Corner of J & O

What a difference a YEAR makes...

2011-06-21T12:18:00.008-04:00

To say I'm a blogging slacker is an understatement. It's not that I've had nothing to write about (believe me, I have), it's just that life has been so hectic lately that it's hard to find time to sit down and summarize it all. So here's my lowly attempt to cover the last years worth of events.

1. Savannah Birthday trip

Last September, I decided that years of not doing anything for my birthday were over and that it was finally time to do something memorable (Jeremy didn't agree, but we'll get to that in a minute). So, some friends and I planned a trip to the GORGEOUS city of Savannah, GA. My friends Bryan and Ben flew into Raleigh from Washington, DC and Colorado. The three of us made the 5 hour journey to Savannah to meet Zac and Shannon who were coming in from Alabama.

This could be a stand alone post and probably should have been. We went to a piano bar, had cigars on the river, did our best Forrest Gump impression, visited Tybee Island, fed alligators and talked to parrots. It was an absolute blast and one of the best birthday celebrations I've ever had thanks to a group of great friends.

1st night on the river

On River Street in front of the bridge.

Eating at the crab shack after visiting Tybee Island.

2. I'm dropping the "O"

That sounds kind of cold. It wasn't meant to be. After the whole birthday trip (and a long time before, really), I knew there was something wrong in my marriage. I'm not going to delve in too deeply here, but we decided right after I came back that we should probably go our separate ways. At first it was very mutual, then it wasn't, and now (9-10 months later) I think we're on good terms. Jeremy is a fantastic person. He's funny, incredibly intelligent, and a very hard worker. There are some negatives that I won't list because it's not necessary. He's perfect for someone, just not me.

3. Gaining a Zo

Moving on to more positive things, back in October I got a new puppy. I had no intention of getting a dog. While visiting my friends Ward and Lisa, I met Ward's cousins, Dennis and Nicole, who breed dogs. Now before you flip out, I DID NOT BUY a dog. Repeat: I DID NOT BUY a dog. We were simply sitting around discussing animals and I was telling them about Tobey, my maltipoo that passed away and literally broke my heart. No, really...it hasn't worked right since. That's when Dennis said that he had a little schoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix) that had lost one of her legs and he would be willing to give her away but only to a good home. Of course I had to go see her. That was it...game over.

These are old pictures, but she's my baby girl and has completely captured my <3.

4. Moving on to better things

There are lots of good things on the horizon. Without going into a lot of detail (I don't want to jinx any of it), I have an interview Friday for a job that I think I might actually be able to enjoy and there's a chance that I'll be selling my house. Well, not exactly. I'll be leasing it to someone who has the intention of buying it. That's what I'm hoping anyway.

One very positive addition to my life has been the new guy in it. His name is Clint and I'll tell you about him later. Just know that he makes me incredibly happy. So anyway, cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me that everything will work out for the best. I'm not going to necessarily pray for what I want, I'm going to pray that whatever will improve my life happens.

Oh so crafty...

2010-07-10T16:33:00.003-04:00

Caught the painting bug again. Don't know what came over me but I decided I just had to paint some artwork for around the house. This won't be a long post (even though it's been so long since I actually posted ANYTHING), but just a few pics to show you what I've been up to.

It was so pretty outside, I decided to set up my art table on the porch and listen to some tunes outdoors.

Monogram

Been wanting to do an Elvis painting for my art studio to match my Michael Jackson one. It looks a little off, but I'm pretty happy with it considering I'm terrible at painting people.

Hope all is well in blog-world. I'm off to go get ready for Jim & Beverly's pool party :) Gonna be fun!

Let me tell you how great my little brother is...

2010-06-06T09:45:00.004-04:00

My little brother may be the cutest kid alive....Scratch that. My little brother IS the cutest kid alive. Don't argue, I'm right about this. Although I've probably mentioned him before, I'll pretend that you have no idea who I'm talking about and introduce him. His name is Derek and he's a handsome, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 10 year old. Seriously, I think my mom saved up all the cute genes and gave them to him. How did I end up a hazel-eyed redhead covered in freckles and he gets a tan just by thinking about going outside. It's not fair I tell you!

Enough of being jealous of a 10 year old. On to this weekend. Just like his namesakes (Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez....and yes, I did name my brother when I was 14) he loves to play baseball. In fact, he even plays shortstop...gets me all verklempt I'm so proud! And he had a game this past Thursday. He's been a little scared of the ball when he goes up to bat ever since a boy on his team got his nose broken by a pitch. Hey, it would scare me too if I were him. But he did really well and paid attention to the pitches as they came across the plate. Here's a photo that I got of him up at bat. (Note to self: I really have to get in the habit of carrying around a camera instead of using the one on my iphone.)

Did I mention that I LOVE the fact that he's a lefty?! I think he got walked here, but a walk is as good as a hit, right? After the game, I told him that since he did so well playing that I would pick him up from school the next day. No greater words could be uttered to a kid his age.

Sidebar: I love my new job (so far.) I can't complain too much about it especially since they just spent $2,200 on a new computer for me. But let's face it, there will probably be a run-in with the sales guy I work with. Mainly because I get the feeling that he's entitled and thinks he shouldn't do certain aspects of his job that he should have been doing all along. But that's another post entirely. I'm getting off track. The reason I brought up that I love my job is because I can work extra hours M-Th and get to leave early on Friday. Great, right? So I left at 12:00 on Friday and went to pick Derek up EARLY!!

The smile on his face when he walked into the office to meet me was priceless. (I also ran into my 6th grade english teacher and surprisingly she remembered my name. It's surprising because that was back in 1995—I think—and I came in during the middle of the year. Good to see her though and she really hasn't aged at all.)

Let me also say that Derek is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. I told him it was his day, we could do anything he wanted (right after I had lunch of course.) So, I asked him, "what do you want to do?"......Derek: "Well, what do YOU want to do?"....Me: "No, no, no...this is your decision. We can go to a museum, go see a movie...whatever.".....Derek: "Let's go see Grandma first."

So precious, I swear. Since I was starving and he's always hungry, we went to Pizza Villa to grab a bite to eat. When I went to take a picture of him, he looked angry, so I told him to smile. This is the expression I got:

Good enough I suppose. After taking in the greatness that is pizza crackers and a pizza, we went to visit Grandma at work. That's right, my grandma is 72 and still working. Ca-razy lady.

After visiting her, Derek decided that we should go to a museum. The Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh to be precise. Ok, fine by me. He picked this particular one because he had just learned about dinosaurs and wanted to see if they had any. This was right after he told me that a T-Rex has 6 inch teeth. (Random, but cute) We set our course and were Raleigh bound. As I drove, we played bowling on my phone. I say "we" played because Derek played for both of us and would tell me what I scored. I still think that it was suspicious that he always beat me.

Not sure what hit him in Goldsboro, but he wanted to see if they had any 3-D movies at the movie theater. Ummm....ok. Shrek in 3-D just happened to have a show in 30 minutes. After careful consideration, he chose the movie instead of the museum. After all, he said, the museum is gonna be there later. The movie might be gone.

Sidebar: Holy 3-D movie prices! Ridiculous. And we got popcorn and a drink because: 1. Derek is always hungry...2. He had a bad taste in his mouth? Mmmmk...sidebar over.

The movie was really cute and the 3-d effects were very well done, actually. I could tell because during one part Derek leaned over and said, "Woah...that was cool."

Anyway, to sum this whole thing up (it really wasn't supposed to be this long), I'm thinking of making this a Friday tradition. Can't really think of a better way of spending a Friday afternoon than with the world's cutest kid. Well, I'm off to work in my garden. Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Hiatus...

2010-06-01T15:51:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to give a little update to prove that I'm still here! Things have been so hectic lately with the new job and just getting some things done around the house.

Still waiting on some direction at work. Hopefully that will happen sometime tomorrow. Gotta work on a marketing plan and maybe (just maybe...fingers crossed) ordering a new computer. For the record, I hate PCs...I'm totally a Mac girl. We shall see though.

At home, just the usual. The garden is really doing well. Already harvested some squash and the tomatoes are just about ready as well. Who cares about that stuff though, right? I'm waiting on the cantelope and watermelon!

I'm kind of bummed that a bunch of my friends are heading to Vegas to visit Mike and Steph this weekend. Not so much bummed that they're going (happy for them), I'm mad that I can't go. Seriously...who plans to go across the country on a whim and expects everyone to be able to drop everything and go too?! That being said, if anyone wants to donate $900 to the "Send Jewel and Jeremy to Vegas 5 Months Earlier than Expected" fund, just let me know! No...really........

On another note, somebody needs to inspire me to crochet again. One thing that would help is to make me jealous of something that you made so I feel the need to try to make something better (and usually fail). I just have no drive to do it lately and it's irritating.

Now, back to pretending to work until they actually give me something to really do. Here's to hoping that I don't get caught blogging at work!

Magnificent Monday! Except for LOST ending...

2010-05-24T21:31:00.005-04:00

Who would have thought I would be saying that?! But really, I've had a great weekend and the greatness has rolled over into Monday.

We had an absolutely fantastic time with our friends from Vegas, Mike & Steph. Got to introduce them to some of our local cuisine—El Norteno, The Flying Shamrock, and of course, MY KITCHEN! No...seriously....stop laughing.

It really was wonderful though. Entirely too short if you ask me, but we managed to have a blast...we even snuck in some bowling! If all goes as planned, we'll be visiting them in Vegas in 5 months! Fingers crossed, people. Fingers crossed!

I was kind of bummed after they left yesterday though. Mainly because it's such a downer to sit at the house on a overcast Sunday when the previous 4 days had been filled with so much to do. I did manage to get my house the cleanest it's been in months and I finished the last season of Arrested Development. Got to get ready for the movie, you know! Not all of Sunday was gloomy though. My loving hubby did make me some homemade bruschetta featuring fresh basil from my very own garden! It's the first thing we've eaten from it and it was soooooo goooood! Jeremy was amazed. Seriously...amazed. He couldn't believe how much of a difference there was between dried and fresh basil. Amaaaazzzeeddd.

AND I finally got to see the finale of Lost. Oh how I love that show. I hate that empty feeling I get whenever I get so engrossed in a story and the lives of the characters and it comes to an end. It feels like a friend died. Well...in this case they did.

I have really mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I think they did a brilliant job of tying up the end in relation to the beginning. I love the attention to detail with the opening and closing of Jack's eye to begin and end the saga. I cried throughout the finale, especially as they each remembered what had happened to them. I also cried because I won't get to see Richard, Jack, and Sawyer all in one place again (man. are. they. hot.) But there's still so many unanswered questions. I feel like we don't know what happens to a lot of the characters and how they end up there. And what about all the mysteries of the island?! Seriously...what.the.heck? Who built that flippin' statue? Where was Walt and Michael? I'm still so lost....oh....how ironic. I get it now.

Almost forgot...started my new job today. Kinda scary, not gonna lie. Really hope I can live up to their expectations, but so far I LOVE being a marketing director. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Anyway, I'm off to find another show to become obsessed with. Don't think it will be nearly as intense as this was. Thanks, Lost.

The transition...

2010-05-21T08:42:00.004-04:00

And so begins day two of the great transitional vacation. Not much of a vacation if you consider doing nothing but housework a vacation. I'm so jealous of the people who stay at home all day. Well, sort of.

The problem with housework is that I have ADD. I have a hard time finishing one project before noticing that something else needs to be done and leaving to go do it. Make sense? No, doesn't to me either. Let me explain. I had every intention of making a list of things that needed to be taken care of and I didn't even get around to making a list. I went outside to water the garden (15 min. tops). It was then that I noticed some vines sticking out of my hedges. I was only going to trim a few vines! What ended up happening was a 30 minute knock-down, drag-out with some overgrown weeds that needed to be put in their place. Anyway...while putting up the hedge trimmers, I was grossed out by walking into a spider web (nobody looks cool after walking in a spider web) and decided that all them had to die. This led me to my front porch (eventually) where the exterior of my house grossed me out even more. Cannot believe I let it get that dirty.

After making the problem worse (and more apparent) by trying to sweep the dirt off the wall with the broom I was using to exterminate spider webs, I was forced to get the scrub brush, dish detergent, and hose. Two hours later, the front of my house is incredibly clean and oddly enough, lemon-y fresh!

It was around this time that I realized I hadn't done ANYTHING to clean the interior of the house. Sucks because that was my initial intention. Sooooo, after Jeremy got home, we took a break then he mowed the back yard while I tackled the mildew-breeding ground that is my bathroom. It may not be lemon-y fresh, but I'm a pretty big fan of clorox scent too.

All this stuff obviously needed to be done at some point anyway. It's all accelerated by the fact that my friends, Mike and Steph, are coming down from Virginia today.

