Monday, August 29, 2011

*Catch up!

The summers growing up with my parents consisted of two things: Watering the plants, and coffee on the patio. Morning, noon and night we'd find a way to use our back patio. (Well, for 4 months out of the year when there was no snow, that is.) One staple meal we would have for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner on said patio is tomato sandwiches.


Oh so simple, yet what my childhood was built of. Toast, mayo, salt and (THE most important part) a fresh garden tomato.


Sure you can have tomato sandwiches anytime of the year, but I swear to you, they don't taste nearly as good without a freshly picked, still warm from the sun, garden tomato.


I can't believe its days away from September and I am just now having my first of the summer! My sweet friend Sara gave me a basket of freshly picked veggies from her garden for my day of birth, including not only cherry tomatoes, but heirloom tomatoes and your staple romas. I knew this was the most opportune moment to make my first tomato sandy of 2011.


Come to momma.

*The blog subject is the punchline of my favorite joke my boss ever made up. If you care to hear the rest, ask me. But you have to promise to laugh when I say the punch line given away above.

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

From -3 to 24 just like that.

At about 2:30p this afternoon, I was in THE most foul mood. I woke up from an hour nap and the first thought that crossed my mind was "Great. I'm awake. NOW what am I going to do?" I tell you what, spending from Thursday-Sunday in a glorified studio apartment alone with very few and far between outings, with those outings including strictly stretchy pants and a tshirt, it really starts to get to a girl. However, a series of fortunate events really turned my frown upside down.

1) Crap TV. Between not having a sofa, ergo the only way to lay comfortably is in my bed and my darn cable working maybe once every 3 days...I haven't been catching up on my DVR like I usually would. I made a bed of pillows to substitute for the lack of a sofa, took advantage of my working cable and my mood went from a -3 to about a 4 within a matter of minutes.

2) Dark nail polish. I KNOWWW technically it's still summer and I should be doing the bright cheery reds, pinks and neutrals. As dumb as it sounds, I really am so happy with dark polish. So, Here Today, Aragon tomorrow it is! Mood then went from a 4 to about a 6.

3) An afternoon phone call from Mr. Rail. Hearing that man talk about going in on a Sunday to hang posters in his classroom and the Fantasy Football team he let me help pick made me jump from a 6 to like 9.9.

4) Red wine. It was open. It was tempting. Sue me. 9.9 to a 10.

5) Seeing I had 4 missed calls from Jon Graff, and knowing I'd have to call him 5 times in a row to get him to answer. { Don't judge us on our weird phone games. Just be thankful I don't call you and sing 525,600 Minutes to you in a voicemail. } The opportunity to giggle with him and hear OFFICIALLY he got his offer letter from a company here in Denver and his plans to MOVE BACK HOMEEEEE!!! I immediately went from a 10 to a 24.

It's hilarious to me the simple things that make me from feeling like a lonely cat lady to the luckiest girl in all of 303.

Happy Sunday and Hakuna Matata, sweet friends. : >

Saturday, August 27, 2011

'member that time...

I ate strictly veggies for dinner?









Well...and milk.


Mmmm. Does a body good.

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Friday, August 26, 2011

Will and Forks.

The two main men in my life the past 24 hours.









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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Blessed.

Even when I'm curled up in a ball, in so much pain it's difficult to comprehend what the next step needs to be, and so terrified of the reality of might be happening, I'm constantly in awe, amazed and touched at the different ways people are able to show support and reach out wanting to help.  My precious poor Mary had to find me seconds away from passing out laying down on my front patio this morning, and though I can't imagine or speak to what level of scared she was, she scooped me up and maintained cool as a cucumber while taking charge of the situation.  I do remember her cursing out the parking situation in front of the ER though.  "Sure.  Why wouldn't you have construction directly in front of the Emergency Room?!  That seems like a perfectly logical idea to me..."

