ikea date.

i had a girl's day with my sister, three of her kids, my best friend and her baby.
we went to the Gap clearance Center & ikea.
it was so fun.
they are the best.
& i still made it home in time for the Moth Story slam @ headliners with my Jonas.
go public media events!
also, i asked my husband if i looked like a hipster last night. he replied, "alyssa, you are a hipster."
compliment? not sure.

sunday with cupcakes.

i took a lot of photos today. i got a new camera & i am so in love.

 we listened to records for some time and talked...

i tried to get the cat to take a selfie with me. right...

 & we took a walk in the slush. but it was warm!

the best ever.

it is so wonderful when you look over at your baby cat and she has her tongue out. just a little bit and it is staying right there. of course, there is never time to take a picture so i tried to find photos online. then i found this website: http://oldtimeycats.com/

wow.

here a few. i may go through them all someday. i am especially amazed by the family with a lion. i also enjoy the info provided about each photo. so cool.

simple life.

 this is basically the sweetest song ever, especially when you hear it for real.
i love when life is like this. i want to create an atmosphere more like it all the time.
no fear of difficult things, just love.
the lyrics make me smile and make me want to live far away in a little house with my husband and cat. no one else.


 Simple Life

Can I get up in the morning
Put the kettle on
Make us some coffee, say “hey” to the sun…
Is it enough to write a song and sing it to the birds?
They’d hear just the tune
Not understand my love for words
But you would hear me and know

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.

I dreamed you first
But not so real
And everyday since I’ve found you
Such moments we steal
Like little thieves, we rub our hands
We hold our hearts between them.
But will you hear me and know?

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.

Move on, move on
Time is accelerating.
Drive on all night
Traffic lights and one-ways.
Move on, move on
Parking violations waiting
Turn off the car, breathe the air
Let’s stay here.

I’ll kiss you awake, and we’ll have time
To know our neighbors all by name
And every star at night.
We’ll weave our days together like waves
And particles of light.

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.
(The Weepies)

bangs!

i have wanted bangs for sooo long. 

this probably means that i have wanted bangs since i found zooey deschanel with them years ago.
they are just side bangs for now, but i feel so cool.
we shall see how long they last.

also, Gina from Salon Bacco is the best ever. just saying.

high bridge.

jonas and i visited High Bridge in Wilmore, Kentucky with family. i love the bridge. until the early 20th century, it was the largest railroad bridge in the world & was the first cantilever bridge in the united states. it is beautiful & luckily we made it off the tracks before trains went by !

actor's apprentices.

i have said it before, but i really really love evenings spent at Actor's Theater of Louisville.

the ten minute plays done by the apprentices every year are so delightful.

one of my favorites was filled with snobby humor.  and there was one good one where a bride marries a very tall man who was actually two kids in a trench coat. my favorite sad play told the story of a figure skater who did not land her last move perfectly and looked like "a teacup with a small crack getting larger". something like that. & the sweetest one was between the student of a comedy workshop and the teacher. after some personal admissions, they go out. they were all much cooler than i make it sound !

i almost didn't go because jonas could not get off work (poor guy) but our friends still went with me & some stranger took the unused ticket  :)

 go super talented apprentices! 

woes & other things.

• the photo above is from our Sunday walk today. it was nice to be out after the polar vortex last week. i cannot wait for spring! i'm sure you are thinking "duh".
• if you were wondering about my other blog, i just wanted to archive it away and start over. my new blog is the same exact thing, which is a scrapbook of my life with jonas. nothing really changed.
• winter depression- winter blues- seasonal depression- seasonal affective disorder- SAD- yes, it is sad & i catch it every year. and i gain weight. every year. i am going to the tanning bed this week. i am so so pale anyway. hopefully it will help both the SAD & the paleness.
• lately, i have spent far too much time thinking about the time for travel in my life running out. i have to see the world. nothing else matters. help. i am drowning in anxiety over this.
• speaking of anxiety, i had a little attack today. not over travel but over a moment where i felt really panicked and then horrible about myself. luckily, i have someone in my life who is the exact same and she helped me out. i was actually laughing at the end of our conversation. but moments like that make me wonder why i don't turn myself over to complete lone- wolfdom (can that be a thing), instead of just 75% of the time.
• oh! jonas was approved to have his green card extended for ten years....more on that later. "hey, maybe you aren't so bad department of homeland security..hahaha..yes you are. you are the worst. have an awful day."
• also, while in cincinnati yesterday, i picked up authentic belgian waffles and made them even better (see below). now i want to go to Belgium real bad !

 i cut them in half but then everyone took another half. :)

a date with..me.

my weekends were switched at work, so i found myself with an day that had no plans. after a quick trip to the gym, i took myself on a little trip to cincinnati. getting away and taking some time to think about where i've been and where i am going sounded so nice. there was no better place to do this (besides hamburg, germany maybe) because i used to live in cincinnati & did a lot of growing and changing while there. mostly, i listened to Band of Horses and the audiobook "Dad is Fat" by Jim Gaffigan. i also shopped at the Gap Clearance Center (the only one in the world is in Hebron, KY), had lunch at Taste of Belgium while i read a book, explored Vine Street and The Cincinnati Art Museum (I added some favorite pieces below). oh, and i drove around the neighborhood where i used to live. :)

our date night.

 after ordering kimchi beef nachos & two rolls of sushi from one of our favorite restaurants, Dragon King's Daughter, we headed to Baxter Avenue Theater to see Her, where glorious Joaquin Phoenix has a romantic relationship with his operating system. i am quite lucky to be with a husband who will see things like this with me. although, to be fair, i go with him to see things like "Superman". so....

2013 film.

yes, 2013 had a few winners:

here's to living in this new year...

there are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. one is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live. -dalai lama

a little introduction.

i am alyssa. i am an undertaker with an immense love for travel. my husband is jonas, a german (like, born and raised). i stole him from his home country to live with me in kentucky. i use blogging as an easy way to scrapbook our life together and to keep our family, near and so very far away, up to date. welcome & Willkommen.