A quick trip to San Francisco

A quick trip to San Francisco

L:  What was your favorite part about being home for Teddy & Kelley’s wedding?

F:  My favorite part about being home for their wedding was being home for their wedding! This was by far the happiest time I have ever spent at home. I loved seeing how happy David (our other brother) and Mom and Dad were also. That was so sweet.

L:  What is your favorite picture from the wedding?

F:  I like this one because the sunset was amazing and they just look so happy.

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L:  What are you most looking forward to about going back to LA?

F:  Going back to my eating habits. I feel puffy and yucky. I can’t wait to eat 3 healthy meals a day again.

L:  What’s something you really want to do before summer is over?

F:  Go to the beach one more time.

L:  How do you feel about flying?

F:  I really don’t like to do it. If I thought about it too much, I might freak out. I just try to get it over with but enjoy my time as well.

Hey everyone! We have had a crazy whirlwind of a weekend with Teddy and Kelley’s wedding.  It was beautiful, touching, heartwarming and wonderful. We are so happy for them.

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Farrell – Lakewood, OH

Wedding bliss

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Albert – Put In Bay, OH

High seas

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Janna – Pittsburgh, PA

The views from my 10th floor. Hello PPG Building.

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Sunset, due south.

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Lauren – Lakewood, OH

These are the type of messages our mother has left around the house our entire lives.  They’ve been found on dirty dishes, hidden beer & cigarettes and countless other misbehaviors.  She never says anything more about them but you know she’s seen something of which she disapproves.  This one is priceless, I think.

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One thing I miss about living on the East Coast is the thunderstorms. I have loved them since I was little. They bring a calm and craziness at the same time. I love, love, love them.

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I came across the Hector Thunderstorm Project, an exhibit of time lapse thunderstorms in Australia. Check out this amazing thunderstorm form:

WEDDING

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Tomorrow our little brother is getting married. It is hard to not to feel a bit nostalgic and all these memories keep popping into my head of when we were little. After school we used to watch all these shows like The Mickey Mouse Club and Kids Incorporated. Here is just a quick reminder at how weird the 90’s were. Happy Wedding Teds, its been a pleasure being your older sister.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc88Uxhq4ug] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnsHpPNltBw]

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I always love being back in Cleveland in the summertime but being home for our little brother’s wedding has been extra special.  The wedding is at our house so this past week has been full of activity and preparations.  Can’t wait to share photos of the celebration to come.

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Sailboats and the Cleveland skyline on Lake Erie

F: What is your favorite breakfast food and why?

L: I love oatmeal with honey, coconut, almonds or walnuts and maybe some golden raisins. A few years ago I went to the Omega Institute for a week-long yoga retreat. The food there is all vegan and it is out of control delicious. One of the things they have is a oatmeal bar with toppings I’d never before dreamed of (i.e. coconut). I love coconut and the concept that I could eat it every day with oatmeal really changed my life in so small but true way. I think it’s my favorite because it’s filling. There are obviously many other delicious breakfast foods but I’m always hungry again so soon after I eat most of them.

F: What is a book that you have always wanted to read, but haven’t gotten around to it?

L: I’ve read the first chapter of Moby Dick about a half a dozen times. It’s clearly a sort of masterpiece but all I really know about it is that there’s a whale and a guy named Ishmael. One day I’ll commit and really get into it.

F: What do you think makes a good toast?

L: I keep thinking this says, “What do you think makes good toast?”. I think I’m still thinking about breakfast foods. Anyway, I think one of the most important things in making a good toast is that people can hear you. Aside from that, I don’t think you can go wrong if you’re heartfelt.

F: What are you most looking forward to this week?

L: Teddy and Kelley’s wedding, of course!

F: What is something unexpected that makes you happy?

L:  I love when I find a penny heads-side up, wrote about it here once.

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(Image via here)

It just so happens that there are a lot of people who I love that had birthdays yesterday. Every year, it is curious to me why all these people happened to be born on the same day. The book The Secret Language of Birthdays now has a website where you can look up your birthday and it tells you all this crazy stuff about your birthday.