Aren't they adorable? They're from Vegas, but Mike has some sort of military contract job in VA and Steph is visiting, so they're going to visit us. I'm so excited. We had soooo much fun when Mike and Brian came down in January, but it's going to be even better with a little more estrogen in the house. And since I don't want them to think we're icky slobs, major cleaning needs to be done. Wow...that makes it sound like I'm an icky slob when I don't have people over. That came out wrong...You know what I mean though. I have a level of controlled chaos in my home. This doesn't mean I have to subject anyone else to my chaos. People could get hurt :)

Well, back to cleaning. Interior this time, Jewel. INTERIOR.

NBC...you're dead to me...

2010-05-14T20:47:00.002-04:00

Ooo...that rhymes.

Dear NBC,

If you needed help with your programming schedule, all you had to do was ask. Obviously no one there is capable of making an intelligent decision that pleases your consumers. That's why your ratings have dropped tremendously.

First, you got rid of Conan. Do we need to address this subject again? He's more popular than ever thanks to your bonehead decision to keep Jay Leno around. Seriously? President Obama was funnier than him at the White House Correspondents dinner....and he's not even a comedian! But hey, it's ok. Conan has a new show and you had to pay him millions of dollars AND he's on tour right now. Good one, NBC.

Second, you got rid of Law and Order. HELLO??? Why? I LOVE Jack McCoy. No....really. I would have 10 million of his babies. Well, maybe not, but I still adore him. How dare you remove my weekly fix of Sam Waterston from the airwaves! So what if the ratings were down. It's probably because you screwed with the schedule and put Leno in PRIMETIME! Yeah, who's the genius who came up with that one, NBC? That really worked out well.

And now I see on Yahoo that you're canceling Heroes without a freaking finale!!! SERIOUSLY? I might agree that the writing has gotten rather poor lately and it was all downhill since the first season, but at least finish it up. What's the point of even starting a season if you have no intention of finishing it?! This must have come from the same guy who decided that Leno would work in primetime.

In conclusion, I hate you NBC and you're dead to me.

Cell phone providers are modern day vampires...

2010-05-13T15:46:00.002-04:00

Seriously, why do they have to be the only carrier of the iPhone right now? I hate them. I didn't really hate them before, but I do now.

Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you. As I went to pay my bill online, a surprisingly large number popped up in the payment section. Since I pay a ridiculous amount of money to them every month anyway ($150 for 2 phones/550 min.), I was caught off guard when I saw that I owed $345...wha Wha WHAT?!

Here's my problem. Ok, we went over our minutes. I get that. But charging us 45¢/min is absolutely ludicrous, especially considering that when we switched plans (not carriers, just PLANS), we lost 9000+ rollover minutes. Yeah, that's minutes that I paid for and never used, just gone down the drain. So, that's why I'm pretty upset when they charge an insane fee for going over a small fraction of that. AT&T, I'm not amused.

There are a couple of things that have made me happy lately. First, I sold my camera: YAY! Can't wait to buy a new one, but right now I really needed a new work wardrobe. So I took some of that money and put it towards clothes. The greatest thing about this is that it was Jeremy's idea for me to go shopping for myself. How great is that? Absolutely LOVE that man. My friend, Kari, and I went out shopping on Wednesday. She was shopping for cute dress to wear to a wedding, so I tagged along. Thank goodness we didn't make it to the mall because I spent about $300 at Kohl's, Target, and the Dress Barn. Came out with some really great pieces though. Got 2 pairs of shoes, 5 pairs of pants, 8 shirts, necklace, and earrings. Not bad, I think. Simply cannot wait to do it again!

Jeremy's planning on selling some of his extra music equipment to give us some extra money to put towards some small renovations on the house and just to have a little cushion in the bank. If everything sells, it'll give us around $6,000 (part of which goes to a new camera?). So keep your fingers crossed for us!

Yet another thing that made me happy is a call I got from my new employer. They wanted to know what day I wanted to start. Turns out they want me to start on a Monday instead of the previous Thursday. This will give me a 5 day weekend in between switching jobs. LOVE IT!

We've also got some friends who might be coming into town. They're in Virginia right now and we're trying to make plans to meet up somewhere. More than likely they'll just spend the weekend with us. It'll be great because they're so flippin' funny! Our plans were foiled by the snow last time they were around, so hopefully everything will go smoothly this time. So excited!

Ugh...it has happened again. I get on here to write about one thing and I just start rambling on and on about an entirely different subject. Oh well. Maybe next time I can stay on topic ;)

It's picture time!...

2010-05-10T11:43:00.004-04:00

Every once and awhile I convince my family to take group photos. So difficult to do because they are all impatient and usually several leave before we even get started. This was again the case this past weekend for Mother's Day. I did manage to get a few of them together. A couple of my cousins were missing, my little brother was gone, and my uncle left about an hour earlier. Oh well, I'll have to photoshop them in later or something. But without further ado, here's the latest Eubanks family photos...

The Eubanks (minus Kevin)

Grandma & Uncle Mike

Grandma and her daughters, Karen and Cheryl

Cody & Aunt Karen

Jason, Mom, and Me (Derek had already left by the time we got to these)

Mom, Grandma, and Me

By the way, my mom is wearing the necklace and earrings I gave her for Mother's Day. Every girl needs some pearls. I gave Grandma and Aunt Karen a grape tomato plant each, along with some other plants. Nothing like the gift of food!

Jeremy stayed home and did some yard work (looks fantastic!) Later that night we went out to eat with his parents at the Village Steakhouse. Love that place even though it is on the pricey side. Jeremy's gift to his mom was a James Taylor songbook to help her learn to play some of his tunes on guitar. A thoughtful gift I think. He's learning so well :)

And since I'm a mommy to my cats (don't judge), I went out on Saturday and got a replacement cell phone cover (for FREE, thank you AT&T) and a new video game (again, don't judge) as gifts for myself. All in all, a great weekend!

A just for me day....

2010-05-08T11:16:00.009-04:00

Lately, I've had the urge to get out and do some more photography. It might be that Levi's photoshoot inspired me. So, since I took yesterday off anyway, I figured it would be a good time spend the day doing nothing but stuff that I wanted to do. One of the first things I did was join Kari and her two girls at the park (right after I made a headband to match my outfit, of course!) While we were there I snapped a few pics of Charlotte and Audrey.

Oh, and one of the owl they have there at the nature center....

After that, I went shopping (one of my true favs) and got some things for the house. Bought some beautiful pink hanging plants called Dragon wing begonias:

They're absolutely gorgeous and they have a glitter quality to them. Love love love these! Speaking of flowers I love, I also got some orange gerber daises. So pretty :)

These should add a little bit of color to the front porch. By the way, my garden is getting huge! Finally had to get some stands for my tomato plants because they were falling over. We did have our first casualty of the garden today. One of the marigold plants in a container died (or is dying). I suppose I have to get a few more when I go for a resupply at Barnes Farms.

Ok, enough blogging for today. Back out to finish trimming hedges, which I should probably not be responsible for since they look kind of jacked up. Later folks :)

Post-edit: Trimming has ceased due to an unfortunate encounter with nature (i.e. my wrist encountered a wasp) and the hedge trimmer's encounter with the drop cord (I cut right through that sucker.)

Levi—One Year Photo Shoot...

2010-05-07T10:18:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday it was once again time to take pictures of the too cute for words Levi. Seriously...too stinking cute. He wasn't exactly interested in having his photo taken that day. There was way too much interesting stuff going on around him and sometimes it's just time to play. We managed to get a few good ones though. Here are my favs:

Fix-it Friday #53

2010-05-07T10:04:00.005-04:00

It's Fix-It Friday over at iheartfaces again :) My favorite day of the week to blog because I always know what I'm going to post! Here are my edits for this week. Now it's your turn to head over to iheartfaces and do your own!

Original:

Basic Edit:

Cross Processed Edit:

Black and White Edit:

Digital Painting Edit:

Hope you enjoyed these and have a great weekend everyone!

I've got sunshiiiiiinnnnneeee...

2010-05-05T10:49:00.005-04:00

Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!

Yesterday, I posted about starting an etsy store, so here's a preview:

Can't wait to do have more stuff to add to it. I've even got Jeremy in on it. I told him I was going to teach him one of the following: photography, sewing, crocheting, graphic design, or painting. Then I just decided that teaching him to crochet would be easier than anything involving the computer or artistic skill. And he went for it! I know, I was shocked too. His first crochet lesson is Sunday when he's finished with his online classes. One of which he finished last night :)

Yesterday I went in to discuss benefits and sign my life over to my new employers. They said they were excited for me to join them, but it can't compare to my excitement! I'm gonna have a huge office, my own department, a ton of creative freedom, and they're even willing to buy a new Mac for me to use! (For the record, I'm NOT a PC) The increased pay isn't too shabby either!

Another part of the process was doing a drug test. I know, luckily I kicked my cocaine habit months ago ;) Anyway, I just want to point out that there is nothing more uncomfortable than handing a complete stranger a cup of warm urine. AWKWARD!

As I was typing this, I also got some FANTASTIC news! When I put in my two weeks notice, I proposed to my supervisor that I could do what I do now from home. That way they won't be in a bind to find someone else quickly and it keeps my grandma happy (it was pretty obvious she didn't want me to quit...she also says that she's gonna pray that I don't sell my house so that I don't move further away, but that's a whole different post.) What else does this mean? Extra moolah! Never complain about that.

Speaking of extra jobs, I have another photo session this afternoon with Levi. Seriously, this kid is cute as hades. He's the little boy featured on the right side of my header. Flippin' adorable. He just turned a year old and it's time for more photos! I'll post some when they're complete...or done at all. Hopefully the weather will hold out and we'll find a good spot in Greenville.

So, if you can't tell. Life is grand right now :) I'm a happy girl!

Etsy!

2010-05-04T14:14:00.002-04:00

I bit the bullet and opened at Etsy shop! So excited :) Only have 3 items now, but here it is:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cocoberrybaby

Let's just start over...

2010-05-04T10:15:00.004-04:00

I want to be perfectly clear...I hate my furniture. I HATE it. There are certain pieces that I like, but even they need work. All of our stuff is an accumulation of pieces we've collected over the years that we've been married. I've never been able to go out and buy all the stuff I wanted all at once. It's going to happen one day. I swear it! I'm going to have a yard sale one day, but instead of putting items in the yard, I'm going to let people walk through and make offers on anything they see. That's how much I hate it all.

And another thing...I want to completely rip out the disgusting (and I mean disgusting) carpet in the former office and bedroom. Thank you previous owners for leaving us with a pile of crap. Everyone may comment about how pretty this house was when you had it, but I know what it is REALLY like. Polish a turd and it's still a turd.

Here's why I'm growing increasingly pissed off as I think about this. This is what we moved into:

1. No insulation—What?! Are you kidding? It doesn't help that you lied to us about how much you spend on gas and heating this house in the winter time, but the fact that paid $15,000 to renovate the kitchen instead of paying $800 to insulate the floors blows my mind. Priorities, people. Priorities.

2. Paint job—Horrendous (seriously! Did you run out of paint in the living room, or did you honestly think a 2 inch gap of white between the molding and the wall color looked good?) Not everyone may like the colors I've chosen, but at least they can't complain about the paint not covering.

3. Giant cracks in the plaster—look, I know this house is somewhere around 110 years old, but really people, finding a giant hole in the dining room on the day I move in does not make a happy Jewel.)

4. Carpet—*vomit* do I really need to mention the carpet again? It's the reason the doors on those rooms stay shut until we can find the time to refinish the floors. Thank God the rest of the house is hardwood.

5. Electrical work—Who puts a breaker box BEHIND a refrigerator that's framed by cabinets? Morons. Not to mention it's against code. It's an enormous pain in the butt to pull that mammoth of a fridge out any time there's an issue. I'll say it again....Morons.

I will give you this. You had really pretty furniture that covered up most of these problems. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy new furniture right now because our money goes into fixing all this crap. So again....Thanks.

Don't get me wrong, with all of its problems, I still love this house. I like the layout, the renovated kitchen IS nice, and it's incredibly spacious. But putting make-up on a warthog doesn't make it pretty. And now thanks to this horrible experience, I doubt we will be purchasing another home for a while. I think my husband is committed to being a life long renter.

On a brighter note, I finished the elephant yesterday. We've dubbed him Elliot. Original, I know.

Just another boring Monday...

