You have to see it! You can go to the website and see clips!

fun tea

i'm giving this tea a try. i love the idea and so often have a stomach ache and want to drink something warm that will make me feel better. i'll let you guys know if it works...

Fun Movie!

Last night I watched the movie, Nanny McPhee, starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. I loved it! It was pretty entertaining and I just love Emma Thompson as an actress. (Jamie will tease me if I don't point out that yes, I do also really like Colin Firth as an actor. . . but just as an actor!)

It's a modern day Mary Poppins -- albeit a little darker and more realistic (the kids are REALLY mischevious in this one). It's a bit predictable too, but hey, it's a kid's movie -- how complicated is it going to be? If you are in the mood for something light and entertaining, I highly recommend it.

Beekeeper on Kiva!

I found the perfect person to give to on Kiva. He is a beekeeper. So I posted Dad's picture with the gift.

"Yet to be Named" (aka: "Bacon")

I found a picture of Paola on the website.

Sausage and Yet to Be Named

John and I brought home the first of two new additions to our family yesterday! We adopted two dogs on Thursday from our wonderful humane society, Wayside Waifs. We saw some wonderful dogs but when Pete, a Jack Russel Terrier, came out and immediately hugged both of us, we were hooked. There was another beautiful dog named Paola (because he was found in the town of Paola) that was a Beagle/Fox Terrier mix that we liked a lot. We put the two dogs together and they got along and played so we decided to adopt them both. Pete is quite a bit overweight so they called him "Sausage" at the humane society, but we're determined to help this little guy shed those pounds (and maybe we'll shed a couple, too!). He weighs in at 25 pounds, the exact weight limit for our apartment. We'll have to take a picture of them and put it up for you guys to see. Any name suggestions for the second one?

published!!!

porridge papers featured on design sponge's blog! (click on link & scroll down to see porridge papers.) check out the link to her guest blog and our etsy shope to see what else we've been up to this week. this is a big deal b/c design sponge is kind of the guru on all things cool in the blog world. I helped design and solely printed both of these cards. i'm so happy!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!!

junk mail still counts as email

Well, I'm back at Cafe Cubano working on a paper and inspired by the sheer amount of posts since I last checked the blog! Not having internet is at least good for having something everytime I get online! Today I had 14 emails, most of them being from J.Crew and Urban tempting me with their "final sales" but nonetheless, I had mail!

This weekend I went up to Harrisonburg with Nichole to see my friend Francesca. We went to this really fun bar called The Artful Dodger which is very urban/hippie, a much appreciated change from the UVA bars. The next morning we went to this fun little breakfast place called The Little Grill Cooperative which had a lot of vegan or Fair Trade products and was really afforadable. I think their website is littlegrillcooperative.com or something like that but I really enjoyed eating there. It's worker owned so we got great service and everyone just seemed to have a great attitude. Coming from someone who does that for a living, it's very hard to keep that attitude for long!

Classes are going well. I just had my first big paper/exam week last week and then midterms are next week. I'm doing alright in all my classes but it's hard knowing that I have to transfer my credits back to Northern Virginia Community College (transfered credit doesn't affect your GPA since it only matters if you pass the class, not how well you did).

I'm still trying to figure out what to do once my lease is up. There are a couple condos that I have looked into buying but that's such a big undertaking. I just hate paying rent. For now I'm planning on staying in Charlottesville but that's just because I can bartend at Timberwood and that's such good experience/money.

Dog suggestions, anyone?

I have really been wanting a dog lately, but John's and my biggest concern is the size of our apartment (500 sq. ft.). Anyone know of a dog (that doesn't fit in the palm of your hand please), that would be good for this kind of environment? Maybe now is not a good time to get one but I'd like to know if there is a dog that wouldn't mind small spaces. Thanks for any suggestions.

Ramblings...

I don't care too much about President's Day, but I'll take the day off! I hope some of you are getting to enjoy a day off as well.

Just thought I would say it again that I am crazy about the www.kiva.org site that Darcy and Jamie gave us a gift card for at Christmas. I can't get enough of reading the stories about the third world entrepreneurs and the people who give to them. It's a wonderful idea.
Also, I don't know if anyone has looked at Heifer.org but that's another good one for giving gifts to friends.

