Tuesday, July 31, 2012

So Romantic, It’s Hilarious: How to be a Rom-Com Heroine

romcom

1. Eat a lot. Eat so much and so often that when the topically ethnic eatery takes your order over the phone they can ask a) if you want your usual and b) if this will be for a large number of people (comically emphasizing how much food you eat by yourself). The most important reason for all this eating? To remind the audience that you are SO not weight-conscious. You’re just an average size 2-4 that eats her weight in egg rolls every night.

2. Work at an ambiguously creative job that is somehow simultaneously all-consuming and high-powered but also allows you lots of free time to do average girl things like watch black-and-white movies or go jogging or drink martinis on your lunch hour. Possible career paths: sculptor, photographer, fashion designer, undercover journalist, wedding planner, pie artisan, vague creative-type person in advertising firm. Looking for a more serious, grown-up job? You an also be a chiropractor, campaign manager, or prostitute. If you work for a woman, she should be ruthless but funny.

3. Live in a trendy loft with exposed beams and brick walls. Be sure to mumble something about rent control a third of the way through the movie to remind everyone that even though you have a 1200 sq ft apartment in New York City, you are still totally average and romantically comedic.

4. Have a slightly overweight and/or hopelessly dysfunctional BFF with whom to share your loneliness and pain. Or a neurotic, over-the-top gay man friend. The point is…someone who is not a threat to your love life because there is zero chance that anyone will find them as charming or attractive or adorably average as you.

5. Own an answering machine so that every night when you get home, you get to hear, “You. have. no. messages” and are reminded that you are pathetic and alone.

6. Have adorable flaws. These can include: southern or Bronx-type accents, snorting when you laugh, knowing all the words to terrible pop songs, wearing big cardigans with sweats when you decorate your tiny apartment Christmas tree, or inexplicable clumsiness that causes you to constantly slip, trip, run into things, or spill drinks on men’s pants. TIP: Be super embarrassed when you exhibit one of these flaws in front of a PSM (potential soul mate). Look flustered, don’t make eye contact, ramble on and on, offering a myriad of excuses that don’t make sense until you finally look up and catch him staring at you. Wait three seconds and then ask, “What are you staring at?” while self-consciously tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

7. Always jump to conclusions. Assume the worst. Never ask for clarification. If the girl with him is whispering in his ear, it’s not his sister, it’s definitely his girlfriend who he is cheating on. With you. If you show up looking for him and the doorman tells you, “Mr. PSM is on his way to the wedding,” it’s definitely too late. If he made a bet with his friends for any number of reasons, it was obviously only to humiliate you. You can’t forgive him. Be sure to dramatically storm out of a huge public event, crying. If you have been given jewelry, throw it. Caveat: Unless he runs after you. And it’s raining. And he proceeds to list all your flaws and why you drive him crazy and why he can’t imagine his life without you in it because even though you are totes average, he has fallen under your spell. And there’s a close-up on his face and his eyes are totally sincere. Then you can forgive him. But don’t have a conversation. Just kiss him as the shot pans out.

*Teen rom-coms are a subset of the romantic comedy and have an entirely different rules. Maybe they deserve their own post?

love, elizabeth

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Madigan Gets a Makeover

Dear Readers:

It’s been awhile since I’ve addressed you directly. What can I say? I’ve been on va-cay, having some serious me-time. But events have transpired and I feel I should break my blog silence.

You know how you think something is a good idea and then it really isn’t? But it’s too late because you’ve already said, “Oh, hey, yeah, it’s totally cool if you give me a hair cut”? I’ll admit it. I was getting furry. But who doesn’t like to let it all hang out in the summertime?

Mad8

But my mom was all like, “Oh, Madigan, it’s so hot, let me give you a haircut, it’ll be super easy, do you want a treat?” And I was all like, “Sure, yeah, whatever,” totally not even KNOWING what I was agreeing to. Have you ever seen a picture that made you think, “OMG, someone please invent time travel”??? Here I am in the bathroom, awaiting my fate. So naïve, so innocent. So blissfully ignorant.

Mad1

And then…stuff got real.

Mad3

Mad5

Mad4

Why don’t they just legally change my name to Patches or Bald Spot or The Dog Who Foolishly Believed Her Owners and Let Them Give Her a “Trim” and get it over with? I told Mom if she was that interested in saving money on haircuts, I would be more than happy to cut her bangs for her. Revenge is so sweet.

Mad7

Want to read more of my thoughts? You can. Here and here and here and here. And here.

You know you love me.

XOXO

Madigan

PS: I’m on a GG marathon right now, peeps. Sue me.

Friday, July 27, 2012

My favorite song this minute

This is a late, late blog post that no one will see but you and me but this song is on repeat in my office tonight and I thought I’d share all the same.



What song are you listening to lately?

love, elizabeth

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Girl Confessions: Link-Up

Confess

 

These are cleansing for me.

Camera

1. My dad leant me his vintage Asahi Pentax camera (actually all Asahi Pentax cameras might be vintage now…not sure about that). Super excited to learn how to shoot properly with film. It’s been years since I’ve used 36 mm. Film is more expensive to develop now so I’ll have to be more sparing with my photography but I’m excited to try a new kind of medium.

Coffee

2.I am straight-up addicted to Caribou Coffee. I can’t explain it except that after about half a cup of this roast and I get insanely happy and energetic. Call it a crutch. Call it crack cocaine. #soworthit

3. I am finally doing the deep cleaning I have been longing for. That means de-cluttering the closets, completely re-doing the file cabinet, and re-imagining the office space/guest room. Pictures to come!