2010-05-03T11:07:00.007-04:00

Another busy weekend that flew by WAY too fast. Spent most of Saturday driving around. Went to Jeremy's old church to get some barbeque and tomato plants they were selling (but I got them for free...let's not kid ourselves.) Then I went to get more compost for my garden from Jennifer and John's house (also delivered some barbeque.) From there, it was on to the Plum Tree Market Place to get more plants. The Barnes sell plants there and it's really interesting if you've never been. I highly recommend it. Got lots of plants for my grandmother, and a headband and grape hull conserve for myself. Finally....headed back to the house.

Forgot to take a photo of it, but I spread some of the plants around in my little flower bed. They're getting big, people! I might be a gardener after all! I'll set my self a remind to snap a pic when I get home.

After working in the yard and getting burnt (doesn't take much for me), I was on the road again, this time to deliver the plants to my grandmother. Tomatoes, cantaloupe, marigolds, and spaghetti squash <----can't wait til my own start producing :) Anyway, after helping her with some stuff around the house, I forced her to order my fav, Greg's Pizza. Seriously, I pity all of you who haven't tried ANY of the food from there. SOOOOOooooooo gooooooooddddd. While I was there, she wanted me to take a picture of the flowers in bloom. This one is her favorite. All I had was my phone, but it's not too bad.

I'm going to steal a vine of it to put at my house, she just doesn't know it yet. Well, after getting treated for my sunburn with aloe and my mammy's secret "talking the fire out," I was back in the car. This time the destination was ~~hell~~ Walmart. I was inspired by the headband I bought at the market to finally open up my sewing machine a year after I bought it. I have all these beautiful fabrics that I purchased that have been sitting on the shelf. So, I went to Walmart and bought elastic since I was determined to make one that night.

It's so hard to believe that I used to be able to make purses a couple of years ago, because I can't make anything now. Seriously, I had to watch the dvd that came with my sewing machine to figure out how to thread it. It was pitiful. My hard work was not in vain, however! Here's what I've made so far. Not too shabby, I think. In fact, I'm wearing the green one right now :)

Maybe the skills are coming back. I'm going to make an attempt for a camera strap tonight. Of course this will have to be right after I finish my crocheted elephant (I'm so close!) Maybe I'll have a photo to post of it tomorrow. You never know.

Love it when a plan comes together...

2010-04-30T11:31:00.004-04:00

YAY! I'll scream it again...YAY! My interview yesterday was fantastic! Just have to go in on Monday and discuss benefits, salary, etc. with the accountant. Not sure if you can tell, but I'm absolutely stoked about this job and everything it brings.

I'll be working in Kinston again, which I love. Never in a million years would I want to live there, but working there is fantastic thanks to the ease of getting around town and the great selection of local eateries to have lunch. I also will get to travel to Myrtle Beach twice a year for regional conventions (will never complain about that). One of the other wonderful aspects is the amount of creative freedom that comes with it. The owner basically said that she wants a marketing department that can run on its own <----No micro-managing?! Sign me up!

But by far my favorite part of this new venture is...moving back to Goldsboro! We've already picked out the place we would like to relocate, and let me just tell you, it's incredible! I'm including some photos just so you can get an idea of how incredible it is. (To make things perfectly clear, I'm NOT buying another house anytime soon. Not when I can live in a place like this and not have the headache of lawn care, maintenance, etc.)

Just in case you were wondering, I AM in love! These are the newest apartment complexes in Goldsboro and they're gorgeous! It's just an added bonus that they are in a great location that is minutes away from everything, but aren't in the middle of town. I'm so ready to sell my house and start packing. Unfortunately, this is going to be a while down the road. There's a lot to be done to get the house ready for sale, so guess what I'll be doing in my free time for the next several weeks? Oh, and of course my apartment will look EXACTLY like the photos above...lol. That is, obviously, after I sell/throw out every item that we own and buy all new furniture. While that most likely won't happen, there will be a budget set up specifically for home improvements. When Jeremy said that, I fell in love with him all over again :)

Well, enough rambling for now. I'm not even sure if I made a concise thought in any of that up above. Either way, have a fabulous Friday, everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Fix-it Friday #52

2010-04-30T10:09:00.006-04:00

Original

Great Autumn photo this week. There's so much you can do with a photo like this. Alas, I only had time to do 3. Not exactly happy with the way the photos look when posted, but I guess they'll have to do. Now, head over to iheartfaces to see more or do your own!

Edit One

Edit Two

Edit Three

Here we go...

2010-04-28T22:09:00.004-04:00

Nothing really life altering today. Cut out of work early today due to a wardrobe malfunction. Hopefully no one was a witness to it. Anyway, here's what I've done in the past hour. It's a mock-up website for a company that I applied to and have a second interview with tomorrow. Nothing special, but it will do. Wish me lots and lots of luck!

Lots of new things happening...

2010-04-27T11:10:00.006-04:00

Along with the new season has come the birth of productivity. So many things are getting accomplished thanks simply to the power of a list! There's something so gratifying about crossing each item off as it's finished. So far, the garden has been planted, the bathroom painted, and the business of crocheting is underway. Which reminds me, here's the most recent addition to my little crocheted bed buddies family:

Not as cute as the bunnies that I previously made, but the little kitty will do :) Next up on the agenda: Elephant. It's probably going to be a little more difficult that the others, so wish me luck. I simply cannot wait to have enough made to start an Etsy store. My MIL is coming up with some great matching pieces and ideas as well. Going to be cute!

Speaking of cute, check out this photo of the world's smallest horse that was just born. 6 lbs., people! How flippin' adorable is this little guy?! Everyone take a look at "Einstein" and on the count of three.....1....2....3...Awwwwwww!

By the way, I've got a second interview for the marketing director position on Thursday, so keep your fingers crossed and have a happy Tuesday!

P.S. New header...woohoo!

"smiles" Iheartfaces entry

2010-04-27T09:38:00.004-04:00

While I have no expectations of winning, I thought I would join in this week's contest just for the fun of it. And because I haven't done this in FOREVER! This week's theme is just too cute though. It's all about the smiles :)

Levi

Well, it's Monday....again....

2010-04-26T09:25:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe how productive I was this weekend. Don't ask my husband though because he'll say that I wasn't since the house still needs to be cleaned. Cleaning aside, a lot of other things got accomplished.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early (at the crack of 9:00) and headed over to Neuseway Park to help a co-worker with a community project. Several churches worked on improving some of the public sites in Kinston. Our assignment was to paint the inside of the train tunnel and give it a faux rock look by sponge painting it and applying some fake moss. I had to leave around 1:00, but when I left, it was looking pretty good.

On the way home I decided to stop by hell, I mean Walmart, to get some supplies for my little crochet bed buddies. In my head I'm thinking that I'll do a little cleaning around the house and then relax, put on some Lost, and crochet for the rest of the day. Alas, this was not my destiny. Just outside of LA, my SIL called and asked if I was ready to pick up the plants for my (non-existent) garden. Why not? I was already in the car and driving an extra 40 minutes just gives me more time to listen to the iPod. They end up giving us one of everything they have along with a giant bag of compost. Bear in mind that while I have tended a garden in the past, I've never started my own. So no high hopes for this first annual Owens garden. It was such a pain to even get it started. I won't bore you with the details, just understand that this was as much as I could physically do without needing a trip to the hospital. The result is that my plants are way too close together (oops). It's not pretty, but maybe it'll grow something. They'll probably end up needing to be transplanted somewhere else. We'll see how it goes (or grows <---bahahaha, garden humor).

Ignore the disgustingly large amount of grass that is seeping through the fence posts. Our yard is like a jungle right now. Our goal for yesterday was to get an old riding lawnmower from the parentals. Unfortunately, that lawnmower still hasn't been fixed yet. Not sure what our plans are, but Jeremy comes close to death every time he gets out there with the push mower to tackle our football field sized yard (well, it's probably not that big, but it certainly feels like it sometimes).

Anyway, there was a little time to crochet in between laundry and having a massive headache that knocked me out for about 5 hours. Luckily, I've discovered that I can proofread at work and crochet at the same time. Hopefully my employers won't discover my discovery, but that's a different story. My MIL did come up with a fabulous idea while we were having dinner with them Saturday night. She's going to crochet baby blankets while I crochet stuffed animals and we'll sell them as matching pieces. Pretty genius I thought. Can't wait to have enough for Etsy!

Happy Monday All!

Thursday is just a Friday wannabe...

2010-04-22T09:17:00.004-04:00

So, I spoiled myself and took yesterday off. Well, not completely off. I did have a job interview yesterday afternoon. I think it went well, but you can never really tell with these things. I do know that it's a lot easier to be relaxed when you already have a job. But other than the hour that I was there, I spent the rest of the day slacking off and crocheting. While it's certainly not as difficult as it used to be, there is still a lot to learn. Slowly but surely, however, I'm starting to get the hang of it. Here's my latest creations:

The little bunny even sold yesterday! Ok, well, I sold it to my MIL, but it still counts! When I get several of them made, an Etsy store might need to be in order. Not a huge money making scheme by any means, but it'll help pay for more yarn!

Who would you choose to be your celebrity BFFs?

2010-04-19T16:44:00.014-04:00

Saw this on a blog I follow and it seemed like a fun post for a mundane Tuesday. I cheated and had a tie. But did you really expect me to narrow it down to just one?!

1. THE bestie: the one who I would tell my deepest, darkest secrets to. the one who i would be able to call any hour of the day or night just to tell her something only SHE would appreciate. shopping trips, inside jokes, everything...this award would go to:

Emily Blunt: Love this chick. She pulls off the witty, sarcastic character a little too well for it not to be true. Not to mention, any girl that can capture Michael Bublé's heart can't be bad!

2. The gay BFF: the guy I'd get my fashion advice from. the one who would tell me the stories of his boyfriends or his style...and to keep me in check. this award goes to:

Neil Patrick Harris: Just because he's hilarious. And it's freakin' Doogie Howser!

3. The stylish BFF: This would be the one i go to for all of my fashion advice. The one I go shopping with and take her advice....she is the one who accessorizes and helps me decide what would look best on me...and this BFF award goes to:

TIE!

Kate Beckinsale: Not only is she disgustingly gorgeous, I absolutely love everything she wears. I hate her and love her at the same time :P

Zoe Saldana: This girl's style is sick. She always dresses in the most elegant and fashion-forward clothes. Love her!

4. The best GUY friend: This is the guy who would be there to kick my boyfriend's ass when he screws up. this is the one i can trust with anything and always comforts me when i need to hear positive comments. The one i can sit back and watch action movies with and not have to dress up around. he can see me without make up on and it wouldn't matter because he doesn't judge me like that...this award goes to:

Chris Pine: I certainly wouldn't mind having a guy BFF who looks like Chris. It also helps that he's a total goof ball.

5. The FRIEND with BENEFITS: this would be the one that i pretend is JUST my friend, but those nights we drink a LITTLE too much or perhaps get burned by someone we care about....we always have those OFF moments. We both know we are MORE than just friends...and that would be:

Ryan Reynolds: Really, my #4 and #5 picks are interchangeable. They both are intelligent, funny, and did I mention hot? I also must note that I hate Scarlett Johannsen for being able to come home to this every night...

6. The GOSSIP BFF: the girl who i can call and talk about anyone and anything and she wouldn't judge. she knows all the juicy stuff and we can laugh all day about the crazy drama that this town is infested with. but i also wonder what she says when i'm not around...

Kate Hudson: I heart her.

7. THE BFF to have FUN with: the girl i wanna go dancing with! the one who is the life of the party and never to take too seriously. party, drink, take a million photos with...i'd do this with:

Jessica Simpson: She's as goofy as I am. I imagine shopping trips and going out with her would be a blast because she's silly ALL THE TIME! Doesn't hurt that we share a love for maltipoos too :)

8. The one i could LIVE with: This girl is responsible, clean, and not annoying. She is dependable and easy to get along with. drama-free and someone i could co habitate with:

Zooey Deschanel: She seems insanely cool. I can't even dream of having drama with her around. It might be a little selfish of me to choose her because I would just want her to practice her music around the house all the time. Her voice is fantastic :) I'd ransack her closet too!

9. The one i'd end up marrying: This is the guy friend that was always JUST my buddy. My childhood friend. the one who i end up happily ever AFTER with....and i should have just realized it forever ago!:

Zachary Quinto: I can't help it. I have a thing for dark haired, dark eyed guys. His role as Sylar on Heroes makes being bad look sooooooo good! (There's also a rumor that he's gay. Just for the record, I don't care....look at the guy!!)

10. The BFF i could do nothing with and still have fun: This is the girl who has known me since i was a little kid. the one who sits with me when i blog, watches old movies with, and knows my whole life story. the one who is in my wedding and always gives me good advice:

Rachel McAdams: Well, I'm not Canadian, but I could visualize growing up with her. Rachel always comes across as totally down to earth. I wouldn't have her in my wedding though. It's not right for a bridesmaid to upstage the bride.

