Oshkosk B'Cali!

(Did anyone else wear Oshkosh B'Gosh when they were little? Cute stuff! I had little overalls.)

I found this meme online somewhere, and while I wasn't exactly tagged, I'm stealing it and definitely tagging Erin and Kelli b/c they both have a bazillion photo folders. And I want to tag Mel but specify that it has to be from a folder of her own artwork, b/c I just like her stuff.

Anyway, here's what'cha do. Go to your pictures folder, open the fourth folder, find the fourth photo in that folder, and post it for me to see. Here's what I found:


This is from my Cali 2007 folder, and I think we were waiting to get on the boat that would take us to Catalina Island. We rode the boat for a while, I almost got seasick, we got off the boat, walked around the island, took a tour of the island, got back on the boat, I almost got seasick, and rode the waves back to the mainland.

On this trip to California we also went to see Pageant of the Masters which is magically artistically fantastic. Whoa. If you haven't ever been to Pageant of the Masters, and even if you're not a huge fan of art, you really should go. (I don't really know how to explain it except to say that real people dress up and pose like characters in paintings and they look freakishly 2-dimensional.) Pageant of the Masters is in an outdoor theater (imagine that! None of those in chilly Kansas!) in Laguna Beach, which is just an all-around artsy town.

At this time, I would like to put up for discussion whether or not this is a real bench. I argue that it is a piece of functional artwork, but was shot down by 1, 2, 3 ... 5 people that night at the bus stop. Who installs a bench that isn't a bench in front of a bus stop?! Jay looks like he's holding it up, but he's really just pretending. And that's me on the left, walking off in disgust b/c everyone told me to get off the bench.
Le sigh. I love IKEA.
And because the weather is so nasty here tonight, I'll warm up a little with some Laguna Beachy-ness.

25 (or more) things about me

:: I chew a half-piece of gum at a time.
:: When I'm driving through Wichita on the interstate, I notice when the billboards have changed and play a little game of "What used to be on that billboard?"
:: My favorite drink from Sonic is a strawberry-banana slush. It is not a listed menu item.
:: I love it when I go to Sonic and they wrap my Number 1 (with cheese and mayo, no onions, pickles, or tomatoes) in paper and the foil. Is this a normal thing? Newton's Sonic doesn't do this.
:: I do not like your feet touching me. There's just something about how the toes move independently that gives me chills. I know that I have my own independently-moving toes, but :: :: I'm perfectly ok with them.
:: I love the smell of new business cards. Well, I pretty much love the smell of any newly-printed materials. (Newspapers don't count.)
:: Instead of Graphic Design at JBU, my other choice of school was K-State for architecture.
:: 744 facebook friends is really too many.
:: I knitted a scarf in college. It is my only knitting project. I started it my freshman year and finally finished it my senior year before graduation.
:: I paid $40 to get my ear pierced at AAA Tattoos By Smilin' Jack in college. I should have paid $10 at Claire's for the same thing.
:: I would rather use an exact-o knife and ruler to cut a straight line than to use scissors.
:: I've had the same exact-o knife since 8th grade and remember drawing stars on it with black sharpie to mark it as mine.
:: My favorite pen is the uni Jetstream, which I wouldn't have discovered except for a very nice promotions rep who loves to give me freebies.
:: I played the clarinet for three years in middle school but quit to take art classes.
:: I would love to learn how to play again (and also work on my music-reading skills) because I love the sound.
:: I am known amongst my family for buying presents the day before an event, and wrapping them day-of. Some call this procrastination.
:: Procrastination is the worst 15-letter word you could ever say to me. Pro-cras-ti-yuck. 13 letters and much more preferable.
:: Please use eager and anxious appropriately in a sentence.
:: If you haven't ever heard me say "you learn something new every day," you haven't been around me enough. If you don't learn something new every day, you haven't been very observant. Just think of all the knowledge you can gain by just paying attention!
:: My first pet was Fluffy the albino hamster. He was a class pet in third grade and was the most tame hamster ever. I got really spoiled with him. Teddy, Reeses and Snickers were more like how hamsters should be.
:: One of my most memorable birthdays was my 21st when Kelli & Jay took me to PBR the summer that I lived with them in Lawrence.
:: I lay out the powerpoint slides for my church almost every week, and have only forgotten to do it once.
:: Washing dishes is relaxing for me. It's a good thing, too, because I don't have a dishwasher.
:: I love love love sunsets, and would probably love love love sunrises if I was ever up early enough. I saw some of the best sunsets when I worked on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. That's also where I watched some of the best lightning storms.
:: I like to write on my calendar with Sharpies. Weddings and anniversaries are in red, and birthdays are usually in teal, and all the other fun stuff is written in whatever color fits my mood and looks best next to the other events.
:: My favorite movie is When Harry Met Sally. I made it a point to watch Casablanca because of it. (I did the same thing with Sleepless in Seattle and An Affair to Remember. "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories...")
:: My computer is named Wallace and my USB stick is Fletcher. I'm really fond of Fletcher. And Wallace is being so patient while he waits for a new heart.
:: I'd love to visit New York in the fall, Boston, San Francisco, Rome, and I'd like to go back to Paris and Nice now that I know more about art and can appreciate what I saw 7 years ago.
:: Maverick, my 1996 Honda Accord still holds a special place in my heart reserved for Best Car Ever.

