I'm sitting here, watching my little brother play a video game that involves shooting and killing as many people as possible. haha... why these games are so addictive, I'll never know.
So yes, my little brother is here in TX visiting from MI. It's so great to have him here. I've missed him so much and having family here with us for xmas means so much to us. It's my first xmas away from our parents and aunts and uncles. So having my brother here to distract us from that fact is great, haha!
It was strange for me specifically, because while I'm a total feminist and don't usually go along with the stereotypical nonsense expected of women, I felt the need to get all Holly Homemaker for xmas. I took charge of xmas dinner for the three of us and needless to say....I didn't ruin it! In fact, it turned out pretty flippin' awesome! I had to take pictures of the occasion because who knows when this will happen again. haha.
I made crispy chicken, my mom's cheesy potatoes with a southern flair (I bought the mexican mix cheese so it had a little taco seasonings in it), corn, cookies, and rolls. Then we had French Silk pie for dessert! I was so proud of myself!
Here's me, trying to be cute:
Please note the Cupcake Apron. My parents got me that adorable apron and an amazing mixer for xmas. I was so excited about it. I've never been in charge of cooking anything let alone a holiday meal, so the apron was much needed! Also, while I did all the cooking, the guys took care of the dishes and cleanup! Such good guys I have in my life!
With my brother visiting, we've done quite a lot of video game playing. My brother has just about every sweet game and system worth having, and he brought them all down here. Here's my Hubby and little brother playing Rockband. They're dorks, hence the silly faces.
Today was the first day since he's been here that stores and attractions have been open (due to the holidays), so we took advantage of it and went to a few museums and cool places around the Houston area. Here are some photos from that:
All in all, it's been a good couple of days with my little brother. And while I'm sad to see him go, it will make it all the better when I see him next.
I sent out my xmas gifts yesterday. It felt really great to be able to send personal things to the people I love.
My brother will be here in a few days visiting from MI. I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to do while he's here. I want to go to some museums but I'm thinking they might be closed due to the holidays. It's hard to think about what to do here in TX when we've barely gone further than 10 minutes away from our apartment in any direction. It'll be a learning process for us I guess.
I just hope he has a good time here.
I'm watching My Sister's Keeper, and I'll just say, this is a good movie, but a really sad one. I'm a sucker.
I had the intention of painting tonight, but I'm just not feeling it I guess.
I had all these ideas of things I was going to write about, and now my mind is blank.
Listening to my hubby learning how to play Every Time I Die guitar riffs is sexy.
I've received so many lovely xmas cards from friends and family. I'm so grateful for all of you guys.
I want to vacation at Dunton Hot Springs at some point in my life. It looks beautiful and I want to be there.
I want to have a cute little house to decorate. I want it to be a little cottage sort of home and I want it to be rustic but near a decent-sized city. I can see it in my head. Maybe someday I'll paint it...then when I'm a millionaire, I can build it.
We went to a coworker's home the other night for their housewarming party. It's their first home, and you could tell how jazzed they were about it. They gave us the tour and showed us all of the ways they've redecorated it and made it their own. You could see the pride in their faces for their beautiful home. I swear to you, their bedroom was straight out of Trading Spaces on TLC. It was lovely. It's the perfect starter home, and I cannot wait for the day that Jim and I can say that we have a home, not an apartment.
Well, I know this is short, but I've got some paintings to work on. So I'm gonna get working on that.
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I've been a busy gal. I got a second job, and really, you might as well count Clever Characters as a 3rd job because I've been THAT busy painting for xmas! And I'm SO grateful for it!
As much time I've been putting in, I know that the universe is working in ways that are in my favor. I've been working SO much and SO hard that karma has been sending nice little bonuses my way. For example, I've been stressing out so much about bills so I got this other job. Well, today I went into work (on my day off) and found out that our company had gifted us $25 to spend at the store, which was perfect timing because that meant that I could buy all of the xmas gifts that I want to send back to MI, when I was worrying about how I was going to do in the first place.
