Status Update

As we all know dating can be a hassel, expensive, and time consuming....and that's when you actually LIKE the person. It always starts out so great. Texting all the time. The excitement that builds when you have made plans to spend time together and it creeps closer and closer. The butterflies, the laughter, the fun. Getting ready and planning what you're going to wear. It doesn't ever have to end. You can recreate that feeling over and over. As the relationship goes through different stages and phases all you have to do is remember to always make the effort to put your best foot forward and you ultimately cannot go wrong. Here are my versions of the four stages of dating and what to wear if you, in fact, have a date this Valentine's Day.

If you're in the first two to three months and not yet sure if this is a "friendz with benz" situation or the beginning of a relationship. Maybe you are grabbing a bite at Arch City Tavern and then a trip to Jeni's for ice cream. (my beanie is from Free Clothing Co.)

After roughly five or six months you decide to make it "Facebook Official" and you're off to a place like Hubbard Grille or Rigsby's Kitchen in the Short North. The dress is by Lauren Conrad from Kohls.

After a year (maybe less) you are truly in love. You may even feel that an engagement is eminent. He takes you to de-NOVO and after to Mouton for cocktails. Shoes and skirt are from Target and the top is from ily.

He loves you so much that you come home from a hard day and he made you dinner. The two of you are staying in this Valentine's Day.

<3

I'll Do A Shot

{the original recipe can be found here rachaelray.com}

I make a pretty killer spinach and mushroom lasagna. I am not even sure how I got started doing it, but (again) it is super simple and tastes incredible. I use mostly fresh ingredients but always bought the sauce. I was intimidated to make my own. I thought the only way that ever tastes good is if someone cheats and mixes some canned or jar sauce in there as a base. The picture of a woman in her mid sixties, wearing a "housecoat" and an apron, standing at the stove FOR HOURS is how I see a woman who makes her own sauce. Not any more my friends. This girl has done the impossible. Not only that, but I can make my favorite....Vodka sauce. Of course I should learn another variety some day maybe but its tangy, creamy, melt in your mouth flavor is delectable. It's like a big fat warm hug in a world where that is increasingly hard to come by. This would be a perfect Valentine's Day dinner for the one you love.

In my version I use sweet red onions.

{Grated Parmesan }

{Add the Basil in the sauce while it simmers and let sit overnight}

Speak To Me

I don't date a lot. I get asked out a lot. I say NO a lot. What I can say is that I have learned A LOT. My first committed relationship lasted several years and in that time I made many, many mistakes. I am a way better person for what I have learned and have so much more to give to someone than I did then. I look back on it seven years later and now realize there was so much I could have done differently. People have asked me if I believe now that I could have saved it or would we still be together today if I could have saved it. The answer is no. I think we get into relationships for all sorts of reasons, may it be need based or want based, and sometimes it just isn't meant to have any true staying power. In any case, every relationship has the POTENTIAL to last. I think had someone introduced this book to me while I was in college I would have done a better job. In essence, what it says is that each of us accepts love in a different way. There are five: physical affection, time, gifts, words, and deeds. For me it will always be time. I have very little of it. If someone can give me their time the rest is icing on the cake. Gifts make me uncomfortable because I can't always reciprocate, words can make me uncomfortable because it is simply overwhelming to me, for example. Once you can harness what it is that makes the other person tick you have an increasingly better chance to give them what they need and the relationship will flourish. As Valentine's Day is fast approaching take a minute to remember that being in a relationship is not about you. To rephrase a quote by President Kennedy

"Do not ask what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country"

It's what you can do for the OTHER PERSON that matters, not the other way around.

Resolute

January is almost over and I have tried in vain to give myself a list of appropriate resolutions for the upcoming year (that we are already in). Some people scoff at the idea and say that a mere 10% of individuals actually keep to them. I think the idea should be to make them reasonable and reachable. In the past I tried to give up chocolate (whaa??) or never curse, which is next to impossible if you have ever driven on any of the worlds public road systems or been in any sort of relationship. As I have stated before I like things simple in almost every area of my life. Life is short. Don't make it hard.

