20 Strangers Kiss for the First Time in First Kiss

This beautiful video is so awkwardly cute. Directed by filmmaker Tatia Pilieva, First Kiss chronicles the brief encounter between pairs of strangers just as they're about to kiss for the first time. It totally helps that the 20 strangers chosen are really good looking, but I was smiling during the entire thing - from the first shy hello, to the nervous giggles and jokes to break the tension ("What's your name again?"), to that hot moment when they just go for it. And even though they were two strangers when they embarked on this experiment, it's clear that the connection lingered for the minutes that followed the encounter. After the first kiss was over, some remained close to their partners either in mutual embarrassment or shared triumph or they hugged in order to cling to that moment for just a bit longer.

What were your first kisses like?

Back Home

So we've just returned from our trip to Chicago and man, what a fun time we had out there. We managed to fill our four days with hours of walking through the city's impressive architecture, trying to stay warm, hanging out with friends and stuffing ourselves with some aaah-mazing food (including repeat trips to a couple spots because even though our time was limited, we just couldn't get enough of them). While I don't think we packed in a boatload of to do's into this trip, it still feels like we covered a lot of ground. A. and I are fairly laid-back travelers and while I do like to have some idea of things to see and do in a new city, we're also happy just roaming around and seeing what interesting things we stumble upon. A. said that other people would probably find us boring since we're not going to shows or out drinking and dancing, but I just think that we have the ability to be deeply entertained no matter where we go together.

I'll be sharing some photos from our latest adventure this week!

P.S. In honor of International Women's Day, which was March 8, Oh My! Handmade Goodness has created a list of 50 Women Who Inspire & Inform and they've included me! It's crazy considering how many wonderful women who've inspired me these last few years are right there alongside me. I'm very honored and have been browsing through the list and finding other survivors and creative entrepreneurs that I need to add to my collection of badass women I need to know.

Dead Flower Arrangements

For my birthday/housewarming a couple months ago, my sister gifted me a beautiful amaryllis flower that has been blooming and blooming and stems are still shooting out from this little pot. I don't know how many more are hiding beneath the soil, but I've been enjoying all the color it's brought into our kitchen. Unfortunately, it's also brought in a bunch of gnats and A. wants me to get rid of the source of the problem, but I'm hoping that now that the buggies have died down a bit, we can keep our leafy pet.

As the flowers bloom and dry, I've been collecting them into a little arrangement of sorts. It might not look so fresh, but after seeing the pile of dried petals on the table, I just couldn't bear to throw them away.

Love the Pain As Much As the Glory

A few weeks ago I read an interesting article about the pain it takes to reach success. Essentially it said that while it's easy to say, "I want to be rich/fit/happy," it's the pain it takes to attain those goals that you should focus on. Everyone wants the rewards, but can you handle the hard work and pain it takes to achieve them?

Try and try as I do to make some fitness routine stick, eventually I fall off track and run in the opposite direction. Oh I'd love to have toned arms like Michelle Obama and tighter abs, but I've never been one to crave working out except for the occasional jog to clear my mind. It doesn't help that I've never needed to hit the gym because I've always been petite (sorry, please don't hate me), but I'm fearful of the Gain Weight Once You Move In With Your Boyfriend Syndrome. It's only been three months and I've already gained four and a half pounds. Now it's not that I don't want to gain weight - in fact, I need to - but I've been trying to gain six pounds since 2009 with no luck and now…four and a half in three months.

I tell myself it's because I'm calmer. Now that I'm not schlepping back and forth, commuting between A.'s place and mine, the food has a chance to stick. Hell, I have more time to eat all day because I'm stationary. And that's where the danger comes in: working from home, sitting at my desk, and making constant trips into the pantry for snacks is really not going to do any wonders for my expanding thighs. So last week A. and I started a new fitness routine in the hopes of motivating each other to work out regularly.

Mornings are for yoga. We wake up early and head on over to our mats, which seem to have become a permanent part of the decor since they just remain on the living room floor. I'd joined the DoYouYoga.com 30-Day Yoga Challenge last month and so my inbox is filled with their daily videos of 10-15 minute routines. It's a great way to shake off the sleep, wake those muscles up and feel ready to tackle the day. For a longer, more intense workout, we use my Pocket Yoga app, which is good for weekend mornings when we have more time for a deeper workout.

Evenings are for P90X, the intense strength-building regimen that manages to kick my ass even though I can't even do half the things these super fit workout junkies can do. We've gone from working out zero times a day to twice a day and after working on our legs this weekend, I'm so feeling the burn and I like it. It means I did the work and improvements will eventually come. My goal is to stick with it so that the weight I do gain is converted into muscle rather than fat and to build upper body strength. The yoga will serve me well with flexibility, core strength and muscle tone. And I guess it would be kind of cool to get into pretzel position without breaking my neck in the process.

What fitnessy things have you been doing lately? A. and I have been tracking our progress on this free printable goal chart I downloaded from Creature Comforts and color in each day depending on whether we worked out or not. Our reward if March is mostly blue at the end of the month: Urban S'mores from Max Brenner and I cannot wait for that delicious victory treat.