Reading: An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
Watching: Ballykissangel, Series 3
Listening to: Joe Purdy & Joshua James
Excited about: My birthday trip to the Poconos with the fam!
Loving: This new-found gorgeous New England weather. Be full-time now, Spring!
Haunting: Polyvore, because playing with new clothes is the next best thing to actually buying new clothes.
Ornament swap!
Yep, you read that correctly: the title of this post is “Ornament swap!” No need to check your calendars, friends; it is January 10th, and this post is painfully late.
It was a crazy holiday season. I was not feeling Christmas-y. Remember?
So before the holiday nuttiness kicked in, I signed up for a bloggers’ ornament swap, hosted by the lovely Kristine at The Best Is Yet to Come. I thought this was pretty much the best idea ever, and I rushed out and bought the sparkliest, most awesome ornament I could find. …And then I let it sit on my kitchen counter for about three weeks. Because I am a bum. And because what is with the holiday hours at the post office?? Seriously, could they be any less consistent??
Anyway.
I wandered downstairs the other day and was greeted by a happy package from Florida! Inside were these little gems…
…care of my swap partner, Brianna. (Seriously, read her blog. She is HILARIOUS.)
Sidebar: In her card, she made some mention of having bad time management skills, and I swear, I think I laughed for a full five minutes. Then I laughed my way over to email to tell her, “GIRL. Your time management skills LEARNED from MY time management skills, so no worries.” But I’m pretty sure it might’ve come out, “GIRL. You DO have bad time management skills.” Because I’ve also got some serious AWKWARD skills, friends. So, FYI. (Sorry, Brianna!)
But guys, I LOVE these ornaments. So much, in fact, that I don’t even think I’m going to wait until next Christmas to hang them up. I’m planning a redesign of my home office-area (also known as “just my desk”), and I think these would be an adorable and awesome reminder of my blog and the similarly awesome people I get to meet because of it.
So thank you again, Brianna and Kristine! You are the coolest gals.
For a fun treat, check out two of the other swap partners and their ornaments! Jamie & Breanna
jasper & the papasan
So… We got a new papasan cushion! After, you know, the old one was ruined by Jasper’s sheer panic over CK’s brief residence here. The old one had been a clearance find. It was like $15. My triumph was epic. EPIC. …As was my ensuing sadness.
Anyhow, I managed to score yet another clearance-priced cushion, and this one’s a little funkier, too. I love it so far, and have explained to my beloved furball that if a single drop of ANYTHING unsavory touches this cushion, I swear on everything holy that I will call Animal Control.
…Jas remains unconcerned.
ready for his close-up, mr. demille
I was taking some house shots yesterday when I was able to snap this:
Jasper Hale is as cute and cuddly as can be these days, especially since we all decided that CK, the adorable monster-kitten, would be happier living with our good friend Lisa. And playing with his own toys and sleeping on his own bed, instead of trying to take over Jasper’s. Jasper may or may not have ruined a papasan cushion in his quest to MAKE MY FRIEND GO HOME NOW, MAMA.
As well as recovering from his threatened sense of Alpha Male, poor Jas is just getting over a double bout of kitty pink-eye, and his mini asthma attacks have been acting up, too. He is right tired of the vet, please and thank you, and he would like another cat nip toy, WITH THE BELLS LEFT ON THIS TIME, stat.
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Twenty-eight before twenty-nine
So — hi, friends! It’s the last day of 2011, and I’ve got to say, I’m not feeling a whole lot of love and nostalgia for this year. While I’m incredibly thankful that nothing really awful or tragic happened, I’m still looking forward to ushering it on out and welcoming 2012. I don’t believe that the end of the world is coming, and if you start talking about it in front of me, I can’t promise that I won’t get stabby. (So take note: no mention of such theories around Melissa when she has access to cocktail umbrellas or particularly pointy almonds. For example. I’m just saying.)
This year will bring my 29th birthday (holy CRAP) on March 25th, and since I’ve been miserably sick since Christmas Eve, I’ve had a lot of time this week to think about New Year’s resolutions and, even more immediately, what I want to have accomplished by the time I turn Almost Thirty Dear God …29. I only just learned about the whole “Age You Are Now Before The Age You’re Going To Be” list-thing, and so I don’t have a lot of time. But you know what? I’m going for it, anyway.
I’ve chosen some pretty do-able things, and I’ve incorporated my New Year’s resolutions. Is that cheating? Huh. Oh well. Here it is — my list of 28 things to do before I turn 29!
