friday five #34

01. autumn brews - so stoked that the autumn seasonal beers are already rolling out! blue moon's "harvest moon" is one of my all time faves (especially in beer bread) and so far this year i've purchased sierra nevada's "tumbler brown ale" and brooklyn brewery's "post road pumpkin ale" the tumbler is a little bitter, but i haven't tried the post road yet, looking forward to a bottle tonight i think.

02. diy magnetic bookmarks - molly over at wild olive just posted this cute, printable pdf of little foldover bookmark set (pickle, pencil, bandaid, ruler, and my favorite, the bacon strip!!!) that you just print, fold in half and attach magnetic tape to! so cute!

03. "the suburbs" - so far i'm not loving this as much as "funeral", but still really loving it. it's just not as epic for me, but totally a great album to drive to. you should definitely at least check it out.

04. boombox lust - ever since we watched "step up 3d" i've been lusting after an old school ghetto blaster (let's be honest, i'd really rather have a whole wall of them like in the movie). i'm kind of feeling like a new apartment calls for an new old stereo, yeah?

05. weeds - so sad it's the final season, but so psyched that it's finally back on! it seems like forever since shane first wielded that mallet! the previews for this season are awesome. watch it. love it.

a little wishful thinking...

there's nothing like a little birthday wish list related wishful thinking...

01. trip to lake tahoe 02. nixon chalet in walnut (still) 03. 4 door wrangler rubicon in metallic olive (the most perfect wrangler color ever) 04. seychelles "get outta town" sandals (they seem like a perfect brown summer flat) 05. fox ear flap hat from cottonhill's etsy (the boy says he will pretend he doesn't know me, but i deal with neon yellow on a daily basis so he can hush) 06. red shiba inu puppy (they are like little ginger house friendly foxes!) 07. tickets to "american idiot" on broadway (NPH gave it his endorsement) 08. rayban wayfarers (a true classic) in dark marble 09. birthday photoboothing with favorite people 10. adobe photo shop elements 8 (i think this is the one i should get, suggestions?) 11. rei 4 person tent (because you have to camp to have proper s'mores) 12. "happy logs" iphone skin (since the death of iphone 1 i always have a soft case on, but i'll know it's there) 13. a king size bed with bartlett sheets already on it 14. true blood season 2 on dvd 15. the anthro wooden radio with mp3 hook-up (it's half off!)

it's june 5th, e-mail me to find out where to send those gifts too, haha. yeah right.

friday five #21

01. spring bag options - i'm still caught between this and the vera bradley i mentioned a couple of weeks a go. i think i'm going to go with this fossil bag. it's coated for easy, no worries use and i know i love fossil's bag quality. maybe i'll just replace my current horrible make up bag with one from vera bradley in that pattern i like, rather than getting the whole bag. these are important decisions people. (except not)

02. volume two - i'm not explaining other than to tell you that i did not love, love volume one, but i lurve this one. just listen & love. (and obvs the cover artwork is lovely)

03. zombie farm - if you have an iphone, get this. it's free. it's not obnoxious for your facebook friends (as long as you don't link it to your facebook) and there are zombies to grow and invade neighboring farms with!

04. me mugs - so, i'm a pretty big fan of non-matching mugs that are totally me. wether it's my "do something creative everyday" mug from paper source, the memo notebook mug k got me, or the liberty of london mug i'm currently stalking target's for, i think it's fun to have me mugs. they making my morning coffee, on the rare days i'm home for it, all the more special. my next purchase, barring a target miracle, will be this guy from craftyfolk's etsy.

05. glee fests - i snagged "glee: the road to sectionals" on super sale at target and the boy and i have been watching (or in my case re-watching) all the episodes in preperation for the new season. don't tell his friends!

fictional love.

in further celebration of valentine's day, or at least valentine's week(?), i bring you a tentative list of some of my favorite fictional couples.

ned & chuck - pushing daisies was yet another show that i feel was canceled way too early, much like a lot of other awesome television shows that don't necessarily appeal to everyone. aside from the amazing sets, costumes, character names, guest stars & main characters, the romance between ned & chuck, who have been meant to be since childhood and can't even touch (or chuck will die, again, instantly) is actually adorably romantic, this is the way they hold hands, pretending they are holding each others instead of their own. too sweet, despite the everyday intricateness of it.

elizabeth bennet & fitzwilliam darcy - i am not yet tied to any particular portrayal of these two, but the one to the left is the one i've seen so far. i always much prefer my imagined version of the characters that come naturally as i read to any tv or movie portrayal anyway. love that this didn't come easy, elizabeth bennet never compromised who she was and the general stubborness, interference & unlikelihood that their love manages to overcome.

