Well, it’s finally happened… February 1, 2010

I ordered something that got me on the mailing list for old people catalogs. So far I’ve gotten two. I thought the first was hilarious, as it contained some must have items like, fake security cameras to nail to the side of your house. Now I’m more alarmed because this second catalog is basically geared towards bunion relief.

In other news, I had the Sugar Rush Soiree yesterday with some social work friends and it was lovely! Thanks to everyone who came and brought delicious goodies! (I just bought cookies from Milk N Honey).

The decorated table…

My selection of cookies…

I turned on all the lamps to make a super cozy atmosphere.

Have a good day!

Currently, I’m… January 25, 2010

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing and doing a paper on the couch with Myra sprawled across my tummy. She’s definitely annoyed that I have the nerve to type during her nap. But since she is all soft and warm, I really can’t complain.

So I’m sort of back in the groove of studying and reading, though I think I’m still pretending I’m on vacation. Yesterday I did nothing but nap and watch ‘The Girls and Boys Guide to Getting Down’. I thought it was amusing and really captured the party scene of late years. Thank goodness I always avoided all that. It’s far too tiring a lifestyle.

Crazy storms this morning! Both of my hamsters woke up and were listening to the thunder and things flying around outside with the wind. I was pretty lucky that today was my day off and I got to spend the morning in pajamas, being grateful that I don’t have to go anywhere.

I’m very excited because I’m having a tea and dessert gathering this coming weekend! I’m not sure what kind of sweets I plan to get, but everyone who attends is supposed to bring something sugary and delicious…Mmm…

I just wanted to say hello and hope everyone had a stormy, but good day!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day…Did you celebrate? January 19, 2010

I’m just bragging ‘cuz I did. I went to hear one of my professors give the keynote speech and then stayed for the day of service programs. My friends and I worked on recording a children’s book onto a tape. All the books and tapes will be sent to low income schools and libraries. It was so much fun! Since I read to my nephews regularly, I had lots of practice doing all the voices.

After reading for school, I did some drawings tonight…

Speaking of hamsters, my little baby has moved into her adult cage and Cole has spent a lot of time trying to get near enough to her cage to lick her while in his exercise ball. She pretty much ignores his attempts at any kind of friendliness. I’m trying to keep them apart and thinking I need to move her cage off the ground so that no one gets upset or sick.

Want to know what I’m reading?? It’s really good, a daily comic journal by Julie Doucet called 365 Days.

Julie Doucet is awesome!

Hope everyone had a good MLK Day.

Cold snap! January 12, 2010

It sounds like such exciting words- cold snap!- but really it’s just a miserable thing. At least for me. I have a lot of trouble keeping cheery in this kind of weather, with the days being so short and all. But they are saying that it’s going to end soon, maybe even tomorrow.

So I just realized I’m going about making my terrarium in a very backwards way. Of course, all I really care about are the moss and the decorations and figured I’d snitch some rocks from my neighbors garden, but I’m way to grouchy to do that right now. But my moss came in the mail and needed somewhere to live so it’s in the tank with a bunch of soil, but I know soon I will have to put in rocks for drainage and some activated charcoal for lord knows what. I guess I’ll just see if my moss lasts over the next few days. If it dies, I guess I could just make a dead terrarium and find some kind of material that looks like moss and then just have dry soil. Hmm, hmm. We’ll see!

So I went to my friend Jocelyn’s birthday party the other night and felt compelled to make an effort with my clothes (which I’ve NOT been feeling this week). So here I am…

I was actually pretty pleased. And the best part was that two little girls in the bathroom told me they liked my shoes. Now that’s a compliment!

Well, classes start tonight and I’m appalled that I’m going to be expected to be reading hundreds of pages a week again. Oh well!

Hope everyone has a good rest of their Tuesday.

Wow, what the heck happened to this week? January 8, 2010

I’m not really sure. I did a fair amount of laying around and soaking in my last week of semi-vacation, but I was also doing stuff for fieldwork and pretty busy applying for a fellowship. So I guess it wasn’t entirely a blur. I also got in some lovely thrifting and etsy shopping that I want to talk all about.

I ended up swinging by the Second Mile Thrift shops earlier in the week. They always have something fun, for not so much money. I ended up finding these Christian Dior hankies for a quarter each!

Along with these pretty ones too. They need to be ironed.

I picked up an awesome rooster teapot and a jewelry trunk, but haven’t taken any photos of them.

At the Curiousity Shop downtown, I found this neat print by “Den Cob”, called ‘Jojo the Dogfaced Boy’. It makes me sad and makes me laugh at the same time…

I’ve also had some plans in the works for using one of my former fish aquariums to make a moss terrarium. In the past, I made two for two friends, Kait and Kat, but I haven’t heard any news on if the moss actually survived, so this one will also be an experiment. I ordered pesticide free moss off etsy that I’m waiting for now, as well as a little elf and purple mushroom house from this lovely seller Terrariooms. Look at how sweet they are!

