we are santa's elves

happy holidays ho ho ho

we officially have a macbook

it rules.  in case you need proof, the obligatory photo booth photoshoot is here for your viewing pleasure.

bert and i had to try it out on my lunch break.

then i remembered photo booth had exceptional effects 

word count: 34,149

the weekend when we dressed up the cat and i forgot to take pictures of my sister

yes, as predicted we've hit the time of year when my independent productivity goes out the window.  maybe it's the time change, maybe it's steve and i's complete cabin fever with this weather.  maybe it's the limited computer access we have away from our jobs, maybe it's this wedding planning thing.  maybe it's the fact that work has woken up a little and i finally have deadlines again.

actually it is.  it's all those things.  and those things are all legitimate, valid, and real, which means i'm not feeling guilty that my blog is quiet, my draft is dusty, and this script i'm writing is still unfinished.  the script is easy, the draft is like my child, and here i am breathing a little life back into the blog.  we're still good.  we'll still get there.

ANYWAY HERE'S A SEGUE NOW.

last weekend steve and i were hosting my sister, who was in town from san diego, visiting friends and making wedding plans (for her wedding, not ours).  we had a fantastic time, failing to document any of it (well, unless you count an awkward selfie i took with a halloween decoration at the bar).  when we weren't hosting sarah we were hosting friends, and, retrospectively, we had an alarmingly and uncommonly social weekend.  one of steve's groomsmen from the other side of the state was in town, as was a good friend of ours who was back on a visit from law school.

we suffered to watch a sporting event that ought ne'er be spoken of again.  fortunately, as obnoxious as it sounds, when people weren't turning up at our door with champagne, we were racing to brunch, making dip, and staying up late.  it's taken a few days to get ourselves and our kitchen put back together (and we've been going to bed so early you'd think we remember world war two), but as we head toward the second half of this week, we might just have a few consecutive hours to get back in a groove before we face our next couple days off.

and, as the title and image suggest, we put clothes on bert this weekend.  apparently he is a success-vacuuming cheerleader, but he's almost cute enough to help us forget our shame.

word count: 33,365

pumpkins meow and writer nerd updates

happy friday y'all (look!  i've managed to blog two days in a row now!  i must have lots and lots of free time again right?  ...right????)

okay, maybe i'm still feeling a little swamped attempting to find invitations as pretty as these ones for less than $9 a pop.  thank goodness the weekend is tomorrow.  the bags under my eyes are getting a bit too persistent even for clinique quick-corrector concealer (a travesty i say)!

bert is also one pissy monkey these days and will not stand for the idea of me getting a full night's sleep, no sir.  he isn't coping well with being left alone on weekends (sorry cat that's the reason we got you--a cat, instead of a golden retriever puppy.  deal with it).

in other news, our halloween pumpkins have apparently been bothering the stevedore with their lack of being cut open.  last night he caved to temptation (or perhaps he just wanted to entertain bert so he'd let us sleep through the whole 7 hour night) and carved bert's little pumpkin into the cutest cat-o-lantern i have ever seen in my life!  i sure am lucky to be marrying a guy patient enough to carve those intricate little whiskers.  you've got to be patient to sign up for a lifetime with little 'ol me (especially a sleep deprived version).

but now, for my totally self-centered, self-important, self-satisfied news:  i have officially passed the 100-page mark of my work in progress.  i haven't had a chance to celebrate, but it's really a very exciting accomplishment for me (i suspect there might be an extra big glass of wine for me tonight).  i could go into all the details of how proud i feel, but in order not to sound like a twit, i'll keep my comments to this:  if you've ever considered punching self-doubt in the face with a creative endeavor, i highly recommend it.  it's stellar.

now let's just get through these last few hours til the weekend is officially here.

word count:  30,726

summer is over and the cat is wet

let me tell you, there's nothing like having a mantle to get me jazzed up about seasonal decorating.  i am in no way emotionally prepared to let go of summer, but whether i like it or not the cold weather is on its way (spoiler alert: i don't like it at all).