I feel like, religion is one thing, but my belief in karma isn't so off. If you're good to yourself and to others, the universe will be good to you. If you're bad to yourself and others, you'll get that negative energy back times three. It's really just, you know, the golden rule. Treat others the way you'd want to be treated. I don't see what's so wrong with that.
Thanksgiving this year was good. I was worried since we're so far from home, and so far from our families that it'd be terrible and depressing. Thankfully, we have our dear friends who are going through the same thing. We met up with them and a few more folks who were missing their families, and had a fantastic thanksgiving meal. We each brought traditional things from our family's thanksgivings, and shared with one another. It felt good. It felt like we belonged. We might be doing it for xmas as well! I wish I had taken pictures of it though.
I finally sent out my xmas cards today. They were kind of boring and unoriginal, but I just don't have the time at the moment to handmake them all like I usually would. Ugh!
It snowed today in Texas. I had to document this.
Sorry this will be a little short, but hopefully I'll update again soon!
So....the holidays are coming up! I used to be like, I hate christmas and blah blah blah. And now, I'm more along the lines of....where do I jump on the holiday train!? As I've grown up a little more and have become more crafty, I've realized that the holidays are just a fun time to spend time making things for your family and friends.
Every year I make something that I can give to everyone I know and love. This year I've decided I'm going to make personalized bookmarks! Just about everyone I know loves to read, so this seems perfect. Even better though, since I'm working at a totally amazing bookstore...I want everyone to pick one book that they'd like for xmas. So this year you'll get a handcrafted bookmark AND a book!
So, if you're on the list below, please leave a comment and let me know what book you'd like (give me 3 or so, so in case the store doesn't have one, I can look for the others) and you'll receive a personalized gift from me!
If you're not on the list, I apologize. I only have so much $ to spend on gifts and really, my family and closest friends are the only people who'll get presents. I don't expect gifts from anyone, so please don't be offended if you're not on the list!
(Hey moms, if you know that our grandparents won't be reading this, please think of a book they might like? Help me out!)
The List: 1. Sally & Dan 2. Debbie & Mike 3. Barbara & Irv 4. Ellyn & Ed 5. Mikaela & Sullivan 6. Mandie 7. Claire 8. Abby, Ava, and Adrian 9. Tony Hell 10. Dirty or Jorge
I'm gonna be Lady Gaga for Halloween. Check it out. :)
I cannot express how much I love my new job. Working at a bookstore is like, the epitome of what I should've been doing for years. Maybe I won't even be a teacher, maybe I'll just make my way up into the company and make lots of bookselling money. The manager actually makes pretty fantastic money. hmm....
One of the best parts of this job is that while I get a killer discount on books, if I want to, I can check as many books as I want out (like a library!) without paying for them, to see if I like them before paying for them! It's awesome!!!
I know it's been awhile since I've updated, but I've been so busy working. This week my mom sent me some leaves from MI. I put them in my seasonal picture frame. It's one of the only things I brought from my parents' house, and it's a set of 4 pics, one from each season, from the same place in my parents' backyard. Check it out:
Potpourri: any mixture, esp. of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.
That is precisely what this post will be. A mixture of random topics chosen by me. I hope you enjoy.
I like organizational tools like bullet points. They make boring things more fancy.
I think that if I wasn't so lazy, I'd probably have OCD. I want things to be done a certain way so badly. But I'm lazy as hell, so I never take the time to do them. Haha.
I love getting cards in the mail. Even if it's just an "I'm thinking about you card," it always makes my day. If you wanna send me one, email me and I'll send you my address. It'll make my day. I need that right now. Just sayin'...
