diwali

tonight p and i joined some of my favorite folks (deepa, my yoga client, and her sweet family) for the diwali celebration at the indian restaurant near our house - DELICIOUSNESS! 

Deepavali, or Diwali, is a major Indian holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.

i certainly hope that the good in me is victorious over the evil.
but i know the eyes won out over the stomach.

here's what i looked like headed out to the restaurant:

here's what i look like now:

(thanks to the person on flickr whom i borrowed this photo from!)

oh well, i had a nice run as a slim and attractive human. now excuse me as i go put on pants with an elastic waist.

stop! story time!

My-my-my-my stories hit me so hard makes me say Oh my Lord
Thank you for blessing me with a mind to tell two stupid stories
It feels good when you know you're down
A superdope homegirl from the 'Hamtown
And I'm known as such
And this is a blog uh u can't touch

as I took my pup out for a bathroom break at 5:15am my still-asleep mind wandered to both mc hammer's "can't touch this" and two things I wanted to blog about but hadn't gotten around to yet... thus, the above maddness was born. isn't the mind (or maybe just mine) so weird in that in-between state...

it's not my forte but I'll try to make this short:

the first thing was a very odd encounter p and i had at dinner the other night. he had a wine tasting at a very nice restaurant and as a thank you they always give him a free meal afterwards - he's always a little sad that he's left sitting at the bar eating a wonderful meal all by himself and i'm always jealous that i am home alone eating something far less gourmet by myself. so when my evening client cancelled i decided i'd run home and get all dressed up and go meet him for dinner at the restaurant :) yay! well, i was going to be pressed for time and didn't want him to order without me or somehow miss him altogether so i ran home and threw on something i knew i would like to wear and something i know he has said he likes too. this (from this post):



but i added some dark, patterned tights and a cute coat.
i had to park about a block and a half away because i forgot they share a valet with the restaurant next door and i could use it. i tried to call p to come and walk me from my car to the restaurant because i didn't want to walk alone but he was wrapping up his talk with the owner/chef/manager and was unreachable... so i walked alone and tried to appear confident and tough. well apparently my strategy of looking non-muggable (by keeping my head up and staring people in the eye as they drove and walked by) paired with my short skirt and heels, gave the wrong impression to a certain fellow who slowed down as he drove past me to stare. i noted it but was in sight and ear-shot of the valet dudes (duh, valet!) by then so i felt secure.
i surprised p and we sat down at the bar and ordered drinks and apps and a few minutes later THE STARING DUDE breezes in and sits down on the stool next to me so i'm sandwiched between him & p! he was right there so i couldn't tell p about him staring and at that point i didn't want to be presumptuous. he ordered a drink and i just kept turning my back to him and talking to p (all the while giving physical clues we were together - touching and talking super close and looking lovey, etc) but the dude just kept staring!
finally he engages my very congenial boyfriend in conversation about the restaurant and they begin talking over me which (he thinks) gives him a good reason to lean over me and get closer - uncool. so i start scooting close to p and giving crazy eyes - he doesn't get it at all and keeps on chatting away! THEN, the conversataion goes something like this:

dude (d): so are you guys on a first date?
us: no.
d: oh so you're together, together.
us: yes!
d: like for how long?
p: headed towards 4 years now.
d: you aren't married yet?
p: not yet.
d: but you get along? you gonna stay together? you aren't thinking about splitting up at all?
us: no!
d: oh..... (to p's face) you know she's too hot for you right?
*here's where my bf's unbelievable niceness shines through and he doesn't get mad at all he just answers "oh, yeah, i know!"*
d: alright, as long as you know. you better hold onto her cause if you don't someone else will.

and he pays his tab and leaves.
whoa.
i explained that i thought he was the guy staring at me as he drove by and we talked about how freaky that whole encounter was and i made p go get my car for me while i waited for him inside until he pulled up right to the front door.

oh, and the dude had on a WEDDING RING! ugh.

now the second thing is just an aside, not a story and not at all freaky.
in fact, it's more of an FYI. this is my new fall uniform and i will be wearing it every stinkin' day from here on out. it is totally comfortable and i get told i'm cute a lot when i wear it so that's it.
outfit posts will be a bit repetitive from here on out ;)



ps - you like my halloween decorations? what are you gonna be?!

hodgepodge!

the title of this post is one of my favorite words and one of my favorite things! 

