not quite THE park... [UPDATED]

...but it's a lot closer and provides me with just the right amount of 'outdoors' that I need.  It's practically my 'front yard', I don't have to bust out my not-so-green thumb, and it's always open.  I'm lucky.

I just go out to sit on my bench, I look to my left...
I look to my right...

then I take a stroll around to admire our own tulip patch...and stroll a little more...stop to admire the lonely tulip...

then go on home because I'm sufficiently 'outdoored' as much as I needed on this working saturday.  Hope you are all enjoying your weekend  :)

next weekend, the REAL tulip patches at THE park.  stay tuned  ;)

-------------

[UPDATE]

I realized I did not make good on my promise to the contest winner in the last post.  Congratulations, Sarah!  You're the winner!  Don't worry, you'll be receiving some other type of recognition for putting up with me being a dork and not being able to follow my own rules.  

in my hotel, there's always somebody watching.

name that movie.

the winner gets.... um... a shout out on my next post for being the first to answer correctly.

sorry it's not a great prize.  but i don't have any sponsors yet.  working on it.  well, working on other stuff first... THEN i'm totally working on it.

ANYHOO, back to the post's title.  i should have known that a certain someone would have seen my comment on this lovely gal's post and reacted.  had i known he would react in THIS way.... 

i would have been leaving comments on people's blogs about all the neat stuff i want FOREVER ago.

i have a thing for cookie jars.  i also have a thing for frogs.  so someone thought that i would have a thing for this froggish-looking cookie jar.  

he was loving the camera. ;)

someone was right.

Triumph [re-crafting old, tired legislation]

...(emphasis on "tired")...


After a long and arduous battle over the past 10 years, the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill was passed in the NYS Legislature. Yep, just last Friday. The Assembly passes it every year. But THIS year, the Senate passed it too. Which means that THEY are the REAL heroes.

Obviously, that's absurd. The real heroes are my colleagues who have fought tooth and nail the past 10 years for NY to put a nickel deposit on bottles that are EXACTLY the same as those already requiring a deposit. For instance, can you tell me what the difference is between a Aquafina water bottle and a Pepsi cola bottle ? (Coke went up and changed its bottle so that it was different from Dasani... you can't fool me, Coca-Cola.)

Seriously, this amendment to the bottle deposit law was so contested... bottling industries spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and paid millions in campaign contributions to block it. My faith in NY government has been restored.

Moral of the story, water and "enhanced water" (figure that one out) are going to be on sale across the state until June 1st, 2009. Don't forget to recycle.

new do... [UPDATED]

I was recently informed that I would miss out on having a January post if I did not post something TODAY. Thanks for the LAST MINUTE warning.

Anyhoo, I figured this would be a good way to show everyone my new do. That way, the people I don't see me everyday/very often will see the drastic change... so, when I see them (you people who read my blog) in a few weeks or longer and am already tired of the "OH MY GAAWWWD!!!" reaction that I have been getting lately, they (you) won't get the eye-roll. Anysecondhoo, here it is:

12 inches, baby. I consider donating hair to be one of the most selfless acts that I've ever done and here's why:

a. taking care of 12+ inches of hair is seriously time consuming.

2. taking care of 12+ inches of hair costs a lot of money in shampoo/conditioner/hot water usage.

and d. I became somewhat fond of my long hair so, giving it up was a bit sad.

HOWEVER, it was NOT totally selfless. It feels good to give to a good cause. It always does. No matter what Pheobe says.

So, there ya go.

*UPDATE: A big shout-out to my good friend over at unspeakablevisions.com for making my January post possible. Thanks for interrupting the evening to take pictures, upload pictures, edit pictures, and let me blog. I'm always meeting deadlines at the last minute....

Green Holidays (that don't include the Grinch)

I am feeling much more anxious and excited for the holidays this year. A few days ago I was not as anxious and much more stressed. But today, I started up my "Mariah Carey (Holiday)" station on my Pandora account and rocked out to some bitchin holiday-classic-remakes, all the while being blinded by the sun reflecting off the ice-covered trees and whatnot. Much like this:

Photo from msnbc.msn.com

I am done thinking of holiday shopping, decorating, gifting, etc. as chores. I'm grateful to be spending the holidays with the people I love and that is all that matters. (I mean, I also look forward to the inevitable xmas socks, expecially since almost every single sock I own has a hole or holes in it...) This year, the Grinch in me is gone.

Loving family and friends + new socks = Happy holidays.

I have come across many sites and blogs (and even email newsletters) advising me on how to keep my holidays green ;)

This one was my favorite:


For those of us who just don't drink enough canned beverages, try making your holiday giving season a little greener by supporting local artists and small business. It is a small thing you can do to give back to our environment. Why not make one less trip to the mall and instead, check out the giveHANDMADE! CRAFTSTRAVAGANZA? And while you're there, check out this chick. She's got something for every hard-to-buy-for giftees on your list.

What's that? You want to make your entire holiday (and life) green? Awesome, I bet Google can help you with that. Let's be friends.

winding down...

Have you ever felt like something is so close yet so far away?  The deadline for my paper is only 3 days away... yet the amount of work that needs to be done is going to make those 3 days feel like 3 months.  I don't know why I chose "months" but that seems like a long time.  Words cannot express how anxious I am for this course to be done and over with.  I am looking forward to Wednesday night when I will walk to my favorite building with the most luxurious high rise condos albany has to offer and... well... that's the best part about handing in this paper.  It will be like handing over responsibility....  I will not make any plans for Wednesday night and there is no need.  I will just BE there.  My life will be much less cluttered with books (thank goodness for book-buy-backs), papers, and thoughts.  Oh, how my mind is begging to have a focus.  Not just on one thing... maybe 3 or 4 things... but DEFINITELY not on the number of things that are crowding my brain right now.  I can't even count them.  I have always been a worrywart so I don't suspect that all of the stress will subside until I receive my grade.  I will definitely not be getting any A's... and that doesn't bother me.  But passing is a big worry this semester.  Like never before.  There is more silver lining to the end of this course than one can even imagine.  

Old Capris --> New Skirt

I have been holding out on posting this project because... OK, I forgot I had done this project until I was procrastinating last night by looking through some fotos of my trip to Argentina (aka the homeland for this one). Lucky me, I have a whole new procrastination activity... blogging about the lame-o striped capris that I ACTUALLY used to wear to my job! At a mortgage bank! I can't believe they kept letting me back into the office.

The pants were made of a stretchy denim material that pretty much molds to every curve. Did I mention I got these pants in high-school? Most people who read this blog already know this about me but, did I mention that I'm not in high-school now? Let's just say, a few years later, the stretchy denim isn't so flattering.

Nonetheless, I really liked the stripes and the colors and it was really only the fact that they were TIGHT capris that bothered me. So now it doesn't bother me because the pants are a skirt and I can wear my fancy stripy mini to exotic far away places where I am not as self-conscious about stretchy fabric on my lower half.

The stretchiness is still an issue but believe me, it is way less of an issue.

Wish I could show you how I lined up the extra fabric to fill in the gaps between the leg part. It was tricky making sure the stripes remained vertical but worth the extra effort. And, NO, no one dared me to START with stripes as I began my sewing adventures... but I can see where one would say, "why the eff would you torture yourself like that and possibly ruin your desire to continue learning to sew?" I don't have an answer for that. However, I did not lose my desire, so just CALM DOWN. (Sorry, that was more for me....)

Oh, and the skirt made another appearance in St. Maarten. Not as far away but WAY more exotic :)