Leaving on a jet plane...

Tomorrow I'm off to Michigan with my Mom for a week. I'm very excited to not only have a break from work, but to see family that I haven't seen in years and, surprisingly, to be in the Midwest. Both of my parents are from Michigan and I spent many summers visiting family, so even though I'm a Colorado native, I always feel like I have Midwest roots. I can pull out my Michigan accent and blend in with the best of 'em! In fact, those pesky Michigan "a's" that I grew up working to hide rear their ugly head on a regular basis (big time last night)...and gives my friends fodder with which to mock me for days. I'm going to sound like a true Michiganian by the end of next week, I'm sure!

It's still a bit early to catch much of the Midwest Fall color, but the temperatures are projected to only be in the 60's, so I have high hopes for crisp, cool air...perfect for playing at the Cider Mill, drinking entirely too much Dunkin' Donuts coffee and exploring the Ford family mansions.

I'm not sure how much you'll see me around here, but I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be able to stay away for the entire week. I might not post much, but you better believe I'll be checking in on everyone's latest posts. I hope everyone's week is lovely!

Fill in the blank Friday

I love Fridays for all of the obvious reasons, but also because I love filling in Lauren's blanks each week. Feel free to hop on board the FITBF train!

1. In the story of my life the actor who would play me would be Rachel McAdams. I have to copy Jess here because she pegged it. Rachel McAdams, while looking nothing like me, has the definite ability to play my crazy, Gemini dual-personality self with a lovely air of grace. Plus, Rachel McAdams is totally my celebrity girl crush.

2. If I could change one thing about the world it would be to stop all of the hatred. That's almost as cliche an answer as "to bring world peace", but I don't think anyone can deny that the world would be a better place if we weren't constantly creating prejudices and violently acting out on them.

3. Yesterday was a good day that ended with not enough sleep, but some fantastic cuddling.

4. My favorite comfort food is a warm chocolate chip cookie. Not a soft or gooey one, but one that is slightly overdone with melty chocolate chips. Yum!

5. My new favorite blog find is Summer over at {B is for...}. She's a Southern gal living life with her hubby in New York City, and is endlessly entertaining. Her father also just beat his battle with cancer, and reading about it has been very inspiring.

6. If I could meet any blog friend (who I haven't met yet) in real life, I'd choose to meet my bloggy soulmate Jess (LittleMsSunshine) and my lovely friend Ashley (Kiwis and Cocktails). I love emailing with both of these gals and just know we'd be instant real life friends.

7. My favorite breakfast food is vegetarian eggs benedict with spinach and tomatoes instead of ham. Hollandaise sauce always feels like such an indulgence, and I love poached eggs. Oooh, and a giant biscuit from Lucile's Creole Cafe.

Busy? Yes, but let's add in another commitment.

So, there is a very good chance that I'm either crazy or a total glutton for punishment. You've all read about my kind of busy life at the moment, and even though I have a feeling it's only going to get crazier in the next few weeks, I committed to one more thing today: a bloggy book club. I'm super excited! Not only will it encourage me to keep up with my blogging, but it'll give me another excuse to fit in reading time every day. I love the idea of blogging about my thoughts on the book and being able to link up with everyone else who is reading, and follow their ideas as well. This is less commitment than a real book club (although, I am still hoping my work one will reconvene after fire season) with all of the satisfaction.

Book Beginnings and Bookends is hosting their second bloggy book club, and will be reading Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan.

According to Publisher's Weekly, It isn't quite love at first sight when Celia, Sally, Bree and April meet as first-year hall mates at Smith College in the late 1990s. Sally, whose mother has just died, is too steeped in grief to think about making new friends, and April's radical politics rub against Celia and Bree's more conventional leanings. But as the girls try out their first days of independence together, the group forms an intense bond that grows stronger throughout their college years and is put to the test after graduation. Even as the young women try to support each other through the trials of their early twenties, various milestones—Sally's engagement, Bree's anomalous girlfriend, April's activist career—only seem to breed disagreement. Things come to a head the night before Sally's wedding, when an argument leaves the friends seething and silent; but before long, the women begin to suspect that life without one another might be harder than they thought.


Feel free to check it out if you're at all interested. I ran to the Library on my lunch break and snagged a copy while it was fresh in my mind. I'm heading back to Michigan next week to visit family, and this will be perfect the trip. Hopefully I can keep up with this and not drop the ball too badly (on anything in my life). Wish me luck!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Paul Varjak: I love you.
Holly Golightly: So what.
PV: So what? So plenty! I love you, you belong to me!
HG: No. People don't belong to people.
PV: Of course they do!
HG: I'll never let anybody put me in a cage.
PV: I don't want to put you in a cage. I want to love you!

