happy casimir pulaski day!

do something extra-mustachioed today in celebration :)

26

last week was my birthday. i celebrated with shopping, eating out, seeing the secret life of walter mitty finally, and going to a byu basketball game. it was a good day, kind of quiet. i'm glad i got to spend it and the rest of the weekend with my family.

as my lovely little brother kindly pointed out at my family birthday dinner last week, if you round up, i'm 30. which, thanks, carter. i still have four years of my twenties left! sheesh. but somehow 26 does feel a lot older than 25, for some reason.

but, i am determined to make this a great year. a couple weeks before my birthday, i was looking back on the past year, and, even though a lot of things have changed, i don't feel like i've actually done that much to improve myself. well, i guess that's not entirely true--i'm always thinking about that, and i think i did an okay job. but, as far as my list of 25 things to do when i'm 25 goes, i didn't do too well.

let's revisit:

1. save enough for a big purchase (car? new computer?)
2. go on a spontaneous trip
3. go to an avett brothers concert
4. get a big girl job
5. learn to sew and now i have a sewing machine! happy birthday to me :)
6. start learning a language which i need to pick up again...
7. receive a master's degree
8. go somewhere i've never been
9. west coast road trip
10. record something
11. go to the temple
12. publish something
13. learn to ride a bike...i guess
14. consolidate  moving twice will do that to you!
15. read the standard works
16. go to a fancy party
17. family reunion--aspen grove 2013!!
18. read classic novels--i've got a running list
19. read c.s. lewis
20. make a piece of art to put in my house
21. eat something new every month--let's face it; i go to the same places and eat the same things. i need some variety up in here.
22. write and send a letter at least once a month
23. hike the Y
24. go legit camping
25. choreograph a song for zumba

so, 8 out of 25. it's not great, but it's something, i guess. this year i don't know if i'm going to make a list like this, but i'm definitely going to try to make it a really great year. 26 is going to be great!

year in (p)review

This has been a pretty eventful year—both in the sense that it has been full of events and that is has been full of personal growth. I guess that’s pretty much all you can ask out of a little ol’ year, right? So I thought I’d give a little run down of what has happened in 2013 (in the briefest of detail—ain’t nobody got time for more than that) and a sneak peek into what I hope will happen in 2014 (not to be confused with my resolutions—those are in the works and will be coming over the next week or so). And away we go! 

Year in Review

Took a couple classes that were actually pretty interesting (it seems really weird to think that I was in classes this year…that feels like a lifetime ago)

Tutored ACT English and Reading at Sylvan Learning

Job searched

Job secured

Job started

Lived with both of my sisters

Did a ton of Zumba and Just Dance

Listened to so much great music

Moved out of Provo

Moved home

Moved away from home

Moved to Sugarhouse

Went to Taylor Swift

Went to Hanson

Went to Kelly Clarkson at Stadium of Fire

Saw a bunch of really good movies

Wrote in my journal a lot

Got an iPhone

Went to Disneyland on two occasions

Welcomed a missionary home

Hit the Peaks (Seven Peaks, that is)

Bought a car (sheesh, I almost forgot that, the biggest thing!)

Blogged on and off :)

Became a homemaker/DIYer/crafter (who am I kidding—I was already one of those)

Read almost all the standard works—all that’s left is the New Testament!

Read a bunch of books, too many to keep track of

And, without further ado: 

Year in Preview

Go to One Direction (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (I am a teenage girl, I know)

Send off a missionary brother :(

Have an awesome time in Sugarhouse

Go on at least one epic trip, hopefully more. But maybe not more.

Sew my Shop Hop quilt

Finish The Great Bedroom Redecoration at Logan Avenue

Basically be a dating machine

Create lots of art. In a lot of arty ways.

Finish the Book of Mormon at least once

Progress at work

Keep a faithful thankful journal

Get a TIME magazine subscription and actually read TIME

Have a bunch of parties

Just generally have an awesome time

This has been a good year, overall, with many ups and downs. I haven’t really mentioned any of the downs here—no one wants to hear about my identity crises or breakdowns. All of it translates to good things in one way or another. Onward and upward, my friends. Adventure is out there!

