eggs.

happy easter.

my week has consisted of: wonderful.

this week in review:

valentine's day cupcakes!

(made by cc.)

so, i worked on v-day but i actually didn't mind. we were super busy and so i was constantly on the go (i quite like it that way). it was so amazing seeing so many different walks of life coming in to celebrate the same thing: love. there were couples in love, parents with their children, single friends, and best friends.

it really warmed my heart right up seeing so many people who love each other.

amaze.

a-maze.

oh. and i also got froyo on this day. who in the world could forget that?! i mean, come on.

i've also been getting really into my book:

so, i've been trying to branch out from the middle grade reading rut that i've gotten quite cozy in (just like gregward recommended) and have been dabbling a little in a different genre of literature.

i'm pretty sure this book ^ is considered YA but... i'm not 100% sure. (how do i tell? it wasn't in a MG or YA section at the lib*.)

anyway, its a fictional story about non-fictional people who were involved in the salem witch trials. while i had a hard time getting addicted to the story, its the truth behind the story that gets me. seeing what those who were accused went through (and their families) is absolutely heart wrenching. i never realized how difficult it was for them and how poorly they were treated until i began reading this book.

i'm almost done with it and i'm pretty sure i'll be reading up more on the salem witch trials because now, i'm kinda hooked.

(you can read the first chapter here.)

i also went to a friend of mines show the other night. it was muy fun-o. (i'm speaking spanglish here, peeps.)

i'm slightly addicted to live music. it, in my opinion, is one of the most wonderful things IN. THE. WORLD. gah. and while i didn't drag the rebel** along, i did get a vid of a very drunk lady/girl/woman/person showing her love for the band:

(i apologize in advance if there isn't sound. i also apologize if its hard to see. i was filming with my blackberry, guys. not much room for a steven spielburgesque film.)

so, before she was sitting at the bassists' feet, she was over with her face all up in the guitarists grill. srsly. and when asked if she had any requests for songs, "just keep it fresh" she said.

(if you're that lady/girl/woman/person, you are my hero. thank you so much for the laughs)

i also took some pictures.

did some more design work for a friend (i'll link up soon, once her site is up and running!).

and obsessed over my museek.

and now it is le weekend. (now i'm speaking frenchish)

and i am oh-so-grateful.

it is now time, to relax.

*sigh*

*lib = lie-brayer-ee. library.

**the rebel is my camera. its a canon rebel. hence, "the rebel".

a random playlist which consists of:

led zeppelin

mika

the clash

rooney

and the across the universe soundtrack

(i was getting my british love on. go figure.)

all you need is love.

its valentines day, lovelies!

{kudos to here found via.}

(i just love this picture!!)

in past years, i've usually been depressed on this day, feeling sorry for myself, moping around and wallowing in my self pity. (i don't have the best v-day track record, to be honest. any time i've been with someone on valentines day, its resulted in a fight at the end of the night. not my cup of tea. - i digress.)

but this year, i decided "NO!" i will not feel sorry for myself. i don't have anything to feel sorry about. sure, i don't have a significant other at this moment in time but who said valentines day was strictly for those who are in love? there are many people in my life that, although i'm not in love with them, i do love them. and that counts, right?

so i've decided to make today about them.

observe, if you will, some of the people i love most in life:

 {cousins}

i love all my cousins, but these two girls specifically have such special places in my heart. they are the cousins i have the closest relationship with. i love them because they make me feel like a rock star and are always so much fun to be around. i absolutely cannot imagine my family without them.

{friends}

these are my very best friends in the whole world. we've been a group since we were seniors in high school and there isn't much we don't do together. i love them because they know the real me and they are still friends with me anyway! we always have a blast together and i know we will remain close for the rest of our lives. (we better! or i'll hunt them all down and tell them what's what.)

{family}

i love my family. each and every one of them, all in their own little ways. i know i have the family i do for a reason and i'm so grateful for them. yes, we have our rough patches. sometimes we fight or disagree on things, but at the end of the day, i know that these 7 people, above anyone else, will always be there for me no. matter. what.

again, i love my family.

(no, my dad does not going tanning. i have no idea why he looks so orange. bad lighting i guess.)

