little taste of the good life*

A few things:

1. Um, that was quick?

2. New girl is 23. 23!!! I feel old.

3. I guess VS model is his type

4. A coors light? Really?

Ugh. You see more photos here if you want to just torture yourself a little this afternoon.

There is a bar walking distance from our apartment that Jamie & I go to often. It’s just the local townie bar, but it has surprisingly great food & a patio & whenever it’s nice out its fun to walk there for dinner & drinks. So yesterday we did just that.

By the way, I loved tumblr yesterday. It was like a full day of reading the Post Secret blog. I loved everyone’s confessions & found it all so interesting & refreshing & admirable. I didn’t want to write all my deep dark secrets out here on the interwebs, because there are too many people I know in real life that read this blog that it would hurt. But I wanted to.

I have been a loyal follower of Taza’s blog for years now. I look at her blog every day & think about how much I want my life to be like hers. Her perfect relationship. Her beautiful baby girl. Her adorable bulldog. Her perfect outfits & hair & makeup every single day. I know everything can’t be perfect all the time, & I am sure she has her days & her own issues that she doesn’t show on her blog either. But it is so easy to look at someone elses seemingly perfect life, & constantly think about yourself & how you don’t measure up to them constantly.

I will say, I am definitely guilty at times of sugar coating & painting a pretty picture on my blog. The title of my blog itself is The Good Life. I guess it is just because those are all things I do want to remember & share, all the happy times & fun things that do go on. 

For example, I could leave this post at just that: Jamie & I walked to our local bar after work for dinner and drinks & had a great time. But before that? We were arguing & I was in my bathroom crying & I had a meltdown about how much I hate our gym, & how uncomfortable I feel there. I took all my frustration out on Jamie & let myself get so worked up & angry for no real reason. I put us both in a bad mood & funk & almost ruined the evening. I can be really moody & difficult & stubborn. I’m sure I am not always easy to deal with.

But, you know, that’s life. You dry your tears, you drink wine instead & never go to sleep angry. And that is pretty much all I have figured out for certain at this point in my life.

I don’t know how or when it happened, but I am such a Belieber.

This song. It’s just so good. This kid has some talent, goddammit!

And…I am not at the beach today, why?

Tried to convince Jamie we should play hooky today.

Clearly, it didn’t work as I am sitting in my cold dungeon office, hating life.

Why is it that the short weeks always seem the longest?

So, the other day I made this “Perfect Iced Coffee” recipe that was floating around Tumblr. And per usual, its a total game changer.

Now, I did make SUCH a mess in this process. Coffee grounds everywhere, it dripped all over my entire body & kitchen in the transporting process, & I got like 19 pieces of kitchen utensils dirty…but it was worth it.

I now have this beauty in my fridge. A monster vat of iced coffee.

So all I have to do in the mornings now, is pour it over ice in my trusty dollar store tumbler. (Hey-o!)

Add my milk & sugar and hit the road!

Yum!

It’s amazing because the ice does not melt, since the coffee is already so cold. Not to mention the time & money it saves me in the morning stopping at Starbucks.

Also, that big glass drink dispenser was the same one I used for my Memorial Day BBQ. It is reallllllly not easy to clean, so it’s possible there are still remnants of vodka in there.

Maybe that’s why this coffee seems extra delish?

[PS. Don’t mind my messy fridge. I feel like I wasn’t prepared to be on an episode of MTV Cribs or something, showing you pictures of whats inside.]

The New York Post says Mary-Kate Olsen, 25, has fallen for Olivier Sarkozy, the 42-year-old half-brother of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and head of the powerful, multi-billion-dollar private equity firm the Carlyle Group.

The mini-mogul, who has been flying solo since splitting from so-called “bad-boy artist” Nate Lowman in 2010, has reportedly been seeing Sarkozy for about a month, and they made the scene in the Hamptons over Memorial Day weekend.

According to the paper, MK and the investment banker are “head over heels.”

42?! Jeeeeeeeez.

Have you guys seen this proposal video? My mom texted me to watch it after seeing it on The Today Show this morning.

On Wednesday,  Isaac Lamb,  a Portland actor, proposed to his girlfriend, Amy Frankel.  But he didn’t just ask her. He put her in the open back of a Honda CRV and gave her some headphones. She thought she was going to hear a song.

I’m not crying at my work desk right now, you are.

I have been house sitting for my parents while they are away all week. A house to myself with a big backyard, pool & BBQ? Clearly they had to have known I was going to throw a party.

So, just like high school style, with my parents away, Jamie & I rounded up 20-some people for a Memorial Day Party.

Though, I must admit, parties are a lot more work now then they used to be. I spent all of Saturday driving around to different grocery stores, party stores, the liquor store…Just preparing for the party was exhausting. And Monday was spent recuperating from the party and cleaning up everything, everywhere. Gah.

But it was worth it, we had a blast.

I was a little too drunk busy to take pictures all day, (hate when I do that) so I am semi-scared for them to start surfacing on the dreaded Facebook. I did manage to take some pictures of my finished mason jars and pink lemonade cocktail that was a big hit. (Vodka + beer in the same drink is a bad, bad idea.)

Oh, and I was really excited that my iPhone case matched my bathing suit, even though Jamie kept telling me it was totally lame.

Preparations for my pool party tomorrow. Mason Jars with festive ribbon and a drink dispenser were at the top of my priorities. Tumblr has taught me everything I’ll ever need to know.

I have been trying over the past few years to be a little more…domestic in the kitchen. I want to be a good cook & be able come to up with fun home cooked meals & be able to whip up any snack with ingredients in my ever stocked pantry. (Ha, yea right.) I have come a long way, but definitely have a ways to go.

But, if there is one thing I am very confident in, it’s my guacamole. I take my guacamole very seriously. It is an art.

I know everyone makes it differently & prefers it differently. I have perfected a recipe that Jamie & I can literally not get enough of. It’s actually somewhat sickening how much guac we can consume in one sitting.

I dice up red onion, sweet onion, jalapenos, tomatoes, squeeze in a lime & sprinkle with salt & red pepper flakes & voila!

[I know Lulu prefers to use garlic & cilantro in hers. We talk about guacamole daily. How I feel about spicy she feels about garlicky. You can see her take on it here.]

Last night I made a massive amount of it. Jamie was really cute & picked up Coronas & limes & we caught up on Modern Family episodes & stuffed ourselves silly.

Pretty sure if I were stranded on a desert island, I would want it to look exactly like that picture. Me, J, guac & Coronas. We would be set.

My Thursday night consisted of playing around with pillow arrangements & drinking Corona Lights in my pajamas. I suppose this is what it’s like being a grownup.

Old bedding (top photos) vs. New bedding (bottom photos)

I hated that blue flowery bedding for a year & a half. It was time.

Not sure how I feel about this new one yet. It’s OK. If only we could paint the walls in our apartment…

Somewhere I’d rather be right now.

Napa Valley. Sitting outside at our 5th amazing wine tasting of the day.

I think it’s about that time to start planning a second trip back to my favorite place on earth.

[Photo from November, 2010.]

Lily Bollinger

(Source: themostsophisticatedwoman)

These are the daily Gmails I send to Jamie.

I figure if I send him at least 10 emails per day of cute bulldog puppies he will eventually take the hint. Right?

I don’t think these should have made me laugh as hard as they did.

(Source: letstakethistothefloor, via hurricane-emily)