Excitement

I am super excited to have just placed my first order with Rent the Runway for a wedding I have this month..this is what I chose..isn't it pretty?! It's by Badgley Mischka..retailed at $500, mine for the occasion for a mere $50.

It's like netflix for designer dresses..why couldn't I think of that?

Paradise

These are some pictures taken from the porch of my aunt and uncle's place in Barbados. Jealous? Me Too. Oh, no big deal just a beautiful rainbow over a crystal blue ocean with your morning coffee...

Don't be fooled..this is not a photoshop image..this place of perfection does exist and they get to call it home..

Only downside is they are also exposed to the occasional European vacationer..

But how easy it is to forget any negativity of the day when you get to sit down to good food, good wine, with good company and this...

This is how you might look if you were going back to paradise in a mere twelve days :)

Full on Gleeeek

I love gleeeeee. Last night this gave me chills..

and I could not be more excited for this next week..

FYI

wine and online shopping can be a deadly combination.

yes, there is a winner of ebay auctions but it is not a competition. It is okay to lose..in fact, it is imperative you lose most of the time.

don't wear clothes you like while cooking.

my chihuahua may or may not be bulimic.

...just a few things I learned so far this week.

It's Just a Number

Age is a funny thing. When we are young we long to be older so we can do the things adults get to do. Then when we finally hit the age where we get to do all the things we always dreamt of and what do we do? We long for the days of our responsibility free lives as children. We humans are very hard to please. Age really is just a number. Why do we obssess over it? I know plenty of young people that act like old ladies and plenty of old ladies that have more energy then most youngins.

My friends and I always joke about how old we are getting..we know that we are still young but life has changed a lot for us over the past few years; graduating college and entering the 'real world.' We have had to adapt a little and I guess we are still a little insecure about it.

This past week I was in South Carolina with my family. I was on the beach minding my own business when a cute hawaiian lifeguard came up and started talking to me. I knew he was younger then me but not by more then 2-3 years. I was bored on the beach by myself and he was interesting so we chatted. About 20 minutes into the conversation he asks how old I am..I say 24 and he looked like he had seen a ghost..he stumbled over a few words and then said "Well, I should be getting back to work." Ouch! I was depressed and feeling like an old maid for about an hour.. then I realized I was being ridiculous. I am not an old maid and I vowed to myself then and there that I would never be one. So, poo on you cute, hawaiian lifeguard but thanks for helping me realize a valuable life lesson; age doesn't define us..we define the age.

Rockstar

I've always been a fan of Melissa Etherdige's music. She's one of the good ones...soulful, magnetic, powerful are just a few words that come to mind when I think of her as an artist. I'll never forget the first time I saw her in concert. It was quite the experience. I was about 13 years old, an already awkward age for girls. My mom, cousin Kristi and I went to see her at Jones Beach. Lets say Jones Beach holds 8,000 people..12 of them were men. I have never seen so many lesbian couples in one place. They actually put "WO" in front of the mens room sign to allow for two womens rooms. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against the lesbians..love em..but when my mom and cousin started pretending to be a couple to fit in things got a little out of hand.

All awkwardness aside, she put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. She is the epitome of rock star. A bad ass. She actually sounds better in person then she does on her albums which is why I am psyched to see her again this july in NYC.

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

I always think about how I wish I would have started this blog while I was still in college. Oh, how I would love to have written down some of the memories from those years. I got to thinking lately about some of the things that I would have written about. There are so many stories but a few that stuck out were..

Sophmore year we lived in the "penthouse" of East hall. My friends surprised me with a cake for the big 20 ..as they were singing the fire alarm went off in the buiding..our faces dropped as we looked up to see the candles were directly under the smoke detector. We decided it would be smart to hide the cake and exit the building. We later overheard on the radio.. "yea, we got some birthday candles up here."

Halloween was always wild.. anything goes on halloween in college..whether it be our fallen angels, firefighters or cops..always made for a fun and interesting night.

The countless stories of trying to domesticate Gina; teaching her how to make canned soup, use the dishwasher, cut her meat etc. And trying to keep Colleen in one piece was always fun too, the girl fell about three times a week and broke two household items a month without fail.

When a bug would weasle its way into our house, somehow always in me and Gina's room, you would have thought we were being attacked by an axe murderer with the screams we let out. Nadayne always came to the rescue as she girlishly swatted at the critter in question. One time the critter was furry. We found him dead in the kitchen. As girls who cant go two hours without a snack or meal this was the longest amount of time we were ever not in the kitchen... It wasn't until a male recruit removed the mouse that we thought about going back in..still with slight hesitation..eww

Then there was the time we called the cops on our own party. It was an "anything but clothes party" one of our best until it got a little out of hand. Some people were seen fleeing the scene with backpacks. The next day we were warned by one of our neighbors that word on the block is that we are drug dealers. 6 girls living in house..coming and going at all hours of the day with big bags..having different guests visiting us.. totally not the normal behavior of college students.

Homemade dinners were the best. Did I mention we love to eat? We always cooked and ate like a family, not your typical college house but we loved it. We had a few staples that included pasta with vegetables, chicken burritos, chicken stir fry and always a salad. Then later when we got our second wind we would either have left overs, dino nuggets, mac and cheese or whatever was in the pantry to munch on.

Snowstorms were the best. Nothing quite like being snowed in with your best friends. As soon as we heard news of the approaching storm we would set up a plan of action that included runs to the grocery and liquor store. We would stock up as if we were going to be snowed in for days. Every once in awhile a storm would sneak up on us with no time to prepare and we literally would trek out in feet of snow, blizzard like condions..basically risking our lives to get the goods..sad? I call it determined. We are women who know what we want. :)

We also had our own languages. Yea, weird. Really the only entertainment we needed was each other. Too bad using the video feature on our cameras wasn't really the thing to do until second semester of senior year. I miss laughing as much as I did everyday. As the old saying goes all good things must come to an end. Like every other phase in life, college is a fleeting time and I am thankful that I had the priviledge to experience it. I am also thankful that I still have those same best friends and every so often we still make it a point to make dinner together, have sleep overs, talk in our languages and reminisce about just how good we had it.