Fill in the blank Friday

Despite being busy (see previous post), I just cannot let a week go by without filling in Lauren's blanks. Some weeks it seems like this is the only thing that I take the time to post, which is a total cop out, but it keeps my little blog going. Plus, taking the time to complete each blank is a nice break and always fun. So, sorry for what seems like a constant cop out, but please stick with me folks!

1. When I get a day to myself I like to lounge...drink lots of coffee in my pjs while reading, go for a long walk or hit the gym, finally shower and then wander around town, either being productive, or just for fun. And, ending the day with wine/coffee/dinner with my Mom or girlfriends is the best!

2. High school was.... just fine. I don't feel any need to repeat it, nor do I get very nostalgic about high school, but I had wonderful friends, some of the best teachers and I loved school. But, that being said, I moved on pretty quick from high school, and only keep in touch with a small handful of people, so reunions are always a little awkward for me.

3. A little dream I have is to become a yoga addict. That sounds funny, but I tried yoga for the first time a week ago and fell in love with it. I would really like to incorporate it into my everyday life.

4. A big dream I have is to get married and have a family someday...kind of cliche, but that's ok. I'm in no rush and actually love being single, but I don't want to be single forever. I want early morning kisses, inside jokes and shared chaos.

5. If I could drive any car my pick would be an Acura MDX or a Volve SUV. I don't know why, but I've always loved both of those cars. I'm a big fan of Saabs, too, but those really should be true to themselves and driven manually, which isn't a skill I have. I need someone to teach me how to drive a stick-shift...

6. A time that I felt really and truly beautiful was at Corey's wedding just a month ago. All of us ladies were pampered all morning long, we had our make-up and hair done, we looked lovely in our dresses and I felt truly beautiful standing up with one of my best friends while she married her best friend.

7. Tomorrow I will.... hopefully sleep in, enjoy my coffee while playing with the cutest little pup that I'm dog-sitting, grab coffee with my Mom in the afternoon and then enjoy an indulgent pedicure with her. I can't wait to put a fun Fall color on my toes! Oh, and I'd love to end the day with a glass of pinot noir while watching Letters to Juliet and pretending that I live in Italy.

Busy, busy, busy

(via)

Oh my gosh, can we say busy?! The recent fires in Northern Colorado (remember I work in wildland fire finance) combined with taking an accelerated Microeconomics class, and having September be a generally busy month has left me with little time or energy to blog. I hate this! Plus, for the next 5 days I will be house/dog-sitting where there is no WiFi and the home computer is down in the scary basement, so I will not be online in the evenings. Yes, I'm like a child who is afraid of the dark, scary basement. Hopefully I'll be back to semi-regular posts soon! I'm sure you all miss me rambling on about more than just emptly blanks that need filling...

Sunday Quotes #6

Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself. And that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.
-Pablo Neruda-

There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul.
-Edith Wharton-

I never loved nobody fully,
Always one foot on the ground,
And by protecting my heart truly,
I got lost in the sounds...
-Regina Spektor-
"Fidelity"

Few people even scratch the surface, much less exhaust, the contemplation of their own experience.
-Randolph Bourne-

When women are depressed they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking.
-Elayne Boosler-

The sense of being steeped in histoy - not just textbook history but the history of the people themselves - was one of the things that I'd always loved most about the Eternal City.
-Kristin Harmel-
from Italian for Beginners

Fill in the blank friday

1. The strangest thing I've ever eaten is frog legs...they weren't that bad. And, Rocky Mountain Oysters, aka, cow balls...oily after taste.

2. I wouldn't be caught dead supporting Sarah Palin: no buying her books, no watching any potential TV shows, and absolutely no political support. A bit much on a Friday morning? Sorry!

3. When I am 75 I will.... hopefully be surrounded by loved ones...a husband, children, grandchildren and my best friends and their families.

4. If I had to be named after a place I would want to be named Erin. I adore my name (see below) and Erin means "Ireland" in Gaelic, so I am named after one of my dream places to visit. Perfect!

5. My name is Erin Elizabeth because my mother loved it. Mom says she didn't want to name me Elizabeth because it has too many nicknames, but she loved it for my middle name, and I must agree that I have a beautiful name. I think it suits me.

6. My all time favorite photo is is an old black and white one of my grandparents before they were married. It's summer time in Michigan and they're sitting on the dock by the lake, my grandmother has on a Navy-inspired outfit and she's sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. My grandfather has one arm around her and the other holding down a fly-away newspaper. They're both smiling brilliantly. I think it's beautiful and so full of love. I never got the chance to know my grandmother, but my grandfather's smile is still the same, and I can just imagine their laughter in this shot.

7. If I could afford it I would quit my job, become a professional student and travel the world in between degrees. And, of course, I would take my friends and family on my dream travels.

