praha

it's almost here! i leave for praha (prague) on thursday and i'm finally getting excited! summer has been crazy busy, i've had little time to prepare. but, it's about that time. vyborny! (excellent!)

helloooo, book club!

i may have mentioned i've re-established my passion for reading... with that said, i've come across some definitively unique pieces of literature. so, i've decided to share in my new dedication - book club. (perhaps it would more appropriately be titled "quote club," because i plan to share interesting quotes from books i'm reading... but, "book club" is sort of a baller idea. and, i love being baller.)

from theories of developmental psychology by patricia miller... 

"i started out... with considerable uneasiness. i felt that my so-called system was outdated and that it was a waste of time to rehash it and that it would be pretentious now to seek to make it fit any accepted set of prescriptions laid down by the philosophy of science. i have to confess, however, that as i have gone along i have become again more and more involved in it, though i still realize its many weak points. the system may well not standup to any final canons of scientific procedure. but i do not much care. i have liked to think about psychology in ways that have proved congenial to me. since all the sciences, and especially psychology, are still immersed in such tremendous realms of the uncertain and the unknown, the best that any individual scientist, especially any psychologist, can do seems to be to follow his own gleam and his own bent, however inadequate they may be. in fact i suppose that actually this is what we all do. 

in the end, the only sure criterion is to have fun. and i have had fun." 

- e.c. tolman (on his motivations for research, practicing psychology, and living life.) 

saturdays are good

2 things i loved today: 

1. i loved walking around midtown at night. 

2. i loved dozing in central park. 

sunset season

one thing i absolutely adoreee about arizona - the sunsets. when monsoon season blows through, arizona sunsets are pretty wicked. with all the clouds peppering the sky, the sun creates this color palette that will truly take your breath away. 

as i was walking uptown towards school last night, i looked down 57th street to see something truly amazing. perhaps because the sun was ushered through the buildings, i was taken slightly aback. a thunder storm had just blown through minutes before (which, ironically reminded me of arizona. storms in the city seem to come and sit on top of the island for days. in arizona, when people say: "we'll just wait until it lets up," they're serious. storms actually let up within a few minutes.) 

anyhoo, some of my pals have been sending photos of arizona sunsets - maybe triggering a little nostalgia for the desert. but, my experience on 57th street rivaled that just a bit. 

(arizona, courtesy k.h.)

(arizona, courtesy k.d.)

(nyc - 57th & 9th)

for more, visit the arizona sunset gallery - or, the new york city sunset gallery. 

a river runs through the time warner building

i've been working late recently. on my way to the subway, i pass the time warner building at columbus circle. usually, there are half a dozen luxury cars sitting outside the building - probably waiting for corporate big wigs or social elite to exit. tonight, i saw one... she was chatting with two other women. i told my co-worker to go introduce himself. he said no. haha, good call. oh my, mrs. rivers. oh my. 

right back atcha, columbus.

the sun came out today. hooray! i've been griping about the weather, comparing the city's recent affinity for overcast skies to that of a certain city i know... ahem, seattle (sincere apologies to my lovely family on the northwest coast). but, i am quite smitten with the sun. 

mama meyer spent the night in the city last night. just before returning to newark for her afternoon flight, we galloped through the shops at columbus circle - borders specifically. i've re-developed my passion for reading. amen, because i was starting to get a little burned out on working and sleeping. just finished up "on being a therapist," a recommendation from my research professor and "the stranger beside me," the ted bundy story. (i won't admit how many times i've read that book.) next on my list - "theories of developmental psychology," and "the host." 

anyhoo, there's a pretty sweet view from the top floor of the columbus circle shops. you look straight down onto the fountain and can see the water tapering across the marble slabs. if you dream about it hard enough, you could reach out your hand and graze the tops of the velvety brush of central park. and, i'm pretty sure you can see the columbus circle statue twinkling back at you, like a nod of approval to the summer sunlight. 

ooh, papas!

it's father's day - the perfect time to appreciate the fathers in my life. my dad- he's cooky and crazy but totally lovable. papa meyer is my biggest fan and i couldn't love him anymore for it. he's truly my hero. baby kate just turned one this past january but you can see she's definitely becoming daddy's little girl. david is so good to her. happy father's day, dads! :)

(photo taken may 2008)

dear rob...

