Fresh flowers

I always want to have fresh flowers in my room.
Spring makes this desire stronger.


They look beautiful at first...
And then I realize that they often cause
a runny nose and itchy eyes.


All for the sake of beauty.

things that are difficult...

...especially on a Friday morning.

Wanting soft pretzels and hot chocolate, but wanting to lose some lbs.

image from here

Wanting to crawl back under the covers, but having to work.

I can't wait to hang out with this little guy this weekend!

Wanting to shop and buy, but knowing there are better (smarter) things to do with that money.

I think I definitely NEED this...

Things about things

So I made a challenge for my self, in order to curb my spending habits.

I am making myself adhere to certain rules, such as no non-essential items can be purchased, unless they are gifts for others

(it seems that there are a lot of birthdays that fall within my time frame.)

I'm mainly not letting myself purchase things for myself that I want, right at that very moment.

This challenge has made for some difficult decisions at Target

(does that shirt count as an essential item?? I mean, I do NEED clothing...)

It's forcing me to think about how badly I need (want) something, so that I'm not just throwing my money away.

But this is something I NEED. N E E D.

image from here

I can see many summer evenings, crafting away with the help of Martha.

Pure bliss.

Bookworm

I love books.

I love reading old books.

I love reading new books.

I love books that take me on different adventures;

that make me think outside of the box;

that make me think outside of my own little world.

Lately, I just can not get enough!!

By the end of Water for Elephants, I could not get through the chapters quickly enough... and was wishing that I could be a part of the circus, or that I had a pet elephant.









I flew through this book,









After the final chapter of My Life in France, all I want to do is bake French breads... while living in the French countryside.

Simply devoured this book,

The final book on my shelf is The Toss of a Lemon, recommended to me by friends from college. I can not wait to start this book, but since I have no other books waiting to be read, I am trying to take my time with it ... perhaps this will finally make me renew my library card...

And I can't wait to dive into this book.

First weekend of spring

In order to celebrate the first weekend of Spring,
I made Joe take me to the beach.


It was chilly, but sunny...
in other words, perfect.


Surprisingly, there were a lot of people walking on the boardwalk.









Being at the beach quieted my desire for the summer, just a little bit.

I'm still looking forward to it; to being on the beach with the sand between my toes, walking the boardwalk at night, the ocean just background noise, and dessert from Kohr brothers... delicious!

Kohr Brothers - the perfect cure for sunburn.

Spring has sprung!!

Happy Spring Everyone!!




Although it is not flipflop weather just yet, I am happy to report that everything around here is waking up from its winter rest.


The daffodils and tulips are poking their heads out of the dirt... and my miniature sunflowers are as well!! (Good thing too - I didn't really think that they would become anything.)


So I am going to enjoy the spring weather, and the fact that it is still light out at 6:30 PM.


Now, that's something to be excited about!

The funny thing about blogs is...

... you have to actually update them.
Not just think about updating, or daydream about it,
you have to actually get in there and do it!

But I'm awful at it: the remembering, the preparing, the doing.
I do daydream about it, but usually while I'm at work, sans my stack of pictures necessary for such a task.

So here's a smattering of what I have been up to, with a promise to do better next time...

We celebrated this guy's birthday

And he brought his entourage

And these girls

who took pictures with the dogs

and Maddie got excited.

Artsy pictures were taken...

And then we all played Rock Band.

The End.

a dollar short

It snowed on Sunday night, giving me the day off on Monday.

Today, it was 43 degrees, and it is supposed to be around 60 on Saturday.

I know, come August, I'll be wishing for this again:

I finally got to wear my boots!!

Pathetic

So it's almost the end of February, and I've been super slack on my postings.

In my defense, I've been busy.

Busy with school, and work, and of course, procrastination...

And this little tool does nothing to help at all!

It produces some awesome pictures, with a touch of the Polaroid magic.

It adds some 80s feel to beach pictures...

It makes snow in Central Park look even better...

And does really nothing for this picture...
just makes it look even more ridiculous!

So yes, I'm blaming my procrastination on my fondness for the look of Polaroid.


