Ah, the power of email...

It's always amusing to me to browse through my junk-mail folder of my email every once in a while. It makes me giggle at memories and remember fun times past. You know, when you get emails from companies or places that you've visited, or more accurately from their websites that you've purchased part of your vacation through. I still get emails from the Anaheim Convention Center, Disneyland, hotel chains in Florida and Southern California, basketball arenas and concert venues across the country. Today I opened one that hit a sentimental spot of mine I've been dealing with lately. It was from a horror house. A haunted horror house. It wasn't so much the actual venue of Blood Manor ...although it was amazing and spectacular. It was the memories of the people and the location that hit the tough spot. I learned long ago that I left my heart in Seattle. The problem is, that I've left my soul in Manhattan. And my mind is definitely somewhere else entirely. I have been seriously craving New York City recently. I miss it like you'd miss breathing. I miss it always, I love Manhattan in all it's seasons, each has it's own magic. But there is no place in the world like Manhattan in the fall. There is an absolutely indescribable feeling that descends on the city come Labor Day. I miss it. I miss everything about it.

It's killing me to not be HERE this October

My soul is here.

Can you blame me?

I miss these people.

I miss this place.

The thing is, when I was here amongst all the fall colored crisp breeze scarf and pea-coat wearing glory and glamor, I was homesick. You've heard that home is where your heart is? Well, when I was in the most amazing and wonderful city in the world (it will always be so) I realized that Seattle felt like home. It was where my heart was and where I would return to some day. So when I was in NYC I yearned for this:

And now I'm in 'this' and I am having quite the identity crisis. Because as I said, my heart is in Seattle, My soul is in Manhattan, and my mind is here:

With this little guy. Again, can you blame me?! Sigh. What's a girl to do? How about vacation somewhere new and fabulous?!!! Good idea, no? I'll keep you posted! :)

Deflated

Remember those little emotion magnets that everyone had on their fridge in college? The one with all the faces and an emotion written under each one? Then there was the black frame magnet that went with it that said, "Today I feel," on it? Well today I feel deflated. I just got back from dropping my parents off at the airport. It's always a deflating disappointing feeling to come home to a now-empty apartment that so recently was filled with people and laughter. I'm missing my family and I'm missing friends from far away. And I'm bewildered over a friendship I thought was indestructible. I still think it is since i'm a firm believer that the truth will ALWAYS prevail ...but hiccups suck. And men are douche bags. And when the douche bag is your professionally controlling live-in boyfriend and baby-daddy, I can understand that it's easier to want to believe them ...but ...sigh. Today, I'm a little deflated. So you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna be deflated today and spend the entire day in my comfy clothes with lots of time in my bed and on my couch with lots of great movies and TV on DVD ...perhaps some Grey's Anatomy. Although the last few times I've watched that one it's hit WAY to close to home on several emotional issues I'm not ready to deal with yet. So maybe I'll stick to Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. The TV on DVD version of comfort food :) Ooh! And I'll eat some macaroni and cheese ...and chicken noodle soup ...and grilled cheese sandwiches... And now I'm just thinking out loud ...via the keyboard ...so I'm gonna go ...but I'll leave you with a picture of me and my amazing parents from yesterday.

'Tis the Season

...For baking and blankets and sweaters and scarves. And I've indulged in all of the above over the past weekend. Tonight, instead of making one of my go-to batches of cookies, I decided to be adventurous. You see, when I deep cleaned my kitchen a couple weeks ago, I threw away an expired bottle of vanilla extract. I did NOT as of yet replace it. So last night I was craving cookies, went to make some and realized that I didn't have vanilla. So I looked through the recipe book of my new kitchen aid to see if there was some yummy vanilla-less recipe for cookies. There was not. But, there was a recipe for these delectable looking creamy no-cook mints. So today I ran to the grocery store for vanilla extract, and picked myself up the ingredients to make some yummy mints. And since I was feeling extra adventurous, I picked up some food coloring so I could make my mints red, yellow, and orange. Very fall-like, no?

Well, turns out, mints aren't easy. They're quite messy. But I did it ...and they taste divine. They are not however red, yellow, and orange ...they are peachy, daffodil, and ...well ...not red. Nor are they the brown that I tried to turn the non-red into (don't ask someone who works in healthcare to describe this color). But, such is my life. It's never what you originally intended, and sometimes not even your backup plan looks like you thought it would. In the end it may look a little messy, but deep in the heart of things, it's the creamy minty goodness that overrides all else :) Happy fall everyone!