Eeek! I get excited every time I look at their cuteness. Eventually I’d like to have more decorations, but because of all my thrifting and comic book buying (oh yeah!) I’ll start with this.

I’m also doing one other thing of blogworthy note. There’s a project called “Fun-a-Day“, where you make a little creation every day during the month of January. In early February, there’s a one night show in West Philly (there’s ones all over and you can even request them in your city!) and you get to check out everyone else’s work. I’ve chosen to do little paper creatures with moving parts, taa daa:

Here’s some of mine from the first week. So I actually have on my regular to do lists: Fun A Day! Which is kind of awesome.

I’m learning that in grad school life, there are very rarely real days off or weekends ‘cuz there’s just so much to decide and do and figure out. I’m assuming that’s how the rest of life will be so I’m just trying to get used to it.

Have a good weekend everyone!

And I’m back! January 3, 2010

Back in Philly. It’s so nice to be home. First of all, it’s warmer here. But still pretty chilly. I spent most of today getting ready for school and doing a million little things. I’m amazed at how much my baby hamster has grown in one week! I went for a walk in the Hamilton graveyard and found these neat seeds…

And started hurrying home when the winds picked up. Brrrr.

Here’s the sweet creatures I found at the antique shop…

This little cow has a tag that says, “Dream Pet”.

For New Year’s, I went to the Weston ‘First Night’ with my family. We got to go on a carriage ride, which my nephew and I are on below. He got his face painted and I got my palm read!

I’m so impressed by the face my nephew is making. He looks like one tough, tiny monster man. Getting my palm read was awesome. The man was lovely and gave me some really great advice and told me a lot of things that were true about myself, even though the only information I gave him was my name and birthday. It was kind of amazing.

I was organizing things for school and found this funny cartoon in my notebook…

Have a great Crazy Hat Day!

What’s going on? December 29, 2009

Bowling with my nephews.

Sampling the champagne before cooking french scallops.

My nephews painting giant wooden dreidels.

And that’s pretty much life right now! Today I’m seeing some old, but excellent friends.

Back from NY… December 27, 2009

What a great visit I had with my big brother! We ate and ate (as per usual) and also saw Sherlock Holmes, which I thought was excellent. I was still feeling sick before I left, but I think I’m starting to get better. Here’s some photos from before I left:

Outfit.

Vitamin C.

My brother’s girlfriend cooked us an awesome brunch, which I thoughtfully took a photo of before munching away.

She paints this neat style of pottery.

So pretty!

I got a kick out of these photos.

Here’s us being bored scenesters at the tex mex place.

It’s nice to be chilling out at my parent’s house now, but I have to say, I miss me hamsters! Otherwise I’m still enjoying vacation fully.

G’night!

Stuff N’ Birds N’ Things December 22, 2009

I’m feeling a little out of it, as my cold seems to be getting worse as vacation goes on. Stuffy nose syndrome.

So today I’m half relaxing and half taking care of business. I spent most of yesterday getting my family’s gifts in order and I feel very excited about all of them! I also had the brilliant idea of shipping home the gifts I bought here so I don’t have to drag them to New York. I also spent a good chunk of the day working on little books and stuffies for my nephews. Since I’m fairly certain they don’t read this blog, or read at all for that matter, I feel free to tell all. I wrote and illustrated a story about two Ninja Boys who have an adventure with a dinosaur in the playground. Then I made each of them a stuffie of their own Ninja Boy, as they inspired the characters. I forgot to take photos, but I’ll try to remember to do that in CT.

Today’s outfit:

My new shimmery jeans.

So here is a magnet I picked up for my big brother, who just got accepted into law school! I thought he might be worried that leaving music behind for law would mean a boring life, so I got him this:

It’s protection from drudgery, drawn by an artist at a Zine Fest that I went to. I love it and hopefully it provides the necessary duties.

I also wanted to finally show the paper bird mobile from a few days ago…

Sweet little birdies!

Well, I have some more relaxing to do, as well as some actual work stuff. Hope everyone stays warm!

Here’s a million schmillion photos! December 21, 2009

This was the most impressive snow that Philly has gotten for years. The town was DEAD last night, except for people digging their cars out. There was more life today, but it mostly all was people trudging around with shovels. I, on the other hand, trudged around with my camera and groceries.

First, yesterday and today’s outfits. It’s not that my outfits are so amazing, it’s just nice for me to keep a log of them.

I really like this jean vest. I haven’t had one of these since the eighties and it’s stretchy and kind of goes with everything.

My mom’s sweet little necklace.

My feet on my birdie rug.

Peeking at the snow through the apartment windows.

Philly is such a charming town!

Just for the record, I do NOT condone this.

Lovely!

Nutella s’mores ended the day, along with a too salty dinner (sad!). I also made a little paper bird mobile, but haven’t taken photos yet. Hope everyone else’s snowy weekend was good!