I was introduced to this project a few days ago courtesy of a fabulous twitter pal/fellow PSU alumnus and I'm pretty much in love with it so naturally wanted to share with you all; The Good Advice Project.

My top 3 favorites from the collection;

Be in what you are in.
-Anja 

The only compass we have for what way we should take in life, are the feelings we cannot deny or rationalize. Most people follow the roads they can explain rationally, but only the roads that are sensed with the heart will take us where we are supposed to go.
-Daniel 

(so flattered that my friend Linds thought of me and my little blog on that quote! Thanks, girly :) 

Life should not be lived in points, like starting school, having exams, your first job, wedding, career change, having kids, retirement and death. No, life is lived in between the points, so put your focus on this. Focus on having joy: every day, to have your heart with you in all that you do, to smile and enjoy it all as it happens, no matter if it's sour or sweet.
Enjoy your life right now!
-Nicolai 

Thanks Megan for stumbling upon such a gem :)

Happy Friday!  Hope you're enjoying your life right NOW! Get to it, get to it!!

Love and Light,

Trish

One of my coworkers just informed me of this cool little news tidbit and I'm positively giddy; OPEN CASTING CALL


"After five successful collaborations including Che: Part Two (2008), the corporate whistleblower comedy The Informant! (2009) and the star-studded Ocean's Eleven trilogy, director Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon will reteam for the upcoming thriller Contagion, about a team of doctors hired by the Center for Disease Control to prevent the outbreak of a lethal virus. Better yet, Damon, along with co-stars Kate Winslet and Jude Law, will be filming their latest adventure in San Francisco, starting Feb. 9.

Wanna get in the picture? No problem. Soderbergh will be conducting an open casting call beginning Saturday at the Fort Mason Center and continuing Sunday at the Embarcadero YMCA. Bring a pen and a small photo of yourself, and you might end up rubbing elbows with the onetime Jason Bourne on the set of Contagion. Men and women of all ages, sizes and ethnicities are encouraged to apply. Be sure to arrive early, as thousands of possible extras are expected to volunteer for a limited number of paid positions."

What do you think? Should I go? Wait in line for hours with thousands of others in the hopes of a celebrity sighting and possible background spot in a movie starring 3 Hollywood powerhouses filmed in my favorite city? One in a million shot, of course....but do I take it?

In Starstruck Gratitude,

Trish

Thank goodness for social and community feeds such as DailyCandy and Thrillist.  It's almost overwhelming to try and keep up with all the happenings of my glorious city and these little gems always give me the best suggestions of where to start.

After seeing plugs in both DC and Thrillist, a friend and I decided to head over to Straw, a carnival themed restaurant, for it's grand opening last night. I grew up attending carnivals, fairs and festivals so the idea of a "grown up" menu highlighting some of the token flavors was super appealing.

I guess I should preface the meal images to follow with a mini summary of my eating habits.  A little over a year ago I decided to become a vegetarian (for both health and environmental reasons) and since initially making this decision I have tweaked my no-meat allowed rules a bit.  In short, I like to call myself a "Pescatarian Opportunivore".  I'm pretty proud of that label!

Definition; I still eat fish (a LOT of fish, but certainly try to be conscious of the Seafood WATCH Guide to eating sustainably) and when certain opportunities arise to indulge in other meat based meals, I allow myself to be agreeable as I see fit.  For example, if I go to a friend's home for dinner and their parent has been so kind as to cook a lovely chicken dish for my visit I'm not going to turn my nose up and say "oh, I don't eat that! Do you even know how that chicken was farmed??"  Even a polite declining makes me feel badly. Also when traveling my rules are far more flexible; a huge part of being present and truly experiencing the local culture includes dining on local dishes. Gotta live it up while you can, right?

So anyway, for the most part, I generally avoid meat and whenever possible I stick to veggies, fish and grains.  Pescatarian Opportunivore.  Done and done.

Let's just say my stomach is still attempting to digest the feast we ordered (so great to have a buddy who is equally committed to splitting the occasional indulgence). And admittedly, I don't even care.

Once inside, in honor of the vintage carnival theme, all photos were snapped with the Hipstamatic iPhone App. to preserve that old timey feel...

I don't know how the decision to *start* the meal with a reverse root beer float (vanilla soda with root beer flavored ice cream) came about, but it was a pretty solid decision.

