Year in Review: 2010

Well 2010, it's been real and it's kinda been fun depending on which month you're looking at, haha.  This year was a bit crazy and also really boring at some points but here we go:

January

So yeah... I really have nothing interesting to say here other than I started another semester of classes, which happened to include my Lighting class, which brought me to a whole new level of love/hate with photography, hahaha.  But it made me a much better photographer and I even took a photo that my professor proudly proclaimed "that lighting on that photo will get you jobs"  Not gonna lie, I beamed for a bit after that one.

This was also the only semester I got to take a class with the ever so lovely Kacey, whom I love dearly and boy did we have fun in Human Sexuality, sitting in the back giggling and doing collective eye-rolls when that one girl who had a story for everything (which normally didn't even apply to the topic of discussion).

February

My Mario Mushroom Tattoos

(Cause I'm a nerd like that)

These were pretty much our Valentine's Day gifts to each other, though truthfully we were boycotting the holiday this year saying we could show our love any day of the year and didn't need someone's commercialized bs to justify it.

These were Cody's new tattoos, you probably can't see it very well here (especially since it's right after they were done- details don't usually show up til they heal) but the blue star looks like water and the red looks like fire.

March

3 years.

And we haven't killed each other!!

*happy dance*

This was also the month we were working on where we were supposed to be moving and my Pride took one in the family jewels.  T^T  Only to find out later even after cleaning the place up that it wasn't going to be liveable as there was damage to the foundation, water pipes, etc. and it was scramble like hell to try and find a plan B.

April

We moved!!!   We finally got out of that tiny apartment and moved into a house (duplex if you wanna get technical) and it's like 3 times the size of the place we were living plus had a yard for lil miss Sakura to run around in, which she loves.  We also finally have room to grow and aren't stepping on each other all the time and room for a garden.  Plus we're near the edge of town so I don't feel so claustrophobic.  Not saying I love the city now but it sure as hell made it MUCH easier to deal with.

May

The End Hate Photoshoot with my besties Kat & Kacey.
(Click on this ^ link to see my blog with our finished Photos)

I also finally did my "peek-a-boo wildlights"

June

I got a new desk for my office with room for me to eventually get a couple more huge monitors for photo editing as well as have space for my writing and drawing stuff as well.  Before now I had been working on a desk that had tons of stuff shoved into drawers and I could never find everything.

Bestie Margarita and I went and saw Eclipse at midnight and loved it.  Definitely the best of the movies so far with the exception of the new Victoria.  Sorry kids but she was terrible.  She took Victoria who wanted revenge and was a wicked person and turned her into a sniveling wuss!!  Other than that it was amazing.  Suddenly there was actually acting from the MCs and there was no Stuttering Stanley.

And I still say that Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone have amazing chemistry.

July

Pretty much the best and worst month (the best would later be replaced by September) of our lives.  

Awesome part? I met Kristina Horner when she and Luke were in Denver during their tour.  It was a lot of fun even though I felt way awkward, though she later messaged me via Twitter to assure my that I wasn't a total spaz.  She's so sweet.  Seriously if you don't already you should check her out on YouTube, she's awesome, loves Harry Potter and is super funny.  Plus ALL CAPS's music is amazing.

Now for the best/worst part... *deep breath*

We had a positive pregnancy test and were ecstatic and I told Cody in typical "us" style.

(I yelled holy f*cking sh*t from our bathroom about 4 times and Cody came running thinking he needed to be my white knight and kill a spider)

About 2 weeks later we had to trips to the ER (which has made us both refuse to EVER be treated in the Greeley hospital ever again- that place is a joke) and I had a miscarriage.  Worst month of our lives.  Also the month a came to really hate that phrase "everything happens for a reason".  I believe in that phrase whole-heartedly but when you're hurting like that you want to punch everyone who says it and I'd advise you all to leave that statement behind when comforting someone with such news.  Just be there for them, don't tell them all the ways this is for the better or how women miscarriage every day without even knowing it.  THAT IS NOT WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.  Or at least it sure as hell wasn't what I wanted to hear even though I knew that was all true.

*steps off soapbox*

Sorry about that... That was just still something that annoys me, I know people were just trying to help but it hurts even though I have always fully believed in that saying.

The good news:  Honestly it brought Cody and I much closer together.  It also let us know we could get pregnant (we had been trying for 2 1/2 years) which was huge and got us connected to a doctor that we love and was able to figure out what we were dealing with in our first appointment reproduction-wise which was HUGE.  ^w^

August
This was when we had a new addition to our family thanks to the county fair back home.

Meet Chibi-Usa (my Sailor Moon fans should get this one) our little red-headed (close to pink, ne?) bun bun.

I towed and fixed a car for the first time in my life, under the instruction of my husband of course, but it's something I've always wanted to learn.  There was actually a plan to fix up a '62 Chevy with my Gramps but it didn't work out.  Which is probably better as my Gramps and I have seriously bad temper and just helping him around the house usually ended in some cussing and yelling.
(Please love that the shirt I'm wearing is a sorority shirt)

September

Dir en Grey Concert

Again.  ^w^

Why?  Because they're freaking awesome and so amazing that it's worth seeing them several years in a row.  Plus this time Cody got to come with us and see why Margarita and I are SO in love with them and have to go every year they come.

