loveliness. | Live, travel, adventure, bless and don't be sorry. | Page 50

- el eh
  
  Posted at 5:30 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 23, 2013
  
  We had a really wonderful long weekend in LA, in addition to the Hollywood Sign hike, we got to see some of Derek’s family, spent a day at Universal Studios, and did some sight seeing and spent some time at the beach.
  
  There is so much to do there, and we were only in town for a couple days, so I’ve already started planning our next trip which will hopefully include a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a tour of the WB studios, and brunch on the beach.
  
  How excited are you to be at Universal Studios?
  
  I think I win
  
  You can’t have everything in life
  
  Don’t worry, it’s not a real shark
  
  Gabrielle’s house from Desperate Housewives
  
  Whoville
  
  It’s probably not a coincidence that Whoville is directly behind the Bates Motel
  
  it was mutual
  
  Starstruck
  
  Venice beach
  
  The single greatest tree in the history of the world
  
  art on Venice beach
  
  date night in Long Beach
  
  free front row tickets
  
  I touched his hand, we’re basically best friends
  
  Posted in California, exploring, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged California, jay leno, LA, travel, universal studios
- the happiness project
  
  Posted at 5:51 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 22, 2013
  
  I just finished reading the happiness project by Gretchen Rubin. She basically spent a year trying to figure out what made her happy and why and figuring out how she could make little changes to increase the joy she got from each day and how to identify and eliminate the little annoyances that can take it away.
  
  There were a few things in the happiness project that I found very interesting. One of her happiness resolutions was to “be Gretchen”, or to stop doing the things that were supposed to make her happy, or the things that other people enjoy and really figure out the things that made her happy.
  
  She talked about how we can feel pressure to like certain things because we wish we were people who enjoyed them or because we think they are more intellectual or cooler than the things we really like, but if those things don’t actually make you happy, or worse, actually make you feel bad about yourself or guilty because you feel like you should do them and you don’t want to, then that can drain your happiness.
  
  If you really love listening to Top 40 music, but you are ashamed because you think you should enjoy listening to classical, or jazz because it’s “cooler” or “more intellectual” so you try to force yourself to listen to it. There is something to be said for broadening your horizons and learning new things, but at the end of the day, why not embrace the things that truly make you happy in life?
  
  And I’ve never really understood people that say they have “good” taste in music because they like jazz or underground rap. Isn’t that point of music to make you feel connected and happy? Any music that makes you feel good, is good music. The end.
  
  Another interesting point from The Happiness Project was about how things like bad habits or nagging tasks can steal moments of joy from your day because you feel bad about eating junk, not calling your grandmother or not making that doctor’s appointment.
  
  I am a bit of a procrastinator myself, and I can definitely see that I would save myself a lot of time feeling guilty about not doing something if I just did it, and that some of my bad habits, while they may feel great at the time (like eating an entire bag of chocolate chips) lead immediately to feeling guilty, weak, and in my case, sick.
  
  I’d never really thought of things like this as taking away from your happiness, but I suppose if there are little tasks and bad habits that are constantly weighing on you, it could be a major source of unhappiness that might be eliminated fairly easily.
  
  One of the most interesting parts of the book for me was when she was researching the link between companionship/friendship and happiness. She found that for both women and men, the most reliable predictor of not being lonely is the amount of contact with women. Time spent with men doesn’t make a difference.
  
  There are several reasons for this, including women being generally more empathetic, and better listeners. This point really struck me, because I know the times in my life when I have felt the loneliest, those are the times when I didn’t have a lot of female friendships, or at least contact with women.
  
  So basically, girls night out is very important, it’s science.
  
  You can learn more about The Happiness Project here.
  
  Posted in life, thoughts | 0 Comments
- it’s not so black and white
  
  Posted at 5:05 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 21, 2013
  
  A few weeks ago I wrote about a dress I had been stalking all over the world, and I finally found it on eBay, for twice as much as it would have been in the store, but still. It was very gratifying to track it down and I was so excited when it finally showed up in my mail box.
  
  I’m not very good at dressing for the weather or the occasion. If i want to wear something I’m going to wear it, even if that means white pants at an amusement park or ballet flats during a monsoon.
  
  I couldn’t wait to wear it so naturally I put it on when we went for a drive to explore the area because why wouldn’t you wear a cocktail dress and heels to a nature preserve?
  