By the way, it's just a coincidence that 3 of my choices are from Star Trek. Can't help they did a great job with casting.

Fix-It Friday #50 <--woohoo!

2010-04-16T09:41:00.004-04:00

Let me just start off this Fix-It Friday (#50 by the way!) with this: I hate pretty people. There I said it. Especially when they're this pretty as a teenager. Someone tell this girl you're supposed to look awkward! Makes me sick.

Original:

1st edit: Just an overall improvement of the image. Nothing fancy. Just increased the saturation, adjusted the levels to brighten it up, did two types of sharpening filters, and finished up with a warming filter. Then I just cropped it at an angle.

2nd edit: Took what I had already done with the first edit and converted it to grayscale. I had to play with the exposure a little bit to bring back some of the medium tones.

3rd edit: Another digital painting. To learn the process for this edit, click here.

To see more Fix-it Friday edits or to do your own, head over to iheartfaces!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-14T09:19:00.005-04:00

Let's face it...I can't be wordless

Painting that I did of Jeremy a couple of years ago. And while I was taking this photo, this is what I had to deal with:

GIANT KITTY!!!!

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, click HERE!

Oh the creativity...

2010-04-13T09:36:00.006-04:00

The creativity bug is biting once again. This past weekend, the opening of a small farmer's market was held in Goldsboro. Out of sheer curiosity (and because my MIL told me they would be selling crafts there), I went to check it out. Not huge by any means. There were probably only about eight vendors, but the items they were selling were soooooo good! In addition to my SIL selling some plants from their greenhouse (and making about $120), there were people selling handwoven baskets, pottery, photography, dyed silk scarves, handmade jewelry, and lots of sewn bags. I was in a momentary state of euphoria. Not even sure what to use these for, but I just couldn't leave without buying them:

Now I just need to open up my brand new sewing machine (that I bought a year ago and never opened), and watch some youtube videos so I can figure out how to make some of the cute things I saw. I realize that my "goals" list is getting annoyingly long, but I'm hoping to finish up some paintings, crocheted items, and maybe some sewn crafts that I can sell here before the summer is over. Almost finished with my little blue stuffed animal:

Doesn't take nearly as long when I use a larger needle. Not a bad evening/weekend project that might actually recover some of the hundreds of dollars that I've spent on supplies.

In other news, (insert flashy headline and dramatic music here) Jeremy might be getting a new job. :) <----Happy face!!! It's a position with a company that installs granite counter tops. Not exactly what you might choose for a music major, but as long as it pays the bills and keeps Jeremy from stressing out about money, I'm all for it! We also might be getting new furniture. I use the term "new" loosely. For anyone who knows me well enough, you know that I ADORE old furniture. There's nothing like a piece that has history behind it and you can tell a story about. That being said, my grandparents are purchasing new furniture and getting rid of some that they've had forever. I'm not talking about the stuff that they purchased a several years ago, I'm talking about the covered rocking chair that is so iconic from my childhood. It's the one that was always reserved as my grandmother's place that sat next to my grandfather's recliner. It is seriously mind blowing to think that she might even consider giving it away. Especially since she had it reupholstered around the time I left for college and it really hasn't been used since. We're talking pristine condition here. Soooo if she does, I plan on taking it if for no other reason than to preserve that little part of my childhood from getting tossed out with the trash.

By the way, while visiting them yesterday, I snapped what might be one of the only photos in history of their living room without the deer heads and bobcat that has graced the walls for the past 40+ years. This phenomenon only happens when it's time to paint the room white and ONLY white (since my gma will never consider using color in the house. This probably explains my obsession with crazy colors in mine). It also happens to include the rocking chair I was referring to. Excuse the blurriness and enjoy :)

I'm a lucky girl...

2010-04-09T11:17:00.004-04:00

Normally my time is spent venting about various things that annoy me. Today's different though. Today, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all the wonderful aspects of my life...

Family. Biological and by marriage, my family (for the most part) is fantastic. Words can't express how thankful I am to have Jeremy in my life. Sure, he can be a jerk...a self-professed one, by the way...but he has a supportive and nurturing side that takes my breath away. His talent, hunger for knowledge, and discipline amaze me and make me incredibly jealous simultaneously. His willingness to let me have my way (most of the time) never ceases to surprise me. I'm forever in debt to his family who have been our safety net. Always willing to offer any type of help or support, they are our backbone. No one could ask for better in-laws. While my family situation is more complicated than that of Jeremy's, I'm thankful for everything it's taught me. The rest of my life will be spent in constant gratitude for the last conversation I had with my dad before he died. I only wish it had come sooner. But the people that really should be thanked are my mother and grandparents. Although I wasn't the easiest child in the world to contend with at times, they were always there for me and stood behind the decisions I made. And just ask Jeremy, it's no small task having to deal with me!

Home. As much as I like to complain about the issues of living in a 109 year old house, it's really quite wonderful. I love being able to mold and make it into something that is a reflection of me and makes us feel like we belong. It's much more than a lot of people have. In fact, it's more than I ever thought that I would have. While it's still a work in progress, it's slowly starting to feel more like home.

Opportunities. Everyone knows that this economy...well, sucks. We are extremely fortunate to have jobs that bring in at least enough money to get us by. We're not getting rich by any means, and our bank accounts have been a little heftier, but we're able to pay the bills and be content in the mean time. There are a few prospects on the horizon that hopefully will put us in a better situation, but for now, we're just thankful that we're not on welfare.

There's so many things missing from this list, but I could really go on for days: the sound of a purring cat on my lap, laughing every evening with friends, smell of clean laundry, being able to open the windows and let the spring breeze fill the house, crocheting something new, freshly painted walls, the lighting at dusk, 5:00 on the clock at work, curling up under a blanket with Jeremy while watching a movie, and my personal favorite...having nothing planned to do on a Saturday afternoon but sit at home with my hubby :) Makes me look forward to tomorrow.

It's all coming together...

2010-04-08T13:28:00.005-04:00

The list is dwindling down and yet there's still so much to do! Next on the agenda is clearing out the junk. Among the items that are getting sold: 2 paintings, foosball table, camera (getting a new one), Taylor guitar, hotdog cart, clothes, and a lot more! I'm not even sure why we keep some of this stuff around.

Whenever I sell these items, the money will just go to purchase more stuff to replace them. The front porch has been pretty bare ever since we moved in. I envision ferns, rocking chairs, and a cozy swing to make it like another room that we can go to in order to enjoy the beautiful (and sometimes non-existent) spring weather. Hopefully, I'll make this happen this year. Keep your fingers crossed. My penny pinching hubby will have to approve first. Thank goodness he's around because I would go in debt just to make my house look nice...lol. He keeps me in check.

Tonight is reserved for cleaning out the old office, working on art for the living room, and/or rearranging/cleaning the bedroom. After that.......time to RELAX!!!!

By the way, enjoy this little gem of a video I found about Glenn Beck. Absolutely worth watching...quite disturbing actually. Here it is.

Wordless Wednesday...ok, well TWO words!

2010-04-07T09:51:00.003-04:00

Before:

After:

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, click HERE!

Spring (cleaning) is upon us...

2010-04-06T09:49:00.004-04:00

Hope everyone had a nice LONG Easter break. Somehow, I spent most of mine cleaning and realizing that I have way too much junk. But before that, I did find the time to finish the bunny I was working on for my niece's birthday:

Not sure how well it will hold up (seeing how I'm not the world's best seamstress), but the end result is pretty close to what I had intended.

Back to the hellacious amount of work on what was meant to be my day off. It was long over due, so finally my hardwood floors were mopped and polished yesterday. I couldn't cover it up after all that hard work, so the large rug that went in front of the refrigerator is being tossed out and I plan on purchasing a smaller one to put in its place.

Some of the other little chores that were accomplished yesterday include: scrubing the sides of the house and back porch, mowing the lawn, laundry, cleaned appliances, washed cars, vacuumed, and prepared the bathroom to be painted. There's still so much left to be done though. I am seriously considering having a yard sale. There's no reason to keep all the artwork, clothes, rugs, etc. that I hate and know I don't really even want. An added plus is that if I sell them, there might be a little extra money to buy the stuff I really want to have. I do have the luxury today of going to pick out some new accessories for the house. The time has finally come to take down the laundry door and replace it with curtains. May sound cheesy to some of you, but the door that's there now is pretty, but polish a turd and it's still a turd. The bottom section where the hinges are is completely busted out and I would rather just take it down and make that area a little more accessible. In addition to the new curtains, a new paint color for the bathroom has to be picked out. Now I've gone through a long list of paint colors that I would love to have and I think this is the one:

The floors won't look nearly this good since there is a vintage basketweave black & white tile in there now, and I won't have that gorgeous sink, but I think this color will turn my little "hole in the wall" into a sootheing oasis. Ok, that might be a stretch...but at least it will look good! If the paint bug is still biting when the bathroom is finished, I might even paint the hallway, bedroom, and exercise room as well. Either way, wish me luck. There's a lot of work to do.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T12:40:00.006-04:00

Yes...I work at the Free Will Baptist Press and I don't have Good Friday off. No worries though. They gave us Monday instead and I would much rather sleep in on a Monday!

I'm gonna take one moment to vent this afternoon. While driving to work this morning, a dog starting to run across the street. Now, bear in mind that I'm in the left lane so I notice it first and immediately decelerate. The dog has almost completely crossed when this complete DOUCHE beside me speeds up and tries to hit this poor animal! Really, fool?! What could possibly be going so badly in your life that you intentionally try to injure a defenseless animal? I was livid. Luckily, the dog was unharmed, but still...my blood was boiling. So, as a public service, I took a picture of this poor excuse for a human-being's car to share with everyone. I suppose I really shouldn't expect anything classy from someone who writes "MUSTANG" on their back bumper with a Sharpie marker. Just surprised about how intentionally cruel some people can be. And yes, I did take this photo with my phone while driving....don't judge me. FYI, if I see this car in a parking lot, I'm keying it:

Fix-It Friday #49

2010-04-02T09:42:00.006-04:00

How disgustingly adorable is this photograph? Seriously...this makes me want to have children just so I can take photos of them looking this cute :)

edit 1

edit 2 (Black & white)

edit 3 (Digital Painting)

Oh the joy of a clean house...

2010-03-29T11:38:00.009-04:00

That rare, elusive creature was just within my grasp this past weekend, so I reached out, grabbed it, and held on for dear life. I know that in the next few days it will slip through my fingers though. It's such a simple pleasure to be able to open up the windows, breath in the aroma of clean laundry, and just be able to relax. (Bear in mind that I'm completely ignoring the part of my house that has been closed off since the beginning of winter. I'll get to it another time.) There's also nothing like starting the day with someone making you eggs, bacon, and grits <----can we say "yummmmm?"

I'm quite certain that my Sunday afternoon was much more enjoyable than Jeremy's. He spent several hours underneath our cars changing the oil and trying to fix some of the issues with mine. So, to reward his valiant efforts to make me happy, I made dinner along with a chocolate fudge cake (ignore the fact that I ate two pieces before he even saw it.) I'm becoming so domestic...lol, yeah right!

I almost forgot to mention Saturday. Not sure how much I actually helped, but I ATTEMPTED to help paint Kari and Jackie's new home. I think I actually made more work for them to do, but hey, it's the thought that counts. I even left them some abstract art in the form of a paint spill on the floor. You're welcome :)

As far as today goes, yuck. I'm all for rain as long as I can stay in bed and drift into sleep listening to it as it falls on my tin roof. Having to drive and walk around in it? No thank you. Now, before I starve to death, it's time to go have lunch (which just happens to include a certain chocolate fudge cake!)

Fix-it Friday! #48

2010-03-26T10:33:00.008-04:00

Wow, haven't done one of these since last year. Couldn't pass this one up though. I mean, how flippin' adorable is this little girl? So, for your viewing pleasure, here are two versions of the photo from this week's submission.

Original

Black on Black Duotone

Digital Painting

For instructions, refer to http://cornerofjo.blogspot.com/2009/06/fix-it-friday-18.html

The best part of doing these means that it's Friday!!! Head over to iheartfaces to do your own!

Hey Tonay! Wait...he's not italian

2010-03-25T11:01:00.006-04:00

Sister Hazel

To those of you who don't know, Sister Hazel is AWESOME! Last night's concert at Lincoln Theater in Raleigh was an absolute blast. It's a small, intimate venue with a capacity of about 550, and I'm sure it met that because the place was packed. We had a great spot to view the show since we were about 40 feet from the stage and were eye level with the band. The highlight was getting to meet them after the show though. All in all, a fantastic night :)

Jeremy and I

With the drummer, Mark Trojanowski

With the bass player, Jett Beres

With guitarist, Ryan Newell

With guitarist, Drew Copeland

Me, Jeremy, Katie, Stephen, Charles, and Kris

Time to vent...

