this weekend

Thoroughly enjoying this saturday morning.  i’m relaxing on the couch in jeans and one of my katie gray striped tshirts, watching cartoons with the boy while j is at her dance class with my mom.  knox is over and mark and susie’s, trying to help mark patch their roof.

this has been a successful weekend, so far:
thursday (yes, i count thursday night as weekend, because i don’t have classes on fridays) we went to a fun party/house show at the cool kids’ house.  i drank pink lemonade vodka for the first time (which is a thoroughly ridiculous concept, i think, alcohol that tastes like kool-aid).  it was sorty tasty, though.  those kids are good ones..

yesterday morning i went shopping with Amanda, and there was lots of talking/crying in the car and trying on Target clothes (which looked fabulous) and not buying them (which was tragic).  i like having friends who i don’t always have to be happy around.

Then i went on to breakfast at Pete’s with the PG  (sans Tommi).  they were out of biscuits!   PETE’s, without biscuits!  but the food was good anyway, though i never tried Anna’s toast and gravy, i thought it looked gross..  After breakfast i walked to my parent’s house from downtown.  it was so relaxing to have a few minutes alone.  i think when i was single i took time alone for granted.

Then was staff meeting, then cherry cheesecake, and then more shopping, this time with Shaina.  And the afternoon was over!

6pm i went to help Natalie set up for Jordan and Luke’s baby shower.  The shower started at 7, and we had actual fun.  We listened to Avett Brothers, and we didn’t play any games, like having to guess what the baby poop in the diaper was, or having to taste bites of baby food and write the names, or having to write letters to the baby or any of that.  We just ate and talked and they opened presents, including some adorable onesies that Will and Emily had made that say “Lincoln” and “Prodigy Child”.  i like co-ed showers, they make more sense.  and i like having Knox around.

after el baby shower, we went to over our neighbors house for some tasty wine and good company, choosing to forgo the invitation from other cool kid neighbors to play bike polo in a parking garage downtown.. (side note:  i keep thinking that i woulda had fun doing that..i’ll have to go next time).  we had alot of fun at Katie and Jon’s.  Toby and Julianne were there too, and we peeled the letters off of Jay’s shoes and talked about the Filipinos in Jersey City and had a dang good time.

So yes, a busy busy busy weekend so far.  sitting on the couch watching cartoons is exactly what i need right now.  and tomorrow, we’re going to the mountains!

my hair: a pictoral exploration.

Where should i start?

Ah yes.  Here:

Before

So, Saturday night i had a dream.  Truth be told, i was a little traumatizing because the dream started off with me figuring out that Knox had head lice.  instead of just waiting to inevitably get the lice in my dreads, i decided to just shear them.  so i did, and i felt pretty free and light after i did it.

i remembered this dream sunday afternoon, when knox was napping and i didn’t have anything better to do.
2:30- remembered dream.
3:30- made my final decision to cut them off.
i ran in and told a sleepy confused Knox that i was going to my parents’ house to cut my hair.

the adrenaline kicked in

so my ever-patient father began cutting them off.

one left! i look concerned.

and much quicker than it took to make them, the dreads were gone.

that's all of them

it was a little crazy before the washing and actual haircut.

!

We’ve reached the end of this story.
i must say, though, that i like it!  And Knox likes it.  there have been a few snarky comments about the haircut, but only from people who don’t like me anyway.  People who like me, so far, have liked my new hair.  Change is good.

(and i look better in hats!)

soooon

i’m hoping to register for classes soooon!  Anna and Kels made me a list, so if my advisor is agreeable i’ll be taking some wonderfully fun classes next semester.  i’m trying not to get too excited, because i don’t want to be disappointed… but …. African history!  Sculpture!  History of film!  all this and more.  yes.  and maybe no english or math this time?  if i can talk myself into it.

that would be awesome.

i think i’m an adrenaline junkie, in a big way.

bad noos

i was pretty disappointed to read that Hulu is going to be charging for their service by 2010.

since i’m a person who doesn’t have a lot time to watch TV except a million episodes of House and the office when i’m sick or avoiding homework, hulu has been a great option.  now i have to stop thinking of it as permanent.    bad news.  argh.

the nice thing is that netflix is putting more and more of their seasons of tv shows online, and i do have a membership there.   but still. pout.

sneeaking

Snooping around on Jon’s smugmug, i found this photo, which i love:

Nancy + Jaden

dead ringer

i can’t see too good.. is that Mr. Tom Waits down there?  Twice?

(thanks to Shaina for the pic on the left.. thanks to google for the pic on the right.)

i have the broke computer syndrome. and the throwing up syndrome. but i’ll try to blog soon.

relax, don’t do it

i’m cuddled on a striped couch right now, lights off with an open window, curtains pulled back. 

i’m trying to pull the curtains back in other ways, too.  This week has been really hard, as far as hardness goes.  going to school is hard, and it takes a lot of energy.  having kids is hard, and it takes a lot of energy.  having friends is hard, and so is being married, retaining inner peace, caring about the poor, and having a job.  and let’s not even talk about cleaning. or cooking.

i know for sure that i’m doing the right things with my life, and as i look over the list, none of them can be eliminated.  Parenting and wifing and school take up the biggest chunks, but they’re all non-negotiables. 
this means i just have to figure out how to live this way, for this period of time.   it’s not forever, i keep telling myself.  in the scheme of things, it’s not very long at all.

Part of figuring it out is figuring out how to find peace and rest.  i don’t want to end up some sort of workaholic and learn my lesson by having a terrible mental break or something.  it happens.  i’m told.  so, yes,  peace.  i have so much trouble relaxing at home, because i always see something i need to do.  essentially, wherever i am i think about what i need to do next.  nature of the busy beast, i guess.

anyway, last night i relaxed!  my school friends and i had a leetle halloween get together at Kelsey’s swanky apartment.  She made Montecristos and fancy tomato soup with little sour cream cobwebs on top, and the cutest dessert of all time* (note the scary gravestones).  and we all just sat and ate good food and held a teeny puppy and made fun of drew and talked about our costumes.  and watched Shawn of the Dead, a favorite.

*yum

We all have our roles in the group, and it’s funny how we settle into them so comfortably.  We all give little sister Tommi relationship advice.  I do motherly things, like putting in kels’ earrings or encouraging haircuts.  Anna makes us all crack up.  Kelsey does housewifey things, like arriving on time and cooking for us.  Man, i’m blessed.

And i rested!  I didn’t worry about my paper that was due today, i let my phone die and didn’t try to get my messages or check my email.  i have no regrets, only a desire to do it again.
Moral of the story:  i am happiest when people for cook me in clean houses.

i have been promised that living this way is sustainable