Here's to You 2012

Cheers to the furrows on our brow
To each hard won victory
Cheers to the losses that grew us up
Killed our pride and filled our cup

Cheers to the friendships well worn in
That time nor distance alter
Here's to the sleepers we'll see again
Fine company in memoriam

Open your mouth and sing out your song
Life short as the day is long
I can't leave you my body but I'll leave you a tune
This is my legacy
Cheers to you

Cheers to the passing of our youth
And the death of lust not wonder
A toast to the lessons not yet learned
And to the trials that will teach them

Open your and sing out your song
Life is short as the day is long
I can't leave you my body but I'll leave you a tune
This is my legacy
Cheers to you

Portanovaville: New Years Card 2012 Photo Shoot

As you can see, John is not amused by the shot set up process.

Round 1. I discovered the 10 shot timer on my camera today. And it's perfect for trying to take our own picture, sans photographer. Like the ultimate photo booth it takes pictures in rapid succession, it makes the shots fun to looks at because they play out like a flip book.

I was having a hard time keeping my serious face on - but, 109 pictures later we have something that we think will work. Ha! A photographers best friend really is the trash can. :)

Unicorns are Magic.

The Word: Colossians 4:6

6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Portanovaville: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

All in the Family: Thanksgiving 2011

The Word: Zephaniah 3:17

I often spend my long morning bus rides in prayer or pouring over my Bible in preparation for the day ahead of me. Although it would be nice to live close to the office, God's been able to redeem this time and uses it daily to draw my heart to him. Today I stumbled upon Zephaniah 3:17.

www.jimlepage.com

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud
singing.

 I was just struck by the totality of love described in this verse. God is not only right here with me, He protects me, REJOICES over me, calms my fears, stills my heart, and sings over me. What an image! It's a lot to take in, especially as I struggle with feeling so unworthy of His perfect love. Of course, there's nothing I can do to make myself worthy. Jesus makes me worthy and He loves me just the way I am.

Thanx Lotz: 11.10.11

Today I am thinking about how thankful I am for...

1. The sunshine. What a perfect fall day!

2. An auntie ambush on Tuesday! What a perfect surprise to see Kathy and Patty at the end of my work day. They spoiled me with thrifty finds and a trip to Columbia City for pizza and wine. Love those ladies!



3. Working hard, playing hard, sleeping hard. These days have been busy!

3. Those who are patient with me. Infinitely patient.

4. The lessons I learn along the way.

Hot Bodz: South Beach Diet, Day 8

You know what? I think we're through the worst of this. It's been a week, the scale says I've lost close to 8 pounds, and I feel good. Yesterday, John and I got up and prepped for another week by making a broccoli, cheddar, canadian bacon and egg casserole. I spent my Saturday prepping 5 quarts of crock pot chili. We stocked up on veggies and protein at Fred Meyer...and everything feels like it's on autopilot. I went out for Happy Hour on Friday and wasn't tempted to drink AT ALL. In fact, I had steamed shrimp and asparagus for dinner - I must be possessed, right? Working out consistently has been more challenging, but we have a neighborhood jogging route and a slew of P90X DVDs on their way. And I know that these habits take time to build.

And that's about it. So I guess the moral of the story is: so far so good. Woo!

Pass it on

I just read these words on the blog of a local photographer, and it's uncanny how impeccable the timing is for me. How could I not share?


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,

       and fabulous -

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people

Won't feel insecure around you. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. 

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone,

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously

Give other people permission to do the same.

- Marianne Williamson

Guess where I got these?

St. Vinnie's is my new favorite hang out!

On my desk

I think he needs a mustache...

Thanx Lotz: 10.27.2011

I just read somewhere that it's Thankful Thursday. So, what am I thankful for today?

1. A full night's sleep. Mmmmm. This can make or break my day.

2. This cup of green tea - on fall days like these I just cannot get warm!

3. My husband, with his dashing good looks and quick wit he's certain to woo you into a lively conversation about cinema or his arch-nemesis: condiments.

4. My hot rollers? These guarantee a good hair day. Seriously.

5. Friends who continually pursue me, no matter how far away they live or how snarky I get.

6. The captivating sunrise that accompanied me on my bus ride this morning. The reason I'm a self-proclaimed morning person. Nothing humbles me quite like one of these.

