Do Fan Clubs Exist for Blogs?

While I make attempts to come up with witty post headers and whatnot, I have just met my comedic match – and then SOME!

If you have not already discovered Hyperbole and a Half (seriously the funniest blog on the internet) then I am happy to be the one to share it with you!

The blog is the brainchild of Allie Brosh and each post is funnier than the last. I have no idea how she does it…but it kind of makes me want to hate her for it. I mean it’s just not fair that she’s that funny and clever ALL the time. Even when she’s trying to lower the bar she’s more hilarious than I am on my best day.

So hats off to you Allie! Even though I’m super jealous of your amazing, mad writing skills, I’m just happy that your blog exists to brighten my day!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

Today was the first day back to work after a weeklong vacation and while I thought I was ‘ready’ to return to reality and a routine…I felt differently once I got to the office!

Fortunately, the day turned out better than expected (more on that later) but I still couldn’t wait to get home to my fuzzy monsters and their crazy antics!

Wylie loves an empty box with crinkly paper

Sami prefers an empty bag for playing

Gingerbread Men = Winter

I know winter doesn’t officially start for another twenty-five days, but it doesn’t feel like fall anymore. Here’s the facts:

1) Thanksgiving is over
2) Christmas shopping is in full swing
3) It’s starting to get *bleeping* cold
4) My neighbors are already sporting holiday lights
5) And the gingerbread men are on sale!

Gingy!

This Thanksgiving I’m Thankful For Second Chances!

Last year my boyfriend and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time at our home.

We had a small group of family and friends over but I was still plenty nervous trying to make everything perfect.

Turns out that I should have focused more energy on ‘cooking’ the turkey and less on vacuuming.

Fortunately, our family and friends were very gracious about the fact that the turkey came out slightly undercooked and have granted us a second chance to play host!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is Dusting Bad for my Health?

Today was the day that I finally got into the office and dealt with ‘the disaster’ otherwise known as my desk – or landing pad for all the crap I don’t want lying around the rest of my home.

After a few dusty hours, things are looking much better and I am actually writing this post from my dust free desk!

Now if only I could figure out what to do with all the miscellaneous papers that are left over.

What do you do with all the random tear sheets and paperwork that doesn’t otherwise have a home??

I LOVE a clean desk!

The glass top allows me to display my favorite art cards

It’s a little ‘crazy cat lady’ but I just had to have it!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

"The Sami & Wylie Show" launched today on Vimeo!

Please enjoy their first episode, directed by yours truly.

I Give Thanks for Vacations!

Tonight I start my weeklong Thanksgiving break and I couldn’t be more excited!

I’ll be home the entire week so I look forward to relaxing, finally tackling the office overhaul and getting some projects underway for Live Love Life Now™.

And to start my vacation off on the right foot, I plan to sleep in tomorrow morning till I feel like getting up. I’m excited just thinking about it!

What do you have in store for your holiday break?

Climbing Beats Cleaning

I love to clean, but when it comes down to it there are a lot of things that I’d rather be doing.

Which is why going climbing with my sister and a friend this past Saturday beat out cleaning the office.

That sort of procrastination used to make me feel guilty, but now I’ve come to realize that it’s more important to me to take advantage of the opportunities at hand. I mean, I’ll be cleaning and organizing for the rest of my life but I doubt I’ll be rock climbing as long.

So off we went to Sport Rock to ‘monkey’ around for a few hours and try out some of their new routes:

Harder than it sounds!

See below

I loved the “Bull Dog” hold!

Going retro – nice!

Digging the alliteration

To Sleep or Read...That is the Question

It took sheer willpower not to fall asleep tonight while driving home from work. I think it may have had something to do with the time change and driving home in the pitch dark with my car heater slowly pumping out warm air.

Even after dinner, when I usually get my second wind, I could barely keep my eyes open while watching TV with my sister.

But even though I clearly need the extra sleep, I can’t go to bed yet because I have to finish my book first. I have about fifteen pages left and I just can’t leave it for tomorrow…it’s too good!

If you haven’t yet read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, I highly recommend reserving it at your local bookstore immediately and picking it up when you have some free time. You won’t be able to put it down!

Now enough writing, I have a book to finish!

Art is in My Sole

Tonight I have fallen in love with a pair of shoes…the Jeffrey Campbell Mary Roks Gray Suede Platform Bootie:

Aren’t they beautiful?

Alas, I don’t know if I could honestly pull these off. I do try to put together colorful and interesting outfits on a daily basis but cardigans have started to infiltrate my wardrobe more and more and I’m wondering if the two can go hand in hand.

Then again, my style has become all about mixing and matching so perhaps they’d be the perfect fit…once I got comfortable with going outside my comfort zone a bit. And this year has been all about moving beyond my comfort zone and taking risks, which I guess should apply to my style as well.

I’m a big believer that how you present yourself to the world is a fairly true representation of who you are and what you think of yourself. And to me, these shoes represent the sort of fun, cool, fashionable and successful woman that I fantasize about becoming.

I mean you only live once, right? I might as well put my best foot forward! (pun intended)

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

After a whirlwind weekend, and a night made shorter with a few cat interruptions, Monday came way too fast!

But all in all, it was a decent day - I got some errands done at lunch and even made it to yoga for a good work out. And then I headed straight home to get some kitty love…and these awesome portraits!

Wylie

Sami

Honk if You Like Free Stuff!

There’s not a lot of perks that come with my job, but every once in awhile I get access to free tickets to sporting events…which is awesome! I mean who doesn’t love free stuff?

So when the offer came up last minute for same day tickets to the Wizards-Bobcats game, I grabbed them! And even though my boyfriend and sister had previous engagements, I kept asking until I had somebody to go with.