There's nothing more annoying than going to a bar with your girlfriends and having a sleazy, creepy guy try to come onto you. Seriously, it's like, if you have half a brain in your head, look at my left hand before you try to get into my pants. If I have a ring, don't bother. I don't want friends. I have plenty who are better than you'll ever be, sleaze ball. If I don't have a ring, but I'm not looking your way when you talk to me, take a fucking hint. NOT INTERESTED. This goes for all ladies at bars. Believe me, if a girl's looking to get some action, you will know. Otherwise, don't bother! You're wasting your time and looking like a douche bag. Oh, and if a girl is at a bar and says she's a lesbian, 9 times out of 10, she's lying. That's her way of saving her friends' ass and her own ass from your stupid come-ons. So again, NOT INTERESTED, so go away.
I have a baby name list the size of Texas. For both boys AND girls. I want like 4 kids, well....now I want 4 kids, I guess we'll see after the first one or two.... Here are just some of the names I want to name future children:
Boys: Toren Michael, Camden Tiberius (yes, it's a Star Trek thing and no, I don't care what you think), Severin, Finn, Emery, Avery, Owen, and so many more... Girls: Delaney Ann, Stella Mae, Zoey, Mercy, Margot, Charlotte, Adele, Celena, and so many more... (If you have any fun names to suggest, please let me know! I love unique names)
Nothing bothers me more than when someone is condescending to me for no good reason. When I'm wrong, fine. But if you're just being a jerk, even if you're a customer or a higher authority or something, I have a REALLY hard time biting my tongue because I honestly feel that there's this thing called tact. If you have none, I have no problem telling you. There's this thing where you're decent to people, and then they're decent to you. Anyone who's not like that, is a jerk, a rude SOB who has no tact. I just think that if you're rude to people your entire life, what does that leave you? That leaves you nothing, because you're a miserable waste who needs to grow up.
I really want someone else to tell me that I shouldn't have so many tattoos. That my body is a temple. Just so I can say "Yes, my body is temple and I get to decide how to decorate it!" I don't know why, but I find that very clever.
Blue Moon beer with an orange slice in it might just be the best thing ever.
I really want someone to order a painting so I can send it out with my new business cards! They're snazzzy! You know you want one! Order one: Clever Characters.
I want everyone to come here to visit. or live here. Seriously, I miss you all so fucking much.
I talked to my wedding photographer Jena yesterday about my wedding photos and how it's been 2 months and I've only seen like 6 pics from it. Then she told me that she hasn't seen ANY of her pics from her wedding (she had 3 photogs and got married before me.) EPIC FAIL other 3 photogs! Get on it! I felt like a jerk, needless to say!
I've painted my nails like every other day, and this whole, working at a bookstore thing has ruined them! They're constantly chipped! woe is me....
That whole, "it's all hot and dry in TX" thing is a LIE! A BOLDFACED LIE! It's rained here like every frickin' day since we got here, and uh...I'm kind of sick of it. Don't get me wrong, I like the rain in MI because it's cold and usually when it rains there you don't feel like it's 100 degrees and that there's a cinder block on your chest because it's so damn humid. Also, in MI the ground does this thing where it absorbs the water when it rains. Here in TX, that absorption thing doesn't happen. It floods. Oh, it rained an inch? Now your roads and parking lots are flooded. Have fun with that, and don't drown. kthanx. UGH!
ok, i'm done for now. Sorry for the rambling mess.
Sometime in the not so near future, there will be a new middle school English teacher who is scared shitless about running a classroom full of hormone-crazed twelve year old boys and girls who want nothing to do with her grammar lesson and even less to do with how badly she wants to change their lives for the better.
That will be me.
The more we go to these teacher classes, the more I like to think that I will be able to handle a classroom. But in reality, I'm sure there will be tons of things that I won't know how to handle, and I'm sure I'll have a panic attack or two or twenty.
I would really love to get a teaching job though. Some days I think I'd be the best damn teacher ever, and some days I want to hide under my nonexistant teacher desk.
I know that even with all of my ridiculous planning antics that I will never been sufficiently ready for a teaching career. No matter how many procedures and routines that I come up with for my students, no matter how perfect my color coded folders are, no matter how well I get along with my principal, I will never be able to control everything that happens.
