Play With Abandon

half a year has gone by...

2011-09-12T17:38:00.000-04:00

i truly can't believe it. i knew it would go fast, but i was not prepared for this fast.
and itll only get faster. im trying to cherish and remember it

favorites:
- dancing to most music, escpecially the office theme song
- anyone who whistles
- carrots seem to be his favorite food, but he hasnt had very many yet
- yelling back and forth with poppy
- pinching my neck as he falls asleep
- his "remote", but he likes poppy's more
- he smiles and talks to pretty much everyone
- he already has a strong opinion about which books he likes- currently his favorite is tiger on a tree
- he still gravitates toward green things more than any other color
- its very hard to get him to sit still for pictures
- he doesnt seem to have any interest in crawling
- dancing in his bouncy seat
- grabbing jezzie's legs and trying to eat her
- laughs hysterically if you blow raspberries on his neck or belly
- loves throwing his blocks across the room
- hitting anything to make noises
-

5 months- 17pounds, 26 inches

6 months- 19 pounds, 28 inches!

nouns and books and show and tell

2011-07-26T22:27:00.013-04:00

ok, i know that i am waaaay ahead of the game and i cant even fathom oliver being old enough to be going to school and yet i found myself wishing for fall weather and drooling over school items, especially re-usable lunch bags, on etsy. some of the snack backs will be used much sooner and i love the little sandwich bags and napkins! some of the goodies i found

By: CelesteBlakeDesigns

By: cranberrymak

By: craftsbydiana

By: weepereas

and these werent on etsy, but i think this set started it all....

from: ecomom

listening: jack johnson- we are going be friends

can you catch the moon

2011-07-07T09:05:00.011-04:00

my baby boy is four months old today. he is getting such a fun personality.

- he babbles constantly and in the morning his voice is normally a lot calmer and quieter
- he loves interacting with himslef in the mirror
- when we listen to music he gets really excited if there is a string instrument, especially banjo (yay!)
- he normally sleeps 6-7 hours a night!i still cant believe this. its wonderful!
- he hates tummy time
- he loves to watch jezzie, and grab her ears
- he finally found his toes
- he reaches and grabs with purpose...most of the time
- he has a real laugh now
- he "gives kisses" all the time
- he plays/grabs his hair when he is sleepy
- he wants to sit up so bad and loves practicing
- he loves to mimic faces

the last two months...

listening: catch the moon- lisa loeb and elizabeth mitchell

I look at you, warm in your dream...

2011-04-08T15:51:00.008-04:00

...While your mobile dances above
And I think to myself
It's a beautiful night
And I know everything
Is gonna be alright
Yes now I know
It'll be alright

last week was olivers one month birthday and i still cant believe it. he has changed alot and in the last week he has become alot more lively and vocal.

- he actually sleeps through the night...well most nights and of course three or four hours at a time is 'through the night'. still i feel this is quite an accomplishment for a newborn! (last night he slept 6 hours!! i still cant believe it!)

- he has started cooing alot!

- he seems to be able to focus better, especially on faces

- he loves tummy time and being able to stretch out

- he is in cloth diapers almost 100% of the time. once my next order comes in we should have enough that he wont have to be in disposables or constantly washing any more! yay!

- he has slept in his crip probably only a few hours total, but thats ok, he loves to snuggle!

- he has met both of his great-grandparents and tons of friends and family

....its going too fast, i cant imagine how i will feel when it starts to go even faster.

listening: my labor mix that i renamed 'moments with oliver' (title of a rachel yamagata song that is on the list)

Celebrating Oliver

2011-03-21T07:41:00.013-04:00

while i was pregnant i was constantly on etsy looking for things that i could buy to celebrate my little miracle baby. i am still looking and finding more things everyday. so far ive ordered three...

name print to be hung in the nursery by trendypeas

and two rings to be worn together(and with more rings that i plan on buying later)

the first will have his name and birthdate engraved by KathrynRiechert

this ring features his birthstone(aquamarine) and is also stackable by janeysjewels

there are many more things that i will eventually get im sure

Life began when I saw your face...

2011-03-20T09:57:00.020-04:00

Oliver Hrishikesh Newmeyer
March 7, 2011 at 3:27pm
7 pounds, 11 ounces, 20 inches

He came on his own, in his own time and didn’t listen to anyone, including his mother! I knew he was going to take after me (and his daddy) and be stubborn but I had no idea it would start this early!

I was scheduled for an induction at 10am on Monday the 7th. I had finally accepted that they needed to help him along and that I didn’t quite have the strength to keep laboring. I felt bad, as if I couldn’t stand up for what I knew he wanted. But I also felt that it was what was best at that point. We packed all the last minute things and had them buy the door. I settled down to bed knowing I was going to meet my son the next day.

I woke up around 4:30am because I had to pee. As I leaned up in bed my water broke! I was so happy, but also shocked. I calmly got up and cleaned up. Then I woke my dad who was not calm! He was dressed, bags in hand and ready to go. He had already called my mom and told her to meet us there. Meanwhile, I was slowly going through the house, I got something to eat. I put the sheets in the washer. I called the midwife and Mon General. I called pap to watch the dog. And I’m sure I did a million more things that I cant remember. Finally, my dad had had enough and shooed me out the door.

When we got there, my mom was waiting at the registration desk! I checked in around 7am, and they couldn’t find my chart. It had been pulled because I was a scheduled induction. Once in the room I got my IV in the most uncomfortable spot ever! It was right on my wrist bone and I couldn’t move my wrist. The nurse searched and searched and had to get it done quickly because I had GBS and Oliver needed the medicine so I wouldn’t pass it to him while he was in the birth canal. She told me they would fix it as soon as the first dose was done.

At around 9:00am they attached the monitors to do a quick check and also checked me. I was still 5cm and apparently having close contractions, but I didn’t feel much. I was having them 3 minutes apart but only feeling them every 6 minutes and they were very mild. As soon as they unhooked me, the IV nurse came in and moved my IV. It took her forever to find a spot as well, but she got it in and it wasn’t even noticeable. I started walking around to speed up the labor and Katie came and was a fantastic support person.

When Katie got there I was walking around and sitting on the labor ball, we were playing cards and hanging out. I would notice a contraction every once and a while but it wasn’t painful at all.

Around 11:00am Gail came in to see if I was progressing and I was still only 5cm but had gone to 100%. She needed to pop/move the fore bag because I had a high leak and the bag was still blocking Oli’s exit.

By about 1:00pm I was feeling very strong contractions and doing my breathing and “dance”. I was upright for the contractions and swayed and it was still pretty easy to breathe through them. They checked again and I was 6cm. I remember thinking it was going to be a long day!

It picked up fast at that point; I started feeling them stronger and faster. I kicked Katie out. I had washcloths on my forehead and an ice bag on my back. I switched to leaning over the upright bed. It went on like that for a while and then I felt the urge to push around 2:30pm. I was confused because I had just been 6cm but I had no concept of time.

We called the nurse and Gail came in and I was at 9cm. She said I could get ready to push. I got situated in bed and by that time I was at 10 and he was ready! I pushed for about an hour and only towards the end did I feel like I couldn’t do it. I had a few “I can’t” sentences at which point Gail let me feel his head; he was there, waiting for me to do the rest of the work. All of a sudden I had a second wind and pushed harder and I think it only took two more at that point.

At 3:27pm he was born and then on my chest before I knew it and the feeling is indescribable. I held on to him tight while they did a few vital checks and he was perfect. I had him about an hour before they had to weight him and do his shot. That time was so precious and I’m so thankful that I got to cuddle him that long before anyone else touched him.

They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

listening: Lullaby by dixie chicks...over and over again : )

how long do you want to be loved...

2011-02-15T11:57:00.004-05:00

...is forever enough, is forever enough
how long do you want to be loved
is forever enough
cause I'm never, never giving you up

when i taught school and babysat for various children, i always had mothers say to me that i had the patience of a saint. i always seemed to be drawn to the kids that were seen as more difficult to the other teachers. for some reason, i could connect with them and i always loved that. ive been thinking alot about that gift of patience lately and how it obviously does not include waiting for my own child.

on feburary 1st, i woke up at 5am with extreme pain in my abdomen. i tried to change positions, didnt help. i peed, didnt help. i drank water thinking i was dehydrated, didnt help. i paced the apartment and practiced all the relaxation techniques, didnt help. by 6am when the pain hadnt changed, i decided to call my mom. we spent the next hour repeating everything that i had tried before. i didnt think that i was in labor, i just wanst sure what was wrong. we decided to go the hospital at 7, just to be sure. once there and hooked up to the monitors the pain seemed to go down. they gave me food and told me to drink alot. i was most likely dehydrated. they checked me and i was 3cm and 80%. i of course got excited about this and thought that maybe i was in labor. over the next hour or two, the pain completly went away and i never progressed. i was sent home.

going into the hospital i was completely freaked out by the fact that i could be leaving with my son. after being there, my excitement grew and then turned to disappointment when i left empty handed.

the following week was really hard on my body, i couldnt get comfortable at all. i needed to be walking or on the exercise ball to feel any relief at all. i only slept for about an hour at a time, when i was lucky. the midwives said that i would most likely have the baby within that week. another week went by and still no baby. i wasnt in as much pain as the week before, but i still paced alot.

whats even more frustrating is that i am only 38 weeks, so i could technically do this for another 2-4 weeks! i worry that if it goes that long that my poor body will be so exguatsed already that coping naturally will be much harder.

i know that i can do it. i know that it will be worth it. i know he will be here before i know it. i know i should try to enjoy the quiet that i have now. but none of that decreases my need to see his little face and hold him.

listening: my labor mix
reeading: dr sears the baby book

well id like to visit the moon

2011-01-28T21:29:00.008-05:00

well i am almost 36 weeks and i think im ready! i have been pretty lucky with what i would consider an easy pregnancy. i did have horrible all-day sickness well into the second trimester but then i felt fantastic. even now its not too bad. i am, of course, tired and its harder to do normal things but overall still feeling pretty good. i occasionally have sciatica pain and a foot embedded in my ribs too but it could always be worse!

they other day i attempted to take some pregnancy portraits with my self timer. i think they turned out pretty good.

i had my last childbirth class last night and got my diploma, so im officially prepared for birth...apparently. id like to think that i am ready and feel calm about it. overall i am. i am still slightly worried that something will go wrong and they will have to do medical interventions that i dont want.

i have been working on my labor music playlist. i think that it should help keep me relaxed and happy. i have alot of instrumental, but a couple eddie vedder, dixie chicks and lots of my favorite indie artists. and mikeys version of id like to live on the moon (all time favorite seasame street song)

2011-01-06T15:42:00.004-05:00

i have my first childbirth class tonight with mon general and im wondering what kinds of other mothers that im going to find there. i had to go to a breastfeeding class last night for WIC and i was saddened by the girls that were there. i tried to go into it with an open mind and not think that i would meet the stereotypical young, under-educated mother but unfortunately, i did. there were three other ladies there and they spent most of the class texting or giggling about what the instructor was saying. when asked, i was the only one who wanted to breastfeed. their excuses ranged from "eww, i just cant" to "id feel like a pervert"

i was already having a hard time paying attention bc the room was boiling and the chairs were hard, but then i started wondering and worrying about these mothers. i dont mean to say that if you choose not to breastfeed then you are a bad mother, but theses ladies still had a lot of growing up to do. maybe im just being judgmental and on my high horse but it just made me worry about our society and the general direction its been heading in.

i hope i will meet more mothers tonight that will give me hope for the next generation instead of fear.

help me out, said the minnow to the trout

2011-01-05T22:01:00.011-05:00

ive been thinking alot about memories and keepsakes lately. i know im going to have issues with the millions of pictures im going to take. havent quiet figured that out yet bc i dont have a ton of wall space.

i know im going to do a collection of pictures for each month for the first year. if i could justify the money and had the wall space, i would use this frame

i will most likely end up using this frame

i also like this frame, but would have to spray paint it bc im not a big fan of white

i got this at a shower and i think that its a neat idea, but of course i have to wait forever to use it

ill probably end up doing the first christmas ornament version of this as well for my parents.

listening: a fine frenzy- one cell in the sea
reading: the baby book- dr sears

they will see us waving from such great heights

2010-12-21T14:29:00.008-05:00

i have been addicted to looking at baby stuff on etsy, especially because they have so many cute owl things. here are some of my favorites...

by: pinknyellowbutterfly

by: prettybabybowtique

by: artandphilanthropy (i LOVE this shop!!)

i also finally decided the ring that i'm going to get after he's born. i wanted a very thin simple band that i could have engraved and i found it! now, i just have to decide what exactly to engrave on it. i wanted to do just his first name and birthdate then i thought about doing his first and middle names but since im using two middle names it would be 18 spaces just for the name! she can do 36 spaces, so it would fit even with the date, but i cant decide!

by: KathrynRiechert

im also trying to figure out grandparent gifts for my parents...thats not as easy!

