BIRTHDAY TIME!

My 27th Birthday is this Sunday.  A lot of people dislike their birthdays, particularly when the downhill slide to 30 begins.  I'm the opposite.  I love my birthday and see it as a reason to celebrate and indulge and be happy that I've made it another year on this planet in a semi-sane state.  I have three of my best girlfriends driving 10 hours from Arkansas to stay with me this weekend.  We're going to eat, craft, go downtown and have an absolutely insanely good time.  I can't wait!  I also asked my loved ones to take photos of themselves enjoying a cupcake and to send it to me.  They have done such an excellent job!  Every day when I check my facebook or e-mail there's a new fun photo! Even my pugs got in on the action.

 

There are tons more, but I won't put them all on here in case someone is internets shy.  Even my sweet grandparents got in on the action and sent photos of them with an orange that had a lit candle in it.  AN ORANGE!

Things have been shitty lately -- I have a possible driver's licence suspension coming up, I locked myself out of the house with the two pugs in the snow while Jeremy was out of town, and the cold weather has really been beating me down.  But it's almost spring!  I have friends coming in town for the next two weeks!  My boss is being awesome and doing everything his lawyer self can do to help me work out the suspension!  I have an amazing, AMAZING boyfriend who has been so awesome and supportive!  My pugs are adorable!

Happy freaking birthday to me!

POTD (playing catch-up a bit)

A few POTD posts since I've been slacking. I got five rolls of film developed at Walgreens. Here's a few of the shots I'm fairly happy with, and then there's a whole roll of Holga shots I need to scan in so you can see the spillover on the 35mm sprocketholes. They also LOST a roll and are supposed to call me when/if they find it. WTF? How did they "misplace" 1/5 of my rolls of film? Gah! So frustrating! [I'd like to note that I worked at Walgreens for like two years and don't ever remember "misplacing" someone's roll of film. What's worse - they knew it, but didn't tell me when I came in hoping that I wouldn't notice. They didn't mention it until I ran back in to get the missing roll. Needless to say, I won't be returning there.]

Anyway, POTD catch-up!

You Have Dog Mail!

So, I haven't been very successful at my POTD assignment for myself, but I think that's partly due to a new project I've started with some photo friends. We're going to experiment with Caffenol! I've been trying to read up on it, acquire my materials, and figure out what I want to shoot. I'm having trouble finding the Washing Soda, but I haven't checked the crunchier stores in town like Earthfare and Greenlife, so hopefully they'll have some and I can avoid having to order it online and pay shipping cost. We're going to try to have some images ready by May 1, 2009, so anyone else that wants to share in this with us, please let me know!

Today was a rough day for me. I screwed up at work, and while it wasn't anything major, it was frustrating and just made me realize even more that I need to hurry and start working towards getting into a new profession. I'm going to try to go talk to the AB Tech advisors this week to see what else I need to do to get into the Baking and Pastry Arts Program there. Like I told my friends today, cupcakes and bread are WAY more fun than angry attorneys and court reporters.

Luckily, my sweet friends brightened my day. Last week a sweet girl I know sent Porter and Nocciola some mail from her little doggy.

I haven't responded yet because I need to get some pictures of the boys printed to include, but hopefully we can start a nice doggy penpal project. (Yes, we are dorks. It makes us happy, okay? DON'T JUDGE ME!) Also, one of my BFFs Juli sent Porter and Nocci some fun treats in the mail, so we went outside to open them and I documented it for her. She doesn't even know how much this made my day, especially since this was such a stressful, pull-out-my-hair kind of day. Here's some photos of them opening and enjoying their treats! Just seeing them rip into those new toys made me relax a little and feel a little bit better about the world. Thanks, Juli! :D

they're liking each other more every day! i've started leaving them together during the day instead of separating them. i haven't noticed any issues yet, so maybe they're past trying to dominate each other. they're still completely different personality wise, so that is definitely taking some getting used to. i think once it warms up and we can play outside more they'll like each other even more. i've been wondering how much it would be to get a little fenced in play area for them in our yard. nothing big, just something so they could get some sunshine without being leashed and without having to pull porter off of the other dogs at the dogpark. he's kind of yippy and slightly aggressive at the dog park, and i'm just too anxious for that to work.

i did my taxes and got that over with, and also filled out a fafsa for the 2009-2010 year. maybe i'll start the baking and pastry arts program a bit early. the economy is looking rough, and it might be a good time to start it. i don't think i'll really be able to afford it, but it's going to be one of those things where there's NEVER a good time to start it. i just need to jump in.

i'm going to be sending valentines out this week! i'm excited about it. i've already made a list of about 50 people who will be receiving them, and a select few are getting a mix cd as well. i don't have time to do one for everyone, and i'm sure not everyone would even want one.

i used to really hate winter and snow, then we moved here and it seemed more tolerable. the snow is fluffier, it actually accumulates instead of turning instantly into packed grey ice and sludge like in arkansas, and it's prettier here in the mountains than it was on the fields back home. i was a little happy when it started snowing the other night, but after two days of walking the dogs in the bitter cold with wind blowing snow and grit onto us, we're ready for it to warm up. i also think the salt on the road hurts the dogs' feet. they'll be walking and suddenly stop and flail their little paws around like something is stuck in it. i've had to alternate carrying them on our walks until their paws warm up. this is the kind of weather that makes me wonder why i couldn't be a cat person instead. it's supposed to be 60 degrees this weekend, so maybe me and the boys can hang out in the yard with a good book, some chew toys, and some sweet tea. yay!