I put on my most excited and cheesy smile while deciding what to order! I don't know why I look at little stoned.  I promise I wasn't.  Also, those are my naturally chubster cheeks and not a result of wisdom teeth extraction. Just thought I'd out-right own them.

Awesome authentic Tilt-A-Whirl booth; doesn't that couple look like they are having such fun?

Cool mason jar lighting;

Sweet potato tater tots with BBQ dipping sauce; please note the amount of grease on my thumb from already having popped about 6 in my mouth.  Classy.

The best dish of the evening;

Yep, that would be a beef burger patty sandwiched between...wait for it....

A Krispy Kreme glazed donut.

It.Was.So.Freaking.Good.

Amazing combination of salty and sweet.  I can't even do this justice with words...and I totally get how this looks so disgusting.  But if you were thinking "That looks so disgusting", you would be oh so wrong.

The entire restaurant turned to look at our table once all the entrees were delivered (and no I'm not exaggerating...literally the *entire* restaurant).  We got a few gasps, "that's awesome!" and "tell us how that tastes!" comments on our deep fried utopia, which included fried chicken and waffles monte cristo and crab beignets with a nacho-ish style cheese sauce.  The man sitting next to us even gave me a high five :)  We completely embraced our fat American sides. True Opportunivores.

Are you gagging a little yet?  Truly you shouldn't be.  It was all decadently delicious, I promise.

The check came in a cool vintage jewelry box with an image of an old Carny sisters duo.  It also contained a card for Hayes Valley Farm, a non-profit community-run farm and urban agriculture education and research project located in the heart of San Francisco.  Every Monday Straw plans to donate 10% of sales to this non-profit and I gotta tell ya, this just makes me love their digs even more.

And just because it made me giggle, my favorite wall image of the night;

What a fun meal!  Now back to my veggies... 

In Gratitude and 2 rounds of TUMS later,

Trish

"...That is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive--the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people's demands. We have learned to live by other people's points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else."  - Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

A huge thank you to everyone who has reached out and checked in on me post wisdom tooth surgery!  Your kind thoughts have helped me heal quickly and successfully :)

In Gratitude,

Trish

Momma is in town, cooking up a storm, prepping the apartment for post surgery fun...

My wisdom tooth extraction is tomorrow morning and I have major anxiety for some reason.  Like, first day of school butterflies.  Mixed with big interview in the  morning tummy rumbles.  And a side of "but I don't want my mouth to be numb and drooly and bruised and chipmunky" fears.  Where has my bravery gone?  I want my mom.  (Oh! She's sitting right next to me! Telling me to stop being such a baby...)

Consider this my Out of Office auto reply for the next few days...

...because blogging on Vicodin is probably not the best idea.

Or maybe it is?

In Gratitude,

Trish (minus 4 teeth)

ps- have I mentioned how thankful I am to have insurance? A $4,000 surgery is costing me $200.  Really?  So lucky.  Everyone should have this blessing.  That's all I'm saying.

I love my job.  I love my job for many different reasons (which I will most likely outline sometime in the near future) but today we will focus on just one...

Reason #22 Why I Love My Job:

Free lunch!

A great little perk of my gig is the fact that lunch is paid for every day.  And no, we don't have to eat crappy cafeteria food and are not forced to stay within an unreasonable budget that allows for all things fried but nothing fresh.  We essentially collectively decide what we're in the mood for around noon...and then indulge away!  I decided right from my first day to track this daily savings by jotting down in my planner what I ate and how much it cost.  I often get oddly curious about numbers (probably because they terrify me and I still count on my fingers) and I've always been a sucker for keeping a tally (i.e. my Fitbit obsession).

To show my gratitude for this company perk I've also decided that at the end of every 6 months I will tally the total amount saved, then make a donation of that amount (rounded to the nearest dollar) to a charity based on food.  For example, The San Francisco Foodbank, Glide Memorial Soup Kitchen, World Food Programme and Meals on Wheels are some I have in mind.

My thinking is this; even if Weebly didn't pay for my lunch, I would still be able to afford it on my own.  By a lot.  And this in and of itself...the ability to provide for myself, to not ever have to wonder where my next meal is coming from...is a huge gift and blessing.  A huge gift and a blessing that, until I started tallying, I pretty much took for granted. I feel the best way for me to show my gratitude is to simply pay it forward. I think I'll call it "The Grateful Lunch"...because what better way could there be to lunch?

