Friday Five {3.28.14}

1. i always listen to music when i run, and my playlists can get old. i run to a wide variety of tunes, and lately i’ve discovered something unexpected: i kiiiiinda love running to bachata music. ya know, Latin music’s slower dance tunes. weird? i think it’s a bit weird. i have this whole “envisioning myself dancing” thing going on and it totally makes me either run a bit faster or else just lose myself in the song and not think about running (both of which are appreciated). quite possibly i just have a really active imagination and have convinced myself that running and dancing need to be united somehow. maybe that could be a thing. maybe not.

i’m especially liking when this song shows up on my running playlist lately (even though i understand a total of 8 words in it), by Romeo Santos, Mr. King of bachata himself, who gave a little performance on The Bachelor this past season and Andi showed off her terrible dancing skills on stage with JP. remember that scene? i was a little jealous, i can’t lie. just not of her dancing.

2. StoryPeople. i’ve been a huge fan of Brian Andreas’s StoryPeople artwork since circa 2005, when i first discovered them in a tiny little shop in Salida, Colorado and fell completely enamored with everything about these pieces. he combines beautiful, poignant little snippets of the sweetest writings with playful, childlike artwork, and he has pieces for just about every sort of relationship or situation in life. i’m 100% certain you’ll find one — or 20 — that speak to you. and if you don’t, well…sorry that you don’t have a heart. work on that. 🙂

they make great gifts. i bought my bff and her hubby This Moment for their wedding:

“There are moments you know in an instant & even if you cannot name them for a very long time, each time my fingers brush your cheek & your eyes look into mine, it is clear there is no moment I’d rather be than here with you, making a world together.”

i have a bunch of personal faves (and a few prints hanging on my bedroom walls). these are two of my all-time faves:

Center on Wheels
“I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night & found it had wheels & moved easily in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing.”

 

Waiting for Signs
“I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream & an angel in black tights came to me & said, you can start any time now, & then I asked is this a sign? & the angel started laughing & I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there’s no laughter, I know they’re not for me.”

and there are a lot that have to do with love and romance and all that gushy stuff that i’m sure i’ll probably have to have one day when i fall in love and have room to collect and hang them all. and at that point, i’ll be able to buy a pet unicorn, too. a girl can dream.

3. i cannot buy peanut butter. it’s just an awful idea. we seem to have some unspoken understanding in my family that peanut butter cookies constitute a food group all to themselves, so even though i make super healthy cookies (pb, oatmeal, brown sugar and 1 egg), they’re consumed in such a short amount of time that it defeats the “healthy.” however, they’re pretty much the only thing i like to bake these days, so it’s sort of a catch 22. i managed to bag last night’s batch up and bring them to work today for my coworkers. that is about the only way i’ll exert a sense of self control over these things. and yes, i had them for dinner last night and breakfast today.

4. i’ve recently started drinking Americanos every now and again to switch up the regular coffee routine. holy buzz. i had one on Tuesday morning and was dizzy until 3pm. not sure if it was amazing or terrifying, but i’m planning to try it again today. life on the edge, i know.

5. this.is.so.good.

it’s far too easy to constantly be waiting for something great to happen in your life — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all, as dreams are so necessary — but how often do we get so stuck on thinking, “if only i had this job, or that talent, or if only i lived in NYC or California or Paris, or if only he liked me, or if only it was June”?

we all do this. it’s natural.

we are a culture riddled with future-planning, weekend-lusting, peer-comparing, forward-motion-itching, rarely-satisfied-with-where-we’re-at mentalities, and that can so easily lead to sucking the joy out of the beautiful moment we’re in. there’s nothing wrong with Wednesdays; with quiet nights; with the things we currently have and the people we currently love and who love us back. we should appreciate the now, or else what will we ever appreciate?

now can be magical. you just have to believe it’s so.

Advertisement