'becca

... has no doubts that her nose ring is completely secure in it's li'l hole. she finally pulled it out today to clean it & snug it is.

... had to use her neighbors' yard to get out of her driveway this morning, as a car with a flat tire was blocking her in.

... is pretty sure the person driving the car that got the flat tire could have used their noodle just a little bit more & pulled up another five feet, thereby NOT blocking 'becca into her driveway.

... superglued the li'l fake gemstone back into her nose ring tonight.

... misses her roommate. a lot.

... gets very careful when using superglue around her nose.

... smiled when seeing the pizza hut ad for stuffed-crust pizza. not because she wants to buy the pizza, but because she has enjoyed it in the past.

... is pleased to be sitting around in flannel pajamas & knee-high socks. she loves this weather!

... isn't surprised, but thinks her insurance company should allow her to purchase toothpaste with her flex spending account. aren't they concerned about her oral health?

... is enjoying her new phone & its texting capabilities.

... has been greatly enjoying the corduroy vinyl cd she got in the mail this week.

... is looking forward to pay day, even though most of it's going out almost immediately in bills.

... might go to the company softball game on sunday, especially if april will join her.

... is thinking about making s'mores on her stove tonight.

... has yet to wear the adorable silver shoes! what's wrong with her?

... does not want you to actually answer that question. :)

... has the covers made for the fortune journal. she's currently letting them spend some time under heavy books to encourage them to stay flat.

... did what any self-respecting obsessive fan would do. she started the 'friends' series over again.

... was pleased to learn that a handful of area cvs pharmacies carry the izoom.

... is determined to make the most of this new found motivation.

... has been adding to this over the past couple of hours. she really has been productive tonight.

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'becca really does enjoy talking about herself in the third person.

monday's good things

today is in need of a list of Good Things.

1. the smell of mod podge.

2. the smell of fire on a cool night.

3. phone calls to good friends.

4. being fairly certain the fire was planned & not harmful to any person or building.

5. progress on the fortune journal.

6. clean laundry.

7. weather chilly enough to warrant the donning of flannel pajamas.

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'becca is taking her comfy 'jamas and going to bed.

saturdays are good

does anyone else remember the cheesecake factory conversation? this is going back like a year & a half ... so let me refresh you. i mentioned i went to cheesecake factory for lunch. joanie pointed out she loves it. erin pointed out she does not. fred pointed out she's never been to a cheesecake factory. joanie pointed out the chicago location is the best. fred suggested we go for cheesecake & then to the paper source for a stringy pirate. bethany said she wanted to join us. dave said he might join us as well - though not for the cheesecake or the pirate, but just because we're good people & he wanted to see us. (yes, i may have embellished that a tad. whatever. it's true.) so i'm thinking, maybe we should do that. you know, after the parasitic womb-dwellers have been flushed from fred & joanie's systems. and after the holidays. yes, i think we should do that.

i was reading in mental_floss today & they used the term "shoo-in" ... and i had no idea it was spelled that way. i guess i assumed "shoe-in", although i don't know why. why is it spelled "shoo-in"?

i accomplished #6! i finished the last of 'friends' this afternoon. i have no idea what i'm going to watch now as i quilt or eat dinner.

the cheesecake conversation was not randomly remembered. way too many details for that. i'm working on getting the blog archives under control. my mini-goal for today is to get all of april 2007 moved to the 2007 archive. then i think i'm possibly going to moe's to grab dinner. or go mow my lawn. it's in need of a good trimming. :)

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'becca wonders if her mailman has passed yet ...

tyb30 - september update

i wasn't going to do percentages ... but i just love math too much. besides, i've only got 4 months left 'til my birthday - i should be at 66%!