2010-03-24T10:27:00.005-04:00

I'm buying a gun and a giant man-eating dog. Then I'm putting up a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot and/or eaten." That's right, people...someone stole some things out of my car. Looking at the big picture, I didn't lose a lot. It could have been much worse. All that was missing was my iPod nano and my make-up bag (but seriously, WHO steals someone else's make-up?) It's well over $300 worth of stuff, but they didn't do any damage and thank goodness I didn't leave anything more expensive in there. What really bothers me is losing my sense of security. My car was parked at the back of my house which is located a block away from a police station. Just for the record, my car door was unlocked and the reason I leave it unlocked is because I considered it a blessing to feel safe enough to do so. The thought of someone coming onto my property and rifling through my belongings still leaves me with mixed feelings of being angry and creeped out. So, I went to the store and bought more flood lights to put around the back of the house, locked the doors on the vehicles and double locked my garage. The neighbors have been notified and now anytime Molly (my neighbor's german shepherd) barks, I'm going outside with a baseball bat and a telephone. Consider yourselves warned, people! I swing first and ask questions later ;)

One of THOSE Mondays...

2010-03-22T09:30:00.008-04:00

As I sit here trying not to vomit at work, I think it's a good time to recap my weekend and do a new post.

Let me just start by saying that this weekend was incredible! It started off with going to Raleigh to see the Broadway South Series play "Little House on the Prairie." Very interesting hour long trip that included me sitting on the "hump" in the front seat. That's right, we crammed 6 women into a Buick Century because we thought that would make it more fun :) I love these ladies dearly, but next time I plan on driving separately in order to save my legs and rear end. We arrived at the auditorium a little early, so we enjoyed a nice glass of wine outside in the amazingly beautiful weather. Let it be known that I'm stoked at this point. We were all looking forward to seeing Melissa Gilbert star as "Ma" (seriously...how cool is that?) Anyway, we go inside and get seated. The play begins with some announcements beforehand. Apparently, one of the announcements was that Melissa Gilbert wouldn't be performing that day. Wh...Wha....WHAT?! Of course, her understudy looked so much like her (and since I didn't hear that particular announcement), I spent the first half of the play thinking that it was actually her. My eye sight isn't what it used to be and obviously half of the audience was in the same boat because everyone clapped when "Ma" entered the first scene. During intermission, my MIL informed us that, in fact, it wasn't Melissa Gilbert and at that point I declared that this play was dead to me.

Now...in retrospect, the play was fantastic. Definitely the best one I've ever seen. The way they used the lighting and props mesmerized me. Not to mention that the singing was just insanely good. BUT...and that's a big but...if you're charging $61 a ticket and billing the celebrity above the name of the play itself, they better be there! Seriously, I don't wish sickness on many people, but she had better be in the hotel puking her guts up, especially since I rode the "hump" between my SIL and my husband's aunt to go see her. Bear in mind that I didn't pay for my ticket myself, but my MIL had purchased these months ago and all of us had been anticipating seeing little "Laura" from the television show starring as "Ma". Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Damn you, Melissa Gilbert.

Sunday was wonderful as well. Really wish that the weather had been as nice as the previous day, but at least it wasn't raining. I even drove with the top down on the convertible for a while. Can't complain about that. I went to my grandparents' house for the first time in forever (on a Sunday at least) since my family always gets together for lunch. My grandmother is the best cook in the world. Don't argue with that, you won't win. So, I ate some chicken pastry, sat and talked for an hour or so, and then we turned the kitchen into a beauty parlor. There was 1 perm, 3 haircuts, 1 coloring, and 3 pairs of eyebrows plucked—and none of those were mine! After we finished playing salon, I went home, picked up Jeremy (who had gone to the grocery store while I was gone. LOVE that man), and we went to his sister's house for her husband John's birthday. Wasn't too terrible. I think they fear store bought items. Love them to death, but homemade hamburger buns don't work. Not to mention that Jeremy is easily annoyed by people and their weird philosophies. So after eating and hanging around the fire pit for a bit, we left and crashed at the house. All in all, a pretty good weekend I think.

I had said that I would be posting some photos of the items I crocheted, so here they are. I finished the phone cover I planned to do. This is just a test run for it. The actual one I do will be much cuter, I just need to buy the right yarn. I'm also including some hats and headbands that I crocheted for a friend's two daughters. Not bad for a first attempt, right?

Can't wait to work on some more projects. Really wished I could crochet faster. There's too much stuff I want to do! Maybe I'll be able to finish something else this week. Which reminds me...we're going to see Sister Hazel in concert this Wednesday! It should be a blast. Hopefully, they won't be like Melissa Gilbert and they'll actually show up :P

Procrastination is a SERIOUS disease...

2010-03-18T15:23:00.006-04:00

...and it happens to be just one of my many afflictions. I managed to procrastinate on a project so long that I left myself only two days to complete it when normally it would take at least a week. There's just so much to do. Oh well, it's finished and now I can BLOG!

Unfortunately, I don't have that much to blog about. Right now I'm in a race with Jeremy to see who can stay ahead on watching episodes of Heroes. (He passed me last night while I was asleep, which sucks because I was three episodes ahead and kept sneaking spoilers into our conversations.) Watching Heroes isn't ENTIRELY unproductive. While wasting my time sitting in front of ye olde boob tube, I've been crocheting a phone cover for my phone. Sounds lame, but I think it will end up being pretty cute :) I'll post some photos of the finished product. I'm also back sleeping beside Jeremy again now that the poopy plague is gone and the bedding has been washed. It was nice to not have anyone steal the covers though. ;) I'll miss that. Anyway, that's all for now. Later!

P.S. Forgot to mention that this weekend I will be going to Raleigh to see a production of Little House on the Prairie starring one Ms. Melissa Gilbert. Go ahead, be jealous. Thanks to my awesome MIL for buying tickets :)

Beware the Ides of March

2010-03-15T11:50:00.003-04:00

Always good advice. Especially when it falls on a Monday.

Well, I'm trying to keep up with my goals for the summer. I'm still being indecisive about the paint color for the bathroom. I've already gone a little crazy with the colors in my house. I'm not saying that I don't love my previous choices, but I'm definitely considering keeping some rooms a little more toned down. Purple and steel blue are both heavy contenders though.

With the recent (and oh so welcome) weather changes that have been happening lately, I feel my creative side start to awaken from its deep slumber. There's so much I want to do now. I've added crocheting a rug to my list. Yes, you read that correctly...crochet a rug. I've looked online at some patterns and I'm seriously considering it. I'll start with one for the bathroom (if I ever decide on a paint color) and then we'll see where it goes from there. Also, I would LOVE to paint some new art work for the living room. I have a panel design in mind using curtain fabric or something abstract I painted. The hardest part of the entire process is finding the time do it. Hopefully, the end result would be a home that reflects more of my style rather than just being a collection of pieces pulled together over the years that really don't mean anything. (Side note: While typing this, I just remembered something that needs to go on the list—sanding and staining my coffee and tv table. to match. Probably wouldn't hurt to do the sofa table as well.) There's too much to do...ugh.

Like I said, the weather is slowly (and I mean sllllooowwwwwlllllyy) been warming up. I absolutely cannot wait to be able to open the window and enjoy a nice breeze through the house. A good barbeque would be wonderful as well. And even though it's Monday (yuck), it's the first day since fall that I'll get home and have more than 15 minutes of daylight left. It's little blessings like those that make me happy :)

New Bathroom colors

2010-03-13T16:15:00.005-05:00

In desperate need of ideas for paint colors for my bathroom. I would really love to finish it up this weekend. It's only the top half of the wall, so it shouldn't take too long. I just have to settle on a color scheme. I'm torn between 3 colors:

I'm so incredibly indecisive at this point that I might just close my eyes and point to one in order to choose. I'll post some pics of the finished product either way.

1st of 2010!

2010-03-10T16:19:00.004-05:00

Yes, I am well aware that I said I was going to blog more and have failed to do so. I'm setting a new goal for myself (well, a couple actually). I'm going to make the effort to blog everyday. It's asking a lot from a person like me, but I'm going to try. One thing that is going to make this goal even more challenging is the list of things I want to accomplish this summer. I'm beginning to realize that I'm lazier than I would like to admit so 2010 is going to be my year of change. Some of those changes are: planting a garden, painting the bathroom, losing 10 lbs., maybe ripping up the carpet in the bedroom, paint new artwork for the living room, take more photos, learn how to sew on the brand new sewing machine I've never opened, and HAVE FUN! Not that I don't have fun now, but I really don't feel like I'm making the most out of my time and enjoying myself in the process. Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to track my progress if I actually do blog everyday ;) But enough of my rambling for now. I'll leave you with something I'm pretty proud of. It's the blanket I crocheted for my mom for her birthday. Later, folks!

Let's try this again!

2009-10-21T10:44:00.005-04:00

I know, I know....Summer was incredibly hectic so I didn't actually write like I said I would. OOPS! I'll have a little more free time coming up soon so I hopefully will have a chance to post more. Just a couple of updates: We're thinking about moving. There...I said it. I really miss living in the city, so if we actually decide to sell our house, hopefully we'll be moving into a new apartment complex in Goldsboro (it's SOOOOO nice). I've also joined a roller derby team. Shocked? Yeah, me too. But it's so much fun. I haven't gone out there and knocked anyone around yet, but the time is coming! I highly recommend it to anyone who's ever thought about trying it. By the way, I've been trying to come up with a derby name and I think I've decided on "The Ginger Revenger." Kind of catchy I think. I'll have to make sure to get some photos from practice to share with you guys.

This isn't going to be a very long post, but I did want to share some of my recent work with you all. Here's a photo restoration I did yesterday. To see more photos, you can go to http://jophoto_design.carbonmade.com

Apparently I took a break

2009-08-08T15:03:00.002-04:00

Despite all the evidence that points to the contrary, I did not fall off the face of the earth. It's been an incredibly busy summer and I just haven't been able to find time to sit down and type about it. Just to give you a run down of what we've been up to:

1---Jeremy quit his job and is going back to teaching music...WOOHOO!

2---Rearranging rooms in the house and doing some redecorating. It's turning out really well...at least I think so. There's no longer a dining room table in the dining room. Since it had gone unused for a year and a half, I figured that we probably weren't going to be using it any time soon. Sooooo, it's been transformed into my new office/art studio. LOVE IT! Can't wait to post photos. It's really getting a lot more use now. Jeremy was supposed to be turning the old office into his personal music studio, but he won't get out of MY office, so little has been done in his. Also got some new accessories for the living room, which it desperately needed.

3---I've been working on some paintings. My latest (and one of the best) is a pop art style Michael Jackson painting. I was a HUGE fan and I thought that my art studio would look more "artsy" with some actual art in it. Photos of it are coming soon as well. My next project is an Elvis painting, but I've got to find a photo of him that suits the room.

4---Since Jeremy has been playing "stay at home hubby" for a bit, my yard has gotten some much needed maintenance. It was looking pretty bad. Now we just need some plants for the porch and we'll be done! (with the front yard at least)

Anyway, like I said, there's a ton of things that I really need to post. I'll really make an effort to do so in the near future. I've been kind of Blogger deprived for a while. Looking forward to catching up :)

Fix-It Friday #18

2009-06-26T11:58:00.006-04:00

Yet another edition of Fix-It Friday :) I love doing these, because it means the weekend is here! WOOOOHOOOO!!!! I have to shoot a wedding tomorrow, but hey....it's still the weekend! Anyway, onto the edits:

ORIGINAL

SEPIA

This first one is just a simple sepia. For those of you who don't know, I'm not a big fan of actions. Kind of like cheating to me, but to each his own. Personally, they're just not for me. I'm going to try to do little better with details of process.

1. Opened in Photoshop CS 3 and cropped

2. Changed the mode to Grayscale.

3. Did a levels adjustment to bring up the contrast without blowing out the whites of the image.

4. Used the patch tool to smooth out his skin

5. Used the paint brush (white) with a setting of 5% to brighten the eyes.

6. Increased the paintbrush size and created highlights on the tip of the nose, on the lips, cheeks, and chin.

7. Used the unsharp mask to...well, sharpen

8. Did another unsharp mask with numbers set at 15, 85, and 3 to clarify the image.

9. Did a sepia photo filter and bumped up the intensity. (by the way, you have to change the mode to RGB or CMYK to access the photo filters)

10. Added a inner shadow to focus the image on the face.

DIGITAL PAINTING

I know I said I was going to do a tutorial on digital paintings....but I've been busy (lazy). I still plan on doing a much more in depth one, but I will improve a little bit now.

