chit chat//hannah georgas

last night jess and I headed to Lincoln Hall to check out kathleen edwards [apparently along with the rest of chicago]

I cannot say enough lovely things about kathleen edwards. she was funny, bawdy, engaging, a great storyteller and above all else-an excellent musician. I actually didn’t realize I had heard several of her songs before last night.

the same cannot be said for hannah georgas. I had zero idea who she was but the moment she started singing I was sold. she has a very quiet energy about her until she starts signing at which point she sounds a lot like feist. and I mean that as a compliment.

also, it was really unusual but very neat to see her perform as the backup singer for kathleen edwards. georgas was brought front and center to perform a big star cover during the encore which was so great, it made me wish they performed a few more songs together. their voices are so different but they worked together really well. plus, they all looked like they were having so much fun.

she recorded an album this fall and I cannot wait until it is released because I am unable to find my favorite songs from last night. the anticipation is killing me!

smile friday: this little lady finally bought her ticket to come to chicago which means I can finally allow myself to get excited edition aka I have been having an amazing day so I am rocking a huge grin on my face edition

things making me smile this week:

• planning all of the things I am going to do when Brooke gets here
• my mother referring to Brooke as my soulmate on the phone when talking to my father
• my birthday trip finally coming together. my mother gave me a list of 5 trips to rank and of course one of my father’s top choices was my second to last choice! i’ll get into the details later, but right now I am too nervous to jinx everything. let me just say, I am jumping out of my seat with happiness at even the idea of the trip we picked. as per the happiness project, I know we tend to glean the most happiness from the excitement prior to a trip, so I am trying to savor every one of these moments. but let’s be honest, I’ll be pretty darn happy during the trip too-whatever that trip may be. please be my first choice! 
• working out a lot. I never want to work out but I always feel so much happier afterwards. now lets see if I can stick to it this weekend too!
• an amazing concert & hanging out with jess. hanging out with her is effortless, we always manage to have fun no matter what we do [she was even a good sport about me dragging her to yoga!] which is the way friendships should be. it’s kinda funny to think I am friends with someone I met through tumblr but that’s why I love it here. 
• taking time for myself. after my horrible date on monday I officially decided to take a break from dating. it has left me with a lot of free time to read, work out and just be. I should probably use this time to be more social with my friends but for the moment, I am enjoying taking time to myself. and hey, I actually remembered I like spending time by myself. what a wonderful thing.
• tracy. I was so nervous that after my brother broke up with her we wouldn’t be friends/see each other but it has been like nothing has changed which is so relieving. she is without a doubt one of my closest friends in Chicago and as I have gotten older I have realized how precious good friends are. and she is certainly a good friend worth holding on to.
• showing self control. after wondering if this was a trait I even possessed I actually really surprised myself with this one. it’s interesting and important to challenge yourself and it’s nice to actually be able to rise up and meet those challenges.  

giving back

the other day I was driving to work and couldn’t be bothered to fish my cell phone out of the bottom of my bag so I could listen to my music. it ended up being rather serendipitous because the radio station had on a guy who made a new year’s resolution to perform one good deed every single day of the year.

he has a newborn daughter and he apparently was inspired to tackle this project to set a good example for her when she grows up. all together now, awwww.

I was seriously inspired by his project and some of the ideas he had already come up with [handing out blankets to homeless people, coffee to city workers standing outside directing traffic in the cold, giving out free hugs, writing letters to soliders, donating bone marrow]. so often listening to the news is so unbelievably depressing but this story warmed my heart.   

one of my new year’s resolutions was to volunteer and although I had taken some intial steps, the story kicked my butt into gear. I finally submitted my application to the tutoring program I was interested in [I have my orientation in two weeks!] and signed up to serve food at a soup kitchen.

this morning someone at work was selling girl scout cookies and I bought boxes-but not for myself. I love girl scout cookies but since I am in hard core diet mode I don’t want any sort of temptation lurking in my pantry. instead I bought boxes to send to people in the military. it seemed like a simple way to make someone’s day better so, why not? if you have the opportunity, when you buy your box I encourage you to buy a box for someone else as well.  

if you want to contribute ideas, supplies or money to mr. do gooder garcia you can do so through his website 

happy friday!

"After your find out all the things that can go wrong, your life becomes less about living and more about waiting. For cancer. For dementia. Every look in a mirror, you scan for the red rash that means shingles. See also: Ringworm. See also: Scabies. See also: Lyme disease, meningitis, rheumatic fever, syphilis"

Choke, Chuck Palahniuk

apparently it is really easy to fit in exercise when you stop dating/being social

i bet this lasts a week

I think I pulled my calf muscle

this happened a few days ago in the bar method cardio class that nearly killed me and tracy. it still hurts. i am limping when I walk. i thought yoga would help and it did, temporarily at least, but now it still hurts.

i am supposed to go to another bar class today and decided to try and push through, taking it easy on my legs.

this might end up being really stupid.

oh hi everyone!

things have been really quiet over here since I am actually busy working [weird concept, I know]

also, I keep thinking it’s Friday & I feel funny. It’s probably because I took a pill with caffeine in it and I haven’t had any caffeine in a month but really, I am probably dying. It’s a weird day.