Nan Desu Kan (Denver Anime Convention) with Cody & bestie Margarita.

This year we actually went to stuff around the convention and went to the cosplay contest (which we stayed in a line for like 2 hours so the photographer (me) could have good seats, lol).  We fangirl'd (ummm fanboy'd in Cody's case) all around the convention, seeing fav characters, saw Tomo Asaha and his band Echostream play and even recorded this vid for the lovely Meleney so she didn't have to miss out. We also bought LOTS of Japanese snacks (someone get me some ramune & ichigo flavored Gummy Choco STAT) and also went to a couple of panels.  One of which Margarita and I could have done better at with out any extra research.

I also learned of a glorious secret which I only told a handful of people.  After July I was going to be a scrooge with the news because the next few months were hell every time someone hadn't heard and I had to relive it all over again.

October

Is sadly one of the months I have VERY little of anything to share with you.  

*sigh*

We stayed home for Halloween this year and handed out candy since all of my besties now live elsewhere.  Plus no one likes to invite out the boring married couple.

(evidenced by the fact that I'm writing this blog the evening of New Years Eve)

November

10 years exactly had passed from when Cody and I started dating (the first time) to when we got to hear our baby's heartbeat.  We also finally started telling people we were pregnant other than family.  And now I won't shut up about it, hahaha.

(It was also this day that I won tix to KoRn from 106.7 KBPI for doing what I do best- Tweeting. LMAO)

I also turned 26 and it was probably the first birthday since I was like 15 that I hadn't partied it up even on my own.  O.o  But the baby I'm makin' is SO worth it.

Bestie Margarita and I went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight.  We had a blast waiting for the movie to start, playing DS while sitting next to each other and having heart-to-hearts as well as possibly making fun of a hufflepuff in front of us (you can only take so much of "planet look at me" before it's too much and it's hard not to take it when she's talking so loudly even the kids in the back could hear her clearly) and I totally got decked out in Ravenclaw colors, though my tie was a tad fail.

IT WAS AMAZING.

Honestly I couldn't even tweet anything, I was speechless.  (Plus my head hurt from bawling)

December

Got to see KoRn in concert in Denver.

Sadly being pregnant we didn't get to stay the whole night because I simply couldn't stand any longer because my hip was killing me (would have been alright had we not had to stand through TWO crappy opening bands that were "best bands in Denver" and we wonder why our music scene sucks.) but we did get an hour of awesome and I loved them. 

Lunar Eclipse/Yule

Probably most surprisingly... I started blogging regularly.

*gasp*

Considering how few blogs to go from for this review this was huge for me.  But I'm hoping to bring MWF blogs to you all from now on and if you have anything you want me to blog about please let me know!!! Want a post for each of the furkids while we wait for the baby?  Please guys tell me something cause I'm sure soon I'm going to run out of interesting things to talk about. XD

Also we have a family blog now.  This one will be for family to keep everyone updated and to post pics of the little one when "she" arrives (We don't know the sex yet but I'm convinced it's a girl because the only old wive's tale I've ever seen work 98% of the time said girl so :P) but here it is if you wanna check it out.  :D  I'm thinking as of now I'll post here what I post there, but we'll see.  It's boring as of right now though.  Will update after our ultrasound next week!

With that I leave you my 2010 review and look forward to blogging more in 2011.

Have a wonderful New Year Year and I hope that 2011 brings you all you hope for and more!!

xoxo ^w^

Wordless Wednesday: Makes Me Smile

So I don't think I've shared this one before but if I have I'm sorry, but it made me smile today when I came across it.  ^w^

I really love that man...

(This was taken like 9 years ago)

Christmas Wrapup... or is it Unwrap?

So I didn't take photos of presents being opened or anything partly because Christmas just felt weird and I wasn't in the mood and also because I don't care who you are, photos of my niece and nephews just come out a blur when they're unwrapping presents.  Seriously the youngest didn't even stop to see what he had opened and didn't even completely unwrap half of them.  Honestly I think the lil guy just likes tearing things apart, haha. (only half joking here)

So we had to wrap Kandess' in a vacuum cleaner box because it was too awkward to wrap as an irregular shaped gift without getting holes galore poked into it (we have a dog & cat that love to rough-house remember) so first she looked at it after we said it was her's and she goes no it's not, it's a different name.

Aunt Cat can't write anything in print.  Even if I try I end up with cursive at the end.  >.<  So we had to explain it was cursive and still her name, lol.  Then when she finally got to open it she ripped it open and went "this is somebody else's, it's a vacuum".  LOL.  Poor girl got disappointed twice.  She seemed very happy with the tea set when she finally got to it though so it was a win after all.  :P

The boys were pretty darn impressed with the Cars cars we got that changed color with water.  As in there was much squealing, laughing and "no my turn!!"s that could be heard from the bathroom as Uncle Cody tried to make sure they didn't flood the bathroom, hahaha. 

I think the best part though was when Cody's Grandfather came in with some clock he couldn't get set.  I still can't believe this one.  See Cody's grandparents don't even cuss, plus there's always that element of not believing your parents or grandparents ever did what we all know you have to do to even have kids or even that they thought of it.  So Cody's grandmother got his grandfather this clock and it was...


wait for it...


A girl in a bikini that dances around the pole when the alarm goes off.

