havana nights

tonight i went to a new zumba class. for starters, i've been taking zumba for probably about four years now, off and on, and with a few different instructors. it's so much fun and has definitely loosened up this ex-ballerina. latin dance + hip hop is basically always a win in my book. surprisingly, i'm actually rather good at zumba. one of my prouder moments was during a class a few years ago when a man next to me wearing tighter workout pants than i will ever own and a legit sweatband stopped what he was doing and said to me "girl, you're tall, but you sure can shake it." um, thank you? i'll take that as a compliment.

that said, i fearlessly walked in to tonight's class with all the confidence in the world. as a disclaimer, i'm not terribly confident at the gym in general. i don't like weight rooms or classes with words like "blast" or "turbo" in them. i don't ever want to incorporate a tire into my workout and i think there's a reason that "burpee" sounds like a noise you make right before you vomit. i don't pretend to be hardcore. but when it comes to zumba, i'm good to go. i don't usually have trouble keeping up.

but then there was this class.

with the latin instructor wearing flames printed up the sides of her pants. who kept shouting commands in spanish and was impossible to see. where 60% of the other women in the class were latin. with literal non-stop salsa music and faster moves than i've ever seen. with no breaks or tutorials or overviews. where i faced the front when everyone else faced back and vice-versa. where i had to resort to trying to emulate the lovely latino girl in front of me with the backless shirt and the remarkably impressive beyonce booty shake.

at the end of the class, i thought it would be a good idea to talk to the instructor. for the record, her makeup still looked perfect and she was barely sweaty. she was painfully pretty and spoke with a heavy spanish accent. here's how it went basically:

me: "hi, this is my first class and i really enjoyed it! i've taken zumba before, but this is a little faster-paced than i'm used to. how long does it usually take newcomers to catch up?"

señorita: "you never dance before? that's okay. you can't keep up, you just march."(demonstrates marching in place for my benefit)

me: "well, no, i've actually danced my whole life. and i never usually have trouble keeping up in zumba. this is just a lot faster and different than i'm used to. how many combinations do you have in rotation on a regular basis?"

señorita: "that's okay you just practice." (gives me a sad, sympathetic once-over) "wow... look at you. you sweaty."


muchas gracias.

image via @glamourouscitylights on tumblr

high five

i was recently tagged by the lovely lacey (and by recently i mean like six months ago) to do a fun little "five things" post that's been floating around the bloggy world these days. ironically, this also happens to be my five-hundreth blog post. even though i haven't been very committed to the blog lately, i am so thankful for the role it has played and will play in chronicling my life and engaging my creativity. a five things post seems a fitting way to mark this milestone. making lists happens to be one of my favorite things, so let's get to it. five random things you may not know about me:

1. one of my other favorite things in life (besides lists) is taking weekend trips to new (and old) places. i love trying new restaurants, exploring local boutiques and galleries and wandering neighborhoods looking at houses. it doesn't have to be far away and i get just as excited about small towns as i do about the big ones. even when i don't particularly love a place, it's fun to experience the culture and find the things that make it unique. i'm not a big fan of doing tourist-y things when i travel, and i like to take my time and be spontaneous. schedules are for work days.

2. sometimes (a lot of times) i like to sing in my car and practice my kareoke debut. i've never actually sung karoke and that's probably better for everyone. if i did, however, i would probably like to sing 1. tim mcgraw by taylor swift 2. escapade by janet jackson  or, a duet with some unbeknowst kid rock stand-in to 3. picture by kid rock featuring sheryl crow. (and please don't judge me for numbers two and three. the heart wants what it wants.) this tidbit does not, however, mean that i am actually going to sing karaoke. okay then.

3. i really like books and magazines. i don't want to read them on a tablet. i want to hold them in my hands and turn their pages and underline things and fold down corners. sorry, iPad, but i just don't need or want your help with that.

4. i overanalyze everything. all the time. every waking moment, every single thing. sometimes i'd like to turn my brain off, please, and not think so much. it would probably definitely make my life a little less stressful.

5. when i grow up and have a family, i am so excited to make big, lazy breakfasts together on weekends. especially pancakes. i love breakfast and i love staying home in my pajamas and making it. it will be a lot more fun when i don't have to eat all the cinnamon rolls by myself. although i can't say i mind too much because cinnamon rolls are delicious.