i also like the word "smattering". 

this post is to make up for all of the posts i've missed. i would space them out, but what's the fun in that?! working from most ancient to most recent:

the weekend before my bestie's wedding we all got up early on Saturday morning to join her and her mom (who is a breast cancer survivor) for race for the cure. it was alot of fun and very inspiring. our group included a seven year old (the flower girl), her mom (flower girl's not the bride's) who had just given birth a very few weeks ago, and a pregnant bridesmaid! needless to say we were not moving at a lightning quick pace. in fact, for a while we were technically behind the race trailing the ambulance. this was our view from the back of the race:

click to enlarge and see the mad sea of people in front of us

check out this AWESOME guy

he was a trooper! he seemed to be there walking by himself and as far as we know, he finished the race last... but by god he finished! this man is a hero in my books. fo' sure! 

when i said i didn't take any photos of the wedding day, i guess i lied cause here are two i came across on my camera! the first is when "lou" arrived at the venue in all her glory and the second is just a shot of the setting before folks arrived. 

if she looks stressed it's because she was - we were running late and her wedding coordinator (in black) started giving her the run-down the second she walked in the door.

and for some unbelievable reason today was a super busy but magical day. i woke up to P saying "do you know it's 7:40"... i'm supposed to teach my first class of the day at 8am... and it takes me 15 mins to get there if traffic is good. normally that would've been the start to a hectic and non-awesome day, but for some reason i got ready REALLY quick and was only 5 mins late and felt all energized (not stressed) by the mad rush. i got to teach some of my favorite clients today - it was like a "best of" compilation of folks - and then THE MOST MAGICAL THING HAPPENED!!! i saw AND SPOKE TO my animal spirit guide - a deer! every time i see one i get all giddy and squeal really really high inside my mind. 

as i was driving to my client's house i saw this beauty standing on the side of the road:

it stood there long enough for me to tell it *multiple* times how pretty it was and to dig my camera out of my purse to take a few photos! i love deer!

other things (insignificant) that added to my happiness today were the weather feeling all crisp and autumn-like so that i got to wear my faux fur vest and drinking a delicious and soul warming tall sugar-free vanilla soy latte!

do not ask me what i'm doing here - i don't even know!

and finally, one seemingly insignificant thing that has been making my world SIGNIFICANTLY better every day since we moved into the new place:

P'S BEEN MAKING THE BED 

(like, every day! i kid you not!)

it's such an enormous thing to walk and to listen.

ah, the wedding (my bestie's) was amazing! gorgeous and touching and every bit as lovely as she is. and as an added bonus, being around all that love has grown mine for my precious P even more. we've been like school-kids lately... all googly eyed and sweet! i know it's a bit personal but i wanted to share a great moment we had where we were talking about the music for the ceremony and he shared with me what he would like for our "first dance" song to be:

My Favorite Chords - The Weakerthans


They're tearing up streets again.
They're building a new hotel.
The Mayor's out killing kids to keep taxes down,
and me and my anger sit folding a paper bird,
letting the curtains turn to beating wings.
Wish I had a socket-set to dismantle this morning.
And just one pair of clean socks.
And a photo of you.
When you get off work tonight,
meet me at the construction site,
and we'll write some notes to tape to the heavy machines,
like "We hope they treat you well. Hope you don't work too hard.
We hope you get to be happy sometimes."
Bring your swiss-army knife, and a bottle of something,
and I'll bring some spraypaint and a new deck of cards.
Hey I found the safest place to keep all our tenderness.
Keep all our bad ideas. Keep all our hope.
It's here in the smallest bones, the feet and the inner-ear.
It's such an enormous thing to walk and to listen.
I'd like to fall asleep to the beat of you breathing
in a room near a truckstop on a highway somewhere.
You are a radio. You are an open door.
I am a faulty string of blue christmas lights.
You swim through frequencies.
You let that stranger in, as I'm blinking off and on and off again.
We've got a lot of time.
Or maybe we don't, but I'd like to think so, so let me pretend.
These are my favourite chords.
I know you like them too.
When I get a new guitar, you can have this one and sing me a lullaby.
Sing me the alphabet.
Sing me a story I haven't heard yet.

if you don't know it you should download it PRONTO because to hear it sung is like wrapping yourself in pure emotion.

