January 31, 2012

Cards

I have a dream life, where I only have to work part time and get spend the other half my life drinking coffee, taking pictures, blogging, playing games. Money doesn't matter in my dream life. (-:

Sometimes I get to do that even though I'm not living my dream life.

I'm living a pretty good life...I like to call it, REAL LIFE.

Working hard, playing easy [I really don't play hard, just competitively], surrounded by loving people, drinking coffee a few times a week. It's a good life.
This weekend I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with my friends Kate, Rach and Jess. I needed it. I've been feeling like I've been putting all my friend-needs onto family [it's good that I have them], but my friends make me feel more well-rounded. Does that make any sense?
Cards cards
The introvert in me rarely admits it, but I need lots of people. I need different things from all of them. I need the conversation we can have. I need their understanding and listening at different times. I need their laughter. I need their perspective.
Panorama of games. (-:
We look arm-less. 

INSERT PICTURE WITH KATE HERE. 
Kate, tell me to get my camera out even in the poorly lit restaurant so I have more pictures of you.
<3, me

Rach and I played SPEED. I don't know who won, but I think it may have been me. Or maybe I just want it to have been me. [See competitive comment in paragraph four.] (-:
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Rach

Thank you for being my friends.

January 29, 2012

Hank in a chair

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My parent's brought this chair back with us from Kansas. I'd been shopping around for a comfy little chair for my apartment, but I didn't want to spend more than, oh, $5. I didn't find anything out here, but I did find this one in the basement being neglected in Kansas--for FREE. Up north it came!
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The blanket is from Salvation Army. I'm getting hooked on SA, last Friday I totally purchased donut pans. I am so excited to make doughnuts! eeeee!
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Hank looks sweet in the above picture. What you don't know is that when his pupils are dilated like that, he's getting ready to spaz out.
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Check the claws.
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Vhat, is dis?
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GET IT!
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It's hiding under dis blanket.
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Why, yes, I'm perfectly sane.

Right. 



**Disclaimer**
Dear Friends, 
I am the only one allowed to call myself a "crazy cat lady." It's one of those I-can-say-it-about-myself-but-if-you-say-it-I-will-be-annoyed things. Sorry for all the hyphens. I happen to live in a teeny-tiny apartment with a quirky cat and if you want me to blog, Hank will be included. Frequently. So leave me alone. 
xo,
amy

January 27, 2012

the truth

I want to get married and be in love and have babies and buy a house and have a dog and make fun of Hank and join a church and sing in a choir and play games and have more babies and take pictures and see my friends [who happen to be all over these United States] and drink lattes and walk in sunshine and swim the lake and frolic by the ocean and eat delicious food and bake sweet desserts and laugh and laugh and laugh.

But, I don't really want to date.

Mostly because I take awkward to a whole new place when it comes to actually being interested in someone who happens to be male. This may be why I received the awesome nickname "socially awkward amy" in college. Yes, that's me.

So, if you're interested in me could we just get married and do all those things in the first paragraph and skip the awkwardness?






Just so you know, I don't actually believe that marriage and relationships are easy in any way, shape, or form. I know it takes a TON of work to live in a successful relationship. What is successful to me? The ability to see hope in the hard times, work through the difficult times, enjoy the fun times, allow and support individual growth, engage in meaningful conversation, and never have to smell each others bad breath. 
Oh, and love. Lots of love. 


UPDATE: I would like to mention these three words 1. compromise, 2. communication, 3. patience. 

January 24, 2012

New Glasses!

Old glasses.

New glasses.

I'll admit it: they took me awhile to like them. At first I thought they were too mod, too cat-eye, too, too much. I did instantly love the clear frames because you can see more of...ME!

I posted this picture of me on facebook and I feel it necessary to tell you it's edited. I'm photoshopped. My skin isn't really that nice. (-:

Original---------->Edit

I feel better now that I've come clean with you about using my phone apps to make myself look better.

The real reason I'm posting about my new glasses is that they were an AWESOME DEAL! You know I love a bargain. I paid $6.95 for these babies. Yes, they're prescription. Yes, they're good quality.

How did I get them for less than $7? I went to Coastal.com where they have a first pair free deal! You just use the code FIRSTPAIRFREE, it's listed on their website. I don't have a current prescription nor do I have the money to get a current prescription, but you can enter your own prescription and measure the distance between your pupils, send it in and a few days later--glasses in the mail! Whoo-hoo! I should say that I feel good about using my old prescription [I have the forms from the optometrist] because my eyes haven't changed since 8th grade. The doctor said I've plateaued and will probably be the same for awhile now.

You can "try" them on [I didn't] and now that I'm playing around with it, I can't figure out how to make the glasses actually fit the face. I will bring you this:
You're welcome. 

Are fun, funky, new frames in your future? I can't wait to see!

January 22, 2012

JEANS!

Oh. My. Lanta.

It's only been since February 2, 2010 that I have been searching for my perfect pair of jeans.
That's almost two years.
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I FOUND THEM!!! Actually, my mom found them at Macy's then I made her go back and show me exactly where she found them so I could get a pair. Mom of the year award!

They have a wide leg.
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They have butt pockets.
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They are only 1% stretch.
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They are dark wash.

