with/without/covet

i can’t live with:

axl’s yucky dog breath.

i can’t live without:

a steady supply of pencils & paper (p.s. i really want these pencils…)

i covet:

a beautiful dress like this!

things i love sunday.

i’m taking a cue from some other bloggers that i love, and making a list of the ten things i’m in love with this week.

1. apartment therapy’s the kitchn.  lots of really good recipes and pretty photos of the yummy food.

2. turner classic movies. it’s the only channel my tv has been on for the past month. i’m not kidding.

3. speaking of tcm, i’m currently conducting a love affair with humphrey bogart. he’s the star of the month on tcm, and every wednesday they show only movies with bogey. <3

4. this cute neckwarmer scarf from beautiful briget. (& isn’t the girl modeling it too cute for words?)

5. this ad from the 60s. let’s bring this back, okay?

6. a new job for my sis and me. and whoever else wants to join in.

7. bitchbuzz. it’s full of awesome stuff. and so fun.

8. faceinhole.com is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. the hubster appreciated the love from rob pattinson & taylor lautner. hee.

9. please. how can i leave out the pretty from a list of things i’m in love with? the boy is gorgeous and adorkable.

10. the avett brothers. i love, love, love them. they’re from concord, nc. click here to listen on lala.com, an awesome site to which my bestie candace just introduced me.

what do you love this week?

feeling better now.

as per the title, i am feeling much better today than yesterday. i spent the day in limbo, in a weird sort of stupor, doing laundry and cooking dinner (much earlier than normal, b/c i skipped lunch & was starving by 4 o’clock) while listening to those christmas songs i mentioned in the last post. i made a cd & played it at top volume in the dvd player (so that it was extra loud & obnoxious), beginning with the most upbeat christmas songs: “all i want for christmas” by mariah carey, which makes me want to watch one of my fave movies, love, actually. and “step into christmas” by elton john. i followed those up with the best, cheesiest, most amazing christmas song ever, “last christmas” by wham! after easing myself into the christmas music with these, i added more traditional ones.

when the hubster got home, i had a mini-breakdown. he’s my source of comfort and relief, and he never fails to be these things when i need them. upon further examination, my down mood yesterday was about much more than not being able to feel christmas-y, but it was the first thing i focused on. we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that my meds aren’t really working (pesky placebo effect), and that my problem isn’t a mood disorder at all. he was talking to a guy at work (without even knowing about my slump yesterday, so it was sort of ironic, really) who told him that he had an extreme case of ADD. when he began describing the things he went through, the hubster said that a lightbulb went off over his head with each symptom: needing music or old movies playing in the background at all times, otherwise i can’t concentrate on *anything*. the extreme irritation i get (which went away for a few weeks, but has come back again with the stress of finals, etc), in which i go from zero to REALLY. PISSED. OFF. in .01 of  a second. reading a whole page before stopping and realizing that my thoughts have wandered off and i haven’t retained a single word of what i’ve just read. not being able to sleep because my mind is racing. these are all symptoms that are also associated with bipolar 2, and the two are often misdiagnosed (mistaking one for the other is apparently very common). off to the shrink i go again.

i think i need this:  

to be honest, it’s not that big of a deal to me. as long as i figure out why i feel the way i feel sometimes and have an actual reason for it, they could call me clinically insane and i’d be alright with it, as long as they could treat it. (of course i know i’m not insane, sillies.)

anyway…

the point of this post was to show that i’m feeling better about christmas now.  i’m starting to feel the holiday cheer slowly creeping up my spine to make its way into my silly head and heart. we spent last night hanging out with some good friends, who have two oh-so-adorable little girls, ages 1.5 and almost-three. we spent a good deal of time when we first got there with them pointing out ornaments on the christmas tree, telling us what they were. then i got to see some of the really cool christmas presents they’re going to get. let me just tell you, the stuff they have for barbie dolls today is *amazing*! barbie now has a king-size bed with mosquito netting! she’s become quite the lady of luxury since breaking up with ken… hmm…

and this morning, i woke up all cozy and comfy, having fallen into bed in sweat pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt last night, my socks still on. it got below freezing last night for the first time, so i was quite chilled by the time we got home. i came downstairs, made coffee, ate a fiber one pop tart (they’re really good & have 5 grams of fiber each!), and sat down to read my daily blogs.

