Thrifty finds

A few weeks ago I made out like a bandit at my favorite thrift store. I got a few dresses, a curtain (to become a skirt, hopefully) and the pair of curtains above.  I don't know about you, but to me they screamed out, "beach!!!"  It's actually a lighter blue than the pic shows... point-and-shoot... whatcha gonna do, right?

Well the curtains have been given a new life as a cuuuute little set of beach totes. *sigh*  Makes me want to keep them! I should be able to make a total of 4 (only 2 finished so far) so maybe I will keep one after all.

 They'll be making their way to the Etsy shop soon (though I've been slacking for quite some time on that.)

I really wanted to make little coordinating pouches for the beach totes and this week I got lucky, again. I found this bed sheet, on sale. 

 Little baby stripes to go with my big bold ones. Score!

Also got away with this skirt.... Check out those colors! And it was only a dollar!! I'm thinking flow-y spaghetti strap spring shirt.

And this terribly cute print (bed sheet as well) of letter monsters.  I'm not sure what I'll make with it yet, but I couldn't pass it up for $1.50.  I'm thinking appliques. Got any ideas?

These are just a few of them. I can't decide which one's cuter. Though unfortunately for Agwat, I think he automatically takes the award for creepiest.

Do you see your favorite?

Happy Birthday

I received many happy birthday wishes.

And happy it was.

It was also on a Tuesday. Go figure.

There was food and drink and merriment.
And we laughed. Hard. And loud.


There was dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. And there were drums, but no dancing to drums (which made my dance teacher very *sad face*) 


We listened to obscure reggae and bluegrass covers of rap songs. 


We wrapped it up almost before midnight. Because we're old that way.

Special shout-out to my SIL & brother for bringing the xbox kinect. And to my friend Cerice for bringing the TV. That's right, my family & my friends are so awesome that they don't just bring food and drink.... they bring entire entertainment systems!!

It was perfect.

I had so much fun, I didn't even take down the decorations*. It's a party in my house every day!

*Interesting side-effect of my job: I know all too well just how many fire safety codes I might be breaking with my decorations. I mean, let's be honest, having tons of flammable paper materials around the house (esp. in the kitchen!) is probably not great. Eh, they're 10-foot ceilings. Whatevs. I like 'em.

Full Disclosure: It's not you, it's...

by Mary R. Voght

I know he never, ever, ever reads this blog, so I’m completely comfortable with what’s about to go down here. Prepare yourself, folks. This ain’t gonna be pretty (or brief).

I’m not in love, but I like him enough.

{"Wait, what?!" I know, I know…. if you’ve been reading along you probably thought I was hopelessly single. Read on.}

We’ve been seeing each other for about a year and a half now.  When we met, it wasn’t exactly puppy dogs and ice cream between us. But the timing was just right. We didn't dislike each other but we've never been head-over-heels, butterfly-in-the-stomach lovey-dovey with each other.  Well, maybe he was with me. I don’t know. I do know:

-We don’t have fun together. 

Sometimes we do, but most of the time he aggravates the #*&$ out of me. But there are good moments, and there's not really bad moments (ever), just blah. All the time.

-I don’t care if I don’t see him. 

Even if a week goes by. Most of the time, I don’t even look forward to it. Not because I anticipate we’ll have a bad time, just because I could find something else to do. I don’t care to show up on time for our dates, and I’m always happy if the evening ends early. 

-He’s uninspiring.  

And  a little boring for my taste.  I don’t think wanting a decent, entertaining, stimulating conversation with someone is too much to ask for. 

+He doesn’t make me want to be better.

It’s not that he doesn’t want me to grow or be happy, but I think for him, I’m exactly everything he needs. So I don’t have to do much else.  I don’t care to work-out to look even hotter, or cook to impress him, or 

surprise him or be romantic. Nope, no “extra mile” effort from me.

 

He’s not a bad guy. I guess this is the part where I should tell you what I actually like about him:

+He compliments me often. 

Bores the heck out of me, and I by no means want to marry-have kids-build a life with him, but he helps pass the time and does make me feel wanted.

+He bails me out with bills. 

He lets me get all the cake & ice cream I want and helps with groceries & gas money. And rent.

+He’ll humor me.

Lets me take a last minute trips, and I was able to get a nice little apartment in a great neighborhood because of him. He pretty much lets me do what I want, when I want. 

So I have to wonder, is there someone better suited for me?

Now, I know it’s not supposed to be perfect, and I know relationships aren’t fun all the time. I’ve thought about leaving him.  I don’t know when I’ll find someone else. I’ve tried the online sites, and I get no responses back. None. 

What if the next guy is even worse?! What if no one comes back around for months? Years? 

So, why stay with him? I don't expect perfection, but he just doesn’t do much for me.

