Where have I been?

Oh blog readers, I know that I have dropped off the planet. My life lately has been a jumble of activities. I'll try to lay out the past few months for you, catch you up, and start writing again.

Work:

I've been working about 37 hours a week for peanuts at the Pier 1 up here. My assistant manager is horrible and is probably the first person I have never been able to find anything I like about them. I've been trying for 5 months to find something I can like so that I focus on that when I have to deal with her. The search has been fruitless, and I've just about given up hope on her. I spend most of my time at work protecting the associates from the wrath of this woman and it's getting to me. It's a very toxic environment to say the least. The customers up here are also very rude and I get a lot of people who think I'm too young to be a manager.

The job hunt has been very slow goings. Even though I have a degree and a lot of kick-bootie grades, most employers only notice my retail experience so it has been extremely difficult to break into any professional scene. I'm still working on it. I think that to really have the time to find a new job I will have to quit my old one. This is very emotionally taxing since I do love my company and I have been there for 2 years. However, I need a job that is full-time and has benefits. There was a brief lead with a stationary company, but the most they could offer me was 2 part-time positions at once where I shuttled between two of their stores and it was a pay cut.

Home:

The house is slowly coming together. The key word there is slowly. I've been doing some craft projects, we finally hung some stuff up, and our room has a mind of it's own. So far the design is a mix of Pier 1 and Ikea. Ikea is such a magical place and I live 30 minutes from it. I live about 30 minutes from most major retailers. There is even a Tiffanys store somewhere near me. I can't afford anything so I've figured it would be dangerous to go. Anywho, I'll post some pictures of my house updates soon. I need to charge my camera...I haven't done that since we moved and that has affected my blogging.

Steven is amazing. I relish in every moment I have off from work to spend with him. He is so supportive of me and gives the best hugs. It has been great to live with him and have him around all the time. I love it! We play tennis with his family and I'm getting quite good. So much fun!

Health:

Through the stress of the move, my crappy job, and lots of eating, I gained back all the weight I lost for my graduation. So I got a gym membership at an amazing gym called the Freedom Center (the pool has a huge water slide) and I go every morning for 30-45 minutes of cardio. Steven is doing a biggest loser challenge and has lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. He's doing so well on the program and I'm extremely proud of him.

I discovered soon after I moved here that I needed to have a root canal done. My mother canceled my dental insurance just before my graduation so I've been paying out of pocket. I have been going back to Gloucester for this because it saves me about $700 to go there then to have it done here by an endodontic specialist. In the end it will eat up $2205 from my savings. My tooth also got extremely infected and I had to take a lot of antibiotics. For about 2 weeks all I could eat was mashed potatoes.

Literature:

Where would I be without my books? So far I've spent a lot of time re-reading Harry Potter since the last movie came out. I'm currently reading The Historian. I'm halfway through it and I find it to be predictable. I hope that it gets better because I've had several people recommend it to me and those are normally good books. As Dracula books go, it hasn't been that entertaining for me. After you have experienced the joys of Tanya Huff and her Blood series...one cannot go back to just any vampire story.


Those are the big things that I've been up to. So much has been going on. I need to start writing again for my own sanity it seems, so stay tuned for further updates!

Busy Beaver! (House Pictures)

I know I've been a bad, bad blogger lately, so I wanted to take some time to show you what a busy beaver I've been. I present the following few exhibits and I apologize that the pictures are so icky. I haven't unpacked my camera so I used my phone and uploaded the pictures to facebook.

The first thing I painted was the bathroom in the basement. I got this color idea in an unusual way. I actually found the swatch under a chair at my old Pier 1. So of course I needed it in my new house to remember my Pier 1 family. I started with the basement to see how it would turn out and if I messed it up it wouldn't be seen that much. ;) It turned out fabulous! The green towels make it kind of tropical. It also flips the green I want to do in the half bath.
Next, is the guest bedroom! This is where we've been sleeping since we moved in. Because it has all of my old furniture in it, it is the closest room in the house to completion. You can see that I re-covered the headboard with a different fabric. It looks and feels so fabulous! I got the lamp with a gift card Sony's mother gave Steven for his graduation and the front pillow I got from Ross with a store credit i got from returning some pillows that didn't work out (Steven is so picky about pillows, you just wouldn't believe it!). I made the body pillow. You can't see it very well but I got some fabulous peony patterned fabric from Hancock fabrics. I used the same color--Spiced Cocoa-- for the accent wall. You can see some blue swatches beside the lamp I'm thinking about for the rest of the room and for the guest bath.
On the other side of the room is the seating area and the painting I did about a month ago.

So now everyone needs to come visit me! hehe.

Goodness! Interwebs!

I'm so sorry that I have disappeared for so long! A lot has happened since I last blogged. I'll try to break it down for you.. no pictures because I need to charge my camera and it's all in a box.

Friday, May 29:
I decided to drive the cats up the day before the big move so that we wouldn't have to deal with them while moving all my stuff. It's about a 4 hour drive and they did alright. I checked on them every time I stopped. However, sometime during the trip Oliver clawed all his claws out while being completely quiet. We found out when we got him home and his paws were bloody. He's fine now and his claws are starting to grow back. Penelope was absolutely fine and took to the house instantly. Oliver took some time but now he's back to his crazy self.

Saturday, May 30:
Steven and I drove back down to Blacksburg early in the morning and picked up a uhaul. We got the 6'X12' trailer thinking that it would be enough room plus the Durango we used to pull it...well we just barely had enough room! I don't know what we would have done if i hadn't taken 3 car trips up to his parent's house to drop things off. Basically, I have too much stuff. We drove back that night and unloaded the trailer

Sunday, May 31:
We started unpacking everything and got an old loveseat from Steven's parents. It's the only thing to sit on in the house right now! Crazy.