{my girls}

these 3 girls are my very best girl friends ever. i've been friends with them for so long i don't even remember what its like to NOT be friends with them.

i love them because i can trust them. i can be myself around them.

they are some of the most amazing people i know.

of course there are many more people in my life that i love, but not a day goes by that i don't express gratitude for each and every one of those aforementioned people.

that being said, valentines day is more than flowers and chocolates, paper valentines and candle lit dinners (do people even do that anymore?) its about taking the time to express your love for someone and to ponder on the many reasons why you may love that particular person. you could love them because of the way they smile at you or how they make you feel. it could be how they say "i love you" back or the way they get up a little early to make you a special breakfast. whatever it is, its something that makes you happy which makes them happy in return.

in addition to that, valentine's day is about loving probably the most important person in your life.

yourself.

so along with all the others i mentioned, today i'm also loving:

{myself}

(even when i look like this^ *shudders*)

its been a long time coming, learning to love myself, and i think it will always be something i'm working at, but i can't express how important it is to love yourself. if you can't properly love yourself, flaws and all, you will never properly love anyone else.

so, if today you've got no one else to love (which i highly doubt) go ahead and love yourself.

who do you love this valentines day?

need some more lovin'?

check out these valentine's day posts:

love around the world by busy bee lauren

because revolutions are SEXY by chelsea talks smack

happy valentines day (my valentines post from last year).

link up YOUR valentines day posts so we can all share the love!!

lovely couples.

so, last year i talked about valentine's day movies that i loved and ones that i... didn't love. (and can i just say, after reviewing that post, MY how my film tastes have changed!!) this year, i'll be discussing some of my favorite couples OF ALL TIME. because i love couples. i might be jealous of couples sometimes, but i love them none the less. so, i'll be covering all of my bases here. literature, film, television... you get the picture.

lets get started, shall we?

okay. some of my favorite couples. ever. in my life:

nicole richie & joel madden

as far a celebrity couples go, i have little respect for just about all of them. but i'm a long time lover of nicole richie and i fully approve of her choice in spouse. plus their kids are adorable and have cool names and nicole makes wonderful jewelry and... what more do you need. right?

other celeb couples i love: john krasinski and emily blunt, justin timberlake and jessica biel.

tiana & prince naveen

from: disney's the princess and the frog

i. love. this. movie. and i love this couple! i like how they come to realize that they love each other and the things they're willing to do for each other because of it. lovely.

other animated couples i love: lady and the tramp (from lady and the tramp), thumbelina and prince cornelius (from thumbelina), and anastasia and dimitri (from anastasia).

anne shirley & gilbert blythe

from: anne of green gables

it takes anne years to realize she's really in love with gil, but when she finally does, its so beautiful! whenever i watch anne of green gables i always get so worked up and scream "tell him already!" (in my head of course). its such a relief when they finally get together. (kind of the same way i felt when veronica and logan finally got together in veronica mars.)

cam tucker & mitchell pritchett

from: modern family

these two are one of my most favorite parts of modern family. they are hilarious.

nuff said.

seth cohen & summer roberts

from: the oc

remember them? *sigh*. cutest. couple. ever. i loved the spiderman kiss and when she dressed up like wonder woman for him. they were meant to be together. just like another couple i'll cover a little later on.)

other t.v. couples i love: marshal and lily (from how i met your mother) and izzy and george (from grey's).

ron & hermoine

can i see a raise of hands from those of you who don't love ron and hermoine? i mean seriously. from book (or movie) one, did you not want them to get together? i did! they are my favorite wizarding couple.

other wizarding couples i love: well, harry and ginny. bill and fleur are alright too.

harley quinn and the joker

theirs is a dark and twisted love story... but i like it. if you're not familiar with their love story (i'm about to get geeky on you): harley quinn was the doctor assigned to the joker when he was imprisoned in the arkham asylum. day after day she'd listen to him spill his crazy guts to her and eventually, she fell in love with him. she gave up being a doctor and instead became the joker's lunatic side-kick going as far as freeing him from arkham asylum. she was faithful to him for the rest of forever.

even crazies fall in love, guys.

other comic book couples i love: nightwing (dick grayson) and batgirl (barbara gordon).

mr. darcy & elizabeth bennet

one of the best love stories of all time if you ask me. at first elizabeth despises darcy and then ends up falling in love with him and he her. ah. lovely.

betty and henry

best nerd couple ever! i still don't know if they actually end up together or not (i've only seen seasons 1 & 2) but i'm hoping they do because they need to be together. they just need to be.

(if you know what happens, please be kind and skip the spoilers. thanks.)

enna & finn

well, since these characters only exist in non-illustrated books, there are no pictures to show their characters, but gah. i. love. them. yes, enna is one of my favorite literary characters ever written (props to shannon hale) but that's only one of the many reasons i love this couple. they are just awesome together. both are strong people with strong wills and together they are amazing. please, if you haven't ever, go read the books of bayern so that you know what i'm talking about. please.

other books of bayern couple faves: isilee and gerick. now that is a good love story.

chuck bass & blair waldorf

kim and i call them "buck". (its better then "chlair" right?) they are, hands down, my favorite couple maybe ever. they're on then they're off and they're all drama and I LOVE THEM. i watch gossip girl solely for buck. (the particular scene above KILLED ME! another screaming in my head session: "say it! tell her you love her!") i love them together, i love them apart. i just love them. they were meant to be together. there are absolutely no questions about that.

and if we're talking about gg character couples, i prefer: serena and nate, dan and vanessa. i hate s and dan together and i don't like nate with anyone. except serena. but even those pairings kind of bother me sometimes. i'm just all about the chuck and blair.

so, that's all.

i thougt about including some of my favorite blogger couples as well, but that seemed kind of weird to me...

so, who are your favorite couples?

please share!

