positively summer

it's really feeling like summer these days.  perfectly blue skies during the day (perfect for roasting by the 'rent's pool) and cool evenings that are wonderful for sitting on my deck or favorite neighborhood patio with friends.  i live for summers.

iowa city is at its best during this season.  it might because all those crazy college students have left and you can actually find a place to park - but it is also because the community is so strong in the summer.  any friday night, you can go downtown to hear live music - for free - and watch kiddos dancing and playing in a fountain.  every month, there is a festival that pretty much everyone in town goes to.  last weekend, it was art's fest filled with local artists and los lobos (la bamba!).  and excellent street food.  yum!

there is no better evening than wednesdays, when mom & i make the trip to the farmer's market for fresh tomatoes, leaf lettuce, snap peas and strawberries.  and egg rolls.  you can't go to farmer's market and not get an egg roll!

summer for me, as a kid, meant the summer reading program at the public library, every day at the pool from open-close and getting a dark tan.  oh!  and sno cones!

(ok, everything i'm talking about has something to do with food.  i'm surprised i don't weigh 300 pounds.)

lately, i have been feeling a little - funky.  i'm not sad - but i'm not 100% content with life either.  at times like these, it's hard for me to focus on what is positive.  it's easier to focus on being in a job that i don't love, being the last of my friends to get married (hello, wedding season!), and that my house is a mess.  why can't i realize that i'm lucky to have a job, have friends that have fallen in love and that i own a house at the ripe-old-age of 25?  like i have anything to complain about...

so, with a fresh season (yum!) upon us, this is my goal: to focus on the positive, everyday.  instead of feeling sorry for myself that i'm going without a plus 1 to weddings and dinner parties, i need to be grateful that i have such wonderful friends that want me there to celebrate their lives.  you get the idea.

my deck tonight - my favorite place

(p.s. sorry for being away from this space for so long!)

it's been a hot minute.

hello!

did you wonder if i had fallen off the face of the planet?

i kind of did.

it was kind of nice.

but i'm back.

and i'm ready for a fabulous 2012.

look out!

my current motto

How I Met Your Mother - Barney.

this past week i...

1. went on (another) unsuccessful date/outing/group hang/meeting with a republican. he wasn't a winner - i thought he had potential and then it just fizzled and died.
2. cleaned my bathroom.
3. pretended i am 21 again and went out four nights in a row.
4. became close friends with 2 girls from high school that i wasn't close friends with in high school.
5. called my sister every day, probably talked to her less than that.
6. watched baseball, because i might actually like it now. (cue the friends from stl gasping audibly!)
7. found out that my friend is having a baby boy! and will find out if everyone's prayers come true and my other friend is on her way to having a "perfect" family.
8. successfully fried myself in the sun and am now a really beautiful shade of tomato red.
9. tried a new recipe with success! and i'll share it if anyone out there is interested.
10. read two books. in two days.

successful week - and i broke my blogging silence!

decision making weekend.

it's a beautiful day here today. blue skies and unusually warm (as in 80+ degrees!). i'm heading the parents house to lay out (!) for the first time of the season.

right now, sitting on my baby deck, i'm thinking about the summer. here's what i've decided:

1. i'm getting a dog. the search is starting NOW.

2. i'm traveling as much as i can. nyc in may, twin cities in june, maybe south carolina in july, stl in july, colorado in august. road trips around iowa in between. hopefully a visit to cali this summer or early fall. and i'm excited to make memories with everyone going with me. it's going to be FAB. U. LOUS. (which may change, depending on the dog situation!)

3. i'm getting a grill. it may just be me, but you simply can't go all summer without grilling because there is just one of you. anyone with suggestions about what kind to get (probably gas) let me know!

so, nothing earth shattering - but i feel like i've been a cloud lately. going through the motions and not truly enjoying anything i do. today - on this GORGE day - it all changes. i'm getting my happy back...finally.

happy weekend, y'all!

honesty is the best policy

maybe i've been watching too much sex and the city lately (i guess stay in a hospital for more than a weekend with no one to talk to or listen to but a tv can do that to you) but i feel like i have so much to write. its a feeling i'm relishing at the moment, so let me have my carrie bradshaw moment.

tonight as i was laying in bed (yes, my bed) reading my favorite magazine real simple i had a thought. provoked by an article in the 'life lessons' section of the magazine about honesty. the article, 5 things worth admitting to had my mind racing. and i think i'm entering a bought of insomnia - perhaps brought on by the hospital stay - my mind welcomed the opportunity to think.