Monday, June 1:
This was my first day back to work at the new Pier 1. I worked there about 28 hours over the first week of June. Basically, I really hate it there. The people are unpleasant and no one has any personal connection to their jobs. It made me miss my store in Christiansburg so bad! I'm already on the hunt for a new job.

I had a time trying to get my internet in Blacksburg canceled. 2 weeks of multiple phone calls. Today I finally got it done.

We got the washer and dryer delivered on Wednesday and, after a year and a half, I finally have TV again!

Pandora is Freaky

I listen to pandora.com all the time. I just had it on my Jack Johnson station and a song came on that threw me back to childhood. The song was "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root. Here is a link to youtube so you can hear it: Click here for tuneage Ever heard it? I couldn't place it, but I knew that I had listened to this in one of my favorite kid's movies. I just couldn't place it and it was bugging me, as I'm usually very good at music trivia.

For a second, I thought it was "Parent Trap" but when I googled it the answer came up as "Matilda." Gosh I loved that movie growing up! I pretty much love anything where people suddenly get powers...thus my obsession with Marvel comics (e.g. the X-Men) and Heroes...sigh. I'm waiting for my power to manifest. Any day now. Laughs. I loved Matilda especially because she was such a bookworm! I wish I lived close enough to take a red wagon to the library. I might have to break out Matilda the first night we're in the new house.

I know my blog has been so blah lately. I apologize. It's because my camera battery has died and I've packed the charger. So...I cannot post pictures of the packing process. Packing isn't that interesting, really, it's mostly messy and I'm forever amazed at how much stuff I've accumulated at the age of 22. In a few more years I think it will be near impossible for me to move anywhere peacefully. Maybe I should start saving now for the moving company I'm going to have to hire. Ha!

I hope that the start to everyone's summer is going well! I promise to get some interesting blogging going once I have infinite craft and house projects to work on. Speaking of craft projects, my sister has added some clever little tree plushies to her Etsy that I'm really jamming on. The flower one named Woodzen is a personal favorite. I almost think an Elwood might be in order? ;) (inside story) Go check um out! I was fortunate enough to get an Owl as a graduation present. I've been drooling over them forever and now I have one of my own. I'm going to put it in my sewing room for inspiration when I move.

It's Twins!

Identical matching washer dryer that is! Steven made our first house purchase today. So stoked to move in a week. What we've been waiting for for almost 2 years is finally about to happen.

Song Of My Present

I listened to this CD during the summer right before Steven and I got together every night on my hour drive home from waiting tables. Most of the time I was normally on the phone with him.

Shucks, I'm feeling sentimental with my pending move. My apartment is a MESS! Lots to blog about if people would put up my graduation on facebook I could post some pictures!

I got inspired

You may remember a DIY project I did last summer when I covered some canvases. I have been planning to re-cover them for the guest bedroom that we still don't know if we have yet, bye the by.

I love the dandelion silhouettes that I've seen on a lot of stationary lately, so I decided that was going to be my theme of the series I wanted to do.

Instead of writing a paper, I went to JoAnn Fabrics with coupons in hand and picked up some paint and brown quilting fabric, as well as some fabulous and rich-looking brown fabric to re-cover my headboard with.

Here are the results:

(The originals)

(After painting)

(Back on the walls. I moved them closer together after I took this picture. There will be so much patching to do when I move.)

Not too shabby, eh? I cannot wait to put this whole room together! The only thing left to do is to find or make a cover for a body pillow.

My Birthday!

Today is my 22nd birthday and it has gone surprisingly well! A lot of you know my horrible history with birthdays; however, this one was probably the best birthday I've ever had.

What produced this magic? I forgot that I was even having a birthday, all I asked for was a key ring because I needed a new one, and I had my honey with me for a whole weekend of celebrations.

Because I forgot about my birthday I wasn't stressed out about it, as is my custom. I wasn't expecting a lot so I ended up getting blown away.

Steven was so great. Saturday we went out to run errands and get breakfast at IHOP. Our breakfast ended up being free since they messed it up (score). I went to work, and Saturday night we saw the new Wolverine movie. I loved it! X-men was probably my favorite thing growing up. Steven got to learn a deep dark secret from my past: I was a marvel fan-girl and still secretly am. Sunday, Steven woke me up with a handmade breakfast of wholegrain, fresh blueberry pancakes, eggs, and birthday muffins with "22" candles. He's the best! (picture soon)

And now on to pictures of the birthday loot from Steven:

Snuggie as a gag gift, but I'm totally going to use it. It also came with a free book-light. :DPride and Prejudice and Zombies! I've been stoked for this book release for months! My friend Di got it for her birthday a week ago, so I was stoked to find Steven had gotten it for me. I'm currently doing my annual read of the original Pride and Prejudice, so starting this will have to wait because I don't want to read it before I go to bed, just in case it's scary.

The shower caddy from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that I've been obsessing about for a year. I know, it's just a shower caddy, but it is amazing and I wanted it for our house that we don't have yet. Can't have our shampoos unorganized when they merge.

The mac-daddy of a gift: my new pink blackberry! I love this thing so much. I had to get a new phone number, so message me on facebook and I'll send it to you. (Don't mind of all my moving boxes in the photo.) It's also very exciting because it's on Steven's phone plan (it's true love when you share phone plans :D) and my e-mail address they set up on the phone starts with "king." I might have actually been more excited about that then the phone. Maybe.

I also got the key ring I asked for and my best friend got me an amazing Andy Warhol Banana bag. It's amazing! I've been wanting one for years.

