believe in magic

2010-07-29T08:13:00.001-07:00

I think there are statistics about how much smarter people are in the morning versus later in the day, right? Surely. Not even knowing these statistics, I must agree with them as I am living proof. Every morning I know the right answer to the question on my GoGurt tube. Amazing, right? I mean, who has *that* kind of accuracy?!

Yesterday I ate my GoGurt 3 hours later than usual and, to prove my point, I could not answer that doggone question. Mid-morning dumbness? I'll say! The question was "Can you guess what an ort is? Food scraps, a cross-eyed ape or [...something else I can't remember]." No freaking clue. I had to Google it.

Naturally, this morning as I was easily answering my GoGurt trivia it ocurred to me Hello! It was a trick question. "Can you guess what an ort is?" NO! I cannnot guess that! HaHAA GoGurt, I have beaten you at your own game. Take that.

PS- I eat the natural GoGurt, the tube yogurt for the higher IQ crowd. Not the Trix kind with the easy questions... ;)

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Brains for breakfast

2010-07-29T08:10:00.001-07:00

Sooo hungry...rrrrrrr

2009-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

I don't usually make resolutions but this year I'm thinking of them more as goals than behavioral adjustments, so I thought I'd make a few. Plus, you know how I feel about lists...

In 2010 I will:

Learn more about the music that I like. I think it is so cool when people can tell you all about the history or their favorite bands but I know zilch about anybody other than MXPX. Time to do some research.

Have fewer migraines. I HAVE the power to stop them, it is just so darn difficult. But really, is being proactive that much worse than dealing with the pain and nausea? Why has this taken me 26 years?

Dye my hair different colors at once, like so:

Write more letters and emails. Preferably letters.

Call my brothers. Really I'd be happier without the invention of the telephone, but since it is available I ought to get used to using it. Bleh. But I miss them and I suppose calling is a bit cheaper than flying, these days.

Wear an apron when cooking. I hate stains.

That sounds good for now.

Ewww, carrots.

2009-12-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

I just read through the first year of my old blog and it was hysterical. College was fun, for the most part. I hardly remember the fun days, so it is great to be able to go back and read (in exorbitant detail) all about my friends, classes, teams, roommates, etc. And the music I was listening to and movies I was watching every day, too. I miss having the time and focus to blog like that. All I blog about these days is how I never blog anymore! Dumb. So....

A couple weeks ago a guy at work asked me to make a life-size cutout of one of our managers. Um, I didn't do so well at getting him to be life-sized, but he is even funnier since he is so little. Everyone looks like a monster next to him. Morale has been pretty low around here, lately, so it was awesome to be able to walk around with Little Matt and see people break out of their cubicles and shells and gather around to take pictures and play jokes. Fun fun fun.

We spent Thanksgiving house/dogsitting for our favorite dog's family. This little dude is the sweetest, funniest pet I have ever met and even Sam loves him. He has a little nubby tail, so when he gets excited his whole body wiggles and he loves to be picked up and carried around like a baby. We were taking family pictures in the back yard and every time someone would set the camera timer then run to get in the picture, Rascal would chase them and jump in the picture, too. So every picture either has Rascal posing with us or Rascal running or jumping. We can't wait to get a house so we can get a mini Schnauzer. :)

Crochet like there's no tomorrow

2009-11-29T11:55:00.001-08:00

I found this cute little guy at a craft store and decided I had to make one for my nephew, for Christmas.

I sort of like mine better. But it looks like the Pop Tart characters...

Well, now I am stuck on a crocheting kick and in the last few days I've been crocheting nonstop. We are 'supposed to' go back to work tomorrow...hahaha- we'll see about that! My yarn collection is not quite depleted yet.

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Here's my back, so stab it already!

2009-11-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

I guess if someone is going to read this, I might as well write on it, huh. I ususally do better with listing than prosing, so I'll give that a try. On the common theme, things I am thankful for:

country music
the amazing people I work with
nail polish
plaid
good hair days
my husband who loves the weird awful things about me
my baby nephew who opened new doors in my heart
being with my WHOLE family for Christmas
New Moon
I don't have to be perfect, broken is just fine
Glee
other peoples' stories, which are worth every minute
getting to know people better
the telephoto lense on my camera at work
organization
being unexpected
salsa aguacate (guacamole salsa)
dogs

2009-10-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Have I seriously not written anything here since July? Wow. It has been about that long since I had 10 minutes to sit and think much. The problem with people being expected to work 40+ hours a week is that there is no time left to live, only to eat and to sleep. I think it should be optional at review/raise time that you either get more money or fewer hours.

Clearly, life has been on the crazy side lately. In good and bad ways. We just started a new Sunday School class a couple months ago and we have been out of town every single weekend since the first class. This is a massive change from our former life of sitting at home and doing nothing all weekend. We do like having the freedom to be gone on Sundays since Sam doesn't play for our new church, but at the same time it is kind of stinky to be torn between going to an awesome class or going to California...

I was planning on writing more than that, but my brain is going in too many directions to form intelligent sentences. I guess that is why Twitter is so popular; you don't really have to say anything intelligent. It's moment-by-moment without thinking ahead or behind. Interesting. Or maybe not...I don't know, I'd have to think about it.

letdown to lovin' it! in 3.9 seconds

2009-07-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

All morning I've thought today was Friday. Raise your hand if you understand what a bummer that is. To turn things around I thought I'd Google "plaid" again, since it was so much fun the other night when I made my Twitter background. Check out the treasures I found:

Is that me? Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is a photo of me in a parallel universe where I don't live on the surface of the sun, wearing my 65 layers of plaid and orange and brocade and wool. And I never would have thought it, but The Sartorialist posted this photo so apparently it is a total style-savvy look. Sweet. Although, really she could use a little more plaid. Something like this...

I have always been a closet Ralph Lauren fan. (Not sure why I've always felt the need to hide that fact... ) He makes the best huge, bold prints and he just blasts them in your face on skinny suits and floor length taffeta gowns and wow I wonder why more people don't wear them. And I wonder why he keeps refusing to design a wrap for my car. Oh well, look how awesome he is (bottom right photo), strutting his own runway in buffalo plaid.

Speaking of floor length plaid gowns, why didn't I think of this! Google didn't have any info about the origin of this dress, but the photo says it is a wedding gown. I cringe to think that I wore white lace when I could have worn plaid.