mama meyer gets in today for a short layover. so, we're going to dinner, a movie, and perhaps running some errands. i figured the good, "daughterly" thing to do would be to pick up some of her favorite beverage (diet dr. pepper - she loves!) and have it nice and cold in the fridge when she got here. ok, great. after swinging by the grocery store to pick some up, i thought - "what the hey!? i'll swing by cakes n' shapes for some pudding or a few cookies for my dessert after dinner!" naturally i couldn't remember what street it was off of, so i'm sort of wandering around the west side near 49th st and 10th ave. as i come around the corner on tenth, there he is. oh my. he was with two other fellas and they were chatting away. none of them looked at me, but it was amazing nonetheless. however, i wish the kid would wash his hair. we weren't in a tourist heavy area, but he was most definitely noticed. the first question on veronica's mind - "bia! did you get pictures?" no, i didn't! :( i was struggling with a grocery bag, wishing i had done something with my hair before i ran out the door of my apartment just an hour before. oi. so anyhoo, apparently he's in the city filming a movie this summer, so hopefully this won't be my last encounter. dear rob, you are truly quite heavenly.

spring cleaning

it's raining. again. what is the deal??

anyhoo, to stay productive, i decided i should dominate with some serious windex action and clean this place up. 

growing up, we never had hard-wood floors. we did the whole slate tile thing. so, i can't really testify on maintenance of hard-wood floors, until now. when alix and i started apartment shopping last june, we noticed that nearly every apartment we viewed had hard-wood floors. i was super psyched! hard-wood floors are very chic and clean. the reality - maintenance bites. i'm not sure if this is mainly an "east coast thing," because slate never accumulated this many dust bunnies. we're constantly sweeping our apartment. where in the world does it come from? surely we track in a fair amount of dirt and dust, but this is truly ridiculous. 

it's like spring cleaning everyday. whew, scary thought. 

it's supposed to rain for the rest of the week! hopefully your weekend is dryer than mine. ;)

happy saturday! 

that's over three decades...

congratulations, mom and dad! yesterday marked the 32nd anniversary of their marriage. how fantastic is it that they drive each other absolutely crazy (what couple doesn't?!), but that they've withstood the test of time and made a pretty fantastic life for themselves. i admire both of them tremendously. our family has evolved into something truly special... because of them.

the good, the bad, and the scary

in my mission statement, i promised to report all of my experiences in new york - the good and the bad. well, my friends, here's some of the scary. 

rachael and i met for a lovely dinner and a movie date in the village this evening. rachael suggested this great little italian bistro named supper. they had a huge wine selection. the vino menu was well over ten pages long. some time has passed since she and i were able to bond so we were totally loving the dinner, the vino, and the company. as we were making our way over to the theatre to see the hangover (oi! so hilarious!), we were caught off guard by an older man screaming obscenities... at us! i won't taint cuethesunshine's image and share the awful words thrown our way... but this experience is hardly unrealistic. :(

as i walk down the street on a regular basis, i'm incredibly vulnerable. alix had always said... "in my car at home, i can just roll up the window!! here, i can't." way to put it, alix. way. to. put. it. we've been repeatedly told by locals to simply ignore it. those who behave this way shouldn't be reinforced by any cruel words i could say in return. sadly, i've had my fair share of inappropriate comments - some perhaps flattering and some that make me want to cry. however, as the distance between us and the horrible man grew, i reminded myself of a few things. 

1. he might be crazy. new york has the highest rate of homeless individuals who suffer from some sort of mental disorder.  

2. he might be drunk. we had just walked passed how many pubs?

3. he might be right. oi. scary thought. 

4. he might be wrong. please, let him be wrongggg. 

5. he doesn't know me.

obviously i'm slightly bothered by individuals like the one we encountered tonight. next time, i'll throw a tomato at him. 

lauren, meet adulthood. adulthood, meet lauren.

i may have mentioned i am loving 40 hour work weeks... i stand by that statement. no doubt about it. however, i have seemed to have taken a turn down a dramatic and frightening road. adulthood. i can confidently say i have some experience working 50+ hours a week during down time from school, but for some reason - this time around, it's a little different. may the city have something to do with my thrust into "real life?" is it the fact i'll be turning 24 (oh my!) this year and it's about time i take on more realistic duties? and gee, could it possibly be my recent upgrade to a "professional" cell phone? ("crackberry," most definitely.) or just possibly - living on my own in a city whose inhabitants thrive on individualism and independence? oi, i'll let ya know. 

rawr!