Happy Friday, friends!  If you have any charity suggestions, I'd love to hear them. There are still 4 more months of free lunches and I can already tell it's going to be a pretty sweet little donation :)

In Gratitude,

Trish

I'm going to venture to say that each of us has experienced a shitty airline moment or travel nightmare at some point in our lives. Delayed flights. Missing luggage. Hidden Fees.  A snarky flight attendent.  An overall lack of care or concern or kindness from staff.  In my many years of travel (pause for a moment of gratitude-I have been blessed to see so much of the world already) I have certainly experienced each of these things at one time or another. And even a few times all at once (those sure were fun). Admittedly I can't say that I always blame the airlines for their generally chilly demeanor when dealing with customers (and that is indeed a generalization, the story to follow proves exceptions exist); if I worked in travel customer service, it's highly possible I would end up in prison for strangling someone. No amount of yoga and mediation could save me from that fate.

This brief story is a nice (though sad) reminder to be kind and patient towards each other...and a glimmer of hope that there are people who do their jobs with the gift of seeing customers as *people* first and foremost; Southwest Airlines

The next time my flight is delayed because of waiting for a "late" passenger, I'm going to remember this story. I'm going to take a deep breath and hope everything is OK in their lives.

Cheers to remembering we're all human.  To good deeds.  To extending kindness and help simply because we can. And, as Louis CK says, cheers to our ability to participate in the miracle of human flight :)

In Gratitude,

Trish

I've been very fortunate to grow up in a rather large extended family which includes 25 first cousins (I know, crazy, right?).  More than that, I've been fortunate enough to be very close to a good number of this 25.  Some of my most favorite childhood, teenaged and 20-something memories include the Klevze and DiGaetano ladies.  Even though the idea of recreating a family that big for myself is...daunting?...to say the least, I can't imagine growing up any other way.  So thanks, good Catholic grandparents, for having so many kids to provide me with my awesome cousins :)

That being said, I've always considered my cousin Jessica to be a good friend of mine. Yet over the past few years I've felt even more appreciative of her presence in my life. I thoroughly enjoy her company and love how well we connect...it has truly been a pleasure to watch her grow into the fabulous woman she is today. Being the sweet houseguest she is, when she and her boyfriend crashed at my apartment during their SF vacation they left behind 2 books for me to enjoy as a thank-you; Women Food and God by Geneen Roth, and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  Best seller Women Food and God knocked my socks off.  After I reread it in the near future (I hate how when I love a book I sometimes plow through it too quickly to remember parts) I will certainly be posting a blog on it.  The Happiness Project also landed itself on the best seller list and the author continues to keep a blog here; Happiness Project. 

I'm just gonna lay this out there; I don't love Gretchen Rubin's writing.  To be frank, in the beginning stages of reading her book I thought if I met her in person...and I actually feel sort of bad saying this...she would bore/annoy me.  I admitted this recently to my friend Sara (I was feeling a tad pretentious and guilty) and was relieved to hear that she too couldn't click with Rubin.  Phew, thanks Sar.  Luckily for Ms. Rubin, my teeny opinion makes no difference to the monies she earned publishing her work :) Her background as a lawyer and historical/biography writer is kind of a red flag for our personality differences.  With the exception of my great lawyer friends (love you guys!) the whole logical/factual/type-A vs. emotional/theoretical/type-B thing has just never made a great mix for me personally. 

I knew within the first few pages of her book that I didn't feel connected to her emotionally like I did, say, Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love, but recognized that if cousin Jess liked it there must be something of value within. So I decided to approach her book in a way more fitting for a "Gretchen" type; I kept a notebook with me at all times while reading and took diligent notes.  I treated it almost as a fun research project and whaddya know...it worked!  I was able to walk away with a number of interesting insights and theories on "happiness".  I was able to appreciate her logical/factual/type-A self.  And I was able to enjoy many of her discoveries on life, love and learning.

