hi hi hi.
we're off to celebrate memorial day here in d.c.
but i just wanted to say quick hello and wish you all a happy memorial day!
xoxo
pinwheel love.
late last night, josh helped me make what felt like a gazillion pinwheels for one of the dance classes i teach. i am particularly grateful because i know he very well could have just watched that movie he wanted to watch, or have gone to the gym like he usually does, or read his book on the bed beside me as i made the pinwheels. but no, he stepped in on his own to help, sawing and cutting and glueing and pinning for many hours. it was something so simple (and to be honest, not out of character for him at all) but still, it meant a lot and i am thankful.
next time he wants to drive with the convertible top down on the highway, or asks me to go with him to an alumni bbq, or needs a shirt ironed with extra extra starch, i am his girl.
candi's candies.
oh my. how did i not know about this place sooner?
salt water taffy lovers (or any candy lovers for that matter),
there is a place in oldtown where there are buckets of taffy.
BUCKETS i tell you.
we stopped by candi's candies with my sisters
on saturday afternoon and stocked up on our salt water taffy supply.
it's been a good past couple of days.
cause we're on a sugar high.
oh yeah.
from 7 weeks to 7 months.
in a few short days, kingsley will be 7 months old.
HOW does he already look like a cranky old man?
and he's not even full grown!
i thought you might like to reminisce with me for a minute
and look back on when he was just 7 weeks old....
this video was taken the day after we drove
all the way to ohio to pick him up.
{kingsley, 7 weeks old, playing with a pigs ear from the pet store}
he was pretty cute back then, huh.
we're still smitten today.
we've never met an animal
with so much personality.
seriously. we laugh all day long at him.
he certainly does NOT live up to the
"bulldogs are lazy and just sleep all day" myth.
nope. i think our friends the eyre's put it best
when they said "is he on crack?"
he is one crazy fun pup.
can't wait to see what he'll do next!
giveaway winner!
hello, hello!
sorry i am just now getting around
to announcing our giveaway winner!
the past few days have been a little crazy.
here she is:
congrats! please email me your contact info!
naomi.megan@gmail.com
have a sweet weekend everyone!
my two favorite people.
i guess kingsley isn't a person, but you know what i mean.
p.s. can you believe how big kingsley has gotten?
what happened to that 7lb pile of wrinkles?
food.
here's the thing. i LOVE food.
but i really don't like cooking.
i pretend i do sometimes.... because i feel like i'm supposed to.
but honestly, if it doesn't have less than 5 ingredients
or i can't throw it all in the crock pot, i don't cook it.
also, i like a lot of crappy food and i eat a lot of crappy food too.
i used to be embarrassed by this, but i just don't care anymore.
i like pop tarts and oreos a whole lot...
and i've stopped hiding them shamefully under the vegetables
in my grocery cart.
so yes, i guess i have a crush on processed foods.
however, i've taken on a new love for food blogs.
like, the good kind of food blogs.
with real recipes and healthy meals and all of it...
they have inspired me.
and i want to eat better. and cook more. and not let things go bad in my fridge.
also, it's about time i actually use that kitchen-aid
for something other than baking chocolate chip cookies.
i guess falling in love with a few food blogs is a start...right?
the food and recipe blogs that have changed me....
do you have any favorites? what about favorite recipes? wanna share?
xoxo
image via seven spoons.
frozen yogurt at bedtime.
it's been cold and rainy in d.c. the past few days. not much has been happening around here. i kind of prefer it this way. we've been spending lots of time at home together which i love. i also love an early bedtime. so life is good.
oddly enough, regardless of less stress and more sleep, the bags under my eyes have doubled in size. there is no hiding them. also, kingsley got electrocuted this morning by chewing on a plugged in cord. (he is fine. it wasn't serious. although we're still trying to figure out how he moved a 40lb vintage suitcase we'd strategically placed to block the outlet to prevent this kind of thing from happening. i guess he's smart in some ways.)