Thank you Apartment Therapy for sharing the joy of this room. I would like to guide your focus to the back wall and the white lamp. That is the only part of the photo that I see. I've been longing for flannel gray walls for a while but now I have to refine that longing to flannel gray plaid walls. Ay caramba! And check out the scale of that floor lamp. It looks like a gigantic table lamp and would make any other furniture look miniature. I am going to be thinking about the magic of that lamp for the rest of the day. That should make my ThurFriday go faster!

I was trying to figure out if I could talk my husband into wearing plaid every day of the week and lookie what I found. Zack Efron does it, so how can you go wrong? (Fashionably speaking, of course.) I'm sure that argument will go far when I try to talk Sam into buying stock in plaid. Hahaha, right.

2009-07-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

I made a smaller version of this bow (from https://www.redvelvetart.com/) and it is so cute I want to wear it every day. I don't know what kind of salons they have down there in Springfield but all of the RVA girls have the best hair ever. I am still floored that my first DIY haircut looks as good as it does, but I'm always up for a new one... If I could have hair like those dolls where you cut it and then just tug and some more comes out, I would be ecstatic.

Since I lost my officemate last week I have been rocking out to whatever music strikes me every day. It's pretty awesome. I've had country day, alternative day, bluegrass day, and then today was "every artist Amanda mentions via Twitter or Doom for Darlings" day. She kept me pretty busy. The best part was that one of the Pandora stations I made ended up playing a Hanson song. HANSON! At this juncture I will pretend to post a VHS file of the Mmmbop music video my friends and I made 10 years ago...pretend with me now. See? Now you understand why that absolutely made my day.

More musical treasures in store tomorrow, as I attempt to 'inculturate' myself with decent music. I blindly followed MXPX for so long that I never bothered to find out if I liked any other music and now the world is new to me. Some favorites so far: Vampire Weekend, Neko Case, Lady Antebellum, Chopin, Feist and some rather oldies like Cake, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz, Something Corporate. With a little techno/dance on the side. It's a work in progress.

three lost posts don't make a right

2009-06-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Alas, I have been posting my little heart out and nothing has actually appeared here for weeks. My words are lost in Cyberville. I believe a Double Stuf Chocolate Creme Oreo should solve the problem. Laptop Louie does not agree, but he is just concerned about crumbs in the keys. Too bad, Louie, too bad.

Hole.ly.granola. Harry Potter comes out in 15 days. Pardon me while I run out of sight and do a quick hoo-rah dance. 6 was probably my favorite book. The last one with some semblance of normal life for Hogwarts. Although it is Deathly Hallows (#7) that plays over and over in my head when I'm not otherwise engaged.

In other exciting news (alllmost as exciting as 7.15.09): Sam and I now work for the same company. It is pretty awesome. I work pretty freakish hours, but now he works the very same freakish hours and we can commute together. Plus we never see each at the office, so it's almost like we don't work together but still get all the perks. We're diggin' it. He's thrilled to have a job that doesn't work 16-hour days, pay commission or put his life in the hands of a meth addict daily. I mean, what's not to love about his last three jobs, huh? But yeah, this is far superior in so many ways. It is such a gift. Hahaha, we're still waiting to actually settle down, after 26 years each and 3 years of marriage we're still like little ping pong balls popping all over, trying to grab onto a wall somewhere and just hold tight. Maybe I'm a ridiculous optimist or just don't care much for reality, but I've never felt like anything was unsure even when everything was unsure. Another gift- to see the rock under the sand.

Home sweet...what the, where is that?!

2009-05-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Home has always been a tricky word for me, probably for my family too. Over Memorial Day I was hiking to our cabin with my brother and mentioned being homesick in Phoenix. He asked precisely the question I was wondering myself: "Homesick for where?" Yeah, I'm not sure. In fact I think when you've moved around like we have you truly understand the saying 'home is where your heart is' better than anyone. The particular brand of homesickness I meant was a longing for things old and weathered, greenness, community. But I want those things in Phoenix. I want to make them happen here, I don't want to have to leave to find them. So we're working on those goals.
Surprisingly, I am getting my wish for greenness right this moment. My company does these landscape classes on our properties and I have to set up all the A/V stuff for them. So Sam and I are at one of my favorite properties just outside of the city, sitting in their park by the lake, watching the sprinklers and waiting for the class to end. There are a couple solid acres of grass and lake right here, so if I take off my glasses I can pretend there is no desert beyond that. It is ironic that this kind of property is such a luxury. If you want to live in a dense, tree-covered grassy place, just live in ANY other part of the country and you won't have to pay a bazillion dollars for it! But alas, I would be unemployed if people did not want grass and trees in the desert, so I'm not complaining.

I refuse to move from this chair

2009-05-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Blech, I'm whooped. This was a surprisingly long weekend, which is always fun but it left me completely drained. I guess it's back to munching spinach leaves, for me! Mmmm, iron.

Here is our weekend in photos:

Friday nights' movie-in-the-park adventure. I fell asleep on Sam long before those three year olds tired out!

Saturday morning we went to see Angels and Demons. It.was.wow. Ewan McGregor is so convincingly guileless as the Camerlengo. I know that The DaVinci Code had Christians all up in arms and I haven't heard the response to this movie, yet, but I don't see any basis for offense in Angels and Demons. The plot is as follows: Humans are flawed, even the leaders of the Catholic church. Religion and science need to find some common ground and quit trying to get rid of the other. You never know who to trust. See, what's wrong with that? Whereas DaVinci code had Prof. Langdon solving the mystery of Jesus' earthly family and basically shaking the basis of Christian faith, Angels and Demons just shows the catastrophic effect of religious radicals taking their beliefs too far. It does not assume that all Christians are radicals, in fact it has some very complex, humble characters who make a strong case for the rest of us. But through some crafty filmmaking you are constantly second-guessing who is honest and who is faking everything.

Saturday afternoon I found this awesome home store that I think I wrote about yesterday... it was super inspirational. Everything in it was hand-picked by the owner, from Indonesia, Thailand, Peru, China, etc. American antiques are cool and all, but there's just something spectacular about a 300 year old apothecary cabinet from India.