If I had endless amounts of money, I would live in Cherry Creek and lose myself in Anthropologie

When I need a quick break from staring at numbers and printing off calculation tapes (boy, does my life sound dull or what...and yet, I'm actually a sucker for it), I tend to find myself typing http://www.anthropologie.com/. I love the style of Anthropologie, the colors and the general design of their website, but I'm rather frugal and Anthro prices are rather the opposite, so I lust after pieces far more often than I purchase. In fact, this summer is the first time that I've actually bought anything from Anthropologie. I'm happy to say that I'm the proud owner of 2 shirts purchased on sale, the most amazing crab mug and a gorgeous candlestick holder (thanks, Mom!).

This past weekend my Mom and I decided to take advantage of having 3 days off and went to Denver for a little shopping followed by an afternoon at the Denver Zoo. I don't have any of the Zoo pics uploaded quite yet, so that will have to wait for a post of its own, but I can assure you that it was a fabulous, albeit hot, time!

Cherry Creek Mall has long been one of my favorites in Denver. As I've blogged about before, I love the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver, and would kill to live there...but, that would take a heck of a lot more money than I will probably ever make. Oh well, that's what dreams are for. Anyway, shopping at Cherry Creek is always a fun time, and this past weekend didn't disappoint. A couple of shirts were purchased, some jewelry, shorts for Mom and 2 new items from Anthropologie. Now, normally when we're down at Cherry Creek my Dad is with us (we're big on family outings) and he can get whiney when Mom and I are shopping, so I usually just run in and out of Anthro. Not this time. This time Mom got to experience the wonder that is Anthropologie and I think she finally understands my lusting. We browsed the sale racks (remember, I'm frugal), made our selections and headed to the fitting rooms. Of course, just about everything was cute, but the first top I tried on was The One. It's beautiful with a ruffle detail around the neckline, fits my bust well and isn't too short; plus, I can wear it under a cardigan, making it perfect for Fall. I had to have it! It was more than I would normally spend on a top, but when it's right, it's right...that, and I knew I would regret not owning this lovely top.

(the white top with black detail in front is the one I bought)

Along with the top, I found a sweet, vintage-looking candlestick holder and countless other things that I wanted but didn't purchase. Just being in that store makes my heart smile.

"The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time"

Does this picture make anyone else want to have an impromptu night out under the stars?

My imagination runs wild with this one: I envision waking up in the middle of the night, cocooned in an overstuffed sleeping bag, to the sounds of A Midsummer Night's Dream fairy gathering; lights twinkling and joyous feet dancing. While her back is to a lake, I'm just positive that in front of her is a small clearing, its floor carpeted with fallen leaves and at its center a small fairy ring.

Was it all just a dream?

Fill in the Blank Friday

Lauren's blanks this week are completely after my own heart: all about vacations! She and her hubby are getting ready to set off on a road trip, and while I'm not heading off on vacation until the end of month (hello, early Fall in Michigan!) it is the Friday before a 3-day weekend, which is music to my ears. Obviously, today's blanks are more than appropriate!

1. If I didn't have to work anymore I would and money wasn't an issue, I would probably split my time between nerding it up by getting multiple degrees and traveling the world. I want to take my parents to Europe; I want to visit Jamie in a land down under; I'd like to road trip across the US and Canada; I want to get in touch with my inner Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island; etc, etc, etc...

2. My favorite thing about a vacation is being able to relax and not worry about the normal bits of your day-to-day life. And also the people because I am usually vacationing with friends and family.

3. When packing for a trip I always make an extensive to-pack list (because I am OCD), lay out all of my clothes and toiletries before putting them in the suitcase, overpack just a tad, check and then double-check each item against my list, call my Mom to tell her what I'm packing and ask, "does it sound like I have everything that I need?", and finally put everything nicely into my suitcase, checking off each item as I do. Surprisingly, this doesn't take as long as it might sound like.

4. If I could go on a road trip with anyone (dead OR alive) I would choose Miss Jamie Lynn. Jamie and I used to roadtrip back and forth from Minnesota several times each year and it was always a blast. In fact, we may just be the greatest road trippers ever! We've got it down to a science, and I could definitely go for a long road trip with my bestie soon. Bring on the tunes and open roads!

5. My top 3 absolute travel essentials are a couple of good, vacation worthy books, Sudafed if I'm flying so I wont end up wanting to sob through the landing as my sinuses nearly explode, and snacks.

6. Vacations are entirely necessary for anyone's sanity. They are worth working, and waiting, for, and should always be fun!

7. On vacation you must always laugh, eat lots of good, local food, surround yourself with people who love you, explore new sights, find yourself and above all, have a fabulous time.