Monday, February 28, 2005
Saturday, February 26, 2005
T-T-T-TORI and C.F. Payne
I would imagine that title sung to the Chia pet theme song, you know... CHI-CHI-CHI-CHIA! Anyway, I got Tori tickets. I am going with Amanda, Ashley and Andrea. I thought it was funny that their names all start with A's. Austin pointed out that they also all have 6 letters in their names and there are three of them, so that's 666, the sign of the devil. Hmm. Oh, well.
And by the way, C.F. Payne's illustrations were absolutely amazing. I wish I could paint like that. I think one of the funniest ones was a classroom of rock musicians taking a test. Bruce Springsteen was copying off of Bob Dylan's paper and John Cougar Mellancamp was copying off of Bruce's paper. I liked that. And the one that almost made me cry was part of this series about America Now that he did for Reader's Digest. It had a woman dressed up in combat gear and she was looking down reading a card that said "Happy Mother's Day." It was very touching. Other ones from that series included Santa Claus doing his shopping online and through catalogs and one of a family pulling their Thanksgiving turkey that they bought from a grocery store out of a bag. He said that he got a lot of complaints about the thanksgiving one because people saw it as a negative thing, but he did say that one lady wrote him a letter saying that they bought their turkey already cooked so she loved the illustration. She said that, by buying their turkey, she now had a chance to spend more time with her kids and their families who didn't live in the same state instead of having to spend all of her time in the kitchen cooking. Anyway, if you didn't have a chance to look at the link to C.F. Payne's work that I posted the other day, here it is again.
And by the way, C.F. Payne's illustrations were absolutely amazing. I wish I could paint like that. I think one of the funniest ones was a classroom of rock musicians taking a test. Bruce Springsteen was copying off of Bob Dylan's paper and John Cougar Mellancamp was copying off of Bruce's paper. I liked that. And the one that almost made me cry was part of this series about America Now that he did for Reader's Digest. It had a woman dressed up in combat gear and she was looking down reading a card that said "Happy Mother's Day." It was very touching. Other ones from that series included Santa Claus doing his shopping online and through catalogs and one of a family pulling their Thanksgiving turkey that they bought from a grocery store out of a bag. He said that he got a lot of complaints about the thanksgiving one because people saw it as a negative thing, but he did say that one lady wrote him a letter saying that they bought their turkey already cooked so she loved the illustration. She said that, by buying their turkey, she now had a chance to spend more time with her kids and their families who didn't live in the same state instead of having to spend all of her time in the kitchen cooking. Anyway, if you didn't have a chance to look at the link to C.F. Payne's work that I posted the other day, here it is again.
Friday, February 25, 2005
See ya!
Well, I think I'm going to go ahead up to Athens in just a little while. I might as well. My whole arm is aching, so it is getting VERY painful to work. I think maybe I am developing a carpal tunnel thing (I guess that's how you spell it). That's what you get when you work on the computer for almost 15 hours straight like I did yesterday. Anyway, my arm and my brain seriously need a break, so I'll just talk to all y'all suckers later! Thanks for reading!
A little bit of inspiration
I'm going to Athens this afternoon to see the visiting artist lecture. It should be fun. I know Jason Crosby will be there, but I'm not sure who else. It will be nice to visit Athens, though. And it is so nice to see artists speak about their work. It almost always gives me some sort of spark to help me create something different.
The City That Wishes You Well
Wednesday was so pretty. I was out taking pictures for the church brochure I'm working on and on the way back through Loganville, I decided to get some pictures of City Hall, and the well and the water tower. Here are a couple. The plaque is for Austin's brother who raised the funds to erect the flagpole next to the well. Someday I'll post a picture of the bench outside the library that is a part of Austin's Eagle Scout project.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Well, I thought my car was okay
I guess it isn't as bad as it could have been, but in the daylight you can really see all of the tiny round dents ALL OVER my car. The surface looks kind of like the surface of a golf ball. Dang it.
And the award for the worst tasting envelope goes to...
Washington Mutual!! I hate paying bills and since I wrote like 800 checks last night and licked like 800 envelopes I am most certain that the adhesive on the Washington Mutual envelope tasted the worst. At least it doesn't seem to be toxic like the wedding invitation envelopes from Seinfeld.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Happy Birthday, Mom!
I know it is a couple of days late, but here are our pictures from her birthday, Sunday. Austin is absent due to a horrendous stomach thing he had all weekend. He is just now starting to feel better. Oh, and all of the black and white photos are due to my laziness - I didn't feel like correcting all of the red eye from almost every person in the family.