So all and all, an amazing, amazing birthday weekend.

May 8: Oliver's 1st Birthday

My little fur-baby turned 1 on Friday. I celebrated with some "cake."

I know I'm a dork, but there the only kids I've got right now and I love to spoil them.

I'm hoping that now he is offically an "adult" he will start acting more cat-like and less crazy.

Here's hoping!

Almost done!

I've got one 4-5 page paper left to do for a class I'm taking pass/fail so I'm not that worried about it so onward to graduation prep and packing! I started packing up my kitchen last night. Craziness!

I'm really stoked about being able to give a lot of stuff to the goodwill during this move. I'm downsizing a lot since I'm moving 4.5 hours this time instead of 5 minutes. I love downsizing!

We're hoping to hear about a house today so cross your fingers. I don't exactly want to downsize so much that I'm living out of my car with my two cats and my love.

My dirty hippie in bandana, meets Blake Lively wanna-be, meets Marianne Dashwood goes to a ball...hair.

Gosh I'm a dork.

It Won't be Long, Yeah!

Since I've been experiencing an Across the Universe obsession lately and I get so see my honey this weekend, this song basically sums up my life right now.

James Baldwin: Paper topic and New Love

"I believe in love. I believe we can save each other"

Last Week To-Do

• finish and submit 10 page Writing for the Web paper
• finish log for Business Writing
• peer review for Business Writing
  
• write 10 page seminar paper
• finish e-portfolio
• 4-5 page Humanities final paper (this assignment was bigger than I thought)
  

The first 3 should be done by Monday. And my Humanities paper isn't due until the 13th, so I've got tons of time to think about that one.

So things should stop being super stressed around my world except for my massive seminar paper. Since I haven't skipped any classes...I feel I might not go to the last ones of some of them...just maybe. :D

Steve is Amazing!

Since I had such a horrible day yesterday, Steven sent me flowers. What a great surprise when I got home to find these beauties outside my door with his sweet note.

I really love him.

They don't replace having him here, but they make it a little more tolerable until I move up north to live with him.


(The ducks were a Pier 1 purchase from Easter. You know, one of those save for the nursery things.)

Asher Roth, you may love college...

But I sure as heck do not right now. Today I reached a breaking point, a new low, a freaking meltdown Today while meeting with a teacher I completely broke down crying over one critique about a thesis paragraph. I just couldn't deal with it and snapped a little. And of course I did this in front of my ultra-brilliant seminar teacher. This is actually a first in my college career. Then I could not stop the crying for the whole meeting! It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life. And I've had some pretty embarrassing moments.


So instead of taking a nap that I needed (really should of cause I haven't been sleeping. Having nightmares where professors yell at me which is probably why I broke today) I went shopping, found some cuteness, went down a pants size, apparently. I was so bummed about today I couldn't even enjoy it. How messed up is that?

Just want to be done so that I can have my Steven. And really feeling to embarrassed to go to my seminar class tomorrow or to go to graduation. And my mom wonders why I didn't want to walk?

Coveting A Bookend? New Low.

As I walked into my Business Writting professor's office I was struck by 6 of these gorgeous bookends sparkling in her window. At which, I had to break her off mid-sentence with: "oh! I love your hoot-hoots! I mean...owls."

Thankfully, she then went on to talk about the glass company they came from: Blenko. Apparently, they're from the late 60's, and truth be told I'm in love with them. She said she has been trying to get rid of them (why, oh why, would you?) and that maybe she'd give me a set to thank me for all my hard work on this manual we've been working on. Oh...do not tease me! It feels weird to take graduation gifts from professors...but truth be told, I think I'd get over the awkwardness quickly once these gleaming gals made it to my bookcase...

Personal Day

I've been trying to give myself a little break now that one or two of my projects are coming to an end before I start on the last projects. Ugh.

Today I did one of my DIY projects. I decided since I'm going to be giving a presentation tomorrow I wanted to turn my black pants that got too short into skinny pants. This trick is beyond perfect! It allows the tops of your pants to cover up wobbly bits or thigh issues caused by store bought skinny jeans, you can make them as tight or as loose in the leg as you want, and it saves a pair of pants that fit from being thrown out because they got too short. This might not be a problem for others, but for me it eventually happens to every pair of pants I own.

Now I have a pair of black pants that look like Audrey Hepburn's pants in Funny Face (great movie).

In order to do this:

1. turn your pants inside out
2. put them on
3. use pins to mark where you want to sew the new seams
4. sew them up
5. re-enforce the seams
6. cut off the excess material

Ta-da!

When I Won't Be Insane

I'm looking forward to the time in oh...2.5 weeks when I am done with school because I have so many projects that I have wanted to complete, it's ridiculous. I wanted to share a few of them so that you will all know what to expect when my blog rises from the ashes of lost internet causes.

Most important thing...ever: READ. I haven't done any pleasure reading in quite a while and I have the feeling it's going to be a mind-blowing experience. I also realize that I haven't done a book review in ages. My apologies.

Sew. I have about three things that need fixing and I've been itching to try a DIY where I make a pair of black pants I have into skinny jeans (cause I love the look, just hate how every pair you can buy is ultra low rise and I'm too curvacious for all that. I need to be able to move and sit/bend over)

Re-cover my headboard. Since my bed will be in the guest bedroom when we move, and I've been redoing the colors, I need to redo it in a fabulous brown. Easy project, but it will make a dramatic impact and allow me to post pictures of the project on this blog.

Cover and paint 3 canvases for the guest bedroom using some muslin. I need to find something that I want to paint...I'm thinking bamboo or mum silhouettes, haven't decided yet. Can't be anything too ambitious because I haven't painted in a long time.

