clam bake.

my sister and i gave ourselves the best pedicures last night (another way that i celebrated spring this weekend). we both opted for the essie color called, clam bake. it's a beautiful reddish orange that looks good on your toes with or without a tan.


we were total girly-girls and also gave ourselves facials and watched the best movie of all time, dirty dancing. :-) my sister and i both agreed that it was so much different to watch it now that we're older. there are so many issues the movie touches upon that we never really absorbed when we were younger. social status. infidelity. womanhood. abortion. father/daughter relationships. just to name a few. but putting that aside, it still has some of the best love scenes of all time. and the music is unforgettable. and i'd like to know who doesn't get goosebumps at the end of the movie when "baby" is lifted in the air by "johnny"???

anyhow, another lovely weekend spent with my sister. i was sad to see her leave tonight. but i'm hoping to get back up to burly-town in a few weeks. in the mean time, i will continue to celebrate the change in season by admiring my white tulips and freshly painted toes!

spring.

i bought myself a bouquet of tulips yesterday to celebrate spring. i just adore flowers. my favorites are peonies.


i also celebrated spring by going for my first run of the season. i went with my running partner/friend for a nice 3 mile run. and i feel great! i'm planning to train with her for a half marathon over labor day weekend. i'll keep you posted on my progress...

sisters.

there's nothing like a sister. i'm blessed to have one in my life. and to have an older sister, for that matter. she is my heart and soul. since the very early years of my life, she has guided me through the good times and the bad times. she is my best friend without out a doubt.

this past weekend, i went up to visit her in beautiful burlington, vermont. what a great place by the way. i needed that get away more than i realized. it was so refreshing to be with her in a place that is so serene. the drive up there is long, i must admit. but it gave me so much time to think about my life and where i'm at today, and where i want to be in the future. it's funny. she says i'm a much calmer person when i'm up there. it made me wonder if i'm living in the right place...

i got to see my (our) kitties, izzy and gerty. they are sisters, too. we got them when we lived together about 4 years ago. they are the sweetest cats you will ever meet. so loving. so cuddly. so loyal.


this is izzy. the older sister cat. always has a concerned look on her face. yet she's so much more confident than gerty, the younger one.


gerty is very, very needy of attention. always crying...or meowing. wanting love from anyone that will give it to her.

i favor izzy. my sister favors gerty, which i find ironic since i'm the younger sibling. but they are equally loved by both of us, and the many visitors to my sisters (phat!) apartment up there in vermont.

even though i don't live with my sister anymore, she and i have made a pact that we will live together again one day. even if it is in a nursing home. ha! she is coming to visit this weekend. and i'm so looking forward to more "sister time" with her.

primero.

i come from a family of scrabble players. my two older cousins are seriously expert players. they've taught me well. so last week, i thought it would be fun to play with my boyfriend. he had never played before, so i had to teach him all of the rules, which of course he thought i was making up as we went along. so not true! i'm such an honest, and fair person.

anyhow, i was ahead by a significant amount. he had my laptop right by his side and was on scrabble.com trying to generate words, which i must admit, i did once. and found this word that used a good number of my letters. wight. have you ever heard of that word? the definition is a living thing. anyhow, after i placed those letters down, he pulled out of his hat primero. what the heck kind of word is that?


then i wondered, isn't scrabble a game to be played based on what you know up there in your noggin? i mean, everyone can pick up a dictionary, or go online and look up their letters to win. but there's something about playing the game based on your own knowledge of the english language. i'm sure this is debatable. but come on! primero????

needless to say, my boyfriend ended up winning in the end. i was left with quite a few consonants, including a couple q's, worth 10 points each. i can still hear him laughing at me after i lost...

dollhouse.

i began the renovation process of my childhood dollhouse yesterday. i've been wanting to do this for some time now. my aunt (and godmother) has been my inspiration. she has created the most beautiful dollhouses you could ever imagine. she made one for herself, which is a replica of monet's house. when i say not one detail was missed, i mean it! my aunt has a knack for this and she's going to help me and teach me how to bring my dollhouse to life. with electricity and all!


