A good song for a Tuesday

P.S. This is my favorite song right now.

Happy December-Eve!!

I'm really excited for December.... it means the end of the semester (and...graduation!), holiday fun, and a new year! All things I'm looking forward to very much.

Being the last 2 weeks (week and a half, now!) of the semester, I've already mentally checked-out, and have been spending most of my "free" time journaling. It feels so good to be doing something creative again!! I love school, but the creative side of my brain (the better side) suffers greatly.

I thought Mr. Darwin looked a little sad, all alone on the front cover of my journal, so I started a background for him. I think he's much more comfortable now.

I had to do an owlette page. Have you seen this???

Too. cute.

I had a lot of fun ripping up papers and sticking glittery stickers all over the place :-D

Aren't those flowers the best? I bought a massive...barrel??...of them at A.C. Moore the other day - all different colors, textures, and prints... so much fun!

As always, I'm so glad that today is over...Tuesdays are my worst day! But, its nice because its all uphill after that!

An uninspiring (Mon)day....

I don't usually mind Mondays all that much, but today was particularly blah. Its so hard to get back into the swing of things at school after having off for the past week (Thanksgiving break), and knowing that there are only 2 weeks left in the semester before finals!!

Anyway, to make up for the *meh* kind of day it was, I searched high and low for beautiful, inspiring images. Voila!

Hilda Grahnat's beautiful photography

Fun, vintage Christmas decor

I really love (read: want) this print by vol25

This paint-by-number (found here)

And, finally, quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen...

I want, nay, I neeeeeed a teeny-tiny owl wearing a teeny-tiny hat. For Christmas.

Thank you.

Festive feathers

Hope you all like the new layout!

I really needed to spruce up around here, and I think it looks much neater now - and festive! What do you think about the new banner? That's a drawing I did with the kids I babysit the other day.... we were making Thanksgiving drawings (and hand turkeys!), so I drew some feathers. I've finally acquired some Adobe Illustrator skills (thank you, Cartography!) so....that is officially the first drawing I ever digitized! I love how it turned out - I made about 20 different colorways! Pink and red just seemed the most festive. ;-)

Speaking of festive feathers, I made a half-dozen of these ornaments the other day.... super-easy and super-cheap!! Not to mention super-pretty. I'd love to have a whole tree covered in these!

Making Faces.

I have enormous eyes!

...and a hole in my lip!

...but not a piggy-nose!

(Seriously... do my eyes take up half of my head, or what!?)

*******

P.S. Check out my awesome new headphones.... made from recycled material, and came in recycled/recyclable packaging! Sweet!

source

I sort-of wish I had the matching iTouch case, too...

*******

Aaaand.... I made a new page in my journal today!

What's on my current playlist....

Swedish Christmas

I really wish Ikea was closer...its about an hour-and-a-half drive from my house, but I'm tempted to make the trip for goodies like these:

Today

Ooooh, I'm so excited - I ordered this Little Otsu Annual Vol. 4 Weekly Planner bright and early this morning. I pretty much demolished my current planner, and I literally can't get through a school day without one, and this one is just perfect!!

I mean, just look - the pages are filled with geology illustrations!

Soooo excited.

(I wonder...what does that say about my personality, that I'm excited about a new planner??! Haha!)

*******

Today, I think Krista and I are going to go do a little bit of shopping. Stops to include: TTV, A.C. Moore, and possibly Borders?? Ooh, and probably a thrift store or two... good day!

In completely unrelated news, last night was a big milestone for this guy.... see, he's got this bad habit of running like the wind if he happens to get off of his leash outside, or if the door is left open for a split second. And he will not stop for anything. Its really very upsetting because a) he tends to run right down the middle of the road, which can obviously cause a few problems; and b) I know its silly, but it hurts my feelings. I think to myself, his life was so awful before he came to us, why would he want to run away? (Of course I know that's ridiculous, but I can't help but think it!). Anyway, I put him on the lead last night to go potty before we went to bed, and after a while I realized he had been out for much longer than usual, and I hadn't heard him bark. So I went out back to call him inside, and he wasn't on the lead. I totally freaked out, ran inside to put on shoes, grabbed a flashlight, and was getting ready to hop in my car to go find him... and then the other dogs all ran to the front door, barking. Lo, and behold, when I looked out the front door, Chase was standing on the porch waiting patiently for me to let him inside. This was huge because a) he actually came back on his own (!!!); and b) I'm kind of shocked that he knew to go to the front door.... we only ever take the dogs out the back door. Chase obviously knew where home was, and that made me feel really, really happy. And the best part was, he seemed genuinely relieved when I let him inside. I don't know how long he was off the lead, or how far he went before he came back, but I think he finally realizes that this is his home, and that he is loved.

