There are no titles today, my friend

BlogHer update!!
I have the clothes situation under control, now if I would just do laundry. (le sigh) I have a rolling Jeep duffle for checked luggage, and I found the cutest laptop bag at Walmart of all places (I know, right?), and I think if I put the camera bag and my purse "necessities" in a tote bag, that will count as my purse, the laptop bag will be carry-on. I bought a few 3oz bottles for shampoo and shower gel and I have a guidebook on San Francisco. Conference is booked, bed at the hostel is reserved, the only thing I don't have booked at this point is my airfare, still working out some logistics. My blogging friend, Raquita, offered to let me borrow her old DSLR for BlogHer. How cool is that?! I played around with it yesterday, taking pictures of graffiti. Still working out what it can do, it's been a long time since I had my grubby little hands on an SLR, the last one was a film camera. Manual focus rocks my world. So. not. kidding. Before I take my happy ass to bed, here's a couple of the shots I took today, the rest are on flickr.

More Favorite Things

More stuff in my apartment, yay! This is the second installment of My favorite Things, you can find last week's post on the left side of your screen. These are just some of my favorite things that have been sitting around my apartment, many of them I have had for years and my apartment wouldn't be a home without them.

The blue chair which has been my background for many pictures lately. Years and years ago, I helped a friend move....she had a shopping problem...a vintage furniture shopping problem. Her attic was a treasure trove of fabulous furnishings. This was her thank you for my help. My boyfriend at the time refused to let me bring it home, insisting that we had no room for more furniture, even free furniture. Spoilsport. We broke up less than a year later. We didn't break up over this chair, but I think it illustrates the differences between us. I asked my mom to take it back to her house, where my brother enjoyed it until I moved into my own apartment, with my own furniture, chosen by me. We've been together ever since. Love me, love my chair.

I've had this candle longer than the chair. I love candles, even candles that I would never light. This little guy is the only vaguely religious symbol you will find in my home. I haven't been able to find another that I like so much, but I'm always on the look out for a fat, happy Buddha. They make me smile. I bought it in a store at a local mall that no longer exists, but I did find one similar here.

These are a small part of my collection of glass. My St. Louis apartment has these window sills built into the wall that make a perfect display shelf for all things that need to be protected from the cat. I've been picking up pieces here and there for years, different shapes and sizes and colors...just ones that draw my attention. (cheap helps, too) I picked up the red and blue ones at an auction, the green one was a gift.

This is just one of the many things I love about my apartment. Growing up in a 100 year old farm house, I've been surrounded by old things my entire life. All those little old world details mean home to me, so imagine my delight when I saw these doorknobs in my apartment. I'll probably always be drawn to old things, whether it's furniture, glass, or just the tiny details like a doorknob. They are just some of my favorite things that make my place, my home.

Yes, This Really IS the Middle of Nowhere

As I mentioned, I spent this past weekend at my parents' house in Southern Illinois. What I didn't tell you is that I decided to out myself to my parents. Out my blog, I mean. Until a few days ago, my family had no idea that I wrote on the internet or that I had met a bunch of you a month ago. My dad was blown away that Saturn would sponsor someone to travel around the country and my mom was blown away that someone is willing to advertise on a site written by her daughter. When I told her that I don't really have enough readers to actually make any money out of it, she offered to go to my site as often as possible to help. My parents are a hoot.

The portrait session went well and my mom barely complained at all. ;) Before we got started, I looked over to see my nephew hanging from a bar on the wall. "Look, mom! I'm a monkey!" Ah, four year olds! When the session was over, I left my mom and sister to pick the poses they wanted and I took Hayden, the monkey boy, into the mall to find a dress for myself. (My mom told me as we were ironing that morning that I was going to the wedding that Hayden and my brother Jared were in, apparently no one thought to tell me this BEFORE I arrived, away from my closet with all its clothes, including TWO brand new dresses.) Hayden is an excellent shopper and gets the biggest kick out of everything, including picking out dresses for his Aunt Bri. The dress he found was one I ended up buying (I bought 2, they were on clearance.) And of the 2 I bought, I let him pick the one for the wedding. Yes, he went in the dressing room with me, no way was I letting him out of my sight for a second. (Not because I'm afraid someone will snatch him, but because he's sneaky.) He was mortified to see me in my underwear and kept pulling my shirt over his head...let's just say that we were definitely entertaining for the other shoppers. For his help, I let him ride one of those quarter fed cars that vrooms and rocks back and forth. Then the little shit tried to con me into the train too. sigh. I'm CONVINCED that I was never this difficult as a child. Anyway, the photo session with him was nixed because we just ran out of time with all the stuff going on and my sister figured it would be too much picture time for him and he'd just lose his shit, and trying to get him to be still for half a second sunday evening, I agreed with her. Ok, I'm done talking, I'll tell you about the wedding and Hayden shouting, "Look! I have a pillow!" tomorrow.

