I know, I know...

I'm completely neglecting this blog. But if you were packing up twenty three years worth of stuff, then I do believe that you would neglect this blog too.



Image found here.

long beach bound

In thirty short minutes is the beginning of
a fun and glorious road tripping adventure with some old friends from Paris.

AND

I

CAN

NOT

WAIT

what a day

too lazy to brush or dry my hair. Didn't realize my hair was this curly.

bike rides and the most hilarious wipe out EVER with my brotha from anotha mother.

frisbee on the beach.

amazing turkey/bacon/cream cheese/avocado sandwich enjoyed with Sophie and Chance.

sunburns.

going to surprise grandma with Ford's milkshakes, to find she isn't home. So I decide to drink them both. While driving. Without napkins. Resulting in both chocolate and vanilla milkshake on my shirt. And a tummy ache.

getting in the dressing room at TJ Maxx and finding I forgot to shave my armpits this morning. Nice.

chips and guac for dinner.


and getting jazzed (that's right, jazzed) for my road trip to Long Beach tomorrow!


Dear Summer season,
I love you.

riding my new bike at incredible speeds.

that's how I roll.
Literally.

craziness.

In less than a month, I will be living in this beautiful city. Craziness.









So let me tell you a little story.

After searching for months on Craigslist and Roommate Finder, I have finally found a place to call home.

Let me tell you about looking through ads, searching for a place to live.
There's always something wrong.

Rent is too high. Wrong neighborhood. Roommates sound like sluts, or, possibly worse, geeks with no desire for social lives. Not allowed to use the oven. Looking for other Asians. No guests. No drinking. No fun. Wrong timing.

A few weeks ago I came home after a long night of work, and, although tired, I hopped online to see if any good sounding listings had surfaced.

And I found one. Further from school than I want to be. More than I want to pay. A month earlier than I planned to move.

Even though the latter would normally result in me moving on to another ad, I couldn't help but think that, other than those usual deal breakers, this sounded perfect. The roommates sounded like exactly what I was looking for. I would have my own room. And it is just so darn close to Golden Gate Park and the beach.

So, for the first time, I responded to an ad. Because it just felt so right.

Then, after I hit the send button, I agonized over what I wrote in the message. I won't lie, I sounded pretty dorky. But then, when don't I?

Okay, here's where it gets awesome.

The next day I hear back from one of the prospective roommates. Here's how the e-mail begins-

COURTNEY!!
It's Lia, from Paris. What are the chances that you would reply to my craigslist ad!? Crazy.


That's right. I replied to one of the hundreds of Craigslist ads I've read, and it turns out I knew the girl. What?!

Um, meant to be much?

So a few days later I drove to the city, checked out the place, waited overnight to give my decision then called to confirm that I was taking it. Last Thursday I picked up my keys. What a weird feeling.

And now I'm beginning to buy all the fun little things that you never really think of needing.

Yesterday I bought some spatulas.

Who knew spatulas could be so exciting?

baby Elise

My friend Katie and her family invited baby Elise into the world last Thursday and I had the pleasure of meeting the sweet little girl this afternoon.

Cute little thing, isn't she?

music for your Monday

So this is Jaymay. Who I finally found out about a few weeks ago. She is uh-mazing. I love her lyrics, her voice, everything.



I have to be honest, I don't always listen to the lyrics in a song. But these ones resonate with me. Perhaps it's because I've liked so many boys who didn't like me back the same way. Or maybe it's just because they're so beautiful. Take a listen.



My favorite little bits-

your eyes are either gray or blue I'm never close enough to say...

I know the shape of your hands because I watch 'em when you talk
and I know the shape of your body cause I watch it when you walk
and I wanna know it all but I'm giving you the lead
so go on
go on and take it
don't fake it
shake it

crazy eyes have you
are they gray or blue?
I won't make the move
you must make the move
if you make the move
I will then approve
if you do not move
You will surely lose

this city is for strangers
like the sky is for the stars
I think it's very dangerous
if we do not take what's ours
and I'm winning you with words
because I have no other way
I'd love to look into your face
without your eyes turning away

nothing beats

a good messy bun. Oh summer I love you and the lack of caring that tags along when you are here.



So life has been crazy busy these past few weeks as I've been preparing to move and say goodbye to my friends. I promise I will try to update you all soon on what is going on, hopefully with some photos! I honestly haven't meant to neglect this blog and all of you, my blog friends. How sad...

mi madre

meet Grandma

Her father was a florist. She has no middle name. She's lost a child. She's lost a breast to cancer. Her laughter is infectious. She sewed her children's clothes. She knows soap opera plots and characters like nobody's business. She doesn't judge, she loves unconditionally. Her garden is beautiful. She could care less about material things. No one, and I mean NO ONE, can make blackberry jelly like her. We share deep and devoted love of ice cream.

And I am more myself with her than I am with anyone else.

I love her.



She took a nasty spill the other morning. Now she's in the hospital being poked and prodded. Tomorrow the tests will come in to see if she needs some rehab or if she's good enough to go home Friday.

I hope she gets to go home. You see, my grandma has this incredible attitude. Chin up. Always. And I feel as though being stuck in the hospital much longer might dampen that spirit. Because at eighty nine creeping in at ninety, when your days tend to be the same, day after day, there's probably not much motivation. Plus she's ready.

You see, we believe in heaven and in God, my grandma and I. And we believe that grandpa is there in heaven, waiting for her. So I can understand being ready to move on.

A few years ago I told her that for her ninetieth I was throwing her an ice cream party. Her reply? "Oh good. A reason to live!"

That woman. What a firecracker.

it doesn't take much

Today at lunch my BTF (Best Tuesday Friend- we decided we're really only best friends on Tuesdays) Taylor and I got into a discussion about how I am so very easily entertained. She informed me that when she gets bored she finds things that would probably keep me entertained and then imagines what I would say about such things. I guess I'm glad I keep her entertained even when I'm not around.

For the most part, I'm usually never really bored. Just faux bored I suppose.

Perhaps it's because I find the world to be fascinating, and the people within it make it even more so. And I shouldn't even begin to talk about my active imagination.

But I will.

When I was little. I had an imaginary friend.

We would play in the blue playhouse my dad built for me with the flower boxes under the windows (I specifically remember reading a Dick and Jane-esque book, seeing her in a playhouse, lusting after the playhouse, and begging my dad to make one just like it. How nice it is to have a handy dad). We would go to ballerina class in "the forest" (a huge clump of trees in the back forty of our property, covered in berry bushes, a creek running through). I would come visit her at her house (the water pump, which conveniently became the gas station when I needed to fill up my bike, oh sorry, motorcycle). She would pout with me when I felt the world had wronged me.

I won't deny it, she was awesome.

I bet you will never guess what her name was.
Are you ready for this?


Ice Cream Cone.


That's right. Her name was Ice Cream Cone.

Which got me to thinking just now... I'm pretty sure celebrities name their children after their childhood imaginary friends. They must, right?! How else do you come up with some of those names?

But I digress. Pretty much, this whole post is just to say that yesterday I treated myself to a drive-thru car wash. Those car washes still haven't lost their magic. I. Was. Mesmerized.

Like I said, it doesn't take much.

je voudrais

zees blouse from Spool No. 72.



Okay, so maybe the puffed sleeves are a bit much
[Anne Shirley would dig them]
but I kind of love it.