Blossoms in Bloom

The cherry blossoms are here!  This morning, I was driving to work, and through the misty sunrise, I spotted a blast of color off to my left in a park adjacent to our building.  It couldn’t be!  Not already!  I nearly slammed on my breaks and gave myself whiplash, but indeed, the blossoms have  begun to bloom! 

Anyone that knows me knows that I love the cherry blossoms.  I love them so much I even have them tattooed on my foot.

The DC area is the closest thing I have to “home,” so that tattoo represents my connection to the area as well as the beauty of the blossom.

I was talking to my friend yesterday about how much I love this time of year because it reminds me of how precious life is.  The blossoms are delicate flowers that only bloom once a year and only for a trememendously short period of time.  They burst onto the scene and just as quickly, they die, not to come back for another 365 days.  It just makes me appreciate the little things in life that are so pretty, even if only temporaraily.

Cherry Blossoms in my parents front yard.

The peak bloom is supposed to occur between March 30th and April 3rd, so Chris and I are planning on going downtown on the weekend of the 3rd to check them out.   We didn’t go last year, but we did drive by after a Nats game, and there were masses of people everywhere.  Maybe I can convince him to go early in the morning to avoid the crowds so that we can appreciate the prettiness without being shoved around with thousands of other tourists.

Spring has sprung.  Happy.

Newsflash!

I have the most entertaining pen pal ever.

Fun With Paper

I’ve been on a mission to find fun and unique stationary and postcards, and I’m happy to say that I hit the jackpot!  I found this awesome set of 100 postcards by designer Alan Fletcher that I am a little too excited about.  I got them in the mail today and I opened the box, found that they were housed in their own little wooden case, and proceeded to go through all 100 cards.  Some are colorful and fun, some are whimsical, some are thought provoking, and some are just pretty.  I love some of them so much that I’m keeping them for myself.

I love how something so simple just made my day.  It made me more excited to hand write more letters to my family in Afghanistan, and of course to my best pen pal, Niki.  Who knows, maybe I’ll even send you one!  It’s things like this that make snail mail SO fun.  It’s communication AND, it’s art.

Independence, Love & Tapas

I know July 4th is supposed to be spent with large groups of people, bbqing and  watching fireworks, but I spent my weekend as low key as possible.  I slept in, caught up on my laundry, ran some errands, got rid of the last of the cold I’ve had for two weeks, and even watched a movie.  It was enjoyable to the max.

I stumbled upon the movie “Love and Other Disasters” while doing laundry on Saturday, and considering the state of my current love life, I found it appropriate to watch.  Haha.  Brittany Murphy stars in the offbeat romantic comedy that has twists and turns when you least expect it.  It held my interest, made me laugh, and really offered a “not so fairytale” perspective.  It was different.  It was happy.  It was realistic.  It was good.

Tomorrow begins my first full week of work, and I’m looking forward to it.  The Director of my office has been out on vacation since I started working, and she won’t return until next Monday, so I have another full week to acclimate myself to the office before she gets back.  It’s all still exciting and overwhelming, but it’s still excellent at the same time.

I’ve gotten into a routine on the bus and metro, which mostly includes listening to my ipod and steering clear of smelly people.  My playlist for the metro is already getting old though, so I’m open to suggestions of some songs I can add to to keep me entertained while commuting.

I anticipate a pretty busy week at work, and I have a dinner date on Wednesday evening, so that’s something to look forward to.  One of the perks of working in the heart of the city is that I’m just a few blocks from one of my favorite restaurants, Jaleo!  If you like tapas, you must go.  I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but it’s worth the trip for just the bacon wrapped dates!  Yum and yummy.

Cheers!

New Cosmetic Obsession

Cover Girl’s “Lash Blast!”  Love it.