It's love.
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Mine are from the plus-sized section at Macy's, this is very similar they don't have them available in a dark-wash though. The closest thing I can find on the Levi's website is only in the regular sizes: Levi's Double Button Wide Leg Jeans

I am a happy person. (-:



Don't miss the giveaway over on the cooking closet!

January 11, 2012

Pinterest Pins

The obsession continues. I can't stop. If you want to join and need an invite, just let me know! (-:

These are some of my recent favorites:

That's on my gorgeous pictures board.


Source: icanrelate.info via amy on Pinterest

This is on my giggles board. It makes me giggle.


From decor and home...I neglect this board because it can be depressing to look at home things when you live in a little apartment [even if you love your little apartment] so many home items are very large.


This is from my Christmas board. It will now be neglected for the next 10 months or so, but it did inspire me to do this:
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I know, right? I love it.  (-:



This is from my learn it. board. It intimidates me, so I put a lot of Starbucks drink things on there. I can learn those too.


Yeah. This is from my baking inspiration board, not to be confused with the recipe board also containing baked goods. Yes, I might need to do a bit of housekeeping on pinterest.

Speaking of recipes:

Yea, yum. I'm making these this week.


This is from my HEALTH board. If you know me, you know I'm more interested in healthy vs skinny. Probably since I've never been skinny so I don't know what that's like. Plus, I think skinny is not what we see in the media. I think that's unhealthy. However, I still enjoy this board for inspiration on the health front.

Now, my TOP FOUR FAVORITE BOARDS in random order because I can't rank them.


From crafty mccrafterson. I AM TOTALLY DOING THIS, even if it ends up being 5 different states by the time I settle down. If I settle down. (-:


SO.HARD.TO.CHOOSE. I love my quote-alicious board because I can just read them and it settles my mind.

Source: google.com via amy on Pinterest

Dear Future Husband, 
Don't worry, I planned our $3000 wedding on pinterest. It doesn't matter how much you make because I'm pretty sure $3000 is as much as I'm willing to spend on one day. Feel free to propose any time. 
Love, amy

Source: lexoxo.com via amy on Pinterest

This is from my l.o.v.e. board. As great as quote-alicious. Makes my heart happy if pictures and words can do that.

January 10, 2012

One Time I Did Something Not Smart

By "not smart" I totally mean stoo-pid.

This is a tale as old as time. The time I glued my fingers to the ass from the nativity. And also to each other.

[It's perfectly acceptable to say "ass" because it's in the bible.]
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When I arrived home for Christmas break my mother was sick. She'd been sick since about October 8th meaning that she was sick for 75 days. Seven days earlier she'd had sinus surgery to clear the nastiness from her the holes in her head which were filled with infectious fluids. Pleasant, no?

The whole reason for me telling you about my mother's illness is that she hadn't decorated squat for Christmas. The tree had been up for about 48 hours. The fall decor was still upon the mantle. The nativity scenes were packed away in their boxes in the back closet.

One of the things I do best is taking control. That means I spent my first day home decorating. I put away the fall things, I rearranged the furniture [12 years of the same furniture arrangement is about 11 years and 4 months too long for me]; I put up candles; I hung lights and ornaments; I move pictures; I pulled out all the nativities.

ACK! The donkey is missing his ear!?!? Luckily it was in the box and I am the queen of repair. [See: first sentence from previous paragraph.]
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I rooted around in the junk drawer and the junk cupboard and the other junk drawer to find some super-glue. Then I requested that my dad pick some up from the store. He brought back a 4-pack of the cheapest glue he could find.

Cheap is not always best. You get what you pay for, you know. 

I poked a hole in the top and put the lid on so I could accurately put a teeny-tiny drop of glue on the ass' head to attach the ear. Unfortunately, once I attached the lid about half the tube gushed out and ran down my hand.
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It was still in liquid form. It didn't feel like much, it reminded me of oil which I've had on my hands many, many times without any problems. Plus, we've all experimented with a drop of super-glue and sticking and unsticking our fingers. I would be fine.
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Except, my fingers were now stuck to the donkey. And to each other. And they weren't coming apart. This was definitely not oil. And the large quanity of cheap-ass glue was not what I played with as a child. [This use of "ass" is inappropriate.]
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AT. ALL.

AT ALL! This is the dilemma...how does one dissolve a large quantity of super-glue which has dried between her fingers?

Nail polish remover? No.
Warm or hot water? No.
Petroleum jelly? We don't even have that, but we do have some Vicks [a top ingredient is petroleum jelly]. Did it work? No.

In addition to the difficulty in de-stickifying my fingers, our entire family would be arriving at our house in about 5 minutes. We'd invited them over for snacks and desserts. Perfect timing.

Must. 
Get. 
Fingers. 
Apart.

Did anyone in my family help me? Dad? Dad? I'm pretty sure he was busy on facebook and had no idea this was even occurring. Mom? Stop laughing at me. Oh, thanks for the Vicks. Dave? Thank you for looking up less than stellar solutions on your computer. Matt? Stop taking pictures. Abby? If you could get up off the floor where you have fallen because you're laughing at me that would be great. Brody? Auntie Amy loves you.

If you want it done you've got to do it yourself: I did it with a knife.
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And it worked...luckily becuase if my fingers had remained stuck together that would wreaked havoc on my massage business. Plus it looked prissy and I'm totally not a prissy person. 
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That was the time I glued the ass to my hand.



Thank you, Matt for photo-documenting this life-changing incident.