st. elmos fire

i watched this brat pack drama last night and it really captured some horrible things from the 80's, some of which hasn't yet resurfaced in the latest 80's revival.
things that are back in style:
*bows in hair.
*nerd glasses.
*blazers.
*the saxophone (*wink* TH plays the saxomaphone).
*throwing huge parties.
*um, cocaine?
*crimped hair, although i think that already went back out, and perhaps was only "in style" in logan utah college dorms for a few semesters.

things that have not come back in vogue, and hopefully will not:
*dangly earrings for men.
*dorky laughing to make fun of someone.
*80's hair (think glamour shots with a crimper).
*whispering words.
*jeeps.
*demi moore's party girl character.


anyone else?

sweet frustration.

but cleanse, i want these, this, and these! i am holding onto my willpower with all i've got.

you know what's going to be really really tough? when i spend next weekend in nyc and cannot have a bagel or black and white cookie! (i might have to break the cleanse for a day...)

shocking revelation: a day really DOES make a difference.

wow, yesterday felt like doom and gloom and i have to say that today is a brighter day. maybe its the weather, but i think its also the fact that i took my life back a little yesterday. i actually did some productive things yesterday, last night, and this morning when i woke up. i swear getting up early makes all the difference. i really like being in the kitchen in the morning - it makes me feel like a real adult, creeping around in my slippers and PJ's, making oatmeal, or doing last night's dishes. and i really like the morning light that brightens up the room. even though our kitchen is beyond tiny, i have really grown to love that space. shall i take you through a tour tomorrow? ok.

let's talk about being a morning person vs. night owl. i have always always been a night owl, even when i was young i would stay up all night with my flashlight, reading books late into the night. so i really want to turn that around and start getting up early. do you have any tips for this night owl?

things i feel today.

1. happy for a seat on the metro this morning.
2. why does the rain always make me sleep in? always, always.
3. thanks for the banana man who sells 50 cent bananas and its always worth every penny.
4. lotsa kids walk by my apartment every morning in their uniforms. i never know where they're going, but they're always very loud for 8:30am.
5. i miss my babies. and cannot wait until december to see their cute faces.
6. drinking 80 ounces of water every day is so HARD.
7. drinking 8 ounces of vegetable juice every day is even harder.
8. i really miss TH. we need to sync our travel schedules so we're not rotating being away from home. the house is dead without him, and there is nobody around to make me laugh and watch my weird interpretive dances to different records. i really cannot imagine my life without him (is that too sappy for a wednesday morning?).
9. i had a dream last night that i went hiking. that really is a dream right now.
10. i get to buy new anthropologie bowls because one of mine broke! huzzah!

oh hello, portland.

so i was in portland, oregon last week. it was magical. not only did i get to eat the best donuts in the world...

...but i also got to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world: the rickters. heather and i went to USU together and were college roomies for a few years before she married Jathan. Now they have 2 new beautiful babies - gwen and little oscar - and I finally got to meet them! we went for a walk down to the river in Portland with cool views of the city and drove around for forever looking for a good cafe. like the true night owls they still are, they stayed out till midnight with me, and even little gwennie was still awake. what a trooper!

i love this last picture. oscar makes the best faces.

thanks for showing me a good time in portland, rickers!

twin haircuts.

my old roommate from nyc and long lost love, sara, is living out in sunny CA now. we met up last week when I was in LA. she came to my sweet hotel in downtown LA, we stayed up late gossiping and catching up on our lives. In the morning she gave me beautiful lashes (check those babies out!), and we drove over to olvera street and i bought TH a lucha libre.

i loved hanging out with my sexy hair double. we (separately) got the exact same haircut a few weeks apart. one day her cute face showed up on facebook with this new hairstyle, and i was like - hey! my haircut! i LOVE the haircut on her,especially the blonde! me? i'm working on growing it out and it is a complete nightmare.

here we are on olvera street:

to cleanse.

