Things I Love Thursday

Isn't this clock adorable? And IT DOESN'T TICK.*

A compilation of clips from my favorite 30 Rock character, Dr. Leo Spaceman. (Thanks Ayla!) (And please, Dr. Spaceman is my father. Call me Leo)

An amazing post on real women...what they are and aren't. (Thanks Sara!)

More words that don't exist in the English language.

I saw this passed around on Twitter and loved it - Please Shut Up.

THIS THIS THIS.  This essay, 10 Simple Tips to Live Happy, Wild and Free, really made me stop and think - I especially like "Talk less, and when you do talk have noble conversation." (Thanks Kaelah!)

Don't you wish we all had to type on the writing ball, the first commercially-produced typewriter?

If you need help deciding, Nietzsche used it and wrote a poem about it.

Saw these felted beasts via Dooce - thinking of getting one made of Cypress!

120 Crayola crayons and their corresponding color codes.

100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language.

10 Things you probably didn't know about Harry Potter.

10 Ways to Game up your Home. Totally awesome and nerdtastic.

Can we all stop and marvel at how amazing this picture is?

This is an amazing story - an anonymous photographer takes a Polaroid each day for 18 years, until his death in 1997. The writer of the article tracks down his family to find out his story.

A really cool writing prompt website.

Amazing when a single picture can make you tear up.

Badass time travel art.

I never get sick of this image. I could stare at it for hours.

These fun pictures put a smile on my face.

I attended this summer camp as a camper, from 1990 - 2001, and was a counselor there from 2002-2004. Now one of my best camp friends is the director, how awesome is that? Such an amazing place. (Fun note: the counselor they talk to, Carl, was one of my campers when I was a counselor there)

I just bought these shorts from Urban Outfitters. Hoping they look good with my stubby legs.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this article, especially if you're a parent.

*I can't stand ticking clocks. If I stay in your guest room and there's a loudly ticking clock, it's coming down and staying in another room.

Giveaway: Handmade Mobile from Lindy by the Sea {Closed}

So as you may have noticed, I finally reached 100 GFC followers which means that I must make good on my promise to present an awesome giveaway.

With that, I am happy to present Lindy by the Sea, courtesy my good friend Lindy!

As with any two people from a small area, Lindy and I have a fair amount of connections: her mother was the librarian at the high school that Rob and I attended, she lives directly across the street from my grandparents' house, her husband is a good friend of my stepmother and bartended our wedding, and she's been lifelong friends with Rob's older sister, Becky. Lindy and I hadn't spoken much until my wedding but we quickly became friends!

Lindy is a stay-at-home mom to her adorable son and furry littler son, and she also makes amazing crafts on the side, such as these fine items:

I contacted Lindy a few months ago about hosting a giveaway from her shop once I hit 100 followers and she enthusiastically agreed to participate!

Lindy has offered to give away one of her handmade mobiles. These awesome little mobiles are made with driftwood found on the rocky shores of Maine's coast along with lots of love and Lindy's amazing handiwork.

The winner of the giveaway will be able to choose one from three mobile designs:

To see closer images of each (taken by yours truly!), see Lindy's shop.

One of these babies would be totally awesome for just about any room!


To enter (required):

1. Visit Lindy's shop and tell me in a comment what your favorite item is. Also, please leave your email address in that same comment.


Other entries (optional, leave a separate comment for each):

1. Follow To Make Love Stay on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'.
2. Follow me on Twitter.
3. Follow Lindy's blog via Google Friend Connect.
4. Tweet, blog or Facebook about this giveaway. If you decide to tweet, feel free to use this premade gem: I entered to win a handmade mobile via To Make Love Stay http://bit.ly/jtORnI @ElectricCaitlin

One winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) at 12 a.m. EST on Wednesday, July 6, 2011.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for reading!

