My dream weekend

March 23, 2013April 11, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ Leave a comment

ten-broeck-by-messana-o-rorke Low bed envy: 11 home inspiration photos

seattle sunset Seattle dreaming: all the details on Seattle’s neighborhoods

Today my brain is all over the place, which makes it actually kinda the perfect weekend to have the boyfriend and two of my closest friends out of town.

This weekend I’ve got a date with myself. I’m going to hole up, read, think and journal. I keep coming back to a conversation I had last weekend about settling and wondering, am I settling at all? At work, relationships, life…sometimes it’s good to check-in for a little personal diagnostic and make sure everything’s “on track.” There’s so many things I want to do and places I want to see that I haven’t thought about in awhile. It’s time to bring those dreams up again and maybe even focus in on new ones.

Part of the reason I might be thinking about dreams and new experiences might be more than a little inspired by co-blogger Lydia’s fantastic European adventure. You might have noticed her absence this past week (I know I have!), but rest assured she’s having the time of her life, with the instagram feed to prove it.

Here’s to a productive, thoughtful weekend!

Finding…mindfulness.

March 19, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ 1 Comment

Sigh… Mondays.

See, I’m not usually one of those people who dread Mondays and complain about their jobs. But I’m not going to lie, I started this morning groaning out of bed and maybe getting just a little bit sassy at other drivers. But reality finally checked in, reminding me just how much I have to be thankful for. It’s easy to get bogged down in all the things that don’t go exactly the way I want them to, which in my case consists largely of having an uncomfortable, embarrassing and altogether exhausting allergic reaction going on the three month mark.

As an interviewee said on NPR this morning, and I paraphrase: It’s like when you’re driving. You don’t think much of the green lights because you just keep going. But those red lights make you stop, make you wait, can even make you late. People invariably end up saying, “Ahh I hit some red lights,” not “I hit some green lights.”

I know I need to spend more time meditating on my own green lights to get myself through the red ones. And I think practicing a little more mindfulness is just the thing to help me do that.

I’ve been reading a book called My Year With Eleanor, in which author Noelle Hancock writes, “Mindfulness is a technique where you concentrate on the present experience without judging or trying to control what is going on. To be fully aware….It helps you stay in the present, where fear does not exist.” One Apartment Therapy article calls mindfulness “an accepting and kind attitude toward yourself and your present moment experience…that will change your relationship to life.”

Here are some tips for practicing more mindfulness, which are all part of my plan this week to try staying gracefully in the present and practice more acceptance:

Change the day’s first words. Waking up and indulging groans and dread for the day sets my attitude, and therefore, perception for at least the next three hours. Complaining is a habit, and I’d like to train my brain to not jump straight into it every morning.

Put. the phone. down. How many times do I re-check email, refresh Facebook on my browser, scroll through Twitter, and when all that still fails to entertain, turn to other apps to see what latest GroupOns are featured and which new pug is on @PugsofInstagram, only to repeat the process? I waste so much time with absent-minded scrolling.

Be thankful for waiting. It’s so easy to fall into a pattern of going and then get frustrated when something jars me out of that by making me wait. Instead, this moment that I can’t force into productivity is a fantastic opportunity to breathe and think without feeling guilty.

Dedicate time to just sit. Not in front of the tv, with a book, food or even a cup of coffee. Just me, being still. A word of warning, when you try this one in bed, at night, with a relaxing cool eye mask on…this also turns into a fantastic way to accidentally fall asleep. As I learned from personal experience.

What helps you relax and think more on the positive side of things?

Free Food + A Passion For Purple

March 15, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ 1 Comment

lilac nail polish

This week my goals are to get back on track with my finances and fitness…purely coincidental these two fall at the same spot on the alphabet, too. Not only did I put myself on a strict budget (is it possible to have a social life on $30 of fun money a week?) and actually make it a couple flights up to my apartment’s gym (really, it’s so close, I have no excuse), but the universe also decided to send me a little note of encouragement the other day at work.

A co-worker turned around randomly and said, “I’m so excited about my free dinner tonight thanks to this Dallas women’s dinner club that’s also free to join.” Working in an all-female office, you’d swear heads have never looked up faster at the promise of free food. A free dinner club that gives women free dinner at participating Dallas restaurants three nights a week? Well, I checked out the Dame’s Dinner Club on Facebook and you could say it is fate that their cover photo is none other than our hero Audrey Hepburn. With a reservation, women eat free off a special menu at Sfuzzi’s Tuesday, The Standard Pour Wednesday and Villa-O Thursday. My only question is, who wants to go and how soon?