Irises

My parents' house

Side view with the bare butt of the gargoyle


The tree that I planted when I was little and where the barbies were held hostage by the evil queen

North

East

West


South

And, this is where the title came from. This, my friends, is what the middle of no where looks like. It's quiet and spacious and a nice place to grow up. More tomorrow, when we see my dad's idea of art...or laziness, you decide!

The Haps

Hee. Shud up.

My friend Dan is back in Kandahar from his first mission. He sent me a message on Myspace telling he was back, so I could stop hyperventilating. Sad, but true. I was so happy to be able to talk to him again, even if it was only by Yahoo messenger that I freaked him out a little bit. He said I was being all lovey dovey. (basically I wasn't calling him an ass every other minute) He couldn't figure out what was going on with me, so he asked if I'd gotten laid. No. I have not. Thanks for rubbing it in. ASS. There we go, back to normal.

My friend A from work and I are going to get all dressed up and go see Sex and the City. She is super excited and frankly, so am I. (Wheee! Socializing! With other people!)

Small rant: I get it that many women's self esteem is connected to their body and self image, I get that, but please for the love of god, Please! DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN WEAR! I'm not talking about style, here. In my opinion, style is almost completely about attitude. With the right attitude, you can sell just about anything. BUT. The rest of your body may be a size small, but your boobs are double D's. Double D's will NOT fit in a small anything. They are not small. Accept it! They're not going anywhere. I don't mind getting you another size, but COME ON. Self delusion much? Ok, rant over.

Best comment overheard at work today:
"I just got new boobs and they won't fit in this. How awesome is that?!" (if you could have seen her, SO funny, she was adorable and REALLY excited about those boobs) (this was not the woman I was talking about in my rant)

Best comment overheard at work yesterday:
"I know, but I didn't get to sleep 'til like 5." "Why?" "Well I was lying there and just about to nod off, when you rolled over on me. Like, completely on top of me, and I don't know if you've noticed, but you're not exactly small, are you?" (my eyes were watering, it was all I could do to hold the laughter in until they left the store)

I will be away this weekend, visiting the family and I don't know what sort of internet access I'll have so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, that' s what happened. I'll try to remember to twitter from my cell phone, but being inherently lazy and scatterbrained, who knows if that will happen. On the agenda for the weekend is a LOT of photography. The whole family (mom, dad, brother, sister and nephew) is having a portrait done as a complete family. The last time we had a family portrait done was when my brother was little bitty. He's 21. Yeah, it's been a while. My mom HATES having her picture taken, I have a total of three photos of my parents together in my apartment. One is their wedding picture....yeah. So, my sister, queen of the guilt trips conned my mom into this, for Mother's day. She used our grandma, my mom's mom against her. My sister is a genius. THEN, after all that "fun", I agreed to do a portrait session of my nephew in his tuxedo. My adorable little nephew was asked to be the ring bearer in my brother's friend Mark's wedding. After the photo session and before the wedding, we are going to a local museum which has beautiful grounds for an outdoor photo session with my monkey boy. Sunday is my grandma's birthday and my cousin's baby shower. It's a jam packed weekend, but I'll be back for Naked Monday and as soon as I get the nephew shots edited, I'll post the best ones here. (I'm going have to figure out the watermark thing.)

One last thing. My friend MP is moving and I'm thinking about following her. It's a decision I've been heading to for a while now, but I still need to work out some details, first. I'll keep you posted!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

So, I had this idea.....

I still didn't have any photos or art for my kitchen and I thought...why don't I go to Soulard and take pictures of produce, see what I can come up with? So, I did. Wanna see? Why, of course you do! :) These are my favorites, all the photos I took today are also on Flickr.

"What's she doing here?" "I carried a watermelon."

