hola, 2013! (aka atlanta picture overload)

{dekalb farmer's market obsessin'}

{atlanta thriftin'}

{the best burrito EVER droolin'}

{stone mountain hikin'}

{little 5 points nommin'}

{new year's celebratin'}

things i learned about atlanta this past weekend:

• el burro pollo has the TASTIEST burritos - the 40 minute line outside the door is worth it.
• vintage/thrift shopping is the best shopping. 
• dekalb farmer's market eats your farmer's market for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• a one mile hike can be hard. when it is up a mountain.

things i learned from new year celebrations this past weekend: 

• ringing in the new year with some old friends and some new friends is the best way to ring it in.
• there are 25+ uses for "mazel tov" socks, or the best present of the year. 
• ie. beer koozie, sweatband, potholder 
• do not start festivities at 5 pm when 12 am is the end goal.
• we were just tired from partying for 7 hours, right?
• bring lots of 90's jams and so-bad-it's-good pop music on 6+ hour car rides. 
• this year is going to be a good one.

HAPPY 2013!

"the best way out is always through."
- robert frost

a list: peace out 2012.

{south padre island, tx}

as 2013 swiftly approaches, i ask myself the same questions i ask myself every year around this time: what would i change about this year? and what can i do better in the next?

it's common knowledge that we make resolutions that we are bound to break, as well as ones that set us up for undeniable failure.  concrete resolutions, such as exercise more!, spend more time with family!, and save more money!, are teased and tempted by that twinkie on the table (or not?), that nap that looks more appetizing than that coffee date with your aunt, and that new pair of shoes in the store window.  and more abstract resolutions, such as enjoy life!, are unable to be measured (unless i co-open a bakery in nyc with bradley cooper and start a mini pony farm. my smile would be 20 feet long, and my mini pony, 2).

so although i just explained why i believe one shouldn't make resolutions, part of the reason why i started this blog was to savor the small moments, celebrate life's successes, and garner inspiration for those days in which a gossip girl season 6 marathon seems tempting (read: a bad day).

on that note, here's my 22 before 23.  another bucket list to conquer.  in contrast to new year's resolutions, which inherently assume an improvement is necessary, bucket lists are "wants," rather than "needs" - an important distinction, in my opinion.  a few points on my list are pretty petty and random, but i'm saving the whole "stop global warming" thing for my 30th birthday.

1. remember people's birthdays
2. try 12 new restaurants
3. learn how to use my camera (well)
4. read 12 books (for fun)
5. make a piece of art i'm proud of
6. run on the reg - no matter the distance
7. run my next half marathon under 2 hours (it's in writing. i said it. now i HAVE to do it, right?!)
8. write more letters
9. learn how to wear lipstick without looking like a clown 
10. move into and furnish my first real place
11. knit an ENTIRE scarf (i have, like, 6 that are half-way done.)
12. plan, and go on, a backpacking trip through Europe
13. figure out what i'm doing after graduation 
14. finish my nashville bucket list (am i allowed to put that here?)
15. take a vacation to somewhere new
16. have a full-blown picnic
17. learn to crochet 
18. 8 glasses of water/day
19. do something i've never done before (i know it's vague... but think of the possibilities!!!)
20. do something that scares me
21. own a pet (fish and small rodents not included.)
22. GRADUATE COLLEGE. (i had to give myself at least one.)

now off to atlanta for some new year celebrations!

"the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." 
- carl jung

sounds good to me: christmas edition.

 "it is a miracle if you can find true friends, and it is a miracle if you have enough food to eat, and it is a miracle if you get to spend your days and evenings doing whatever you like to do, and the holiday season - like all the other seasons - is a good time not only to tell stories of miracles, but to think about the miracles in your own life, and to be grateful for them."

- lemony snicket, the lump of coal