Always Anna » Raves

staying awake

Anna — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:53:34 +0000

The BF and I drove up to Vermont this past weekend – which, of course, means that he drove and I passengered.Â I always fall asleep on long car rides – or any car trip that lasts longer than 30 minutes – which can be annoying to the BF when he doesn’t feel like staying awake either.Â Without me constantly pestering him, what’s to keep him awake at the wheel?

This trip, we decided we’d try something new to keep me awake – a book on CD.Â He tried this out on his last long car trip and it helped him stay awake and focused, so we thought it might be an entertainingÂ way to spend our 6+ hours in the car.

We decided to go with The Essential Barack Obama set, which includesÂ The Audacity of Hope andÂ DreamsÂ from My Father.Â Both books are read by Barack himself, which is cool, and both are books we have wanted to read but haven’t gotten around to yet.

We got all the way through The Audacity of Hope on the round trip, and all I can say is WOW.Â This man is just so amazing – intelligent and well-spoken and empathetic and inspirational.Â Listening to him speak the words he’s written, hearing the passion in his voice and the thoughtfulness in his tone,Â even listening to his attempts at a southern accent – all of these things combined had me sitting up straight for the whole car ride, gazing out the window and either nodding along with his thoughts or crying when I got overwhelmed by how much work there is to doÂ to make our country a better place.Â

We have a long drive from Boston to New Jersey, then from New Jersey to Vermont in August.Â We’ll be listening to Dreams fromÂ My FatherÂ then.Â I can’t wait!

it’s raining, it’s pouring…

Anna — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:27:59 +0000

… and my feet are making me happy.

Target has the best stuff.

a sigh of relief

Anna — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:15:56 +0000

You know how I was all pissed off yesterday?Â Well, Thesaurus.com fixed it!Â From their blog:

We take your concerns about language and society seriously (this is, after all, our business) and after reading feedback on the entries for female and lady, we carefully reviewed our editorial decisions. In light of how our customers use Thesaurus.com on a daily basis, we chose to remove â€œweaker sexâ€ as a informal/slang synonym from our site.

Now, to complain about the differences between theirÂ synonyms forÂ man and woman.Â

My work is never done.

the agony and the ecstasy

Anna — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:57:19 +0000

Yesterday: I bounced and squealed my way around the office because Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway were filming a scene from Bride Wars right around the corner from my office.Â Their trailers were RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY OFFICE BUILDING.Â Obviously, I stalked the movie set until I saw them.Â Kate is freaking GORGEOUS.Â I didn’t get quite as good a view of Anne – I just saw the side of her face and back – but she looked amazing too.Â

I’m loving that so many movies are filming so close to my office – it makes it easy to go see famous people!

*************

Today: I read on Jezebel (my favorite gossip site because it provides more substantial content than most, has great writing, and is committed to reducing girl-on-girl crime) that, when you look up the word “weaker” on Thesaurus.com, the two main entries that you get are “lady” and “female.”

I looked it up and it’s true.Â Â Sigh.Â IÂ just contacted the site to complain.Â You should too.

Update: I just read through the comments on Jezebel and looked into thesaurus.com’s crappy synonyms some more.Â Want to be disgusted and horrified and PISSED OFF?Â Â Check out the definition of man.Â Now check out the definition of woman.

I am SEETHING.

what a wonderful world

Anna — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:17:13 +0000

Last night, after I rocked the kitchen and produced a healthy and yummy salmon dinner (with asparagus!) in only 35 minutes (including prep time!), the BF and I settled down on the couch to watch the first episode of Planet Earth.

I admit that I’m a tree-hugger (or at least a wannabe one), and I love pretty much all nature-related movies.Â March of the Penguins?Â An Inconvenient Truth?Â Loved them.Â Discovery Channel and Animal Planet?Â So amazing.Â But Planet Earth takes nature viewing to a whole new level.Â In “Pole to Pole” (the title of episode one), theÂ views that they were able to photograph and film are just heart-stoppingly beautiful.Â I cried and laughed, and can’t wait to watch the other 11 episodes.Â Can. Not. Wait.

you know what i love?

Anna — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:51:40 +0000

I love when my friends come to visit me on a gorgeous weekend, and we get to spend time watching outdoor concerts and eating free food samples while people row down the Charles River.Â And then we get to go out and eat and drink some more.

Basically, I loved last weekend.

across the universe

Anna — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:32:43 +0000

I’ve documented my love of all things Beatles here before, so I’m sure that it will come as no surprise that I had to go see Across the Universe.Â What did surprise me is that I loved this movie more than any movie I’ve seen in the last few years, at least.Â I’m already making plans to go see it again – in the theater! – and will own it as soon as it comes out on DVD.

It’s an amazing movie – beautiful, thoughtful, hilarious, heart-wrenching, fast, slow, all at the same time.Â And, since the film is based on the Beatles song catolog,Â need I even say that it has an amazing soundtrack?Â

Go see it!Â Unless, of course, you’re some kind of crazy Beatles-music hater.Â If that’s the case, I can’t help you… and we might be in a big fight.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Anna — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:59:59 +0000

I am loving today.Â It’sÂ sunny blue-sky weather, not too humid – as perfect as a summer day in New England can be.

Hope your day is sunny too!

Coley Designs

Anna — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:11:01 +0000

You know how sometimes, you get so excited about a new store or artist or anythingÂ that you can’t stop stalking their website?Â And you feel like you need to tell everyone about it, but secretly don’t want to because you’re afraid that if everyone knows, it’ll stop being cool?Â Â Well that’s how I feel about my friend Nicole’s newest endeavor – Coley Designs.

Last December, a group of friends went to Spark Crafts to make necklaces – a girl’s activity that led up to our dinner celebration for Nicole’s birthday.Â Well, Nicole loved making jewelry so much that she kept doing it, making necklaces for herself and to give as presents over the past few months.Â Then, about a month ago, sheÂ decided to expand on her new found hobby and start making necklaces to sell!Â I am so excited and proud of her, because her stuff – which you can see on MySpace and Etsy – is so gorgeous and fun and reasonably priced!I’m also excited about the opportunity that Nicole’s entrepreneurial skills have brought to me.Â You know how I said I’ve become obsessed with design? Well, I harassed Nicole into letting me create her logo and other identity stuff.Â So far, I’ve made her logo and banner for the Etsy page, and am now working on tags for the jewelry, business cards, and stationery.Â It’s so freakin’ fun!Â Plus, now I have a whole new side of marketing I can explore.Â

I’m Loving It…

Anna — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:45:40 +0000

Over the last year,Â I’ve become obsessed with design.Â At work, I’ve been using InDesign as often as possible and am now teaching myself PhotoShop.Â At home, I’m collecting interior design and crafty ideas and have started making paper crafts.Â And even though – as a marketer – I always pay attention to advertisements and commercials, I’ve been paying closer attention to the visuals involved in good marketing pieces.

And I’m obsessed with Shreve, Crump & Low’s new catalog, which was delivered to my office by accident:

How great is this?Â I don’t even really like pearls – well, I like them, but feel that they’re a little too old for me – but this cover makes me want a pea pod full of them!Â Â It’s just soÂ springy and fresh.

Obsessed.Â