the hearty project

My alter ego 'tude for Tuesday

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I have a tendency to be a bit of a sad sac round this time of year. Too many thoughts of missed goals, lost friendships, and my birthday in 2ish weeks that brings on a double whammy of self-deprecating introspection. Fun times. I like to be hard on myself... or maybe I'm not hard enough... :/

How I would like to enter 2012

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A Hearty Happy Hour

On a recent trip to Buffalo to visit Sweet Lips' rents, we had cocktails at an unassuming establishment called Vera Pizzeria. I honestly did not have high hopes for food or drink while in Buffalo, but this place changed my attitude. Besides ordering a Hot Buttered Rum to warm me up, I ordered
Neptune's Trident, which consisted of:

Dark Spiced Rum
Elderflower Liqueur
House Made Grenadine
Coconut Water
Orange Spice Bitters

It's description (Spicy and bold with a surprisingly delicate balance) was accurate. I was really surprised by the addition of Coconut Water, which has been popping up all over the place as a way of rehydrating, but never have I seen it inserted into a drink that didn't have a tropical umbrella. It was a nice way to mellow out the spice and add some richness. May need to perform experiments of my own... I'll keep you updated on my scientific findings.

The difference between NYC and Cali

In case you didn't know...

Via

A pad to call my own

I recently visited the bachelorette pad of one of my girlfriends and it made me miss when I had one of my own. Not that I don't enjoy where I'm at now, but there is no replacing the feeling of coming home to a domain that is entirely yours. Every fork, every towel, every piece of art, every book... is all yours and displayed in a way that is 100% YOU! No need for compromise. You can shabby chic it up, add hot pink accents and glitter, if that’s your thing. Sometimes it wouldn’t necessarily be “my thing”, but I’d add pink to my pad just cuz I could. Sharing can be overrated sometimes. Plus, hello! Look at her view! I’d def love to wake up and fall to sleep to that sight.

Ha, one thing I don't miss too much... Total responsibility for feeding myself! Her fridge is quite a bare site.

Memory lane...

What my irritation looks like...

Regrets

"If we have goals and dreams and we want to do our best, and if we love people and we don’t want to hurt them or lose them, we should feel pain when things go wrong. The point isn’t to live without any regrets, the point is to not hate ourselves for having them… We need to learn to love the flawed, imperfect things that we create, and to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regret doesn’t remind us that we did badly — it reminds us that we know we can do better.” - Kathryn Shulz

From a TED talk on regret, found here.

Oooh... Pretty colors

Underwater ink photographs by Mark Mawson.

Most Definitely

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3D/2D City Skylines

Love the style of these posters. May have to pick up London... I already give NYC love en mi casa.

London

Toronto

Paris

New York

Seen here, available for purchase here.

Must be Want Week

Might as well end it on this note...

Available for purchase here.

A Hearty Wishlist

A Hearty Wishlist by goyagirl featuring a heart pump

Simple Pleasures

I recently asked for my cousin Julie (aka Jules) 's Christmas wishlist. Jules is a 5 year-old bundle of dramatic wild-haired joy and quite possibly – my favorite family member. Pictured below:

Her wishlist seriously warmed my heart, here goes:
Snow Globe, Cupcake Maker, A Box with Password, Justice (the kids version of Express) Stuff (Clothes, Hat, Toy, Chair, a Small Make-up Box, Earrings, Mug, Pillow, Hair Stuff), a Book about Santa, a Photo Album and Flowers
Besides the snow globe, cupcake maker, box with password, book about Santa, photo album and flowers, it's just like mine... or not. I don't know... I guess my first thoughts were, "Awwhhh... to be young and so easily amused AND so easy to make happy." Not that I'm not happy, but it just takes alot more than a snow globe these days.
Below is a very reasonable wishlist I made for my Mama (aka Santa).

Links available on here.

West Elm Holiday Inspiration

I took some holiday decorating notes last weekend at the West Elm store. They had a variety of styles represented... crafty, glitzy, lumberjacky (don't quote me on that). I just know that I prefer the style of the first couple photos that combine rustic elements with ones that are more polished. A more casual, informal, "take your shoes off" kinda feel.

––––––––––– And that squirrel is a must have! –––––––––––

Melancholia Cleavage

Last night, I checked out Melancholia at the Charles Theater. It was a hauntingly beautiful depiction of the end of the world through the point of view of two anxious and depressed sisters. The scenes were stunning and I was trying to find deeper meaning in the plot and dialogue, but I couldn't get passed how amazing Kirsten Dunst's boobs were and how nice it would be to have a pair of those. Her body in general is sick, too bad she looks like a snaggle-toothed pubescent boy from the neck up.

Bmore Washington Monument Lighting

Last night, I finally got to check out the lighting of the Washington Monument in my beloved city of Baltimore. It's really kinda embarrassing that it took me this long to participate in this iconic holiday event, but now that I have – I vow to never miss another one!