Moments

Jan. 15th, 2012 03:06 am
lilrongal: (Default)

Wicker Park

This past week was sooo awesome. I can’t pinpoint any one thing that made it so good. Just many, many lovely moments that added up to an incredible and fabulous time.

laughter · hugs · conversation · food · friends
love · love · love · love · love

Arm Pit Length Arm Pit Length

Things like noticing my hair is now armpit length.
For someone whose hair wouldn’t go past the nape of her neck for many years,
this is a big deal.

Two Cute Girls

Spending the week with my dear friend s00j (aka SJ Tucker, aka Pure Awesomeness on a Stick).

BRUNCHING HARD. One amazing culinary experience after the other. I had a donut that was so good that I wanted to dance and speak in tongues. I got it at Bleeding Heart. (I’ve talked about this place before). The donut was called Punk Rock Princess. It was a donut with lemon and hibiscus filling and strawberry glaze.

Y’ALL.
THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE
HOW GOOD THIS DONUT WAS.

So many people have come in and out of my life over the years. Some of them have a light so bright, and they have energy so clear and good, that they energize you when they’re around. That’s how s00j and Ryan are. And the four of us together? Watch out now!

Lord Wigton & the Clan
Adam, Ryan, me, s00j

The Start of the Snow

· Actually enjoying the first very snowy and cold snap of this winter.

· Spending two days in a row with Jen!

· Losing count of the number of hugs I got and gave.

· Meeting Ryan and feeling like I’ve reunited with a dear old friend.

· Discovering a new TV show. Dear Downton Abbey, why did I wait so long to start watching you? And why are you so brilliant?

· Laughing so hard I was CRYING at some points. Oh, YouTube. Why must you be filled with the awesomeness that is Dr. Tran?

· Finding (and buying) some really yummy new incense.

· Getting my copy of LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR.

· Kick ass yoga class with Amber Cook.

I confess.
I was nervous for 2012 to start.
VERY nervous.
Now that it’s here, it’s been amazing,
and I am so excited for what’s next!

Life is so very good. :)


Linking up with:

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Finding Joy | The ABC's of Thanks
…a simple act of gratitude.

Write a list using the alphabet and then list one item that you are grateful for that starts with the given letter. Don’t forget to link up at Finding Joy when you’re done.

Here’s mine.

AAidan and Adam. Need I say more?

High Five!

BBooks. Because reading is AWESOME. Beaches, because they smell like sand and sun and sunscreen. Babies, because they are a nice way to start people. Bananas. They’re funny.

cCats, even when they are bratty, or stinky, or naughty. Cupcakes from Molly’s Cupcakes. Chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm. Christmas. My favorite holiday.

DDisney World! And for being blessed enough to visit six times so far!

It's Us!

EEmail. It’s my choice way of keeping in touch with people!

FFamily. ‘Cause I love them. Friends, too.
In the Animal Kingdom

Silly!!

Three Generations

GGreen, for the color of grass and leaves in the summertime.

Bridge

HHugs. They never fail to make me feel yummy inside.

IInternet. I’ve made so many friends and learned so much thanks to the Internet being around. It’s integral in my life. Also, I am grateful for incense. It makes the place smell so good and it makes me *feel* good.

JJuice. Especially 100% cherry juice. Delicious.

KKirtan. Beautiful call and response chanting. It’s non-denominational, and the music of my soul.

LLibraries. A free way to feed my reading addiction.

MMoney. It helps me get the things I need and sometimes even extra things I just want. Also, Moksha Yoga. The community there is the best. I’m honored to be a part of it.

NNice people. They make the world so much better.

OOpportunity. To work from home, to make friends from all over the world, to live in a cool city (even when it does get on my nerves/cost too much), to do yoga, to meet my favorite authors, to meet celebrities, to eat good food, to have a warm home, to wear skinny jeans, to improve my life every day, to be creative. To love. To live.

PPandernoodle. My favorite teddy bear ever.

Q – My favorite letter to sneak and push on people’s keyboards while they are frantically typing. Qs just make everything quirky. :)

RRonica. My name.