it's important to understand the backstory of this dollhouse. you see, it was actually given to me and my sister in the early eighties at christmas time by all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on my dad's side of the family. each family member gave us a piece of furniture for the house. as we opened each gift, we were so confused why we were getting all this miniature furniture. it wasn't until my two cousins walked into the room carrying the dollhouse with a sheet over it that we realized we were given a house to put all of the furniture in. honestly, it was a dream come true for me. probably less for my sister, because she was more of the tomboy. but over the years, i've preserved the furniture as best i could and made my own attempts, when i was younger, to wallpaper and paint it (i didn't do a very good job).


now, after 25 years, i'm ready to transform it into a "shabby chic" miniature place! i'll be sure to share pictures along the way. the ones in this post are of the house before i stripped the wallpaper from a couple rooms yesterday. can you believe i used elmer's glue? i was 10 years old. what did i know?

il bel far niente.

i'm reading "eat, pray, love" and savoring every page. it's a wonderful book so far. last night i was reading the passage where she talks about how americans have the inability to relax into sheer pleasure. that our nation is an entainment-seeking one not a pure pleasure-seeking one. and i find this to be true. especially with myself. i'm always on the go. finding it difficult to really just relax. relax in silence. no tv. no cellphone. no ipod.


in italy, the country that she's currently visiting, they have this expression, "il bel far niente" which means the beauty of doing nothing. if you really think about it, il bel far niente is the reward for working so hard in our jobs. the final accomplishment for doing a job well done. yet, i find it difficult to enjoy doing nothing. another area that i need to work on...

perfectionism.

in the latest issue of SELF magazine (yes, i'm a magazine junkie), there's an article called, "Let Yourself Go!" which discusses how to be happy without being perfect. is that possible? i'm certainly not perfect by any means. but for some reason i have in my head that perfect=happiness. why? where did i get this idea from?


the article includes a quiz, which of course i had to take in hopes to learn more about this whole concept of perfectionism...

first question: are you beating yourself up about your body? after reading that question i think to myself, what person on this earth doesn't do this? whether you're male or female? whether your thin or your overweight? we all strive for a healthy and toned body right? i don't think there's a day that goes by that i don't "should" all over myself. i should eat better. i should go runnung. i should lift weights.

second question: are you too meticulous at home? ok. so maybe i am some of the time. but not all of the time. i do recognize that i need organization in my life in order to feel in control. otherwise, i find it difficult to focus, whether that be at home or at work.

third question: do you like things to go super smoothly at work? YES! i get very anxious when a problem arises or i make a mistake. or if a superior is critical of my work. but i realize that i can't let that upset me. i need to learn from the criticism, the problems, and keep moving forward. but it's so much easier said than done.

fourth, and final, question: do you expect relationships to be problem-free? YES! although, i'm learning that in a healthy relationship disagreements are ok and normal. and that i can't blame myself if something goes wrong. i tend to do that...

after taking the quiz, my results reveal that i expect perfectionism in some, but not all, areas of my life. and that tendency probably impedes on my ability to be happy...some of the time. it's difficult for me to accept failings in myself and in others. and i do become frustrated when my standards aren't met by others. so i have some work to do. but i'm enlightened, to say the least... i suppose i need to do what the article says, "let myself go!"

p.s. while we're on the topic of perfectionism, i should mention that kelly ripa is the cover model for this month's issue.

the ugly scarf.

i picked up the scarf i've been knitting for my sister last night. i've been working on this one for over a year now. will i ever finish it? ha! this scarf has taken on a life of it's own. at first, i really loved the yarns i chose. an army green dread-like yarn and a beautiful skein of green hemp. very fitting for my sister who lives in the lovely town of burlington, vermont. but now i'm second guessing my choices. my sister has already seen it and refers to it as the ugly scarf. this poor scarf. already disliked by it's future owner. maybe when i'm finished with it, and add the fringe, it will look different. and she will like it. we will see...


lots on my "to do" list for knitting. something for baby perkins. a hat for matthew allen. my shrug. finish scarf for molly. scarf for mama.

sometimes i wish i could just knit for a living. now that's an idea...