An Urban Playground

I had a great weekend that happened to go WAY too fast. It was here and gone in a blink of an eye. There was some good stuff in it though, including spending my entire Saturday in workout clothes, renting a surrey and getting my picture taken at a blogger meet-up. Wait, maybe it went too fast because we lost an hour? No, that can’t be it.

Do you ever feel like your city is your own personal playground? Marina and I spent Saturday jogging and hop-skipping through downtown. I mean this literally. We rented a surrey, walked to Portland City Grill for happy hour, decided to go to a movie and ran and skipped to Pioneer Place to make it in time to catch the 7pm of OZ. Marina referred to downtown as our concrete jungle gym. To top off the kid like behavior we grabbed slurpees on the way home. It was awesome. If only we could have played a game of tether-ball or something. When we are roommates we plan to have what we will call, “yoga clothes days.” This is a day where you stay in workout clothes all day, even if you go to fancy places like PCG. Believe me, you won’t care what other people think when you are that comfortable!

That was my weekend, ‘twas great. Then yesterday was just painful! I have never been so ready for a day to be over. I am exhausted for some reason. I think I am actively fighting off sickness. I got over that lame cold, but now there are some new fun things like an ear ache. Not that you care about that… Whatever.

Honestly, the real reason I think I am dragging is that I feel stagnant in my spiritual life. When I get like this I tend to question EVERYTHING. I start to figure that my short-comings as a person are abundantly clear to everyone around me and that they can’t possibly even want me to be in their lives. E.g. she is probably my friend because she feels obligated; my parents probably think I’m pathetic because I am so incompetent about my taxes. I could write an entire post on my negative self-talk and how all of my relationships are false, but no one is tryna be brought down around here! I promise I will not do that to you today. I will say this though, awareness is the first step right!? Kinda like addiction… but kinda not. I need to spend more time in the word and less time believing the lies that are popping into my head.

Obviously the reason I hear all of these lies is because I am not actively listening to the truth.

Wow, this post about my weekend sure took an interesting turn. Have a great Tuesday! I hope you are listening to the new JT album on iTunes today.

Portland on Dwellable

Artificial flavor

Everyone wigs out about blue raspberry. “That isn't real! Raspberries aren't blue!!”
Or are they?...

Fact about me: I chew cinnamon gum.

The other day as I was unwrapping a piece of cinnamon gum, my mind wandered, hmm… cinnamon is brown. Not red.

I guess brown probably wouldn't be that appetizing. Everyone freaks out about blue raspberry, but no one thinks twice about red cinnamon stuff.

What’s up with that!? I'll just be here washing down some Red Hots with a blue raspberry Slurpee.

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I'm back! Sun Valley and other stuff.

Hello again!

I have been so busy doing important things like going on vacation, going to a wedding, doing laundry and getting a cold. Jealous of those last two? You should be.

Here is some vacation stuff that you may have already seen on Insta. My sister has a fancy camera with good pictures, but she probably won’t share them for like a month… if at all. It’s okay Linds, I think uploading is a hugely annoying task as well.

The Lodge and Baldy

My lovely parents

Dinner at the Ketchum Grill

And from the wedding for your enjoyment:

I posted this even though it is blurry with demon eyes. Why? Because it is hilarious and my legs look crazy tan! 

There was obviously a lot of fun involved in both. Anyway, I’m back in action! Except for this annoying cold.

Hailey on Dwellable

Road Trips and MTV

No, I am not talking about Road Rules. Close though!

Only one post this week because I am going on vacation!!!!! Woohoo! I am beyond excited to kick it with my family, ski and eat. That list is not necessarily in order of importance, but to spare feelings I decided I better type it out that way. (Hint: put them in reverse)

I’ll be here:

This is from the @sunvalley Instagram YESTERDAY! 

On a completely separate note, the trailer for Real World Portland is out. My favorite part is when they show the carpet at the airport. My least favorite part is the rest of it. I can’t help but be slightly annoyed with the quality of the cast and how they will probably make PDX look super lame by spending all their time at Splash Bar and Dirty. At least they were here during an awesome time of year! Hopefully MTV reps PDX in a fab way! It is also likely that our favorite places refused to sign whatever MTV has that forces establishments to take on all liability. I am obviously going to watch the entire season. For many reasons… including seeing if that time we yelled at them from the car makes it on TV! Ha!

Click Here to watch.

I'll be back next week!… maybe. I’ll probably have a vacation hangover. You know, when you are so relaxed from your vacation that it is debilitating. Am I the only one who “suffers” from this?

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My Love is Your Love

Whitney Houston taught me that. Happy Valentine’s Day friends!

I hope you are all celebrating with some glitter, hearts and chocolate! I for one will be hitting up the store tomorrow to get some good chocolate on sale. 40% off baby!

Obviously love is complex, but today I want to discuss a specific concept about love.

Love isn't love until we give it away. 