Of course, after spending a while in there my brain wouldn't stop imagining what I'll do with our first house. I woke up unnaturally early on Sunday morning with my head full of color schemes! Phoenix is eternally blue skies and sunny with lots of deserty brown everywhere so I want to counteract those influences with mostly overcast gray walls (everywhere normal people would use white!) and accents walls in apple green, BMW Mystique Blue and anything that can look watery. So I spent most of Sunday afternoon cutting out ideas from my vast collection of ripped up decorating magazines and gluing them with paint samples in a notebook. That's my idea of a good afternoon!!

We also found a new church, Sunday. Living Streams, in Phoenix. It was pretty wonderful and we're excited for the potential it holds for us to get involved and finally make some friends.

I have a plan

2009-05-16T23:32:00.001-07:00

And a lot of bug bites at the moment. But most importantly, a plan. We have come to refer to our screaming, stuff-smashing neighbors as "the crazies" or "the psychos". So compassionate, I know... Living above them is like having two very angry babies who scream around the clock and smoke four packs a day. Sick. Our apartment is saturated with their secondhand smoke and we've had about enough. Tonight I was moving one of our dining chairs and noticed it makes a wicked screeching sound on the tile floor. So Sam and I decided that next time they start the screaming we are going to perform Chair Screeching Sonata in A Sharp until they get the point. We can't go down there and talk to them, so we'll just drag the dining chairs around until they realize that it is on purpose. Or maybe they'll never realize and they'll think we are the crazy ones for moving furniture at midnight... and 3am and 4:30am and 2pm and 6pm and 10:15pm.

Last night Sam and I decided we needed to get out for once, so we found this park in Tempe that was playing Ratatouille outside and we went and hung out with a billion little kids and their parents. It was pretty hysterical. A very little girl from the blanket next to us thought we were more fun than her family and spent most of the movie regaling us with nonsense stories and dances, showing off her sunglasses and trying to kiss Sam. Of course he's used to most girls being that way with him, but it is always cuter when they are under 15.

We are checking out a new church tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. It is beyond time to find a community here. I can't stand being surrounded by so many people and still being so isolated. Heck, I was in a new decorating shop by our apartment today and I made more of a connection with the owner there in 20 minutes than I have with any human being outside of my job in the nine months we've been in Phoenix. Maybe we need to work harder at this...

A foggy day in London town

2009-04-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

Woohooo! I finally jumped on the bandwagon with everybody else who makes playlists for their blog. Although I pretty much just made it because my iPhone is full of music that Sam likes and these are the songs I always wish were on there. I'm super duper excited to be able to listen to my favorite songs at work, and not just when/if they come up on Pandora. That's a slim chance, anyway...

This weekend has been crazy fun, which is unusual. Our days are pretty much always the same, since we're broke and don't know the city very well, but this weekend we went a little wild. It all started at the grocery store... We have two neighborhood markets that we shop at (one for groceries, one for produce) and for some unknown reason we decided we should try all of the weird food the first place carries. So we came home with all kinds of different do-it-yourself Asian foods and some sushi and a lot of baking ingredients. We've been chowing down on squid wraps and spicy California rolls and cinnamon banana cornbread and discovering that I can get pretty goofy from a few tablespoons of Chardonnay. Who knew? My tummy has had much to say about these new foods, but it will just have to adjust.

Yesterday I spent a good long time at the library and made a HUGE discovery. You can check out a free pass to any Phoenix museums, the zoo, AAAAAND Taliesin West. FOR FREE! I wish I had known that before my parents came because Dad and I so desperately wanted to see Frank Lloyd Wright's school but it is $30/person. Blech. But now we can go for free, anytime!!! And to the zoo, which could be the very best part.

Today I revisited the blog of the most inspirational girl I can think of- seriously, check her out - and decided to take another crack at scrapbooking. It's been practically a year since I've done more than staple shreds of things together. So I made a page about how I totally stopped scrapbooking when we moved to Phoenix. Strange realization...

In other exciting news: our neighbors have been extra super psychopathic lately and we finally had to call 911 on them to make the screaming stop. Hooray. So we haven't been sleeping much for the past couple weeks. But a couple from our church is going out of town for two weeks and asked us to stay in their house!! It will almost be like a vacation. We're pumped.

YAY! Among other things...

2009-04-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

This "Spring" has been one heck of a ride. From 40 degrees one day to 90 the next and then it will be 55 in the morning and 95 in the afternoon...I don't quite understand it. But I like it! We went up to Flagstaff a couple weekends ago and for most of the drive we had the sunroof open and there may have been some feet sticking out of windows, who knows... ;) Once we hit the treeline reality struck with a vengeance. It is c.o.l.d. in Flagstaff. It snowed most of the weekend. What?! I had honestly forgotten what it was like to be really cold. We had to wear coats and socks and things like that. hahahaha

I know this is ridiculously early, but I am already starting to wig out about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. So it doesn't come out till July, so what. And it sort of feels like New Moon (Twilight #2) is moving so quickly it may be in theaters BEFORE Harry Potter, so what. I may actually have to break down and go see this one at midnight, with all the crazies.

And in other news: I seem to be aging backwards. The older I get, the less qualified I feel to be grown up. I see all these people my age doing serious grown up stuff and it freaks me out, like we're not ready for that yet so why are they ready?! Of course, those very things that freak me out are most likely the steps that, when taken, will make me actually feel like an adult but that is too much logic for this little brain to wrap around. I really just want to sing the Relient K song "Responsibility, what's that? Responsibility, not quite yet! I don't want to think about it, we'd be better off without it." and fly off to Neverland where terms like "first-time homebuyer" and "police non-emergency number" and "caffeine headache" have nothing whatsoever to do with me. Where footwear options are "moccasins or nothing at all", instead of "painful or utilitarian". I bet this is precisely the point in life that J.M. Barrie was at when he wrote Peter Pan because it sounds an awful lot like a story about children, but it is SO a story about grown ups who don't want to be.

