10.28.2010

cd


You know how you have musical artists that you just love? Where you know before their new CD comes out that you're totally going to buy it? I love having that.

I love the thrill of putting a new CD in for the first time, knowing that whatever is on it is most likely going to be new music for me to love. Music that matters more than just making me happy, but lyrics that are going to make me wish I could write that well, and songs that make me think.

Two of my favorite artists just came out with new music, and I'm totally in the new CD phase, where I play the same songs over and over again, learning the words and soaking in the songs.

Go buy yourself a new CD. And listen to it over and over again and fall in love with it. It'll make you happy.

10.26.2010

entertain




This picture makes me want to entertain. Well, makes me want to have a place to entertain first, and then actually follow through with entertaining. With all my spare time.

10.18.2010

daily


Best cookies of your life.

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Told you. Obsessed with light through trees.

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$2 prop my mom found me at a flea market. I like it. However, it says Captain Morgan on it. Going to have to be strategically placed.

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This is the sort of stuff I love and would want in my house, but is so hazardous for small children.

10.17.2010

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This is Holly and Kevin. Holly's one of my extended cousins and she's marrying Kevin so we took engagement pictures.

10.14.2010

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You know those high waisted pants I wanted? I got some. You know what makes them perfect? This little bow.

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It's fall. There's going to be a lot of this. I can't help it.

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I love waking up at home for moments such as this.

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I like the shape it makes.

10.13.2010

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At school, for some reason, there's this big display up right now about berries/mushrooms that are poisonous/not poisonous. I wonder what these ones are...

10.12.2010

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We have fall window clings. And the light comes through them and makes me happy. Also, I was nearly blinded shooting into the light for this image. My eyes hurt for a while afterwards.

10.11.2010

layla











She's basically adorable.

10.01.2010

daily


Meet Meagan. We took her senior pictures today, and she's basically gorgeous.

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Favorite season, and this is why.

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Anyone else notice that fall brings lots of purple flowers? I approve.

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Okay, the concept, the idea, the act is entirely gross. But the way it looks in a picture? Kind cool.

9.27.2010

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Jenna, Erin, Maria and Amaya. What I love most about these four is how gorgeous they all are and how different they all look. How awesome is it that there's so many different definitions of beauty?

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Give me a few chilly fall days and I start lighting candles.

9.23.2010

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And more about Amanda, haha. She has a tree. And it's pouring. So she's collecting fresh rain water to nourish her tree, that lives in a pot in our house. At least until it grows up a little.

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Amanda's crafty. The first of our fall decorations.

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Amanda has been diligently working on this puzzle for eons. With bits of help from Travie and I. Never, ever pick a puzzle of a ship. They're hard.

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We got fancy Packer bracelets at work today.

9.18.2010

wish

Fall Wishlist

I kind of have a constant wish list going in my mind. Of things I'd like to add to my wardrobe each season. If I had an endless supply of money, I'd add every piece. But because I don't, I pick and choose the pieces that I'm really excited about, the pieces that I think will have a lasting place in my wardrobe, or the pieces that I can find at a great deal. This season, for fall, these are the things hovering around on my wishlist:

White Oxfords. I've wanted oxfords for a while now because of their ease and comfort, and because of their character. I'm a little preppy at heart, and I know I'd get a ton of use out of them. Oxfords that are white and a light tan would work too.
Over The Knee Boots. If I had skinny model long legs I'd want these even more, I'm not sure how they'd look on my short frame. But they're definitely on my list of things to try on!
MAC Lipglass. As much of an advocate as I am for MAC, I've never tried their lipglass. I'd love a warm, natural dusty rose colored gloss for fall.
High Waisted Pants. This is another one of those things that I'd need to try on to check out how it flatters me, but I'd like it if my short legs looked longer. Dress pants that I can roll up the bottoms of to show off cute ankle boots or high waisted shorts that I could wear all fall with thick colored tights underneath them and knee high boots...either way I'd love it!
Puffy Vest. In a bright, obnoxious, look at me! color. I have a plain black puffy vest and I love it because even if I'm wearing a thin shirt on my arms it does wonders for keeping me warm. Easy to throw on, easy to move in when a jacket is slightly too inhibiting. Now just looking for a fun color for winter.
Animal Print. Super in this season, and super timeless. The areas in which I'd want animal print are either a cardigan for layering purposes, cute little flats like these ones that are laced up in the back, or possibly on a purse. But since I'm not really in the market for a new purse, I'm going to look into finding a cardigan or flats.
Lace Tights. Also super in this season by being part of the lace trend, I like their slightly gothic feel. More dramatic than plain tights, they can easily add a little punch to a dress.