Happy New Year!!

working girl

wow, remember how a week and a half went by in a flash? i've been immersed in training, learning about the university, the industry, and all of the policies and procedures that go along with my job.

i'm pretty excited about everything, actually. most of the people are pretty cool, and i'm learning pretty quickly, and i guess i pretty much like it. i mean, the whole working full time thing isn't the most fun, but that's just a part of growing up, really.

so, i'm happy. i was a little nervous, but i'm good now. i have a desk! i have health insurance! i have paid holidays and sick days! i have paychecks! that's the most important thing, probably :)

token first day of work picture :)

big news

as some may know, for the past couple months (really actually the past year or so), i have been on the job hunt. this was made somewhat harder by the fact that i want to teach and love to teach yet don't have a teaching certificate as of yet. so, the age-old question remained: what can you do with an english major?

job searching isn't easy. you don't feel that great about yourself. you see "now hiring" signs everywhere but none of them attached to a job or place you want to work. only a handful of the applications you send out lead to interviews, and a surprising number never garner any type of response at all. i like to think of those application out there in the nethers of the internet, waiting to be evaluated. i'll probably hear from them in a few months. how do you get a first job, the job that will help you gain real field experience, if all the positions require you to have prior experience? i don't know; i guess i was a little late to this game. i mean, i did a master's program partly because i wasn't ready to go out into the world and leave my little provo life.

i got the job!! and i don't take flattering selfies...

anyway, all this is leading up to the announcement that I GOT A JOB! i heard yesterday, and it's all very exciting for me. i will have a salary! plus benefits! i can once again become a functioning and independent part of society! i'm pretty sure my parents are even more excited than i am ;) i am really grateful that things worked out the way they did and that i have Somebody looking out for me. many somebodies, actually--i have been overwhelmed by the support and prayers of so many friends and family members this past little while.

i will be working at the salt lake/global campus of strayer university, which specializes in career-track online education for mostly adult students. i will be an admissions coordinator, so i'll be working with recruiters and students, helping them get situated. i'll get to know the ins and outs of this kind of higher education. i think it will be pretty cool. i start october 21st.

i still want to teach at some point. i think i'll end up getting my certification in a couple years. or maybe seminary? i would love to teach seminary. so we'll see. for now i am glad to be employed once again. there goes #4 on my list of 25 things to do this year.

get a big girl job: check.

aspen grove 2013

last week, we had a family reunion at aspen grove, a byu family camp up provo canyon. we went to aspen grove 15 years ago when i was 10, so it was a coming back of sorts. the first day, i realized that i remembered almost nothing from that long ago experience at camp, which meant it was almost like i had never been before, though i think coming back as an adult made the experience a lot different anyway.

i could write a huge long post about every day and what we did and what we ate and the fun we had and the things that maybe weren't so fun and how much i miss everyone and how i didn't expect to. but i'm not really in the mood for that, so how about just the highlights and maybe a few pictures?

things about the solomon family reunion at aspen grove 2013:

this is berg, btw. not me :)

--i pretty much lived in the arts and crafts cabin. i just wanted to paint! i made a bowl and a round box, and i also made my very own wood pen, which took me right back to middle school wood shop, which also meant things kept going wrong. i was always having issues in wood shop.
--the food situation was not looking good after the first couple meals--dry enchiladas for dinner, eggs and toast for breakfast?? no thanks--but things really started to pick up around sunday lunch, and pretty soon i was sold.
--our little cluster of cabins played games every night, and those were some of the most fun times for me.
--aspen follies, one of the few things i do remember from our first outing at aspen grove, were hilarious. 
--i somehow ended up sleeping in our cabin's little loft every night, and let me tell you, those things were not made for a grown person. the actual sleeping was fine, for the most part, but getting in and out, up

and down the ladder caused me a certain amount of dread each day. anything for the experience, right?
--it felt weird to be older than the staff, which is made up mostly of byu students. have i mentioned that sometimes i feel really old?
--i love being around kids, especially when they play games with me or imagine their own fairy worlds or come around and give everyone random hugs.
--even though our cabin quarters were tight and our stuff was everywhere, it was fun to be with the family all week. and it really wasn't that bad to walk down to the communal bathroom everyday. it felt like we were the only ones using it anyway, since we weirdly never saw any of the other families who were supposedly using it, too.
--the aspen grove schedule helped to get me into a better sleep schedule. i was super tired at night, but i also didn't want to miss breakfast, so i was up at 7:30 each morning.
--even though our family reunions are getting further and further apart, i am glad we have them. we celebrate nana and bopy's 75th birthdays this year. i 'm grateful for them! it was so fun to reconnect with everybody again, aunts,
 uncles, cousins, cousin's kids alike. should we start planning for norway 2015?