1: take 2900 photos. done, thanks to a couple of fabulous vacations. 2957 taken so far. 100%

2: visit two places i've never been before. i'm officially an overachiever on this one. :) pittsburgh, michigan, south dakota, wyoming, new mexico, oklahoma, arkansas, cincinnati. 100%

3: finish two quilts. alicia's is done. i have some progress made on the second one. 50%

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room. i should have been way more diligent about going to garage sales this summer. 0%

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. the french fry embargo officially started may 1. i've had potato chips a couple of times, but so far not too shabby. 95% (that's a solid A, but not quite perfect.)

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. on ten, disc three. what should i watch next? 95%

7: send out Christmas cards. done! hey - i never said i was going to send them out at Christmas-time. i even got an easter card sent to me in response. :) 100%

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. accomplished in july - 1,029 photos. you can see them all here on my flickr account. 100%

9: put together the fortune journal. i haven't done anything past the mediocre attempt a couple of months ago. 50%

10: surprise! done & i love it! i turned one of my living room walls into a huge piece of black/white photographic artwork. 166 of my photos, floor to ceiling, corner to corner. they start small on the left side of the wall (4.5" x 3") and get bigger with each column of photos (ending at 24" x 16"). i have had some issues with humidity, but nothing catastrophic, yet. 100%

11: send a piece of real mail each month. june - sent & received! july - sent & received! august - sent & received! september - sent & received! 100%

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix. this one won't happen. i put my netflix account on hold again this past week. i don't watch the movies enough to make it worth the money every month. so i'm officially conceding failure on this one. 19%

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's. 0%

14: host a ladies' night at the new house. technically, i hosted a ladies' night in july since we didn't play bunco. it wasn't what i originally had in mind, but it does fulfill the goal. :) 100%

15: get my own place. done! haven't you invited yourself over yet? 100%

16: plantumentary. officially started june 21, but it's in need of either an overhaul or some serious re-dedication. 50%

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers. workin' on it. 25%

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished. so far so good. 100%

19: try to grow some vegetables. i have three healthy veggie plants - and tiny tomatoes! now they just need to ripen before it frosts. :) 100%

20: read a book. i've finished'persepolis' and started catch 22, again. 100%

21: put up a Christmas tree. i have some plans for this Christmas tree. i want it to match my living room, as that is where i'll set it up. i need to do some digging for the perfect tree ... or make my own. 0%

22: get my nose pierced. done on the fifth of july! and by a very nice looking man, if i do say so myself. 100%

23: update my portfolio. it's actually sad that i haven't worked on this during the past month. must. stop. dwelling. 75%

24: screen print a t-shirt. i have a plan ... :) 0%

25: bike ten miles. i haven't had my bike out of the garage all summer. 0%

26: create artwork for the office. why am i not more motivated to be productive when i get home from work? 0%

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. 0%

28: Christmas surprise. 0%

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. 0%

averaging the percentages puts me at 57%. i'm slacking ... but a couple of them ARE Christmas related, so i've got time on those. goals i plan to attack this month: 6, 9, 23 and 27. goals i plan to make some progress on this month: 3, 16 and 28.

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'becca had a crazy day yesterday and wants little more than to go back to bed.

yeah, i know

at some point, i will stop spending money. but look at these shoes!


silver & orange? from reebok? i couldn't pass these up. nope. i could not. so i did not.


i also did not pass up these cute black & silver shoes.

c'mon. who's going to seriously call me Silver Girl if i pass up silver shoes?


and a trip through target landed me this cute tealight holder. now i just have to find my tealights. i know i have some somewhere ...

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'becca has very little desire to attend tomorrow's event.

spending money

this is my newest Patti Tobin Davis original mandala. i am completely in love with this piece. i highly recommend that you check out her site. she created a mandala a day for thirty days, and they are now available for sale. each piece comes in an 8.5" square frame (just like the one in the photo), though i agree with her that with a good 3" white mat and a black frame mine will look even more smashing on the red wall. :)



my new halloweeny front door. i'm pretty excited about halloween. i believe my porch is perfect for decorating, and i have a plan for the tree in the front yard, too. plus i'm planning to replace my cute windchime for one made with skulls & bats.


and my newest purchase - isn't it cute? thankfully i read the first couple of pages in the user guide. now i know to "never place your phone in a microwave oven as this will cause the battery to explode." whew. glad i read that before heating my phone up for dinner?! seriously.

the neighbor kids are currently playing alongside my house. there's a little "hiding spot" between their fence & the side of my house that they use when they're playing. generally i yell at them to get out of my yard ... but that little "hiding spot" of theirs is filled with poke berries that will stain & ruin their clothes. and i find that possibility pretty humorous.

i also find the possibility of them peeing themselves when i yell from inside my office to "get out of my yard!" pretty humorous.

