Sometimes, you just have crappy days. Despite your best efforts to get enough sleep, dress nice, look pretty, eat well, channel productivity, be kind to others and make your day pleasant, things still don’t go your way. That’s kind of how I felt about today. Unexpected rain storms, thinking about bills, getting bad news, dealing with bad moods and just an overall irritated feeling sucked the joy right out of my day. Not even thinking about going home and zonking on my bed made me feel better.
And then, right when things felt super craptastic, there was a glimmer of hope. Literally. A rainbow.
Lauren called me to the window in our office kitchen to see the most brilliant, bright, thick and vibrant rainbow I have ever seen in my entire life. Almost instantly, my spirits were lifted and my jaw dropped in awe.
It was a full rainbow too, the kind that stretched clear across the sky beyond where the eye can see. The most amazing part, however, was the base, which appeared so close you could reach out and touch it, but was miles and miles away. This was not your average watercolor-esque rainbow, oh no, it looked like a cartoon – it was that bright.
It’s times like these I wish I had a camera that actually zoomed, not my amateur-status iPhone. Really, these pictures do it no justice.
I ran down the stairs and into the drizzling rain (and nearly broke my neck in my yellow heels) to get a better shot of it, and immediately, it started fading away. By the time I took these photos below, the clouds had already smeared away the top of the rainbow. When I got back inside, the extraordinary colors we are oohing and ahhing over were already starting to bleed back into the dull gray sky.
The rainbow only lasted a couple of minutes, but that’s all we needed. I think we were all meant to see it. There is an important, poetic lesson in here somewhere, but I think for me, it just means to quit griping about all the garbage you think sucks in your life, because life is damn beautiful, just as it is, and even in the worst of situations, there is always something fantastically amazing just waiting for you around the corner.
This morning, I woke up and thought about staying home. You see, I felt sick last night and I had an 8am teeth cleaning appointment 45 minutes away, so the thought of staying in bed was extremely inviting. However, I peeled myself up, got ready and was off. And boy am I glad I did, because little did I know that today was the day I would meet Kristin Davis from Sex and The City! You know, Charlotte!
Our trusty coworker Doug (who actually has a daughter named Charlotte) spotted Kristin taking photos outside of our office (we later found out it was for her Facebook page), and promptly informed us. We immediately lost any sense of decency and self-control and ran down to ask her for a picture. And here I thought I was numb to living in LA and seeing stars. I’ve never done this before, for the record.
This might not seem like a big deal to many of you, but this is very exciting for me. Besides the fact that she is one of my favorite characters of all-time (can’t really say actresses because I haven’t seen much else she was in) in my favorite television show of all-time, I JUST made Julian watch the pilot episode of SATC last night as part of his pilot research for a show he is developing. (BTW- I made sure to show him an episode from a later season so he could see the STARK contrast in filming style and well, just style in general.) I told Kristin this and she gave me some advice to pass onto Julian, saying that you should never make a pilot TOO good, or the show itself will be bad. She was telling me how Jerry Seinfeld has framed bad reviews of the pilot episode of Seinfeld hanging up in his office.
That’s great and all, but I really just wanted to go sit at a coffee shop with her and talk about boys and fashion and how hard it is to be a classy lady in Hollywood these days.
Had I known this would happen today, I probably would have put on makeup and dressed in something other than my super-awesome Garfield sweater, but I was feeling ballsy this morning. She said it looked cute. She also thought Lauren and I were 22. And said we were “fresh-faced.” Just want to throw that out there.
As my celebrity-high began to deflate, I started thinking about how ridiculous it was, and about which stars would cause me so much excitement that I’d feel the need to run up like a fan and ask for a photo. I’m sure this list is longer than I’d like to admit, but it definitely includes Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Rachel McAdams, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift, Jen Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Tina Fey and Sarah Jessica Parker (duh).
And the winner of my favorite Super Bowl ad is…. GOOGLE! You know, the company that doesn’t need any advertising. Their Parisian Love commercial was just the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Maybe it’s because I’m going to Paris in about 90 days and have an infinite love for all things French. Or maybe it’s because I’m in the midst of planning my wedding to a man that I quickly and unexpectedly fell in love with. Or maybe it’s because of the huge role the internet played in our relationship. Whatever it may be, this is “très mignonne.”
