Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Dear Blog,

I've decided that I am a person who doesn't really like smart phones.  They're nice, I guess, but they make me claustrophobic and make my thumbs hurt. This is the reason I haven't blogged in literally months. I'm sorry! If you are reading this because you're still following me, send me your address and I will send you a big thanks because that is amazing.

Despite how it may seem, I don't intend to abandon the blog. I intend to sell the smart phone and buy a laptop and chronicle my adventures with you because wow, I am having some adventures. Did you know I had one peanut butter cup and two heath bars today? AND shaved my legs?

Anyway, the thing is I do have an exciting thing going on with my life and I want you to know I'll be back soon. Promise.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Things I think about.

So sometimes I sit and I think about things I want to do. Mostly it's just silliness and daydreaming. Or it's all silliness and daydreaming, most of the time.

But the thing is, I used to want to be a photographer. And every now and then I see real photographers' photographs and think "Well, I can probably do that."  (I probably can't. That's not the point, but next to it. It's beside it.)  But I have this thing where I don't like to do the same thing that a lot of other people are doing, and there are A LOT of photographers in Utah. (Maybe other places too? I just live here.)  I mean, I personally know 3.  Which seems like a high percentage to me, considering the number of people I actually know.

And the other thing is, I think a lot of photography - wedding, family, baby - is really boring. Even the cute stuff, there's just so much of it that even THAT is getting boring. 

So all of this is just a round about way of getting to me saying, Sometimes I think about being a photographer but I would only do totally weird, ridiculous, completely ultra non-traditional photography. If people wanted only all the classic poses they would know not to come to me. They would only come to me if they wanted a picture of them having a mud fight on their wedding day, or doing handstands in every picture, or...I don't know, that's all I can come up with. Told you I wouldn't be very good.

Which is why I'll never be a photographer.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Thoughts

Life leads me to all kinds of contemplation.  Like, why do I get a headache after watching too much tv?  And is there a trend with people generally having more problems with their right knee than their left because of walking on the right side of the road? Things like this.

But also, let's be serious. My new job affords me more time to watch tv and browse magazines, and Twitter ushers into my life the awareness of what famous people are doing with themselves, and can you keep a secret?  Sometimes I wonder if maybe I haven't done things quite right and maybe I should have tried to be one of those people.  (Not like I've got the talent or anything but this is my fantasy anyway, so let me have my fun.)  And I get a little, you know, because I haven't written The Novel or didn't move to New York to study musical theatre and haven't started my own business or gone to law school, and maybe I'm a dud in some way.

And then I turn off the tv, because I am of the opinion that too much of studying other peoples' lives leads one to forget their own.  And truth be frankly told, I'm privileged to come to work every day and be the caretaker of this sweet little girl and someday my own spawn, and I've always thought that that was the most important. And I've still got a few plans and dreams up my sleeve.

I'm also of the opinion that one must not do only ONE THING in life and that the journey is a very long one and just because we're not doing some thing RIGHT NOW means we never will. I mean, you know?

And that's my philosophy for the day.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Things

Tony and I are seated upon our living room furniture, eagerly awaiting for my father to come pick us up so we can head off into the majestic wild wilderness of Burley, Idaho for a family reunion.

That's what we're doing, but my tongue and my stomach are enjoying one of the most important groups on the food pyramid: fresh homemade caramel popcorn.  1000 mouthfuls = 1 serving size.

You know what else I think? I think if the kitten wants to play in his letterbox, I say let him. Just don't let him walk on your face when he's done. Last night when he was trying to wiggle his way nose-first into my nostril I thought, "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

Please don't tell my dentist I'm eating all this caramel popcorn. I do so love it when he's not disappointed in me.

Before I go, I want to formally welcome my newest readers and tell them I think they're beautiful and lovely in all ways, much like the dear Suzy of Suzy and the Skyscrapers who referred them to me.  I'm sorry Suzy for not linking to you, but well does anyone else feel terribly claustrophobic on these phone thingies? I feel like I can't do anything. So i'll link to you when I next use a real computer.