9.17.2010

daily


I remember when I was little we used to play with these on the playground, opening them up and pulling the seeds out.

swiss


OPI just came out with a new Swiss collection and I'm dying to get my hands on a bottle of this Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous color...it's so much more sparkly in person! Also, I just love the names for OPI's colors. There's a gold similar to this silver called "Glitzerland", and it's the Swiss collection. Oh how easily amused I can be!

9.16.2010

daily


Sometimes my camera struggles to grab the right focus right away and takes a picture where everything's blurry. In this instance, I love it.

9.15.2010

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In my window. Lovely.

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I'm slowly acquiring classic pieces of jewelry. This pretty, simple silver chain is one of them. I rarely ever take it off, even when I'm wearing other jewelry. Just layer it on.

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I'm kind of obsessed with my 50mm 1.8 lens. Tight focuses are kind of my thing.

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I am not a delicate girly girl. But twice this summer I've let my nails look like I am.

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Sticks look cool.

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Sunlight through the leaves makes me sigh with happiness.

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In case you're thirsty.

communicate

I’m in a class called Selling and Sales Management. The teacher is fabulous, and I basically love everything about it. Recently we had to fill out this 72 question survey where it’s all “choose A or B”. Whichever one we agreed with more. And then of course we take those answers and put them in a grid and add up the As and the Bs, etc etc and it all means something. It was developed by Redken as part of their interview process, they’d just give you all these pieces of paper and see if you can figure it out.

The questions start all normal and then all of the sudden,
A) I express what I feel.
B) If married, my erotic needs will be satisfied.

…umm, say what? And then,
A) Most people can’t be trusted.
B) Being erotic is as natural as being hungry.

A) I’m a physical-sensual person.
B) The wild sex life of the old Romans was tame compared to goings on now.

This all seriously interested and totally confused me.

Then, two days later, our answers got put in a grid and measured, giving us scores in nine different segments. Esteem, Assertion, Self Reliance, People Orientation, Conventionality, Romance, Tension, Hedonism, Authoritarian. From those nine segments, we add up different numbers and get three more scores. Parent, Adult and Child. How we communicate.

Within the Parent category, there’s Nurturing – caring, comforting, reassuring, protecting, and Critical – judgmental, criticizing, disapproving, disciplining. And with the Child category there’s Natural – fun-filled, joyful, impulsive, curious, and Adapted – rebellious, anxious, inadequate, pouting. With Adult there’s just one…and it’s basically emotionless. It’s rational thinking, it’s Dr. Brennan from Bones, it’s reasonable. I came out with 24% parent, 50% adult, and 26% child. Which is so dead on.

But. The cool part is understanding how to use all the information. Understanding how you’re communicating, how the person you’re speaking to is communicating, and if they match. Not that they’re necessarily the same, but they add up right.

For instance, if you come to someone with a natural child statement, all excited about something, curious to learn more, happy, and you get a critical parent response, you’re not going to be thrilled. But you could be responded to as a kid, with excitement and joy, or as a nurturing parent, supportive and reassuring, and like either of those responses.

My teacher pointed at the diagram and said, “If you understand this it means marital bliss. If you don’t, it means divorce.” Which is so true. Communication is ridiculously important.

Another reason this fascinates me is that there’s no wrong way. Rational thinking and communicating is good. Rational has a place. And comforting, caring, nurturing – they have their place. And joy, enthusiasm, being childlike is important. Expressing excitement is necessary. Can you imagine what our lives would be like if we didn’t express enthusiasm, if we didn’t share in our joy, but instead bottled it and kept it to ourselves? That would suck. We feed off of each other’s energy. We build each other up through the excitement we feel about things. The number one reason someone is hired over someone else is their enthusiasm. How does that not speak volumes of its importance?!

What I’ve learned in the first few class periods gets me all that much more interested for what we’re going to learn in the rest of the class.

9.13.2010

daily


I live in flats. Boots that are flat or ballet flats. My black flats had recently been worn past the point of no return, and I was able to find a very similar pair on sale. Give me two years and I'll wear these down to nothing too.

9.10.2010

daily


Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake. Possibly the best cheesecake ever. Try it for yourself:

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons butter

Filling:
4 1/2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:
Combine all the crust ingredients, mix well. Press into and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 10 inch springform pan. Back at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, cool.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, mix well. Add the eggs, Bailey's Irish Cream and vanilla, until just combined. Pour into cooled crust. Bake at 325 for 55-65 minutes or until center is almost set. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Refrigerate overnight.

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Bailey was one of my best friend in 3rd grade. And then she moved away, and we were penpals through high school. And then we went to college, and she fell in love. And this is Blaine.

9.09.2010

daily


Door County is my happy place.

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I fell in love with these boots at Younkers. Where they were $200. Then became reacquainted with them at Macy's, where they were $90. A few sales and coupons later, and they became mine for $66. And I'm still in love.