O.o

What I love was none of us could believe she bought it for him and were even more flabbergasted with how proud she was of this thing!! XDD  It was absolutely hilarious.

Overall Christmas was great and it was awesome to get to spend some time with our families.  I got Eclipse and Despicable Me, a jewelry cabinet (I have WAY too many necklaces) as well as PEZ for me and the wee one, lmao.  The wee one also got gifts- I'll try to post some pictures later, the onesies were pretty cute.  In fact I've already gotten quite a bit of baby stuff and Okaasan and the in-laws are trying to work out what to get us since we got a crib lined up already thanks to Cody's boss.

And as I type that I remember how lucky we are to have so many people that are so awesome in our lives.  Which puts today into perspective.  For those who are like wtf are you talking about:  Ichigo wouldn't start this morning (and it's the radio that I've fought so hard about keeping that seems to be causing the battery drain- oh hai irony) and so then I was late and all sorts of little other stuff. 

But you know what?  Cody can fix the car, being late wasn't that big of a deal to anyone but me to be truthful and by tomorrow this will all be in the past and likely forgotten forever, especially after I catch a nap today, lol.

So I'm thinking about starting a family blog... but I'm just not sure.  See I talk about things here I wouldn't exactly share with some of my family, like choice in holidays (they're not aware of the religion change. Or things like that I think Felicia Day is freaking hot for that matter) and I'm afraid to bore to death what readers I do have with baby stuff.  Plus maybe it would be a good way to keep the family up to date with, well, the family.  What do you guys think?  I'd still try to my MWF blogging here and over there it would probably be a weekly or so thing... Hmmm....

Well anyway I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Yule/Hanukkah/Kwanza etc. and now I'm off to start compiling my Year in Review for 2010 and HOPEFULLY get it posted on Friday.  You know before the year ends, lol.

Food For Thought: Water

Have you ever seen What the #$*! Do We Know!? If not I highly suggest it, though today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite parts of the entire movie.  It's also a less Quantum Mechanics-y part so hopefully your head won't hurt when the clip is over, hahaha.  Every time I watch this movie I discover something new but every time it reminds me the wonderful and terrible things our thoughts can do to us, which I think is the most powerful of all.  They also discuss in the movie something I believe quite firmly, that we see what we want, but if you wanna hear more about that then I'll let you head out and find the movie for yourself. :)

It will probably be easier to click on it and watch it on YouTube, so you can watch it larger.  Also if you follow me on Twitter you probably already so me tweet this very clip, so feel free to ignore. :)

I just feel like we forget that our thoughts really mold us.  You are what you think.  Which is also discussed in more depth in the movie as well, but for now I'll hope this part has piqued your interest and you've decided to check it out but I'll warn you, it might make your head spin the first time, hahaha.  Or you may hate it, that's a good possibility too as in my experience people either love it or hate it and there are few that feel somewhere in between.  I happen to love it though.  I also have an opinion about why people who hate it do but I'll let that go for now. *bats eyelashes*

So be careful with what you think, friends, because you are what you think, not what you eat (handy to know since Christmas is this week eh? ^w~ ).

^w^

Wishing Everyone a Blessed Yule

So did you see the lunar eclipse last night?  I thought it was a really cool event for being Yule, since this is about welcoming the sun back (It's the longest night of the year and from now on the days will start getting longer, which I'm not exactly a fan of but I do love me some Yule festivities, especially of the celestial kind).  I tried to stay up and nearly made it to full on eclipse but was in serious need of some sleep.

So what are you doing/did do to celebrate?  Did you ring bells to greet the Solstice morning?  Or perhaps you decorated your Yule tree or Yule log instead.  Or maybe you sat down with the kids and cleaned your closets to take donations to your local shelter or did a little shopping with them for non-perishables to donate to the food bank.

Or maybe you went about your business like it was any other day, unaware today was any different than any other Tuesday before Christmas.  ;)  Or even better maybe you started this post & realized today really does sound like a good day to donate to someone a little less fortunate in honor of whatever holiday spirit you claim.  ^w^

I think I'm more excited about the Yules to come than anything.  Why?  Because they will include making ornaments and other decorations with the kids (well when they're old enough which will obviously not be next year) and doing things like donating to shelters and food banks and such as well.  I've also decided that we'll have a second tree, a Yule tree to put up on Yule (shhh don't tell Cody as this means buying another to be our Christmas tree) where we'll have all our homemade ornaments, which is currently our only tree.  Which Cody laughs at, the jerk. (Kidding, you know I love you baby)

Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays now but... well, I'm ready for kids and let's just say like May seems AGES away right now.  I know it will be here before I know it but ugh.  

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Yule post becomes me talking about being pregnant.  Lol.  Stay tuned because I can guarantee you it won't be the last time. ^w^;

Now I leave you with some other activities, mostly decorations to make other than the activities I listed above and I hope maybe you'll find some of it fun and give it a go either yourself or with your kids (don't have kids?  Borrow some, lol.  Nieces & nephews are great, plus you can feed them sugar while you make said decorations and send them home with Mom & Dad *evil grin*  My bro-in-law & his wife should really be glad we live 3 hours away, hahaha!).  ^w^ 

Cup O' Sunshine Materials:
Terra-Cotta Pot, Paints and Paintbrushes, Styrofoam Block, String, Scissors, 1 yd 2" wide Green Ribbon, Yellow, Red, and Orange Lollipops and Sugar Sticks, Jelly Beans.

