tuesday shmoozday

it's tough move into a not-so-good week when you're coming off a great weekend. today was hard - it's inexplicable to anyone i don't work directly with, so i'll leave it at that: it was a hard day. i'm just lucky to be surrounded by some really supportive people who encourage me and make me excited to still come to work every morning.

brady came in town this weekend to hang out - we had a ton of fun! jazz on thursday, aboca's on friday and amigo's on saturday. we ate pretty well :) aboca's is an amazing italian restaurant near our apartment where you bring your own wine. absolutely incredible food. we spent saturday at my parent's house just chillin outside with the dogs and lounging around.

bos loves going on walks. we take her and daisy to the little park near the house and let them off their leashes to run around - they totally dig it. here's bos catching her breath after a good jaunt - i love that she's smiling :)
my cousin emily is in town from florida, i'm really glad i got to hang out with her these past 2 weekends! she's gorgeous and growing up really fast. and isn't my mom beautiful?

ps. can i just say that my parents are the best people ever? they just celebrated their 30 year anniversary and still completely adore each other. my dad made a book on his mac filled with photos of them from the last 30-plus years (they were high school sweethearts). he also made a dvd slideshow - i get choked up every time i watch it. fred and charlotte are the bomb, seriously. and their prom picture is SO funny!

my dad is the best. he's probably the most thoughtful man in the entire world - he loves making people smile. i love the way he loves my mom. he's so smart, so supportive and so loving. last week, he picked up boston and took her to the vet for me because i was so busy with work - and took care of her like she was his own child. he just knew how much that means to me, so he selflessly does things like that all the time. fred. is. amazing.

i've also inherited my quirky music taste from him...one thing i've always loved is 80's goodness. so imagine my delight when i realized that my favorite cover band, LC ROCKS, plays shows at the sherlocks in addison on a regular basis!! dallas just went WAY up in my book. i always used to complain that going to see LC Rocks at sherlocks on wednesdays was one big thing i really missed about living in austin. now my life has changed - bethany and i got to rock out this saturday: complete with fist pumps, beers and cougars on the prowl. gotta love it.

deal of the day: after work i went to half price books (correction: i had a beer with christy and amber...THEN i went to half price books. i spent $27.58 and got 22 books*. boomshackalacka.

keep it real, y'all.

love/miss/namaste.

*they aren't bullshit books either. HPB was just having a crazy clearance 50-cent sale. i seriously hit the jackpot.

jazz under the stars

so dallas is pretty cool.

it's taken me about a year to warm up to it, but there really are some fun activities here (and not to mention some pretty great people). one of my good friends from work, joshulyn, had the brilliant idea of going to jazz under the stars a couple weeks ago. the dallas museum of art puts it on every thursday evening in may and june - there's a big stage and a jazz band that plays for tons and tons of people sitting on blankets and lawn chairs. the first week we went, jordy came with us and we had a blast! it was so wonderful just to sit outside, chat, enjoy some vino and each other's company :)

last thursday it was rainy, so jazz was canceled. but this week we got to go! brady is in town for a visit, so he and i met up with joshulyn and some of her friends. we ate and talked and even danced a little. i'm so sad that there is only one more! we'll have to find some more fantastic events like this one...

our little picnic

brady was a trooper - we sat on the concrete for about 2 hours (he had just driven in from Austin). this was his second night of outdoor musical activities. he went to blues on the green in Austin last night. laura was jeal.

the fabulous joshulyn - she's so much fun, toward the end of the night we went to the front of the stage and jazz-salsa-danced our little hearts out :) we're very excited for next week too!

weekend time! well, in about 6 hours...

love/miss/namaste.

pretty peachy, i suppose

poor bos got sick. she's been up in the night with tummy problems and hasn't eaten food in a while. today she was acting very lethargic, so my dad popped into my apartment after lunch to check on her. he ended up taking her to the vet who discovered that she had a fever from some sort of virus. she got a shot and some meds and my dad says she's already prancing around their house. i shall have to pick her up soon. i don't like sleeping without her :(

she's a little doo-doo bird, as my boss likes to say. quite literally, this weekend she rolled around in something that was either excrement or dead - needless to say, she stank. here's my mom and me giving her a little puppy shower:

my little (or, not-so-little anymore) cousin, Emily, is in town for the week visiting from florida. she's 14: likes boys, the twilight series, and texting. so pretty much she's just like me, only 9 years younger ;) i got to bring her to the village on sunday night and she and my dad came and ate lunch with me today. i got to show her my godawful cubicle and a little around fossil town :) it's been nice hanging around with her, she's so sweet. we're all getting mani/pedis on saturday, so that will be loads of fun!