I think that's what scares me the most. The unknown of teaching. The fact that one day I could wake up only to go to work to have a student puke all over their desk, or have a student bring porn to school, or have a fire burn down the school. It's scary to think about, really.
Scary...isn't the best word for it I suppose. Maybe it's more along the lines of...oh I dunno....fucking terrifying.
haha. I don't know why I wrote this post, but I guess it's just something I needed to get outta my head.
Dove Milk Chocolate: I'm generally not much of a chocolate fan. But when I want it, I WANTNEEDMUSTHAVE it. Dove Milk Chocolate is rich and creamy and it really does feel like how it looks in the commercials, like a giant velvety wave of chocolate. It's amazing! It makes my day every time I eat some.
YouTube: Lately I've been immersed in youtube. It's a never-ending collection of laughs. I truly love going to my homepage and seeing new videos from the channels I'm subscribed to. Most specifically, I've been watching a lot of the Shaytards. They are this amazingly normal family who all have hilarious senses of humor. They are extremely entertaining and they find fun in everything they do. It's inspiring. It's how I hope my family is once we have a few babies!
Fine Point Pens: Ok, I've always had a pen fetish. And by fetish, I don't mean anything sexual. I'm just talking about the enjoyment I get when I use a smooth writing fine point pen that doesn't leak or anything. I have a problem. It's kind of serious, but I'm not giving this addiction up, ever.
Deep Burgandy hair dye: Ah yes, I've gone back to almost black. It's a deeeeeeeep purplyred color that I think looks great on me. I feel like myself and I think my blue eyes POP! Besides, I think being a blonde girl with tattoos that I kind of looked a bit white trash. Not gonna lie.... So I think this is more, me.
Writing letters by hand, and also, receiving hand written letters and cards from friends/family: There's nothing more personal than writing/receiving letters. It's showing those you love that you took the time to write them a personal note, not an email! When you check your mail and you see cards and letter from your family/friends, it's a great feeling. You feel like you're remembered. You're cared about. You are loved.
Painting: This whole painting endeavour that I began a few months ago has saved my sanity. I really enjoy making things, unique things, for people. I enjoy seeing my work on other people's walls and know that they actually like it. People PAY me to paint for them. Holy crap that's such a dream come true. I love it.
Rupert, my puggle: He's one of the best parts of my life. Every day he's happy to see me. He's my own personal heater when we sleep. He has the softest ears known to man, and he loves giving kisses, and I love gettting them. He lays in the sun and makes funny "gobble gobble" noises when he talks. He'll put his chin and stare at you until you give him what he wants. He's a great dog and our lives wouldn't be complete without him. He's our babydog!
My Bookstore Job: Ok, so I haven't started it yet. But I know that I'm going to LOVE this job. Not only will it be fantastic to get back to work, but a BOOKSTORE!!?? Are you kidding? For an English major, booksnob/geek, this is perfect. Plus, I'll get to work with my hubby. It's a dream!
Becoming a teacher: So we're here in TX because we're doing a teaching program. The more we have our classes and the more I do our online training, the more impatient I'm becoming. I want to be a teacher now. I'm so ready. I'm ready to start changing lives. I'm ready to get 12 year olds to love reading and writing. I'm ready to laugh with 7th graders and I'm ready for the headaches they'll cause me.
Red Wing Hockey: I love Red Wing Hockey because it makes my hubby happy. It makes him feel like he's still got a part of home with him. If he's happy, then I'm happy. I can't wait until we have a couch and a tv so we can watch it together. I liked those nights in MI when we could curl up on the couch with Rupert and a couple beers and watch some Red Wing Hockey. If he's happy, then I'm happy.
Cable television shows that are available online: This has been a life saver for me. The boredom I've endured since we got to TX has been exponentially decreased due to the shows I love that are available to watch online. Without my computer, I'd be at a total loss.
