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.

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