I'm alive! Just not so much here. I started a Tumblr to see if I liked it better and I do. So I'm staying. I want you to come visit though. Still friends?

Love you!
http://themargaritaglassishalffull.tumblr.com/

Even in sweatpants & a sports bra.

Girls have this bad habit of not letting themselves believe or say that they're pretty. SO many of us are allergic to compliments- batting them away with denials or disbelief. Heaven forbid you sit in a circle of females and declare yourself attractive. You'll probably be automatically dismissed as conceited or obsessed with yourself.

But you know what I've realized? There's no beauty quota. Nowhere is it written that there can only be X number of beautiful women in the world, and the rest are shit out of luck. When you declare yourself beautiful you're not secretly saying you're more beautiful than someone else, you are simply.making.a.statement. And you shouldn't feel bad about speaking the truth.

You're not a bitch, you're not stuck up, you're not delusional. You're just beautiful.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” Miss Piggy

I'll say it first... I'm fucking gorgeous. Your turn!

Lovely lovely lovely love...

Life is eating my ability to keep track of things. GOBBLING IT THE HELL UP.

• Tomorrow is my last day at a job that I just feel really good about leaving. Partially since I'm be going off to spend the summer at my happy place: camp. Partially (okay MOSTLY) because I dreaded walking into the building most days. To be fair I loved parts of this job (cute kids, sweetie pie co-workers) and I learned a LOT during my time here, but the fact remains that there were some aspects that made me want to run screaming by lunchtime. But for good or for bad, tomorrow is the time to bring cupcakes, hug goodbye and sail on. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back. NOT FOR NOW THOUGH.

• I have been having stomach problems for like 2 weeks now and I am at the point where I have to debate if I feel it's serious enough to break my health budget and see a doctor. When you don't have health insurance it takes a lot to make an appointment, but maybe daily pain and nausea for almost 14 days is enough?

• I love The Roots and I love this song. Yes it's from Yo Gabba Gabba and yes that is where I first heard it. Sorry I'm not sorry that this will be stuck in your head all day.

• I need a fairy godmother of hair-care. It's getting so bad that I am starting to daydream of pulling a Kim Zolciak and just living in wigs. I can't seem to tame the frizz monster or make my curls sit the way they used to. Does this mean I need a better haircut? Different conditioner? Does my hair just hate me and life? It's too confusing! In an ideal world I could wash it, throw minimal amounts of goop in there and roll out with luscious tresses. Right now it's like goop, fiddle, spray, be sad, give up, ponytail/messy bun/hot mess. AYUDAME.

• Read this. DO this.

• I just found round-trip airfare to Ireland for two weeks with a 4 day hotel stay included for 750. It's in January which seems cold. I'd probably be going alone which seems scary. Yell at me to buy it?

What should I bring to the BBQ?

This weather does wonderful things for my soul. 

So far this long weekend I've gone for a lovely long walk with a sweet boy, built a bedsheet tent by an imaginary sea with my baby brothers, baked lemon ricotta pancakes and pizza from scratch, unearthed some vintage ladybug pins & rosaries at a flea market, received my first driving lesson with an Argentinian man who says I'll need many more, and read 2.5 very good books. The rest of the weekend promises to bring a home pedicure, as many more books as I can stuff in, and a BBQ or two.

What are you doing this long weekend?

Tree Hugger

It's a gorgeous day and I'm standing in front of a quaint sea-side/ lake-side/waterfall-side cottage. I'm pinning clean sheets on the clothesline and the smell of freshly baked bread from scratch wafts through out from in between the sprigs of cilantro and mint growing on a windowsill. Poppies  and sunflowers guard the house while my scruffy but gorgeous husband with an adorable accent sneaks up and surprises me with a kiss on the cheek and a dark chocolate candy bar for a present. I'm making pasta by hand with chunks of tomato from the garden and mozzarella cheese for dinner. Oh and did I mention my curls are blowing perfectly in the wind and I sewed my sundress myself from vintage fabric I found at a flea market?

I want to be a gorgeous carefree tree hugger SO BAD people. But at this point in my life I'm less homemaker and more hit the mall. And I don't like it. It makes me feel guilty every time I rip the plastic off some stupid trinket I don't really NEED to have. Whenever I see trash on the ground and realize I have some of those same products in my house just waiting for their turn my heart drops. It's time to make some changes.