1. Open image and crop

2. Increase saturation slightly

3. Surface Blur (not too much, preserve detail)

4. Use the smudge tool to soften the lines and details of the photo, especially in the background and edges.

5. Use the paintbrush tool (white) with a setting of 5% to create highlights over the entire image. A good background in art helps here. Focus on where the light naturally hits or where the cloth would be a little more worn such as the edges of the coat, the bridge and tip of the nose, lips, the rim of the hat, etc.

6. Select some of the colors from the image to highlight those areas. For instance, use the eyedropper to pull color from his eyes, make the color more intense, and then at it subtly to make the eyes pop.

7. Do the clarifying unsharp mask from the previous picture.

8. Use the Texturizer from the filter menu to add a canvas like look to the image. Looks a little grainy on screen but prints great.

BLACK & WHITE

Did I mention I was lazy? All I did for this one was take the digital painting before I added the texture and change the mode to grayscale. Then I just adjusted the levels to add contrast. Simple enough.

Have a great weekend everyone and be safe! RIP Ed McMahon, Farrrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.

I'm feeling creative

2009-06-24T13:53:00.003-04:00

Ok, I feel pretty creative on a regular basis. It would be pretty bad if I wasn't considering I'm a graphic designer. However, I'm looking for a completely different kind of creative outlet. Jealous cannot begin to describe my feelings toward people who have a talent for sewing and creating things with fabric.

My sewing skills are basic (at best!). I've made ATTEMPTS at sewing. A few years ago, I made little handbags, but you'll never see them because I'm embarrassed by the end result. Overcoming my past failures, I'm hoping to make another attempt to break into the sewing world. I've already bought fabric from eBay (basically because all the fabric stores around here are terrible). Then I realized, I'm going to need a sewing machine. I plan on making that purchase this week.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with all this fabric. I know I want to make some camera straps, (thanks to the tutorial demonstration found here) but I'm not sure what to do with the rest. I'm open to suggestions. Here are the photos of the 16 different types of fabrics (warning, envy might ensue):

Yeah, I'm in love with these Amy Butler fabrics...and I haven't even gotten them in the mail yet. I'm sure I'll be buying many MANY more. In fact, I'm checking eBay at this very moment. Now, I just need to find time to do all this creative stuff :/

"Pepper: Spice up your camera" Giveaway!

2009-06-24T13:33:00.004-04:00

love Love LOVE these camera straps. Lori Nordstrom's company is giving away a free camera strap. Seriously, go check them out at this site. If you're disappointed, there's something wrong with you. Sorry, it had to be said.

Click the iHeartFaces site to enter the giveaway.

My House

2009-06-22T12:45:00.007-04:00

Ok, I'm posting these basically because I wanted to show everyone the "before" photos before I start making some major and minor changes to parts of my house. There's some rooms that have already been done and some will be finished in the VERY distant future. I just took photos from the "right wing" of the house. I guess I didn't feel like cleaning the left wing on the day these photos were taken. Some of the ones I've included for today are: the dining room I never use, the yard that will soon be a lush garden, my favorite room (kitchen), and the living room that needs an accessories overhaul. Keep in mind that my house is 108 years old. I think she carries it pretty well. Anyway, enjoy :)

Albums, Albums everywhere...

2009-06-05T16:11:00.004-04:00

Nothing much to talk about, just wanted to share some pages from the latest wedding album I designed. One down, 3 to go!

Fix-It Friday :)

2009-06-05T09:37:00.006-04:00

Time again for my new weekly addiction, Fix-it Friday! Since last week was my first time doing this, I decided that this week, I would do a few more edits. And because I forgot to mention last week, I use Photoshop CS3 and a bamboo graphic tablet. Here's the original:Don't know where they find these cuties, but I just love his cheeky grin. This original photo is pretty dark, so I did a levels adjustment to brighten it up overall, but I didn't want to lose too many of those dark tones. There's also not a lot of color, so I did a hue/saturation layer to bring up the cyans and some of the yellows and magentas.....I just realized how long this whole explanation is going to be....ugh. ANYWAY, here's the first edit. Just a basic "fix".
On this second one, I wanted to make it a little more dramatic. So, I turned it into a black and white image, sharpened it (b/c I don't like blurry b&ws), and did a levels adjustment to bring out some contrast. What I didn't mention before is that I went in with the paint brush to put in some highlights. Since it's so dark, there's not a lot of depth in the photo. I used white on the PB set to about 5% and painted some white highlights on his lips, cheeks, eyes, nose, etc...just to give the illusion of some natural light. Then I cropped it with a little rotation.Finally, I did another digital painting. I think I might try to do one of these every week. I know it looks similar to the first one, but I used the smudge tool along with a ton of other tricks to give it a oil-painting effect. Instead of explaining everything here, I might just do a tutorial in another post later if anyone actually wants to learn this whole process.

Soooo, those are my edits for this week. Be sure to head over to iheartfaces.com to learn lots of other tricks and see everyone's great submissions for this week. :)

What do you mean you don't see it?!

2009-06-02T15:50:00.009-04:00

For those of you who don't know, I have a cat with an unusual name. Actually, both of my cats have unusual names, but we'll get to that at a later date. Back to the topic at hand....when I got this particular kitty, I knew I wanted a white cat. I know, I know...seems kind of snobby to search for an animal based on looks, but I previously had 2 black dogs and a white couch...I NEEDED a white cat. After endless searching, I found this kitty who was in a cage all by himself at a pet store (don't judge, I tried contacting the animal shelters and they SUCK at returning calls especially when they don't have a physical location). Anyway, there were other kittens there, but he was still all by himself, and me being a sucker, I couldn't just leave him all alone. He just happened to be a white kitten. Well, not ALL white, but mostly. He has a long black tail, three black spots on his back, and his black "hair-do" on top. He was the ugliest kitten you've ever seen. He's grown to be a gorgeous cat, but he was just stringy and ugly as a kitten. I'll have to find his kitten photos so I can prove my point even better. That's right, there's a point to all of this.

Now, he may have been ugly and alone, but he is a total sweetheart! I fell in love immediately and I named him Brody. I brought him home to the apartment where we lived at the time. My husband hates all animals but since I insist on having them, he plays with them. My neighbors at the time had just gotten two kittens as well, so we were all together to meet the new additions. Here's how I remember things: I was lying on the floor playing with little Brody and all of a sudden it hit me....my new little bundle of joy looks like Hitler. And that was all it took. My carefully selected name of Brody was out the window and Hitler was here to stay. My husband says HE first said that he looked like Hitler, but he's a man and as we all know, men can't remember anything.

So, here we are now. I've been doomed to a life of having to announce at the vet's office that HITLER is here for his checkup. This usually leads to chuckles from other patrons in the waiting room. There was even one person who came to our house to take a guitar lesson from my husband who upon seeing our cat, but not knowing his name, said, "Hey, this may sound weird, but your cat looks like Hitler." Even so, there are people who don't see it. WHAT? I think he looks so much like Adolf that I'm afraid if I don't keep an eye on him, he might try to invade Poland. So, for those of you who still "can't see it"....here you go:

Week 21 Photo Challenge-Pets

2009-06-01T07:55:00.005-04:00

FINALLY! A category that gives me a billion photos to choose from! I don't have kids, so of course I shoot pics of my other little babies. This is a photo that took of Topher when he was still a wee little pup. He was sitting on my porch just watching everything go by. He is such a sweetie. I love this one because it was before his left ear had decided it was going to stand up and all day it kept flopping over. It's also one of the few pics of him being still! Anyway, I had a hard time choosing to use this one or one of him as an adult...he's just so handsome :)

"Be sure to head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!"

Fix-It Friday

2009-05-29T10:30:00.002-04:00

Ok, here's my first Fix-It Friday entry. I couldn't decide what to do so I just ended up turning it into a digital painting. It was a little bit more difficult because I don't have my graphic tablet with me today, but I still like the end result. This little girl is so cute, I don't think you could mess up a picture of her :)

Before

After

I'd love to explain what I did in order, but I honestly can't remember. Sometimes I just go through the motions. Here's what I DO remember doing: Hue/Saturation layer overall, Surface Blur, used the Paint Brush to create some highlights, then a UnSharp Mask with the radius set high and the Amount set around 5% to bring out some of the contrast. I know I'm forgetting something.......hmmm.......oh well. Thanks to the ladies at iHeartFaces for this fun little project.

Love this guy!

2009-05-28T12:03:00.000-04:00

I can't even begin to describe to you how much I adore this little guy :) For those of you who don't know, this is my little brother, Derek. I just wanted to share with you a quick shot I got of him as he was leaving to go to his baseball game. He could be the most handsome boy ever :) And of course I'm not biased!

My new favorite face

2009-05-22T22:14:00.000-04:00

Prepare to be bombarded with cuteness. I only took about 450 photos of Audrey and Charlotte and this is what I finished in the past hour and a half. Wish I had a few of these a couple of days ago. I could have entered one of these into iHeartFaces's contest :)

I'll be posting better version of these and many more from the day here at my portfolio site.

My little model

2009-05-21T09:49:00.000-04:00

I'll make this really quick, but I just wanted to share with you the first of a long line of photos that is soon to come now that I have the new flash. I wanted to get some practice with it, so I recruited the little princess, Anderson, to assist me. Turns how she's not a big fan of the flash, but I feel I accurately captured her personality in the very first photo I took of her as she was sitting in my kitchen. It's not great by any means, but it amuses me quite a bit. Here it is:

The colors are much more vibrant on my comp, but I crack up when I see this because I can just tell how disgusted she is with the whole situation. She seems to be saying "I hate you so much right now" Maybe not...but it wouldn't surprise me. Andie is definitely Jeremy's kitty, whether he likes to admit it or not. I'd also like to point out that she doesn't even look like the same cat if you compare this photo to the one of her on the right. What happened?

Gotta love new toys

2009-05-20T18:57:00.001-04:00

I'm absolutely thrilled because my flash arrived earlier than I expected. Love, love, love it! The only bad thing about it is that it's about the same size as my camera! It makes holding the camera a little more awkward, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Get ready for a ton of new pics now that I'm completely equipped. Did I mention I love this thing? So excited! (I'm such a nerd. Shut up, Kari).

And I definitely have to mention this. I guess I don't really HAVE to, but I found it a little amusing. This morning on the way to work, I somehow ended up in a road rage sandwich. One of my biggest pet peeves are me-monsters who don't pay attention to the people around them, especially when they're navigating 4000+ lb vehicle. These two cars decided that they would ride at the exact same speed down the highway side by side. That annoys me already, but even more so is that the speed they decided to go was 50 mph. Ugh, just ugh. I'm not really sure where these people were going, but I have a 45 minute commute and I'd really rather not stretch it out any further than it needs to be. So, I'm riding behind this huge GMC SUV and this lady is obviously oblivious to the amount of traffic accumalating behind her. Directly behind me is a very impatient 18-wheeler. How do I know he was impatient, you ask? Well, he was about 12 feet (that's right, I measured) behind my bumper, and he begins to honk his horn. Not once, but several times. Does this phaze our me-monster GMC driver? Of course not because she's still ridin' that left lane like she's the only one there. So after about 10-15 minutes of this fun little escapade, the 18-wheeler is able to move over and pass in the right lane. And of course these two procede to exhibit their class by making obscene gestures and yelling at each other through open windows. Then he takes the high road and almost clips the front of her car as he cuts her off. Now...while I was slightly annoyed about the whole situation, I really couldn't be too mad because this whole scene was so amusing. But I couldn't help but think after it was all over that I should be the one getting pissed off. I mean, I'm stuck behind a retarded driver with tunnel vision and a tailgating big rig. Unlike these two, I really can't see myself flipping off another driver though. However, if they had caused me to wreck, you better believe both of them would feel the wrath of my red-headed temper.

And finally, here's my confession of the day: I'm a moron. Ok, it's a confession, not necessarily a surprise. While typing this blog in Safari, I "somehow" deleted the search bar. Yeah....i know. I didn't even know you could do that. The problem is that I can't get it to come back...lol. It's so sad. I had to resort to using FireFox because I can't type in a web address in Safari. I'm so stupid—Why, if I were lying face down on the floor, I wouldn't have sense enough to turn my head to breathe. (<----Bonus points if you knew where I got that from).

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm going to go get some dinner and prepare to watch Pitchmen tonight. I don't even know why I like this show.

