A Dollop of Inspiration

So I am not even entirely sure that i can keep myself from blogging at least a little bit every day.  Don't expect blog posts every day, just be pleasantly surprised when they happen.  I'm really busy taking an entire day for myself, which I never do.  But I still wanted to share this girl's Flickr, which I just discovered and it is very creative.  She's one of those people that makes me want to take millions of pictures.  Here are a few pieces of her wonderful photos.

Birthday Shenanigans

My actual birthday was on Saturday and I turned 20, which means I'm no longer a teenager and now I can join 20 Something Bloggers! Achievement Unlocked: Grow Up.  We didn't do anything for my actual birthday because I wasn't feeling up to it.  The day started out with me dreaming about murderous clowns, and I am really terrified of clowns.  And then I had really horrible cramps.  TMI?  I don't care.  And I didn't feel like eating anything.  So G and I just laid around watching TV/Netflix all day.  Later that night I felt better and we drove around the corner from G's house to QFC so I could buy some Haagen Dazs ice cream, which is a special treat for me.  And then we went back to his house and watched the Louis CK special called "Hilarious" and it was hilarious indeed.  Then we went to bed.  But yesterday G took me to Red Robin for "linner" at 4:00 (lunch/dinner for those of you who don't know what that means).  I got a really delicious burger with sweet potato fries and attempted to Vanna White while G took a picture.  He was also nice enough not to tell the witer it was my birthday, because I hate being sung to, so I didn't have to have anyone sing Happy Birthday to me at all, which made my birthday a huge success.

I managed to eat half of my meal and I'm going to eat the rest for
lunch as soon as I finish this post and join 20 Something Bloggers

And did I mention that I got my meal for free?  Because I'm a member of Red Robin's Red Royalty, they gave me a free burger to redeem any time during my birthday month.  So I definitely love Red Robin.  Also, sweet potato fries are one of my favorite things.  After linner, we went to Gameworks, which is an arcade.  We got there at 5:00.  I hadn't been to an arcade since I was 8 years old and went to Chuck E. Cheeses for my friend's birthday party.  I managed to beat G at air hockey, which was my main goal.  I won 8-5.  Then I beat him at Pac Man.  I got to play Dance Dance Revolution for the first time ever and it was really fun.  G won, but only by a little bit.  I also played pinball for the first time ever in real life and guess what?  I'm actually awesome at it.  I only played one game but it lasted a while and I got 66,110,000 points.  The zeroes at the end were also numbers but I don't remember what they were.  Then we played the basketball hoop shooting game and I did atrociously to begin with, but I managed to get 28 points by the end.  It was especially difficult because 2 out of the 4 basketballs were pretty flat.  We also hunted dinosaurs.  I won the first round and G won the other 3, after I informed him that he only has to pump it once to reload after every shot or he'll just waste all of his ammo.  It was really fun and really scary also because we got attacked by some T-rexes, but we killed them, because we're awesome dinosaur hunters like that.  We also played a Fast and the Furious racing game and I actually won!  It was especially exciting because I always lose at racing games, and because G loves cars and driving.  I got 4th place and he got 8th.  We also played Skee Ball, which I had never played before.  It was pretty fun except the machines stopped displaying our score at the end, after this picture was taken.

So we had to shift to the machines on the far left and I didn't realize it before we swiped our card to play, but all of the balls on my machine were stuck in the orange ring.  So I had to sneakily climb up the skee ball machine to retrieve them while nobody was looking.  And then two of them got stuck while I was playing and I had to walk up and get them again.  And we played a bunch of other games too, but those ones were the most fun.  And I had a blast.  It was my best birthday so far.  I snapped these pictures on the way out.

You can't really tell in the picture but there's tons of electricity shooting through this

there's electricity shooting through this too; you can see it a little bit

And then we went back to G's house and had mixed drinks, which consisted of cranberry juice and ginger ale, and watched The Simpsons.  Oh yeah, and I bought a 1 dollar scratch ticket and it won me back my dollar.  So it ended up being the best birthday ever.  And I forgot to mention it but G started singing the Spider-Pig song from The Simpsons Movie while we were waiting for our food and I joined in.  I knew there was a reason I loved him : )

Friday Fashion: Lace Tights and Shop Opening

This Friday Fashion post will be shorter than ones I have done in the past, because I have a ton of things that I need to list in my Etsy shop today.

