you’ve heard of painting the roses red? here’s painting the grass green
what i should have been doing in the library: 
what i was doing in the library: 
(i actually found all 12 waldos in 2 min, 13 seconds)
fabbity fab picture in grey king: 
strawberry/blueberry pancakes c/o istopher: 
books that i was surprised to see in the “juvenile” section:
and 
note to self: no more double espressos…
awesome vid:
i started reading speak by laurie halse anderson and it does NOT suck.
when i was 15, i beggggged my mom for a pair of bum-kicking combat boots. we were shoe shopping and she watched me try on a pair. my pulse started to race as i realized that i just might get them! just when i had the taste of victory on my tongue (which tastes an awful lot like chocolate brioche), she asks if i’d rather have a pair of brown penny loafers. WHA? um, what kind of braniac actually thinks that brown penny loafers are even in the same galaxy as combat boots? then she added the ultimate insult. “i’ll even give you pennies to put in them!” there are many things i could say about that statement, but i don’t think i need to explain why 2 pennies was such a ridiculous way of trying to sway your 15 year old goth chick daughter to suddenly realize that yes, she did in fact want a pair of brown penny loafers. did she think that suddenly the addition of 2 cents would suddenly jolt me into wanting to be a preppy freak like her? she bought them for me anyway and they were placed in the seat of honor in the back of my closet reserved for only the most embarrassing items that my mother chose to push upon me. yes, they lived out their days next to the hand made minnie mouse jumpsuit that she got me for my 13th birthday (yes, minnie mouse…13 years old. that was not a typo)
flash forward 11 years. i still have the dang things. what’s more? i wore them for the first time today. today, the first day of my adult life. and i wore the damn brown penny loafers (sans pennies…she didn’t make good on her deal). maybe they work at work for some workers, but not this worker. sure, they are all “adult” and stuff, but well…i’ll just give you the visuals to explain.
any questions?
moving on…
i have a fabbity fab office! my boss was really apologetic that they hadn’t made it up perfectly for me, but i didn’t mind at all. i set to work making it neat and tidy. here’s some befores:
and here’s after (the extra 6-7 chairs will be removed soon…)
that bookcase is fill with a lot of interesting books like Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future, The Physicians’ Desk Reference, and my personal favorite What Makes Pornography “Sexy”.
ANOTHER REASON TO LOVE MY HUSBAND:
when i got home he had made me this:
it’s an “over 18 year old” origami rabbit since i am now an adult…i named him alberto gonzales in honor of his royal majesty’s most recently vamoosed.
lastly, it has come to my attention that my aunt debi reads this. ahem: aunt debi. i love you. you are awesome. but…i just want to let you know that when you told me that it was ok to sew over horizontal straight pins, you were wrong. it is most certainly NOT ok. unless you are wearing safety glasses of course, which i do not while sewing. i should sue you for the number of sewing needles that have broken on straight pins as well as for the pain and suffering of just realizing that i almost had a shard of sharp metal embedded into my eye. but since i am you and you are me, i forgive us. <3
father in law #2 in the pretty apron!
FYI! SAVE THE PLANET (a little bit). bring your own container/bags to the store with you! it’s not embarrasing or as difficult as you might imagine. here’s how we do it:
you know how sometimes we pick something up in the store and don’t want to put it back once we’re 10 aisles away and decide we don’t need it anymore? well, here’s the most interesting one i’ve ever seen:
yeah! finished my “vintage” house dress today
dessert…oooohhhhh…my first homemade strawberry shortcake
armegeddon semester starts tomorrow. i don’t think i’ll have the time to make anything to amuse anyone so i’ll probably not post as much. maybe just some funny pictures.
i realized tonight that tomorrow will be my first day as an adult. i’m pretty excited! i shall commemorate this day with some cucumber salad and couscous.
i finished the golden compass yesterday and i must say that lyra is now one of my favorite heroines…right up there with alice, candy, ramona, anne, bella, and weetzie bat.
ok, i finished this shirt but oh how it sucked. basically, the sleeves where the bane of my existence. i mean, wow. i will never make that pattern again. ever.
<—-4 pieces had to be sewn together
looks innocent right? wrong! it was very cheap though! fabric=$4, buttons=$1
right now i am cutting out this material:
for this dress:
it will be a nice end to my sewing extravaganza.
ooh dinner! broiled eggplant, pesto, and roasted red peppers…
1. Beowulf
this one will be released in november and has almost NOTHING to do with the real story
this one was released in 2005 and showed so much promise in the trailer but the film just kind of went way off course.
2.the dark is rising
AHHHH! this one really gets me folkses. the book is a fantabulous second installment of the dark is rising sequence by susan cooper. the story is set in a 1960/70ish time period whereas the adaptation takes place in current times along with an urban setting versus pastoral and a “dorky boy that becomes awesome” theme versus just a plain boy in a large family. also, will should be an 11 year old, not 14!! probably worst of all is that they got merriman all wrong. he’s one of my favorite characters in the series and, while the actor appears good, he’s not at all how merriman is described in the books. boooooooooooooo! it reminds me of those $1 titles you get in the walmart assorted bin.