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'becca knows you probably don't understand the significance, but getting the cell phone was a step in a scary direction for her.

hello, autumn.

while monday is the official start of autumn, i took the liberty of being a couple of days early in the celebration and swapped out my dishes to the autumn mix of colors.

note: i am both aware of & unconcerned with the fact that this makes me a nerd.

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'becca is hosting bunco tonight. on her autumn-mix fiesta ware.

updates with photos

this is the bracelet i bought myself today. cute, yes?


this is the sweet potato that sprouted while i was on my road trip. the tallest shoot is about 8.5" tall now. seriously. i just measured it.


this past monday beth & i went to the cubs/astros game that was relocated to milwaukee. not a bad way to spend a day off. :)


last saturday was our family reunion at turkey run. wayne, holly, alicia & i took a walk that included seeing this fuzzy li'l caterpillar ...


some very tall trees ...


leaves that were already changing colors ...


and nature from A to Y.

yes, i'm aware that A to Z would be cooler ... but finding branches naturally growing in the shape of a Z is tricky.


on our way home from the reunion, we stopped at a graveyard.


it included this li'l woolly worm ...


and some nice mushrooms.

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'becca now returns you to your regularly scheduled broadcasting.

photos!

i took 857 photos on my trip. eight. hundred. fifty. seven.

my 134 favorites are here on my flickr page.

the trip was amazing. we had a great time. i wish we would have had an extra day or two. thursday & friday were long days of just driving. i would've liked to spend more time in nashville. maybe some time in memphis. definitely some time in louisville. but it was seriously an amazing time.

a big thank you to lynn and jonathan & laure for letting us crash with them on various nights. it was very much appreciated. and even though our stay in colorado was horribly short, it was great to see you. i'd spend 10 hours at your house anytime. :)

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'becca wonders when she'll feel caught up on sleep.

video, anyone?

driving through deadwood after the corduroy vinyl show saturday night.


driving through new mexico this afternoon. i wanted to completely drain the battery so i could give it a fresh charge ... and a quick video did the trick.

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'becca is ready for bed.

today: wyoming & colorado

we went to mount rushmore yesterday and drove needles highway. fabulous. there were storm clouds overhead, so we got to see the boys shrouded in mist. and as we stalked the crazy horse monument for the perfect drenched-in-sunshine photo. had the yummiest rum black cherry malt at this cute li'l ice cream & pie shop in custer.

i do love ice cream.

soon we'll be heading out to meander through wyoming & down towards jonathan & laure's. stopping in estes park for a haunted hotel & a tram ride. possibly some fudge. probably some ice cream.

i do love ice cream.

said goodbye to lynn this morning. i do not love that. but no one said every moment of a vacation has to be happy, right? and tears don't have to ruin a trip ... they're really just reminding me how fortunate i am.

i'm going to miss south dakota.

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'becca thinks a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast sounds mighty fine.

labor day in rapid city

saturday & sunday's temps near 100 degrees have been replaced with a fabulous breeze and a high around 70 today. i do, however, buy into the "dry heat" theory. we have way too much humidity at home. someone should do something about that.

went to a fun li'l concert on saturday night. got me a t-shirt with a four-headed dog on it. pictures of the venue will follow in the next few days, probably.

we're going up to mount rushmore today. possibly going to the lighting ceremony tonight - we'll see how the weather holds up. they're calling for some rain.

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'becca needs to get her head unstuck from work.