TGIFbeforealongweekend!

And a very G this F is! When I typed that, I intended it to mean "And a very Good this Friday is." which isn't a proper sentence anyway { Sorry Jen and Becky }, then I realized that if I took it out of the TGIF context, it meant "And a very God this Friday is." which makes EVEN less sense.  But I'm leaving it, because why?  Well, I don't know.  Just because.  GO with it.

ANYWAY, TGIF fun friends!  How was all you's bitches weeks?  { Man, I am really knocking all grammer rules and regulations out the window today. }  My week was just straight up wonky - not going to lie.  It was a strange combination of all of my favorite things in addition to my least, I'd-rather-eat-my-porcelain-coffee-mug things.

Let's start with my favorite:
Pho!  Actually, Pho 2 times this week.  Please keep your comments to yourself.
Cooking, drinking, laughing and enjoying a peaceful evening outside with this guy I kinda like { love }.
FROYOOOOOOOOO!
Long morning runs.
Good drinks, great appetizers and better conversations with an old friend { Which lasted about 4 hours later than I had thought.  There goes my 10p bedtime.  Oh well! }
Cuddle sessions.
Golden retriever love!
The anticipation for a backpacking combo 14'er trip with Hunter this weekend!  I am absolutely gitty - I simply can't wait.

Annnnnnd for my not-so-favorite:
Dealing with the leftovers misc crap in my old apt from last weekends big move.  { But I'm FINALLY done and out of that sucka, so no more dwelling on that! }
Packing and moving in 90+ degree heat in every spare second I had.  In high heels.  Yeahh...I SO didn't think that one through. { Damn. I just dwelled, didn't I? }
Coping and processing the death of our dear friend Keith.
Finding out a good friend is dealing with scary 6 letter "c" word news in her family.
Bad hair days.

The best news is that the my favorites outweigh my not-so-favorites...but the awful news is there are a few in the not-so-favorites that are truly devastating.  And NO bad hair days isn't in the category...I'm not THAT vain.

I'll leave you with a picture of a t-shirt I took in Patagonia the other day - it will surely kick off our backpacking weekend in true fashion.  I can't tell you how excited I am that when I was packing for this little trip that nothing electronic and absolutely no makeup was packed. AND I get to spend the entire weekend OUTSIDE with Hunter while wearing stretchy pants.  I dare you to come up with something that sounds better than that!

Cheers to the long weekend, friends and family!

People who are better at life than me.

I la-ove it when an abundance of inspiration hits my inbox in the mornings.  Today I was lucky enough to find two amaze graphic design videos that make me want to be a better designer, coworker, artist, and step-dog owner.  Yes, step-dog owner.  These videos are THAT good.

This first one, I don't just love because it's my wanna be best friend yes I do, but the talent, and the precision in the piece is just incredible to me.

And the second one.  Oh the second one!  Takes me STRAIGHT back to my college days - it reminds me so much of something we would have been assigned in class.  { Minus the video part, just the interpretation of words and their actions. }  

We had a book in school that had little challenges like this example throughout the entire book.  It's a book I was frantically searching for last year, but couldn't find it, so assumed I had donated it years ago.  I was so excited and found it when I was packing up for my move!  Once things settle down next week, I can't WAIT to pour myself a big glass of ice water wine, turn on my computer, plug in the headphones and get jiggy with it.  Graphic Design style. 

And because we all know I can't leave things in even numbers, and feel the constant need to keep things in odd numbers, I'll leave you with a video from my favorite chef, cooking some cauliflower couscous...a side dish I've been dying to try my hand at for weeks now!

There is a complete level of stillness in our office today.  Not the stillness that comes from working away, or the stillness that comes from prep for a big meeting.  The sort of stillness that comes from shock, reflection and sadness.  The sort of stillness that comes after reading this email:

Dear Friends-

This is one of the hardest emails I have ever had to write.  I am so sad to let you all know that Keith Jensen passed away quietly this morning after a long battle with Brain Cancer.  He fought hard for 3.5 years and inspired us all with his positive attitude and fearless approach to fighting it back.

We will miss his big smiles.  We will miss his ability to make us laugh.  We will miss his ability to bring us all together in tough times.  But, we are grateful for the time we were able to spend with him and for the privilege to call him friend.  We will miss him but we will never forget him.

Please take a moment to reach out to your friends & family members and be thankful for your time with them.

I will forward additional information as soon as it is available.  