  Dress H&M, shoes Forever 21
  
  Posted in fashion | 0 Comments
- hollywood
  
  Posted at 5:33 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 20, 2013
  
  I had a seriously fun weekend in LA, and one of the highlights was hiking to the Hollywood sign. Ever since I was little I always thought the Hollywood sign was the coolest thing around, and then a few years ago I found out you can actually hike to it, and I’ve wanted to do it ever since.
  
  We had a gorgeous day for it, the trail is about 4 miles, and you can hike it, or go on horseback. The view from the top was amazing, and it was pretty neat to be that close to such an iconic piece of history.
  
  You can learn more about the Hollywood sign hike here.
  
  I wore new shoes for some inexplicable reason, and ended up walking on the backs so I wouldn’t get blisters
  
  Posted in exploring, travel | 0 Comments
- book worm
  
  Posted at 4:55 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 19, 2013
  
  I’m a huge book nerd, I love to read, always have. When I was younger and got in to trouble, I would get grounded from my books, because usually that was a worse punishment for me than not being able to watch TV, or go out.
  
  The library is my happy place, whenever I am feeling overwhelmed, or lonely, or sad, or grouchy, or if I just want to be someplace familiar I go to the library. The great thing about libraries is that once you feel comfortable in a library, you feel comfortable in ANY library because, basically, they are all the same. You can walk in to almost any one and find your old friends Anne Shirley, Katniss Everdeen and Scout Finch just waiting for you to pick them up again.
  
  I will literally read anything, mystery, history, biography, self-help, chick-lit, the classics. Every once in awhile you can find me curled up in the YA corner, checking back in with The Baby-Sitters Club. When life gets crazy, nothing will make take you back to being 13 again faster than the books you loved at the time.
  
  I’m always looking for new books, the feeling you get when you find a random book in the library, bookstore, or flea market and it turns out to be one of the best books you’ve ever read, that has to be one of my absolute favourite feelings. So here are just a few books that I love, in case you are looking for a new book yourself.
  
  A Northern Light– Jennifer Donnelly: one of my favourites
  
  Firstborn– Doris Mortman: This novel was written in the 1980’s, it’s sort of a trashy beach read, but I loved every second of it, there are several main characters that take you from Hollywood Glamour, the fashion industry, a multi-billion dollar hotel empire, and everywhere in between. It has murder, jealousy, seduction, intrigue, a little bit of everything. It’s delicious.
  
  White Oleander– Janet Fitch: you’ve probably read this, but if not, definitely check it out
  
  Wonderul Tonight– Pattie Boyd: This book is really neat, Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison of the Beatles, and also Eric Clapton and she was a model in London in the 60’s, so it’s kind of neat to read all about that era.
  
  Belle de Jour- Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl: This is a collection of blog posts written by a London call girl, there is lots of sex in it (obviously) but it’s also really smart. This is probably one of my favourites, I tend to re-read it when I’m in between books
  
  Marisa De Los Santos: Love Walked in and Belong to Me: I recently discovered her books, they are maybe a little chick lit-ish but they are really well written and almost poetic sometimes, I really enjoyed both of these.
  
  I just finished reading Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, it’s a best seller so you may have already read it. I liked it because it was different than anything I’d read lately, and the writing was really smart and insightful.
  
  I also just finished all of the Game of Thrones books, I really liked them, especially the first 3. Even if “fantasy” isn’t really your thing, it’s still really amazing when you are reading it to think of one guy writing the book from all of those perspectives (like 30 different characters) simultaneously and being that detailed.
  
  I also love to read historical fiction (I’ve had a very long running obsession with Anne Boleyn), Phillippa Gregory is one of my favourite authors, all of her books are pretty great but I really liked The Queen’s Fool. She does an excellent job of using historical characters and events, and filling in the blanks to round out the full story, and she will often write several books on the same event, showing it from different view points so you can see how everything happened for all of the people that were involved, instead of just a one-sided view.
  
  And I haven’t read this yet but it’s going to be my next book I saw it at the airport last week- If I stay by Gayle Forman. I thought it looked good, kind of The Lovely Bones-ish, I’ll let you know how I like it.
  
  If you are looking for some classics to check out, I found this list on Pinterest last week, all of the books that Rory Gilmore read or mentioned during the entire series of The Gilmore Girls, one of my favourite shows when I was younger.
  