Thank you Mary for being my strength when I wasn't capable of being strong today.  Thank you for making me laugh while I had half a dozen cords hanging off of me and even when you genuinely thought I peed in my dress, the way you asked me was as heartfelt as if you were asking me what perfume I used that morning.  (I had a wet washcloth that I had been using around my neck, and when Mary was sitting with me in the hospital room we didn't realize she was sitting on my dress that was sitting on top of the wet washcloth.)

Thanks to all my friends and family sending their love and prayers via phone calls and text messages!  I'm so blessed to know all of ya'll.


Wanted: Adult Badaid Ripper Offer.

Can anyone come tale care of this for me?


When I was a kid, I have vivid memories of leaving my bandaids on as long as humanly possible to delay ripping them off. I hate it. So.....can one of you come take care of this for me? I'll let you take home some candy from my piƱata on Saturday.
Also, ER ID bracelet? This is what we think of you.






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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

This cracks me up.

Chad's been doing an online coaching training/class lately, so we've been texting a lot at night, and he'll call around 11:30p when he's finished before he finally goes to bed. (I'm of course long asleep by then and mostly remember 2% of what we talked about the following morning.)

Last night I was beyond exausted and had just crawled into bed while texting him and Eric at the same time. I received Jim and Eric's present in the mail last night, so I was explaining to him how I'll upload it tomorrow (today) amd send it to him then. I (like I said) was so wiped out I wasn't paying attention to who I was texting and almost send Chad this message intended for Eric:

Cross my heart! I'm excited for our CA getaway - love you babe. Can't wait for you to see the video tomorrow. Sleep sweet, handsome!

All I would have had to do was explain me and my gay best friend are planning a fab trip to CA, and the video was simply me opening a present. However, it would have been the time after I sent it, before I got a chance to explain what was going on that kept me in giggles most of the night.

The end.

Friday, August 19, 2011

twenty-six.

Today, I am 25. 
 
Tomorrow, I will be 26. 
Deep, huh?
 
Jaime and Ryan (actually just Ryan, Jaime gets so heated and leaves the room whenever we start talking about it.) have a theory that you actually don’t turn the next age until 6 months after your day of birth.  I feed into it just because I like to see Jaime worked up, and Ryan and I calm (can you say ganging up?), but I really can kind of see his point.  When I turned 25 exactly a year ago, I was so not ready to be 25.  I was careless with my money, bills, late night drinking with friends, work etc.  In fact, the night after celebrating my 25th birthday with work friends one of my closest girlfriends wrote me an email about how, and I quote, she thought I was “depressed, spend too much time running, go out too often and don’t eat enough.”  Now in hindsight, were all those things true?  Maybe.  I lost my sister/best friend and my boyfriend in the exact same week in April of that year.  Both of them peaced out just like that.  So was I depressed?  Maybe.  Did I spend too much time running to ease the pain?  It’s possible.  Was I going out too often to keep myself busy?  Yes.  Was I not eating enough?  This one I still can’t agree with.  I’ll get my cousins to write a guest blog on our holiday eating contests, and who wins EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. 
 
But honestly, you guys – this time around I really feel like I’m ready to be 26.  I know it’s still young, I get that…and am reminded by the Hannah Montana/Sweet 16 birthday cards I get from my coworkers each year.  Hey, it’s not my fault most of them graduated high school the year I was born.  I am ready to start making some changes.  I’m not talking tattoo-moving countries-shave my head changes…just little day to day life changes that will make me a better person. 
 
One of my most favorite friends, Sara Docksey is about 9 years older than I am.  WHENEVER one of us girls has a birthday, she always has something to say about what that age was like for her.  I really do love her for it.  For example – on the Evite to my birthday party, she wrote:
sara_docksey replied yes for 1 adult
26? ahhh, that was my most favorite year.
 
Guess what, world?  The age 25 sucked for me.  I had way too many adult real life sh!t going on which was incredibly overwhelming for me and I had a hard time processing it all.   However, it makes me that much more determined to leave it in the past, learn from it, and make 26 rockin’. 
 