jim & pam - i was a little late in the american office game, so luckily i didn't have to wait quite as long as everyone else to see these two finally get together, but managed to be dying the whole time they weren't nonetheless. everyone, or at least most everyone i know, wants fiercely to believe in the possibility of an unrequited, ill-timed friend crush working out amazingly in the end and these two are the perfect example. add awesome comedic chemistry, hijinks (lots) and a million occasions when it seemed like it would never happen and when it finally does, you just about die.

eric & sookie - maybe it's because i've read all the books (hey, they're excellent mindless summer reading) but i just find bill soooooooo annoying, all simpering and such. i want eric & sookie to get together, and not just in her random fantasies! he is a little more rough & tough, and i feel like he would be there to back her up, but would never take over when she could handle something on her own, y'know? i guess we'll call this a couple i'm dying to have happen!

angela and jordan catalano - i mean seriously! do i have to quote like every painful moment of this non-relationship to you?! remember how it was like this is high school? when you could fall in love with a boy because you "just love how he's always, like, leaning on things" and every single word out of his mouth is dissected and analyzed forever? so painful. so true. haha.

there are a fair bunch of couples i have left off this list, buffy & spike, satine & christian among others, but i guess that just leaves room for the possibility of a future list. : )

friday five #16

01. sheldon in a ball pit - i've blogged about how much i love the dr. sheldon cooper character on big bang theory, but this week's episode about sheldon's breakdown when he's stuck figuring something science-y that i can't even begin to pretend to know about had one of the most hilarious scenes from this show, EVER. watch it.

02. the guiltiest of tv guilty pleasures - i can't even defend "greek" by claiming it's witty or an underground, surprise sensation. it's pop culture laced, only slightly witty, horrible dialouge & cheesy predictable story lines, but i love it,and i love the cappy and romance. it's my super mindless, super guilty pleasure.

03. a trip to the rock - we're heading to the prudential center tonight for the devils v. leafs game. i'm beyond stoked! stoked on a new devils hoodie. stoked on watching brodeur play. love him! stoked on being there for kovalchuk's first game with the devils after that crazy trade last night! i'll miss oduya, and maybe even bergfors a little, but i can deal because kovalchuk has a nasty shot, nasty in a good way as the boy would say, and he's going to push it hard. should prove to be totally worth it. so stoked!

04. work hard & be kind - so who else cried multiple times during coco's last episode? i loved that he took the high road. i also completely loved his advice, "work hard and be kind." this spoof on the classic "be calm and carry on" print is amazing. you can also get it as wallpaper here.

05. brand cameos - i don't know that i love, love russell brand in large doses, but i do absolutely adore his smaller & cameo roles like, "forgetting sarah marshall." last weekend the boy and i watched "bedtime stories" which made for some cute, lazy sunday viewing, and he's pretty adorable in that one as well.

friday five #12

01. scrapping again in 2thousand&10 - judging by the fact that there are only 9 pictures in my "2009 layouts" folder card making and teaching have definitely taken over my crafty life, but i have already made a layout this year (shocking i know) and am actually feeling pretty inspired to make more! the first one back is always a little tough, but i love it anyway.

02. typewriter stamps - i used a sweet vintage looking one at kristina's last weekend and that super sweet one up there is part of rubber soul's valentine's day release. we just got it in and i can't wait to start stamping it! the best part? the "i heart you" is mounted on the side of the typewriter stamp. the "you're just my type" is totes worth purchasing also.

03. super mario bros. wii - so having started my like affair (yeah, i'm coining that phrase) with video games in the days of nintendo & super nintendo i tend to have trouble with these newfangled 5million dimension video games (i usually get lost in a corner and blown to smithereens) so since wii game out i've been loving all the mario games (an intervention almost had to be staged in the heyday of my super mario galaxy obsession). i just finally sat down with super mario bros. wii and i'm in love with the old school, levels & worlds feel of it!

04. always sunny - when i initially started watching "it's always sunny in philadelphia" i burnt myself out a little. when you watch a few hours worth at a time you kind of start thinking the world is a miserable place, but i've just finished season 4 at a much slower pace and it's soooooo much funnier that way. it definitely takes a certain sense of humor, but if you've got it, you'll love it.

05. the 2010 winter classic - this was completely ridiculous to watch! new years day, iced over fenway (really they build a hockey rink and snow over the rest), dropkick performing, throwback jerseys, denis leary leading the crowd in a round of "sweet caroline", the announcement of the u.s.a. hockey team and what turned out to be a crazy exciting win for the bruins in the last 5ish minutes. totally amazing to watch.

friday five #08

umm... we'll call this a central, mountain & pacific standard time friday five! so close...