and lo and behold, i got some beautiful inspiration!

amanda from here’s lookin’ at me kid began the cheering-up-of-the-inner-grinch by sending me directions on how to make these adorable sweater stockings i found on her blog the other day. and look at the pretty chandelier!

and i love these diy wreaths i found at twig & thistle:

my favorite is the one on the top right, the ruffly felt rosette wreath. find how-to directions here.

twig & thistle also has this really cool project that i just might have to make for special gifts this christmas:

here are some other cheery inspirational photos i found:

last but not least, i have wanted for a long time to dye my hair pink. i did a stripe for breast cancer awareness, but i want my whole head pink! seeing it on elsie flannigan (who has long been one of my favorite scrapbooker/artist/crafter/blogger/adorable ladies) recently renews my interest in it.

how cute is she?!

download this:  life’s a dream by built to spill (i was totally unaware that they had a new album out!)

that elusive christmas-y feeling.

i don’t know what’s wrong with me. i haven’t been able to feel what has been dubbed as “the christmas spirit” at all this year. i’ve been frustrated by the number of houses on our street that are completely overloaded with christmas lights and blow-up decorations (you know the ones–they remind me of a jump castle). instead of appreciating these families’ holiday spirit, the only thing i can think is “if these people put half the time, energy, and money into charity work or donations that they put into draping decorations and lights over anything that stands still for more than five seconds, the world would be a better place.”  i know it’s really bitter and sort of hypocritical of me to think this way, but i can’t help it.

i have a couple of days off til my last final on monday, so i thought maybe if i loaded all my christmas cd’s into my itunes and played them really loud while i do chores & stuff… just maybe i’d feel a hint of christmas cheer? so i converted my cd’s into itunes and even downloaded a few songs that i love that i didn’t have in my collection. and as soon as i pressed “play”…

i started crying. i don’t know what on earth is wrong with me.

i think it might have something to do with the way my family dynamic has changed over the years. listening to things like bing crosby and ella fitzgerald and frank sinatra remind me of waking up at mamaw & papaw’s house on the weekends (because i spent EVERY weekend there) to the smell of eggs and bacon and grits and coffee. being scolded for not putting on socks before walking on the kitchen linoleum because it was “freezing cold”. sitting at the table and eating breakfast with mamaw and papaw while the christmas music played. putting the decorations on the tree. being allowed to go on the roof with papaw while he put up decorations but only if i stayed seated in the exact center of the roof and did not move one single inch. waiting on christmas eve for all the family to get there so we could open presents, us kids (there were only the two of us until i was about seven or eight) barely able to contain our excitement. all the yummy food and family and love and general happiness.

and then there was christmas with nana. it used to be held on christmas eve when i was very little, but then as our family grew to amazing numbers. nana has six CHILDREN (if you say “kids”, nana will say, “they are CHILDREN. not GOATS.”), a number of stepchildren that i’m not sure of, 23984709283 grandchildren, and 7760 great-grandchildren. so eventually, we moved our christmas celebration to the saturday after christmas so that all those who had to travel could enjoy christmas day at their respective homes. that’s the tradition we keep with to this day.

those are the things i remember when i think about christmas. being an adult is hard. i wonder if it’s like this for everyone.

now, i’m not so naive or jaded as to think that the problems of today didn’t exist twenty+ years ago. i know there have been times of economic hardship, family quarrels, what have you. but when you grow up and are privy to these types of details, some of the magic goes out of everything. i never really wanted to grow up, but it seems as though everyone around me did. i feel kind of like peter pan, when he goes back to the nursery to find wendy darling all grown up with children of her own.

