Colors of India

Inspired by The Darjeeling Limited (which is on t.v. right now) - one of my very most favorite movies!

I especially love the Adrian portrait by Rich Pellegrino ... there are matching portraits of the other brothers, too.. I'd love to have all 3 framed and hanging on my wall!

Have you watched any good movies this weekend?

Channeling Penelope

One of my very most favorite Fall movies! If you haven't seen it before, you absolutely MUST watch it! I know I've blogged about it before, but...well, Penelope's fashion merits a second post!

Here's a collection of stuff that channels Penelope's style, methinks.

All from Modcloth

Also perfect for Fall? Vegan pumpkin-cheesecake muffins!! Mmm!

P.S. Its finally not 95 degrees today!

A Rose is a Rose....

Would you believe, I picked these from my garden yesterday?! Its been below freezing at night for the past few nights, and my little roses are still holding on. I was shocked. There's also some lavender and catmint in there (that's the purple flower). This tiny little bouquet has really just brightened the rainy, dreary day.

The yellow ones are my favorite!

I was so busy at school this past week that Thursday night I had a 'me-night'. I curled up in bed with my dog and watched some movies that I've been wanting to see for a while, that finally came in from Netflix recently.

First, we watched The Fall. It was awesome. Really. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it! Now! It is just visually stunning; and the little girl, Alexandria, is adorable with her accent and gap-teeth.

After that, we watched Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. That too is visually stunning, but parts of it made me feel really....uncomfortable. I don't know exactly why. I mean, obviously that was the point of some of the 'dreams' and the way they were portrayed, but... I don't know. Also, there are a lot of elements that are repetitive. Its deliberate, but it made me feel really impatient and uneasy. The other thing that made me sort of uncomfortable with it was that a few of the 'dreams' just didn't seem like they actually came from, well, dreams. They were just too coherent, and had such specific messages (like "save the planet" kind of stuff, which I'm all about, but come on... this guy dreamt that? No way.).... it kind of betrayed the idea that these were a man's dreams, brought to realization. But all-in-all, it was pretty cool. I really liked the first two dreams, when he was a little boy. They seemed more dream-like, and the traditional Japanese costumes and dance are just gorgeous. The one 'grown-up' dream I really liked was "The Crows"... it was amazing the way they brought Van Gogh paintings to life. Beautiful. "The Weeping Demon" was terrible, I thought. I actually got really bored with that one. Anyway, the movie has a good concept, I just didn't like some of the segments.

A Mostly-Productive Day

Wow. Its only a little after 4 o'clock and I've already had like 3 days' worth of productivity. Today is officially my last day off until about Thanksgiving....well, unless I actually REQUEST off from work, which is very probably not going to be happening, since I was interviewed yesterday for a supervisor position...more on that later.

I got up this morning and watched Penelope, which is officially my new favorite movie.

Seriously. And who doesn't want to marry James McAvoy? Umm...I know I do.

I digress. Anyway. After seeing Penelope's awesome wardrobe (see above), I was reminded that today would probably be my only chance to bring in some of my Fall clothes and put away some Summer clothes, etc, etc. That is really no easy undertaking, considering how extensive my wardrobe is, and how little my clothes-storage space is. But I did it. And I did it relatively quickly. So it is, when you have but one day to do what you need to do.

So I have all of my clothes in order. I always love switching my clothes around for the seasons... its like going shopping, without spending any money! I always find things that I forget that I have. I also put away a lot of other stuff that I need, but don't necessarily need 'out'... like, books I've read but don't want to get rid of, craft supplies that I won't be needing in the immediate future, etc. I like un-cluttering!

I got almost all of my homework for tomorrow done. The only thing left is to read my chapter for Psych, but I think I'm just going to do that tomorrow morning over breakfast. I concentrate better in the morning.

Chris and I ran down to WalMart to pick up an oil filter so my dad could change Chris' oil. We just had to stop at the Goodwill nearby, and I found a few pairs of earrings for myself and some new stuff for the Quiet. I'm especially excited about this E.T. Storybook. How awesome is this?!

This is in the shop, too!

