23 before 24

i haven't done one of these in a while, huh? i am sort of slacking.....annnd i'm really good at last minute stuff so all the sudden on like may one it'll be bambambam done and done. but here's what i've done lately....


14. no fast food for a month.

one day evan got us a gym membership and i discovered mashed cauliflower and so i stopped eating fast food. that was december four through january four. and since then, i've eaten it maybe 3 times. katie told me i would think it's disgusting after my month and she was SO right. the whole month i really learned how much i really ate. when i was driving home right past like 40 fast food restaurants and i could smell it. and i wanted it. but i never got it. and now that i can have it again, i don't want it. i never crave it and the few times i've had it, it has not been very good. super proud of myself for this one.

21. learn how to crochet.

i kind of already knew how because i was taught at manner's camp once (yes. i know. it was more of a "learn-how-victorian's-lived-camp but then they snuck in the manner's part and i still put my silverware at 4 o'clock when i'm finished with my meal.) and then i watched some youtube vids when i wanted to make a scarf. but i could basically just chain stitch for one hundred miles. it's the coming back around part that got me. so jamie taught me how to make a granny stripe and i have since started two blankets and ran out of yarn for both and that is as far as i've gotten. depressing.

but i'm determined to finish sometime in this lifetime.  and i was making this blanket for someone else and so i don't really like the colors and seeing as how Christmas was like a month ago....i'm a little behind. also apparently i'm doing it wrong. so now i want to try something else. and i don't know how to tuck in my ends and those little guys are SO annoying.


i wasn't going to post this until i had three because even numbers make me uneasy and so today at lunch i was going to do number 1 which is eat alone in a restaurant by mah self but then THEN stupid, stupid downtown drivers and their horrible parking and some idiot cops who were blocking 451 lanes of traffic so i came this close to being rear ended and then the cop yelled at me. AT ME! and then there were NO parking spots except for the 10 minute ones and so i DROVE. AROUND for FORTY FIVE minutes looking for a damn spot and then i finally gave up and went to BK because it's right next to my office and i was starving. and i didn't pack a lunch so i wouldn't chicken out. well, next time i know. pack a lunch just in case the entire world comes out to play downtown during my lunch hour or else you'll have to eat fast food and for that, see number 14.

50 books.....in general

i failed my 50 book challenge so hard. SOhard. buttt i'm still reading and i'm just going to read 50 books and then keep reading. especially because right now i've been on a reading binge. i take my lunch to work so i don't have to leave (and also drive in the nasty snow with all other idiot drivers. you can really tell i love other drivers. they're my favorite.) and then i sit at my desk, all by my introverted lonesome, and read. and i read before bed and i read in my spare time and i read on friday nights when evan is at work and i pretty much do nothing but read.


24. Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun.

this was a super easy read and also super depressing. two things i laaaoooveeee. kidding. it was good. and sad.

25. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns...) by Mindy Kaling.

 i'd expect everyone to know who mindy kaling is. and if you don't then look at the picture. and if you still don't then go in a corner and bang your head against the wall because your life is incomplete. without the office. and mindy. also, buy this book and don't speak to me until you've read it. i was laughing out loud. OUT LOUD, people. how many times do you laugh OUT LOUD while reading a book? uh, never. that's something that happens during TV, or reading my blog (which isn't a book.....YET. don't worry though. maybe someday. to which people will write blogs about, saying, "FREAKING READ THIS BOOK, YOU IDIOTS!") or IRL. not during book reading. but no. laughed my ass off. out loud. i am pretty sure that we are supposed to be best friends. i'm sure a lot of people say that after reading her book, but i'm serious, you guys. we are the same person. or at least we have the same likes. OK WE ARE BOTH GIRLS AND THAT IS ENOUGH IN COMMON TO BE BEST FRIENDS.

but seriously, read this book. and then watch the office. then come back here and say "thank you."

