Pawprints on my Heart - Tattoo

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Tomorrow I will be adding another tattoo to my body. The paw prints of my three little room mates. Tigger, Feather and Lady Nova. I want them to forever sit close to my heart so they will be permanently placed on my inner left arm, close to my heart. I will post pictures tomorrow afternoon and share my newest art with you.

Here are the prints that I will be basing my tattoo on. 

Christmas preparations are under way

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I have been doing a lot of crafting this last week. I have most of my gifts for my family started. Of course I can't post about them, for that would mean risking that they would find out what they are getting before christmas morning. I can say though that I have been tring lots of new mediums. These experiments have been a lot of fun.

Today I got my first big christmas tree. Thank you Becky and Megan, you have helped me to make my home feel cozy and warm. I realized though that I need many more ornaments to make it as full as our family tree always was when I was growing up.

Well I have a headache and am about to fall asleep so that is all for tonight. I will post pictures of my decorated house tomorrow. Goodnight whomever may be reading this.

The color yellow-self analysis

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I seem to have a fascination with the color yellow recently, the last few days to be specific. It intrigues me as to why this may be. Colors are huge tells into what a person is feeling, whether knowingly or subconsciously. I am not sure which of these two categories my intrigue falls under. I am aware off the color itself, and aware of implications behind said color. The question remains , what does this represent in my life?

Inspired Necklace.

01 I was in a crafting mood today. It always helps me to fight off a headache. I found this tutorial a couple days ago, and fell in love, I had to make my own.

Here is my rendition of the tutorial. I LOVE how it turned out. The final touch of the rose and the butterfly are my favorite. I am probably going to make a couple more of these when i find the right trinkets to decorate them with.



Final Price Breakdown:
Yellow Cotton Scarf - $3 from Practical Goods on Randolf Avenue
Silver Chain$3.99
Tarnished Chain $3.99
Tassel/Vine $3.99

$15 spent on new items.

Awesome part though, I went to Joann fabrics today to get the chain and tassel for this piece, and picked up a couple other things as well. I bought a storage unite for my paint and drawing supplies, and some non-toxic washable ink pads to use for paw printing the kitties for my next tattoo. The original price for the storage unit was $34.99. I had a 40% off coupon AND  a $10 off coupon. For all the chains, ink, storage unit and a zipper to fix my old boot. I paid $34.13  so in theory I paid for the storage container and EVERYTHING ELSE WAS FREE! Love saving almost 50%

Let it snow!

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Today, in Minnesota, we got our first real snow if this season we call winter. Yes, technically out is still fall, but all the same.
Personally I have been looking forward to the snow. The snow means a couple specific things to me.
1. I am getting my jeep back from my mom, yay for being tall on the road again!
2. Sledding, hopefully more than last year. My sled will be living in my jeep.
3. Snowy, crisp clean wintery photographs. I have never done a lot of winter photography, so this yeast I am pushing myself to do more.
Well I leave you with a snowy picture tonight. I took it because it reminds me if the many times I saw my friend Cole's bike coated in snow in the ritz parking lot.

#30daysofphotos

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This is my new challenge. Some of these photos may be shot with film, so it may take a bit of extra time to get them posted, but look out world here comes 30daysofphotos Madi Style.

Last words for the evening.

01 I have said my goodnights and closed my chat windows. It is now time for me to reflect.

Tonight I made plans to host a dinner party, a post thanksgiving potluck to be exact. I have invited my favorite people, and their significant others to come and share food and good company. I truly hope that most everyone can come. My house, though tiny, can hopefully support as many friendly faces as I would like to see.
It is nice to actually have my house clean enough that I am ok with sending out invites for an evening such as the one to follow.
I am excited.

Yesterday Emily, Jake's sister, and I went walking.  It was really nice and relaxing. It is always nice to have someone to talk with. I am really glad that we get along so well. We are alike in the way that words fascinate us. We both stopped dead and silent in our tracks to read the following words on the sidewalk...