a full fourth

this year, the holiday was dedicated to spending time with family and generally having a lot of fun. we went to the north salt lake fireworks extravaganza, like always, and they were amazing. a little girl in our ward, and one of mom's best friends, ruby, sat by me during the fireworks show, which made it all even more entertaining :) can we add some kids to our family already or what?

on the morning of the fourth, we crawled out of bed for the annual foxhill ward fourth of july breakfast. the food was plentiful, and we had a beesley family first when five of us, everyone minus dad, performed the star spangled banner. i think this could be the beginning of a wonderful and successful career for the star spangled beesleys.

that night, we headed down to provo for the stadium of fire. how we convinced dad to get us tickets for that, i still don't know, but it was awesome. sure, it was hot, and we were packed into the bleachers like shoes in my suitcase, but we still had fun. at least, i did. as the concert approached, i started to get more and more excited to see kelly clarkson. i don't consider myself to be a huge kelly fan, but i realized, in the days leading up to the show, that i know a lot of her songs, and most of them i actually really like. so her set was pretty great--i knew every song, and she even played this duet, originally sung with jason aldean, that we are obsessed with.

 

 she was so good, singing her heart out. it was altogether great. i would definitely see her again, and even though it took us about an hour to get out of the parking lot (and even though we had talked about ways to avoid all of that...), i would totally go to stadium of fire again, depending on the performer.

and that was my fourth! happy birthday, america!

our lovely california trip

so a couple weeks ago we went down to southern california to see these guys get hitched

but also for a little vacation. it's good to get out of provo sometimes, you know? 

the thursday we drove down was pretty fun in itself. we got to hang out in corona for a little while and eat at miguel's and then hang out with our family.

friday was beach day. this included (but is not limited to) a trip to target, lunch at ruby's diner in huntington, walking a ton up and down the boardwalk, some body surfing, lounging on the sand, and an abandoned bonfire. after the beach we decided to go out on the town--amy knew of a swanky bowling alley, so we got washed up and hit the lanes.

saturday was wedding day. it was a super early day because meredith was doing cassandra's hair, so we left the house at 6:30 and thus began a long day of fun and driving and friends and a dumb sunburn that i somehow avoided at the beach but got at the temple. i haven't been to the los angeles temple in several years, and it was fun to go back, even if the awesome stake center which i love that used to be behind the temple is gone now. moving along, here's the quick version of the other stuff that happened that day: we cheered for eric and cassandra when they came out of the temple, we took some pictures with them and james put his hand on my head the whole time which i'm sure will look ridiculous, we went to westwood for lunch and ended with DELICIOUS ice cream sandwiches from diddy riese--one of the highlights of the day was when i was officially christened sandwich master--, we drove back to santa clarita, got there way too early, and parked at a park for a much needed rest, then headed to the wedding dinner/reception. it was a long, fun, happy day and i'm so glad we got to be there.

sunday was pretty chill. we went to church at the old ward, chatted with old friends, then took a drive down pacific coast highway to visit my birthplace. it's always fun to see hoag :)

that night we were freaking out because...rain was in the forecast for monday, which was disneyland day. and, while i had a contigency plan for rain, it ruined all of my outfit plans. luckily, our prayers were answered and it didn't rain on us too much, so the day was still awesome. that night we also headed back to corona for one last stop at miguel's (and kenny's donuts...and rite aid for ice cream) and i also met up with andie martin, whom i haven't seen in like seven years, so that was sweet.

and then tuesday was head-for-home day. pretty uneventful since we left at 4:00am so i could get home in time for work. but, we got home safe, rental car intact.

thanks to heather and fam for letting us crash! and thanks to everyone else who made the trip really fun. 

happy earth day!

things i like about the earth:
rainy days
sunny days
tulips
other colorful flowers
swinging in a hammock beneath the leafy trees
walking on a nice day
breezes
nature walks and pondering
arches
oceans and beaches
rainbows--i really love rainbows
delicious food like artichokes and bread (which come from the earth...)
cumulus clouds (does this count as being from earth? i say yes.)
mountains
gardens
trees
apples and oranges and grapes and cherries and strawberries
strawberry days
peach shakes
mud
puddles
butterflies
lady bugs, like the one that landed on me last week
sand
red rocks
foliage
green
air
photosynthesis
water--i really like water
icicles
snowflakes
lakes
islands
rainforest, including the canopy
rivers
swimming
hiking
seasons

the earth is pretty great. i hope i see the earth day car today. will you do anything to celebrate?