4. I love cooking but I seriously hate doing the dishes. And this makes me not want to cook. How sad is that?

5. My friend and neighbor Melissa moved to South Carolina last week and every time I walk downstairs and don’t see her car parked next to mine or her twinkle lights in the window, I get sad all over again. Bah.

6. I’ve pretty much had to put a moratorium on watching or reading the news. I grew up in Aurora, Colorado and I’ve had a permanent stomachache since Friday morning when we first heard about the shooting. I can’t fathom it. And I don’t want to go to the movies for a long, long time. I just don’t feel like it.

7. The Cupcake Project is one of my favorite places on the internet. And soon…these Jasmine Cupcakes with Raspberry and Honey will be mine. Oh, yes. I even found the much sought after raspberry vinegar the recipe calls for. Boom.

Feel like sharing your confessions? Link up below! No rules…just share your list. The link up will be open until July 30th.

 

Confess

 

love, elizabeth

Monday, July 23, 2012

Be Kind to Yourself: Pinning!

I stopped by one of my favorite blogs, Baxtron {Life} and was so cheered up by Courtney and Kimberly's weekly Pinterest link-up, I decided to join them for the afternoon. My theme today was being kind to yourself. Thought I'd share a few of my favorite pins with you.   
 
 
 
 

Source: etsy.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

Want to link up, too? Go HERE.

love, elizabeth

Where did my spark go?

I feel like I’ve been slowing losing my blogging spark. I haven’t found the same drive or motivation to write everyday. I feel un-creative and sloppy. And it must show because I’ve lost four readers this past week. I try not to be a follower-counter because that’s lame but it’s hard not to wonder what’s making me slip.

Spark

I miss blogging. I want my spark back.

What about you? Do you ever lose blog-ivation? How do you get it back?

love, elizabeth

Saturday, July 21, 2012

“Will you make fun of me if I admit I got us lost?”

I asked finally.

“No…but we are definitely going the wrong way.”

“Yeah. I think you’re right.”

Loveistheadventurebanner

Feeling safe enough to admit you’re wrong is like hitting the marriage jackpot. Until I learned to really trust Kyle, I was afraid of being wrong, of screwing up, of being less than perfect. But I can say now, with a sigh of relief, that it’s okay if I’m wrong. It’s okay if I get lost. Because my husband isn’t going to laugh. And he’s not going to be mad. He’s going to help me get turned back around. With Kyle, I can finally say I’m learning to love being wrong.

What about you? What do you feel safe enough to do in your relationships?

love, elizabeth

Friday, July 20, 2012

Periphery: the colorado massacre

“Elizabeth, I’m really sorry to wake you up but I think you need to see this,” Kyle’s hand was on my arm and I shot up in bed and stared at the clock. 6 AM.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my heart already in my throat. I texted my brother in a blind panic: “Ben, please tell me you didn’t go to the Dark Knight premiere.”

“I didn’t. But I know about the shooting.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, sis.”

I don’t like to be one of those people that jumps on a tragedy bandwagon.This horrible thing is not about me. It didn’t happen to me. It didn’t even happen near me. Physically. And it’s like my dad says, there is no safer place than the arms of God.

And yet I find myself somehow in the periphery of the mass shooting in Colorado today since it happened about five minutes from my parents’ home, the home I grew up in, at the movie theater I visited almost weekly in junior high and high school. I am so thankful that the people I know who live and work near that theater are safe. I am thankful for the law enforcement and emergency crew who responded to the scene. I am thankful that they have the shooter in custody.  I am thankful for God’s mercy.

But I am shaken. I spent so much time in that particular theater. I took my brother to a midnight showing of the first Batman movie there a number of years ago. I had my first real date there. I held hands with a boy for the first time in that movie theater. Even now, I can see the inside of that building in my head. I know the layout, the feeling of that carpet under my feet, even which games are in the corner arcade. I was there just two weeks ago.

The pain of this for people who were there, who had loved ones there…that has to be unbearable. For me, it’s just on the edges of my mind where I can’t really see it in focus. Watching the coverage on the television and seeing that Century 16 sign, I just can’t even process it. I can’t read any more about it. I don’t want to see pictures. I don’t want to hear the 9-1-1 calls or look at the mug shot of James Holmes who is my age and a PhD student and I don’t want to see it or know it.

I guess I’m just sad. It’s staggering how far away “hitting close to home” can actually be.

love, elizabeth

Scrapbook

So here it is. The LAST post of pictures from Colorado.

IMG_8644IMG_9069Mamaandme

1. Cold Stone ice cream with Sarah. 2. Graffiti in Leadville. 3. Me and Mom after she picked me up from the airport.

TheTwinsIpadMD31IMG_8822

4. The twins together, Auntie Jo teaching Mom to play Angry Birds. 5. Sophie in the flowers. 6. Number at Mcalister’s Deli.
IMG_8605IMG_8829IMG_9095

7. Coffee with mom. 8. Delicious salad. 9. Original seats inside the Tabor Opera House.

Ville12Ville18Ville41

10. Wall décor inside the Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville. 11. Bumper sticker. 12. Antique china.
Ville42Ville43Ville46

13. Old books. 14. Antique bottles in a Leadville shop window. 15. Me. That’s a picture of me.

love, elizabeth

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Portrait of a Portrait

I’ve spent the last couple months working on my portrait skills. Fortunately, I have loads of attractive people in my life who were nice enough to let me take their picture. A lot. Here are some of my favorites.

Pam1Pam16Pam19

Nakia26Nakia36Nakia46Nakia17

MD3MD20

D18D11

 

Sarah2Sarah15Sarah22

A23A59Favorite8 (2)A73

Gus2Gus11

Lauren23Lauren34Lauren14

What are you loving taking pictures of lately?

love, elizabeth

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