Few words can convey what a ball of energy, laughter, silliness and above all love our dear manager, mentor, and friend Keith possessed.  He was the definition of joy and love.  To say he will be missed is a gross understatement.  He will live on in the hearts of many, many, manymanymanymanymanymany, for years to come.

Whenever....and I seriously mean WHENEVER Keith and I saw each other in the office, he would  immediately belt out this song:

I'm talking the kitchen.  His office.  Meetings.  Christmas parties.  Hallways.  He had the neatest ability to ensure everyone he surrounded himself with knew how special they were.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  Take some time today to forget fights.  To forget irritations and frustrations   Forget any wrong doings that you've done, or have been done to you.  Forget annoyances.  Today is a day for love.  For living.  For being thankful of the people in your life, and the ability to read this blog post.

We love you, Keith.

Crickets.

I have had this window open with a blank post since oh...about 7:30am.  Well, in all honesty since about 6pm last night when I wanted to take a picture from my laptop of my new room, but as quickly as I realized how horrifically tired and greasy I looked, I walked away from the computer and ate homemade salsa by the spoonful.

True story.

Srsly guys - this stuff is amaze.  The Farmers Markets around here are in full peak and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Anyway, I'm here to say ohheyhai, though it probably won't be worth reading.  I'm bouncing back and forth from posting about my amaze girls birthday party sleepover this past weekend, Mary's birthday party, our Montana trip, and posting photos from when my parents were here, and my cousin and her husband were here before that!

Yes.  A month ago.

Hi my name is Beth, and I'm a very delayed blogger.

But for now, you get photos of salsa, vegan taco salads, cute boys in Ikea bed-frames, Green Monsters, new roomies and their { smiling } dogs, a birthday gift from Amie that when I read the first 2 words of just one of them I cried for 15 minutes straight and last but not least appreciating the fact Hunter knows how much I love green how much I am OCD I am about my color coordinating when he buys me fun things like running shoes and Patagonia zip up's.  Please accept this versus a post of strictly chirping from the crickets that are walking around in my head.  Moving is seriously tiring stuff, yo.

It's getting to that point.

You know, that point, and that point where I am so overwhelmed with packing, moving, cleaning that I can't see past cardboard boxes, tape and watching the clock roll past 1am.  So I'm forcing myself to push past all that junk, and post my favorite 5's of the week.  Of the day?  Whatever - favorite 5's going on right now.

1. My coworker Boomer sending me a photo he snapped of me and his beautiful granddaughter.  The picture was taken over a year ago, but he came across it and wanted to share.  It brought such a smile to my face not just because of how sweet she is, but of how proud of a grandpa Boom is to his granddaughter!

2. Chinese food takeout.  Because even when you promise yourself you won't fall into a Fast Food Funk and so badly want to use up everything in your pantry before a big move, you just can't.  And when you can't, Chinese food can.  'nuff said.

3. This guy's texts:

4. The overcast and gloomy weather today!  Much appreciated after way way too many days in the 90's.

5. Getting to spend Saturday night away from cardboard and with my favorite ladies + old school sleepover!  I'm beyond excited to lounge in my pj's, paint some nails, play some games, but mostly laugh, laugh and laugh.

Ok that took me a while to come up with 5, but I managed, and am thankful for that.  What are YOUR favorite 5's this week?  

Bad Beth.

I know, I know - the posting has been very few and far between the last week - I accept full responsibility.  After our 4 day vacation, a full night of packing + dinner with our dear friends Jaime and Ryan, then a bitchin' birthday party for my Mary, I've hardly found time to even wash my hair!  { Let's be honest, I rarely find time to wash my hair even when my days aren't jam packed. }  I need to get through this week, then the weekend and HOPEFULLY things will then calm down.  I have a full night of designing, cleaning and packing ahead of me tonight, then a BBQ/branding meeting Friday night, a morning of packing and moving Saturday, followed by a girl's night hotel sleepover Saturday night, then ANOTHER day of moving on Sunday.  Let's hope that I'll have a bed { not twin size air mattress } and a freshly washed head of hair come Monday.

I'm excited to share more deets and photos from our Montana trip and also post some pictures from Mary's birthday party last night!  Meanwhile, enjoy the dance party pictures from Mary and my dance off yesterday morning.





She's my favorite.

Don't be sad that it's over...

...be happy that it happened!


I am still digesting what a memorable, amazing, warm fuzzy weekend we had. We are back with so much to share, but now? Now...sleep.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

25'ish before 26'ish.