2010-11-22T16:37:00.009-05:00

well, i am now 26 weeks and i have had one (of three) showers. i am slowly getting the nursery together. here is the progress so far.

i have a crib! i was able to get it very cheap bc its a floor model from bellies and buttons that went out of business

glider chair that was also a floor model. a small bookcase that im already looking to replace with a bigger one that is darker wood. this one was one i already had, so it will do for a while

fantastic print from falldowntree, its hung above the crib

this print also came today! its from artandphilanthropy, and will be hung above the glider once i get a frame

2010-10-14T16:23:00.003-04:00

its a BOY!

now i can really start thinking about names and more decor for the nursery. its still going to be pretty neutral, with just a few touches. i already have a project to do and i cant wait to start it. i would like to do a painting using the quote "let him sleep, for when he awakes he will move mountains" i havent decided exactly what i want to do. i need to figure it out soon so i can still paint outside!

who's to say whats impossible...

2010-10-07T23:09:00.011-04:00

... well they forgot this world keeps spinning
And with each new day I can feel a change in everything

...I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
I don't want this feeling to go away

im going to be a momma!!

*this is at 12 weeks*

for those of you that followed through my pcos/ fertility issues, you are probably just as surprised as i was. im pretty sure i was in shock for the first month or so. basically, i was told it would be near impossible for me to get pregnant naturally. so, not only did birth control fail me, but simultaneously, my ovaries decided to work like they are supposed to! unreal! so, even though it was unplanned and not the best timing/situation and everything. it is my miracle baby and i am thankful everyday.

i am almost 20 weeks and i have another appt next week. it will most likely be my last ultrasound, and i will be finding out if its a boy or girl! i am pretty positive that its a boy, so ill be interested in seeing if im right.

so far the pregnancy has been rough. i had all-day sickness well into the forth month and then it became just evening sickness. i was also unbelievably hungry all the time too, but i couldnt keep anything down and every food smell made me sick. it was not fun. and of course my mom had to tell me that she was like that through out both of her pregnancies. luckily, when i hit the fifth month it seemed to go away. i still have to be careful what i eat, but im just happy that i can eat!

listening: jack johnson
reading: the pregnancy book and the baby book both dr. sears

New etsy blog!

2010-04-21T13:37:00.002-04:00

I will probably not be posting on this blog too much anymore, but you can now follow me here!

i hope to post all kinds of creative goodness!

in the jingle jangle morning, ill come followin you

2010-04-15T18:28:00.003-04:00

i have been awful at keeping this up. i wanted to do better, but nothing that exciting is happening. i am still looking for a job. i sent a resume out for one that i really really want! i am scared to death bc its something i dont exactly have expierence with. however, i feel that i would be fanastic and love it. i will post more when i find out more. right now, i know nothing...

also, i have become lazy, super lazy. and i hate it. i was really excited when i first got laid off bc i thought i would have so much time and get all kinds of stuff done. well that was the case for maybe the first week or two. but now, i do nothing. well, not nothing, but considering how much time i have, its nothing compared to what i could be doing. i am half tempted to start one of those 365 day blog challenges and have something that i have to complete everyday and then write about it. its still an idea. if i do, i would start on my birthday. it would be a new year in a way, so it seems fitting.

i think thats all for now. hopefully i will be more insprired later.

listening: bob dylan
reading: the instruction for my kiln!

show me there still can be some mystery

2010-03-04T22:21:00.007-05:00

it has been exactly two months since my last post and how things have changed!

- i have a roommate. im almost 26 and have a roommate for the first time ever. it has been interesting. i have to admit, i had been very lonely after jeremy moved out and having someone to talk to (besides the dog) has been really nice. plus i really need the extra money because...

- i got laid-off. good fun. i worked for the company for almost a year and a half and got laid off b/c my mom was not allowed to be my supervisor! they knew this when they hired me, i dont get it. oh, and i wasnt even hired by my mom.

- i applied for a secretary job at the health science center....and for unemployment.

- i gained many fantastic tv shows and so far i have watched:
- firefly ( and serenity)...soooo good!
- it's always sunny in philadelphia...which i love, most of the time
- 3 seasons of the office...why wasnt i watching this all along? love.

- i am going to be buying a kiln so i can make PMC jewelry. i have wanted to do this for at least two years and have been saving. i cant wait

- i am starting a completely crafting blog. ill post a link soon.

reading: nothing...
listening: colin hay

this time tomorrow, where will be?

2010-01-04T18:14:00.005-05:00

i have been re-organizing my house lately and am slowly making progress. the big project was my spare bedroom/craft land. i finally painted the cloest and put together my shelves! i really like the colors so far. i have alot more work to do but i feel semi-accomplished. unfortunatley in order to organize my closet this is what had to happen to the room...

it only looked like this for about two days because i couldnt stand it. it is still bad, but nothing compared to that!

i also plan on painting a focal wall purple and then the rest of the walls brown. i have tons of shelves to hang and huge plans for this room. i cant wait to see the finished project.

other things on my house to-do list:

- paint the spare bathroom
- add shelves to the laundry room
- add shelves to my closet
- paint/do something, anything with my bathroom
- paint my bedroom furniture brown
- finish all of my painting/artwork projects and hang them

lets see how much of this list i get done this year.....

listening: the kinks
reading: the restaurant at the end of the universe- douglas adams

oh, my mind is racing from chasing pirates

2009-12-17T11:11:00.005-05:00

hello, long lost blog-world. im back. hopefully i will have alot to say considering my life is completely different than it was when i stopped blogging. Here is a short list of new things...

- i have a dog, Jezebel. she is a yorkie bichon mix. sooo cute!

- i started doing craft shows at work, and they are going really well! yea, for another source of income.

- im going to have a sister-in-law in about a month! joe's gettin married. woo hoo!

- i still have a love/hate relationship with my job. but i hate it more now i think.

- i decided to go back to grad school, then decded not to. still have no idea if i am or not.

- and the big one. i am no longer married. jeremy and i offically split up in september. for those of you that didnt know, i am so sorry that this is the way that you are finding out. it isnt ideal, but i dont see everybody often and its NOT an easy conversation to start. we are both doing well, we still talk and have a great relationship, but came to realize that we were not working for many many reasons. i think we will always cherish each other as friends and never regret our time together.

listening: norah jones- the fall
reading: the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

2009-06-01T19:46:00.007-04:00

funny things that have happened recently and why i love where i work(most of the time):

- my administrator handed me a bag of bras and said, i dont wear these anymore, and you have big boobs so i figured they would fit. enjoy"

- a co-worker, whom i had sold earrings to, came up to me and said that the "hoona hana" broke off and she needed it fixed. (hoona hana= earring hook)

i had more, but for some reason my mind went blank...

beautifully said.

2009-05-26T23:08:00.001-04:00

i would die for that by kellie coffey

you're shining still behind the clouds

2009-05-25T18:53:00.007-04:00

its been a long, hard month! first, we were the closest we've been to getting pregnant and it didnt happen. again. (read more about it here if you want) then we found out that jeremys grampa Bill passed away. it was the first grandparent he has lost, so it was hard. he went peacefully, which is good. he simply laid down in bed with Hope and went to sleep.

then my parents had to put their dog, cassie to sleep. she has been sick for a while but it was getting really bad. she couldnt really see or hear and was having seizures.

i havent blogged, because well frankly i dont care. about anything. i have been feeling soo blah latley its ridiculous. i felt like doing things around the house today which is awesome. i have been trying to de-clutter since we've moved in. it seems so endless. we have so much stuff. here's one thing i did:

this used to hold a candle(which i never burned and didnt really like the smell of)

but now it holds a plant! much better

listening: nickel creek
reading: nothing...cant seem to get interested in anything right now

cause if she wanna rock she rocks

2009-04-29T11:17:00.008-04:00

my aunt came to visit a couple of weekends ago and brought a ton of old jewelry with her. most of it was my grandmother and great-grandmother's and i am keeping all of that for me! the rest is old costume jewelry that i am going to take apart to make different things. i was so excited going through it. my favorite part of crafting is using something old and turning into something else.

*note the huge red cuff bracelet! it is my favorite and it fits me! i can never find cuffs that fit over my hands.

i also finally hung my jewelry inside shadow boxes with a front hinge. i have been wanting to do this for so long, but it was time consuming and the shadow boxes were expensive. but my pap gave me some money just because, so i used it to buy them. i was so excited. people always ask why i dont wear more jewelry since i make it, and well its because i forget what i have. i am a big "out of site, out of mind" person when it comes to clothes and jewelry. so this was the perfect solution for me. i got two boxes, large and small and hung them in my closet. now in the morning while im picking out my clothes, i can see my jewelry and remember to wear it. i still dont have a lot hung in my earring case because i need to find more pins, i also want to eventually buy two more shadow boxes since i have alot of jewelry. other than that i LOVE it. it was hard to get a good picture, but here's an idea.

i also got my haircut a couple weeks ago and i love it. it is so much easier and cooler. it also curls alot better since its lighter.

listening: eric hutchinson is stuck in my head...

new flickr

2009-04-03T19:59:00.004-04:00

i have a new flickr page!

i can't log into my old one and i have tried everyone possible name/password for a couple of months. i even did their questions thing to get your info and got nothing. so i have had this account for a while so i could view friends pictures. i have given up on the other account and am slowly adding pictures to the new one. check it out

stand in my corner

2009-03-28T15:14:00.012-04:00

we've made some improvements lately and i have yet to post them, so here ya go.

* thanks to a tip from beth, our closet went from this

to this!

* we also got a dining room table and an entertainment stand. the day they were to be delivered jeremy and i both had to work so my parents volunteered to come over so they could still deliver them. this is what we came home to...

they even set the table with our cake top in the center

and here's the new tv and stand

* random side note: i got to baby sit jonah a week ago and took tons of pictures, here are my favorites

listening: she & him

go foward in reverse

2009-03-16T12:32:00.007-04:00

i have been a very lazy blogger. but in my defense nothing too interesting has happened. i am still pretty sick, tired and anti-social because of my medicine. the lower dose is helping though since i dont feel like i have a horrible flu anymore.

+++ we got to visit the kosydars last week and i spent most of the time holding either jonah or audrey. it was fantastic.

+- i have been doing some much needed spring cleaning. i washed our screens and they were disgusting! i cant wait until the construction is done.

++ we have been goodwilling so much stuff lately. i am in major purging mode. we have lived here almost a year, so if we havent used it. it goes!

