Fat Cat Lady

I always thought I was my biggest critic, but after seeing pictures from a few months ago (before losing a few pounds) I learned that cats are my biggest critic. My cats judge me all the time, I can see it in their fuzzy, judgmental faces. Marie's face definitely doesn't make me feel any better.

I'm pretty sure she's laughing at my belly. I was going to say mid-section, but let's face it.... that's a belly. Well, I'll see that hooker this weekend and we'll see how much progress I've made.

Really, the point of this post is to say that-- look at my belly! But really, I've cut back on all the food I put in my mouth lately and I look (and feel) much better. I haven't been riding, but at least I have been eating better. Water. I've been drinking my weight in water and if nothing else, it's helped my complexion. Pictures like this motivate me to work harder at taking better care of myself, but what motivates you?

Fat cats and wombats,

Fill in the Blanks Monday

1.   My favorite place i've ever traveled to is  Key West. I loved the atmosphere and I can't wait to go back.

2.  The UK (and Ireland)  is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3.  I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by   reading (on planes) and crocheting in the car. I actually get car sick these days!

4.  My three must-haves when I travel are a hoodie,  muchies and a new book.

5.  My favorite travel companion is Chris.

6.  The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is yet to come (unfortunately/fortunately). My travels so far have been pretty smooth.

7.  The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is not very exotic. When I was in Iraq I ate in the Iraqi chow line a lot. They had better vegetarian options. It was a lot of this salad stuff, smushy/spicy stuff mmmmm.

8.  If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in Europe. I would want to move around the countries of course. I just want to soak it all in.

9.  I have been to 21 states in the U.S.

Prompts from The Little Things We Do

Sundae Stroll

Well, Chris and I spent half of this day in bed and the rest of it at Target. What the heck did we do that for? Well, we were both up until 5 am. He was watching the Rolex race and I was catching up on The Walking Dead. Let me tell you, that show is one helluva nail-biter. When we finally got up around 12:45 pm we showered and went over to his parents house. Well, we stopped at Starbucks first because I needed a fix. Then we went over to his parent's house to drop off a few things (those things were mainly apple cider Keurig cups that we found on clearance at Target 2 days ago).

After we left their house we went back to Target because I'm working on a care package for my bestie. We stopped to look at the Keurigs and uhhh...... who the heck needs a $100+ coffee maker?!?! I do. It really all started with the clearance cider cups we picked up for Chris's mom. The cider is so tasty and I needed it in my life. We opted for the Keurig Elite and bought the additional My K-cup. Does anyone else think of Diva Cups when they hear "K-cup?" I do. The 2 totally don't mix, but I can't help it. We got home around 9 pm and of course, had to taste everything. Chris is completely blitzed on caffeine at 1 am and says, "let's go take pictures!" So we were in the back yard light-painting with his car for and hour. We used a low shutter speed, but as fast as he was moving we didn't need it!

I picked up some awesome snacks today. Goldfish crackers and a big ol' tub of cheese puffs. Believe it or not, I have only eaten the 2 handfuls of puffs that I shoved in my mouth before Chris took the tub. I had a "desperate, must eat everything because no one loves me" flashback as I was shoving those precious orange puffs in my pie hole.

eyebrows? pshhhhh...

Anyhoo, that was our Sundae, how was yours?


Jacked up and on the Keurig wagon,
(My signature would be here, if it worked)

Sisters

The best thing I ever received was a sister. Not only did I get one, I got two. They are two very special ladies and I honestly don't know what life would be without them. In fact, I lived the first 17 months of my life without one and I can't remember any of it. I must have blocked it in my mind because it was so dull...

{Source}

Sometimes I'm not sure how I fit in because they are so musically talented. It's ok because every musician needs dancers and I can do that!

{Source}

So, here's to sisters! Both of them! Do you realize how difficult it can be to find pictures of 3's? I don't even have a recent photo of the 3 of us together. Booooo.....

(and maybe someday soon Haley's feet will make it into a photo like this!)

Smile :)

 So, I've obviously been missing from the blogging world but there were a few blogs that I did keep up with. My favorites. Well, since I've been back I've kept up with them even better but a few slipped through the cracks. This one and this one. Yep. My Girl Thursday and Love Elycia. Their posts were announcing a craft night and the materials we would need for last night. I saw the reminder posts for craft night late yesterday evening and panicked. I wanted to do this project but I didn't have half of the materials! Well, since I'm a clever girl I decided to just go with what I had. I used grey jersey, blue corduroy, a little velvet and some pink felt. I ran it all through the sewing machine but the next one I make there are parts I think I'd rather hand-sew. With Valentine's Day approaching (a little more than 2 weeks!) I decided to put a heart on the lens. The first one I made was for Chris. He loves cameras. He's a photographer and actually just had a camera tattoo done yesterday. I'm very proud of the work he has done and I'm so thankful that Chantilly and Elycia posted this awesome sewing project!