There's so much more. I'll write another post later.
Woo! Two posts in one day? WHAT!!??? It's MADNESS!!!
So, Halloween is coming up, in like, 4 weeks. I'm curious as to what will be going on this year for it down here in TX. I hate to think about what I'll be missing up in MI. Last year was my nephew Sullivan's 1st Halloween. The weather was a really nice 60ish degrees and it was a clear night. It was PERFECT trick or treating weather! I hope it's nice for them this year!Sullivan & Aunt M
Sullivan was just over 10 months old, and he was just starting to really walk well. He made it through the 1-2 hours of trick or treating around the neighborhood and of course, in classic Sullivan style, he was adored by everyone who was out and about. He's so darn cute. I'm sad that I'll be missing his Trick or Treating route this year. I hope he gets lots of candy and is good for his mama!
Sullivan, walking like a champ!
Also this year is my goddaughter, Ava's, 1st Halloween. She was born a few days after Halloween last year, so this is her big first outing. Her mama said she's going to be a lion, so hopefully I can link to some adorable pics of little AvaLion! :-)
So partially out of my boredness here in TX and partially out of my creativeness that exists all the time, I decided to make handmade Halloween cards! So the way I took these pictures is so that the top of each image is the front of the card, and the bottom of each image is the inside of the card. Check em out:
this last one's my favorite!
Also, in honor of Halloween, I've painted my nails black for the first time in a LOOOOONG time. I dig it. I might keep it for awhile. We'll see.
Today I took a really unnecessary nap. I've been doing that a lot lately, and I know some of you are going, "M, stop complaining that you have all this free time and so you get to take unnecessary naps, you ungrateful b!" (I'm trying to not swear so much, just for you, MOM!) But seriously folks, I have so much time on my hands, that I sleep for upwards of like, 14 hours a day. It's ridiculous. I'm not even tired! I just do it because my new job doesn't start until Oct. 6th, so it's like, free time galore until then! I HATELOATHEDESPISE it. I do so much better when I have a thousand things going on. This whole, free time thing, is really quite a downer, to be honest.
I was thinking that once we got down here, we'd start working right away and we'd be so busy we wouldn't have time to miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are all the time. WELL, my bubble has burst! ALL I DO is miss everyone in MI and think about how poor we are, oh yeah, AND SLEEP FOR RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF TIME.
I would've updated last night but I spent most of the evening writing thank you letters and some "hey how's it going" letters, in fact, I wrote 13. So my hand hurt and I didn't feel like typing up a storm.
So this post I've decided to dedicate to some of my favorite music. My friend Tony Hell and I were talking about this the other night and I thought it would make a great blog post. So I'll be writing about music, music that I consider amazing because it changed me, or my perspective on something. It's gonna be a loooong one, so settle in, and listen to the clips I post. :)
Ok, let's start from the beginning.
When I was a kid, I was a huge huge huge fan of pop music. From Paula Abdul to New Kids on the Block, then as I got older, it was even more into the Boy Bands (NSYNC especially...) Once I hit 14 years old, I moved onto the nu-metal stage of my music tastes. I briefly dated a boy who was into it and he gave me the System of a Down album (it was self-titled) and the song "Sugar" changed me. If you've never heard it, it's a very strange song with really goofy lyrics and pitches. You should listen to it: here
It's the first song I heard where I was like, laughing but still wanted to hit something and dance around. I think when I was 14, my enjoyment of this song started merely out of trying to impress that boy I was dating, but then I realized something, this song also kind of described how I was feeling. I was angry and angsty and wanted an outlet for that.