on the bright side of all of this, jeff the cow, our resident dead animal and living room focal point extraordinaire, now has some cute little gourds and pumpkins to help me get on board with the upcoming fall.  all this has made me realize that i am completely behind the ball trying to come up with what steve and i should be for halloween this year.  i doubt we'll ever manage to top 2011's calvin and hobbes, but i've got a few ideas rolling around in my brain.  wesley and buttercup?  pinky and the brain?  decisions decisions....

don't mind the cleavage... it was college, after all...

and just to add an extra bit of fun to today's blog post here is the only picture i got of bert after we gave him a bath on monday night.  he now smells significantly less poopy and he appears to have forgiven me.  if you're considering bathing your cat, i highly recommend it.  it really is fun for the whole family.

happy hump day!

word count:  24,710

the things we are doing

after weeks of wallowing in semi-stressful boredom and painfully oppressive routine, it suddenly feels like we're hitting the ground running with tons and tons of fun things to do and think about.  

past:

steve spent a couple days in pittsburgh for an orientation conference.  though he didn't need much orienting since he's been working for some time now, he did find out a lot more information about the future of his job.  we are definitely looking forward to all the things to come!

present:

right now the big move is occupying most of our thought-space.  today is the day we are moving me and bert into steve's for our temporary housing situation.  pros:  walk to work, amusing cat exploring new spaces... cons: walk to work in bad weather, filth.  mainly we just can't wait to get moved out of steve's and into OUR place.  note to self: go look at paint swatches.

near future:

the reality of my trip to san diego didn't really hit me when i booked the ticket, but now i am super super super excited to get on the plane and go!  can't wait to see my sister, play at the ocean, and let my parents spoil me rotten with brunch at the hotel del coronado!  thanks parents!  nom nom nom.

additionally, steve has a trip down to texas coming up for work  (can i come stevedore?  texas is one of the very few states i have not visited yet), and we just got our invitations in the mail for our lovely friends' wedding down in virginia!

oh and now that it's august, that means students are back in less than a month.  as an official townie these days (ugh what a horrific thing to identify as), i have a love-hate relationship with the masses of students, but on the whole i think their presence improves ann arbor immensely.  it also means my very own personal girl with a dragon tattoo, cha, will be back in les etats unis and we can finally have a raucous girl's night out.  hoorah!

happy thursday y'all!

word count: 13,260

the move has begun

i hope everyone's weekend was splendid!  ours, though light on the hardcore fun-having, was excellent and well-needed.  we relaxed a lot, made a huge dent in the packing process, and sunday evening steve flew to pittsburgh for a work conference, which meant i got to lie around in the bathtub and read chekhov.  the weekend was perfect balance of lazy and productive.

you'll probably be hearing about our moving attempts for quite a while here.  one of the glories of college-town living is the way property rentals tend only to be available at random staggered intervals in mid-august through early september.  this means that, although our lease does not start until august 15th, we have about 90 steps along the way to getting our asses moved in together.  my lease is up a week from tuesday, which means i'll get to endure temporary housing at steve's place (if you enjoy fear factor, you'll probably want to come back and read how that goes for me... fortunately steve is no longer living with the nuclear physicist who pooped his own pants while stone cold sober... i wish i was kidding).

for the most part i'm going to soak up all the bathwater i possibly can until steve comes home, while bert continues to enjoy himself exploring the newly-empty corners of the townhouse.

such as this one:

happy monday everyone!

word count: 9,669

peoneasy peasy

peonies are apparently the trendiest flower ever, but ann arbor was hipster enough to plant a huge peony garden in the arb back in the roaring 20's.  apparently historic peonies were donated by the same guy who founded the company my dad has worked for since the 1980's so clearly me, doc upjohn, and these peonies are tight.  