Twenty-eight before twenty-nine… In three months:
1. Make going to yoga a habit again! At least once per week.
2. Learn 6 new healthy recipes
3. Subscribe to Whole Living magazine – finally.
4. Ask the landlord if I can paint. It’s been long enough!
5. Finish the front room: replace the papas an cushion
6. Finish the front room: spray paint my desk and update the work station!
7. Finish the front room: create a craft area
8. Write 3 poems
9. Write 1 short story
10. Go on a day trip
11. Plan a weekend away
12. Find two new great bands/artists
13. Get up the nerve to tell my riding instructor that one of my goals is to show. Eeek.
14. Blog at least 12 times.
15. Start a review blog (or other project/feature) with Jessa!
16. Try knitting for the first time
17. Lose 6 pounds. (Yes, 6.) Keep them off!
18. Make my hair funky!
19. Design my tattoo. Once and for all.
20. Organize my recipes
21. Make a Public Allies scrapbook
22. Create my 5-year picture board
23. Host a themed party
24. Make a list of 100 things that make me smile
25. Read 4 books
26. Drink a lot of tea. Update my tea cabinet.
27. Update my budget/finances. Close unnecessary (store) credit cards.
28. Make enough crafts to open an Etsy shop. Even if nothing sells.
Have you guys done this before? Did you have any luck?
Have a safe and happy new year, all!
seriously, there is not even an excuse for me lately
I have been going 240 for the past couple of weeks, trying to force myself to feel Christmas-y (WHAT is going ON this year??) and crafty (kind of essential for gift-making!), and my level of disorganization is unreal. For me, anyway. I’m kind of a neurotic holiday nut. A frenzied pecan, if you will. (I like pecans. They’re like the cute, dimwitted penguins of the holiday nut set.)
Anyway, lots of changes happening here at Cloud, namely the transitioning of the Cloudwoven.com blog to be here, at GoodBeautifulLove.com. I kind of have this domain name addiction? I’m taking pills and going to meetings. I mean. I’m working on it.
I’ll be visiting ’round these parts more often after the New Year, but for now, it’s back to gift-wrapping I go.
Happy Holidays, all!
Throwback Thursday
…Throwback Thursday, huh? Is that a thing? Because it just sort of happened, up there in the subject line.
Eh. I’m in.
A little gem from an old journal. I still think there was a Last.fm conspiracy, friends. There’s really just no more likely reason. *coughs*
By the way, Last.fm, thanks SO much for being right on top of letting all my MySpace-visitors know that, earlier, I was indeed listening to “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira. I think it’s quite coincidental that despite your efficiency on this account, you’ve now neglected to post the other songs I’ve listened to tonight — songs by such reputable bands as Sponge, Better Than Ezra and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
I see what you’re doing. I see.
Burn softly in rock ‘n’ roll hell,
Melissa
Thank you, and amen.
on flowers, briefly
I left these (now somewhat sorry-looking) flowers on my desk at work before I left for the Thanksgiving break last week, and even though they’ve definitely wilted, it still made me pretty happy to see them there, all lined up and… yellow, when I got back today.
It felt like something a little whimsical, a little bit light — something like the person I used to be, the person I’ve been missing a whole lot lately.
So here’s to flowers. And gluing quarters to the floor (hello, high school). And writing lyrics on napkins and leaving them behind. Here’s to joy and smiles and creativity.
Here’s to a new year and a fresh start, right around the corner.
that one thing i look forward to every single week
About two months ago, I started horseback riding again.
…And when I say “again,” I feel like that’s sort of misleading, because it might imply some sort of earlier proficiency. Which, I assure you, I have never had. I mean, when I was 10 or 11, I took lessons for a few months. I have this one really great memory of the largest bruise ever, deep purple and blue, crawling up my calf. I think my leg was rubbing up against one of the buckles on the saddle. I thought it was pretty cool. Other than that, I don’t remember much… Most of all, I just remember how much I looked forward to going.
So over the summer, I started watching this Canadian show called Heartland. At the time, I was mired in episodes of SVU and Breaking Bad, so at first, the Pleasant Family Drama aspect seemed pretty boring. But I kept watching, because something was tugging at me. And I ended up falling in love with this fabulous little television show.
I won’t even get into the cheesiness about how I’m pretty sure finding and falling for this show was some weird manifestation of my big summertime Change of Heart (I always hear eerie music when I write that), but one of the things it absolutely inspired me to do was start looking into riding stables again. I have always loved and admired horses (what little girl doesn’t?), and I knew that if I was starting grad school, I was going to have to start doing something to de-stress and stay human.
The stable that I found is wonderful… The family has a background in social work (woohoo!) and they are just super-sweet people. There are 18 lesson horses, who are all lovely and happy and playful. The horse that I ride most often, Sandman, is 32 years old, blind in one eye and completely great. He is teaching me well. The horse pictured up top is the huge and stubborn Apple. I like him a whole lot, too.
Getting to spend an hour every week with these animals, on this farm, is the thing I look forward to most. No matter what else is happening, what I’m worrying about, I always leave my lesson feeling calm and inspired — even when my legs feel like Jell-o, which (no lie) they usually do. My dismount is godawful.
The decision to leave school was really difficult, but I’m learning that I need to spend a lot more time chasing the joyful moments in life. And who wouldn’t be joyful around faces like those..??
(And yes, I’m totally cheating and using Instagram photos!)