this is not in any way supposed to be a pity party. it’s merely an exploration of why i’ve been feeling the way i have.

i remember my very first christmas away from my family. it was when we lived in california. i was fortunate enough to spend every christmas with my family until i was twenty-four years old. that christmas was really hard for me. i remember willy & i went to disneyland one weekend in december. after the fireworks, they had a “snowfall” in front of the castle & on main street, and i sat there bawling my eyes out in the middle of my most favorite place, because i missed my family so much and wouldn’t get to see them.

and now that i’m “all grown up” and the kids of my generation are having kids of their own, things are much harder for me than i ever thought they would be. i wish i knew a way to make it better.

maybe once willy and i have our own children (if we do have any, that is), christmas will feel magical again.

maybe all i need is a trip to see the james island festival of lights with my family.

maybe i need a swift kick in the rear end.

in order to put a little magic into christmas for other people, i’m going to commit to doing some charity work this christmas. i was just saying to willy last night, “i don’t know what i’m going to do with myself over christmas break! i’ll have no homework or studying, and no classes to go to. wow.”  (i haven’t really had a break all year–i went straight from spring semester to summer to fall, with about a week in between each.) well, now i know what to do with that time.

this was pretty hard to write. reliving those old memories in words instead of just in my head was sort of tough. i don’t think i can clearly convey the meaning my family holds for me. when my sister and i were younger, our friends never understood why we were always doing things with family on the weekends. there was always a shopping trip with an aunt, an uncle’s birthday party, a family dinner, etc. we didn’t realize that other families weren’t necessarily like ours. we didn’t know that our friends thought their families were lame, because we thought ours was the coolest ever. now that we’re grown, we know how lucky we’ve been and can properly appreciate what we have, because it’s really something that should be treasured and never taken for granted.

download this:  have yourself a merry little christmas by judy garland. because it’s one of my favorite christmas songs, sung by one of my all-time favorite movie stars, in one of my very favorite movies (meet me in st. louis).

late bloomer.

i get a lot of questions as to the significance of the ring i wear on the middle finger of my right hand. well, firstly, i got it from kyle anne metals at etsy.com. it was custom made for me, and only cost $18, but it’s one of my favorite possessions. here’s a picture:

one of the reasons this Blooming Birch Ring in Pink caught my eye was the seller’s description:  ”This ring reminds me of a birch branch in springtime, getting ready to blossom.”

i think of myself as a late bloomer. at the ripe young age of 29, i feel that i have finally begun to come into my own. i’ve spent a great deal of my life (in fact, my entire 20s!) being introspective and trying to figure out exactly who i am and what it is i want to do with my life. i’ve met many wonderful people, whom i admire greatly. hard laborers; talented musicians; amazing teachers; lovely & patient mothers; determined career-minded people; awe-inspiring people from what my dad calls the “school of hard knocks”… all of these friends, acquaintances, family members, even a few that i’ve met only once, have provided me with a wealth of knowledge about the world around me, which has allowed me to look within myself and learn.

i’ve spent so much time wanting to be certain things: the perfect wife/daughter/sister/niece/grandchild/cousin/aunt/dog owner/what have you, a straight-A student, a musician and artist, a well-educated know-it-all, physically fit, beautiful on the inside and out, talented writer, great cook, well-spoken, well-read, very ethical and work-minded… you name it.

it’s taken me more time than some, and a lot less time than others to realize that i can be anything i put my mind to, but that the things that matter most are within me. it’s always been a struggle for me to keep my self-esteem from the gutter, but the older i get, the easier it is to say the following:

i am…

kind, loyal, honest, studious, sort of pretty, very loved, funny, talented musically and artistically, observant, reasonable, a loving wife/daughter/sister/niece/aunt/etc, a good cook/baker, well-read, an observer, a thinker, lucky enough to have a large and amazing family…

there are many other things that i am, and many more that i still strive to be. i’m constantly seeking ways to better myself, and chastising myself for being judgmental or bitter on those occasions on which we all are apt to behave this way.

but for now, i am happy with me.

this ring that i wear is a daily reminder of that. the little about-t0-blossom bud on a tiny branch. i know that the older i get, the more experience i have, the more i will blossom and grow.

and that is one of the most beautiful things about life.  :)

download this:  “i & love & you” by the avett brothers

overwhelmed.

things i should be doing right now instead of blogging:

* studying for not only tomorrow’s astronomy test, but also the first astronomy test that i still haven’t made up.

