Hey there Savannah!

Tomorrow at 3pm I'll be boarding a train in Milwaukee on my way to Savannah, Georgia. I'm so excited, I get to see my cousin Anna and we'll have some "just us" time and I'll be going to where it is really and truly spring. It's been snowing here in Milwaukee since last night, and I am ready for gorgeous weather. Last week was just a tease.

Today Richard and I will soon be off to the Wave indoor soccer game. And when we return he will have many lesson plans to write and I will have quite a time of packing.

Saturday Crafternoon

It is time, once again, for Crafternoon.



The festivities will be starting around 3 o'clock tomorrow, and ending when we've run out of glue, glitter and/or wine.

It will be a small affair this time around, seven or eight people plan to attend, but I certainly can't wait. There will probably be a recap on Sunday.

Nothing to Do Here: Oshkosh

One of my favorite events in Oshkosh occurs on the first Saturday of each month - Gallery Walk. Many downtown businesses up and down main street, and just off it, stay open late and feature one or many artists. They put out food and drink, and once upon a time - wine, and invite everyone who cares to visit in for a chance to see new artwork and mingle with the artists. It is a great opportunity, and always fun and inspiring. My first Gallery Walk occurred when a couple of girls who lived in the dorms with me asked a few of us down to see their show at Movin' Shoes (a running shoes store which has since changed names and locations). There are often music shows that coincide with the event with some musicians taking up places on the sidewalk in during the warmer months, and the usual show at the New Moon Cafe.

Statistics

• When: First Saturday of each month, from 6-9 pm
• Where: Downtown Oshkosh Wisconsin (see website for map)
• How many businesses participate: 70

I have been lucky enough to have been featured a few times by The Vault, sponsored by Portico a local interdenominational church. It is quite a time, and a real pleasure to be able to display art in the gorgeous setting of the old First National Bank building. (a small note of interest: the soon to be released film "Public Enemies" was filmed inside this bank and the surrounding streets of downtown Oshkosh.

Nothing to Do Here: City Guides

I have lived in many small towns as well as a few big cities, and over the course I have learned that there is always something fun to do or unique to see - one only needs to know where to begin looking. I'm beginning my city guides in my most recent hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. At least once a week I will do a feature on a different aspect of that mid-size town until I run out of things that I know.

All of these features will be gathered on a single page in the City Guides section, which will be up and running as soon as there is content to go there.

The first feature on Oshkosh should be up later tonight, hope you enjoy!

Updates and Remodeling

The layout of my blog and website has been refreshed and remodeled. A cleaner look without so many gray tones. I switched over to blogger and incorporated it into my website in order to obtain a more visual blog, because let's face it, I'm a very visual person.



Now that I've got the website and blog sorted out, I'll be spending today working around the house with the usual cleanings that always need to be done. I'll also be working on some personal craft projects. However, later today will come the introduction and hopefully the first installment to a series I've been working on.

In Transition

I'm currently reformatting the layout for the website, so everything will be a bit mismatched for a while, please forgive me, and know that it will be completely up and running soon!

Blog Upheaval

I suppose everything is in transition all of the time, I'm working on changing my blog. iWeb, while fun, was rather constricting in the blog department, so I have decided to move everything over to blogger. This will be a rather slow process, I'm afraid, as I'm only moving one or two entries at a time whenever I have a moment at the computer.



There are so many things to update on, many involving my personal life.

1) I got a job. A part-time nanny gig for three children (ages one, three and four) a few days a week. Fun, but certainly exhausting.

2) I live in Milwaukee full time now, but have been making sporadic trips to Oshkosh and beyond in order to visit friends and have the occasional sketch night.

3) Richard and I are less than six months away from our wedding. This, I am told, is crunch time. I'm excited, but everyone I talk to (mainly vendors) like to point out that this is rather late to be finalizing things and seem worried when I'm not stressed out. It's a party. It's a celebration. It only happens once, so I feel I just need to enjoy the ride.

4) Speaking of wedding, I will be calling on certain friends soon to help assemble wedding invites. I think this calls for a Crafternoon.

That's about it folks, more moving, and the real beginning of a certain series will occur shortly.

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.