Completely unrelated but brightening my week more than it rationally should is some new nail polish and my growing obsession with lavender (like this lavender ice cream recipe from A Beautiful Mess!). Dallas has been bright and just the right amount of warm this week, and I’ve decided that the best way to celebrate spring is with all things light purple and lavender. A purchase of Sally Hansen’s Lacey Lilac nail polish and about an hour of nail-painting later (that right hand is just so hard…), my light but bright purple nails were ready to go. Am I the only one who feels like even the most mundane tasks are that much more fun when your nails look good doing them?

Buck up

March 12, 2013April 11, 2017 ~ Lydia ~ 2 Comments

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Well, I had a great relaxing weekend with a date on Friday, girls scary movie night on Saturday (that didn’t give me nightmares…high five to me!), dress shopping and bridesmaid dress ordering with my mom on Sunday and then topped it off with a great concert at a favorite venue of mine, the Granada, to see Aesop Rock on Sunday night. I also squeezed in some Berlin and Rome research on Saturday’s perfectly rainy afternoon. Great pre-Europe jam packed weekend!

Do you ever have those friends who complain all the time? And you want to be like “listen here, bro. Suck. It Up.” Well lately, that’s been me. I hear myself doing it too. “Aren’t you leaving for Europe soon?” “Yes! I’m so excited! Ugh but I have to [insert endless vacation to do list] and [insert complaint about how much everything is costing this Spring/Summer because of the many family events happening]” Frankly, I’m surprised I haven’t been slapped yet. Especially because those closest to me likely know that I secretly love to do lists and being slightly stressed (just call me a masochist). Although no one has give me a love face tap yet, I do have a few friends and a mother who simply laugh when I utter an ounce of complaining. As they should!!

Complaining is stealing from your own joy. Even worse, you’re stealing from those around you. If you’re having a great day and I come over and spill red wine all over it, your good mood is stained with my negativity. Who wants to be the friend that is the red stain on someone’s mood or day? Who would want to be friends with that friend?

So this week my goal is to quit complaining. These next few months are really exciting albeit expensive, and I would hate myself for not lavishing and soaking up the moment. Unfortunately I don’t have friends who will sitcom slap me, but I do have a yoga mat and have instructed friends to tell me to suck it up if I even have the tone of a whine. I want to stop myself from every even considering the Debbie Downer of these great life events and stay a Positive Patricia. She’s way more fun to hang out with.

By the way, one week from this moment I’ll be having dinner in Paris. Can you even believe that? I can’t!

D.C. life

March 12, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ 1 Comment

Newseum in DC - first amendment DC brunch - ardeo + bardeo newseum - good photography quote Newseum - Berlin Wall art Newseum freedom Going into my long weekend, I have to say I was a little skeptical about D.C. After living nearby in Virginia for several, albeit younger, years and a couple visits later, I still wasn’t sold on the magic of our capitol city. As far as U.S. cities go, New York, Seattle, Austin and Boston inspired an instant infatuation that has only grown stronger since my last visits. Los Angeles won me over with one of the best weeks of my life, and let’s face it, I’ve always been a self-proclaimed California girl at heart (with the birth certificate location to match, thank you very much)!

While I still don’t feel like I really “know” D.C. after this weekend’s trip, I can now say that I do see why people like it and have deemed it worth further exploration. Despite the too close for comfort winter storm warning, my trip enjoyed fantastically sunny weather with just the right amount of morning chill. On top of the weather, I also had some pretty good food, including a completely perfect brunch at Ardeo + Bardeo (great food, menu, atmosphere, service all with bottomless mimosas at decent prices) and a special night thanks to my cousin at Matchbox. Seeing his culinary success firsthand and hearing our waiter tell me, “We always take care of family,” filled me with Italian pride. And as this is probably the strongest familial, food-related pride there is, that’s really saying something.

Now it’s back to real life, and I’m taking this as the perfect opportunity to get back on track with a lot of real life things.

Between the traveling, health costs and a growing combination of laziness/never enough time, my budget has really gone out the window this year. I literally cannot afford to keep carrying on this way, so I’ll be taking stock this week, re-prioritizing expenditures and brainstorming some hopefully cheaper ways to continue exploring Dallas.

