Things I'm liking...

My birthday is coming up and I decided to browse the Internet for things I like. To tell the truth I could get nothing this year and be absolutely fine. I'm just not feeling the Birthday giddiness. But friends and family have asked what my eye was on, and this is what I could come up with:

I still don't have a calendar for 2009.

I would love to relax with something like this.

Oh, how I need a new camera! (I'd actually rather have something like this.)

I've had my eye on Gilbea's hand painted silk scarves for a while.

I adore these earrings and if I had them I'd wear them all the time.

Gifts for $20 and under

I've decided to forgo all the shopping crazies and shop from home instead. These are some of my favorites so far. Just sharing the wealth:
"At" symbol book stop from Barnes and Nobles : $17.95

Rendezvous wristlet from Sundance : $19.99

Tiny vintage cordial glasses from Delicious Things : $12.99



Steeping cup from The Tea Spot : $16.95











Chalk Candle from Urban Outfitters : $20

set of two medium dark gray and neon blue bowls from Etc Arts : $16

I've been tagged...

...by Rhondi to tell six things about me. Thanks Rhondi! ☺

1. I love to cook, but over the past six months, I've become really bored with food.
2. I really look forward to T.V. shows that Seth will watch with me (there aren't that many of them) and I don't feel bad about putting the kids to bed early sometimes so we can get all prepared to cuddle on the couch and watch them.
3. Sometimes I wish people could just see inside my brain so I wouldn't have to put into words what I'm thinking.
4. I tend to think in images the most when I'm awake. That's why this blog is good for me; it forces me to write words.
5. I'm very unhappy without my morning coffee.
6. I'm convinced there is nothing better than the sound of ocean waves, unless it's the sound of wind rushing by my ears as I'm headed down a snowy slope on a pair of skis.
Now I tag: Carrie, Kristen G., Kristen S. and Erin. (and anyone else who would like to be tagged;)
(Image from we♥it.)

My List:

(image from here.)

These are all items on my list of things to do before I die. (I know that sounds kind of morbid; I'm just saying I want to do all of these sometime in my life.)
1. Go to Fiji with Seth.
2. Go snorkeling in Fiji.
3. Go scuba diving (anywhere.)
4. Visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
5. Go to Paris with Kristen. (we've been planning it for ages.)
6. Wear false eyelashes...applied correctly and to a function that deems them appropriate.
7. Have blond hair.
8. See all my kids graduate from college.
9. Take them all to Disneyland. Hopefully before they graduate from college.
10. Go para sailing.
11. Ride in a hot air balloon.
12. See the Grand Canyon.
13. Set a diamond.
14. Wear a couture dress (even if I only get to try one on.)
15. Go on a vacation that lasts longer than two weeks.

Well, I'm sure there are plenty more things I want to do, but those are a good start. And I get to check #7 off my list tomorrow....

Christina Romeo

When Seth and I were shopping for artwork for my anniversary present, we decided we would save up to buy one of this artist's paintings next.

Now Do This:

This is a handy way to focus on one thing at a time. Make your list and everytime you hit done your next to-do pops up.
My most recent list (from two days ago):
Fix necklace,
solder earrings,
watch Project Runway

Passing on "The Big Read"...

Jana did a post about the Big Read list. Below are 100 books that were nominated as the people's most favorite. It is estimated that most adults have read 6 out of the 100 nominated. I've marked mine below. Now it's time for you to take the challenge! Let me know how you did! Here is the oiginal link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

These are the rules:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Put a ! next to the books you LOVE.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. !Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. !To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. !The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. !The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. !Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. !Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. !Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. !Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. !Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. !Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. !Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. !Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. !Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. !Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. !Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. !!Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

So, I've read 35 out of the 100 (if I counted right,) which is pretty good, but now I've got a bunch I feel I need to read! Some of these I hadn't even heard of! Time to go to the library!
(stack of books image from Flickr.)

One more thing today...Browsing...

Oh, and I have another treasury, which will expire tomorrow morning. So, if you get a chance go browse some super cool Etsy shops!