With my day of birth coming up on Monday, I am reflecting overthinking the on the past 365 and going on a week long road trip trip down memory lane.

I remember shortly after I wrote this twenty-six post, I attempted at making a "25 before 26" list.  I had seen them around on a few blogs so I tried my hand at writing my own list.  A list of 25 fun and thrilling things to accomplish before turning 26.  It didn't matter how big or small, they were meant to be things that I felt would help me grow as a person.  Full transparency: I wrote about half of the list, closed the file and forgot about it until about 8 months later.  Oopsie daisy.  BUT!  But.  When I did finally remember it, I opened it up and had myself a mighty fine chuckle.  Why you ask?  Because I managed to accomplish a variation of each and every single thing on the list without even realizing it.  Allow me to share:

1. Buy a new computer.  This deserves half of a check mark.  I was given a new computer through a freelance company I work with, so though I didn't buy it, the idea was accomplished!

2. Take more photos with my camera. I rocked this for a few weeks { see here, here and here }, but reading this encourages me to pick up my point and shoot more often!

3. Mail more homemade cards. Check!  And my mom is the greatest inspiration for this little goal.  She sends homemade cards every few weeks and it makes me happy.

4. Get serious about exploring Etsy. Check!  : >

5. Take a trip solo. Okay, I didn't see this one through.  I still think it would be fun to do a mini solo getaway, but the good news is I have my adventure partner to take weekend trips with now.  : >

7. Become a pro at cooking for 1. I can successfully say I mastered this!  Between Jaime's master chef tips she passed along to me, in addition to purchasing this cookbook, I grew to feel so comfortable in the kitchen.  Though now I'm lucky enough to have graduated from cooking for 1, to cooking for 2 { hi, babe! }, I did manage to master the cooking for 1.

8. Become an expert Yogi, and become a regular at my studio. I had about 3 weeks where I was rising before 6am daily to get into my yoga studio.  Somehow that faded, but again - this is a great reminder to gitty up and get back in those early morning classes!

9. Do more frequent secret Random Acts of Kindness.  : >     Check.

10. Spend significantly less time texting. One of my New Years Resolutions this year was to remain more present and be in the moment.  In order to accomplish that, I really do have to put the phone away more often to focus on who I'm with, and what I'm doing.  It is still a balance I'm learning, but I can say I'm making progress.

11. Build up my savings account.  Weeee - this may be the biggest accomplishment of them all.  I don't need to get into boring details here, but as I sit here and type this, I feel 100% confident the massive strides I made in comparing my 2011 savings account to my 2012 savings account..

12. Send out Christmas cards!  (homemade Christmas cards ;) Great reminder!  I need to get thinking about what I want them to be...

13. Plant a tree. Another half a check mark.  That half a check mark goes to a weekend in early Spring when Hunter and I spent hours fixing up his backyard, and also helping him with his growing and flourishing garden!  Though I didn't actually plant any of the plants, I like to think my efforts count for something.

14. Crotchet a blanket!  Pschhhhh - get outta my face 'crochet a blanket'  How about 1 baby blanket, and about 3/4th's of an adult afghan?!  Thought so.  BAM.

Though I love this idea, and I'm sure it works for most, my accomplished goals were more of a fluke.  I do have an idea in mind, thanks to an inspiration from one of my favorite bloggers, to accomplish more little monthly goals for the big 2-7.  Stay tuned!

AAHB = Montana

Hunter and I take off tonight for Steamboat, and then Friday will jet off to Montana for an extended weekend getaway!  I'm beyond excited/thrilled/gitty for a break from this moving madness and for a few days to breathe in the mountain air, drink the mountain beer, and hike with my mountain man.

Oh!  And,....and!  I get to see this girl!

I've known Amie since I was in 6th grade - literally one of the very first people I met when we moved from Wyoming to North Dakota.  She has been my best friend, my sister, my bloodline and my rock through all things beautiful, challenging, rewarding, devastating and everything in between.  In fact, Amie is the one who introduced Hunter and I together, AND Hunter was the one to introduce Amie and her boyfriend, Andrew together!  Talk about paying it forward, eh?  Amie and Andrew live on the East Coast, but both happen to be back in Montana for a few weeks, and we may or may not happen to have a birthday to celebrate come Monday guilty.  But birthday or not - I'll take any excuse to see my Ka.

Have a wonderful weekend enjoying whatever plans you may or may not have!
Hakuna Matata!

Ahhh freakout!...potentially.

