Vosburgh Vagabond

Oops. I fell asleep before I blogged yesterday... and I almost did the same thing today! Part one: (Pretend this was posted yesterday). Last night we didn't get home until pretty late for a weeknight because I found out from my friend/coworker Shelaine that Dolvett Quince from The Biggest Loser was going to be doing a book signing not too far from where we live. We went down there after work, hung out with Shelaine, saw Dolvett speak and then waiting in line to get his new diet/lifestyle book signed. Hearing him talk and give advice to those in the crowd was super inspiring. Plus he is H-O-T. See? ADORABLE. And he was super sweet, too. Part 2: So, I was inspired and motivated and whatnot today. It was good. I've been eating healthier, but not as clean as I could/should be, and it's been a long while since I got a workout in. Today I ate really well (except the Starbucks I had as a special treat because it was the WORST DAY EVER at work) and I came home a

I love Thanksgiving. We shouldn't forget about Thanksgiving in our rush to Santa and presents. I could type a lot more about this subject, but instead, I'll leave you with this, which sums up my feelings perfectly. I plan to be an old lady like this someday.

It doesn't roll off the tongue very easily, sure, but it's accurate. You see, a few weeks ago, I was looking for something in my keepsake trunk (which didn't end up being in there, btw) and I left the trunk cracked. Yesterday, I was in my closet and decided to start looking through the trunk. I got all weepy and nostalgic finding letters that my dad wrote to me and my siblings while he was away from the family in the military, reading my old diaries, finding my (very Harry Potter-esque) first pair of glasses. It was so fun. I ended up pulling a bunch of stuff out and leaving it all over the bed (as I do). While in the middle of this, I decided that it was time to reorganize our bedroom closet. It's kind huge (compared to any of my other closets) and has a tendency to be a little bit of a black hole. It can get pretty messy in there. We went to Ikea tonight to get some boxes and bins and baskets and other goodies to help keep things in check, and I came across this

We've established my adoration for the weekend. Today was no different. I had a chiropractor appointment this morning, where I got a referral for physical therapy. Ever since I got thrown off of a horse two years ago, I've had some residual neck and back pain, and (worse) some scar tissue over the hematoma that lived on my lower back for a while. Hopefully I (and my doctors) and help get it to go away! 

So, technically, it's the 16th of November. But since I haven't gone to bed yet, I'm still counting this as my blog for Friday. It's fine, trust me. I went into work two hours early today and got a ton of work done before I even "officially" was at work for the day. I hate getting out of my bed that early, but it's so good to get things done while it's still quiet and I don't have the phone ringing in my ear nonstop. After work, Marc and I went to Starbucks so that I could do some NaNoWriMo writing. I picked up where I left off last time and realized that I really need to be keeping better track of my characters, locations and all of the little details that I've already written. I don't want to forget to mention something later on in the story that is relevant to what's going on, and (more importantly), I don't want to have any sort of inconsistencies if I can avoid it. That will help with editing after I finish (if I decide to

I have a confession to make. I am WAY behind on NaNoWriMo! We are talking like a WEEK behind. I made a really good start on my novel while we were on vacation last week, but enjoying the last couple of days of relaxation followed by the stress of going back to work after a week out of office, not to mention the ridiculous migraine I had yesterday meant that I haven't been putting in any time at my laptop, working on my story. Never fear, though. I have not given up hope. I still think about my main character and her story. In the two years since I had the idea for my novel, my main character and I have become well acquainted. I think of her like an old friend that I maybe haven't talked to in a while (which actually works really well with where her story is going). I want to enjoy writing my novel, not feel obligated to stare at a computer when I get home after I've already done that for 9-10 hours at my job. I'm not going to reprimand myself or feel bad about the

That's all I can really manage tonight, but I had to make a blog post for NaBloPoMo! Excuse me while I crawl into bed to die. Hopefully I'll be more entertaining tomorrow!  :(