SSushi. It’s delicious and good for me. Sun, because it’s beautiful and warm. Skinny jeans, which I vowed I’d never wear. Until I started wearing them and loving them with boots.

TTrees. I am a real life tree hugger. I don’t hug trees in the city because dogs pee and poop on them. But let me loose in an arboretum? Good times.

UUnconditional love. There is a lot of it in my life.

VVacations. Especially to Disney World.

WWater. I love water. I love to drink it, I love to shower in it. I can’t swim in it, though, and I don’t like it when it’s falling the sky in the form of any sort of rain. But I do like water because it’s what keeps me alive. And it tastes so good! No calories or fat! Perfect.

XXP points in those stupid games I play on Facebook. I should quit all of them. Maybe I will one day.

YYoga. It has changed my life. For real.

Wheel/Upward Facing Bow Pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana

ZZoos that have giraffes.

Awesome!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

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Golden Last week, I had two really good days. It all started Friday morning. I had to get up super, duper early, which normally would not be a good thing for me. I am not a morning person at all! I’m a night owl all the way and often wonder if I’d do better if I lived on the other side of the world. But knowing me, I’d still end up a night owl somehow.

But anyway, this time it was OK to be getting up at 7am because I was going to get pampered! Late last year, I purchased a Groupon voucher for The Spa on Oak for a one-hour chocolate massage and one-half hour cinnamon sugar scrub. I was ready to redeem it (I’m always afraid I’m going to forget to redeem those vouchers and they’ll expire!), so I made the appointment and grabbed the first available slot. Hence the early morning wake up time. Anyway, when I was checking in, the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted to upgrade, for free, my sugar scrub to a facial! Of course I said “yes.” I’d never had a facial before and I’d been breaking out like a fifteen year old.

So, I got to spend the morning getting pampered. The massage was a combination of Swedish and deep tissue. I am no stranger to getting massages–I try to get one every couple of months if I can–but it had been a while and it was really nice. Then the facial. That was nice as well, even with the extractions, which really felt like I was being pinched. By the time it got too uncomfortable, it was over. My chin hasn’t felt this smooth since before I can remember.

After my morning of pampering, I headed down Oak Street, which is a chi-chi street in the city. Lots of high-end boutiques. I wandered into Juicy Couture and made my way upstairs, where all the running suits and sale items were. I ended up getting a cute tee-shirt. Then I made my way to the beach. I hadn’t been to the beach since the day I hung out with Mylin, and it was so beautiful out, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I sat right in the sand and read, enjoying the warm sun and soft breezes.

Just Chillin'

Oak Street Beach Oak Street Beach

After that, I did a little shopping on Michigan Avenue. That wasn’t as much fun because for some reason, there are a LOT of tourists downtown still, even though tourist season is over, and THEY WALK SLOW. They like to walk five abreast and just saunter down the street. It’s hard to get around them! But I managed it, and I found some really cute socks in TopShop, and some great deals on tops at Gap. I’m talking shirts and tanks for just a few dollars, and long sleeve tee-shirts for 9.99. I love long sleeve tee-shirts. They’re great for winter and fall weather, and nice to wear under sweaters or hoodies. I even got colors that aren’t grey or black, if you can believe that! Wait, I may have gotten one grey shirt or tank. I guess there is no denying what I like, but really should wear brighter colors this winter. Maybe that’ll help keep me from being so depressed come February. I am in the market for sweaters, but finding a normal sweater is always a challenge for me. They’re all shaped weird. The ones I DID love, from TopShop, were out of my budget. So, I didn’t come home with any new sweaters. I guess that’ll wait ’til the next check comes in.

After my excursions, I was finally tired and made my way home. Spent the rest of the evening relaxing and reading and playing on the computer. I started to feel nauseated and a migraine was settling in, so I took it easy.

Saturday, I went to the library and checked out six books, then I had brunch with a former co-worker, now friend. We ate at this place called Angel’s. Just happened to find it by looking on Yelp. Four and a half star review? Yes, please.