+ my aunt has been sending me back my old baby clothes that her kids wore. i just went through a batch from elem school. they are hysterical. i found this one and decided to make earrings from the buttons.

--we desperately need a new shoe rack. this is what happened this morning when i took the vacuum out of the closet.

listening: into the wild soundtrack
reading: the baby book by dr. sears (it's big so i figured i would get a head start)

i come alive as the shadows parade

2009-03-06T16:26:00.015-05:00

i have been doing some major cleaning lately and also decided to tackle the boxes of unorganized pictures. when i was going through them i found our "bad" engagement pictures. some of them are pretty entertaining so i decided to share.

playing with sticks:

jeremy stuck in a tree:this was hysterical, he was actually stuck and didnt want to jump to get down. sarah tried to help. while i took pictures like a loving wife should!

and then i got stuck in a tree and had the bruises and scrapes to prove it!

jeremy apparently thinks he's zoolander:

gazing lovingly at a dying jeremy:

listneing: ludo
reading: nothing

someday we'll find it

2009-02-09T14:16:00.006-05:00

i've had rainbow connection stuck in my head all morning and im not sure why.

well it has been a month since my last post and i have been working like crazy and hating the gloomy, snowy weather. i am loving the fact that it is nice now. even though it is still kinda chilly we have had the sliding glass door open all morning. i love it!

over the weekend we dog-sat for my brother and erin. it was so fun. sophie is a black peek-a-poo puppy and she was so fun. it made us really really want a dog. it was nice to try out the condo situation and see how inconvenient it is. it wasnt bad at all. it was nice to have a large area w/ little traffic and good light to walk her in at night. we went on a couple really long walks and just circled through the parking lots. it was really nice. currently my only concern would be the training period and making sure the pup can hold it down 3 flights of stairs. with that being our only problem, its a pretty big possibility at this point though. now we just have to figure out what kind. it has to be small and hypo- allergenic, but beyond that we're not sure.

i want these.

2009-01-09T22:06:00.004-05:00

by: sprucehome

but, for many reasons i will never own them.

1. jeremy does not like them.
2. we dont need them.
3. they wouldnt match anything we already own
4. i dont have $1000 to spend
5. if i did have $1000 to spend, i would not spend it on pretty chairs

it would be awesome to even have one, for my craft room...

holiday trips

2009-01-03T10:51:00.009-05:00

whew! the holidays are over! dont get me wrong i had a wonderful time, it was just exhausting. we started the trip with jess's wedding in virginia on the 20th. which was sooo beautiful and we had a blast!

from there we drove to new jeresy to spend christmas and hanukkah with jeremys family.

then we drove to greensburg pa to have my dad's side of the family's christmas on saturday, then my parents christmas on monday, and last but not least christmas with kristen and sarah on new years eve!

it has been a great year, but i think i will be glad to pack away the christmas stuff this year and have life back to a regular pace! i have barely had time to look through my presents! but for now i'm off to work...

2008-12-16T20:15:00.007-05:00

life has been just a little crazy and i havent had to much time to write. and now i dont have the energy. so here are some pictures from the fantastic wedding i went to last weekend.

need shoes?

2008-12-02T15:36:00.001-05:00

buy these because children around the world need them too!!

thankfulness

2008-11-30T23:08:00.004-05:00

as we just celebrated thanksgiving i have been thinking about all the blessings in my life and would like to share them...

* my strength, my hope, my beloved.

* my wonderful family. they always support me in whatever i try to take on

* my fantastic friends, they love me as i am

* etsy and my ability to have a creative outlet that i love

* adoption. the fact that we are not only going to be able to build our family, but also help a child build their family. Plus we get to experience their culture.

* my job. even though it stresses me out, i love it. i love the residents as if they were my own, they teach me so much everyday.

* my faith and my TEC family. they have shaped the person i am today

* my home and the ability to have a place to call home

with only two, just me and you...

2008-11-18T22:18:00.005-05:00

...not so many things we got to do
or places we got to be
we'll sit beneath the mango tree now

we celebrated another year of our wonderful marriage today and i cant believe it. i thought that the first year went by fast, but that was nothing compared to how fast this past year went. a lot of things have happened in the past year...

* we moved into our first purchased home
* i graduated college, finally
* jeremy got promoted
* i changed jobs a couple of times, but am now in one that i love
* we decided(and started) to adopt

today as it snowed i was so thankful that on this day two years ago we didnt have to deal with this...

this is still one of my favorite pictures from the day

tis the season

2008-11-11T15:42:00.005-05:00

i just spent a ton of money online buying presents! But, i am done with almost everyone and got some pretty amazing stuff. i bought it all from the child health store, which is one of the sister sites of the hunger site. at the end of my order, i had helped 42 children and bought presents for seven people. not to mention they were running a deal today and shipping for my entire order was only a dollar! i couldnt believe it. i had taken the handmade pledge last year, and am taking it again this year as well. so far i have stuck to it, and plan to for the rest of my gifts. i have also made a bunch of christmas cards which i will hopefully get out this year. most of them are from last year that never got mailed. oops!

i cant wait to start decorating for christmas! i always try to hold off until after thanksgiving, but as soon as it gets cold i want to pull out the christmas music.

last night i also bought six books on amazon and the most expensive one was $1.75! i love used books! i got a couple transracial adoption books, some african folklore books, a dr. sears book, and a book about ethiopian boyhood. i cant wait to read them this winter with a big cup of tea.

listening: dick brothers- uncle brother

joyfully overwhelmed

2008-11-05T22:54:00.005-05:00

at about this time last night i was crying and speechless. we had been flipping between cnn and jon stewart and happen to be on jon stewart when it was announced and we thought he was just making a guess at the end of the show b/c the last time we saw the votes were still at 207. we quickly switched to cnn to watch and take it all in. many tearful moments followed, plus a celebratory shot of tequila.

bubbles float through the air

2008-10-30T22:04:00.003-04:00

if i had an extra $150 just laying around...i would buy this.

by: jimjenkins510

listening: priscilla ahn
reading: pcos handbook (still) and a few random adoption books

i want to change the world, instead i sleep

2008-10-26T16:25:00.005-04:00

i am feeling more human today than i have in three weeks. i have had what i thought was allergies, but now i think it was a cold. i was worried i was getting an ear infection, but that pain/feeling has passed thankfully. and before my cold, i had a stomach bug that was going around work, that just lingered for what seemed like forever. but i got to sleep in for two days in a row! resting this weekend has helped so much. i even felt good enough to clean today, just the kitchen and bathrooms, but still.

i have so much etsying stuff to do it's ridiculous. my craft chair has been neglected for weeks. i haven't had energy to take pictures and list previously made items, let alone make anything new. hopefully i can get to that this week.

i did some much needed shopping today with my mom and got a lot of clothes for work. i needed black pants desperately. i even got a pair of extremely comfortable red mary-janes!

i hate being sick, the work just keeps piling. off to do some laundry.

listening: ingrid michaelson
reading: nothing :-(

so glide away on soapy heels

2008-10-20T16:48:00.005-04:00

i dont feel good. i hate being allergic to fall b/c its such a pretty season. my throat was so sore today at work we had to move bingo b/c i couldnt call. the residents werent happy, but what can you do, i couldnt talk! anyway, in more exciting news, i am so excited to welcome baby hazel mae to the world! she is so precious and i cant wait to meet her. also, this past weekend there were two bridal showers, i could only attend one b/c they were at the same time. i had a great time seeing friends and just hanging out. it was a great way to end a long week.

i also got the new-ish indrid cd and i love it. some of the songs are live versions of pre-released songs. but alot of them were never on a cd. i used to only be able to listen to some of my favorite songs such as lady in spain (where she does a mouth trumpet) and the chain (which is sung in a round!)

one more reason to love ingrid michaelson! check it out

listening: ingrid michaelson

trying to find an emotion you cannot deny

2008-10-10T23:23:00.008-04:00

i feel like my desire to blog in full sentences has gone way down, so you get yet another list w/ some pictures...

-+ new job is great, but so stressful. why did i have to start working during the busiest time for them?

++++ i discovered pomegranate vanilla red tea (at booksa million) and a portion of the proceeds go to susan b komen for the cure. i had to hold myself back and not by all of them. had a cup tonight. very good!

+ i have been working on cards for etsy using recycled paper shapes.i love them!

+++ relient k concert is this weekend

--- i wont be doing the arts walk, for many reasons. mainly lack of money, time and sanity.

listening: laura marling
reading: the ultimate pcos handbook- so good!

lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms

2008-10-04T21:43:00.010-04:00

a new project:

i took homemade paper and cut out a few different shapes and then sewed them onto note cards. i think for the first attempt it came out pretty well. although it was pretty time consuming. i have to decide if i want to make more to sell on etsy.

i bought these for my arts walk cart

and did a test set-up

i love them. it makes me feel so professional :-)

listening: iron and wine
reading: the princess bride, and black baby white hands

now were you drunk or were you blind...

2008-09-28T14:00:00.020-04:00

...when you left your two fine legs behind?
Or was it walking upon the sea that wore your two fine legs away?

No, I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind when I left my two fine legs behind, a cannon ball on the fifth of May tore my two fine legs away

randomness in pictures:

birthday cards(from june)are still on my mantle:

did some major organizing in my craft room and i can see my desk again:

we hung our curtains up:

construction nastiness on our porch:

fall makes me happy:

shower cutain fuzz that looks like a scared cat:

listening: bruce live in dublin

i (OH!) must go on standing

2008-09-27T21:32:00.005-04:00

i am having trouble keeping my eyes open and its only 930. i feel old.
last night we hung out with kristen and listened to old beatles, madonna, michael jackson and police records on her roomates new record player. we also played cards and had some beers. it was really fun. but we didnt get home until after 2am, and i had to work at 930. i used to be able to do that all the time. not anymore. i was sooo dead at work all day, and i may go to bed after i write this.

we also went to the buckwheat festival yesterday afternoon. the whole ride there i was thinking of eating funnel cake and it was delicious! then we spent pretty much the whole time in the craft sections. i wanted to buy everything! but i picked up a lot of business cards, and only bought a couple things...

dogwood pottery dish:

i also got three really awesome candles. one was patchouli,but it is very light. one was cozy cotton and it smells like drier sheets/warm laundry! its awesome. then the last one was sunkissed linen, which also smells like laundry, but it mainly reminds me of my grandma which makes me happy. i also picked up a christmas present for my parents.

cant keep my eyes open any longer.

listening: regina spektor

there is gold across the river, but i dont want none...

2008-09-17T23:53:00.007-04:00

...gold is fleeting, gold is fickle, gold is fun
there is gold across the river but i don't want none
i would rather be tried then held up by a golden gun
saying work more earn more live more, have more fun

* i am completely obsessed with two new cds-
1. the duhks: fast paced world
2. laura marling: alas i cannot swim. you need to check them out!

* i have been making jewelry like crazy lately. i am making them faster than i can put them onto etsy. hopefully they will make it on soon.

* new etsy items that i am really excited about...awareness ribbons.

so far i only have a few colors, but i hope to have a color to represent all of the major causes and be able to donate the proceeds to that particular cause. well see how that works out though. it may just get lumped to american cancer society.

listening: laura marling

new adoption blog

2008-09-13T21:41:00.004-04:00

i started an adoption/fertility issues blog a little while ago and i am now ready to share it with you. although, due to the fact that it is pretty personal, you have to be invited since i dont know who reads this blog. so if you are interested then you need to email me or post a comment with your email here and i will invite you.

it starts w/ a sentence that might last a lifetime

2008-09-09T23:33:00.007-04:00

list form...because i am lazy!

+ i've been busy! i officially started my new job as a recreation assistant at madison nursing and rehab center last week! it was a great, but tiring week and a half. it was kinda a rushed decision for me to work there instead of babysitting, but it all worked out the best for everyone involved. i'm sure i will have hilarious old people stories soon...

