anyone remember polly???

i've been pretty frustrated about a few things over the last few months.

i've been conflicted and confused . . . and angry.

i've let my hang-ups on what hasn't gone my way rob me of my joy in the Lord.

i've been so silly.

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit,

to sustain me."

Psalm 51:12

---

sometimes i need to remind myself to express joy . . . 

as trivial as it may sound, this totally helps:

one of my fave movies when i was little was

{and actually still is} the disney made-for-tv musical,

polly.

it stars the stunning phylicia rashad.

here is the best scene ever . . . i dare you not to dance.

ah, the weekend . . .

via mylalaland.com

i am so happy to have a few days off--- this week was a lil' rough.

i'm thankful for a few days to share with my lovely friends and family.

prayer at church and then cooking with bestest today, friends tonight, park clean-up tomorrow

and {of course} church!

---

last night, bestest and i went to see envy on the coast, anberlin and taking back sunday in hampton.

we briefly met up with a friend from india --- super cool to catch up with people

after a few months.

to be honest, neither bestest or i had listed much to any of these bands.

in the end, i felt like envy on the coast was pretty much

just incubus after kidnapping zack de la rocha.

taking back sunday . . . might have appreciated more if 

1) i knew the songs

2) was not an old lady and fading after 10 pm

however.

 

anberlin was pretty much fab.

during the middle of their set, bestest turns to me and asks,

"why don't we listen to them again???"

huge oversight. sigh. i have a date with itunes today.

i  pretty much couldn't contain myself when 

they broke out with a new order cover.

poor bestest- she always forgets what a humiliating dancer i am until it's too late.

{between my moves and dodging the dozens of 

drunk, moshing 16-year olds who almost trampled us,

i big time owe her a girls' breakfast out.}

great night. fun friends. i'm a lucky girl.

happy weekend, everyone.

made me smile

this is a pretty cute piece . . . don't it take you back to your first crush?

bestest, brother, sister, two of bestest's friends and i start 

west coast swing lessons tomorrow . . .

stay tuned for the hilariousness.

this is what we will NOT look like:

letters to future-husband

dear future-husband,

when i was a little girl, my mother bought be a book named Miss Rumphius. it's an idealist tale of a little girl who is charged by her grandfather to explore the world but also to make it more beautiful.

this book, no shock to you, is still one of my favorites and inspires me to note the following:

i want to spend our honeymoon and vacations in places where we need to sleep together under a mosquito net, take dusty, bumpy bus rides in remote foreign locations and negotiate language barriers. i realize that i will have to compromise this on some occasions (i suppose i will have to endure a couple trips to europe *sigh*), but you get the general idea.

i want us to love children from other countries as if they are our own. if they happen to literally become our own at any point, i'm cool with that too.

on that note, i also want our kids to be colorblind . . . and bilingual. rest assured, they will know miss rumphius well.

i want us to believe in doing good together.

i want us to wake up one day, old, gray and happy and knowing that we did everything we could to help the world be more beautiful.

{wife}

happy weekend!

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy? - Oscar Wilde

i had my hair done today by a new stylist . . .

it's a little debbie harry throwback.

i am in love.

thank you, bestest, for sending me.

{happy weekend,everyone!}

photo via abby sharp

heart issues

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

– Matthew 22:37-39

that's all for today.

unique kind of stunning

how wonderfully romantic and bizarre are these illustrations?

fernando vincente, you might be my new favorite.

today is sad

image by nancy coyle

not sure if it's because of the rain.

not sure if it's because it's monday.

not sure if it's because i feel like life is on pause.

today is sad.

{but tomorrow i will be happy.}

thank you, Jesus, for your unfailing love.

You are all i need.

gabe is 24!

well, actually, you were born on june 10th.

