There once was a girl...

There once was a girl from Peru...she was dating a guy named Bamboo and they lived in a red wooden shoe.

That was my story for you all. I know you really enjoyed it :)

Eat Pray Love-

The movie is out August 13. The book touched me (and in my state of unravelling right now has saved me all over again).

This passage inparticular....

Depression and Loneliness track me down after about ten days in Italy. I am walking through the Villa Borghese one evening after a happy day spent in school, and the sun is setting gold over St. Peter's Basilica. I am feeling contented in this romantic scene even if I am all by myself, while everyone else in the park is either fondling a lover or playing with a laughing child. But I stop to lean against a blaustrade and watch the sunset, and I get to thinking a little too much, and then my thinking turns to brooding, and that's when they catch up with me.
They come upon me all silent and meancing like Pinkerton Detectives and they flank me - Depression on my left, Loneliness on my right. They don't need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well. We've been playing a cat-and-mouse game for years now. Though I admit that I am surprised to meet them in this elegant Italian garden at dusk. This is no place they belong.
I say to them, "How did you find me here? Who told you I had come to Rome?"
Depression, always the wise guy, says, "What - you're not happy to see us?"
"Go away," I tell him.
Loneliness, the more sensitive cop, says, "I'm sorry, ma'am. But I might have to tail you the whole time you're traveling. It's my assignment."
"I"d really rather you didn't," I tell him, and he shrugs almost apologetically, but only moves closer.
They then they frisk me. They empty my pockets of any joy I had been carrying there. Depression even confiscates my identity; but he always does that. Then Loneliness starts interrogating me, which I dread because it always goes on for hours. He's polite but relentless, and he always trips me up eventually. He asks if I have any reason to be happy that I know of. He asks why I am all by myself tonight, yet again. He asks (though we've been through this line of questioning hundreds of times already) why I can't keep a relationship going, why I ruined my marriage, why I messed things up with David, why I messed things up with every man I've ever been with. He ask me where I was the night I turned thirty, and why things have gone sour since then. He asks why I can't get my act together, and why I'm not at home living in a nice house and raising nice children like any respectable woman my age should be. He asks, why, exactly, I think I deserve a vacation in Rome when I've made such a rubble of my life. He asks why I think that running away to Italy like a college kid will make me happy. He asks where I think I'll end up in my old age, if I keep living this way.
I walk back home, hoping to shake them, but they keep following me, these two goons. Depression has a firm hand on my shoulder and Loneliness harangues me with his interrogation. I don't even bother eating dinner; I don't want them watching me. I don't want to let them up the stairs to my apartment, either, but I know Depression, and he's got a billy club, so there's no stopping him from coming in if he decides that he wants to.
"It's not fair for you to come here," I tell Depression. "I paid you off already. I served my time back in New York."
But he just gives me that dark smile, settles into my favorite chair, puts his feet on my table and lights a cigar, filling the place with his awful smoke. Loneliness watches and sighs, then climbs into my bed and pulls the covers over himself, fully dressed, shoes and all. He's going to make me sleep with him tonight, I just know it.

Happiness is what Friends bring to your life...

I have to admit, I have the most amazing friends in the world. You may think you have the most amazing friends in the world, but you'd be wrong, unless we have the same friends.

I've heard of a saying that everyone comes into your life for a reason and I completely agree. The friends I have made throughout my life have formed me into the person I am today and are continuing to push me into being an even better more confident me as each day passes.

To have friends who totally understand you and get where you're coming from in relation to your thoughts and feelings without judging and criticizing is a blessing and I love them all so much.

Amy, who has been my absolute best friend in the entire world since we were six years old has shown me what it is to know true and honest friendship. No matter what happens in our lives, whether we lose touch for a couple of years or get in a fight, we pick right back up where we left off as if nothing ever happened. She is the one person I know 100 % who will always love me no holds bar.

Sarah, who is my 'sort of sister' since I was six and her, ten. My whole life I had always wished for a sister but instead got a brother. I had always wanted that relationship with someone who I can always turn to and who knows me and who is family. Sarah is that person.

