Rainy Thursday

Being cooped up inside all day because of the wind and rain (thankfully it's not snow) has made today dreary, long, and all around not fun. I was just about to give up on my day entirely, convinced it could not be saved, when I decided to sit down and have some lunch. I'm telling you - it's the simple things that get me every time. This meal is turning my day around. The other night I made a soup/chilli that I concocted during last year's long winter:
        - Organic roasted red pepper and tomato soup
        - 1 can of black beans
        - 1 can of diced tomatoes
        - Ground turkey breast, (99% lean) browned
After I brown the turkey meat, I throw all of these ingredients into a pot and voila! Dinner and fab leftovers. You can also throw any kind of bean/veggie combo you wish or throw in brown rice or quinoa for something a bit heartier.
So anyways, today for lunch I had some of that soup and then I made myself a good old fashioned grilled cheese with American cheese and Pepperidge Farm Oatmeal bread. Yup. Full and satisfied.

I don't have a fancy camera like my fellow bloggers and tumblrs so you'll just have to imagine how good my lunch looked. In the meantime, here is something equally (if not more so) perfect than my lunch...

I apologize to the male readers out there, but I mean...c'mon. I have never showed any bloglove to the men out there, but JGL seems worthy, no?

I am adding this picture as an afterthought because although JGL is pretty fantastic, I do like my guys a little...rougher around the edges? I guess you could say? Wayfayers? Check. Muscular & tattooed arms? Check. Dog? Check.

"Expert" Advice

I think it's safe to say that many of us are looking for the "secret to life," to figure out what will "make us happy." I've come to the conclusion that in order to do anything relatively close to "figuring it all out" you've got to really know and accept who you are. Easier said than done. This article in the NY Times, about Cornell University's "Legacy Project," focuses on what the wisest people in America have to say about living a healthy, happy life, with no regrets.

via hemingwaycool

via lostinamerica

Love.

 

"Start writing down any attainable adventures we can do in the present time that you can think of... Yes one day we will go on a safari in Africa, backpacking in Indonesia, and midnight in Paris. But we need stuff for the here and now."

Happy Monday

Why is it that when you have something really fun to do on the weekend, it seems as if a few extra hours creep into every Monday? ...and perhaps even every day for the rest of the week? Mondays are rarely a "happy" occasion for anyone, but after a good weekend, this one wasn't too bad for me. 

It would be nice to wake up to this tomorrow...

 

via hemingwaycool

Future cafe interior perhaps?

via hemingwaycool

Amazing nook...

  I actually don't have a source for this :( Sorry! 

Stripes and layers? Yes. Love this Anthro dress.

No source here either...I need to stop getting lost on the web

Also, I made a delish veggie quiche tonight for dinner...loving my "Food Matters Cookbook" (and my creative imagination)

Friday Ramblings...

This is how I feel about the below post...I apologize for what is to follow...actually? No. I'm sorry I'm not sorry....

I'm in an odd-yet-familiar mood today. I'm restless. I'm longing for my bed, but annoyed at myself for wanting to waste a day away. I want something to eat, but I'm not hungry. I'm inspired but am without motivation. I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, but want to fill them idly.

I was thinking today about why I blog in the first place. On the surface, it seems contrary to the things I believe in. I don't like technology, I strongly dislike social networking sites, (I have a facebook, but am not sure why at this point...side note...my opinion on facebook can be summed up by this question: Would someone as cool as Steve McQueen make his relationship, "facebook official?" No. So why should your boyfriend be expected to do the same?) and yet, I am part of this "blogosphere." I know I only have a handful of readers, but that doesn't matter - I am still using technology as my medium. It should bother me. It should bother me that I often browse other blogs or tumblrs - this should seem like time spent wasted. But it's not.

When I see some of these images, they become a part of me. My imagination wanders like it did when I was a child and I create stories around these images and posts and they instill themselves in my mind. I used to have an inner novel, constantly being written and edited in my head. And that slowly went away as I "matured." It came back for a bit while I was an undergrad, taking some of my creative writing classes, and then I quickly made it disappear when I no longer was fond of what I was writing up there. I kept it hidden because I was was afraid of what I was going to find if I let it run free again.

And yet...here I am. Slowly letting it unravel yet again. I am finally inspired again. And if I stumble upon something up there that I don't necessarily like...I'll cut myself some slack, know that everyone feels this way sometimes, and move on with my life.

 

Yup. My mom used to tell me something similar...

 via crushculdesac

via etiquetteforalady

Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. 

They are a very human way of making life more bearable.

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. 

Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. 

You will have created something.

— Kurt Vonnegut

 Diamonds lack character, if you ask me...

via modernhepburn