+ i dont have to work until noon tomorrow, so i can sleep in!

+ i am now part of an etsy team! eco friendly nesties. check out our blog!!!

+ i may have a vendor cart for the arts walk in october...if so, i will update with more details

+ wine and jazz is this weekend and i get to go for the first time ever! (thanks to violet who switched shifts with me)

+ i spent most of the evening going through etsy inventory and making more items, which will hopefully be photographed and added soon

+ my mom and i got back into our work-out routine after being lazy last week

listening: loudon wainwright
reading: 20 things adopted kids wish their adopted parents knew

really strange night....

2008-08-29T15:03:00.014-04:00

well, this morning was interesting...we were woken up at 430 to the horrible shrill of the fire alarm. we stumbled around in the dark and got the cell phone and keys and headed out the door. now, we were aware of the fact that the whole condo alarm system has been having issues and there have already been two false alarms (neither of which we were home for). so with this knowledge, we didnt rush too much, especially since nothing else seemed to be wrong. thank god we were right! it still sucked though, because it was 4am, and i had to get up at 7am so i could drink a ton of water for all my labs this morning at 8am. so the fire trucks came, 20mins after the alarms started, which makes me feel safe! and by 5 we were let back in the building to attempt to get more sleep. i tossed and turned for ever and then finally fell asleep and proceeded to have this dream....

it started with jeremy and i waking up and walking out into what we thought was our living room. it wasn't, but it was obviously another condo set up kinda like ours. so we continued out and were greeted by two girls, who ended up being the owners. we apologized about 20 times and claimed that we must stumbled into the wrong condo since we were so tired because of the fire alarm and then we left.
the next section of the dream was jeremy and i sitting in the car in our parking garage. he tried to scare me and i got really really upset and stormed out of the car and started walking to the stairs. then i noticed there was a hot tub where the stairs were supposed to be. as i walked toward them i noticed that they were vampires. and then one of them walked toward me with a champagne glass full of blood and she broke it and tried to cut me with it, but i hit her first and she did that weird dissolve disappear thing that they do in the movies. and then jeremy and i fought off the rest of them and headed upstairs. once we got to what was supposed to be our condo and we sit on the top bunk of a bunk bed. jeremy and i then talked about how that was scary and i said that it would have been scarier if it was dennis leary (?!) then we noticed that there was someone in the bunk below us and they were trying to tie us to the bed, it was jon voight! dressed up as the chainsaw massacre guy. then jeremy asked me if i was scared to which jon voight laughed and answered with... your flingin flangin right i am!

i am clueless as to what the heck this all means and why it appeared in my dream. kristen and i talked about vampires last night...thats my only hunch. dreams are weird.

I'll take the coast from factory to factory

2008-08-18T15:52:00.007-04:00

i've been busy this afternoon...

i took apart an old necklace and made several pieces using the awesome amber beads

these are my favorite

...hopefully they will all be added to esty this week, check it out!

listening: martha wainwright...on repeat!

african dreams

2008-08-15T16:35:00.015-04:00

so adoption has been constantly on my mind lately and i cant think of anything else. i have dreams of going to the country, the food, the art, the beautiful african babies. which leads me to the fact that i think that we decided on a country! Ethiopia! i am so excited its ridiculous. we cant start the process for a while, but still. i feel like we accomplished something on the huge list of adoption-to-dos. now we just have to turn 25! in the meantime my wish list has gotten pretty ridiculous. especially on etsy...

this is an idea that i have had forever. i wanted to get these rings with my future kids name and birthday engraved, but we could also have the gotcha date on there too. i love it!

by: Chrisparry

then i love these too..

both by: JUNKPOSSE

i also love these. there are traditional Ethiopian clothes

i have visions of beautiful Ethiopian babies getting baptized in these...

listening: martha wainwright

staring down the stars, jealous of the moon

2008-08-12T00:15:00.013-04:00

random things that have been on my mind lately...

- last day with isabella is this friday. im gonna miss that ball of energy!
-+ cant believe that august is almost half way over, where did summer go?
+ trip with jeremys parents to berkeley springs is in two weekends
+ had to wear a sweater this morning while sitting on the porch
- found out we both have to be 25 to adopt internationally...
-? severe confusion about how to pick a country/agency for adoption..
+ had a really nice talk today with my mom about adoption, she loves the idea of having diverse grandbabies
+ started working out with mom tonight...we're going to try and go every night and walk.
+ discovered kashi honey almond flax cereal- bliss in a bowl!
+ i get to sleep in tomorrow and have the day off
-+ i will probably do nothing but ridiculous amounts research all day tomorrow...

listening: nickel creek
reading: The Complete Book of International Adoption: A Step by Step Guide to Finding Your Child and 10 Steps to Successful International Adoption: A Guided Workbook for Prospective Parents

i feel sweetly released from all i couldnt let go

2008-08-03T00:06:00.015-04:00

this evening i went to target in search of some storage for my craft room. i havent really been able to do a whole lot of crafting since most of my stuff is still packed and i have no idea where it is, or where to put it when i unpack it. so i had some graduation money and decided that storage is what i needed. i really didnt want to buy plastic items, but the system i found was just so perfect and i knew i would use it forever. its the itso brand. i love it. you can change it just about any way you can think of. the only issue i had was that i didnt know you needed to buy shelves to put the baskets and stuff on separately, so i didnt get them. therefore, i couldnt put it completely together. but still i love it. especially becuase it's stackable. i want to eventually be able to shut(and lock) all of my crafting stuff in the closet, so future kiddos cant get into it.

after i did some organizing, i did some long needed crafting. i dont know why, but i havent made anything in a really long time. so it was really nice to have some time to. i ended up making six new pairs of earrings and taking some new/more colorful etsy pictures of existing items.

looking forward to: sleeping in! and having a day off w/jeremy! woo hoo!
listening: priscilla ahn
reading: the reed tent..still, i love it but its taking me forever for some reason

carl, hes ruining our salad

2008-07-31T11:56:00.005-04:00

we were planning to go to the pool today because the rain was only supposed to be in the morning. welp. its raining and we are watching a movie. hopefully it will be done by the time the movie is over, so the day isnt completely wasted. of all the things ive learned by babysitting, the fact that i hate tv is a big one.

i always thought that i wanted to keep tv away from my kids, but now i am certain. all isabella wants to do is watch it. do matter how many times i say no, no matter how many fantastic activities we do. i always hear...can i watch it now? its pretty annoying. and its hard to change it now, bc she watches a lot at home and is used to it. all the more reason to get rid of it.

watching: ice age
reading: the red tent

we are the family and we are the home

2008-07-23T21:16:00.009-04:00

things im thankful for:

* that we have a big porch for isabella to play on. it rained today and she was really hyper. so we took pictures and played i spy. she found a sad face in the mud...

* TEC was this past weekend. it was great. i met so many fantastic people, and got closer to some pretty fabulous people that i already knew. it was fantastic to be on team since it has been a couple years. it was also great to get a chance to renew my faith and get a little jump start to get really involved again. i forgot how much i missed doing it all the time.

* getting paid, so we can go grocery shopping

* cheap international adoption books on amazon with free shippping. woo hoo. im gonna figure this process out if it kills me. pray for us!

* i get to sleep in tomorrow! isabella's not coming until 9!!

* i got to teach isabella about jewelry making and she is really good at it.

listening: TEC songs in my head
reading: the rent tent

your voice is a music that I've never heard

2008-07-17T15:43:00.003-04:00

TEC is this weekend. like tomorrow. and i am so excited i cant contain myself. i havent been on team for a VERY long time and im am so thankful that i got asked to do this one. i tried to write my talk today, which is the earliest that ive ever tried to look at it. normally i write it the night before. i looked over the guidelines and suggestions, wrote like two sentences, and im out. i have a really good feeling about it though, so i know that it will turn out ok. i have just never been able to write it before i get there. i need to meet everyone and get the feel of the weekend first.
then, i was trying to get inspiration for my talk, so i pulled out my tub of TEC stuff and went through everything. i used to re-read everything all the time, but its been a while. instead of getting inspiration, i got tissues. i was a blubbering mess by the time i got through everything. which just made me ever more excited for the weekend. it is such a cleansing experience. mmmm. i cant wait!

next, in my true fashion of procrastination, i cleaned. i filled a big trash bag to send to good will and organized my dresser drawers. i tried to get rid of a lot of the clothes that i dont wear anymore, it went well until i got to my pajamas. i have attachment issues when it come to pjs. most of them were my parents old shirts, so they have sentimental value and they are soooo worn in, that they are amazingly comfortable. i have one shirt that i remember my dad buying at ocean city when i was 5 and its my favorite. the writing is completely worn off. it is no longer gray and white striped b/c it is so faded. and there are so many holes in it, its kinda useless. but could i part with it. absolutely not. i still wear it and probably will until it falls completely apart.

i want to cut my hair again....

listening: priscilla ahn- a good day....fantastic. you need to check it out.
reading: the red tent...i started it again and i cant put it down

What it looks like here on my morningside

2008-07-12T12:12:00.013-04:00

a lot has happened. which happens when you dont blog for a while. for now, jeremys parents came to visit last weekend which was nice. they got to stay with us, too which was also nice. so much more convenient then trying to figure out hotel stuff. we got a lot of really cool stuff when they came too. they brought us an oil painting that jeremys grandma painted. its so gorgeous! i cant wait to get it on the wall.

they also brought a funky old chair they had in the attic, currently it is at my craft desk. i love it.

they were also generous enough to buy us a much needed chair and some table lamps. they went above and beyond with the chair and got us a leather lazy boy. its fabulous and jeremy and i have a hard time taking turns. :-) jeremys dad also helped in rearranging the living room. it looks so much bigger and better now. we just need to hang pictures and curtains and we will have a completed living room.

thats it for now. im off to do some much needed etsy organizing!

listening: sara bareilles
reading: re-starting the rent tent

swimming, clay people and beads

2008-07-01T21:35:00.005-04:00

so its been two days of baby-sitting Isabella and she is great! she's five and talks non-stop. she says the funniest things. i cant remember any of it now, but we laugh pretty much all day. she is such a ham. both days we went to the pool and played tons of games and made bracelets, the only issue i have had is that she likes hannah montana.i do not. we were going to watch the brave little toaster, but i forgot that we didnt have a vcr. oops. my favorite activity today was playing with clay. we both made cute little people.

tomorrow, her little brother is coming. hes two. should be fun! :-P

watching: friends

im waitin for your letter

2008-06-27T14:21:00.006-04:00

a few birthday pictures...

my party went great, even though it stormed most of the day. i had a test that morning a(which i got a 100 on!) and then the party started pretty much as soon as i was done. i had the best birthday cake ever!! chocolate cheescake! i also got fabulous homemade gifts including a bag, earrings, and a change purse, not the mention the fantastic homemade cards. the rest of the day we just hung out, played games, attempted to go to the pool for about a half an hour. but it was great. i love my friends!

onto the beach...it was too short of a trip, but still great. i got to hang out with my aunt, uncle and cousins. i got two more pairs of crocs! and great pictures.

listening: cary brothers
reading:...looking for a book

you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too

2008-06-15T22:27:00.005-04:00

lack of creativity = lack of blogs...