today, angela and i made our way to the upper west side to peruse through the american museum of natural history. we both got into the museum for $5! ok, here's the story, a lot of museums in new york will post a "suggested price" with the word "suggested" in small print. essentially, they want you to believe you have to pay the full amount... which was around $12.50 for students. (what??) however, we walked right up to the booth and said: "we're students. we're only gonna be here a few hours, we're paying $5." the man said: "ok." done. and done. next time you're bumpin' down museum mile, pay attention to the fine print. anyhoo, the museum was pretty sweet. i totally loved on this skeleton. i took a dozen photos of it on my non-dependable camera phone. (upgrading to the blackberry world on tuesday!) we decided today would be the better day for the museum because it was supposed to be raining all day. as we walked uptown to the bagel shop before heading to the museum, we both commented how wonderful the weather was, and how we hoped it stayed this way. nonetheless, we were hoping that if it was going to rain, it would rain while we were galavanting through the museum. anyhoo, as i approached the end of one of the rotundas, i looked outside to see something disturbing. the sun? indeed. it's been raining all week and it was so nice to see a little sunshine whisper through the window. 

i've decided i'm disliking mother nature's mood swings more and more as the summer progresses. i shouldn't complain too much. spring in new york is truly quite special, but the rain paired with the humidity triggers day-dreams of the oh-so-lovely 115 degree days of arizona summer. nonetheless, i'm hardly fretting. fall in new york will be here in no time. i'll bust out my boots, scarves, and gloves once again... by then i'll be complaining it's simply too cold... ;) 

mama meyer gets in tonight. surely we'll have dinner at her favorite nyc locale. she just loves the deli salads. 

happy sunday!

with a cherry on top!

this evening, angela and i went down to the village. she's moving to the city in september to start her master's degree at nyu. she's meeting a professor monday so we decided to navigate there tonight so it would be easy for her to find later. congratulations, angela!! anyhoo, afterwards we made our way over to 16 handles. ah, amazing. as we were sitting at the little table loving our frogurt (my personal favorite - sugar free chocolate and banana with maraschino cherries on top!), i noticed a familiar face walk through the door. 

has anyone seen erin brockovich? well, he's been in quite a few other things, but his role in this movie smacked me across the face when he walked through the door. it's jamie harrold, people!! he played the push-over file clerk! he was adorably likable in that movie. not gonna lie, my heart giggled just a bit when he swooped in. 

crazy for coasters

if you need a reason to have a cocktail, here it is. megan recently sent over some photos of some sweet looking coasters. i'm totally smitten with lively quotes that i can relish in this crazy/beautiful life. and if i can relish over some amazing sangria - event better! i found a website that creates something similar, over at 29 & co. and to go with it, i highly recommend this highly fabulous sangria recipe - spanish sangria. i had it last week at the ahwatukee wine and beer festival and it may have very well changed my life. plus, it was for a good cause. profits made from the event went to support the arizona festival of lights. 

enjoy. 

red eye

(photo: cnn.com)

oh my. the time difference between the west coast and the east coast can be quite a drag. from new york to phoenix - piece of pie! from phoenix to new york, you gain three hours in flight - seriously, so ridiculous! so, i left phoenix at 9:15p on tuesday night. i arrived in new york at 4:30a on wednesday. and, i was scheduled to work at 9a that same morning. (wha, wha, wha...) so, i jumped on the airtrain and was able to get back to my apartment by 6:00a. i dozed for about an hour then got ready for work. i made it! i was a mess, but i made it! i sat at my computer all day looking like hell. red eyes? of course! and naturally, i got the occasional - "geez lauren, you don't look so hot." finally, i may or may not have tripped on the stairs on my way to the 2nd floor for my afternoon research shift. did i mention the time difference totally blows? 6p did not come quick enough. oi.

happy birthday, sister!

i can keep a secret. really. for almost a month, mama meyer and i were conspiring a sweet trip back to phoenix as a surprise for my sister's birthday. how well did it work out, you ask? splendidly! i spoke to her several times while canoodling around phoenix the night before i planned to see her and she had no idea! our reunion was absolutely amazing. sister was so excited, as was i! happy birthday, sister. you deserve the very best! xo :)

flower child

new york really is the fashion capital of the world. mismatch prints are the new yellow (or something like that...); naturals are totally in; and big jewelry is bigger than ever. i have a sincere appreciation for clothing and apparel (probably too much. oi.) so i'm continually inspired by the newest fads i see on the street. however, i can gracefully admit my style has taken a pretty violent turn. dare i say... i look like an east coaster? oh my! i've recently started pairing scarves with just about everything. i've always loved big jewelry (thanks, mom!) but i've noticed my interests have piqued in the brass and gaudy department (truly a dangerous combination).

