Canine Commandments

Cooper is my first dog.  I never really understood why dogs were so great until I got one, but now I know they really are the most loyal and loving creatures on earth (even if they chew your favorite pair of stilettos).

This warms and breaks my heart at the same time:

I'm heading home now and snuggling the pup to pieces.  If you have a dog, give them some extra loving today.

Baby Steps

Something very important happened this weekend.  I fell in love.  With this angel:

As I mentioned last week, I spent the weekend in North Carolina visiting Jill and her family, including their newest addition, baby Emma.  Even though she's only six weeks old, this little bundle of joy captured my heart.  I'm one proud Godmother :-)

Emma just recently started smiling, and she makes the cutest faces:

Sleepy Emma (and Jill).  Yaaawn!

Love this one!  Adorable.

Sweet, sweet, sweet....



All smiles!

Can't wait to watch her grow.  So much love!

I Wanna Be A Billionaire!

My parent's pretty much stopped the traditional Christmas gift routine when my brother and I were in college.  Don't get me wrong, we always get something fun, but it's usually in the form of being invited on a trip, etc.  And we still get some stocking stuffers too, so we're not total scrooges.  It's also in part because we I usually buy whatever my heart desires. 

Lately I've worked on taming that habit, so while I still buy myself the less expensive stuff, I haven't made any larger purchases.  But I still think about them!  I should spend money for a living.... because I'm so damn good at it.  If I were a billionaire (or I'd settle for millionaire), here's what my Christmas list would look like:

A MacBook Pro

I love the MacBook Pro (I've actually never used a Mac, but I think I'll love it).  Since my current laptop is 4+ years old and on its last leg, I'll probably have to bite the bullet and make this purchase sometime in 2011.  I just wish it could be sooner and not deplete my bank account!  This is where being a billionaire (or dating one?) would come in handy.

A Canon 5D Mark II

I already bought a Canon T1i earlier this year, but I'm itching for something bigger and better already.  What can I say... champagne taste, beer budget.  Not that I don't love my current camera, but I know I'll being ready for an upgrade over the next couple of years, and the 5DMII would rock my world.  She's a beauty!  Maybe in 2012.  Or whenever I win the lottery. 

A Prime Lens (or Two)

Prime lenses have taken the place of designer shoes in my heart (well, maybe they just share the spot).  I'm all about the 50mm line right now.  I have the 50mm 1.8 and thinking practically, I have my eye on the 50mm 1.4 next.  I'd love to make the jump and get the 50mm 1.2 eventually. 

I always pick the most expensive hobbies.  I wish I liked to knit! :)

A Pair of Designer Boots

I lied about not lusting after designer shoes anymore.  I really heart these Simple Botta Tall Boots by Louboutin.  This would be a tricky purchase though, since I'd also need calf-reduction surgery to wear these bad boys.  Minor detail.  But In my dreams, I rock these boots on the regular.  Oui!

Yay, this is a fun game!  I could go on, but those are the few items I'd really want if the sky were the limit.  Not that I'm complaining about this year's gift, and my view for a week:

I'm leaving in 10 days... so excited!  Speaking of leaving, I'm off to North Carolina for the weekend to visit the Bartelt's, and their newest addition to the family, 6 week old Emma!  GAH - can't wait! 

Fistpump Friday

Happy Friday!  Today marks the end of my first week on the Couch to 5K program.  Fistpump!  All three morning runs this week were pretty easy (done on the treadmill -- running in downtown DC scares me).  Next week doesn't look too bad either:

• Workout 1 - 5 minute warm-up walk; alternate 90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes of walking for a total of 25 minutes. 
• Workout 2 - 5 minute warm-up walk; alternate 90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes of walking for a total of 25 minutes.
• Workout 3 - 5 minute warm-up walk; alternate 90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes of walking for a total of 25 minutes.

I still have some sort of left hip issue going on, but fortunately it doesn't really bother me until after I run, so I'm just doing my best to ignore it.  I'm scared to go to the doctor....they may tell me that I need a hip replacement and that I have old-lady bones at the ripe age of 26.  Eep!

In other news, I'm so happy that it's finally cool weather season!  There's nothing better than leaving the stinky gym and being able to cool off outside, or snuggling up at night in comfy jammies and a fire (we have one of those gas remote control fireplaces... sooo money!).  Doesn't quite beat Ashley's alternative, but it comes close :)
 
Also, I'm totally in love with these Fur Trim Slipper Booties from Gap (I might have to treat myself):
 

 
What do you think -- cute or obnoxious?  I love my trusty UGG slippers, but they've seen better days and I really don't want to fork over another $100 for a second pair.  Decisions.
 
