a typical saturday

I went to the gym.

I did the dishes.

I cleaned the bathroom.

I took a nap.

I vacuumed my 5' x 9' area rug.

I ate hummus.

I made my bed after taking a 40 minute nap.

I ran both air conditioners at the same time.

I had take out Chinese for dinner.

I bought groceries and some Gatorade.

I contemplated changing the furniture layout of my living room.

I texted with my joani, friend T and netter.

I ironed my Capri pants and picked up the mail.

I dropped off my dry cleaning.

I checked my instagram feed (multiple times).

oh the entertaining, lively an exciting life I do lead.

self portrait in contemplation

things not to say to a single woman in her 30s

for the good of single women in their 30s every where, please memorize these comments of what not to say to them or about them.

your time will come - unless you are married to father time and can for certain tell me that it is all about waiting for "my time" please keep this little morsel to yourself

it always happens when you least expect it or aren't looking for it - unless you are sitting at home reading pride & prejudice for the 80th time, life as a single 30 something is much too busy to constantly be worrying about your marital status; hence it is generally not expected

you must be the best aunt - truly i am an incredible aunt but saying this implies that being single automatically means that my pride and joy are the children of my siblings.  again, my marital status has nothing to do with whether i am a good aunt, it is instead based on my personality and loving family

are you sure you aren't being picky? - there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an understanding of what type of person will be compatible with in a relationship.  it isn't being picky when marrying someone would mean a change to a life that has been standard for many years and probably quite comfortable.

you're SO great.  why aren't you married? - hmmmm...just DO NOT ever say this to a single woman.  no explanation necessary.

have you tried online dating? - how someone dates is completely up to them.  if they feel comfortable focusing on an online connection then it is their choice.  online dating does not nor will it ever guarantee a relationship, no matter what eharmony or match promote.

single women are functioning, productive, charismatic, independent and fun loving people.  our marital status does not define our level of happiness.  i truly don't think that the fullness of joy comes once the ring is on the finger.  i just think it becomes a different kind of joy that you get to share with another person.  i know if i'm not able to find happiness with myself, there is NO way i'm going to find that joy with another person.

so please, no more "sweet" comments about my single status.  i'm doing just fine.  if this relationship is in my future then i will cross that bridge when i come to it.  my grandpa has already promised a great BBQ for my wedding reception.

need a large glass of creative juice

i'm in a rut.  a serious deep into the earth with very little light coming down upon my face rut.  life has become too predictible and staid.  nothing exciting, enticing or entrancing to bring me and the rut a little closer to the ground level.  really the only things that help are my weekly dates with the kitchen cousins on HGTV and the occasional walk home from work when the humidity is low and i'm not carrying a bag full of shoes, an umbrella or shopping purchases.  these two things are not enough to bring me even a foot on the upward movement of climbing out of my rut.  i need more and i need it quickly before i am sent spiraling in the opposite direction from my chosen destination.

have you ever taken a moment in the quiet time of life to really, seriously think about what makes you happy?  does the light from your above the head light bulb suddenly turn into the intensity of a rock concert spotlight at the precise moment you realize that you only need that one thing/person/idea/focus/truth?  and once you realize this spotlight of happiness, are you actually able to take advantage of its glow so that the rut stays far, far away? 

the best i can determine is that my rut has become large and discouraging because i haven't been drinking my semi-regular glass of creative juice.  i grew up in a home where creativity was encouraged, as long as the creativity didn't find it's permanent way on the floors or walls of our home.  i remember during the summer that joani would declare one weekday "craft" day for us kids and we could spend our time making, building or creating something that would eventually line the inside of a trash can.  i loved those days as a kid because it taught me that i crave and devour creative things. 

this is the source of my rut - i can't remember the last time i was creative.  (and i'm not counting the process of choosing an ensemble to wear to work each day)  i can't remember the last time i took my camera and walked the streets of new york snapping daily life and daily beauty.  i can't remember the last time i tried and probably failed to write poetry.  i can't remember the last time i made a change to the decor in my living room or bedroom.  i can't remember the last time i tried something a bit funky with my hair or make-up.  i can't remember the last time i chose a nail polish color that wasn't white, off-white, pink or red.  i can't remember the last time i doodled on a piece of paper just because i was bored.  i can't remember the last time i sat at a piano/keyboard and just played something that i felt at that moment.  i can't remember the last time i danced around my apartment because i was filled with joy or pain from the music's notes and tone.  i haven't had a glass of creative juice in a very long time.