So far I've begun composting, try to buy my clothes second-hand as much as possible (I have to give in to the stores though when it comes to pants due to my anti-pants trifecta of freakishly long legs, a large booty and child birthing hips... and I don't count things like you know, UNDERWEAR and stuff. Plus I admit I succumb to the siren call of the clearance rack many a time but I TRY.) and recycle pretty regularly. I'm trying to grow some edible stuff in my backyard this summer and I use a reusable water bottle and tap water whenever humanly possible but it's not enough. Here are some things I've been reading about and am interested in trying:

• Moving away from store bought deodorant/anti-perspirants. I'm looking at this recipe but I always forget to put deodorant on until I'm far far away from my house so I find it necessary to prepare for this by throwing a mini deodorant into every purse I have. So while this crystal sounds crazy face it's at least portable in the hot summer months so I'm considering giving it a try.
• Simplify my beauty products. I've been using tea tree oil shampoo which is awesome because it totally clears my hair of gunk. I usually get dandruff as a result of the sheer amount of crap I put in my locks to make them behave. I haven't had a problem at all since I've started using the tea tree oil. I'm going to move away from using body washes to relying on the yummy and longer lasting bar soaps from The Body Shop.
• Um, that's it. What a sad sad list.

I already know that it's all about less. I'm trying to train myself to ignore that little "BUY MORE" voice and sift NEEDS from WANTS. But I need help with those little switches to transform myself into the full blown tree hugger I want to be. 

Do you have any secrets you can share with me?

Who needs a to-do list when they have Netflix?

Don't mind me, I'm just holed up in my bed cutting out pictures from magazines and watching back to back seasons of Eureka. I also am eating large slabs of chocolate mousse cake and debating the merits of buying this little gadget for my hair. It looks like the perfect lazy girl way to straighten my locks when that mood so strikes. I lucked into a 4 day weekend from work so I see a couple more days of extreme lazing in my future...

What about you? Will you be practicing the ways of the sloth or channeling your inner busy bee this weekend?

My week in photos

Found on a walk

Current reading- may be giving me nightmares.

Chai latte

$35 a ticket- I'll go by myself if I have to

Train station

pit in my stomach

I have too many feelings right now to really say anything eloquent but I need to speak. This may make people mad, and I want to make it clear that I am so thankful that Osama bin Ladin can never mastermind another plot like 9/11 again. However, I can't bring myself to celebrate a murder- no matter how evil the person. He was a human being amazingly full of hate, and I can understand how people are reacting to the relief of knowing that this symbol of the needless slaughter of so many people is gone, but if we cheer in the streets are we really that much better than the people who burned our flag and danced?

Maybe I just feel this way because my initial reaction was terror. This is going to enrage so many people who already hate our entire country- Al Qaeda is an entire group of people who collaborated to attack us unprovoked and cause THOUSANDS of people to die. How could we imagine they're going to sit back and let this happen? Especially when they see us cheering and celebrating something that must fill them with sorrow and anger? I'm so scared this is going to start a full war or another attack like the World Trade Center, I can't sleep easy tonight.

still here

I didn't celebrate a gosh- darned thing in April because all of a sudden all my teachers decided they hated us and assigned 800 things each. Due immediately. Also work was crazy, the DMV has a personal vendetta against me and I think my Lyme's disease is coming back. So life kicked my ass this April, and I've developed a pretty constant eye twitch that is either due to stress, lack of sleep or the Lyme's. Or I have a tumor on my spine as WebMD so lovingly suggested. (I have an APP on my PHONE which has taken my inner hypochondriac to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.)

But this weekend was wonderful- I scored some great finds at a book sale, sat by a river and ate sausages with my friends, did copious amounts of homework, watched this disgusting hematoma blossom during the UFC fight, and ate my body weight in frozen yogurt.

The weather is getting so nice out I feel like I'm a real human again. So in an attempt to keep up my relaxing weekend I'm going to try and take a picture a day. Even if it's something totally boring.  Just one.

Want to join me? I predict that 1. there will be at least ONE Yogoberry photo in there and 2. 90% of them will be edited with Instagram.

I just hope I passed...

Let's say you're taking a class. It's just a really hard subject, the studying is time intensive and sometimes you just plain don't get what the teacher is trying to explain. However you only have to power through 4 tests in the semester. Test 1 is a take-home (which equals an A because you have a week to look up all the answers), Test 2 is open book (less time but STILL you have the answers right in front of you) and the last two tests are regular good old, sweat-it-out, you'd-better-study ones. So you listen during the lectures, review your notes, eat your Wheaties the morning of, then sit down and hope for the best.

