at the movies

I've always been a movie freak. I love watching movies, going to the movies, and talking about movies. My freakishly good memory always helps in these situations (I can't tell you how many texts I've received over the years from friends asking, "What's the name of the guy..." or "What movie was so-and-so in?")

Just got done watching The Social Network. I remember seeing a trailer for this last year (I love me some trailers) and it surprisingly looked good. A movie about facebook? It was brilliantly directed (David Fincher...Se7en, Zodiac, Fight Club to name a few of his films) and the guy that has just been cast as the new Spiderman (Andrew Garfield) totally STOLE the movie. I loved him.

I'll be in Chicago from Thursday til Sunday, and to kill some time Friday I plan on going to the movies. Gonna be a last minute decision for sure...

changes

Wow. Three months and no new blog? I need to up my game in 2011.

First things first, I have officially moved in to a new apartment! I've been here a week now, and I absolutely love it. I am still getting all settled in.

I am very excited for Christmas. Mainly having a week and a half off! I love that my job allows us to take off for the extended holiday season (makes up for not having as many holidays off...I'd take that over getting President's Day off)

I would write more, but I'm pooped, and unlike my teacher friends, I have work in the morning :)

Merry Christmas my beautiful friends!!

music that moves you

Music is an amazing thing. I personally am listening to music probably 60% of my day....either driving, showering, working, or falling asleep. Nothing is better than finding a new band or artist and sharing it with your loved ones. My wonderful friend Liz just happened to introduce me to a band a few weeks ago when I was up in Chicago called The Black Keys. And to my surprise, I find out they are the opening act for Kings of Leon next Monday! For those who don't know, I'll be heading out to Raleigh, NC on Friday to visit some old college friends for a long weekend, and will get back Tuesday night. I am beyond excited, because I find their music upbeat and unique.

I name the post "music that moves you" and the one band I come back to time and time again is Explosions in the Sky. I can't sing their praises (pun intended) any more than I already have. They are extremely different in the sense that they don't sing a single lyric. Now, for a band to create music that moves me so much with just a couple of guitars and drums is extremely impressive in my book. I own all of their albums and listen to them daily. They are relaxing, and more importantly, they make you just sit and think. It's hard to put in to words...listening to them just makes you question just about everything. Very emotional. If you do want to check out their music, I highly suggest the album "How Strange, Innocence". I want to see this band perform live more than anything, and I without a doubt will see them one day. I know that they did the score for the movie "Friday Night Lights" (not the TV show), so if they sound familiar then that's probably where you've heard them before! :)

On a complete side-note, painting bathrooms sucks. It's so small, and I found myself constantly bumping in to WET walls, got oil-based paint in my hair, and dropped paint rollers on the carpet (twice) but it was well worth it...I think??

Have a fantastic (short) week my friends...mine's even shorter :)

-LV

Air Conditioning

Don't. Ever. Take. It. For. Granted.

Lesson learned.

Saugatuk

Two weekends ago I went to Saugatuk, MI with a group of girls, and it was glorious. I had never been there, and we stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast on the water. The weekend consisted of AMAZING weather, delicious food, drinking, and friends. I think it would be amazing to go there in the fall. There were so many cute shops and restaurants. We went on a ferry ride out to Lake Michigan. I was really grateful to have been part of the group! Of course, here are some of my favorite pictures:

Thinking...

There's a reason my blog is called "random thoughts". Sometimes I think people would think I'm crazy because of how much day dreaming I do on a daily basis. For instance, whenever I drive by a pool and see the lifeguards, I remember of what a good life I had as a teenager. Lifeguarding was the best job EVER. Killer tan, minimal effort (don't worry, I was paying attention to your dumbass kid who kept dunking people), and my favorite, A LOT of thinking time. What else was there to do up in that chair but do some major thinking?

I wish I had worn more SPF instead of tanning oil (idiot).

New Layout

You like? I found these jelly beans as a background and thought it was adorable (yuck to butter popcorn flavor).

More to come...

It's So Damn Hot

Okay, summer is my least favorite season. I'm putting that out there. Soak it up. Most people think I'm crazy for not liking summer, but after lifeguarding for 5 summers growing up, it's ruined it for me. It's humid, muggy, and just overwhelming. Summers were fun when I was a kid, with ZERO responsibilities and playing all day. Now, I'm just waiting for it to be fall (coincidentally my FAVORITE season).

Everytime I get on here, I apologize for not keeping up with the blog. But cut me some freaking slack. Weekends yield my only down time, and I find Saturdays to be a blur and Sundays filled with cleaning and preparing for the week ahead. Right now I'm blogging in between cleaning rooms.

I've had a pretty uneventful summer. I haven't done much traveling, but the next 2 months I'll be going to quite a few places. I haven't seen my friend Liz since my birthday!! We are both super busy with work, and she works for Chase so she works on Saturdays half the time. I'm hoping to get up there in August when it calms down a bit. Next weekend I'll be going to Saugatuk, MI with a group of girls for some much needed R & R. I've never been, and I'm really excited. I took off Friday and we're leaving in the morning. Then the weekend after that I'll be heading to Milwaukee with my friend Kris to see our friend Gavin. I've also never been to Milwaukee, but Gavin tells me it's awesome in the summer. I'm REALLY hoping to go to Leinenkugel Brewery...we'll see about that.

August looks to be a relatively calm month (personally). Work couldn't be any more crazy. The next couple of weeks will be extremely hectic. One of my bosses is in Buenos Aires this week and the week after that my other boss will be in Paris for the week. We also have some of our consultants traveling to Warsaw and Moscow (those are firsts for us). In September I'll be heading to Raleigh, NC to see my friend Jess, as well as go to a Kings of Leon concert out there! Never seen them in concert, so that will be exciting! A lot of firsts for me in the coming weeks and months!

Relaxing Weekends...?

Aren't weekends supposed to be relaxing? Lazy? Sit-around-in-your-pajamas-watching-hulu-type-weekends? That sure doesn't feel like it anymore. Sleeping in? Negative. But on Sunny Sundays like these, I find myself sitting back, breathing in that Spring air, and enjoying what little time I have until 8 am tomorrow morning.

Oh, and playing softball with my neighbors is a nice, new Sunday tradition that I've come to enjoy :)

I put up this picture of my friend Sarah and I at a Red Sox/Reds game two summers ago. This weather makes me nostalgic for baseball, and that game was a BLAST. The Reds stadium is pretty fabulous, and I can't wait to go there again!

I miss the blond hair from time to time....RIP (for now)

we're gonna have a good time

So my birthday came and went, and it was truly amazing. I'm so blessed and lucky to have such great friends and family in my life. One of my best friends came in from Chicago for my birthday weekend (Liz), as well as my friends Sarah and Lindsey. We went to Scotty's downtown Friday night to watch the Purdue game (don't want to talk about it). We were going to "take it easy" that night, since we were going to go to Broad Ripple Saturday night. Funny how things never turn out that way...we ended up going to a place called Ike and Jonsey's and actually had a great time. We stayed until the bars closed, which I haven't done in a very very long time. Saturday was a day of recovering, shopping, and just relaxing. Saturday night we went to dinner at a new favorite restaurant of mine called The Corner Wine Bar. It's' in Broad Ripple, so we had a late dinner then went out after. Butler had just won, so needless to say the bars were crowded and packed with Butler fans. I actually go to see some old friends from High School, which is always fun. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, and definitely took some time to recover!! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!!! And, NO, my birthday IS NOT CURSED FOR PURDUE BASKETBALL (coincidence that they played on my birthday the past 2 years in the Sweet Sixteen and lost....)