Dress: Forever 21 but I got it from Crossroads Trading Co., belt: Ebay (there are lots of different colors and they cost $1 each!), tights: Ebay (they cost about $4 with shipping and G says that they go well with my hippie-punk style), shoes: Crossroads Trading Co.

And last but definitely not least, my Etsy shop!

A Reminder

sneak peek

My Etsy shop's grand opening is tomorrow, so I will not be posting today (I know this is technically a post, but I'm not counting it.)  And anyway, I'm only posting every other day, probably, anyway.  I'm off to photograph and list and then make more things, so au revoir.

Product Review: Crest 3D White Strips

I got to try these through the P & G Brand Sampler program.  It's completely free to join and receive samples that you get to select from their available samples.  This is the first time I requested samples and I got the Crest 3D whitestrips (which came with a sample of Crest 3D white toothpaste, which I already use) and a travel size bottle of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.  You may not know this about me, but I am very averse to change when it comes to my hygiene/beauty routine.  Once I find a product that works, I stick with it for pretty much ever.  I normally use Herbal Essences Body Envy shampoo, because I like the scent.  But they changed the scent from white nectarine and pink coral flower about 6 months ago, and the new scent isn't nearly as pleasant.  But, being myself which means that I am a bargain shopper, I had picked up a new bottle of it and a spare when I found them on sale after they changed the scent.  So I am just now using up the rest of the spare bottle.  And the other thing is that my hair naturally has a lot of body, so I don't really need the volume boosting benefit either.  Which is a long way of saying that this allows you to try new things for free, when you might not want to take a risk on buying a product you may or may not love, and then be stuck using it until it's gone, if you're like me and can't stand wasting money.  So you should probably check out the brand sampler program, especially if you like free stuff.  They also send coupons that are relevant to the samples, so if you like the product, you can buy the full size one for a lower price.

Anyway, back to the topic: Crest 3D Whitestrips.  I have always had a problem with my teeth not being very white.  It is a result of having an overbite, which as a child made my lips stay partially open all of the time.  This caused my teeth to be exposed to stuff that made them not white.  Lately, I have started using Crest 3D white toothpaste and it helps immensely.  My mom even commented when I went home for Christmas that my teeth look whiter.  It's not the cheapest toothpaste out there, normally costing $6 a tube, but I found it at Rite Aid for $6 for a two-pack, so of course, I bought it.  And it's great.  It's made my teeth whiter, but they still aren't the whitest.  I'm not one of those people who wants my teeth to be so unnaturally white that every time I smile, it's like I'm firing a laser into people's eyes.  I would just like to have teeth that are white enough.  The whitestrips sample came with a top strip and bottom strip in a foil packet.  The instructions say to peel off the strips and place them on your teeth and leave them on for 30 minutes, then peel them off.  So that's what I did.  Here are the notes that I took.  The first thing that surprises me is that the back isn't goopy at all.  When they say that they have gel on them, it's more like sticker adhesive than anything.  I expected it to be maybe even a little messy, but it was not, so I was pleased.  They were really simple to apply, even with my crooked teeth.  Pro tip: If you do have crooked teeth like me, you can just apply them normally and then gently press them to contact with the surface of your crooked teeth, so that all of your teeth get whitened evenly.  The plastic is fairly flexible and the warmth inside your mouth will make it so you can easily get it where it needs to go.  You do the bottom strip first and then the top strip, as the directions tell you to.  Apply it evenly to the front of your teeth then fold it over the back so it stays on.  I was also pleasantly surprised that they didn't have any weird taste.  I was expecting them to taste like mint or maybe fluoride, but they just tasted like plastic.  After you put them on, you just go about your normal life for 30 minutes, except you can't eat or drink anything.  You aren't allowed to smoke either, but I don't do that anyway.  They do feel sort of weird, like I would imagine a retainer would feel, and you probably won't be able to talk understandably (I wasn't, but I did it when I was home alone).  I'm not sure if this happens for everyone, but I would imagine that it is: you will produce a lot of saliva while they are in.  Another thing that happened is that they started causing me a little bit of pain where they were near the gum on one of my teeth, once I was 15 minutes in.  The pain quickly subsided.  So if you have sensitive teeth, these are not for you.  When you take them off, I would recommend having a paper towel, tissue, or toilet paper handy, because they get really slimy and goopy when you remove them.  So you will want to throw them away and then wipe off your hands.  They came off really easily, which was surprising, since they sealed onto my teeth so well.  After you take them off, your teeth will be slimy, so you should brush them.  And now the part I'm sure you've all been waiting for: the results!