2009-04-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Alright, for those of you who have been waiting for something to go wrong with this spectacular job of mine, wait no longer. A couple weeks ago something finally went spectacularly, dazzlingly wrong. I know you're excited that even dream jobs go awry but please hold your applause. Maybe three weeks ago my boss and I were discussing the future of our department and where I'll be once we open the new office. All was fine and dandy until he mentioned they wanted me to manage a client support department at the new location. Uh what? Isn't that like going from coloring to doing algebra- in Alaska?! Probably not in reality, but it was a huge change from what I'm doing now and would mean a totally non-creative position and a 45 minute commute at 5:00 am. Cool, huh? My life just about ended right there. I had no idea what I could do to foil this plan that sounded like concrete. So I came home every day and cried and Sam and I wrote out things I could say that wouldn't cost me my job, when I worked up the nerve to talk to my boss about it. It. Was. Miserable.
But this is why you held your applause: a week or so later my boss asked me what I thought about his plan and if we could discuss it some more because he knew I was interested in where things were going. I said about two sentences and the world turned right side up again. When I say I love my job it is 30% what I do and 70% the people I do it for. He was immediately on board with my issue and realized where the plan had gone wrong and we were discussing other options. I must say, thank you Jesus. I can't get over how well that worked out. Somebody should really clone this guy, because he is the polar opposite of every boss I've ever heard about and every company needs people like him.
I feel like I probably have more news than that, but there is very little in my life that compares to the misery of those weeks and the elation when it was over. Well...I may be able to audition for Wheel of Fortune this weekend...then that would compare.
Last week Mom and Dad came for my birthday and we squeezed all four of us into our miniature apartment and all managed to have way too much fun. It was so awesome.
Yeah, that's pretty much the scoop. I don't understand how kids these days (can't you just hear some curmudgeonly old guy saying that?) can text day in and day out because just typing this much on my phone (with a full keyboard) is enough to make me question my sanity. Blech. Crazy young'ns.
Time for dinner, y'all!

2009-03-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today was one of my bi-monthly 5 am meetings that bring such joy to my life. Haha, actually I really enjoy doing them- it's a ton of work and I have to get there at 4:30 am but I get this bizarre pre-dawn energy high that keeps me awake until about noon, at which time I get to go home and crash. Today when I got home I lasted about an hour before falling into a coma I didn't think I'd wake from for a day. You know how that goes, when you feel like you're wearing an x-ray smock on your whole body and you can hardly breathe because your lungs are exhausted? Yeah, it's great. That was me, until...our neighbors started screaming at each other so loudly and violently that it woke me from a dead sleep. Keep in mind our apartment is built of 1 foot thick concrete on all sides (sounds lovely, eh?) and we call it 'the bomb shelter' for a reason. Yet somehow this murderously angry couple managed to wake me up despite all that. Wow. It was scary. What do you do with something like that? Is this an issue of domestic violence? Are we supposed to report this? It was pretty scary and I wasn't even involved.

2009-03-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Why do I get total writers block the moment I open blogger? On Xanga thoughts always poured out so easily that I had to repeatedly edit every post. I suppose it is the possibility that any literate human being has the opportunity to read this blog that keeps my fingers tied. Not that I assume my audience could fill Carnegie Hall, of course. They probably wouldn't even fill a station wagon. But still, they could and I would never know it. [jitters] Oh well. Setting that hangup aside...

My job is still metamorphosing so much; each month I have new responsibilities to take on, new projects and assignments, new clients to meet, new properties to visit and photograph, new industry lessons to learn. I am a very DIY type of person and always want to try it myself before going to anyone for help. If I can figure it out on my own (as I can 80% of the time) I would rather not interupt anyone else. And I WILL get it done on time no matter what it takes.
With that being said: Last month was incredibly overwhelming. I had way too much on my plate and didn't know how to tackle most of it or prioritize any of it. I was asking for help a lot and delegating whenever possible (tricky business with only one person occasionally available to delegate to) and still at the end of my rope. When I sat down with my boss, later, to discuss how the new projects were going I hated to tell him how overwhelmed I was, but it had to be told. His reaction was unexpected; he laughed. He said he knew I was in over my head and thought I would learn the most that way. Like tossing a baby in a swimming pool. I'm still processing how I feel about such treatment, but the fact that he was willing to risk using the swimming pool education method with such critical projects involved is something that makes me ponder what aptitude he see in me that I don't see in myself.
Ah yes, questions. Anyway.. Creative things are happening here and it is good. Scary, yes. But scary is good.

2009-03-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Yay! I can do this from my phone, so perhaps blogger will not get entirely neglected. My spelling will probably be atrocious, even unintelligible at times thanks to the auto-fix feature that only manages to screw things up more....

I want you to be exactly who you are.

2009-01-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

I have the job of my dreams, right now. In fact, it is so great I never would have even thought to dream it. Since we just moved here, people are always asking me how I like my job and that is always the answer I give them. It is more than I can ask or imagine. Most often they look at me like I'm crazy or ask a few skeptical questions and then move on to more believable subject matter. But really, nothing in my life is believable right now.

This line is running through my head all the time, lately. "I want you to be exactly who you are." My boss said that to me about a month after I started my new job. It still has me pretty much at a loss for words. Or, more accurately, I have too many things to say to that and not enough captive audience to hear it all. "I want you to be exactly who you are." Yes, I needed permission. I have always very consciously wondered if it would be okay to be who I am, in public. How on earth would people take such a colorful, chaotic blast of sardonic, child-like, scatter-brained enthusiasm for life? Well, apparently that is not for me to decide.

When I interviewed for the job I have now, I had completely given up on finding a job I actually enjoyed and was solely pursuing jobs where I wouldn't have to clean toilets. Or at least not without gloves. DLC was one of the only ads I found that actually sounded interesting, so I was beyond excited when I met with their hiring squad. In that first hour of talking with the people who would become my boss and my coworker, the barriers came down. They didn't interrogate me about my qualifications for the position and rant about the company. We talked about what thrills us the most, how random experiences shape us, why we make art and what we make. Later I learned that I could have been a total nub and they would have hired me anyway because my email address is so cool. :) So I guess you could say they saw the unedited version of me, the version that I forgot existed outside of our apartment.

For my first month of work I was my usual uptight, highly edited self, until the Captain laid down the law. They liked the real me better and requested that I bring her to work from then on. Those words were earth-shattering. I guess for most people, hurling your quirks on society is not an issue but for some reason I've always thought I had to hide those things and be all professional and serious in most situations. Call me an introvert... But it turns out that the people I work with are all just as crazy as me and I made them uncomfortable when I tried to act normal. They specifically needed someone to tell bizarre stories and name all the inanimate objects in the office and throw carrots at people and speak in cartoon voices! Really, that's why they hired me (email address aside). Yes, I can dye my hair stop sign red and still be taken seriously. I can wear pink sneakers and antlers and my rockstar jeans and still be 100% successful. This is so foreign to me. Earth shattering. Life changing. I can be exactly who I am and not worry for one moment that people are going to take me the wrong way or think I'm a weirdo or second-guess my ability to do my job.

