Saltimbanco!

If you're into fairytales and love using your imagination, I highly recommend Saltimbanco, the new Cirque du Soleil show. It's playing now in Fort Lauderdale and S, Rs best friend, offered us free tickets in her company's box seats. It was fascinating, and it was the first Cirque show I'd been to that I laughed out loud throughout the entire performance.
p.s. I have no idea what he is looking at. :)

Life Changes

Saturday I spent the afternoon having lunch with some of the girls I used to manage at a previous job, and it was lovely. Little Gia came with her mommy Leah, and it just made my day. It's funny to see how people change, and how some simply don't (ahem, Nicolet). It was great to see the ladies. My favorite part of lunch was afterwards when we walked over to Kilwin's Chocolates for dessert! YUM.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! (or, err, mediocre painting!)

I know you've all been waiting and waiting for this...so the winner of the favorite things contest is, Holly J! Congratulations Holly, I just loved your list - and even better, you were the first to respond to the contest. Holly, call or email me so we can brainstorm for the mediocre painting. To everyone else, don't worry, you'll have your chance to get a mediocre painting of mine. If your pregnant or with child, I'm probably painting you something right now!

And here is Holly's cute list for your reading pleasure...

• Tailgating at/going to summertime concerts
• Tailgating at football games
• Watching Dukes of Hazzard re-runs(yes, i'm serious)
• Listening to "totally awesome" bad 80's music
• Sitting in my back yard sunning myself with the radio on while drinking beer :-)
• Looking at pictures from “back in the day”
• Sleeping in/being cozy in bed and not having to get up

LOVE

Nichole

Getting to know you....

You may not know this about me...but I used to have a nose piercing. Do you like it?

This was taken at a Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert, they are one of my all-time, if not absolute favorite bands. I'm going to guess this was 2007. Boyfriend and I went to a lot of concerts that year, including one in Toronto, Canada called Virgin Fest - I know what you're thinking, but it was named after the record company, and it was the most bad ass concert I've ever been to. So many of our favorite bands were there, to name a few...The Artic Monkeys, Metric, Tokyo Police Club, Bjork, The Killers, M.I.A., and even a surprise oldie but goodie, Smashing Pumpkins was there. I think you would have loved it as much as I did. And if you haven't yet been to Toronto, I highly recommend it.

We traveled a lot that year. It was insane, but I will never, ever forget 2007. I can honestly say it was one of the best years ever.

Turn Around

Every now and then I get a little bit crazy and I feel like changing something.

So today I'm thinking about cutting my hair - anyone have any great cuts they want to share? I want it to have some length, but I'm sick of always wearing it up all the time...so that leaves me to either medium or short...and I'm thinking short. Send me your ideas, I'm desperate! The funkier, the better!

Friends in Many Places

Tuesday we saw friends, they just returned from Seattle and had a lot to tell us about their trip. It also helped with the preparation of our next trip together...some of our friends went with them, and so they quickly learned who is easy to travel with and who isn't. We spent a lot of the night getting excited about our travels. It's only a few months away now:)

Rain

Monday we woke up late...I've been having a hard time adjusting to the time change. Maybe it's my age...ha. We had plans to head to the beach but the weather has been non-stop rain for the past two weeks. It reminds me of June 2004, which led to an awful hurricane season...and lots of awesome hurricane parties :)

Everybody's working for the weekend

L,R &I hung out all day Saturday and Sunday. We painted, we shopped and we drank wine. At one point we unfortunately found a delicious cupcake store that just opened up in the mall. Yum.

Memory lapse

I forgot to tell you about the fabulous wineries we visited while on our trip to San Francisco. This one in particular was my favorite. It was called Viansa, and it was a vineyard modeled after a Tuscan village. The views from every spot on the property are absolutely breathtaking...and the wine was equally fantastic.

The other wineries were interesting, some very popular and famous (Chandon) and others, very small and private, with amazing Chardonnay (Larson Family Winery).

But the one thing I completely forgot to share with you which is one of my absolute favorite things (winner will be posted Friday!) about San Francisco can be seen and (especially) heard, in this video...