Much love, the Management

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Sometimes

Sometimes I don't know if I'm a serious person, or the other kind.
Most of the time I feel like a lot of different kinds of people and sometimes I have a hard time choosing which one I'm going to be right now.
I guess I'm okay with the complexity, cause what if I was stuck with Serious all the time?

That would be lame.


Sunday, July 3, 2011

I just spent 10 minutes trying to take a good picture of my feet to show off my pedicure (Me?  A pedicure?  I know, right!) before I realized that feet are just weird looking.  Especially mine.  But I'm okay with it.

I'm babysitting tonight and when I got here Star Wars was already playing.  I feel so at home!  And also my work is half done.

Happy 4th y'all.  There were fireworks last night at the highschool down the street, so Tony climbed on the roof to watch them, but I was stuck inside on the couch with some bizzaro itchy leg problem.  It made me sad to miss fireworks with him, but I guess they and him and our roof will still be around next year.

Well, my chinese food just arrived and, well, you know how it is.

P.S.  RIP Yoda.


Friday, June 24, 2011

kitty cat

Breaking blogio silence to say:

I got a droid. Not a real one, just one of those phone things. You know.

Also, we got another kitten. He's black, and tiny, and has a crooked tail. We're thinking of naming him Toothless, after the dragon. YOU know.

And that's all! For now.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I am always right.

Once upon a time, we got married and needed a couch.  So we bought a used one, for $70, and it was hideous.


 Then we bought a house, and decided we should be sophisticated and try to not have anymore very ugly furniture -- only marginally ugly.  So we decided to move the Old Couch down into the basement (which is another issue ENTIRELY.  Tony wants to turn our small, cold, stony, leaky, smelly, spidery, horror-movie-set of a basement into a guest bedroom/hang out spot, and well have you seen our basement??  No, probably not.  I should take a picture to show you except the picture wouldn't turn out because you can't take pictures of ghosts, which is what I'm pretty sure our basement is, primarily.)

Anyway, the conversation went something like this:

Tony: I want to put the couch in the basement.
Me: WHY.
Tony: Because I could play video games down there!
Me: A demon will possess you if you spend more than 10 minutes down there at a time.  Also spiders will bite you.
Tony: You are a weirdo.
Me: Need I remind you how you made me go with you to turn out the basement light after we moved in because you were too scared to go alone?
Tony: Help me put the couch in the basement.
Me: It's not going to fit.
Tony: Yes it is.



Tony: It's going to fit.


Tony: I promise it's going to fit.


Tony: ALRIGHT.  You win.  Help me pull it up.
Me: I can't, I have to document how much this couch was never going to fit in the basement.


Tony: Now it's a fort!

This pen we've never seen before emerged from the depths of the couch after all the severe jostling it went through.  We've had the couch for a little over a year and never discovered it before.  I wonder what else is hiding in there.


At any rate, we moved in a futon we had from another room and now our living room is looking much better, in my opinion.  I told Tony he could put some folding chairs in the basement.


No part of the house is completely put together yet, but I prettied up the living room bookshelves a little.



And here's some paper carnations I made, using muffin liners.  Probably the easiest thing in the world, and very pretty.


I love these little adventures so much I could puke.

Friday, June 3, 2011

The one in which I whine a lot.

I'm having an Ugly Day.  I could really go for some more ice cream.  Instead I'm making bacon in the microwave.

I really need a haircut.  I need to know what to do with these BANGS.

I need to go camping, have barbecues, pool parties.  I need a mini vacation.  I need some sun.

I need to clean my house big time.


This is the dice we bought for our pen-and-paper game we started playing with some friends.  Yes, we are total nerds.

I'm going to a water aerobics class with a friend tomorrow.  I'll probs look like an idiot, but what else is new.


Maya wants to say hi too.


She's such a hosebeast.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Sharing some good advice #2

When your husbands go shooting with their buddy all weekend without you YET AGAIN, it's time to go get yourself some ice cream.


This is Cotton Candy + Mint, and I don't want to hear one word out of your mouth until you run to your local Cold Stone and try it.  I'm serious.  Also, it does wonders for your PMS; it may even save your cat's life.