we've been popping lots of popcorn over the stove at night and catching up on all our favorite TV shows as we fall asleep. (we're fans of castle, 30 rock, and lost at our house. i am also a fan of V but josh doesn't like that show very much).
last night we decided we should go do something before bed regardless of the rain, so we hurried over to fro.zen.yo. for a quick treat before bedtime. i like that it's self serve so you can pile on the toppings instead of being served 3 raspberries or 4 tiny gummy bears on top of your frozen yogurt. self serve. my kind of place!
and i love josh's face in this photo. it is classic.the end.
rockstar giveaway!
today we have a giveaway for you by our sponsor gaby burger designs!
gaby is offering a pair of handmade earrings which are made of a gold plated leaf that hangs from a gold plated teardrop wrapped in sterling silver beads.
to enter, please visit gaby burger designs and leave a comment below! the winner will be picked randomly friday, may 21st!
gaby is also offering a 15% off discount to all rockstar diaries readers through may 25th. just mention "rockstars" at checkout!
good luck!
weekend recap.
this past weekend was quite lovely.
a few things we enjoyed (in no particular order)...
walks around capitol hill.
scout camp-out for josh.
iron man 2 with friends.
eastern market.
church.
puppy play dates in the park.
sushi take-out.
bright yellow tights.
homemade pierogi from mom.
saturday afternoon naps.
a few things we could have done without...
getting pulled over and getting a ticket.
birthday dinner plans with friends cancelled last minute.
kingsley's sudden decision to forget he's potty trained.
running out of mom's homemade pierogi.
all the tears that were had in my primary class sunday. (fail.)
but still, i like to dwell on the positive.
it could have been much worse.
how was your weekend?
hope it was awesome.
Kingsley meets a cat on East Capitol Street.
we must say, it was one brave and sweet cat
for not running away from our little monster.
naomi's guide to making a bad day good!
i don't like offering advice or words of wisdom to others because i sure don't have a lot of things in life figured out. but i did discover one great method for turning a not so great day around that i'd like to share if you are interested...
if you're ever having a particularly bad day (i've had quite a few this past week), here is my simple solution to making everything better:
1. stop everything you are doing and go find your favorite person in the world and 2. together, find yourselves a street vendor lunch truck (for best results, make sure it's DC's Fojol Brothers) and sit yourself down on one of their blankets from merlindia and have yourself a curry lunch (and mango lassipop for dessert.)
i mean, if lunch at a street truck with your favorite person doesn't turn your frown upside down, at least the mustaches the fojol brothers sport will. right? (we love these guys. and plan to stalk their food truck all summer long.)
p.s. also, in my opinion, wearing bright colors can turn your day around too. (see yellow pants in photo as example). maybe this explains why i am always trying to find a new bright color of lipstick to wear.
p.p.s. my favorite person in the world is unfortunately not photographed in this post. but i'm pretty sure his name starts with an H and ends in usband.
oreo ice cream.
i'm not sure how we first happened upon sweet things ice cream shoppe in downtown lexington virginia last fall, but we have been back many times since. they have the most incredible homemade oreo ice cream we have ever tasted.... among other awesome flavors. last weekend i tried the butter pecan and it was also amazing.
if you are ever in lexington virginia, you should grab yourself a scoop.
"i am not a robot"
thank you to my friend julie, for introducing me to marina and the diamonds.
i love this song. and this video.
word.
hahahahaha. meg informed me that my face was on the cover of the new york post today. i have absolutely nothing to do with the story for the post, but the photo is from a shoot josh and i did with nicole a few years ago for rubberball. i thought it was a funny sighting. how random.
thank you, carolyn, for snapping this picture.
it made me laugh.
little bulldog monster.
while we like to think kingsley is the most amazing dog in the entire world and can do no wrong, we know that like most things in life, he does have his moments.
today i came home to a new sofa arrangement. i like to think he was just trying to surprise me by rearranging the sofa cushions and i got home before he had finished. you know, an interior designer dog by heart.
oh kingsley, you are a little monster. but a cute one, for sure.
todos santos, mexico
a few photos of lovely todos santos.
we spent an afternoon exploring the area
while we were in cabo san lucas last month.
kingsley's napping plan.