This is what I had:

Brunch at Angel's

You know you’re jealous. I’m jealous right now and I got to enjoy it already! I had bacon, pancakes with strawberries, and scrambled eggs. Orange juice for my drink. It was really good and the price was pretty good, too. Our waiter was interesting. My friend and I hung out so long that he brought me a free margarita! OK, any place that doesn’t mind if I sit and chat for three hours AND gives me a free drink to boot? WIN!!!

So, those were my two really good days. I caught a cold Saturday night and my migraine started up again–BIG TIME–so the days weren’t perfect. But I can’t complain. I just can’t believe it’s already going to be Friday again. Seems like this week went by in a flash. And it may have, seeing as I spent three days of it lying in bed trying to get over a migraine and a cold (which is gone now YAY).

Is it just me, or does every cold get worse? I really don’t remember them laying me up for three days when I was little, or not even a year ago. Being sick is the pits, and today is the first day I feel 100% again. So YAY for that. I should probably get back to yoga practice tomorrow, huh?

That’s all for now. ‘Til next time! :)

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And August is out the door. I think I’m still kind of in denial about that; I know I haven’t changed all the calendars yet. I don’t know. It’s so weird, how quickly summer goes by. It’ll be time to seriously think about the holidays before long. I’ve already started my holiday shopping. A little bit, anyway.

So, check this. You all know how much I love yoga, right? So, a few weeks ago, I was talking to one of the managers at Moksha. We got to talking about my editing skills and I mentioned that if they needed anyone, I’d certainly be interested working with their promo materials. She gave me the name of the marketing manager. I contacted her, she contacted me back. We met, hit it off, and well, yesterday was my first day as a work study student at Moksha. Basically, I do six hours of editing a week for them in exchange for unlimited yoga. You guys, I get to do what I love for an organization I love, and in exchange, I get unlimited amounts of WHAT I LOVE. How amazing is that?

And as always, the question of yoga teacher training came up. See, it’s been in the back of my mind since last summer. I daydream about teaching classes, and I wish I had some official training so I could teach classes, or even teach Aidan. But I thought I needed to be way more experienced. Turns out that I don’t have to be at all. All the things I thought I needed to know as a prerequisite? Nope. They teach me everything I need to know. The fall session starts next week, so I don’t think I’ll be ready for that. But I am looking into the spring session that starts in March. Everyone who’s gone through it says it’s one of the best things they’ve done in their life. And more than one person has come up to me and asked if I was in training, and seemed surprised that I wasn’t. And then they told me that I should do the training.

So. It’s a possibility. Not sure if I could teach yoga full time, but it would be an awesome part time/side gig. And who knows where it might take me?

In the meantime, I’ve been taking much better care of myself and let me tell ya. It feels good. I’ve been doing yoga and I’ve been on the bike again. For a while, it felt like my legs weren’t stretching out enough on the bike, so I adjusted the seat just a bit. Now it feels great. I guess it was just a little bit too short before. I did have it at the lowest level. I’ve been halfway considering doing a “Couch to 5K” program, but I’m not very comfortable with the idea of running outside. Also, I need really good shoes and I know the investment for that won’t be tiny. Still, it’s worth considering. Running a 5K would be super neat. I just really want to vary my workouts. Not that I consider yoga to be just a workout, but that’s another post.

Now, if I could just get my diet in check. I know what I need. I need Kanani, the 2011 American Girl doll of the year, but seriously, I need more fruit that I manage to actually eat. Peaches. I’m craving peaches. Sweet, juicy peaches. Maybe I’ll go to Stanley’s tomorrow and get some. Mmm, peaches. WAIT, I have some fruit cup peaches. Those can tide me over til I get fresh ones. YAY!

I’ve managed to read more than 50 books this year. It was hard. I’m usually nearing 100 by now, if I haven’t passed that already. But I was way too busy for a while there. Things are much better now.