01. "up" - i actually fell in love with "up" when kerry brought me to see it at the alamo drafthouse on my birthday, but now i'm loving the fact that it's out on dvd, and i've already seen it twice! i've been renting it from the redbox because i refuse to buy it if it's going to come out in 3d like 6 months from now, but i can't wait 'til it does.

02. work! - is it nerdy to talk about how much i love my job in my stuff-i'm-digging-on-friday-five? i don't even care if it is. i've always loved my job at scraptasia and now that we are in our new location and i get to place orders over in our new "high strung" chartreuse studio from the comfort of our new rolling chairs it's even better. obvs that's just one of the million things i'm loving at work, but it's the little thing i was thinking about when i added it to this week's five, so there it is.

03. peter bjorn and john's "living thing" - in a classic morgan maneuver... i didn't really like this album on my first couple of listens when it initially came out. but, as always, it's a few months down the line and i'm soooooo into it! it's one of 3 or 4 albums on constant rotation right now and i think it has that perfect dark, but playful feel for the fall. don't expect the whistling tv & commercial fodder type of peter bjorn & john, this is a whole different animal. i've already listed a couple of these on house party mixes here, specifically "it don't move me" and "nothing to worry about", but for a different feel also try "4 out of 5", "living thing" and "i want you".

04. dr. sheldon cooper - i am not usually a half hour sitcom kind of girl, but i am a bit of a nerd and even if you aren't, you can definitely appreciate big bang theory. this is easily one of the laugh-out-loud funniest 30 minutes of tv and sheldon totally makes it for me. i don't know that i can really describe sheldon, but you can experience him in all his matter of fact, spock-like, face popping goodness here.

05. taylor swift's snl - i was pretty disappointed by the january jones episode last week, and i haven't yet seen joseph gordon-levitt's this week, but right now my love of snl has been renewed and is being kept alive by thoughts of taylor swift's episode from the week before last. i'm not really into taylor swift or know much about her (other than the fact that i dig that she is in her mid-teens and dresses, writes songs and acts like she's in her mid-teens, which i pretty rare & cool) anyway, almost every single sketch in this episode, wether she was in them or not, was hilarious. i'm not even going to try to explain them to you, you just need to get on hulu to watch the full episode!

friday five #05 - the oops! it's sunday edition

01. harvest moon - so far this item on my fall to do list is going well, haha. i tried a few different pumpkin/fall beers this week, but harvest moon is still my favorite so far, and of course i forget the name of the one i had at royal tavern in philly that was a close second, but i'm sure i can remedy that sometime soon.

02. glee - seriously, still not over loving this show. there was a bum episode, but kurt hummel saved it. also, i feel bad for any other drivers on 78 west when i'm heading into work and singing/dancing/tearing up to the glee version of "don't stop believin" on my way in to work.

03. farm stands - i love stopping at local farm stands on my way to visit people. peaches, jersey sweet corn, honeycrisp apples & of course pumpkins make the best gifts! plus, we have to support the local, family run small farms to keep them around, or pretty soon there will be no more family farms in the garden state!

04. nylon guys - if you subscribe to/ready nylon, you should really hop on this train too. it's the same writers as nylon, they always put a dude we all love on the cover (jason schwartzman, adam brody and of course my fave joseph gordon-levitt up there), there's great stuff about travel, tech, music & such and you only have to deal with a few articles about chicks man!

05. re-designing cards - i've been feeling slightly creatively un-productive as of late, so to kick start the process i've been re-do'ing past cards that i love with current paper & stamps. i highly recommend it as a way to get making stuff! and speaking of making stuff, i'm going to get back to my to do list!

friday five #04

01. "meet me on the equinox" by death cab for cutie - so apparently this is a new single from death cab that's going to be on the new moon movie soundtrack. i really dig it's cozy fall feel, and it's def making it onto my newest autumn mix. i find the death cab "fans" who are upset that they are going to be on a twilight movie soundtrack amusing. here's a clue peeps; a. a band doesn't belong to just you. b. new fans are good and c. the people doing the complaining were most likely the "teeny bopper element" at death cab shows that occurred post o.c.! let's all deal with the natural development of band, k? let's be happy for their continued success.

02. all across bangs - i've got 'em. they are now close to the perfect length. i dig 'em.

03. class ideas - one of my favorite parts of teaching is when the class ideas are free-flowing and i can't wait to get my hands on the product to make samples! i'll be working on designing my "maximizing your 6X6 paper pads with eskimo kisses" this weekend and then a bunch of mini albums for the next few months as soon as some things come in, like that fun new "nutmeg" collection paper up there from cosmo cricket. i die.