today is the 1st day of 28 on my road to a healthy body.
the 28-day cleanse is supposed to restore my body to health with tons of water, lots of whole grains and veggies and fruits, and healthy oils and fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts). i will lose some weight maybe, i will get better skin maybe, and i will feel energized hopefully. that's what these people promise, and i am going to give them the benefit of the doubt for 28 days (plus i have 2 buddies who both bore their testimony of the cleanse and declared it to be true).

i'm pretty stoked to try this, and hoping to start seeing or feeling some effects by next week. if you are really bored and want to track my progress on this, by all means.

ciao! a salud!!

washington state hiking in 3 days.

i wanted to post some pictures from our amazing (and crazy difficult) hike in olympia national park. earlier in june, we met up with some of TH's old college buddies to go on an epic hike. it was quite epic, and pushed us all to the limit. but along the way we saw some incredibly beautiful things! we hiked through temperate rainforest, up to 6 foot snow pack (complete with sleeping on top of the snow, coldest night of life), and sleeping on the beach. the beach was my favorite part.
just talking with friends over the weekend how we are all missing perfect camping weather, and because we don't have any free weekends until thanksgiving, we probably won't go this fall. at least i have this trip to remember my love/hate relationship with camping.

portland.

hello dear west coast, we meet again. tomorrow morning i leave for portland for the rest of the week. another conference, and another city to see a friend! i am beyond excited to hang out with the rickters, FINALLY meet little gwennie and meet the new guy, little oscar! i miss those fun days at USU, waking up next to heathbar every morning and try to beat her sleeping-in times (longest sleep in was after a marathon night of Alias, when we slept in until 4:00pm. Success!!

i have lots of pictures and stories from California, but they'll have to wait till I get back from lovely lovely portland.

xo

our new couch.

isn't she a beaut? sometimes craigslist treats me right.

we won't talk about the ottoman situation or how there is a random blue chair neither of us want that takes up space, OR how i just found THE chair i've been looking for all my life. it's so pretty and comfortable (hard to find!) i want to cry. mostly i just cuddle up on it and think about how i will make this chair into a perfect reading nook. ignore the fact that my whole apartment is one big nook.

sweeties.

i feel like i'll probably get diabetes with all the sugar i consume, and now that i'm married to the sugar king, it's getting worse.
i'm sitting at work, drooling over these, and this, and that.
and all i want to do is rush home and BAKE all night long. too bad for me, i have a meeting that will run until 10pm. it is a meeting with friends. a business meeting with friends (never thought i'd say that), still, a meeting nonetheless.

and guess what my thoughts were about the meeting? "oh, i should run home and bake some cookies and bring them along".
is it possible to be an expert baker and a career woman? i want to balance this so badly. anyone want to practice their baking skills with me?

rested and ready.

spent the weekend barely in the house, but oh! it's nice to be home. lots of fun family time and i love my new ritual of sunday afternoon naps. i think i've got 4 sundays in a row now. lucky me!
this week is another crazed week, but feeling restored and ready to dive back in. goal = stay sane. not too lofty, is it?

how was your weekend?

Mee am ee.

Here I sit, 5:45 in the morning, 2:45 pacific time, in the miami airport. Never taking a connecting red eye again, yikes.

I've never been to Miami, but I already feel like I'm getting some of the local flavor. Ocean themed everything, guava in everything, and lots of gold jewelry. Oh and strong short men in tight v neck tshirts. Yeesh. I really want to come back here and see the actual south beach madness, and make it out to the keys.

Something remarkable happened on Monday. TH and I visited Santa Monica beach and TH actually enjoyed the beach. If you haven't met TH, he is a white, befreckled sun-averse man. We've never even considered a beach vacation because he just ha no interest. Well, after this week, the tables have turned. Time for the beach, finally! Oh an when we left the beach on Monday, he looked at his forearm and said, oh look- I have a bunch of new freckles! Ha. Oh, I sure hope our babies are copper dusted like him. I just love it.