Other random things:
- I have eight unopened Monster High dolls, an unopened Professor Snape action figure, and I still haven’t opened my She Ra toys yet. I really need to get on that.
- But before I can play, I have a lot of projects going on and many deadlines to meet before I can take a breather. They’re projects I enjoy, though, which makes doing them seem less like work and more like fun.
- I need to seriously QUIT the Facebook games (again) and focus more on my work. The games are so demanding with their quests and begging that one could easily spend hours and hours “playing” them. That’s not good for me or my eyes or my brain, so it’s time to step away. I only play three of them regularly, but even that’s too much.
- I have more self-control with The Sims, which I am so happy I can play again. When my Mac’s OS was updated to Lion, something wonky happened with the video cards and the game, rendering the game unplayable. A patch was just released the other day making the game playable again. But I can only play The Sims for a few hours before it starts lagging and they need to sleep too darn much so I get bored. That’s a good thing. Else, I’d play it for 10+ hours straight. No bueno.
- Adam and I’ve been going through Arrested Development again. That show never gets old.
- Tumblr is my newest addition. Holy awesome. Another time suck I have to be aware of.
- Aidan’s in third grade now. He has his own phone, so he sends me random texts and he also showed me how to attach audio files to text messages. I miss him. Look at this picture of him and Fi:

Aidan & Fi

Poor Fi has conjuctivitis. It’s not contagious or anything, but his right eye was red and swollen and teary when he first came to live with us. Now, his eye isn’t red and swollen anymore, although he is very teary. I’m pretty sure he has allergies. He sneezes all the time. Still, he’s my baby.

Fi

When I lived with him in Columbus, he stopped being very cuddly when he turned about… three or four, I’d say. But now, he’s always near me or next to me. He and Helena’s relationship is still pretty tumultuous. Just last night, they bumped noses while they were waiting for me to pass out the treats. (Come to think about it, they get along fine when there is food involved.) Today, he was next to me, she was right across from me. She leaned over, maybe to bump his nose again, and he swatted at her and hissed. She made this face like “But but but…” I mean, she looked so devastated. I chastised Fi gently and pet Helena, but she seemed mad at ME. :( Oh dear. I wonder if they’ll ever LIKE each other or even tolerate each other. I don’t know. Fi’s kinda old and set in his ways. We’ll see. He’s sleeping right beside me right now. Let me tell you. A warm summer evening. Friday. Kitty beside me who I can pet constantly. Glass of juice behind me and lots of pillows. Pizza burgers and tater tots for dinner. All of that after a day of being productive. That’s a good day.

Ooh, ooh, ooh!!

I made a video demonstrating how to make a simple hair fall! :) Wanna see? Fi’s in it, too! Please watch it. I had too much fighting with iMovie to do for this to go unappreciated.

I have a headache and need to get to bed. But first, maybe some chocolate. Or peaches.

Byeeee!

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I love the Friday nights of a three-day weekend because I still have the entire weekend ahead of me. Three days of freedom. Sweet. :)

Life’s been pretty good lately. Those work weeks from hell are now in the past (there are more coming up but not for several weeks–we’ll let Future Ronni deal with that). I’ve discovered new music, met new cool people, and eaten a LOT of sushi! The weather is still acting way too wishy-washy. I wish it would break already. But fortunately, it’s been nice on the weekends and crappy during the work week, which is how I prefer it.

I’ve still been working out. These days, I alternate between yoga, the bike, and The Firm stability ball workout. I also toss in some New York City ballet and Denise Austin power kickboxing from time to time. I’ve also been lifting weights a bit. I’m thinking of getting and starting the 10-Minute Trainer. I work so many hours it’s sometimes hard to get motivated to work out when I get home. But I can spare ten minutes, right?

I’ve had the past two Tuesdays off from work, and they’ve both been amazing. On May 17th, I got up and did a great workout on the bike. Then I met with my Plurk friends Jon and Rho for brunch! We ate at Horizon Cafe, my favorite diner in Chicago. This is what I had:

Waffles!

Jealous, aren’t ya? :) After brunch, we came to our place and hung out, and of course, took pictures!

Hanging with J and Rho

It was so much fun hanging out with them. I didn’t want them to leave. We play all day every day on Plurk, but it was totally better when I got to talk to them in person.