That is really all the reflecting that I care to do for tonight...

Thought of the day: Fall in love with the one you love, every day!

<3

post 448/500

Vintage Glasses, Yay or Nay? - Poll

01 I Found these in my garage, I am having a bit of a love, but do I love them enough relationship. I feel like they could be fun to wear every so often, but I am not sure if they could fit my every day lifestyle... maybe once I get contacts again I can wear them with those... sounds like a much cheaper option than new lenses for these babies. What do you think??

Clean, Clean and Clean some more...

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Today was the third attempt at cleaning my garage. 

The mess of boxes that were piled and repiled are finally piled much more successfully.

Purchased  8 new Plastic bins

Emptied over 25 boxes

12 boxes of give away.

One or two more days and I should HOPEFULLY be able to get my car parked in the garage!

The after... Believe it or not.

And finally... there weren't many casualties today... except for one little plastic box of photos.

They had at one point in time become wet. The negatives, in sleeves, completely demolished. Every photo in the box, beyond recognition. That was a hard moment for me. It will make me archive my photos better. Which I suppose is something that I should have been doing all along, being a photographer and all! The only other casualties of the garage have been a bag of clothing that got wet, and some stuffed animals that suffered the same fate. Because of this I am slowly converting ALL of the boxes to big hefty plastic bins. I hope that I don't have any other damage during this process.

The Photos Horrible fate:

And to end on a happy note, I found a box of things that belonged to my dad... Including his YODA! 

When life becomes too cryptic

01 I have been reading old blog posts, using the excuse of "making sure everything is labeled correctly." In reality though I am reminiscing in that way I sometimes do. It has struck me that I at times become too cryptic. You ask how I have come to this realization... I don't even know what some of my own writing means anymore... like The Red Tie from February 12th of this year. I have no clear remembrance of who this is about or what even it is referring to. Maybe I should keep a separate journal to keep track of what my cryptic blog posts mean to me. Or possibly, it may be better to leave things alone. I know that sometimes I just write to get things out of my head, so maybe it is better to not be able to relive those memories.

Like the butterfly - Poem

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Still a silent butterfly,
In the back of your rushing mind.
slowly fluttering...
In the slow rhythm that memories make.

In the back of your rushing mind,
A feeling will linger,
Reminding you of the butterfly.

Slowly fluttering...
Waiting patiently...
to be freed from beneath the glass.

In the slow rhythm that memories make,
The beat will grow.
One day you will hear the melody.

Goal Setting - Personal Challenge

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So on a different note,  at the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself with this blog. My goal was the equivalent of one post per day.

as of this post I am  at 173/365 which is equal to 47%    

In my opinion that is not very close... that is 192 posts away from my goal.  

There are only 53 days left in the year... which would mean 3.5 posts per day...   

Therefore I have set a new goal, I would like to reach 500 posts total in my blog.

as of this post I am at 442/500 which is 88% of goal.

58 posts to go, and 53 days in which to write them, I think I can do that.  

When I successfully complete this goal it will put me at 63% of my original goal, not quite hitting it, but not as far away as I am now.

Thanks for reading.

Apologies to the Past

01 Yesterday was more emotionally taxing than I had ever expected it to become. I have lost a friend who means a lot me. He helped me to get through more rough times than he knows. It hurts to be lied to and then pushed away. A single lie, or evasion of the truth can make an entire situation completely different. On this note, I have some apologies to make, well to make again....  and a couple of thank yous to say to the people that even though they are not active in my life anymore, still have never fully disappeared.

We were not doing anything wrong by trying to be friends, at least not on my side. If you had a different agenda, then maybe it is best that this attempt at friendship failed. I am sorry that timing is always bad between us. I wish our friendship could have survived.

I am sorry that my behaviors left us not being able to even be friends. I never knew how to act around you after things ended. Our friendship was built and intertwined with our relationship and without one, I guess I was at a loss for how to go about the other. I am truly sorry that I lost you as a friend, if you ever want to try again I am here.