Monday, February 21, 2005
So sad
I just got an email from my dad saying that Hunter Thompson shot and killed himself earlier tonight (I guess last night, technically). On my mom's birthday too. Very sad.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Holly's new "do"
She looks really enthusiastic to have the bow in her hair! Especially in the last picture - talk about giving me the evil eye!
I never get the "question" on final Jeopardy!
I just answered final Jeopardy and none of the people on the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" got it. That never happens! I feel so smart. Do you know the answer?
These 2 writers of lavish prose, born in North Carolina & Virginia 30 years apart, have the same first & last name.
These 2 writers of lavish prose, born in North Carolina & Virginia 30 years apart, have the same first & last name.
Poor Holly!
I took Holly to the vet this morning to get her groomed. The poor little thing was shaking like a leaf. I think I might start using a mobile groomer to make it less traumatic for her. I also need to start looking into a better place to board her when we go on vacation at the end of April. I think by combining the vet and boarding and grooming, it is making the vet's office the scariest place on earth! If anyone can recommend any good places to board a dog, I'm all ears.
And by the way, when I was dropping Holly off this morning, there was a couple with another Lhasa Apso. She was so cute! She had the light brown/tan color, but her face looked like Holly's. They said that she competes in AKC dog shows and stuff. They said that Holly looks like a purebred! I thought that was cool, especially since the couple in our obedience class told me she looks more like a Shih Tzu and they didn't think she was really a Lhasa Apso!!! Not that it matters. I just wanted to know what kind of dog she was.
And by the way, when I was dropping Holly off this morning, there was a couple with another Lhasa Apso. She was so cute! She had the light brown/tan color, but her face looked like Holly's. They said that she competes in AKC dog shows and stuff. They said that Holly looks like a purebred! I thought that was cool, especially since the couple in our obedience class told me she looks more like a Shih Tzu and they didn't think she was really a Lhasa Apso!!! Not that it matters. I just wanted to know what kind of dog she was.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
New Stuff!
Here are some pictures from around the house. Notice our new curtains, some new lamps and our new floor rug in the living room. Yay!
Well, you know gray is my favorite color.
It looked like a beautiful day, so I ran to Grayson to take pictures of this church for a brochure they are doing. Of course, by the time I got there, dark gray clouds filled a lot of the sky. Some of the pictures came out really cool, even though I don't know what will be usable for the brochure.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Happy Valentine's Day!
Austin got me these roses. He's so sweet!
But, watch out soon because the third Star Wars movie is on its way, and the obsession has already begun.
But, watch out soon because the third Star Wars movie is on its way, and the obsession has already begun.
Seriously, I will mail you a check for $10 if you can tell me:
A. What the heck does this mean?
B. Why would it be funny?
What I'm talking about is this comic strip (you'd think I could figure out Dilbert). And, I apologize for the ad with the roach - I normally would not link a page with that ad, but I am just too perplexed by Dilbert.
A. What the heck does this mean?
B. Why would it be funny?
What I'm talking about is this comic strip (you'd think I could figure out Dilbert). And, I apologize for the ad with the roach - I normally would not link a page with that ad, but I am just too perplexed by Dilbert.
I think I've had too much coffee this morning.
I am very happy and jittery this morning. Happy Valentine's day and happy belated birthday to Ashley!!! I promise to post some pictures late today or early tomorrow, but for now, just let me ramble a bit.
First of all, let me tell you about the excellent idea that Sania had. A couple of weeks ago she emailed me about starting a food website. The website is now up and this weekend we all made our first recipe for the site. If anyone is interested in participating, take a look at Getting Fat Together and just let me know. We would love to have more people join in our little experiment.
Thanks to Andrea and Joe who introduced Austin and me to Alias. We had never watched it, but after listening to them praise the show, we rented the first disk of the first season. We loved it! So, for the last few weeks we have been watching Alias almost exclusively. We are now in the second season already. Great show!
And finally, the Grammy Awards were on last night. For the first time in quite a few years, I was actually interested in watching it. And, amazingly, it was pretty darn good. I missed the beginning, but I loved Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge's tribute to Janis Joplin - they were fantastic. Green Day was good, Queen Latifah was good, the Kanye West performance was pretty good (of course the best thing about it was the Blind Boys of Alabama), and the Across the Universe compilation was great and horrible at the same time. I wasn't that impressed with Usher. He did include James Brown a little bit, which was cool, but it just wasn't that great of a performance. I think the cutest moment of the night was when Loretta Lynn and Jack White accepted their Grammy. And of course Ray Charles won the grammy for Genius Loves Company, which is a wonderful album. Overall, it was a very entertaining, nice show.
