a little holiday cheer

Here's a bitty little tree I made for Andrew & me. 

All of the ornaments came from Target! There are little mushrooms and music notes everywhere. 

It now has a few more presents taking up space, but that's not 

such as bad problem to have,

is it? :)

How perfect is this? I saw it at Barnes & Noble and as soon as I saw the red velvets 

on the cover, I was sold. I'm a little over the moon for 

red velvet anything. 

I can't wait for him to open his gifts! It's going to be great. 

My friends know me so well!

And a message for everyone before Christmas:

Thank you for reading. You all are fantastic and give me motivation to keep posting. I love

each one of you. I hope you have the merriest holiday possible!

xoxo

iPhone diary- weekend edition

 

this weekend was sure a busy one. 

 

Andrew's band played a mini-show, where I met this darling little five year old (above.) She officially declared me as her best friend.

 

Favorite season is in full swing.

 

 

On Sunday, we trekked a few hours westward for his neice's birthday party. (Also: you see that giant stuffed rabbit staring menacingly at me from the back seat? Some bunny is watching you...)

 

 

Hanging with the family. I'm clutching a waterbottle because it was actually warmer than the air outside. It's using your resources.

 

 

And THIS, my friends, is the world's hottest pepper. Named Bhut Jolokia, aka "The Ghost Chile," it is a native of India and has been officially deemed the world's hottest pepper by the Guinness Book of World Records. Andrew's brother came across some and let us take one home. We've watched many YouTube videos to see the reactions, and let me tell you, they are scary. Terrifying, even. But we tasted small, microscopic slivers of the skin and you FEEL it! Apparently, the burn intensifies as time goes on, and lasts for over an hour. We're going to try big-boy bites soon. I'll provide you with plenty of documentation of the hilarity (and horror) when Whitney & Andrew take the ghost chile challenge!

 

Are we insane?

 

Probably.

iPhone diary

hello! here is a little hodge-podge of the happenings around here from the past week...

above: the mister & I trekked to Asheville, North Carolina last weekend.

North Carolina in autumn.

if you ever find yourself in this city, PLEASE stop by Laughing Seed on Wall Street.

I dove into some vegan pakoras.

yum.

above: Andrew makes a ridiculous pesto pizza. so I let him to the hard stuff (like, you know, cooking)

while I played with dipkin on the floor.

can you love a hamster? because I sure do.

above: there is nearly nothing better than my best friend, Janie, coming home. imagine my surprise, upon pulling into her driveway, to see a giant purple cow (below).  

 

I've grown really attached to the new house guest.

above: he's a peach.

and last but not least, from my sister-in-law's instagram, my youngest nephew starring in the cutest

fall photo you will see all season...

Baby Q, you are a doll!

au revoir!

daytrippers

hello, darlings! this Friday, Derek and I decided to take the day off and get out of here for a while. we traveled to Asheville, North Carolina. For the international readers, Asheville is a city about an hour away that I try to visit at least once a month. It is undoubtedly one of the most unique cities you'll find, hence, why it feels like home to me. My dream is to relocate there as soon as possible-but that's another story for another day!

I'm not one for taking pictures, especially in a city where I visit frequently. but for blogging purposes, I decided to snap a few to remember the journey and to post for you all to see!

We started with a trip to Urban Outfitters (swoon). I picked out my Valentine's Day present!

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I also got a new iPhone cover. I think it's pretty cute...

Whenever we go, we try to eat somewhere new. This trip, we decided to try Bier Garten. 



Have you ever heard of the Chocolate Fetish? More or less, it's heaven on earth.

Trouble.

Bigger trouble. 

Next door is my favorite art supplies store in the world. We had fun testing out the water color crayons. 

Wall Street-my absolute favorite strip of city land. Everything about this place is charming; all of the buildings are dissimilar, the sidewalks are cobblestone, there's a giant iron on one side of the street and a 12 1/2 Wall Street exists!

Right before you come up to Lexington Avenue, there's an alleyway with fantastic outdoor artwork. 

We camped out in World Coffee Cafe on Battery Park Avenue for a good hour for sketching, lattes, and a man telling everyone "it will never be like 1971 again!" Heard that. 

He he. It looks like he's admiring the drawing. 

I love street music. Let me reiterate: I LOVE IT, and these guys only added fuel to my fire. They go by "Blind Chocolate and the Meik Sheik." They were amazing!

But all good things must come to an end, and so did our amazing day away. But not before we stopped to watch the sunset over the mountains on the way home. 

Pit stop with a lollipop

Not only was this a wonderful escape, it also plays into the happiness project: love. Remember to spend time with the ones you love the most, friends.

Happy belated Valentine's Day! 

love, love me do: the happiness project continues

Happy February, friends! Our first month down in 2011. Let's give ourselves a round of applause!

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Now, as you may remember, my happiness project is my year long endeavor to seek greater happiness by tackling certain aspects of life each month. In January, I tackled vitality in an effort to be a more energetic person. I'm still working on this one, but after a month of a more regular sleep cycle, eating better, and exercising more, I feel so much better. I'll continue this.

So, now for February's project! When I think of February, I immediately think of Valentine's Day...icky, right? And so terribly cliché, not to mention overrated. But this "holiday" did give me inspiration for my newest area of happiness- love. Go ahead, relish in the cheesiness of it all.

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This obviously means the relationship aspect of love, but in addition, I'm going to focus on all of the people I truly love and work on showing them how much they mean to me. This entails giving proofs of love, remembering important things, like birthdays, making phone calls and having lunch dates with those I haven't seen in a while...anything possible to show the ones I love how much I really do love them.