We should never have walked the path that we did, because in the end it destroyed us. If I could trade the memories of every moment we shared for a new friendship with you, I think I would do it. You are a person who helped me learn who I was and what I wanted from life, I thank you for that and just wish you were still around to see what I have made of myself. I think you would be proud of me.

I am sorry I wasn't able to be upfront with you about everything. I am sorry that you got hurt in the rush of everything else. I never wanted to break your heart, then again I suppose that is never the intent going into a relationship. Of these four apologies, I am glad that we are still friends. So thank you for still being around and for not hating me so much that we cant be friends.

Schedule is in - Winter 2012 Aii

01 I am nervous and excited to go back to school in January. I just got my schedule complete, Thanks Bavi for doing it over email with me, much appreciated. Without further adu,

* CA2430       UG96 C2 R    Intro to Video   4.0  LL 08:00p-10:50p -M-----   

                                              0.0  LL 08:00p-10:50p ---W---   

 * GE4455       UG96 E2 R    Literature       4.0  LC 06:00p-07:50p -M-----

                                              0.0  LC 06:00p-07:50p ---W---

* PH3410       UG96 H1 R    Photographic Ess 4.0  LL 08:00a-10:50a --T----

                                              0.0  LL 08:00a-10:50a ----R--

* DM2490       UG96 D2 R    Project Manageme 4.0  LL 11:00a-12:50p --T----

                                              0.0  LL 11:00a-12:50p ----R—

Hope to see some familiar faces in my classes!

Reorganizing and Redecorating

01 I have slowly begun the process of reorganizing my house. In the process of organizing I am doing a little redecorating as well. I redid the setup on top of my TV cabinet today. I am really happy with it. It features artwork by Hannah Rose and Tyler Chambers. Pictures of Jake and I being our dorky selves create the focal point in the center. It makes me smile every time every time that I look at it. I drew out a rough idea of this on paper the other day, which helped a lot in my motivation to actually get it done. Thanks paper!

The Idea:

The Final Product:

What is Left? - Poem

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What is Left?

Still entertaining the thoughts
of a time not so long ago
like re watching the past 

as it plays in slow motion
behind these closed eyes
visions betray me.

Entranced, enchanted, enthralled.

But I must let go.
I wont forget you.
For now I must let this fade.
Learn to pass the time with older memories
of a friendship that we once shared,
to see what is left amongst the ruins
of a tattered lovestory.

The lace chair, the beginning - DIY PROJECT

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So I decided to re vamp some furniture this weekend. At this moment I am waiting for the paint stripper to do its job. So far the cream chair has at least red, orange, and possibly grey paint hidden below its creamy surface. I am slowly making it down to the woods level and am really hoping that it alright underneath all this paint. Wish me luck and I will keep updating. My goal its to have my set of furniture finished by monday.

motivated in the wrong direction

01 For one, I am surprised that I am already awake. It took me forever to finally go to sleep last night. I listened though Dessa's album Castor the Twin two full times before I actually found sleep. My pen kept meeting the paper of my notebook and words kept forming in my mind. It was one of those nights where I felt inspired to do anything but sleep.

Today I NEED to be productive. Cleaning, Laundry, Grownup business... but all i seem to be inspired to do is to create, decorate and make things.... crafts, food, you name it. I fought against in though and have a load of laundry in the wash and a meeting at 2. 

Todays goal, clean more - craft less... unless all the cleaning is done then I will be crafting to my hearts content.

I want to start up a craft night again with my sisters, we used to do them when I was younger, back before life got busy. It would be nice to slow down again and spend some time together every couple weeks making things and getting to know  each other better. It would also be a nice way to prepare for the holidays, making presents and all.

Time to finish breakfast and make a grocery list.

Darn being a grown up, or atleast trying...

Ink stain - Poem

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If I were to press my eyelids shut
While the candles flame continued to dance
Clutching the pen between my fingers
Would I awake to a book of hymns
Or just another ink stain mess in my bed