+ celebrated fathers day at ihop with my family
? as of tomorrow i am no longer in my early 20's- according to my brother
+++++ birthday pool party tomorrow!!!
-- not only do i have to go to class on my birthday, i have an exam!
+++++ beach trip june 20-23
+++++ kennywood trip/ froemels visit june 27-29
? i am now having a mix of adoption dreams, and pregnant dreams-stupid hormones!
+ my parents cherries are ripe, so we picked, pitted and froze them tonight
+ my mom bought me an nice electric razor- no more crappy disposables, yea!
--- first beach trip without grandad

listening: the happy birthday song is stuck in my head!
reading: idiots guide to adoption- im halfway through and i am more confused than before i started it

i wanna soak up the water

2008-06-07T18:52:00.015-04:00

1 down, 2 to go. my evening class is over! now i only have one in the morning and one online, both until the 27th and then its over! i will be done. hallelujah.

so i talked to the woman that i will be baby-sitting for in the fall and got some great news. she wants to have them home until the 4mo old is 2yr old and if i am willing the job is mine! she told me that i didnt have to decide right away, that obviously i needed to be with them for a while to try it. also, she was very lenient about me being able to decide how long id want to stay. so yea! i have a job!! and dont have to be in an office doing something i dont care about. life is good.

today there was a yard sale in my parents neighborhood so i went last night to help my mom go through some of the stuff in my old closet. i found all my old yearbooks and had a great time looking through them. the signatures were hysterical! people say really weird things. i also found some old journals and notebooks that i cant wait to go through. my mom was hysterical too. she was on a cleaning rampage and was tossing everything! except toys! we had bags and bags of yard sale stuff, trash and goodwill. but we were not allowed to give/throw any toy away! she wanted to keep them for when grandbabies visit. some of them were pretty recked too, but i guess we can go through them later. im excited about some of the toys we found. there was an old wooden toy piano that was love at first sight. i cant wait to use that!

i have been having re-occurring dreams about adoption lately. in all of them jeremy and i are at an airport holding baby things and waiting. then we are holding the baby, who looks drastically different each time. jeremy and i have always known adoption would be a good choice for us at some point and now i feel even more drawn to it. we both want a few kids, and feel called to adopt some of them. i am pretty naive about the process, so i am researching.i bought the idiots guide to adoption the other day. there are so many decisions, i hope the book helps explain them, then we will go from there.

listening: meiko
reading: death on the nile - for class and idiots guide to adoption

there are five different types of chairs in this room

2008-05-30T21:46:00.007-04:00

we are currently watching knocked up and i swear its funnier every time we watch it. we did a lot of cleaning and organizing today and the condo looks so much better. i havent been able to do any crafting b/c most of my stuff isnt even unpacked, plus i cant even see my desk. so i worked a lot on that, and its better. not done, but at least better.

i re-matted a couple pictures too. the one on the right is one of my fav engagement pictures and the left is a picture that emily took, with a fancy marriage license from fr. john.

our new photo wall in the hallway:

most of the frames dont even have pictures in them yet, but i was tired of having piles of frames on the floor. now i just have to find pictures to go in them.

theres a back of a trunk sellin crumb free bread

2008-05-28T16:28:00.004-04:00

irrelevant facts are fun, so i am going to follow suit and do some...

- when i was younger and really enjoyed a meal i used to sing,hum and sometimes dance while consuming the said food. . it isnt so bad now, b/c i had to get used to eating quietly in public, but i still do it. it's mostly humming now though and a small shoulder dance.

- i used to hate jeans and would never wear them. i wore leggings or skirts every day. i would also get mad when my mom made me wear shorts under my skirts. (i tended to get in trouble for flipping on the monkey bars in my skirts)

- i cant stand the smell of lima beans. this is probably because when i was little my mom wouldnt let me get up and play until i ate them. i didnt want to eat them and wanted to play so i stuck them in my mouth and left the table. a few hours later my mom found me and they were still in my cheek. which leads to another fact- i am too stubborn for my own good.

- i am afraid of santa claus. i am not entirely sure why or where this came from. i have never had my picture taken on his lap. my parents took me for my first christmas (i was 6mos) and as soon i got close to him i started freaking out and they couldnt get a picture. to this day i dont go to the mall near christmas, or at least the section he is in.

- i cant chew gum in the car. i dont really know why, but it has always made me sick.

- i am always in the middle of reading at least one book. i have a horrible habit of starting a book and then not finishing it, whether i like it or not. currently i am reading- 1. chronicles of narnia- prince caspian, 2. javatrekker, 3. the red tent, 4. a year in the world, 5. death on the nile (for class)and i just got two books from amazon...

listening: regina spektor- 11:11
reading: see above...

we know how to spend the time

2008-05-19T23:10:00.015-04:00

i feel like i have been gone forever, but really we were only out of the state for like two days. we flew to conn on friday(then drove to mass) for jeremys sister,emily's graduation from hampshire college. so much to write about and no clue where to begin. we got there on friday afternoon and just hung out, had lunch at a local deli, saw emilys "dorm" and some of the campus and i am jealous that this is emilys view from student housing on campus

then we went to the yiddish book center! it was really cool.

i wish i knew what any of it said, but jeremys mom and grandmother read some of it, which was cool. there were many items in the bookstore that i wanted including all of the beautiful pottery, and many books.

overall the campus and town were both wonderful. there are mainly small, local business, a lot of organic shopping, red barns, and rolling hills. if we ever leave wv, thats where i would be in a second.

i normally dread graduations because they are long and boring. this one was long, but not at all boring. the procession was wonderful. it consisted of bagpipers, no lines, no order, only a few cap and gowns, pets, family, babies in slings, cigarettes, bare feet, talking, singing. it was the most beautiful procession i have ever seen b/c everyone was themselves, completely. the opening was a combination of poetry, singing and drums. the student speaker recited a slam poem, among other things. the physics professor danced to show what molecules do when they get hot.

the keynote speaker is my new hero. it was the founder and owner of deans beans. i am currently reading his book on how he became a javatrekker. he was so inspirational. the key point of his speech was when he said that "you need to find where your soul sings its song." he didnt talk about needing to find a "career", he said to find yourself and your song and the rest will follow.

and to end a fablous weekend, we had a crappy return. the lady at security took my toothpaste, a brand new tube! and we ended up being delayed about 3 1/2 hours. then it rained all the way home. oh well. it was still a fantastic trip.

playing with the camera on the way home...

listening: the iafrate boys :-)
reading: javatrekker: dispatches from the world of fair trade coffee , so far it is fantastic and i am only a few pages in

movie meme

2008-05-18T23:48:00.002-04:00

tagged by kelly:

as you will notice, i have issues narrowing it down to just one...

1. One movie that made you laugh: juno, knocked up

2. One movie that made you cry: steel magnolias is a favorite, and most recently dan in real life

3. One movie you loved when you were a child: mary poppins, and little princess

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: most recently- darjeeling limited and dan in real life

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: dude wheres my car...stupid llama!

6. One movie you hated: unfaithful, anchorman (i had heard all the funny quotes non stop before i had seen it)

7. One movie that scared you: goonies when i was younger, most recently fail-safe (apocalyptic movie about nuclear war bc it could happen)

8. One movie that bored you: one of the blade movies a long time ago(not my pick..the only i ever fell asleep in a theater)

9. One movie that made you happy: dan in real life

10. One movie that made you miserable: life of david gale- i loved it but the story is just painful

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see: pretty much every horror movie

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with: adrien brody in darjeeling limited,

13. The last movie you saw: oceans thirteen

14. The next movie you hope to see: just a select few- the savages, no country for old men, lars and the real girl...i could go on forever sadly

15. Now tag five people: um...i dont have any bloggers who havent already been tagged.

i am just a passerby

2008-05-14T18:18:00.005-04:00

so i was really looking foward to having this week off from school, but i have just been bored. out of my mind. i went shopping yesterday to get out of the house. i was hunting a vase for the top of our fireplace. we currently have one that is almost the same color as the wall and i cant stand it. so i went to tj maxx hoping i could get a really cheap one and they had nothing. pier one was having sales, so i tired there and found one. it was "on sale" for 35 dollars, marked down from 75! which is a good deal if you are willing to pay 35. i am not. i was hoping for under 20. so i didnt but it and tried target. no luck there either. instead i did find shelves to hang in the bedroom, they were even on sale! i attempted to put one up and got annoyed. they are still on the floor.

we are leaving for connecticut on friday morning for jeremys sisters graduation. our flight is at 9am. i am not looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn and driving an hour and a half, to get on a plane for an hour and a half, to then get in the car and drive to massachusetts. especially after staying up late and watching LOST! jeremys dad suggested we just not watch it, so we can get sleep. ha, that will not be happening. ill make the sacrifice for LOST. i got so excited today when i realized that tomorrow is thursday!

listening: allie moss on myspace since her cd isnt out yet. new demos are fantastic.
reading: a year in the world, and knitting patterns.
knitting: more washcloths and hand towels

2008-05-11T14:51:00.005-04:00

its storming like crazy right now. i was in the shower and the walls shook with the thunder. it was pretty cool. i love storms. i tried to go sit on the porch, but the wind is blowing so hard that i would get soaked after about 5 minutes. at least our porch is clean now. they have been doing construction, so there was a layer of dirt on our railing. there was no use in cleaning it either, bc they are out there everyday but sunday, so it would just be filthy again. you can actually tell its white again.

ive been re-obsessed with the dixie chicks lately and its all i want to listen to. i hadnt listened to the first couple cd's in a long time. once i got taking the long way, thats the only cd of theirs that i listened to. i forgot how good all the other cds are. it makes me want to learn the banjo even more.

listening: dixie chicks- home
reading: i just finished notes from the underbelly which was really funny. sooo much better than the sitcom they made based on it! i am currently ready a year in the world by fances mayes and i love it.

for the benefit of mr. kite, there will be a show tonight

2008-05-06T22:40:00.005-04:00

jeremy and i are watching house hunters together and drooling. every house i see, i make a mental note of the features we like. we know that after we move from here, we want to build. so we are going to spend our time here researching, so we can space it out and not be stressed later. we also know that we want to build as "green" as we can. so we are getting ideas from all of the fabulous new shows on green building. is it sad that we havent even been here a month and we are already thinking about moving? it's not that i dont like it. i love it! and i am really looking forward to living here for the however many years, but i am also looking forward to the next house. i am guess im just an over planner, i think its a weird control thing.

so, i have taken three finals and i have two left. luckily the easiest ones are the ones left and they arent until 3pm tom and 3pm on friday so i can easily study in the morning instead of staying up really late. also, i was looking over my transcript and i somehow miss calculated my credits, but in the good way. so i think i may be able to drop a summer class!!. yeah! i will be done with college by june 27th at the latest, or maybe even by june 7th. woo hoo. i cant wait. and as a bonus, i figured out that i do have a week break before summer session starts, for some reason i didnt think i did, so i get to fly to connecticut for jeremys sisters graduation. overall, its been a pretty great day.

except maybe the fact that i cant stop eating oyster crackers. seriously. a bag in two days. i have issues. help.

listening: beatles

wishin on every star, savin every penny

2008-05-04T23:55:00.007-04:00

i want this picture frame and template set but i have no money, so i am trying to figure out how to do it cheaply. im thinkin an old sheet and dollar store frames. i could trace the frames onto the sheet in my patten and voila, i have a template for the wall. thats basically all there's is. I want to have a ridiculous wall collage in the hallway, because i love pictures and i never have enough room to hang all of them. i told my mom i want frames for my birthday, so maybe i can start working on it.

i found this picture a long time ago and i meant to post it, but kept forgetting. i just love it. i often feel like this.