So I've dug out my notebook for this post and am now *happy* to share a selection of my personal favorite highlights of/tidbits from The Happiness Project.   Please note that many pieces are summarized and others are under my own personal interpretation, therefore don't necessarily reflect exactly what the author was getting at.  You'll just have to read it yourself to form your own opinions :)

Hug for at least 6 seconds.  
-Length needed to feel the endorphins and benefits! I love this.  I've been forcing my friends to hug me for 6 seconds ever since. Much to their discomfort :)

"Feel right"; live the life that's right for you in an atmosphere of growth.
- I liked this because when you think about it, living a "good" life really is different than living a life you feel is "right".  Lots of things can make me feel good. But only the right things and the right path for me personally can make me feel truly happy.

Love someone just as they are.

You can't change anyone but yourself.

There is only love.

let's just repeat that one...

There is only love.

The days are long, but the years are short.  Stay in the moment.

Reframe a task; be joyous to do it.
- Essentially here she talks about things that normally would seem like a nag and a drag to do; i.e. cleaning a room.  Changing a mindset going into these tasks can often affect how they make you feel.

Eek out the most happiness from a situation; anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory.
- For example, say I'm going to Portland with a friend.  First, we find fun and joy from planing and plotting and researching for the trip.  Then we be as present as possible while we are there; enjoying the sights, taking photos, etc.  We express our gratitude and happiness to one another while in Portland (i.e. "this cafe is just so cute!" or "I'm so happy it's sunny for our walk downtown!").  And finally we recall the trip through photos and stories and memories for years to come.

Each member of a family picks up and reflects everyone else's emotions-but of course I can change no one's actions but my own.

In a relationship, give proofs of love.

"Remember to leave a little mess...it's good to have a bit of chaos someplace..."

Work on understanding happiness *now*; like saving money, stock up on happiness before a crash.

"Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one's entire life in happiness, the greatest joy by far is the possession of friendship." -Epicurus.

People's lives are far more complicated than they appear from the outside; cut people slack.

"Spontaneous Trait Transfernce": What I say about other people sticks to me.

"It's a relationship, not a deposition." - Dan Savage

"Happiness is a how; not a what.  A talent; not an object."- Herman Hesse

"...Ordinary life, too, is full of opportunities for worthy, if inconspicuous, virtue."

A small child typically laughs upwards of 400 times a day.  An adult?  Less than 17.
- This blew my mind. Fellow "adults"- we need to get our giggle back on.

"Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness." -Tolstoy

It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light.

It takes at least 5 good acts to repair the damage of one critical or destructive act.

In a relationship, show gratitude and don't expect praise.

Do things for *you*.

and finally...

"I had to build my happiness on the foundation of my character; I had to acknowledge what really made me happy, not what I wished made me happy."


If any of these little tidbits appeal to you, then I highly recommend reading the whole book as she goes into much greater detail, research and explanation.  

Cheers to the start of a great week!

In Gratitude (and Happiness!),

Trish

This post is admittedly a bit of stream of consciousness to help me process a little something small that happened last night.  I hope it doesn't come across as too preachy. In a way I'm writing this for mostly me, as a way to hold myself accountable.  Shall we begin?

Thanks to the world of social networking, nothing is very personal these days.

I knew this day would eventually come. I knew this day would come and I take partial responsibility for actively choosing to participate in said social networking world.  I could easily say "just because you are my 'friend' on Facebook, does not mean we are true friends in real life and thus gives you any right....", but I think it's beside the point.  I knew what I was doing when I signed up for good ol' FB (well actually I had no idea what I was doing, but 5 years later I definitely know it's impact).  I especially knew starting this blog would spark a kind of curiosity. Luckily it doesn't make me regret my decision to begin writing again.  It just pushes me to make peace with a couple of extra life elements.

Gossip is a funny little thing.  We all do it.  Yes....all of us, myself included.  Even if we don't outwardly spread rumors or 'news' of other peoples lives maliciously; even if it feels like we are simply stating facts while being conversational...just the act of listening to a conversation containing personal information on another human being that could be considered 'sensitive' or 'private'...and it's not coming directly from the person it happened or is happening to...is a form of gossiping.

To a degree, I think it's inevitable.  I also believe, to a degree, some of it is harmless.  "How is so and so doing?" is a simple enough question.  Inquiring about the lives of others with a heart of kindness and well meaning intentions is a form of 'gossip' I can certainly make peace with. But I mean let's be honest with ourselves here; at one point or another, we've all gotten a mini rush out of being the one 'in the know'.  We've bonded with others over it.  We've done our research to put together the story. Thinking about it now, it all seems so silly.

