Le jardin

6.5.10 - The garden. I've written about it before, but I will say again that I do not garden, also I admit that I have more of a black thumb instead of a green thumb, meaning I have probably killed nearly every plant I've ever had, but I can design and decorate (and photograph!)  - so that's good enough...right?

Cilantro ready to be planted by well-manicured hands.

Cilantro planted.

Joshua's hands after digging around in the dirt.

Pink roses

6.7.10 - I really like the color pink. I used to love it in a juvenile way - buying tons of pink Lisa Frank pens and stationary when I was a youngin', but I have since then upgraded to buying pink flowers or bangles, and speaking of pink, these pink roses in my front yard are quite lovely.

A pink rose beneath the shade of a nearby brick column.

Many pink rose petals fall from the rose bush to the ground around the trellis and when a strong wind blows, the rose petals flutter down the street bringing their fragrance with them.

A bee and sage

6.3.10 - Russian Sage from my front yard...I think. If I'm wrong, let me know. This is either Russian Sage or a hybrid, Blue Spire (but it looks purple so I'm not really quite sure).

BEE! I think I'm been half-way stung once when I was a child, but since then never. Hovering around this sage was slightly unsettling because there were tons of bees and I felt like they really didn't like me in their bubble.

Peacock feathers

5.25.10 - Mary got a bunch of beautiful peacock feathers from a friend. I love the color scheme of peacock feathers and they are so vibrant. I really envision some great jewelry and headbands that could be made from a feather or two.

I really do think I could design some cool accessories and jewelry but it's the making part of it that I'm not really into. I know what I like and I know that I often don't find stuff I love when I'm out and about shopping, so I guess I should just start making or modifying things to suit my tastes. I already do modify clothing by cutting or sewing fabric the way I like it to fit, but Jeremy always gets annoyed when I cut up a brand new shirt.

Looking at these feathers, I can see some cute earrings, a headband, maybe some bangles with a little dangling feather and a layered necklace with lots of silver coins...and a peacock feather.

Basically, I like things that: make noise, incorporate coins somehow, are shiny, mostly silver, come in vibrant colors and have cool ethnic designs that have Arabic or Sanskrit calligraphy integrated within the patterns or other such creations.

Clouds and silhouettes

5.30.10 - One evening I was outside my house and I looked up and saw this. I really like silhouettes, but I never play with them enough in my photography. I should really work on that.

---
Updates:
After dealing with a damaged BlackBerry since Thanksgiving, my cell phone finally stopped working for me and I had to get a new one. I got a BB Bold yesterday and I love it. T-Mobile's 3G is cool. I know there is a 4G, but I went from no G to 3G so it's quite an improvement for me.

My high school reunion is coming up. I know it's only been five years, but I guess everyone wants to trade stories on how we all have four-year degrees, are living back home and are working meh jobs. Fun! Hopefully a lot of my friends will show up and that will be cool.

I've got a new freelance gig and I just spent a half-week "vacationing" with my nephew at my sister-in-laws. P.S. My nephew is SO CUTE.

Oh, and after a few weeks of thinking about this, I've decided to make it official. The new and improved me no longer participates in the MN nice nonsense that I keep getting dragged into. I will say what I think and confront people who need it. This is my effort to be less passive aggressive, although I usually am not, but it's just better to be honest - AND it totally helps with communication and the sustaining of relationships. What do you think?

On a lake

8.28.09 - Here is proof that I do go outside in the summer! These pictures were taken last year when Mary and I went canoeing. Since then, we have gone out on Fish Lake a few times already this year. We kayak, canoe, paddle boat, and soon...sunbathing. I thought that we'd go out on the official first day of Summer, but it looked like it was going to rain and it was really cloudy most of the day, so we went shopping instead.