* working on three term papers– two for western civ and one for art history. they’re all due by november 9th. don’t ask me why that’s a magic number, b/c i don’t know. at least, unlike a lot of people, i do my best writing with a strict deadline, so i can actually put those off for a couple more days while i work on the rest of this list…

* my regular art history assignment for the week. good thing it isn’t due til tomorrow night. once i get this astronomy test behind me, i’ll have a little less burden on my shoulders.

* start the new art history assignment. but we’re getting into some really great stuff. we just finished up post-impressionism (toulouse-lautrec, van gogh, gaugin) & the late 19th century. next up is turn of the century art: early picasso, fauvism, expressionism, and matisse. (even though picasso was a big scammer! but i do like matisse.) so far, the chapter on impressionism has been my very favorite. it featured some of my favorite artsts: manet (NOT monet. i don’t care much for his stuff), degas, renoir… and i discovered another new favorite painting:  nocturne in black and gold (the falling rocket) by whistler. this piece was met with great negativity in its time (which was around 1875). critics said it was “unfinished” and looked like whistler threw a pot of paint in the public’s face.  i think there’s something magical about it. this picture doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s the best one i found:

wow, i got sidetracked there. see why i’m overwhelmed? aside from this growing list, i’ve got my ADD tendencies to deal with… back to the list:

* willy said i have to go to the gym three times this week if i want to keep my membership. i’ve been planning on getting my butt back into the gym for months now. i feel ick and definitely don’t look my best… heh… but that weird, rebellious streak in me won’t let me do anything anybody wants me to do. if you really want me to do something, you’ve got to tell me that i can’t do it. then i’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.  ;)

* i need to make up a menu so we can get to the grocery store. we’re running out of the bare bones basics (bread, milk…) and have needed to go to the store for a while, but we’ve scraped by. i just feel like i have too many other things to do to make the damn list!

* write my new chapters. this has to be relegated to the end of the list, though.  :/  it’s more of a treat, i suppose. i really need to get the other things done first. but it’s hard not to jump right into the things you actually *want* to do first! haha.

* get caught up on my sketches for drawing class. we’re supposed to have at least four for each class period. he doesn’t check them often at all, but by the end of the semester we have to have all the sketches done. he gives extra points for extra sketches, and for great quality. i’m just glad i don’t have an at-home assignment this week for drawing! that would just add to the list, and i might just break down, since i find my drawing assignments to be the most challenging, time-consuming, and intimidating.

* do my damn laundry!! holy cow. i’ve got at least two baskets of clean clothes to fold (my most hated chore), and then there’s the mountain of dirty laundry on my bedroom floor…

* clean the rest of my house. good grief, it’s a pig sty. except for the kitchen, because my adorable hubster cleaned it top-to-bottom on sunday.  he even used *bleach* on the countertops. go ahead, ladies. you have my permission to drool and be jealous for a second. okay, that’s enough.

* to top all of this off, we have a thing to do on saturday (if you don’t know what it is, it’s b/c it’s a surprise! lol) which will take up quite a chunk of time, AND …