Clean terra-cotta pot if necessary. Allow to dry. Paint outside and down to first lip of inside with a bright solid color. After this base coat dries, decorate with other colors. When completely dry, place a block of styrofoam in the bottom of the pot. Cut green leaves out of the ribbon and tie to lollipops with string. Push the lollipop sticks into the styrofoam block to anchor them. Add the sugar sticks and fill rest of pot with loose jellybeans. (Explain to children that during the dark part of the year, sometimes we need to make our own sunshine. Let them know that bright colored gardens and flowers will be back in the spring, and this little pot of sunshine will cheer up a sick friend or relative.) 

Dough Art Decorations Materials:
4 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup salt, Cookie Cutters, Wire Ornament Hangers, Acrylic Paints.

Combine flour, salt, and water in a large bowl. Dough should kneed easily but not be sticky, if so, add more flour. On a flat surface, lay down some waxed paper. Take a handful of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin. Cut dough into shapes with the cookie cutters. Make a hole in top of "cookie" for wire hanger. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and put in oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until *slightly* brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool thoroughly. Paint with acrylic paints. Allow to dry, place hanger in hole and adorn tree, packages, or hang in windows. (Allow children to make-up Yule stories to go along with each decoration they are making.) 

Bake a Yule Log Cake

 There are several recipes and as of yet I haven't tried any (may give one a go this evening though) but there are two on this site, which also has some more info about Yule logs, that you may like and if you have one you've tested and know to be amazing let me know and I'll post it up here too! :D

Yule Fire Spell

On the darkest night of the year, gather together three dried leaves of holly and pulverize them into powder. On a clean, four-inch by four-inch piece of paper, write a single word in red ink that represents what quality you would like to be born within yourself along with the newborn Yule Sun.

Sprinkle the holly powder into the center of the paper and twist the whole thing closed with the holly powder inside. Light the wick of a red candle, and from this flame, light the holly- filled paper on fire. As it burns, see your wish fulfilled.

And I understand this kind of stuff isn't for anyone but I believe that understanding is one of the greatest gifts we are given and being open helps us all realize that we're really not that different.  ^w^

Have a Blessed Yule everyone!!!

My Favorite Singer EVER

I love all kinds of music but there are a handful of favorites that in my opinion can do no wrong.  I have an all time favorite of all, though.  Ya know how people ask "if you could only listen to one artist for the rest of your life, who would it be?"  Well my answer is always the same.

P!nk

Since her first album she's been my favorite artist and I absolutely adore her.  Honestly, she's my hero.

If you've known me for long you know that Dear Diary is my song.  It's the only song that has ever stayed on the "soundtrack to my life" and is always #1.  It's why I got my "angel" tattoo on my left shoulder blade.

"I've got a guardian angel tattooed on my shoulder, she's been watchin over me."

It was something I always wanted and just happened to get at the time I needed her most, but I digress. P!nk's music has always touched me.  Love Song was to be played at my wedding, had I not forgotten the damn CD with all our music at home.  >.<  Her music is the kind of music I can take a song and put it on repeat for a day and never get sick of it.  In fact I've done that very thing many times and she's the only artist that I have an entire playlist of just her music.

I could go on for days about how songs like Sober have made me sing a long and cry while doing it.  I could try to count the times I have belted out Misery in my car, shower or room and probably made my family want to shoot me for my horrible singing, haha.  I could go on about how my favorite videos are from her and that pretty much I think she's a freaking genius.  Her music helped me survive high school & still inspires me today.  I never buy  Cosmo, unless she's on the cover.  Pretty much if I see her on the cover of anything I'll buy it.

So I've been low on the fundage and just finally got Raise Your Glass & Fuckin' Perfect last week.  I had heard Raise Your Glass and watched the video on her website too many times to count and I loved it.  So I knew the other would be amazing too.  Listened to it that day at work...

I cried.

Listen to it at her website.  Seriously I can't even articulate how much I love this song.

Unfortunately, I've never been to a concert.  :(  But her music is amazing and I love it so much.  She's amazing and I love that she is who she is and I love her attitude.  She doesn't apologize for who she is and in today's world that doesn't happen very often.  She's the whole package and that's all there is too it.  P!nk is not just a singer, she's a performer and owns a stage on award shows like no one can.  She's my hero and has been for years and her music means so much to me.

And now that I sound like I'm pathetically obsessed with her to the point of hiding in the bushes outside her house, I think I'll leave it at that, lol.

Oh wait, one more thing, which admitting makes me feel like a total stalker/creeper... I'm entirely too excited that my favorite singer and I are pregnant at the same time.  Lol.  Good to know someone else is suffering through wine withdrawals. Haha!
*waits for the call about the restraining order*

Destroying Ourselves

Alright... so I wrote this a while back and it's long and ranty & probably doesn't even make sense by the end because I'm terrible at keeping my ideas organized, my essays in college are horrific.  So yeah... Just a warning.

Again I'm taking a Women's Studies course.  Not my favorite class by a long shot.  Well today we were talking about how media affects women and then how it's just women being oppressed more and more.  (a little of which I believe is someone reading into ads a little too much, but whatever)  I hate this class simply because it feels like 24/7 male bashing.  It's also full of poor unsuspecting little freshies who are fresh out of Mommy & Daddy's arms to the big world on their own to develop their own ideas and opinions and they're having this crap shoved into their impressionable little heads.