A Playlist for your Monday

Let me preface this playlist with two points.  First, my musical taste is all over the map. I grew up without a lot of exposure to music types outside of generic pop and pop-infused country (Tim McGraw and the like), so the task fell to my darling husband to educate me.  As a result, my music tastes more or less mirror his.  We both have a strong pull toward music that has meaning for one or the both of us, or as Rob puts it, the music has to have "soul." For me, that meaning can be something actually meaningful or it can be a really strong desire to dance. Regardless, I know what I like when I hear it.

Second, since I was a wee babe I have had extremely sensitive ear-holes (pretty sure that's the scientific name).  When driving in the car the music never exceeds a volume of 14 or 15*. The songs I have compiled below are all songs that I have and do crank up to volumes of 35 or 40. Seriously guys. I also belt them out as loud as humanly possible.

I also want to note that from what I've seen, my musical tastes deviate from those of many bloggers I read.  I hope you'll listen with an open mind because there is no Bon Iver in this playlist (seriously, did I miss some sort of blog memo on Bon Iver? I see that band everywhere in this here blogosphere).

For those of you who cannot see the below playlist, here is a list of the songs.  You can find most of them on YouTube/Amazon/iTunes.

Diamond in the Rough//Social Distortion

Fields of Athenry//Dropkick Murphys

Don't Think Twice//Mike Ness

Forever Fades Away//Tiger Army

Far Side of Nowhere//Social Distortion

Dine, Dine My Darling//Alkaline Trio

Likes of You Again//Flogging Molly

Peacemaker//Green Day

Sick Boys//Social Distortion

*The volume on my car stereo has to be an even number or a number ending in 5 or 0. Don't judge me.

Weekend Bits and Pieces

1. First of all, and this is exciting I promise, I got my hair colored on Friday!  It is now a dark, dark brown similar to the color it was on my wedding day.  After it was done one of the sylists at the salon said something like, "wow, I had no idea that such a dark brown would look so good with your pale skin, and it looks more natural than your natural color." Pretty impressive, two insults in a single sentence.

2. On Saturday Robbie and I spent time with his brother and his brother's wife, Jessi (I talked about Jessi in this post).  They live around 50 minutes from us so we spend a fair amount of time with them when we can.  We watched some 30 Rock (duh), had a few drinks and talked about various things.  Rob's brother, Nick, took Cypress for a four-mile walk while we bought food for dinner.  We ended up making one of my favorite meals, "breaded" chicken stuffed with feta, garlic and spinach, paired with asparagus on the side. Lots of butter and oil and damn, it was yummy.

Yeah yeah, I ate most of it before remembering taking a picture. /gluttony

We also saw the movie "Super 8," which I rather liked.  It reminded me of a present-day "Goonies" though with a lot more swearing and carnage.

3. Today I went to lunch with the lovely Justine, my wedding photographer and good friend.  Every time I go to the big city of Portland I have to eat Chipotle.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm at least 87% convinced that food from Chipotle is some sort of delicious gift from the heavens, or at least contains some sort of extremely addictive narcotic. I could eat Chipotle day and night, and twice on Sunday, though only once this Sunday.  Anyway after eating some delicious Chipotle manna I met with an August wedding client.  Their wedding will be my first Jewish wedding as a photographer so I am pretty excited for the new experience (okay and also scared out of my mind that I'll do something wrong, but you know, it all comes with the "excited" package).

4. After all the other funnery from today Justine and I met up for a "Trash" the Dress shoot featuring me in my lovely wedding dress.  Because I love my wedding dress so much, I positively refused to trash it, so basically I just got some awesome pictures of me totally rocking the dress.  Here's a teaser picture!

Courtesy of Justine Johnson Photography

Awesome, right?! Somehow I look half-human in this picture and that, truly, is a feat. Thanks Justine!

5. Look at what I saw on the way home!

To answer your question, yes, I pulled over to take this. I'm not veering off the road in this picture, though that would make a better story.

