off to: dc

My oil is changed and my tires are new and gas tank is full (which also makes me now broke) and I'm ready to head to DC.

Or, the City of Sisterly Love, as I like to call it.

Enjoy your holiday weekends and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

PS

Thank you for your all your sweet comments on my recent posts.....you don't even know how consoling they are :)

dear mommy

I hope someday I grow up to be like you.

Thanks very much.

Love,

Ruthie

felicitous findings: valentine's day edition

1. Anything made out of construction paper

2. Hearts, hearts, and more hearts

3. Chocolate (dark, please--and preferably in a heart-shaped box)

4. Mylar balloons

5. Poems


Will get back to regular posting once I get out of this city of ice! (Current temp: 27 degrees F)


Also:
My feelings on Valentine's Day, summed up


Happy Valentines!

auld lang syne.

For New Year's, my friend Stephanie and I decided to take an impromptu road trip to Washington D.C. to visit Rachel and ring in the new year the right way. Odds are, if we hadn't taken this trip, we would have ended up sitting at home together with cheap drinks and champagne or in some lousy bar surrounded by drunk fools-in-love kissing at midnight. And that would not have been good for our psyches. At all.

So instead, we hopped in my car late Wednesday night and made the seven-hour drive down the East coast. We got there just in time to accidentally park illegally at 1am and get slammed with $125 in parking tickets, after my poor car was towed down the block (it was one of those movie moments where we're walking to the car that's no longer there, and slowly realize it's not anywhere on the street, and thinking, "Dude, where's my car?"). Needless to say, 2009 did not leave us quietly.
But we perked ourselves up anyway and, after Rachel skipped work for us (yay!) we visited the National Gallery of Art and, of course, Costco (the benefits of having a car in the city--opportunities for bulk-purchase spending).

Even though I'm a freak of nature and don't really enjoy museums all that much (okay--I HATE THEM and they bore me significantly), this one was actually really fun, and we had a good time.

Aren't they just too cute?

Oh yeah, we ate a lot, too. More clementines than I could count, Thai food, ginormous breakfasts, sugar cookies (made with a Connecticut-shaped cookie cutter, no less), and did I mention homemade peppermint bark Rachel had for us? Yes, please!

Later that night, we pretended we were in college again, taking gobs of amounts of time to get ready for our New Year's Eve outing, blasting music and drinking ridiculous amounts of wine. THAT is what I miss.

Of course, my DSLR had to make an appearance at the party, and we kind of got carried away (is it possible to get carried away with new cameras? I think it's just common sense. That baby was just asking to be used).

If we started a band together, this would be our album cover.

This photo brought to you by: Lack Of Boys. But really, who needs them anyways? Midnight treated us just fine, thank you.

Needless to say, New Year's Day was spent lounging in bed (studio apartments are perfect for such) and watching The Hangover. Twice.
And then the next night was round two, a much more mellow night. Hey, we had to milk all the time we had, right? Relaxing on couches in a hookah bar all night was fine with me.

And then, sadly, Saturday morning was time to drive home. Although, if I had to be stuck on a long car ride on a Saturday afternoon, I'm glad it was with Steph. We filled it with singing at the top of our lungs (we can now, proudly, sing almost every word to Empire State of Mind), laughing hysterically, irrationally overanalyzing every aspect of our lifes, and reminiscing about South Africa (so um, what we do everytime we see each other, basically). Despite the fact that it took us two hours longer than it needed to and traffic kicked our butts, we still had fun.

Leaving Rachel, though? Not so fun. We're already scheming of when we can go back. Sigh.

new year's resolutions, late.

I'm back, and I'm ready to blog.

It's odd--I was visiting Rachel in DC for New Year's, and completely meant to blog my new year's resolutions while I was there, but the days just slipped right through my fingers and before I knew it, I was leaving to go back to Connecticut again. And here it is January 3rd (!), and still no blog update.

Now, armed with a clean room and big glass of red wine, I'm ready to blog.