04. my new pumas - the colors are obnoxious and scrumptious all at the same time. i finally have sneakers with actual support again. double win. now i just have to get rid of the tennis ball yellow shoelaces and we're in business.

05. bored to death on hbo - so other than the fact that super white haired ted danson freaks me out, i am loving this show so far. jason schwartzman plays a blocked up writer who can't get anywhere with his second novel, so he turns to solving crimes as an unlicensed private investigator via craigslist while pining away for his recently moved out ex & getting into trouble with his dude friend played by zach galifianakis, whose name i didn't even attempt to type. and, he does it all with amazing comic timing, obviously.

i know...

... i know i just did one of these, but i've had total bloggers block lately, and these little lists are the easiest kick start, so without further ado, 9 things i'm doing, loving, reading, watching, listening to & working on right about now.

01. artsy kismet -  okay, i know kismet isn't the correct word, but you'll get what i mean! so back in the beginning of june kristina gave me a bundle of cuteness, prints, cards, atc & such which all happen to be in pretty blues and creams. then, i got that melissa moss printed canvas up there on sale from urban. so, now i feel like i need to throw in my fave black & white photo booth strips and make a cute little cluster of blues somewhere in my room! it's high on my to do list post-saturday.

02. all things jenny - not that i haven't always loved jenny lewis, but lately it's been kinda non-stop. i've been belting songs from acid tongue, the execution of all things & under the blacklight at the top of my lungs in the car, wishing i could pull off little shortie jumpsuits with tights and vintage heels like she does and lately she has been serving as my inspiration to let my hair grow for as long as i can stand it, or at least until october! she is, however, also kind of making me covet all across bangs and that scares me a little.

03. bonfires - seriously? so glad that i got to check this one of my summer to do list this year! everyone's summer should include at least one bonfire, camping or otherwise. i love when i have a tummy full of s'mores, hair that smells like camp fire and ears full of great music & friends laughing . soooooo good!

04. collapse - okay, so this book may be really arduous, but it's definitely really interesting also. i have been hearing good things about it for a while, but was afraid to really dive in. but, after a whole month of reading nothing but sookie stackhouse "novels" i figured i should offset those with something serious. i'm only about a quarter of the way through, and it's slow going, but so far i would definitely recommend it for anyone patient enough to sometimes have to read things twice to really get it.

05. card camp - tomorrow's the big day! after 12+ hours of class prep and 5ish hours of other prep and packing i'm teaching "3 maximizing you paper pad classes" in one day with 29 students total! eek! i'm sure it's going to be lots of fun teaching my scrappy ladies off campus but it will be a relief to be able to think of something other than 6x6 paper pads after 4 p.m. tomorrow!

06. queen sophie ann - it wouldn't really be a list style post from me if there wasn't at least a mention of true blood, would it? i found queen sophie ann's character pretty intriguing in the sookie stackhouse books, so i'm excited to see where they take her character in the the tv series. in the books she's supposed to be about 16, which made her a little creepy and disconcerting in my mind, so i'm glad to see that evan rachel wood is playing her in the series and wonder what that means for it all. i'm super bummed that there are only two episodes left though!

07. cheeseball photos - i have a few friends who would be the first to tell you that i am no good at staying candid or having my picture taken. but, lately i've been embracing the cheesiness and rocking the top model poses (like the photo above, i'm doing the marjorie hunchback) and silly faces. i have to remember to just have fun, not be afraid to be silly and forget what others are thinking!

08. fantasy factory - okay, if you are not hooked on this show already, you need to be or we probs can't really be friends! at least catch a marathon next time there's one on because rob & drama totally kill me. the second season premiere was the other night and my face like seriously hurt from laughing/smiling so hard throughout the entire half hour. i just love that they have fun, do whatever crazy thing they cook up but they all stay supportive of one another and their fun is never at anyone else's expense. i'm not saying it's good family viewing, but it's way better than a lot of other stuff out there. i mean i really almost peed my pants during all the cheesy & swissy scenes.

09. the big relocation - things are starting to move along with the big scraptasia move! i'm so excited about all the ideas bouncing around and all the planning. i can't believe i haven't made a whole organizational binder system for the space design and move yet, i mean really. i'm sure dawn can't believe it either, she know i'm always looking for an opportunity to come up with a new organizational or binder/notebook system. it's a sickness.