anyhoo, i've developed an interest in big flowers. not the cheesy, horrendously bright clips (although those occasionally bring an ensemble together quite well), but more adequately - the delicate and natural trend of fresh silk blossoms. well then, here's the story. everytime i put one of my flower head bands over my head in true flower child fashion, i can't help but giggle. so, this weekend i plan to test my maturity, sport my newest obsession, record the results, and report my findings. wish me luck! :)

captain hook

it's the end of the week. amen. i have some serious business planned for the weekend - eat, sleep, repeat. (very serious.) 

as i was on my way home from campus this evening, i noticed i was all by my lonesome on the subway car. quite the change-up from some of my previous experiences. however, this hardly lasted long. as the c-train rolled to a stop at 50th street, a nice-looking gentleman sporting a very thick captain hook style mustache boarded the train. (what a diverse city new york is!) he tipped his head at me and smiled. i smiled back and thought... "oh my... i do believe i've pulled that off before..."

happy thursday!

10 for June

(as promised, my ten of the month...)

10 things that make me terribly happy: 

1. Baby Kate. As I was clearing out old photos from my phone yesterday, I stumbled across this oldie but a goodie. She was probably 10 or 11 months in this photo and already expressing her sense of humor. 

2. STA Travel. Thanks to a travel agent named "Huck," I was able to book my flight to Prague, with an excellent rate, over the phone (sans customer service booking fee!) Thanks, Huck!

3. Chipotle. 'Nuff said. 

4. Zumba. Chandra and I are trying a new dance studio. I'll let you know how these classes measure up to my previous experiences. If it's Zumba, it's gotta be good. 

5. 40 hour work weeks. Really, Lauren? Yes, Really. I'm a starving student! Any opportunity to keep myself out of trouble (shopping, eating, pricey galavanting) and making dinero is certainly something worth appreciating. 

6. Living just a short 20 minute walk from campus. I walked to campus today. Minus the humidity, it was a pleasant experience. 

7. Book recommendations. After e-mailing one of my professors a request to suggest some course related summer reading, she responded: "I have a ton of books I'm trying to get rid of! You can have them." Cool!!

8. The new Twilight trailer. I know, I know. I'm 23 and I'm a sucker for the newest edition to the teeny-bopper Twilight saga. There are no excuses; I'm hooked. Clear and simple.

 

9. My cool friends. I can tell you a dozen absolutely fantastic things that each one of them is doing. They've got their lives together and they're making things happen. It's totally inspiring to witness.

 

10. My blog. I struggled with it in the beginning, citing my entire subscription to blogspot as kind of silly. But, I'm pretty passionate about it now. I know I'd like to write professionally one day. Until then, cuethesunshine provides a healthy outlet for that desire. 

kate the great

today is kate's first day of the true-blue/real-world in her post-grad life. she recently (like, very recently - just a few weeks ago) graduated from ut-dallas with her master's degree (did someone say baller??) in speech and language pathology. after passing all her certification exams, she landed an awesome job back in phoenix as a speech pathologist.

let's wish her luck on her first day! she's gonna dominate the real world.

good luck kate-o! we're so proud of you.

happy spring

sunday brunch is truly a special activity. i would most willingly argue its induction into the formal holiday category - like christmas and thanksgiving. yesterday, katrina and i decided to have brunch at max brenners chocolate bar and bistro. i highly recommend it. i had the 'max'ican omellete and katrina had a wonderful chocolate/banana crepe thing. it looked gorgeous, just let me say that.

after, we decided again to try our luck at the west side story lottery. again, no luck. however, everything happens for a reason. we decided to go to coney island. it was a gorgeous day, so the opportunity to lounge on the beach was certainly a worthwhile reason not to be trapped indoors.

while coney island is a pleasant get-away and a major touristy hot-spot, i found the beach kind of scary. the entire locale has a wonderful carnival feel - rides, hotdogs (nathans!), and cotton candy. but, allow me to spoil the mood just briefly... the beach was sprinkled with glass and there was trash spewn about. oi. so i took my shoes off for a few minutes to dig my toes into the sand, then put them back on to join katrina at nathan's for a true blue coney hotdog, leaving the littered jungle of sand behind me. the hotdog was most definitely a taste of tradition, as i paired it with nathan's famous lemonade. (aaaah, summer.) just as we were returning to the subway, the clouds rolled in. perfect timing? i would say so.