  Posted in books | 0 Comments
- sweets for my sweeties
  
  Posted at 10:34 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 15, 2013
  
  I tend to over-do things. It is one of my best/worst qualities in my opinion. Sometimes I procrastinate, sometimes I will put something off for months or years, but the second I decide that I’m really going to do something, I’m all in, and it needs to happen NOW.
  
  For example, I’ll go years thinking to myself “I think leopard shoes are cute, maybe I should get a pair”, but doing nothing about it. Then one day I will see someone wearing them, or something that would look cute with them and THAT’S IT. I am buying leopard shoes that day, come hell or high water, even if they are wildly expensive, or not even close to the ones I wanted, or two sizes too small. It’s happening.
  
  That zeal can come in handy, though, especially when it comes to holidays. I know Valentine’s Day can be kind of cheesy and commercial, but really what’s wrong with telling your favourite people that you kind of like them, a little bit, some days?
  
  I wanted to send my niece and nephew a ginormous box full of candy, which I’m pretty sure would put me firmly in the running for auntie of the year, but I suspect it might also make me a prime candidate for worst sister ever, so I broke the sugar up a bit with some toys.
  
  package of love for my niece and nephew
  
  A little love for the boy:
  
  he is obsessed with Reece’s peanut butter cups. it’s a problem.
  
  I saw board’s like this on Etsy for $75.00. This one cost me about $6 to make. Ignore my serial killer handwriting.
  
  And:
  
  Back to elementary school- Valentine’s for my co-workers
  
  Posted in chocolate, holidays | 0 Comments
- i heart confetti
  
  Posted at 3:43 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 15, 2013
  
  This is one of my favourite little tricks, it allows you to show your loved ones how much you care, while also annoying them just enough to make them glad you don’t live closer.
  
  First, write out the greeting in your card, or if you are making you own cards, stamp them, glitter them, etc until they are ready to go.
  
  Then take a large pile of confetti or glitter (confetti is nicer because it’s bigger and easier to clean up) and insert it into a folded piece of paper. I used heart doilies because I am festive like that.
  
  Carefully insert the folded paper into the card, facing up, and close the card. Insert it into the envelope folded side first, and send it off to your chosen target.
  
  When they pull the card out of the envelope and open it, the paper with the confetti (or glitter, depending on how much you love/hate that person) will fall and scatter, leaving them with a big, sparkly mess which they will clean up while sending positive, loving thoughts your way. Probably.
  
  Posted in DIY, holidays | 2 Comments
- death by chocolate
  
  Posted at 9:19 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 14, 2013
  
  We are having a dessert buffet at work today. It’s kind of depressing how excited I am for this, but once I saw all the delicious things that everyone brought in, I realized I wasn’t even as excited as I should have been.
  
  oreo cheesecakes
  
  chocolate covered oreos
  
  chocolate fondue…mmmm
  
  This is about to be me:
  
  You can just call me Augustus Gloop.
  
  Posted in chocolate, holidays | 0 Comments
- happy love day
  
  Posted at 4:25 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 14, 2013
  
  Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope everyone gets a ton of kisses, or a ton of chocolate, and if you’re really lucky, both at the same time.
  
  We are going to Sausalito for supper, it’s one of my favourite little towns in the Bay area, and keeping it low key since we are off to LA this weekend. I officially finished my “cleanse” two days ago, so I’m super excited to eat pasta for the first time in almost a month!
  
  It’s going to be just like this, with hopefully the exact same number of mustaches and accordions.
  
  Posted in chocolate, holidays | 0 Comments
- day-glo
  
  Posted at 10:57 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 13, 2013
  
  I bought this sweater a few weeks ago, I have no idea why. I’ve never owned a sweater in my life, and I have never even remotely considered the idea of incorporating hi-lighter yellow (or fluorescent green, depending on who you ask… I may be colour blind) into my wardrobe, but it just looked so cheerful and warm, I wanted it immediately.
  
  With some baggy jeans and the necklace from my wedding, it was a comfy, colourful way to spend a lazy Sunday.
  
  Sweater: F21/ Jeans: Express/ Wedges: Local Fever/ Sunglasses: American Eagle
  
  Posted in fashion | 0 Comments
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