AND the guy who cleans our toilets is exactly who he is and he loves his job. That is the way work should be. I didn't even think it was possible, though, until I saw it for myself. No wonder it sounds like crazy talk. But stop giving me your crazy looks, people, because it is all true.

And now, all I have to say is- Blessings, like manna, rot when they're hoarded.

Peace.

Desert lovin'

2008-10-04T20:08:00.001-07:00

Aren't there any songs about that? It seems like there are songs about loving every other place/person/idea/thing in the world but I can't think of any about the desert. Well, I'll have to write one, I guess.
Sam and I were both pretty sure that Phoenix would be 100 degrees year-round, before we moved here. Why we thought that, nobody knows. But the really awesome truth is that it DOES get cool here. Today it only got up to 80-something, which was beautiful (I know, it still sounds miserable, right? but it was so nice.).
Even when it was over 100 at night we would go for walks around our part of town every couple nights, so now it is just wonderful because we can be out so much longer and only have to take ONE bottle of water with us! hehehehe Today we walked through some older housing developments a couple blocks over and everyone was out washing their cars and playing with their dogs and grilling, and every person we saw waved and asked how we were doing, etc. It was just like being back in one of the various small towns I'm from, rather than being in this huge, sprawling city. We think that's where we'd like to eventually buy a house. You know, in a million years. hehehehe, we're good dreamers.
I feel like I've already told everyone and their cousin about this, but I have not blogged about it yet, so here it is for posterity: I have the best job I could ever possibly imagine. In fact, I'm not totally sure that I could have even imagined this. It is just so wonderful. Everyone I work with is so laid back and we have stuff in common and the jokes just fly all over the office. My boss takes me our department (all three of us) out to breakfast/lunch ALL the time. I guess it doesn't hurt that the president is part of our department and he thinks we are more creative when we're eating :) :) I can't really decide what the best part is, yet, although I have given it serious thought. On one hand, I love that I am getting paid to create and design; on the other hand, I would clean toilets at this place and probably still love it. Thankfully I don't have to choose between those fine points. :)
I can't stop comparing this place to my last job (which was absolutely awful) and it just makes me even happier to be here. My last job was maybe 20% creative, 80% cleaning up after people. Here I don't even have to answer a phone- EVER. You have no idea how happy that makes me. And everyone is really supportive and grateful for what I do, even though it is just what I'm supposed to do. That just blows my mind, when I hand somebody an article I wrote for them or a set of photos I edited and they are thankful that I did that? Whaaaat?
Gosh, in so many ways I feel (prepare for sincere cheeziness) like a flower that was shut tight against the cold and now the sun is shining down on my cold little noggin and I can open up and unfold and be alive again. Oh the happiness and toasty-ness. :D

2008-08-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Before we left Dublin (the Columbus suburb, not the Irish city) I had to get some photos of the giant cornfield. What enormous piece of artwork could better represent Ohio than a field of 6ft. concrete corncobs? Not much, I tell you.

And here is our new home. It was harder to leave than we expected it to be, but we do love it in Phoenix, so far. We are so glad we get to spend every weekend with Sam's bro and sister-in-law and we have an awesome church family ALREADY (that just blows my mind. it's been awhile since we've been in a church as great as this one.) I guess I don't know why I continue typing when I know I'll have to come back and redo this whole post anyway once I've had a few hours of sleep. Oh well. Just wanted people to know we're still alive and well. Or...well-ish. Can't complain too much except that I haven't found a job yet.

Hope these photos work...they're off my iPhone and the screen is only 3in x 4in max, so who knows if they'll be decent or not. Best wishes.

2008-07-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back after taking a bit of a scrapbooking sabbatical to read the Twilight Saga two or three times in a row... That's probably a sabbatical I'll take every few months, anytime I start forgetting minute details and need a several-thousand-page reminder. :) My husband is so ridiculously understanding when I find a new book and get so engrossed that he doesn't see/hear me for a few days. I would probably be like "hey, hey! pay attention to me!!" but he just occupies himself and when he really needs to say something he's okay with repeating it a few times until I come out of my fiction-induced fog. Hmm, he's so great. I always feel bad when I get on a scrapbooking roll and stay up for hours after he goes to bed, so last night he got ready for bed and then came to tell me to stay up as late as I need to. hehehe, not that I need permission, but it did make me feel better. :)

In other news: the downtown library just changed their parking garage prices so you can park for free if it's under an hour!!!!!!!! I know, isn't that thrilling? It actually is, to me. I was 20 seconds late returning to my parking meter, once, and I got a $20 ticket. Oooh, I was furious. But now I'll be parking in the garage for free on probably EVERY lunch break. Mmm, books.

17/18

2008-07-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

That would be 17 days till the Breaking Dawn release and 18 days till we head for Arizona. Yikes. I'm wishing time would move faster for the first reason and slowwwwer for the second. Unfortunately, altering time is not a super-power I possess, so if you know anyone who does please let me know. I am willing to trade my distance-altering power, temporarily.

Getting so close to the deadline, my brain is scrambling for the last million things I want to do. No, not the things I NEED to do. I'm not scrambling to find a job or get stuff packed (Although our packing situation is weird...we're only taking the absolute necessities, which will remain absolutely neccessary until the day we leave, therefore cannot be packed until the very last minute. Everything else is up for grabs.), as I probably should be. Right now all I want to do is visit the people that we will not see again for a too-long period of time, catch up on all the Columbus treasures that we have not yet experienced and take lots of pictures. :( Luckily, we got all of the typical arrangements out of the way several months ago and now actually have the time to just dawdle. Thank goodness.

Oh, I got a new haircut. This photo was the day after and I loved it like that, but cannot manage to replicate the style... phoo.

