Scrubs as life's soundtrack

I’ve loved Scrubs from the beginning, but as much as I love the show I love the music even more. Some of the songs are by artists I already love, but many are new to me and help me discover new songs and new artists. One of the episodes this week “My Lawyer’s in Love” showcased an actress/musician as the children’s ward entertainer. Her songs were adorable and catchy, so Richard and I looked into the credits and looked her up. Turns out she’s even more adorable than I knew. Her name is Kate Micucci and you should check out her website - she has a few songs available for free download.



I especially like the video and the song “Dear Deer” as well as the song “Walking in Los Angeles” and I must say I can’t wait to find her album!


NOTE: I take back what I said about the free downloads, the songs are no longer listed, but there are links up to purchase her music on CD baby and listen to the songs on Myspace.

photo from KateMicucci.com

Bitter Cold

It almost amuses me when the forecast for the day says nothing except “Bitter Cold” and then I realize, that is exactly what the day will hold. These days, no one wants to go outside, it is really just a day to stay curled up and drink hot cocoa.

There’s really not much to update on. Richard and I are setteling into the house slowly. It is becoming more of a place we call home than just an apartment that we live in. I am not getting out much, because of the cold, and I don’t know very many people in this new city so my only purpose in going out is to search for a job or run errands.

However I’m planning a small excursion with April and Heidi to the other side of the state, in order to have a late Christmas celebration with friends in Eau Claire. It promises to be quite the fun adventure.

It's a New Year

And so I’m working on a few new things.

I have finished editing the wedding photos for Erich and Ash, and they took me so much longer than I anticipated, but really, life just kept getting in the way. I’ll be driving through Fond du Lac later in the next couple weeks and I’ll drop all of those off for them. I can’t wait to see what they think.



(The photo is from their wedding, and is actually one of my very favorites)

Things to Do
- Set up basement studio
- redesign and reorganize blog/website
- organize kitchen
- make labels for my spice jars
- work on having etsy shop up and running, with at least 10 items for sale at all times


That’s it for now, I’m going to visit my mother for the afternoon and do some shopping for everyday items in her basement. We really do need another house phone upstairs so I can stop trying to break my neck running downstairs to pick it up.

Merry, Merry, Merry

Christmas was a fun event. I spent it with my family down in North Carolina.We had Christmas Eve dinner with about 25 people, and Christmas dinner with almost 40. I got to see a lot of family, and even got to meet two new cousins. Odin and Resa Anne, who are just adorable. Odin is a few months old now, and the most expressive little thing you’ve ever seen, he’s even cute when he’s cranky. Resa is a quiet little thing, just six weeks old, but she has the most defined nose. She looks exactly like her mom, even as young as she is.


Daisy also wishes you a merry, white christmas.

For how much we’ve all cut back we exchanged more gifts than I expected. Richard and I got a pair of books for Anna, Faries and Gnomes by Wil Huygen. Anna gave me a t-shirt from Brooklyn Industries and a camera necklace she picked up from GirlProps while she was in New York (working for Scholastic, cause she’s fabulous).

Richard gave me a replacement ribbon for my recently acquired Underwood No5 and I just love the deep hue it leaves on the paper. I love it so, I’ve even been using it to make the grocery lists. He also got me a copy of “No One Belongs Here More than You” by Miranda July, who I fell in love with simply because of her website for that book. I love what stories I have been able to read, and I can’t wait to read the book. He also gave me a lovely necklace and these wonderful lights for the light box I built for photographing stock, I can’t wait to play with them! That is something that will have to wait until next week though.

I gave Richard a Wii remote. We don’t actually have a Wii, but it is something we want to get sooner or later. He was also supposed to receive a game, but I bought it online and the seller informed me a week before Christmas that he had run out of stock and would be refunding the price. Bummer.

Our present to ourselves was a new bedspread. We walked into Linens’n’Things because of their going out of business sale in hopes we might find some of the sundries that we needed and instead found the bedspread of our dreams. In our colors, in a material we both agreed on, with a pattern we both loved. It was perfect, and it was less than half of its usual $200+ price tag.

I have one more “christmas” celebration to attend in the coming weeks. It will involve a five-hour drive with a pirate and a ninja. I just can’t wait.

Everything is Happening

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks. I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism the Saturday before last. I finished moving down from Oshkosh to Milwaukee. Richard and I are still unpacking at the new place, and from the looks of it, will be for at least a little while longer. I’ve discovered a number of things I left in the old house in Oshkosh, but will get back from my former roommates later.

I wish I could say we’ve been busy with wedding plans, but Richard and I are invested in “what is happening right here and now” rather than planning. When we all return to Milwaukee after Christmas there will be more wedding planning, but not right now.

I almost forgot to mention our Christmas plans - we’re currently driving down to North Carolina to visit my grandmother and many other members of my extended family, including my dear cousin Anna. We’re just inside Indiana now and the trees are absolutely coated in ice, they look more like sculptures than trees. The dog is curled up on the seat next to me with her head in my lap. I’m on the computer now in hopes of completing the editing process for Erich and Ash’s wedding photos. It has taken me far too long, but with finishing school, I really did not have time for much else, and I’m sure they understand. I promise to get all the photos to them by January 7th, because I should be passing through town by then and will have the chance to have the whole portfolio ready and can drop it off.

forward! towards graduation!

So it’s been a busy weekend. One where I spent all day Saturday inside working on papers, except for that hour Ben and I spent shoveling the walk and drive.