Why do we feel the need to play CSI so badly when we could simply go straight to the source?  If you're not close enough to the person to have the balls to ask them the specifics yourself, then in my very humble opinion, you don't necessarily have the right to know that piece of information in the first place.

Last night I got a little FYI from a friend that some "inquiring minds" had cornered her, seeking personal life information of mine.

**Side note- I have the most amazing friends. The degree of respect and commitment that exists between us is one of my most cherished life possessions.**

I'd officially become a bit of home-grown party gossip.  Yeehaw.

But here was the amazing part; I didn't really care.  Truthfully, if this had happened a year ago...heck, if this had happened 6 months ago...my stomach would have instantly been in a gigantic knot.  I would have began a downward spiral, wondering what others had said or thought.  I would have probably even stressed enough to shed a few tears.

But after talking it out with my friend and taking a few deep breaths I actually felt completely at peace. I had also just come from an amazing meditation session, so maybe that little bit of zen helped me to process the information more gently :) "Alrighty. Let me adjust the existing load on my conscience to make room for one more..." 

People will always talk.  People will be curious. People will feel it's their right to know the details of your private life...and their right to decide whom to share these details with.  It's human nature.

And that's OK.  I officially let go and release the need to control this.  I officially take the stance that while being present and invested in a personal growth period, the opinions of others should not (and will not) even be a blip on my radar.  And I say this from the kindest part of my heart.

If I'm honest, I think the part that stung me a little was the fact that someone believed I was going through a very specific difficult time and instead of reaching out to me to say "hey Trish...everything OK? How are you?", they approached someone they knew was close to me to try and dig up the facts instead.  And truthfully it wasn't coming from a notoriously malicious person or anything like that. At all. I'm not angry with them in the slightest. It was coming from someone I would be happy to chat with.  Mostly it was just social sensationalism. A curious need to confirm or deny via a trusted source. It bums me out a little that this is how we tend to work.  

It's difficult not to gossip.  When I think about how much of my conversational day is spent discussing others I feel pretty guilty.  Though 95% of those discussions truly do not come from a judging place (95% because no one is perfect), I know I can be much better about minding my own business.  Much, much better.

Moving forward I'd like to be better about this.  I'd like to recognize and admit when a conversation has turned to an unnecessary degree of 'gossip'.  And then I'd like to cease the discussion.  In 2011 and beyond.

Well, thanks for reading.  I feel better putting it down in words.

In Gratitude,

Trish

I left the office yesterday around 5:45, when the winter sun had already long ducked out of view for the evening.  The city has been pretty fiercely cold the past few days, with a wind chill that adds a little extra bite to the air.  My first move after bidding my darling coworkers goodbye was to stop at the FedEx Office down the street to pick up my new bedroom decor, courtesy of Tristan Prettyman and her badass blog (which I will most likely reference here many more times in the future); Ghandi's Top Ten Fundamentals


After picking up my new treasure (which is hanging on the wall next to my bed and is thus the first thing I see when I wake up) my thought process went something like this...

Ah, shit...I forgot to make change for the bus. (gotta have exact change on those suckers) Should I buy something really fast?  Arrgh, but there's absolutely nothing I want or need from these Chinatown vendors...(no offense Chinatown street vendors)...

Oh F*ck it.  I'll walk home. 

And then I started walking. My apartment is only about 1.7 miles from work, but with the darkness, the cold and the token SF hills it's not something I've ever considered doing before.  I dug into my bag to pull out my ipod and was gratefully surprised to find my gloves (I never carry around my gloves). Hm, that's kinda awesome. My fingers are freezing...

About halfway home I was drawn to a random cafe in Northbeach...for no particular reason.  I'd already passed about 15 other (much more attractive) cafes but felt compelled to enter only this one.  (My hokie side will go ahead and chalk it up to the Universe having the perfect timing, so long as you're open to it). F*ck it, I'm going in.  I walked up to the counter just as a fresh tray of warm, giant chocolate chip cookies were being pulled out of the oven.  Yep, I'll be having one of those, thank you.  Oh. Damn, they only take cash.  (I never have cash). Then I remembered the $5 bill I found in my coat pocket that morning. Winner! "With a glass of your house red, too, please?", I ordered. A perfect $4.50 (hello, happy hour) later I found an empty table and settled in.