It's only Tuesday, but I feel like this week has been SO long already! The good news is, after work Marc and I went to Extreme Pita and got a delicious dinner, since we are almost out of groceries. We barely got anything on payday before going on vacation and we really need to restock the kitchen tomorrow night after work.  We decided to go on a pretty strict budget after vacation, but managed to justify going to grab take out because we used my winnings from the eliminator challenge fantasy football pool at work. Last year, I played and was eliminated the first week! I made it all the way to week 10, and there were only four of us left. We all picked the Titans, so we all lost/won. The four of us split the $110 pot, so I had a little bit of free money. It was totally worth using part of it for a falafel pita. Other than that, it was a pretty normal work day. I'm struggling a little to keep up with the ridiculous workload that I scheduled myself for this week, but t

New discoveries and what I'm listening to now.  I was thinking of ideas for recurring features on my blog, a sense of organization about the whole thing. One thing that I would like to feature HAS to be music based. I can't go through a day without music. Tonight I helped round out my day with some lovely nocturnes by Chopin and it was the perfect way to help me relax after my first day back after my vacation (the first day back is always the worst!).  Writing for Confront Magazine  has helped me to discover new music and has given me a ton of opportunities to review music rom bands that I might not have heard of otherwise.  Recently I've written two playlists, based on Canadian singer Katie Bulley and a band called The Medicine Hat .  This week, I reviewed a new Christmas album by the Robertson family, of Duck Dynasty fame. The album is hilarious! You can read my full review by clicking here .  I should be listening to a ton of Death Cab for my Na

We are winding down to the very last hours of our anniversary vacation. As all vacations, it seems like it went way too fast. I'm dreading my alarm going off tomorrow morning and heading back to the real world (and work).  Like most vacations, we spent more money being out of town than we would have if we just stayed home, so we are planning to do some major saving between now and Christmas spending. That means making grocery lists instead of just throwing things in the cart, no more Starbucks or running out of the office to get breakfast in the mornings, and no shopping (the horror!).  When we really look at our finances, we spend a lot of money on little things. We don't go to the store and make big, outrageous purchases. Most of the extra spending comes from going out to breakfast or having coffee out. But those little things add up to a lot. I'm excited to see how much we can save and put towards our holiday spending. One of my favorite holiday indulgences is see

I did exactly three things today: 1. Made my Christmas list for "Santa." He does really well picking out gifts without a list, but I SO enjoy making one. 2. Watched Gossip Girl. Canada Netflix does not have Gossip Girl on instant streaming, so I was unable to pour through episode after episode. This is probably a good thing. We just finished season three and Marc says about a character (to remain unnamed in case any of you haven't seen the series and decide to binge watch it like I have) "Oh, he's dead. He's only in 46 episodes," as he is holding his phone in his hand undoubtably looking at IMDB. I freaked. I love this unnamed character. Lies. I hate all the characters. Except Dorota. I love her. I actually hate everybody in this show. Sometimes I wonder why I even watch it. They're so sick and twisted. I just can't get enough. REGARDLESS, unnamed character is in many more episodes than the one that we just finished, and my husband is a big,

Nano, NOT super stoked to be leaving Whistler.  As sad as it was leaving Whistler today, it is so, so good to be home. We got up this morning and cleaned up the massive amount of stuff that we had taken to our hotel (no judging... it was a relaxing vacation, and I took a lot of stuff). After walking around in the leftover snow and checking out, we stopped by the little Trading Post to get some souvenirs and then went back to Dups Burritos for lunch. I had a taco salad this time and it was SO good. I will definitely miss that place. Then, it was time to leave Whistler behind and get on the road home. We stopped at a liquor store on the way back towards Vancouver and found a bottle of wine that we had during dinner at the tapas restaurant, Simply Noir by a winery called Stag's Hollow. We picked up a bottle for our friend/coworker, too, to thank her for watching after our cats while we were away. They're pretty low maintenance, but I really appreciate having somebody to

The worst thing about vacation is when it comes to an end. We still have one more night left of our time here at Whistler. I think it's been the perfect amount of time for a relaxing village that doesn't really have that much going on this time of the year. We have spent a lot of time in our hotel (which I like doing when we pay more than we would for a "just a place to sleep after we go out and do things" room). I've finished two and a half books (Today I started on Mindy Kaling's "Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?" and it's hilarious. I love it). We've lazed around watching movies and HGTV. I lounged in an amazing, deep bathtub and had my own spa day in the room. I finished crocheting a little Christmas-y towel thing for the kitchen and made a ton of progress on the blanket I'm working on. I've blogged every day for NaBloPoMo and have gotten a REALLY good start on my novel for NaNoWriMo. It's been a little creative retrea