BTW, check out the new Jimmy Choo & UGG collection.  Very interesting.  Love both, but I'm not sure about this collaboration.
 
Have a great weekend!

Passive Aggressive Notes

Happy Monday, all!  I had a fabulous weekend, and I'm sad it's the start of another long work week.  On Saturday, I went to my third photography class, and I think I'm finally (maybe) starting to grasp this whole shutter speed/aperture/ISO business.  It's taken long enough... I'm officially as smart as a third grader.  Thank goodness Georgetown hasn't figured that out yet.  And on Sunday, I spent the day with JB traipsing around DC/Rosslyn for the USMC Marathon (JB's sister ran it, and we cheered her on).  I got some great pics which I'll post tomorrow.  Very inspiring.  In fact, I decided to run the marathon.  In 2015.  Training starts ASAP.

In honor of Halloween (late, I know), I wanted to share a post from one of my favorites blogs, Passive Aggressive Notes.  Such a hilarious site, right up there with Stuff White People Like.  Even when I'm having a really bad day, this sort of stuff makes me laugh:

Source

"Find your real father."  Bahaha!  So wrong, yet so funny.

True Lemon Love

Since I like to make an occasional shameless plug, like here and here, I have another one for the archives.  Meet my flavor the week, True Lemon:

How'd we meet?  Let's just say my office is little bit instant coffee-tea-miscellaneous other drinks-soup obsessed, and we keep up with the trends.  See what I mean? 

We actually replaced our fabulous Starbucks machine with Flavia.  As in powdered coffee.  Don't be jealous.  Anywho, I took one look at the newcomer, and after being slightly skeeved out by the idea of "crystallized lemon" I came around and decided to give it a go.  It can't be any worse than the Spring Vegetable Instant Soup in the background, right?

Each True Lemon serving is about the size of a sugar packet, and has no calories, carbs, or sugar.  And it's not an artificial sweetener, so there's none of that scary chemical stuff that I consume way too much of already (thank you, Diet Coke habit).

I'm really not a fan of plain water, so I decided to add one packet to my 24 oz. Camelbak, in hopes of actually wanting to drink water throughout the day.  A few shakes and apprehensive sips later... success!  This stuff is good, and it has just enough flavor to make water not boring. 

The box also says that you can use it for baking and such.  I think I'll stick to jazzing-up my water for right now, but you never know where this new relationship might take me.  Love makes us do crazy things.

Perfection

Remember a few months back when I blogged about my new found obsession with all things stationary?  Particularly with personalized stationary?  Well a few weeks later I was having brunch with the fabulous Mrs. Foot, and she surprised me with...

The best stationary gift EVER!

I finally had a chance to write a couple of notes this past weekend, and using my personalized Cooper inspired stationary made my day.  They are perfection!  So a big thank you to Mrs. Foot for the fabulous gift, and for being such a thoughtful friend.  Love you to pieces!

Going Hollywood

There's a new love in my life, and it came to me in the form of tape.  That's right, tape.  I was having a bit of wardrobe malfunction at work last week, wearing this shirt I recently purchased from Banana Republic:

Doesn't it look great on the model?  While I do love the blouse, it's dangerously low cut on me.  For some silly reason, I decided to wear the blouse last Friday when I had a special event for work, but spent most of the day fidgeting with it. 

I was joking around with one of my co-workers to please keep an eye out for any inappropriate flashing on my end, and she suggested I try using fashion tape to keep the neckline from slipping.  I was not enthusiastic about the idea (tape, really?), but since she had some in her purse, I gave it a shot.

The tape is called Hollywood Fashion Tape.  And holy moly, this stuff is amazeballs!  The double-sided strips are really thin (and clear) and stick to skin/clothing without leaving any residue.  Plus, they come in a little tin that doesn't take up much room in a bag.  I just put two small pieces inside the neckline of the shirt where I wanted it to sit, and wa-la, the shirt didn't budge for the rest of the evening.  Love it!  I definitely suggest checking out the product if you have any clothing that tends to slip and you're looking for a quick fix.  They have some other cool stuff on the site too.  Olivia and fashion tape, sitting in a tree... :)

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter the giftcard giveaway!  Only three people have submitted their songs so far, so you're changes are goooood.  Last day to enter is next Monday, July 26th.

xoxo,
Olivia

Simplicity

Ever since I was little, I've dreamed of being an adult and living a fabulous life. See, when you're a kid, growing up seems so simple, so pure, and so easy. Turns out that while it's often fun, growing up and being independent isn't always easy. The older we get, the more responsibilities we take on, and four years out of college, I'm already feeling the burn! Between budgeting, paying bills, keeping on top of my job and working my way through grad school, I'm just feeling…overwhelmed.

