Torture?

Do you work out? I don't care what it is...bike? Run? Walk? Yoga? Pilates? I could go on. Grace talks about doing videos at home, and I have a hard time remaining dedicated when the couch is soooo nearby. I have a friend who used this video...and her results are amazing. I kid you not, this girl posted a photo of her now and has received upwards of 45 comments and 30 "likes" on the photo. How inspiring! However...the comments I've heard about it are that it makes you want to vomit the first few days. I mean, I don't necessarily have a phobia of throwing up (like my sisters) but I don't really want to provoke it on a daily occurrence. I like to work out. Wellllllll...might be a stretch. I like to be in shape and be healthy. It's pretty important to me. My 60 minute bar exercise classes are pretty torturous, but I endure them. This 20 minute video might become a nightly routine in my casita. I bet I could convince my roommate to join in...muahahaa...anyone else care to join???? It's so cheap on Amazon!

Weekend

Some people have goals for their weekend. They might include cleaning, jogging, or brunching. I love all those things (well except for the jogging-no thanks), but ... sometimes my goals include silly things. Like "wear a cute dress" or "put on that red lipstick".

(1, 2, 3) (the lipstick I found from Sydney, and that girl is smmmart.)

Anyone else? Surely it's not just me.. Plus, technically I could wear a cute dress to brunch, or I could wear lipstick while cleaning...it's not like I'm limiting my activities people..

Likes

Good music and good humor can make my week. I have a little bit of a problem with music, because I'm constantly moving from one band/genre to the next in quick succession. Because of this, I'm always on the hunt for new stuff to listen to.

I have a friend with a similar "problem", so we decided to tackle the Pitchfork Top 50 Albums of 2011 together. He starting with 50 and me starting with 1. We give it a three song listening chance, and decide whether or not to continue listening from there. I've got the full list printed out at my desk with color coded highlighting according to what the fate is of the band (nerd alert!). This week, Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues was on my docket. Great song, great album, great music video. I highly recommend you take a listen.

And..you'll soon realize I have a huge girl crush on Zooey Deschanel. She is in the television show "New Girl", which started out pretty rough...I think I gave it a four episode chance, before I really settled in for the long haul. My favorite line this week was "I'm about to go pay this fine, and my checks have baby farm animals on them, bitch!" Just give it a chance and watch it... She's so dorky/cute! I actually had someone tell me that they think of me when they watch this show.. and I'm not sure how to take that.

Alteration Station

Welcome to Alteration Station. Doesn't that title remind you of Schoolhouse Rock!? Last weekend for me involved busting out the sewing machine and getting to that ever-growing pile of pants to be altered. I'm barely over 5 feet, so I have to hem nearly every pair of pantalones I purchase. Yes, even the "short" ones. Below we have four pairs of skinnies and one skirt (peaking out of the top!). The black pair on the left have remained too long (or just chopped off and frayed, much to the dismay of the lady that did my pedicure last week) for at least a full year. The next pair I just received at Christmas, so not bad! The third pair are the skinny skinny cords from Madewell in a fabulous mint. Other colors are available on sale right now!!! The fourth and final pair are some Old Navy boot cut jeans I picked up for $11. Look, Old Navy can be great, but do NOT look at their sizes. Just buy whatever fits. Ahhhhh glorious array of pants that now fit properly!! Oh this? Just a JCrew factory skirt I bought a few years ago that, during a recent try on/evaluation of "will I wear you to work today?" I discovered sat 3" below my knee...not so flattering. Chop I went, sewed up the back slit, and called it a short skirt! Can I just tell you I got at least four compliments throughout the day? Check out that stitching! Oh ya! (Look, I'm pumped about it!) Unrelated-ish, but here are my $10 cowboy boots I purchased at the Dallas Flea a few months ago, that I will wear on casual Friday with said Old Navy boot cut.

This weekend I plan on hemming my yoga pants (I know, how pathetic that I even have to hem yoga pants?) (PS, even though Lululemon is high dollar, they do free alterations. That is glorious). I also have one more skirt to chop off (similar to above situation). The fun continues!

An Intro.

I'm calling this day 1 of blogging. I think it's a good time to start. First day of the month, second month of the year...My reasoning behind starting on February 1st is as follows:

1. Starting new things on January 1 does not usually lead to permanence and/or consistency, so February might.

2. I didn't even know I was going to start another blog until I got Grace's nudge on January 20th, so how could I have started any sooner?

3. I need time to build and create this blog. People, it doesn't happen over night! I also took on the daunting task of editing and customizing the coding on my own. A few times I had to phone a friend (actually a really smart cousin).

Since I'm not entirely set on a specific topic to start with, how about I just introduce myself a little bit (in case there are new readers out there)!

Name: Ann (obvi).

Daytime occupation: Accountant (are you surprised?).

Favorite color: Green. Ok and grey (gray?) too.

Hobbies: anything you see in the drop down menus here, as well as yoga/fitness, brunching, and consuming mass quantities of wine and/or cheese.

Residence: Texas.*

Number of shoes currently taking up residence in my closet: Unknown. Should I count?

Fact: I use sarcasm/humor to ease discomfort in awkward situations.

Fiction: I am left handed.

Seemingly useless skills I possess: omelet making, shoe shopping, blog scouring, number counting, sneezing loudly, and getting ready at a rapid pace in the mornings.

I have a talented photographer cousin (Julie) that you'll see me post about frequently. She is the master behind any cool looking photo of me. My profiel image, and of the one on my sidebar of myself and another cousin doing a head stand in South Africa. Here she and I are in a typical self-taken photo op situation:

I also have six nephews between my two older sisters, and one more baby on the way**. I am obsessed with those crazy boys.

These four are expecting another to complete their basketball team.

From L to R- Leo (7), Teddy (just under 2), Joe (10, and donning shoes bigger than me), and Henry (5):

These two are Moses (a very out of date pic-but I just love this old one! He is now 2+ years old) and below him, his very new brother Cyrus (6 weeks!) (which Julie took!):

What's the point of this blog? I really think it serves as a creative outlet since I am typically trapped in my cubicle counting beans (that's what you envision isn't it?). Since the invention of Pinterest (seriously, how badly do you wish it was you who had the idea?!), all I want to do is cook, organize, and DIY. We'll talk about shoes, we'll talk about alterations, we'll talk about cooking, or my obsessive organizing.

kthxbye!

P.S. These are the shoes I have on today:

*Just because I'm from Texas, and live here, doesn't mean I obsess over my state like so many do. I do love it, especially since we have had a complete jooooooooke of a winter thus far. Most likely, I will not post about Texas and all its greatness. Any complaints, take it up with management***.

**Two older sisters. Oldest has 4 boys and one baby on the way...sex to be determined. Let's be honest, it's probably a boy. Middle has two boys.

***that's me, lucky you!