It's Marc and my third anniversary today. I can't believe how quickly the first three years of our marriage have gone by. I realized sadly the other day that I don't think we can really consider ourselves newlyweds anymore. Sad face. We continued our relaxing Whistler vacation today. I woke up way earlier than I would have liked again this morning, and then wasn't able to go back to sleep. I took advantage of the quiet time to finish another book (The Spectacular Now... which I found a little less than spectacular, but pretty good) and to work on the blanket I've been crocheting. Marc got up and we spent some extra time in bed, watching The Vow, which I got excited about, but then remembered that I had already seen when Channing Tatum farted in the car. But it was cute, so we snuggled and watched it instead of taking a nap, which is what I should have done. We walked around the village again, exploring further this time than the last time we went out, and fo

You know how people talk about all of the "rest and relaxation" that they get on vacation? That doesn't really happen to me. Marc and my vacations tend to be go go go, whether they are trips to places that we've never been before and we are trying to soak up all the sights at once, or trips back home to see family, where we are trying to make time for everyone and everything that we've missed, we don't generally do a lost of "resting" on our time off. I wanted this trip to be different. I wanted to recharge, refresh, but still have time to see a new place. That's one of the reasons we chose Whistler. It's so beautiful here, but there's not THAT much to do that we have to be running all five days we're visiting to cram it all in. After all, there's no snow on the ground, so winter sports are out of the question, and the village is pretty tiny. Today was REALLY relaxing. I woke up after a weird/bad dream around 6:00 and couldn&#

I love vacation. Marc and I picked Whistler for a few reasons. It's within driving distance, we hadn't been here before, and we knew that we would be able to have a nice, relaxing vacation. Most of our trips are go go go. We hardly ever have trips where the main purpose is to rest and recharge, which is exactly what I wanted from this trip. After a great night's sleep in my cozy hotel bed, I woke up to this view: Not bad, eh? I spent the morning lounging in bed, finishing The Fault in Our Stars. From the moment I started reading, I had an idea of how it was going to end and I wasn't wrong. If you would like to spend some quality time with tears running down your face, I highly suggest this book. It was depressing and beautiful all at the same time. It was so good. We spent the afternoon walking around the village after having a delicious lunch at Dups Burritos, just a minute walk from the lobby of our hotel. It had a cheese quesadilla with peppers and it was

Marc and my first anniversary didn't go so well. We had lived in Washington for less than a year at the time, and hadn't done too much exploring outside of our area. After a little research, we decided to go down to Long Beach, Washington. We found an adorable little hotel and left early from work on Friday to go down and enjoy a weekend on the coast to celebrate our first year as a married couple. The hotel was incredible. It's called Adrift Hotel and you should DEFINITELY check it out if you want to spend a weekend in Long Beach. It's chic and wonderfully decorated and so cozy. We had Chinese food in our suite that night and got up the next morning to explore. I immediately found a place to ride horses on the beach. We signed up for a session and spent the time waiting for it to start wandering along the cold, blustery beach. My horse was named Earnhardt. He was sweet. It really wasn't his fault. Long story short, Earnhardt wasn't happy about going on o

I woke up this morning, thinking that I had to get up and take a shower and go to work. Then, I remembered that it was Saturday, and not only did I not have to go to work today, I'm off work for nine days straight! YAY anniversary week! After the crazy week I've had, all I wanted to do was relax. So, we laid out in the living room for most of the day, listening to the torrential rain and ridiculous wind. The power kept flickering, but it was so gorgeous out. We didn't leave the house until I had to go meet a friend to pick up some lotion that I had ordered from her through Pink Papaya. It is called Pumpkin Latte and it smells SO GOOD! While we were out at Target, the power went out! It was kinda fun, with everybody giggling excitedly, walking around the dark store. I was in the middle of buying a new pair of jeans when it happened. They feel like they fit, and I used my phone flashlight to check them out in the mirror, so I think they look okay. I hope. After that,

