bring your bird to work day

I don't have a kid. At least not yet (thank goodness), but I do have a bird and she's pretty fabulous.

Yesterday Sash had the day off so what did he do? He brought our little bird Cleo in for show-and-tell. Well, my version of office show-and-tell anyway. We had fun showing her off to my co-workers who hear of her crazy shenanigans all the time. Birds aren't quite as common as dogs and cats around these parts so most of them had never really played with one before. And Cleo is not just any old bird. She does some pretty entertaining stuff. We didn't let her get too crazy though. She just showed everyone her amazing talent at devouring apples, nesting in hair and, well, it has to be said...pooping.

Shoot, now the word "poop" is on my blog. Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point.

Not really, but it makes me feel better.

Anyway, let's just say, Cleo was happy to be the recipient of all of the attention.

I love my department. :)

Also, here's a sneak peak at an upcoming post. Let's just say it's the first of what I assume will be many baking exploits on this blog.

trash to treasure

Via SalemFadhley on Flickr

Some people are just so cool.

I love it when people turn otherwise ordinary or unattractive objects into beautiful things. It's recycling at its best. While perusing the web today, I stumbled upon a piece about an artist doing exactly that and personally, I think it's too creative not to share.

Though it does seem a little unsanitary. But that may just be me.

Either way, well done Ben and keep making the world a colorful place!

Ben Wilson's Chewing Gum Art

water, ducks and pavlovian response

I've come to realize that empty resolutions are easy to make and thus easy to break. Without a plan of attack they aren't much more substantial than dreams. Don't get me wrong. Dreams are crucial. They're what a happy life is made of in my opinion. However, if you don't think of a means in which to reach said goal, the prospect of reaching the prize seems less and less attainable over time.

Frustrating.

Now I'm not talking HUGE resolutions here. Sometimes it's most inspiring to start small. Give yourself that little taste of success. A boost if you will. What I'm trying to get at is...

I suck at drinking water. Seriously, I think my body has gotten proficient at running on a constant state of dehydration.

And it's not like I drink a bunch of sugary alternatives either! Nope. Nada. 8 ounces, 8 times a day sounds impossible to me most days. You'd think that with all of the benefits that water brings I'd learn. I mean, I've "tried" to be better before, but I can seriously have 3 containers of liquid sitting on my desk at all times giving me all of the options in the world and I will still somehow manage to ignore them unless thirst suddenly strikes.

But this ends now for I have a plan and it's working marvelously so far.

This is how it works.

I have set 8 alarms on my ever-faithful iPhone. Each one goes off on the hour from 10am to 5pm during the work day. I have set the alarm sound to an absolutely annoying duck quack and as soon as I hear the first tone, I know it's time to chug 8 ounces of water.

I hear you laughing. But my ridiculousness is also my gain! It TOTALLY works for me.

To measure my progress, I drink out of my clearly marked Nalgene bottle, which is 32oz. I'm drinking 2 Nalgenes a day people. This is serious.

I have also told my co-workers about said plan so that I am held accountable. If you know me, you know I don't like failure so this is a key component. ;)

So far so good. Hopefully I reep the benefits of hydration soon. My dry skin will be ever so grateful.

And if Pavlov is right, I might need to steer clear from ducks in the future... that or suffer from sudden-onset-thirst.

1.11.11

11 has been my favorite number my entire life. Of course it being the date I was born probably has a lot to do with it.

Ok, maybe everything to do with it.

I also have an issue with even numbers. I only like odd ones. What this means I have no idea. Maybe that I'm odd? Probably.

Anyway, I have big ideas and plans for 2011 and feel that my birthday falling on 1.11.11 is a sign. Or at least I'm going to take it as a sign. It's my last year in my 20s. Rather than freak out, I'm going to live it up in a big way. Do I know exactly what that will entail? Nope. But the wheels are most definitely churning.

I'm going to write more for one and this blog is just a start.

For now I'll just finish by saying I had a great birthday even though I was working. Don't feel too bad for me though because I am working in Oahu this week. I know, I know. Not too shabby by any standard.

Here are a few pics from the big day.




A fruit basket delivered to my hotel by my favorite guy. So yum!

A fabulous birthday pedicure - I'm in Hawaii in winter - I needed it!



A delish, celebratory birthday beverage.

Cheers to 29 and it being the best year yet!

a fresh start

I've wanted to write a blog for a long time now, but the main thing that kept holding me back was wondering what I would write about.

I wanted a theme.

An overlying idea.

I love blogs like that.

But then I started to realize that this is the exact type of pressure I put on myself every time I sit down to write. I put heavy expectations of greatness upon myself and end up stunted. If I can't live up to my own expectations then I'm merely setting myself up for disaster.

Well, not this time.

There's one shared trait that all writers must possess. Only one, actually. They must WRITE.

I may write already, daily actually at work, but instead of getting bogged down by that by the end of each day, I hope this blog will inspire me to write often and on a more consistent basis. I think that writing a blog will be the best outlet for me to write more often and share things with those people interested enough to read. And who knows, maybe I'll develop a theme along the way and the content of these posts will morph into something new.

Fasten your seat belts folks; it's going to be a bumpy ride. (name that movie)

If anything, I'm curious and I hope that this will be a place where I can share my odd thoughts (oh, there will be odd ones I'm sure), interesting findings, beautiful things, and projects galore. I don't propose that there will be a common thread to these posts necessarily, but that shall undoubtedly make it more "me" anyway.

So, on that note, here's to 2011 and all that it brings...more writing, more fun, and as always, consistent curiosity.

Cheers!
Brittney

P.S. I'm currently writing from my lovely hotel in Oahu and the picture at the top of this post is one I took on my phone last night on my way to the gym. I'd say the scenery is definitely inspired and a perfectly lovely place to start something new. Aloha!