I can’t think of any good reasons. 

 I deserve better, right?

Don’t we all deserve better?

Would you feel the same way if you knew I was talking about my job? 

Why do we continue to allow, accept, and even promote such unhealthy relationships with our jobs?! That’s just how it is, right? Your job isn’t supposed to make you happy. It’s alright if it’s just “good enough.” 

If it pays the bills. If it bores you to pieces.

It's not you, it's me.

I don’t think we should see each other anymore.

Someday, you’ll make someone very happy.

I'm sorry job, but I think it’s time I move on.

My 30th birthday

I turned 30!! 

This happened a year ago.

But I have to admit, it didn’t feel very celebratory. I went to dinner with my girlfriends, followed by a quick stop at the bar next-door and drank water. For reals. 

I know I had a great time at dinner and afterwards, but I can’t really recall any particulars. I love my girlfriends and I love the fact that they made me celebrate even when I was in no mood to do so. One very pregnant girlfriend even drove over half hour to share an expensive birthday dinner with me... while less than a week away from her due date!! I’m pretty sure when one of them asked what I wanted to do for my birthday, I replied something along the lines of “mumble, mumble, whatever…”

So I showed up late to my own party in that “let’s-get-this-over-with” sort of way that comes from feeling hopelessly numb, which I think is the best way to describe my state of mind at the time. 

I didn't care that I was turning 30, what should otherwise be a somewhat milestone age.  I didn't care about damn near anything, to be honest. I don't remember much at all of my days up until maybe mid last year. Even after that, details are fuzzy, save for a few scattered out-of-town trips I've been lucky enough to be able to take. 

My girlfriends gathered to celebrate me, to share with me, to laugh with me, and not only did I not appreciate it in the way I should have, but all I have is this grainy cell phone photo to remember it by. 

{That pink lei still hangs from my rear-view mirror.}

 Unacceptable.

I should have made a spectacle! I should have danced and sang and talked too loudly for my own good.

I should have celebrated!

I hope this year I do better. At celebrating. At enjoying. At being less numb and more present. At seeing all the signs that point to me being blessed and loved and cared-for.

And I hope I do that on more days than just my birthday.

So this week, there will be spectacles and dancing and singing and loud talking. There will be pictures taken and blessings counted. There will be cake.

Even if it's just me or even if I need to pretend a little, I must celebrate.

On faulty reasoning

{Note: That I erased the header & tons of my pictures from the hosting site, leaving the blog to look crazy, doesn't reflect my superb intellect, I promise!}

I like to think I’m a fairly smart person. Not brilliant in many respects and I’d fail miserably at Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, but I can get by.

I placed 6th in my graduating HS class, earned myself three college scholarships, graduated early with honors, have remained debt-free, etc. Oh and I’ve managed to avoid parking tickets, drunken tattoos, acrylic nails, bee stings, jail time, drug use, broken bones, and animal-print leggings.

Lucky? Probably. Smart? You would think, right?

And yet I often have the reasoning of a two-year-old. On the daily, I make the leap from Truth to Absolute-Unfounded-Nonsense in a split second. {Here’s one example of that} My logic seems to follow a pattern most intuitive to the toddler mind, as in:

If: Dogs have 4 legs.

And: Dogs bark.

And: Cows also have 4 legs.

Then:  Cows also bark.

Last week I came up with this genius life-changing action plan:

Step 1: Make work bearable until I come up with a better plan.

Step 2: Come up with a better plan.

(I mean, really, who needs specifics? Not this girl!)

These moments of brilliance happen more often than I care to admit, and few are privy to these bits of wisdom (except for poor, poor V. who continues to be subjected to my tireless ramblings and questionable math skills. Even via text at 3:00 am. That’s a friend!).

Today’s product of my mental prowess went a little something like this:

I feel like writing today. (Really, I feel like that most days.)

I can only think of negative things to write about.

So I will not write.

Mind-blowing excellence, isn’t it?! The last part is a nod to the fact that  I’ve been feeling super whiny (for lack of a more eloquent way to express my mental state) and I’m a little concerned about the amount of negativity that’s been flowing out of me lately. Now, those of you with more sense than I may notice two things...

• I am, in fact, writing by posting this.
• It didn’t occur to me to look for positive things to write about.

So I’ve made a mental edit.

I feel like writing today.

If I can only think of negative things to write about

I will look for positives

And I will not write.

Granted, It’s no major scientific discovery or literary masterpiece, but I think it’s a big step up from the dreaded “toddler logic” I really should avoid.

Kind of like eating more Oreos because they’re the low-fat kind. Faulty reasoning, perhaps, but I subscribe to this particular Oreo philosophy pretty strictly and I doubt that will change. Ever.