super salad

a beautiful salad made by my mother for last sunday afternoon's dinner. yum.



wrap me up in your love...



sprinkle ready.

this week has been interesting for me. i described my feeling to my mom today by saying that sometimes i feel as though i am drowning and the only way i am able to keep my head above the water is to keep my eyes focused on christ. all around me the heat of people's brokeness is making my blood boil. i want to surround myself in perfection and ease. i finally got through secret santa week. fortunately it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. i went and saw napoleon dynamite at the new rave theatre on thursday night. i couldn't relate at all to the movie, but i thought it to be humoressley dry which i feel is wonderful. i'm hoping to see a few movies over the holidays but we'll see. das ist alles...

a dime a dozen

above is a drawing i made some time ago of a guy who i knew only as an acquaintance at college. for some reason i drew the picture and then thought it looked like john perkins. i'm not so sure it really looks like him at all, but nonetheless, it was my first and only attempt at caricature. i don't particularly like drawing but i would occasionally draw in my journal, so most of the photos of drawings are from my journal.



i wanted to make mention of the beautiful wreath that kate made. she's done alot with those origami blowup balls. i've only once put them on a string of white christmas lights. they were beautiful too, but kate says she's going to post a photo of her garland, we shall see. i know you might be worried about making the blowups and putting them on lights, but i'm telling you, the paper doesn't catch on fire. i used to leave the lights on all night. (only when i was at home though) in case you are wondering how to make these delightful little balls click click click away. there are also so many nice origami paper sites on the www. large amounts of paper for very little cost. i want to see your creative paper decorations. i'm going to set my christmas tree up tonight. pray that i don't feel too lonely doing it all by myself. i'll probably just watch barbara walter's, ten most interesting people. it'll all be very nice and good. today for secret santa, my secret santa gave me a pin from blueskies and a little asian looking card. well that's all for today boyz n gurlz.

read between the lines

.

yesterday was a grumpy day for me. the rain decided to pour for over twenty four hours, with promises now, that it'll be gone tomorrow. i can't bare another day of gray. when i walked outside this morning to my car, the air was warm and humid. here we are in december and it's not cold like it should be. el nino, where are you? are you the one still reeking havoc on weather patterns, or the lack there of? i feel like i'm working harder than i used to, but socially we maybe working less. productivity hasn't changed, but i suppose employment outsourcing and the internet play a role in working less. minimum wage is up more than it was when i was twelve and just entering the workforce. i've heard that people generally put in more hours at work, but that includes their www curricular activity. i can't imagine not working out in the world. but i know all these females with their first children, who stay at home everyday and are really active. one thing too, aaron said that we will analyze our history by the words we use. i've never really thought of it like that. i'm frustrated in analytical thought and i become conflicted. the right fighting the left in me. the left murdering the right in me. so i attempt to think less of specifics as in scenarios and past events or moments. but gosh you guys have got to know how wonderful it has been to be filled with the creative gift. when i'm working with my hands i literally don't think of anything but what's in front of me. it has rescued me the last few weeks. having wrapping and poster making to do. i also addressed the bonus check envelopes for work here. every year for the last three there is a request for my handwriting. oh brother.

have you noticed how brooches are the most popular accessory moving off shelves in herds, gaggles or schools like fish. it blows my mind that historically speaking a brooch will mark the holiglaze season of 2004. i love my brooch above. honestly i don't think it is one at all. it doesn't have a pin on the back, but my mommom might recognize it and know a little bit about the history. please feel the freeness to post a comment anonymously if you have any historical information mommom!!! you may even know a little bit more about the wire animals. what's funny about those, is that i was at blueskies several months ago and an artist had made a bunch of wire animals. aaron history repeats itself, why? are we not going to progress. ahh last night i finished jean auel's the mammoth hunters. now it's on to ghost soldiers. and remember to remember pearl harbor today.

buzz 2004

i've been hearing all of these new words lately, especially being used by people on television. celebrities, politicians, realities real people, and news anchors. i find the verbal trend to be disgusting. my feelings about the issue stem primarily from one word, "sound-byte(bite)." i noticed around campaign/debates 2004 the commentary's were using the word all over the place. it may be the best way to describe what is happening or the best noun that represents the action, but it's dumb when real live reality people start using the word.

another example is when katie couric, from the today show uses the word "meanwhile" between each segment or paragraph. "meanwhile" isn't a new word and i'm sure katie's been using it for sometime now, but it bugs me that it's alright to say it every morning.

do you know the kinds of words i'm talking about? have you heard them creeping out of people's mouths? i'm sure if you're as much of a television, radio junkie as i am you'll hear the very words you so despise.



do you remember your grandmother having tons and tons of buttons in tins up in the attic or in the basement. here's few of mine that my mommom collected over the years. vintage buttons to go along with the vintage flicker from yesterday.

i wanted to mention that in the last week i've had very little sleep. i haven't been tired like i normally am. i haven't even really been taking naps very often after work. part of the problem was that on wednesday night i stayed up and took about forty photos with the dinocam. i figured out what i think is a nice new technique. the photo above is of some tiny wire animals that my poppop's(grandfather) old girlfriend made for him many years ago. i don't know if it was his first girlfriend or not, but i know it wasn't my mommom, because she's creative in another way. she's a knitter. she makes beautiful afgans and blankets and tableclothes. things of that sort. but when aaron and laurie went to prague for their honeymoon they brought me back some franz kafka sugar packets. how thoughtful was that? so you see the sugar packets in the background. i've got to do a whole lot of shopping this weekend. yucky.

jas and i had a interesting conversation before work this morning, about christmas. as we get closer to the holidaze i suppose i'll have more to say about the materialism and consumerism, but for now i'm going to go.

vintage flicker

i ended up getting some vintage christmas candles off of ebay. actually my uncle bought them and my aunt and i split about fifty or so. some of them are terribly old and still have the fifteen cent price tag on the bottom. they tend to be a bit creepy, all faded and crusty in the crevices. my favorite is a tiny two inch candle stick, in which the candle has faded to a creamy salmon color. but they were so cheap and plentiful how could my uncle deny me? i don't really want to decorate for christmas this year. i have a tiny little two foot pre-lite tree that my parentals bought for me the christmas following the housefire. i have a tiny thrill about birds and so i stuff the tree with them. i just beg for my own home and my own family. i'm sure there are others of you who live on your own and feel like a tropical island might suit you better for the holidaze. i am thank full for the family and the friends but honestly it doesn't always cut it. i had a wonderful holiday last year. on christmas eve our family gets together and its fun, hilarious and reaffirming in so many ways. when i'm with my family i feel like we are a battalion and could fight any war or obstacle that came our way. my mom and dad are such strong, generous individuals that anything seems possible after talking and spending time with them. then there are my brothers who are so different but hold onto the same values and ideas so it's not as though we quarrel about the inane things. i'm looking forward to this christmas because i'll be doing more baking and possibly i'll have a little bit more xmas moolah for gifts. we shall see. one thing i wonder is if this will be my last holiday in chattanooga for a while. if and when i move to honolulu i can't see celebrating christmas in the same way. i'll be decorating a two foot palm tree. sounds fun to me.




of course there are my sisters n law too. Interestingly enough they are both nurses. we all work with the healthcare system. ummm.

the weather the last two days has been absolutely incredible. clearest skies and cold. last night i stayed up until about 2:30am taking photos with the dinocam. i really think i got some good pics. anyway i'm off.