Goin' to the chapel and we're....

[gonna get ma-a-arried :)]

Today I was lucky enough to have been able to witness a close friend's marriage to the love of her life. It was such a special moment, seeing Christie and George tie the knot after 7 years of dating through high school and college. I am so happy for them and I wish them every happiness in the world as they begin the rest of their lives together.









The ceremony was held at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO in a gorgeous venue. The scenery was amazing, the ceremony was beautiful, and there was so much love in the room that it was hard to be anything but happy.






Sadly, I wasn't able to get as many pictures of the happy couple as I would have liked but I can tell you that it was a beautiful wedding and I have never seen two families so happy to be joining together.

[As a side note, I used to dive with Christie and her sister, Karina all through middle school and high school. They were the first real friends I made when I moved to Colorado and our families have been super close ever since. It was so special to watch someone I grew up with getting married - we're getting so old!]

[me and Karina, the bride's sister and Maid of Honor]

I love weddings. Such a happy reason for celebrating love.
<3

Five For Friday

[2/25/11]

Here's hoping everyone had a fabulous week with an even more fabulous weekend to look forward to. I'll be heading down to Colorado Springs for a friend's wedding and I couldn't be more excited! Pictures to come!

1. Song of the week: "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele - in honor of her AMAZING new album that just came out. Seriously obsessed.



2. Quote of the week: "Stop talking about love. Every asshole in the world says he loves somebody. It means nothing. It still doesn't mean anything. What you feel only matters to you. It's what you do to the people you say you love, that's what matters. It's the only thing that counts."
-(One of my absolute favorites from the movie The Last Kiss)

3. 5 things I learned this week:
-Jessica Valenti (author of "Full Frontal Feminism") is my hero.
-Ice Hockey rinks smell like sweaty men who haven't showered in weeks.
-Glee is beginning to redeem itself. And I like it.
-I can take voice lessons, piano lessons, OR guitar lessons next semester for an elective. Exciting!
-PostSecret is my new obsession.

4. A picture: All my teammates from KU are at their final Big XII meet this weekend. Wishing them the best of luck for a great end to their swimming and diving career!

5. A takeaway: This little girl needs to become a role model for ALL little girls. She's 5 and already has her priorities straight. She's so adorable, I want to steal her and raise her as my own! (kidding. maybe.) Seeing this was probably the highlight of my week.

PostSecret

Do you guys know about PostSecret? I bet you do (but if not, seriously check it out). I think it's just the coolest project in the world. I love how you can look through other people's secrets and always find one or two that you can relate to, and you just know you're not alone. No matter how silly or emotional, serious or funny, dark or happy, it's just inspiring to know that you're not the only one out there. I really admire the people who have the courage to send in their deepest secrets for the world to see - even if they are anonymous. Such an amazing movement.

[ Maybe I'll even send in a few secrets of my own? ]

[all images from postsecret.com]
Frank Warren
13345 Copper Ridge Rd.
Germantown, MD, 20874

Sista Down Unda

Sister Lindsey,

Can you please come home from Australia so we can do this and play all summer? Or better yet, fly me out so we can do it in Oz. Either way, I love you. And we need to relive this week in our lives as soon as humanly possible.

Missing and loving you with all my heart.

PS. The world is dying to hear about how you held a Koala bear. Blog? :)

No More Monday Blues

It's a fresh new week, darlings.
I hope everyone has had a wonderful start!

Mine has already been WAY better than the last, which makes me 100% happier
than I was at this time last Monday.
I call that a WIN.
Happy girl :)

Maybe it had something to do with seeing my best friend over the weekend?

[She makes my world a million times happier]

Let's continue to make this week much better than the last.
xo

Five For Friday

Happy Friday, loves. I am thrilled that it's finally the weekend and can start to put this week behind me and start fresh. Plans include catching up on tonssss of homework and projects, sleeping in, and focusing on happiness. What are your plans?

Here's five things to start off the weekend:

1. Song of the week: "Everything's Not Lost" by Coldplay. I thought it was kind of fitting for this week, plus it's a good message for when things aren't going according to plan.

2. Quote of the week: "Many of the things that seem impossible now will become realities tomorrow." -Walt Disney

3. 5 things I learned this week:
-Pink eye is still a fairly common illness among college students, contrary to popular belief (by myself) that it is only for 7 year old's.
-Experimenting with a new mascara because the bottle is pretty is not a good idea.
-My friend, Katie is quite possibly the best friend I've ever known.
-Feelings don't define who you are.
-Spending 7 hours on a photoshop project does not always make it amazing.

4. A picture: I miss my brother.


5. A Takeaway from the week: Sometimes you just have a really shitty week. Sometimes it piles on, one thing after the other, spiraling downward, and even the little things seem to have a giant impact on the shittiness. But, it's best to just take a deep breath, and let yourself feel how you're going to feel. Once you come to terms with the fact that it's just one of those weeks, you can begin to look at it from a different angle. For me, my horrible week actually ended up teaching me a bunch of lessons about self empowerment, friendship, and the value of setting aside time for yourself; things I was already aware of but hadn't tapped into for a while. It was a good reminder.

[I hope you all have a fabulous and happy weekend!]

Hump Day Pep Talk.

"Your presence is a present to the world. You're unique. You're one of a kind. Your life can be what you want it to be. Take each day, one at a time."