Toys, toys

I've been trying to take pictures of toys laying around because if I find a nice photo it makes me feel less out of control about the total chaos that I am always battling around here. Mess can look nice too...right? That's what I've been trying to convince my clean and neat self so that we can live compatibly in the same body. Because clean and neat will never occur in this house for more than five minutes...and that's o.k.

A Treasured Treasury

I got to make a treasury page on Etsy! I'm so excited because it's my third try to get one and my first success. Click here to see it.

Happy Birthday

(above: me and my little sister)

30 things about me (that you maybe don't already know and I didn't already say)
1. I was born in a blizzard at Williamson County Hospital.
2. My middle name is Joan (after my mom, Joan Del.)
3. I called my sister "sissy" when we were playing when I was little.
4. The imaginary "dad" when I played house (when I was 4-6) was named Jack and he looked like Bo from the Dukes of Hazard.
5. My first "boyfriend" (you know, the boy who was your friend but wasn't allowed to chase anyone else on the playground but you) was when I was in preschool. His name was Tom Tom and he looked like the toddler version of Bo from Dukes of Hazard.
6. My dad bought some cows when I was little so he wouldn't have to mow the grass.
7. I got to watch a calf being born.
8. My favorite story that my mom used to tell me was how she climbed up the antenna on the side of her house and got a spanking even though her mom said she could. (makes me want to better monitor what I'm saying "Mmm Hmm" to.)
9. I suggested the name "Adam" to my parents right before he was born- and they named him that.
10. I cried the first time I saw a dead bird.
11. When my grandmother died (my mom's mom) I couldn't cry. Maybe it was because I was 6.
12. For my 10th birthday I got some stirrup pants and a hot pink tunic to go with it and I was stoked!
13. I once made a life size paper doll (that moved) out of card board and metal brads so that I could have a big sister.
14. I couldn't/was scared to dive until I was in high school.
15. I used to sneak into the Burton Hills swimming pool all the time after closing until they hired guards and I got caught.
16. When I was in Jr.h high/high school I thought all the cool grownups went to SATCO (San Antonio taco Co.) all the time.
17. I once let a friend climb up to my second story bedroom window on my tied together sheets. The sheets ripped, but it still worked!
18. I was in a bunch of plays in Jr. high and high school.
19. In college, I tried to save a friend's cat from a vicious dog, but ended up having to go to the ER for a super deep cat bite.
20. My favorite class in college was figure drawing I, II and III.
21. I've been a bridesmaid twice.
22. When I was in high school and college I boycotted the GAP and tried to only wear vintage clothes.
23. Yet I worked at United Colors of Benetton and they made me wear their really uncomfortable suits. ( Although I would probably really like that now.)
24. I've been wearing my nose ring for 12 years now.
25. I got a really dorky flower tattoo in Florida with Amy when I was 18.
26. After I got my first apartment, I called my mom to ask her why there was this really horrible smell coming from the sink. She asked, "Have you washed the dishes?" Uhhh....no....
27. I've waitressed at 4 restaurants and worked at 6.
28. I haven't held a real job (and by 'real' I mean being paid by a boss) for over 6 years.
29. I really look forward to getting magazines and catalogs in the mail.
30. I feel like I should be turning 26 today.

Collage College

Been thinking about collages. I really love them (good ones) but I haven't done one in a while (unless you count digital, and mine are like pictures side by side so they don't count! Check out this digital collage, I don't even know how to do that.) I collaged several cigar boxes years and years ago to hold craft supplies and I did a collaged birdhouse for The Birdhouse Thing benefit (I can't find a picture, boo hoo! Tif, do you have one?) It's amazing the things that you can collage: Art work, cards, furniture...so many possibilities.
Here's some of my favorite collages around the web. Below: greeting card by Sushipot.

Lanterns by Tartx. (browse this girl's site; she does tons of inspiring work.)

And then there is collaged artwork and jewelry by Sally Jean (which really reminds me of Lynn Whipple, below.)

