Need new tunes....

I'm quickly becoming a Mumford and Sons fan.

Love this song.

Adding this to my list of wanted CD's that can be found here. 

Definitely using my personal budget next week to get at lest one of the four CD's I want.
Excited for new music.
Not excited for the 2 papers I must now go write.
lame.
♥

Feeling Creative...

We had an assignment to build a puppet in my art class.

I wanted to do something from my childhood, 

and since "Hey, Arnold!" was my favorite show when I was young, 

I decided to do him...

and it turned out awesome.

Even better than I had hoped!

And then tonight, I wanted to make a cherry pie,

and I cheaped out and got the Kroger brand crust.

Never. Again.

I couldn't even unroll it without it tearing and breaking.

So Lame.

So I pieced the least damaged part together for the bottom, and then had to figure out something with the really messed up piece for the top.

Here's what I came up with!

I think it looks pretty cool.

Hopefully this creativity will keep up, since I have 3 projects due next week.

Gross.

♥

New Teavana goodness!!

My awesome husband took me to Keystone Mall today.

To go to Teavana.

I love that man.

Here is my loot. 

2 oz. of:

Zingiber Ginger Coconut Rooibos

The description:

"The exotic blend of ginger, coconut, and spicy black pepper complement our robust red rooibos in this caffeine free Ayurvedic blend.  It provides a delicious departure from the ordinary."

I am sipping on it right now, and I can tell you, it is 

wonderful.

And also, 2 oz. of:

Toasted Nut Brulee Oolong 

The description:

"Enjoy a sweet treat without remorse! Savor each sip of this rich tea blend and it's hazelnut cream brulee flavor while giving your body a health kick. It's the best dessert you'll find."

going to try this one later today, after dinner.

Excited.

Now when Misty comes over, we can have wine AND tea.

And I'm going to take some to Rachel next Sunday.

I'm excited to share.

♥

You can tell I'm on Fall Break, I'm a blogging machine.

I wrote this last year for Jamie.

Revisited it today, because I've been feeling very in love with him lately.

Our date day was awesome, and I think we need more.

Oddities

Head snug on your shoulder, our fingers intertwined,

My feet just past yours, but hey, I don’t mind.

You crack your jokes, as straight-faced as can be,

And I laugh like crazy, even though no one else sees.

I trip over nothing; I’m always such a klutz,

You just keep walking, while everyone else thinks I’m nuts.

My mouth flies open, and out the words fly,

You just smile, ignore it, and let the conversation continue by.

We have silly sayings, with even sillier words,

But we never apologize, at least not for being total nerds.

Despite all of our oddities, our habits, and traits,

We have come together, and our joy rarely abates.

With you I don’t have to worry, especially about life and it’s trials,

It’s mostly just laughter, and silly, and smiles.

And even when it’s not those trivial things, but much more,

I know we can get through, because it’s you I adore.

I think I know now why my heart will never again roam,

And to sum it all up in one little line….

You make me feel at home. 

♥

Love this song..

"I am a honeybee

shut out from the colony

and they won't let me in.

So I left the hive

They took away all my stripes 

and broke off both my wings.

So I'll find another tree,

and make the wind my friend.

I'll just sing with the birds,

They'll tell me secrets of the world.

But my darling honeybee

stuck where he doesn't want to be.

Oh, my darling honeybee,

I'll come save you even if it means

I'll have to face the queen.

So I'll come prepared, 

my new friends say they will help me

get my loved one back.

They say it isn't right,

the bees have control of your mind,

but I choose not to believe that.

So we'll meet in the darkness of the night,

and I promise I will be there on time.

We'll be guided by my new friend, the butterflies,

They'll bring us back to our own little hive.

Oh my other honeybee,

no longer stuck where he doesn't want to be.

Oh my darling honeybee,

I have saved you, and now that you're with me,

we can make our own honey."

This song is "Honeybee" and is by the lovely

Check her out.

♥

Much needed date day with my awesome husband!

Slept until 10 AM.

Then cuddled for an hour.

Haven't done that in since our honeymoon.

Amazing.

Jamie showed me the surprise he got for us!

I'm super excited about using it.

Then we went to the winery and spent our huge honking gift card.

It was awesome, we have a great wine collection now.

Some amazing stuff, we got to try them in a tasting.