After Adam and I dropped them off at their hotel, we headed out to Naperville to Anderson’s bookshop so I could meet Sarah Dessen again! I’d met her during the summer of 2009, but I was not going to pass up the chance to meet my favorite author again. I was #31 in line, and when I got to her, she looked at me and said “I totally know you. You always comment on my blog.” She gave me two hugs! Oh my God, y’all. As if my day wasn’t already awesome, right?

Sarah Dessen | Anderson's Bookshop Naperville Sarah Dessen | Anderson's Bookshop Naperville

Sarah Dessen | Anderson's Bookshop Naperville

Sarah is a great speaker. She’s very entertaining and down-to-earth and honest. I really enjoyed listening to her read from her newest book WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE and having her share life tidbits with us. She’s very relatable and I think that’s what I like best about her. And of course, her books continue to be incredible. She really is an inspiration.

So, it was back to work for four days, then an evening with Jen, eating sushi and hanging out. I took her to her first kirtan, which she enjoyed. There was a kid there who was about 8 years old. He was clapping, singing and dancing, ALL WHILE HULA HOOPING. What! Yeah, that was pretty awesome. It was a great kirtan. I’m VERY much looking forward to Rich Logan’s Acoustikirtan on June 11th!

Jen came over again Sunday and we watched Twilight with RiffTrax. We need to make a date to watch New Moon with RiffTrax as well. Good times.

Crookshanks turned ten last weekend! Can you believe he is ten? And look how handsome he is:

Happy Birthday, Crookshanks!

I took this past Tuesday off because I wanted needed a break, and also because my s00j was in town! She was performing with two other tremendously talented women named Bekah Kelso and Ginger Doss at the Life Force Arts Center. The three of them together is known as The Traveling Fates and you guys, they are amazing. Their harmony is so tight you can bounce a dime off of it. I enjoyed every single song they sang. I could tell they were having a great time and enjoying singing together and singing for us. I ended buying both of Ginger’s CDs and the one Bekah had available, and I’ve been listening to them non-stop. I even made a “Traveling Fates” playlist in my iTunes at work, and will need to do so on my iPod. If you go to the Traveling Fates site (linked above), you can download a free compilation of some really great songs. DO IT.

But first, look at my pictures. :)

s00j Ginger Doss Bekah
s00j Ginger Bekah

s00j, Me, Bekah
s00j, me, and Bekah. Watch out now!

Seriously, it was a great show, performed in a great space, and attended by great people. It was a very good night.

Dancing the Night Away

Oh, and I have to share the picture of the meal I had before the show.

Mixed Grill
Mixed Grill. I couldn’t decide on which kabob to get, so I got this one which was a sampler of sorts. Super yummy.

And just randomly… The lilacs are finally starting to bloom! YAY lilacs!

Lilacs!!!

Oh so today, I went to The Disney Store. The one in Block 37, on the corner of State and Washington, smells amazing when you walk inside. Today, I found out that they’re actually offering the scent, called IMAGINATION, for purchase. I got the home fragrance and the body lotion. So, not only can my apartment smell like Disney, but I CAN TOO.

You’re so jealous. Admit it. Hee hee. Just kidding. It does smell really good, though. Woodsy and fresh.

Randomly, my upstairs neighbor is blasting O.P.P. What.

That’s all for now. I will leave you with a quick Friday Five, then Imma be out.

FRIDAY FIVE: In The Mood (4)

What puts you in a creative mood?
Reading a really good book. Looking at pins on Pinterest. Good music. Movie scores.

What puts you in a silly mood?
I’m almost always in a silly mood. Also, playing with Aidan. And watching funny stuff on TV.

What puts you in a contemplative mood?
Vivid dreams. Feeling unsettled or unsatisfied or discontent.

What puts you in a competitive mood?
Not much these days.

If you’d call yourself a talkative person, what puts you in a quiet mood? If you’d call yourself a quiet person, what puts you in a talkative mood?
I’m probably in the middle. Bringing up a subject I am passionate about, like Aidan, books, writing, yoga will make me talk a lot and loudly, too. I get quiet when I am upset, puzzled, or tired.

And that’s all, folks. PEACE!

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