(i'm stealing this idea from emily)currently on my etsy wishlist:

Recycled coffee bean sack tote bag by: sidneyann

listening: meiko

trying to find a decent high noon cup of tea

2008-05-03T13:59:00.012-04:00

I'm trying to figure out who I am
But there's no hand to hold, no Doctor Martin Luther King
There's just sycophants
And the mindlessness on TV
We all read magazines for the latest ways to behave
So why not follow me, the blond bombshell deity?
I'll sell you neat ideas without big words
And a little bit of cleavage to help wash it all down
Hey, everybody thought Godard was a clown
And that ain't gonna be me...
I'm a modern day troubadour trying to find justice with six strings
Trying to make the world make sense out of me
Trying to be loved completely, trying to love honestly
Trying to find a decent high noon cup of tea
In another shitty hotel
I'm trying to listen to the leaves speak
Trying to steal secrets from fishes in the creek
Trying to figure out who I am
A pretty mediocre cook, an even worse mathematician, maybe a mother one day
What will it be?

i started thinking about this song the other day when someone asked me what i am going to do after graduation. i paused and said i have no idea. ive been in school for so long that i havent really thought alot about it. i guess part of me assumed i would be in school forever. even though thats the last thing i wanna do. there are things i want to do and i have a babysitting job lined up for money. but beyond that i have no clue. thats a scary thought. if i could chose my dream job i'd want to own some kind of craft store and be a mom.

i was bored, so i started taking quizzes on facebook. sad i know. i took one that "predicted" how many kids and in what order i would have them. it said i would have two girls then a boy. the weird thing is that i went to a psychic with a friend of mine a few years ago and was told the same thing. the only difference was that the psychic said the girls would be twins. strange.

i also did some stuff around the condo yesterday and today.

hung things in bedroom

organized the top of the fireplace

hung pictures of my grandmothers in the hallway

its starting to look more like a home. i really hate blank walls. the living room is still completely empty but we havent figured out where our furniture is going yet, so i have to wait to hang things.

listening: jewel, the dryer, rain

any two points can make a line

2008-04-30T18:18:00.010-04:00

i did a few domestic things today. i hung the first thing at the condo! i hung a picture in the laundry room. this was always one of my favorite pictures at my pap's house. it was a picture that my mam got b/c it reminder her of the church that she went to as a kid.

i am also trying one of those reed difusers. my mom got it for me for christmas and i hadnt opened it yet. so far i like it. the scent was cinnamon spice and it isnt too strong. i was going to wait since its more of a winter smell, but i need something to cover up the "new" smell. we've had the windows open every day its been warm enough to air it out. b/c im sure the paint and carpet are loaded with chemical nastiness.

counter-productive grocery shopping

listening: the weepies

catch a train to stranger towns

2008-04-29T20:25:00.005-04:00

this past weekend we went to go visit some friends that live in martinsburg wv. it was so much fun! kristen, sarah, jeremy and i all piled into the car friday afternoon and stayed til sunday afternoon. they live in an adorable farm house in the middle of nowhere. we sat on the porch one night while it was raining and it was so relaxing! the rest of the time we just hung out and played alot of board games. i spent most of the weekend dreaming up a future farm house for jeremy and i. i want goats.

jeremy and i had a pretty productive day. he had the day off and in between my two classes we dropped of recycling, mailed etsy orders, went grocery shopping, bought and put together a media stand and did some other random cleaning and organizing. we only have a few boxes left to unpack and they will probably be done this week since i will be avoiding studying for finals.

+ new kroger and target both have very a impressive selection of organic food, beauty and household supplies.
++ i found tea tree oil at kroger! now i can start making my own cleaning supplies.
- finals are next week and i have two at 8am!!
+ - i will start my babysitting jobs soon
- + we made our first mortgage payment

listening: new weepies- hideaway = fantastic!!!

change of scenery

2008-04-21T00:12:00.004-04:00

sorry for the insane amount of times i change my background. i like it for a while and then i need something new. this one is much more spring-y. enjoy.

listening: rain

the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R

2008-04-19T18:13:00.010-04:00

...we've got three R's we're going to talk about today
we've got to learn to reduce, reuse, recycle
if you're going to the market to buy some juice you've got to
bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
and if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
you could try them on before you buy some more of those reuse,
we've got to learn to reuse
and if the first two R's don't work out and if you've got to make some trash don't throw it out
recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,

today sarah and i went to the earth day 5k at the waterfront. it was pretty cool. they had a bunch of booth set up with information on- the sierra club, composting, wildlife preservation, appalachian rags to rugs, and there was even a cloth diaper service booth! a lot of the booths were giving away free stuff too. we got reusable grocery totes, energy efficient light bulbs, a water bottle and random stickers. we also got free ice cream cake. all in all, a very good day.

another highlight, and pretty much the reason we went was that my brother played a set. the new relics went on first and then he played after them. he only played for about 20-30 mins but it was great. he did a couple covers, but mostly his songs and a few i had never heard. i love getting to hear him play.

listening: jack johnson- curious george soundtrack

in colors red and gold, they set us on fire

2008-04-12T17:26:00.006-04:00

i'd say that i have had a very productive saturday, and i had a very long to-do list. what i managed to accomplish:

* make chicken and potatoes in the crock pot
* bake the rest of the potatoes for easy lunches
* laundry
* dishes
* organize my craft room some more
* re-open etsy stores!
* settle all leftover business with our old landlord
* kinda organized the laundry room
* attempt to crochet- i can do a chain stitch!

pretty much the only thing left on my list is to take out the trash, but i may make jeremy do that when he gets home from work and ill keep crocheting. :-) iwant to get good enough so i can make cute litte animals out of this book. and i also want to do pretty much everything out of this book. there is an adorable tea party set in the second book. my mom was worried when i told her the reason i wanted to learn to crochet so i could make baby stuff. there was no use trying to convince her that we are going to wait for two more years (her ideal time, apparently) oh well, i cant help it, i have baby fever (which i used to never think was real. fyi, it is!!)

listening: birds outside and robert plant/alison kraus- raising sand
reading: the happy hooker- stitch 'n bitch crochet

wake up, its after nine

2008-04-10T18:12:00.003-04:00

the semester needs to be over! its getting to the point in all of my classes that they are just randomly assigning things to get more grades. I hate that. i do have a few positive things to say about school. tomorrow we are watching a power point on apocalyptic art. i have been looking forward to this all semester! ill let you know how it was. and i scheduled for my last semester!! woo hoo! i walked in and he said, "well just have fun with summer classes, all of your requirements are done. take backwards, underwater basket weaving!" (just when i get a good advisor, im done!) i have a random special topics movie class and a humanities class on egypt that i am really looking forward to. and i managed to get them all in the first 6week session, so i will be done by the end of june!

more good news...i got a job! (well two) i will be babysitting my old boss's daughter over the summer, then in the fall i will be babysitting two boys that live in my old neighborhood! my mom is hoping that this will be birth control...little does she realize that it will only make me want a baby more. it will be so nice to have two good incomes again. its been hard these few months while i was just going to school.

listening: ingrid michaelson

this place where the grass is growin

2008-04-08T16:11:00.009-04:00

life in the condo has calmed down to more of a daily routine. we have recently had quite a few visits from the repair guy b/c we didnt have hot water, and a couple outlets werent working. but they are fixed now, thankfully. we have been able to enjoy our porch since the weather has been so gorgeous. my mom and i were sitting out there yesterday and she was saying that if you close your eyes you could pretend you were at the beach. she was trying to convince me that the cars driving by sounded like the ocean. i could kinda hear it, as long as a truck didnt ruin it.

my mom took me to target and got us lots of house-warming stuff. basically food and shower curtains. :-) i was excited b/c she got me 100% cotton shower liners, instead of the plastic ones! we are really trying to cut down on plastic, but its so damn convenient. i was a little worried that it would just soak straight through and leak. the first test with the cloth liner went well. there was no leakage and water didnt get on the actual shower curtain! yea! the liner does get really wet, but as long as you dont spray directly on it, it didnt leak. and it will be a breeze to clean. im just so happy.(and simple apparently)

the shower curtian i got for the spare bathroom. i love love love it! and it was on sale!!

she also got me little pots with herb seeds to grow. we have basil, chives and oregano for now. i want to do a bigger herb garden on our porch since we have the right kind of sun for it. i cant wait to start decorating and doing projects.

listening: the birds outside my window and cary brothers

runnin' all around, all around

2008-04-07T22:49:00.010-04:00

so we are finally moved in. it took 4 days and tons of willing friends, but we are done. my poor throbbing limbs are finally feeling normal again. i always forget how much of a pain moving is. I am so glad that we wont have to do it again for at least five years.

*side note: its so weird for me to think we will be in this place that long, i have moved four times in college and the longest i spent anywhere was a year and a half, so 5yrs is unknown territory. I may need to repaint every year just so i dont go stir crazy.

anyway, unpacking is going really well. my mom helped just about everyday. she stayed in the condo and got the kitchen entirely set up while we moved. it was so nice to be able to easily get food while everything was chaotic. she even cooked us a couple of meals so we didnt have to worry about it. i love her.

*edit* craft supplies waiting to be unpacked

i am trying to get my craft room set up so i can start esty-ing again. i really miss it. that was probably the worst thing about moving. i would always want to make something but couldnt b/c it was packed. its coming together alot faster then i though it would.

*edit* at least i have a workspace

listening: dan wilson and the clicking from jeremys x-box ( i think i will miss his man-room as much as he will)

whatcha gonna spend your free life on

2008-03-29T12:19:00.009-04:00

we still haven't started moving. it sucks, but on to more interesting things...

kristen and i went to the hotel cafe tour concert on thursday and it was fabulous!!! it consisted of ingrid michaelson, cary brothers, joshua radin, meiko, priscilla ahn, dan wilson and allie moss. and they basically just played musical chairs and each did a song or two at a time and they all switched off singing with each other...

* it was almost 4 hours of non-stop music!
* the venue was a gutted church so it was pretty cool
* it was smoke free per artists request
* we were in like the 3rd row
* we had a tall guy in front of us who was constantly making sure we could see over/around him and he even ducked for a little bit.
* ingrid michaelson sang the hat...my favorite!
* instruments used included 20ish guitars, pianos, a couple ukuleles, mandolin, trumpet, harmonica, clarinet, accordion, and even a kazoo!
* a really drunk old hippie dancing in the front row
* priscilla did her own backup with a loop
* this guy- who was the (drunk)emcee, lead us in stretching exercises, did backup singing/guitar and played mandolin!

it was sooo good! i unfortunately dont have any pictures b/c the doorman wouldnt let me take my camera in b/c it was apparently "professional". then we got in there and everyone had cameras just as fancy as mine, but im over it, whatever.

this concert has yet again inspired me to write my own music...

listening: hotel cafe artists
knitting: washcloths

"Our oceans are turning into plastic...are we?"

2008-03-25T01:06:00.004-04:00

i stumbled upon this article about plastic on someone else's blog. it is really scary, but very informative and worth reading...

“If you could fast-forward 10,000 years and do an archaeological dig…you’d find a little line of plastic,” he told The Seattle Times last April. “What happened to those people? Well, they ate their own plastic and disrupted their genetic structure and weren’t able to reproduce. They didn’t last very long because they killed themselves."

i want to start fresh like a baby in the sink

2008-03-24T18:44:00.003-04:00

it's officially day one of my spring break and so far i've done nothing fun. this morning i went to three banks and suncrest village to start figuring out down payment stuff. i have two different bank accounts in different banks and then we are getting a mortgage through another bank. its pretty annoying. but on the plus side i went with my dad and he bought lunch at aquarium lounge. which i love, but cant afford.

we had been told last week that we would close this week. this morning she told me that she would do everything she could to have us closed by friday! so we will probably be moving next week, when i will not be on spring break. boo. it would have been so nice to move and unpack this week and have it done. now it will just drag b/c i will be busy will school through summer. and you will have to continue to listen to me complain about it. sorry.

kristen, sarah and i watched once on saturday. its such a great movie and im addicted to the soundtrack!

we talked about how much glen hansard looks like john mcginley.

glen:

john:

its more apparent when they are yelling/singing.

listening: hotel cafe mix in preparation for the concert on thurs!
reading: all my books are packed...

when the cracks on my bedroom ceiling give me this empty bottle feeling

2008-03-20T17:59:00.013-04:00

i am getting antsy about moving. especially when i have to stare at this all day!

instead of getting annoyed by the clutter, i have focused on all of the things that i wont miss about living here....