numbers 4 and 5 particularly struck me:

number 4: you're tired of hearing about it. SO true, yet no one ever tells you. i have a few friends that are constantly talking about the same thing, over and over and over. it would be nice to have a dinner out without talking about what we always talk about: being single. yes, being single isn't really that fun. and yes, it's more fun to go out when you are getting a boys attention. but is that all we have to talk about? let's talk about something of substance for once. like, the state of the union. okay - maybe not that deep or serious. but something, anything, would be better than dissecting the male mind for once.

i dislike being single as much as the next person (not true, one of my friends absolutely adores being single) but i think it makes it worse to talk about it. why is it that i can't say to my close friends that i don't want to hear about it anymore? i don't care what he said when he called you three days later! another of my girlfriends, one of my favorites, kb always lets me know when i'm going overboard. i'm so grateful that she feels comfortable enough with me to bbm me good, sound advice like: if he wants to see you, he'll see you. stop wasting energy on someone that won't spend energy on you. i'm done with this topic. now, let's talk about my crazy boss. short, sweet and to the point.

maybe that was a bad example. my point is, kb is the only person i know (besides family) that will straight up tell me she doesn't want to hear about it anymore. and i guess this article showed me that i'm also yearning for that trait. "life is too short to listen to people talk about the same problems over and over again." - real simple. i couldn't have said it better myself! weekly goal number 1: tell someone i'm tired of hearing about it. change it. and move on.

number 5: everything. "no one can fault you for talking about others indiscretions if you're the first to reveal those things about yourself." - real simple. it's so true and so honest. i am a people pleaser. i want everyone to like me. and that means sometimes i leave parts of who i am out of my relationship with people so that they won't have a bad opinion of me. even people i have known since elementary school, i can't tell them things that are screaming to get out of me, but it's easy for me to tell them that i like to drink whiskey cokes, that i thought i would be engaged by now and that ever since i was little i have wanted to wear glasses. i only let them see who i think they want to see. weekly goal number 2: tell them everything. (well not total strangers, i don't want to get put in the loony bin.)

the truth about why number 4 and 5 even exist? we are too afraid, as people, to hurt others. my mama always tells me that one of my greatest features is that i show my feelings. if i need to cry, i'll cry. if i'm mad, you're going to know it. i can't hide them. even if i try. but is it really okay that we don't share everything about ourselves because we are afraid of hurting others? that even with our closest friends, we are afraid to tell them we don't want to listen about the same problem over and over and over and over...again? i would much rather surround myself with people that are 100% their honest selves, that will tell me to shut up already if they think i need to, than people that are only showing me the part they want to know.

i think, chances are, their 100% being is greater than their 98%.

and with that world, i bid you, goodnight.

cross it off the bucket list.

today is day 7 in the hospital. i'm crossing my fingers, toes and eyes that i'll get to go home later today. i want out of here! my whole body is screaming it and if the nurses can't hear it i'm surprised. i do have to say a big thank you to them for taking care of me - man they are good at refreshing my water at 3 am. and i'll probably miss getting my blood pressure taken. it's good to know what your vital signs are every 8 hours, i'm starting to think.

yesterday afternoon i really started to feel better. better enough that i read half of my book and plan on devouring the other half later today. better enough that i got out of my (really uncomfortable) hospital bed and sat in a chair for most of the evening. it felt like i was returning to the human race and out of zombie land.

this morning i feel the same. i told the nurses my pain scale was a 'zero' and everyone is very excited for me. fingers crossed that it doesn't change. the one thing about this headache is that it has gotten better and then gotten worse again. i'm hopeful that it will stay the same until after rounds so i can finally go. home.

it also helps that my last treatment was about 10 hours ago. the drugged feeling was the worst! i felt tired and lethargic. i felt like i didn't care about anything (especially food, especially strange for me...) and i didn't like it at all. i don't know why anyone would get addicted to that feeling - which i guess is a good sign, right mom?

the thing i'm most excited for? getting this stupid iv out of my hand. it's itchy and sore. i am grateful for the relief it gave me from my headache. but it's time for it to go! i have really beautiful bruises all over my arms from the needles poking me - reminders of how awful my headache was when i first got here. (a nine on the pain scale, if you are wondering.) i am also excited to return to my beautiful home and curl up in front of my fire place.

here's another gem from anthropologie. i hope it will make an appearance in my closet sometime soon.

i think i can officially cross "hospital stay" off my bucket list of life experiences. not that i really wanted to be here. and i hope i don't need to come back for a very long time.