Sunday, August 17, 2008

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My bed!


My dresser!


My bookshelf and other nice things!


My gift from Alison!


My gift from Peter!

Caturday


Missy approves of my new mattress.


Leia does not approve of her new headgear.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Getting ready

In light of Recent Events, I've been trying to be as busy as humanly possible with different pre-moving tasks. These include but are not limited to:
1. Touching up and cleaning my dresser and bedside table. They were somewhat grubby and the paint was chipped when I got them from the thrift store -- I couldn't tell if the paint was yellow from age, or just yellow. But now they are beautiful and shiny and CLEAN, and ready to be weighed down with my clothes.




2. De-rusting my headboard and bedframe. My house has a room we call "The Dreaded:" it's so junky/dirty/bug-filled that we dread going in there. We mainly use this as a storage room, but it's also where the previous house owners left all the crap they didn't want to keep: big ugly cabinet thing, big ugly tool table thing, BEAUTIFUL FULL SIZED BED FRAME AND HEADBOARD! They're a little rusty, but I'm super excited to have saved a good $100ish. De-rusting was surprisingly satisfying -- we have something called naval jelly (as in the navy, not as in your belly button) that is pink and gooey and magical, and REALLY WORKS.


3. Swapping Santogold tracks on AIM with MattMorgan. I don't have a cute picture for this because I don't know how to do screenshots on a PC. But check out my favorite one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzKaqAR9Zjo

4. Deciding what to do with the vanity. This vanity came with my dresser (I had to buy mirror + dresser + bedside table + vanity as a set), and I don't think it's going to fit in my room in Raleigh (or in Durham). It's so beautiful, and would be a great desk to use during the summer for my computer, buuuuuuut I'm thinking I might sell it on Craigslist and make some cash. I hate getting so attached to inanimate objects!

Three birthdays

This year, I was lucky enough to celebrate my 20th birthday THREE times: once with my family in England, once with my family in North Carolina, and once with my friends in NC. So does this mean I've really just turned 60?
I don't know.
But I DO know that three birthdays means three cakes:


Hedgehog in England.


20 in NC. This was really late at night, sorry about the less than impressive photography.


My mom also made me this ^^^^^^^^ note how good the kerning is!


AND my fabulous friends made & iced this mouse cake, complete with swoopy hair like John Edwards. Thanks Maggie/Laura/Alison!!

Aaaaaaand, because of the mass amount of cake in our house, this is what my meals have consisted of:

Okay, just kidding. That was just a snack....or...eight snacks...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

What I will miss (a photostory)

I'm finally HOOOOOOOME after seven hours of a tiny baby kicking my seat, having my koala taken out of my backpack and laughed at by security, and being sniffed by a drug beagle in Chicago. It's so great to be home; I've really missed my family/air conditioning/bed/friends/life in America in general. However, I'm going to miss a lot of things about England, and leaving is always kind of hard because I never know how long it's going to be before I go back.
So here's a list of what I will miss the most:


1. My family (from top left: Grandma, Granddad, Simon, Adrian). I've gotten to know them all a lot better this summer, and I'm sad to have to leave.


2. My co-workers. These guys (Dermot, Andy, and Ade) were so funny/strange. I really enjoyed working with them; they helped me immensely with printing and photoshopping, but I enjoyed laughing and joking with them most of all.


3. My beautiful desk (and Nick). I was so glad that this experience turned out to be really great, since I pretty much just randomly chose Starfish (and they randomly chose me). These people could have been anyone; I'm so lucky my internship turned out so well. (Please note the highly color-coded and organized finder window on my screen).


4. The bathroom at work. Luxorious. Hand-towels warmed up on radiator. Complementary tampons on the counter. Need I say more?

5. Working at Grazia. My first waitressing job also proved to be a great experience -- I loved my coworkers and the atmosphere there. I did not love disgruntled customers, but at least I did get some good tips and some great free beer.



6. Walking past beautiful sights on a daily basis. I love walking around State because it is FLAT (compared with all the hills in Shrewsbury) and I see all my friends, but nothing compares to some of the architecture around Shrewsbury. Shrews has a lot of Tudor houses as it's a really old town. The top photo is of the Quarry, a really nice park with lots of flowers and ducks. The second photo is of the High St that I walked through to get to work.


