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

scarf swap! and friday five

i stole the above picture from my friend katie’s blog. another katie that i don’t really know, but whose blog i read, is combining some of the most fun things ever:  lovely scarves, fun mail, and new friends. she’s hosting a scarf swap!  go to her blog, loves of life, to find out more! am i signed up for this swap? you bet your sweet bippy i am!

i signed up for the scarf swap yesterday, and it must be kismet, because look what i got in my email today!

pretty sweet, huh?  i was excited before, but now i’m super excited.

in other news, the starbucks next to my school is beginning to feel like a second home to me. i like it better than the one on main street for these reasons:

1. the people are nicer

2. they play better music most of the time

3. there are four times more comfy chairs

4. duh, it’s next to my school.

and now for a friday five, which i’ve neglected for quite some time, as i haven’t been blogging as much as i’d like…

hearing:  clinking of dishes, and clair de lune, one of the best classical pieces of all time. so beautiful.

smelling:  sweet nectar of the gods

tasting:  banana chocolate vivanno smoothie. yummmm.

feeling:  tension in my jaw, b/c i unconsciously clench my jaw when i’m concentrating on something

seeing: a girl with a cute haircut! (i just looked up to see what i could see)

download this:  empty, by ray lamontagne

(i really wanted “be here now”, but it wasn’t on myspace. definitely check it out if you haven’t heard it. actually, my advice is to just download both albums, gossip in the grain and til the sun turns black.  they’re beautiful, and i love *every* song. that doesn’t happen with very many albums at all.)

today’s favorite etsy item:   handmade vintage journal by stories divinations.  i think this is a really cool idea, making journals/sketchbooks, etc. by rebinding vintage books, especially french ones, b/c i love anything french.  :)

color, color everywhere!

1. First Color you see in the morning?
i suppose it depends on what color my pillow case happens to be that day: burgundy, blue, lavender…

2. what color are your eyes?

they’re a weird blue/gray/green. i suppose it depends on what i’m wearing, but i love it when they look bright blue, like in this picture.

what color do you wear the most

black and dark grey. i just feel most confident in black, and i feel like it’s classic, a la audrey hepburn.

4 what color do you never wear ?
brown. i feel like it washes me out, and blends too much with my brownish hair.

5 what color do you wear when you want to feel sexy
red. most definitely red.

6 what color gets you the most compliments
yellow

7 what color is your lipstick
the three i use most often:  dior havana biege, illamasqua test, and nars blonde venus

8 what color was your living room when you were growing up?
it was a country blue and white/cream, with touches of cranberry. (this isn’t it, but isn’t it pretty?)

9. what color was your bedroom when you were growing up?
dusty pink, to match the heinous pink carpet.

10. what color are your sheets?
usually a cranberryish color. but sometimes they’re blue or lavender.

11.what color was your favorite crayon as a child?

pink! like betsey johnson’s apartment, which i would LOVE to have.

12. what color is your car ?
silver

13. what color was your prom dress ?
i didn’t go to prom, but i’d like to think i would’ve had a dress like this:

14. favorite gemstone
my birthstone, topaz (or citrine), but set in white gold or platinum. it’s more striking that way.

15. Favorite flower ?

hydrangea. SO gorgeous.

16. what color makes you the happiest?
i love bright colors! to pick one, i’ll go with a bright, caribbean blue-green.

17.what color depresses you?

dreary gray. but a dreary gray day is perfect for being lazy, so i do appreciate them from time to time.

18. what color calms you?
light blue

19. what color makes you grind your teeth?

neon green.

20. what color would you like to try but are scared to ?

i’m definitely not a person who is afraid of color.  i love colorful things!  :)

my ten things.

my pal lindsay was inspired by another friend to write up a list of ten things she wants to do in her lifetime, and has challenged others to do the same. so, without further ado, here i go…

one. i want to travel the world. this is a huge dream of the hubster’s & mine. it would be so amazing to see every major city, but that’s a quite lofty aspiration when you have limited fundage! our must-sees are: paris, london (& the english countryside), scotland, ireland, amsterdam, barcelona, italy (rome, venice, tuscany…), greece, morocco, austria, germany, switzerland (i’ve been to those last three, & i want to share the beautiful places i saw with my hubby now!), thailand, japan, australia, new zealand, south africa… & there are *so* many more.

