Flapper

My mother was right.

Growing up she made us hold onto certain items of clothing swearing that one day they would make great costumes.

This seems reasonable.

But more than 15 years later, I try to get rid of clothing from elementary school and she insists I keep it. Instead, I make her store it.

So now my lovely mother, has a wardrobe closet in Portland filled with winnie the pooh overalls, tie dye t-shirt, and pink lady jackets. (As well as every formal dress from our high school years. Ball gown anyone?)

In the year of 1998, my older sister bought a flapper inspired dress from Bebe for her winter ball. I remember thinking it was quite flirty for my (at the time ;) ) uptight sister.

14 years later it is finally being worn again.

This time by me.

You win this round, Mom.

50 Shades of Lunch in Paris

Every month my book club continues to grow. This time we welcomed Abby and Jillian to the mix and talked over Lunch in Paris (and our unofficial book 50 Shades of Grey)

This was only meeting three and still no one has any interest to actually talk about our read despite my best efforts.

BUT, this month, Emily, our resident foodie, did pull out the book to read us her favorite excerpt.

I love to hear what person's favorite part of a book or movie is. Usually, more than it says anything about the entertainment it speaks wildly of the person.

I will keep my thoughts on her passage to myself... but I think her blush while reading it says more than enough.

But to be perfectly fair, these are a few of my highlights.

I'm the girl you call Wednesday for Saturday.... A flirt maybe, but in that harmless, nineteenth-century, kiss-my-hand-and-ask-me-to-waltz kind of way.

Ok maybe not ask me to waltz but there needs to be some definite wooing.

There is always a moment after we sit down at the cramped wooden table, face-to-face after weeks apart. An awkward silence or too much talking before we fall back into the easy intimacy sparked by a long look or his hand in my hair. When I was a teenager I would have called this "twinkle toes" -- the long awaited touch you can feel from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.

Oh. Yes.

My vocabulary is a disorganized closet full of fifties slang and phrases plucked from my favorite nineteenth century novels. Why be funny when you can be "deeply amusing" instead?

Nineteenth century? I'm more smitten, gosh, and bonkers. With some swear words of the future: Frak.

There are many things that will tell you the true measure of a man--the way he kisses, the way he holds a fork, the way he talks to his mother on the phone.

The way he holds a fork... I can't get over the caveman hold. Pet peeve.


(We are always looking to grow our little book club. If you live in Seattle, like to read, and love to drink wine you should join us! We do read the books but rarely talk about them. Instead we meet once a month, eat amazing food and drink far too much wine.)

Fiercely Independent

(Stolen from Instagram)

"There is only one success - to spend your life in your own way."

I want everyone to like me. It is a terrible quality especially since I can be a bit opinionated and strong or just downright too silly for most people.

Not everyone will like me.

In fact, a few may hate me. (Although, I wouldn't recommend that.)

I have always been my own person. Even as a child I was happy and giggly but I did my own thing.

I like to call it "fiercely independent."

Some may call it stubborn.

They are wrong.

It is fiercely independent.

And it makes me exceedingly happy. Even at the cost of not everyone liking me.

If I am not my greatest advocate for my own happiness, who will be?

Join me: Be yourself.

Rudy

It is impossible to get anything done when I am hanging with this little guy but I love him all the same.

I don't know how much longer I can last without a dog. Rudy is a good distraction and as lovable as he is, there is just something about having your own pooch.

Maybe it's time I take Jake back...

Watching you watch him

Three years ago nearly to the day, I was grabbing drinks with my best friend.

It was near the beginning of our friendship and she thought it would be best to introduce me to her southern roots and have us a drink Hurricane’s. She also had her husband on standby to come pick us up.

As we were enjoying the beautiful sunny California day, drinking our Hurricane’s that were not nearly strong enough to be authentic, we happened to be sitting in the perfect location to see a pop up concert by Eric Hutchinson.

He was just the right combination of nerdy and fun. I clearly was smitten.

And now tonight, I get to see him in concert again. I only wish my best friend was there to join me with a Hurricane in hand.

Timbers

I finally experienced my first soccer game. (Well, my first soccer game since 3rd grade where I was the top bench warmer.)

Portland Timbers.

We came.
We cheered.
We laughed.
We almost got into a fight. (Note to self: Don't mess with the Yankee's.)
We won.

You know, typical night.

Also, much to my dismay, still madly in love with Portland.

Girls' Night

Girls's night: I drank lots of wine. Mom ate lots of cheese. We pretty much completed each other.

Except instead of being opposites that could complete each other, we are nearly the same.

Only, I am the extreme version of her. Lucky for me, I think she is pretty amazing.

I was somehow able to convince her to skip a traditional dinner and go straight to dessert post cheese. While mom discovered the joys of Salt & Straw I was hit on by two brothers, aged roughly 10 & 12.

I like to think they went home and fought over me... I did promise to drive them on our first date after all!

