[Oh. My. GOSLING.]

Proving that my love for RyGos knows no bounds, I present to you:
Ryan Gosling ringtones!

You're very welcome.

Ryan Gosling Hey Girl (mp3) by jezebeldodai


Ryan Gosling Golden Girls (mp3) by jezebeldodai


Ryan Gosling Sorry (mp3) by jezebeldodai

Found here.

[Plus and Nonplus, and Happy Friday!]

+ Having a real life work-related meeting at an embassy with an ambassador. An ambassador!!

- I've been adding -y and Mc__erson to everything lately. Examples: Yesterday I called someone (okay, myself) Sneaky McSneakerson. (For obvious reasons.) And then later I called someone else (not myself) Bloggy McBloggerson. I've been saying other unsettling things lately. Called an inanimate object "boo boo", as in "Hi, boo boo!", and my addiction to PerezHilton.com (yep, Perez and I are still going strong after 8 years) causes me to say "amazeballs" everytime I like something. Yeah, this needs to stop.

+ Chad called me yesterday, formally asking me out on a date for tonight. He said he'd be in contact with me today regarding what I needed to wear, but for now he just wanted to inform me that he'd be picking me up at 7 p.m. I love boyfriends and Friday night dates. :) *Update - We're going to a jazz club tonight!

- Unfollowing someone on Twitter in an I'll show them! moment, only to discover they weren't following me. Hmph. Well then.

+ Reading on, like, every blog and fashion website I follow that red is THE fall color of the moment. Red is the color of my LIFE!
- Chasing a fruit fly around my room for a solid 20 minutes, only to give up until several hours later when it landed on my boob. At which point I finally succeeded in smashing it, bruising my poor boobular region in the process...and then on my chest it stayed in its crushed little form, because I was too grossed out to touch it.

+ Fasting on Wednesday and having a really positive experience with it. Happening to weigh myself the next day and seeing that I magically dropped five lbs since my last heavyweight weigh in. Related incidents? Unlikely, but the Lord does work in mysterious ways...


All for now. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

P.S. I made those Friday letters above with snippets from some of my favorite pins. I started pinning on Pinterest in February and haven't stopped since -- it's such an addicting, fun way to catalogue your favorite images from around the web! If you've been under a rock and haven't started pinning yet, you must start! And you can follow my boards here if you want. :)

[Grandma Katie's wedding dress.]

What do you do when you visit Grandma Katie's house? Play dress up with her 1940s wedding dress, obviously! The unbelievable thing is that when she joined in the fun herself, she was able to fit perfectly into her wedding gown from 60+ years ago. (On the other hand, I, ahem, couldn't button it up completely. Let's not talk about it.) Kelly and I loved getting to flounce around in her fragile veil, and it was so special seeing our beaming 83 year old Grammy stand next to her 20ish year old self in her wedding photo.

I was reminded of these pictures as I talked to her today and she told me the story of how she and my Grandpa Pete became engaged, as well as other pearls of Grandma wisdom. I wish I had been able to write the whole conversation down, because there were so many hilarious and wise gems, but I did manage to capture a bit of it. Here's a mix of her entertaining and serious nuggets:

{On her husband criteria} "I wanted a tall boy, who didn’t smoke, or drink. … What more could I ask? All the other Mexican boys were shrimpy! Sometimes there are nice things, sometimes there are things that you have to overlook, but Grammy was not going to overlook the height!” [Ah, the source of Milan's penchant for tall boys and referring to herself in the third person is revealed!]

{On not being embraced by her future mother-in-law} “I had heard through the grapevine that his mother didn’t want him to marry me because I had been in the sanitarium for TB…but I didn’t even have TB, I just went there for the shot! Furthermore, I wasn’t a good Catholic. So I gave back the ring. And told him it wasn’t going to work, and that he needed to find a good Catholic girl. He thought, and thought, and thought…and then he gave me back the ring. 'My mother’s not marrying you,' he said. 'I am.' And that felt soo good. Standing up. That’s the thing that fortifies the feelings…the 'I want you, nothing else matters here.'" [Grandpa Pete...ballerr!!!]

{On spending time apart} "Too much togetherness is just like having too much sugar. Too much candy. Too much pan mexicano!" [Pan Mexicano = Mexican pastries or sweet bread.] 

{On her current dating life} "I have a dinner date tomorrow night. I hope Ralph doesn’t rain check. He says, “Could I have a raincheck?” I’ve had so much rain, there are storms! One month he had eight of them. Eight!!" [I HEAR you, sista!]

_____________

Ah, Grammy....ever the classic. Funny to see how the times change, but whether you're 20 years old in the 1940s, 23 years old in 2011, or 83 years old in 2011, the daily struggles, hopes, and dreams of a girl remain the same.

[A day at Gettysburg.]