it seems to me that the only way to vanquish this rut or at least pull myself closer to viewing the horizon line from my rut is to take some precious time to be creative.  i'm not sure how long dancing around my apartment will last before the glass becomes empty again. but i think if i try to incorporate one or two of my favorite creative outlets each week that i can eventually make a change in life to demolish these almost constant feelings of craving change and adventure.  wish me luck to hopefully say sayonara to my rut, which i have named george.

what google taught me about me

my zodiac sign is a leo.  it is a fire sign and has something to do with the earth's rotation around the sun i think.  my compatible zodiak peeps are other fire signs like aries and sagittarius.  i guess the great balls of energy like to hang out together.

i looked into what traits comprise the personality of a leo and if any fit me.  total shocker that almost all of them would fall into a pinky personality trait.  take a look at what google taught me about myself and a picture of my favorite lion from animal kingdom park at walt disney world.

A Leo defined via Google:

A Leo person is very independent. He or she is warm and action-oriented. Leo persons love fame and publicity and always want to be in limelight. They like to have an audience. A Leo person is also very enthusiastic and loves to socialize. They often tend to pass on this enthusiasm to others. They are optimistic, loyal and honest. This trait makes them a great leader. Being ruled by the Sun, a Leo person prefers to lead from the front and makes a great businesswoman. One of the characteristics of a Leo is determination. They also possess the rare ability to foresee the future and would make a great visionary leader. Their motto might be “what you see is what you get”. A Leo person is a diplomat. They can get along with people from all walks of life. They are not impulsive and analyze every situation before taking any action. They are arrogant and egoistic and often end up making more enemies than friends but they never step behind when it comes to helping others. A person born under this sign is creative. They come up with brilliant yet unique ideas. They love to live in a luxurious environment and can never settle for a second best.

• Female Leos are the ones who represent the lioness of the jungle. They are confident, arrogant, loving, aggressive, generous and creative. They carry themselves in a manner that is nothing less than awe inspiring.

Women born with this sign are dominant and expect a royal treatment from people around them. 

• A Leo woman is lively, charming, beautiful and sensual. She never falls short of male attention.

• They have a classy and superior taste. They are not satisfied with ordinary things. They strive for excellence.

• They are versatile and multitalented, which allows them to inspire people around them.

• They love a life full of luxury and extravagance. A Leo woman can go to any extent to lead a life that people around them envy.

• Leo women are social bees and love to be surrounded by family members and friends. They are very caring and make it a point to see everyone around them is in complete comfort.

• They are very creative and this is a reason they take front seats in professions involving creativity, like artists, writers, etc.

• They are extremely jealous and possessive and even the slightest suspicion will make her insecure. Nonetheless she is never clingy and would give space to her loved ones.

a good purge is always a good idea

about a month ago joani called me.  she wanted to know if she could throw away a couple of boxes that were still living in the basement of grandpappy's house.  i said please leave the boxes where they are and i would review their contents while on vacation in utah a few weeks later.  thankfully she kindly agreed to keep her hands off of my stuff and allowed me to purge my five boxes myself.  

the last day i was in utah i took the five boxes i had in joani storage and was able to purge them down to 2 boxes.  yay me!  i apologize to all of my buddies who sent me a wedding announcement or sat with me while i had a caricature drawn or dealt with me during my 'nsync phase when i recorded every thing they ever did on television onto a VHS tape because all of those things are now at the bottom of a garbage can.  i really only kept the really nice art history text books and a few little tiny trinkets.  i think my joani was happy with my purge even though she was responsible for actually disposing of the unwanted items.

now i've been in a purging mood at home.  have gotten rid of old yucky stuff that's been stuck in a drawer, movies i don't watch anymore as well as books that now reside on my iPad along with food that might have expired in 2010.  i think everyone needs a good purge every now and then, especially someone who recently bought three pairs of Ferragamo shoes.  did i mention my love affair with my new shoes yet?  :)

photo timeline of my summer

childhood BFF and her hubby bishop d - the smiles are because bishop d won the Newsies lottery right before

my beautiful inside and out cousin jess, her new hubby and the tarheel loving B family

point a camera at me and i'll do something silly - evidence picture #1

evidence picture #2

evidence picture #3

me and my joani

my brother flex and macaroni

me and my macaroni

going for a walk with two 3 year olds - serious entertainment

my sister in law sunshine

hanging with my awesome friend PhD and her beautiful offspring

getty villa with pacific ocean in background

new york philharmonic in the park with fireworks at the end

and now you're caught up to what i've been up to this summer.  love time with my family.  didn't love getting sick day of my flight home.  did enjoy being three short rows behind Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife on my rescheduled flight.  love local grocery store for putting haagen daas on sale. 