Now imagine that in your pretty difficult class there is a girl, who to put it nicely, is really annoying. She either loudly interrupts with irrelevant comments, talks to her friends or texts throughout the entire class. And as you're sitting there reading your test where the words look like an ancient lost language because you have NO IDEA what the answers are, you glance over to see this annoying girl click clacking on her cell phone looking up the answers. THE ENTIRE TEST. Firstly you think, who the hell cheats in college and secondly you think WTF.

Now, what would you do?

Because for ME- you send an e-mail to your teacher after class because YES that's snitching and NO you don't care. When you bust ass to learn and EARN a good grade it's not okay for someone to waltz in with an iced coffee and devalue the effort you and your classmates have put in. And also, Google isn't going to have its name on that degree girlfriend, so don't make ME look bad for graduating from the same school as you.

Would you have handled it differently? Think I'm a dirty rat?

sleep deprived

I just wanted to let you all know that aliens creep me out, TV Guide said Law and Order was new tonight and IT WASN'T and I hate writing essays with the burning passion of everything in my soul.

And that's kind of all that's going in my life right now. Also my little brother snuck into my bed last night, kicked me off my pillow island like a pirate in footie pajamas and then slept upside down and roundhouse kicked me in my chest at 4 am.

Bonus quick question: Am I the only one who automatically assumes you must be rich if I see you writing in your textbook?

sleeping in

taken with my Instagram app

when the sun came up,
we we're sleeping in,
sunk inside our blankets,
sprawled across the bed,
and we we're dreaming.

I was doing homework last night and one of the articles I had to read said: "Ask yourself what you would do if you were in love with the most wonderful person in the world- you- and then do it."

So I skipped my morning class, slept in, and then made myself waffles with peanut butter and honey for breakfast in bed.

AND IT WAS GREAT.



What are you going to do for yourself today?

Butter pretzel bribery

I had a presentation for my art therapy class this week. I had to find an article and talk about it to the class, who would be grading me. I have a prison fetish so I chose one about the benefits of art therapy in prisons and off I went. I researched and planned and got ready. Then I remembered that I HATE talking in front of large groups of people. (I can handle it in most situations, just not when I don't really know what I'm talking about, I don't have any friends or family to look at and feel better, or when I can actually see the people staring back at me. This was a perfect storm of all those situations.) Oh and also, I was going first out of the entire class. YIKES. So I planned ahead and I baked cookies and brownies to hopefully distract everyone from the hot mess I was about to become. I made THESE cookies:

Can you believe I took this by myself? With my iPhone?

Butter pretzel chocolate chip cookies.

I used a recipe from Lovin' From the Oven and can now declare that these are my new favorite cookies. I used Butter Snap pretzels which you should go out to the store and buy RIGHTNOW because they're disgustingly good. (YES I realize it's a fake butter flavoring, but whatever chemicals are in are delicious ones.) Next time I bake these (there WILL be a next time), I'll add more pretzels because mine didn't have enough crunch in them. Overall though, A+. I also made black bean brownies because one of the girls in my class is gluten free, but those all got eaten before I could remember to take a picture.

Oh and in case you were wondering, I definitely sounded like an idiot during my presentation because I was talking too fast, forgot my main overall point and my hands were clearly shaking. It was all so embarrassing that I wanted to cry, but at least they ate almost all of my cookies and brownies. So I'll let you know if that tipped the scales on my grade any when I get it back next week.

Have you ever made cookies with any other fun add-ins besides chocolate chips? Help feed my addiction!

Aw shucks

Happy Birthday Donald Duck!

Please Respond

Part of me thinks this is sexy (the crazy part that wants to eat orange colored powder cheese with canned chili mixed into it) and another part of me wants to scrub my skin until it's raw every time I imagine myself shimmying into a hacked off slab of seal back fat.

Also it's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow (like flood watch rain), and I reaaaaally want to sprinkle magic procrastination fairy dust onto that fact and turn it into an excuse to skip my classes and stay in bed. So I need you to either talk me out of it or enable me. Thanks in advance. Also please tell me how you feel about the Sea World style belly shirt Bear is rocking in this clip...

Twinkies for dessert?

Look, I realize this is kind of disgusting but I can't stop fantasizing about a box of Kraft mac & cheese with a can of chili and a can of corn mixed into it. Or tater tot casserole. With a glass of box wine on the side. I'm neither pregnant nor did I recently move into a trailer park so I kind of have no idea what's going on.