1. tedbaker 2. budget travel 3. honey kennedy 4. victoria savannah

i can't believe it's not...ice cream

i think it is important that i share something very important with you: blue bunny frozen yogurt is ridiculously good. in fact, i thought it was actually ice cream the first time i ate it. but then i looked at the nutritional facts thinking how horrified i was going to be after eating a half gallon by myself (not really. but kind of.) and was actually shocked in a good way. there was barely any fat. there was a lot of protein. the ingredients didn't contain words i couldn't pronounce. there were healthy probiotics that didn't require me to turn into jamie lee curtis and eat activia. i mean, let's be honest, it still has calories and all dessert is probably full of crap that we don't need to be stuffing into our bodies by the very-large-spoonful, but in general, i feel pretty good about this stuff. i also feel pretty good about the fact that it tastes remarkably good and has incredible flavors that don't just include chocolate and vanilla. (but they have those too if you're into that.)

my favorites include the two flavors that i have tried. but honestly i'm so happy with them i'm not sure it's worth branching out.

 

white chocolate raspberry (follow the link for nutritional information) includes "white choclate flavored frozen yogurt swirled with a raspberry ribbon and dark chocolate chunks". win win win. win.

carmel praline crunch might even be slightly better if that's possible. "butter pecan frozen yogurt with praline pecan pieces swirled with a salty caramel ribbon." is there a combination that sounds more fantastic? i don't think so. i'm on board for pretty much anything that contains salty caramel. i am actually eating some while i write this and feeling like all is as right with the world as it can be on a random tuesday night in february.

the wonderful thing about the two aforementioned flavors is that harris teeter carries them in mini single-serve sizes. meaning you can flirt with the cute baby ones without making a serious fro yo commitment, just in case you have issues with that.

p.s. this post is not related to blue bunny in any way and all opinions are my own. meaning, blue bunny didn't pay me to write about how much i love their fro yo. but if they wanted to pay me or give me free product, i mean, i probably wouldn't say no to that.

images via: 1.petitefolie 2.flickriver 3.flickriver

sunday edition #10

you know those kids you see on corners and in front of shopping plazas with cardboard signs advertising sales? some twirl them. some dance with them. some stand there awkwardly and wave. watch the above clip from the office to see what i'm talking about if you're still not following (although i'd recommend watching it either way because it's hilarious). i maintain that there are probably few jobs in the world worse than this, so for some reason seeing those poor teenagers always makes me happy to know that someone has enough work ethic to make sure i know about a store closing or a mattress sale. they're adorable and i always wave at them.

last night on facebook, i discovered this photo. this is my cousin, mitch. he's a pretty big deal - major sports star at his high school in new york and likely heading to college on a scholarship next year. and this is mitch dressed as a mattress. advertising a mattress sale. perhaps you won't find this as excellent as i do, but i laughed for a full minute straight at this photo last night. mitch just skyrocketed to the top of my people-who-are-really-cool list. i hope this brightened your day almost as much as seeing this in person on the side of the road. and next time you see a poor kid trying to spin a sign and attract attention? wave at him for me. he's somebody's cousin.

they're here

this morning, my coworkers and i deemed it "bagel thursday" and took a walk to panera for a little carbo loading. as overstreet mall crawled with professionals with somewhere far more important to be than in line for some empty calories, i realized something amazing.


the starbucks red cups are here.


i was so excited in fact, that i forgot all appropriate social behavior, stopped walking and practically shouted "STARBUCKS HAS RED CUPS!" so loudly that people looked. people holding red cups, that is.
some may argue that it's too early. i am not some. call me crazy, but grande americanos are far more delicious when the cup is red. and that is all.

image: biggerinreallife

for laurie

hello! i'm alive! i'm blogging! it's been months and months!

grandma, aunt ginny, laurie, mom... you've been heard. since my readership is clearly out of control and the masses (er, my family) are begging for my return, i've decided to give the people what they want. it's happening. get ready.

in all seriousness, things have been great lately. my lack of blogging really hasn't been a reflection of anything but the fact that i'm busy and enjoying life. and that baby mac has been struggling ever since this summer's extremely traumatic hard drive crash; but three semi-working office laptops later (working for a non-profit sure has its perks), i now have two computers that combined add up to one good one, so we're on track for some non-efficient-but-nonetheless-awesome-posting.