Did you make new year's resolutions? I used to think they were so silly. So cliche. Sure, yes, I always wish I could lose some weight or not eat as many sweets--why did I need the start of a new year to remind me that I haven't? Not this year, though. I'm sloughing off any residual crap from 2009 and starting a fresh, brand new life. (Okay, so maybe not that much is changing, but at least I have some good ambition, right?) This year, I'm taking these babies seriously. I'm limiting myself to three. Three. No more, no less. That way, I have a better chance of succeeding, don't you think?

Ahem, ahem.

1. I will become fluent in Spanish. That's right, 2010, I will master you. One day (it was Christmas actually, I think), while chatting with family friends who both speak multiple languages, it dawned on me that I have it all at my fingertips, and I'm just not utilizing any of it. My workplace constantly surrounds me with Spanish conversation, and if I really wanted to, I'm sure I could work hard on picking it up.

2. I will continue to go to the gym every day. That's right--I've already been doing this one . . . . . who knew I had self-discipline?? I got a membership about three weeks ago and it's been smooth sailing since!

3. I will focus on being in the present. I want to stop worrying needlessly about the past or the future and instead savor the here-and-now. I'm reminded of a Thoreau quote: "Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."

Thank you, Henry, I think I shall start resigning myself.

There you have it, my Three New Year's Resolutions. Of course, I have plenty of other things I hope to conquer and achieve and work towards, but these three are 2010 goals.

Bring it on, brand new decade! I welcome you with excitement and open arms.

christmas in review.

What?! It's December 29th already? Just a minute ago it was rushrushrush before Christmas --and now it's come and gone. The days after Christmas (despite STILL being in the Christmas season--twelve days, you know) always seem so empty and sad. Listening to Christmas music continuously just isn't cutting it.

Nevertheless, Christmas 2009 came and went without mishap. Jana, my best friend since forever, came home from Philadelphia for a few days with her boyfriend. Rachel came back to us from DC (about time!) and we spent our days baking cookies, wrapping presents, and listening to Christmas music.

And my biggest surprise: I finally got my DSLR camera! I still haven't figured it out all the way, but I'm getting there. I went a bit nuts with it over the holiday:



Can it be Christmas again yet?

How were your holidays?

my story from the back porch.

Remember this post? Brooke, from Playing Grown Up, has another blog called Stories from the Back Porch, where she tries to continue the story-telling tradition by retelling past tales. Cute, isn't it?


This season, she's highlighting readers' holiday stories--and today mine is featured! Be sure to check it out.


What's one of your favorite holiday memories?

(Photo via Stories from the Back Porch, via zvaella)

bright nights.

This past weekend, we visited Bright Nights at Forest Park,

"New England's largest holiday lighting experience."

Sounds kind of silly, but it's lots of fun. You drive through the park, with your radio set to their Christmas station, and see thousands of lights in hundreds of displays (even a Whoville neighborhood--Dr. Seuss was from Springfield!).

Isn't that fun?

Happy Holidays!

the thanksgiving that wasn't.

Okay, that's a lie. Thanksgiving happened. But really, I just wanted to skip right to Christmas and forget about turkey and stuffing altogether. I was so un-into it on Thanksgiving Day that I hardly even took any pictures. I may have even listened to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

I did start a new tradition though: yoga on Thanksgiving morning. It was "Will Teach Yoga For Food" at 9am, so while everyone else in my family hyped up for the Manchester Road Race or began preparing food, I filled a grocery bag with nonperishable foods and headed up to the yoga studio. It was great fun. Having a super-perky, all-smiles yoga teacher welcome you on a sunny Thanksgiving morning was just what I needed.

***Note: this is not to say I did not enjoy spending time with relatives all afternoon Thursday. I did, really. But my head was just kind of strewn with lights and garlands and ornaments, instead of turkeys and pilgrims and parade floats.

Therefore:

We celebrated Black Friday (maybe more than Thanksgiving . . . . sshhhhhh).