I spent a large part of my day watching an America's Next Top Model marathon, which is so not my kind of show and yet I couldn't turn it off.  I spent another part of my day going for a long walk and my wonderful Birkenstock's gave me blisters.  Tony comes home with gashes and fingernails missing and doesn't notice, but I've been limping all around the house because of two tiny blisters, and I ask you is it really so fair for husbands to go on so many adventures without their wives?  No.  The answer is no.  Goodnight.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Pictures from the Weekend

It's still technically the weekend, but I doubt anything truly photoworthy will be happening twixt now and midnight, so let's clean off the phone, shall we?


 I spent at least 2 min. of my Friday curling my hair, and not Windexing my bathroom mirror.

I have the smelliest (in a good way) roses this side of my backyard fence.

I wore my first headband since elementary school to dinner w/ Tony and my dad last night, and still have not cleaned the mirror.

While sandal shopping yesterday, I happened across these little gems and had myself a good chuckle.  By Skechers.

And finally, my "big girl" shoes.  Never thought of myself as a Birkenstock lass, but there ya go.  It's a matter of my fact that i have very funky feet and just maybe they will be friends with these sandals.

So there's that.  If you're in Salt Lake City, I suggest you ditch the rain by making chocolate chip cookies in your dry, warm kitchen.  Share the cookie dough with your husband only if he deserves it especially.

Friday, May 27, 2011

2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven.

You know what I like?  I like shopping.  I loooove shopping.  (I don't like spending money, but we're not talking about that.)

I am not usually the kind of person who can tandem shop, unless it's just for funsies.  I am super picky about my clothes and most things, and I'm really indecisive, and when I'm with other people I usually get all flustered and either buy something I don't really like or buy nothing at all -- and those are the two things you just don't want to do when you go shopping!  So sometimes my idea of fun and relaxing is to hit up the mall all by mahself. 

I like Forever 21, because it's a sign unto me that the Universe is a happy place when there are $2.50 necklaces for me to buy.  It's impossible to say no. 

Today I went with the intent to find something "pretty" and "girly" for my hair, because as it turns out...I don't have hair accessories that are either of those.  Sometimes I think I must have missed the seminar that every other girl went to in their tweens that taught them how to be a proper girl, like how to put your hair in a messy bun and how to do your makeup so you don't always look like you just fell out of bed.  I would get an F on these things.

You know where I would shop if I were a rich person?  Urban Outfitters.  I just, I would. 

And if anyone knows where a girl with ultra wide feet and ultra high arches can get a cute pair of sandals, would you just let me know already?

I'm determined to go swimming this summer.  So a friend and I went swimsuit shopping, and this is what I bought myself:

'Cept I got the yellow boy shorts instead. Lime Ricki has the cutest suits.

Aaanywaaays. 

I quit my job.  Did you know that I had a job?  I worked in a daycare, in a classroom of 8 toddlers.  But not longer, because ! I have a new job.  As a private nanny.  For one (that's right, one (1)), infant.  In case you don't know kids, this will be a huge change.  I start Monday.  Excited, yes.  Already missing my toddlers?  Ohh man. 

So, sorry for the blog neglect.  Part of it is due to the state of my craft room, in which the computer resides.  Our stuff is still largely boxed up, and I don't know, I guess my mojo has just felt like hibernating.  My attention span has been mostly Tumblr-sized.

I hope all y'all have a happy Memorial Day!

p.s.  Just watch this.  Just do it.  Business Time

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Anyone else have a chuckle when they found out Lindsey was the boy and Stevie the girl? I did.

I do hope you'll forgive me for all the fluffy, non-wordy, especially video-y posts I've been turning out lately.  Something about, something, I don't know, in the water?  ...What are we talking about again?  Apparently my brain is not nearly the insomniac that my body is.

Here's a song!  I'm a little ashamed that I found this thanks to Glee, but really why haven't I heard this song before?  I think it's beautiful.



It's just, like...so beautiful.  And cool.  Cool and beautiful.  And neat. 

Let's not ruin this with a lot of talk, k?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Dude.



Lately I've been feeling a lot like this:




Summer better make up for the Spring we got screwed out of.

Monday, May 16, 2011

I am not made for solitude anymore.