Dad, how's the bee keeping class going? What have you learned?

John and I are taking an introductory Spanish class and I'm already dreaming in Spanish! Apparently, last night I woke John up saying, "My name is Elizabeth Ochenta" which is the number eighty! I guess that's a good sign!?

One other website I want to pass on is http://www.gutenberg.org which is the site for Project Gutenberg. It's basically an online library of books that you can download and read... legally.

One last thing... John's parents make great margaritas at home so I finally got the recipe and love it. I don't know if you guys ever drink them but here's the recipe in case:

one can of frozen limeade (use the can to measure out the rest of the ingredients)
three cans of water
one can of Triple Sec
one can of tequila
serve over ice

Not much of a winter drink, but very tasty with homemade tacos!

Toby (from Tobias, which means God is good)

Here's another picture of Toby that came from the rescue website. I realized the other picture was a little dark.

By the way. . .

Today is Tom Kidd's birthday (# 60!) so if you feel so inclined to drop him a birthday greeting, their email address is: navkids@juno.com.

The new Kidd on the block

Meet Toby! This is the Saint Bernard that we are "trying out" for the week. His name was Josh, but it was a name his foster parents picked out and he didn't respond to it at all so Jamie and I felt the freedom to pick a more fitting name. So far things have been going okay. He bonded to Jamie after about three minutes but only warmed up to me beginning yesterday. He's got the bad habit of growling when he meets new people, not aggressively -- more like he's anxious about the changes going on. So we're going to see how this week goes and make a decision about him next weekend. We are going to have a lot of friends drop by this week so that he sees how fun it is when people come to visit! :) He and Hunter have been fine together. Hunter seems a little unsure of himself whenever Toby starts "talking" but he still tries to play with Toby and holds his own pretty well.

As you can see, Toby shares Hunter's knack for crossing his legs when he's laying down. He's not as big as Major was -- probably closer to Hunter in weight. And he lets out this mournful howl whenever we leave to go to work. So I think he misses us. I went home for lunch today and Toby hardly left my side. So I think we're bonding.

It's been an emotional weekend, having another Saint in the house. It makes me miss Major and how sweet he was. And it makes me appreciate how much Hunter has matured since we first got him. At times I've thought -- why did we do this? We were doing great just the three of us! Ah, the grass is always greener. . .

So we'll see how this week goes. . .

etsy.com

porridge papers on etsy.com

a questions for abby

abby, i need to put a new picture for my profile. and i don't know what to do. (technically i don't need to put a new picture but i'm tired of my current picture) anyway, i'm not sure how to set mine up. will you help me? if you're worried that everyone will start asking for your help because they all want new pictures, don't worry. i didn't tell anyone.

paul

Missing Major

I've been missing Major a lot lately. Jamie has too. Both of us find ourselves tearing up whenever we come across something that reminds us of him. Today is the two-month mark of his death and it has not gotten any easier.

We were talking last night that maybe it would help us to get another dog. Major was such a comfort to us after Riley died and maybe that's what we need now. So this morning I emailed a woman about another st. bernard that needs a home -- his name is josh. We will probably go meet him this weekend and see how we like him and he likes us. As my co-worker, Jim, said about getting another dog, it's not that you are trying to replace the old dog, you're just trying to bring some joy back into your life.

I told Jamie last night that if it's this hard with a dog, I'll be a complete wreck if he dies before I do. I joked that I'd have to remarry within a week. He said I should start looking into getting a back-up lined up. :)

Baby, it's cold outside!

Here's a view out onto our patio at work. I think we've gotten about a foot so far. BRRRRRRRR!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

(and no, these are not from Jamie. They belong to my co-worker, Tia.) :)

my first sale

these are the cards i made last week. we posted them on etsy.com and someone bought one! christopher gave me the cash to celebrate my first sale. it's a quote by benjamin franklin that a couple used on their wedding invitation a few years ago. we can save some of the graphics from those jobs and use them on our own stuff.