To top it off, I'm constantly fighting the want vs. need battle (and often losing).  Life is one big instance of dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, only I'm the ass and a pair of new Louboutins is the carrot. I waaaant those pretty things and I deserve them, dammit!

I wish the ten year-old version of myself understood that even though I grow up to be a nice, hardworking girl, I still struggle, and still find myself wanting to storm into my room and slam the door in protest. But now instead of being mad that my parents are making me eat the rest of my gross string beans before leaving the dinner table, I'm dealing with much scarier things like 401k plans and credit card ARP. Bleh.

I know everyone goes through this at one time or another, so it's nothing abnormal. It's kinda like a quarter-life crisis, plus a couple years :) Thankfully, I'm blessed to have a wonderful support network of friends and family around me, who always help keep me in check. I've decided that over the next few months, I'm going to work on simplifying my lifestyle so that I don't feel overwhelmed by everything. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has ideas!

My first step is setting up a budget (I'm awful with money, although the intention is always there). After doing some research, I decided to use Mint.com which, if you aren't familiar with it, is freaking amazing. I'm terrified of the word budget, but this program is great, and FREE! Plus, they have a blog, and use Twitter, which makes keeping on top of it so much easier. What I love the most is that the program allows you to link your checking account, credit cards, student loans, rent/mortgage, etc. to your budget account, which automatically tracks your spending. Seriously. It also reminds you when payments are due, and can track any savings to keep you up to date on net worth. This is something I really needed to see laid out, to understand where I was with spending vs. savings. And it made me realize that I just have too many bills right now to keep on top of, so hence why I'm in a new mindset of being more practical. We'll see if it works :)

Here's a sample screenshot of the Mint.com program (not mine, obviously) in action:

Pretty cool, huh?  I'm going to give it a shot for a few weeks and see how I do.  Please still let me know if you have any good suggestions for how to streamline stuff and make life easier... I need all the help I can get these days :)
 
xoxo,
Olivia

Number One Spot

As impossible as it is to believe, Cooper is one year old today!  Time flies :) 

It seems like just yesterday I was hopping on that last-minute flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma to meet the breeder and pickup my new 8 week old bundle of joy.  That was my first day as "that crazy dog owner."  It's been a quite a journey.  Here's a trip down memory lane...

Cooper at just a few weeks old.  Nom-nom!

At the airport in Tulsa, waiting to board our flight home.  This was his first time away from his litter mates and he was traumatized to say the least.  Time for sleepies. 

After almost 6 hours of flying and a connection in Atlanta, we finally made it home.  Cooper took a quick romp around the yard and then it was time for more sleepies.  He was all about sleeping for the first few days :)

For comparison purposes, here's how that doggy bed is filled out today!  What a chunk.

Just a couple more of my puppy favorites:

And who can forget the time I left Cooper in the bathroom while I ran a quick errand...

And we've had a couple other fatalities along the way...

But that's OK... at the end of the day, look who's happiest kicking back and relaxing.

Love you Coop!  Here's to ten thousand more sunsets <3

xoxo,

Olivia

Paper Trail

Lately I've been slightly obsessed with stationary, or really anything paper-related and customizable.  I think it all started when I was looking for invitations to Sarah's bachelorette party. 

Like this "Tres Chic" invite courtesy of PaperStyle.  Totally channelling some inner Sasha Fierce.  Love!

Or, a more playful option like the "Captivating Cocktail" invite from Wedding Paper Divas.  So cute.

Now I'm looking for any excuse to order something customized.  Moving announcement?  Embossed stationary?  Thank you cards?  Yes, please. 

But wait for it, cutest idea ever... the custom illustrated and hand painted cards from Rifle Paper Co.  Just send them a picture of what you look like (or what you want) and they'll create a custom letterhead/image just for your order.  They'll even do one based on your dog!  Seriously, I just died.  Just you wait for something Cooper themed in mail :)

A couple of examples:

A-freaking-dorable.  Definitely adding one of these cards set to my 2010 wish list!

xoxo,
Olivia