*headdesk*

Yes, let's teach women to hate men, that sounds like a great idea.

Maybe I'm odd. I married a man who every day tells me I'm beautiful and looks at me with nothing but love.  (balls, now I'm tearing up, lol)  I'm not saying that women aren't oppressed or being treated unfairly in the world.  Yes I'm angered by the fact that I only make 74 cents or so to every dollar a man makes, that's unfair BUT I don't feel this is only the fault of men.  I'm also angry that women are expected to be rail thin and perfect, but this also isn't only by the fault of men.  They don't deserve to have all of that placed on their heads.

Women are largely responsible for the pressure on women to look "perfect".  Don't believe me?  Come on ladies let's be HONEST here, we've ALL done this.

You're with friends and a skinny "good looking" woman (by America's current standards) walks by.  What gets said?

Things like:

"Those can NOT be real"

"There's no way you can eat and still be that skinny"

"That's not natural."

Now a thicker woman walks by:

"Someone eats their feelings."

"Has she looked in a mirror?"

"She can't be happy looking like that."

I know this happens because I myself am guilty and I have overheard other women say these types of things every damn day.  We have all at one point talked shit about another woman for her looks for one reason or another.  We are more guilty than anyone for what ads have come to represent.

A Twitter friend Nanti_SARRMM sent me this article while I was ranting and raving on Twitter (poor Tweeps who follow me get that kind of stuff a lot, lol) Worthless Women and the Men Who Create Them and it's a great blog by a man and how they make women feel worthless and how they need to make a change to their behavior to help women realize they are NOT worthless.  And yeah, men are partially responsible for women and their skewed vision of themselves and other women, but they're not the whole problem.  Women are ridiculously critical of each other and ourselves.  I think we've all seen something we've pointed out on someone else in ourselves, which then just makes us feel worthless.

So my point, which sounded really good in my head but now doesn't seem to be being made very well as I write this, is that men are not the only ones responsible for women having a terrible self image of themselves.  Women are just as much, if not MORE, responsible than men.  ALSO, men feel pressures of advertising too.  How often is a man in an ad without a shirt, a guy that doesn't have a 6 pack?  Yeah, almost NEVER.  Both men and women are being shown what someone (who needs their damn head examined) thinks is the ideal man or woman every day.  It's all over TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and the internet.  Pretty much unless you're blind, or maybe Amish or something, you're going to see these things every day of your life.

and...

/rant.

Please, tell me what you think.  Are you a guy constantly feeling the pressure to be a muscular stud?  A woman sick & tired of not even being able to feel comfortable in her own skin because society keeps telling her that a healthy weight makes you unhappy?  Who do you blame?  A week or so ago my photo prof mentioned readers being upset with Sports Illustrated for using healthier models and how they lost business as a result.  Who's responsible?

Artist Spotlight: Jessica Joslin

One of my favorite bloggers, The Dainty Squid, often posts about artists she loves and I thought I would follow suit, so here you are.  A bonus Thursday post of one of my favorite artists.

Jessica Joslin

I found Jessica while flipping through a tattoo magazine, but which I can't really remember.  I think it may have been the one for women, but I'm not sure.  Anyway when I saw these sculptures I fell in love.  She does found objects sculptures (which are my most favoritest kinds of sculptures EVER) and they're so amazing.  Here are a few:

They're simply amazing.  She had always collected findings and natural objects, feathers and the like, when younger and then in '92 began using them to create works like these.  Everything she uses is a found object, whether found in an antique shop or an attic.  As for the bones, don't fret, she is an animal lover and says "With the exception of replicas and common domestic species (eg. chickens) animal bones are acquired from licensed distributors, the sort of company that a natural history museum might work with if they were putting together an exhibit. I have a strong affinity for animals and take care to deal only with reputable companies, whose specimens are legally and ethically obtained."(quote & photos from Jessica's site)

 

I pretty much love her.  Her name at the top of the post links to her website so please check it out.  She has many more works as well as answers to frequently asked questions such as where she finds her parts, where she comes up with names and her influences.  ^w^

Devoured Books

My "Recently Devoured" Books sections is starting to take over my side bar and it's now been a year since I started keeping track.  Wow.  I can't believe it's been that long!  So while I hate to see notches in my bedpost like my man Vishous' book, Lover Unbound, leave the list it really isn't recent anymore, so here is my extended list of books I've read since I started keeping track.  ^w^

Favorite Books are underlined so you can get an idea of what I've enjoyed.

Sea of Regret (w/ Stones in the Sea) Translated by Patrick H. (3-2010) 

The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide by JR Ward (3-19-10)  

Lover Enshrined by JR Ward (3-9-10) 

Lover Unbound by JR Ward (3-2010) 

Musui's Story by Katsu Kokichi (2-2010)  

Lover Revealed by JR Ward (2-2010) 

Lover Awakened by JR Ward (1-2010) 

Lover Eternal by JR Ward (12-2010) 

Dark Lover by JR Ward (12-2009)  

Tempted by PC & Kristin Cast (11-2009)

Wordless Wednesday & Wise Words Wednesday

Normally I would do I these on two separate blogs completely but tumblr is violating Wheaton's Law about scheduled posts, I'm going to combine posts over here.  This way you get double the awesome... or something.