why i love easter {secular + sacred}

1. easter candy. i'm already having post-easter-candy-availability anxiety. i haven't had nearly enough reese's eggs or cadbury mini eggs. and i haven't had any dove truffle eggs, which are my very favorite. {update: i just looked up dove eggs, which i can't find anywhere, and apparently they are a "seasonal item" that is "no longer being offered," to which i say, shouldn't an easter seasonal item be offered at easter?!?} easter candy is about a million times better than halloween candy, in my opinion.

2. easter outfits. when i was a kid, we always had matching easter dresses. a lot of the time, mom would even make these adorable outfits for each of us, which made them even cooler. today, i still like to buy myself something springy around this time and call it my "easter dress." this year, i actually bought the dress back at the end of february, and i've been patiently waiting to wear it until easter sunday.

probably my favorite childhood easter outfits. the checks! the hats!

3. easter egg decorating. this isn't one of those traditions that is sacred in our family, but it's still fun to dye eggs every once in a while, and by "once in a while" i mean once a year or so. this week we dyed eggs for fhe, and it was pretty fun. i realized that i'm not the most creative egg-decorator, while some people in our group displayed an unusual and delightful talent for this medium.

4. easter baskets. easter baskets aren't quite as involved as christmas stockings, which only makes sense, but they are still pretty awesome. one year, my basket featured a pair of pink jelly sandals, which set the bar pretty high for future easters. after that, i ALWAYS hoped i would find a pair of clear, high-heeled jellies in my easter basket. alas, that never happened, because i'm pretty sure i made them up (yep, my imagination actively designs amazing shoes.). but, if you ever come across such a creation, there's still time to fill my easter basket.

5. easter dinner. ham, deviled eggs, olives, rolls. doesn't get much better than that.

as for the sacred side of things, i love easter for the same reason i love other sundays: we get to talk about the Savior and the atonement. easter is especially great because that is the main focus. i'm grateful for the gospel and the knowledge i have that i have an Older Brother who was willing to suffer and die for me and everyone else that i love and those i don't even know. it's comforting to know that, when i am struggling with something or when i am feeling the nudgings of despair, Christ has been there too. He is right there with me, even for the stuff that is probably inconsequential in the long run. i love what elder holland said about this a few easters ago:

It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone...Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.

so, in conclusion, easter is awesome because Jesus Christ and His atonement are pretty awesome.

i hope everyone had a beautiful easter sunday! don't get fooled tomorrow :)

25 things to do while i'm 25

i'm stealing this idea from c.jane, who was a lot more detailed and specific in her list. but these are some things i hope to do this year. 

1. save enough for a big purchase (car? new computer?)
2. go on a spontaneous trip
3. go to an avett brothers concert
4. get a big girl job
5. learn to sew
6. start learning a language
7. receive a master's degree
8. go somewhere i've never been
9. west coast road trip
10. record something
11. go to the temple
12. publish something
13. learn to ride a bike...i guess
14. consolidate
15. read the standard works
16. go to a fancy party
17. family reunion--aspen grove 2013!!
18. read classic novels--i've got a running list
19. read c.s. lewis
20. make a piece of art to put in my house
21. eat something new every month--let's face it; i go to the same places and eat the same things. i need some variety up in here.
22. write and send a letter at least once a month
23. hike the Y
24. go legit camping
25. choreograph a song for zumba

and there you have it.

days of my life

so, nothing super momentous happened on my birthday. i forgot about my birth moment while we were at dinner, i just stayed home and watched a movie after dinner and dessert, and no party or anything, which was kind of how i was feeling. it was a good day, though. it made me think (again, just two months after the new year) about the things i want to do better at 25.

birthday dinner at bombay house. always delicious and always a good time.

i've had a cold building for weeks now. it hasn't been too bad, just enough to keep my energy level a little bit lower than usual. but yesterday (the day after my birthday, luckily), the real cold hit. runny nose, stuffy nose (how can your nose be both runny AND stuffy? i don't get it.), slight fever, headache, sore throat, cough. so that's fun. i stocked up on day/nyquil and nasal spray (is nasal spray gross to other people? it's always been a staple in our house. also, am i feeling especially parenthetical today?) to get me through the weekend.