3 places to be inspired by, and collaborate with...

matthew gray gubler -  you may know him as the grandpa cardi wearing, adorably awkward dr. spencer reid on criminal minds or the intern from the life aquatic with steve zissou, but he also runs an awesome website called gublerland. gublerland is a faraway place where you can see matthew gray gubler's drawings, photos, movies  and even listen to him read edgar allen poe or sing the cheers theme song on "gube radio." recently he has opened the gublerland immigration teepee where you can download a blank passport and fill it in yourself to become a gubloid; a citizen of gublerland. i just filled mine out today with the help of some glimmer mist & my complete inability to draw. regardless of all that, it was really fun to do and helped me remember to not let myself take creativity too seriously.

rainn wilson - so, rainn wilson obviously has more to bestow upon us than schrute-bucks and tiger striped spandex a la "the rocker". he also runs a collective style website called soulpancake. he does the best job of explaing it in this here video, but the main gist of things = a place for questions, discussions and challenges or, as rainn wilson puts it, a place to "chew on life's big questions." i can already see the creative challenges making their way into a scrapbook of their very own sometime soon, my favorites so far include, "sketchify your soul," "control freak" & peace on a post-it." i can't wait to start playing along on these.

joseph gordon-levitt - it's been a while since 3rd rock from the sun and lately jgl has been making me drool in brick, 500 days of summer & even during a teeny-tiny appearance in the brothers bloom. he also goes by regularJOE on his website, hitRECord.org which encourages collaboration and remixing between artists of all mediums; film, music, drawing & all the in-betweens. the forums seems to be full of ideas and opportunities to share all forms of creativity once you sign up and there are a ton of amazing pieces to look at. i will confess that this is the site i find the most daunting to jump into, but what better way than to just go to it, right? 

cozy corner.

i've re-discovered the coziness that is my bedroom and all it took was a silly looking chair from target. i've been spending more time up there recently, reading & watching a movie or tv on dvd. i've just started watching seas one of the tudors and i can't tell if i'm going to like it or not. thoughts? i was re-watching all the season of buffy so i could start reading the comics that pick up where the last season ended, but i haven't made it back into borders for season 5 yet. summer tv is just so lame, other than weeds & true blood of course and there is dexter to look forward to. guilty pleasures like daisy of love (which is almost over and i am in love with london) and degrassi also help me through .  i like to watch something to relax before bed and there is only so much deadliest catch left to watch on my dvr, although i must confess that next time they do a whale wars marathon i'm dvr-ing for sure.. 

so i'm looking to anyone out there who may still actually be reading this blog, what tv series should i be watching on dvd? and what books should i be reading for that matter?  there are only so many sookie stackhouse books and i'm almost out. then it's on to finish sex drugs and cocoa puffs before i move on to collapse and pride and prejudice, which i feel obligated to read before i check out the zombie version, haha. then. my book reading dance card it open after that. suggestions?

10 things i'm lovin' on right about now-ish...

1. the 500 days of summer soundtrack - this finally came out today, and it's just making me more and more excited for the movie. the opening voiceover is beyond adorable and i fell in love with "sweet disposition" by the temper trap as soon as i saw the first preview and i'm pretty excited to finally have it in my musical posession, mix completely built around it soon to come.

2. dark, smoky grey patent leather anything - i grabbed these peep toes at old navy, and if they are comfy enough i'll have to go back for the eggplant ones too. i'm also wearing this same shade of grey on my nails non-stop these days.

3. rupert grint - we've been re-watching all the harry potter movies and i have to say that in the earlier ones especially, ron's facial expresisions and cracking voice totally make the movies for me. and then in the last couple, he's gotten pretty cute in his own awkwardly kinda hot way! i think kerry totally called my ginger loving stage when i was in austin. i've never been into the ginger boys before, but i think i'm there. haha.

4. "the boyfriend" line - cosmo cricket posted their 3 new lines on their blog today and i have fallen in love with "the boyfriend" line.  i choose to not be annoyed by the fact that girl paper is always shoes & shopping, and instead embrace how stoked i am on the pumpkin orange mix tape paper & all the accessories from the line, especially the chip shapes, which include bikes, a boom box, mix tapes, an old school video game joystick, a polaroid and about 20 other fun shapes i'm dying to play with!

5. nicole! - i'm always psyched on nicole, she's one of my top 5 favorite people in the world, but i'm especially psyched on the fact that she is in philly for the summer (she has mostly ditched us americans for the rest of the world by way of england) and tomorrow we are meeting up for the first time since she's been back! gianna's (philly's best vegan grille) for lunch and catch up squee-ing before my hair appointment. i also get to have dinner with miss ashley sue & my hair is muchly in need of this appointment, so it's going to be an all around exciting day.

6. "stencil me in" by marthe le van - spotted this book and had to have it. my friend colin makes amazing stencils for street art and fine street art canvases and i've always had ideas for them but have not really gotten a handle on them yet. this books seems to have all the info i'll need for what paints to use on what surfaces and tons of ideas, plus 20+ stencils in a little pouch on the back cover, most of which are pretty rad. plus i got it 50% off, so you really can't beat that.