Audible.com

2009-05-19T16:34:00.000-04:00

Don't know about you guys, but I'm a huge fan of audio books. Like I've stated in previous posts, I have recently become addicted to podcasts. While listening to one of my favorites (Stuff You Should Know), they mentioned one of their sponsors—Audible.com. And since I am such a fan, I thought I would pass this cool deal onto you. If you go to this site, you can sign up to receive a free audio download. They have a ton of stuff from famous speeches, stand-up comedy, and of course books to choose from. I'm still trying to decide what I will spend my free credit on, but I'm leaning towards Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about his personal account of an expedition on Everest that occurs during the deadliest season in the mountain's history. In case you didn't know, I have a crazy notion that one day I will climb Mt. Everest. Hahahaha...probably not going to happen, but I can dream, right? Anyway, go sign up and enjoy an audio download. Until we blog again....

iHeartFaces Blurb photo contest

2009-05-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know I have a ton to learn when it comes to photography, but this looks like a fun little contest, so why not enter? I hope Kari doesn't mind, but I've always loved this photo of Charlotte. She's just such a pretty little girl. So, here's my entry:

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

It is so Monday...

2009-05-18T15:56:00.000-04:00

I think that if I was somehow closed off from the rest of society and had no means by which to tell time or dates, I would still physiologically be able to recognize when it was Monday. Is there anyone who actually likes Mondays? If so, you're weird. Sorry, it has to be said. Go seek some counseling. Monday's are horrific. I've been staring at the clock for the past three hours, but it seems like it's been 12. Today probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if I had something to do. Things are so bad that I actually thought proofreading would help pass the time. Now I don't even have that to do. Now that you understand my dilemma, don't judge me for blogging at work. Haha!

So, last night I was making every attempt possible to become a criminal. Well, sort of. I was "technically" making back up copies of movies that I own, just to figure out the process. I was almost successful too! To pull a line from the first Pirates movie, I could quite possibly be the worst pirate someone's ever seen. For some reason it skipped over the last chapter of the movie that I was copying and it went straight to the credits. But being the technical nerd that I am (or at least some people think me to be), I have no doubt that I will perfect the process in the next couple of days, hopefully without having to purchase any additional software.

Speaking of purchases that I really don't really want to make, I finally broke down and bought a new flash for my camera. In case I forgot to post about it previously, the built-in flash got destroyed when I knocked my tripod over with my camera mounted on top of it. I almost cried....seriously. I've been making due without a flash for a while now, but I have a couple of things coming up in the future that make this purchase necessary. So, here it is:

Nothing fancy...well, except for the price. This little thing cost $469. Eventually it will pay for itself, but right now that price hurts a little bit; mostly because I start thinking about how many new items of clothing I could buy with that $469. Jeremy was really funny when I was asking about whether or not I should spend that much on a new flash. He just replied with, "I have no idea what you're talking about, so just buy it if you need it. Just don't ask me because the moment you start talking about megabytes or pixels, I zone out."

Now I'm going to shoot off in a completely different direction. I have a little brother named Derek.

Cutie, right? One thing I like to do with Derek is take him to different places that he might not otherwise get to go to. For instance, I took him to see the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls when it came to Raleigh. We don't always get the chance to take a "bigger" trip like that though. But he loves to just be out somewhere with me, so I decided to take him to Greenville to do some shopping. We ended up just going to the mall because the weather was terrible. Unfortunately for him, the game room has closed down. That's the only thing he was really interested in doing. He's a sweetheart though and was content with just walking around with me while I did some shopping. While I was trying on clothes, he "pointed out" that I might not be as fit as I once was. I was wearing a tank top, which I thought looked pretty good, but apparently this is what he saw:

So, for those of you wondering what I'll be doing later, you can find me on the bowflex or the treadmill.

A Quick Recap...

2009-05-12T19:33:00.000-04:00

Ok, been incredibly busy for the past week. Obviously, since I'm just now getting around to posting a blog. Anyway, just wanted to catch up with everything that's been going on:

HENNA PARTY

Alright, I know I stole Kari's photos, but let's face it, it was hard enough to do the henna. There's no way I would have been able to photograph myself drawing it. Just to summarize, Kari called one day and asked if I would be willing to come over that night and draw a henna design on her sister's (Lisa) very pregnant belly. I've never drawn with henna before, so I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out. The whole thing was a comedy of errors. For the complete synopsis, check out Kari's blog. But for all those out there who are interested in trying this, here's some important advice: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Why do I hold a pen that way? I'll have to remedy that, it looks stupid.

BBQ FESTIVAL

This wasn't a comedy, this was a tragedy. Poor, sweet Topher just isn't ready to be completely surrounded by loud noises, big animals, and LOTS of people. He was doing exceptionally well at the beginning of the day. It wasn't until we got to the center of the festival that he started to flip out. I mean REALLY flip out. We passed one of the rides that started to make a really obnoxious noise that was similar to gun fire. Apparently Topher isn't a fan of the loud noises so I led him away from the area hoping to calm him down. Unfortunately, this was at the exact moment that they decided to start yelling something over the PA system. We ended up underneath a table where Topher decided that he was going to stay for the rest of the day. Since there was absolutely no chance of getting him to walk on the leash, I picked him up and carried him out of the festival. Kind of amusing since he's not exactly a lap dog. I learned my lesson though. It will be a while before we venture out on this sort of expedition again....unless we bring his harness.

NEW JOB

I don't have any intention of boring you with all the details, but I just wanted to say that I'm pretty happy with my new job. I think everyone should get a tremendous laugh from the thought of me being a proof reader. Luckily, I'm only one of three editorial assistants. My background in design might be my saving grace. We'll find out tomorrow when I hand in my design project.

FAMILY GAME NIGHT

For those of you who don't know, one of our gifts to Jeremy's mother including the promise to devote one night a month to a family gathering. I'm not sure what Jeremy's opinion is on the subject, but I'll admit that it is something that I look forward to each time. This past weekend, we tried to incorporate some outdoor activities. One of these included badminton. This isn't your grandma's badminton though. Although we didn't keep any official score, we still played pretty intensely. Jeremy's dad, Dave, tried to take me out of the game a couple of times. And he was on MY team! All in all, it was a fun night and we always have a good time.

BOWFLEX

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Jeremy had purchased a bowflex for his birthday. I LOVE IT! At the risk of sounding like a commercial, it is so easy to use! Once you figure out how to switch from one position to the next, you can easily fit in a full body workout in 30 minutes. It won't completely replace my tai chi or yoga sessions though (insert Kari laugh here).

I think that explosion of useless information will suffice for today. Later all!

-Jewel

WAAAaayyyy behind

2009-05-09T15:16:00.000-04:00

Ok, lots going on lately. I've kind of fallen behind in my blogging (like someone else I know). So look for the upcoming blogs about: Family game night, Topher at the festival, the new job, henna party, and anything else I can think of. Unfortunately, can't write about any of those in detail right now because I have to finish cleaning my house and preparing for the first of those things in the list. Now I just need Jeremy to get home from the grocery store so I can start cooking. Later All! Happy Mother's Day :)

Plight of the 107 Year Old House

2009-04-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

That's right! Once again, I'm having issues with my house. But what can you expect with a building that's been through 2 millennia? Last Saturday night/Sunday morning, the electricity magically went out in my office. So today I got an electrician to come in and fix it only to find out that I could have fixed it myself by pushing a button on an outlet in another room. Man, I'm a retard. I was really upset that I couldn't use the computer, so no blogging. I mean, if you want to get technical, I could have used my phone, but I really would rather not type a whole blog using my phone. But that's not all. My air conditioning doesn't work.....ugh. So I'm just in a miserable mood. The electrician that I called was a super nice guy though. He figured out the issue with the circuits inside, checked on the air conditioner outside, and when he couldn't fix it, he called a heating/air guy for me. Hopefully the air will be fixed tomorrow and all will be fantastic.

In other news, I start my new job on Monday! We'll see how things go, but I'm excited. Not exactly sure what my duties will be. A lot of proofreading (hilarious, right?) and some design. What this really means is that I'm one step closer to moving to Greenville. Probably won't move until next year, but it's being discussed. Anyway, time for work....so, later :)

A sea of coins

2009-04-24T14:03:00.000-04:00

Ok, this might be the most boring confession ever, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I was struck yesterday with some sort of desire to count the change that Jeremy and I have been saving. We haven't done as well as we have in the past. Years ago, I heard a story about a man who saved pennies. Anytime he found a penny on the street or got any as change, he would take it and deposit it into one of the many buckets of pennies he had collected in his garage. When he finally got around to counting them all, he had accumulated over $10,000. Not too shabby, huh? Well, after hearing this, I thought, why don't we just buy a water jug and empty our pocket change into it every evening. It took us six months (I think) to acquire $300.00. The cool thing about this is that you don't even think about it.

Anyway, back to the story at hand. I decided to dump out our water jug and count the contents last night while watching Dirty Jobs. By the way, handling money is a dirty job! My hands were black at the end of the night. We sat down and sorted through all the loose change and organized it into neat little piles. I would say the entire process took 3 hours. The result? $198.00 dollars. Unfortunately, after finishing, I realized we are out of coin wrappers. So it's still sitting in my floor. Looks kind of like this:

Not sure what we are going to do with it. Probably keep saving until we have enough to put towards a vacation. I also should mention that at least $25.00 of that came out of my wallet and door in my car. Maybe I'll get better gas mileage with all that weight gone now.

Audrey Christine

2009-04-23T11:14:00.000-04:00

Just thought I would torture Kari with a few pics of Audrey that she hasn't seen yet. Much more to come ;)

You can't even tell she was extremely unhappy that day, haha :)

Falling Behind

2009-04-22T21:14:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm really tired of working double shifts at work. It's for a good cause, however. The girl I work with is dealing with her husband being deployed, so I understand. BUT, I'm still getting tired of it. One of the main reasons is that I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do at home. The main thing being CLEAN! I'm having to prioritize things. For instance, my kitchen is clean, but there's a pile of clothes that have been washed and I still haven't hung them up. I'm sure there are people who disagree with me, but I feel like it is much more important to go outside to exercise and socialize with Topher rather than hang up a pair of jeans. I'll be so glad when it's over in a couple of weeks.

There's also something I kind of want to vent about. I'm so angry with my husband's employer. Jeremy is an extremely dedicated worker and I think that he gets taken advantage of sometimes because of this. He had an opportunity recently to take a different position in the company that would include a higher salary and switching to a daytime work shift. His supervisor wanted to keep him on nights though, so he told him that if he stayed where he is, he would get a raise and they would create a "leadership" position for him. In order for any of this to take place, they needed to find someone to take over his current job first. The BIGGEST problem with this is that they're not advertising for his spot. Not only that, but after being told that he would definitely get a pay raise, they told him that probably wasn't going to happen. So, basically what is left when you combine all these elements is one irritable Jeremy. One thing that really bothers him is that his supervisor is a friend and now Jeremy feels like he's been lied to. Now, my husband is extremely non-confrontational. However, I'm not. I have a feeling that my red-headed temper might flare up should I come in contact with this particular person in the near future. I still like this guy on a personal level, but I get so frustrated seeing Jeremy work so hard and still get the shaft. Hopefully, he will find something that suits him and makes him content soon so he doesn't come home at 11:00 each night having had a terrible day. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Feelin' Good

2009-04-21T13:17:00.000-04:00

Not only is that a great song by Michael Bublé, but it aptly describes my mood today. As stated earlier, I had a job interview this morning and things went pretty well. I think so, anyway. I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully things will work out with this position. If all of the stars aline, Jeremy and I might be moving to Greenville in the future. Woohoo! We've been discussing moving out of La Grange for a while and I think we would love living in Greenville (can you say "shopping!"). But I'm getting ahead of myself. All I can do now is pray and hope for the best :)

On a completely different and random note, thought I would share two of my new loves: Flight of the Conchords and podcasts. That's right, world! I'm finally catching up. Now, bear in mind that I've had access to both of these for quite some time now. The credit for both of these should really go to my iPhone (oh, how I love thee). So, I just have some recommendations for some great entertainment and learning possibilities. Just go to YouTube and type in Flight of the Conchords. Any of the videos are hilarious. As for podcasts, my favs have to be "Stuff You Didn't Know" and "Stuff You Missed in History Class." The second one is a little hard to get used to for me because I hate their voices, but the information is fantastic. So, do yourself a favor and look these up. You can thank me later ;)

Most handsome pup ever!

2009-04-20T17:52:00.001-04:00

Ok, I know I already did a post for today, but I just couldn't wait to put these up. Sorry, sometimes I can't restrain myself when it comes to my handsome boy :)

Love my little Toph :)

Just so cute :)

He just loves his frisbee :) He's learning pretty quickly.

I feel like he's saying, "Seriously, you have enough pictures. Back to frisbee."