- having to walk up and down really old and scary steps to do laundry. i imagine my leg going through them and falling just about every time i walk up them.

- having to look at this outside of our bedroom window. at least we can kinda see some trees

- the fact that we have no control over the garage and having to hear (and smell!!) this a couple times a week. it also leaves a nasty diesel smell in our house for hours!

on a slightly different note. we are getting rid of this cd player. its pretty old, but it works perfectly fine. its jvc, 3-disc changer and two tape decks (i told you it was old!) we just dont use it and would love for it to go to someone who would. its free, so you want it or know anybody who would let us know. otherwise, its goin to goodwill.

and speaking of getting rid of things. we came to the very difficult decision to get rid of figaro. my mom has always been allergic to cats, but now its to the point that she can only be in our house for 10mins before she cant breathe. it even bothers her if we have hair on our clothes and we go to her house. and we want her to be able to visit us. so, we decided to not have him in the condo since he would have to be only an inside cat there (they have weird association rules. so, if you would like a cat, or know someone who would please let us know.

he is an inside/outside cat, he'll be 2yrs old in july, loves to cuddle, very friendly, and he loves to play and run. we would love to give him to someone who can love him as much as we do. he is also used to being in a neighborhood that has other cats and dogs outside, he's very friendly to other animals. although, i do think he would be territorial in a house with another animal. can you tell that this is hard for me. its like putting a child up for adoption! anyway, please let us know.

listening: ingrid michaelson
reading: havent decided on my spring break book yet...

......

2008-03-18T21:26:00.003-04:00

next week is spring break and i cant wait! the semester seems to be dragging right now, so a little break will be nice. plus there is a lot i need to do around the house...like pack! because we finally heard from the mortgage officer today and we might be closing soon! we have to go to and sign a paper for the association and then she thinks that we will close in the middle of next week! im so excited and kinda freaked out b/c we really havent packed. i know i keep talking about it, but i am seriously amazed at how much stuff we have. tonight we packed two boxes to go to the condo and one to go to goodwill. slowly but surely.

one thing that i am really looking forward to over spring break is the hotel cafe tour concert! yay! kristen and i will be seeing ingrid michaelson, joshua radin, cary brothers, meiko, priscilla ahn, and dan wilson!!
if you dont know them, you should fix that! i cant wait. pictures and stories will surely follow

watching: hgtv- trying to get design ideas...i love decorating!

whose to say whats impossible...

2008-03-13T20:19:00.004-04:00

...well they forgot this world keeps spinning
and with each new day I can feel a change in everything
and as the surface breaks reflections fade but in some ways
they remain the same and as my mind begins to spread its wings
there's no stopping curiosity

when i was getting ready today i noticed that there were two deodorant sticks on my shelf and was confused. i later asked jeremy to find that he bought me a new one. he had noticed that mine was almost gone (since he had to borrow mine b/c his was gone) and decided to buy me a new one. i was dumb founded that he not only bought me a new one, but he got the exact one! the right brand and scent(unscented). i was so impressed and excited.

it really is the little things that matter most

listening: jack johnson- sing-a-longs and lullabies from curious george

with the earth and sky you cheer and sigh

2008-03-09T13:16:00.002-04:00

so far it has been a pretty relaxing weekend. got a little more packing done, did some cookin. then i just lounged around. good stuff. now i really need to work on homework, but i dont want to. i am so ready for spring break and i still have 2 weeks left.

funny story from target the other day: there was this little girl, maybe 6or7 and she was with her mom and brother looking at the shoes and the little girl came to a pair of pink, glittery jellies and had to have them. she just kept saying in a sing-song voice "jellies, jellies, jellies..." the mom patiently turned and reminded her that she would get blisters. with that the little girl tossed her hair and said, "well, it'd be worth it!" with this the mom and brother turned and walked away. then the little girl stands up, stomps her foot, throws her fist in the air and screams "they will rue the day!" and storms off. it was hysterical.

sadly thats all ive got. off to do homework. i get to analyze an apocalyptic work that is not found in the bible. this is one paper i am really looking forward to doing.

listening: rachel yamagata
reading: the apocalypse of adam

we went beyond where we should have gone

2008-03-01T19:10:00.005-05:00

i am in love with jack johnsons music all over again. his new cd is great! it has a new maturity that i love. my favorite song at the moment is

sleep through the static

Trouble travels fast
When you’re specially designed for crash testing
Or wearing wool sunglasses in the afternoon
Come on and tell us what you’re trying to prove

Because it’s a battle when you dabble in war
You store it up, unleash it, then you piece it together
Whether the storm drain running rampant just stamp it
And send it to somebody who’s pretending to care

Just cash in your blanks for little toy tanks
Learn how to use them, then abuse them and choose them
Over conversations relationships are overrated
“I hated everyone” said the sun

And so I will cook all your books
You’re too good looking and mistooken
You could watch it instead
From the comfort of your burning beds
…Or you can sleep through the static

Who needs sleep when we’ve got love?
Who needs keys when we’ve got clubs?
Who needs please when we’ve got guns?
Who needs peace when we’ve gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
We went beyond where we should have gone

Stuck between channels my thoughts all quit
I thought about them too much, allowed them to touch
The feelings that rained down on the plains all dried and cracked
Waiting for things that never came

Shock and awful thing to make somebody think
That they have to choose pushing for peace supporting the troops
And either you’re weak or you’ll use brut force-feed the truth
The truth is we say not as we do

We say anytime, anywhere, just show your teeth and strike the fear
Of god wears camouflage, cries at night and drives a dodge
Pick up the beat and stop hogging the feast
That’s no way to treat an enemy

Well mighty mighty appetite
we just eat ‘em up and keep on driving
Freedom can be freezing take a picture from the pretty side
Mind your manners wave your banners
What a wonderful world that this angle can see

But who needs to see what we’ve done?
Who needs please when we’ve got guns?
Who needs keys when we’ve got clubs?
Who needs peace when we’ve gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
Beyond where we should have gone
We went beyond where we should have gone
Beyond where we should have gone

listening: jack johnson

i think i'll go home and mull this over

2008-03-01T18:00:00.009-05:00

i need to do laundry

i decided to blog instead. i have had an incredibly lazy day. i pretty much just sat around watching scrubs and playing spider solitaire. to counter act feeling lazy we filled a box with magazines to recycle.

considering the fact that we are moving soon, we have done very little packing. i think we have 5 boxes that are ready. i just hate packing so much, i cant bring myself to do it. plus, we are still trying to get rid of stuff. but in all fairness we have packed well over 20 boxes. it just went to goodwill, recycling, or trash.

every time i pull something out, i am more and more amazed that two people can acquire so much crap. we have boxes of old cell phone chargers, cables that we have no clue what they go to. we even have a couple old cell phones. and none of it is coming with us!

i am trying to think if i have anything more exiting to talk about...not really. kristen is away, jeremy is always working and its nearing midterm, therefore i dont do anything cool. oh, wait. thursday. it was lost night and we went to my brothers and rocked out on guitar and mandolin before it came on! i learned a couple more chords.

as for lost. freakin awesome episode. i am trying to wrap my head around everything. its too hard. (i wont say more b/c there is a chance kristen will read this before she watches the newest episode)

listening: the shins

ok, its alright with me

2008-02-24T13:55:00.010-05:00

we are seriously down sizing and it feels good. we have been slowly packing things, but before it goes into the keep pile it has to pass the test: have we used it in the past month? if no, will we ever use it? did we even remember we had it? have we even seen it since we've moved the last time? we have so many cool things that get hidden or shadowed b/c we feel obligated to keep hand me downs or gifts that arent our taste.

we have two big black trash bags and two big boxes to go to goodwill today. we only packed one box so far. we also have two huge crates of recycling to take today. i love the feeling of dropping it off.

we are going to be storing some things in my closet at my parents house, but only if we are 100% sure we will use it at some point. we have alot of yard stuff that we want to keep b/c we will eventually have a yard again. and unfortunately we cant keep all of jeremys man room stuff until we have a den/basement some day. i have alot of decor also, that just wont fit in a small two bedroom, so it will be stored for later use.

i am also really excited about a new "project". i am on the hunt for cool glass bottles. we are going to the co-op now and i am going to start doing the "bring your own bottle" thing for soaps/detergents. but i think i want to use glass bottles. i have gone back and forth.

+ its less plastic
+ i can get pretty blue glass
- you cant squeeze the last bit out- not really a neg, just less convenient
- may drop them in the shower..ouch!

i know i am def doing it for hand soap and detergent. i am still contemplating shampoos. i will at least get a plastic bottle to refill. i really like these glass ones from specialty bottle

i also have a few cool bottles, but they might be big to set in the shower....

i have been thinking about getting my hair cut. last time i was contemplating this, i just got it trimmed. but now, its really driving me crazy. i like this...

but im worried my hair is too thick and my face is too round....

listening: eric hutchinson

i dont give a damn, im happy as a clam

2008-02-22T20:02:00.006-05:00

i have been newly obsessed with this color combination. it is a close second behind orange and green.

i have been drooling over this for a while:

by: jonabags

i want this cup too

by: CircaCeramics

i dont know how long this color scheme will last. the yellow is alittle bright. let me know what you think.

listening: the weepies

i need a fix cause i'm goin down

2008-02-20T21:52:00.003-05:00

i've been listening to across the universe in my car and i have had that song stuck in my head ALL day!

so, this past weekend was pretty eventful. jeremys parents came in for a visit, so we enjoyed many free meals out. all with leftovers, which makes it sooo much better. we also got to take them to see the condo. had a mini concert with jeremy on guitar and me on mandolin. took them to the blue moose for the first time. it was a great visit. aside from the typical "what are you going to do with you lives" talk. they are overly concerned with us having a very detailed life plan. i dont do well with sticking to plans, so it is always an interesting convo. at least we can say that we will be living in wv for the next 5 or so years, that is the extent of our plans.

today we did an awesome exercise in my apocalyptic lit class. everyone had to bring in a "sign" of the apocalypse. it could either be serious or funny. then we all presented. it was fabulous. alot of people brought up environmental issues, there was some sports stuff, politics, and so on. but the best one by far was a guy that compared the fact that walmart will now have clinics to the 7 seals in revelation! there was deception, false prophets, and sam walton being the antichrist. brilliant.i wish i could remember the whole thing.

speaking of brilliant. kristen and i went to see there will be blood tonight. fabulous. i am so in love with daniel day lewis! go see it and if you think it is slow, just stick it out. the end makes the movie!!!!

reading: the spell of the sensuous by david abram
listening: the beatles in my head

sunday, monday, happy days

2008-02-12T15:26:00.001-05:00

ive been playin around on my mandolin and i am slowly learning chords. and i can play a song. anyone else but you by the moldy peaches!! granted, its only two chords and they are really easy but still, its a song. i can also play every other chord for west virginia, my home with jeremy on guitar. it has been really fun playing along with him, even if i can only play a few chords here and there. it sounds pretty cool and i cant wait until i can accompany him on more songs.

we are still in the process of working on our mortgage, the paperwork hasn't gone through yet, so we aren't officially approved. but by default the condo is ours b/c we put a hold deposit on it and we had 15days to cancel and our 15th day was monday. so its ours! hopefully this bank will approve everything so we don't have to go to another one. we have already been pre-approved and they don't see any reason why we wouldn't be approved, but we are still awaiting the official paperwork!

but, it's safe to say that we will be moving soon. its kinda nice to know that we will be living in this place for awhile. the longest we've been anywhere is a year and a couple months. it'll be so awesome to actually move into somewhere and maybe even paint. yay! i love decorating. here are a few pics of the new place. i will be adding a full album to facebook at some point.

our view:

living room w/fireplace!:

kitchen:

the best feature!master closet(and this is only half of it):

watching: friend- season five
reading: the red tent

boil them cabbage down, boys

2008-02-05T22:36:00.000-05:00

i have a mandolin. it is beautiful.
so today was the huge blow-out sale at fawleys and we went to get jeremy a guitar for a very late anniv/christmas present (ill let him blog about that part). so we went in and while he was playing guitars i wondered around and drooled over beautiful instruments that i could probably never play. i went into the used section with high hopes and came out empty handed. i was on my way to look at hard cases for my guitar.
then i saw it:

it was love at first site and i had to "play" it. i played around for a while and then carried it over to where jeremy was. then i unwillingly hung it back where it belonged. after about 5 minutes, i wondered back and picked it up again. i couldnt put it back down, so it came home with me. i am still thinking of a name. i know its a girl. i have to play it a little more. i also bought a cheap beginners book and have done the first few mini exercises.
i have high hopes for my mandolin playing. next: a banjo.

listening: the weepies
reading: the red tent
knitting: brown and teal scarf

sweet sorrow is the call tomorrow

2008-02-04T16:41:00.000-05:00

its been a while...but oddly not because i have nothing to say, its because i cant figure out how to word what i really want to say. i keep wanting to talk about all of the cool articles i have read for class but havent gotten around to it. plus that will probably have to involve alot of explaining. so, yet again, i will list.