*sniff sniff* and other stuff.

oh heavens.

hello.

how was everyone's new years eve?

did ya'll (yeah, i'm practicing my 'texan') get all dolled up and go out?

i hope so.

i stayed in and just chilled.

i have not been feeling the greatest and even though i've had my 'new years outfit' planned out for days, i just didn't feel like putting forth the effort to look adorable or be social. so i stayed in.

i did toast to the new year though, and boy am i ready for it.

2010 was not a bad year, but i believe in moving forward so that's what i'm going to do.

while i'd love to sit and share all my new years resos with you, i didn't make any this year.

i have one goal in life right now and that is to be better.

 better at anything and everything. that's it.

in other news, i'm working on a new blog design for myself.

before you start rolling your eyes at me, let me explain myself!

i'm not changing the name of my blog or anything, i'm just working on making things look more uniform and... me. so please excuse my mess for the next... however long it takes.

that's about it for now.

thanks for following me and for reading my daily dosage of boring!

it really means a lot to me.

 

ingrid michaelson's girls and boys, and be okay albums.

sara bareilles' little voice album.

2010 in review.

(you can read my 2009 in review here.)

{january} - in january, i was jobless. boo. i did travel to utah though, i also learned how to make beanies, and had a little fun with the nestle crunch hotline. but other than sharing my doppelgangers, i didn't do much in january. it was kind of an uneventful month now that i look back on it...

{february} - february brought the olympics, another trip to utah, and valentines day. i also hosted my first ever give away in february and started making my summer plans. i attempted to do my first ever "fashion post" and slowly but surely gained new followers. what a month, huh? don't worry, my life got more exciting. i promise.  

{march} - i moved into a new house and finally got a one-time-job as a wedding planner (which i LOVED by the way.), i also started making necessary changes in my life, and went to utah AGAIN. i was involved in a bomb threat and that was about the highlight of my march.  
{april} - in april, i finished the wedding i was working on (big success btw), hosted my second ever give away and was in desperate need of some adventure in my life. i also got a job (that lasted about... 3 weeks.) and shared what kind of girl i am.
{may} - in may, my brother graduated from highschool and i moved from the dreary state of idaho to the gloriousness that is utah. i bought my first ever laptop (thank you student loan!) and shared all sorts of crushes during my 2010 crush week. i also went to my first book signing ever and met one of my favorite authors, aprilynne pike. (if you've never read wings, or spells, please go do it because they are AWESOME books. simply AWESOME.)

{june} - got ready to move into my new apartment, saw a lot of awesome movies AND started school. basically, moving and school alone took up most of my time. but somehow i found time to watch the world cup... 'somehow'.
{july} - i participated in more school, saw a woman with a full on obe won kenobi hair cut, got a real live job (first time i'd had one in over a year) and basically just loved on my utah (but still spent some time in idaho. figure that one out.)
{august} - lets see... what did i do in august? oh, right! i turned 25. even though 25 is a number i don't really care to discuss, i will gush about the she&him concert my besties took me to! i also finished my summer semester of college, and traveled a little bit more. i celebrated 8/9/10 and got a little 'contreversal' on my blog by sharing what types of physical traits i do and don't like in a guy.

{september} - in september, i mostly just worked. a lot. and packed getting ready to move AGAIN. my sister did visit though, and i spent my spare time doing super productive things like watching legendary tv shows.
{october} - i spent most of the month of october in st. george ut with my sister, but not before throwing my bestie a surprise murder mystery party! what fun, what fun. after that, i went to st. george and worked and stuff. 'and stuff' means... nothing. oh, i did watch supernatural (which required me to drool over my lover.)

{november} - i went to my second concert of the year, kate nash (amazing!!) and spent some time on colorado with some of my besties for life. then, harry potter was released and i saw it a couple of times. score. then i moved to a new state (3rd state i've lived in this year) and traveled quite a bit (i covered 5 states in 2 days. it was a LONG drive.) celebrated thanksgiving with the fam and started working AGAIN. oh and i loved on jensen a little bit more...