I don’t have cable anymore, so I couldn’t watch the Super Bowl even if I wanted to. I am, however, loving Hulu’s voting system for the commercials, which everyone knows is the best part of the event. Besides the food. And just because we aren’t watching the Saints vs the Colts, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy NACHOS.
These photos were pre-bake, so now they’re even more gooey and crunchy. Mmm! Adapted recipe from this (no onions, add olives, add black beans, add jalapeno).
Alright, back to Glee. We’re on a weekend-long marathon of the first season. Happy Super Bowl, everyone! I hope your team wins. I’m not sure why, but I’m rooting for the Saints, maybe because New Orleans could use some good luck and everyone knows the Colts are good. And maybe I just want Kim Kardashian to get her engagement ring.
Last night, I made a spur of the moment decision to switch this blog’s layout. Even though I adored the images that I had on the banners and sidebar, it felt way too cluttered. So I scaled back. Way back. This way, you can focus on what’s really important: my riveting, entertaining, seam-splitting and soul-shaking content.
This is much easier to navigate, anyways. It’s so clean. So fresh. It’s like my blog just took a really hot shower – a good shower, the kind you take before a hot date, where you deep condition your hair, exfoliate and shave your legs ALL the way. All wrapped up in a pretty pink bow.
I have really been meaning to do this for a while now, ever since Julian made me a cute new logo – which I didn’t even end up using, by the way. The original logo looked like this:
Kind of Love Actually-esque, no? The new one (also by Julian), as you can see, is more like this:
Which logo do you like better? Not like your answers are going to convince me to change my mind, but I figured it’s always polite to ask.
And of course, I want to know what you think of the overall change, so answer me this:
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Knowing me, I’ll probably keep tweaking it. I get it from my Mom, who redecorates her house approximately six times a year.
Okay, so this isn’t going to be the most full-of-life post I’ve ever written, because for the past four days I have felt like I could puke at any moment. Now that you’re completely grossed out, let me just assure you that I am absolutely 100% not pregnant, which seems to be everyone’s opinion when you say you feel nauseous. However, I haven’t felt much like spending time writing (outside of work- and volunteer-related duties), so please forgive me if this isn’t as flavorful or colorful as my posts usually are. Sometime soon, though, I do have to paint you all a hilarious picture of my night last night – it was super crazy and full of coincidences. Like, out of this world. Alright, on with the show!
Things I Love Thursday
- These bear cubs holding hands. I found this on FB’s blog, but it originally came from Cute Overload. It reminds me of how Scout & Pepper look like bear cubs when they stand up on their hind legs and put their paws on the wall or bathtub.
GOSH!
- Finding out one of my BFFs and bridesmaids (Julia) will not be leaving for Italy (Navy husband) until AFTER my wedding!
- This quote, and all of Van Gogh’s love quotes. The man was a lovesick fool, but you have to admire his way with words. And a paintbrush, I guess.
“I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”
-Vincent Van Gogh
- Surrendering myself to the stress of wedding planning and going to get a real, honest to goodness massage at a massage parlor (is that what you call them? Sounds kind of weird saying “parlor” for some reason, what is this, 1924?). I don’t know WHY I don’t go more often! Oh right, the cost. Well, it was worth it. I’ll say that much.
- Substituting meals with snacks all day – and hello, why did I ever stop eating grapefruit? It is nature’s candy!! I love grapefruit so much! No sugar, pls.
- Minimizing my social networking circle on Facebook – which I wrote about more in length about here.
- This sweet shower display that I found on WeddingBee:
- Spending an entire week with our good friend Tyler who was in town from Nashville filming with Julian – would have been even better if his lovely love fiance Kayla was here with him!
- Being old and going to bed before midnight on a Friday, and waking up before 9am on a Saturday.
- FINALLY booking a wedding venue (HALLELUJAH!), having a very productive meeting with our wonderful wedding planner (Nashville brides or brides-to-be – you must use Austin Floyd, the woman is a God send), getting one step closer to finalizing details like dress, food, cake, guestlist and invitations.
- Oscar the Grouch – he is just awesome. Sure he’s full of nasty comments, but you can’t help but love him. Especially his ratty hair and the fact that he lives in a trashcan. I think I remind myself of him in the mornings.
- Finding an ancient folder of pictures from when Scout was only about 4 months old. She’s about half the size she is now and looks anorexic! She is such a cute baby.
