Je me chausse

Or literally, I shoe myself en francais. But it really means more of "I wear these shoes." And, oh yes, I do... I love the shoes, although I've gotten rid of several in the past months, and I think I'm down to only about 50 pairs. Sad, I know. And while I wish I could say Je me chausse avec chez Louboutin, it's more like Je me chausse avec chez Payless. Oh well, c'est la vie. However, Payless has had some kickin' shoes lately and I am enamoured of their Alice + Olivia for Payless line. And, since I don't have the paycheck that allows me to buy the real A + O stuff, for now I'll stick with the low-end.

And that's exactly what I've been doing lately - sprucing up my spring/summer wardrobe with some fabulous new shoes. I'm proud to say that all of them have been on sale/clearance/BoGo from a few different stores. And I'm also proud to say that the lowest heal is 4 inches, because however tall I am, I can always be taller. I take true joy in new shoes and the act of buying them is just as fun as wearing them. Although the most fun, admittedly, is seeing the reactions of my friends and family.

So, to share with you my terrific new shoes, I attempted to take a picture. Of course, keep in mind that I have a chubby cat with a lifelong shoe obsession himself.

First try:

Second try:

Third try:

Close enough:

Aren't the shoes fabulous, though?

One Day More

This is for my sis - I'll miss being related to the DCGF, but onwards and upwards with the USO.

Sisters

I've decided to embrace my twenty-sevenness. I've decided that eight days into this milestone year, that it's going to be a great one. In fact, I'm going to will it that way. Twenty-seven will be less anger, less frustration, less disappointment, and less worry. Twenty-seven will be more adventure, more happiness, more work, and more tomfoolery. But I have a feeling...call it a sense...that I won't be alone in having a super fantastic year.

This past weekend I was in DC for a conference of an organization for which I have started doing some fundraising consulting. As I flew into National and hopped the blue line to Metro Center, I was struck with a wave of nostalgia for my time in the nation's capitol. Most people know that I lived there for year, but I also has interned in DC for two summers previous to that, and some of my best memories are from those times: sharing a studio with someone I barely new (but came to be good friends with), working three blocks away from the White House, outdoor Shakespeare performances, hot summer nights at The Trap, going to Arlington Cemetary on Memorial Day, standing in the back of a cold theater watching the dress for Sweeney Todd, and taking my first ever ballroom dance classes.

My year there as a full-time resident was not quite as successful, no matter how much I wanted it to be. Yet, this past weekend made me realize that I've come a long way since then and now remember more of all of the outstanding, bright memories that I have. One reason, however, that I will always be grateful for my time in DC is because I had the chance to live with my older sister. For the first time, I think, we developed a true, grown-up sisterly relationship, for which I'm truly thrilled because what a ride it has been since. All of the inside jokes, cajoling, scarcasm, and celebrity gossip shared has made me appreciate my sis in a way that I might not have had we not shared a house. Not everyone is lucky enough to get the chance to make that discovery.

Especially when those sisters are truly fabulous. Because, well, we are - from the top of our heads to the tips of our fabulous shoes. We've each had some great milestones this past year between the two of us including being featured in print, TV, and online. Alone or together, we've acted onstage, taken NYC by storm and toured Europe. We've created the Snark Sisters and long may they live. My sis is getting ready to start an exciting new job, bringing the Hall sister fabulousness to a whole new audience.

And we're just getting started. Because we're the Hall Sisters, and that's how we roll.

40 Days

Today marks three very important events: Easter, my 27th birthday, and the end of my 40 days of happiness/release of anger & bitterness. I have to say, there were a variety of successes and failures in the last 40 days as I worked to have a more positive outlook. And as I look back from the tail end of my venture I realize that, while this is no quantifiable goal, I feel like I have achieved a modicum of success. I'm pretty good at no longer obsessing about work once I'm not there, if I get shoved, pushed, or knocked over on the bus I roll with it, and I'm exponentially better at staying calm and at peace when everyone else seems to be freaking out.

So, overall, success...for now. I will definitely have to continue to work out it, but I have a very good start. Listed below is the quotes that I have collected in order to share them with you all one last time!

1. A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.--Seneca
2. Pleasure is spread through the earthIn stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.--William Wordsworth,
3. We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.--Jean de La Bruyere
4. There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. --Salvador Dali
5. Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.--Jacques Prévert
6. If you want to be happy, be.--Leo Tolstoy
7. Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.--Palmer Sondreal
8. Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy.--Robert Anthony
9. The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.--Mark Twain
10. If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.--Edith Wharton
11. Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place. But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.--E.L. Konigsburg
12. Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy.--Cynthia Nelms
13. Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.--Robertson Davies
14. Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad.--Norm Papernick
15. Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.--Fyodor Dostoevsky
16. What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.--Colette
17. The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.--James Openheim
18. Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.--John Barrymore
19. Happiness depends upon ourselves.--Aristotle
20. Doing nothing is very hard to do ... you never know when you're finished. --Leslie Nielsen (Thanks, Dad!)
21. In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.--Theodore Roosevelt (Thanks, Dad!)
22. Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. --Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens (Thanks, Dad!)
23. May you live all the days of your life."--Jonathan Swift (Thanks, Dad!)
24. If A is success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X, Y is play and Z is keeping your mouth shut. --Albert Einstein (Thanks, Dad!)
25. Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance."--Samuel Johnson (Thanks, Dad!)
26. The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.--Groucho Marx (Thanks, Dad!)
27. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.--George Burns (Thanks, Mom!)
28. The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.--Benjamin Franklin
29. Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.--Guillaume Apollinaire
30. A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.--Francis Bacon
31. Your life and mine shall be valued not by what we take...but by what we give.--Edgar Allen, Founder of Easter Seals (Thanks, Mom!)
32. It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?-- Winnie the Pooh
33. Happiness is only real when shared.--Christopher McCandless (Thanks, Holden!)
34. Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.--Storm Jameson (Thanks, Holden!)
35. To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
36. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.--Henry Ford
37. Our life's a stage, a comedy: either learn to play and take it lightly, or bear its troubles patiently.--Palladas
38. We are disturbed not by events, but by the views which we take of them.--Epictetus (Thanks, Meredith!)
39. I think that being relaxed at all times, and I mean relaxed, not collapsed, can add to the happiness and duration of one's life. And relaxed people are fun to be around.--Cary Grant (Thanks, Meredith!)
40. finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.--emerson

Water & a Flame

So my sis posted this on Facebook a few days ago, but this song is so incredibly beautiful, that I just had to share it myself! I love Adele - the more the world hears her, the better!!