26. This is Where I Leave You by Johnathon Tropper.

 i decided to read this book because i saw one of my IG friends reading it and i liked the cover. i kind of can't read a book if i don't like the cover. but my beloved kindle has free sampling and i sampled and loved. i don't even think i read the whole sample before it was delivered to my kindle, in full. i loved it. this man is SUCH a good writer. and it was completely not what i was expecting, and like a man would there are some not so cleanish parts........and whatever. it's a book by a man. i don't know what more you want.

27. How to Talk to a Widower by Johnathon Tropper

oh, you're very smart. you see that i bought TWO books by this author because i liked him so much. well. in reading this second book by said author, i realized that he may recycle his story lines and characters and metaphors. he used the EXACT same metaphor in both books. EXACT same. something about a feeling percolating under the surface. and i was all, yeahyeah that's good! and then again, this book. exact same phrase. i mean, come on. this is like jodi picoult all over again. but a man. i did not buy that "this is where i leave you" book twice. that would be dumb of me. i was expecting a different story, with different characters and different words. kind of disappointing. it was still good, but i won't check out anymore of his stuff. i've already read it all.....



28. The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey

probably a lot of people will not like this book at all. but james frey basically gives a big ole middle finger to the world and writes what he wants. this wasn't my favorite book by him, and the ending was rushed, but i love his writing style. although, i will admit, i prefer reading his stories in book form. and not on my kindle. and only because the kindle doesn't format his books the same way he does. which is part of why i like his writing. and probably the one and only time you'll ever hear me say, "pass me that book." ew. just kidding. books are.....neat. BUTIHAVEAKINDLE.


and i'm currently reading:

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

this book is so sad and so beautiful. i can only handle so much at one time. it's about a refugee from africa in the 90's when all that tutsi and hutu genocide was happening in rwanda. now i need to go there and see this history. it's SO sad. and the other day, on CNN this was a huge story about how rwanda is trying to get people to come see their gorillas and put money in their economy and it's become peaceful and um, i'm pretty sure that was my sign that i need to go there.

Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson

ummmm this book? amazing. she wrote a million ideas on post-it notes (SUZY!) and then made a story. i will probably finish it within 24 hours because you have to forcibly pry it from my hands when you want me to stop.

How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu.

did you know that i kind of have a thing for africa? this book is also amazing. what's equally amazing is that i found this discarded, on a shelf at borders, literally the day before they closed. sorry for everyone that passed it up. not only was it like .99 cents, but it's one of my favorite books ever. i've been reading it for a long, long time and i don't know why. this kind of writing and this kind of story usually take me a few days but i might be drawing it out. subconsciously.


and i tried to sign up on that "lendle" site where you can lend your kindle books for free and borrow other books but APPARENTLY you can only lend your books one time. then amazon says, NO MORE. what the what what? so i already lent my books to evan's kindle and so now i can't lend them to anyone else. and i need to take them off this site because the number of times someone has tried to borrow the hunger games from me? i can't even count that high. which is why i read and don't do math. and you would think there would be some good books on there for me to borrow, wouldn't you? are good books called, "how to flip a house and money some money from it in this economy" ? no. to answer that question (where the stupid question mark is outside the stupid quotes, i HATE that.) NO. no, that is not a book i want to read, why are you lending it? if you need to know how to flip a house, you should probably buy it so you can reference it and not screw it up. and if you need to read a book on that, you probably should leave house flipping to the pros, and stick with putting books that i want to actually read in your lendle account.

and also, amazon keeps recommending me these weird space creature books? something about martians and an earth probe is what i got from the title. which makes zero sense to me because look, just look at the books i've bought. none of them have anything to do with weird space lit. and so i'm going to need some serious book recommendations STAT.

according to my phone;

 1. that's what i drove to work in for pretty much a week straight. we didn't get a snow day and i had massive panic attacks. worst week of my life. 2. evan doesn't have an iphone so those cute little emojis i send him are just black boxes on his screen. i send them anyway. then make fun of him for having such a crap blackberry. (5 months evie 5 months!)

 3. sometimes i don't use my wipers and then i drive erratically while taking pictures through my blind windshield. 4. i made kale chips for the first time and devoured them all.