When I was 25, I:
Had my first real heartbreak.
Moved into my 2nd apartment alone.
Starting saying “Southern California” when people ask where my parents live.
Realized I don’t like most seafood, and that is perfectly okay.
Spent the first Christmas of my entire life without my sister.
Feel in love with iced tea.
Saw through my first volunteer project.
Realized I am really crappy at managing my finances and asked a professional for help.
Kept my cat alive despite his best efforts to run away.
Made progress at keeping my work relationships separate from my personal relationships.
Regained my momma as my best friend.
Decided 25 is the last year that I will quit ignoring other’s advice, stop doing things wrong myself and learning things the hard way.
The first year I actually stuck with one of my New Years Resolutions’.
 
I’m excited to turn 26.  I’m excited to grow from my mistakes, and learn what works for me.  Because really?  That is what’s most important.
 
Hakuna Matata, friends.    
 
 
 

 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

My friends rock part 2:



Yay for birthday packages!!!

*Never mind the "good challenge" part.  He had said after "playing school" aka him and Eric prepping his classroom for students, they were going to cook up some dins.  Everyone who has ever cooked with Jim knows at MOST the only task you will be assigned is opening a bag of cheese in fear of doing anything else wrong aka not up to his standards.  This is my most favorite, 150% unstaged picture of us cooking when the crew came to visit a few years back.

All Eric had to do was mix dough for the who knows what, cookies?  buns?  doesn't matter.  Jim was watching him like a HAWK making sure he approved.

I digress.  My friends rock.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Near or far…

…my friends rock:
 
11:31 AM Summerfield, Beth
So serious question:
How do you plan to celebrate my day of birth on Saturday?
 
Shannon Stephney (APAC Customer Services Inc)
Well - I will probably celebrate by watching Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Sweetest Thing, and The Six Feet Under finale. Then I’ll be so depressed, I’ll go stuff my face with a $5 Buck Box from Taco Bell.
 
 
maryidaolson: Iz you having a cake?
11:11 AM bethsummerfield: No
11:12 AM maryidaolson: Why not?
bethsummerfield: uhhh – I don’t know.  I'm too old for a cake
maryidaolson: BETH.  You are having a cake.  I'll make you a cake.
 
 
From: Rebeca Dassinger
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 9:32 AM
To: Summerfield, Beth
Subject:
 
Guess who you'll see in TWO DAYS?! TWO DAYS!
 
 
 
 

 

Friday, August 12, 2011

An old love.

I've used Evite quite often in the past, but for some reason I haven't ever really understood how awesome it is until lately.  They have a plethora of colors to use!  And events!  Why wouldn't use it?!  Mary and I decided we need to use it more often...even just to send to ourselves. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61005247@N08/6035842661/

I'm very sorry for the curse word - I got a little excited for our upcoming Craft Day. 

My favorite was this morning when Mary was creating one for her birthday (2 days after the best day of the year) She picked this super fancy and classy template, but used "Up For Drink?, Cutting Back, and On the Wagon" for her RSVP tags. 

I might make an Evite for myself to go to work next week. Why?!  Just because I can. 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Stuben's boy.

Thank goodness he likes Stuben's, too or else I'm not sure we could be friends.


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Monday, August 8, 2011

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.

I realize the subject of this post has literally nothing to do with the post itself, but that phrase kept popping in my head over and over while I was thinking about writing this. I was going to try and spin it to “A photo an hour keeps the…” and then I got sick of trying to sound clever.

Mary Ida and I challenged each other to doing a post with a picture of an hour all throughout the day! So here mine is. This past Saturday was one of the most lazy days that I’ve had in a while, which I find funny considering it was the day picked to photograph. Maybe I’ll do one in a few weeks time when I actually have a reason to shower before 3pm. (True story.)

I present to you, my Saturday, August 6th, 2011!

{ 7am: } Pretty typical Saturday morning. Wake up to blur of a kitty wanting to play and be pet.






{ 8am: } Reading in bed with coffee! And entertaining myself while watching the squirrels and birds torment Forks.






{ 9am: } Mary and Oliver were headed to Cheeseman Park just a few blocks from my house, so I joined them for a walk and giggles over Oliver trying to jump up a tree and catch a squirrel. He was so (not) close!