While the Wizards couldn’t overcome the deficit to win the game, it was still a great time and I’m proud of myself for taking advantage of another opportunity – especially one where I didn’t have to spend any money!

Does Winter Make You S.A.D.?

As if the dropping temperature outside wasn’t bad enough, we lost an hour of daylight this past weekend. And for something seemingly insignificant, I seem to be feeling the effects of it in a big way.

At least that’s what I’m blaming today’s mood swing on…because for no reason whatsoever, I felt myself enter a slump at work after lunch. And that slump slowly turned into a grouchy afternoon.

My joke has always been that I have Seasonal Affective Disorder but I'm starting to wonder if that's closer to the truth than I'd like to believe. Then again, most of my co-workers seem to be feeling the effects of the shorter days as well so perhaps we all just need to hunker down and eat our way through it until our bodies accept the fact that winter is inevitable.

OR perhaps the answer is to start planning a trip somewhere tropical for some needed light therapy...preferably on sand!

How do you cope with the onset of cold weather and less daylight??

Quote of the Day

(© 2006 Graphique de France – wall calendar)

“What is seen really depends on what is looked for.” - Felix the Cat

I love my Felix the Cat-isms so much that I’ve kept my 2006 wall calendar up for the last four years. He is one smart cat!

Now I’m not a pessimistic person by nature, but at times I feel a desire to dwell on the negative more than the positive. But I think we all have that natural tendency, especially if we are under a significant amount of pressure or stress.

But this month’s saying reminds me to stop those negative thoughts in their tracks and instead shift my focus on what is going right in my life.

While it sometimes seem easier to sink into the downward spiral that is self-pity, I’m done wasting my time and energy on such an unproductive hobby. And I’m finding that with practice, it’s becoming easier to get off that slippery slope and shift my focus to happier thoughts.

I remain, as always, a work in progress.

Just Another Saturday Shooting B Roll

Early Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend got a call asking him to shoot an interview piece with singer Faith Evans, who was in town to perform at the DC Convention Center.

When he asked me to join him to shoot B roll, I was instantly excited and nervous. In the past, I would have quickly passed up on the opportunity - out of fear and uncertainty over what would happen - but these days I’m up for anything (within reason, mind you) and after a quick tutorial with his new camera, I felt ready to go!

And even though we did a lot of waiting as the ‘quick’ interview turned into an almost five hour event…I was never bored. Instead, I was fascinated by my surroundings and grateful for taking advantage of yet another new opportunity.

And after seeing some of my footage in the end piece, I’m starting to consider a third career as a videographer…or at least a B roll technician.

Here are a few of the behind-the-scenes photos I took just for you!

The equipment

Backstage @ the Convention Center

Faith hitting the stage!

My boyfriend – never without a camera!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

I’ve come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t dislike Mondays so much if they all involved sleeping in and hanging at home with my boyfriend and cats. Oh, and a massage!

Fortunately some Mondays turn out that way and, as luck would have it, that’s precisely how mine went today! I caught up on some sleep, got a massage, started on another art project and stalked my cats for their perfect close-ups (note badass ID tags):

Wylie

Sami

Can a Bookcase Be Inspired?

I love books but have never liked the way bookcases looked…especially the one that lives next to the TV in my living room. The easiest solution would have been to get rid of it all together but I love my books too much not to display them.

So instead, inspired by color organized bookshelves that I was seeing everywhere and an amazing DIY project by Danny Seo, I set out earlier this year to transform the piece into something I could be proud of.

I love the end result and send many thanks to Linda over at Heartfire at Home for giving me the opportunity to finally post about the makeover!

A punch of color in my new favorite corner of the living room!

Rainbow effect detail

Close up shot of the red-to-yellow shelf

The top of the bookcase displays one of my favorite DIY projects!

Quote of the Day

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” - Gloria Steinem

I’ve always had a big imagination and often spent time as a child dreaming of my future – what my first boyfriend would look like, where I would live when I grew up and what cool job I would have.

Even today I continue to dream of what my future holds – of my future home by the water, of my successful company and being surrounded by wonderful family and friends.

Dreams are a wonderful thing and help motivate me to do things today to help me reach my dreams for tomorrow.

What do you dream of?

The Right to Vote…and Complain

This morning I waited in line to vote in the U.S. mid-term elections…and waited. And waited some more.

Three of the five voting machines broke down before I arrived and the line felt never-ending. But unlike the woman in front of me, I stayed calm. I wasn’t in a particular rush to get to work and, as a rational person, I understood that these things happen.

On the other hand, the woman ahead of me turned down a paper ballot to wait until she was at the front of the line to start complaining loudly that the volunteers should have prepared better for such an occurrence.

Really?? Sometimes I wonder about people.

Granted I still get road rage occasionally, but that is within the privacy of my own car. I don’t publicize my irrational behavior for all to see…unless I’m on the phone with family at the time and then they get to bear witness.

Perhaps this woman didn’t realize that she is lucky to even have the opportunity to stand in line and cast her vote. Hopefully she gets a clue someday.

As for me? I took my time voting and proudly displayed my “I Voted” sticker all day at work!

Well-worn and proud of it!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

I love how closely animals resemble people - in their unique personalities, in their distinctive looks and in their sweet relationships with each other.

My cats have been living together for almost two years now and watching them grow to put up with and then love each other has been such a sweet thing to witness.

Of course sometimes there can be too much ‘love’…like when Sami gives Wylie a bath that goes on a bit too long. The one below lasted for almost five minutes before Wylie had had enough!

Sami loving on Wylie