5. I wanted to tell my Saturday gym story because I think it's hilarious. Saturday was my leg-exercising day but because I'm lazy said leg-exercising didn't include running, just squats, calf exercises, and lunges.  Anyway I was squatting away (ew) when a little 7- or 8-year-old girl came up to me, pointed to my 15-lb weights and asked "are those heavy?" to which I replied, "yes, very heavy," hoping she wouldn't grab one and fall over and break a limb and everyone would blame me.  Anyway this girl ended up chatting with me for a good 20 minutes. Call me subconciously lazy but I was too scared to start working out again because she was doing a lot of leaping and jumping around me and I didn't want to hurt her with freeweights.  Some of the gems from our conversation:

Me: What's your favorite subject in school?
Girl: Gym. I hate school.
Me: I LOVED school. I wish I was in school now.
Girl: Why on earth would you want to be in school?!
Me: Because when you work as an adult you don't get summers off! You have to spend all day inside working!
(way to crush dreams, right? I'm good at that)

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Girl: A waitress. I was a waitress with my grandfather once and I was really good at it.

Girl: Are you married?
Me: Yep, my husband's here at the gym. His name is Rob.
Girl: Oh, is he the guy from Twilight?
Me: Yes, he does have the same name as Robert Pattinson...
Girl: (interrupts) No, is he actually the guy from Twilight?
Me: No, unfortunately, I did not marry Edward from Twilight.*

*Just kidding, I think it is actually quite fortunate that I did not marry Edward. What Bella sees in that pale sparkling douchebag I'll never know.

6. Rob and I are spending our Sunday watching a Nova special about dogs on Netflix. Yes, we're nerds, but let's face it...dogs are awesome.

What did you do this weekend?

The Days of our Years

You can go ahead and ignore the title of this post if you want. It’s sappy and it makes no sense. It comes from this super depressing short that I first saw on MST3k, if you’re interested.

My walks with Cypress are usually the time in my day when I can think through deep thoughts and ponderings, in between getting super frustrated with the dog for eating cat poop or sniffing a single fern for 5 minutes. Today as we were walking, I realized how little I was enjoying it since it was raining and somewhat cold, and how I was more or less biding my time until the walk ended rather than enjoying being outside with my dog.

Since I wrote my post on appreciating the people in your life while you have them it got me thinking about how I approach the present. I began to realize that my need and my yearning to express my love and affection for those I’m closest to, though an extremely positive impulse to have, comes mostly from my inability to live in the present.

(Note: I have talked about my difficulty with living presently here, here, and here, but it’s something I struggle with daily, so I hope you’ll indulge me if I begin to sound repetitive.)

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been waiting for what’s next. A common refrain you would hear if you lived inside of my head (God help you if that ever happens) would be, “I just have to get through [the next 4 days, months, years, etc.] and then [some event] will happen and I’ll be okay.” In college this tendency grew even stronger than before, as I was always counting down to the next time I’d see Rob, summer vacation, spring break or what have you. In more recent times I hear the same refrain when I travel for work—I live for Thursday, my travel day, and the two glorious days I’ll get to spend at home.

It happens with literally everything—as an example, right now I have two countdowns on my phone: our trip to Florida (190 days) and my first tattoo session with the matryoshka (4 days). I did the same thing for our wedding, for the end of my last project, down to my walk with Cypress today. If I can just make it past this one spot, then we only have about 10 minutes until we get home.

What is interesting, however, is that when that magical event does happen (finally see Rob again, finally experience warm weather, finally get home and dry off) I find myself anticipating when it will end and what stressful situation I should be dreading next. When Rob was in the Army he would frequently become annoyed with me, because as soon as we were reunited I’d start stressing about when we had to say goodbye. I could never and still cannot live and enjoy the present because I’m always considering what will happen next and what could potentially cause me stress.

