Silk Teddy & Push Up.

I escaped to my mini-vacation spot here in Colorado... Fort Collins. Its far enough away that I feel far away from home and my cares and worries.  I was thinking about all the times I have felt trapped in my life.  Ever since I can remember I always felt trapped because I didn't have a car, or I wasn't old enough to leave on my own, or I was trapped in a friendship or a relationship. I finally feel like all the strings have been cut and I am free to fly.  I finally feel like I am at a time in my life where I am completely free.  I have nothing holding me back, and I just want to run ... across the world.  Fly around this planet to every corner that I can, while I can.

I think you should always have a place you can escape to that you claim yours.  For me, in Colorado that place is Fort Collins where I leave all of my cares and worries behind and just enjoy life with my friends.   I think everyone should make a point, wherever you are, to find a place that is yours that you can escape to.  And make sure to spoil yourself while your there and make it a point to not punish yourself for leaving.  Everyone deserves an escape.  I think its a vital part of wellbeing.

Bra Band Du Jour:  Plastiscines 

I love love love these girls!  They make the perfect escape soundtrack.

Strawberry Suede & Christmas Parties.

Song I'm Listening to Today: Lights "Boots"

A perfect day so far.  I had the day off, so I really really enjoyed it- especially after this crazy week.  I got a massage, bought some pretty lipsticks, got Starbucks in a "for here" cup, sat down to really enjoy it, and took my little ferocious looking puppy on a walk.  Now, I am off to a Christmas Party. I swear to you that my Starbucks was so much better than it is in their paper cups. You all should try that sometime, plus you get more sprinkles!  I am so excited to wear my new lipstick tonight.  

Revlon "Strawberry Suede"

"To me, it's really so simple, that life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge. Then you will live your life on the tightrope." -Phillope Pettit

Pink Sunrises and Roses.

This morning on my way to work,  I enjoyed the most beautiful pink sunrise!  I felt so lucky to be awake to enjoy it.  Such a great reminder about how every day starts new and fresh, and we can always make it whatever we want it to be.  It is a crazy thing that I have learned over the past year, the power of your thoughts.  No one can ever make you think the thoughts you do except for you- so choose to make them about something postitive.  No matter how hard it feels to let go of negative thoughts you do have the power.  It takes a while to learn how to control your thoughts, but once you do, it will change your life.  It changed mine. So, today think about all of the good things in your life, no matter how small, as long as they make you feel happy.

via

My best friend's wedding bouquet

(the most beautiful flower I've ever seen)

Some of my favorite blogs:

Material Girl Mag, Bardot in Blue

Lust for Life

Hell Yeah Models

Wanderlust.

I never saw a word that more accurately depicted me then when I found this word today.  I always say that I don't understand why everyone doesn't spend all of their money on traveling and gallivanting around the world.  It is all that I want to do, and I have such a strong desire to just wander around and learn about other cultures, taste other foods, and enjoy the beauty in different places.  I am fascinated by all the things I haven't yet seen or understood.  There is so much lost in the culture of America... so much pressure to do things a certain way that we get lost in it, in our daily routines, and I don't want to be like everyone else.  I want to take my time when I eat, not stress out about being on time, live my life with a "no worries" attitude.  I want to see all of the oceans, ride a camel, pet a koala, eat fruit I never knew existed, and see history in architecture.  

via.

Elle Magazine "Fantastic Voyage" video (2)

Love Runway (4)

Marie Antoinette to Bridget Bardot.

Two of my best friends are twins.  I love them more than life, and I love how different they are.  These two pictures remind me of their two very different personalities and yet how I love them both equally!  I was digging through my closet last night and found this book that I had taken from my dad's book shelf when I was really young just because I liked the title: "Getting What You Want."  I have had it in my closet for as long as I can remember, but last night was the first time I flipped through it.  The first little paragraph I  went strait to in the middle of the book was talking about how you need to first improve yourself and then others will be drawn to you.  It was talking about how you could buy the most beautiful dress, but if you didn't feel good about your body then you wouldn't like it on.  So, the moral of the story was to workout until you felt beautiful and confident, then when you put on the beautiful dress, you will be happy and want to go have fun in it.  Therefore, when you feel confident and satisfied with who you are, others will be drawn to you and want to continue to be with you.  I am blessed to have such amazing friends.

Vogue Russian December 2010

Tush Winter Campaign 2010

via Fashion Gone Rogue

A Warm December.