*I think I know why his previous owners named him "Chase"?*

Hello, there! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving (or non-Thanksgiving) Day yesterday! I know I did - I watched the parade, and stuffed myself with tofurkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, and stuffing!! Mmmm-mmm! I loooove savory food, so Thanksgiving is the best!

I'm not doing any shopping today.... working at Walmart for a few years killed any desire for Black Friday shopping that I may have ever had! My parents are out shopping today, but I'm cozy in bed with my dogs (and a cat or two), drinking coffee and watching the news. Ah, perfection.

Here are some floats from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades past.... I think the last one is the best!

source

source

source

source

source

That last one kills me.... he's labeled a "fish", but I'm pretty sure those legs mean he's a tadpole...either way, I'm in love.

*******

So, what now? To me, Thanksgiving means the official start of the Holiday season... my mom always decorates for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I got a little head-start yesterday and dragged my bin of decorations out of the basement. Pictures later!!

Kitty love.

Rivet loves his babies. Aren't they sweet?

Holiday Gift Guides...Part I

Despite the ridiculous 60-degree weather we've been having lately, I'm starting to feel the first tingles of excitement for the Holidays season.... and, I guess its about time, considering Thanksgiving is this Thursday!

Because I'm feeling festive (and because I'm taking a break from Chemistry homework), I put together a few gift guides. All of the items below are from Modcloth (which I wish had a brick-and-mortar store that I could spend hours and hours in!)

Links

Links

Links

I had so much fun curating these...I definitely plan on making a few more in the coming weeks before Christmas! Hope you enjoy them, too! :-)

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Today has been a lovely day so far... I spent a few hours at TTV this morning. It was so much fun! I learned more about the history and mission of the company, and the details of some of the products...I even sold a bunch of stuff! It feels really good when you know you're doing something for a cause, or helping other people and the environment. Oh, and today was a special 'community action day' - 15% of all sales benefitted Habitat for Humanity, so it was a double-whammy! I think TTV is just what I've been needing to get me out of the rut I've been in for the past few months.

 Now I'm home, watching Bored to Death (loooove Jason Schwartzman!), and getting ready to maybe work on my art journal a little, or maybe make some magazine-paper beads!

photos via We Heart It

Hello, friends...

I'm soooo glad its Friday, finally!! This was was pretty stressful with a big Chem exam on Wednesday, but now its the weekend!!!

I started my weekend out right today by getting a hair-trim (long overdue!) and pottering around the house... I needed this!! 

What better way to potter than in a cozy new pair of Lukees?

and laze around with my doggies?

Notice me making silly faces in the mirror in the background,

trying to keep Daisy's attention

Chase begs like this all.the.time. Its so cute. He can sit like that, on his back haunches, foreverrr. He's not even actually begging for anything, he just wants attention (which I'm obliged to shower him with). What an improvement, eh?

And this is Roxy, my momma's dog. I don't know if I've ever even mentioned her on here before.... she's usually asleep in my mom's room, but lately she spends a lot of time in my room....probably because its warmer in here.  ;-)

P.S. Roxy is Daisy's mom, and Duffy is Daisy's dad...funny combo, huh?

I found this guy at the Goodwill yesterday for, like, $0.39. I looooove Bumble!!

Here's the best Bumble clip:

aaaand... I made a few more pages in my art journal today!

So far, this one is my favorite!

and I know everyone has experienced this before....

which were you today??

To-do, to-day, Part II

Remember my to-do list from earlier today?

Well, I got it all done except for the haircut part. The interview at Ten Thousand Villages was awesome! I am so excited to be helping out there. I was a little worried that my extremely-limited availability would be a problem, but as it turns out, most volunteers only give about 1 day each month! I was thinking about 1 day each week, so that's great! And the best part is that, even though they don't actually have any paid positions (aside from store managers), volunteers still get a discount on merch! So I took full advantage of that today and picked up a few goodies. :-D

Cute little plush scooter ornament

If you have a Ten Thousand Villages store near you, I highly recommend checking it out - every item has a story...literally! I watched a short video that the store receives with their shipments every month about the new items and the people who make them. The video showed the actual people who make the items... and many of them are disabled or unable to work for various reasons. It feels really nice to know that the item you purchase is actually helping a real person somewhere in the world.

This is my favorite find of the day: it has the phrase "carry peace in your heart" in both English and Sanskrit.  Its a nice little mantra to keep in mind throughout the day.  :)