we have a newest addition to apartment #305:

he is 4 pounds.
and will only ever weigh 8.
he is furry and defines adorable.
likes to cuddle and play with nixon watches.
and we are thinking of naming the new puppy jasper.

but keep it a secret.

my parents don't know.

I'm Thankful.

I'm thankful for an alarm clock, that will wake me up early enough to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - even if today is my one excuse to sleep in.
I'm thankful for Christmas music that I've been listening to since November 1st.
I'm thankful for a best friend who called me at midnight a couple weeks ago just to tell me, "Kelsie. We're only young once. Let's go to Disneyland in two weeks." And so we are.
I'm thankful for my other friends who have become more like family since we've grown up.
I'm thankful for outdoor skating rinks.
I'm thankful for a sister who will help me carry a Christmas tree up three flights of stairs because I can't wait to start decorating.
I'm thankful for the fireplace I sit next to every morning because for some reason the heater does not work in my room and it is a night.mare.
I'm thankful that despite the broken heater - I am still pneumonia-free.
I'm thankful for my aunt and her family, who have become a second family since my parents have moved.
I'm thankful for life.
I'm thankful for my faith.
I'm thankful that despite not knowing how to cook - I can always make hot chocolate and cinnamon toast for breakfast.
I'm thankful for parents, who will text me at two in the morning just to tell me that they love me.
I'm thankful for this guy who can always makes me laugh, no matter how sad I get.
& i'm thankful for the lady at the post office who stopped me on my way out the door, just to wish me a "happy thanksgiving."

and i want to wish you all the same.

i truly have so much to be thankful for this year.

happy holidays!

No Contest.

for the past half an hour, my boss and i have been debating between:

Brad Pitt vs. Robert Redford

Honestly?



No contest.

i've said this before...and i will say it again....
i was born fifty years (way) too late.

My Parents Were The Bomb.Com

i have started to realize one thing:
my parents are becoming my friends.

not all days of course.

sometimes they still like to tell me what to do or that i need to eat better because i have zero nutritional intake - but a lot of days....
actually,
most days

my parents have become more like my friends.

instead of sitting down to talk about curfew,
boys that should remain entirely off limits,
or grades that aren't completely perfect -
they've started to talk to me about themselves,
and not just so i could walk away with a lesson learned --
but just so i could know more about who they were;
what they were like aside from "my mom" or "my dad"
but as people, as individuals, and at one point, as kids.

and just a few days ago, i just found this totally great website called:
My Parents Were Awesome

i wish i had an awesome picture of my parents somewhere around,
but unfortunately i don't.
this website has hundreds of fun pictures like these though,
so
GO
LOOK

and maybe show a picture or two to your own parents.
they might have a few just like them too.

Happy Day.

i get to eat here tonight.
with all my favorite people.
i may not have midnight movie tickets to see new moon like everyone else i know -
but i can now look forward to this wonderful food
that may just be able to replace my unfortunate loss of appetite for t&c sandwiches.


ps. last time we ate at in & out, we did this.
don't. try. this. ever.
stupid, stupid, stupid.

EPIC NEWSFLASH.

I thought I should let you know about the biggest change that could ever take place in my entire life...

has finally happened.
And for those of you who may not know why this is epic,
i still want to share:

I don't like turkey and cheese sandwiches anymore.
let me repeat.
i do not like turkey and cheese sandwiches any.more.
I do not know how this happened.
I just found this all out yesterday and it was probably one of the top five most devastating moments in the past
20 years I've been alive.
I don't know what I am going to eat for the rest of my life, I probably will wither away and die. If any of you have food that you just can't live without and think I might like it, please let me know. If it includes any mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup or weird sauce - you don't have to let me know - but it has come to the day that i have finally grown sick of sandwiches after 8 years.
i didn't think it would happen, but it did.
i think it's another sign i'm growing up.

...

and that's all i have for now.

...

ps. go read this and this.
people can make ordinary words fit so beautifully together...
that's why although i question my choice of an english major some days -
i stick with it in hopes i can be that great with words like these beautiful girls, too.

:]

i
love
today.

not because it's a friday,
and not because i finished all 3 epic tests this week that
ultimately determine my physical and emotional well-being...

i love today because:

i
love
letters.

and i just checked the mailbox, like i usually do around noon...
and it was sitting in there, addressed specifically to me,
"to: little kelsie" ending with an s-i-e.

ps. i think i belong in this love movie.
"even when i didn't like you, i loved you."
one of the greatest movies of all. time.
netflix it this weekend.
i promise you won't be disappointed.

Confession: Christmas Commericals Make Me Cry.

i must sounds like little miss emotional all the time, because every time i write i either:
a. just got finished crying
b. am anticipating crying
or
c. crying.

i promise i am really happy... maybe that's why i cry, because i am so happy. i don't know. but i have realized something over the past two days...and basically the past 12 years:

Christmas commercials, no matter how silly, dorky, or overplayed.... also make me cry.

So here is one of my favorites (pull out a tissue or 2)




even though i've seen that several times, my eyes always start to sting as if i were about to cry.
and now i know why.


it's because it makes me happy. so happy.


for a brief 30 seconds, one commercial can remind me of every wonderful christmas memory i have.
and i hope these commercials may do a little bit of the same for you guys too.

ps. i just got my plane ticket for a christmas in new zealand! it may not be snowy outside, but i'll be with my family. and that makes me so. stinkin. excited.

wishing you a very merry monday!

Why I Love Miss Kylie Haws.

This is Kylie Haws.



she is my best friend - and it is her birthday.
i love her a lot - and for a lot of good reasons too.
she makes me try new things - and makes me jump off of docks even though i just did my hair.
she brings me cupcakes - and makes sure i have some stashed away for sad, rainy days.
she is smokin' hot - and will help me find cute things at savers even though i have always found that task impossible.
and best of all about this happy 21st birthday day:
she will rent hotel rooms for us when we decide to finally take a road trip up the coast of california. and that is a big deal, because we've been planning something like this since we were 16.
and i am only 20.
and i still can't rent things legally.

kylie - i hope these 365 days of 21 will be wonderful,
because you are wonderful.
and because you are my best friend.

be deliriously happy.

"Be deliriously happy, 
or at least leave yourself open to be."
- meet joe black
(i watched it last night...again. cried... again.
my friends thought i was so weird.... yet again.)

Anyway.

i think all too often i forget this advice:
just be happy.

because when i think of all the things wrong in the world,
everything wrong with me,
whatever else is wrong with my life -
i seem to forget that i have one and a half million MORE reasons to be happy.

so i'll take this advice, and maybe spend a day or two being "deliriously happy."
i think that's one of the loveliest ways of saying it:
"deliriously happy,"
i think you should try it, too.

(photo via black*eiffel)