 

25 Handy Words That Simply Don’t Exist In English

1 Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut

2 Arigata-meiwaku (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude

3 Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist

4 Bakku-shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind

5 Desenrascanco (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation (To MacGyver it)

6 Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc.

7 Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love

8 Gigil (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute

9 Guanxi (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favor to be repaid

10 Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time

11 L’esprit de l’escalier (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it

12 Litost (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery

13 Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire

14 Manja (Malay): “to pamper”, it describes gooey, childlike and coquettish behavior by women designed to elicit sympathy or pampering by men. “His girlfriend is a damn manja. Hearing her speak can cause diabetes.”

15 Meraki (pronounced may-rah-kee; Greek): Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. It’s when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing

16 Nunchi (Korean): the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In Western culture, nunchi could be described as the concept of emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially clumsy person can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, meaning “absent of nunchi”

17 Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation
18 Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions

19 Schadenfreude (German): the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain

20 Sgriob (Gaelic): The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky

21 Taarradhin (Arabic): implies a happy solution for everyone, or “I win. You win.” It’s a way of reconciling without anyone losing face. Arabic has no word for “compromise,” in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement

22 Tatemae and Honne (Japanese): What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively

23 Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor’s house until there is nothing left

24 Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods

25 Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways,’ referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language

taken from here.

Big Bear

I've started to extend my weekend visits to Portland to include a work day as well. I will drive or take the train down on Thursday evening and then work remotely on Friday. It gives me more opportunity to connect with friends and family and, frankly, enjoy the city I love.

I often grumble about working remotely, it is slow and tedious. But the day I got to work with Mickey, remote wasn't so terrible.

He, along with Showtime pictured below, are some of my favorite friends. They are the older brother's I always wanted and between them and Vik... all boyfriends should be scared. Very scared.

Hand hug.

Choose Happiness

Yet another whirlwind weekend in Portland... clear skies, warm temperature, family, and friends.

It had the makings to be perfect and a great escape but bad news hit on Saturday night that left a bad taste in my mouth. It had me crawling into bed early that evening and distracted for much of Sunday. And now here I am, Sunday night, well technically Monday morning... it's nearly 3am and although my left leg is asleep my mind is wide awake.

I have three ideas I remind myself to live by:
1. Don't waste my time.
2. Take care of myself.
3. Spend time with people who make me happy.

I am worried that anything I type at this point will be a hodge podge of thoughts...

So all I will say further: Choose happiness. Every day. Every minute.

Long Walks

What matters most to me:
Doing what makes me happy with the people I love the most.

I am learning to cut out the clutter and the rift raft especially if I am using it as merely a distraction.

I love my sister, brother, and my dear friend, Elyse. To add to my love fest is a long walk, a minute to scrawl down some ideas, and a good iced coffee at my local shop.

What matters most to me may mean nothing to you but I hope you find your own "thing" and then fight for it. Make it your priority too.

Bake-A-Thon

This time last year:

It is so easy to get stuck in the day to day. Work has been all consuming and stressful. I had my pride take over and I took on a large project that I should have developed a team instead of doing it all myself. I am missing Portland and needing a vacation. Worst of all... my high bun is losing all oomph. (Kidding... not really.)

I was sitting on my bed looking into my closet trying to decide which dress will take me from a derby party to a cinco de mayo party and secretly wishing I didn't return that fascinator four months ago.

I pulled out my phone to catch up on instagram and saw a photo of a friend celebrating their birthday.

"Has it really been a year?"

May 5, 2011.

I can remember that day clearly. I was wearing a little red dress and spending the evening with my then boyfriend. Although I didn't know this then, I would be introducing him to my family the next day. The first time I had ever done so in my life, a big step in the world of "Adult Danielle." I thought this boy was the cat's meow.

In that moment:

• I was living in the suburbs of Portland.

• I didn't love my job but I was good at it.

• My family didn't officially include a brother yet.

May 5, 2012.

Looking back over the year, almost every aspect of my life has changed.

New city. New job. New family (well, expanded family).

• That boyfriend and I didn't work out but it did set a standard for future boyfriends and my "type". In case you haven't heard me say it, the break ups may get harder but the men sure do get better!

• That same boyfriend, ignited an interest in Portland. I spent the following months, up until my move to Seattle, learning and falling in love with that little city. Now in Seattle, I miss Portland but I am exploring where I live now and appreciating what I have.

• My job is fantastic, even if I sometimes complain. I am able to impact international business and create standards that are asked to be replicated.

• My family has grown. I now have a brother and fur nephew. Also, a Seattle family that I would be lost without. 

I am amazed how much we can learn and our capacity to change. I get lost in the day to day but in retrospect, I am not the same girl I was this time last year. I am better, stronger, and happier.

I am still sitting on my bed deciding what to wear to today's festivities. Just for the heck of it.... I'm thinking my little red dress.

Revel

Sunday Brunch at Revel:

Pros:
Sticky Buns
Sticky Buns' frosting
Bacon the size of my face

Cons:
Having to share center of sticky buns.