So, that's pretty much what I've done today. I still need to come up with something for my youngest sister's birthday tomorrow. She's turning 16! Unbelievable. I have absolutely no idea what to get her... I was fully planning on taking her to the bigger, better Goodwill in Greencastle; but she's out with her boyfriend and won't be home until later this evening, so..... I really don't know what to do. She's really hard to buy for. She has a very similar style to mine, but she already has tons of clothes/shoes/makeup/purses/things...... so Goodwill was really my best bet. She loves the Goodwill anyway. I guess I'll just make her an I.O.U. for a trip to the Goodwill some other time. Hmm.

Oh, and my mom made Apple Streusel Cupcakes for Krista's birthday (we're celebrating tonight instead of tomorrow). She was so proud of herself because she made them with soymilk so I could have some, but then she remembered - oh yeah, there are eggs in them; and I checked the ingredients on the box, and...yeah. There's already milk in there. Mom's still not used to the whole 'vegan' thing. Haha.

The 3 "F"s

To make a long story short, we went hiking in the woods near Chris' house this morning. We saw lots and lots of mushrooms....more kinds than I have ever seen before! I found lots of tiny little flowers and TONS of itsy bitsy little frogs and toads. I mean tons. They were everywhere, once we got into the deep, dark part of the woods. Of course, I couldn't resist picking most of them up for a photo op....

Anyway, on to the pictures!

First, Chris and I took a pictures on some rocks by the pond where the trail starts.

Fungus:

I thought this one looked like a cantaloupe!

Flowers:

Frogs (ok, mostly toads, but we're going with the "F" theme...):

This little guy was the first one I found.... I'm pretty sure he was a frog, not a toad. He was just built differently; smooth, sleek.... and he didn't puff himself up like toads do to look intimidating. Plus he was kind of sticky. Look how tiny!!

They got progressively bigger (and toadier) after that...

(Sheesh, sorry for all the froggy pictures.... I just really like them! They're so darn cute and tiny!)

I spotted this beetle when we sat down to have a rest, perched on a blade of grass... it was actually pretty big, at least an inch long. I like his antennae.

Perhaps the strangest thing we saw on the trail was this part of an old truck...? Who knows how long its been there. Its pretty trashed. (On a side note, the strangest thing we actually saw on the trail was a babydoll floating on a lilypad in the pond at the beginning of the trail. That was totally weird... but, you just never know, here in Pennsyltucky. There were also lots of shotgun shells all over parts of the trail, so there ya go.)

We couldn't have asked for better weather!

Deer prints!

After hiking, we changed clothes and went to the theatre to see Tropic Thunder, which was absolutely hilarious (as long as you're not offended by the abundance of obscene language, as my aunt and sister were when they saw it last night). Ben Stiller is a genius. Tom Cruise is unbelievable, too. It was really, really funny. That's all I'll say.

Now, I'm going to eat some dinner and head down to Chris' house again so we can go to Starbucks later in the evening! A perfect ending to a perfect date-day!

Another walk in the woods...

I just realized today how much time Chris and I actually spend in the woods. We both just love it.
Today we went to Renfrew.

Chris laughs at me for being a tree-hugger, but here's proof that he's one too!

There's an old stone wall that runs along what used to be the farmstead.

There were wildflowers blooming everywhere, and birds singing, and little chipmunks and squirrels hopping through the brush....it was beautiful! It was also very muddy and wet, since we've had rain for the past week straight. Yesterday and today were beautiful days, but tomorrow we're up for some more rain, and straight through the weekend. Sigh.

I came home and watched some movies. I have a huge stack of DVDs I've been meaning to watch for literally months now, and just haven't had the time what with school and all. And now I'm making my way through the stack. I watched Imagination first today....it was ok. Not really my cup of tea, I guess you could say. Beautiful images, but strange. Very, very strange. And the acting....well, there wasn't much to speak of. I'm not exactly sure what was going on most of the time. This seems to happen to me when I watch movies that are combination live-action and stop-motion, like when I watched The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. I can appreciate the art of the animation, but beyond that I have absolutely no idea what was going on. Is it just me?