Do you ever feel like you are potentially on the verge of a freak-out?  Like, oh for example, thinking about how in the upcoming days, all of your possessions will be spread among 3 different residences.  You'll be living out of boxes for potentially the next month+.  How you have lists of freelance work, party planning, packing, cleaning, work events all while trying to balance friends, family and boyfriend?  While maintaining a gym schedule in addition to eating healthy and not slipping into the Fast Food Funk?  And when you actually take the time to write it all out, you start to feel your inner Jessie Spano tick?

Yeah.  Me too.

Here are a few methods of therapy I have found to kick that darn Jessie to the curb.

Something about sitting down to paint my nails is incredibly soothing to me.  Yeah, I have had 3 different colors on my nails than less than a week, but when I was feeling myself surrounded by packing, packing and more cleaning and an anxiety attack nearing - I'd just sit down with a glass of ice water and a bottle of polish, and sip and paint away.  Sounds silly, but works for me.

Forcing in some sweat time, even when you don't think you have the time or energy for it.  If it's a stroll around the block, run to the park, tennis date, or an hour gym session - my mind always seems more clear and realistic than it did before my workout.

hi mary!

Even on nights when I know I should be packing and I know I should be designing stepping away from that all for a home-cooked meal with my #1 crush can be JUST what the doctor ordered.

Lots of text time, and giggle time and face time with my favorite gurls....you can never go wrong.  Swapping sob stories, laughing at the hard times and knowing, just KNOWING you will get through it all with them by your side.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I get by with a little help from my friends!

What works for all you fancy readers?  You better believe this isn't the last of ahhh freakout! posts in the upcoming weeks, so any suggestion is welcomed and appreciated!

Creative Zone

One of the serious pros and serious cons I've grown to love about being a graphic designer, is you really have no idea when the design inspiration mood will hit.  Sure, I can sit down and bang out a logo, or page layout any hour of the day - but that doesn't mean my heart is in it 100%.  Back when I was in college, I remember starting on a project at 6pm, and with zero exaggeration, working straight through the night until 6am on the project.  And before you ask, no - it wasn't because I left the project until the night before to finish yes it was, but that's not the point.  The point was the Creative Mood struck at 6pm, and I'd be damned if I let sleep take that and a completed grade away from me.  This all can pose as a challenge working a 9a-5p job, considering my motivation typically strikes late at night.  My boss has even made mention to me he can tell on the projects I work on when I'm in the Creative Zone, and when I'm in the Work To Get It Done Zone.

This past Friday after work, I went for an awesome bike ride, rode to the store to pick up groceries and a few movies.  Came home and worked on some freelance projects while my dinner was cooking, then eventually migrated over to the tv to watch one of my movies.  About 3/4th's into the movie, I had the itch to get back to my computer so I simply paused the movie, slipped in my headphones { Yes, I use headphones when I work even at home in an empty apartment.  Backupoffit. }  and designed my little heart out.    

It didn't matter I had a 6am alarm set to meet Jaime and Ryan for an early morning hike.  It didn't matter I could/should have been packing.  All that mattered was my PMS palette, my Spotify playlist, and { let's be honest } my glass of wine...all bringing me to my happy place - my Creative Zone.

When I started drifting out of The Zone around 11:45pm, I started getting a little....well - because I have no shame don't take myself too seriously, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Maybe listen to the video for what was playing in my earbuds while looking at the photos as they will make more sense you will judge me less.

You are welcome.  And for anyone wondering, the microphone shots are when Sia sings.  She deserves a mic.

What's this?

This is what happens when you get the flu during packing week and can't eat your soup from your packing go-to tupperware for fear you'd melt it.

Be back soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Use what you { I } have.

After deciding that I'd be moving in with Miss. Docksey, I've gone on grocery store lockdown. I am determined to cook up all the fresh produce, fridge fixings and dry ingredients that I have now, and move/throw away as little as possible.  I've found the things I have most of to use up, are the things occupying my pantry.  Rice, pasta, lentils, garbanzo beans, rice, brown rice, white rice.  Seriously - I'm learning that I am a straight up rice hoarder.  Anyway, though I do love my food blogs/videos and mimicking all the glorious recipes that are out there, I'm having a lot of fun finishing off what I have in my apartment now and throwing away all those bottles and packages!