Carrie W., man oh man the fun times we have had. Our 'how we met' story is the greatest. I was 21 and had gone to California with a friend for vaca. While standing in line to see a 'FRIENDS' taping (I know, how appropriate, right?!) I met Carrie, who was behind us. We talked for the entire wait time and sat together at the taping then afterwards hung out for a bit. Then we didn't talk for about a year until I wanted to see Chicago on broadway. And the rest is history. We have been the greatest friends ever since. NINE years! It seems like yesterday. We have the same interests in TV, Movies, Broadway Shows etc. And I can always count on her to complain to about work and sibling issues. Without Cdubbs (hehe) I would just be Lindsay.

Mark! My college bud with a heart of gold. My one friend who knows everything about me...everything. I can talk to Mark about anything and everything without the slightest judgement and he is always there to give me words of support and motivation. He believes in me and constantly tries to boost my confidence (although it is hard to do--back to the brother issue). I look forward to traveling to Ireland with my boo.

Kari I met through a mutual friend at a halloween party and since then we have become very close. Our puppies Byron & Gracie are pals as well. I love our fun times we have together, going to see movies, hanging out watching tv, or one of us being bullied into going to the bars with the other...hmmm I wonder which one is the bully?! HAHA. Although I do end up having a blast anyway.

Kris or Kristina as I once called her and got yelled at for! After living in a quad dorm for a month or two my freshman year of college I requested to be switched and I was soo lucky to be placed in a double with Kris as my new roommate. I remember first meeting her in the entryway of O'Hare and her telling me that nobody called her "Kristina" only "Kris" or "Vickstrom". And then we became fast friends. We were both into Theatre and liked pretty much the same things. I so look forward to attending her wedding in November! :)

Shoshana --who would have thought that after one simple email asking to use one of my Idina photos from her final show that Shoshana and I would become great friends? Well, that's all it took. Since then we have had many fun times together in New York. Who can forget the fabulous night at Blockheads for my 'book signing party' haha. If only we lived closer.

Amanda, who is another college bud...we have also had so much fun at Salve and Seattle. I love our great adventures and our talks on AIM. I introduced her to Sex & the City, which became something we could talk about and have in common. Also, crazy anxiety attacks over our thesis presentations!

Elle, I am just now getting used to calling her that, as it is short for Marielle. What a great friend and fellow adventurer. We have had sooooo many fantastic times in the past few years, JWU parties at my house, a fun filled ski weekend in New Hampshire for my birthday, crazy rain soaked adventures through Newport trying to teach me photog skills, She & Him amazingness, beach adventures galore, and many more fun times! It seems that whenever we are together fun times follow. Because, yes we are awesome.

Carrie V., we have known each other for a while but just recently became friends. I feel though, that we have been friends forever. She is totally my 'friend lobster' between our love of Elephants and Broadway shows and Idina and Firefly and everything else...and her amazing apple pie and her amazing self I don't know how I have lived without us being friends. Our crazy adventures are beyond awesome and everytime we hang out it is the best time ever.

So, this blog is a tribute to my besties -- Amy, Sarah, Carrie W., Mark, Kari, Kris, Shoshana, Elle, Carrie V., and Amanda. Without all of you in my life I would be nothing. Thank you for being my friend I LOVE YOU!

Best Frying Pans

You can get two Calphalon pans on sale now at William Sonoma for $70. One is 8" and the other is 10".

I hate cleaning up when I cook, but this is easy. Super easy. It makes cooking fun. And if you think about it it is affordable.

Do it for yourself. Do it for your family. Do it for your future husband. Just do it.

(Inspired by GOOP - but not really. I hate that bitch)

Vacation, all I ever wanted...Vacation had to get away

Seeing as Mark has failed to post any blogs as of late, I decided to post yet another one. Yep, that's right, it's me again, your pal -- Lindsay!

So last week Custom Design, Inc. was closed for a whole week, which means I had the fantastic luxury of having a full 9 days of rest, relaxation and doing absolutely nothing! Well, that was the plan anyway. I planned to clean my house, work on my deck and lie by the pool and tan. Every day. All day. But instead I did everything but! And enjoyed myself immensly.

