dream come true

now on day 2 of my 2 week vacation, i'd like to say i am well-rested, refreshed and every other restorative adjective known to man. but, i'm whooped. normally this would really be cookin' my grits if it weren't for the reason for my exhaustion...

dear readers, please meet my dream come true in the flesh, miss davy crockett. yes, i said MISS. she is a lady and queen of the wild frontier. this pup is mellow, fearless and full of vim and vigor. my entire life has been spent begging for a four legged fur ball to call my own. my annual christmas list used to go something like this:

1. puppy

2-50. a sister

when i was 10, the barnes family got the best dog ever in our boston terrier squidget.

she was my best friend and knew my every secret, but got mysteriously sick seven years later and she had to be put to sleep. worst. day. ever. especially since college graduation i've been pining for a french bulldog. i have proof here and here. and lo and behold the good Lord answered my prayer in the form of a 4 month old, 10 pound ball of the best thing i've ever had.

why davy crockett? because he was a true american hero, fought and died for Texas (the best state EVER) and quoted my favorite line in history, "You can all go to hell. I will go to Texas" So my blog absence is happily due to her. Because seriously, who has time to blog when A) they're on vacation and B) too busy taking one million pictures of their dog?

friday faves

The sweet sounds of a weekend are calling my name...what's that? A vacation? Oh yeah, I'm going to Colorado for two whole weeks. Bittersweet trip but it beats warming a cube for 40 hours a week. Somehow I stumbled upon Silhouette Masterpiece Theater this week and it blew my mind. Few things make me truly laugh out loud (I refuse to type that blasted acronym) but this was one of them. You've got to visit the site to see the entire collection. It's awesome. Below are some of my faves.

If you have time to burn, swing by Jay-Z's newest endeavor, Life & Times. I don't really know how to categorize this site. According to Jay (aka Sean Carter) it's all about "making the ordinary extraordinary" and covers virtually any dinner topic you'd ever need to have in your social arsenal. It's got music, technology, history, imagery, Q&A's and so much more. Want a portrait of the decay of America in Gary, Indiana? Check. A reality check on the car culture of Queens? This delightful time suck has it all. It's like taking a deliciously eclectic trip down the rabbit hole of Jay-Z's mind.

Have a great weekend friends, whether running Boston (GO QUINN!) or fighting freedom in Kyrgyzstan (heyyyyyy Rem). See you next week.

picture this

I've been rather wordy lately on the old blawg and am offering a respite today in the form of some incredible images I've tracked down this week. Enjoy! Thanks to all three of you who took me up on my letter writing offer! I've got my materials prepped (below) and may include a surprise (:

images from: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

20 years

Lately I've been on a political auto/biography jag - first Ted Kennedy's True Compass, then G.W.'s Decision Points, Karl Rove's Courage & Consequence and now Reagan's Presidential diaries. Amazingly, Reagan recorded the only daily Presidential diary in American history. That's nearly 3,000 entries! It's astounding to read who he met with, what he struggled with and how heavy the responsibility of leading the country was. I've always had a soft spot for Ronald Reagan - he was President when Yours Truly was born, embodied the rugged West & Old Hollywood, died of Alzheimer's like my sweet grandma and had an unshakeable love affair with his wife Nancy. Several weeks ago I came across an old letter from Reagan to Nancy on the occasion of their 20th anniversary. A picture of the letter is below but I've also transcribed it since the handwriting's a bit hard to make out. Be prepared to have your heart warmed...

"My Darling Wife,

This note is to warn you of a diabolical plot entered into by some of our so called friends (ha!), calendar makers and even our own children. These and others would have you believe we’ve been married 20 years.

20 minutes maybe – but never 20 years. In the first place it is a known fact that a human cannot sustain the high level of happiness I feel for more than a few minutes – and my happiness keeps on increasing.

I will confess to one puzzlement but I’m sure it is first some trick perpetuated by our friends – (ha again!) I can’t remember ever being without you and I know I was born more than 20 minutes ago.

Oh well – that isn’t important. The important thing is I don’t want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are. I’ve gotten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed.

Your Husband of 20 something or other."