We talked about this at my bible study this morning. We have love. We feel love for others. More specifically we receive love from God. That love from God is real because He expresses that love to us through scripture, prayer, words from others and by romancing us with His creation. We are also commanded through scripture to share that same love with others. (Side note: Jesus is God, God is love, and we receive Jesus… scriptural word play!)

Let’s reflect that in our lives! This isn't just a religious concept. It is straight up reality. When we feel love for someone and don’t share it with them, that emotion becomes void. Unless we express to people that we care for them, it is not real to them.

So take this sappy holiday as an opportunity. You don’t need to send a card or candy. It can be a word, a call or a text. Tell them that you cherish and appreciate them!

Note that this does not only apply to Valentine’s Day. Remember it daily, love isn't love until you give it away and it becomes real for the other person!

PS. I think that is a song lyric… but we are just going to pretend it is an original thought from my group this morning. Okay? Great.

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Fat Tuesday just got obese.

Today is Fat Tuesday!

I know that Fat Tuesday exists because it is the day before you give things up for Lent on Ash Wednesday. BUT instead of buying into the Mardi Gras thing, I am going to take the title of “Fat Tuesday” literally. Today I will be swinging by Little Big Burger to grab some fat on my way home from running errands.

So while thousands participate in the debauchery that will take place tonight in NOLA, I will be participating in Sunday’s episode of Downton (because I fell asleep) and some truffle fries.

Happy Mardi Gras sinners! What the what is a King Cake and why is there a naked baby in it? Answers please!

Oh my goodness. I just went to the Little Big Burger Website and they are putting in a location in SW!! My life just got so good and so much fatter. That means my hood is getting an Elephants AND a Little Big Burger. Yes!

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Let’s talk about love.

Not in real life. But since it is almost Valentine’s Day, I thought we could discuss the “love revelation” in TV and movies. Next week we can talk about all things heart shaped and glittery.

Last night I was watching The Mindy Project on Hulu and in the latest episode BJ Novak realizes that he is in love with young Susan Sarandon. The reason he comes to this realization is because Mindy prompts him by asking who he would want to see on his last night of death row. First of all, where was she going with this? They had only been dating for two episodes! He was obviously not going to say her. That would be insane. They had probably literally been on 4 dates and likely don’t even know each other’s middle names. He chose young Susan Sarandon, his best friend, who he has clearly been in love with for years. Poor Mindy, it was a pretty hilarious and unfortunate When Harry Met Sally moment. Question:  Why didn't BJ Novak say he would want to see his family?

The weirdest love revelation we should really discuss is in Clueless. Yes, it is based off of Jane Austen’s Emma, BUT in Emma Mr. Knightly is her brother-in-law’s brother. I have met my brother-in-law’s brother once or twice. In Clueless, Josh is her former STEP-BROTHER! They are SIBLINGS!!!! In the movie you don’t think much of it because you assume Mel is kind of a serial-marrier due to gold diggers and was likely only married to Josh’s mom for a hot minute. But still, they probably all lived in the same house and did Christmas morning together etc. (excuse me Hanukah… Horowitz) Plus, Josh is practically living in their house during the entire movie. At one point, Mel responds to Cher’s inquiry about it by saying, “You divorce wives, not children.” So there Cher, when you have that revelation in front of the fountain (“Oh my god! I love Josh!”) you are declaring romantic love for your sibling. The extra weird part is that he reciprocates after calling himself a “brother type” earlier in the movie. Although, they probably DID know each other’s middle names because they are siblings and all. I’m not sure why I find knowing middle names significant when declaring love. It really has nothing to do with anything.

From siblings...

...to kissin'

I must mention that Clueless is one of my favorite movies of all time. I just had to reflect on the whole sibling thing for a minute. It really just makes the movie funnier and makes me love it (and Cher and Josh) more.

Writing this post has given me my very own love revelation about cheesy shows and movies. Who cares if it is unrealistic! They give me butterflies and make me giddy. This would be embarrassing but I'm pretty sure you guys know what I mean.

A list of some of the great ones:
- Rachel realizes that she loves Ross too! Once after seeing the broach he bought for her, and later when she is about to fly to Paris. (Don’t worry guys, she got off the plane)
- Kathleen Kelly realizes she loves Joe Fox on the day she is to meet NY157. Good thing Tom Hanks is really good at getting Meg Ryan to fall in love with him!
- Melanie Smooter Carmichael realizes that she gave her heart away a long time ago.
- Harry realizes that he wants to spend the rest of his life with Sally, and therefore wants the rest of his life to start as soon as possible!

Don’t even get me started on the movies where there is a bet involved and they end up falling in love.

What is your opinion on the whole “love revelation?” Do you think it is stupid? At all plausible? Do you think these types of romantic movies and shows sets us up for disappointment? I have heard crazy arguments against the romantic comedy and how it is damaging to girls perspectives etc. How you need to go through “real life experiences” with someone before you truly fall in love. Blah blah blah… No really, tell me your opinion! You already know mine.

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