Caliente

One pineapple, two pineapple, three

Apple a day

Kissing Cousins

I a-pear to be green with envy

You say tomato, I say tomahto, but I still won't eat them

Cabbage Patch, no kid

Hi-Ho Cherry-o

Naked Mondays #11 My Hair Over the Years

It took me forever to figure out what to talk about this week and I finally settled on my hair. Sorting through old pictures to show you was fun and I found some that I had forgotten about. Scanning, cropping, editing.....it takes a ton of time, but it was worth it in the end. We'll go chronologically beginning with this pic of me and my Dad.....

I'm not happy about the 'stache

I put this one in 'cause that expression is priceless! Still blond.



6th Grade Christmas Play
Perm!!! The blond went away after the first big cut.


Senior Pictures
Grew my hair out for 4 years here
Pretty sure sun-in was responsible for the color


Senior Prom
the first and last time I had my hair curled like a barbie doll

Yes I wore this shirt and I still own it
I can't figure out when this was...at least a year after high school


19, I think
I wrote, produced, and directed a play for 6th graders. I have no idea how I thought I could do this, who let me, and how I pulled it off.
This is darker than my natural color, I dyed it black at some point.
the curl is all me



A couple of years after high school
21? 22?
It was taken in my best friend's dorm room at Murray University


I'm sure my boyfriend at the time said some smart ass thing, because I'm threatening him with a fabric cutter. That sucker is sharp.


The shortest my hair has been..I hated this cut at the time, but I kind of like it now.


It was BRIGHT red for a while and then I bleached it. Then, it was orange. This is how I feel about it.


with professional help...the hair kind anyway
holding my nephew, Hayden
a month ago

I'm back to brown again and growing it out again...hair is...well, it grows..it changes....we shape it or it shapes us...it's hard to tell some days. ;) So there I am...Naked..at least a small part of me.

Naked Mondays #9 You have HOW many pairs of shoes?!

39. Yes, that's a 3 and a 9. Together. This doesn't include the box of shoes for good will. Or the flip flops. Oh, the old navy flip flops, how I love you! It's sickness, I tell you!

Here are some of my favorites:

There are more, these are just the ones I found right away.

The background is my favorite chair that a friend gave me years ago when I helped her move. I LOVE that chair. Probably more than is healthy.

So, this is me, Naked.....well at least my closet...and under the bed...and on the back of the door...and in the floor...and the car...let's just say you've seen a lot of my life in one little entry. so. sad. ;)

Walking in Forest Park

I took a walk today in Forest Park, slogging through the mud and muck from all the rain we've had. I got muddy and wet and had a great time. I also took some pictures. Wanna see? I know you do. ;) Here's my favorites, the rest are on my flickr page here.

Loved this bridge....

just for these...

What is this? A mollusk? Something ate it. They were all over the ground.

Waterproof rain boots are awesome.......

One of the geese that I kept a respectful distance from....

Every time the wind picked up, mist from the fountain covered the area

Laying on my belly with the daffodils

Damn bird would NOT be still

Love the color of this water fountain

Papa duck

Mama Duck
I think she was gathering stuff for a nest, but then who knows what goes on in the mind of a duck.

Another tree close up

This guy was making his way to the water when I walked up. He hid in his shell so......

I got down on the ground so we were nose to nose. I think he was annoyed.

These roots make me think of stalactites (or is it stalagmites?)

I love the colors in this one...

Naked Mondays # 7

Yaaaay! It's Naked Monday!

Today, we are going to take a peek into my psyche. Prepare yourself, this could get messy.

Guess what I had for lunch? I went to Noodles & Company. Why does that give you a peek into my psyche? Excellent question.

I have serious issues with food. You may or may not remember my gag reflex problem, which I told you about here.
I am also an extremely picky eater. I go to great lengths to hide this from people because though I know many people are picky about food, it seems like such a childish thing and I hate admitting it. I will scan a restaurant menu for an item that needs the least amount of altering so as not to be difficult. (I've been a waitress. I know how much that sucks.) Now, it's been a long time since I ate nothing but peanut butter, but eating at a new restaurant is always nerve-wracking. What if I can't find anything to eat on the menu? What if I don't like what I ordered? I stress about this sort of thing. (You see how this is messy?)