Before

After

So as you can see from the pictures, there wasn't a huge difference, but my teeth did get a little whiter.  When you actually buy the full size product, they whiten your teeth like this a little bit every day or every other day, as often as you use them, so they will get significantly whiter after two weeks.  The verdict: I'm pleased with them.  However, they are out of my budget.  The sample did come with a $10 off coupon for them, so I will have to see if that makes them affordable enough or not.

Sidenote: How cute is my necklace? This talented and lovely lady made it for me.  You should go show her blog and her Etsy shop some love.

And I know (meaning that I assume) you're all anxious to see what the hilarious Woody sent me in the mail for my Thrift Store Pen Pal review.  Well, you're going to have to wait for that until sometime next week, because I plan to make a vlog about it.  And it's good.  (The package I mean, not necessarily the vlog, which hasn't been made yet.)

Mini Movie Reviews: My Future Boyfriend and The Virgin Suicides

So I know I said I wouldn't be posting every single day any more, and I won't.  But I wanted to try a new way of reviewing movies where I just record a few thoughts and impressions during it and don't try to delve into the deeper meanings or analyze the endings.  In other words, this post will be short.  I'm not even going to summarize the movies, but I will link to IMDB if you're curious about them. Here we go!  (You need to read that last sentence in Mario's voice, because that's how it was intended.)

It was called "My Future Boyfriend".  It was on Netflix and I thought a romantic comedy with time travel sounded good, because I'm just weird like that.  I figured it might be a movie that was so cheesy and horrible that I would just turn it off after 10 minutes.  Here are my thoughts, as recorded while watching: it reminds me of Elf and I like Elf, hilarious, the guy's a good actor, the ending was ridiculously cheesy but I loved it, this movie was a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed it.

I actually expected this one to be good from reading the plot summary.  Thoughts: deep, thought-provoking, sobering, true (meaning that it's not always possible to understand why people do things, especially commit suicide), very well-written and well-acted.

So that's that: mini movie reviews.  I may or may not do more of these, since I have a list of 16 more movies that I have watched without reviewing.  And now I must go make a ton of jewelry for my Etsy shop, which I am opening Friday.

I Love Mail

I came back from my five days snowed in at G's to find 7 packages waiting for me on my bed! SEVEN!  They were all things that I had ordered in the mail, off either Etsy or Ebay, and it was very exciting.  I opened them all up and got 2 skinny leather belts, one red and one orange, (which were free with my Ebay bucks), my automatic camera shutter release, floral lace tights which will be featured in Friday's fashion post, some skull charms for jewelry making, and 500 eyepins (also for jewelry making), and two boxes of Manic Panic temporary hair dye which I ordered from Hot Topic with the remainder of my gift card from my birthday last year.  I'm really excited about the last one because dying my hair a bright color is one of my bucket list items; even if it's only temporarily, it still counts.  And then I took a shower.  And my roommate's friend was here and when I got down showering, she handed me five more packages! So much mail my brain nearly ceased to function.  But I was good and went to Safeway and bought some junk food to earn my boyfriend the 10 cents off per gallon gas reward, since he drives and I don't.  And now I'm back and about to open the other packages.  I'm opening them as I type, so it will be almost like you're here, except without you all having to crowd into my tiny room.  I'll open them from biggest to smallest.  The first one is more jewelry charms that I ordered from Ebay.  There are Jack Skellington heads and the cutest little brightly colored deer.  The second is a phone case I ordered for G for 1 dollar on Ebay.  The third thing is a super cute polka dot ruffle necklace from this girl.  I love her blog and she's so cool.  The fourth thing is something I ordered from Sephora.  Sephora is a little pricey for me, but the three free samples and the free birthday gift made the price worth it.  They were out of two of the samples I ordered so I ended up receiving a dark circle correcting eye cream sample, a collagen booster sample, and a bright eyes eye cream sample.  There was also a coupon code I used for a free mascara.  I ordered the instant nail polish remover because it seems like it will save me lots of time removing nail polish.  I also received the birthday cake shampoo, shower gel, and bubble bath as my free birthday gift.  There was a choice between that and sugar lips lipstick and I already have enough lip stuff.  The fifth and final package is from Woody and it's my thrift store pen pal surprise package.  I'll write about it in its own post.  If you don't read Woody's blog, you definitely should because he's hilarious.  Spoiler alert: the package from him is super awesome and not politically correct.  So you can look forward to that.