 

{clearly my embroidery could use some work}

Anyhoo, here are the links to take a look at if you want to make one too. I wasn't able to make it for the video stream, so I missed how it was supposed to go together exactly but I went with my gut and it worked out (big sentence over).

Materials: Love Elycia/ My Girl Thursday

Pattern: Love Elycia/ My Girl Thursday
Craft night video (the how to). It's about 2 1/2 hours long!

Catch that thief! Stolen car!

Ok, so this might not mean much to some of you but a friend's car was stolen. He's a drifter and there have been a lot of thefts lately in the drifting community. If you live in the Orlando, FL area and happen to see his car please please please report it to the police. Any info you have, the driver's description and where you saw the car is most helpful. This car means a lot to him. It is his hobby. It is his baby. Please pass this on. Thanks.

Nissan 240sx

{Click to get a better look}

Fill in the Blanks Monday

Well, just when you thought the blanks were back they have been put on hold. The blanks come from The Little Things We Do blog and Lauren is skipping a week because she just gave birth to her little girl! I thought about going back a few weeks in her blanks to post one I hadn't answered but I thought it would make me look un-creative/not creative/can't think for myself (what evs). I can in fact come up with a pretty darned good post for this day on my own and here I go!

As some may know Chris and I are pretty big nerds and one of the biggest ways we show it is in our home "decor." Our house has vinyl toys everywhere. Heck, we probably have a few blind boxes that got missed during the rushed and ecstatic opening of toys on our many trips to get our toy fix. Sometimes when I'm super excited about a dunny (etc) that I opened and forget about the other 3 in the bag! For example: Chris and I went to the UO in Ybor a year ago and while picking out our blind boxes I stated that I wanted the Kathie Olivas chaser. Guess what I opened that day. Yep. That's happened a few times. ("May the odds be ever in your favor!") For the next 10 minutes I was stunned by my luck that I didn't open any of my other goodies! So I decided to do a few toy themed blanks of my own.

Fill in the blanks for the toy nerds:

1. What was your first vinyl toy? I bought my first toy at Vinyl Fever in Tampa. I bought a yellow and a grey Unicornasaurus.
2. Which toy is your favorite? Do you own it? My favorite is easily my collection of Big Sals. I really miss having a Super7 here in St. Pete.
3. What do you collect the most of? We actually have a lot of different kinds, but if you went through and counted, we probably have more Disney Vinylmation than anything.
4. Who is you favorite artist(s)? I love love love Amanda Visell and Joe Ledbetter.
5. If you're like me, your wishlist is pricey. Forget about the money for a minute: What is your "holy grail" of toys? What toy do absolutely adore and do not own? 1. I would leap at the chance to own any of Amanda Visell's concrete sculptures. 2. Frank Kozik's 'stache Labbit stool.
6. Are there any artists you would like to see make or collaborate on a toy? Yes! I would love to see what Danny Brito would come up with.

I know there are more toy lovers out there and I want to know about your collections! Write a post with your answers and link up!

Happy Sundae!

Well, instead of going on an adventure with Chris today I home doing school work. I really need prioritize so that I'm not stuck at home doing school stuff on the weekends. I was so motivated when I started 3 years ago, what happened?

Anyhoo, the ferrets are having a free-for-all today and it makes me really miss being able to let them free roam all the time.

 Chris and I went for tattoos last night. He decided to wait a few more days because he was running on an empty stomach and only a few hours of sleep. I did get mine and I'm going back with him when he gets his to have one teensy thing fixed.

I've never had words tattooed before (everything is spelled right, don't worry) so naturally when we got home we noticed that one of the letters looks a little funny. At first glance it looks like a 'u' that was either closed a little too much or a 'u' missing it's tail. Either way I'm positive Doc can fix it.

Chris watched when I got mine. I'm really proud to say that he isn't one of those guys who loses it after a little blood. I only bled a little and it didn't really hurt as much as you'd think. It just felt odd.

You know that fiendish feeling you get after getting a tattoo? The one where all you can think about is doing it again? What do I want next? Where do I want it? Can I afford it? Yep, I haz it.

The swelling and redness are gone but I'm going to wait to post any pictures until that pesky 'u' is fixed.

Tattoos and teacups

We're all-a-buzz around here about tattoos lately. Chris and I have been talking about getting more for awhile now. We have decided what we want and where we want them, we just have to go get them! Chris is getting a camera and I'm getting a teacup! I'll post a picture or two of mine eventually but until then I found a video from my last tattoo.

I originally got the fairy back in March 2003. I had her touched up in August 2009. Then I added a few things around her in October 2009. This video is from October 2009. Yes, I was giggling. I giggled and laughed most of the time. I'm a tough cookie. Anyhoo, until next time!

Derp.

The 2nd week of December we went downtown to take some photos. We completely forgot the tripod and the remote so we didn't get a (real) group shot. We still got some really nice ones, we got some "eh" ones and then we got these:

What's going on with our faces?

::blink::

Too close, Trinket!