since i've stopped blogging, a lot has happened, in fact. i am awed by the lord's blessings during the past few months and unbelievably thankful for his continued faithfulness. work has gotten quite amazing thanks to an incredible new boss lady who is absolutely wonderful. liam and i moved into a lovely little new house in charlotte in a sweet little neighborhood with families who play basketball in the driveway in their church clothes on sundays. we are happy here. i bought 456968 new articles of clothing at the goodwill to replace all of the ones that i sold/gave away when i moved, and i have attempted, somewhat successfully, to fit them into the only closet in my teeny tiny house. i started freelancing for charlotte style magazine and have written a total of one articles so far. i managed to make it through the hot summer months without having one single temper tantrum. i bought my first set of grown-up furniture (a couch and a loveseat). i joined claire danes and charlotte's elite with a visit to the new 5 church restauant in uptown (i maintain that fancy pretentious food is fun, but overrated). i killed approximately ten cockraoches in my new house with no help from anyone (dad, please don't tell anyone about that one time you had to come over...). i went to raleigh. i went to southern pines. i went to the beach. big things. good thing i'm back just in time for my favorite two months of the year to share lots of inspiration and pretties.

see you soon! tomorrow, in fact... (for real). you're welcome.

as promised, this post has been dedicated to the always lovely laurie. you have taught me how to yard sale like i mean it, use coupons more efficiently than anyone i've ever met, cook without following directions, and fill a house with things that make it home, like vickie the duck. thank you for letting me sleep on your unbelievably comfortable couch with the star wars sheets, drink your wine, eat from every single pint of your front porch ice cream flavors at once, and beat you to good treasures at your local thrift stores. let's do it all again soon?

image: ifreakinglovetaylorswift.tumblr

lately

r1: springtime flowers in my backyard/sunday with bestie sarah and baby p/lunchtime sunshine uptown
r2: lipstick americano/glam sequins for gracie's bachelorette/liam on my nicest suit
r3: lovely downtown southern pines/end table lovelies/java bean plantation (southern pines)
r4: bachelorette invitation/blooms at the grove park inn (asheville)/my favorite lunchtime spot, the 5th floor terrace in my building
r5: work clothes/baubles/lazy saturday brunch at home
r6: flowers at the nc dance theatre gala/happy mary kay package from allison/java bean plantation
r7: sunrise on the queen city/mcglohon theatre/discarded cocktails at the nc dance theatre gala
r8: bedroom camellias/branches in southern pines/latta arcade and the duke building from my parking deck
r9: late night dessert and coffee with blair and allison at rooster's/valentine's night nap with sweet parker/liam and the hole he chewed for his head in the blinds

p.s. you can follow me on instagram @cdcote

spring is coming in a hot air balloon

this target ad is seriously making my life right now. these little colorful people and alouette song (learned all the verses to that one in high school french class) are just beyond happy.

random fact: did you know that the popular children's alouette song is about plucking parts off of a lark? it's true. je te plumerais le tete, la plume, etc. means "i am going to pluck its head, its feathers..." kind of ruins that song for you, huh? not so cute and happy after all.

monday mums

why is it that when you get out of a habit, it's much harder to get back in the swing of things? runway has been finished for two weeks now (best two weeks of the year so far) and i've so been looking forward to blogging again, but as it's no longer a part of my routine, i'm spending a lot of time thinking about my blog and not a lot of time actually blogging. with three major grant deadlines at work this week, however, i'm thankful that blogging is something that i can do when i'm in the mood and no one is forcing me to write when i don't feel like it. there are few things in life without rules and obligations and i'm glad that this is one of them.
in the meantime, above is a photo of my coffee table currently (the last surviving buds from my lovely runway bouquets), and i've made a new playlist, to which i've been listening pretty much nonstop. it's lazy and lovely as we wrap up these last few weeks of winter-with-an-identity-crisis. much more to come, including what i learned from co-chairing runway (a lot) and a few recent great deals. thanks for hanging in there with me!

p.s. in a random side note, the top book in this stack is one of my favorite possessions - it's a book of henry wadsworth longfellow poems from 1898. it's in surprising good condition considering its age and has a number of items stuffed in the pages (newspaper clippings, church bulletins, a funeral program for an infant) that are all dated between 1900 - 1910. i love thinking about who owned this book before me, what their life was like, and how the lovely words on its pages are still meaningful and timeless. while we're at it, the book below it is a 1950's unabridged version of victor hugo's les miserables (my favorite book) and the one below that is an old collection of cezanne's sketches and paintings. the final book isn't old, but is a stunning photography collection of france's lavender fields. all of these books came from the goodwill. go figure.