As I’ve gotten older I realize how the passage of time increases almost exponentially in speed with each coming year. Recently I’ve often found myself thinking, “I can’t believe we’re halfway through 2011 already,” or, “It’s hard to believe that Rob and I have been married for almost a year.” I feel like there are whole stretches of time—like last summer when I was knee-deep in a stressful project and aching through the week until I could get home—that I have little to no memory of. I think if I continue to hurry along my days until random events, and then stress about when that event will end, I will eventually wake up 30 years older with only a handful of memories and even greater stress levels.

I started seeing a counselor this week, and one of the main goals I have for my time in therapy is to learn how not to “awfulize” a potentially stressful situation and to be able to spend more time focusing on what I’m feeling in this exact moment.

So today during the walk I started to make a checklist (I love lists) in my head of all the good things about our walk:

1. It’s pretty awesome that I have functioning legs and can use them to get me places. Many do not have this luxury.

2. I only have, conservatively, 5-10 years left with Cypress, and those years will go by in a flash if these last few years have been any indicator. I know when she does depart from this earth I will yearn for these times with her, cat poop-eating and fern-smelling and all.

3. We are really lucky to live in such a naturally beautiful area, with a fitness trail that allows us to walk our dog off-leash without worrying for her safety.

4. It may be a little chilly, but it isn’t 30 degrees and there isn’t any snow. I’ll long for 60-degree-days when the harsh Maine winter comes.

I plan on trying to do this with each unpleasant or stressful situation I'm trying to bypass.  Because really, I have a kickass life and it's about time I stop focusing only on the negative.

I think that living in the present takes considerable and focused work. Our society is such that we’re always focused on the future rather than taking a breath and appreciating what we have now. I’ve decided to add living presently to my summer goals with the goal of eliminating the ever-present knot of anticipation in my chest and becoming a generally happier person.

What do you do to try to live in the present?

P.S. - I'm at 94 GFC followers - 6 more and I'm going to host an awesome giveaway courtesy of an amazing Maine craftswoman :)

Things I Love Thursday

I know you are all aware of my recent matryoshka addiction. Isn't this ring adorable?

Do you eat gluten-free and miss cake pops? Check out these "cake pops" made with BANANA slices!

The "Father of the Bride" house is for sale! Only $1.35 million! Anyone want to go splitsies?

Pride comes in all ages :)

REAL super-dramatic breakup letter read out loud. So freaking hilarious.

UM, "deviled eggs" made with Cadbury eggs and yellow buttercream and red "paprika"sprinkles?!

YES PLEASE.

I saw this sign on a blog earlier this week (can't remember which, I'm sorry!) and I just fell in love with it.

Found this via Danielle's blog - "When I Grow Up I'm Going to Be an Old Woman." Very inspiring, especially for this particular time in my life.

Even if we don't live in Maine when we have children, said children will have this rocking moose from Ikea rather than a boring old horse.

I found this post on Danielle (sublimelite)'s blog about being yourself and blogging what you love really inspiring.

Love this Oatmeal article about Smartphones.

I think it's so exciting that two awesome blog-ladies, Maryam and Violet, both had their babies within a week or so of each other! Congrats ladies!

Some blogs I'm loving at the moment: The Franglais Diaries, Srsly Liz, and The Veda House.

Solitude, Tattoos, Beasts, Dinner & Calaveras

Yesterday and today Rob's been deep in the woods of Maine on a camping trip for work (along with his two female coworkers grumblegrumble), which leaves me and Cypress all alone.  One good thing about this is that Cypress keeps me on a nice exercise schedule--one-mile walk at 8, one-mile walk at 11, two-mile walk at 2, short walk at 4ish and then a few trips out to pee. 

Have I ever mentioned that Cypress is a ridiculously fortunate dog?