That morphed into me getting into Slipknot and many many other nu-metal bands, most of which will go unnamed for my embarrassments' sake. haha. Slipknot, however, I do not feel embarrassed about. Slipknot got me through a lot of trying times when I was 15-16ish and most of which I'll never speak about to anyone, because it's unnecessary, so don't ask. I just know that I felt misunderstood and angry and I mean, come on, what 15 year old girl doesn't feel that way? So Slipknot I gave a lot of credit because I had never heard anything so heavy and I had never felt so powerful when I listened to it. One of my favorite songs of theirs: I highly recommend pretending you're an angsty 15 year old girl with something to prove. haha...
I liked Slipknot because they were an entity. They had this crazy personality, they wore masks, they wore jumpsuits, they had 9 members in their bands, 3 of which were the drummers, and they embodied how powerful I wanted to feel.
I also loved music like Incubus at this time. They embodied the more romantic, less angsty me. Plus their music is just straight up amazing. Watch "Warning" (one of my favorites) hereThis song still gives me chills.
My enjoyment of nu-metal led to my first concert. I was 15, I was dating a new guy, Jason, who ended up having a great influence on the music I grew to love. But let's not talk about that, I was 15, and J and our friend Ryan wanted to go to Ozzfest. I was STOKED. My first show, I would get to see not just one or two, but like 15 of my favorite bands, and my parents said I could go!
Ozzfest was amazing. I had a great time, I got to see live music for the first time in my life, and I got to be one of like 45 women who were there amongst hundreds, maybe a few thousand, men. I felt like a badass because I could hack it with these tough people and wasn't scared.
My nu-metal stage continued until I was 17ish, when I graduated high school. There began my hardcore music stage. I cannot remember my first hardcore show, probably because over the next 3-4 years I would go to easily 200+ hardcore shows. I can say that the band that made the transition to hardcore for me was Glassjaw. Yet another really angry band but had really beautiful musical elements to some of their songs. When I listen to them now, I still enjoy it, but it embarrasses me quite a bit to see that I loved a band so much who so obviously hated women. At least, their music made it seem that way. But at the time, I didn't care.
Glassjaw was awesome because it brought together all of my friends at the time, even the girls. I remember going to a Glassjaw show in Grand Rapids, MI, at the Intersection (which isn't the Intersection that's there now, I'm talking about the old one) and all of my closest friends went. It was a phenomenal show and we were right at the front, screaming all of the lyrics along with them. This is a video of one of there more mellow songs: I will warn ya though, Daryl's voice is really strange and goofy at first. It took me a long time to get used to it.
In combination with my hardcore phase came my indie phase. Cursive was a band that definitely changed my way of looking at music. The singer is an ex-coke addict who is far far far from perfect, but it's like, his perfections showed through his music. Their live show was always amazing, this video isn't the best. But being there, at their shows, would make you feel like you were having an outer-body experience.
Then this singer had another band called The Good Life, which was more chill and less rock-y. I went all the way to Omaha, Nebraska, to see this band live, and it was worth it. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs, ignore the video, but listen to the song.
Also during this time, I thoroughly enjoyed Bright Eyes:
That phase ended relatively quickly. I mean, I still enjoy this music, but I haven't really listened to it in years. Like I said earlier, I was into this indie-phase while also being in the hardcore phase. Well, folks, the hardcore phase never really ended. I was still going to crazy hardcore shows with friends usually 2-3 times a month, maybe more.
I used to see bands called Terror, Walls of Jericho (who I'll get to in a minute), Poison the Well (before they sucked) and so many many more, but most importantly: Every Time I Die. ETID was something different in a sea of the same hardcore songs. I've seen them probably nearly 20 times. If you're my friend, I've made you listen to them at some point or another. Here ya go: Their newest single, "Wanderlust", which I will tell you is much easier to listen to then their older stuff, which I'll post below this:
"Ebolorama"
Ok, so I said I'd talk about Walls of Jericho. They are a Detroit-based band with one of the most tough, most brutal singers in hardcore music, oh, and did I mention this? She's a fucking girl. This chick, Candace, is phenomenal. She's in a scene that's 99.9999999% male-dominated, and she comes in with this powerful voice and presence and just kills it.