We were going for classic profiles, but these 2 goofed.

Ew.

This was our only group photo. Obviously the 50mm was too close for a self-portrait.

Just a few outtakes but I thought it would be fun to share the not so perfect ones. Actually, I think these are perfect because they capture what Chris, Trinket and I look like most of the time! 

Fill in the Blanks Monday

The blanks are back! This was one of my favorite weekly posts so I'm back on the wagon!


1.   The last thing I ate was  frozen waffles with syrup.

2.   The last song I listened to was "Flux and Flow" by Lights. I'm going to her show in March here in St. Pete. I screamed when I found out she would be in town. <3

3.  Using the letters in my name I can spell (Jenny)...Jen, Jenn....ugh... not much.

4.  If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick blue. I love pink but I'm not 6 anymore so it would get old. Blue of any shade is easier to wear everyday especially because most denim is blue. I need denim because I am "jeans and tshirt" girl, Most of my  shirts are blue. 

5.  If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find my planner, 3 different lip glosses, a cliff bar, wallet, receipts, perfume and keys. My bag is clean and small this week.

6.  When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to to finish the laundry.

7.  My all time favorite song to dance to is "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats. You have to dance to this song.

Prompts by Lauren

Monday.

So the semester has begun... My first class was this evening and the other two are Wednesday and Thursday. I only need 9 credits and.... crap! I have to remember to turn in my application to graduate in May. I'll do that tomorrow before I forget and it ends up being April. We already started choosing group members for projects and for once I am working with people who I don't have to worry about carrying because they might have 20 mental break downs in a week. I don't necessarily mind group projects, just as long as the other members of the group are easy to work with. Hopefully these guys stick around because I look forward to working with guys and skipping a semester full of "girl problems" that come with female group members!

I think it may be because I've taken almost every literature class there is and because this is my last semester, but I know almost everyone in my Brit Lit class and the roster for Early Shakespeare looks familiar too. I can't wait until the only mention of school on my blog is if I happen to run into an old classmate or if I drove past the campus!

I talked to my sister this evening. She has started playing Dungeons and Dragons. To say we have a ton of catching up to do is a gross understatment. I hate that it's been so long since we've talked. Can you believe my nephew will be 5 in 3 months? I can't. Wow! Anyhoo, that's it for tonight. I'm going to go lay down and read something.

Sundae Stroll

Since this is the first Sunday to come up since I've started blogging again I thought I would post a few photos from one of my recent trips downtown. I took these using the XSi and the Diana+ 110mm Telephoto lens. This is just a glimpse of the USF St. Pete campus.

Anyhoo, everyone have a relaxing Sundae!

Craft-Swap-Heads-Up!

Hey! The two crafty gals behind Oh Strumpets! have organized a craft swap and guess who just joined up? Me. I already have a cute idea and I'll probably get started on it this week. The spring semester shouldn't be too hectic so why not?

I'm not a giant fan of holidays but the two I like the most are Halloween and Valentine's Day (in that order) so this should be a fun one. Click the button above to go sign up!

PS Isn't their little spool adorable?!

Happy New Year!

It's been quite some time since I've been around here! Let's play catch-up:

Last semester was quite hectic as was the beginning of winter break. I worked a ton and crocheted my fingers off trying to finish a christmas present for Chris's brother. I decided over the summer that I was going to crochet a 1-up mushroom blanket for him.

I made a friend over the summer and then parted ways with her a few weeks ago. I'm not going to go into too many details but we basically had different priorities and ways of treating others. She is a terribly needy person and to be frank, she stressed me out.

I start my last semester in a week! I'm only taking 9 credits because that's all I need to graduate!!!!!!!

Chris and I welcomed a baby girl into our family in early October.... Her name is Trinket and she is a short-hair Chihuahua. She was given to us by one of Chris's co-workers. She is smaller than the cats but they get on famously.

Anything else??? Oh, Chris and I did a bit (a lot) of rearranging around the house. Maybe when it's settled down I might post a mini tour of our little house.

Chris and I spent New Year's Eve at Epcot. We had way too much fun dancing and not so much fun trying to squeeze through the hoards of other people from one country to the next.

I don't plan on taking such a big break from blogging in the future, but I almost didn't come back. I feel like a lot of bloggers are just fluff. It's hard to figure out who's in it for the creative release and who's just in it for the money. Yep, I said it. Sure, it would be great to have a ton of sponsors and blog full time but I would rather my little bit of the internet be more than just fluff so from here on out I don't wanna read someone else's fluff and you won't find the fluff here. If I like something I will share it, but I will not write about something because I want others to think I'm cool.

Speaking of cool, Who likes Shabby Apple? I received an email today about a sale for 20% off. I forgot I was an affiliate! It's clearly been awhile... Check out the side bar for the button.

Anyhoo, the blog is getting a much needed makeover, so bear with me. How was everyone's holiday? I'll try to post some real photos next time. I hate having to post IG ones because I really do know how to work a real camera!