- Comments from readers! Cannot tell you how much I love these. This is in no way a plea for comments. But I really enjoy reading valuable feedback on something I wrote from people I know and don’t know. It’s really awesome.
- Groupon. Especially the little cat with a gold blingin’ “GROUPON” chain that gives tips for how to get the most from your deals. If you aren’t using Groupon yet, you must must must sign up. Everyday they send you a wildly good deal, straight to your inbox, but the trick is, you won’t get the deal unless enough people commit to buying it and “tip” the scale.
- I’m not one to publicly talk about underwear or lingerie, but I have to say, everything at eberjey is adorable.
- Finally watching Glee – I’m hooked, and I’m only two episodes in!
Also, I’d just like everyone reading this to know that right now I’m currently listening to my fiance outside screaming “Where you goooing? Bye byyyyyyyye!” like a mentally handicapped person. It’s for a sketch, but I’m sure all my neighbors are thinking he’s lost it and are praying we decide to move out of the neighborhood when we get married. Which we aren’t.
Each week that goes by that I’m planning my wedding, I take on a new and exciting task that becomes my new favorite. First, it was registering. Then, it was picking a venue. Then, it was designing my wedding dress with my Mom (who is making it by hand, a replica of my favorite multi-thousand-dollar work of art), and now, it’s putting together our wedding website. Still in its humble beginning stages, we have a long way to go, but I’m prouder than a mother on her child’s first day of school. I feel like by the time all is said and done, we should win some kind of award. They give out awards for “Wedding Website of the Year,” don’t they?
I made sure to put a little something special in each and every section to make it feel a bit more like our guests are actually talking to us versus looking at a Lisa Frank-esque site with not much more than a date, a bad headshot, and list of registry stores – “here, now buy us something.” I had a LOT of fun customizing each section to tell a special story or include a bit of information about who Julian and I are as a couple and as individuals.
So now it’s ready to be unveiled, though it will still be tweaked in the coming days and weeks, especially as we add more content and finalize wedding details. Check it out: thesmithsarehere.com.
Oh, and for any of you who may have been waiting for that proposal video I promised you, well, you can find it there.
No, it doesn’t include a forgotten anniversary, though both Julian and I have been guilty of this one on more than one occasion. My ultimate anniversary fail is a little more idiotic than that.
“Six months of happiness,” or so the Facebook photo caption says.
So I’m sitting here, penciling in a double dinner date with our friends Tracy and Matt for next week when I realize it might be a good time to start writing in our “monthiversaries.” You know, “happy seven months!” and what not. Yeah, we haven’t even been together a year yet. We did have a quite memorable six month anniversary back in November, complete with an overpriced dinner at a trendy LA restaurant, 3D movie at the theatre we went to on one of our first dates, flowers that cost more than a month’s groceries and a bottle of the perfume that reminds Julian of the first time he met me. So cute.
I was using that special date as a marker and started filling in the “eight month anniversary,” “nine month anniversary,” etc. on the 13th of every subsequent month. Until I got to 12 months. A full month (or two) ahead of our year anniversary, June 13, 2010. Had I missed a month? Flipped through my planner wrong? Everything seemed to check out.
Until I went back a little further, and realized that Julian and I had our big, fancy, expensive, romantic six month anniversary celebration on our five month anniversary.
What a couple of dorks. Who forgets how long they’ve been together not even five full months into a relationship? Granted, I do feel like I have known Julian my whole life and can’t believe it’s only been seven and a half months since we started officially dating (that is an accurate number, I triple-checked), but aren’t girls supposed to be somewhat obsessive over anniversaries and dates of this nature? Even in past relationships, I’ve always known exactly how long it has been. Why now? I guess I’m so head-over-heels that I can’t even tell time. Looks like I picked the right guy!
Let me ask you all (ya’ll) a question – how many friends do you have on Facebook? How many of those people are actual friends that you know, care about “what’s on their mind”, and want to converse with? How about Twitter? Do you strive to have more followers? Do you follow everyone who follows you? How often do you get to read all the tweets in your Twitterstream?
We’ve created a monster.