love x10

there are no words to describe how happy every little second of this commercial makes me. there's lots to love about february.

my feelings exactly...

image via hallmark

blog to book

tonight i got home very late and this little baby was waiting on my front stoop thanks to amazon and their free two-day shipping. if you don't already read design sponge, it's time that you start. i can not wait to find ten minutes to sit down, drink some wine and flip through these pages. it's going to make me want to redecorate my entire house, but you know...

i've really missed blogging lately. runway for the ballet has been taking up nearly every moment of my free time, but i'm looking forward to a little peace and quiet this weekend. more to come soon!

so in love

so i've never been in love. with a boy my age, that is. but this boy? it's official. we love each other.

long winter's night

welcome to the shortest day of the calendar year! what does that mean exactly? well, i did some research for you:
- the winter solstice occurs when the polar hemisphere (north in this case) is tilted the furthest away from the sun.
- the actual "solstice" only occurs for a moment (since we don't really want the earth to stop turning and imminent doom to ensue), and then the days begin to very gradually lengthen again.
- the solstice is also known as "midwinter", which is interesting, since in truth it is actually the first day of the winter season.
- on this day, the sun's maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest it will be all year.
- the solstice almost always occurs between december 21st and 23rd.
- it may be the first day of winter, but it's 65 and raining here, and feels much more like spring. gross.
- it's a good night to stay in, wear warm socks, and be cozy and christmasy.

so go get some socks, a fire (or a candle?), listen to "in the bleak midwinter" on my playlist and enjoy this long winter's night!

image via weheartit

we need a little christmas

images: 1.flickr 2.flickr 3.eddieross 4.flipflopsandpearls 5.weheartit 6.bhg 7.tumblr 8.tumblr 9.dustycoyote 10.junkgardengirl

chanel

chanel has my most favorite commercials. if there is one brand that is most adequately captured in thirty seconds of video, i think chanel is it. and, i suppose in keeping with that, they cast the most devastatingly beautiful, positively feminine women in them.

my favorite, "train de nuit" (interestingly directed by jean-pierre jeunet of amélie fame) and starring shy-girl amélie herself, audrey tatou, is so stunning. i've been reading david baldacci's the christmas train over the past week or so, and i think trains are so mysterious and glamorous. i've been learning quite a lot about them in the book and i also recently learned that this infamous chanel no. 5 commercial was shot on the orient express itself. if you haven't seen it, please feast your eyes below. if all advertisements were this beautiful, i'd never want to fast-forward through them.



images: 1.mimifroufrou 2.coquette

christmas confessions

you know how we all have our weird quirks? i think everyone has a whole special set of minorly embarrassing holiday ones. we all have such set christmas traditions and ways that we celebrate (or, in some cases don't celebrate) this time of year. so, in the spirit of giving, here are some of mine. please promise you won't judge me.

1. i don't like charlie brown's christmas. i know that probably makes me un-american, but their christmas tree sucks, lucy is bossy and annoying, linus just walks around stinking everywhere and no one listens to charlie's whining. due to significant lack of coffee last week, i let this little one slip in front of the whole staff at work. not something i probably should have shared so early in the game. don't worry, i do enjoy many other heartwarming holiday films. i'm not a total scrooge.

2. until two years ago, i thought the song "i saw mommy kissing santa claus" was the most horrible christmas song ever. i just couldn't understand why we have a beloved carol about mom whoring around on dad. i made a comment to this end, and was told that santa claus is actually the dad in that song. somehow this had escaped me until age 24. all that aside, i still hate the song, but at least mom is playing by the rules.

3. i think fruitcake is delicious. rum? check. candied fruit? check. intensely concentrated carbs? check check check.

4. i listen to christmas music starting in august. you can be annoyed if you want to, but that's not really going change anything. additionally, my 98 degrees this christmas, n'sync home for christmas and hanson snowed in albums are some of my absolute favorites. shiny teen popstars really understand how to celebrate the holidays.

5. i have never had a real tree. my mom was allergic growing up, but honestly i just don't see how they make sense economically. my artificial one is free every year. and actually, since i took it out of my neighbor's trash, it's always been free. now that makes me feel festive.

6. i will swear on pretty much anything you want that i heard reindeer hooves on my roof in the middle of the night one christmas eve when i was young. not a dream. when i found out santa wasn't really showing up at my house in a sleigh every year, i could accept it minus this one little occurrence. i'd still like to know what i heard that night.

