Life Is Good

Yesterday was a full, but really fun day. We woke up at 7 something and headed over to a nearby neighborhood to do some garage sale shopping. We ended up getting some wooden patio furniture for free. Needs a board or two replaced, and a fresh coat of paint, but otherwise, it will do just fine. While we were finishing up there, my boss called wanting to know if I could run some errands. So, we dropped back by home, and then I took off in search of 12 yards of zebra print fabric and some other stuff. I had some trouble finding it and was getting worried, when I happily came across some...but not enough. Thankfully, it was a chain store, so I was able to have them call the other store and hold the rest of it for me until I could pick it up. Anyway, I ran back home to grab a bite for lunch, and realized that there was just enough time before class to run to Lowe's with Jesse and pick out cushions for the patio furniture we found earlier at the garage sale. (A new Lowe's just opened up right by our house, and we got a stack of coupons, so we've been going numerous times daily and using the coupons.) So, we got cushions and I headed to class. We're doing portraits right now, which is pretty funny. We have to use one another as models, and many times, you find yourself just hoping you don't actually look like what is on the paper! Anyway, after class, I headed home and then spent a good hour or so on the phone with tech support for my online Spanish class. (For some reason, my recordings were not submitting properly, so I was getting all 0's on my work because my professor couldn't hear me at all.) So, got that solved finally, and then I jumped in the shower to get ready to go to this DIFFA event that my boss had invited Jesse and I to. DIFFA is a design foundation set up to benefit AIDS and every year, they do this dinner where local designers and various people in the art circle do these grand tablescapes. Then, they sell tickets to the dinner for over a hundred dollars, and all the money goes to help with AIDS right here in the city. Pretty cool. Anyway, so they were having a preview party where you could get in to see the tables and stuff, but not actually attend the big main, expensive event. So anyway, my boss(es), very generously paid for us to go with them. (Side note: I say boss, meaning really either of the two guys I work for. Technically, I am a contractor who works for either of their two separate businesses at any given time.) Anyway, so we went, had cocktails and hor'dourves, and got to see all the tables, which were pretty cool. I'll post some pics below, but just to give you an idea, the tables could be decorated with anything - one was themed in toilet paper (which Jesse and I voted to be the most fun table to sit at), one was all recycled materials, one was all paint chips, some are just purely elegant with beautiful floral arrangements, etc. So, it's just a wide mix and anything goes. (Another side note: In the past, my boss has donated his time/talents to do a table, and mentioned that he would like to do it again next year - which means, that I will get to help...FUNNESS!!!) Anyway, after that, they invited us to go to dinner with them, so we ended up going to this relatively newer restaurant that is pretty pricey. Once again, my super awesome and generous bosses picked up the tab, and finally around 11:30, we decided to wrap up the night...and I crawled into bed right around midnight....and then I woke up this morning feeling totally wiped with a very sore back. (What moron invented high heels anyway?) Upon waking up in this state, I declared myself an official old fogey who should not a) stay up past eight o'clock or b) eat or drink anything except maybe warm milk and geritol at night.

Anyway, it was a fun day and I find myself caught up in delight at the good things I have in my life right now. The extravagant generosity of God is enough to make me blush.


Waiting to go into the event...Jesse and I were talking about this background thingie, because it reminded us of the backgrounds that you see at Hollywood events where the stars pose in front of it so that sponsors can get their logo plastered in magazines.


These next ones (by the way, all of these were taken on a camera phone, so they aren't so great....especially the last one which I took that is super blurry.) are of the paint chip table. And the bottom one is Jesse looking at stuff.

Pergola Progress

Just needs stain on a few more boards...

Around Here

As Jesse mentioned, he is on vacation this week. It's only been two days so far, but I am really enjoying having him around more. No 3am alarm clocks, no worrying about being up past nine o'clock...I could get used to this. Anyway, Jesse started working on the back pergola today while I was in class. I plan to help out tomorrow as soon as I am finished with school stuff. I only have three weeks left this semester, which I'm pretty happy about.

Working hard....


Still working hard...


Break time....


Not working so hard... (but look at the snow fountain cherry tree all in bloom!!)

Mickey Won

So much for international travel....we decided to go back to Disneyworld. (Yeah!!!) Last year, we were at the Caribbean Beach Resort, and this year we decided to try to Port Orleans Riverside resort. I just got off the phone booking the dates, and we got the free dining plan again...yippie!! Now I just need to wait until September...

Me and Horton

Horton and I have decided that we are going to start doing some races together. Last night, we began our training for the Dog N Jog in June. Horton is very interested in doing the two mile run, but I told him we will have to see how my training goes, seeing as I can only run about two yards right now. If that doesn't pan out, we may do the 2 mile walk, or the 1 mile run. I have actually been wanting to do a 5k or something, but it's really not that appealing to me to run alone, and I'm not convinced I would stick with a running group due to our weird schedule. However, running with Horton is a lot more appealing, and he is a great partner. When I start to slow down, he keeps it up, practically pulling me along to keep me going. Plus, he helps me feel a bit safer when I am out and about running paths by myself. If we like the race in June, we are eyeing Strutt with your Mutt for a fall race, though that one is just a walk. Still, these doggie ones are much more appealing than regular races to me. I am pretty sure the crowd will be pretty non-competitve and fun-loving, and we may have frequent stops during the race to pee on things and sniff other dog's weiners. That's a good time right there.

So What?

