just a silly story...

So here's a little sneak peak into our room - I hesitate to post a pic of our room because it's not quite fully decorated yet but I just couldn't resist posting the story that goes along with this pic (Warning: this story may be more entertaining to me than anyone else). I got home on Friday afternoon, to a boyfriend who had the afternoon off and discovered that he had taken it upon himself to do some redecorating. I had made Joe a "welcome home" card when he got back from DC and hung it up with some heart sticky notes in our living room. We ended up leaving the card hanging for the week, but I guess by Friday, Joe was ready for a change of scenery because when I walked into the bedroom, this is what I saw...

The heart stickers that were in our living room had been moved to our bedroom and thoughtfully placed 2 on each side of the bed! Joe calls it his environmentally conscious recycled decorating. I call it adorable.

oooooh and good news! The Farbielecki cannery has officially re-opened for the season. We found these beauties at the Farmer's market today and just finished making our 1st batch of Strawberry Jam. The kitchen smells amazing.

One more side note - I started an incredible class last Tuesday at Stanford. It's called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and is based on a program founded by John Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts. It basically centers on the connection between mind and body and I have to confess, I am loving it. During our first class, we went around in a circle and shared what brought us to the class and I was in tears for at least half of it. I am awe-struck at what we as human beings endure in our lifetimes and I am even more awe-struck by the courage it takes to share these experiences. Along with a number of other things, the class guides us through developing a meditation practice. I am going to try to be disciplined about this to give it a fair shot. More to come on this for sure. For now, it's off to a Bikram Yoga class - eeek, wish me luck, it's been a while since I've done heated yoga.

Happy Birthday to the sweetest man I've ever known

It was Joe's birthday this past week and so I am going to guiltlessly take some time to brag about him. Joe is hands down the sweetest and most amazing man I've ever known. I've never known anyone who is able to handle life as gracefully and fun-lovingly as he does. The guy knows how to buckle down and "GSD" like no one I know - it's no wonder that he has been able to handle working full time as a teacher at KIPP - a crazy, super high standard charter school, serve as Math Department Chair, go to grad school, move in with his girlfriend and line up a job at another high achieving charter school for next year. I swear he gets more done by 8am than most people do in an entire day and somehow he manages to do it all with a big, bright blue eyed smile. He somehow seldom allows the craziness of the world get in the way of just enjoying himself and making sure that the people he loves know it. He's one of those people that just has his priorities in life straight - he spends his days working towards something that he whole-heartedly believes in and although the work is exhausting, I have witnessed how fulfilled he is by the it and I have to say it's absolutely inspiring. His dedication to teaching is so courageous and the strength that he puts forth in working with kids makes me fall deeper and deeper in love with him. Joe squeezes so much out of every moment of life - no matter how crazy things get - he does an incredible job of not allowing any of the craziness to take away from his ability to savor every last drop - whether that's in his beloved cups of coffee/beer, sunny weekend mornings, kick ass trail runs, U2 songs, cooking up something delicious or just snuggling me! I feel luckier than I could ever express to have found someone who inspires me to do what I love, enjoy life and love those around me. He is more than I could have ever dreamed of finding in a partner. Joe spent his actual birthday in DC with 55 8th graders :) - so when he got back it was only fitting that we had a big celebration. Here are pics from yesterday.

Backyard - before the birthday BBQ makeover. Super sunny day - yay!

Morning light and limes and bouganvilla - I'm loving this color combo.

I spent an evening watching the Bachelorette and making these fun hanging mason jars one night while Joe was in DC. I love them - and just a girly side note - these are going to be everywhere at my wedding one day - maybe even full of the same exact flowers - I was loving the bouganvilla this weekend!

Joe's grilling station - that boy doesn't need much to create some major deliciousness for dinner! oooh and we bought a Costco pack of limes so the extras became decoration.

All set :) - backyard post Bday BBQ makeover - hanging mason jars, outdoor Italian cafe lights (I've always wanted a backyard to hang these in!) and a super colorful table runner - I didn't want to leave this place last night.