So, at this point in my music timeline, I'm about 20 years old. That is when I started dating Jim, my Hubby. He immediately turned me on to HIM. It was what only could be described as Love Metal (which oddly enough, is one of their album's names). Their music helped chill me out and at the time, I was falling crazy in love with Jim, so their Love Metal helped nurture our budding relationhip (awwwww). You can see one of our favorites here.
OK, so this post is a million years long. I'm gonna break it up into two blog posts I think. Next post will be from 20-25 years old. :-)
Hope you enjoyed it.
p.s: I don't know why the last 1/5 of this post is so frickin' big. It just is. I tried to fix it, it didn't work. sorry.
So I've been lazy and haven't updated in a few days. Sorry!
I've been painting more and more lately. I'm working on an "Emma" painting for my friend Kathryn and her hubby who are expecting little Emma sometime next month! :-)
I'm also working on a Red Wing's painting for Jim. It's kinda grungy and messy looking so far, but I'm just on the background, and I haven't started on the logo part of it yet. I love finger painting. It's nice to feel the sticky paint and seeing how the curves of your fingers can manipulate it on the canvas. It makes me feel like I'm more a part of the creative process.
I also got a book on acrylic painting techniques from the half-price bookstore (which I might be getting a job at! eep!!) so I'm excited to try some of them out! perhaps I'll post some of my attempts on here. :-)
I need to say this, just because it's taking over my mind and making me feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops. You, yes YOU, need to listen to the new Muse album. In fact, you need to listen to EVERY Muse album. They are epic. They are profound. They make me feel mesmerized and in love and happy and overwhelmed all at the same time. And when you listen to it, you need to turn it up as loud as you can and really embrace the music and his voice. Just close your eyes and open your mind up to the incredible universe that Muse occupies. You won't regret it, I promise you that.
Today was another one of our teacher classes. We learned how to build lesson plans today, which I think was really helpful to Jim. :-) I had done some lesson plans in my curriculum class at EMU so I kind of already knew most of it, but it was nice to have a detailed refresher and the facilitator gave some great ideas. I think by the end of this, both Jim and I will be able and ready to be effective teachers. At least I hope so!
By the way, I know some people are reading this and aren't really "following" it or whatever. Please feel free to comment! I'm a total comment whore and lovelovelove getting comments. Plus it's nice to hear from my Michiganders who I miss!
Every day I think about the people I miss. My mom and dad, my "in-laws" (although I don't consider them that, they are amazing people who I consider to be my second parents), my closest friends: Mik, D-I-E, Ultimate C, 80's Abby, Dirty Dave or Jorge as he prefers, Tony Hell, The Immortal Lori, and so many many more! I hate thinking about how I'm so far away from all of your lives. I hate that I have to see how you are all doing via facebook. It feels so impersonal. It feels like I'm a fly on your wall, your facebook wall.
It's amazing how our lives are documented via facebook. I take part in it because in some ways I feel it's the only way to really stay connected to everyone. I look at it for a ridiculous amount of time every day because, well, I'm unemployed and have that kind of time, but also because I feel so uninvolved now that I'm so far away! This means I need more peektures from ALL of you!
This is my goddaughter, Ava. A week ago was my 25th birthday and I got this lovely little picture from her mama, Abby. It melted my heart and really made my day. Being down here for my birthday was hard because usually I see lots of people on my birthday and this year it was just Hubby and I. Not that it's bad, I'm just saying, this was the first year I didn't go out to celebrate or anything. This picture made me smile though, and it's just what I needed. I made it my desktop background because it makes me smile whenever I look at it.
I worked a bit more on developing my story line for my novel today. Worked out some character names and some ideas of how things will go down. I still have a ton of work to do on it, not even including actually writing it. So we'll see how it goes...