So. I went to Noodles today so that I could try something on the menu and make sure I would be ok when MP and I meet there. I had the Wisconsin Mac and Cheese with Parmasean Crusted Chicken on top. Nummy! Noodles and me? We're good.

So, there you go. Me naked. Even if it's only my issues naked for all the world to see. ;)

For any of you disappointed in the lack of pictures needed for this Naked Monday, here's some photos I took today, that are my proof of spring......yaaaaay spring!

I had just picked up my lunch and was on my way home when I saw these trees. I just had to stop and take pictures. Pretty tree. Pretty, pretty tree, how happy I am to see you. Spring is here and I couldn't be more excited.

It's snowing right now, RIGHT NOW!

Um, I don't know. It is currently spitting ice from the sky for the last time of the season (please? pretty please?)and I thought I would walk out on my little terrace to, I don't know, record the occasion.

My frogs covered in snow....

Over the ledge....

Angel saw the door open and I could see her little eyes light up. "Outside? Outside Momma?" But, you know, it's cold and rather wet...she very quickly tired of that nonsense...

She left evidence of her passing, though....

That's me, shivering in the cold....

Snowing, blowing, swirling, blanketing my world in white....

Some photos I have taken recently....

I heard this tow truck outside and thought maybe someone was having trouble with their car, or they were on my street for a repo job....but a woman drove her car right up on it, so I have no idea what this was about.


My grandma gave me this frog on a rock when she found out about my love of frogs...I had quite a collection going on in my former apartment's bathroom and he was part of it. I moved the frogs outside to the terrace when I decided to change the feel of the bathroom in this apartment...I've had the worst time with this, can't decide for the life of me. I noticed when watching the tow truck activity that this frog has had an accident. I have no idea how this happened, the goofy thing is made to go outside in a garden, so it couldn't have been ice, right? Maybe some freak hail or rocks falling from the sky, I just don't know.


This is my new favorite soda. Soda is really my only real vice, I'm addicted to Mountain Dew, but I found this little lovely at the grocery store in the ethnic section. I tried a couple out of curiosity and my favorite is the guava flavor. The best part? They're made with real sugar instead of that high fructose corn syrup stuff. Yum!

I haven't been outside once today and this is why...

It's the first snow of the season.

Everything is covered in, well, magic. And I don't even like snow. But, there's something about living in the city, not having to worry about 3 foot drifts, having no where to be, and food in the fridge that.....isn't so bad. Happy first snow, St. Louis!!!!

Have you ever gotten home from vacation all excited about the interesting photos you'd taken only to have your friends look at them and say...

"I don't get it."

"But...but look at the cool angles and the color, the color's awesome!"

"Yeah, but I don't get it."

"I give up."

These were all taken on a sailing ship that you can take from Navy Pier in Chicago. If I had the money...and well somewhere to sail, I would totally take up sailing.

day 2

What I'm wearing: pink t-shirt that says "no animal testing" and a picture of a dog and cat writing (hee), levi's boot leg jeans and my chucks

I didn't do much today, mostly caught up on sleep and picked up a portable hard drive to make more room on my computer and keep my files safe. In honor of the new hard drive, I'm gonna post a couple of old pics from a black and white photography class I took a few years ago....

This is pretty self-explanatory...three pillar candles with no other light...soft focus so that you can barely tell what they are...I just like it

Self-portrait

This sculpture is in front of a building at SouthWestern Illinois College (SWIC) in Belleville IL. I took a couple of art classes here one semester and this was my self-portrait shot. You can see the figure that is me just about in the middle of the reflective ball. It's mini-me. :)

Alright, that's all I've got for today, I promise to be more interesting tomorrow.

My Bucket List

Some are silly, some are serious, but all are wishes...for myself.
(I'll be updating this one periodically.)

1. backpack around Europe
2. knit a sweater
3. sing the National Anthem at a major league baseball game
4. ride a horse on a beach in Hawaii
5. scuba diving in the ocean
6. wander around New York city
7. own a used bookstore
8. sell my art
9. live in a place with a closet big enough to hold all my clothes and shoes at once
10. take a cooking class
11. take a ballroom dance class
12. visit the Grand Canyon again
13. go on vacation and do nothing but lie on a beach and eat amazing food
14. learn to surf
15. Go to BlogHer!
16. Take my own Jeep to Camp Jeep

What would be on your bucket list?