Category Archives: Love a la Carte

Brightening Up the Darkness

Things that brighten up even the darkest day of the year:

The Day I Saw Van Gogh’s Genius In A New Light, a beautiful post about an art installation showing how colors appear differently to different people ♥ Keys and Codes Remix EP from Death Cab for Cutie ♥ working on creative projects at work ♥ great friends who I can lean on when I’m down ♥ Elf ♥ the opportunity to learn a lot in a new field ♥ uniball Vision pens ♥ fairy lights ♥ really fuzzy socks ♥ dirty chais ♥ The Glitch Mob ♥ Murad’s Pomegranate Lip Protector ♥ warm and comfortable knit scarves ♥ SnagIt ♥ going to visit my parents for Christmas ♥ the wag of dog tails ♥ reading friends’ lists of gratitude and thanks ♥ someone to drive me to the airport at a ridiculously early hour ♥ getting away for a few days ♥ discussions about Doctor Who ♥ being recognized by my boss for working hard ♥

What’s brightening your day?

Thanksgiving & Gratitude

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Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude and I am full of it. I am so grateful for where I am in my life right now and for all the little things that help me get through each day. Following are lots of awesome things that make my days just a little brighter.

♥ Iron Horse ♥ peppermint mochas ♥ gchat ♥ a 5k day ♥ being nicknamed “Daria” by my coworkers ♥ Christmas music & movies (I must be in the spirit of the season already!) ♥ ♥ ♥ Thanksgiving right around the corner (my favorite holiday) ♥ homemade banana bread brought in by a coworker ♥ NaNoWriMo pep talks from published authors ♥ these Pantone Christmas tree ornaments ♥ Bing Crosby’s voice ♥ being grateful for pretty much everything (a place to live, good friends, family, a great church, enough food on the table) ♥ participating in an awesome spiritual swap community ♥ giving back ♥ getting a hand-written letter from my sweetheart who has been in basic training for the last 4 weeks ♥ getting out early on the day before Thanksgiving ♥ Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Green Tea (which tastes like the holidays in a cup) ♥

*image credit: lennie hanazawa

A Very Sweet Bowl of Cherries

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Here are just some of the things that are making my life a very sweet bowl of cherries:

♥ VLC ♥ Imelda May‘s new album, Mayhem ♥ new lenses for my glasses ♥ lynda.com ♥ my new 10-pound weights ♥ a clean and clutter-free desk ♥ homemade simple syrup for my iced coffee ♥ (free) Goodies from FontFont ♥ Nubby Twiglet’s Organization Methods: Tips and Tricks from a Virgo or How To Organize ALL THE THINGS (as a Virgo who would LOVE to be this organized, I had to recommend it!) ♥ Kate Spade’s simple, fun, and colorful Wedding Belles collection ♥ downloading albums from bandcamp ♥ actual cherries ♥ music reviews in BUST magazine ♥ road trips ♥ Ben & Jerry’s Red Velvet Cake ice cream ♥ Operation Sparkle Wedding which will support two great friends in having a legal fairy tale wedding in upstate New York through purchases of wonderful, magical items like Glamourkins, stories, and beautiful decorative wearable fabric flowers ♥ the Body Shop’s Strawberry Body Butter ♥ looking through old journals ♥ cupcakes ♥ the kindness of friends and strangers alike ♥ listening to old mix CDs and rediscovering who I was at different points in my life ♥ hugs ♥ Trader Joe’s ♥ driving the back roads of Virginia ♥ Wunderlist app for iPhone and the idea from a friend of taking a screen shot of my to do list and using it as my screensaver ♥ great interviews ♥ new possibilities on the horizon ♥ being told that my creativity is one of my best virtues and that I have excellent writing skills ♥ PG Tips with sugar and cream ♥ opening all the windows in the house ♥ being blessed by a family of deer in the back yard ♥ feeling like I’m in just the right place ♥ being visited by friends from faraway places in my dreams ♥ the smell of autumn in the air ♥ cards by Papyrus ♥ receiving handwritten letters ♥

What’s in your bowl of cherries?

A Love List

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Things I am loving right now:

♥ homemade sourdough pancakes ♥ writing over 1000 words of fiction in the novel I’ve had major writer’s block on ♥ spending the morning at the beach ♥ Red Sox on the radio ♥ Bon Appetit’s Summer Cooking Manifesto ♥ my brother’s newly-announced engagement to a lovely girl from Indonesia (where my brother is currently living and working) ♥ chocolate ice cream ♥ $3.00 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that actually taste great ♥ cold-brewed iced coffee ♥ really hearty belly laughs ♥ talking forever on the phone with good friends ♥ fandom collisions ♥ Robot Pony (an enchanting short story) from Madeline Claire Franklin ♥ dreaming of old friends and faraway places ♥ the Bedford Diaries ♥ Spotify ♥ homemade popcorn ♥ Boyce Avenue’s cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep ♥ anything cold to battle the heat of the summer ♥ starting a new blog with my mom about our adventures cooking our way through our family (and friends) cookbook – Stories: Savory and Sweet ♥ New England Coffee’s Blueberry Cobbler coffee (best iced!) ♥ rewatching Grey’s Anatomy S2 and the soundtrack to it ♥ rain ♥ Hair Raizers Salon ♥ being able to support my friends by buying their books on Smashwords ♥ a dog in my lap while I surf the web ♥

What are you loving right now?