"i'm so tired. if i sneak over here to nap,
maybe no one will see me or bother me."
"i like sleeping sitting up.
but holding my heavy bulldog head up is so hard..."
"...maybe if i rest it right here...."
"ugh. that didn't work."
"alright. i'll just lay down like the humans do. good night."
blue ridge parkway picnic with the family.
since my dad had to be in nyc for work this week, he made a quick stop to d.c. over the weekend for a visit! we picked him up at the airport on saturday and then drove down to southern virginia to grab the twins and went on a little picnic up the beautiful blue ridge parkway. we missed mom, hannah and isaac, a lot. family picnics aren't the same without them (mom, we miss the way you make grinders. we were lost without you.) but we certainly had fun with half the family and kingsley loved running free in the mountain. i wish we all lived in the same zip code like the olden days. families are the best.
mother's day.
I love what Russell M Nelson, one of our church leaders, said on motherhood:
“During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as Mother cared for me.
Many years ago the First Presidency issued a statement that has had a profound and lasting influence upon me. 'Motherhood,' they wrote, 'is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.
Because mothers are essential to God’s great plan of happiness, their sacred work is opposed by Satan, who would destroy the family and demean the worth of women.' " Russell M. Nelson, “Our Sacred Duty to Honor Women,” Ensign, May 1999, 38
Happy Mothers Day!
craving a road trip.
we took this photo in arizona last spring on our cross country road trip.
this is just hours before we ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere
in flagstaff arizona around midnight. yes, midnight.
i don't want to talk about.
but i do desperately want to pack up the beetle
with a picnic and some sleeping bags and just drive off for the weekend
with my husband and bulldog (and a watchful eye on our gas tank)...
maybe we'll be adventurous this summer and do just that.
where is your favorite place to go on a road trip?
date night.
dear husband,on monday night, you took me out for burgers at five guys even though you don't like that place very much. you were the one who even suggested five guys. i thought that was very thoughtful, since you know i have loved that place for years and crave it often. then we went to see date night (the movie) and you tried to tickle me as i cried from laughter. we drove home with the top down and repeated funny movie lines until we were crying again from laughing so hard. we got home and walked kingsley around the neighborhood while no one was out. it was dark and quiet and all we could hear was kingsley's heavy breathing and snorts as he jogged ahead of us chasing leaves and rocks and who knows what. i started to complain about how nervous and stressed i felt about my big tuesday morning meeting which would be happening in just a few short hours, but you held my hand and whispered in my ear. i loved everything about this night and hope to remember it forever.
i love you.
taza
thank you, friends.
i would just like to express a small and humble thank you to the friends (and often strangers) who have come into my life be it just for a few quick moments (or a more lengthy stay) at the exact moment when i have needed them the most.... and have so generously given of their time, love, wisdom, advice, ice cream, shoulder to cry on, listening ear, kleenex, whatever it was.... i appreciate you more than you know. and love you to death.
and i resolve today, to be a better friend (or kind stranger on the street). to give the benefit of the doubt to those i am quick to judge, or those who are quick to judge me... and make all my relationships more meaningful and special.
xoxo
1950's glamour on the beach.
i am in love with these perfectly styled vintage photographs from the 50's.
and i desperately wish i could find swimwear exactly like this in today's world.
photos by nina leen. found via much love.
kingsley road.
true story.on our way to another bulldog party on saturday, we passed kingsley road out in vienna virginia. kingsley didn't really know what to think of the fact that people are already naming roads after him, but he asked that we take a picture for his doggy journal while we were playing on the grass, so we did.
the end.
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