Send Thank Yous for any graduation gifts I happen to receive. I might make the thank yous because I have developed a love for DIY paper products.

Finish a doll I started making for Baby Kaveena when she was born, four months ago.

And you know...all the randomness that will happen when we finally get a house and are able to move in.

You'll be the first to know when that happens, of course.

I want to be a Coffee Bean

A friend got a new blog and when I was typing in the url I misspelled it. In doing so, I chanced upon a little cheesy story that resonated with me, especially today. I couldn't copy and paste it so I have to link to the blog. I really enjoyed it. I had a very horrible day yesterday triggered by seeing a "haunt" at the library. Just a glance of this person brought back the nightmares I had for a good year after a bad living experience. Full force nightmares all night last night, but that's better than every night. Truth be told I'm still not right from it and I don't trust people very well anymore. I have only now just begun to go out in public and try to make new friends. Anyways, I'm not going into all that, but I'm refusing to be an egg...and I'm trying really hard to be coffee beans. Basically.

Oh Mr. Weathers!

Steven passed along a comic to me that I thought was hilarious. He thought it described me...when, in fact, it has Ed Weathers written all over it. Mr. Weathers was my Technical Editing and Style teacher and he is beyond amazing. I've wanted to slip this comic under his door...but I'm not sure if he would get a kick out of it or think it was vulgar...I'll leave that up to you, especially if you know and love him like I do. Click onward to see the comic!
(I should also mention that's pretty much how he dresses...and well...it's love.)

Where's the Zen?

So today I went for a run. Not for kicks, but because I was so anxious/freaking out about school that I literally had to wear my self out and clear my head. This end of the semester is going to kill me more than others have. I'm thankful that it's my last one!

My To-Do list for the next 19 days:

• 2-4 page response for Bloodchild (I'm thinking it's going to be a 2 page response)
  
• Presentation of my paper idea for Seminar class
• 10 page paper for Seminar with critical sources
• e-portfolio with written personal narrative for Seminar
• finish manual for YMCA
• present manual to community partner
• finish Log for Business Writing
• Do group review and tell the teacher I basically did everything
• presentation about education in Frankenstein for my Humanities class
• 3 page creative paper for my humanities class
• 2 page final paper for humanities class
• client project for Writing for the Web
• 10 page web article for Writing for the Web
  

Senioritis

noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school [and college] seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as GraduationI got this from urbandictionary.com

Fabulous Weekend

My honey was able to surprise me with a visit this weekend. The distraction was much needed since I have 3 weeks left of school and no idea how I'm possibly going to get everything done.

The great thing about the weekendwas the weather! It was so great out! I love how Steven puts up with the kid in me. For instance, Saturday we got a cheap frisbee at the dollar tree and head to the park to throw the frisbee around, blow bubbles into the wind, pick flowers, and run around the baseball diamond. Then Saturday night we put up our new snazzy tent in my living room and "camped out" until Oliver got too rowdy and we decided to save the tent and take it down. However, it was awesome while it lasted!

Birthday Gifts

Every year I generally get myself a birthday present. Something that I've really wanted but haven't been able to splurge on yet. Last year I got myself a lot of barware since I was turning 21. This year, I have no idea what to get myself.Any ideas? Sigh. Since when have I ever needed ideas about something to get myself. I guess that life is pretty good right now.

New Shirt!

I ordered this shirt from Urban Outfitters yesterday. I'm very excited to get it in for the summer. I also love that I got it for 13 bucks. Love a good sale.

Grad Announcements

Because graduation announcements are so expensive I decided to make my own. Here is a picture of them before embellishment because Steven wanted to see it. I'm not sure why he thought he wasn't getting sent one... I'll be sending then out shortly and then hoping I do actually graduate...I'm more than a little concerned about that do to my teachers not giving ANY grades back! FML.

Too much?

Sometimes I think I might take my energy usage phobia a little too far. When I moved last June, I gave away my alarm clock because it used energy. I hate things that have to be plugged in. In fact, the only things that stay plugged in at my apartment are one or two lights and my powerstrip that is always off when not in use.However, since Steven accidentally kidnapped my phone and I won't get it back until Wednesday (Wednesday! I'm dying!) I had to go out and buy an alarm clock. Sigh. The crazy part is that I opened every box to see the power those things pull because they don't put it on the box for some reason. The end result was that they were all the same. I didn't want a battery powered one because they slowly get off time as they loose power and you only know when one morning when you're late for work. I ended up going with an alarm clock that lets you pick between 7 colors of display. Cause if I'm going to be paying for the dang thing I want to have purple numbers. Dang it!

PS- Happy 30th Birthday Norah Jones!

More Good Human...I want to hang out with him.

Before I start my full day of paper writing, cleaning, possible grocery shopping, and just general excitement that Steven will arrive tonight I wanted to pass along an article from The Good Human about Low/No VOC paint.To see the article, click here! I really want to try to do this when I paint our new dwelling! I just hope that I can get the colors I want. I just hate the horrible smell of paint. It's normally so bad that I can't sleep or be in a room for quite some time. Plus, these new paints don't add to greenhouse gases and that's love.

Late Night LOL's

It's time for bed, but I just had to share this lolcat with you all. Ha!

Vinyl Sighting

This is one of my favorite songs. I actually have this exact record! I really loved the hand and just the whole set up of the video.

I know I'm so old fashioned, but I still love records. My collection is tiny, but I've got some goodies including a version of Peter and the Wolf narrated by David Bowie! That was a great Christmas present from my manager since she knew my obsession with both Peter and the Wolf and David Bowie. Oh Bowie.