Great Things and Gratefulness

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A list of great things and things I’m grateful for:

♥ sunny days ♥ Great Big Sea ♥ learning my way around a new part of the country ♥ Dirty Gold’s EP – Roar (pretty much obsessed – I play it at least once a day) ♥ Bodoni font face ♥ researching best practices for small businesses ♥ all the little things we usually take for granted (fresh water and food, a roof over my head) ♥ my awesome friends made through social media ♥ reading awesome material, like the Dark Wife (a revisionist retelling of the myth of Persephone), the Adventures in Manifesting course materials, and Danielle LaPorte’s Spark Kit (affiliate link) ♥ Ghostly International ♥ Gala Darling’s Body Pressure in the Blogosphere: Bloggers Speak Up ♥ updating, editing, and reworking our family cookbook ♥ registering domain names ♥ big sunglasses ♥ getting out the first 500 words of fiction in what seems like forever ♥ large, dangly earrings ♥ Chocolat ♥ 30 Rock ♥ gin & tonic ♥ Google+ ♥ learning PHP coding language while finding my way around the back end of WordPress (Thanks, Smashing WordPress!) ♥ getting up with the sun ♥ looking at pictures that remind me of great times with great friends ♥ cups of coffee in every shape, size, and variation ♥

Love A La Carte

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Here is a list of great things in my life right now:

♥ Tumtaster ♥ Jenn Grant’s Honeymoon Punch ♥ homemade guacamole ♥ key limes & seltzer water ♥ my first ever style consultation ♥ rewatching Season 1 of Grey’s Anatomy ♥ fresh, ripe pineapple ♥ lipstick in all of its many shades ♥ the Paper Source Colorscope (the color that jumped at me? FUCHSIA) ♥ Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads ♥ Paul Simon ♥ Stereogum ♥ Fringe ♥ air conditioning ♥ orange juice and echinacea ♥ my iPhone and it’s many apps (like WordPress, which I am using right now) ♥ a world of possibilities ♥ a color-coordinated organized closet ♥ new Nine West wedges and heels ♥ bright orange ♥ sunset beach walks ♥ flip-flops ♥ phone calls, emails, gchats, and facebook chats with friends far away and dear to my heart ♥ a meeting with a really classy lady this week ♥ Young Winos of DC facebook group ♥ #writechat ♥ my Twitter community ♥ a phone call with my brother who lives on the other side of the globe ♥ figuring out how to finally fix my hookah ♥ Rapportive ♥ The Blue Key Campaign ♥ getting a signed copy of The Dark Wife in the mail! ♥

My life is full of happy things lately and I could not be more grateful. Thank you to everyone for making my life so full and lovely.

Protection, Power, Healing, and Wisdom

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♥ Almond Cookie Tea from the Spice and Tea Exchange in Alexandria, Virginia ♥ Neil Gaiman writing for Doctor Who ♥ having a pool in the back yard ♥ working on a tan ♥ finding fantastic friends on facebook ♥ wearing jewelry every day ♥ a new blog layout ♥ having a place for everything and everything in its place ♥ having my computer set up again ♥ Elysian Fields ♥ sun and rain and warm weather ♥ pinks & purples ♥ The Gargoyle Cupcake perfume oil from the Misery/Love Co. ♥ “art rarely happens accidentally“ ♥ dialectical behavioral therapy, positive psychology, meditation and manifesting ♥ phone calls with good friends ♥ watching Iron Man with Dad ♥ having a real life fairy godmother gift me a great present from a great writer! ♥ amethyst for protection, power, wisdom and healing ♥ cuddling with a fluffy puppy ♥ hand-writing letters with pink pens ♥ exotic blooms ♥ iced coffee ♥ making handmade goods ♥ painting and sketching again ♥ Haley Reinhart singing Rhiannon on American Idol ♥ sewing ♥ watching a good friend put together a fantastic new website ♥ my iPhone camera ♥ Joe’s Eats & Sweets Key Lime Cheesecake ice cream ♥ The Sea Hagg ♥ having a few minutes completely to myself ♥ the azure blue of the Gulf ♥ Sharpie pens ♥