{Chick flick marathon with one of my very best friends}

1. I will not sleep on the couch more than one night a week. (my bed is big and cold)

2. If I ask my son "do I already have this color nail polish" and he says yes, I may not still purchase it  anyway.

3. Keep posting on my blog regardless of whether or not anyone ever reads it.

4. Actually fold all my laundry as it is done and not live out of the basket.

5. Make a concerted effort to wear the shoes nobody understands but me.

6. Get another tattoo.

7. Forgive myself completely when I have a horrible day.

8. Make more time for my girlfriends. (chicks before di....)

9. Skydive again.

10. Go on a weekend getaway somewhere new with or without someone this Spring.

{Boots by Steve Madden}

People Watching

I had a pretty event filled summer. I got a new place (we'll just call it "survivor, mover's edition"), went through a little break up? break off?, and had a second job in retail that I enjoyed very much. Getting to dress up and wear heels is what I live for. So as the summer came to a close, as did the second job, I had some free weekends. I simply got on Google and searched "free things to do in Columbus, Ohio". The first thing that caught my attention was topiarypark.org which was dedicated in 1992. After the demise and subsequent suspicious spontaneous combustion of what was then The Columbus Institution for the Deaf, the Columbus born artist James T. Mason developed the plans to recreate the famous George Seaurat's painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jette". The park attracts visitors from around the World. From the East side of the park you can actually pick up a copy of the painting and see the park as it was meant to be seen. My photo below is from the West. What a perfect way to watch the sunrise on a breathtakingly beautiful Summer morning.

{Photo from the Columbus Dispatch}

Copy Cat

I get inspiration from everywhere. My friends, magazines, television, movies, even other blogs. I have been known to stop someone in a grocery store and ask where they picked up a particular item whether it be a hand bag or sweater or nail color and so on. When this photo hit the media I had to have this outfit. I got online and those boots went for a cool 3000+. I can't even recall what the skirt was right now to be honest but I am sure she paid a hefty sum. I searched for days obsessed with finding these items at a price I could afford, knowing that the chance I would wear that skirt, for example, would be somewhat infrequent. That kind of thing gives me a rush...the hunt, the chase, for the perfect thing. When I found them I thought I would jump straight into outer space I was so excited. It just goes to show that good things come to those who wait. And those boots, well, I wear them all the time and they cost me under $100. I am very happy with the final result.

Mountains of Glitter

 One of the unfortunate yet great things about becoming a part of a serious, committed relationship is that over time, the two people fuse into one. You have the same friends, you have the same interests, root for the same teams, and inevitably lose your individuality to a certain extent and are now seen as a couple. "Bennifer" is my best example for those of you who follow Hollywood drama. When I stepped out on my own for the first time in my life I had to figure out who I was. What did I love doing? I had lived so long for the other person I got lost. The first thing I did was teach myself to snowboard. I had always wanted to learn. None of my girlfriends were at all interested, but were instead opting to run marathons, which is just not my thing. So for four months, I went every free evening I had during the week and fell and fell and fell. There were days at work I could't sit down. Nights on the lift I would tear trying to hold my board up. But I was addicted. The adrenaline rush of knowing I could get hurt, the speed, the snow glistening like glitter under the night lights. It was all I could do to get out of work, turn up the radio, and get on that mountain. To this day I prefer riding at night, in the quiet, alone. I would love to find someone to go with, but there is a serene calmness to it that I crave. It isn't a social thing for me, it's about the ride. Just the mere sound of the crisp, fresh powder under my board as I carve my way down, picking up speed, faster and faster, feels like a slice of heaven to me. One of my seven tattoos is my snowboard logo on my right wrist. A constant reminder of who I am and what I can accomplish all on my own.