{ love day }

valentines day is my third favorite holiday

right behind Thanksgiving and Christmas 

not for heart shaped chocolates and flowers and valentines lovers 

but for love , i love love

there is so much love in my life and i love to celebrate it. 

{ oh martha...}

Is food the new fashion? 

Like the classic little black dress, good food and entertaining keep evolving, but never go out of style.

Martha Stewart 

I couldn't agree more Martha...

LOVED this article.

I like many things but there is nothing more fun and rewarding

than sitting around the dinner table with good friends and good food.  Nothing. 

I grew up in the kitchen and around the dinner table and at small soirees in my parents home

and I'm forever grateful for the skills my parents taught me. 

food in my home meant laughter and fun and friends and work and celebrations

and creativity and service and deliciousness and all around happiness.  

So let good food and entertaining continue...

{ photo courtesy of cupcakes & cashmere }

{ homework & train rides }

winter train rides to long island are the perfect time to think...

{ sundance, barns & mad libs }

the more I head to Utah for weekend trips, the more I fall in love with it...being from Colorado, I always think Colorado is better but Utah is slowly beginning to win my heart...kk and I decided we needed a weekend escape to the sundance film fest and the weekend went a little something like this...

friday: oh hey hot guy on the plane sitting next to us reading GQ, picked up at SLC airport
by the lovely lindsay, yummy thai dinner and two random friend spottings...oh utah...drove straight up to park city to walk the sundance strip...too much of a scene for me, we walked and talked and froze and got hit on by 19 year olds and a 50 year old with the scariest sausage fingers ever that I really hope I can erase from my memory...chai and girl talk and finally home at I don't even remember what time because it was way way too late for even us city girls. saturday: sleep, slept in way too late but we needed it and it was nice to sleep in for once, then up to SLC to see a sundance film, er, try to see a sundance film,  then shopping and walking, SLC can thank me for the $10 I didn't mean to donate to their parking system, Olive Garden bread sticks and bottomless salad because that's what you do when chain restaurants are plentiful, more chai and then off to a party in a barn with hay and bonfires and old friends and new friends that we hope we'll be seeing more of. sunday: church twice because once sometimes isn't enough and then it was time for games and cookies because it was freezing out and it was time we stayed home for once to catch up on our beauty sleep... zzzzzzzzzz. monday: kneaders for brunch because when you're in Provo, it's the thing to do and it's the perfect place to catch up with friends you don't see enough of,  then we drove up to midway because we heard about these fantastic ice castles and needed to go see the magic for ourselves, so we explored and froze and drove and then made a little stop in park city for lunch and then back to SLC to spend some time at temple square, met the cutest sister, started talking and of course we have friends in common from laie so we stayed to chat... after the temple, it was date time...I met the sweetest guy at the barn who offered to cook me dinner (a man that can cook? yes please!), and it was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend that I didn't want to end...yes I had fun on the date (seriously impressed!) until I had to speed off to the airport to take the red eye home but the flight went fast...it's always more fun traveling with a friend and we maybe did madlibs almost the whole way home...my stomach hurt from laughing too much and I was beyond exhausted but it was worth every second. UT friends, thank you for showing us a very good time...I will be back soon...and that's a promise! 

{ freezing in new york }

times square 1.27.11 

dear anyone who cares to listen to me complain, 

I'm freeeeeeezing!

new york is cold and there's way too much snow for me. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow. 

I love snowcapped mountains and sitting inside on a snowy night cozy by a fire

and snowball fights and sledding on snow and skiing on snow and shaved ice snow and 

snow patrol and snow bird and snow white and snow days

but NEW YORK snow makes me grumpy

it looks pretty when you're up on the 21st floor 

and you feel like you're in a snow globe

but on the streets it turns to slush, mush, shush...blah.

It's not the pretty, flakey, powdery snow of your dreams

Life is good, I really shouldn't complain

but I'm freeeezing and my skin misses the sunshine 

I'm about as white as snow now 

and although white is supposed to be the new tan. 

I need some sunshine...just a little sun kiss. 

love, 

freezing in new york 

photo may appear worse than it really was...

I just want all my eighty degrees and sunny west coast friends to feel sorry for me. 

{ subway confessions }

I don't often talk to strangers on the subway

I'm sure half the people on the train are perfectly normal 

but it's NYC, there are crazies here

so I'm usually found riding with my ear phones in or a book in my hands

Friday night though I was coming back from PBR

(professional bull riders-the greatest show & the hottest guys at madison square garden) 

and waiting at 96th street with my roommate for the subway

and this woman just started talking to us 

first things out of her mouth were...

so, I work at a bank and we were robbed today

what?!?
she just started talking, like we were old friends
and showed us her bank badge, so we wouldn't think she was crazy
she needed a friend, just someone to talk to and I'm glad we were there for her
bank robbery though, what?
scary.
she was crying.
The good thing I told her was that the chances of this ever happening to her again are SLIM!
I hope she had someone to go home to and a good friend to call.
ahh, only in New York City.

{ the c states }

c is for chocolate and cheese...two of my favorites

and colorado & california...my other homes

this holiday couldn't have been more perfect
five days in beautiful sunny colorado
and five days in beautiful (less sunny though!) california
I got to relax and eat the finest home cooking
and watch lots of movies and sit still for awhile
and talk and walk and hike and watch the clearest sunset at calafia
and see my favorites that I don't get to see enough of
there was even an all day excursion to disneyland
running into a friend from hawaii at my moms gym of all places...
what the random?!?
an east coast west coast reunion
toasting to the new year on a gorgeous yacht in newport harbor
and an unexpected reunion with my freshman year crush
life in the c states was perfect
i am lucky & blessed.

{ image courtesy of khm }