{december} - december was a long, hard month for me. i had zero christmas spirit and was just having an all around bad attitude. luckily, things got better (like the fact that i survived my first driving experience in texas) and i am now looking forward to ringing in 2011 to see what it has in store for me!!

what did your year look like?

alls well that ends well.

i don't know about you, but i'm pretty worn out from a marvelous last couple of days (pics to come later). whew.

my christmas was wonderful. sissykins was in town, everyone was happy and jolly and giving and it was just wonderful. christmas eve was a pretty busy one (as it usually is) i was up all night putting the finishing touches on everyone's gifts (which i made this year), but it was fun and i was pretty excited to give everyone what i had spent time making specifically for them.

as far as gifts go, i was absolutely spoiled this year. i got a mattress for my room, huzzah! (i haven't been sleeping in my room since i moved to texas a month ago. i've been sleeping in my little brother's room on their bottom bunk) and a silhouette machine! i was so surprised when i opened it, that i started crying. you see, this year i didn't ask for things i wanted, i only asked for things i needed. money is a little tight around here and i didn't feel like asking for all sorts of things that i didn't need would be very practical or fair. so when i opened the silhouette machine i started crying because not only did i REALLY want one, but my mom knew without me even having to ask. i felt so spoiled. - on top of all that, my sister brought me a whole bunch of my stuff that i had left behind in utah, which is awesome! i now have all my color back so i will be able to start taking hair clients again. wonderful.

after presents, me and a few of my siblings went and saw voyage of the dawn treader (review later) and then came home and played games with the rest of the fam till the wee hours of the night.

all in all, it was a wonderful christmas. i'm excited for a new year now. 2011 will be as awesome as 2010. i can feel it.

how was your christmas? i hope it was absolutely magnificent!

i'm good at sharing my treats.

over the past few weeks, i have found some delightful new blogs. (well, they aren't new as in new to blogger, but new to my reading list) and since i'm feeling rather generous today, i thought i'd share them with you, in hopes that you too might find some new treats.

enjoy!

the day book

this girl is hilarious and adorable all rolled in to one (which results in her blog being gloriously awesome!) the first night i saw her blog, i think i stayed on it for about an hour and read about 4 pages worth of back-posts. 

anyway, in addition to her blog being awesome, she's doing spectacular giveaways for the christmas season. one in particular is the $50 gift certificate to rouche give away. i know, right? another one is done by painting in the air which is such a lovely shop! wonderful! 

go check her out. she's awesome. 

i believe in unicorns.

this girl. gah. i love her blog. she does outfit posts that will rock your world and she is so marvelous! i love stopping by her blog and seeing what she's wearing, how she's doing her hair, or what music she's listening to.

definitely a 'feel good' blog. (do i sound like a movie critic or what?)

stop in to her blog and say 'hello'. you'll be glad you did.

mormon in manhattan: (NO) sex and the city.

she's a mormon girl living in nyc, working as a broadway performer. her stories about her life as such are very funny and entertaining. she's a wonderful girl with an equally wonderful blog!

go check her out.

musings of a hippie

her blog is so wonderful and quaint. she shares about things she loves [coffee], and life lessons she's learned over time. her posts are lovely and easy to read. not to mention this girl rocks. this is a blog you can follow religiously or stop in every now and then and still enjoy what you read.

penelope blackheart

penelope is so cynical and dry its awesome. i read her blog and just laugh because of the utter negativity that she exuberates (that's a word, right?) in the most hilarious of ways. basically, its like hacking into ellen page's mind and reading it in blog form only written by someone else... yeah, that made sense.

anyway, go visit penelope's site. you just might be glad you did.

the philosophical vamipre

he is the father of amyschmamey, another blog i read. i first found his blog through hers and then i sat and read every post he'd written thus far (there aren't that many, but his posts are so interesting i didn't want to stop reading.) he's very good with words and refreshing to read as a) he is a man and i don't read many male-written blogs, b) he writes beautifully, paying attention to grammar and verbage and such and c) he's lived more life than most bloggers i read, so his views and opinions are built on life experience and not just quick judgments.

you should go read what he has to say.

vintage revivlas

if you like crafting, vintage and diy this is definitely the blog for you. mandi is such a cute gal and her blog is such fun to read. she has done quite a few projects that i'm just itching to try myself.

stop in and see what she's about. i'm pretty sure you just might get addicted... i am.

wonderment in neverland

another quaint and lovely blog. she and musings of a hippie are great friends so their blogs mirror each other in a lot of ways. its fun to stop in and see what she, hannah, is up to. if you like feeling nostalgic and happy inside, you'd probably better stop by her blog.

that's all for now. i hope you'll enjoy reading some (or all) of these blogs.

i know i do.

consider these recommendations an early christmas present from yours truly.

you're welcome.

**to view a list of ALL of the blogs i read, please visit my i read these blogs page. there's LOTS of loveliness there. promise.