Bringing back the past

I have a google notebook that gets used occasionally, and yesterday I was looking through some of the links I had in there and found a site for historical photos of Riverside, my neighborhood. I've always had a fascination for old buildings and houses. When I was in middle school I imagined myself being what I called a "historian" so that I could have an excuse to go tour old houses and research their histories. I also wanted to live in a storefront apartment in downtown Newton. I remember walking into a two-story antique furniture store once and on the second floor was a line in the floorboards where they had been replaced after a wall had been torn down. I wasn't so interested in the furniture any more but instead I imagined what the original room had been used for, and looked for more signs of the "old".

A few years ago when my sister lived in South Carolina, we went on a driving tour to see the houses that survived the Civil War. I could have stayed there forever. It's amazing to me that those houses are still standing over 100 years later, when the house that I grew up in has only been around for 20 years. Kansas is a young'n compared to the states in the East; it became a state the same year the Civil War started.

This past spring I went for a walk around Riverside trying to find the houses that are in the photos on the website. These are a few of the houses that I found. I would have looked for more but I only remembered a couple of the addresses.

Riverside Castle. Circa 1890.
905 Spaulding. Circa 1909. The first residence to be wired with electric lights.
Lily Pond and Villa. 1916.
Photo credits here.

I think my fascination with the old is what attracted me to my cozy little apartment. When I started looking for an apartment in Wichita, I toured the "cookie cutter" apartments close to downtown and just knew that I could do better than that. They just didn't have the feel of "home" that I was looking for, and I really wasn't willing to pay a lot of money for something that looks like everyone else's. This one is perfect (thanks for finding it, mom!). It has all of the things that have attracted me to old buildings. Hardwood floors (I like to think that they're original, but I'm not sure), lots of character, thick door frames, original french doors (again, not sure on originalness [originality?]), skeleton key holes, and was built around the '20s or '30s. I've been living here for a year and a half and don't imagine leaving any time soon. Just to prove to you how cute it is (even though nearly everyone who reads my blog has seen it -- so I guess these pics are for you Lindsey!), here are some pictures. There's a mix of before I moved in (the bathroom, kitchen, and "dining room") and from last August (I had to take advantage of the real flowers from Christann's wedding).

Here's the outside and my first front door. My hair looks much cuter now.
This is my second front door. My apartment really isn't big enough to need two doors, and I don't use it because it is painted shut and there is a table in front of it now, but maybe the Milk Man thought he deserved his own entrance?
Yes, it really is as small as it looks. And there's no dishwasher. I find hand-washing dishes to be pretty relaxing.Glass doorknob! Do you see it?
This is from the living room looking into my bedroom.
Finn. (There are flowers in this post, too! hehe.)

So... what's this about, anyway?

Somebody once told me that my blog needs a purpose. And also an update. I'm not so sure about the purpose part, but the updates will come. My blog doesn't have a definite purpose for the same reason that I've never gotten a tattoo. I'm indecisive. I can't settle on just one topic such as running, or cooking, or blog headers. I can, however, write about all of those things in one place. Well, maybe not the running stuff since I don't run (yet), but I can cook some goooooood enchiladas, and I read lots of design blogs. So, since this seems to be a blog o' many things, feel free to give me something to write about, because this blog isn't just for me. I'm willing to share it with you. (I can't guarantee that I will not copy an article from espn.com if you ask me to write something about how the Chiefs signed What'sHisName yesterday.)

In continuing the two-post tradition of ending with a picture of flowers, I give you: Fruit Bouquet.


Current Mix: Mood Lighting on Pandora

Fun things to do in 2009

In no particular order (except by length):

Get an iphone.
Go to the PBR.
Use more Skype.
Never get a dog or cat.
Go to a PostSecret Event.
Be a spectator at 5K races.
Take a road trip to visit Mel.
Survive my quarter-life crisis.
Go to a Shocker baseball game.
Narrow down the Facebook friends.
Fly solo to visit Erin & Tim & Caden.
Buy a battery for the Mac (or steal Jason's).
Finish the 1' x 2' needlepoint that I started last year.
Find new places to eat and share the love with friends.

On a different subject, these are my most recent flowers. :)


Current mix: Diana Krall + Norah Jones