POSSIBLE NON-SUCK MOVIE ADAPTATIONS (i know, rare but possible)!!! these films appear to actually follow the story lines quite closely and also appear to look very similar to what my imagination came up with.
1. the spiderwick chronicles
i luvvvvved these books. holly black is one of my favorite writers and did such a great job on this 5 series set of books with toni diterlizzi. i was really upset to see a poster of the upcoming nickelodeon film, but then i saw the trailer and don’t think it will be so bad. it looks like they are using all 5 books in the film which makes me happy. also, freddie highmore and mary louise parker are in it (and martin short as thimbletack!) so it shows promise.
2. the golden compass (us title)
i <3 lyra and this film actually has a little girl that could do her justice.
what makes me so annoyed with movie adaptations of the books is that they tend to only take a little bit of truth from the story then hollywoodize it till it no longer follows a comparable story line. they should say that the films are inspired by such and such book but shouldn’t say the ARE that book see?
i love lyra belacqua 
but candy quackenbush is still my homegirl 
i finished the sheer white/blue built by wendy dress this morning. i used a white eyelet that i had bought for vogue 8185 but i used a strawberry print instead.
only 2 days left of freedom till armegeddon semester. i will spend the time doing the following things:
tonight finishing 
tomorrow finishing 
…and 
sunday i will try to make one more dress out of 
the last 48 hours have been really full of head swirling action and now i feel exhausted. woot.
couscous with feta, kalamata, and walnuts: 
it was a lot more flavorful that i thought it would be
the fired pottery: 
father-in-law # 2 (brian) made me a too gnarly dress form with which i constructed my first self drafted pattern today: an apron
oh…and fyi, live free or die hard has mythbusters episode written all over it
we just got back from our mini-vacation. it was good fun. we swam, ate, played with ducks, munched ice cream, saw bugs, played with kids, and other always nice experiences.
i climbed to the top of this: 
looked out and i saw this: 
then looked down and saw this: 
do not be fooled. that structure has a lot more stairs that you would think. it is now 2 days later and my calves are still aching.
i took a walk and sat here: 
when i was scavengering some ice cream i came across these 2 amusing signs:
playing: 
the long awaited dinner: 
pretties: 
this kid said one of the most amazing sentences i have ever heard. we were putting our feet and hands in the water then putting them on the cement to make prints. he looked at one of my hand prints that i’d made and said “what a nice pawprint you made” with absolute admiration in his voice. 
i had finished this before i left but hadn’t posted it: 
deb and brian came out to see us tonight from ohio and we’re all going to edgar evans state park tomorrow. i made them the best meal they have ever had. (this is sarcasm, people)
black bean tacos
my first loaf of focaccia! 
last night i made this: 
and tonight i’m making this: 
out of this: 
today i made a really great bag. i thought it would be a really quick, easy project…well, i was kind of but not really wrong. here’s the deal. it was only 3 pattern pieces. all were 4 sided with no curves. the materials i used were all cotton which tends to be the most simple to work with.
here’s why i was wrong: it took me all of weezer’s blue album just to cut out all the pieces. yes, 3 pattern pieces, but i had to cut out 2 of each for the facing, lining, and interfacing.
and look: 
sewing is dangerous!
after cutting out the pieces, i had to iron on the interfacing to every part of the facing. it took me the entire eisley combinations cd
after that, it only took me Garbage’s pink cd and alanis morissette’s jagged little pill to complete it. speaking of alanis, i had a flashback to high school while i was listening to her cd. mrs. saxton, the english teacher, was teaching us about irony. she asked if we knew what it meant. i raised my hand and, when called on, said “well, it’s like rai y ain on your wedding day. it’s a free riiiiide when you’ve already paid. it’s the good advice that you just didn’t take. and, who would have thought? it figures…” she just said that i was right and continued on with the lecture while my classmates and i laughed our bums off. i’m awesome.
i decided to wake up this guy: 
to show him
this is what he thought of my purse: 
after i got it off his head: 
so all in all a decent experience. just a lot of flipping cutting!
i was listening to the new rilo kiley cd and saw picture of jenny lewis. i started cracking up because 1, i love her so much and 2, we have the same dress! woot!
i found mine in a thrift store years ago and hemmed it to the length it is now. before it was almost floor length.
munch!
dinner was a new recipe. capellini with tomato, arugula, and kalamata and delicious fruit salad for desert
i sliced my left index finger open for this salad!
Books:
i started reading the importance of being earnest today. i can’t wait to finish it. i normally don’t go for period comedies because humor changes so much, but this is truly hilarious!
also, i highly recommend gothic, ten original dark tales and all hallows’ eve for the hopefully soon to arrive fall. vivian vande velde is such an amazingly creepy and fresh author.
two other books i read every fall are something wicked this way comes and the halloween tree both by ray bradbury-the-great.
tank girl is a fabulous movie by the way.