7. Milly. Laura let me ride her Connemara mare, Milly, while I was in England, which was so fun. We rode all around Haughmond Hill and along lots of the bridlepaths in the area. Milly was great -- not without some silliness, but she was very brave and used to pretty much everything we encountered (except maybe bikes).


8. Jas, Mickey, and Deborah. Here is Milly's pasturemate Jas sniffing terrier Mickey, held by my aunt Deborah. I really enjoyed staying with Deborah this summer; we got to know each other so much better than our past 2-3 week visits had allowed. She's one of the funniest people I've ever met, so I'm very pleased she's part of my family!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

I hope the cows get at LEAST 25% of the profits


So last night I went to the cinema and saw WallE, which was adorable and environmentally-friendly (my two favorite things). We went to the CINE-WORLD, which basically looks like all American cinemas: awesome starry carpet, popcorn stands, and lots of happy movie-goers. However, Shrewsbury's cinema had a large BEN AND JERRYS stand, which I have NEVER seen in an American cinema! I was really tempted to have some Phish Food or similar, but the prices? OH MY GOODNESS.
I try to avoid going to Ben and Jerry's at home because it's so expensive, except on special occasions (like I Have Just Been To The Gym And Now Deserve A Pint of Phish Food).
And to me, "expensive" means $2.50 for a tiny cup of ice cream.
BUT HERE, it's 3.10pounds for a tiny cup!
Meaning $6.20 for a tiny cup!
Meaning you could get TWO of these for the same price:


RIDICULOUS. Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry are making BANK. I certainly hope they're giving a fair share to the cows.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

They always need explanations.



I'm totally re-reading this when I get home.

I MISS THIS



1 day until I have to be finished with Fruit of the Loom stuff [and then reprint and respraymount everything]

2 days until I have to be finished with "how to diagnose lameness in horses"' poster for Dechra [OHGAWDSOLITTLETIME]

3 days until going away festivities [cake, champagne, and chinese food]

4 days until I have to pack [dear lord, please make sure my beautiful bedspread fits in my suitcase]

5 days until I ride Milly & have cake party [but not at the same time]

6 days until I fly back home [there better be tiny tvs on the backs of the seats this time]

7 days until my 20th birthday [NO LONGER A TEEN WTF]

....

16 days until we move in [red door here we come!]

20 days until clayton comes back [:) :) :)]

21 days until the first night of production [there is no one else i would rather panic with than these people]

22 days until we start the side ponytail revolution. and oh yeah, go back to school! [because I MISS LEARNING, and i miss my precious routine]

Friday, July 25, 2008

From the vault

I found these blackmail-worthy photos on my disk on key, and decided it was high time they were introduced to the internet.


I don't even think this was Halloween. Please note my brother's facial expression.


With Joanna/Lucy/Florence in their garden with the "Wendy House." Why is my hair in such a high bun??


Mom and Peter in our old house with our Easter Tree.


Peter, Simon, me, and Justin, posing with weapons in Gma&Gdad's old garden. 1994ish.


At the first show I took Blaze to. I love how the sky contrasts with his orange neck. I think I was juuuust 13?


BFFs Lauren, Jessica and I at our fourth grade graduation. I believe Tubthumping by Chumbawumba was our favorite song at the time.


Mom, Peter and I after a dance recital. I guess I have always been cursed with volumeless hair.


With Henry, the largest/best cat ever.


Mom and Peter with Ranger Rick centrefold.


My lovely grandparents at Abbey Court.

DO WANT PLZ



courtesy dooce.com
do you do photo credits on blogs?

Monday, July 21, 2008

Screenshot rainbow: Brighton












Did anyone else used to read Ranger Rick? I was a big Ranger Rick/wildlife fan as a child, and I used to love the section where they took really close macros of ordinary objects (zippers, velcro, fly wings, spider eyes) and you had to guess which object was which.
This is kind of the same thing, except with colors. Brighton had so many different vibrant colors that I wanted to focus on. Here you can look at Brighton's BRIGHTness, without the distraction of my face or Dave's face. Great!

[KEY: Red = painting in gallery on the pier, orange = mural in Churchill Square, yellow = paint pots in Julie's gallery, green = field with poppies on the downs, blue = sky above the Royal Pavilion, purple = my new dress (£5 HECK YES!), brown = stones on the beach, gray = dave's jacket, black = my old purse, white = sheep's wool, still on sheep]

***please excuse the different colored screenshots, i couldn't make them EXACTLY the same size :( :(***