LOVE
Nichole

A week in San Francisco

Saturday the 16th through Friday the 22nd, I was in San Francisco for the Annual Psychiatric Association's Conference.


Nearly every morning, started with a jog or walk up the hills and through the city.

And although the day was filled with hard work at the conference...

We walked all over the city after work.


We were able to explore awesome places like the Farmer's Market...


We had great meals at funky restaurants.

We rode the cable cars.

We watched the seals at Fisherman's Wharf.

And we enjoyed a glass of wine or two.

Cheers!

Let's play a game

We all know I post my blog updates the next day, or sometimes a few days later if I'm traveling...well, today is actually Friday and I would like to have some fun because of it. I'll be working in San Fran tomorrow through next Friday, and will do my best to update while I'm out of town. Until then, I'd like to play a game with you.

It's called the Scribble Project and I found it here after reading about it on one of my favorite blogs.

Click on the below picture, download it, print it out, and Scribble away!

I was planning on doing one with Boyfriend last night, but we decided to drink Chianti instead.

<3

N

Old Photographs

Another one of my favorite things: old photos. This is me, my brother, and my sister in 1986. I love our expressions, it says so much about our personalities.

Me - uncertain and curious, I will mimic my sister's pose because she is the oldest and she knows best.

Josh - A joyous free spirit, will climb to the top with a smile on his face and his legs spread wide. ha ha!

Tash - intelligent and cautious, gritting her teeth with boredom...pleeeaaase take this picture already. ;)

<3

Nichole

Blondie

This Tuesday we went to Boyfriend's mom's house and I highlighted her best friend J's hair. She is a tough cookie to please, but somehow I managed to put the blonde in all the right places. Even though I dropped out of beauty school (go ahead, sing it...) people somehow still trust me to renovate, update, modify, and experiment with their hair.

FYgnI: If I hadn't been traveling so much for my job at the time, I would have had the time to fit in the hours at that "Beauty Academy", however; I probably wouldn't be where I am today, which means I never would have started this in the first place.

Yippee for beauty school drop outs!

Yoga is my Therapy

Thank GOD for Michelle at LAF's Monday night yoga class. She actually makes me look forward to Mondays, regardless of what I've said before.

So I'm still getting a sporadic list or two, some long, some short, some with details, some with simple things like "beer" on them. I'll go ahead and let the "contest" run it's course through next Sunday 5/24, when I return from San Francisco, I'll post the winner the first week in June.

Momma

This one goes out to my momma. My mom rules. She's my best friend, my therapist, my rock, my drinking buddy, my mentor, and everything else I've ever needed in my life. Mom, I love you. Thank you for taking a chance with us.

Relax the back

Friday night we all surprisingly didn't drink, and oh what fun we had people watching since we were all so aware of our surroundings. I really enjoyed the night, and the concert, and especially watching the guy that was apparently having a bad acid trip walk in circles.

We were all wondering what our friend's first anniversary was like...apparently it went REALLY well. Awesome.

Saturday we just hung around the house, did some laundry, watched some movies, had a nice relaxing day.

Sushi with friends

Friday was another lunch date with my good friends D&M. I've known them now for a couple of years, and met them when I was an HR Manager at a Finance Company that surely should have been a victim of someone going postal by now. I've never been blackmailed in a job before this gig, and I promise you, I will never be in another situation like that again. Poor D still works at the trecherous place; luckily, M got out a few months ago. I'm pretty sure there will be less freaks at the NINja concert tonight than there are contained in the walls of the Executive offices at that firm.

p.s. Trent Rezner put on a boring show for the last one played and thank GOD for Dave Navarro on the guitar for Jane's Addiction - otherwise, all I would remember from the show is Perry Farrell humping his sound system and falling down TWICE.

These are a few of my favorite things (+ Contest)

I love the song, "These are a few of my favorite things" and the joy that each of Julie Andrew's 'favorite things' bring to my heart. When I think of brown paper packages, tied up with strings...it just makes me happy.
Thursday I had lunch with one of my favorite people, L, and her beautiful baby G. She worked with me at a previous company and was one of my best team members. She is growing up so fast - with a marriage and a baby now! One of my favorite things to do is to see my favorite people have such wonderful successes in their lives.