In other news, I am going to start posting every other day instead of every single day, maybe only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I'm honestly really surprised with how long I managed to keep up posting every single day.  I just need to dedicate more time to the business I'm starting.

Movie Reviews: Gothika and Cashback

Gothika is the story of a psychiatrist named Miranda Grey (played by Halle Berry),who ends up as a patient in the mental hospital where she used to work after being accused of murdering her husband Doug.  She is determined that she is not insane and that she is actually being haunted/attacked by some sort of demon girl.  She slowly pieces the clues together until it all makes sense, at least as much sense as being haunted by someone can make.  Bits of the movie are really predictable but then there are a couple of twists that you probably won't be expecting.  All in all, the movie was a good makes-you-jump sort of movie and the solution to Miranda's problem was a satisfying one.  I also really liked the ending, even though it existed more to keep the possibility for a sequel open than to be a great ending.  But it worked as a good ending nonetheless, in my opinion.  I give it a 3.5 out of 5, because of the fact that parts of it were so predictable, but it was well woven together as well.

If you can't already tell from the poster, this movie contains lots of female nudity, so if you're squeamish about that, it's probably not the movie for you.  Ben is an art school student whose girlfriend just broke up with him.  He develops insomnia as a result, so he take a job at a grocery store working the night shift.  Soon we discover that Ben has the ability to stop time, a power he has known about since he was a young boy.  The thing that he enjoys most in art school is sketching the female form, and before very long, he is stopping time in the grocery store, so he can disrobe the female customers and sketch them.  Which is obviously a huge invasion of privacy, but they never found out, but still left both G and I going, well this guy is a huge creep.  Before long, Ben develops a crush on the female cashier, who really isn't that pretty, to be completely honest.  More things happen, blah blah blah.  Clearly this isn't my favorite movie ever.  Anyway, I also hated the ending, because it's a very strange reaction for the cashier to have, the exact opposite of the one I would have.  And then Ben manages to stop time and bring the cashier in on the secret with him, which is kind of cool, I guess.  I really didn't care for this movie, so it only gets 1 out of 5 stars.

My Mottos Plus I Got Bitten By the the Twitter Bug

I'll write this in reverse order from what the title would make you expect, because I'm just crazy and unpredictable like that.  I have two Twitter accounts now, one for business, and the other for personal use.  It was too much fun to keep my business account only for business, so I had to open up a personal account to make that possible.  And I need some followers, because on my personal account, 2/3 of my followers are my business account and a fake porn star.  So yeah.  Shameless self promotion, yay!  And if you follow me, I might even follow you back. Incentive!

On to the next thing that I want to talk about: my personal life mottos.  Two of them are sort of similar but I like them both.  Number one is rise from the ashes.  And by that I mean that I want my shortcomings to be my motivation to be awesome.  It also means that when life gives me lemons, I will use them to make lemon meringue pie and enjoy it while lounging near the pool.  That's the reason I want to get a phoenix tattoo on my back, sort of like this.

only even more awesome

Side note: I think you can gauge how much a person watches How I Met Your Mother by the exponential increase of their use of the word awesome.  Motto 2 is a Samuel Beckett quote: Ever tried? Ever failed? Try again. Fail again. Fail better.  I like it because it's so honest.  It's not like trying again after a failure automatically means you'll succeed.  You're very likely to fail again.  And you just need to look that failure in the face and laugh.  And then you keep on trying as many times as it takes.