Saturday (July 3rd) I woke up and met Amy and Heather at my dad's boat (Raven) for a fun filled day of sailing. Heather brought some beer and Amy brought lunch makings. I had a turkey and ham sandwich (YUM!) and a Smirnoff. Delicious. We sat up at the front of the boat for most of the sailing trip around the bay, soaking up the sun and enjoying the quiet. The wind was weird so we would go from standing still to moving very quickly, causing me to almost fall off the boat haha. For the record, I did not really almost fall off the boat, but it was tipping greatly. I dipped my legs in the water, so refreshing.

Once we arrived back at the dock we chatted for a bit with my dad and Don Waddington and then I went home for a quick nap. An hour later I headed to Jamestown to Heather's house for a cookout. We had lobsters! SO YUMMY! Then we went down to the beach and watched some fireworks. Kids behind us kept screaming what the fireworks looked like, and amazingly one of them looked like FIREWORKS! HAHAHA. so funny and cute.

After fireworks were over I headed on home.

Sunday (July 4th) I went to my parents pool and went swimming and relaxed all day. This day I got so burned (because I'm impatient and didn't use lotion -- bad me!). Then my Grandma Dot came by and we had another cookout. We didn't see fireworks because there was a really great episode of Criminal Minds on.

Monday (July 5th) I did absolutely nothing. My back/shoulders were killing me from my burn so I couldn't really do anything.

On Sunday I had gotten a call from my friend in New York saying that her friend had an extra ticket to see She & Him for Tuesday night. I jumped on that chance (I mean, all the ducks were in a row...I had an unforseen week off work...well that's it ha). So Tuesday (July 6th) I headed on out to Nueva York, the city that never sleeps, oh wait -- that's Las Vegas. I took the bus down and luckily my friend Shoshana read my FB status and so we met up at Starbucks for an hour of fun hanging out! :D SO happy I got to see her. Then I hung out at a Cosi between 5th & 6th aves waiting for Carrie to get out of work. I started reading my book "Water for Elephants". Once Carrie got out of work we went to her aunt's house and got ready. Then we headed down to the venue (Terminal 5). Some comic opened for She & Him, he wasn't that funny. I was bored. Also, I was confused as to why the Chapin Sisters didn't open for them like in Boston...I mean they were there -- they are the band's back-up singers!! Well, whatever. I get confused easily. She & Him came on and were again, phenomenal, amazing, superb, brilliant, genius, etc. etc. etc. I <3>

After the concert, where I probably lost 8707 pounds from sweating, we went back to Carrie's aunt's house (Thanks Auntie Ann!) and watched Wipeout and went to bed.

Wednesday (July 7th) I walked Carrie to work and then hung out at Starbucks for an hour reading more of my book...which I am LOVING! Then got on the bus back home. I hung out at my parents house and watched TV.

Thursday (July 8th) was a planned day of fun at the beach! I met up with Sarah, Chris and their girls Fallon (3yrs) and Cailin (1yr). I hadn't seen them since January and the kids got so big! And they are adorable! I played with Fallon on the swings and we built a mud castle. We had pizza and had a ton of fun. :)

Friday (July 9th) woke up early and went to Six Flags with Amy and Dave. Such fun! Went on all the rides and the water park. I love that place. And it's always an adventure and fun times with those two. We are the three musketeers :D

Saturday (July 10th) I cleaned my entire house. It was messy like woah! Then my friend Marielle and her friend Carrie (my new friend yay new friend!! HI!) :) came over for a slumber party. We made pizza and red velvet cake (well they made the food while I watched and ate it! YUMMMMMMMY). It was soooooo goooood. all of it. Then we watched (500) Days of Summer and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and than the episode of FRIENDS "The One with all the Jealousy". So funny. Then we went to bed around 3:30am after talking and stuff. Those two are awesome. It was so much fun.

Sunday (July 11th) we all went to brunch at E&J Diner and had delicious food. After that we went to the Wickford Art Festival. We found some awesome paintings but were wayyyy too expensive. Why am I not a millionaire? We walked the entire festival and then went to see Despicable Me. SUCH a cute and funny movie "IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!"

After the movie we went back to my hizzouse and watched a couple more episodes of FRIENDS, "The One with Unagi" and "The One that Could have Been". Marielle's mom and dad came and picked them up. :( What an enormously fun two days! Can't wait till our next adventure this Saturday!