7. Tomorrow is Friday, duh!

Hot Bodz: South Beach Diet, Day 3

Well, here we are. Three days in and I'm feeling OK.

John and I started South Beach on Monday. I spent Sunday afternoon prepping and packing lunches to make sure that we didn't have to think about it at all when we were at work. I know that I'll be more likely to succeed if I can let myself go on auto pilot through the roughest phase. So, on the menu this week:

Breakfast: Egg, Cheddar and Canadian Bacon Muffins - prep them all at the beginning of the week and you have an easy, grab and go breakfast!
Snacks: Reduced Fat String Cheese, 15 almonds
Lunch: Romaine with tuna, radishes, celery, mushrooms and a lemon/evoo vinaigrette
Dinner: This is where we feel like we can be a little creative, since John and I can support each other while we're in the kitchen. Last night we had THE best lettuce wrap turkey tacos. Tonight? I'm thinking pepper lime marinated chicken with some roasted veggies.
Dessert: This is the most important part of the day for me. If you've never had sugar free jello pudding with lite cool whip mixed in, today is the day. It's amazing and DOES NOT taste like diet food.

PS - This is fun to do with my husband...and he's the best accountability I've ever had.

Hot Bodz: South Beach Diet

Tomorrow the Portanova's (yes, both of us!) go on the South Beach Diet. I just spent the last two hours prepping food for the week: egg muffins for breakfast, fresh carrots, cucumbers, radishes --- any vegetable I could get my hand on to prep ahead of time. Our refrigerator looks like a garden. I know I have to invest time on the front end of the week to be successful. I don't know about you, but I have a bad case of the "I don't want to do ANYTHINGs" when I get home from work in the evening. The more I get done today, the better the shape we'll be in as the days pass.

This afternoon I'm inspired and ready to go. I'll let you know how we feel tomorrow!

Three things

1. Hilarity ensues here.

2. And here.

3. And this is pretty.

That is all.

Thanx Lotz: 10.18.2011

1. I have these girls in my life, all so different, and so beautiful inside and out. I've spent a different day this week with each of them and I'm blissfully exhausted.  I'm inspired by these relationships - the kind where you take care of each other, the kind where you talk things out until 1 o'clock in the morning over wine, the kind where you go out of your way to make time, the kind where there's no judgement but instead choose to learn from each other. Always lifting each other up and asking "So how are you? I want to know."

It's not taken for granted - I hope I pour out half of what I receive from these friendships.

2. Coffee has really been saving my butt lately.

3. Every day at my new job feels a little better than the last. If only I had time to decorate my desk...

4. God's been teaching me to lean on Him for everything this year. And I think something pretty cool is on the horizon. I'm nervous. And I'll have to trust Him more than ever.

5. We're buying our tickets for Paris very soon - the dates have been set!

Glamorous life: I got my glasses!

I was once told to smile with less teeth. My response was "I don't know how to do that." - which is absolutely the truth. If I'm going to smile I want people to know that I'm happy...which means I will throw some teeth at you. Mouth agape with explosive laughter is me at my best.

I've been trying to take a picture of me with my new glasses on sans teeth for the last ten minutes on my web cam. The results have just been...awkward. So instead, I excused myself to the restroom to take an awesome-iPhone-myspace-profile-shot. It's all nonsense...probably not any less awkward. But this is what you get.

Ta da!

Don't I look intellectual?

Other things about today:

1. It's hard to see with glasses. I am continually distracted by the box I'm looking through.
2. I haven't had any coffee...yet.
3. I've been working on some very grown up stuff at work today...all of these numbers and expenses and blahblahblah.
4. I'm getting kicked out of my house tonight for a script read through. But, the joke's on John...I'm going to go have pizza and watch movies with Melissa!

Glamorous Life: My weekend in pictures

 I got a haircut! I know the lighting's bad - but it was much needed. A trim + a little color + plus coffee talk with Ashley! She always makes me feel pretty.

It was absolute beautiful on Saturday! It hardly felt like October.