Baby Happies

I finally got to meet baby Lily (Lillian is her full name...and yes Windy, I might have swayed that decision :D). Lily is so perfect! I fell in love with her. The great thing was that I was SO happy for Amy. She's the first person of all my friends having kids that I'm super happy for because she is a really GREAT mom and she is doing such a great job! And Lily is equally good for her. Lily was super well cared for and chill and just wonderful (loved and happy). I in no way thought: I need to kidnap this child because they aren't being taken care of like other situations I've been in recently. I actually got to be happy for Ames and enjoy hanging out with Lily who has stolen my heart, I will admit that. Other friends just make me depressed cause I want to adopt their kids. Laughs, but seriously.

Become an Enviro, we have Vegan Chocolate cake

I wish that my blog had more of a specific "genre" so that I could do a blog roll with all my favorite posts from other bloggers. However, my interests are way too varied, but I do like to pass along articles on other blogs that I dig. The Good Human has a great article today about why it isn't such a horrible thing to be an environmentalist. Check it out here.

Also, my new favorite word is ecogeek.

Oh! I read an interesting blog about toilet cloths and wanted to know the general reaction to that. Basically, it's like a reusable diaper only for toilet paper. I have my doubts. I can't even watch the girl in my seminar class blow her nose with a handkerchief without cringing a little...however, that might just be the way she goes about it and not actually the handkerchief. Either way, the handkerchief is something that I want to start trying. One more thing in my life that I can embroider with my initials.

And about the cake, my best friend does make some AMAZING vegan chocolate cake. Being vegan is not necessary to eat a piece of it...or you know...all of it. :D

The Tough Get Going

I'm the only person I know who can pull off getting sick on her Spring Break. Things are finally looking up. Right now I feel the best I've felt since Wednesday (breathing is such a nice thing).

However, my nose has decided to drain one nostril at a time. So, just so you know, this photo was not staged. It hurts too much to blow my nose, so I'm just using the tissue to catch the flow. Yeah.

Thank goodness for my Trader Joe's recycled paper tissues I got in DC!

But, I think I might have also needed a tissue monster this week.

Queen of Nervous Energy

Last Friday Steven and I went to go look at a house. We don't think that it was the one for us, but it has gotten me excited to move! It did have good potential the more that I think about it. I love to plan and organize so much! I get really antsy and have to work on projects to keep myself busy and to keep myself from packing up everything I own. I love to pack because it's like a giant puzzle. My latest project involves re-doing my room in the apartment because my bed is going to turn into the guest bedroom...

My bedroom has been black and white for about 2 years and I still love black and white, probably always will. However, black comforters are a complete pain in the butt to keep clean. Ever since I got cats I could not keep everything from clinging to my comforter. So I've been sleeping without a duvet for a while, it just got too out of control. Now my comforter was also a weird dimension for a full size bed. It measures 88X88 so finding anything for it was impossible. In fact, I made my last duvet cause I was desperate.

I got the go ahead from Steven to do smoked blue and brown! I'm so excited, because I have a lot of stuff that I can use now to pull it all together. The most expensive thing will be the dang linens. Found a great duvet (I like duvets because they're easier to wash) and I found a better comforter that actually fits my bed and covers all of it! Yay, no mattress showing! Now I have a lot of projects to do!

1- make a new dust ruffle, 3 yards of canvas/muslin ought to do it and I can use the interfacing from my old one.
2-recover my headboard in a fabulous chocolate brown. Making my own headboard was genius, now when I want to spice up a room I just need 60" of fabric and a staple gun and it equals a big impact in the room.

In other news, I have a horrible cough and just want to sleep all day. I hate being sick, yo. Hates it.

Poll

If I were a color palette what would I be?

I'm currently working on my professional website and I have no idea what direction to take the color in...I want to change it like an outfit: daily. However, I cannot...

Dork-face.

This is what happens when I'm bored and waiting for class...

Also, very in love with my new Boy-d earrings of fabulous-ness.

(I also love the "oh no she didn't face" that was actually taken when the UPS man rolled a cart full of packages by my table.)

Cherokee Nation

This was one of my FAVORITE songs growing up. Did I mention grew up completely absorbed in the 60's and 70's? Dad was the only one who ever listened to a radio and that was always what was on. I still dig it.

Anywho. Long story, but I found precious little feather earrings at Target this morning. Then I couldn't get the lyric from Cher's Half Breed "give her a feather she's a Cherokee" out of my head...yeah, not sure if I'm Cherokee but I'm 1/8 something. Great-g-maw on Mom's side was full something but because everybody wanted to white-wash every amount of non-whiteness out of the family...I have no idea what tribe we are. Most tribes set limits on blood ratios, usually at 1/4. Who knows, maybe I could register if I knew. Laughs. Pipe-dream, but I always thought it was cool.

I also love to tell people that and have um double take. Cause I look nothing at all like I've got anything but the big bad German in me.

Hair Update

Dang my hair has grown... I forget how short it used to be. Picture one was my last haircut before Caitlin's wedding. The second is my hair today. Wowz.

Sorry to Drop Off the Virtual Planet

I've got this Seminar class that's controlling my life right now and a job that I love too much and therefore work too much with my school schedule (30+ hours). Don't judge, laughs, I'm pulling the economy card. :D

However, next week is SPRING BREAK and I intend it to be the most glorious amount of time ever spent!

This weekend I'm traveling to the DC area to spend time with my "hubcap" (long story...he hated "hubs" even in quotes so now he's my "hubcap"). I mean, what do you want? ;)

Then the rest of my week will be well spent with sleep!

And I hope to reclaim my title as a rising internet socialite. Plans in the works people...plans.