After that I watched No Country for Old Men. That was....well, it was interesting. I guess it was good, but again it just wasn't my cup of tea. I did like it, but......but. I don't know. I prefer happier movies, I suppose. Whatever. I'd like to watch another movie tonight because I'm not tired at all (since I slept in til after 10:oo this morning!); but I have to be at work at 7:00 tomorrow morning, so I'd better not.

Oh yeah! And guess what. Grades are going to be posted tomorrow, so I'm anxiously awaiting that!

Wish me luck!

Thrift Store Heaven

Oh man. I found some treasures today!

First of all, the picture does this little guy no justice. He's a glass panda lamp/nightlight. The tag on the bottom says Saturday Knight, Japan; and he looks fairly old. I love him so so so much! And guess what. He only cost $4!!

And what could this be? Could it possible be a most-awesome-ever, one of a kind, weird-doll-fabric DRESS?! Perhaps it is...... I'll take some pictures of it in action tomorrow; but now I'm too tired. You'll just have to wait!
And this is a fabulous hand-painted (and signed!) wooden plaque-thing to hang on the future-walls of my future-kitchen in my some-day-house. Anyway, I like birds. So for now its hanging on my bedroom wall. I like it.

I also got a brand new, with tags, navy blue American Eagle jumper dress (very cute!) and a pretty-darn-new American Eagle skirt with little blue flowers on it. Its funny because I normally hate American Eagle, but everything I picked up at the Goodwill today was from there. Go figure.

We also went to a local (Amish? Mennonite?) farmer's market today. I had never been there before, but my grandma said she gets good cereal from there..... anyway, I was super-impressed. AMAZING prices on awesome food. They had a great selection of organic and gluten-free, too, which I thought was really great. I think the Amish lady who was working there was giving us funny looks though....they probably don't get a lot of customers with tattoos and facial piercings coming in there. But they were still very nice, and the cashier told us to have a "blessed day", which I thought was very cute. I picked up some whole wheat pretzels without salt; and Chris got some Gummy Hats, a Sasparilla soda, and some peppermint sticks. They also have an AMAZING selection of sprinkles there (*hint hint, Heidi!*)

Umm....oh yeah, so then this evening I went to my sisters' high school Jazz Band concert. That's always nice and full of nostalgia for me since I was in the jazz band for 7 years. *sigh* The concert was very nice; everyone did a great job. It makes me miss my jazz band days.

After the concert, I went back to Chris' house to watch The Orphanage. It was good, but it reminded me too much of a bunch of other movies. Good, but unoriginal, I guess is what I mean. I'd still recommend it if you want to be a little creeped out and have an excuse to clutch your boyfriend's arm.

So that was my action-packed day today. I think tomorrow we're going to try to go to Renfrew, if the weather cooperates. And now, it is time to go to bed. Goodnight!

Progress!

Well, look at this - I've made 'progress'!

I awoke yesterday to a message on Etsy from a potential buyer in Great Britain. She had a question about the April Showers earrings (which I have re-named "Rainy Day" earrings since it will soon no longer be April). She purchased them yesterday, which makes me quite happy, indeed. And then, just like that, I was bit by the inspiration bug!

I sketched out a wee teacup, and then these were born!

Spot of Tea earrings, available now in the shop!

And then, I spent a few hours cleaning my little room, which looked like 3 hurricanes went through it. It was really very embarassing! While I was cleaning, I found a whole pile of vintage necklaces my sister gave me that I just wasn't doing anything with. So I made a little listing in the shop, and to my surprise and glee, they were already sold by this morning!

So, that flurry of business in the shop left me feeling quite hopeful about the shop and the coming summer-time, when I will have time to create, create, create! I had forgotten how much I like making shrinkie jewelry, so I think you can expect to see some more of that in the shop soon! They seemed to be my most popular item in the shop when I first started it.....

***

Well, I have some reading and note-taking to do before school this afternoon; and I want to get out to the garden for a few minutes. First I have to pull myself away from Say Anything on tv - I love John Cusack!

Happy, sunny, beautiful day.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. It was already in the 70s by 10 a.m. Nice. However, I hadto lego to work, no fun. But just knowing that its nice and sunny outside at least gets me through the day!