March 2011 Love Drop

If I could have any job in the world, I'd want to be a happiness fairy. I would want to spend my days making other people happy. I firmly believe it's about the little things. So I'd drop off cupcakes to people having a shitty day, bring home lost dogs and refuse the reward... anything else in my power to make someone else's day a little brighter. My uniform would be a black tutu with stars and a glow in the dark t-shirt. And glitter. There has to be glitter somewhere in this equation.


But I haven't yet found a financial backer for this dream so in the meantime, I signed up for LOVE DROP. Each month two guys pick someone to do something nice for. This month a kick-ass woman named Katie is taking down her SECOND brain tumor. Throw a dollar Love Drop's way to make Katie's day (RHYMING NOT ON PURPOSE.)

 

Last month the Love Drop Team raised over $13,000 (and 3 iPads!) to help two little boys with autism receive a service dog. They were beyond touched, and we did this in only 1 month - that's it. Everyone came together and gave a few bucks each to impact one family's life. If you were a part of it, THANK YOU!  You can check out the final video of us showing up to their house here - it's pretty cool.

 

This month we start all over again and rally behind Katie, a single mom out in Dallas battling not only two brain tumors so far (she's knocked out one, and currently working on the other), but who's also dealing with hydrocephalus. We're teaming up with folks at Blissdom this month to not only bring the community her way, but to make a huge dent in her medical bills.

 

Wanna help?  Here are 3 ways we could use you:

1. Give $1.00 - This is the best way to help out and join our team at the same time.
2. Join our blogger network - Blog about our Love Drops each month like I am :) It's easy, it's rewarding, and it REALLY helps spread the word (which in turn helps our families). Love Drop will give you all the content you need.
3. Give a gift or provide a service - Gift cards are always helpful. Places like Target, Safeway, gas stations, etc would definitely help them out.

Thanks for reading!  Here's to love, baby.

Taro Yashima

I missed a bunch of great holidays this month that I really wanted to celebrate so I'm going to cheat and go out of order. Sue me.

I recently (as in it was due at midnight last night and I started writing it at 7pm) had to write an essay on a children's book illustrator from a list that our teacher gave us. On it of course was Dr. Seuss and a couple other ones you may know but there were a couple who I had never heard of.

I wrote my paper on Taro Yashima, who wrote three Caldecott Honors books like Seashore Story(my fave of the ones I read), Umbrella and Crow Boy.

From Umbrella, found on Flickr

Taro doesn't draw the typical cartoony children's illustrations and I'm not gonna lie, at first I found his stuff a little creepy. (Most people have no faces except a couple of coal black eyes...) but then I read more and read about his life and started to appreciate it. I really recommend you check out Seashore Story, it's a Japanese folk tale and the ocean scenes are gorgeous.

I'll post about some more as the course goes on, but here is a blog that highlights some beautiful illustrations- The Art of Children's Picture Books.


so... HAPPY BELATED CHILDREN'S AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS WEEK!

Chocolate Mint

From we heart it

From we heart it

I know some people hate Chocolate and Mint together. They're weird. I admit the green dye is kind of unnecessary, but as long as it's not a peppermint patty, I'll pretty much shove anything chocolatey and minty in my maw. Especially those tiny little Andes mints, like the ones you get from Olive Garden (another love of mine).

And did you know that Andes makes chocolate chips? And did you know that you can shove some of those suckers into the middle of a yummy chocolate cookie and enlarge your waistline happily? Here's the recipe. I've made it multiple times before and it's easy and delicious.

Happy Chocolate Mint Day!

* How could I forget to mention Thin Mints?? Thin mints in the freezer, thin mints crumbled into vanilla bean ice cream, thin mints by the plastic sleeve. AND cookie season starts IN EIGHT HOURS. (I know this because the girl scout site has a countdown for sick sick people like me.) Now to stalk hunt down FIND some girl scouts near me...

Hedgehog Day!

Look I hate rodents. Their little scurrying feet and nasty fleshy tails make me want to vomit. But hedgehogs break that rule. They're cute, roly-poly and are also known as hedgepigs, furze-pigs and URCHINS. Ugh I love them.

I really enjoy that little "WEEEEEEEEE" pose they seem to make.

Have you ever owned a hedgehog? Are you as madly in love with them as I am? Love them or hate them (How could you possibly though...)


Happy Hedgehog Day!