First up:

Wordless Wednesday

And now...

Wise Words Wednesday

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?  Right.  The photo that lovely quote is resting on happens to be my own, hence the logo being on it, so yeah if you're new to my blog, don't steal, I have minions with very few morals. :P

Sakura's Style

Happy Monday all!!  Well as happy as a Monday can be. :P

On Twitter, many, many weeks ago, we were talking about how it's getting cold which means out come the shirts, dresses, hoodies and coat for little miss Sakura and I was like hey I should do a blog post about how much clothes our little beloved wiener doggie has.  Cause I'm sad and pathetic and need children (thank the gods we have one on the way eh?).

Sakura has t-shirts:

 

And sweaters

 

And hoodies & dresses:

 

 

Then of course she has two coats:

This one I had to buy

Then of course there's the new coat, an early Christmas present from Aunt Margie (yes... Auntie who never buys pink actually touched this long enough to buy & deliver it XD):

Sadly she's not really a fan, but she'll get used to it I'm sure. :D

Say "thank you aunt Margie" XD

Funny story:  The night she got this she accidentally got dropped on her head.  We were trying to motivate her to move around and she was being nudged to try and jump off the chair... yeah she didn't jump.
>.<
Poor little girl.

Free At Last

So I didn't blog much this semester but a large part of that was how much it sucked and how much work I was doing all semester.  Plus I had big news that I couldn't start sharing until after November 8th, hence yesterday's post.  Which was really hard not to do because there were so many of you I wanted to tell but after telling EVERYONE last time and then having to relive the miscarriage over and over whenever I ran into someone else who hadn't heard yet I refused to go through that again.

Classes were horrific this semester.

I had two history classes which involved two papers and two really intensive exams for each, the one only being 5-7 page papers though but the other being 10-15 page papers.  >.<  And his exams are brutal.  But I think I survived.  You never know with two essays on the final... He has really high standards but you know what, it gives me a challenge, which apparently I needed my second to last semester of my entire college career, haha.

Oh yeah... I'm graduating in May.  I have one more semester left.

*Giant sigh of relief*

Now to tackle that photography portfolio. ^w^

I also had a terrible Women's Studies class that was at 8 am two day a weeks (I do NOT do mornings which you know if you follow me on Twitter, lol) and it had a crap load of reading.  Oh best part... it had a man hating professor.  That was awesome.  It was exactly as I dreaded it would be- nothing but man-hating crap.  Sorry but ladies if you want to change something in the world, whining about shit does NOTHING.  Js.

Then there was photography where I discovered that with our photo prof as you get into higher classes you have less strict guidance & deadlines.  He has everything due at the end which is bad news bears for me.  I totally ended up rushing things at the end and did not get done what I wanted and I'm horrified at what I turned in.  I will however be prepared for next semester though!!  ^w^  The less strict guidelines is good though, be an art and all, it's nice when your professors encourage developing your own style before you leave college.

As for photography, keep an eye on my photography website too, as I'll be posting up some new photos I've taken this semester.  Especially of two lovely ladies I heart bunches who were awesome enough to let me snap some photos of them near the stinkiest lake in Greeley, lol.  It's a wonder none of us lost our lunches.  *shudders*  Especially my pregnant and nauseous self, hahaha (especially with this superhuman smell I have now).  Gonna have to redo some posts though as I didn't realize blogger strips all your metadata from photos.  

Thank you blogger!!!  /sarcasm

So now I'm using flickr to put them up because they keep all your metadata (info about your photo like creator and how it was taken).  Granted people can still be nasty little thieves if they really want to be, but I guess it's kind of like locking your car door, it keeps the honest (or I guess somewhat honest people because what honest person would steal at all) from violating Wheaton's Law, because stealing makes you a dick and being a dick is BAD, Wil Wheaton says so.  :P

Oh!  I almost forgot what else I did!!  Did you see in my novel progress that there's been an addition of a word count AND a little button/ribbon??

I won NaNoWriMo for the first time!!!

Even through all that crap in school (5-7 page paper due the 8th & 10-15 page paper due on my birthday) and going home for Thanksgiving and such I finished a novel!  Well I got past 50k words.  I still need to go back and finish things up, but finals was this week (and for non art students stuff is always due the week BEFORE in art classes) so it needed to take a back seat for a couple weeks.

Then it's edit time!!

(Gomen, just a tad excited)

But also on the to-do list for Christmas break is organizing my ridiculous amount of photos.

Hold me... I'm scared.

I started out my first digital photography semester quite well but things went downhill quick and now it's ridiculous how much organizing I have to do. *sigh*  But it must be done so I can keep backups up to date.

Oh on that note... back up your shit lovelies... trust me.

Wasn't me, but a gal in my photography class lost EVERYTHING 2 weeks before finals and had to re-shoot and edit everything.  Scary stuff, kids.  Well scary stuff if you have a ridic amount of photos, documents and such, not so much if you're one of those weirdos who isn't constantly on their computer. :P

Well that's it for now!! ^w^

Let's Pretend

Let's pretend for just a moment that I don't suck at blogging.

Let's pretend we've gone back in time to November 8, 2010 and I'm writing this blog that day.

(This one requires less imagination)

November 8th, ten years ago.  Cody and I started dating for the first time.