So as it turns out, I went to Wal-Mart today.  I want to say something about Wal-Mart, but as it also turns out, Wal-Mart holds no enchantments for me today.  Except for how swimsuits and lawnmowers are being sold under the same roof, along with bleach and beef jerky and plastic flower pots.  I got some, by the way.

Bleh.  This post hold no enchantments for me right now.

Each time I happen to be in a grocery store checkout line, I receive the opportunity to further deepen my suspicions that Paula Deen is no longer real.


She must be a robot somehow.

Did you know that snapdragons are NOT perennials?  I did not know this!  Wal-Mart told me this.  That store is always telling me things I'm not sure I wanted to know.  Like a bag of tortilla chips for $3.00?  Please, I'm better off not knowing.

Antonio is gone til Thursday, which means my brain no longer understands Time and lets me stay up much past my bedtime.  When you work with children you must NEVER DO THIS.  Because they can tell as soon as you walk in that you are not prepared to deal with shenanigans, and they will pay particular attention to the giant wooden blocks they're not allowed to play with, and other such examples of blatant troublemaking.  Crying out suddenly in their sleep during naptime?  Causing your heart to explode with the suddenness and causing all their classmates to begin ominously rolling and tossing about in their cots and it's only 1:30!  Do you think they know they're doing this and why?  You bet they do.  They feed off your exhaustion.

Kitties Who Once You Lovingly Applied Eyedrops To and Evil Realtors also know how to sour your stayed-up-too-late-and-slept-with-no-husband mood. 

Days like these require one to shove all the fresh vegetable fixings for what promises to be a righteous salad in the fridge and have Corn Pops for dinner instead.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sharing some good advice

Una Bella Vita had the absolute best idea today.  It is this:



Turn up your volume and dance, you silly people!  And no chair dancing; you must get off your hiney and actually dance.  I recommend a good booty shake to this particular song.

I promise you will feel 10,000,000 times better about life.

Monday, May 9, 2011

I'll talk, but I don't promise to make sense.

First, there is this, which is that moment when you're reading a book and you read a sentence that contains the title of the book.

Secondly, one of my favorite blogs I follow is written in French.  I don't have any idea what any of it says, but I think it's a design blog and really, how many of those can you have before throwing up?  (Answer: I don't know, but I haven't gotten there yet.)  But it has the prettiest pictures.  It is here.

If you must know, I was asked to speak in church on Sunday, and I am in the process of procrastinating preparing for it.  Do you know I haven't spoken in church since highschool?  And that the last time I spoke in front of anybody at church I almost fainted?  So in the midst of my procrastination, I am trying to change my perspective.  I am trying to turn my fear and apprehension of talking in front of a congregation into glee at the realization that a room full of people are obligated to listen to me for at least 10 minutes, and I can tell them any dang thing I want.  Would it be inappropriate to just quote Saturday Night Live skits the whole time?

I want you all to know that I made a really good mix cd the other day.  For springtime.  It's probably my favorite so far, because I've been listening to it on hard repeat in my car for days.  If I could burn you all a copy and send it to you I would, but you'll just have to be content with the playlist:

  1. Rolling In The Deep - Adele
  2. Shadow Stabbing - Cake
  3. Garden Grove - Sublime
  4. Promises - Eric Clapton
  5. Silver Stallion - Cat Power
  6. I'm Not Calling You a Liar - Florence & the Machine
  7. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? - Jimi Hendrix
  8. Redundant - Green Day
  9. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
  10. Love or Prison - Blonde Redhead
  11. Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie
  12. Cold Shoulder - Adele
  13. By The Way - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
  14. Dog Days Are Over - Florence & the Machine
  15. Ain't No Rest For the Wicked - Cage the Elephant

 Feel free to make your own, cause you know it's good listening.

Okay, time to get down to business.

Friday, May 6, 2011

You say you need a little of my ooh-la-la

I've been having Fridays off of work lately (I know you think I'm going to link to a song, but I'm not.  And I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.)  And lately on my Fridays off, I've been a big fat bag of slugs, as to my productivity.  Meaning, my couch is my best friend (and my most bitter enemy.)  I'm not even going to tell you how long its been since dishes got done around here.