last night bergen, meredith, and i went to the cougarettes concert. i have loved the cougarettes for a long time, probably because they are so beautiful and i wish i had lovely dancing skills. my freshman year, i took a dance class, and one of the assignments was to go to a dance performance and write about it. so, naturally, i went to see the cougarettes perform, my first time seeing them outside of athletic events, where they are still awesome, but not quite as awesome. anyway, i was blown away. the dancing was so beautiful--there are pieces from that concert that i still remember. i've tried to go the concert every year since then, even if that means i have to go by myself because no one else can go with me. last night's concert was also amazing. so amazing, in fact, that i convinced mom to come down tomorrow night to see it with me again. lame? maybe. do i care? nosiree.

all in all, life is still pretty good. happy friday!

this christmas

i'm doing this out of order--new year's report before christmas report. but better late than never, some people always say.

this christmas break has been...pretty great. basically, i've just been bumming around with the fam, occasionally leaving the house for a shopping or lunch trip.

we're a pretty good looking group, right?

on sunday night dad made us all go caroling to the neighborhood. i grumbled quite a bit, which i regret now. it was fun to visit with ward members and to squish in the car together, especially since i wasn't the one who had to lap-sit the whole time :)

on christmas eve we ate our delicious dinner of mock chicken legs and mashed potatoes and asparagus, then we opened our pajamas, then we gathered in the basement to watch white christmas. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: i love that movie. all us kids slept in the basement and then woke up at a leisurely hour for presents and breakfast, and the customary photo on the stairs and in front of the tree.

this year i finally--FINALLY--got catch phrase. i've only been wanting my very own game of catch phrase to offer the game night gods for years and years. now it's all mine! and, i got another jeopardy! desk calendar, which brought me almost unlimited joy in 2012 and promises to do the same in 2013.

and that was pretty much it. we received a surprise gift from mom and dad, we watched tv and napped together, we had a delicious dinner with friends, and we thought about the Savior. we listened to christmas music nonstop for three days, and i was still a little sad to see it go. it was a great christmas!

a new year's tasting party

since i had a really awesome outfit for christmas this year and i wanted to have an excuse to wear it again, i proposed that we have a family cocktail party, black tie style. we got out all of our little tasting dishes from nana and purchased a new set and planned the menu and shed a few frustrated tears and chose our ensembles and had an elegant candlelit soiree. though, if i had been thinking a little more clearly, i would have gotten the twinkle lights out. next year.

dinner is served! clockwise from top left: tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons, chili with mini cornbread muffins, sweet and sour meatballs, and bacon-wrapped lil' smokies

and for dessert? mousse parfaits, cherry cheesecake, and cream puffs and chocolate sauce

and then we all changed out of our clothes and laid around until the ball dropped, but it was still great. happy new year again!

it's beginning to look...

christmas is finally in full swing in our apartment. i mean, i've been listening to christmas music since halloween, but now it's officially okay. i just spent about an hour compiling all my christmas music and filling out my holiday music library. it just wasn't complete without the contribution from celine dion. and really, what collection of music isn't complete without a contribution from celine dion?

i picked my annual peck of ornaments from the sparkly selection at walmart, then we trimmed the tree. it's been a couple years since we've put up my cheap tree, but it has sentimental value, you know? we were sorely tempted to go for a real tree this year, but i didn't want to wait any longer, so up the fake one went.

i made an awesome christmas decoration!

the lights are strung, the mistletoe is positioned, the tree is trimmed. the cheesy christmas movies are playing. and now, the snow is falling. bring on the christmas cheer!

thoughts and observations from my trip to california

 i can't believe the trip is already over. it was great, though it definitely wasn't a relaxing trip. but it was a ton of fun and i still love my family, which is sometimes a feat after a ten hour car ride :)

but here are some thoughts, in no particular order.

this is not me in a skirt, in case you were confused.

--i rocked a skirt at disneyland all day on saturday. it was awesome.
--i satisfied my craving for clam chowder in a bread bowl (memo to self: it wasn't that good; don't spend the ten dollars again.). but i gained a new, last minute craving for this amazing-looking hot roast beef sandwich that will be calling my name until i visit the magic kingdom once again.

