Yum

I'm in love with these. Wallpaper of trees and plates of the sky? Yes please.

(from Anthropologie)

A Rant

Today I'm going to sit here and rant about a couple of things that don't really matter, but drive me crazy. So, if you don't want to read about this, don't. I won't blame you, it is, in fact, simply to make myself feel a little bit better.

1. Bend is not in Eastern Oregon, it is not the same place as North Bend either. Bend is very close (when you're looking at a map) to the exact center of Oregon. Fossil, just letting you know this, girl in my class who I'm sure doesn't read this, is in eastern Oregon. It is hours away from Bend and is completely different! Do not try and tell me where things are located, geographically, in Oregon unless you know for a fact that is where they are. Perhaps it's because I have lived in Oregon my entire life, traveled all around it, because it's easier than going somewhere else. Or maybe it's because I was forced throughout my education to learn Oregon's geography. I'm not sure how, in one of my high school classes, some of the people I had gone to school with for years, didn't know the general location of major landmarks in Oregon. Maybe I just like maps too much. I don't really know what it is, but I'm really sick of people getting central, eastern and southern Oregon all mixed up or just throwing them all into the same bag. Just because you live in Portland (and I'm directing this at people who aren't originally from Oregon and haven't lived here for years, just to let everyone know) that doesn't mean that the rest of your state is unimportant and just one big blob.

2. To the stupid kid in my class that laughs at all the professor's stupid jokes that aren't funny. WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT NOTES ON THIS MIDTERM? Somehow I have to remember general definitions for 40-odd terms and be able to answer 4 essay questions. WITH NO NOTES. Can you tell I'm upset about this? My class voted not to have a page of notes. Who does that? Honestly.

3. I had better not be getting sick at all this term. Ok, this one isn't really a rant.

I feel much better now that I've gotten these things off my chest. Now I need to study for that midterm I mentioned. I have an hour to study... we'll see how it goes.

Gee, I'm negative, aren't I?

I haven't had much to say lately. I found some old photos recently. Whenever that happens, I get reminded of who I have been and begin to consider who I have become. Self-reflection can suck. Thanks for the reminder.

Pie

This last weekend, I made pie. It's delicious! Pear and cranberry, I told Nicole I would show her how to make pie and I had to do a bit of practicing to make sure I still knew how.

Little Things

I have nothing to say, I just like how this picture turned out.

I know I shouldn't

I spent today doing nothing, this goes against everything my mother ever taught me. I like to blame my mother for a lot of the weird quirks I have (the good, bad, and just plain crazy ones) but I really shouldn't. My mother taught me a lot of really important lessons about life (though I did somehow manage to skip the "how to cook" lesson, I tried to boil water the other day without actually turning on the stove). She taught me to manage my money (thank goodness!), how to clean absolutely anything you could think of (including getting grape juice off a wicker-seated chair), and how to have fun in and enjoy the outdoors. But, I think the most important lesson that I learned from her is that I need to seek help when I really need it (this is the number one rule in her house). I don't like to ask for help, though, because somehow I also learned as I grew up to be independent and capable of taking care of problems myself. Tonight I'm thinking the key to life is the balancing of these two; being independent but knowing when you need others to help you. Thanks, Mom. I know I don't say that enough.

(oh, and I still refuse to ask for help when it comes to reaching things that are high up, unless it's not an appropriate time for me to be climbing on things)

Sleepy Times

I'm alone again, there isn't anyone here to make me rice anymore. But the weekend was glorious and fall is out in full colors. I have a not-so-busy school week ahead of me, hopefully I'll take the time to have lots and lots of fun.

I got up at five this morning and am feeling quite exhausted (I've uncharacteristically not taken any significant naps yet today). This week I don't have much going on so I plan on doing a little bit of cleaning, taking some photos of the foliage, and perhaps finding some new places to enjoy that are nearby.

Distractions

I've discovered, in my search for something to distract myself, that my windowsill makes an excellent place on which to take photos. I had a peach today, it was like I was trying to hold onto memories from the summer and bring them back. It's funny how peaches are the color of summer and autumn. They are most definitely one of my favorite flavors, and that flavor just screams of summer to me.

Happy Weekend!