But the point is that today was slightly better, in that I managed to wake, shower, and get dressed in something other than old jeans and an old t-shirt and even do my hair kind of, and get out of the house by noon.  Well, noonish.  I took the pup on a walk to the park down the street, the one with all the ducks and the river and the bags for your dog's poop.  And we plopped ourselves down on a shady bench and we read our book, oh yes we did.  I would like to point out that it's a matter of some significance to me that there was shade to be had AND needed.  Looks like the weather finally realized that it's May.  Yeah, it's about time.

Well, after that it was obviously time to go look for some rose bushes to plant.  Because last night we had dinner with some of my family, and I was telling them of my love for roses and how I greatly desire to have some in my very own yard.  And one of my aunts, who is gracious and beautiful and fair in all ways, handed me money with which to buy a rose bush.  For an early birthday present!  My birthday is forever away!  I am clearly the favorite child of the universe, yesterday.

So today I girded up my loins and went to a local nursery.  Because I am a girl who's name is on a mortgage contract, because I am a girl who knows she loves roses and knows she must have them, and I have joined the ranks of gardeners.  Only once I passed over the nursery threshold and beheld the many much flowers that exist in the world and the varying degrees of sunlight they all need and the particular conditions they prefer their soil to be and how thirsty or not they are and suddenly I'm feeling very full of humble pie.  I texted Tony: "Dude...I don't know jack about gardening."

So I guess I'm going to learn, slowly.

More importantly, look what I found.


Tell me that doesn't make you think of this:



Anyway, at the end of the day we have five rose bushes of our very own sitting in our backyard, waiting to be planted somewhere.  And I hope to get many more, eventually.  Robin McKinley will want to write a fairytale about me by the time I'm done.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

the one about the thing

I tried being witty and using a Friends-like title for this post like all the cool kids do, but you can see how that went.  We painted the bathroom today,  I guess I'm a little fumey?  Anyway, you'll see more about that later, sometime.

Nowtime, I'm going to talk about things for my bathroom wall.  I was sitting in the bathroom one eve, contemplating what should be going on in there.  Decoratively, you know.  It was difficult to imagine anything but Decayed Exoskeleton Mud when that's the only color you can see, but I was trying to picture something lighter, airier -- maybe even, white!  Yes it's true!  Boring white walls are what I wanted!  Now that that was decided, I thought I would like something artsy for the walls.  Graphic, if you will?  Originally I thought something organic, with lots of calligraphic line and more or less monochromatic.  Like flowers.  Orange flowers, maybe.  And then I browsed Etsy for ideas, and remembered how much I like typography.

So I don't want to pay $35 for a typography print someone made on their computer, when actually I can make something on my computer.  So I borrowed a few ideas and changed them up some and came up with a few designs.

First there are these, and I can't decide which one I like better, or if any at all.  Can you?


The idea made me laugh at first, but I think I don't really love it enough.  So then I made this, which I do love and which we will probably print out somehow and hang on our bathroom wall:


Now before anyone freaks out, I stole the idea from a talented Etsy seller named Handz, but I like my version better, and I'm not going to be selling this or anything.  Seriously though, check out Handz because I want every other print in that shop.

And that is all.  When the paint is dry and our bathroom is put back together, I'll share some boring before/after pictures which with hope will portray the vast difference in lightness and airiness. 

Love to your mother.

Friday, April 29, 2011

This is ranunculous.

I'm feeling bored today.  But bored in the sense that I want to do something.  I think Maya is too, because wherever I went in the house she managed to be sitting directly in front of my feet, so close to me that when she looked up she had to lean backwards.  And she had that expectant look on her face, you know how dogs do.  So I let her outside and stood on the deck and watched as she ran for about 20 minutes without stopping.  The sun was shining.  And then it started to snow.  INSULTINGLY.

I'm not doctor (aren't I?) but I just diagnosed us with Spring Fever.  Or maybe Cabin Fever.  I'm not sure if there's a difference.  It's probably for the best that I'm not a doctor.

My brain wants to do things but my body doesn't.  I was thinking I might want to crochet, but my fingers are feeling rather more atrophied than not today, so then I thought I might want to put on some music and clean the house, but...well, the mountains are looking very mountainous today, aren't they?  Full of rock, and hillside.  So you can see how my thinking is going these days.