Monday I cooked up a big batch of fried rice using some garden peppers my mom brought with her from CA, an onion from last week’s Door to Door box, jalapeno from a friend's garden and other misc veggies I had lying around.  Tuesday, I thawed some quinoa enchiladas I had in the freezer, mixed up some of my own enchilada sauce, and made a big batch of dirty rice using more onions, peppers and garbanzo beans (ideally I would have wanted black beans in there, but I had plenty cans of garbanzo beans and none of black beans, so garbo it was!).  Wednesday and Thursday I wasn't home for dinner but tonight I have big plans to use up a pizza crust mix, the rest of some BBQ sauce, onions and tomatoes for a flatbread pizza!  Next week, I'm excited to make Lentil Balls with Tomato Sauce { sans eggs and cheese } to use up some lentils I have in the pantry right meow. 

My goal over the weekend is to take inventory of what I have left to use up and start thinking of more recipes for next week.. 2nd in line with my rice addiction is dried pasta.  Pasta Salad Party, anyone??

This makes me so happy.

::via::

The end.

Veggies4LIFE.

My friends know me all too well.

Yesterday I came to work with 4 freshly picked garden cucumbers on my desk, and today I had a huge bag of freshly picked arugula, a zucchini and a squash.  What am I doing for lunch you ask?  Running to Hunter's to pick up our Door to Door Organics box.  Sometimes I think it's frightening how happy vegetables make me, but then I remember how scrumptious they are, and that fright turns into hunger.

It's going to be a good day, no matter how you spin it!

Bye bye, Unit #6.

You guys should know by now that I'm oddly weird at talking about changes, updates and all things serious here on this there blog, so instead of me simply not talking about updates and starting to post pix of boxes and packing tape, I'll just get this out of the way now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: who ::     Errh...Me.
:: what ::    I've decided { quite impulsively, yet with much thought put into it } to move out of my cozy studio/efficiency attic apartment and moving in with... 
:: where ::  ...my sweet friend Sara - Highlands baby!
:: when ::   ASAP/out by the month of August.
:: why ::     By virtue of some bigger things going on in my life right now that I'm quite simply glossing over because I just don't have the time to type it all out right now.
:: how ::     My big strong gentleman friend/any gracious friends who offer to help.  I pay in beer, and albeit sweaty, hugs.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you'd know that I have a really difficult time leaving a place, regardless of how many wonderful, or not so wonderful memories I have in that particular space.  This move, without question, is no different.  I'm so thankful my parents were here this past weekend and ripped off the first bandaid of many of moving out of this quirky house I've called home for the past year and a half.  I know that this move is a step to bigger and better, I know that it's time to move on, I know I'll always have the memories with this place.  But that doesn't mean I won't miss my cooking and quiet nights in, this beautiful neighborhood I call mine, hosting girlfriends, 360 degree views, and slow Saturday's any less.  I'll be posting more about this journey and overanalyzing every single thing that's happened in my apartment in the weeks to come { lucky you readersss!!! }, but for now I'll leave you with a photo of my new roomie!  Hai, Sara!

TGIM!

I have a boatload of updates, stories and a few photos to share from the amazing weekend with friends and family, but for now I wanted to share something I came across this morning.

::via::

So simple, yet true.  There are a few on there I need to work on more than others, but I love the great reminder!

TGIM, friends!

Parental Units.

They've arrived!

Now excuse me while we play too many cards, eat too much food and laugh WAY more than we should!
: >

DJ Jazzy B

I can't say for sure what it is with me and the most random of all random songs that play through my head on any given day...heck any given hour { example 1, example 2 }, but so far today, I've BLASTED { while singing and dancing along } three songs from my computer. 

Needless to say, my coworkers are really really excited to be sitting next to me today.

Soup tease.

I subscribe to this blog called Finding Vegan, right?  It's basically a newbie vegan's dream in that it posts vegan recipes by the dozens daily.  Truly by the dozens.  You don't believe me?  Ask the 38 unread blog posts in my Vegan Foodie folder of my Bloglovin' page.  ANYWAY, I digress.  This morning, as I was perusing said Finding Vegan site, I come across this lovely image.

::via::

We all know I'm craving a hot bowl of homemade soup lately, so I think to myself:  "Humm..something creamy that's vegan?  (which is very hard to come across b/c all things that make life wonderful, rich and creamy is most certainly not vegan)  I want to check this site out!"

So I do.  

And what happens?!

I CAN'T READ A D@MN THING.

http://www.chaudronpastel.fr/2012/07/02/video-creme-angelique-courgette-sans-gluten-vegan/ 

The world can be so cruel.  

No hot, creamy, homemade vegan goodness in a bowl for this girl.

Wahh wahh.