7. a 2nd austin trip! - southwest had another awesome 48 hour fare special so i got a hold of kerry and booked it! i'm officially headed back to my new favorite city to further explore and hang out with kerry & allen in mid-october! i can't wait to re-visit a few places, check out some new ones & find some awesome shows & events as the date gets closer. plus, i'll be arriving right after kerry's birthday, which means it's her turn for an all out celebration!

8. basic grey kid stamps - i'm really into the 2 random little tim burton/edward gorey-esque creepy kid stamp sets that are in basic grey's gamma stamp series. i want to sit down and experiment with them a bit, maybe some dark circles under their eyes, a la gashlycrumb tinies. they just look so startled and awkward, i love it.

9. the diana+ instant back - i know it's kind of cheating the magic of shooting actual film, but with a camera with so many possible effects like the diana+ it would be a big plus, hehe, for me to be able to almost instantly see the image so i could really learn how to get the style of shots i want, training wheels of sorts. this guy snaps onto the back of your diana+ and shoots onto fujifilm instax mini for your immediate enjoyment. for sure lusting after this.

10. all things stackhouse -  if you follow me on twitter or are friends with me on facebook, i'm sorry. i'm going through a sookie stage and it's beyond crazy. i'm hooked on "true blood", reading the book series the show is based on and keeping up on the bon temps gossip on twitter. i'm even dreaming it, so that really can't be a good sign.

bzzzzzz!

i know i posted previously about being psyched for "pushing daisies" to begin, but tonight's season premiere night! eek! i only know a few people who watch it, but all of us who do love it like craaaaazy! y'all might know that i'm really not the romantic, mooshy squishy kind of girl, but this show is the perfect combination of quirkiness, gorgeous sets & costumes, adorable characters, sarcasm, inspiration on par with moulin rouge & crazy adorable love story that i actually care about! i always want to scrap afterwards and after making that little mosaic up there with pictures from flickr i want to scrap now!

here's my top 5 fave things about "pushing daisies";

01. the way ned & chuck hold hands (since they can't touch or she would be dead again)

02. when olive snook breaks out into song

03. chuck's adorable outfits

04. the awesome guest stars (joel mchale, molly shannon, paul reubens)

05. crazy inspiration; sets, colors, character names, cinematography: it's all totally fabulous

+/-

i haven't done a good ol' plus/minus post in a while, or any blogging for that matter, oops!

+ current musical obsession = "pot kettle black" from the new tilly & the wall;



- it's stuck in my head like woah!

+ finally got to catch up with kristina! fun in long island followed by me kidnapping her for more fun/take your friend to work day in jersey.

+ it's officially fall since i got to have a pumpkin ale (with cinnamon sugar rim) with kristina

+ new fall clothes that i can't wait to wear (hello sweater dresses, grandpa cardigans, sweater vests and really cute flats on the cheap)

- my thirst for cute flats may be near satiated, but darn anthropologie for having the raddest selection of boots i can not afford!

+ at least i'll "totes" (hehe, k) be rockin' sweet feather headbands all fall!

+ "hometown" collection from october afternoon = love at first (well second, really) sight. it's not often that i buy a stamp set and use 5 of the stamps right off the bat!

+/- i can't stop making halloween cards! it's no secret that i'm always smitten with tons of halloween paper, but there are so many adorable halloween stamps out this year! there is really no end in sight.

+ for y'all since that means i'll be sending tons of halloween cards this year!

+ the new (october 2008) issue of nylon arrived today and zooey descganel is on the cover, love that girl!

+ fall tv is finally starting! it probably deserves it's own +/- list but for now, it simply gets a +. although, i will say this;

- i never thought that i would be so much more invested in chuck bass (a.k.a. the basstard or basshole) & b than s & lonely boy, i mean what the h?

+ my mum & i are planning a charity crop (just for this year, to help a friend out who was going to have to cancel it because of illness) and we just found a great venue for it. i've already started e-mailing companies, kit clubs & generally rockin' people for donations for baskets, door prizes and table gifts and i think it's going to be really rad.

+ i have scrappies to play with, which is exactly what i'm going to go do right this very minute!

