princess cupcakes

thanksgiving in virginia also included a mini birthday celebration. mom & alyssa made princess cupcakes, which emily grace was more than happy to help devour.

do you realize that friday is december 1? december 1. crazy.

second thanksgiving

i got home today from my second thanksgiving. my first thanksgiving was here at home. then on friday morning mom & i drove to virginia for thanksgiving #2. it was a good time, complete with brand new baby wrigley. plus i got a new book to read (the aquariums of pyongyang).

i finished jesus land last night. i originally couldn't decide if i really wanted to read it or not... but once i started i didn't want to put it down. turns out i'm a real sucker for a memoir. if it had been a novel, i don't know that i would have been as drawn to it... but knowing it's a true story, events that someone lived through, circumstances that shaped someone's life - i jump in and can't wait to finish a chapter just so i can see what happens next. about.com review of the book - “Woody Allen once said 'If Jesus Christ came back today and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up.' He was right. Jesus Land is the story of Christianity gone horribly awry, of children entrusted to unfit parents, and of siblings united against terrible odds. Scheeres' is a heart-breaking memoir, a compelling read that will hold you fast from start to finish and leave you in tears.”

i may not reach my goal of reading 6 new books before my next birthday, but i'm getting there. this reading thing isn't half bad.

happy thanksgiving

this week's creation in jewelry class.

i had to re-string it last night because i had originally made it a little short. plus i added the beads between the center danglies to keep them from bunching up. you may not be able to tell in the photo (turns out i'm not so good with jewelry photography. i think it'd be easier if i had one of those neck form things they display jewelry on at jewelry stores), but the dandlies are little wooden skulls. i love my little skulls. i may wear it for thanksgiving dinner.

speaking of thanksgiving dinner, i'm off to make the peanut butter pie. mmmmm.

bead class

i'm taking a beaded jewelry class with a few friends. last night was our second class and this is what i made. it's actually two separate necklaces, but i plan to wear them together. they looked fantastic with my outfit today. :) and i've got plenty of beads leftover, so i think i'm going to made a multi-strand bracelet to match.

i've got the rest of the week off work. i'm going to spend a lot of time working on Christmas goodies. in fact, i may start right now and just Christmas the whole night through.

or maybe i'll catch up on other folks' blogs and then go to bed...

addition: i also plan to catch up on all my emails during my long weekend. so if you're waiting on an e-mail from me... and don't hear from me in the next 48 hours... you're more than welcome to leave nasty comments about how disappointing i am. :)

good morning

i'm not usually a morning blogger, but i turned on my computer this morning to renew my subscription to chicago public radio so i figured i'd give you this cute photo, too.

side note: i was told at work that my haircut makes me look younger. i disagree.

before & after

i did my best to get my face about the same size in both photos for the full effect. i like it alot. and, as an added bonus, it looks really cute with a wide head band. yay!

what do you think?

for my next trick, i may ditch the glasses and go back to contacts.

new 'do?

so i'm getting my hair cut tomorrow morning. i'm undecided on what style to go for. i just know i want it different/shorter than the past couple of times.

i think the first option here show off how much i look like my mother.

old photo

so i'm working on going through all my boxes of stuff. and two of those boxes are photos & negatives (thank goodness for digital!). and inside one of those boxes i found this photo of erin & myself. we can't be more than sophomores in high school. cropped out of the photo is a can of dr. pepper and my looney tunes mini backpack purse. it was during my watch phase... i believe that's marvin the martian on my wrist. and of course a newsboys hat. i actually think if i cut bangs into my hair again, i'd look just like this photo.

and don't you just love the home-made picture frame? give me construction paper & stickers and i'm good to go!

don't we look completely innocent?