I worked 55 and a half hours this week.  I'm so tired.  Regardless of THAT, though, I knew that I wanted to come home and start NaNoWriMo (for those of you unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month... you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November... about 1,667 words a day!).  I'm crazy. I'm also doing NaBloPoMo... I think that's what it's called. National Blog Posting Month? Anyways, so that's a little more simple. All I have to do is at least post a blog post a day. I REALLY miss writing my blog, and I think NaBloPoMo would be a good way to get back into the habit. What's that thing I keep seeing on Pinterest? It only takes 21 days to make a habit? We'll see.  RIGHT, back to the cheating.  My story idea for the novel I'm writing came to me back in November 2011. Marc and I were getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary. I was listening to a lot of Death Cab for Cutie at that time (and all

I think it's pretty easy to say that The Head and the Heart's Let's Be Still is my most eagerly-awaited album release of the year so far. I pre-ordered the special "Loser" edition on vinyl from Sub Pop and it arrived on Friday (even though the album didn't come out officially until today), and I got a digital pre-release last week to review for Confront Magazine , so I've been lucky enough to listen to it non-stop for the past week.  Shameless plug: my album review goes up tomorrow, and it would be GREAT if you would go read it.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to put up a link after it goes live. Spoiler: I like it.  Along those lines... my creative buzz , which started with craft day at the Luce's house a few weekends ago, has not yet worn off. I started a book club with two nice ladies (if you live in the Bothell-ish area, you're welcome to join!) and I've been writing more for Confront, and I've decided to do NaNoWriMo! A

I wrote a "Sounds of Seattle" playlist for Confront Magazine , and I've gotten some really nice feedback on it. I few of my Facebook friends have even told me that they discovered new music because of it. That makes me so happy! After all, that's why I write. There are a lot of bands that I really love, and I would love to introduce them to more people! One of the bands, The Head and the Heart , has a new album out tomorrow! Since I reviewed Let's Be Still for Confront Magazine (the review will be up on Wednesday!) I've had the record for about a week, AND I pre-ordered the Loser edition from Sub Pop and it showed up on Saturday. I've already memorized most of the songs and I'm in LOVE. It's so good. Two of the other bands (Bryan John Appleby and Deep Sea Diver) are playing a show together in December. ( Tickets are still on sale ! Come play with me.) I have reviews of the new Pearl Jam and Avett Brothers coming up at the end of this month.

There are few things I like more than Friday nights. I had a pretty productive day at work. I got to do some work outside of the scope of my normal duties and hole up in a conference room with Marc and one of my other favorite coworkers. It was a good end to a very busy week. I don't think I'll ever be the kind of person who doesn't want to have a job at all, because there's nothing more fulfilling than working really hard and then enjoying your time off, as I am currently doing. Sometimes, on Friday nights, Marc lets his freak flag fly and plays Friday night Magic at any number of game stores around town. Tonight he's playing at Card Kingdom, which is this awesome game store that happens to be attached to this great little cafe called Cafe Mox. I'm enjoying a pumpkin cider and getting ready to order a hummus and pita plate while scheduling my upcoming album reviews for Confront Magazine (I've got Pearl Jam, The Head and the Heart, and The Avett B

It started with craft day at my friend Stacy's house. I didn't realize how much I had been missing a creative outlet. In high school and college, I was always MAKING something, whether it be music or magazines or writing stories. Now I work in insurance. There are rules. Things are very black and white. My brain works that way, too, so I didn't feel the effects of my creative dry spell at first. But then I spent an evening with some lovely ladies (and an even lovelier [almost] three year old) and I had SO MUCH FUN. I made Thanksgiving cards for my friends and family from scratch. I glittered pumpkins (sorry about the "craft herpes' all over your house, Tom). I had fun. When I got home, I felt good. I was doing something outside of work other than sitting at home. I was creating something. Since then, I've been crafting at home a lot... crocheting a blanket while I watch TV, Mod Podgeing literally everything, and thinking about writing more. I decided I&