"Twenty pounds of brown sugar!" - marilla cuthbert

Well, actually 150 lbs of whole grains! That's how much we bought this weekend in Philly from the Mennonites. We got red wheat, spelt and kamut, and Jamie just told me that the latest batch that he made yesterday came out the best so far. Wahoo! Can't wait to share some of this yummy goodness with you guys!

picture from www.healthcastle.com

on the road again...

we have internet in the van now! we got a wireless card from sprint. this will make the time fly. please pray for us as we travel.

ryegrass

our green walls

calling all decorators

what do you think of this couch? i really love the style but not sure on the color. how would it look with our green walls? let me know your thoughts. thanks.

Variations on a theme of "snow". . .

This past weekend was a cold and snowy one, so we (logically) decided that a romp in the woods would be the perfect way to spend the afternoon. I'm glad Jamie drags me out to these little adventures, because I LOVE it once I'm out there. It's so quiet and peaceful. All you can hear is the tiny snowflakes hitting the ground.

All we needed were some good Adidas jumpsuits to make it a perfect outing.

the adidas duo

yes we do look quite cheesy but who doesn't. linds got these pants for 2 bucks at the thrift store. anyway, if you guys ever find any adidas jumpsuits at the goodwill, buy them for me. i'll pay you back. i really like them for some reason. we miss everyone.

-paul


abby, let us know if you need us to find you any PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM. lindsay has a knack for doing what it takes to get the job done.

biology = boring

I'm sitting down at Cafe Cubano (the coffee/lunch place across from the dumpling place on the downtown mall) trying to work on a Biology paper but I am listening to a funny conversation between a local homeless man and two neighborhood ladies. The man is trying to convert the ladies to come to his church and he's telling the story of Jesus turning water into wine and he keeps clarifying that the water was not polluted. I don't know how that is relevant but I just think it's funny!

Anyways, I've gotten about nothing done on my paper today. I have been so exhausted that I slept in and then felt sick for a bit so I didn't leave to come down here until about 2:30pm. I've been here an hour and gotten one journal article for the paper (thank you Google Scholar!) and successfully eaten an entire Activist sandwich (a Garden burger on toasted sunflower bread with sauteed mushrooms, sprouts and Russian dressing - one of my favs) but that's about all. I have a coffee date in two hours so I'm going to try to push through and get a page or two done before I have to leave.

Tuesdays are my only days off and quite possibly my most unproductive ones as well. Well, Mr. Unpolluted Water just left and now it's quiet so maybe I can get some work done!

****Brrrrrrr...................****

Well I just checked weather.com and Darcy and Jamie win the prize:
State College - 0 degrees (feels like -14)
Charlottesville - 7 degrees (feels like -4)
Lincoln - 17 degrees (feels like 5)
Kansas City - 19 degrees (feels like 10)
.....or I should say John and Elizabeth win for the warmest temperatures...
Our office temperature is 66...which is about 5 degrees colder than what is comfortable.

Hey!

Where is everybody?

Yeasty, Doughy Goodness

We got our Bosch mixer and Grain mill from Phyllis Stanley last week and have been having a ball making our own homemade whole-wheat bread! When we head down to Philly this weekend for a friend's birthday party, we're going to stock up on large sacks of whole grains from the Amish. We still have a ways to go though -- the bread tastes wonderful but we haven't achieved a good rise yet. Wish you guys were closer so that we can share -- we get five loaves every time we make bread, so we're looking for friends to share it with.

*i'm dreaming of a white......snow day*

It was only a dream :)...no snow!

Chaos and Tranquility

First the chaos. . .


(my cubicle)

Then the tranquility. . .


(the view as I step out of my cubicle)

And finally, what keeps me going. . .



(my computer wallpaper)

Can you tell it's a Thursday? :)

***let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...***

it looks like we will have snow and freezing rain this afternoon and evening with only a high of 30 degrees. so that means we will probably have a snow day tomorrow, but it will get up in the 40's during the day tomorrow so no treacherous conditions. i will leave work today if it starts to get bad before 4pm. we'll see what actually happens. abby....be careful..