Yay for Christmas season!

making sense.

I've been in such a funk lately. Actually, more than lately. For awhile.

I know, I know--all blog posts around the web for the past week have been lists of what everyone is thankful for. I'll get to that, sometime. I really will.

And I should be thankful. I mean, I am thankful. Especially with all that I see everyday at work.



Like the woman who came into our office the very day she was going to be evicted, unaware that we provided resources, and moved into a crowded shelter that night.

Or the kids who come to school every day wearing the same uniform they've been wearing all week, with stains and dirt and tears in them. And then again, on Monday, unwashed.

Or the parents who came to pick up turkeys and carrots and onions and potatoes last week, for a Thanksgiving dinner they could give to their families.

Or the families who come in every day asking for clothing for their babies who have nothing but one or two outfits, and no winter coats. Or for sheets and blankets for the beds in their home they just moved into from Puerto Rico. Or for mittens for their kids. Never anything for themselves, just for their kids.

Or the kids who tell me about their lives so matter-of-factly, as if having emotionally abusive, alcoholic fathers and police who come to their house every weekend is a completely normal thing to live with.

Or the parents who teach their kids to fight back, to "never stay hit," to punch back. Because that's what they need to walk down their street alone.




It's so hard to legitimatize the world. I can't justify it in my head. Life's not fair, is it?

a little birthday post.

So, today is my birthday. I must be getting old, because I'm not nearly as excited as I usually am.

I love birthdays. Anyone's birthday. I don't care if it's not even someone I know, as long as there are streamers and bows and birthday candles and excitement in the air, it makes me happy. There's just something magical about them, don't you think? Especially your own birthday--the whole day just feels like it doesn't belong with the other 364 days of the year. This year seems different though.

Last year, I turned 21 and practically had to talk myself out of a panic attack every time I thought about it. I had passed double digits, became a teenager, turned 16 and got my license, turned 18 and became an "adult"--and then 21 seemed like it was the last big thing. There aren't really any big milestones after 21--besides 40. With the help of my roommates, I finally got over it, and had a good birthday (watching Barack Obama be elected president in a bar called Huskies at UConn on my 21st birthday!). It wasn't as bad as I'd expected.

This year, I'm not super excited. But I think that's okay. Stephanie of even*cleveland described it best when she said,

"Because really that's what birthdays are - a moment to enjoy the vista, a little hill in the year to stand on and take a moment to look behind, then look ahead before setting off again."

Isn't that nice?

So, inspired by both Stephanie and Sarah, of cloth.paper.string, I've made up a list of things I want to accomplish in this coming year. And even if I look at this list next November 3rd and realize I've only accomplished a few things, that'll be okay. So:

17 Things To Do Before I Turn 23

1 develop an exercise regimen
2 lose some pounds
3 tell every person I love that I love them at least once
4 write a short story/essay
5 apply (and get into!) to grad school
6 love myself a little bit more
7 volunteer at the soup kitchen with MH
8 wear an outfit completely made by myself
9 go somewhere or do something all by myself
10 do at least one thing that makes me really happy
11 speak Spanish fluently
12 get a DSLR camera and master it
13 speak my mind no matter what
14 become an early riser
15 spend an entire afternoon doing absolutely nothing
16 watch the sun rise
17 go vegetarian for a full week (or month . . .)

Do you have any birthday traditions? I'd love to hear them!

(Photo via urbanfarmgirl)

carving pumpkins.

Before last night, I hadn't carved pumpkins in years. We dragged these in out of the rain, dried them off, and started scooping.


Mine started out in my head as a pretty pumpkin-girl with bangs--and ended up like this . . . . .

As we were starting, I said to MH,

"You know, I don't even like carving pumpkins very much. Everyone else always comes up with a much more creative design than me and then I always feel embarrassed. I'm not creative enough."

Her response was only,

"Ruth, that's my line."

And hers was MUCH more creative than mine (she did the cat).

Kids.