Stopped by metropolis.

Got Jamie a new sweater (which I love)

and me some new bras (that I won't be modeling.)

Stopped by Panera for lunch, and had an amazing meal.

Black bean soup and a caesar salad.

Yum.

Then we took a walk around the neighborhood,

and enjoyed the beautiful colors of the trees.

We also collected some fall foliage 

(which left a nasty dirt residue in my pocket)

And made an awesome fall table centerpiece.

Then off to dinner at Outback Steakhouse (Jamie's pick)

and had a free dessert coupon.

This is the result of that wonderful thing:

Woah.

And here we are now.

I love him so much.

This day has been exactly what we needed. 

We have just been smiling, laughing, hugging, kissing, holding hands, and having an absolute blast

all day.

I love married life.

And I love him.

I refuse to think about going back to the craziness tomorrow.

I'm just going to enjoy being his wife.

♥

I've been sick, not pregnant, okay?

Just now starting to feel better.

I think I caught a bug from a friend at church.

Same symptoms, same forever-long duration.
At least now I know that the speculation and jokes of my classmates and co-workers about the "P" word will stop. It's gotten old.

Had Red Mango Tuesday, because my boss and I were scoping out a potential FamVid spot in Broadripple.

It was glorious.

Class on Thursday was pretty cool.  

I get to teach a science lesson to a group of 10, 

and meet with my "focus child" every Thursday.

I really enjoy it.

It feels like I am finally almost a teacher.
That evening I watched a re-run of one of my all-time favorite "The Office" episodes:
The one where Andy finds out about Dwight and Angela's affair.
Epic.

I actually had Friday off! 

It was awesome for me, but Jamie still had to work.

Lame. 

So, I set out to clean. and clean. and then clean some more.

I started on the kitchen and the great room, and I cleaned like a maniac.
I even moved all the furniture out, set the couches on end, and hand-mopped the hardwood.

It was crazy.
But, after I did all that, I had zero energy for the rest of the house, so the bedrooms and baths are still pretty rough.
I will get there though.
Really.

Saturday I worked, and then we went out with some of Jamie's friends from work.
We went to the Vogue in Broadripple, which was the first time I had been there.
It was awesome.
I didn't drink, because my stomach hurt, but I had a phenomenal time dancing my booty off.
Not really, it's still there, but  I can dream, right?
Emily and Karen
(These lovely ladies)

met me there, and we had a blast.
The are so great.

The furry children have been very lovable lately.
Minnie is not a fan of winter. So, she has been taking every opportunity to cuddle with us or under something.

She is so stinking cute.

Emma tried to help me do my homework.
And by help me, I mean eat my computer cord.

It was so cute though, I couldn't help but laugh.

Sunday morning was very bittersweet for me.
First off, Rachel was SO sweet and brought me a box of the tea she knew I liked.

I was so surprised and flattered, and felt very blessed to have such people in my life.

But at the same time, someone who has been with our church for a very long time that I have always respected and loved since I was 15 has made some decisions that I don't understand that ultimately have led to his decision to leave the church.
It makes me so sad, disappointed, and just unsure about what to think. We actually sat down and talked about next steps this Sunday, and it really got to me.
I am still pondering if I want to send him a message, and what to say in that message.
It's just hard.

It was also nice because Tim, one of our pastors, was back from Chicago.
I hadn't realized how different it would be without him until last week when he was moving.
I'm glad he is staying.
But, the lovely, wonderful, awesome Misty that I missed a lot was not there.
=)
But really, I missed her oodles and oodles, and can't wait to sing with her in a couple of weeks.
She is a really great friend to me, and I hope I am half as much of a friend to her.
I really want to maintain that friendship even though she lives in Chicago.

Jamie and I are on fall break, and he took the day off tomorrow, and we are spending the
WHOLE
day together!
We are going to Chateau Thomas Winery to spend the gift card we got as a wedding present, and Jamie says he had a surprise for me.
Really ready and excited for tomorrow.
I love him so much.
♥

Taste the rainbow...

I threw up skittles yesterday.

It sucked. A lot.

Jamie however, found it a bit amusing, and has been making comments such as "Taste the rainbow."

At least he can make me smile when I feel like crap.

