weeks end

Quite a week. Big changes at work. All good things but I'm worn out. Very excited for a three day weekend. Although I will never complain about having been in Spain for the 4th of July, it does mean I haven't had a holiday since Memorial Day. It's TIME!

Here are a few songs I can't get enough of lately.





(no i am not joking about the last one)

Go Obama!

While it's Hot

So my company is clearing out summer merch and we have a TON of stuff that is 50% off on our website.

*this is now a link, thanks Dainon. www.tretorn.com in case it's not working.

You could get these super cute rubber boots for $28 people.


Or these itty bitties perfect for your favorite nephew for $18


or these leather beauties that are kind of a steal at $48


and ladies, these are every bit as cute in real life as you think they would be. For $30!!!


Anyway, we don't go on sale very often and sadly unless you live in major coastal city it's hard to find us in stores. So here's a chance to get super cool shoes that not everyone who went to Urban Outfitters this weekend will have.

The Key

I got some sad news this weekend. A sorority sister from college was killed in a plane crash you might have read about. She was a freshman when I was a junior and was part of pledge class I dearly loved. I haven't seen her in years but I've kept track of her through mutual friends. She leaves behind a two year old daughter and a mom who also lost her ex-husband in the accident.

Although this isn't a close loss, I've spent all day thinking about all the people I love and how much more important they are then anything else in my life right now. I want to be kinder, more loving, less self-absorbed. Just better I guess. This song sorta sums it up

I'm praying for Cecilee's family tonight. She will be missed.

The Last

Well here it is, summer's second to last gasp of a weekend. Even though I spent two of my work days in Rhode Island doing this


I'm really ready to spend the weekend outside as much as possible. Starting with dinner alfresco tonight with one of the latest in a rash of Bostonians we are losing to the West Coast.

*sigh*, summer I hardly knew ye.

Mr. Clean

(I'm listening to this while I blog today)

I've been anxious to write about the three week cleanse experiment since I think I told everyone who would hold still about it...

A total and complete screaming success. Not because my skin feels clearer and brighter and I bought smaller pants this weekend...but because I just feel so much better. I thought when I was done that I'd be so anxious to eat all of the things that I cut out-but now more moderately-but I have been surprised at how much I'm still sticking to the plan. I keep thinking that if I'm sleeping better and feeling great and looking good, do I really need the sugar and caffeine back?

One of the really clear objectives for me was to pay attention to why and when I eat the things that I do. All too often I use food as a reward or a consolation prize. So I'm working on dealing with that kind of stuff in a healthier way. As my friend Brooke once said, "the boy who broke your heart is NOT at the bottom at that Ben and Jerry's carton."

All the benefits of being a better eater became clear this weekend though when I fell right off the wagon. Some old friends were in town and we spent Friday and Saturday eating out way through this town. We went to Mike's pastries and had cannoli's, ate lots of Thai food, we got gelato, we stopped at Kimball Farms for their famous ice cream, ate at Anna's Taqueria again after a long hiatus. I woke up Sunday morning with the closest thing to a hangover I have ever had. I felt sluggish, my face was all puffy-I was a mess. I had eight people over for dinner that night and I almost didn't touch the pasta dish in favor of the spinach salad and the fresh fruit.
There is certainly a place in my life for a cannoli now and then and I'm definitely not an advocate for total deprivation. But I'm much happier when I'm a bit more in control over what and when I decide to let certain foods take control of me.

The book I followed is a good read regardless of whether you need a "cleanse" or not.
She talks about wellness in general and it goes much deeper then just what you eat. Exercise, spirituality, service, even having fun-they are all important parts of being "well". I'm totally converted.

Now for my next challenge I might copy my sister again and try ONE HUNDRED PUSHUPS! (no i won't.)

If

You have dinner with a table full of photographers, you might play "what can I use as a light filter at this table?"wine bottle
water glass
frisbee (don't ask)
candle holder

Merry Go Round

Words I overuse the most, "I can do______ when life calms down a bit." And then I have a week that goes, come home from Utah, go to all day strategy meetings, clean my house, whirlwind three days with out of town guests, leave guests at dinner table Sunday night to drive to photoshoot in Rhode Island, shoot-shoot-shoot, drive home, thrown in laundry, run to the office, dinner plans to give friend wedding present I've had in my car for six weeks.

I want/need to write people! Which I will. You know, when life calms down a bit.

larrybird

OK, I'll stop with the baby talk since the kid doesn't even belong to me but I can't resist a few more photos from my trip to meet him. I don't know if he has any idea how many people love him but I'm afraid the guy will never learn to walk since he pretty much spends his days being passed around by a mob of relatives.

I knew I loved him the day he was born but now that I've held him and smelled his little neck and giggled at the spindliness of his legs and wondered if he's going to swim like his uncle or bike like his dad or throw a baseball like his momma, if his eyes will be Clifford or Archuletta, he is real. I looked through my photos in the cab last night and got the kind of weepy homesick that makes me feel like I'm a freshman in college again. He's going to be smiling soon and I can't believe I'm not going to see it. He'll grow out of his Tom Waits onesies and into his Tretorn tennies before I get to whisper secrets in his baby ears about the stuff I'll let him do when he comes to visit me in a few years.

I know he's not the first baby ever born but he's our first and thus, he's our best. He's our favorite. He's the cutest. He's the snuggliest. He smells the best. Other littles will come along and we'll love them just as much and they'll get smothered in attention I'm sure. But Morgan, you will always be our first, the one we will all practice on. I'm really glad you picked us.
Sweetie face.
Aunties
Sleepy guy.
Great Grandma. (Please bless I look this good when I'm a great grandma)
mommy. glam mommy who wears earrings and lipstick and looks amazing three weeks after baby. Woot!
Broken Arm Auntie.
Daddy.
Uncle.
Aunt k8. Already planning his trips to come see me.

Vote or Die

I can't get enough of this stuff.

This Guy

So...nephew is totally amazing. I'll be back once I tear myself away from him.

Once

There will come a day when I manage to pack for a trip AND get a decent night's sleep but this is not that day.

No middle seat please.

Christmas Eve

I am a fairly excitable person and there are lots of things that get me all worked up(good and bad) but I can't remember the last time I was this anxious.

I get to meet my nephew in TWENTY FOUR HOURS!!!!

I'm so excited!

Day 14

Two weeks is apparently how long you need to stop craving Diet Coke. Aside from the giant ones with seven limes each that all my friends were drinking at dinner last week, I really feel like I don't even miss it.

I still have a week to go but I have to say-I feel really good. I am sleeping more soundly and looking more rested and I don't crash in the afternoon like usual. I also think I just generally look brighter and healthier.

One week to go although I might have to modify just a bit since I'm traveling for work this week. I'm going to start a petition to get Whole Foods into the Logan Airport.

Yes

We DID go on a Guns and Roses Tribute Band Harbor Cruise this weekend.




And maybe it was totally as awesome as you think it was.