... and an even earlier christmas!

i fell in love with this little hero sparkle clear set at cha and was really psyched that it was one of their give-aways. i'm even more psyched that as our holiday paper is filtering in i got to take some time to play with it today. the paper is american crafts and i stamped it with brilliance dew drops (gotta love that shimmer!) in "rocket red" & "gamma green" love how those colors just happened to work out to be so space-y and robot appropriate, haha. yeah, i am a nerd-o!

sooooooo last night i played with a little bit of sassafras and a ton of the basic grey "ambrosia" and came up with 5 layouts for next month's layout class. i so can't wait to teach them. i drew inspiration from some of my past layouts and came up with a a new trick or two and i think they're really rad. it's pretty challenging teaching layout classes. layouts are so personal and it's can be hard to come up with layouts that are my style, but could be used for anything. i really dig how next months class samples turned out, i think i managed to bridge the gap and i really can't wait to share them with people!

i just realized today how out of the loop i am on the new tv season that's coming up! as we speak, kinda, i'm watching gossip girls' season 1 finale and i know that season 2 starts on the 9th or something...(?) and i just spotted a preview for the new antm, but i haven't read any of the new fall preview magazines! when are all the networks starting their new seasons? are there any new shows i need to check out? what's the deal with lost and heroes? what are y'all psyched on? what do i need to watch? help!

anyway, i'm finishing my gossip girl, playing with some paper & stamps and then heading to bed, where i get to sleep late, lazily get ready and then head to the beach for the afternoon/night. you know you love me. xoxo morgan girl (haha)

list-ing...

as always;

* nyc to meet the brits ='ed an easy drive to dawn's in harlem, an excellent parallel parking job, fire escape photo shoots, subways, taxis, yummy pad thai at republic, fabulous ladies, 2 of the most awesome brits ever, drooling at anthropologie, silly 80's sunglasses in an adorable bag from free people and cutie kitties.

* watched august rush yesterday and ohmygosh! so great. you must all see it and make sure you are either alone, or with people you are comfortable outwardly sobbing in front of. i def went through some serious tissues! freddie highmore's little face just always, always, always makes my heart hurt, he's so cute and the relationship between these two? so melt-y!

* i am officially in a complete crafting slump! i have about a million of these cute little books and i want to make them into storybooks to sell on my etsy and i just can't seem to get the motivation to do it! a million inspiring things are swirling around in my head and i can't seem to get anything down, so frustrating! maybe i just need to sit down and make a couple of atc's or something to get a little of the overload out of my head and then i'll be able to scrap proper. think so?

* speaking of those little storybooks, does anyone have any scraps of fabric or gaffer tape that are at least 3 inches long? i want lots of different kinds without ending up with lots of extra and would be willing to send some rak-type-goodies in exchange. : )

* the big house re-do is majorly underway now and i've been doing some serious dreaming about my new bedroom, especially when it comes to the reading corner and art wall. i can not wait! i have spent a sizeable amount of time online today bookmarking all the lovelies that i would love to cover the wall with. i would love, love, love for the focal point of the "art wall" to be this curio shelf. i am totally in love with it at the moment. the test will be wether i'm still in love with it when i can actually afford it, haha. in the meantime i'm also drooling over this camilla engman print, this awesome print set by erin zam that i've been wanting forever and at some point in my life would like to ever be able to afford this giclee print by julie west, not to mention an original piece or two, ever.

* also i am way psyched that i get to go to ikea saturday! the downfall of that day is that we also have to go pick up all the flooring and materials ourselves afterwords so that they can sit in the house for at least 4 days before instillation. eek! at least that yuckiness will be cushioned by all the lovliness at ikea and hopefully scraptasia along the way as well.

* the return of jezebel james! so umm... parker posey & lauren ambrose in a show written by amy sherman-palladino & dan palladino of gilmore girls fame? what, what, what? i had heard nothing about it, watched it and i loved it! now if only we could get them to nix the cheesy laugh track, than it would be perfection!

done and done.

i just submitted my project for the first round of the fashionista search! i can now officially take that post-test deep breath of, "well i have done everything i can do at this point" relief. although, relief isn't the right word, that makes it sound like i'm glad it's over, when really i'm just glad it's in and can't wait to see what comes of it! here's to hoping!

i have to say, i think i'm doing pretty well sticking to my food plan (i hate the word diet). i am keeping it fairly strict and eating the same types of things alot, but that's the kind of guidelines i need to not go totally off plan. : ) i'm just glad that i have been able to resist my soda cravings. eww! i just realized that there are red peppers in my lean cuisine panini. ick! oh well, i can barely taste them,

i decided not to watch lost last night, so no one tell me anything! it's my goal to watch it before next weeks episode though, wether i've finished re-watching all the previous seasons or not. half the fun of lost is being able to discuss it!

anyway, i have to start the inventory of the store that i was wanting to start yesterday, then i'm braving the crazy freezing rain to go home and try to clean up after the hurricane that happened in the scrap area/entire house while i was working on my sis entry!