We've been kitty-sitting this little girl for a week now:

She is 90% sweet, 10% pure evil. She usually sleeps across the top of my head like a kitty crown (similar to what she's doing in this picture) and puts her paws on my forehead. She purrs a lot and vibrates my pillow, which makes me laugh and keeps her awake, which keeps her purring. So I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep with her there, but I am having a lot of fun. Last night, however, she decided to try to eat my head. She was curled up in her usual position, chomping away at my scalp with her two little fangs and it hurt SO MUCH. I *lovingly* hurled her across the room every time she did it, so she eventually got the point and stopped. Around 5:30am I got concerned that I didn't hear her purring and thought maybe I'd launched her into a wall and broken all her delicate kitten bones so I sat up to look for her... only to find she'd taken up residence around Sam's head. Apparently his hair is not as tasty as mine, lucky guy. When he woke up you'd have thought the tooth fairy left him a million dollars, he was so excited to find the furbaby nestled around his head.

for Carrie

2008-07-07T09:52:00.001-07:00

All of the family pages I have scanned so far... Dad got me the 6x6 Basic Grey pages for my birthday (well, he doesn't know that- he got me a gift certificate) and they were so perfect for our family! I have yet to get the new kids scrapped, since I don't have many pictures of you and Alice! Thanks SOOOOO much for all the fun scrapbooking stuff you sent!!! It absolutely made my week/month/year :D

All about moi!

2008-06-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

1. What is your occupation? I'd hate to call it my occupation (as it certainly is not my career choice) but I am currently the Marketing Director for an architecture firm. That's just what they call me because I'm a Graphic Designer/Project Assistant/Secretary and that is too long of a title!

2. What color are your socks right now? no socks- I kinda hate socks except with Converse...

3. What are you listening to right now? Leona Lewis, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (would rather be listening to David Cook's version, though!) and my co-workers sucking snot like their lives depend on it. Is there a question about worst pet peeve? That's it.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? tuna salad on a croissant
5. Can you drive a stick shift? if I have to. I've learned on many different occasions but I never really take to it.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? crayon-wise I'd love to be the plain old blue one, but that doesn't apply to real life at all...(was it supposed to?)

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? a client from The Ohio State University.
8. How old are you today? 25. I will be tomorrow, too.

9. Favorite drink? Lemonade.

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Eh, I guess soccer or hockey. I'm not really a sports fan.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? I was red for years. Hahahaha, the first time ever was my freshman year of high school- I had wanted to do it for SO long but my mom said that when she was in high school only the disreputable girls dyed their hair, so I wasn't allowed. And then for my birthday my parents decided I could do it. Unfortunately my hair was so healthy that the dye didn't even affect it! I was like "Can you tell I have red hair, everybody? Look, when I tilt my head this way, under a street lamp..."

12. Pets? Two beloved cats that I seriouly be-love so much I think I may be nuts. But they live with my parents for now.

13.Favorite food? That's tough. I'm not usually a junk food-eater, but I love french fries and pizza more than any kid ever did.

14. Last movie you watched? 21

15. Favorite Day of the year? July 4th (also my favorite holiday)

16. What do you do to vent anger? Complain or blog. Or complain on my blog (not this one).

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Is a coloring book a toy? We had these 4ft. by 3 ft. coloring books that were so incredibly amazing and I'd still love to have one, now.

18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Both of those, in Ohio. But we're moving to Arizona this summer and my answer will probably change.

19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.

20. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry, by far. Real, artificial, whatever- it has to be cherry.

21. Living arrangements? With my husband, just the two of us.

22. When was the last time you cried? When I found out that my parents are giving my cats away when they move. That would have been Saturday.

23. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
24. Craziest memory with that friend?
25. Favorite smell? You know how babies have this distinct baby-smell that is so great but completely unexplainable? Well, it's not that, but my husband smells distinctly like a bakery and it is just as unexplainable.

26. What are you afraid of? Drowning, breaking my teeth, heights, snakes.

27. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Spicy ANYTHING.

28. Favorite car? Mini Cooper.

29. Favorite cat breed? I just like regular cat-brand cats. Not any fancy kind.

30. Number of keys on your key ring? 6

31. How many years at your current job? 1 year, 2 weeks, 3 days. How 'bout that?!

32. Favorite day of the week? Saturday, of course, but Monday is a close second. Sick, I know.

33. How many states have you lived in? 4

34. How many countries have you been to? 3- Canada, Italy, Romania

35. Where would you want to retire to? Sighisoara, Romania...but I'm sure Rares would nix that idea.

36. What is your best childhood memory? All of our crazy travels with all 6 of us in our huge van and cramming into one hotel room and feeling like I was really experiencing life that most little kids don't experience. There was so much freedom, excitement, newness and unknown about those trips and it was thrilling. We joke now that we were dragged to every battlefield east of the Mississippi (practically every historical site, actually, but that detail never made it into our jokes...) but those were some of the best times of my life.

37. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? #1 Subway, #2 dept. store sales associate/merchanding assistant, #3 campus switchboard, #4 Yearbook Editor, #5 Graphic Design tutor, #6 campus cafeteria, #7 life insurance sales (aka: attempted sales) #8 Bob Evans server, #9 Victoria's Secret assistant manager, #10 Marketing Director (with a lot of other Subways dispersed throughout). Most jobs were simultaneous, during college.

38. Piercings? I've tried 4 times now, but piercings make me nauseous and I end up giving up in a few weeks.

39. Tattoos? Not yet. One is in the works.

By the way, I'd love to know what anybody else has to say, so let me know if you fill this out, too!!

Anybody have a spare toddler I could borrow?

2008-06-10T14:02:00.001-07:00

No, seriously, I need one. This morning I woke up rather early and was all excited that I'd get to sit down and have a bowl of cereal (as opposed to my bagel-in-the-car routine). I mean, w00t! I don't often get to eat cereal before 7:00 pm.

So I got out my nutritious breakfast supplies (juice, cereal, bowl, spoon, glass- check!), poured my juice, poured my cereal, poured my milk... and this is where a toddler could have come in handy.

"Where do I pour the juice?"
"In the glass."
"Where do I pour the cereal?"
"In the bowl."
"Where do I pour the milk?"
"In the BOWL!"

I definitely poured milk right into my apple juice. And did I just stand there, dazed, wondering what was wrong with the breakfast in front of me? Why yes, yes I did.

I think I'll stick with my bagel-in-the-car routine. That's hard to mess up. Unless I accidentally put hummus or Sam's favorite eggplant paste on a blueberry bagel... Oh, the possibilities!

Not drowning any longer

2008-06-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, hopefully not, anyway. I'll try my best.

I've been quite anti-social lately, since Sam started his new job and we only have three hours a day to spend together. That kills me so much, since I am a 'quality time person', hardcore. So we've been spending every non-working hour together and when he hits the hay at 9:30 I scrapbook until I get tired. Of course, I'm a total night owl, so that doesn't happen naturally until 12:30 or 1:00 am. And between 9:30 pm and 1:30 am are EXACTLY the times our mamas say it's rude to call people, so my friends probably all think I'm dead.