Inspired by an article in the latest issued of Wired he read on the flight to LA this week, our friend Tyler just announced he had cut his Facebook friends list back from more than 2,000 to around 300 total. The article, by Clive Thompson (In Praise of Online Obscurity), analyzes the way we have turned social networking into something very unsocial. No longer are we using social networking as a means of fostering relationships with people we actually care about – we’re using it to create new relationships with people (and “reconnect” with people from our past) and quite frankly, we can’t keep up with it. We’re faced with countless hurdles to jump to maintain these relationships, weeding through updates from networking contacts we barely know, distant friends from our childhood, friends of friends and ex-boyfriends. All people who, the second you click accept, can see all your info, as well. As Thompson points out, when your list gets too big, social networking is no longer a possibility. Social networking starts to break down.
Nowadays, people use Facebook as a means to notifying their friends about developments in their life (and granted, some stuff we could care less about – “Makin’ quesadillas tonight!” – I’m guilty of that.) In the last week I found out that I missed news from two of my good friends because their updates were lost in my enormous feed. One of my friends adopted a rescue puppy and the other one got engaged. Both are things I actually would have liked to know, but because of all the noise in my feed, I didn’t.
So what was the result of Tyler’s massacre on his friends list? A list of status updates that he – SHOCK! – actually cares about. Imagine truly wanting to read each and every status update on your list, instead of clicking “Hide” on that person you added, but only because you had 30 friends in common, all of whom are people you met at conferences. Imagine not having to worry that you’re missing something important, funny or interesting because your feed is filled with information and people that honestly, you could care less about.
Of course, this is just my opinion.
Thompson emphasizes the value in obscurity – of keeping your network small and manageable, because once it grows to a certain size, the conversation dissipates. It becomes silent. Mark Zuckerberg famously declared at the recent Crunchie Awards that living publicly and having minimal online privacy is “the social norm, now.” I disagree. Living a public life is not something everyone should be obligated to do, just because they want to use social networking to keep in touch with friends. Now, online privacy is an entirely separate issue as far as I’m concerned (albeit a very, very important one, I have quite a bit to say about this what with having my identity stolen online several times). But aside from the security aspect, I can’t help but agree with Thompson’s stance on online obscurity – how on Earth are we expected to keep up genuine relationships with 3,000 of our closest friends? It’s just not possible. Not unless you give up your job, your family, your hobbies, eating and sleeping. And then what would you have left to talk about, anyway?
In a way, it’s just like high school again – one big popularity contest. So many people striving to be the next Gary Vaynerchuk, the next “online celeb” who millions turn to for entertainment and advice. First of all, this isn’t realistic. That kind of fame is just not feasible for most of us. And whatever happened to good old human relationships – conversations – not soapboxing?
I’m not suggesting everyone go on an “unfriend-ing” rampage or to stop trying to gain followers, I suppose it depends on the purpose of that particular network, but I do think that if you plan on using social networking as a tool to strengthening relationships, you might want to scale back or segregate your relationships by dividing them on different networks (LinkedIn, for example). I know many are of the opinion that in order to create a successful business relationship, you have to first start with a personal relationship, and to some extent, I agree. But you’ve got to make it genuine. Adding me as one of your 7,000 friends on Facebook does not make me feel like I am getting in a close, personal, trusting relationship with you to where I would ever want to enter a business partnership with you. The same way I would feel if I were one of 300 people invited to your birthday party and only had 5 minutes to celebrate with you.
By the way – I realize this might sound a bit hypocritical because I have this blog and a handful of fans, but in no way do I tout myself as a “guru” of any kind or someone that people should “turn to for advice.” I’m nobody. Just a random girl with a poorly written, stream-of-conscience blog and a need to share pretty, interesting things. I have no goals in terms of popularity or fame. This concept of scaling back on social networking just resonated with me, perhaps because of my own struggle to maintain intimate relationships these days via social networking. So – I ask of you…
What’s your method when it comes to managing your online social scene? Do you have rules for adding new friends? Do you only use certain networks for certain things? I’m very curious to find out!
Another day, another award to vote for. Not that I would ever be nominated for one, so don’t get too excited. This time, it’s the 2010 Bloggies – perhaps one of the biggest and most coveted blog awards. With the ever-growing blogosphere, the competition is tough, and the nominees this year are more than deserving.
Here are a few of the folks that earned my votes, many of which I read on a daily basis. Even if you don’t vote for them, I highly suggest reading up on their blogs! Each is fantastic and a perfect solution to wandering internet-eye-syndrome!
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