And the other news of the weekend (and it might be only interesting to me) is that we got new curtains for the bedroom and they are beautiful!!! It really makes the room sooooo much nicer! So, anyway, that's all for now.
First of all, let me tell you about the excellent idea that Sania had. A couple of weeks ago she emailed me about starting a food website. The website is now up and this weekend we all made our first recipe for the site. If anyone is interested in participating, take a look at Getting Fat Together and just let me know. We would love to have more people join in our little experiment.
Thanks to Andrea and Joe who introduced Austin and me to Alias. We had never watched it, but after listening to them praise the show, we rented the first disk of the first season. We loved it! So, for the last few weeks we have been watching Alias almost exclusively. We are now in the second season already. Great show!
And finally, the Grammy Awards were on last night. For the first time in quite a few years, I was actually interested in watching it. And, amazingly, it was pretty darn good. I missed the beginning, but I loved Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge's tribute to Janis Joplin - they were fantastic. Green Day was good, Queen Latifah was good, the Kanye West performance was pretty good (of course the best thing about it was the Blind Boys of Alabama), and the Across the Universe compilation was great and horrible at the same time. I wasn't that impressed with Usher. He did include James Brown a little bit, which was cool, but it just wasn't that great of a performance. I think the cutest moment of the night was when Loretta Lynn and Jack White accepted their Grammy. And of course Ray Charles won the grammy for Genius Loves Company, which is a wonderful album. Overall, it was a very entertaining, nice show.
And the other news of the weekend (and it might be only interesting to me) is that we got new curtains for the bedroom and they are beautiful!!! It really makes the room sooooo much nicer! So, anyway, that's all for now.
Friday, February 11, 2005
My Portfolio
I FINALLY got around to doing some updating on my portfolio section of this website. Check it out if you have some time!
You don't know what's funny
I just saw a commercial for "the best jokes ever" for your cell phone. It included "Dumb blonde jokes, lawyer jokes and more!" Hmm... won't be buying those!
Light up my life
Have you been to Target lately? The "Global Bazaar" section they have is really great. We picked up some stuff a week or so ago. Austin was getting tired of one of our living room lamps, so we bought this really cool, very tall table lamp from the "China" section. I was nervous when we were buying it because I wasn't sure if it would dwarf the table lamp on the other side table. The new lamp is 27 inches tall. So, anyway, we both secretly wanted to buy 2 lamps, but we just bought one to be conservative. As soon as we got home and set the lamp up, we both said, "we should have bought two lamps." So then, I got on the phone and called about 7 different Target stores within about an hour of our house. None of them had the lamp and it wasn't on the website. So, my next solution was, we could order another style of lamp that is similar in height and color, but different enough so it looked like we bought mismatched lamps on purpose. So, we found a lamp and I ordered it. I got an email about 2 days ago saying the lamp had shipped. That same night I was at Target near Gwinnett Place mall, and there was our lamp. I bought it.
So now, we have the 2 lamps we replaced, the 2 new lamps and the one that will probably be arriving today in the mail. They are all very nice lamps, so if anyone needs any extra light in their life, let me know.
So now, we have the 2 lamps we replaced, the 2 new lamps and the one that will probably be arriving today in the mail. They are all very nice lamps, so if anyone needs any extra light in their life, let me know.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Phone Update
Well, the new phone came today. I had, indeed, lost all of my phone numbers and email addresses that I had set up, my calendar, my to do list, and my email account on the phone. I know I have only had it for about 2 weeks, but I sure wasted a bunch of time entering all of that stuff, just to have it disappear on me. Anyway, it is charging right now and I hope to have everything reentered tonight and up and going again tomorrow. What a week!!!!
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
How do you spell a whiney, pouty, growling noise?
That is only way to really express my frustration right now. I just feel like crying. I know that there was indeed life before cell phones and email, but I didn't have a business to run during that time period. I am finally back by my computer so I will have some contact with the outside world now, but I won't have a cell phone until "probably tomorrow." Of course the idiot who took my phone and placed the replacement order didn't spell my street name right and took down my cell phone number as my contact number and I had to fight with her to get some sort of receipt or record of the fact that she took my phone from me. I hope I really get a phone in the mail tomorrow. Please, oh, please, oh, PLEASE!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
I think my body must emit some kind of odd frequency
or something that breaks every electronic device I own. Let's start with my computer in college that CAUGHT ON FIRE!!! I always thought that the Mac cubes looked kind of like toasters. Actually I think Ashley made the analogy when we were watching a commercial for them one night where the CDs popped out of the top of the computer. I didn't know how right we were until I turned on the computer one morning and was sitting on the floor doing my makeup. We had mirrored doors in our old apartment. Anyway, out of the corner of my eye I saw smoke coming from the top of my computer. I flew across the room and unplugged the power. Needless to say, Apple sent me a replacement computer. But, here is a list of electronic devices that have malfunctioned in my prescence (and I'm sure I'm missing a few):
1. My second car, the station wagon - among its many quirks was the broken spedometer. I didn't discover that it didn't work until one day when my mom followed me home from Athens. I thought I was doing a reasonable 50 miles per hour most of the way home. When we stopped, she informed me that I had been going 70 most of the way home. Yes, it was 20 miles per hour off, but the amount that it was off varied depending on how fast or slow I was going. It was not easy to determine what speed I was going.