{ 10am: } Adult, grown up things needing taken care of at the bank. Borrrrrrrrring!



{ 11am: } Cooked, inhaled and enjoyed some late breakfast eggs!



{ 12pm: } Time to pick my favorite Pandora station, turn off my phone’s ringer and head out for a run around the neighborhood and Cheeseman Park!






{ 1pm: } Get back home, kick off my shoes, and enjoy a good book.



{ 2pm: } Naptime!!! Wake up to see this squishy face looking way too relaxed and peaceful. I managed to wake him up and change that really quickly.






{ 3pm: } Shower time and painted my fingies and toes.







{ 4pm-5pm: } I’m on a massive WAG kick right now….so the hours of 4 & 5 consisted of watching, laughing at my favorite 4-some, then of course texting Eric full quotes, only to have him totally get me, and respond in the proper way.






{ 6pm: } Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to my aunt’s house I go!



{ 7pm: } Yummy appetizers, wine and good conversation on Jen’s patio before dins!



{ 8pm: } Prep and grilling up the fish for the tacos.



{ 9pm: } Imagine a photo of a messy plate, more wine, and a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream with blackberries here.

{ 10pm: } Home in bed! With more reading before dozing off.




Yay! Thanks for humoring me and pretending to care what I did every hour of the day on Saturday. It was actually pretty fun and funny to document.

Speaking of fun and funny…


Okay – I’ll be done with the cat photos for a while. Pinky swear.





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Bad mood blocker.

I woke up this morning in a foul mood. My kitty cat decided to be so naughty from 2:00am until about 3:30am so I had a rough night’s sleep. I was burning myself left and right on my curling iron. My dang computer wouldn’t play the only song I wanted to listen to because apparently it won’t even let me use YouTube anymore. (Don’t worry, I used my phone. Crisis averted.)

I knew posting that post on Friday would give me the ultimate karma for a bad mood in the near future, so I sucked it up and found a few ways to get past my crankerness.

Silly texts to the people I love:






Good hair days:




Dancing in the car on my way to work.


And fantastical coffee through and through.



I think I'll get through the day juuuuuuust fine. ; >

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Friday, August 5, 2011

I love people who get me.

Whenever my friend Kristen has me over, 9 times out of 10, I can be found hiding in her breakfast nook, eating cherry tomatoes out of a bowl that she just picked from her garden that day.

But TODAY! Today, she surprised me with my OWN baggie!

Before long they were going...





...going...





...gone.





But look at how cute this lil guy was!!! His stem was still attached.





Sweet Jesus. I just called a vegetable cute.

I need a hobby. Maybe gardening....?



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Turn that frown upside down.

Lately, I’ve really been battling with some Debbie Downer things going on, not just internally, but all around me. { wahh wahh } Financial distress, tragic loss of a pet, health issues as confusing as the day is long, the list can go on { and on andonandonandon }. Some days it’s difficult keeping a smile on my face, and constantly telling people: “It will get better! It’s just a phase. Chin up, Buttercup!” Of course, right when I’m feeling kind of in a rut, I happen upon some pretty dang inspiring blog posts to totally shine new light and change my perspective.

Here are some of my favorite, encouraging posts from this week, and weeks past.

{ 1 } I LOVE the fun, goofy and always silly love and friendship Mary and Karley have built up and sustained across the miles. A lot of the time, I’ll ask Mary how her morning run went, and she’ll reply “Oli and I started out running, but then Karley called at 6:15a, so we walked and chatted with her the rest of the way.” And though the art of not only being awake at 6:15a, but being alert enough to call someone and carry a conversation is so beyond foreign to me, I love how that works for them. Mary posted about their fun skype date they had last night! A direct quote from a text I received from her at 9:30p: “Do you want to know the quickest way to end a Skype? Sing.”
I’m so thankful to know these two girls and I simply adore hearing about their early morning dates when they are in person { Like a)being THE only two people at Snooze, and b) waking up at 3am thinking it was time to get up and att’em for the day. } and their early, early, early morning phone dates. I love you Mary and Karley!