On my way home from Capitol Hill I stopped at Value Village - I'm always after a bargain. Guess what I found? A juicer for $8! It's European, which means I couldn't test it in the store (no Value Village does not have outlet converters). But, after digging out the converter from our Mexico adventure I was in business making the greenest, grassiest juices around. They're really pretty good, but after only a few hours my body was telling me that I'll need to ease on into a juicing. I'll keep you posted on that. :)

In love with: Chicken with couscous and orange

Every once in a blue moon I get motivated to make dinner. It doesn't happen often - one day I'll be Martha Stewart in the kitchen - but until that day comes I'll be inspires by her simple recipes on the days I do cook. Today all I could think about as I walked to the grocery store was this amazing couscous recipe. I tried it for the first time last year, and it quickly became one of my favorite dinners for those nights John works late.

The recipe, from Everyday Food, is as follows:

1 cup couscous
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
1/3 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 navel orange, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
coarse salt and ground pepper
Directions


In a medium bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over couscous. Cover and let sit until tender, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. In another medium bowl, combine chicken, pistachios, orange, mint, oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss couscous with chicken mixture.

Voila!

Glamorous Life: A trip to the Optometrist!

The verdict? I need glasses. We'll call them desk glasses, since they will assist me on my marathon work days as I gaze intently at the computer screen. I am so cool.

Hot Bodz: Have you seen this yet?

So, I snuggled up on the couch last night with a cup of tea in my pjs and decided to rent a movie --- something I hardly EVER do. But, John's been gone and I'm caught up on all of my tv shows (the usual suspects: Glee, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl) I started perusing Amazon on my Roku and came across Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  The only thing I knew about this movie is that it's about juicing, and my friend Victoria promptly went out and bought a Jack LaLanne juicer and started coming to work with Mean Green's after watching it. I love a good documentary so I invested the $3.

It's got my wheels turning...I may do something drastic. Who wants to go shopping with me tonight? :)

Glamorous Life: My week in pictures.

Thanx Lotz: Tttttuesday.

1. I heard from 5 of my best friends yesterday. They like me, they really like me! Best message? "Watch the mail, I'm cooking up a wee plan." Hahahaha! I've been running that sentence through my head for hours!

2. I never take good, restorative sleep for granted - and last night I got some! This is why I'm a morning person!

3. I have a job. Working for nice people.

4. My husband lets me wake him up a million times a morning without complaining...no matter how late he went to bed.

5. He will also put up with my shenanigans and hair brained ideas time and time again.

6. My family is generous - and though we all bring a little something different to the table...and may not agree on everything - I know they're looking out for me.

The Word: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Today's sunrise.

It's pretty beautiful, isn't it? Something about Fall makes my heart quiet.

It's finally fall!

I gladly layered up this morning before heading downtown - I love sunshine and crisp air, scarves and pumpkin spice lattes. Kayla met me at the Nordstrom Cafe and we caught up over toasted sandwiches, soup and cupcakes. After lunch we went to Anthropologie to drool over the beautiful things, and then to The Salvation Army to look for beautiful things we can afford :) I didn't come home with anything, but Kayla found a sunflower yellow pyrex bowl and a vintage green hobnail flower vase, and wouldn't you know it was 50% off everything day! I made sure she got to the ferry on time, yes there was some jogging involved, and then headed home to reboot. For me that means, my Bible, Pandora and a cup of tea.

After a little down time I started searching for an old map to get crafty with. I found one in a junk drawer and didn't waste any time cutting it up for bunting. I love sewing paper together for simple, inexpensive garland.

I think it turned out alright, what do you think?

Glamorous Life: Rough morning.

So, my office has a team headed abroad for two weeks for a job. We've been frantically trying to get everything in order before they leave. On Tuesday we shipped lots of gear to the locations in China knowing that it would barely get there in time for the shoot, if at all. It was a calculated risk and on top of that I'm learning a lot, every day I'm learning something, and admittedly this was my first try at overseas shipping. This morning one of my bosses called for me "Oh, Valarie. Can I see you for a minute?" Crap. There's been a hold up and after a few minutes of troubleshooting we came up with a plan b. And then plan b failed. The point of this story? I can't help but feel like I failed miserably --- that this was directly my fault  and I'm being judged for it.

In God's providence I was just discussing this with my friend, Kim. Tuesday night I went to her house and she told me about how God's teaching her not to walk in defeat when she makes a mistake. This is a trap Satan lays to keep us from walking in freedom. So, what is the truth? 

and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 

1 Timothy 1:14

His grace is big enough to cover any of my mistakes. It was never my job to be perfect.