This week I've done a lot of painting, which is always good for me. It's like, no matter what's going on in my life, if I'm painting, I'm happy. Jim said that he wanted me to do a painting of one of his first tattoos, which is conveniently one of his that I love. So of course I obliged and came up with this:I dig it. He digs it. And now it's in our "dining room" which I guess for now is actually just our computer area since we have no dining room table/chairs etc...
I've also done a really cool creepy Marie Antoinette painting for my friend Amanda's birthday next month. I'll post pics after I give it to her so she can't see it until then!
I'm gonna try to work on my story line some more....wish me luck!
So we've been in TX for almost two weeks now. It's hard to believe that it hasn't been longer than that. The last fortnight has seemed to drag. Each day dripping by slowly without an inkling of when they'll pick up. I think that having no job probably has a lot to do with this feeling. I've been trying to keep busy with painting. I only have so much canvas on hand though and I can't afford more until I start getting a paycheck.
I'd keep busy unpacking but the thing is, we barely brought anything with us, so there's nothing to unpack. It's hard to look at our empty, oversized apartment and not want to go back to a month ago and be at home, in Michigan.
I'm trying really hard to feel grateful. I'm trying not to think about how much I miss my family and friends constantly. It's an empty sort of feeling, when you leave everyone you know. I've been trying really hard not to think about them because when I do, I want to crawl into bed, wrap my arms around my legs and cry for hours. It's been hard, but I'm trying to remain calm about it. Trying to keep a smile on my face.
I know that being here is something I should be grateful for. My husband has done so much to make this major change possible. And it's what I wanted. I wanted to come to Texas to pursue a teaching career. I do not regret that because it's my dream. I just hate that this opportunity had to be so far away from the place I've known as my home my entire life.
It's also been hard because we need jobs NOW. We need some little jobs to keep our bills paid until we can get teaching jobs. It's depressing, applying at places that I would work at if I was 18 and didn't have a Bachelor's degree. But, it's what I need to do to get where I want to be.
Baby steps, right?
Right now it feels like there's so much that needs to be done. But I don't even know where to begin. All I keep thinking about is that we need shelves so we can put up our pictures. That we need a couch so we can have somewhere to sit besides folding chairs. That I wish our front window didn't look directly across into our neighbors' front window. That I wish we could afford to go out for a drink with our friends. That the walls look so empty and I want to paint them. That we aren't pregnant yet. It never ends.
I'm so distracted and I feel like my mind is being pulled in 50 different directions.
I've been thinking about writing a novel. I have a mediocre idea that I'm playing around with in my head. But we shall see if anything actually pans out or not. I'm the worst at starting things like that and then never doing anything with them. I have countless notebooks from my childhood with the beginnings of possible stories, with character names, what they'd look like, and an outline for the general plot. It never went anywhere. So we'll see where this goes....probably nowhere.
So, as a born-and-bred Michigander, there are some things I'd like to say about just how different Texas is. 1. They serve beer bread at a lot of restaurants instead of just rolls. Which is AMAZING, but probably not very good for me. It's got a spongy texture to it, so it just kinda seems fattening. Who knows. 2. Not everyone has a Texan accent. A lot of people who live here aren't from here, *thanks crappy economy!* So it's like, not only a melting pot of people of different races from the south, but of tons of people from ALL OVER the US. It's a neat little jumble of people which makes for trying to find cool places to go a little difficult, because none of us are from here, so we dunno what to do. 3. You never really know what kind of an area you're in. By that I mean, I went to school in a crappy town in MI and I knew that it was crappy because of the area and how it looked (run down, abandoned, etc...) and here it's like, there are some abandoned buildings then multi-million dollar mansions. It's strange.... 4. There are no Meijers. This is weird for me. I've always had the 24 hour store with everything. Ok, now I have a 24 hour Kroger, but sorry folks, Kroger is NO Meijer.
I'm sure I will come up with more MI-TX differences, but for now that's it.
I'm hoping that this blog can be a way for our family and friends up in the mitten to follow our lives and whatnot. Please read it. :-)
