{ thirty }

it's official.

I turned 3-0 yesterday.

crazy.

I know some of you are shocked since I still look like I'm 25 but I've joined the big kids now!

{ insert smile here }

I'll never lie about my age. 

 I can change a lot of things but I can't change how old I am so I'm just going to enjoy it.

I really have done a lot in my 30 years...and I'm not stopping anytime soon.

kelly & bret made the most delicious dinner tonight and my mom made me 2 kinds of homemade vanilla ice cream for my pumpkin pie. Yes. I asked for pumpkin pie for my birthday dinner this year. I missed Thanksgiving in Peru and I love love pumpkin pie so that was my birthday treat. It was perfect. We're up in Fort Collins right now. It really is the perfect little town. I'm excited to check out the shops on Main street tomorrow. It's been really mellow, but fun to be in CO for my birthday.

thanks for all the birthday wishes!

oh...and thanks Ruttie & Rob for the birthday crown...since I'm such a princess....

{ wrapping tape }

Last year my neighbors taped up a lovely Christmas display outside their door. 

 Yes, I said, taped. I would have lent them a hammer and nail! This year I was delighted to see the same decor fastened nicely to the wall, sans tape. But Christmas came early this year...a whole festival of decorations was taped to their door. At least they had the Christmas spirit!

{ pros vs. cons }

if only all decision making was this easy...

{ mannequin the party }

Doze asked if I wanted to check out a party that a friend of his was throwing the other night. I'm always up for meeting new people, and I do love parties so I said I'd go.

I'm dying that I didn't have my camera on me.

The party was at a Mannequin showroom and there were more mannequins than guests in attendance. weird.

only in nyc.

I went to go take a pic of Doze and I'm usually not a klutz but my handbag was huge (I always refer to it as my "luggage") and I accidentally knocked over not 1 but 2 mannequins.

woops.

Doze did manage to take a pic on his iphone though. I think I was going for a fake smile but I just look weird.

{ snow globe }

I looked out my 21st floor window @ work yesterday and there was SNOW.

FINALLY!

Huge, flaky, snow globesque SNOW!

I couldn't have been happier. If the weather is going to be bitter cold winter, it might as well be snowy & charming.

In true NY fashion we thought we'd enjoy the snow by ice skating in Bryant Park.

 It was the perfect winter evening. 

So perfect, there was a proposal on the ice when the rink closed. cute.

Afterwards, Borg decided that it was snowman making time. Seriously. 

 I have not made one since my CO days. I loved our little guy. 

 Complete with Bryant Park bushy shrub eyebrows! 

 I kinda want to walk back there to see if he's still alive. Maybe he'll make the Times? 

 Or at least a few tourist photo shoots.

Sadly, my camera is being repaired after being sacrificed to the party gods last weekend 

so these shots aren't great but it's better than nothing, right?

{ the love boat }

I got a letter from my mother in the mail yesterday. 

 Instead of a cute, motherly, Just thinking of You note, this is what I got:

According to my mother, Jason is her future son-in-law. She met him on the cruise she just got back from. I don't know who she thinks he's going to marry but she can dream.

Thanks mother.

Love,

Your daughter

{ bergdorf }

oh how I love Christmas in NYC.

One of my favorite things is the windows at Bergdorf Goodman. 

 There is not a detail left untouched. I could stare for hours.

Luckily it was raining tonight. That's a good thing because we didn't have to brave the holiday window seeking crowds and we almost had them all to ourselves. The only sad part about the evening was that we were also going to go ice skating at the new rink at the Natural History museum (that will have to be saved until next week). Skating in the rain sounds miserable.

This year's theme was...The Seasons.

What's your favorite season? 

 For me it used to be summer but right now I'm loving the winter wonderland that I call home.

{ acrylic christmas }

Sadly, my roommates & I decided not to get a Christmas tree this year. 

All of us are leaving for the holidays and we're throwing our joint party at our neighbors place...

so our decorating efforts are being focused elsewhere.

I had to decorate though.

 I got home tonight from work and couldn't let the living room go untouched by a little Christmas spirit.

I strung a few ornaments on a ribbon and painted, yes PAINTED a tree for our wall.

Kinda silly, but it does the job and there's no messy pine needle clean-up.

Next on my list, a pine scented candle.

{ DDDT }

my great uncle calls me randomly sometimes just to say hi.

"Rip" as we call him, just makes me smile.

Today he abruptly ended our conversation with, "okay, love you, DDDT."

what?

"Don't do dumb things!"

love him.

{ ithaca peru }

...while hiking to Machu Picchu the lovely KZ and I spoke about how much we enjoy the journey. Don't get me wrong, I love finishing a race or reaching the top of the mountain but you might as well have fun while you're doing it, right? At least that's the way I see things. Some people like to give everything they have to reach the top as fast as they can but I like to stop and look around and take it all in. I'll finish, I always do, but I probably won't ever be the first and I'm okay with that. KZ just sent this poem and I couldn't agree more.

Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,

pray that the road is long,

full of adventure, full of knowledge.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,

the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:

You will never find such as these on your path,

if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine

emotion touches your spirit and your body.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,

the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,

if you do not carry them within your soul,

if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.

That the summer mornings are many, when,

with such pleasure, with such joy

you will enter ports seen for the first time;

stop at Phoenician markets,

and purchase fine merchandise,

mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

and sensual perfumes of all kinds,

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

visit many Egyptian cities,

to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.

To arrive there is your ultimate goal.

But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better to let it last for many years;

and to anchor at the island when you are old,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.

Without her you would have never set out on the road.

She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

Wise as you have become, with so much experience,

you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)