I’m forcing myself to write this next one as I’m really not feeling the motivation, but I know I’ll thank myself later…It’s er…well, time to start working out again. There, I said it, and if I’m being honest, I’m even feel a little relieved. I will be adding a couple yoga classes to my week, at least one (although I could probably stand more) runs, and looking for ways to be more active in general. Have you been seeing all the buzz lately about how bad sitting all day is for us? I’m feeling a little more motivated already…

Wanderlust 2013: Berlin

March 8, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Lydia ~ Leave a comment

Traveling with friends is always a little hairy. First off, you’re together constantly which can get old in and of itself. Second, you likely will have different ideas as to what you’ll do on your trip. For my Europe trip (now referred to as Wonderlust 2013), I did some planning and research on Berlin last night. Berlin is so rich in history so the major tourist attractions are memorials and museums. I’m not a big history buff. I have an appreciation for history, but it doesn’t exactly get me giddy. So when listing out possible activities, I didn’t list too many of the history heavy spots that populated the pages of my tour guide. What I do find fascinating, however, is how the wars and history affected the landscape of the city. Streets and squares were demolished during the war and the falling of the Berlin Wall and are still working to get back to their original glory. East and West Berlin have switched personalities completely. It just reminds you that all this extreme violence wasn’t too long ago.

Here’s the thing though. What if someone I am traveling with is a die hard history nerd and wants to see every museum with a gun or flag in it? Instead of a constant struggle throughout the trip that could end with me going crazy in a museum, a friend feeling they wasted their trip or someone’s feelings getting hurt, I think it’s important to establish these kinds of things before we even step on a plane. That way, we can establish expectations now and even plan on splitting up if need be. So I’ve sent all my research to my two travel buddies to get their feedback and to start that conversation of “what do you want to get out of this trip?” Granted, it’s a tricky question. But I think everyone should stick up for what they really want to see (a life of regrets is no fun) but also be flexible. You also shouldn’t ruin the trip by having a bad attitude because you didn’t get to see the one statute you came to see. Instead, be up front about what you want to tour that way you can establish early that you might take a solo mission to accomplish your trip goals.

And then sometimes, you’ll see a photo from Tuula Vintage on Instagram in Prague and message your friend and say “OH MY GOD I HAVE TO SEE THIS BRIDGE OR I’LL DIE” in the overly dramatic way that only she can understand, and then she, in her cool Spain, best friend kind of way, will say “Babes, our hostel is on the bridge. You’re welcome.” Can’t wait to see my best friend in just a short few weeks!

Nuggets of news

March 6, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Lydia ~ 1 Comment

First off, I’d like to start with two very exciting nuggets of news. First is, Sarah’s Birthday was yesterday! Sarah, myself, and a dozen of Sarah’s friends headed to Company Cafe. A favorite of ours here at Finding Tiffanys. It provides so many healthy options and is heavy on the vegan, vegetarian and gluten free dishes. It’s a win, win, win and win. Do we even need to add that it’s delicious and obviously adorable? Sarah will also be jetting off to DC tomorrow. I am insanely jealous. Naturally. Let’s hope she brings back some amazing photos! (hint hint.. nudge nudge)

The other piece of news was also in celebration of Sarah’s big day – as a birthday surprise I purchased FindingTiffanys.com! Although a mutually beneficial gift, we are both super excited about it. We’re pretty sure the blog looks so much better without .wordpress in the URL…irrational? Who cares. So excited!!

A few goals for me this week.

Explore new music. I used to consider myself quite the music afficinado. I was on the concert series committee in college that brought some great bands to our campus and was strongly leaning towards a career working for a record label. And yet, somewhere along the road between my computer crashing and losing my iTunes library and moving to Arizona where there was no time for finding new music, my thirst to explore went away. But now I’m parched. I’m hungry to start exploring again and diving into new bands, unexplored genres and going out of my comfort zone. Lucky for me, there are a ton of amazing festivals coming this summer and I’ve literally been going through the lineup and listening to bands on Spotify. Need to start somewhere, right? Plus, I have friends who are experts at finding new music at a level I’ll never compare to and I have no problems mooching off their ideas for a little while. For now, here are a couple tunes I’m obsessing over.

Don’t stress out. The next two weeks are pretty jam packed. I have a ton on my to do list, a ton to do at work and a ton of social activities I’d rather not skimp out on. Not to mention, my room is a mess. Which makes everything seem so much more stressful, don’t you think?

Make a plan to plan. Is this getting redundant yet? I need to plan my Europe trip..

Caffeine.. don’t drink it? It’s no secret that I am a coffee addict. I have no qualms about this either. I love my coffee black and it loves me back. But for whatever reason, I haven’t needed it all week. I had a green tea this morning, and two sips of a coffee yesterday. And yet, I am full of energy? Decaf is starting to sound like a reasonable thing now…death before decaf no more I suppose. Who am I? Yikes.