DC, see you in a few hours. Have a great weekend!!

i used to be nomadic, but now i'm still nomadic.

so when i started this blog, it was nomadic gnome because i had just moved from utah to alaska and i kept moving my home, never settling in one place. minus a year in NYC for school, i have pretty much lived in DC since alaska. but now that i'm traveling all over the place, i am quite nomadic again!!

i'm trying to love it and embrace traveling while i get to do it. or maybe i will keep traveling for my entire life, and if that's the case i really need to streamline the process. i did pack 9 days into a carry-on, which i never could have done a year ago.

here are some things i've learned since starting to travel:
1. hook into a miles/hotel program. i only started like 3 months ago and i'm kicking myself for wasting all those miles. i just joined starwood and marriott for hotels, and so far so good.
2. those 10-15 minute massage spots in the airport are TOTALLY worth it.
3. put all liquids in a purse so you can just pull it out when you go through security. it's always embarrassing to open your suitcase in security and people might see your undies.
4. it's ok to buy a smutty magazine (US weekly, OK!, or even cosmo). this is what helps get through flights, people.
5. upgrade to the "more leg room" if you can. again, totally worth it.
6. bring an empty water bottle and a baggie of carrots or fruit and nuts. airport food is still not good and still not healthy.

that's all the wisdom i have for today folks. i'm still trying to test out travel accessories, like the neck pillow - i haven't had much luck with that. anyone else have tips for flying?

in LA till thursday, NYC this weekend, portland OR next week, then home for a few WEEKS! can't wait!

hello world, i am in love with california.

the mission inn, with all its quirks, was a dream. after my meeting and solar tour was over, TH flew in and we kicked it there for the weekend. lots of pool time, lots of hanging out in the spa, and self-restoration. i seriously feel like a different person on this here tuesday.
we spent yesterday driving around santa monica, dropping by UCLA for a trip to in n out (and wow, i loved that campus! time to go back to school??), driving on rodeo drive (TH liked to pronounce it rodeo like cowboy rodeo. funny), and pretending we didn't care about star sightings. but seriously if i had seen suri cruise i would've gawked. the girl dresses better than me, what can i say?
TH left on the red eye last night and now i'm just hanging out for a couple more days in sunny LA.

hooray for feeling better about life. i hope you are, too.

West coast girlz

I've made no secret that I'm going through a rough time right now. Lately I'm sad to say that I have just been laying around whenever I get a chance. Doing nothing feels empty and it's the only thing that seems to fit right now. I realize that might sound really miserable, but I think it's helpful technique to relieve some stress and angst.

I mean, without going into detail, which I realize is too vague, things in my life just seem so tragic right now. Yes, tragic. I feel like I'm standing above my body watching me try to live my life. It's an odd feeling.

But the fact that I was forced to get out of bed early today and get on the plane, well it feels better. I am going somewhere that feels like a temporary escape. And I'll take it. Now I'll be in California for the next week, hosting and going to meetings and being busy and active. And I get to have a little relaxing time, too.

This trip is so needed right now.

I already feel like I'm breathing more deeply. I feel anonymous. I really like that. For once, I'm enjoying flying.

just busy.

we spent the weekend with family. saturday at TH's family, and sunday at my dads with sisters and crew. both remarked that we look exhausted. and let me tell you, we feel it.

i don't want to make a hasty declaration, but i think i might have to take a break from blogging, or atleast substantial blogging, until life settles down a bit. traveling 12 working days out of 21 this month, mostly in the west coast, and developing ulcers as we speak.

i promise i used to be a fun person who had time for dinners and movies with friends and game nights, but we've been cancelling most activities that aren't work or sleep lately. it's just too much, and i'm trying to stay healthy through it all. but i think i caved over the weekend. i'm coming down with a cold or measles or something.

not a great start to monday, but i just have to dive right back in. and i really like the rain today, it's very soothing and calming - something i really really need right now.