LUCKILY I recently discovered SIStv and I tell ya what, the ladies over there are online till ALL hours. I just might have hit the jackpot, here. And they're all gorgeous creative geniuses, too. It's like I just went back to college- hanging out in the Senior studios till 3 am, with everybody working on their paintings/pottery/installations/etc. and sharing stories and critiques. [sigh] It's a beautiful thing.

My, how things change!

2008-05-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

You know, I was just sitting here looking at this desolate blog, practically void of human life, and thinking I have absolutely nothing to blog about when....

The police started banging on our door.

That's right. One moment I am lamenting my uber-boring life and the next minute we are evacuating our apartment as the bomb squad rushes in to check a suspicious package in our hallway. And by "rushes in" I mean it took about 30 minutes between the evacuation and the arrival of the bomb squad-man.

So here's the story: Directly across the hall from our apartment is an apartment that houses a group of young Mormon guys, on their mission to save Columbus. Guys move in and out as they begin and complete their missions, so we're never quite certain who we'll see over there.

Today when I came home from work I noticed a box sitting next to their door, with a note written on it. The note had a distinctly angry tone: "This is not your box, so don't touch it or move it. No, the UPS did not leave you a package. The management left it here, so leave it alone." Ouch. I thought it was harsh, but that's as far as it concerned me until 9:40-ish, this evening.

Sam was already in bed (working tomorrow at 5:00 am) when they evacuated us, so he wasn't all too pleased to have to stand outside and wait for every cop in the city to show up. But they were concerned that that package may actually be a bomb, so what do you do, complain about losing sleep and risk getting blown up? No thanks.

As it turns out, an electrician had been changing all of our exterior lights (how did we not notice this?) and didn't have time to get to the Mormons' apartment today, so he left the box with the new sconce by their door rather than take it with him. AND he left a particularly nasty note on it, lest anyone try to steal this really cool light fixture.

Crisis averted. Electrician probably fired. Everyone's back in bed.

Moral of the story: For Pete's sake, my car is hardly bigger than your trunk; I can do a three-point-turn without a police escort.

OLW challenge: today

2008-05-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hopefully the whopping "fragile" sticker doesn't distract anyone from the actual one little word, here. I just love that sticker! A guy in my office ordered some glass samples and there was one on each box, so I scavenged them when he wasn't looking. :) I have an extra if anyone wants it!

ScrapMojo Recycled/5 Challenge

2008-05-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

^The original (and heinous) page^

^RECYCLED VERSION!^
I think it's a little too busy... but it's still waaaay better than the first one. Believe it or not, the entire page is recycled from the original. The original is on one side of an American Crafts paper and there was another layout on the back, so I couldn't just rip it up and start over- so I wove all of my paper leftovers together and fit them around the photo. I also used up all my Love, Elsie letter leftovers to carry the alphabet theme. The circles on the right side are photo negatives- because what on earth do I need those for anymore, right? Gotta use them somehow!

The Art is Found challenge: Shopping Tags!

2008-04-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ingredients: USPS envelope, Italian jeans' tags, graph paper, ancient thread labels off spools from great grandma, random old buttons and ribbon, Making Memories foliage frame.
Journaling reads: I got these awesome jeans in Florence and the tag was in Italian on one side with the translation on the other. Except the translation makes no sense whatsoever! It's hysterical.

Seriously, read the tag if you can. Absolute nonsense. Try reading it like a rap, it's even funnier. Oh, and beware those creepy Venetian transvestite mannequins in the photo.

One Little Word Challenge #25 "Grow"

2008-04-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ingredients: generic cardstock, Love,Elsie stickers, small strip of unknown-brand striped paper.
Journaling reads: THIS is who I am today. And I am okay with that. Even though most days I get in a hurry, forget how far I have come and start to feel like the shy old me... like this... or this... or this. But I do not have to be that insecure, awkward girl in my memory. That was years ago and I HAVE GROWN. And gotten better with age, even! When I live in fear of my past self I stop my current self from stepping into the future. I WANT TO KEEP GROWING.

ScrapMojo JUNO challenge!

2008-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

My first layout for a ScrapMojo challenge. This one is based (in case it's not obvious) on the Juno movie posters that are oh-so-cute. When I got finished I realized I made this almost entirely from found pieces, except those three Love,Elsie stickers that I couldn't resist. The orange background is the same overlay thingy that I used as the cover on my Inspiration album and it's just vellum, masking tape, notebook paper and Sharpie after that.
It was good to have an external challenge because for about a week I have certainly not been interested in creating anything (except maybe some chaos). But there are so many scrap challenge sites and books that are gonna keep me engaged when I'd rather just come home from work, cross my eyes and stare at a wall all night. Although really, that's not a horrible idea either...our walls are bright blue and covered in art, so even cross-eyed I'd be imbibing creativity and beauty!

New scrapbook!!

2008-04-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

My first scrapbook wasn't a "real" scrapbook at all but a book of quotes about marriage that I repurposed and just scrapped over all the pages. So once I finished that one I got an 8x8 with removable pages and it is WAY easier to use! Holy smokes, who knew the ease of working on a flat, detachable page rather than a pre-bound page? I've only done two layouts so far, but I like both of them so much better than anything else I've done. Hooray!

What inspires me

2008-04-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished product, as far as I can tell. It's pretty short, but I really like it. There are actually a few more pages I didn't scan because I already had on my flickr account, so I'm working on getting them on here...
The cover overlay is an orange/clear plastic piece from an old presentation that I scrounged at work. Each page is hand cut from a marketing booklet for an apartment complex we visited in Phoenix. Practically everything is found except the letters, stickers and scraps of patterned paper. (Some of those were found, too.)

It's SO much cooler in person, I really wish these scans could convey it properly. I certainly have a lot to learn about scrapbooking, though, and am still not content with about 40% of the pages I make. Maybe when I have more time on my hands... hahahahahahahaha

2008-04-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this photo shows up much larger than it does on my view. (Aha, you have to click on it to see its true glory!) It's a miniature inspiration book that JocelynneB from Flickr made and it is so cool that I've started my own. I am the epitome of a fairweather scrapbooker and have yet to actually complete any book I've started. But hopefully this little one will remedy that. The fact that I dictate its number of pages should help... ;) I'll let you know how that goes, and will post complete photos ASAP.