Anyway we had a morning and early afternoon filled with work (while watching 30 Rock, of course) and walks before I drove out to see Adam and my new tattoo design.  Get ready folks:

Isn't it amazing?!  Every time I look at it I fall in love with it a little more.  As usual, Adam took what I gave him and went in a totally different direction than what I expected and I couldn't be happier about it. I made an appointment for session #1 for next week because, let's face it, I have absolutely no patience at all. For those of you who haven't been following the journey of this particular tattoo, the phrase says "From Russia with Love." To see more of Adam's work, click here.

After stopping by Adam's, Cypress and I paid a visit to the good old beast-physician.  She got some shots (which she loved) and a mani/pedi (which she "loved" even more), and the vet tech and I discussed tattoos.  Apparently he has a whole host of them underneath his scrubs.  I've had other people in workplace situations conspiratorally pull up sleeves to show amazing, complex work hidden under long-sleeve sweaters and it always fascinates me. It makes me wonder how many people in daily life have hidden tattoos.

Finally, I took Cypress to a field in town to meet up with some of her beast-friends, Nigel and Jago.  We walked around the loop twice, went swimming, wrastled, and enjoyed other beastly pursuits.  Unfortunately the breeze wasn't strong enough to keep away the bugs and Cypress got a big nasty bump on her nose from a horsefly:

Poor beastie.

When we came home I left Cypress to sleep while I went to our favorite restaurant for some alone time.  I had Tuscan onion soup with gluten-free bread, caprese, and a pomegranate margarita:

I don't mind eating by myself, seeing as how it's a pretty common occurrence when I'm onsite for a project.  It still made me a little sad seeing an empty chair across from me, since we always eat at this restaurant together, but it was nice nonetheless.  I heard a little boy ask none-too-quietly, "Why is that lady here by herself?" which made me giggle a wee bit. Oh, the mouths of babes.

When I came home Cypress was out of her mind because apparently she had to pee more than she's ever had to pee in her life.  Poor beast...you'd think I'd be able to anticipate her needs better than this but honestly, Robbie is much more her "keeper" than I.  I think they know each other a lot better, which makes me a little guilty and thankful for days like this where I am the only one to care for her.

Finally, I did a little more work while watching 30 Rock, and Cypress and I turned in for the evening.

It was as lovely a day as it could have been considering I was all alone.  I do miss Rob, but it's nice to be alone sometimes as well.  I found that I wasn't nearly as stressed as last time we were apart, I think in part because writing about it made me more aware and subsequently more capable of dealing with those illogical thoughts and feelings.  Just makes me even more thankful for blogging and how it's helped me deal with my shite, so to speak.

Regardless, Rob comes back later this evening which makes me quite happy.

One final thing to share...Rob's early anniversary gift to me:

Aren't these lovely? I think it's funny that we both had the same "art" idea for our first anniversary gift...seems pretty perfect for the "Paper Anniversary" eh?  Rob bought these from this Etsy artist, if you'd like to see more of his work.

P.S. - This is totally lame, but I wanted to ask you to follow me on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin' if you get a second. Just click the "Follow" button on the right-hand side above the rest of my followers or the "Bloglovin'" link, also on the right hand side.  When I get to 100 GFC followers I'm going to have a badass giveaway. :) /shameless blog follower plug

The Shower Crayon Chronicles

Rob and I both enjoy shower-writing.  We often draw pictures and write each other messages on the condensation so that when the next person takes a shower, he or she can enjoy said pictures and messages.  Unfortunately given the inherent climate of the glorious hot shower, these messages are usually transient and our art disappears, lost and unknown forever in the annals of shower art history.

Truly a tragedy.

A few months ago my sister Megan came to visit bringing bath crayons for my 18-month-old niece, Brielle.  Rob, who had never heard of such an invention before, became very excited and requested that she buy us bath crayons at her next earliest convenience.  Luckily I managed to be visiting her recently and was able to finally buy some.

And oh, the art that has already been created in such a short period.

Now we can communicate our thoughts and feelings not only in person, but through our shower art. What more could a young married couple ask for?