November 8th this year, ten whole years later...
(pauses for a moment feeling old)

Cody and I heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time.


Yeah this post would have been a whole lot better had I posted it the day I should have, which was an entire month ago. *headdesk*

Today, no actually today... is my 16 week appointment.
Just a belly check, nothing exciting, well unless I'm bigger than I should be and we discover it's twins, but I'm doubting that.  Though it is fun to tease Cody with the idea...

^w^

Testing Something

Feel free to ignore this post, well unless you want to see sparklies.

And who doesn't love sparklies?  I know I do. 

(Which is why I own both of these glittery dresses in the first place.)

Webcomic Wednesday: Angry Faerie

So I said I was going to do this today and damnit I am!!

In the spirit of what the blog's original intent was I'm going to try and bring you a new webcomic every Wednesday, or every other.  Okay let's go with as often as I can okay?  My semester is killing me slowly so just bear with me.  Love me through it and I'll love you back.

So when I was at Nan Desu Kan in October I went to a panel called "Webcomics: Friend or Foe?" just so I could bring what I learned back to you lovelies and my YouTube watchers.  The panel was about the advantages and disadvantages of webcomics and in the process I got introduced into some new webcomics.  I haven't had a chance to check them all out (*shakes fist* damn you college "education") but I have done quite a bit of reading of one of them and after that I feel I must recommend:

Angry Faerie

by Scott Springer

He showed two comics at the panel that made me fall in love with Angry Faerie but first one of them from the beginning that I loved.  Also I support her burying the hatchet in Mika. It's what he deserves for whistling Celine Dion. *shudders*

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Now here's the one's he showed at the panel:

Zombies! Or Maybe Not?

This one is my all time favoritie:

Burn, Baby.. Burn

So pretty much you should check it out.  She gets in a fight with Tinkerbell after calling her a corporate shill.  It's pretty awesome.  Plus Scott's a local artist (Denver) and that ups his awesome by lots so yeah.

So go my little friends and enjoy Angry Faerie by Scott Springer who is a pretty cool guy.  PS his name links to his Twitter where you can stalk him as we do in this beautiful age of google maps, twitter and facebook.  

^w~

World Class Hissy Fit

I watched my professor play drama queen and throw a hissy fit of epic proportions today.

Now really even though his classes are my hardest one (and are two of the three that are making my life a complete and total hell this semester) he is one of my favorite professors.  He tends to flip out a lot.  Normally after paper & exam time because "were just not absorbing the info" etc.  Well his classes is kind of ridiculous expectation-wise some times.  Actually most of the time.  He's one of those that acts like his class is your only class with the way he loads work on.  Seriously we we're supposed to have read a huge-ass book for one of the two classes and I could barely get it started by the time paper time rolled around.

So after we all do particularly horrible on our tests he yells.  Guess one class he even made them put their heads down like they did in grade school, remember that?? *shudders*  I hated the smell of those desks and the germs... *gags*  So honestly I haven't had to experience that, thank the gods above, but yeah he does a lot of yelling.

Well he's already been complaining about how terrible our papers are in my Japanese history class today.  So in our first class of the day we were watching a movie and I can see he's standing there during the movie grading them.  This is when the fit came in.  He's up there reading and making huge disgusted faces, mumbling, mouthing curses and making exaggerated marks with his little red pen.

I lost a lot of respect for him.

He yells about this being college and not high school all the time, but that?  That right there was straight up elementary.  I'm super disappointed in him.  And uber happy that I was dumb and agreed to cover a shift during my Japanese history class so I'll be missing the yelling that will probably take half of the class period if not more.

I understand being mad but if you're students are all doing that horribly maybe, just maybe, you should look to yourself and see what you're not explaining well enough.  Sure asking your peers to check your page about the paper to see if they can understand it is great but they are not college kids anymore.  Most of them probably have doctorates and barely remember their first 1-4 years of college...

Js.

Wordless Wednesday: Back in the Day

*giggles and runs away*

Tired

So this morning was just like any other day of me spazzing as I tried to get ready to leave the house.  All until I'm pulling out of the garage and I'm like WTF, Ichigo seems to be having issues this morning.  Then I thought it was just the shoes because wearing high heels tends to make that big of a difference in my ability to reach the clutch. When I wear heels I often have to pull the seat up a notch so I can reach, lol.

Then I start out on the road and I'm like wait a second... shit.  Pretty sure I have a flat.  So I pull over to the park near the house and sure enough, it's flat as a pancake.

So I'll be late to class or miss class.  Big hairy deal.  Get all my stuff ready and I can't find a tire iron for the life of me. Shit.  This means calling the knight in shining armor to come save the damsel in distress.  I hate that.  I pride myself on being able to change a tire and my own oil yet I always have to ask for help...