i know this is no surprise to you, but we are celebrating today, so that justifies a later posting.

~~~~~~~

thank you for

taking care of me after my knee surgery this winter

{i don't know of many brothers who would be as

sweet and concerned as you}

always being game to go to the movies at 11 o'clock at night

perusing the bookstore with me just to kill time

long, meaningful talks about faith and God

being The Sartorlialist with who i just happen to share an apartment

making me laugh so hard that i cry on a weekly basis

basically, you're the coolest ever.

summer soundtrack '09

photo by judah s. harris

i have a playlist called "summer is swell."

since i'm horrible at remembering to burn cd's, here is my list of songs i'm currently singing at the top of my lungs to --- i hope you enjoy them as much as me.

{bestest, i promise i will make you a copy soon!}

Summer is Swell- 2009

1. ca plane pour moi- plastic bertrand (perfect first track for a sunny drive)

2. walking on a dream- empire of the sun

3. sleepyhead- passion pit

4. destiny- zero 7

5. he woke me up again- sufjan stevens

6. headlights on dark roads- snow patrol

7. weekend wars- mgmt

8. paper planes- m.i.a.

9. spiralling- keane

10. buildings and mountains- the republic tigers

11. poetic tragedy- the used (this makes it to the list for the second summer in a row)

12. el mar- volumen cero

13. this is what you do- gemma hayes

14. must be dreaming- frou frou

15. love is a burning thing- first of rome

16. i feel it all- feist (can't get much better than feist)

17. jealous enemies- dark captain light captain

18. tell me to my face- dan fogelberg (yeah, that's right)

19. pin your wings- copeland

20. oscar wilde- company of theives

21. cemeteries of london- coldplay

22. show me what i'm looking for- carolina liar

23. i feel the earth move- carole king

24. assise- camille (best song everrrrrrrr)

25. desperation song- carbon leaf

26. young friend- brooke waggoner

27. evacuate- the boxer rebellion

28. love your way- powderfinger

29. dry grass & shadows- alela diane

30. time is a runaway- the alternate routes

31. noni's field- anathallo (thanks, ashlea!!!)

32. beautiful things can come from the dark- azure ray

33. daniel- bat for lashes

34. detroit- black gold

letters to future-husband

dear future-husband,

i want us to always be true to ourselves.

even if they laugh at us.

i'm really not sure who 'they' are, but i'm sure there will be someone out there.

{abby}

p.s. don't worry, i'm not a huge fan of mini-wedding dresses. knee-length at least, 'k?

{thank you, once wed, for being just pretty to look at.}

GOOD things about mondays

{ i saved this image forever ago and can't remember where it comes from. sorry!}

i generally don't appreciate mondays very much.

mondays are when i have the most office email to sort through.

the most voicemails to answer.

and the least amount of time to do both because my mondays start off with

4 hour-long meetings.

the cranky people always show up to the office unannouced and yell on mondays.

the feeling that the weekend was too short (because it always is).

BUT.

i am an optimist (or a realist battling to become an optimist).

so i have decided to list some rather fabulous things about mondays.

a.m. coffee never tastes as good as is does on mondays.

hearing coworkers gush about their relaxing weekend activities.

picking out what to wear is easy because i have had the whole weekend to think about it.

all of my favorite stonyfield yogurts are stocked in the fridge.

it flies by because there is always so much to do.

random and fun weekend thoughts on an early saturday morning

i've been in love with this dress from makool loves you foreverrrrrrrrr . . .

i can't think of where i would wear such a thing, but it is whimsical and delightful.

it also reminds me of everyone's favorite darling nanny . . .

also, i stumbled across this fabulous image at once wed this week:

it takes me back to a scene in atonement that is absolutely stunning . . .

i just adore joe wright's work (pride and prejudice was equally lovely to watch

and not nearly as depressing).

i'm not sure how the couple in the wedding above would appreciate my parellel between their holy union and a novel/film about . . . well, we all know . . .

anyway.

also found this week . . . in the category of

"when wants become needs."

see nothing elegant on etsy. i crave so many things in this shop. ----- this swatch makes me want to paint something. sweet honeydew melon by benjamin moore. how delicious is that??? and finally, i'm on the hunt for a terrific coconut scented shampoo.

via paper tissue everything i have found so far smells sicky-sweet and unauthentic.

any suggestions? {have a lovely weekend!}

letters to future-husband

via le love

dear future-husband,

we must please be silly and crazy together.

especially when we have no money.

and especially when our kids are teenagers and easily embarrassed by their quirky parents.

it will keep us young.

{abby}

tomorrow, tomorrow- i love you, tomorrow . . .

kings of leon {with glasvegas} tix on sale friday.

9/11 in mansfield, ma.

bestest and i are going.

 and as if this couldn't get any better . . . 

we also dig musicians in skinny jeans.

letters to future-husband

dear future-husband,

let's be cute when we grow old.

photo: hulubei

photo: eric klitgaard

{abby}

letters to future-husband

dear future-husband, please consider adding the following exceedingly alluring ensembles to you wardrobe:

kudos, urban outfitters

in return, i pledge i shall limit my "venture to the co-op and/or farmers' market in my sweatpants, flip-flops and unbrushed hair" incidents to once a month. i, however, cannot promise that i will refrain from wearing my galoshes with sundresses. the same goes for my straw fedora. and $5 Wal-Mart sunglasses. my apologies in advance, abby p.s. and my tangerine wool coat --- the one that looks like the coat audrey hepburn wore around nyc in 'breakfast at tiffany's.' i know you secretly adore it anyway.

"where there is life, there is hope."

who doesn't love grover?

this segment made me laugh so much as a kid.

probably even more as an adult.

finally found it on YouTube.

so happy.

it seriously never gets old.

hysterical.

welcome, new baby

her name is holga.

the stork (aka man in the brown shorts) delivered her today.

i have been craving one of these for a wicked long time.

at long last, i can have fun with her whenever and wherever i want.

the images created with these things are so quirky and, well, just flippin' awesome.

holga is my new favorite ANYTHING.

{the digital and SLR are still out of commission --- sniffle}