i know i should be posting some photos for you all but here's a shocker - i didn't take a SINGLE ONE! me, with the BFA in photography! p and i have had many discussions about this topic and here's the conclusion we both seem to have come to time and again recently: if you are taking photos of the moment, you aren't IN the moment. and for my "lou", i wanted to be present for each and every second of that day and it was worth it.
here's a compromise - i'll either re-create the look for you guys (sans amazing make-up done by a professional) and or i'll get a hold of someone else's photos asap and post some of them :)

more posts later - i'm back on track (i think!) for a while :)

record room

ta-da! 

here is the room previously mentioned (supposed to be a dining room) that was a brick color and now is BRILLIANT (no-name) ORANGE - my favorite color in the known spectrum!
i decided to make it a record room for my love whose record collection was given NO respect in our old place and who really needs a spot in our home that feels like it's "his" since everything else happens to be mine - i mean, of course i get the huge closet while he gets the dinky one... have you seen my shoe collection?! eventually it will have all stark white furniture with a white shag rug and throw pillows to laze about and listen to music. 

anyhoo, i'm not ready to do the full room reveal but here's a snippet - and my awesome thrift store headphones that make me feel like miss penny lane in almost famous :)

also featured are the boots my ellie surprised me with from the thrift! yay - free boots!

back in the good ole days

this is back when i wasn't feeling like the death flu had taken up residence in my lungs; only like i had a cold (aka - this past weekend at the beach for my BF's weekend o' fun before getting hitched)

i am wearing my esther williams inspired swimsuit that i made myself but i am waiting to see if "lou" has a non-embarassing pic of me in it... doubtful but stay tuned. 

while searching for a photo of the "million dollar mermaid" i came across this and need it pronto!

more blogging when un-sick - i pinky promise!

the never ending move

i've worked myself to sickness with this move and we are not even CLOSE to done! here's the deal: we are only moving like two blocks down from where we used to live and therefore we didn't rent a truck and attempt to do the whole sha-bang in just a day... bad idea - it takes forever and wears you out and i would strongly suggest just biting the bullet for one very long and tiring day or weekend instead of creating moving misery for yourself for weeks on end - just a suggestion. instead, we decided to pay double rent for the month of october and do it leisurely.... um, yeah, you guys probably don't really know the extent to which i am unable to restrain myself from doing things leisurely!
yes, i am a yoga instructor and i practice peace and try to live by it but by god i am also a human - and a taurus (bull) at that! i am stubborn and impatient and want things done right and right now. i'm terrible!
anyhoo, we've been taking loads of stuff in our cars over the past week and a half and are finally sleeping at the new place - hooray! i can already tell we are going to LOVE IT! it just feels better. i promise that soon i will do a big reveal but for now we'll start from the beginning and see how it goes from here:

totally unflattering photo of me squinting into the sun sans makeup on one of my many trips to home depot for paint 

carlos, the paint guy, knows me by name and surely hates the sight of me by now

the brick color covering the living room & dining room that simply had to GO

this is a more accurate depiction of the color - i need excitement, not blandness in my home

here is the bathroom before i began painting it "mai thai" red by ralph lauren

lois made the trip too!

so i have this really bad habit of choosing paint colors because of their name... always gets me into trouble. well, the dining room is now our lounge/record room/office and the paint color has no name because the original one i chose was called "kumquat" (ha! cracks me up!) but it was too yellow-y so i took it back to carlos at home depot and tried to deepen it to my new color choice of "aurora orange" (in memory of our friend aurora) but the formulas weren't compatible so now i have a totally excellent but no-name orange in there. i think i'll call it "miranda orange" though... it's a long story and has to do with SATC and my best friend.
then i chose a lovely lavender for the living room but i can't remember the name now... only that i changed my mind and ended up with "dutchess satin" by ralph lauren largely because i can't wait to see the dutchess when it comes out oct.10th! it's going to be so visually decadent and grand!
finally, as mentioned above, i chose an awesome true red called "mai thai" for the bath because man, mai thais are good! and really, i want to have one in the bath with me tonight :)
ok enough boring stories... i'm beginning to sound like the bit on the soup called "cool story jeopardy contestant... that's bad.

in-progess shots coming soon! i'm off to the beach for the weekend for my bestie's bachellorette party - whooo-hoo! 

glad to be back though - i've missed you guys SO MUCH! xoxox!