If you want to do a collage and don't know where to start, here is a tutorial for this charming sewn fabric one. (found via Bloesem.)


Tell me about your collages. What do you collage?

Happy Birthday the Snail Mail Way

I do love birthday cards! Hopefully I'll be getting some this month;) Here some of my favorites:

 

Top row: Cartolina Cards, Middle row: Egg Press and Good on Paper at Modish shop, Bottom Row: Nantaka Joy (I appreciate the jewelry-esque quality of this design!)

The Three Boys

I was tagged by Carrie to write 8 things about my kid. Since I have three, I'll do three things about each of them. (Yes, I know that adds up to nine things, but I can't very well do a third thing about them.)
Here goes.

About Emet:
1. He has an obsessive fascination with Blue's Clues. He found this day calender at my mom's house and has been carrying it around/sleeping with it for two months.
See the resemblance? If you don't, Emet certainly does (he also never forgets the pencil/crayon that goes with.)

 

2. He is hopelessly addicted to his pacifier.

3. The highlight of his day is when his big brothers come home from school.


About Elijah:
1. He had the whole "Blue's Clues" thing going on too, but now that obsession has transferred to all things Pokemon.

2. When the camera comes out, Elijah is ready to pose.

3. He is either very quiet or very loud. There is no adjusting the volume!


About Kaleb:
1.His favorite thing to do before he goes to bed is read... and he gets quite upset if Elijah is making him not be able to concentrate.
2. The rest of the time, if he can, he will be making noise.

 

3. He made a cool fort in the backyard using old stuff that we had lying around back there. The boys play "Survivorman" in it.

Alright, that's it. Now I tag Kristen, Erin, Rachel, Jana and Jessica. (and anyone else who wants to do it.)

I love this month

Well, it's time to take the Christmas decorations down...*sigh*...so sad. But I love January! Here's why:

1. I love routine, so getting back into it will be nice.
2. January's stone is garnet. It's sooo be-yoo-tiful, and God made so many yummy flavors of it!
3. The time for long awaited winter season premiers.
4. My brother, Emet, and my birthday are all in January.
5. We might get a snow day! (image from flickr)


6. All the sales!!
7. My mom's garlic butter shrimp that she makes for me every year.
8. I'm doing a jewelry/art show with Seth to open for Andrew Osenga (Caedmon's Call) on January 31st.
9. Did I mention my birthday is this month? Yeay birthdays!
On January!!!!

Procrastination gifts

The time for ordering online is just about past (unless you do one or two day shipping) so I thought I would throw out my ideas for you procrastinators out there who need to run to the store and pick up that last minute gift for someone in your fam. If you don't live in Nashville, hopefully you have some of these stores in your area (that is of course assuming that someone is actually reading this blog.) Oh yeah, and for any family members reading this, don't worry, I didn't ruin your surprise. These are not what I actually got you for Christmas. You'll just have to wait to see what I've got for you under my tree..

Your Dad might appreciate this super cool watch from Rei. (It's on sale ,too)

Your mom might like a gift certificate to Ann Taylor Loft with the promise that you'll go shopping together after the holidays... or you could get her this cool sweater.


For your brother, a cool jacket like this brown puma cat from Buckle. (They have tons of jackets for sale at the store.)
And I'll bet your sister would love this shirt from Fossil.


Or this cute little hat.

Your hubby might like the Sopranos Season 1 Dvd set, or maybe he would like all the seasons.
For your grandpa, some comfy slipper socks from L.L. Bean.


For your grandma, a William-Sonoma soap/ lotion combo. Everyone needs soap! (and lotion;)

For the cook who has a life time of stuff in her kitchen drawers, I'm sure she can make room for these collapsible measuring cups.


I guess I'm assuming that people reading my blog are female, but if there are any husbands out there that happen to come across this post, here is something your wife might like: nifty dinnerware from Target.

Now, make up your mind to not be intimidated by all those nasty crowds out there and go get your shopping finished...Ahhh...It feels good to get all of that out of the way. Time to relax...