I'm interested in flowers lately.  I like how when you go outside you smell not only just air, but also other things, things that seem pleasant and warm and colorful, and it takes you a moment to remember that flowers have a smell and that yes, you like flowers.  So I put them in my house.


Today would seem like a good day to wander a place where there are flowers you can buy and then plant in your yard.  They have stores like that, right?  Flower stores?  Do they ship?  Actually it seems like some sort of crime to me to have to buy flowers, so if anyone knows of a place I can go to just get flowers, would you please let me know?  If anyone has a rosebush they don't want anymore, I'll come with a shovel.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

House We Own Tour

As promised, albeit late, here's some true before pictures of our new house.  These were taken by I-don't-know-who, before we bought it.  We're still not even close to being fully moved in, but I was thinking of taking my own pictures with our own stuff in it anyway.  We got some paint swatches the other day to hang up everywhere to help us decide what colors we want, but I get the feeling painting is a ways off yet.

Anyhoodle, here's the front door.


Someone told me it looks like a gingerbread house, and I've learned I'm okay with that.  Most importantly, do you see the trees?  Trees are important things to have around. 

Here's the front from the other side, and our garage. (!)



Front/living room, and also the kitchen:





Our cabinets are green, and I'm pretty much in love with the kitchen.  The pictures don't show the windows that look on the backyard, but they're big and they're beautiful, and there's tons of light in there in the daytime.  Probably because we don't have curtains, anywhere.

I know pictures of empty rooms are boring and make no visual sense, but for the sake of documentation, here's our bedroom and the "extra" bedroom:




The paint color doesn't look too bad in these, but I promise it's dreadful in person.  It has this way of sucking up all the light and tricking your eyes into thinking they've gone colorblind, because there is no name for this color.  Mud Vomit?  Orc Skin?  The important thing is that everything is painted this color, and that includes the ceilings in the whole house.  Our desire to repaint is basically a living thing.

Last but not least, our very own backyard.  :)



It's funky in that it's long and narrow, and wonderful in that it exists.  It has grass and flowers and trees and a fence, and Maya is like a puppy reborn when she's running around in it.

So.  We have lots of plans, but since it's OUR house and we don't plan on going anywhere any time soon, we don't mind fleshing things out slowly.  And we love it. 

Toothaches and video games and such

I'm sorry for my lack of activity round these parts.  I've been more or less inhabiting this state of not wanting to flesh out any thoughts beyond Facebook status updates.  Sentences, people, not paragraphs.  This is the place I'm in at the moment. 

Speaking of the moment, I just tried out this oatmeal recipe found here for dinner, and I'm abouts ready to write a song in its praise even thought I don't know how to do that.  It's like if Christmas mated with a warm summer morning and also a hug. 

If you would like to know the reason I'm eating something mushy (so wonderfully, wonderfully mushy) for the dins, it's because one or more of the teeth in my mouth has turned into raw, exposed nerves.  At least that's what it feels like, and it's probably true to some degree.  It's been hurting for a while, but today I came home in tears because these things have a way of reaching a head.  I've got a dentist appointment for tomorrow with some dude I've never been to before cause my regular dentist is ON VACATION.  These things should not be allowed.  Neither should dental bills.  Anyway, seriously go and make that oatmeal, because it's frickin' tasty.

Tony's still hogging the tv, so I'm whiling away the time in the other room, listening to some Adele, some Cage the Elephant, some reggae and some Daft Punk, because what else are you gonna do?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Dude.

If you're like me, your husband bought Portal 2 on the day it came out (today) and has been hogging it and the tv and therefore the entire living room all day.  If you've never played Portal, you should know it's a puzzle game, and I ask you what is the joy of a puzzle game if it is not solving the puzzles on your own?  Exactly.  So I can't watch him play, I can't hang out with him, I can't even be within earshot.  Until he's done.
And however long that will be is just too long.

So.

To kill my own time I'm sitting here sipping on some tea, realizing that I've officially stayed up later than I would have had I been playing my own game and I don't even know why.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Arts I Like

I don't have much to say at the moment.  But as matter of inspiration, I just updated my desktop background with an image I've loved long time from an artist I've loved long time.