Motto 3 is from the poem "She" by Kobi Yamada.  There are actually four lines from this poem that I really like, but the one that I resound with most and try to emulate is "She turned her can'ts into cans and her dreams into plans."  Another line I really relate to are "She colored her thoughts with only the brightest hues."  I try my hardest to be optimistic, but sometimes I don't feel like it.  But I know that when I do view things optimistically, I always feel better about situations than when I don't.  The third line that I love is "She was an artist and her life was her canvas."  I see the potential for art almost everywhere I look and it makes life so vibrant and amazing.  The line that I really need/want to work on is "She took the leap and built her wings on the way down."  I need to be more daring and not always be afraid of the consequences, or just plain afraid.  I don't do a lot of crazy things, and I'm not saying like stupid-crazy, more unexpected and maybe zany.  I'm pretty much saying that I would like to be able to emulate Zooey Deschanel in literally every movie she's ever been in.  She's so full of life and part of that is she's not afraid to do her own thing.  Whether it's dying her hair bright colors in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Photo-jogging in Yes Man (even though it doesn't work very well) she's never afraid to try something new and even maybe be considered weird by the people around her.  That's the quality that I admire most about her and why she is tied with Chloe Moretz as my favorite actress.

So that's just some stuff that I felt like sharing today.  Sidenote: when I binged (I don't google, I bing) she turned her cant's into cans and dremas into plans, one of the suggestion was, she turned her cats into cans.  I wish that I could just whip up an illustration of that, but alas, I am not so great at drawing as doodling.  It just tickled my funny bone.

Coming Soon

My Etsy shop grand opening should be sometime next week.  We had lots of snow on Wednesday and then an ice storm yesterday, so my surgery today got canceled.  They're going to call to reschedule sometine next week.  I have been trying to make lots of jewelry, which G refers to as my "sweat shop".  I made 13 rings the first day.  Yesterday was not quite as productive.  I struggled with the chains on a bracelet I was making and they just wouldn't lie right, but I finally got it.  So I made a total of two bracelets and a pair of Pac Man earrings that day.  Sadly it took me at least four hours.  I also hit my head on a wing nut attached to the ceiling above G's bed and now I have a huge bump on my head.  I'm used to being able to stand up on my bed at home, because it's not so much a bed as it is a mattress and box spring on the floor.  So anyway, productivity should increase and I should be able to open my shop next week.  Technically re-open, since I already have had it for about four months. 

Also after reading this series on working for yourself, I have decided to set up a Twitter account, so I'll let you all know once I do that.  I have managed to resist Twitter so far, but I think it's important to have it so I can get more business.  I just need to figure out how it works now.  I know about hash tags, but that's it, so if any of you have things that you wish you had known about when you first started using Twitter, I'd love it if you'd tell me them.

And to close, here's a sneak peek of my business cards, which I made myself and painstakingly cut out with an Exacto knife.  There are 156 of them.  It took a while.

Update: I'm on Twitter now.

Another update: I think I'm sort of addicted to Twitter already.  I need to make a personal account though and stop tweeting like a mad woman on my business promotion account.

How to Be Happy: A Guide

First off, I'd just like to inform everyone whose blogs I read and normally comment on like crazy, that for some reason Blogger hates me and whenever I try to comment on a blog post lately, the screen just turns white and I can't : (

After struggling with depression for years and years, I have finally reached a point where I can be happy most of the time without Prozac.  These things that I am about to share probably wouldn't help that much during actual bouts of depression, but when I get a little gloomy, they work wonders.  So I'm sharing them with all of you, so you can all be happy too : )  Of course, some of them are probably just things that make me happy, but I'll try to generalize.