"guys, where are we?"

yeah, i've been more than a little m.i.a. as in absent and missing, not the tiny rapper who raps in crazy technicolor.

the "croppers care for kids with cancer" event went really well and i love that it was sucessful and now done with. i also told my boss i need sunday's off, starting this coming sunday. yay! i get to have a 5 day work week again! getting rid of that small 5 hour shift makes a huge diff for me; i can have a day to relax & a day to get things done rather than having to choose which i do, i can go out to crazy-stick-to-the-dance-floors-while-you're-rocking-out-to-jt-and-fugazi-dive-spots in philly on a saturday night and be able to join my friends for brunch sunday mornings and it's just a little less stress in my life. yay, yay, yay!

another big yay to nabbing a hair appointment with heidi at american mortals on friday evening! someone called literally 15 minutes before me to cancel so i totally lucked out on timing. so, i get to take the train into philly (i hate having to find parking in center city) and finally get my hairs snipped! i even found a couple of cute hairstyles online today. looking at hairstyles online has really made me want to dye my hair orange-y red too! i won't go that crazy yet though. but after i get the cut i was thinking about dying it dark brown again, so now i don't know what to do!

oooh! i was going to try to not get excited about this since it's just the very beginning of the process and there are about a hundred talented ladies up for the spots, but i can't help myself! i have made it to the second round of the fashionista search over at scrap in style! i'm trying to stay guarded, but making it even to this very prelminary part of it is exciting since there is a crazy sick amount of talent over there! eep! i'm excited to see how this goes!

oooh, and some of you will be very proud of me, and many of you will be shocked that i finally did it, but i have officially finished the second stage of the big scrap area clean out of o8! i have a huge plastic bin 3/4 of the way full of embellishments and a 7 1/2 inch high stack of paper, yes i measured, to sell at the next mlpa scrap garage sale! i made myself ruthlessly purge all the scrappy stuff that i have that i like or love, but will never really use. the next step is going through the stored bins and doing a last sweep of my stuff, then i get to my favorite part, the re-organizing! so far i've freed up a whole shelf worth of plastic drawers units and have gone from two yaffa blocks full of paper to 1/2 of one. yay!

on the netflix front; boo to "the nanny diaries" how could you fail me scar jo? and major ups to "bickford schmecklers cool ideas" loved it! totally quirky, but i love me some patrick fugit!

i am failing miserably at my mission to watch every episode of lost before the new season starts! i am only halfway through season one. i'm still trying though. i'm off to do that now actually. wish me luck!

"you really shouldn't mumble, i can't understand a word you're saying!"

kristina, quality control officer chloe rose and i had a lot of fun kitting sunday and monday. we really did get a pretty awesome amount of stuff done. and, having had the sneak peek of kristi's classes i have to say that everyone needs to take them! for real. and if you're not going to
scrap bowl, maybe you'll luck out and she'll have some leftover kits to sell on her blog. we watched a bunch of movies, awesome ones and ridiculous ones and kristina tried to make me only have healthy snacks, which is necessary as evidenced by that picture up there, eek!

speaking of which, i found a 24 hour gym near me, which is major for this area and you can even join on a month to month basis. so, i'm totally getting on that, as well as the big healthy food grocery shop, after this crazy weekend coming up! that all paired with a new haircut happening next week, a possible work week change and finally actually moving into my room all the way (i think i've been in denial about moving back) i should be setting myself up for a much happier me, which i usually have a hard time getting around to doing.

i finished colin's book, "when you leave..." at least mostly, haha. i still need to drill the holes at the top so that i can put the binder rings in and get it to him. i realy liked how it turned out, simple, clean and heartfelt. and seriously, what would i do without my typewriter?

and ooh! did y'all see that now you can buy individual pieces of scrap in syle's patterned paper? my favorite, of ocurse, being the label love collection. not only do i love it because it's kristina's, but it's the most versatile, by far! i can't stop using it! i have done at least 3 or 4 layouts, 3 mini's and a bunch of daily cards with it and i still can't get enough!

and, since i've been a fairly bad blogger lately, here's a little general info, haha.

reading: a great and terrible beauty (actually re-reading because the 3rd one came out.)
watching: lost in hi-def online to prepare for season 4. : )
listening: dan in real life: soundtrack perfect for this grey snowy day at work.
purchasing: little bits for my room re-do like this and this.
scrapping: valentines atc swap

and i really can't wait 'til this weekend is done and i can really work on ruthlessly cleaning out my scrap area! i'm talking about even getting rid of stuff i like, but know i will never get around to using. then it's all going in a big bin in the garage until the next scrapbook garage sale at mlpa! i just have way too much stuff to even operate over there! wish me luck!