Decorating on a (ridiculously tiny) budget...
These were from Kohl's. Aren't they cute?
Thrift store find! This cute little trivet.
s I was inspired by this post but I had no marbles. I grabbed the frames at the dollar store and used pink scrapbook paper I already had. Just ran the paper through the printer and cut them to size.
My new collection.
Also, see my new paint color? Although you can't tell from this particular picture, I did do the whole living room. I inherited a gallon of that color leftover from my brother's house. We bought one more and went crazy. It makes the whole room so much more cozy. The stairwells will eventually be done in a complementary color.
I'm joining in this week (albeit a little early)
* My four year old did NOT clog up the upstairs toilet with about half a roll of the thick expensive toilet paper I recently bought. And I did NOT wait and let my brother deal with the toilet when he called to say he was five minutes away.
* I did NOT watch the Lifetime special The Pregnancy Pact two and a half times this week...
* I do NOT put things on my to-do list that I have already done simply for the pleasure of seeing them crossed off. Nope, never.
* This is NOT the pile of clean laundry I must fold and put away (along with the two more loads in the basement, and now the bathmat [for the second time today] which was flooded with toilet water less than an hour after I pulled it out of the dryer and placed in back on the bathroom floor) .
*I did NOT take my bra off in the living room the other day when I was watching TV and throw it behind the couch because I was too lazy to take it upstairs. And Isaac did NOT discover it and pull it out when my brother and his girlfriend were over today. And if that were to occur, I certainly would NOT blame the cats and make up a story about them dragging my laundry all over the house...
*Neither this week, nor any other week have I taken the laptop into the bathroom with me... no, not me... NEVER!
* I do NOT occasionally give in and let Isaac put on some of my make-up.
*Isaac did NOT start singing "Yeah" by Lil Jon and Usher in front of PDH. I did NOT have to try to come up with an explanation while PDH looked horrified that I would let my son listen to that song often enough to memorize the chorus... (for the record, he has a photographic memory, for real). Nope. Not me.
I don't think I should wish for things.
Do you ever wish for something, and then you get it and you realize it's exactly what you don't want?
I don't think I really know what's best for myself sometimes.
Feeling nostalgic tonight.
Most cryptic blog ever, but I'll leave it at that.
So I went on a great date last night to the lovely Academy of Music to see the touring broadway show of Wicked. An when I say date, I mean, my dad and I went together. Somewhere along the line we have fallen into the tradition of seeing musicals together, just the two of us (sorry mom). We met up in KOP and then drove into the city together and had a nice dinner before hand. My dad works such long hours I rarely see him, so it was fun to catch up, just the two of us.
I am on the Kimmel Center's preferred person e-mail list, so I bought the tickets before they went on sale to the general public. We were in the fifth row and it was pretty much amazing. This was especially nice because the last time I was at that particular venue we had snatched up discounted tickets to see White Christmas and we were in the absolute last row of the highest balcony and we were basically watching the show between our knees. Anyways, the Academy of Music is such a beautiful venue and everything from the set and stage and costuming was so incredible.
I had ganked the soundtrack from a friend in preparation and pieced together bits and pieces of the plot based on the music. But there were so many little details that were pulled from the Wizard of Oz that we learned the back story too: the ruby slippers, her hat, the broomstick, how Dorothy got to Oz, the winged monkeys, etc. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the music before hand (none of it is terrifically catchy, compared to, say Les Mis) in the climax of the first act when Elphaba is souring above the stage as pictured left, the energy the whole performance was so amazing that I had to bite my lip to keep from belting out "Defying Gravity" with her.
My favorite part of the play was how it made you challenge your own definitions of what was good and what was "wicked". How often do we try to force people into boxes of being 100% good or 100% bad and how everyone is really a shade of grey? "Are people born wicked or is wickedness thrust upon them?" is one of the opening lines of the play. At what cost does popularity come? There is a really great lesson about making assumptions about a person when you don't likely have the whole story.
Week without Internet
I didn't survive seven days. I decided a work week was good enough. I discovered I really, really miss Blogger and Google, but Facebook wasn't too hard to live without. I was surprised though at how often a random (and trivial) thought would pop into my head and I would find myself with the urge to log into facebook and share it or make it into a quick blog post. It's weird how social networking makes us feel the need to broadcast mundane aspects of our lives. Anyways, I have been inspired to try to keep my Facebooking time to a minimum from here on out because it really wasn't that hard.
