Marriage

     I just got home from Pittsburgh where I was in my 5th wedding as a bridesmaid. Always a bridesmaid never a....killmenow. I don't enjoy weddings. I smile, and cry when appropriate and I feel the love, but I do not enjoy them.  Maybe it's a little of my own bitterness for not being married, but after 5 weddings I have learned that I don't want a wedding. They are a lot of work and a lot of money and all that attention, i'll pass.
     For a long time I wasn't even sure I wanted to get married. It seems so boring (based off observations, obviously). Like what do you do? Watch TV together, surf the internet sitting next to each other?  These are all things i'd rather do with mom, who is way more fun than most of my friends.
Again, this is mostly likely said because I haven't met a guy that I am interested in that level of bored intimacy with yet. More on Pittsburgh later...it was fast and fun 72 hours.

With that being said I will be eloping.
Does eloping still count if it is pre-meditated?

Our Dear Neighbor

Our dear neighbor passed away this year. She had been sick at home, and then sick in the hospital for a few weeks. She was supposed to come home to hospice the morning she passed away. Her funeral was lighthearted and filled with love and laughter. She would have loved it. I wanted to share  this at the funeral but I was unable to.

       I have lived next door to Sumi and Wes my whole life. As neighbors we all share very similar Sumi stories. She was our very own Neighborhood Watch, filling us all in with all the latest neighborhood news. She was our homemade pomegranate jam and teriyaki sauce supplier. The caul-de-sac authority on when we should start planting our vegetable gardens and of course of very own seamstress.
       We share similar Sumi stories and we all have our own. I grew up taking leaves from Sumi and Wes's Mulberry tree for my silk worms. Rollerblading down their driveway thousands of times because they were the only ones in the caul-de-sac with a smooth driveway. When I was old enough to drive I would drive Sumi to doctor appointments and the craft store. When I lived in New York for a year I would occasionally send postcards home to my people. My parents, sister, grandma, and Sumi and Wes. Sumi was the only one to ever write back--AHEM mom! She was like a grandmother to me. My sister was Sumi's personal physical therapist- her words. And my mom was her weekly market companion so long as it wasn't too cold or raining.
    I think I can speak for all of us when I say that Sumi will be forever missed and our little caul-de-sac will never be the same.

Life

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

Robert Frost

Spring Break

This year for Spring Break mom, LuLu and I went to Pismo Beach for a few days. We stayed in a dog friendly hotel, went to the drive in movies, and hung out in San Luis Obispo. It was a lot of fun.

 LuLu in the back seat!

Our first stop was the SLO Botanical Garden

 The had this fun art installation called the Crow Bar, with hand blown glass crows and corn.

 The sunset from our hotel was great.

 Drive-In Movies! LuLu slept in the backseat the whole time!

 The view of The Pacific from our hotel room.

 Bubble Gum Alley in SLO

 LuLu waiting patiently for us while we finished lunch

 At the park LuLu wrapped herself around the post. Sillllly.

Chicago

The Chicago River

Fresh Snow

 I heart Kathy Griffin

Millennium Park

The Bean!

Marilyn Monroe Statue

The Art Institute of ChicagoIcicles! 

Chagall Stained Glass Windows

2012

"Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don't spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don't get stuck in the past, and don't try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven't yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life's path."

- Shauna Niequist

Oooooh

I really like this.

prettymaps (paris)

by: Aaron Straup Cope