Have an amazing week!

Soundtrack to spring

March 5, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ Leave a comment

crate & barrel spring playlist 2 I’m not going to lie…today I was feeling less than inspired. After work, I found myself in that uncomfortable restlessness in between simultaneously feeling like taking a nap and working out (which meant I was probably leaning more towards taking a nap).

Despite myself, I found myself calling Lydia for a walk along along the Katy Trail, followed by guacamole and an early birthday margarita at Katy Trail Ice House. On beautiful 75 degree days like this and some endorphins later, I have to admit that I kinda see what all the fuss is about Dallas. Seeing my city from along the Katy Trail is a unique vantage point that really made me appreciate Dallas. I love that I can walk two miles on tree-lined paths over busy streets and highways, then sit under the stars and lights surrounded by other people and their pets, just having a great time with good friends, food and drinks.

The warmer weather is getting me excited to spend as much time outdoors as possible, so it’s extremely fortunate I happened across these spring-y playlists by Crate & Barrel today. So far, they’re just the right mix of new yet nostalgic, light and optimistic – and oh yeah, did I mention free?

Download the playlists…then tell me you’re not just a little more inspired, too.

Silence

March 4, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Lydia ~ Leave a comment

Well, all, I am so proud of myself *pats self on back*. These last two days I came home from work, took care of my dog, went to yoga, and returned straight back to my room to research the heck out of Europe. I’ve provided myself with the most fantastic outline for my two and half days in Paris. Having a general idea is my favorite way to travel. It allows a little freedom and plenty of opportunities to get lost taking it all in and yet ensures I won’t miss out on anything. Ya’ll. I’m so pumped.

Day 1 consists of a few record stores and the Eiffel Tower area. Day 2 is the Marias Neighborhood and the historic walk consisting of Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter and Sainte-Chapelle. Day 3 is the Montmartre area and the Champs-elysees area. Forgive me for any misspellings or miscapitalizations. I gave it a go and Paris will surely be a success!

This weekend a friend and I took a trip to a lake house at Possum Kingdom Lake with another couple. When I first learned where we were going, I assumed Possum Kingdom Lake was likely kinda gross and filled with possums and other creatures I’d rather not interact with. I could not have been further from the truth. I can best describe the area we stayed at as Arizona meets Colorado meets West Texas. The buildings were cottage-y like Colorado, the landscape was rocky and dry like AZ and the friendliness and windmills were all Texas. It was stunning.

We arrived Friday night to a sky filled with twinkling stars. I haven’t seen the sky so lit up in such a long time, too long of a time, really. The rest of the night was spent by the fire, soaking in the silence of the night (okay, and maybe a few drinking games).

Saturday we slept in, cooked up a big brunch and spent the greater part of the afternoon by the pool mixed in with a little four-wheeler riding. The previous night’s drinking and the pool day drinking had us pretty beat and so we hung out by the fire cooking s’mores for a bit and called it an early night. This morning my friend and I both went for beautiful runs. I chose a walking/running path that wove in and out of the lake’s shore line and up on to a field that provided breathe taking views. His took him through neighborhoods, climbing up rocks and animal spotting. When I got back from my run, my friend was still on his and the other couple had already headed out for the pool. So I grabbed myself a bowl of cereal and my book and sat outside on the porch. Aside from my obnoxious cereal crunching, the silence was deafening. In Dallas I live in a relatively calm part of town and enjoy the gentle flow of people talking and cars driving by. But nothing could beat the beauty of silence. I can definitely now fully understand and embrace the idea of living in the country, it was unbelievably peaceful.

Anyways, a few sunburns later we got back on the road, turned up the music, and enjoyed this 80 degree weather that Texas graced us with. The trip was a perfect anecdote to the hectic week and daily busy life here in Dallas. I am so happily exhausted.

Welcoming the weekend

March 2, 2013January 2, 2017 ~ Sarah ~ Leave a comment

I have a backseat of things I’ve been meaning to return for months, an apartment that could probably stand a deep-cleaning and other assorted errands to run…

But today these can wait.

Today is for sleeping in, laughing to the latest episode of New Girl with my roommate and some gluten-free pancakes, reading (and finally finishing) The Tipping Point, listening to my Stars Pandora station, not wearing real pants (here’s looking at you, leggings), burning my Seashore candle, opening the windows to enjoy some fresh air and watching a movie or two.

How are you spending your weekend?