I got really worried, first that my ulcer was coming back, and then the "P" word ran through my head. But, I squashed that one pretty quickly.

Mostly.

I started to feel better, so i went ahead and went to work today.

And then, I didn't feel better.  

I felt weak, rundown, and exhausted.

So, I took a nap and ate a really healthy dinner.

And then I realized, I haven't eaten a healthy meal or taken a nap in weeks. 

literally, I have been living on Cliff bars, fruit strips, healthy choice, and humus.
For two weeks.

This. is. not. healthy.

I have got to step it up in the "taking care of ME" part of my life.

I can't continue at the pace I am going if I don't take steps to take care of myself.

Come on, Julie.

Get it together. 

♥

Saturdays are the best.

This is what my life has consisted of lately.

School, school, and more school. 

And then some work.

But, I got off work at 3 yesterday, and...

Voila!

I made us a 

"1/2 way through the semester" 

Celebration cake!

And I put it in my pretty cake holder that I got at my wedding shower!

I surprised Jamie with it when he got home from work!

We both enjoyed it. A lot. 

 Hey, you have to get excited about the little things, right?

We had "Adopt-A-Pet Day" at work today!

I was in charge of planning it, and i think it went great!

We also had Gentleman Jim the balloon man in to make animals and hats for everyone (us included)!

It went super well! We are hoping to get into the Board, which is the communication from home office to all 700 stores!

We had a great turnout, and it was a lot of fun!

Going to my friend Amanda's 22nd birthday celebration tonight! 

It's going to be a wild and crazy time!

I even bought a new shirt!

Pictures to come!

♥

Woah, life. Woah.

This is a 100% accurate portrayal of the way I feel right now. 

I think 65+ hours of school, work, and homework a week might be killing me.

Just maybe.

I am so lucky to have my husband.

He is coming home from work at 11:30, and is going to stay up and help me do some stuff that I will inevitably still be doing at that hour, and beyond. 

Be jealous, ladies, he's amazing.

And then up at 5:30 AM for an hour drive to the field school.

What the heck did I get myself into?

♥

Procrastination....again.

I have 4 projects due in the morning.

Haven't started any.

What am I doing?

Watching these.

My grandpa and mom used to watch these shows with me all of the time, and I developed a love for classic comedy.

This is Abbott and Costello's most famous bit.

I have seen it 50 times, and it still makes me laugh.

They are my grandpa's favorite.

He also loves the Marx brothers.

This is hands down my favorite scene from the movie "Love Happy."

I think it is so clever and hysterical!

And this is my momma's influence:

Carol Burnett.

Mrs. Wiggins and Mr. Tudball is my mom's absolute favorite skit from the Carol Burnett show.

It seriously makes me laugh!

I have spent the last hour watching such videos.

I have got to stop and do homework, or I will be up all night. 

dang it.

they sure are fun, though.

♥

weekend in a nutshell...

Had a really nice weekend.

Definitely not wanting it to end. 

Thursday I went out with my friend Emily from class and her roommate Karin.  

We went to my favorite, Howl at the Moon!

We had a really good time, even though we left pretty early because we are all lame and had to work in the morning. 

Friday night I was supposed to go see Trampled by Turtles, 

but...

Amanda ended up spending the day with her mom instead, so I had no one to go with,

and, to be honest, I really needed a night to just stay home.

So, that's what I did. 

I hung out.

and it was glorious.

I'm sad I missed them, but oh well.

Saturday was our family reunion on the Blankenship side,

and Michael, Ben, and Carrie came up!

They are my family that live in South Carolina, and they only come up once a year for the reunion.

They are so fun, and Jamie and I are talking about taking a trip down there to see them,

maybe this summer.

Then we went to the Eric Johnson and Andy McKee concert.

 I thought Eric was boring, but Andy rocked.

He is one of Jamie's favorites.

Today, after work, we went and had dinner with my parents.

and of course, 

Dexter.

Oh my goodness, how I love that dog.

He is literally like a spoiled kid brother.

Excited to see Misty this week!
We are having a tea date, as usual, and i am sure we will swap plenty of crappy customer stories, as well.

Been missing my husband a lot, again.

This weekend was great though, there were a lot of nights where we got to go to bed at the same time, and just talk. We don't get that very much right now.

I love him.

Staying positive, and loving my (busy) life.

♥