7. my brother and i still, at 24 and 26, sit on the living room floor in our pajamas and open our stockings together. aaron can hate me for posting this photo, but he should also thank me that i didn't post the photo i found from christmas a few years earlier where he's wearing his new football helmet and no pants.

8. in the fifth grade, my class put on this freaking awesome christmas pageant at school. we re-wrote and enacted the night before christmas poem about our school's principal and had musical performances by fifth graders impersonating famous people. i was a fifties dancer in brenda lee's rocking around the christmas tree. i wore a hot pink poodle skirt and danced around the christmas tree (which was actually a girl named lila who got the raw end of the deal) with a little hispanic girl named guadeloupe. (see crappy photo above.) we also all painted and wore wreath sweatshirts (hand prints made the wreath, fingerprints were the berries) to wear for the show. additional headliners included performances from bruce springsteen, alvin and the chipmunks and run dmc. i'm not sure what i learned in fifth grade other than all of the lyrics to christmas in hollis, which i still remember and would be happy to sing (rap?) for you on command.

9. i used to write secret letters for santa even after i knew he wasn't real. i would hide them in my room on christmas eve and excitedly look to see if he found them on christmas morning. sadly he never did, but that didn't keep me from trying. i may have held on to the santa myth a little longer than i'm proud of. i blame hallmark and all of their heartwarming, magical christmas specials.

10. i don't think new york city at christmas is really all that special. it's mostly just overcrowded and over-commercialized. i'd like to find it magical, but i'm just not sold.


1.weheartit 2.kenlevine 3.harryanddavid 4.lyricsdog 8.nyctourist

sharp dressed man

i'm not much of a loyal glee-watcher anymore, but darren criss (aka blaine) can sing to me any day. i also really appreciate a man in a good suit and this gq feature from this past summer was passed along to me today by my friend mary. i am totally smitten and just had to share.

i would appreciate such a well-dressed date to my brother's wedding in may. heck, i'd appreciate a man this well-dressed every day.

view entire feature here

happy thursday!

hey remember that time i had a blog!?
life is so busy lately and i'm exhausted, but happy. i don't mind a little busy but unfortunately my energy for creating blog posts has diminished significantly.  this post isn't very inspired, i'm afraid, but i just had to share a few things that are making me very happy these days...

1. all the little yellow leaves lining the sidewalks on tryon street and that bluster up in the air when the buses drive by. they're also quite slippery when it's raining, in case you didn't know.

2. the free orange spice tea at my office. my grandma used to drink it when i was little (she may, still, actually) and the smell reminds me of her and fall/christmas. and it still has enough caffeine to give me a kick in the morning as the office coffee may be the worst i've ever tasted.

3. trader joe's candy cane joe joes are back! i'm about ten minutes away from breaking open the first box of the season.

4. this story that my mom emailed me today that a kid at her school told her: "you know how rocks are really hard and pointy sometimes? this one time i fell asleep, and when i woke up, it was dinnertime."

no joke. our education system at its finest, people. if you understand this story, please message me.

5. driving past johnson & wales university when it's dark out and seeing all the chefs inside wearing their hats and coats working/studying. they remind me of the keebler elves. in a good, non-creepy way.

6. my two computer monitors at the office. our tech guy installed an extra computer monitor for me a few days after i started. apparently it can increase productivity up to 30%. i had no idea what i was missing with just one lousy monitor. and it definitely makes projects a lot easier. now i want one for my laptop at home.

7. the crazy target lady. how can she not make you happy? i personally love the ad where she's looking at the two-day sale ad and screaming from pure, unadulterated joy. glad i'm not the only one who gets seriously amped about a big sale. and who wears pearls with tracksuits. (just kidding. sort of.)

8. the inside of caribou coffee. it's like christmas exploded with argyle, white lights and delicious coffee smells. get yourself to one quick.

happy thursday! what's making you happy today?

images: 1.believewishes 2.theglamouri 3.trackingtj 4.thestate 5.fabdarling

just an update

so this one time i got a job and my life went from about 60mph to 150mph. holy mack.
i am so happy, however, to have a job that i like, to be a valuable part of team, to be able to use my skills and do what i love on behalf of a noble cause. i'm also happy that it's fall, that the red cups at starbucks are back, that there are christmas commercials on television again, that i currently have a coupon for a free chick-fil-a sandwich and that i get to see my best friends this weekend. life (and God) is good.

image via kellymccaleb