So I sat in this little cafe, drinking my wine and savoring the warm cookie.  The decor was delightfully quirky and mismatched; a painting of a ballerina, a painting of a watermelon.  Old French posters.  A giant photograph of a Great White shark.  Buena Vista Social Club was playing on the stereo; and what could be more oddly sexy than Cuban music playing in an Italian Cafe? 

I didn't replay any events of the week.  I didn't make any plans for the weekend.  I didn't go over my never ending mental to-do list for the 100th time today. I didn't figure anything out.  I didn't take out my book or my planner or my cell phone.  I just sat and quietly enjoyed my own company for half an hour.

Walking home from the cafe I watched my breath in the cold January sea air as I kept the traditional quick DiGaetano pace (had to learn to keep up with my long legged Dad early on).  And when I got to the base of the Bay Street hill...sparked by Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" coming on my ipod (and no, I'm not making this up)...I got the sudden urge to skip.  F*ck it.  I dance/skipped my way up the entire hill.  And then I paused at the top to catch my breath, which was fairly difficult to do considering I was giggling so hard at myself.  

When I docked my Fitbit after entering my apartment I was greeted by my days total...7,777 steps.  Well isn't that just kind of perfect :)

Saying f*ck it was lovely.  It was lovely and simple and perfectly unplanned.

It was just for me.

(and now a little for you...)

In Gratitude,

Trish

If you've never heard the story of darling Mattie Stepanek, I highly encourage you to read this summary article; Mattie.  And if you have already heard his tale, I bet this still serves as a nice little reminder of his wisdom-beyond-his-years impact :)

Let this truly be
The celebration of
A New Year…
Let us remember
The past, yet
Not dwell in it.
Let us fully use
The present, yet
Not waste it.
Let us live for
The future, yet
Not count on it

Written by Mattie, aged 11


Happy Friday, friends!  I have 4 future posts started right now, so get excited for lots of reading (thank you so much for reading!)...

in gratitude,

trish

To most likely state the obvious, one of my favorite things about living in such a dynamic city is the fact that you could spend years trying new restaurants and bars and still never manage to hit them all.  Statistically I've read that there is 1 restaurant for every 23 people in SF...and though I'm not sure how accurate this figure is, based on my own observations, I totally buy it.  I'm so thankful to have been able to try so many already, and am excited to keep eating my way through all things SF culinary.  I'll continue to post the good eats as they come...both to recommend to fellow SF'ers and to entice my other global loves to come and visit :)

Before my little Noodle hit the skies for Australia, she passed along a Groupon she hadn't used up yet to a wine, dessert and art lounge called candybar. **As a side note, how great are the Groupon, Bloomspots, LivingSocials of the world??  I'm a sucker for a discount and so appreciate this more affordable way to live it up and try new things in my city!** My SFBF Jenny agreed to be my date to check it out :)

Jenny and I agreed that this spot would be perfect for a date night; great lighting, sparkly and fabulous cocktails, delicious desserts, awesome music (while we were there we heard the likes of Death Cab, Cindi Lauper, The Cranberries, Ben Folds, The Cure...just to name a few) and games!  "Great lighting" may sound odd but I bet the ladies know what I'm talking about; that warm candle-lit hue that makes you look about 1,000 times better than you actually do.  Blemishes? What blemishes?  I'm simply radiant and captivating right now.  Even the outside of the lounge had this feeling (pardon the crappy phone pics)...

We rummaged through their board game selection and settled on 2; 80's trivia (I kicked Jenny's ass, thank you very much) and Strawberry Shortcake Memory (also did a bit of Jennifer ass kicking here).  Because...well...why not?  We were having dessert and strawberry shortcake *is* a dessert...

First up to drink, "Strawberry Kiss"; sparkling wine, ginger ale, frozen strawberry.  Yum! And on the happy hour discount menu!  Double Yum!

Then came the flourless chocolate cake with chantilly, citrus white chocolate bark and mango yogurt ice cream (and home-made whipped cream, the not-very-sweet version that makes my mouth water)...

