delight in life

paper hearts

School was canceled Wednesday due to inclement weather. The weather didn't actually inclement until Thursday, when we did have school, but no matter. Free day off!

In my apartment we celebrated by playing Mario Kart Wii all morning and then ordering pizza and watching movies. I also made this pretty little garland while I watched, using a template from the Paper Source website.
If you do this, use regular-weight paper. I used cardstock since it was all I had around, and my hand hurt from cutting after I finished one.

I'm trying to figure out how to make a football one for Sunday.

let's be honest here.

I'm not feeling it lately. Everything goes in cycles, including creativity. This cycle is in a notably down period. I haven't been scrapbooking, or taking pictures, or writing in my journal, or blogging. I haven't even wanted to. On one hand, I feel a little guilty about this. On the other I'm trying to remind myself that it comes and goes and it'll come back eventually. It being the drive to do anything remotely creative. So in lieu of creativity, how about a list?

• The weather here is currently nasty with a forecast of nastier. Unfortunately I don't think it's going to be nasty enough to cancel school.
• I graduate in 3 months, 20 days. I'm headed to the registrar tomorrow to pick up my graduation application packet.
• In my professional presentations class, I learned I'd have to purchase some new clothes to wear for my final presentation. Professional ones, of course. I was excited by the prospect of doing some "grown-up" shopping till I realized I'd soon have to be purchasing an entirely new wardrobe of grown-up clothes. Then I felt overwhelmed. Stacey and Clinton, where are you?
• When they say Special K Challenge they really mean Special K Starvation Diet. If you read the fine print it says that the only reason it works is because you spend your grocery budget on the food for the "challenge" and you don't have money to buy more food even though you're wasting away. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere.

i hope so too

 This is a cool interactive report from the New York Times about people from all over the country and what their hopes are for the Obama administration. They recorded people talking and then sorted them into these 29 categories. I love that you can listen to the recordings and hear real people, talking about their real hopes.

There is so much expectation about what Obama is going to do, and he can't live up to it all. It's just too much. He is bound to disappoint people. But still, I hope. I hope for unity and recovery most of all. If he can achieve that in four or eight years, I will be a happy, happy citizen.

Go have a look: I Hope So Too

just a taste.

Spring semester starts on Tuesday (same day as the inauguration! How lame is that?), but I've been back in Texas for about a week and a half now. I've gone to work all week, working full-time hours since I'm not in class. I thought those 8-9 hour days would be really long and unbearable, but I've actually really enjoyed it.

Work is such a different thing when it's the only thing I'm doing. During the semester, I get up early and go to class all day and then go squeeze in a few hours at work. I usually get home around 6 or 7, and then have to start my homework.

But this! I get up at a reasonable hour and enjoy the morning light in my window. I do my work. I go home at 6. And then I am done. Instead of being upstairs studying and wistfully listening to my roommates playing Zelda on my Wii, I get to be on the couch with them! Watching American Idol! Or even better: The Office!

On Tuesday, things go back to normal. I'll run out of time for a lot of the fun things I've been enjoying and not get to spend enough time with my friends. But this semester is different, because it's the last one.* In four months and one day (not that I'm counting or anything), this past week will be my new normal--albeit, I hope, with less scanning and more programming.

I am so excited for this last big push. I'm taking a heavy class load* and it will be a hard semester. But I am going to do my very best to have fun and enjoy the last leg of this particular journey. I'd hate to start off on my next big adventure regretting that I spent all of the last one wishing I were past it already.

______________________________________________________________________
*Assuming some of my classes don't get dropped due to low enrollment, like the email threatened two days ago. pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

based on true events.

The following is a true exchange that happened between my sister and me via text message.

Abby, 1:42 am: Its gone
Abby, 7:49 am: Why did I text you its gone?
Me, 8:25 am: No idea
Abby, 8:56 am: blast... Sleep texting again.

I asked her if she was serious. SHE WAS. And apparently this wasn't the first time. My sister -- a champion texter -- is so accustomed to sending texts that she does it IN HER SLEEP. That is mind-blowing.

american airlines flight 328!?

FANTASTIC NEWS, PEOPLE: My suitcase was returned to me today! The tags the airline put on it reveal some screwiness. It was checked in at the Delta desk around 11 am and apparently flown off to Denver. Then Delta kindly rerouted it to American Airlines flight 328, which my research reveals, left Denver at 6 this morning and arrived at DFW at 8:48 am. From there it was RUSHed to Delta, somewhat frantically, by the looks of the handwriting on the tag. Finally, a wonderful employee of XPRESS BAGS, INC. drove it to my apartment at 3:15pm.

However it happened, I am just glad to have this bag back. Oscar is too.

denver?!

My resolution to take more photos is off to a rocky start, due to Delta mysteriously sending my suitcase -- with my camera packed inside -- off to Denver. But! I am taking this opportunity to clean and re-organize my room and the office. It's a lot easier with all of my belongings gone. Also I think I'll make some cookies. That will definitely help.

really big

2008 was a lot of fun. There were some hard patches in there, but mostly it was a really good year. I think 2009 will be even better. I am REALLY EXCITED. It's going to be big.

I've made some resolutions -- seven, to be exact. One is simple: take more pictures. I haven't had a lot of pictures around here lately and I want to get back in my old habit of taking my camera everywhere and snapping photos of everything. Plus, a blog is way more interesting with some pictures to jazz it up.

Here's to 09!

retro for a reason

For a while now, I've yearned for a sweet little silver t-bell analog alarm clock to sit on my bedside table, full of retro charm. My current alarm clock is a pink plastic delight with a little Cinderella figure laying across the top, and I suppose I'm a little too old for that now. So I got a bit of Christmas money, and I found the perfect clock at Target. This morning was the test run.

At 8:30am, the blasted thing went off. My cat shot ten feet up in the air and headed straight for under the bed. I shot up in bed and blindly groped for the thing's hidden switch. People, I am telling you: no one should ever ever ever have one of those clocks unless they are a firefighter who misses the sounds of the station on their day off. I'm returning it tomorrow. My dad, wiser than me as always, pointed out to me that "sometimes things are retro for a reason."