It's just been one of those weeks for me. You know the kind. The kind where everything seems to be going against you and you don't know whether to laugh at how incredibly ridiculous it all is, or to cry at how incredibly frustrating it is. I've been somewhere in between laughing and hysteria for the last 3 days which has not helped the situation one bit. I think I hit rock bottom today when I gave a kid in one of my classes an "I'm going to kill you if you don't wipe that stupid smile off your face, you asshole" look, after he gave me a genuine smile. In my defense, he outspokenly made a rude comment about a project I had done earlier in the week which led to a humiliated Chelsea standing in front of her class taking a bunch of hits and trying really hard not to burst out in tears. He deserved that look (and it felt REALLY good). But nevertheless, as I was walking home from class with my headphones on it kind of hit me: I really need to turn this week around before I lose all composure and any dignity I have left.

What I realized on my walk is that I'm probably the only one who cares about everything that has caused me to feel like I have no dignity this week. I'm probably the only one who thought it was embarrassing to have to wear my glasses and no makeup all week because I have pink eye. I'm probably the only one who is still thinking about how legitimately humiliating my project turned out to be. I'm probably the only one who is dwelling on the fact that I got turned down from a job that I really wanted. And I'm probably the only one who can't let it go. Yeah, I'm having a bad week, but I'm sure I'm not the only one and I'm sure my week isn't the worst.

Come to think of it, aren't I acting a bit ridiculous knowing that I have a great support system and people who won't shoot me down when I'm gross and have a shitty project in school? I know I'm allowed to feel how I feel, but I'm not looking enough at all the things I've been so grateful for lately.

The good news is, there's still time to turn it around. It's only Wednesday which means I still have time to make the end of the week something to be proud of. I still have time to take a deep breath and tell myself that the world isn't ending just because my eye is infected and I have to throw away all my makeup. The world isn't ending because one of my classes isn't going as planned. And the world isn't ending because I broke my attempt at a crap-free diet and ate 14 pieces of chocolate yesterday. Tomorrow is a new day, and the sun will still rise.

I'm going to turn this week around right now. Everything that's happened is out of my control and at this point I'm the only one who can make an honest decision to look at the brighter side. What I want is for you all to know that when it hasn't been your day or week (or month, or even your yeeeear - sorry, I couldn't resist) that there's always the chance to make it better. My challenge for the next few days is to remind myself that I am better than this week and I will not be defeated by it.

[I love you all. Thank you for continually making me happy and grateful with your love and support in my life, and for not judging me when I fall off the wagon and feel like staying down for a minute to sulk.]

All You Need Is Love.

[heart via: here]

Happy Valentine's day, loves.

Five for Friday

Happy Weekend, bloggers! I hope everyone had a fabulous week and is looking forward to an even better weekend ahead. I'll be heading home to visit my dad and catching up on lots of things I've been putting off (like loads of homework and studying). Here's my new weekly wrap up post:

1. Song of the week: Dig by Incubus. I think this is probably one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. Always good to bring back every now and then.



2. Quote of the week: “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” - Audre Lorde

3. 5 things I learned this week:
-CU is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to change their logo, but wont hire people to shovel the sidewalks of snow on campus.
-RENT is an awesome musical.
-You don't ever have to justify the way you are feeling at any given time.
-The Superbowl commercials were better last year.
-A "Hawaiian Margarita" at the Sink in Boulder....is BLUE.

4. A Picture: Took this one last weekend - Boulder truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It makes my heart happy.


5. A Takeaway from the week: I've been getting kind of fed up with facebook lately, mostly because of the fakeness surrounding it. There's so many people you are "friends" with that you can't even stand in real life - and that's just it. The idea that facebook ISN'T real life. It's an interesting thought. My friend, Ryan just sent me this video, and it definitely makes you think twice about deleting your account. I don't think I will, because it IS still a valuable form of communication for me, but I think I'm going to make some changes on it effective immediately. I love my real life friends, those who don't judge you based on your profile picture and friend count. If you are reading this then you're one of the real ones in my book :) (oh, and I encourage you to watch this video, it's pretty awesome!)

[Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!]

Happy Birthday: My Soulmate.

Today is my best friend, Cory's 22nd birthday! (Wait, remember when we were like, 7?!) Of course a birthday message is in order, but for this girl, a special one.







There is not a thing in the world that I am more grateful for than my 16 year friendship with Cory. Not only have we been tied at the hip since 1st grade, but we have somehow managed to stay tied through miles of distance, state to state and sometimes even country to country. Though we've been tested with distance since we were 11, at 22 years old we've always know that our friendship can withstand anything that's thrown our way.






There's no better way to put it: she's my soulmate. She is the one person in the world who has been there through good and bad, seen me at my best and worst, and has loved me unconditionally and unwavering through it all (even that time when I slapped her in 5th grade....). I couldn't even begin to put into words the profound impact she has had on my life. All I can say is that I am the luckiest girl in the world to have been blessed with her friendship for more than half my life.







Somehow she always manages to make my birthday's special, and I always feel bad that I can never be there for her's (every year since the 4th grade). One of these years I'll be there next to her, celebrating what an amazing friend and sister she has always been to me. But for now, I hope a small blog post in her honor will do.

I love you, best friend. And even though I'm not there, I hope you have the happiest of Birthday's.

Parisian Love

Happy Sunday dear readers! This week started off with a few days of negative temperatures and is ending with a sick, voiceless Chelsea and a few inches of snow. Needless to say, this sick girl is enjoying being inside with some tea and Netflix (thanks, Tanya!).

I don't usually watch the entire Superbowl, and if you're like me you're really mostly in it for the awesome commercials (remember Nanerpuss?!) so on this sick, snowy, Sunday I give you my favorite Superbowl ad from last year:

[Hope you all have a fabulous Superbowl Sunday!]

Happy Birthday, Sister!

Today is my sister's birthday
and since I can't be there to celebrate with her like she was for mine,
I wanted to wish her a very special day.

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

I hope this year brings you so much happiness
filled with lots of roller-skating and love.
Thanks for always being someone I can look up to and count on.
I love you, sister.