I thought it might be somewhat amusing to share the fruits of our showerly artistic labors before they disappear (yes, disappear; sadly, permanent shower art isn't really an option when you rent) with the setting sun and the running water.

Rob's next tattoo? A girly skull with Mewf (one of my nicknames).

If you can't read the writing: 'Cha chee cha!' and 'Caw ca caw!'

He tried to draw the rainbow but we didn't have indigo...so this is ROYGBP.

A love greater than string cheese is true love indeed.

My next tattoo? A beautiful ruby with Robbie's nickname, Ruby.

Can you tell we're watching "30 Rock" on Netflix Instant a lot lately?

Are any of you closeted shower artists?

Also, before you ask, yes, my husband and I are 7 years old.

And finally, I'd love to hear your comments about this fancy new layout my blog is sporting.

Featured - Love Story Series

Hi all, just a quick note to let you know that my and Rob's story was featured on Soxial Butterfly this weekend!  Amber has a lovely little blog there so go check it out!

Father's Day - To my Dad

Dear Dad,

First of all, happy Father's Day, and thanks for cooking Rob and I such a yummy breakfast this morning.

Dad, words can't describe to you how thankful I am that you are my father.  You have always been a source of positivity, support, inspiration, and encouragement, from when I was in diapers to my marriage to Robbie and beyond. You have always pushed me to be my best self and to accomplish everything I set out to do with a smile, just as you do every day.  You've sacrificed so much for me and my sisters, and I hope you know just how much we all appreciate it. 

Dad, as I grow older I can only hope that I am half the man that you are (though technically I'm failing, what with the uterus and all, but you get the point). I'm sure down the road I'll need your advice and I'm sure you'll give it with a smile and a "you're doing great, kiddo," just as you always have. 

I love and respect you so much, Dad, and you truly deserve the recognition you receive on this day. Please know that you are loved and you are appreciated, far more than words can effectively express.

Have a wonderful evening, Dad.  Sit back, relax, have a few G&Ts and watch your favorite new show, "30 Rock" (you're welcome!). You deserve all the recognition you receive today, though one day of recognition is hardly sufficient for such an amazing man and father.

P.S. If you wanted to dress like this again, I would be fully supportive.

P.P.S. - I heard this song on my iPod today and it made me a little misty-eyed, remembering all the times we'd sing it together in the blue truck.  For the rest of you, please enjoy the 90s hair.

Back to Our Roots

Rob and I are originally from a tiny, rural region in Maine that no one's ever heard of and for which you have to provide multiple reference points when answering the question, "so where in Maine are you from?"

It's a 4-hour drive from where we currently live, and since this weekend is Father's Day (both of our fathers live down here) and since I booked a family shoot for Sunday, we made the soul-sucking trek down the highway and finally into the deepest reaches of nowhere earlier this afternoon.

First we drove to my grandparents' house to help my dad with a few projects. Then we met up with Lindy to photograph some of her wares for her Etsy shop and prepare for a (shh!) giveaway...coming soon :)

So after all of those adventures we're finally back to my childhood home, which is tucked at the end of a 4-mile dirt road on the shores of a beautiful, clean lake.  I love how quiet it is here, minus, of course, the occasional loon or more frequent mosquito.  It's like a whole other world down here.  Seriously, take a look at this location:

Beautiful, no? I feel very privileged to have grown up around so much green and natural awesomeness.

You think I'd be well-versed in the temperature difference between our current home (in the west, by the mountains) and our hometowns (by the coast), but I still managed to plan poorly.  When we left home it was 65 degrees, perfect sandal and dress weather.  When we arrived, it was 56 and cloudy.

Idiot.

Now I'm wearing jeans under my dress and a sweater.  Yay summer!

What did you do today?

P.S. I saw the first iteration of my matryoshka tattoo, you guys, and holee. crap. It's amazing.  Ten times more amazing than I ever imagined.  Think gypsy skull, lace, and Cyrillic.  When the design is finished I'll post a picture and try not to have your mind blown. LEMON OUT.