*NANOWRIMO STARTS ON SUNDAY!!!  eek!  i’ve been looking forward to this for almost a whole year! i’m fairly certain i’ve blogged about it before. but now that it’s getting down to the wire, i’m getting nervous. i’ve got so many other things going on right now! and i’m afraid the plot i choose won’t be good enough, or i won’t have enough in my head to keep going all month, enough words to add up to 50,000 (that’s what the word count of the average novel is)! i’m sure it’ll be fine, though. in all seriousness, it’s only around 1700 words a day, which is actually quite easy peasy for me, but i don’t always feel like writing every day. i’ve been lucky in the past month that i actually have felt like writing a lot. i’ve been a writing machine, and i really hope it lasts throughout november. now, if you feel like you might maybe want to support me a teeny bit and sponsor me on my quest to write the perfect novel (it feels weird to say that…saying i’m writing a “novel” feels like bragging or something…i can’t explain it)…aaanyway, if you might want to donate $10 or so to the cause, hop on over to my page and do it to it! the cause, by the way, is “the office of letters and light“, which brings programs into both schools and adult communities to teach and inspire writing. their young writers’ program is especially awesome! if this had been around when i was in high school, maybe things would have been different for me. maybe i wouldn’t have lost my writing confidence… at any rate, at least check out my page.  :)

and without further ado, here are the ideas for plots for nanowrimo. these ideas were born of my own pretty little head, and while i can’t use all of them for nanowrimo this year, i will more than likely develop them into something sooner or later. so pretty please don’t steal them. if you feel so inclined to vote, just leave a comment here with your favorite plot. here are my ideas:

1. guy is a druggie. guy  meets girl, falls in love, and decides he needs to clean himself up to be “worthy” of her. girl leaves, and guy is so devastated, he goes back to his old ways, even though he doesn’t want to. he sees her face in his mind constantly, and the only thing that can numb the pain is the drugs. this will obviously be angst-filled, and i have to be in an angsty mood to write angst. if i’m not already in that mood, writing angst will put me there. it’s a good excuse to lock myself away for 30 days.  it will also require a lot of research, as i have never been one to touch illegal substances (i was always afraid of getting into trouble! hahaha), and honestly don’t know that much about drug use, etc, aside from what i’ve read or seen in movies. however, i believe that this plot will be easily developed, and a sympathetic character will be easy to form.

2. a superhero realizes that he is losing his powers. he has to adapt to “normal” life. this will obviously be a little bit angsty, but i plan to include humor in it as well. nothing slapstick, though. i hate that. this plot would be a bit more of a challenge for me to develop.

3. guy and girl break up after years of a tumultuous relationship. she leaves for another man. they meet occasionally, sometimes amicably, sometimes not. both feel like their life has no meaning without the other, but they can’t get it together. he feels like he just needs to leave town, or else he’ll just keep reliving their relationship over and over again. i haven’t decided how it would end up, but it would also be very angsty. plot is based on a song by a friend. i was listening to the song when the characters popped into my head to say hello and tell their story. i haven’t written any of it down yet, which makes it eligible for me to use for nanowrimo.

4. a fictional (based on non-fiction) memoir on being a navy wife. it would be humorous but also tell the hardships of a military spouse–finding friends, jobs, home, and then leaving them all multiple times.

5.  a memoir on dating. i have some of this written in my head. it’s actually based on a specific past relationship in my life. it would be humorous with splashes of slight angst here & there.

6. a modern-day telling of cinderella. i know this has been done time & time again, but i don’t like those cheesy ones they made into movies. it would be an actual retelling of the story, only set in modern times, with relevant political and social commentary.

that’s all i’ve got for you. if there’s nothing interesting here, please let me know. my goal is to not only write a novel that satisfies me, but to write something that people will actually want to read. and not just because they know me, but because it’s just good.

okay, i’m buckling down now so i can study for tomorrow’s astronomy test and tackle the rest of this monster of a list. sigh. i’m scared. hold me?

download this:  the new moon soundtrack is amazing! WORLDS better than the twilight soundtrack, which i thought was okay, but a little too…i dunno… pop-ish? preteen-y?  this one is more indie, and has some of my fave bands (death cab for cutie, the killers, grizzly bear, thom yorke of radiohead, band of skulls…)  just click on the link and check it out! “white demon love song” by the killers and “slow life” by grizzly bear are two of my favorites on the album. also, “possibility” by lykke li is beautiful, as well as “all i believe in” by the magic numbers, which is a bonus track i received when i downloaded the album from itunes.