Click for full-size.  Click this to see the artist, James Jean.

Happy saturday, folks.  We got a kitty, so I've been spending the morning pushing him off the keyboard.

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Point of Random Interest

Just realized I've done two paintings which are basically the same.  (For people who art more often than I, this may not be a matter of import, but...well, I art seldom these days.)


Guess I'm trying to tell myself something?

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Most Annoying Sound in the World

So, I decided to let you in on some of the fun we've been having.

Our fridge isn't broken in the sense that it's not keeping our food cold enough (which it is, barely), but in the sense that this is what it sounds like all day:

Oh Snap! I'm Back!

Well hello!

I was gone for a while.  If I lost any readers due to these weeks of inactivity, let me just say I don't blame you one bit.  In fact, as I scrambled within my alotted 30 minutes-per-weekday of internet time whilst our home computers were in boxes to get through all the daily posts of blogs I read, I had to cut back.  As in stop reading some of them.  Permanently.  And some of these were blogs I've been reading since the dawn of me reading blogs!  It's a little big of a big deal!  Okay so maybe more of a medium deal, unless you're talking to Tony, in which he would say "Blogs are stupid, hurr hurr hurr."

Anyway, where was I?  That's right, boxes.

People, we just moved into our new house.  And it's been a candy-filled boatride of adventure, LET ME TELL YOU.  Actually I don't want to tell you all about it, because a) it's probably boring for you and b) I'm sick of talking about it.  Suffice to say we bought what we thought was a house "in good condition" when actually it needs a new top and a bunch of new insides.  Right about now is when you start to wonder if maybe your sister deciding to go into Real Estate Law is in fact divine intervention?  (Hmmm!)  (Thanks Kari!!!!)

But that's enough of that.  I just realized I'm two paragraphs into this post and don't actually have any pictures of the new house ready to show to you.  Drat!  Here wait, lemme grab my phone. 


Calm down, I know it's exciting.  This is a picture of the chair in our living room in front of our window that does not have any covering of any kind on it, much like 90% of all the windows in the house.  (Sorry, neighbors!  Please don't mention that you've probably seen me naked next time you see me at church, k?) 

Like has been mentioned afore, much of our life is still in box form.  It seems the "settling in" process will be a protracted one.  As an example, I'm waiting to really start thinking about decorating because first we want to repaint everything because seriously you guys should see what color this place is painted.  I can only describe it as "bug throw-up."

The thing is, I miss blogging.  I know Tony probably thinks it's dumb, but the blog world makes me feel kinda connected and like I know people even though I'm shy and awkward in the real world, and there are some terribly hilarious people out there and ,you know, I like to laugh.  In other news, I like sunshine.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Give me a house already.

Rule #1:  When cute little girls look up at you with arms outstretched and a "comfort me" look on their face, pick them up and cuddle them.

Rule #2:  Always aim her away from your body in case she throws up on you.

Addendum to Rule #2:  If you fail to do this, go home from work early because you smell like puke.


(I'm blogging about this because I have nothing else to talk about.)

Unless you want to see some pictures of our Happy Anniversary sushi date?



Perhaps my New Year's resolution should have been to try and get Tony to smile in pictures.

Anyway; 1 year down, at least 5 more to go.

--------------------------------

P.S.  Suzy asked if I drew the header in my picture.  I did, in fact.  There's a link around here somewhere to my DeviantArt account if anyone's interested, though I don't claim to be amazing at the arts.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

World's Worst Home Tour

DISCLAIMER:
So, as I was transferring these pictures from the camera to the computer, I thought to myself "Kayla...really?  Do you really want to do this?"  Because, you see, these are not pictures of the classy, inspiring, decorated home.  These are pictures of the home that has been almost completely neglected for about 2 weeks.  You see, I've had a bunch of weeknight classes for my job so I've been getting home late, and what with all this homebuying business (it's c-r-a-z-y!), our little house has been merely the place we come to at the end of the day to sleep in.  Laundry's barely gotten done (and certainly not put away), dishes forgotten, clutter ignored.