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Isn’t that just swoon-worthy? I love letters. They’re a tangible record of so many things – love found, love lost, adventures, sadness, growth and much more. In the past year, my mister and I have written nearly 200 letters back and forth and I honestly don’t think I’d know certain things or parts of him had we not initiated a snail mail campaign. So, I have an offer for you, dear reader. Let's keep the Postal Service in business. Leave a comment with your address or email it to me (kbarnes@spu.edu) and I will write you a letter or send you a pretty card! I’m curious to see how many people will take me up on my offer. Don’t hesitate! Even if you don’t know me well! I have some time off in the near future and what better way to fill it than with letter writing? To make it even better, I've got some Ronald Reagan stamps burning a hole in my pocket so it'll have the face of a hopelessly romantic President on it too (:

monday funday

what a weekend folks. what a weekend. it all kicked off friday night with a phenomenal allen stone show @ neumos in capitol hill. gah. there was scintillating company (with him, her and her), a grumpy sushi waitress, cupcakes, hipsters, PBR in a can, a potential unibomber and lotsa hot, sweaty bodies in motion. all that to say - it was perfect because of the following:

1. running into old and dear friends

2. avoiding the unibomber - this 50+ year old fellow came to a show in a full on trench coat, felt hat and HUGE backpack. unfortunately, he looked eerily similar to my future father-in-law (unfortunate because i really like my FIL). i might have started a rumor that there was a bomb in there (A JOKE RUMOR, OKAY?) and finally had to ask him by the end of the night what the EFF was in the bag. books. books? yep, books. he loves them and carries them everywhere. not weird at all...

3. watching allen freaking stone. he's amazing. take stevie wonder's mannerisms + a dash of john mayer's facial expressions + the voice of robin thicke + justin timberlake's falsetto and you've got allen stone. since my work finally got smart and blocked youtube, the company's greatest time suck, go search "allen stone neumos is this love" and listen to allen's smooth cover of bob marley's "is this love?"

4. your friends and mine, the gentlemen of hot bodies in motion, made a guest appearance during a delicious stevie wonder cover. it made my arm hairs stand up it was that good. in other news...today was most definitely MONDAY FUNDAY. my mailbox overfloweth with good things. check it out.

have i mentioned that i one day will own a paper company called the nitty gritty card committee? don't even think about stealing my name, copyright pending. anywho, i have a penchant for paper products espcially ones like these here from kate's paper goods.

i went to SPU with kate hart. she was a wicked runner and super cute (still is, to be clear) and now based out of sunny pasadena. when i saw her pacific NW suite, i had to have it. lucky for us, her blog is just as cunning as her cards are.

i love love. i also love my friends. so when my friends fall in love and get married, it the BEST thing everrrrrrr. received deb & colin's wedding invite today and can't wait to rally with my family and party in the mile high state for memorial day weekend.

and finally, i got this little gem in the mail. thanks to my newest girl crushes, brandi lisenbe & kelly garcia, of bueno bueno. i was lusting after it, dreamt of it and had to have it especially when i saw lonnie webb had TWO! it came and i'm wearing it all over the place already. and i thought i didn't believe in love at first sight...

finally a weekend

Something about this week has me ready for a break. I can’t put my finger on it though – I got an unprecedented 8 hours of sleep TWICE this week, watched next-to-no TV and got lotsa exercise. I’ve had freaky recurring dreams about my high school sweetheart, mentally ingested copious amounts of new Chris Brown music and found myself missing Texas and my grandpa more than usual. Point being: I’m tired and more than ready for a well-deserved weekend. It all kicks off tonight at the Allen Stone concert @ Neumos in Cap Hill. I can’t wait to see some of my favorite ladies and have an excuse to wear my new $11 Target clearance find (that is a little too short for the office). Then there will be time well-spent with my Texas roomie who’s BACK from freedom fighting in the Middle East! We’re thinking Mariner’s, hiking, shopping and more. Hope you find yourself sucking the marrow out of your weekend. Until Monday, enjoy some of this week’s internet eye candy.

washington wunderkind allen stone. tonight @ neumos. via

accurate, no? via

have i mentioned i'm dying for summer? via

and my florence welch crush continues via

home of the free. i LOVE the stars & stripes in any form via

are you living by the holstee manifesto?

we should all drive with these in our windshields via

in love with david white art

i'm now oracle fox's newest blog stalker. join me?

can't fool me

Not sure if anyone’s noticed but somehow (somehow!) the fanny pack is making a comeback. Unfortunately it’s not returning in its original form (see below). If it were, I’d be pleased as punch. In its heyday, this practical, edgy extra could be worn on any of the waist's 360 degrees and hold a plethora of handy items like your Walkman, stick-on earrings, pogs/slammers, Baby Popple, bubble gum cigarettes, Lisa Frank pencils and much, much more.

Clearly those in the upper echelons of fashion have sanctioned the reintroduction of the fanny pack, instructing their trendsetting factotums to sell it to the masses masquerading as something chic and voguish. When I first encountered a modern day FP in the new Anthropologie catalog, I chalked it up as a fashion fluke. Yet in a span of 9 days, I have logged far too many of these horrendous sightings and want to make it clear to the fashion world: You can’t fool me. I know these alleged “utility pouches”, “Lilliputian pouch belts” and “pocket belts” are really fanny packs in disguise. Please stop desecrating the greatest utilitarian accessory of the 80’s and remarketing it as a hip, must-have trapping.

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