today’s fave etsy item: mermaid corset print by visioluxus

this is my monster list sucking the life out of me. though i don’t have nearly as nice a bod as the chick in this photo! haha

 

pics from the weekend

first of all, here’s a pic from thursday, when foxycleopatra & i went to a charity event at a local salon & paid $10 to get a pink stripe in our hair.

it ended up fading the very next day, so we went to our regular hair stylist to get her to add more pink to it. it’s much more vibrant now. that first day, i didn’t get any comments on it at all. after i got it fixed, people have been telling me everywhere how much they love it!

okay, so here are some pics from our actual trip this weekend. these first couple are of my cousin’s baby, alexis (lexi for short). she is the most adorable little thing, and she is SO. GOOD. she hardly ever cries! she’s so good-natured and alert, always looking around and discovering.

these aren’t the best pics, but they’re the only ones i got a chance to take of us with the baby. anyway, isn’t she so cute?

here are some from the wedding:

my cousin's cutie little boy, dylan, was his best man.

on the way to the wedding

foxycleopatra

the hubster and me at the wedding

the bride & groom's first dance

lexi says "forget the cookie, mom. i want that sweet tea!"

dad, aunt pat, aunt sharon, & uncle bill

foxycleopatra & her feather purse. popular saying of the day: "is that thing alive?"

my aunts dede & pat. aren't they gorgeous?!

my awesome pink tights! i love these things! (please to be ignoring the lint on my dress...)

the groom's cake! it was made by the Cake Boss

silly uncle bill!

cake time!

hmmm...where is that garter?

my little cousin kelly caught the bouquet, and her new cousin caught the garter! too funny!

my cousin mike (the groom) dancing with our aunts!

gorgeous bride macon and her pretty daughter, lacey. they look so much alike!

my sis & i are famous for making up our own words for things, or just naming things in general. for example, our cars. mine is skipper & hers is gilligan (we bought them within a couple of weeks of each other).  we have lots of nicknames for each other. you already know that her name here on my blog is foxycleopatra. it was something she chose out of her head one day–the first thing she said–and i made her keep it. we also started calling each other butch & sundance, but neither one of us wanted to be called “butch”, so i came up with a new one instead, but now i can’t remember what it was! dang it.  we also like to make up our own words, usually by accident. the other day we were in the car, and i was somewhere between saying the s-word, the f-word, and god knows what else. what ended up coming out was “shark” (don’t ask). so that’s our new curse word. ha.

there are lots of things we’ve renamed over the years. one of our favorite shows when we were little was “the cosby show”, but we called it “cosby kids”.  we called “perfect strangers” balki. and i’m pretty sure i’ve mentioned how we call starbucks “warbucks” thanks to our nana.

anyway, my point is that it’s fun. that’s pretty much it. haha.

today we came down to georgia (the savannah area) for our cousin michael’s wedding to his lovely fiancee (now wife), macon. i’ll be posting pictures soonly. it was a lovely wedding, and macon was a beautiful bride! we decided to stay in georgia for the night so we could go out in savannah. we may be going for karaoke, or maybe just to a random bar. who knows?

pictures in a couple of days!

scarf swap!

i was right. the scarf swap was so much fun!  :) to be honest, i’d almost completely forgotten to be on the lookout for my scarf in the mail. i just happened to check the mail on our way out the door to a concert saturday night, and just what did i find there? my new scarf from my swap partner, paige!  so i threw it around my neck, & it made my boring outfit way cuter. it’s so cute– a pretty maroonish color with a very subtle pattern. if only i’d had my camera with me! i did remember to take a quick snapshot on my way out the door when i wore it to school yesterday.

it’s a lucky thing i remembered it yesterday, too! it got pretty windy and verrry rainy when the hubster & i went downtown for a quick trip to urban & then the mellow mushroom for lunch. so my scarf swap partner pagie is mega cool. go check out her blog & see the pretty pictures from her beautiful wedding, and posts of her cutie pie niece.

while i was visiting her blog, i found this, and me being me, i just couldn’t resist:

one letter at a time…

A–age: i’m 28, and i’m staying that way til i turn 30.