April threw a “jewelry party” for her mother. A chance for Mama Beese to display all her beadwork and sell it outside of a gallery show setting. It was quite fun just to see everything she’s gotten done. I didn’t have any money to spend, so I was just there to enjoy everyone’s company and admire Mama Beese’s work. She and I are talking about her making some necklaces for the bridesmaids, I know April and I are excited about it, but I’ll have to consult the other girls as well. Anyway, I’m working on helping Mama Beese set up a shop on etsy. Showing her how to work everything and early next year we’ll spend a day getting photos done for her. So look for her shop Mama Beese’s Got Style to come soon. She does the most amazing beadwork.

Otherwise, the only things I’ve been thinking about have to do with school, so here’s a quick update on the School Work Progress:

- Dracula Paper for Brit Lit - DONE! (finished as of 10:30 tonight!)
- 481 Final Paper (8/20)
- Reflective Essay - 0/3 (I was corrected in my page count, and I’m glad I don’t have to worry about 2 extra pages!)
- Senior Portfolio - all previous work ready, just have to finish the other two pieces (481 final paper and reflective essay)
- “A Person of Interest” - 0/5 (Professor actually cut the page count, which, yay!)

16/36 - just 20 pages left to go, just five more days of class, just six more class periods. then. Graduation.

Graduation approaches

I’m in my final semester at UW-Oshkosh, and it is really and truly crunch time. I have less than two weeks left before graduation, and while updates here have been rather sparse of late, they will be non-existent until at least 15 December. There are so many things to do, and I should be doing them all right now, but I’m taking a break in order to make sure I know what I have to do, how far I’ve gotten and just how much coffee I will have to drink to be sure they all get done.

The short list of what I have to do...
- Essay exam on Emily Dickinson for American Romanticism
- Final paper for Senior Seminar (20 pages)
- Reflective Essay for Senior Seminar Portfolio (5 pages)
- Senior Portfolio (just has to be assembled with previous work, final paper and reflective essay)
- Paper on Female Sexuality as a Threat in Dracula for 19th Century British Literature (8 pages)
- Paper on the presentation of themes in “A Person of Interest” for Asian American Literature (8 pages)

Progress
- Final paper - 3/20
- Reflective Essay - 0/5
- Senior Portfolio - all previous work ready, just got to finish the other two pieces
- Dracula paper - 0/8
- “A Person of Interest” Paper - 0/8

Total: 3/41 pages done.

Yep, there will be lots, and lots of coffee. This page count doesn’t even include the studying I will have to do for my other exam. Oy. Back to that final paper.

Blog Spotlight: Sweetie Pie Press

I have to add another blog to my “Daily Visits” list, cause, well, she’s just darn crafty!

The Sweetie Pie Press seems to be full of wonderful things. What drew my attention to it was her call for security envelopes, the project she’s undertaking is both staggering and rather awe-inspiring. I was reminded of a similar call for clothing labels (the ones in the back of your shirts) from an artist that was posted in the Milwaukee Art Museum. What I’ve gathered so far about Sweetie Pie Press is that it is run by Becky, who has an impressive etsy shop, and I may not be lucky enough to navigate away from before buying something. Either way I can't wait to see what becomes of her security envelope pattern project!

EDIT: After further research I’ve discovered the artist that was asking for clothing labels. Her name is Terese Agnew, and you can find the story about her piece here. And goodness, I didn’t realize it was so long ago! I need to visit the museum sometime soon!

There's nothing to do here

I admit, I have quite the list of pet peeves, but high up there is when I hear someone utter the phrase “There’s nothing to do here,” because I know they’re just not looking hard enough.

I fall in love with just about every place I go. I may grow weary at times, and things may get a bit boring, but I know I just have to look in a different way. After all, I’m almost joyous when I’m in the mountains and get to say “There’s nothing to do here,” because a day spent swimming and swinging in a hammock may be nothing - but it is fun.

As a result I’ve decided to do a small and sporadic series on my favorite places, be they near or far. Expect the first one on a location in my current “hometown” of Oshkosh this Saturday.

Busy as a Bumblebee

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but everything is so busy now!

With any luck five weeks from now I will be a college graduate. Then I will move permanently down to Milwaukee and start the job search. But for now it is just school, school, school. I have two papers, one proposal, one presentation and one essay exam this week. It is educational overload. Next week’s forecast isn’t much better. I’ve got to get started on my final seminar project...actually I just have to start something I like, cause I’ve started it just about 8 times already.

I’ve been editing the photos from Erich and Ash’s wedding. I’ve got 32 down and 550 to go. I’ve set the goal of editing at least 10 each day, but it seems to be a daunting task when that takes almost an hour, but I got 8 done today.

Weekend and Wedding

This weekend was hectic, to say the least. But completely fun and worth all the running around. Friday was the Halloween wedding of Erich and Ash, and the picture is a preview of the photos (there are about 500 for me to get through and edit, and so far, I’ve gotten through 10). This week will be intense as far as photos go.



Richard and I also managed to move into our new place. We had all the boxes and furniture into the townhouse by 4 pm on Saturday, which was great timing as it gave us time to start unpacking and hang out with friends in our new place. We have so much left to do, but it will get done.

Next weekend we’re meeting with a catering company to discuss the catering for the wedding. Again, there are just so many things to get done!

Our Wedding: Getting the Dress!

I made a major purchase last week - my wedding dress. Instead of getting it in the boutique as I had planned I purchased the same dress (in my exact size) on ebay! For about half the price!! I am so excited, it should arrive at my parents’ house sometime in the next week and I can’t wait to have it in my hands and try it on.

I feel like its a little early to be getting the dress, but according to just about everyone else this is the time to get it so it can be adjusted if need be.

In other wedding news the save the date cards have all been hand stamped and only need to be addressed and get stamps then they’re all ready to go.

There’s just so much to do, for school, for work (wedding photography), moving, and for the wedding. I really should put all wedding things on the back burner until we move into the new place and finish up with school. Exactly seven weeks until graduation! I can’t wait, and yet it will be strange not to have the security of school and the routine of class.