Now I'm back to work. Enough said.

In the Sun, in the sun...

She & Him w/ The Chapin Sisters

House of Blues

Boston, MA

7/1/10

I have been so excited to see She & Him for so long. I couldn't believe it was already time! Lauren & Julia (two of my drama girls) met me at my place of work at 4:20 and we left immediately. We got stuck in major traffic on the way up there and then once we arrived in Boston Kojii (my GPS) told me to take a left onto a one way. Oh Boston how I despise your roads. So we got a tad lost.

Finally I met Carrie & Marielle at the House of Blues around 6:45pm. Luckily they were there early so were at the front of the line!! They opened the doors at 7:15 and we made our way to the floor to get a good spot near the stage. Due to our position at the front of the line we were about three 'rows' back from the stage. It was entirely standing only. Luckily the crowd was an older more mature crowd that didn't push and shove to get closer so I wasn't pushed around a lot and stood in my same spot pretty much the entire show (get to that later). As you can see from my picture we were really close! The pictures I took are kind of blurry because I took them with my iPhone and wasn't exactly the best lighting to take great pictures with a phone! haha. But Julia got some good shots.

So we waited around and chatted for the opening act to start -- The Chapin Sisters. They came on at 8:00pm and with their first mini-song we were all frightened. First of all, these girls (Lily & Abigail) were like cutouts of the 70's -- Lily looked a lot like a blonde version of the Carpenter Sister, which isn't a bad thing, I'm just sayin. And they're music is very chanty and ominous. When they talked to us - the audience - they were very funny and nice...just their music was not my thing at all. One of their songs though was pretty good, but I forgot the name of it.

And apparently Lily & Abigail are also backup singers for She & Him, so for their second to last song Zooey came out and sang with them! I was beaming! Yay Zooey! She is so tiny! But that may be because she was standing next to Abigail Chapin, who is a giant. After that song Zooey left and the sisters sang their last song, which was like an indian chant (NOT LYING!) it was very strange. Then they left to get ready for the rest of their gig with She & Him. Again, the sisters seem like very nice and funny people, I am just not a fan of their music.

So they were on from 8:00 - 8:40pm. We then watched the sound check guy -- who was a mixture of Waldo (from Where's Waldo) and a brunette Andy Dick -- do sound checks on all the instruments and mics.

Then finally at 9:22 the band came out followed by M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel! If you didn't know that already!! They sang pretty much all of their songs, and the entire set was amazing! M. Ward is a genius on the guitar and he has a really nice voice. At one point he played guitar using a beer bottle instead of his left hand, it was fantastic. That man has mad skillz yo! And Zooey...oh Zooey -- what to say about her! She is just phenomenally talented. And soooo adorable! Again, we were reallly close so I was in my glory as she is my favorite person. She has so much energy and played the piano, guitar and mini-guitar. Some guy in the audience held up a sign that said Marry Me Zooey and she so cutely told him "sorry, I'm taken". I read the sign later and it was really cute and funny asking her to move to Utah with him and practice polygamy and he would be 'INDIE-er" hahahaha. He was young and not creepy so that made the sign cute and funny rather than stalkerish.

They sang "You Really Gotta Hold on Me" towards the end and were sooo cute. They were giggling at each other and just being adorable. The entire show I was singing and sort of dancing with the limited space I had. It was so much fun! High energy and happiness surrounding the audience and stage.

For their encore they sang two songs that were awesome. I am in a fog right now so I don't know what they were. But Zooey sang the first one and M. Ward sang the second one. They were both soooo fun though.

Their set was over at 11:20 and I just wished they started the whole thing over again. I could have watched them all night. Afterwards we went out to the gate where they would come out. We saw one of the band members come out and he smiled at us. M. Ward came out of the gate and smiled and waved and went into the bus. We waited around for a while longer for Zooey...and she came out but she was on her phone and escorted by the security straight into the bus. :( That was a bummer...but I had so much fun and loved that concert so much and love them so much that it is all good! :) :)

I won't even get into the ride home because it was torture and I will never drive to Boston again! haha.

Loved every second of that concert and want to see them again!