{ 2 } This sweet little blog always pulls at my heartstrings. The story of a couple: the husband is in the army, and the wife blogs about their time apart, and now their time finally together. I really loved the post I read today and it’s stuck with me for some reason.
I love how she identifies her feelings; be them happy or sad, and knows herself well enough to gage what will help, or hinder her mood. Following her gut instinct. I can totally appreciate her ability to pause, look around, see through the bad and be thankful for the little things. This is something I actively try and do each and every day. Then I also make my friends do it…and they don’t love it as much as I do. { Sorry Heather and Miss! }

{ 3 } It shouldn’t surprise me that I was so drawn and addicted to this post - it was definitely her shirt that pulled me in, and the rest of the post made me do a great big, huge, giant sighhhhhhhhhhhh and for some reason, I swear the sun shined a little bit brighter. Somewhere throughout my life, I have become addicted to words. If I take a minute to look around, not just at work, but also at home…I have words EVERYWHERE. At my desk, I have a wooden “smile.” staring me in the face all day long, at home I have scattered the words “inspire”, “live”, “believe” and “laugh” in all different rooms. When/how did I get obsessed with this? No idear. But I’m glad I did. Hence why I want her shirt so darn badly.
Anyway, I digress.
The first statement in her post, I could read, and read, and read over and over and over again. I believe you can choose to be happy. I mean, if that isn’t the truth…what is? Bad things happen. Life happens. It isn’t going to be all peaches and roses constantly…but guess what? In the midst of all the chaos, there are good things happening, too. To quote bebebird: “I can choose to dwell on problems and stress myself out to no end OR I can look at the sun beaming through the heavy stormy clouds, and illuminating sections of the rolling plains and smile. Because you know what?? That is sort of amazing.” I know, I know…easier said than done. But this is an area where I’m actively trying to practice what I preach. And honestly? I hope you hold me to that.

{ 4 }This post kind of goes hand in hand with my last sentence. Now I feel like I need a tiny little baby disclaimer here: Yes, I believe in God, yes I love going to church, but in no way, shape or form am I trying to preach my beliefs to you lovely readers on this blog. In fact, this post speaks a lot about Christ and God and it actually isn’t what draws me to it. It was mainly talking about being imitable to those around us. No, I don’t have a husband, or kids to be watching me constantly, but I do have friends, coworkers and strangers. I really do believe that our peer’s mood affects us way more than they or we even realize. This is my absolute favorite:
Also, are you someone that is contagious? Do people leave feeling filled up after being with you? Do your babies and your hubby?

I want to be contagious. I want to be imitateable.

What if we all changed. Loved better, were more gracious and understanding, more merciful....and what if our children imitated. And so on.
We could create an entire movement.

That is inspiring.


{ 5 } And last but not least, another from our dear bebebird. If we were playing the game “One of these things is not like the others.”, this particular blog post would def be the thing not like the other 1-4 listed above. This was posted in May, and it’s still something I think about constantly. I think it’s her “safe spot” that I envy or long for. Or it could be the photos of the beautiful sunset that remind me oh-so much of Morgan Dawn. Or honestly? It could be her talk of an Americano, because there are few hours in the day where I don’t crave a good cup of coffee. Whatever it is that I’m drawn to, I love it. And I hope you do, too!


I don’t know what the point of this post is. Is it for me to reference whenever times get tough to remember the good in life? Is it a reminder for you all reading this to do the same? Who knows. I just hope one of us got something out of it.

Hakuna Matata, my dear readers.



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Nice genes.

My aunt Jen traveled to CA for work this week. She was able to stay with Jon, and our friend Chris! My parents and uncle drove to meet them for dinner. Of course my phone was blowing up all night long with pictures and texts.






























When I asked my mom why dad didn't make it into the pictures, she said "Well because he was the DD." No idea why that meant he couldn't be photographed, but it made sense to them at the time.

Don't I have a pretty family?! I fink so.

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