Happy Friday! I had two album reviews up this week on Confront Magazine! Although writing for the magazine is stressful sometimes... trying to find time to write on top of my already busy schedule... I love it so much. You can check out my review for Pollens' Brighten & Break here and for Courrier's Cathedrals of Color here . Aaaaaand, my interview with Hanna Benn of Pollens should be up on Confront Magazine tomorrow. I can't wait for you all to read it. It was such a pleasure sitting down to talk with her. I'm still gross and sick, so I figured I would just use this blog post to share some of things awesome things I found online this week! Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend! 1. Video of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka on The Chew This video of Neil and David playing something like The Newlywed Game is adorable! It feels especially relevant, especially given the fact that right of gay couples to get married has been in the news so much lately. Are

I feel awful. There is a little bug going around the office and I was lucky enough to catch it. Yay me! I did manage to make it though the workday, however, and now I'm my best to enjoy my evening and read some of my latest book, "Days of Blood and Starlight." It's the second book in a trilogy by Laini Taylor. I got the first book while we were in Portland last weekend, and found out after the fact that Laini herself lives in Portland. The first book, "Daughter of Smoke and Bone,"  was SO GOOD. I flew through it in about a day and a half. My sweet husband (who is being his sweet self right now and is out buying me pizza) knew I would want to read the second one and bought it for me on Amazon (yay 2 day shipping!). Now if I could only keep my eyes from drooping long enough to read more than a chapter without stopping for a break. SPEAKING of books... my 100 Books in 2013 is off to a rocky start. Here we are, nearly a quarter of the way into the year

We made our mini road trip last night down to Portland so that we could get up at our leisure this morning to go exploring instead of having to make the four hour drive early. Now I'm up and refreshed and ready to go get brunch at The Roadrunner Cafe, head to Powell's (the best bookstore EVER) and then go to a Chinese or Japanese (we haven't decided which yet) garden for Marc to take photos. It will be nice to have a relaxing little weekend mini-vacation! On the trip down, I became OBSESSED with this song. It makes me want to dance!

Somehow, even though the YouTube video has apparently been up for five months, I only saw the music video for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Same Love" (featuring Mary Lambert) last night. I've heard the song before and was very touched by the message, and the music video is gorgeous. I've been married for just over two years, and I love it (a little less than usual this morning, as I had to wake up my sleepy husband five times before he would get out of bed and then he didn't even move the broken laundry room door like I asked so I could start the dryer, but whatever). I hate that there is even controversy and debate over whether or not two men or two women should be ALLOWED to get married. If two people love each other and care about each other and want to be there to take care of each other to the point where they want to make it official, to be married, I'm all for it, whether those two people both be men or both be women. Honestly, I don't feel lik

I have been playing these YouTube videos over and over again this past week, so I thought I would share them with you! Ed Sheeran and Passenger: No Diggity Vs. Thrift Shop (Mashup) Ed Sheeran is adorable. I don't know who this Passenger dude is, but he's kinda doing it for me, too. Thrift Shop is EVERYWHERE and No Diggity was my JAM back in the day. This video wins. The Neighbourhood: Sweater Weather (Ram Jam Episode 5) I am obsessed with this song, and not only because sweater weather is my favorite kind of weather. A twitter friend sent me the link to this video and I can't stop watching it. I love this version, and it's hilarious to watch these three dudes try to play two guitars and fit into the back of this comparatively smallish vehicle. Enjoy!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from when we were in Dublin last fall! It breaks my heart to go through pictures from our time in Europe. I feel like it was over too quickly, and all I want to do is go back. The view from our hotel room, which was huge and gorgeous. We were so exhausted by this point in the trip, a little (a lot of) coffee was definitely needed.  I picked up this little guy in Rome and took pictures of him in different places for the rest of our trip. I'm drinking my morning coffee today out of that Dublin mug, in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  Ahhh, Trinity College. If only I had all the money, I would work my butt off to go to grad school here. On campus at Trinity College. We also got to go to the Trinity College library, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I nearly cried for the beauty of it. However, pictures were not allowed. Google it.   Gorgeous Dublin Castle. Near Dublin Castle.  St. Patrick's