These are a few (more) of my favorite things...what are yours? (email them to me or respond in the comments, I'm going to post my favorite, 'favorite things' list and send one of my mediocre paintings to the winner just because I'm sweet like that.)

1. Beach days with Boyfriend

2. Sun showers

3. Theme Parties with my family

4. Thank You cards in the mail

5. Talking on the phone with my nieces

6. Traveling with my adopted family

Don't forget to (CLICK:send me) your list of Favorite Things!

p.s. My inspiration came from sweet, sweet Naomi and her adorable life.

Balcony Lights

I was literally fighting back yawns all day and then went home to an incredible burst of energy and the need to decorate. I strung some pretty lights along my balcony, added a bistro table to the patio, and put a rug down under the dining room table. It feels cozy and soft and organic, just the way I imagined it would be. Sweet.
p.s. love you Boyfriend, miss you, come home already.

Cinco de Club-O

So this Cinco de Mayo, our favorite Mexican restaurant was transformed into an all-ages-admitted club. While usually it's full of a festive college age + crowd, Baja Cafe seriously misrepresented this year. It could only be compared to a bad wedding full of all ages accompanied by the expected Electric Slide and the newest version of the exact same dance, the Cupid Shuffle.
Three things that made me feel old this holiday:
1. The Fashion: What the hell is up with the skintight shortest skirt you can fit your (potentially fat) ass into + Grecian sandals look? There is no way I would ever have sported that combo when I was 21-27. Now, throw some heels on that bitch and we’ve got ourselves a straight up hooker, and an outfit I may or may not have worn in 2001, 2, 3, or 4.
2. Tequila: Since when is it delicious to sip on a cup full of pure tequila and ice? Sorry bartender, but last time I checked, margaritas had sour mix and sometimes Cointreau or other fancy liquors in them. I am not 17 anymore; and my overall goal isn’t to get shit-faced off of Everclear and Kool-Aid that’s been mixed inside of a 5 gallon bucket and hauled to the middle of the woods where all my other 17-20 year old friends are that aren’t supposed to be drinking. I’m allowed to drink, and I like my beverages palatable.
3. Cab: I’ve no longer resorted to semi-sober driving. I will get a cab every time I plan to drink, and I won’t be disappointed when I’m riding in the same cab home a couple of hours later. Not even when I am as sober as Lindsay Lohan was for those historic twenty minutes in 2006.

Tribute to Mom's Husband

I would like to refer to my last Monday post, Mondays are inclined to suck. Just about the only thing that can make a Monday worse than it is already set out to be, is a funeral. On Monday, Brother and I went to visit our biological Mother, and support her through the services being held for (her late husband). Being a veteran, his funeral was fancy and professional with rifles, flags, and adorable little old men in military uniforms and white gloves. While of course it was a gloomy setting, he had suffered from cancer for the past 12 years, and it was the first funeral I had been to where I actually felt a sense of relief for the deceased...knowing he must feel so much better now. He was a columnist for the South Florida Sun Sentinel for over 20 years, he was a talented writer and had a knack for collecting old cars. He will be missed by all that knew him.

Decoy Fertilization

Sunday I drove up to Orlando, and picked up my brother from the airport. We spent the night with our cousin's house. They recently announced their pregnancy to the family, and we all couldn't be happier for them. And luckily for brother and I, that takes us off the hook for at least another few years. Thanks Cousins and the Zygote!

Nowhere Close to Retirement

Saturday we spent the day at the beach, cooking on the grill, and celebrating a friend's birthday. He's a young 28 this year, which seems like a lifetime ago to me. Given the fact that 30 is a mere 7 months away now, I've recently started thinking about several important factors in my life. I added another 10% to my 401K, started thinking twice about those shoe purchases (just walk away, if you want it that bad, you will be back...), and planning alternate ways to make extra income.
If all goes well, I should be able to retire by my 89th birthday.

The nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away...

Friday I flew all day long from Midland, to Houston, back to Florida. This picture is from Saturday, and that's my nephew, Levi.