--visiting new temples is the best. it's always interesting to see how different each temple is and especially how different each temple is from the provo temple. and it was great to meet up with family and friends at the newport beach temple.

--world of color at california adventure. see it for sure. i saw it from the back (meaning, without seeing the accompanying video), and it was still amazing. i die over anything rainbow, so i was freaking out over the displays of color.

--sibling hotel room: lived up to all of my expectations. looooooooooots of laughter.
--hot tub conversations with strangers=always interesting.
--we still know how to work the parks like pros. and, in case anyone is wondering and for my own future reference, disneyland is not that crazy over thanksgiving. we didn't typically have to wait for anything longer than 30 or 35 minutes.
--cars land is awesome and the new cars ride is great. maybe one of my favorite things, though i'm glad i didn't stand in line for 2 hours.
--i did not choose wisely at miguel's, which is a serious bummer. you have to take advantage of miguel's when you get it, and i did not.
--meredith had the flu for most of the trip, which was even more of a serious bummer. the flu is the worst and i hope she gets better soon. out sibling hotel room wasn't as much fun without her.

--las vegas is super sketchy. i know a lot of people from there, and they seem to like it, but i really don't like it. sorry, people.
--the disneyland resort is the best during the holidays. one of the greatest parts of going around christmastime is seeing the fireworks show and the snow on main street. this year, the fireworks show was cancelled for us due to "unfavorable weather conditions" (boo), but the snow and the lighting of sleeping beauty's castle still made the night pretty magical. 
--...i didn't get any grading done..but who really thought i would?
--i'm super grateful for my family and for dad, who took us all to disneyland even though he doesn't really love it.

okay, now all i have to do is get through two more weeks of class and then finals and i'm home free for three weeks! just kidding, it won't really be as easy as that since i still have a lot of work to do. but the end is in sight!

happy leap day!

 today is that magical day, the day that only comes once every four years, when we get a bonus twenty-four hours.

the thing is, because this holiday only occurs quadrennially, it seems no one really knows how we are supposed to celebrate. what does one do on leap day?

luckily, last week's episode of 30 rock answered that question:

 (sorry about the quality--nbc is pretty lame about putting clips on youtube, and it looked weird to put just the video link)

so, today i am wearing blue and yellow, and leap day william is going to trade my tears for candy, because heaven knows i have a lot of tears and i could always use more candy. and hopefully this leap day thing will catch on.

did you also know that the tradition goes that leap day is the day a woman can propose to a man and he can't refuse without giving her some sort of payment in return? in denmark, if a man refused a proposal on leap day, he was required to give the woman twelve pairs of gloves. in some places, a woman intending to propose on this day was supposed to wear a "scarlet petticoat" as a fair warning that she was up to no good. so i should probably take that opportunity; by tradition, i might even get fabric for a new skirt out of it.

today is the day where nothing counts, because real life is for march. so put on your yellow and blue and celebrate leap day!

photographic evidence

carolyn's film returned from the camera shop, so here are some shots from the birthday celebrations last week.

life is a special occasion

i was watching something on hulu one day, as i am wont to do, and i saw an ad for hallmark. i don't remember exactly which version i saw that day, but you'll get the idea from this one.

 

the main thing i am concerned with here is the sentiment at the end: "life is a special occasion." how beautiful is that? this piggybacks on the birthday post i wrote a few days ago. actual special occasions (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries) are awesome, but what about the awesomeness of regular life?

this has been going through my head since i saw that little ol' ad the other day. life is a special occasion! amazing, glorious, exciting, momentous things happen every day, and i want to celebrate those things.

one of my favorite bloggers talked about this idea of celebration late last month. she decided that her theme for the year would be a simple one: parties. parties for explicit reasons, parties for holidays, parties for no reason. just parties, little mini celebrations throughout the year, excuses to decorate and dress up and get together with people you love.

i certainly love parties (though maybe not as much as andrew w.k. does), and i'm going to make this my own theme as much as i can, but i want to find ways to celebrate outside of parties as well. this means sending cards in the mail, maybe heart attacking someone's door to let them know i  care, writing little notes to my friends and family telling them how awesome i think they are, making treats for people, and perhaps a host of other things. the idea is that life is something to be celebrated--goodness, some days getting out of your pajamas constitutes a reason to celebrate.

come celebrate with me?