I had a lovely day on Thursday. I had spent Wednesday night at Chris' house, so when we woke up, we cooked a nice breakfast of oatmeal with fresh blueberries and some Morningstar Veggie Scramble bites; and we took our breakfast outside to eat on the back patio. After breakfast, we headed to Caledonia, our most favorite place, for a nice stroll through the woods. After that, we drove a little further to Mr. Ed's for some candies, which we took with us to see Lars and the Real Girl on campus Thursday night. It was very, very good. Chris laughed the loudest in the whole theatre, which I got a kick out of for some reason. I just love him so much. :)

And now, I must bid you adieu. I have some school work to do this morning before job-work. Bleh. I hope you all get to enjoy beautiful, sunny, warm weather today!

Icky.

Well, the Atmosphere exam was just as bad as, if not worse than, I expected. It was awful. Pure evil. But whatever. Its over and done with (plus she gives extra credit). So I'm not upset.

Oh. And its like 75 deg. outside. Yesss!

I think, instead of sitting here at the computer 'til 5:00 (Economics, ick), I'm going to head over to the gym to workout for about an hour. After Econ, I'm heading over to see this week's installment of the school film festival, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

What a glorious day.

Laziness and Procrastination Prevail

Ah yes, dear readers; I shall once again put off today what I can do tomorrow. That is, after all, my mantra. Is that bad? I don't think so. It might be for some people, but it works quite well for me!

I had every intention of going to the gym after my 5:00 class today, but I'm feeling really tired already (and its only 3:30), and I think I feel a migraine coming on. Of course, working out would actually probably prevent a headache and make me feel energized, its just that motivating myself to change clothes and work out for an hour when I could be at home writing an essay for my Atmospheres class won't be so easy. So we'll see how that works out after Economics is over at 6:15. Bleh.

Actually if I go home and write my essay, I will actually be ahead....and how often does that happen? Umm....never. But that's because I have my Atmospheres exam on Thursday, and that's a killer. So once again, I have work to do, work to do!

On the plus side, I have a 'mini-break' this weekend and the beginning of next week! No school on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week means......I'm going to Annapolis! Yay! I'm going to visit my bestest friend Lani. We already have a very full agenda: find a dress for me to wear to Leilani's wedding in May (and shopping in general, because Annapolis Mall is fabulous), play Rock Band, and Lani's going to teach me some of her butt-exercises since she's 'macho-wacho' and I'm beginning to be. Oh, and I need to grow a butt. :D

Speaking of macho-wacho, my mom and Chris both commented over the past couple of days that they can see a difference since I've been working out. Of course I don't see any difference, but I see myself every day so I guess that's normal at first. But it made me feel good because Chris said I look good, so maybe I should drag my no-butt to the gym tonight....hmm.

Oh! And I had lunch with my friend Shi today; and she informed me that she just got hired at the new Gold's Gym in our town, and that she's going to be teaching a spinning class there! Since I won't be able to go to the gym here at school over the summer, I'm thinking about getting a 3-month membership at Gold's over the summer, especially since Shi will be teaching classes there. I think that would be so much fun!

Well....not too much else has been going on lately..... I watched an OK movie with Chris the other night, Shattered Glass. Chris loves that movie (and forced me to watch it) because, well, he's a journalist. And everything in that movie is what professors teach you NOT to do. I, on the other hand, thought it was, well....stupid. I don't know. I hated Glass' character, probably because he was played by Hayden Christensen. I just really don't like him, for no reason whatsoever. He just bothers me. The movie itself had some good parts, but all-in-all, it wasn't something I would have picked if I had any say in the matter (which I didn't, because Chris is a big butthead). :P

Ok, I've already written too much. Hopefully soon I'll have some new pictures to show.

I'm still breathing.

Whew, I am sooo glad yesterday is over.

The Econ. exam was every bit as awful as i expected, but I think I at least passed. The rest of my class apparently thought it was just as hard as I did, so that was a small comfort. At least I don't feel like it was just me; I'm the "dumb one".

But that's all over now, and I just have one exam and 2 papers left to write before finals! Oh, and 2 team-project things, but they're not until the very last 2 days of class. Hooray!

