has owned one
• Hates television and only watches Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune
• Has spent the last 35 years volunteering as Santa at the Batavia Veteran's Hospital
• Was spared from the draft in WWII because he was needed at the milk farm he worked at
• Nickname:  Otie

I love Otie.  He was a tall man with a handsome face, even at eighty-three.  He's sort of that quintessential 'grumpy old man' but with a very sweet side and that may be why I love him so.  When they called me in I stood up, said "Well Otis, they're calling me in, have a great Christmas!" and shook his hand and that's the first time he smiled the whole 25 minutes we were sitting there.  He was either happy to see me leave or he liked talking with someone so young (ahem) and chatty.  I'm going with the latter here.

Give a little...

So I'm off to donate platelets on Friday.  I do this because, well mainly because my father had cancer and from that experience I learned how desperately cancer patients need platelets (which are these little things in your blood that help it coagulate).  It's not the most fun I've ever had, and it takes about 3 hours when all is said and done, but its so worth it.  In case you're interested, you can visit this site to learn more.  Not everyone can donate, so its that much more important that if you can, you try.


http://www.givelife2.org/donor/apheresis.asp

I've officially stepped off of my soap box for the day.

xo

Magazine Eulogy

I have a love affair with magazines.  Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved seeing magazines on the newsstand.  And getting them in the mail?  Forget it - it's my favorite time of the month when the magazines come flying in.  I remember when I got my first subscription to Seventeen magazine.  I waited for the day when it would arrive.  Then it snowballed into Sassy and YM and graduated to Vogue and Harpers Bazaar...well, you get the point.  Personal admission time - I've been known to have subscriptions to over 20 magazines at a time.  But it saves MONEY people!!!  I don't care what the topic of the magazine is really (well, outside of girlie magazines, motor-cross and knitting), but if there's a glossy page and a pretty picture, I'm in.  

Anyway, three of my favorites have recently become defunct and I'm taking the time to pay tribute to these beauties.   Blueprint by Martha Stewart was an immediate favorite and I loved it instantly.  Why no one else did I have no idea, because on TOP of having stunning photography it actually had good ideas!

And then there was Cookie.  While I'm not a parent myself, I have children in my life and this magazine was pretty damn awesome.  Bye-bye Cookie.

Oh and Domino.  How I loved you.  Now I have to learn to interestingly decorate my home on my own.  Why Domino?  WHYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyy?

Anyway, I'm personally committed to bringing the magazine publishing industry back to life.  And I will do it one magazine at a time if I have to.

10 Blessed Truths

This came in my monthly church bulletin and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.  There was no author sited, so maybe I'll just take credit for it.  Oh stop, I'm kidding.

1.  Love yourself.  Effect change within your heart and soul in order to be the best person you can be.

2.  The Bible says:  "Whatever state I am, therewith to be content.  You are blessed."  Recognize and acknowledge that face and be happy with what  you have.

3.  Relish your solitude and quiet time.  Don't feel guilty about it - revel in it.  Your mind, body and spirit crave it.

4.  Be of a giving nature - but don't be self-sacrificing.  Helping others nurtures the soul; giving of yourself until you are spent does not.

5.  Learning to forgive yourself and others.  Letting go of blame frees you to discover the true blessings of your life.

6.  Keep it simple.  Do unto others, as you'd have them do unto you.

7.  Don't strive for perfection; it's not possible.

8.  Bring down the curtain on drama.  Simplify your life by vowing to stop turning minor upsets into major blowups.

9.  Taking care of yourself does not make you self-centered.  it makes you centered.

10.  Remember: No God, no peace.  Know God, know peace.

And just as a reminder, take a stroll over to the website about a fund that's been set up for my friend Scott.

xoxo

I've got nothing...

I'll give you a layout today.  It's all I have to give.