So this weekend, Shawn is coming to visit. In fact he will be here in about five and a half hours. I am quite excited. I think we're going to go to a corn maze one day. I can't wait, I hope it is kind of foggy and I can convince the person driving us to go early and see the pumpkin patch or go through both the mazes. I'll take lots of pictures, I promise, but I won't be here til next week. Enjoy the lovely autumn breezes and rains! (or whatever other weather autumn is bringing your way, I hear it's supposed to be in the 70's in Bend)

Yearning

Autumn has officially arrived, but I'm still yearning for winter snows. I want some big cosy scarves and warm hats and wool jackets, but I don't want to be too warm with all of these things. Right now that is where it is.

I talk about the weather entirely too often.

Cameraman

Do you ever wonder what people would see if your life was a film? Would it be happy or sad? Would people laugh or cry? I think I wonder this entirely too often. I do such strange things sometimes that my brother frequently says that he wishes they were on film so he could watch them over and over and laugh. I don't know if that is good or bad.

Sources: 1. 2. 3.

Supposedly

I am supposed to be writing a paper right now. I am supposed to be sleeping right now. I am supposed to be cleaning right now. There are a lot of things that I feel I am supposed to be doing right now, but I'm not doing any of them. And you know what? Right now I am ok with that. Earlier today I went and visited Nicole and Rachel. It was nice, I hadn't really seen them much since I moved back so we just sat around and talked for a few hours. I also scanned a bunch of old (I mean REALLY old) photos. I don't really have anything else to talk about, my brain was just filled with lots of facts about Ardipithecus ramidus, the oldest fossil remains of human ancestors ever found. Sorry, I'll try to keep myself from geeking out on you about that. (But it is really interesting, I promise)

P.S. I have a yearning for the ocean right now. I don't know why, I've barely even spent time there in my life.

Baking, Knitting, and other "Domestic" Activities

When I was a much younger person my step-mom used to jokingly call me "her domestic diva" or "her little housewife." I think she may still be convinced that of her five children, I'm going to be the first to have kids. That isn't all that likely since her two oldest sons are five or six years older than I am. I also have been thinking about what I want in my life and having a family has really moved down the list in the past few years. I want to enjoy my life before I "settle down." Not that doing that means you can't enjoy life... for some reason I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole... Anyway the entire point of that little story was... well, ok, there wasn't really a point, it just has to do with me spending the past week knitting and cleaning, and then having a riveting Friday night of baking banana bread. Needless to say, I don't have much of a life right now.

Oh and unfortunately, I had a small casualty due to flour inhalation while baking tonight. Ok, I'm probably the only person that finds that funny.

A Late Night Knitting Fiasco

Well, tonight I couldn't sleep so I decided to try and pick up my knitting projects. I haven't touched either of them since last spring, before I moved back to Bend, so I wasn't exactly sure on the patterns that I was following. I started with an orange scarf that I originally started as a birthday present for my brother. I'm not sure he'll actually like it and since his birthday is past it might end up as his Christmas present, I'm not sure. Anyway, that one went fine, I followed my pattern and got a bit done and back into the swing of knitting. After that I went to my other scarf. The one up above. Somehow... I'm not really sure how... but somehow, I completely messed it up. I'm so annoyed, I think I've started at least five projects with this yarn (which I love) but keep getting unhappy or, in this case, messing up royally and ending up tearing all my work out. I'm thinking that on this next try I'm going to use a larger set of needles and maybe even try this stitch, though I do like this one (aka the one I just messed up).

On a completely unrelated note, this is my 100th post, which seems pretty crazy to me. Thanks to everyone that reads this and puts up with my random rambles.

Challenges

My life has its challenges just like everyone else's life does. Lately though, I feel like I haven't been challenging myself enough. I haven't been doing all the things I promised myself I would do. I know I can't be perfect, but I need to work at least a little. Anyway, earlier today, I challenged myself to take photos in low light, something I struggle with.

Technology

Perhaps I have a strange sense of humor, but I find the above comic... well, hilarious. As a person who definitely relies too heavily on technology, though it also gets to me. When are they going to stop, I mean a lot of technology comes with high moral consequences. Anyway, I've always dreamed of living in the past, of having none of the technology we have today, but honestly, I'm not sure I could really do that anymore. Maybe I'll find out one day, but it would be a lot harder than I used to think. Ok, I'm tired and rambly, so I'm going to be done now.

Oh, and this comic was done by Issac Littlejohn Eddy, who I talked about way back here. This is a link to his blog.