two. finish my bachelor’s degree, & i’m well on my way to this one. fall semester starts monday! a bit nervous, a lot excited, i’m taking astronomy 102 (stellar), western civ (up to the 1600s), art history 108 (renaissance through modern), and drawing 1. the most exciting part about this semester is that i’m actually starting to take classes that have to do with my major, which is studio arts.  spring semester will entail my first photography class, and mayhaps my first painting class! it hasn’t escaped my notice that exactly ten years ago i was moving into the dorms at college of charleston… but i wouldn’t change a single thing about my life. i’m happy that i’m able to finish my degree as an adult, knowing myself much better than i did ten years ago, & extremely happy & excited to be learning about things that i truly love.

three. sell a piece of my own artwork.

four. take our niece to disney world! it’s truly a magical, happy place, but i think it will be even more fun & exciting taking a kid there for the first time. she just turned six, so she’s finally at that age where she’ll enjoy & maybe even remember it.

five.  have my whole house decorated by myself. there are *so* many things i want to do to my house, but i don’t really have the resources. for one, we’re always spending money doing other fun things. and right now, we’re saving up for two big trips. but now that i know myself better & know my tastes in things like fashion, art, & decor, i can’t wait to make my house look exactly like i want. this probably won’t actually happen til the next time we move, though, b/c we won’t be in this house forever, & it needs to stay pretty neutral so we won’t have to do tons of work on it whenever we decide to sell it.

six. teach someone something significant.

seven. learn how to play the guitar well. i mean, i know the basics, because the hubster & i took lessons when we lived in virginia. but i can’t even make a chord without looking at the strings & a book.

eight. lose all the weight i’ve gained (& then lost & then gained & then lost, etc) since we’ve been married. seriously ridiculous.

nine. actually sit down & have that big talk. i’m not going to say “have babies”, because we honestly still don’t know if we want to, & we’re both completely fine with that right now. i’m only 28 (er…and three-quarters…), so we’ve got a few years to figure it out. but one day we’ll actually have a serious talk about it without dissolving into teasing & giggles & “ewwwwww”s. (yeah, so we’re still kind of immature at heart. nothing wrong with that.)

ten. open a coffee shop. this is my latest dream. our five-year plan *may* include moving elsewhere, but if it doesn’t end up being so, then my ten-year plan includes opening up an ubercool coffee shop. there isn’t anyplace cool in summerville to go. there’s nothing for us younger people to do here. and there’s especially nowhere for teenagers to hang out. so i seriously want to open up a coffee shop with comfy sofas & chairs, huge floor pillows, fairy lights, free-trade coffee, homemade snacks, cool music, and awesome art on the walls. i’d allow members of the community to hang their art on the walls & advertise them & hopefully sell them. and we’d be open late so there’d be somewhere to go after the bars close. i’m fully aware that it would take a *lot* of work, time, & funding. but i think it would be awesome.

so there’s my list of ten things to accomplish before i die. what’s yours?

two lists.

things that suck

*sneezing right after i put on my mascara, giving me racoon eyes

*muffin top–HAVE to get in shape before the january cruise!

*some of the photos i had printed didn’t turn out that well, & i’m rethinking showing them at the art show on friday…

*um, the fact that AXL JUST BIT ME!!! i was trying to give him a piece of pickle, & he just bit the crud out of my fingers.

*my legs are starting to peel. grrrosssss.

*my tummy feeling weird all day today

things that don’t suck

*my new hair color!

*dollar night at the bowling alley with great friends

*watching “king of the hill” at night

*i wanted a grilled cheese, but thought we didn’t have any cheese. then when i looked in the fridge i found a whole, brand new pack of provolone! mmm.

*the fact that MY BEST FRIEND CANDACE IS PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! therefore, i’m going to be an aunt!

download this:  she moves in her own way by the kooks. i absolutely adore the kooks. they’re so awesome, & their accents are swoon-worthy. while you’re at it, check out the rest of their music!

today’s fave etsy item:  zipper brooches by designer playground. check out the shop. there’s a lot of really cool, unique stuff there! even some bracelets made from zippers, and some really cool t-shirts & bags. all very affordable!

ugh.

i just read this in glamour magazine (my favorite magazine besides lucky!):

“nearly two thirds of men surveyed chose a new video game over sex with their girlfriends.”

RIDICULOUS. what does this say about our society?

discuss amongst yourselves…

p.s. i’m in myrtle beach! hee.