(Yeah that's prolly the gods trying to teach me to stop being so damn independent but what do they know?  Kidding, KIDDING. *spends the rest of the day worrying about lightning striking me dead*)

So as I'm waiting some [censored] drives by and yells a profanity at me in Spanish.  Had I not had high heels on he would have never uttered another profanity to the opposite sex again.  Trust me.  Mostly because it would have been physically impossible when I was done.  Then I decide to go play on the park equipment.  I mean why not?  I'm sure as hell not going anywhere.  So I go, even though I'm wearing these:

So then Cody got there and we got the tire changed so I head to 7-11 to fill up the donut with more air and some jerkface is sitting in his van bogarting the damn air pump parking space so I park next to him and go to fill up my tires.  At this point he decides to finally leave and starts backing out while I'm between my car and his van.  So I'm like fine be a jerk and stand up so he doesn't run over my hand or something.  Well the hose caught on his bumper and then almost took me out.  I was not a vampire bunny as you can imagine.  Had to laugh though a little older lady came back out and goes "did he even ask to help you with that?"  "Nope." "What a gentleman".  Hahaha.

So one of two things has happened. I've either mellowed out or I've lost my damn mind because even after the Spanish vulgarity and dickhead who just couldn't wait the 10 seconds to let me finish filling that tire, I was still laughing about the whole thing.

I'm going with lost my damn mind, personally.

Sexy Saturday: Wil Wheaton

I know, I know!  It's been forever and I'm sorry but classes started Monday so I'm trying to get used to a new schedule and all that jazz.  After this post I'm off to finish reading Night Pleasures too because I know there is no freaking way I'm going to get any school reading done when I could be reading that instead.

So today I bring you the promised Sexy Saturday (or Dreamy Doyoobi but this laptop doesn't do Japanese yet cuz I'm lazy & haven't installed it yet.  Wanna fight about it?  Yeah?  Well you win because I have a headache already, congrats.)

For those that don't know Sexy Saturday is going to be my weekly Hotness Monster post.  Instead of one big post I'll "share" a hottie a week. ^w~  For my first week:

Wil Wheaton

My very first celebrity crush.

Watching Star Trek TNG with Okaasan was the first time I saw him and I was in looooove.

Seriously.  How can you resist?

Of course then I just had to have everything he was in so on went the search for movies he was in.

(Which had to be looked up in a movie BOOK... yeah a book, kids... you know what those are right? :P  This was before I could "IMDB that shit" or at least before we had a computer capable of navigating the interwebz)

And if you know me at all, you know that I quote Wheaton's Law.  A lot.  

Especially if you're Mike.  But Mike, that's because you tend to be a dick.  Lol. Jk, jk.

And yes I'm still crushin on him hardcore even now...

 

He's pretty much the King of the geeks.  No make that the god of the Geeks.

*sigh*

He's probably my fav as Fawkes on The Guild but Evil Wil is probably next.

And yes.  I stalk him via Twitter.  What do you think I am? An amateur?  Please, you insult the Vampire Bunny Queen.

& if any of you are wondering what to get me for birthday or Christmas... steal the gold I found last May and get it autographed by him.  Or get him to tweet me... I'd prolly drop dead with happiness either way though...

Random Fact about my love for Wil:

I refuse to say dirty things about Wil because his wife seems awesome (from Twitter stalking) so I would feel bad saying things like I tend to say about other celeb crushes like Hyde or Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  In fact I won't even say them in the same post as him, but when I do those posts, trust me, you'll find out. ^w~

Wordless Wednesday: Sisters

Kim, Me & Bobbie

Nerdy Nichiyoobi: Rogue

Ahhhh... elementary school.  I was such a nerd back then, oh wait... I still am.

Awesome.

I was thinking the other day about the games we used to play during recess.  One of my most vivid memories of playing during recess is when we would play X-Men on that spider-web looking metal dome.

{OMG remember when playground equipment was still METAL?  LMAO}

Anyways...  I was always Rogue.

ALWAYS.

I love her.

Yeah... It's totally the hair.  :P

City vs. Podunk (Rant)

So I try not to rant on here anymore because it's depressing for my followers but here is a quick rant.

Here's a #RandomFact about me.  I get really riled up about people calling the city a small town or podunk.  So here are some things that I consider make a place a small city rather than a small town or podunk.  

I grew up in a town of 660 people.  My graduating class?  28.  And we were such a big class they had to split us up (well that and we were a bit crazy altogether. :P) and I think we were like the 3rd largest class the school had ever had.

Unless you've partied in a field... you didn't grow up in podunk. :P  Well that or you were a good kid or had too strict of parents to get away with such things.  Have you dived into a sunflower field because you thought the cops were coming up the road?  I have.

If you have anything more than a community college (2 year) it's not a small town.  You can possibly have a Walmart but if you have two, you're definitely not a small town.  More than one school (meaning more than 1 of each level like elementary)?  No.

More than 1 of the same fast food chain or Starbucks, or theaters?  So not a small town.

Sorry but you may be in a small city but it's not a town.  Yeah, yeah... details, details but this is one of my pet peeves.  I have no idea why I get so riled up about it but I do.

My town?  2 gas stations (1 Co-op owned as is our hardware store & mechanic), 1 store that's not a major chain, 2 bars (hey gotta have lots of the important stuff true- but one is part of the American Legion), a post office and an elementary school & middle/high school, 1 restaurant/motel & 1 no name fast food-ish place.  Oh wait and 1 ridic over priced hotel for people looking to get away from the city.  We had a theater at one time but it's abandoned (well the owner lives above it but it's not in use & equip is WAY old) with the exception of the 1 movie that will play in it next weekend (the first time it's been used in about 20 years).

Oh and if you think my town is small... My husband's hometown has a post office & a school (all grades in 1 building) & maybe 200 people...

Ummm.  End rant.