2. My camera - I love my camera, but occassionally the lens gets stuck out and I never know when or where it is going to happen.
3. My first iPod developed a problem where even when it was fully charged, only the apple would fill the screen and I couldn't get to any other kind of menu and eventually the screen would just go blank. The cost of getting it fixed was almost as much as a new iPod with more memory, so that's why I got my new one.
4. When we came back from our honeymoon, our TV wouldn't stay on. It would come on for a few seconds and then cut off by itself. It took about 3 or 4 months before they replaced it.
5. My Honda worked really well for a long time. Then the burning smell started. And the broken air conditioner.
6. Oh, and I forgot about the broken air conditioner in the station wagon too.
7. And the broken circuit board in the heating/air system in our house.
8. Austin's computer broke right after I used it once.
And I'm sure there were more...
Anyway, all of this came about because tonight I was checking my email on my Blackberry and an error came up, error 365 to be exact and it says "reset," but nothing happens when I push any of the buttons. I even took the battery out and nothing happened. Then, when I went to look up the customer service number, my computer froze and I had to restart. The long and short of it is that I have to take my phone in to the service center tomorrow and I will be without my cell phone which is pretty much the only way, besides email, that my clients can get in touch with me. I NEED MY PHONE BACK! This is just getting ridiculous.
1. My second car, the station wagon - among its many quirks was the broken spedometer. I didn't discover that it didn't work until one day when my mom followed me home from Athens. I thought I was doing a reasonable 50 miles per hour most of the way home. When we stopped, she informed me that I had been going 70 most of the way home. Yes, it was 20 miles per hour off, but the amount that it was off varied depending on how fast or slow I was going. It was not easy to determine what speed I was going.
2. My camera - I love my camera, but occassionally the lens gets stuck out and I never know when or where it is going to happen.
3. My first iPod developed a problem where even when it was fully charged, only the apple would fill the screen and I couldn't get to any other kind of menu and eventually the screen would just go blank. The cost of getting it fixed was almost as much as a new iPod with more memory, so that's why I got my new one.
4. When we came back from our honeymoon, our TV wouldn't stay on. It would come on for a few seconds and then cut off by itself. It took about 3 or 4 months before they replaced it.
5. My Honda worked really well for a long time. Then the burning smell started. And the broken air conditioner.
6. Oh, and I forgot about the broken air conditioner in the station wagon too.
7. And the broken circuit board in the heating/air system in our house.
8. Austin's computer broke right after I used it once.
And I'm sure there were more...
Anyway, all of this came about because tonight I was checking my email on my Blackberry and an error came up, error 365 to be exact and it says "reset," but nothing happens when I push any of the buttons. I even took the battery out and nothing happened. Then, when I went to look up the customer service number, my computer froze and I had to restart. The long and short of it is that I have to take my phone in to the service center tomorrow and I will be without my cell phone which is pretty much the only way, besides email, that my clients can get in touch with me. I NEED MY PHONE BACK! This is just getting ridiculous.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Baby Shower
I had a baby shower for my sister yesterday, and I think it went very well. My mom was a tremendous help and my grandmother and Pat helped out with the chairs. All in all, I had such a good time seeing everyone and I hope Becca enjoyed it. The shower reminded me of how much I love all of my girlfriends and the women in my family. It made me so happy to see them all.
Here are pictures. I didn't take many good ones, but I thought the one of Corinne's hair flying around was funny. And I haven't posted any pictures of my "new" china cabinet, so I included one here. It belonged to my mom's grandmother and it, and its restoration were Christmas gifts from my parents and in-laws.
Here are pictures. I didn't take many good ones, but I thought the one of Corinne's hair flying around was funny. And I haven't posted any pictures of my "new" china cabinet, so I included one here. It belonged to my mom's grandmother and it, and its restoration were Christmas gifts from my parents and in-laws.