How are all of you? Anyone have any funny stories to share?

(via yanilavigne)

yayyyy!!!

my best friend in australia bought her plane ticket and will be here in 22 days. 3[ish] weeks from now we will finally be reunited after almost a year and a half of not seeing each other.

my other best friend also does not live in Chicago but it is much easier to stay in contact when you are not half a world away from each other. though, she is heading to australia pretty much right after Brooke gets here. dear australia, stop stealing my best friends. please and thank you.

after a few days of being nervous that she would bail [it is has happened before. numerous times!] and being bummed she is spending 6 days of her trip in Miami I am just a giant barrel of excitement right now.

I started to make a mental list of all the things I want to do with her and I am quickly realizing there is way too much I want to do and not enough time to do it all. Seriously, Chicago is an awesome city with too many amazing things going on everyday.

also, besides how excited I am for our reunion, I am also really excited for what she is bringing with her

vegemite-seriously, either the australian or american government steals it out of my care packages every single time brooke tries to send me a jar

kangaroo jerky!

tim tam-another friend from australia brought them when he visited and my family ate the entire box before I even got one cookie.

there are not enough exclaimation points in the whole universe right now to express how happy I am!!!!

working on finding my happy…

(Source: purplebuddhaproject, via imwaitingformyruca)

Books I have Read Recently:

Five Men Who Broke My Heart:

This book follows a married writer/teacher who decides to look back on her most significant relationships and catch up with each of her exes. I was extremely bothered by Shapiro’s marriage [the husband is selfish & absent] and assumed she would end up leaving her husband by the end. In fact, I hoped she would leave her husband for a specific ex. And not just because it would have made for a really interesting book [oh it would have been really juicy!] but because I think that they were meant to be. Sorry Shapiro’s husband!

The book was interesting in that sometimes we are so unable to step outside of our perspective/biases that we end up with a completely distorted view of how things actually are. The book was good but I really did not like Shapiro. She came off as neurotic, petty, immature, selfish crazy woman. Seriously, calm the eff down. Also, I would like to think I will have all my shit together by the time I am 40 but some of the books I have read recently have made me doubt that is true. I guess everything doesn’t just fall into place as you get older. Sad.

Jackie After Jack:

This is a sequel of sorts to Jack and Jackie which focuses on Jackie’s life after Jack’s assassination. It was interesting and filled with lots of tidbits and gossip which serves to paint a rather unflattering portrait of Jackie. Since Andersen has written extensively on the Kennedy clan I don’t doubt the validity of his claims, especially since the book was released years after Jackie died.

Although I liked Jackie, after reading this book I think she was sort of awful. She was a terrible wife to her second husband, cheap, a compulsive spender and had affairs with numerous married men including Bobby Kennedy. She was obviously a loving mother but that being said, she was absent, pushy and she contributed to Caroline developing an eating disorder [she herself suffered from anorexia & bulimia]. If you are even remotely interested in Jackie or the Kennedy family I would certainly recommend you read this. And even though it is rather long it is a really fast read.     

Living Oprah:

I remembered hearing an interview with Okrant so when I randomly happened upon this book I decided to check it. I figured it would be something in the vein of The Happiness Project which I really enjoyed. Well, this book is nothing like The Happiness Project. Okrant decides to spend an entire year doing everything Oprah tells her to do but the book doesn’t tend to get too in depth in what she dictates or their effect on the author. For example, she joins Oprah & the audience on their one month vegetarian cleanse but doesn’t get specific about how much weight she lost, if it was more expensive than her normal grocery bill, if her cholesterol improved, etc. Also, most of what Oprah dictates is shallow and stupid. Obviously, that does not apply to everything but certainly her telling people they need to see Australia, Sex & The City 2 and various other films star studded celebrities stop by to promote.

The most interesting parts of the book for me were when Okrant delved into critiquing the show, it’s message & Oprah herself. I completely agreed when Okrant argued Oprah is all about living your best life and maybe your best life shouldn’t include constant critiques of our bodies. This is something Oprah more than anyone should understand given the intense scrutiny on her weight fluctuations. I also thought it was fascinating when Okrant pointed out how hypocritical Oprah’s spiritual message is given the overall message of consumerism that floods the rest of her empire (buy this to make your life better! Buy this to find happiness!)

Something small that bugged me about Okrant was how she would complain about being broke but “needing” to run out and buy whatever book/movie ticket Oprah recommended. Since she was also ordered to be mindful of the environment and waste why couldn’t she just check these books out from her local library? Small problem to be sure, but it still bugged me.