Twitter

(http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/files/2009/01/twitter.jpg)

I'm embarrassed to say that I got a twitter account. Those of you who are friends with me on facebook know that I'm a ridiculous status updater. Twitter is like that...only on speed. My friend Jake doesn't exactly help my addiction since he is close to 2,000 TWEETS! I need to catch up. Laughs.

So if you're on Twitter...follow me.

URL Change

Just a heads up I'm going to change my url in a few days to msdomestique.blogspot.com if it is available. If not...then I'll contact you all somehow.

We're a Cheese Factory

Steven and I are the cheesiest goofs of a couple, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

For instance, when I asked him what he was doing today he replied:

Thinking about you

Writing up some documentation so my gaming group can collaborate on this server i setup yesterday...

Missing you

Taking a shower

Missing you more

Going to find some shoes

Wishing you were helping me shop

(I also love that he happened to put it in parallel form...)

UGH

Rant: they're definitely going with Zophie. Trying to stay calm, trying to still be supportive, trying to still be excited. But I'm ultimately disappointed.


Sometimes it sucks that Steven and I are so responsible. We went to college to get careers to make money to support kids, we put off lives, we're planning for kids instead of having "oops" moments and then we will be stuck picking up the left over bits once we finally get around to having a family years after everyone else we know.

I hate that. I really do.

I know, I'm selfish and ungrateful. Like everything else, I'll get over it.

BBC Booklist- 40

I know I'm an English major...but I'd LOVE one of you to beat me at this thing mostly because I love classic literature and want everyone else to do the same. I found it on the facebook of my fave English Prof's lifepartner who, incidentally, I will be working with in my business writing class...



Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:

1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.
5) Put in a note with your total in the subject


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X++++++++++
2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling X ++++++++ (7 for all the books and an extra one for Beedle the Bard)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible (Most of it) - X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman * tried it, got half way through Golden Compass and then stopped.
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X (Well, a LOT of them!)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier* I've heard Graham talk about this book in Early English Novel so much I might as well have read it, but one day I will read it. I mean it's a few thousand pages. *
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD SalingerX
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - * Dianna has suggested this to me and needs to loan it.
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot * another thousand pages I need the time for.
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy X
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X++++++++++++ becoming my favorite Austen novel
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X++++ Favorite book as a child
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini * Steven's mum gave me this to read
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X+
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (tried so hard when I was little but I never liked Anne)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (Penelopiad is an amazing novella by Atwood)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons X
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X+
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov* bought this senior year of high school and need to read it
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X and the sequel
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce * One day. If I didn't have to work, I would have taken Graham's second half of novel...where they are reading this novel... I'm going to miss that charming man.
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath X++
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola (Read Ladies Paradise, love Zola)
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker X +
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert X
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X+
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X (I've read this oh so many times...Hamlet you are a dead horse)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X (abridged version in the 10th grade, but I own the full version an dI'm going to read it)

So is it bad I want to go on bed-leave or something so that I can read all the novels I want to read.

Very surprised that Tom Jones was not on here...or Tristram Shandy...or Frankenstein...

Basically, this proves I have no life, laughs.

I'm aware that I dropped off the planet. Work is killing me. 30+ hour weeks with school don't equate to much free-time.

First, I need to wrap up and lay to rest the darling diva cup experience. That's right Jake, you will no longer hear about it. :D


What I liked:

• No gross trashcans that scream to those in your life that you are "on the rag." Also nothing your cats can embarrassingly pull from the trash. True story.
• The thrill of being a little more eco-friendly.
• Being able to walk around without constantly worrying about a pad. Example, not having to jump out of the shower and quickly put something on.
• No rashes
• Not having to change so frequently
  

What I wasn't so pleased with:

• It takes a while to get used to. It's different, so it just takes some time.
• If you're not comfortable with your girl bits this product won't work well for you. It's very hands on.

Ok, done. Go get one, you'll love it once you get used to it.

What if you think both?

..like myself.

You know you're an over-worked English major when:

So tonight was a funny experience. I worked this morning 10-2 then I went to class. H had a test tomorrow so she called out for her shift from 5-10. So being the nice, dummy I am, I said: "Oh, I'll work for her if no one else can, just call me." I thought I only had to read 200 pages (novel, so that isn't so bad. Totally do-able since I read like a speed demon). However, as I'm on my way into work I remember that I needed to do a forum post about the book. So I call up my buddy T and I'm like: "we have a forum post (250 words) tonight, right?" He says: "Yeah, it's due before 9pm."

Well crap, I'm not off until 10 and I've only read 50 pages.

So I'm totally blue because I have never just NOT done an assignment. And I was all bummed cause I couldn't get to a comp with internet and write up something and I was planning my shameful e-mail to the prof (who refuses late work) telling her that I did the assignment and turned it in late just so that I did it and how I wouldn't expect a grade for it.

I decided to hand-write the response (at work), then I called up my bestie (who is after all, the best) and I dictated the whole thing to her for her to submit for me. So I wrote the most amazing crap drawing on things from the first 50 pages. Ugh. At least it's better than not doing it.

Since I picked up an extra shift that means I'll work 32 hours this week, with classes. It also means that since Friday I've worked 25 (normally what I work in a week). Kill me. I mean...seriously...this is getting ridiculous. I'm too darn nice.

At least my next check will be boss. I hope I can walk tomorrow. That's getting harder. My back is spent. Sorry to complain, but I'm losing my sanity. It wouldn't be bad if I didn't also have to, you know, graduate.

Cause Business Writing quizzes suck.