To celebrate last night, I curled up in bed with my dog and my cat and watched Silk. It was really good, except I hate movies about men cheating on their wives/girlfriends, especially when its obvious that he really does love his wife/girlfriend. How does that make any sense?? If you love her.....DON'T CHEAT ON HER!!! But anyway. I hope I didn't spoil the movie for anyone....the movie box actually says that he has an affair with the Japanese concubine, so I'm sure I didn't spoil the surprise.

Well, I'm off for a nice semi-early day at work (at least compared to my usual 2-11pm shift)! Hooray for that, too! My goal for today is to stop at the bank after work (payday!), meet my momma at the Goodwill for some treasure hunting, and then come home and at least write a rough draft of my Ethics paper that's due Monday. That way, if I get it done tonight, I can actually see Chris Sunday before work and maybe even Monday before school!

Have lovely days, everyone!

TGIF!!

Pictures added!

I edited my post from a few days ago and added pictures and links about my trip! Check it out!

***

Oh, and I watched Once last night. Loved it.

Crossed eyes and Adrian Brody

My Spring Break officially started today, and I didn't even know what to do with myself! I had so many things I wanted to do, but I ended up just playing too much Guitar Hero. I had a really weird day, but I don't feel like telling the story right now (and a story it is, indeed!). I promise, I will tell it all sometime soon, but right now my head is sort-of spinny from the overindulgence in Guitar Hero. Seriously. There's a warning when you start-up the game about seizures and epilepsy.....I can totally see how that's possible. I played for like an hour today, and my eyes went all googly.... when I looked away from the tv screen, everything had to....re-adjust... itself. I don't know. It was weird. So now I have a headache.

Watching my official New Favorite Movie did help, though. I watched The Darjeeling Limited last night for the first time, and I instantly fell in love. I knew from the first time I saw the previews that I was destined to love that movie, and love it, I do!

Mr. Anderson, I love your movies. Really. And please, please, please, do ask Mr. Brody to appear in many, many more of your films! I have always loved Adrian Brody, but something about his character in TDL made me really googly-eyed....maybe it wasn't just the Guitar Hero! ;)

Well....I think I'm going to do some reading, since I have a little bit of spare time. I work Friday-Sunday, and then I'm off for a little adventure Monday-Thursday, then back to work Friday, to a concert in D.C. on Saturday, work on Sunday, and then back to my normal school routine the following Monday. Phew. So I'm going to enjoy the little bit of free time I have tonight!

Happy Thursday!

I'm so out of shape!

Seriously - my arms hurt from playing with the Wii. And I didn't even play that much! That's how out of shape I am. I'm so ashamed! And isn't it funny that playing video games is a way some people may get into shape now??

I've been so busy the past few days, with a huge pile of work to hand in before spring break starts on Thursday. I had an ethics paper due on Monday (check), and an Atmosphere exam today (check). So now, I'm pretty much done! Hooray! I'd be pretty tired today, if it weren't for the 3 1/2 cups of coffee I drank this morning. I'm literally jittering from all the caffeine! Chris stayed over last night, which was nice because I feel like I haven't seen him in forever! We only see each other about once a week now, between his work and my school/work.... but its funny because before, when I lived in NC and he was in school at PSU, we sometimes went months between seeing each other! We've gotten so spoiled now! Anyway, we watched most of Eyes Wide Shut (which I've never seen before; can you believe that?). So far, I like it.... I'm just kind of confused as to what's going on! But I think we were just getting to that part of the movie last night when we fell asleep. I think I'll finish watching that when I go home after Economics tonight.

Oh, speaking of movies! There are a lot of movies coming out soon that I am so Netflix-ing:

1. Love in the Time of Cholera
2. Atonement
3. The Kite Runner
4. No Country for Old Men
5. Silk
6. Into the Wild

The last two movies on my list are already out, but there's a 'short wait' on Netflix, so that doesn't count. But anyway, I'm excited about those!

Le sigh.

I wrote an entire post earlier about how I've been such a homebody lately.... I hardly want to leave the house, let alone my bed, at all! I'd be quite content to stay wrapped up in the covers for an entire week, it seems. I think its this awful, cold weather we're having. I'm soooo over winter, and ready for spring!