I can't decide if I am happy or sad today. I think it's the weather. Sunny - cloudy pouring rain blowing wind is a tornado coming - sunny. Mother Nature isn't sure and apparently, neither am I. As I was walking to class today, I was watching all the worms who are out of their holes, looking for a drier place. Silly, but it seemed so triumphant when I saw one who had made it to the pavement, safe from the underground flood. I wonder how nature can be so beautiful and cruel all at the same time. I overheard someone in one of my classes say she doesn't care about global warming or environmental issues, that the ice caps can melt, and she'll just watch the waters roll in. That is all well and good, but the thing is, we're making decisions now for the future generations. Global warming isn't even so much about us, for we'll all be dead by the time the effects really hit hard. It's more about a connectivity between time and people. And I'm not looking to debate whether global warming is or isn't true; I'm more wondering about the human race I guess. How is it that we are so into ourselves, yet have such a capacity for empathy and compassion? I mean, comments like this girl in my class - I've made them before, and I've heard plenty of other people make them before. I remember after 9/11, the very day after, I was at work, and a girl said "Turn off the stupid tv. I don't care about that. It doesn't affect me." But yes, it does. Have we become so blind that we don't realize that any human problem is our problem? I just struggle with this. I told you I saw that play, Nine Parts of Desire, and I was chatting with my professor about it. She made a comment that really made me think. She said something along the lines of "I've traveled. I've seen poverty, and those people, really, they are okay. They are happy. But, Iraq, they were like us." As if, through some connection of living standards, it's different. They were like us. That has just been stirring in my heart the last week and I can't seem to get past it. What does that mean? We have all these sayings Education is power. We learn history so we don't repeat it. If education is power, then why do I feel so very powerless about Darfur? And studying history - do we really just mean we study it to make sure it doesn't happen to us? If Darfur were Paris...if Sudan were England....if it was happening to people more like us.... would things be different? Would it all of a sudden "affect us"? Yet, even still, I sit here, wondering these things, and so what? So I think about it. So I know about it. So it still goes on. So what?

Pergolas and Petunias

The pergola is finished. (Well, we need to put one more coat of paint on, but otherwise, finished.) Jesse did an amazing job, as always. This morning, I worked in the yard and got lots of flower seeds planted. I decided this year, we will grow Hyacinth Bean Vine on the pergola, and then maybe next year, we will put in a perennial vine like Honeysuckle. So, the vine seeds are in, and I'm hoping to see sprouts within two weeks. My lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, and snap peas are slowly making their way up. Just teeny tiny little green sprouts right now. Hopefully this week, we will get the lawn over seeded, and once that is done, then our main outdoor projects left are the back pergola and finishing up planting in the beds (too early for lots of my veggies yet, so that is on hold). I am throwing a bridal shower here at the end of May, so I'm hoping that everything is wrapped up by then so that we can be outside and have the yard looking nice. Plus, when June comes, so does the heat and it's not so fun to be working outside anymore.

We are rethinking vacation plans...we were going to do Disney again. I really want to. I would be fine going there every year. I love that place. But, there is a possibility that my family may be trying to make a joint vacation thing happen in Jan or Feb, which would be at Disney, so we'd be doing back to back, which is still fine with me. But the other thing is that we were going to go in the off season, which is right after school starts to get some really good discounts like we did last year, but it looks like I am going to be taking 4 studio classes this fall, and missing a week of that much studio work would be really insane. I don't mind missing school in general, but studio work is just so much more intense, and as such, gets really overwhelming really fast if you fall behind. So, if we did Disney, we'd need to do it before my fall semester, which would probably fall still in peak season, and Disney would really be miserable in the peak season. The other factor coming into play is if Jesse decides to leave his job in the next year, which is a possibility. We'd lose flight privileges obviously, so we got to thinking that maybe while we have them, we should do an international vacation and save Disney for when we don't have them. You can always find decent prices to Orlando, but international prices are crazy, so it makes sense to do any international travel that we may want now when we still have the passes. So, all that to say, now we aren't sure what we are doing. I admit, I will have a hard time choosing something other than Disney, but it does seem like the smarter thing to do given circumstances in life right now. But, Disney is just the "no-fail" vacation for us. We have a great time there, laugh a lot, there's anything and everything to do depending on how you feel...it's just a really good fit for us. We'll see.

Anyway, here are the pergola/pretty flower pics. (Just imagine a pretty flowering vine growing up it...)



I planned to do all red/orange/yellow flowers in the front (to set off our red shutters), but I caved when I saw these purple petunias yesterday. I wanted the trailing variety, and they didn't have red or yellow or even pink in that variety, so I decided to let a little purple slide on in. Now the theme is pretty much lost. Oh well.

Art and Animals

Can my two loves mesh any better? I don't know where this is, but I would gladly fly across the world to watch.

Today

Today I am happy that my daffodils are in bloom. I am happy that my lettuce seeds have sprouted and I am happy to say it's April. Today I am also worried about student loans. I am disappointed that it doesn't look like I will be graduating at my anticipated date, even if I work my arse off..which I have been doing. Year round in class, 18 hours semesters, working on the side, I've been hitting it hard. Today, I wonder if hard work ever pays off. I wonder if there is anything like justice in this world. Today, I wonder how much is enough. I wonder if silly little things I do make any difference. I wonder if those silly little things are more for appeasing myself than making a social impact. I wonder of all the causes, how can you ever choose which one is best to put resources into? How much is enough? And is there even such a thing as enough? Can the world's thirst ever be quenched? Today, I wonder why abstract ideas rule our lives. Why time and money appear as silly numbers that dictate nearly all of our actions. Today, I wonder if balance exists. If we are ever meant to find it. Balance is stagnant, and tension moves, but is that really the way it's supposed to be? Today it's cold, but the sun is shining.