Steven & Amanda

♥ What are your middle names?
Cobb and Anthony

♥ How long have you been together?
1 year, 5 months, and 13 days.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
6 months

♥ Who asked who out?
I guess me? I dunno how it happened actually.

♥ How old are each of you?
I'm 21 and he's 22.

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
his, I rarely see mine.

♥ Do you have any children together?
sadly, no

♥ What about pets?
two cats: Penelope and Oliver

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
this whole long distance thing. I hate it.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
college, yes.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
negative

♥ Who is smarter?
we're both pretty equal except he's math/science and I'm artsy stuff.

♥ Who is more sensitive?
me

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
lots of breakfast places. We love breakfast.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
northern VA

♥ Who has the craziest exes?
neither, but we both have crazy people in our lives that we just don't talk about.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
me maybe? I dunno, we're both kind of mellow.

♥ Who does the cooking?
both

♥ Who is more social?
probably him. I'm happy at home with a book.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
me

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
we're both pretty darn stubborn, but I love it.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
he does. He says that I do, but it's really him.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
me. I always wake him up with kisses.

♥ Where was your first date?
movies? I can't remember. We were friends and then suddenly we weren't

♥ Who has the bigger family?
him, by far

♥ Do you get flowers often?
I still get them fairly regularly. I love flowers

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
our last one was together.

♥ Who is more jealous?
most likely me. I know I've got a great thing.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
2 weeks, laughs.

♥ Who eats more?
me :D

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
we do it together. It was my favorite thing to do when I crashed at his apartment.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
that'd be him. He can do things with a comp that simply blow my mind. He is a computer scientist after all.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
I like him to drive me around. I like to look out the windows at the stuff around the car and I just don't get to do that when I drive. Plus he doesn't fit in my car. It's a clown car to a tall person.

Full-time Diva

Well the first full day was...kind of painful. My flow is still low so that might have something to do with it. The inner part wasn't painful just the little nib at the end that hangs out. They say that you can cut it and I might have to. It's irritating as you walk. I worked today, so I walked a ton! I kept having to go to the loo and re-adjust myself. Not that it was moving just that the nib was rubbing areas that should not be rubbed. I've gotten better at getting it in. Awesome. It's difficult because you have to create a suction. It makes weird sounds that amuse me thoroughly.

Apparently people weren't kidding when they said it takes some time to adjust.

Sleeping was boss. No worries about anything and very comfortable.

Take out is interesting and kind of gross at this point. I haven't worked out the method for that. Working on it.

Over all, it was an ok day. No leaking (awesome since tampons leak for me, thus I can't use them).

Haha, I feel we're way too close blogger-friends now. Laughs. But I think that the time of the month is still a very taboo thing to talk about even though it's a natural process that has happened since the dawn of time. I find it incredibly interesting and I think that health in your female bits is extremely important. And I guess I'm spoiled since I work with the best bunch of women who talk openly about this kind of thing. For instance, today I had a whole convo with my managers about this whole thing. I'm glad that I can do that.

Just wait a few years til I start trying to conceive (TTC) and you get to hear about mucus and cervix mushiness and such... speaking of that... my friend Caitlin has a link to a blog about a pregnancy. I'm guessing it's a friend of hers and I seriously read the whole thing the other night...random.

I'm a Diva

Haha, so I realize that the Diva cup might seem a little terrifying. I've read the instructions so I know that it's fold-able.

So. First impressions:

I got it in and cannot feel it. Awesome since I can totally feel tampons no matter what they say about how I'm not supposed to. This I really cannot feel.

It says you're supposed to be able to twist it...I'm not sure how anything like this can be twisted in my "vage" but I looked on their website and I got a tip for insertion. Basically, the idea is that it creates a suction between the rim and your vagina.


So far so good!

Diva Cup

Posts this week might be TMI since I'm going to be doing a product review. About a month ago, I tracked down the co-op in Roanoke (awesome place, FYI) so that I could get the Diva Cup.

The Diva Cup is a menstrual cup made out of silicone. Intrigued? Well you should be. Because it is made of silicone, it is reusable. You just have to wash/boil it. The girl who checked me out said that she has been using hers for 5 years! Can you imagine the amount of feminine products not going into the landfill?

It cost me about $30, but with the price of girl-time products it pays for itself in the first year of use. Awesome. Since I got it from a co-op I was also supporting a local business. Double awesome.

You only have to empty it 2 times a day. Added bonus for the girl on the go. You can run in it, swim in it, dance in it, whateves (except the horizontal mambo, ya dig).

You can see why I was intrigued, right?

The great thing for me, and TMI, is that I get rashes from pads in the winter. Dry skin + pad= diaper rashes...owies.

So throughout this week I'll keep you all updated on the process. Apparently, it can take some time to get used to it/getting it situated correctly.

Have any of you ever used one?

Thoughts?

I thought it was weird at first too. I've been scoping it online for about a year.

So... I just wrote a post and then deleted it cause I felt dumb... but Dianna cured me of that.

Basically...some friends of ours are having a baby girl and they're naming it Zophiel and want to call her Zophie...now every one here knows that my FAVE baby name is Sophie. Sophie is greek for wisdom so it's a way for me to pass down my last name and it's from the same root word as my two best friends whose names both happen to be Sonja/Sonia meaning wisdom. So I'm more then a wee bit bummed about that. I feel like Charlotte when a friend steals Shayla from her in epi 110. I'm such a Charlotte most of the time.