But maybe a little brazen honesty is a good thing?  I'll admit our house has never been what I wanted it to be, because a) it's a rental, and b) this has been a nutty year anyway.  All our furniture is mismatched, I haven't hung curtains anywhere, and we're still trying to figure out how we want everything anyway.  However, our place usually does look better than it does in these photos.  Alright, not much.  At least try and picture it cleaner, okay?

So here goes.  My mom would kill me if she saw this.

As you pull into our tiny cul-de-sac of duplexes and walk to our front door, this is what you see.


Ah, another dreary rainy day in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This next shot is just because I like my car so much.


The front door opens into our living room, so this setup is the first thing you see.


See what I mean about mismatched furniture?  Does this scream college dorm to anyone else?  Couch, entertainment center: thrifted.  Coffee table: free.  I guess this is what being a poor newlywed's all about.  Maya is wondering what the heck I'm doing.

Turning left, you see this:


Clutter, clutter, clutter.  That half wall which my pride and joy (piano) is sitting against is probably my favorite thing about this house, and I'm sad to leave it.  On the left wall is my computer desk, where I'm sitting right now.


You can barely see it, right?  I know.  Excuse the flash in the picture.  If you turn around from here, you see our little reading nook, encumbered by boxes and a gigantic teddy bear.


The chair we found on Craigslist for $25.  And I know you can't really see it in this picture, but it's not awful and it's friggin comfy.

Alright, let's move on to the kitchen.  Left-face and you see our very spacious, very 70s kitchen, complete with yellow laminate flooring and dark, dark, depressing cabinets.


It's bigger than this picture makes it look.  I had plans to soften it up with a nice big rug, but rugs are expensive, yo.  There's last night's penne pasta dinner still on the stove.  Stay classy, Wades!


This little movable counter thingy we got for free as an extra when we bought our kitchen table (Craigslist.)  That's where we put our garbage can.  You can see one of the many examples of our random poster collection: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, from the thrift store.  You can also see the bowl of cereal milk I accidentally dipped my hair in this morning.  Moving on.

This is the view from the kitchen back towards the living room, and our kitchen table which mostly doubles as a place-to-put-everything.


To the left is the washing machine (the bi-fold doors are open) and the sliding doors on the right house the water heater and such other necessities.  Here's another view back into the living room.


If you turn right from here, you enter a mini-hallway, and directly across from the kitchen is our bathroom.  I am so in love with our shower curtain.


I know this bathroom doesn't look like much, but guys, you will see the bathroom we are inheriting and then you'll think this one looks like a palace.


If you turn left in the mini-hallway, you come to our  bedroom.  This is the room we spend the least amount of time in, and thusly have spent the least amount of effort on.  Also, there's clothes on the floor.


Notice how Maya's bed on the floor is kindof almost as big as ours?  Yeah.


Our bed and dresser are a matching (!) set from Ikea.  Bringing them home and then putting them together just after we got married is a happy memory. 


This room is so bare it's painful.  Can you believe I didn't even make the bed before taking this picture?  Honesty, folks!  And more random wall posters.  (Not pictured: Star Wars poster in the hallway.)

Okay, and if you had turned right in the hall rather than left, you would have entered the craft/extra room.


(This picture was taken a while ago, hence the pretty green outside instead of cold, grey rain.)  But it still looks the same.  In fact, I've had the same half-finished painting on my easel for months.


And that's the whole house.  Here's the yard to round things out.


And in case you, like me, can't get past the sad, end-of-winter state of things, you can go back to this post of when we put in the chain link fence to remember what grass is supposed to look like.


Wow.  Was that too much real life for you?  It kind of was for me.  Now at least I have motivation to really put in the effort to making our new house polished and put together so I can prove to you we're not actually a bunch of slobs with no sense of interior design.  I have a bazillion ideas floating around in my head, and I guess bazillion is a real word because spell check didn't underline it.

We haven't closed on the new house yet, but it's pretty much a sure thing.  I'll photograph the whole house before we move in while it's still empty and untouched by us, and then I plan to keep you updated on all our changes.  We're very excited, and I at least am insanely intimidated.  Homeowners?  That's, like, what adults are called.