why hello mr. ferragamo

i'm a single woman.  this means many different things.  primarily i don't owe an explanation to anyone about how i choose to spend the dollars i earn.  therefore i might have taken that "freedom" to the fullest extent over the last couple of months.  here's the story how mr. salvatore ferragamo and i developed and solidified our relationship.

i was in california at the end of june for my cousin's wedding.  after all the family left to their prospective homes away from the ocean, i opted to hang around for a couple of extra days to see some really good friends.  i was scheduled to hang with my friends brian, aida and their awesome crew of kidlettes.  we were meeting at 11am.  i got a text from aida that morning saying she forgot about brian's hockey game so would need to push back our meeting time.  so what was a girl from NYC to do with some solo time, a rental car and an american express card.  (light bulb going off) as i'm sure the retail planners of LA hoped, i headed to one of the 100s of malls.  bad idea for my budget.  very bad.

walked into the mall and the first store directly to my left was salvatore ferragamo.  i'm not going to lie, my heart did a little flutter but decided to avoid the temptation so walked around and browsed. elsewhere.  didn't buy anything.  decided it was time to go meet with my buds so headed towards my awesome rental car.  this meant walking back towards mr. ferragamo and his awesome shoes.  

the problem then became my excellent eye sight because tucked away in the corner of the shelving unit viewable from the glass was my favorite word in the english language - "SALE".  the happy endorphins kicked in and i entered the world of ferragamo.  was immediately greeted by well dressed sales woman who didn't blink at my choice of reef flip flops.  she took the shoe i chose from the sale shelf, which was an awesome red patent heel, to find my size and came out with about five additional options.  i kid you not that opening each box was taking me back to my favorite memory of opening presents on christmas morning while my joani's cinnamon ring was baking in the oven.  so i walked out with three pairs of shoes.  happy happy birthday to me!

if you know me well personally, you will realize that each of the shoes that now call my bedroom closet #1 home are a perfect embodiment of my personality.  go ahead and feast your eyes on my new preciouses.  and i look forward to not eating out, seeing movies, or buying blurays for awhile to come.

dog days of summer

so...haven't blogged in awhile...ok, more like 6 weeks.  i guess i forgot that i have a blog and the purpose of which is to update it.  video chatted with joani last night and she even brought up the fact that i haven't posted in a very long time.  when your mommy wants to hear your innermost thoughts about life, liberty and my pursuit of happiness that means it is time to use my newly manicured fingers to type away.

things are busy yet lazy at the same time.  ya know what i mean?  if you don't, please go with me as i do a little explaining.  i've been busy because things seem to be happening quickly.  been working hard at work as well as in my church responsibilities.  trying to live the dream.  but i've been really lazy because once i get home from my evening festivities the first thing i do is turn on HGTV.  i can't seem to shake my addiction to home improvement shows.  just recently found a love for yard crashers on saturdays.  i really need to get a grip on my obsession.  (watching love it or list it as i type)  plus last weekend i literally slept 30 hours of the 48 hours of the weekend.  i guess i was tired.

love me some summertime.  enjoy the strawberries in season.  national cheesecake day is july 30th where the cheesecake factory offers 1/2 price cheesecake slices.  adore the natural light that pours through my windows in the mornings and evenings.  walk home multiple times after work to enjoy the fresh air and sunsets.  love this season!

i apologize to joani and any other casual readers for not taking the time to update my little life lived in new york city.  i try to do better.  pinkie swear.

might be time for professional help

my addiction is in full force and it might be time to seek professional help.  this week i bought tickets to five events.  bought tickets to three events on the same day within about 2 hours of each other.  even voluntarily went to two theaters in times square.  (if you are new to my blog - i detest and loathe times square above almost all locales in nyc)  what is happening?  i have no self control.  netter now affectionately refers to me as her "ticket broker".

don't believe me that i have an addiction?  let me spell out what events i have tickets for and when they occur.  the following is in chronological order.

monday, june 11th - ed sheeran @ bowery ballroom

friday, june 16th - keane @ beacon theater

wednesday, june 20th - peter and the starcatcher @ brooks atkinson theater

tuesday, july 31st - newsies @ nederlander theater (this is my birthday so is a total freebie from my addiction diagnosis)

saturday, september 8th - us open for men's semifinal action

friday, september 21st - ed sheeran @ terminal 5

saturday, october 26th - alfie boe @ berkeley center in BOSTON!

i also have my eye on some new york pops concert tickets and want to see a bunch of plays on broadway before they close like other desert cities.  

this wouldn't be such a huge problem if i didn't also love to travel and have recently bought a plane ticket with my family to florida and am plotting my vacation to spain in november.  the combo of tickets to shows/concert and tickets to travel is why i still eat kraft macaroni and cheese every sunday and had left over papa john's pizza for lunch EVERY day this week.