(all fun facts i just learned doing research on the garden for this blog post.  see how educated you guys make me?  also... by research i mean clicking this link.)

you guys cannot imagine the willpower it takes not to pick these things.

it may have been extremely hot out

also, since we are trying to break out of our collegiate routine, we poked around the corners of the arb that back up to the beautiful neighborhoods in the area.  we decided to gawk at houses and imagine my total and utter glee when we stumbled upon hogwarts.  seriously, someone won the ultimate parenting award amiright?

and just for good measure here's some kitty pics in case you've been needing a bert fix.  i usually require one every few hours.

meow.

super celebratory mother's day weekend!

happy monday everybody!  i find that blogging is extra fun on mondays (which really helps improve the start of my week) because i get to tell everyone about all the fun we had on the weekend!

steve officially accepted a job offer on friday and will begin working as a management trainee for wesco distribution in june!  we could not be more excited, but it does seem like i spoke too soon because it means we will not be moving out of the area yet!  we are staying put for at least a year, but it will definitely be worth it!  you'll see!  we're so effing excited we can't wait to tell you all about our upcoming adventures!

here's a quick phone dump

steve and i went out to dinner at our favorite place in town to celebrate on friday and feasted like piglets.

we headed back to the zoo on sunday for mothers day and filled in the blanks with a lot of relaxation and laziness.  hope you're all looking forward to a nice week ahead!

p.s. make sure to check out the vintage shop soon to see some of the new items that will be put up for sale this week like this super cute vintage 1950's electric fan!  (it works really well too... i might have to use it once in a while myself if it starts warming up!) 

we are what we walk between

happy hump day!  it feels very good to be halfway through this week!

things are still hectic as expected around here, but i'm excited to tell you all about it once everything gets into  place. a few fun things that we've been smiling about lately:

1.  my little etsy vintage shop had it's first sale... and then it had another one!  i'm currently on the look-out for more vintage pieces to put in the store!

2.  pedestrians have abandoned ann arbor (aka all the students went home for the summer) which means i can actually drive from point a to point b again!  (on the minus side, this means the shady people who flock to ann arbor in the summer are starting to come out of their open sewer pipes...boo).

3.  bert, the weirdest cat in the world who prefers to eat popcorn over chicken, has finally found a toy he likes!  peacock feathers forever!

4.  sun sun and more sun!  i cannot get enough of this lovely weather!

hope everyone makes it through the second half of the week!
<3<3<3

manly men and iphoto recap

see this extremely macho superhero man?

he's kind of my favorite person ever and, with our incredible expertise ("didn't the video on youtube say to reconnect the negative side first?"), he managed to help me change the battery in my car all by ourselves!

the mechanically gifted among you might be chuckling, but we were pretty darn pleased with ourselves.

and, because it's laughable to suggest this is the only thing we've had going on, here is a recap of my iphone photos from recent days.

nothin' fancy, just some pad thai and easter take out boxes (which are now full of tasty treats).

we popped open the first bottle of wine i brought home from paris last summer.

i made some cadbury caramel egg brownies.  inspired by amy's post on cupcakes and couture (mine may have just been some mini caramel eggs thrown into a betty crocker mix batter, but what can ya do).

anddd bert helped me clean out the fridge.  

he's also taken to killing the mice in my townhouse recently... can you say EWWW?!

photo recap

it's been a busy week!  with my sister moving out, and me getting a new roommate there has been a lot to do!  i gave the bathroom a mini-makeover.  cleaned and FINALLY DECORATED my HORRIFICALLY messy room (mega slob = me).  

annnnd do you see that beauty i snagged for the vintage shop?  that 1920's woodstock typewriter is in PERFECT WORKING CONDITION. i'm not kidding.  every single key works like new.  someone was practically GIVING her away on craigslist.  i'm tempted not to sell her, she's so darn beautiful, but i guess that's not really the point of opening a vintage shop.  i'll be listing her and a few other great new pieces very soon!

happy friday everyone!  hope you all have a beautiful st. patty's day weekend!