Earlier this month I went on a day trip extravaganza with Chad to Gettysburg, PA. There are a few different ways to tour Gettysburg: you can toodle around the expansive visitors center, drive around the park at your own pace, or you can purchase a CD tour in varying lengths. Chad wanted us to do the three hour tour, and I was basically like omg, I'll diiiiiiiieee (I nerdily like history and Civil War battlefields probably more than the average person, but seriously, does anything sound more dry and boring than a three hour audio tour??)...but we agreed, with the caveat that any time I wanted to stop the tour to take a photo, I could. Obviously, less than 30 seconds into the tour, we stopped the car. And then 30 seconds after that...then another minute later...you get the picture. (...get it? ah, I crack myself up...) I also may have spent ten minutes climbing around the canons, pretending they were historic, adult-sized jungle gyms... We ended up making so many stops that we didn't actually finish the tour before dark, much to Chad's chagrin, but it was still a really enjoyable way to learn about this historic site. I actually really enjoyed it, and I didn't fall asleep or even tune out once, which is kind of significant (but I maybe fell asleep on our second part of the date later that night).

Side note: the first time Chad and I hung out (not to be confused with the first time we met, when he kissed me, or our first date at the Tim McGraw concert several days later, when he didn't kiss me), we spent the day touring Civil War battlefields in Virginia, so ever since then it's been one of our special, dorky little dates that we love to do when we get the chance.

[Two Tunes Tuesday: Drive.] *updated

These are the songs I've had on repeat since I saw Drive last week (playing to my mental montage of RyGos driving me around town as we sexily but safely rob pawn shops). I dare you to see it then try to tell me the soundtrack and score weren't amazeballs. Actually, I DOUBLE dare you. Can't back down from that one, you know. Enjoy!

*Update: As Blake pointed out, I left out the following from my post. It was only because I didn't want to do three songs in a Two Tunes post, but I'm feeling extra rebellious, so obviously silly self-imposed blogging rules are meant to be broken. Here's a third...I can't pick a favorite, can you?

Also, to my three readers, would you do me a solid (who SAYS that?) and send me links to happy things in the comments section below? Because I really need them right now. Pretty, sparkly, or cute things will also do. Thanks!

[Tonight I love...]

{Girl friends} I go through phases with this...usually I'm too hermity to care about having more than a couple close friends, and most of the time I prefer boys to girls, for all the typical reasons used by we annoying girls who say they only have guy friends. But lately, for a variety of reasons, I've really been loving having a bigger group of lady friends, with whom I can talk, laugh, blog/twitter stalk, drool over RyGos (ahem--that's short for Ryan Gosling--we're totes on nickname basis. He calls me Sexybutt.) and, of course, brunch. Sometimes you need more support in your life than usual, and the last few weeks...months, really...I've needed a lot. So, lady friends, you know who you are, and hopefully you know that I heart you.

{Chadwick} ...whose name is not actually Chadwick, but I like to call him that anyway. I love lots about him, in case you weren't aware, but today I especially love that when I told him I watched The Rachel Zoe Project without him, he legitimately gasped in a hilarious combination of shock and horror, and I love that he is just as excited for Millionaire Matchmaker and Grey's Anatomy as I am. I also love that I got to listen to him talk on the radio today about the economy. Because he is that brilliant, that talk radio stations *consult* him about that stuff.

{Church} I love this way of life. I love the peace one can find in it. I love the people and their examples of charity and kindness. I love the leaders who continually provide us with guidance and inspiration to live a joyful, peaceful, and full life. This weekend and next, we have the opportunity to hear messages from the men and women who helm this church. Yesterday evening, this quote from one of them particularly stood out to me:



I hope you find something to love on this Sunday evening as well. Good night world!

[Just a little date.]

[Magical meal (+ McD's).]

On Sunday night I made garlic rosemary chicken, with brown butter and balsamic four cheese ravioli. (Did you know it's spelled balsamic, not balsalmic? You probably did. I didn't. I learned that about 27 seconds ago when I wrote that sentence. Columbia education fail.) This was one of the easiest and fastest meals I've made since the beginning of my domestic revolution, and yet it received some of the highest marks by my taste tester/victim/boyfriend. Furthermore, it was like almost pure dairy (four cheese ravioli. brown butter sauce. liberal sprinklage of parmigiano-reggiano), but my severely lactose intolerant insides didn't reject it. In fact, they embraced the meal, with no detectable signs of revolt...so it was magical.


And lest I fool you into thinking I'm anything close to legit... This is me, at 11pm last night, devouring McD's, brought to me by Chadwick for a late night bedroom picnic. As he watched me inhale the large order of friends*: "Wow, I'm glad I didn't get you a medium..." Hmph. (Me too.)

*I just noticed this hilarious/embarrassing typo, hours later. And it will remain, because who doesn't think of fries as friends?

[Fashion Week Favorites: A little zig, a little zag.]

More Fashion Week amazingness, this time a collection of strong diagonals, zigzags, and geometric patterns. Loving all the color here as well. I'm seriously not sure I can think of anything I wouldn't do to wear either the Carolina Herrera or the Milly by Michelle Smith.

Top: BCBG Max Azria // Middle: Milly by Michelle Smith, BCBG Maz Azria // Bottom: Nicole Miller, Ohne Titel, Ports 1961, Carolina Herrera

Images via nymag.com.

[Pizza & Whoopie Pies.]

