*sigh* moms, right?

you are looking at a shot i sneakily snapped on saturday of my mom cleaning my house.

please also note the overripe bananas hanging over our fruit basket because i completely forgot about them and that is how terribly hard my week was. my week can be described by overripe bananas.
i don't have a picture of someone throwing out a perfectly good box of donuts, or a shot of someone making a loathsome face at the world's cutest puppy, but either of those snaps could adequately describe it as well.
after a teary phone call from me on saturday morning, my mama promptly asked what time she could come over
aaand didn't leave until 11 pm.

she ordered us a pizza and talked life, all while reorganizing, scrubbing, shifting, dusting, rearranging, wiping, and staying busy making my house shine like the top of the chrysler building.
my pantry is a little fuller and carpet a little softer.

three cheers for all of motherkind -
the only breed of human that will consistently enjoy scrubbing their babies' kitchens when they're all grown up and thinks "thank you and i don't deserve this" is a preposterous thing to say.

thanks, mama, for making me so happy-hearted.

xo.

happy thanksgiving!

[photo of my adam & i because, well, i'm just so darn grateful for the ways this love has changed me.]

it may seem rather silly,
but i feel so blessed to be witnessing all of the amazing gratitude-isms and the lively spirit everyone seems to have via instagram, facebook, blogs, twitter, etc.
i feel grateful for every pie baking picture, every re-post of your wedding days, and every little word uttered about the blessings we all have,
though i have kept pretty quiet about my own on social media.

i'm undeniably lucky to have the life i have
and i hope that no second ever passes by in my world where anyone has any doubt that i believe that.
this life of mine is vibrant and varied as ever.
i'm so thankful for the strengths and thankful for the struggles.
all of it.
every last minute of it.

i cannot wait to continue being a witness to so much love, family, food, and gratitude today!
it warms my heart to no end.

have a great holiday
and post as many pictures + words as you want, unapologetically.
i don't mind ooone bit!

xo.

i'm so lucky.

i'm so lucky to have a guy whose favorite colors are basically pink and purple. and who wouldn't say it would be a "girly" thing to paint our kitchen cabinets pink. and who loves floral couches. and who doesn't say crap like "that's a girl thing" or "girls are dramatic" or "are you on your period?". and who looks at people as humans, yet appreciates the things that make us so uniquely different as men & women.

i'm so lucky to have a job that i love. i love teaching dance. i love it so! i love influencing young minds and teaching them the ins and outs of this art that i love. i love being able to walk into the studio and decide what i'm going to teach these young people right then and there. i love seeing them connect with movement and i am so proud to watch when they perform on stage.

i'm so lucky to have everything i could ever need, materially. for the last few christmases and birthdays it has been nearly impossible to find things i could ask people to give me. i feel so blessed to have things that it almost pains me to have to try to search for things that could possibly supplement my collection of possessions.

i'm so lucky to be in love.
i'm so lucky to be loved.
i'm so lucky to be where i am
and who i am.

the blue sky i've seen above my head these last few days has changed something in me.
i'm feeling more in love with my life than ever.

i am so blessed!

what makes you lucky?

xo.

a year for every hour of the day.

so, i turned 24 last week.
it's rather odd, as it doesn't feel like i thought it would when i was, say, 12.
which is half my age
and makes me feel old.

the days leading up to my birthday were hard
and my birthday is always hard.
i couldn't tell ya why.
it just is!

i'm lucky to have people in my life who are so very patient
and who send me texts like
"LET'S TURN THIS AROUND"
and who leave little notes on my car
even though i'm difficult on my birthday
and i say things like "i have no frieeeends" and "why am i getting so ooooold"
and other pathetic things like that.

i know i've mentioned this before,
but my people are the sweetest and most loving people in the world
and i cannot believe i'm attached to them!!!

so,

my birthday...

let's explore it through pictures:

[my sweet sister + mama decorated the place with pom poms & ranunculus flowers!]

[aren't ranunculus flowers the prettiest? that + poppies. HEAVEN ON EARTH!]

[my sister suggested a hole-in-the-wall burger place for dinner]

[we took it back to my dad's office and ate in the conference room after hours]

[probably the best burgers we have ever had, like, ever]

[we visited my new favorite chocolate place in SLC and had their amazing vegan truffles!]

[my sister also decorated everything with little gold hearts. i love her]

[i am a little tired of birthday cake, so i wanted waffles + ice cream. nothing is better!]

life is just so imperfect
and sometimes so humble and quiet
and other times it is so loud
but not all moments are meant for applause.
some moments are reverent or meaningful in a different way.

that's how life is and that's how it's gonna stay
and i'm gonna love it
even when i feel all down on my own life and its shortcomings.
it's still my life
and it's still a beautiful one.

also,
i still can't believe i'm 24!!!
i think i will always be 19 on the inside.
that's okay, right?

p.s. birthdays make me go all introspective. see last year. and the year before. and man do i look different or what?

xo.

love week pt 2

when we visited dc,
we had one of our new best photographriends, amelia johnson,
shoot us to commemorate our first official trip back there,
since we met there 'n all.

and oh. my. goodness.

all i can say is go over to her blog. and like her on facebook.
and maybe email or comment on everything she does.
she deserves it
and then some.

you do not know sweetness or happiness until you meet amelia johnson
who is probably julia child reincarnate. that's our theory.

these images are so, so dear to me.
we woke up that morning and i was stressing out, as usual,
and, as usual, adam had the lucky job of getting me to calm down,
which he is very good at
which is probably sad
because my anxiety is really bad
so he's gotten really good at it with practice.
but anyways...

when i was getting short of breath and hyperventilating a bit,
he came over and gently took my belongings out of my hands and placed them on the floor
and took my hands and said "hey. look at me" in probably the sweetest way possible.

then he asked me to trust him to carry us,
to let go when i lose control and trust that he will be able to carry us back to dry land.
and i cannot tell you how unbelievably lucky i felt at that moment as i nodded.

then while we were hanging out with amelia,
there was a moment where she asked adam to gently grab my waist
and for me to look at him like i was just melting.
it was incredibly moving and so relevant to our conversation that morning
that i had tears in my eyes for a moment.

i knew that adam accepted me for all my faults and imperfections
and that no matter what happened
i could always freely hand myself over
and i would always be loved in an entirely free and fearless way.

because... how on earth did our relationship even happen?
why did we meet each other on the train? and how?
have we really only known each other for four years?
how... in this crazy world, when we both lived miles and miles apart
and there are 6 billion other people wandering this planet...
how did we find each other?

these are questions we ask ourselves daily
and it doesn't really matter
but we know we are the lucky ones
and these pictures only cement that in my heart.


we connect to this song so much
so listen to it when you head over to amelia's blog for more (seriously, she is a gem!),
if you so choose.

happy love week!
go kiss all your loved ones!

xo.

be thankful.

i'm all for using social media to do something positive,
so lately i've been expressing gratitude for little things i love in my life.

and seeing as how it's november 'n all...
i plan to increase this online attitude of gratitude.

play along if you'd like!
i'd love to see the little things the world loves.

hashtags were invented to organize tweets, right?
so let's use 'em!

i'm using the hashtag #graziegram (because i just really like way italians roll their r's),
my good friend matika is using #gratitude (& her instagram feed is amazing)...

so you know...
just do your own hashtag thang, if you wish!

i look forward to (hopefully) seeing some #graziegrams!

xo.