I've been spending all of my free moments at work link-hopping through scrappers' blogs (usually starting here) and absorbing mass quantities of inspiration. Hopefully the weather will take a turn for the nicer, soon, so that Sam can spend more time in the garage and I can start makin' stuff again. (I'm a quality-time person, so any time he's home we're inseparable.) My first evening of working on the mini album, his friend called and apparently asked what I was up to because he looked over at me buried in piles of magazines, scraps, various adhesive products and photos and replied "I guess she's makin' stuff."

Two tickets to Paradise!

2008-03-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we got our first chance to take a vacation since our honeymoon and it was pretty stinkin' fantastic. We flew out to Arizona to visit Marian and Christina (Sam's brother and his wife/my last roommate) and scope out Phoenix for a good apartment locale. Forgive me for talking about the weather (it is so often on my mind these days) but we left Columbus at 4:30 am in 6 degrees and that many inches of snow and arrived in Phoenix in [sigh] 70 degrees and dazzling sunshine. We decided that moment that we would never return to Ohio, but then we remembered we had jobs and friends and various responsibilties awaiting us, so we'd better go back. Darn it. But our time there was amazing- we got to thaw and explore and relax, none of which we had done in a year and a half!

Marian and Christina live in Lake Havasu City, which is like the Myrtle Beach of the desert. It actually rained our first day there, which they said never happens, so we were pretty bummed that we'd brought Ohio's gray clouds with us. But the next few days were so bright and warm we felt like we were on another planet.

I started this post at the worst time, not realizing I have to leave in two minutes. So I guess I'll share the rest of the story later. Peace!

My job description, so far:

2008-01-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

must be able to lift up to 75 pounds and carry up and down three flights of stairs
must have working knowledge of plumbing, computer repair, stain removal
must have current immunizations
must have unlimited patience and creativity
must be able to prioritize tasks with no guidance
must have perfect balance (perfect pitch is also suggested)
must have knowledge of popular alcohols and their proper accompanying foods
experience as a travel agent required
experience as a flight attendant a plus
catering skills a plus
business attire and professional attitude required

*Ironically, while I was typing this my pal from our office supply company called and I told her what I'd been up to today. Guess what she replied. "Did you know that was in your job description?!" Nope, that's why I'm revising it for future hires.

Au resevoir, 2007!

2008-01-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

11:55 pm, December 31 officially brought on the harshest weather conditions I have ever braved for long periods of time. This pleasantly cool New Years' Eve we were sitting in an MVNU mob along the waterfront, downtown, waiting for the fireworks and at about five till midnight it started sprinkling very lightly. That wasn't so bad, except that we were sitting on the lowest stair of the amphitheater and the rain started sweeping the grit from higher steps into our faces. Yummy... So at five till midnight the rain picked up and weather dropped to 20-some degrees so that there was no hope of us viewing the fireworks without getting frostbite. We were pretty much decked out for the existing weather but we had no warning that we should bring along a light saber and a TonTon to slip into later. Ughggh. I am still shuddering, thinking of our run back across downtown in freezing rain with no gloves or hats. Alas, no fireworks for these frozen kiddos.

It is now the third and the weather hasn't changed much since that night. Today it is 15 degrees and "feels like 6 degrees", according to the weather channel. w00t... Hooray for Ohio.

On the first I picked up Kraig, Fiona and Luc from the Cincinnati airport and we got to spend a day and a half with them, which was a blast! Luc (who's 6 months) and Fiona are two of the sweetest, cheeriest people I've ever met and Kraig is...well, a humorously curmudgeon foil to them. Ah, old friends and their new families, what fun. :) We got a short taste of waking up to a baby's voice, shopping with a baby and eating out with a baby- all of which seem much more manageable when there are four people around to look after said baby and his accoutrements. Note to self: discover safe and agreeable method of cloning before having children.

By the way: "au resevoir" is a Robin Williams quote from Robots, not a typo.

Christmas Eve is here

2007-12-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

It's a bummer not to get to spend Christmas with family, but so far we have a slew of visitors lined up from here till next year! My old roommate, Kimmy, and her husband are visiting from Chicago and dropping by to see us sometime. My other old roommate, Mb, is coming up from Florida and we'll get to spend some time with her. And to take the cake, Kraig Keller and his wife and son are coming to stay with us on New Years' Day, all the way from London. I'm super excited for that and having a rather interesting time borrowing baby paraphenalia to keep Luc safe and comfortable. Apparently, a year and a half into marriage I can't just ask someone if you can use their car seat without getting lots of excited questions about when I'm expecting. Oh, the due date's sometime around...2015...
Sam seems to be really enjoying his new job, so far. He's been a courier for a week now and it's already a massive improvement on his last job. Such luxuries as heat, meals, and clean vocabularies are not included in a window washer's job offer, so this is a nice change. Our washer and dryer also thank him for the change, as they were getting tired of running marathons every other night!
For a couple days now it's sounded like a snowplow was trying to fit down our gas fireplace pipes... I'd wonder about a metallic Santa trying to make the squeeze, but I'm pretty sure Santa knows better than to attempt a gas fireplace. So what could this mysterious sound be?

If you haven't seen The Prestige or Miss Potter yet, go watch them. Now. I can honestly say these two are the best movies I've seen this year, aside from Transformers. If only Optimus Prime would agree to do a film with Ewan McGregor... I can just imagine McGregor singing tenor and Prime singing bass... Oh, and the dance numbers- spectacular! hehehe, that's what I'll wish for on every star, wishbone, birthday candle, eyelash, etc.

2007-12-17T11:47:00.001-08:00

How on earth do I make a list of blogs I read, on the side?

2007-12-15T09:15:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I definitely do not understand how to insert pictures in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, yet. Will work on that. This is my Christmas list, so far. :)

Jumping on the bandwagon

2007-12-15T08:54:00.001-08:00

Starting from scratch, here... I feel like I should define a purpose or a thesis for this blog, but then it would feel like homework and there's a diploma around here somewhere that says "Fifteen years of homework is enough. Make it stop!" However, I generally blog things I don't want to forget, and that may turn out to be my purpose whether intended or not.

--Ooh, I love that Blogger saves my drafts automatically!--

--And periodically lets me know that it is doing so.--

But right now I'm just doing this to procrastinate doing the dishes...