Dress Yves Saint Laurent

Miss Me Spring 2011 Collection

Resin Bangles, Dinasaur Designs NYC

I love how Elle's December 2010 cover shoot is totally rejecting the idea of the cold.  I always wondered why people are so entranced by the idea of snow and cold weather.  Sure, there are cute coats, cozy fireplaces, and warm cocoa but there is a theme for all of those... warmth! It's because being cold hurts! Why not just go somewhere like this where you can wear  a cute sundress and get a tan while sipping your Mai Tai.   That's my kind of winter.

How to be more Australian.

One of my Australian friends posted this, and I loved it.  This is the way life should be.

1.5 more months :)

Dolce Far Niente.

The sweetness of doing nothing.

Always inspired as I am by the movie Eat, Pray, Love,  I was particularly touched by this italian saying.

It's something I really do not often get to do, and something that is so quickly taken advantage of.

There is a place in my heart where I truly feel like Rome is as much my home as my home is here in Colorado.  There is something so wonderful about the way Italians live, the loss of the strictness of time, the speak your mind, lets take a nap halfway through work, and enjoy our food and wine, way-of-life.

This particular sweetness of Italian culture is something I want to incorporate into my life more frequently.

Marty Party does this so well! Look at him basking in the warm November sun :)

Imperfections and The Greek.

My favorite movie is Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Aldous Snow [Russell Brand] was my favorite character in it.  I had no idea that the movie Get Him to the Greek was Part II of my favorite movie!  I love it almost as much as Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  There's less romance and more hilariousness.

This movie totally made my night!  Sometimes, when your having a hard day, all you need is a comedy, a piece of pizza, your girls, and some chocolate cake to cheer you up.

In order to reach this point of bliss that I am seeking to attain, I have been trying very hard to look at myself from an outside perspective and see who I really am.  It was pointed out to me today that I am very hard on myself- that I always am wishing that I was someone else.  I honestly thought that everyone felt this way, but today I learned that's not true.  So, it is my new goal to stop being jealous of other people and to be more satisfied with who I am.  This is going to take a whole new retraining of my mind, but I am excited to better myself in a positive way.  Sometimes you just need an outside perspective to see something that you can't see yourself.

Cheers.

Some friends and I went out to my favorite restaurant last night, The Med in Boulder.  I love the atmosphere of this place, it is always busy and the food is incredible!  It makes me feel like I'm in Europe again. I love that you can get many different Tapas (small dishes) and share with the table, and they are so inexpensive.  This is perfect for someone as indecisive as me.  But the best part is their White Sangrias!!! Oh my goodness, I could not stop drinking these- they are dangerously good.  The waitress would just laugh at me because every time she came to the table I would ask for another.

I think all 6 of us had our eyes shut as we enjoyed this heavenly Creme Brulee.  Yumm...

Whole Foods.

One of the coolest things happened to me today.  So, on my journey to joy and happiness, I have really been trying to improve myself.  I have found that lately when I make good decisions, I feel this ultimate calm and peace around me that reassures me that I made the right choice.  I love it! I can't remember ever feeling that way before, so this is definately new.  Well, through cognitive therapy I have learned alot about controlling my thoughts and the effects they have on your body and life.  So, I have been very consious about my thoughts, and I just kept thinking of a verse- think of things that are pure and lovely... i kept repeating to myself.  I kept trying to think of where it was from and where I could find it for days, and it just kept repeating in my head.  I was wanting to find it each day, but I kept putting it off.  Then, today I got an email from my mom that said "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" Philippians 4:8.   That's really what all this is about- I want to focus on the things in life that make me happy and that are good for me, not destructive in any way.  It really made me smile that this happened to me today.

So, today I decided to treat myself to anything I wanted from Whole Foods.  I decided on yogurt, cherry, chocolate & toffee, and cinnamon covered pretzels.  It turned out to be the best 78 cents I have spent in a long time.

Autumn Spice.

post. script. my great great great great grandfather was Henry David Thoreau

Lost in the twilight.

Twilight is possibly the only thing that can get my head out of my life right now. As pathetic as that might be, it's the only thing that actually works.  It's so easy to get lost in it, and that is exactly what I need right now.  I can't stop from thinking myself into holes that I can't get out of, and finding something that can stop that thought process is amazing.

On my way.

This is going to be my journey to nirvana, ecstasy, bliss, whatever you like to call it, packed into a blog.

I am on a journey right now- a time in my life-  where I have to relearn who I am again. My journey has already begun and we'll see where it takes me.  Hopefully to ecstasy- pure simple joy and contentment, a total state of nirvana.

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'Woo hoo! What a ride!'"