Anywho, Di suggested I post a list of all the names I like...and I happen to have that handy since I keep a digital copy that I edit: constantly. Here ya go:

Girls:
Sophie
Sophina (Steven's alternate name if they went with Zophie) Orelia (cause her initials will be SOK...our little socks. I'm also liking Orora or Osten...)
Iris
Magdalena
Ainsley
Daphne
Ceridwen- Fair Poetry
Isolde
Phoebe
Adia- I know it's a Sarah M. song but I loves it...it's Swahili for gift
Annice- Character in my fave fantasy book...whose daughter is Magda I also love that name...paired with Lena cause I have a great-great grannie named Lena...not to mention Raisin in the Sun...
Mira
Sage
Dahlia- new favorite
Viola- Tribute name.
Zora


Boys:
Levin-our fave boy name... stole it from Anna Karenina
Bennet- Austen name
Freiden- means Peace in German
Jude
Langston

I'm aware that the girl names outnumber the boy names. That's because I find girl names way more enjoyable mostly because they have more a's and light sounds. Guy names are kind of harsh to the ear. And I secretly want a girl or two or three.... :D

Names are a pathetic hobby of mine since we won't be having kids for 20 years. I've been obsessed with names since I was a kid. I had a baby name book for all my dolls/stuffed animals/cats. I'm also the girl who has loaned out her 100,000 baby name book to prego friends. Laughs. Those books come in handy.

Gloucester High School 2005

Cause I'm a dork:If you are tagged, fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! REPORT with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box. Send this to all your friends, but don't forget to send it back to me.

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Negative. I thought most of the guys in my hometown were brainless. 'Cept one at the time who is now married to one of the most amazing people I know and lives in Hawaii. Yes you Caitlin. :D

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
no no no and I'm very glad of it.

3. Did you carpool to school?
Olga used to take Sonja and I to school before we could drive. I hated the bus. It was a place of torture.

4. What kind of car did you have?
Dodge Neon

5. What kind of car do you have now?
Suzuki Aerio

6. It's Friday night...where are you in HS?
at home doing homework and dreaming of getting out of g-town

7. It is Friday night...where are you now?
at home doing homework. Not much has changed. What will I do with myself when I no longer have homework?

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
Daycare. I miss daycare sometimes, just not the place I worked the first time. Grand Kids I miss quite regularly.

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Sales Leader at Pier 1. I freaking love my job. It's a good thing too, because I live there now.

10. Were you a party animal?
HAHA, very far from it. Can you believe I never snuck out? One day when I'm visiting my parents, hopefully with Steven with me, we're going to sneak out of the house and do teenage things. Whatever that is.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Choir was my middle school thing. I didn't continue to high school because the teacher was bad. Mr. Otto is still my favorite music teacher ever. I did chorus 3 years and I did choir after school every year and with district and area workshops in the 8th grade. Back when I wanted to be a pop star.

13. Were you a nerd?
Definitely, still am.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
nope, didn't even get detention. Had to go to the principal's office once only because there was another Amanda Wise in my high school. Classic case of mistaken identity.

15. Can you sing the fight song?
nope. I didn't know we had one until I graduated and it was in the bulletin.

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mrs. Baldwin (still heart her so much) and Ms. Sharp, and I had a crazy World history teacher I can't remember...and Coach Forester was foxy. I had him for Biology.

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
with the art kids

18. What was your school's full name?
Gloucester High School

20. What was your school mascot?
Duke

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
eh, the work was easier, but the social stuff was way more depressing, as was my weight. I learned from it. I spent most of it counting down til I could leave. Honestly, I spent most of it very depressed. I'd like to go back now and hang out with Mrs. Baldwin though.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Didn't go. I hated school dances. I wanted to boogie to old school stuff not rap.

23. Do you talk to the person you went to Prom with?
n/a unless you count Sonia, who I spent my prom night with, and I do still talk to her.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
No idea when that even is, nor do I really care. I might go to the big ones just to see where all the people I hated ended up...I'm a horrible person. :p

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
A rare few cause they're still some of the most amazing people I know.

It's here!

My necklace and shoes arrived! Both are extremely cute. The necklace is actually a cameo. It was called that but I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was just amber, but it has a little lady carved into it. Added bonus since I love cameos. I think they're so romantic.


My window is currently open!

And I love hanging out with my new friend "D." We're ridiculously chatty and somehow I feel...lighter after our outings. It's very good.

Also, I forgot that long hair gets tangled in the wind. Isn't that odd? It has been such a long time since I have had long hair...random.

Mail Stalker

I'm such a mail stalker. Thanks to the internet,I can find out instantly where a package is... like my urban outfitters goodies... they have a great tracking feature for users...or stalkers in this case.

For instance:


South Carolina!

I think it's so cool that our things can "travel." Gosh I'm a dork.

Glimpses of Spring

Yippie! Today I woke up in the BEST mood! I got up, didn't tame my mane, put on a summer shirt, and some fun necklaces. I went to get breakfast and ate it in my car with the windows down just sitting in the sun making some vitamin d.

I love the feeling when the Earth is coming back to life after the winter. Makes me hopeful.

I'm sitting here with the sun coming through my windows and waiting for it to warm up to the expected 60 degrees. Too bad I have to torture myself with homework.

PS- Birds are singing.

1. Like Janis Joplin, this picture is amazing

2. It has affirmed my need for "love beads."

3. And long hair, and bangles, and summer... :D

I'm not bad; I'm just drawn that way

(Darling necklace perfect for any future Jane Austen conventions...)

(Darling shoes perfect for walking around in the summer in cute skirts...)

Sorry...random Jessica Rabbit quote...but I was bad and went on Urban Outfitter's website...bad, oh, bad! However, I found a precious necklace and darling summer shoes on sale.

Best of all! I got a little tip from Style A Work in Progress that suggested searching the web for coupon codes for the specific website you're on. I did just that and found one for 10% off my order. Score.