Here is my August 6-ers:

The Day of Unique Happenings

Traits of this day…

INTERESTING
ROMANTIC
ORIGINAL
DISILLUSIONED
RECKLESS
ANTISOCIAL

Meditation…

It is the unexpected that happens

Health…

    Because of their attraction to the highly unusual, August 6 people may be the despair of their families when it comes to their observing the ordinary daily activities that can keep one healthy. Yet, paradoxically, August 6 people benefit from and frequently partake of tasty and regular meals, sensuous massages, good sex and periodic exercise such as walking, jogging or swimming. The trick for them is of course to maintain such healthy activities without becoming bored. Usually blessed with a sound constitution and a surprisingly successful avoidance of accidents (considering their taste for far-out and possibly dangerous experiences), August 6 people may periodically need to break out of their routine and go off on wild binges of all types.

Personality of this day…

    Those born on August 6 have a lust for experience. They are particularly drawn to happenings of a very unique or extraordinary sort, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime occurrences, some of which seem impossible, or of an inexplicable or divine source. August 6 people may perhaps generate these experiences themselves or simply come on them by chance, take direct part in them or just read and write about them; in any case, it is the mental or physical contact with the experience itself, the personal discovery of something long forgotten or even previously unknown which attracts them like a magnet.

Ordinary life does not hold a great fascination for those born on this day, and they quickly become bored by the mundane. In the case of August 6 people tied to ordinary jobs or less-than-stellar family situations, there is a danger that they will retreat into a fantasy world to get their kicks. There is also a good chance that following years of deep frustration and angst they may finally decide to leave their stability behind and set out in search of new horizons. After making such drastic changes, an August 6 person may realize that he/she was never cut out for a settled life after all. Some born on this day may feel a measure of bitterness that they didn’t make the discovery sooner.

Only the most successful and highly evolved of August 6 people manage to integrate their love for the unique and unusual into a stable daily life. Those who do are usually themselves creative or enjoy an occupation which is directly related to singular and uncommon occurrences. They may even have the genius to reveal the fantastic in the ordinary, and to share such a unique insight with others.

Because transcending the limits of earthly experience (or at the very least stretching them) holds such a central importance for August 6 people, they may display a rather intense approach to life. Indeed, their choice of lifestyle may be difficult for mates to accept, unless of course their partner shares some measure of interest in their pursuits. August 6 people may also go through changes which occur in a much too rapid fashion for their mates, family or friends to handle.

Those born on this day have a great need for love and all sorts of sensuous and sexual expression. But they may suffer deep disappointments in their search for a perfect mate or an ideal relationship. August 6 people are faithful friends and parents in their own way. Although they may take their responsibilities very seriously, however, they are often unable to discharge them to the satisfaction of loved ones, again because of the demands of their August 6 lifestyle.

(Information via here)

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I challenged myself to 31 days of a consistent yoga practice for the month of July.  I think I did pretty well but I’ll tell you upfront that a couple of days went by without even a forward bend.  Nonetheless, I’m happy with myself for sticking to it and thankful to Farrell for motivating a few times when I had every intention of taking the day off.  While I went to a lot of classes during the course of the month, the majority of my practice was at home.  I found a bunch of great podcast classes, ranging in length from 20 minutes to an hour and a half.  If you already know the basics of yoga and alignment, I think this is a great option, especially when you don’t have time (or think you don’t have time) to go to a class.  Some of my go-to’s are:

Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga with Kinndli | Yoga Flo with Jennifer | Om on the Range Yoga | Lean Power Yoga | Yoga to the People

Hi there! I just had the most wonderful weekend celebrating my friend Meghan’s wedding. Now I am heading to Cleveland to celebrate my brother’s nuptuals. It is a wedding sandwich! Here are this weeks pics:

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Nick – Greenville, South Carolina

This was taken at 4am in Greenville, South Carolina at an unmarked bar on the side of a highway.  They really loved PBR.

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Eileen – Los Angeles, California

This was at The Abbey in West Hollywood.
Goal: casual Sunday. Result: this.
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Geoff – Catskills, New York

Two of my most loved friends getting married in the Catskills. It was a magical weekend. I am stick choked up by it.

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Lauren – Vermillion, OH

Five of my best friends and a Lake Erie sunset

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SIL

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I have had so many of my closest friends (including these two favorites) and family move out of New York in the past couple of years. It’s a funny thing because life just keeps moving at such a fast pace in this city that I look like pictures like this one, taken five years ago, and it feels like such a recent memory.  Just three friends, dressed up and barefoot, laughing in a bubble.

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This past Christmas, we had a homemade gift exchange. I have never considered myself crafty, but these silhouettes were totally do-able.

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Here is how I made them.