Saturday night was a big night for Chad and his fellow BYU alums, as the BYU football team played its mortal enemy, University of Utah. I have, like, negative interest in BYU athletics...in fact, out of principle, I tend to root against them. But since I don't really have a college team to root for (I only paid attention to Columbia football the year I was hooking up with a defensive lineman) (a glorious Milan era, I must say), I made an exception for the Game and hopped on the BYU fanwagon for the night. To celebrate, we made pizza and whoopie pies...well, he made pizza with significant input from me, and I made the whoopie pies. I'd never had a whoopie pie, much less made one, so this was kind of a baking adventure. I misjudged the size a bit, and they ended up being more like whoopie sandwiches, but they were kind of delicious and have lasted us well into the week. I'm not going to say we both had two yesterday, but I won't deny it either...

PS - Yes, that is a BYU logo and slogan on my chest. I know, I never thought I'd see the day either, but Chad needed a present this weekend, so I broke every one of my rules and ordered us matching shirts to wear for the game. Girlfriend of the year? I think so. ;)

[Fashion Week Favorites: RED]

This is the first of probably a million fashion week posts. Maybe I was bored last week, or maybe the sartorial abyss that is Washington, DC finally got to me...but I couldn't get enough of Fashion Week.

So without further ado, HELLO red. You know my love of this color...I'd paint the world red if I could, including all the people...

Top: Oscar de la Renta //Bottom: ADAM, Jenny Packham, Carolina Herrera

Images via nymag.com.

[Two Tunes Tuesday: RIP summer.]

I'm always conflicted around this time of year as I mourn summer and eagerly anticipate fall. I hate trading in my jean cutoffs for pants, but I love transitioning from tank tops to scarves. As the DC area puts up one last warm hurrah before it gives way to crisp air and changing leaves, I'm making it last by keeping my summer tunes on repeat. Enjoy two of them with me!

You like?

[At the drive in.]

On Sunday, Chad and I took a day trip up to to Gettysburg, and then continued north that night to catch the last summer showing of a small town drive in. I never grew up around a drive in -- I only ever went once every summer on my family's annual Cape Cod vacation -- so the evening definitely brought out the kid in me. As you might be able to tell from the watery car windows (or my awful, frizzy hair), it was raining POURING during the movie, which made it a little hard to see or hear the movie (not to mention drive home - we contemplated staying in a hotel because it was so dangerous out!). I loved this drive in, because they've really tried to keep it as authentically 50's as possible (and I would know, because I've seen Grease), even down to the pre-movie concessions commercials.

Now that I've checked off the drive in from my summer to do list, bring on the fall!

[Dancing fingers, models, and decades.]

One of these videos will make your day. I've had them all on repeat this week.







Favorite? Mine's a tie between Chanel and East London...but there is something so comforting about the combination of models, white girl dance moves, Lanvin, and Pitbull, so it's hard to say...

Happy Friday!

[On cooking and chili. *and a blog makeover!*]

Since we knew we were going to be cooped up all weekend braving Irene, I wanted to make something that could last us a few days. I've never touched a crockpot, and I didn't grow up eating crockpot food, but Chad owns one that has literally never been used so I thought we'd try it out this weekend. I've always kind of had a bias against crockpot cooking...I guess I sort of think it's a little lazy and low, kind of along the lines of casseroles (blech)...but it produced a delicious main dish for us, so maybe I'll try to incorporate it into my tiny {but growing!} cooking repertoire.

I know these posts are kind of goofy, lame, boring, whatever...I obviously don't know what I'm doing, so when I manage to turn something unedible into something delicious, my proud little self turns into braggy mcbraggerson, and I like to share my triumphs with pretty pictures. Whether this cooking kick I'm on extends into a hobby or maybe even an actual talent, or fizzles into something I do only when necessary to keep myself (and significant others) alive, I'm really enjoying my weekly learning process. Beyond the tangible benefits (and accompanying weight gain, gross), I'm learning how cooking can really enrich my life and my interactions with others. I'm sort of a hermit, so spending so much time in Chad's or my kitchen forces me to get out of my bubble and interact with all the people who seem to pass through our homes, including my roommates with whom I spend, like, zero time. It's also provided opportunities for Chad and I to serve others in new ways, like this past weekend. My boss was struck by a car last week as he crossed the street and is now at home recovering for the foreseeable future, unable to move without intense pain and effort. My huge batch of chili was may more than Chad and I needed for the weekend, so we were able to take some over to my boss' house along with a pan of cornbread so that he could have some homemade comfort food during the weekend storm. I started cooking for a variety of reasons, and one of them was because I thought it would be kind of fun and nice to cook for Chad. It was recently pointed out to me that, though he appreciates the things I do (or attempt to do) for him, they aren't really that selfless, because in my mind we've kind of morphed into a unit. So I'm glad for the opportunity that cooking is affording me to reach out to individuals beyond my immediate sphere, and I hope that I can continue to help others when these occasions present themselves.

And, um...the end.

**Unrelated...I changed up the look of the blog, and my eyes are killing me from all the HTML tweaking I did for hours yesterday. What do you think?**