+ seeing the kosydars
+ participating in the medicine wheel for the first time
+ playing ddr and guitar hero. i pretty much suck at both. still fun.
- mysterious car noises
0 watching the superbowl for the first time ever
+ jeremys team winning
- still going through the mortgage process
+ dreaming of walk-in closets
+ playing guitar while having diet coke and raisinettes
+++ having philosophical/political/religious/life discussions with kristen
+ packing up bags to go to goodwill
+ new used jewel cd

listening: jewel-this way

i can't do this all on my own, im no superman

2008-01-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

i have recently been thinking about going to grad school. something i thought id never think about doing. if i went back id get a masters in early ed. i always thought that i might want to be a first grade teacher, but i never really considered it because there are things that i think that i would rather do. like own/work in a jewelry store. plus, i was never that great of a student.

but now, i dont know. the hardest part is trying to decide if and why i really want to go. do i want to go b/c this is what i want to do with my life? or do i want to go so i can postpone actually deciding what i want to do with my life? or do i want to go b/c im scared that i will fail at what i really want to do with my life? at this point i think its the last reason....

ugh! decisions suck! i going to go back to the mindless comedy of scrubs.

oh the green rolling hills of west virginia

2008-01-24T16:19:00.000-05:00

...are the nearest thing to heaven that I know
...they'll keep me and never let me go.

i used to say that i always wanted to leave west virginia the second i got a chance. and now im about to buy a condo here. life is funny that way. a part of me still wants to leave morgantown, mainly b/c i have never lived anywhere else. but i don't know if ill be able to part with west virginia.

so, we did more mortgage stuff today and got good faith agreements sayin that if we buy the place then they will give us the mortgage. next on the list is to put a holding payment on it while we read all the fine print and such. we are one step closer to being homeowners. this scares the shit of me. but in a good way.

its tax season and that means that the people that work for liberty are out on the streets again. you know the ones that are dressed like the statue of liberty who have to wave and look happy as they freeze their asses off! i have decided that i will never go to liberty for anything.ever.even if i have to pee and they are the only place open. i wonder if they know that their advertising is having such a negative effect.a part of me wants to tell them.

listening: the dick brothers
reading: really cool articles for my women and men in society class

i like boys with strong convictions and convicts with perfect diction

2008-01-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

i have things that i should be doing, but it is so cold in my house that i cant bring myself to remove the three blankets that are on my lap to do any of them. so i will blog instead.
the past couple of days, we have done a lot of stuff concerning whether or not we should buy the condo or not, and what our options are if we do. at this point we know we want to buy, and the banks will give us a mortgage. so now we are just at the sticky money part. we have to figure out our down payment and length of the mortgage so our payments aren’t more than we pay now for rent. luckily my dad is walking us through the steps so we don’t mess up. at this point i think we are pretty close to getting it, but im still trying not to get excited.
if we do there are going to be some annoyances in the next couple of months. first of all, we would have to go through this entire process including move, while I am taking 19 credits. So that sucks b/c i have next to no time. my main concern is packing. We are going to have to do some serious downsizing b/c we would be moving into a smaller place and we have a lot of crap. but the good def weighs out the bad, so i am just venting for no good reason.

on a different note, i have made 5 trades on swaptree so far. soon i will have jewel:this way, jonny lang:long time coming, the kite runner by khaled hosseini, the red tent by anita diamant, and fiona apple:tidal. i cant wait for awesome new music and books

listening: juno soundtrack

if i was a flower growing wild and free...

2008-01-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

...all i'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee
and if i was a tree growing tall and green
all i'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

i dont have enough energy to do a real blog with sentences, so i will do a list:

- trying to make an informed, adult decision about the condo
- going to the bank to ask about a mortgage
+ possibility of owning our own home, and not being in a drafty, old house
+ decorating new condo ( only in my head for now)
- having the "when do u plan to have kids" talk.....with my father
+ having the "when do u plan to have kids" talk....with my mama
+ seeing juno with krisen. fantastic.
+ juno soundtrack. even more fantastic.
+ discovering www.swaptree.com go there. right now. seriously.
- missing sex in the city last night
- the fact that missing sex in the city is a bad thing
+ playing friends scene it with friends last night
+ three day, TEC weekend
+ making my second sale on my second etsy shop
+ being asked to do a custom order for my second etsy shop
+ gabes/sale shopping with kristen
+ surviving the first week of school
- having to get off-line and do something productive

listening: juno soundtrack
reading: many different text books and articles
knitting: nothing :-(
happy birthday: mama and emily i

it tastes like soap but it doesn't really taste like soap

2008-01-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

i love the first week of classes. there is something about going to all new classes, with new people and new notebooks. i went early and parked far away. i cranked up regina spektor on my ipod and headed off. it was snowing, and the good kind. big fluffy flakes, and the wind wasnt too cold. i had class in the newly renovated brooks and ogleby. both of which are very nice.

i am always so hopeful that i wont procrastinate. i get all my syllabus and write all my test/due dates in my planner. i go and buy my books and do the first readings.i highlight. and then something goes terribly wrong. i stop caring. well i have convinced myself that this semester is going to be different (like i do every semester). but, it is my LAST semester and id love to go out with a bang. so i can really say i did it.

plus i have some really awesome classes. my favorites are: philosophy of religion, which i have been trying to take for like the past three years!! men and women in society, and my absolute favorite...religious studies- theology of the apocalypse/end times. its with jane donovan, who i love. and our final paper is to write our own piece of apocalyptic literature. this is one paper that i will be starting now! lol.

i have to force myself to go to bed early tonight, i have an 830 class.....

listening: music box by regina spektor- in my head.on repeat.
reading: syllabus, text books.......

it starts in my toes, and i crinkle my nose

2008-01-12T10:49:00.001-05:00

so kristen and i decided to try and make our own paper. we thought about buying a kit, but figured that we could use cheaper items, or things we already owned. so we googled it and found a list of supplies and then we found a flickr account that explained every step with pictures! amazing! i do some much better with pictures. so we were off to by supplies and ended up buying: a sheet, 2 kitty litter pans, screen for windows, 2 grills top wire things, and sponges. we bought double so we could each make the paper separately too. overall it was very cheap and simple to find everything. so we got everything together, blasted regina spektor, and made a wonderful mess in my kitchen.

so we used our grill top things, screen and duct tape and made our own screens

then we used paper from around my house and some card stock (to add color) and then we ripped and blended....

it looked pretty gross

then we dipped our screens, flipped it onto the sheets and blotted the water off

and then a day later, it dried and we had paper

i have yet to do anything with mine, but i cant wait to make cards out of it. i already want to make more. i would say it was a very successful craft day. and now we have our own recycled paper. i cant want to try more colors and textures. i really want to figure out how to make my own plantable cards, too.

reading: wake up and smell the planet
listening: colbie caillat- coco
knitting: teal, brown, and cream throw

overexposed, commercialized....handle me with care

2008-01-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

i have realized that once you start "greening" your lifestyle, its hard to know when to stop. normally, the answer in my head is it's not ok to stop, everything helps.

example: we recycle the basics (everything they take in the bins around town) but every time i am finished with something i have to stare at it for a minute or two just to make sure there is absolutely nothing else i can do with it. further example: i recycle my paper into etsy packing materials, and recently i have started using the left-over circles when you hole punch something, to pack earrings in my little tins.

so, every time i decide to recycle or reuse something i just feel guilty for the things that i am not reusing and try to find a way too. now, by all means i am not complaining. i love that my brain works this way. but then i get frustrated when i see something outside of my controlled area, that is not being reused. now i will start thinking of ways to remedy that.....

reading: wake up and smell the planet:the non-pompous, non-preachy grist guide to greening your day
listening: traveling wilburys (thanks to em's post i re-addicted)

things i have loved, i am allowed to keep

2008-01-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

i currently have a headache from sitting in my craft room and working with resin. which is probably not a good thing. but i made some really cool stuff, which is a good thing.

i made these pendants using seeds from a burning bush. now i just have to wait for them to set.

i think this one is my favorite

i cant wait to see them, when they dry.

i also experimented with filling bottle caps with resin. some of them came out pretty cool. i then tediously peeled the bottle cap off of this one and it was pretty cool.

and voila, i turned it into a pendant

listening: regina spektor- soviet kitsch

and the sails reflect the moon

2008-01-02T17:02:00.000-05:00

things have finally calmed down enough for me to get back to normal things. i am still sick, which sucks. but at least we are done with crazy holiday traveling. all 8 of my Christmas' were fabulous. i was pretty much able to stick to my handmade pledge, so i was really proud of myself. and as a bonus a lot of the gifts i received were hand-made, which always makes it better. so it was great. i also got a lot of crafting things and spent a lot of yesterday in my craft room. i missed it so much while we were away.

other exciting things that happened:

* jeremy's grandma is sending me boxes of her old costume jewelry to use as i please
* i already spent my micheal's gift card restocking jewelry supplies
* got a lot of cool hand-me-down items from my grandparents
* got a lot of fabulous music! including: the weepies, regina spektor, once soundtrack, dan in real life soundtrack
* got the princess bride- the book!!

in the way of etsy news, i made my first sale on my second shop!! yay! i only have 3 items on there and seriously need to work on adding more. i have some made and photographed, they just need added. i was trying to stagger it since everything on there is plant related- and the plants are dead. well they most of the pretty ones are anyway. i also made some fun resin things today. they will probably end up being magnets, im not sure yet.

another random subject. jeremy and i may be buying a condo in mo-town. it was my pap's idea, b/c he had left my brother and i money for house down payments. he figured if we buy one, then sell it when we move, we wont loose money on renting a place. we know that we are staying for a while b/c of grad school stuff and right now our rent money is just going down the drain. plus i have many other issues with our current house/garage that i wont get into. so, we are looking into buying a unit at suncrest village. the new crazy place on 705. so we looked at two different units that are up for sale and fell in love. now we just have to deal with the grown-up bank stuff and see how that goes.

making grown up decisions sucks...most of the time

listening: regina spektor- soviet kitsch
knitting: black and white striped scarf