Try it, it's addictive!!

so exciting 'round these parts

I have a car.
She is red and cute.
And she is a 'she.'
When she was first purchased, she was given the name of Roxy 2.
Because the number at the end is just plain awful, she is called Roxy.
This name suits her well.

The other day, Roxy hit a car milestone.
It wasn't anything too big, but I was excited for it.


Roxy hit 100,000 miles.


I understand that for a car, this may not be big news,
But for Roxy, anything is a cause for celebration.

So, for a treat, we took Roxy to the Ashburner for some chicken sandwiches and beer.
She really enjoyed herself.

Right before the big milestone...

Roxy and I were shaking from the excitement!

Slow and steady wins the race....

Slowly but surely
(really, really, really slowly)
I am knocking items off of my to-do list.

The first item came with plenty of help from my parents
(because the gift was given with 'installation included')

So here's a before:


And an after!
My books have a home for now...
Hopefully, I will find a better way to organize them,
But right now, mid-semester, this is perfect.

Busy Bee

I have some things...
Some things I would like to get done.

Perhaps before I turn 25 (yikes!)
Or before the summer ends
Or before the year is through...

I'm flexible.

But I would like to get these things accomplished...
so I can cross them off my list, or at least be a little more rounded.

Take a yoga class
(I have taken a few, but I would like to keep with it this time)
Write more letters
(cause mail is just fun to receive)
Finish my desk
(refinishing and all!)
Put up bookshelves
(my books need a home... desperately)
Bake more
(and put my awesome new cookbook to work)
Learn how to fix a Trek hybrid
(and actually fix mine)
Sew more
(and put all that fabric to use)
Start saving more money
(just in cases)
Finally purchase some running shoes
(and use them!)

Fingers crossed, I can knock some of these items from my list.


That would be a pretty nice birthday gift...

I'm trying to be patient.

After my trip to Floridaaaaaaa, I can't wait for summer.

For pedicured toes.
For flip flops and sandals and espadrilles.
For walking around barefoot.
For sand between my toes (and in the bottom of my purse.)
For hair highlighted by the sun and freckles galore.
For lemonade and grilling and baseball and swimming.

I just can't wait.

A Cure for the Winter Blues

I heard from some of my college friends a few weeks ago.

They wanted to go somewhere warm.
And they wanted to know if I was game.


I was game, my friends. I was totally game.


And so, this past weekend, I hopped a plane to Florida to enjoy some sun.

no sun the first day... a little disappointing.

My lovely travel companions

Posing for pictures...

...before we had any of these...

...which led to some pictures like this...

... but we behaved ourselves for one of these!

Finally! A sunny day...

... on our last day. (Healy's luggage on the beach.)

All in all a wonderful trip!

So it was a great way to get rid of some of the Winter Blues...

But I might just need another trip come March!!

perusing never hurt anyone

As I was playing on the internet today, jumping from blog to blog, I found this site.

Be-still my stationery-loving heart!!

I looked at everything the site had to offer, while trying to ignore the voice in my head telling me:

"Maybe you'll be more organized if you had this..."

"Maybe you would finally finish your desk if you had this to put on it..."

And so forth.

Until I realized that it's rather unlikely that either one of these things would happen in the near future...

But a girl can dream, can't she???

All photos courtesy of seeJanework

you make my heart sing

One of my favorite books...

Thanks to this site

...will be a movie come this summer.

I wonder if it will be any good??

Lots of Things...

So I've been a little busy over the past few days...

Meaning no posts.

So here some photos to catch you up!

My holidays included:

Decorating the tree on Christmas Eve

Some pranks :)

Some delicious breakfast Christmas morning

A lazy New Year's Eve in

Cooking some dessert in my new Dutch oven

Some smiling cousins

AND

Pestering my sisters!



Fingers crossed, I will start posting on a more regular basis.

Once things calm down and all.

Sometimes I Wish I was Clever....

This I love.

Comic from here

Although, I'm pretty sure not everyone else would be thrilled with this idea...

Twas the Day Before Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm stuck at work.

Bummer.

The good news is I'll get out in time (fingers crossed) to finish my shopping.

The bad news is someone decided to turn the heat off in the building...

My tootsies are chilly!

Picture from here

All I want is to be tucked in my bed, nice and warm.

Maybe next year....