1. Wear clothes that make you happy.  For me, this means bright colors and clothes that I feel like I look good in, as well as sometimes just clothing that has good-feeling soft fabric.  I especially enjoy wearing brightly colored shoes.  Since I live in a region where there's not always a lot of sunlight, wearing bright shoes is like carrying sunshine with me on my feet.   I have turquoise sneakers and red flats for this reason.  I had some green Converse as well, still have them but there's a huge hole in the side so I don't wear them too much.  Most importantly, know yourself: it's important to know if you'll feel better wearing clothes that make you look hot or if clothes that are super comfortable and maybe not the most attractive are what it takes to put a smile on your face.  For me, it changes a lot.  Most of the time, when I'm staying at home, I'll choose comfy clothing and when I'm going somewhere, I'll wear clothes that make me look good.  Also in this category, I usually feel happier after doing my makeup even if I'm not going anywhere.  When I look good, I usually feel good.

2.  Another thing that makes me feel great is exercise.  But don't exercise by doing something you hate.  Like for me, I love hacky sacking but hate running, so I would much rather hacky sack for an hour than run for five minutes.  Exercising actually makes you happier because it makes your brain release endorphins.  Endorphins are really cool because they relieve pain, enhance the immune system, reduce stress, and delay the aging process!

3.  What you eat can also help you be happier.  I try to eat pretty healthy the majority of the time, but sometimes I just crave some ice cream.  So I eat it.  And it makes me happy.  Because ice cream is awesome.  Which leads me to my next point, which is still something I'm working on.

4. Don't focus on your perceived failures.  All that will happen is you'll get unhappy and start to feel like a failure, which is never fun.  This is especially important around the beginning of the year when everyone is breaking their New Year's Resolutions.  Surprisingly enough, sometimes failures can be a good thing.  Maybe by "failing" at a goal, you'll realize that your goal was a little bit ridiculous.  For example, if your goal was to go to the gym every single day and workout for an hour, and you missed a day, instead of thinking you failed, maybe you'll realize your goal was too strict.  Especially if you're trying to completely change something about yourself, like in this example let's say you never work out, it's important to start small.  Maybe you should just go to the gym once or twice a week to start with.  Then , once you get more used to it, you can modify your goal and take it to the next level.  That way, instead of feeling like you failed and just giving up, you're constantly challenging yourself to do better.

5.  Know when you are feeling unhappy.  When you aren't in the best mood, try your hardest to constantly bombard yourself with things that make you happy.  Listen to your favorite music, watch a favorite movie or TV show, eat food that you love, wear clothing that you like, take a bubble bath or an extra long hot shower.  And if you are still feeling depressed after all of that, don't be afraid to seek professional help.  I didn't even realize I had depression until I had already been dealing with it for four years.  But when I did, I went to a therapist and they put me on depression medicine.  You need to know that being on depression medicine doesn't mean that you're crazy.  You have no idea how many people around you are on depression medicine.  It's important for some people to take it so they can feel happy again.  And someday, you'll probably realize that you don't need it anymore.  For me, I wasn't okay without it for three years.  But now I am.

6.  Try your hardest to be optimistic about everything.  It is best if you are so optimistic that if you shared every single optimistic thought you have out loud, people will be annoyed by your cheerfulness.  For example, when I couldn't walk last year, my main optimistic thought was that my arms were going to get so strong from being in a wheelchair that I would be really good at arm wrestling.  If you really can't think of any reason to be optimistic in your situation, then think 'at least it isn't raining', unless it is and then your best bet is probably 'at least I have my health, friends, a place to live, enough food to eat'.  Any or all of those that are true for you are good to be grateful for.  And whatever you do, never say, "At least it isn't raining" out loud, because if you've learned anything from movies, saying that out loud will inevitably make it rain.

And if you are struggling with depression, find someone who has been through it that can support you or just listen.  Like me, perhaps.  It doesn't have to be me, but don't try to deal with it alone.

A Pet Peeve of Mine

One of the things I really can't stand is those commercials with the pictures of sad children where the narrator  talks about how this child is going to die of starvation, and you can feed them for only 50 cents per day.  If they can really feed the children for just 50 cents per day and this child is really dying, why are they just standing there and filming their misery?! Why can't the cameraman reach into his or her own pocket and get out that just 50 cents?  Or go buy them some food.  But no, according to the commercial this child will die unless you send the organization your money.  It's like Smokey the Bear saying "Only you can prevent forest fires" only it's ridiculous people saying "Only you can save this child from starvation, not me, the person getting paid a ton of money to make this commercial, only you."  What kind of hoorible people must they find to make these commercials?!  I can imagine the job description: must be able to work a camera, must be able to tug at people's heartstrings, must be willing to watch a child die of starvation and not do a thing to prevent it.