"Mano Tango Bellinis"; sparkling wine, mango syrup and mango-tangerine sorbet...even yummier than the first drink!  We toasted to Noodle :)  Please excuse my hideously chipped manicure.

And finally their Strawberry Limeade; strawberry mousse, vanilla cake, calamansi cream, strawberries.  So different and *so* delicious. (Photo courtesy of candybar...our phone pic just did not do this presentation justice!)

It was truly a lovely little evening with a lovely friend.  Thanks to Noodle's Groupon we ended up only owing $14.90! One thing we discussed that kinda stuck with me was how nice it was to have the flexibility to make this last minute date with each other.  Jenny's sister had her second child on Tuesday (Congrats Megan and Brad!!) and the topic of children brought us around to this conclusion and expression of gratitude; once you have kids, you really can't pick up and take off the way we just did.  There are a hundred more aspects involved.  And while I would never ever judge anyone for their decision to have kids and expand their family...while I would never presume to fully know the joyful possibilities wrapped up in being a parent...I am so....SO...grateful I am not a mom right now.

I have way too many last minute plans to make :)

In Gratitude,

trish

Here's what's looping on my ipod currently...some new, some old, some ancient!  All good, great, grand and wonderful to be listening to.  Enjoy!!

1. Freelance Whales- Weathervanes

Holy goodness this CD is amazeballs.  Ashley, my college roommate, never disappoints me with new music recs...but this may be her best so far.  Fave songs on the album (so hard to choose!!) are probably "Starring", "Broken Horse", "Generator ^ Second Floor" and "The Great Estates".  I'm going to put them on right now...so in love.

2. Local Natives- Gorilla Manor

Another great Ashley rec...saw them in concert a few months ago and they knocked my socks off.  This is their only album (that I know of?), so I'm excited for a sequel!

3. Sara Bareilles- Kaleidoscope Heart

Why can't I sing and play piano like her?  Or just sing like her?  Or just play piano like her? Why God? Why? "Basketcase" chokes  me up every time...in a good way. Which sounds weird. But it's true.

4.  Tristan Prettyman- Hello...x

I dug up some old TP after she recently did me a huge favor for a friend.  Basically i follow her blog, which is awesome; http://icecreamisbetterwithafork.tumblr.com/  She advertised that you could reach out to her to buy a CD...I did...and made a request for her to sign it, explaining how I felt it may cheer up a friend who was a big fan and kinda struggling at a life cross-road.  She wrote back *immediately* and was so cool about the whole thing; going so far as to include a personalized note to my gal pal letting her know she was sending good thoughts for a brighter tomorrow.  So cool, right?  Makes me appreciate her summery voice and style even more.

5. Mumford & Sons- Sigh No More

Wanna grab a pint?

6.  Miike Snow- Miike Snow

Listening to "Cult Logic" while walking to work is an instant mood booster.  It's an odd combo for my route through China town, yet somehow it works for me :)

7.  Mayer Hawthorne- A Strange Arrangement

DJ-turned-solo-artist, Mr. Hawthorne fulfills all my old soul needs with his awesomely  classic and vintage vibe w/sexy voice.  Saw him open for Passion Pit, too...was super cute and crowd friendly.  Always an artist bonus :)

8.  City and Colour- Bring Me Your Love

Hits ya where it counts.  Just trust me.

Singles:

1.  Charlie Mars- Darkside of the Moon
2.  Brazos- Kid
3.  Bill Withers- Use Me
4.  Big Boi- Shutterbug
5.  The Band Perry- If I Die Young
6.  Eric Hutchinson- You Don't Have to Believe Me
7.  Jeff Buckley- Last Goodbye
8.  Monsters of Folk- Dear God
9.  My Morning Jacket- Golden
10. Neko Case- People Got A Lotta Nerve
11. Otis Redding- Pain In My Heart
12. Solander- Looking For Gold
13. Two Door Cinema Club- Something Good Can Work

in musical gratitude,

trish

Two little messages from the Universe I received today...

"Stop every now and then.  Just stop and enjoy.
Take a deep breath.
Relax and take in the abundance of life."
-unknown

"This is the gift- to have the wonderful capactiy to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, 
pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy."
- Abraham Maslow

in gratitude,

trish