B–bed size: king. that’s why we let the dogs sneak into bed with us.

C–chore you hate: LAUNDRY. i hate, loathe, despise, and abominate laundry.

D–dog’s name:  axl and lola

E–essential start-your-day item:  coffee!

F–favorite color:  i love pink.

G–gold or silver or platinum:  platinum, please.

H–height:  5′3″ (i’m rounding up…heh…)

I–instruments you play:  piano & guitar. you didn’t say i had to play them *well* did you? b/c i definitely could use some guitar lessons…

J–job title:  full time student. i’m looking for some part-time work, though. my original plan after quitting real estate was to substitute teach, but how can i get up at 5am when i can’t even sleep at night?

K–kid(s):  none, thanks. maybe one day, but right now, no. we’ll stick with furbabies.

L–living arrangements:  my dogs own a 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home in lovely south carolina, and they allow us to live with them. bless their little hearts.

M–mom’s name:  lisa (same as paige! funny!)

N–nickname(s):  tiff, tiffy, flossy mae (that one’s my papaw’s creation)

O–overnight hospital stay other than birth:  umm…i guess when i was little & had kidney problems. i think i was two.

P–pet peeve:  ignorance.

Q–quote from a movie:  ”letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.”  ~marie antoinette

R–righty or lefty:  righty

S–siblings:  one sister, foxycleopatra. and a brother-in-law (the hubster’s brother).

T–time you wake up:  on mon/wed/fri, i get up at 8:30am for school. tues/thurs i get up whenever i feel like it. i don’t have school til 6pm those days.

U–underwear:  victoria’s secret. today they’re an apricot color with tiny white scrolls all around.

V–vegetable you dislike:  i really love vegetables. i suppose the one i like the least would be cauliflower.

W–ways you run late:  thinking i need less time than i actually do, hitting snooze, waiting on the hubster, forgetting stuff…

X–x-rays you’ve had:  lungs, knee, teeth…i think that’s all.

Y–yummy food you make:  the last thing i made that was really yummy was a chicken soup with pastina. it had a really zingy lemony flavor with spinach and feta, and it’s fairly easy, as it’s made with a rotisserie chicken.

Z–zoo favorite: gorillas & other monkeys. they’re so much fun to watch!! gorillas just look like really furry people when they move around and make gestures & stuff. so fun.

download this:  “angel from montgomery” by john prine (not sung by bonnie raitt. sung by john prine.)  i’ve been listening to this song a lot lately for some reason. then i remembered kristen stewart sings it in “into the wild,” and she does a really good job. it’s a great song.

today’s fave etsy item:  mr. & mrs. scatter pillows by idotakeu. there’ve been so many weddings lately, i figured a wedding-themed item would be good. wouldn’t this be a cute wedding gift? hmm…i’ve another one to attend this saturday…

where are you, fall?!

we’re supposed to reach record highs today. it’s going to be around 90 degrees fahrenheit. yowza. where is our pretty fall weather? i just want to wear my scarves and boots, for crying out loud!

friday five

hearing: “apeman” by the kinks (classic!)

seeing: a lovely, curvy lady evoking bettie page with her pretty curls & short bangs & a flower in her hair.

tasting: a pumpkin muffin & coffee…see? *i* can be autumn-like. why can’t the weather?

feeling: warm sunshine on my back.

smelling: someone’s perfume. not sure what it is.

tonight is dinner with our good friends & their two little boys. after the kiddos are in bed, the wine & conversation will flow. maybe a game of hearts or something. good times.

download this:  “the big mistake” by the inlaws. they’re a local band made up of some of my favorite local musicians. their record release was last saturday, and it was great. i can’t stop listening to the album.

today’s favorite etsy item:  a valentine that the hubster would most definitely give to me, by owlypuppetshadows