i have started the process of researching a good therapist to help me get to the root of this addiction.  will gladly take recommendations.  you can even provide them anonymously.  i won't judge.

attack of the pegged pants

i was going to mention this little moment from yesterday in this week's simple moments post but decided i couldn't wait to share.  so here is my quick run down of the attack of the pegged pants...

yesterday afternoon around 3pm i was waiting for an elevator in my office building to take me to the 20th floor.  elevator came, so i proceeded inside.  then just before the doors closed a masculine forearm appeared between the closing door and the wall.  the doors proceeded to go back into their open position so a group of 5 men could enter my previously solo journey to the upper floors of my office building.  

i moved to the side to allow them in and kept my headphones in my ears to enjoy more tunes by my current rotation of ingrid michaelson, ed sheeran, cary brothers or (as always) linkin park.  my eyes veered towards the floor as i let the tunes take me to my happy place.  that's when i noticed this mob of men all had PEGGED THEIR PANTS!  

what the biz?  did my elevator suddenly turn into a time machine taking me back to 1987 when i wore side ponytails and desperately wanted a hyper color t-shirt and espirit bag?   if you don't know what pegging your pants means please raise your hand.  read the below to learn about the finer points of pants pegging.  if you do know about pegging pants or t-shirts or shorts, then you can skip the next paragraph to find out what happened next...

(...pants pegging was a fashion fad in the 1980s.  you would take the cuff of your pants and wind it around your ankle/calf so that you were left with the excess material.  then you place it around the cuff which is lying close to your skin and roll up.  then you roll the cuff up again until you have achieved the pants peg.  see step by step pictures at the end of the blog posts for pegging pants.  a thank you to my coworker receptionist for being my pants pegging model...)

the attack of the pegged pants didn't stop with my elevator ride.  no sir-ee.  instead it continued as i left work for the day.  i was on the escalator and lo and behold the man about 8 steps in front of me going down on the escalator also had pegged pants.  no joke.  for reals y'all.  i couldn't grab my iPhone quick enough to snap a picture for photographic evidence before he exited the escalator and moved too far away. 

trust me the attack of the pegged pants is coming.  first it was the bright pinks and neon greens showing up in my local ann taylor store and now the 80s are taking young men hostage one-by-one by forcing them to peg their pants.  we must remain strong and fight off the urge to grab a can of hair spray to cement our waterfall bangs hairstyle and no spending hours making friendship bracelets with string or grabbing that pair of L.A. gear hightop sneakers complete with multiple pairs of laces in the very back, dark corner of your closet.  resist my friends.  resist i implore you.  resist!

and now, a step-by-step picture guide to pants pegging as provided by moi et receptionist...

a real retail guarantee + snow patrol

i've bought and sold tickets on stub hub a couple of times.  when netter and i couldn't score tickets from ticketmaster to a snow patrol concert in mid-april i wasn't concerned because we could always stub hub it.  i tracked the price of the tickets until about a day before the show so that we could get the best possible price.  bought online and met at the venue.  and that's when things went wrong.

i gave netter one print out ticket and i took the other.  i got through security first to hand my ticket to the ticket scanner lady.  i got through just fine and waited for netter.  the scanner lady took netter's ticket and tried to scan multiple times.  the ugly red light came up each and every time denying netter access.  ugggh!  then the security guard and scanner lady noticed the name of the original purchaser on the ticket and told us they recognized the name as he had done this type of fraud before.  so netter wasn't able to see the concert because they wouldn't let us switch tickets since i had already gone through and there was no re-entry.  so i went into the concert solo while netter went home.  (sad face)

the whole time i was at the concert i just wanted netter there because it was such a great concert.  so once i paid my cab driver and got inside i called stub hub because they have fan protect guarantee that all of their tickets sold online are guaranteed to work.  got on the phone with a nice man about what had happened.  he sent me to his supervisor because he wanted to escalate the issue.  

the customer service was amazing!

they gave me a refund for the one ticket that didn't work and ALSO gave me two tickets for snow patrol's concert the next night!  hello!  netter and i were actually going to see the snow patrol and ed sheeran concert together!  we had an amazing view and rocked out to the awesome tunes of some favorite british rockers.

my time with the fabulous stub hub customer service didn't end with my evening conversation.  i got a call a couple of days later from another manager of stub hub who gave me a credit for the cost of my original ticket.  basically i got to see snow patrol twice for FREE!  woot woot.

i will continue to purchase tickets from stub hub because i believe them when they say ever ticket purchased on their site is backed by a guarantee.  something about the word "guarantee" that just makes things feel better.

and now a couple of pictures of my home boys, snow patrol...