Isaac
Is pretty much the most hilarious kid on the planet and I am in denial that we have about a month left in the year of being four. Four has definitely been my favorite age to date. Three was very volatile but four is just independence and personality. We will see what five brings. =)
Today he and I were laying on my bed and he picked up a hairbrush and started reinacting this scene... Clearly he was Glenda and I was Elphaba. I guess I have had the soundtrack on heavier rotation than I realized in preparation for next weekend.
Oh yeah
I guess I should come clean on my blog about the fact that I am dating someone now. :-) I don't plan on making him a regular topic on the blog but I'll address what I anticipate are the FAQ's...
* How did you meet him? E-harmony. Way better than LDS dating websites. Yeah, I said it.
* Tell us about him? He's 31. from central PA, went to PSU (oh the horror for a Pitt alum such as myself!), lives in North Wales. He works in a retirement home overseeing all of their foodservice stuff. I don't understand the details really, but he wears a shirt and tie to work and is not a lunchlady. We have pretty much nothing in common, but we get along very well.
* Is he Mormon? Nope. Lapsed Catholic.
* Are you okay with that? Yup. I live in the middle of no where on the East Coast, I attend a family ward, and have probably met every single LDS guy in the tri-state area. I'm unwilling to relocate to Utah or some other Mormon Mecca. I'm a ripe old 28 which we all know is Mormon old-maid-menace-to-society-territory and throw in the fact that I am an (unmarried!) mom to a mixed race child and it's not like LDS guys are lining up to date me. I'm fine with dating someone who is not LDS.
* When did you meet him? E-mailed back and forth all summer, met for the first time in August. Started dating "for real" in like, mid-September.
* Do you have any pictures of him? Not ones where he doesn't look terrifying. But he looks sort of like the guy from Hitch, Kevin James.
* Can we get a name? How about initials? PDH.
New Years Goals Update:
Ride my bike to work at least once
Organize office, craft, sewing and scrapbook supplies and start using the office as a functional craft space
Finish painting the rest of the house ------>my brother is coming Monday to repaint the Barney purple bathroom and hopefully the living room.
Make a loaf of bread from scratch
Go one week without the internet I'm counting it. --->Completed 1/15
Take at least one mural tour in Philly
Fly a kite
Scrapbook 3 pages a month
Work out twice a week ---->Yeah... ummm...
Start composting
Take Isaac camping
Drink 8 glasses of water a day ------>Doing pretty well with this one actually
Take a class on something hobby related
Make progress towards getting my elementary certification (right now I am highly qualified in elementary ed, but it is more desirable to be dually certified)
Floss daily I have yet to floss in 2010.
Read three books before I head to the beach ----->I did finish the Time Traveler's Wife today. Although I started it last year, so I dunno if it should count.
Eat more homemade meals and less frozen stuff and fast food
Grow something edible and eat it
Write a blog post when each of these is completed
What's new in your world??
These were from Kohl's. Aren't they cute?
Thrift store find! This cute little trivet.
I was inspired by this post but I had no marbles. I grabbed the frames at the dollar store and used pink scrapbook paper I already had. Just ran the paper through the printer and cut them to size.
My new collection.
Also, see my new paint color? Although you can't tell from this particular picture, I did do the whole living room. I inherited a gallon of that color leftover from my brother's house. We bought one more and went crazy. It makes the whole room so much more cozy. The stairwells will eventually be done in a complementary color.
I was inspired by this post but I had no marbles. I grabbed the frames at the dollar store and used pink scrapbook paper I already had. Just ran the paper through the printer and cut them to size.
My new collection.
Also, see my new paint color? Although you can't tell from this particular picture, I did do the whole living room. I inherited a gallon of that color leftover from my brother's house. We bought one more and went crazy. It makes the whole room so much more cozy. The stairwells will eventually be done in a complementary color.
*I did NOT take my bra off in the living room the other day when I was watching TV and throw it behind the couch because I was too lazy to take it upstairs. And Isaac did NOT discover it and pull it out when my brother and his girlfriend were over today. And if that were to occur, I certainly would NOT blame the cats and make up a story about them dragging my laundry all over the house...
*Neither this week, nor any other week have I taken the laptop into the bathroom with me... no, not me... NEVER! 