Anyway, my whole post from earlier got deleted somehow. It wasn't very interesting, anyway - I summed it up in that whole first paragraph! So now on to more fun subjects, like the slew of foreign films in my Netflix cue. Hooray!

And I watched this again last night.

I love, love, love this movie. Everything about it. I love Audrey Tautou directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. They need to make another film, very soon. I can only watch Amelie and A Very Long Engagement so many times.....oh, who am I kidding? I'll never get tired of them.

I have a few other Jeunet-directed films in my Netflix cue, so that's exciting.

So anyway. Enough of that. I'm just in the lab, killing time before my Economics class at 5:00. I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Of course I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; I have an Ethics paper due on Monday (which I haven't started yet, in my typical fashion), and I have an Atmospheres exam on Tuesday (which I haven't begun to study for). So that's what my weekend looks like. Not much fun to be had.

Very exciting, indeed!

Oh my! I am ever-so excited!

First, my bestest friend Lani reminded me this morning that Spring Break is coming up, and we should plan on doing something. So we put our vacation-planning caps on and have decided to take a mini-road trip to Virginia/North Carolina! We plan on hitting Williamsburg, Norfolk/VA Beach, and the OBX! I'm so excited to show her all of the places I used to haunt in OBX! I'm especially excited to revisit my dear aquarium (Roanoke Island).

We also decided that it is absolutely imperative that we attend the DC 101 Shamrockfest!! An entire day of Irish music and festivities! Hooray!

***

Another source of my great excitement today is the actual progress I've been making. The deer tote is finished; and I'm almost done with a second tote (which I will very likely be keeping for myself, I'm so tickled with how it turned out). But not to fear - I'm so tickled with how the totes have turned out, and find that I quite enjoy embroidery, so I fully plan on making quite a few of them! And perhaps some other embroidered things....Hmm.......

I think tonight I'll go home, pop in a movie, and churn out a few more bags.

Oh! And I just remembered one other thing I'm super-excited about. I ordered a book last night from Amazon. I loooooooved the movie when I was a kid (I even had the tshirt, I was so cool!), and my sister was watching it last night with her friend. So I looked up the book on Amazon, and lo and behold, it shall be mine! Yay!!

There's something in the air....

and I don't think its Cupid! I think its more along the lines of germs. Tons of germs.

I've had a cold of some sort for almost a week now, and no sign of feeling better. I might [gulp] actually go to the doctor if I'm not feeling well enough to go to work tomorrow. Its not even that I don't feel well - I don't feel all that bad (you know, aches and pains of the flu-sort); I just can't breathe. My head/sinuses are soooo stuffed up. I can hardly see straight from the sinus pressure, and I look like Rudolph.

Too bad school wasn't cancelled today, like it has been the past 2 days! We had quite a bit of snow, but the weather is decent today. I totally blame the topsy-turvy weather for getting me sick! And I would have loved for school to have been cancelled today, since I have 2 exams!! I already had the Geography one (wasn't too bad); its the Economics one that's going to kill me. Oh! And I got my Atmosphere exam back (from last week, remember?) - I got an 80%. That's much lower than what I'm used to getting, but when she told us the breakdown of the grades for both sections combined (a total of 55 students), I felt much better about it. Out of 55 students, there were a total of 8 who had at least an 80% or above. The class avg. was 69%, and there were plenty (read: 29) of students who had below a C. So, all-in-all, I'm fairly satisfied with an 80%. At least now I know what to expect on her next exam. And she gives out extra credit....

So anyway. I went to the craft store yesterday and picked up some goodies, which I will show you when I get home this evening. I watched two movies last night, including my most favorite ever, and this one....

I must admit, I didn't like Becoming Jane as much as I had hoped I would....mostly because of the ending (which I won't give away, in case you haven't seen it yet!). I'm going to give it a second chance, though, because I was a bit distracted while I was watching it (distracted by.... I'll show you pictures later!). I did like it, don't get me wrong - just not as much as I would have liked to. If that makes sense.

Enough of that. I should really get back to studying Economics.... as stimulating as it is. I promise I'll be back later with pictures of new projects!

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