First Anniversary Gift

I have chronicled my difficulties in buying good gifts for Robbie.  He's almost impossible to buy for, just like every man ever.

So when I come up with a really good idea I get really, really excited.  And this anniversary...I came up with a damn good idea.

Rob loves art, but hates canned art.  He will never buy prints at Target or Wal-Mart, but instead prefers to find prints and other art at our framer's shop, on Etsy, and other various independent sellers.

I found this artist through a favorite blog of mine (http://www.dooce.com/) and commissioned her to create a watercolor portrait from this wedding photo:

Photograph by Justine Johnson Photography

The artist was an amazing person to work with, sending me photographs along the way and asking for my input (like I had any valuable input..."you don't draw in stick figures?").  Finally a few weeks ago I received a picture of the final product, and it came in the mail as of yesterday:

Oh.my.god. you guys. This painting came out SO well.  When I first saw the picture of it I actually got tears in my eyes.  Rob loves it too, and guess what, it works on multiple levels because the first anniversary is the paper anniversary!

If you want to see more of the artist's work click here.  She's amazing, amazing, amazing.

I wish you all the happiest of Fridays.

Things I Love Thursday

It's that time again, ladies and germs.

I love that my husband was pictured on the homepage of the college he goes to.

We're relatively sure they chose him because he has tattoos. 

5 Things They Never Told Us - an article about becoming an adult and the unexpected trials and tribulations.  It's written really well and definitely made me think.

"Jersey Shore" with British Accents - a bunch of guys reading actual lines from "The Jersey Shore" in the style of Oscar Wilde.

40 Things That Will Make You Feel Old - they most certainly did.  Thanks to Kaelah for this.

A Mother's Journey - photographic essay following a mother whose son is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  Make sure to read the captions, absolutely heartbreaking.

Despite not being religious personally, I always enjoy reading The Brick Testament - Bible stories depicted through Lego men.

Would anyone like to buy me one of these awesome initial necklaces?

I can't seem to stop this dress-buying habit I have developed over the last few months. This dress had great reviews on Modcloth, but we'll see if it's yet another return.

I bought this journal on Amazon - it asks one question a day for a year, then you start all over again the next year and add new answers. There are enough spaces for 5 years of question-answering.  My lovely blog-friend Amber may be participating in this with me too, all the way from Texas!

49-year-old Twilight fan gets HUGE back piece with Twilight actors on it. I don't mean to judge other people's tattoos but I'm going to go ahead and say this is a wee bit ridiculous.  Could be because I hate Twilight.

I absolutely love this Jersey Knit Bracelet tutorial from V and Co - I want to go make these now! (Thanks Holly!)

I really enjoyed this post by Kaelah, "The Power of X," an eloquent response to an article suggesting that girls who like "girly" things like cupcakes and rainbows and puppies are selling themselves short as women. 

You Are Not a Photographer - a blog that chronicles the "fauxtogs" that many of us encounter in our day-to-day lives (you know, the ones that selectively color the crap out of their photos, or shoot only in auto-mode and post everything they ever shoot).  By sharing this I am not trying to suggest that I'm an amazing photographer, just that I don't totally suck and here's proof.

Please don't hate me parents, but I love this blog - STFU Parents.  This Tumblr pokes fun at parents who are extremely obnoxious about their kids on Facebook.  My favorites are the "Mommyjackings" ("You post a status about how your kid can count to ten? Let me comment to tell you that mine was counting and reading before conception." etc.). Before you accuse me of being mean to parents, check this site out.  Some of these women and men post pictures of their children's feces. None of the parents I know that read this blog are remotely as annoying.

Some blogs I'm really enjoying: I love you to the moon, Mowenackie, novarella, and What? Mermaids? - three very lovely ladies. :)

Hope you all have an amazing Thursday!