My new addiction

2009-04-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

No, it's not drugs, gambling, or alcohol...it's crocheting. That's right, I said crocheting. I have to admit I love it. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's a new talent, but I have fun doing it and it's interesting trying to actually create something. On that note, I'd thought I would share my first "real" creation. I've been slowly working on this for a couple months. It was originally supposed to be completed by April 4th in time for my niece's christening, but I'm a little slow. Anyway, it's finished and I'm surprisingly proud of it. Here's the finished product:

Not too shabby for a first attempt, in my opinion. On another note, I'm in a great mood today. Today, I booked another wedding (which is awesome!) and I have a job interview scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully things will work out! I'll give ya an update later :)

Musings from Jeremy's Birthday Weekend

2009-04-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to share the happenings of this past weekend. Jeremy's 29th birthday was yesterday and bless his heart, he had to work...again...lol. Not too long though. He did take off Thursday to celebrate however, which was wonderful. In between my shifts at work, I took him out to eat at El Norteno (LOVE LOVE LOVE El Nor!) and we did a little shopping. It was soooo nice to be out and about during the day with him. It was even better to see him get some time to himself. We both bought some video games (to feed our inner 12 year olds) and he bought some new jeans (which I picked out, they look great on him). His big birthday present to himself that he's been saving up for is a new Bowflex:

You have no idea how excited this boy is over this thing

You too can own this lovely piece of machinery for the low low price of $1398.00. We have a budget set up where we each get a certain amount of money to spend on whatever we want each week and this is what he put his stash towards. And even though I've got my free membership to a gym, I'll probably end up using this thing more.

Saturday, I finished up my marathon week at work and then did a little shopping for the hubby's b-day. I should note, men are impossible to shop for. I'm making a new rule that Jeremy has to compile a list of everything he could possibly want in every price bracket just so I have a reference point. I knew he wanted to get some new cookware though. We really want to get away from using Teflon so we're switching everything to either stainless steel or cast iron. This stuff is so expensive though. Soooooo, I went to one of my fav stores, TJ Maxx and did a little shopping:

This was my first purchase for him. It's a Wolfgang Puck brand chicken fryer. I think it was $24.99, but it normally retails for around $35.00 I think, so not too shabby ;)

I'm a little more proud of this one. Ignore the Partridges watermark on the front...lol. It's a Kuhn Rikon Switzerland casserole with lid. It's only a 1.5 quart pot, but the cheapest price I found online when looking for a pic was $85.00! But I got it for $14.99! Woohoo! Thanks TJ Maxx!

Also, for the past several months, we've been purchasing Propel fitness water packets. They are SO good! And the great thing about them is that they make you drink more water. Well, we've just been reusing water bottles that we had already. That was fine until someone had to go and tell me that these bottles eventually start breaking down and releasing plastic residue in your water. I'm no scientist, but it *seems* like drinking plastic residue wouldn't be good for you. Therefore, I also bought this:

It's a stainless steel water bottle. They're reuseable, eco-friendly, and won't slowly kill you with plastic. Not bad, I think. I highly recommend buying one of this if you use a lot of water bottles. They come in a bunch of different colors. I got the blue one for Jeremy and the red for myself. Absolutely love it already! Can't use it with hot liquids, so it's not for you coffee drinkers out there. But I got this one for $4.99 and they're selling for $9.99 online right now, so they are well worth it!!

On a final note, Thursday I fell in love with a lady from Scotland. I'm sure everyone has heard of Susan Boyle by now, but I just wanted to mention her again. Last time I checked, the video on YouTube had hit 30 million hits and I account for at least 150 of those. And I cry EVERY time! She is a fantastic singer and I love the fact that she got up there and absolutely shocked EVERYONE! I'm actually watching it again right now and I still get chills. It's just amazing. Go, watch, now!

Susan's Britain's Got Talent Performance

I just love Simon's expression at 4:02 on the clip. It's fantastic.

Can't wait til she puts out a CD.

Especially after hearing this song from 10 years ago she did.

Cry Me A River

LOVE HER!!! She's just so adorable.

Just for fun Friday

2009-03-28T15:48:00.001-04:00

Ok, I have resorted to stealing blogs. Thought this was a fun idea though. So, while Jeremy was doing his nails, (seriously, he was. He's amazed by how well my nail file works.) we did this little questionaire.

Song—Some Elvis song (You Don't Know Me by Ray Charles, but Elvis did a recording of it, so I gave him half credit...lol)

Food—Spinach and Artichoke Dip (Watermelon or Lobster actually. Don't know where he pulled this one from)

Color—Blue (Green)

Time of Day—Night (weird question)

Drink—Diet Dr. Pepper (Sweet Tea actually, but I never drink it at the house. Always have DDP)

Store—American Eagle (probably Target or Charlotte Russe, but what girl can pick?)

City—"Not La Grange" (How true that is)

Candy—Dove Chocolate (yes please)

Flower—Roses (lol...I swear he said Daffodils first)

Holiday—Christmas (who doesn't love Christmas)

Restaurant—Outback Steakhouse (sure, why not)

Movie—The Princess Bride (no hesitation on this one...lol)

Book—Dark Tower Series (7 brilliant books, go get them and start reading)

Musician—Elvis Presley (about as much hesitation as Movie)

Actor—Morgan Freeman (good actor, but I would have accepted Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp or Kevin Spacey)

Actress—Julia Roberts (the only one he could think of, but he was right so...)

Animal—Moosen (with a sweater on....inside joke)

Television Show—Law and Order (Love me some Jack McCoy. House or Coupling would have been acceptable as well though)

Not too shabby if you ask me. Just for the record though, we reversed roles and I did a lot better! ;)

Ode to the Rude person at MOC

2009-02-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm in a slightly better mood today. Or not. Last night was MOC's church night and I somehow got suckered into going. I really wasn't suckered. My mom asked if I would take my little brother since she couldn't go and I said yes. Really no suckering involved. Anyway, it was nice to run into some familiar faces that I haven't seen for YEARS. Ugh, getting so old that I can use that sentence is kind of depressing. But you know what?! Something happened that made me sssoooooo angry. I saw this person (names and identities have been changed to protect the innocent) that I have known for years. Our families know each other and I've actually been on vacation with this person's family. Nothing bad every happened between us, so when this person didn't even acknowledge that I was there, I walked right up to him/her and said, "Hey, _____. How are you?" He/She didn't even make eye contact!!! UGH! But he/she some how mustered up the strength to say, "Fine." No, 'hey good to see you' or even a courtesy 'How are you?' Nope, nothing. So, I said, "How is (this person that I was close to) been doing?" And his/her reply: "Fine.".............Seriously? That's it. Whatever. I can live with that. I assure you that I'm not going to lose sleep because you harbor some ill will towards me. But that's not it! After realizing that this fine "christian" person wasn't going to make ANY attempt to even be civil with me, I began to talk to someone with a few more manners. Out the corner of my eye, however, I see this person walk up to a guy and start whispering in his ear. He's not facing me, so when this person finished talking, the guy turns completely around to look at me over his shoulder, makes eye contact with me, and then immediately turns back to talk to him/her.

Ok, new paragraph. Now I'm not a paranoid person. I'm not even a person who cares all that much about what people think. I'm not a moron either. I think Captain Go-Out-of-His-Way-To-Look-Over-His-Shoulder made it obvious that they were discussing me. But it just makes me angry that people can be so incredibly rude. Now I can go one of two ways. If I don't like you; A.) you know it, more than likely because I told you that I didn't like you or B.) I can be completely phony and never let you know that I don't like you out of sheer courtesy. I'm gonna wrap this up, basically because I actually don't care that much about this situation and I'm slightly comforted by the fact that I think this person is miserable in their own life (forgive me, Lord). So, in summary, I think we could use a little more common courtesy in our society. If I can act phony and pretend that I care what you're saying, I suspect that you can do the same. At least you can formulate some sort of meaningful thought. All I'm saying is that most people have a vocabulary bigger than the word "fine." And if you can't summon the strength to do that, at least don't send me into a whole new dimension of pissed off by talking about me while I'm still in the room. Next time I run into this person, I'm picking option A.

Reflecting (lame title, i know)

2009-02-20T14:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I'm slightly bummed today. (Yes, I used the word "bummed".) I got my dad's tools and paper work from his employer today. It's starting to sink in more and more that he's gone. To be completely honest, I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the whole thing. I was SO close to my dad when I was younger. Daddy's girl completely described me. So, it was incredibly confusing when I didn't speak to him or see him for so many years. I've come to terms with the fact that some people aren't really cut out to be parents and they can only do so much. I don't blame him.....really, I don't. I can't imagine how my life would be different if I had chosen to stay with him instead of my mom when they got divorced and I really can't imagine what it would have been like if I had stayed with him instead of moving to North Carolina. But it still hurts that we didn't have a better relationship and we spent so much time apart. I hate the fact that he never met my husband, he'll never meet his grandchildren someday.....that he didn't get to see me as an adult. The one thing that gives me comfort is thinking of our last conversation when he apologized for not being a good dad and not always being there when I needed him. While it may be true that he probably wouldn't have won any "World's Greatest Dad" awards, he was still my dad. It's still his attitude that I have and his eyes I see when I look in the mirror. I just hope that losing him helps me to treasure the other relationships that I have and to make the most out of them. Ok, enough self pity for awhile. Later All!!

Ugh...just ugh

2009-02-19T21:28:00.000-05:00

Just a quick list of the reasons that I'm upset with my small town...

1. It's small. Not always a bad thing, but EVERYTHING shuts down around 9:00 p.m. It's just not the best conditions if you have a craving for chocolate at midnight.

2. Checkpoints. Seriously, the first 3 months I lived here, 8 license checkpoints. This town isn't that big, people!!

3. Power outages. I have no idea what it takes to power a town. I don't really care that much. I just know that if I pay for electricity, there shouldn't be a reason for the power to go out 2 times a month for NO reason. It's not like we live in tornado alley and storms run rampant.

4. Cutting down trees. Unless you are from a HUGE town where your idea of scenery is a flower pot on a window sill, you probably think trees are nice. Nothing wrong with the ones on my street. They make the street more attractive, provide shade, and that whole producing oxygen thing isn't too bad either. So, I really can't figure out why they decided to cut down 10 of them along my street. Annoys me though.

5. Results of cutting down trees. Now, if you're going to cut down trees for no reason, at least you could do it right. First, there's an ugly stump in front of my house. And secondly, if you're going to cut down a tree for NO REASON, you could unplug the big black cable that is running right by it. But why do that when you can just snap it causing the resident that you're annoying anyway to be annoyed even more since now they're paying for cable and internet and don't have it for 3 days because you're a moron. *Sigh*

Ok, that's enough ranting...I feel slightly better now. Not a lot though. Cause that ugly stump is still there.

Personalized Artwork

2009-02-11T18:42:00.000-05:00

For your living room....

For your little one's nursery...

For your office...

For your furry, feathered, or finned little ones :)...

Well, in case you didn't know, my friend, Kari, and I have started a little "business" recently. Basically, we create custom paintings for your home or office. They can be created to match your nursery's crib bedding, your home's decor, or even your pet! I'm not a great salesperson, so I'll just post some pics and you can judge for yourselves! AND if you like what you see, contact us for pricing and ideas :)

Ava Presley

2009-02-11T18:29:00.000-05:00

Here's my newest little model. Still working on editing, but here's a preview of what I've gotten done so far. She was so sweet, but we tired her out and she spent most of the shoot asleep :)

-J

PS...still angry b/c I broke my flash!!

FIRST Time's a Charm!

2009-02-11T17:13:00.000-05:00

Well....here we are. The Wonderful World of Blogging. Now, before you get your hopes up, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I will never make the statement that I am a witty, fabulous writer. More than likely my remarks won't be condensed to cute thought-provoking quips, but that's fine with me. I enjoy writing like I'm having a conversation with someone. (And sometimes that involves not using correct grammar or even making concise sentences.) What I will do is share a little bit about myself and what is happening in my life as it happens. Well, there's no time like the present, so let's get to know...well, me!

I'd like to begin by listing one of my pet peeves which is describing myself...lol. No really, I detest it, but let's just make this quick like pulling off a band-aid. My name is Jewel (just jewel, not julie, or julia or juliet or anything like that). I reside in eastern North Carolina with my hubby, Jeremy. We have 2 cats (Mr. Anderson & Hitler) and a border collie (Topher). I am a sucker for animals and would have more if Jeremy would give the ok :). Photography and Art are my passions. My degree is in graphic arts, but I like letting my creativity loose on other mediums besides those that involve a keyboard. That's mostly what you will be hearing (or reading) about here. My next post will just be some examples of my latest work. I love meeting new people, so feel free to leave me a note :) Til we blog again....

Lots of Love

-Jewel