That's just something that annoys me, that they act like these children are definitely going to starve to death because nobody will help them.  And yet they're there filming the kids and they would have to be completely heartless not to at least share their lunch with the kids.

More Snow!

We're supposed to be getting 5-10 more inches of snow tonight, and I'm all set to get snowed in with G.  Today I'm finishing cutting out my business cards (for reals this time, only four more sheets of 12 each) and then I get to start the actual jewelry making part finally : )  I have my gum surgery on Friday and then I'm stuck eating cold soft foods for about a week, and then my 20th birthday is next Saturday! So I'm going to work and watch Hulu while G beats Modern Warfare 3 again.

Hi Guys

I didn't want to post anything today, because I've been posting stuff every single day, so I'm kind of out of ideas.  G told me to write about his chickens so I am.  There are five chickens.  They live in a coop with a pen attached to the outside of it.  We've had to keep them in the coop lately because apparently if they run around in the snow, there feet can freeze off, because they don't have nerves in their feet or something.  They lay an average of four eggs total every day.  The biggest chicken, Harriet, always lays the smallest egg.  The chickens think that they are human and last time we let them run around in the yard, they climbed up the stairs and tried to follow us into the house.  The smartest chicken likes to jump on G's back and then he has to remind her that she isn't a parrot.  And she gets his shirt all dirty off her feet.  The chickens are really funny and very loving...when they think you have snacks for them.  They really like to eat dried worms, which are like their candy.  So that's it.  Um, I hope you enjoyed it.  Bye for now.



Picture Pile: SNOW!!!

It wasn't supposed to snow here until Monday, but the snow came early.  There wasn't a lot but I thoroughly enjoyed it and also thoroughly photographed it.  My roommate went on a walk with me so the photos of me are courtesy of her.  Also, I am sort of like a five year old when it comes to snow.  I lay down and make a snow angel and get myself thoroughly soaked and don't worry about the consequences.  But I did drink extra orange juice today after that to ward off any sickness that might otherwise attack me.  So enjoy: and this isn't even close to all of them.  These are just my favorites.  And the two bird snowmen are ones that people partially made then abandoned so I turned them into happy birds.

happy snowman I happened across

If you're curious how cold it was, just look at the color of my face for the answer.

trying to show how wet I got from the snow

my roommate took a picture of my butt so you guys
could see how soaked the back of my pants were

the funny thing about this sign is that pot bellied pigs must have been a problem
at some point in order for them to need to be listed on the sign

snowman project number 1 is an owl, he started out as two abandoned snowballs
with one hollowed out eye and vague wing shapes on his side

snowman project two is a fat sumo wrestler bird, he was a feautureless snowman
and his hair was originally the smallest snowman head ever

i made this smiling heart on accident when I was dancing around in the snow

found snowman got said when I left, and his eye migrated below his mouth, poor thing

A Cool Little Online Store

Emphasis on little, but also on cool.  And before I start, I would just like to say that I was in no way compensated for this post at all.  It's just an online store that I found and I like, so I wanted to share it with everyone.

The shop is called Beauty and Brains Boutique, and was drawn to it because there was a picture of a zombie on their ad, and I love zombie movies and things, though I don't own any zombie things.  Though there aren't many zombie things in their store, there is still some cool stuff.  There are four things that I want in particular, but can't buy, because I can't spend any money until next month, and only then if I make some Etsy sales.  And that's even with the 20% off discount code: SHOPBBB.  It's not that they cost a lot; they're actually quite inexpensive.  I'm just broke.  But I thought I would share them anyway.  Because they're cool, and also so if I ever do have money and can buy them, I'll remember where to go, because of this post.

                     
                    
So if you want to, you should go check out the shop.  They have really great prices, and with the 20% off discount, they're practically giving things away.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Fun fact: I have never watched "The Sound of Music" in its entirety, though I have watched the first hour or so on at least five different occasions.  Bonus fact: Some words never looked like they're spelled right no matter how I spell them; these include "teriyaki" and "occasion".