speaking of my godawful cubicle... these last 2 weeks have been downright insane. there's just always something to be done or a meeting to go to or an email to send. despite my cubicle being horrendous and my days being busy, i'm really lucky to have some great coworkers - friends - to hang around. it's completely understood that i think KH is the bomb - roommate, duh. then there's christy and i having our singing sessions throughout the day and constantly laughing. jen will come over and do a silly dance in our cube and have a chat (mostly about rob pattinson) :) and tara is such a great person to talk to, so insightful. our little 6-pack cube is pretty sweet...and we can always count on amber to pop some corn to share! aimee is absolutely wonderful too - she brought her daughter, piper, in for a bit at the end of the day while she had to finish up some things. the most precious little 3 year old ever! so beautiful, looks just like her mommy :)

she LOVES posing for pictures. we had a little photo shoot in the cubes. how can you resist a sweet little voice saying "take my picture" over and over?

kissy face.

i am in love with toy camera.

love/miss/namaste.

to your point...

i recently posted about how my trip to london and spain had given me the travel bug. now that my condition is super serious, i'm revisiting my original vacation plan from before the europe trip was a possibility: a mini US tour. whitney had said she'd totally come with me... but then she started making some trips to cali and i randomly bought a plane ticket to london, so that idea had to be put on hold. well...i've been back for over 2 weeks now, so it's time to start planning the next adventure:

see photo below. i'm thinking i need about 6 days to make this happen, which means it needs to happen around a national holiday (perhaps july 4th weekend or labor day weekend) so i'll only have to take 3ish days off.

stops include shreveport, jackson, birmingham, atlanta, NASHVILLE and little rock. and the open road. just call me sal paradise.

who's with me??

love/miss/namaste.

visitations

so many fun goings-on at the moment. last week was hellish at work, so a nice weekend with ivy was just what i needed :) my friend joshulyn rode down to houston with me, we talked most of the way and realized that we have so much in common. i really dig her. 

i just love being with ivy, she is so much fun and we always giggle non-stop. her family is so amazing too, they just make you feel so at home. i think my spanish improved significantly :) i feel so lucky to have her and everything around her in my life - i'm so drawn to her, she is literally dripping with inspiration and doesn't even have to try. (ok, figuratively, i know.) 

haley and i got to go with her to her first bridal gown fitting! i don't want to post anything too

 revealing, but here's a few tidbits for your viewing pleasure:

haley and i with our bridesmaid dresses - we both have to get them taken in a bit, but they are absolutely gorgeous! (thanks for not making us look like freakshows, ivy!)

this is Titi Sandra, we went to her house on Sunday for a little cookout - BUENO. 

i was going to include this fabulous photo of ivy, but i don't know if she would want it on the net for everyone to see before the wedding. it's this divine shot of just her hand on her hip (you can see her ring) in her wedding dress. you can't see the whole thing, it's only a tease - but i need bride approval, you understand.

last update, but not least, we have welcomed little miss Olivia Kate Johnson into the world! i was SO sad that i wasn't here for her birth, but i got to meet her on her second day of  life (yesterday):

mommy Lauren! 

look at that face. we're all in love.

aunt Laura :)

aunt bethany - photo sideways, my apologies

and there you have it, folks. quite the eventful weekend. it's going to be a beautiful summer, i can feel it.

love/miss/namaste.

gotta love that blogger

i had written the below post while i was in barcelona, but for some reason it never published. but low and behold, it saved to my drafts folder! now you can read my 2nd (and only other) vacation blog post and it doesn't have to be me trying to remember things after the trip is over. that post was written in the middle of all the action. 

sad story: since i have returned from vacation, i have become bitter. it's really depressing because i typically do not like to have a bad attitude, but i find myself just feeling pissed off. i loved the trip so much, it was so inspiring to be in a brand new place so different from my home. everything was lovely, it was like being in a dream. the people i met and the experiences i had over there really shook me up. i caught the travel bug, it's quite serious and i hope it's contagious - i'd love travel buddies.

but the whole reason why i'm bitter is my own fault honestly. i never studied abroad because i got too attached to Austin. i stuck with one major because that's how you graduate on time. i finished school on time because that's the responsible thing to do.  i frantically searched and landed a job right after college. literally - my first day at fossil was the monday after i graduated (on a saturday)! now that i've been working for a year, i realize all the things i WISH i could go back and do, for instance:

- double major in design in addition to merchandising. take more art / photography / graphic design / music appreciation courses.

- freaking study abroad. everywhere.

- take 2-6 months just to backpack all over europe after i graduated. it's really not that expensive if you're smart about it.

- do yoga and learn about the lifestyle - and live it.

-  once i did land a job, be smarter about money: actually contribute to my savings account and build an emergency fund.

- be cooler.

i hate the concept of regret, so i'm just going to say that the above is the advice i would give to a freshman in college. i'm still young, so who's to say i can't accomplish all that? there's a community college minutes from my apartment that offers all kinds of classes. i still have a job (thank you, jesus) and i can start being smarter with my money. and traveling. oh, how i will be traveling for the rest of my life...

shivonne, you're a freaking genious.

love/miss/namaste.