The Word: Jeremiah 33:3

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Hot Bodz: 5am is WAY too early.

 I set the alarm for 5am today with good intentions - you see my friend Michelle just started an early morning boot camp at Green Lake and for the sake of solidarity I decided to get up with her and work out on my own. But I had trouble sleeping last night and by the time my alarm went off I was NOT in the mood to sweat it out. I drifted in and out of sleep for about 10 minutes...until John came to say good bye. I picked up my phone to look at the time and opened facebook. If a high school friend hadn't already posted that she was at the gym and ready for more punishment I would have promptly rolled over for another 45 minutes of blissful sleep.

I had already positioned my spin bike in front of my laptop, slept in my workout clothes and had shoes and socks waiting for me - so I really had no excuse. Just laziness. But thank God for social media - it helps keep me accountable. 

If you're looking for a free resource for indoor biking classes, I want to suggest SweatBloodDirt.com. I found it a few weeks ago and love it! Without Craig I would be riding a flat for 45 minutes. He motivates me to sprint and climb monstrous hills! Check it out!

Wish me luck for a successful work out tomorrow morning!

Ode to Team Jag

To Team Jag: You are my best friends and I love you so. 

The laughs never end and I know I can count on each of you to be ruhl with me. I'm better for having known you. Here's to lifetime of tomfoolery.

xoxo, Val

Thanx Lotz: Nine Ten Eleven

Today I am thankful for the little things, wait...it's always the little things:

1. Hot summer days and crisp nights. I had my first pumpkin spice latte this week - a sure sign that fall is on it's way. 

2. I've had the opportunity to learn something new every day this week.

3. Team Jag Happy Hour lives on. It's never disappointing to spend time with Melissa and Nate. 

4. Michelle took me to the Kasbah tonight for dinner. Moroccan food at the Kasbah. It's no big deal. 

5. I work for people who appreciate me. It makes all the difference. I have been really happy lately.

6. John and I started attending a community group in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. I forgot how much fun it is to make new friends.

Glamorous Life: I work for Wattsmedia now.

Taylor Edwards Building and 1st Avenue S

Behind my desk.

Building Directory

Kitchen/Break room.

View from my desk.

New employee!

I took a few pictures to document my first day on the job. I start my day a little earlier than before, but nothing I can't handle. One of the things that surprises me the most about this environment is how laid back everyone is. I'm nearly always the first one in the office at 8:30a -  Most of the designers/editors/producers start trickling in at 9:30a.  There's always a TV on showing football or a movie on HBO. Everyone is in jeans and t-shirts and bedhead...haha. Seriously. And some how it feels like this is my first real job. I have a feeling this is going to be a really good fit, my friends. I'll keep you posted as I get more acclimated. I keep hearing the wackiest stories about one of the partners...whom I have yet to meet. 

Summer lovin': Stay-cation

This week was a big week for me...I finally got to part ways with Tony's Events & Catering. And let me tell you, that day couldn't have come soon enough. I stayed through my obligation and spent some time training the new sales manager and my replacement, but I'm sure you all understand how hard it is to focus once you've given your notice. I was a total space case for two weeks - but somehow was responsible for holding the whole office together. In any case, I was ecstatic to end my professional relationship with that company and have high hopes for my next opportunity with Wattsmedia! I feel like my decision to work with Wattsmedia is continually affirmed whether it be my friends reactions or the TEC accountant offering his contact information just in case I have questions about bookkeeping. God is good.

 I took a few days off in between jobs to spend sometime with my husband and as it turns out I'm getting a real taste for summer time this week. The weather has been beautiful and I've been fortunate enough to relax during the day and take long walks at twilight with Michelle. It hasn't really felt like summer at all to me this year until this week. Amazing. What else? John and I joined a community group down the street from our house. I saw Brandi Carlile at the Woodland Park Zoo with Kim and Abbie...I just have to say that I was totally blown away by her live stage presence. She sounds amazing live...just like a recording, but she also has a boisterous and humble energy. I loved how she interacted with the audience - it really seemed like she was having fun. 

Tonight is our Friday Team Jag meetup. I'm going to fit in a quick eye brow wax and a commute run through before I see everyone. And that's about it. I am so thankful and feel so blessed these days.