I heart our table runner!

The carne asada didn't last long.

Joe's famous black beans - these were amazing!

Margaritas in mason jars :).

Our truly amazing friends. Kat' head is being blocked by the Margarita pitcher and Erik an Julian's Margarita's are the only evidence that they were present.

My love in the tree hanging the AWESOME pinata that Kat brought - totally pumped up the party!

The birthday boy with his blindfold.

Erik giving it his best shot.

Lindsey takes a swing.

Julian goes to town on Toro the pinata.

We found some clowns :). Photo credit to Laura!

Lighting the candles

Sunset, twinkly lights and Joe with a Dum-dum from the Pinata.

Birthday BBQ afterglow - this completely matches the way I felt inside after last night. Love Joe, love our friends, love our home and love having all three of these things together.

couldn't be happier...

It's Friday AND loverboy is back from DC :). And this is what I'm thinking...

beautiful thoughts...

Loved this article about the Baccalaureate celebration at Stanford this weekend. I pulled out a couple of my fav. parts.

"If you demand a mate who is a perfect person, you'll be single," she said. "If you wed expecting a perfect marriage, you’ll be sad. And if you try to run a perfect business, nobody will want to eat lunch with you. And if you come to the point when the imperfections of your parents are obvious and unavoidable, let me remind you, 'the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.'"

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In her 12-minute address, Bowman said people cannot predict where their faith – whatever it is – will take them.

"But wherever that is, go, go," she said. "And leave your 'score card' app behind and just relish the experience. Study, shape, find, forgive, struggle, weep when you need to, laugh when you can, love. Hold, please, the knowledge that wherever, whenever, why-ever, whoever, however time and events touch you – or are touched by you – there is yet and always the possibility of Amen."

Bowman asked the graduating students to consider that their life plans may not go as planned, and "that sometimes the things that do not go as planned, the things that are not executed perfectly, have a power all their own."

She said sometimes they will have to "launch a leap too short over a gap too wide," and predicted that what they launch will get completed – somehow.

"Picture in The Matrix, Morpheus launching out of the building, with Neo launching out of a helicopter, closing the gap – you with me?" she said, to appreciative laughter from an audience familiar with the 1999 science-fiction/action movie. "It's messy. It's imperfect. But it works."

gettin' back to goal setting...

So I've fallen out of my usual routine of setting 8 week goals for myself and I think as a result, I've been less dedicated to making time and space in my life for things that bring me joy/growth/fulfillment etc. So enough of letting the everdayness of life get in the way of the things that make me smile and feel a greater gratitude towards life, here's my latest list of 8 week goals - to be accomplished by 8/1/11.

1) Sign up for a Meditation class through Stanford's health improvement program

2) Dedicated an afternoon or two to basketball planning for the upcoming season (offense, defenses, team building)

3) Plant tomatoes

4) Carve out 45 minutes/week of journaling time

5) Bedroom art project

6)Dedicate an afternoon outing centered on taking photos

words that moved me tonight...

I went to a restorative yoga class tonight and this was the opening meditation. I loved it and had to share...

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.
Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me

--Unconditional, Jennifer Wellwood

singing my way to the weekend....

I woke up today with an overwhelming amount of excitement bubbling up inside of me for the weekend. I've been ansty for the weekend all day and can hardly wait for 5 o'clock to roll around and to get this party started - nothing big on the agenda - our Adele concert just got cancelled - poor darlin' has a bad case of laryngitis :(. I was bummed for a moment - but you know what - it's supposed to storm like crazy this weekend and well, honestly, I think Rollin' in the deep would be much more fun on a sunny day :) - so in any case - my head is already filling up with ideas on how to spend Saturday with the man I love - who has NO CLASS tomorrow - YAY!!

In the meantime, I'm heading back to focus on some pending press releases and will be listening to these two songs to pass the time...