Today is the first time in a long time that I was about to write a blog post and couldn't think of what to write about.  With this posting every single day thing, it was bound to happen sometime.  So I decided to just make a list of my favorite things.  Maybe you'll get a little bit more insight into who I am or maybe you'll just think I'm really weird.  Either one is fine with me.  So, in no particular order, these are a few of my favorite things: zombie movies, Tim Burton movies, The Fifth Element, Star Wars original trilogy not the prequels, ice cream, chocolate, dark chocolate, Dove Promises (the squares of chocolate with nice stuff written on the inside of the wrapper), drinks that have words on the inside of the lid (these include Sobe and Snapple, despite the fact that the Sobe words rarely makes sense), books that make me laugh out loud (especially ones by Douglas Adams and Dean Koontz): bonus points if I'm in public and people look at me like I'm insane and then I just feel sorry for them that they've never read a funny book, reading in general, dark comedy, hacky sacking in the rain, hot chocolate and cozy blankets, cuddling, holding hands, making yummy smoothies, drinking yummy smoothies, Rocksmith, my leather jacket, dressing like a badass, studs and lace, having a unique style, sunsets and sunrises, when the world is covered in snow and everything seems wonderful, seeing little kids play, hearing little kids laugh, anything mango flavored, pumpkin cream cheese, Philly cheesesteak, long walks on the beach (it's a cliche for a reason), Zelda and Mario games, fedoras, hats in general, thrifting, getting awesome deals, going for walks to nowhere in particular and then getting sort of lost and then discovering a park on the way back, swimming, swinging, finding shapes in clouds, taking pictures, rocking out to Rise Against while I'm showering, How I Met Your Mother, doing cartwheels, making daisy chains, blowing bubbles, hula hooping (did you know that I can do the macarena while hula hooping without the hula hoop falling? because I totally can), a comfy bed at the end of a long day, banana chips, Converse, scratch tickets, online window shopping, finding a show or movie I really want to see on Netflix, clothes with ruffles or bows or flower print, wearing bright colors, morning fog, rainbows, when you listen to music that perfectly fits your mood, free food, Indian food (especially mango curry), and getting mail.  Those are a few of my favorite things.  What are some of yours?

Picture Pile 3: Photo a Day-ish

For the first time ever in the history of my Picture Pile feature, all of the pictures were taken by myself.  I'm sort of doing a picture a day-ish thing, but some of the photos here were taken on the same day.  I have no idea how long I'll do this for.  I'm certainly not guaranteeing a year.  I'll just do it until I don't feel like it any more.  And if I can't think of anything to take a picture of, I either take a picture of myself or my breakfast, so that should explain a lot.  So here are my first 11 pictures.

some street art I saw at the bus stop when I was on my way to the dentist

My planner from Dollar Tree, so I will get stuff done

some leftover teriyaki chicken and beef that I had for
breakfast one day, along with some yogurt and grapes

my new purse from here and 1 of two new wallets from Bonanza.com,
which is a site you should definitely check out if you haven't

my cute little stuffed puppy and part of a bagel and cream cheese
fun fact: G found the large version of this little guy at Goodwill
for 1/4 the price I paidfor mine at the bookstore

jacketish thing from Crossroads Trading Co., skirt from Pitaya store on the Ave
and it was ridiculously marked down because it was missing a belt
fun fact: G said that this outfit would be really cute with a belt around the waist,
which was totally accurate so apparently he's a fashion expert

one of the two puzzles I bought at Goodwill
300 pieces and they were all there!

being brave: makeupless and unedited
but my skin is really clearing up : )

today's breakfast, eaten at 2:00 this afternoon as I'm writing this post
whole-grain toast with pumpkin cream cheese, along with banana chips and a piece of Hershey's dark chocolate
because dark chocolate is really good for you in small doses
also present but not pictured: orange juice

my bed and my office are totally the same thing
also, i love my sweater tights from eBay, so comfy
and I'm not wearing makeup in this photo,
my skin is just being awesome for the first time in at least 5 years

my laptop, a Sony Vaio

So that's that.  Don't be expecting any more of these.  There probably will be more, just don't expect them, on the offchance that there aren't.