 5. icicles. also a funny story. taking this picture was the first time i'd ever been on that side of my house. so mysterious. 6. little baby snap and i. also, i love my phone case and IRL no one has said anything nice about it. i'm really having to fight punching people in the face when they give me looks like, "ohhh.....cuuuuuute." or say something like, "hmmm...it's........different." yeah, okay. sorry i don't have a kate spade polka dotted one.

 7, 8, 9, 10. i ate an entire bag of cuties. on my own. in 4 days. that's gotta be like an average of 6 cuties a day. i took 4 to work the first day and then kept increasing them day by day. evan had ONE. one cutie from the entire bag. and today i found a seed in one of my pieces AND i googled cuties and i think they might be a november to january seasonal fruit and i'm going to freak my freak if someone takes these away from me. ICAN'TSTOP. and they're not supposed to have seeds. i also made evan go to the store and get more cuties because i only had ONE left for work today. one was not enough. he brought me 5. i don't know if this man knows that i go big or go home, but i was up to like 10. so........little behind on my cutie intake for the day. you should also know that my hatred for oranges is like woah. so eating cuties like they're going out of style is HUGE. these are amazing and i feel sorry for the first 23 years of my life.

 11. again with the danger zone. 12. my favorite spot to take my sunset pictures. please note that i am driving and this is at a stop light but ever since i started taking pictures here the light is never red for me. that is also the ONLY time you will ever hear me complain about a red light. AND? AND THIS MEANS I DRIVE HOME IN THE DAY LIGHT AGAIN! ha le lu freakin jah. i left work on monday and THERE WAS LIGHT! which means summer is right around the corner.

Sometimes I look back at things that have happened to me in the past and I get really, really angry. Which is so stupid. I am completely aware of my inability to change the past. And also my inability to control the actions of another person.

I'd like to be taught how to remove someone from my life. I think that would be the best solution. I wish I was more brave. Today I sent a not-very-nice text (a text people. This is huge for me. Huge!) to my old landlord because he's an ass. I told him he's a compulsive liar and a coward and it felt good. I mostly did it because I'll never have to see him again. In fact, I've never seen him in the first place. It's these other people. These other people who live in my town, shop at my stores, go where i go, do what I do. It's these people I can't just up and slap with some words on a screen. Even though they had no problem slapping me with words behind my back or to my friends or their friends or to my face. It's those people who really deserve a word-slapping and not my landlord for stealing $50 from me. That? That deserves a nice hard slap on the face. With a wet towel.

I'm sick of being a convenience. Of being a plan B. of wondering if you're having a good day or if you're having a day where I let your excuse do all the talking.

I'm overwhelmed and anxious. My heart is going to beat its way out of my chest. I'm going to break. It's going to happen.

Three;

date three: try out a new-to-us restaurant. (&how we almost died at a truck stop)

at the very last minute on saturday, evan and i finally decided on our restaurant for the following night's date. we're very indecisive when it comes to decision making.

sunday night rolled around and we got all cute and showed up at the restaurant to find out IT WAS CLOSED. i don't get these places that think people don't eat on sundays. or mondays. what is that?

so instead we decided to try this place evan's mom had recommended to us. she said it was a mom and pop place and super quaint and fun. (and i don't exactly remember what she said because what she said and what i was expecting are probably not the same thing.) it was mexican, which we love, so we drove to the other side of town to try it out. this place was nestled between motels and gas stations and was sort of a cross between denny's and BK. with a casino and 1990's neon crayon upholstered booths. it might even be the scene of the next chain saw massacre. by the lone server who hated our guts for disturbing her night of nothingness. we were the ONLY people in the entire place. so i may have thrown a little fit of "this is not our date night. i am not counting this. no." but we had already ordered drinks so instead we shared a plate of nachos. and then when i tried them i may have also eaten my words because those were some damn good nachos. but that doesn't give them the right to make me feel like i'm two bites away from death.

so we ate our nachos and ran away because evan promised to take me to another restaurant. and i didn't want to die. (but no seriously, we'll probably get take out from there in the future. and maybe i'll give them some interior design tips.)






we then ate at a sushi place which was ADORABLE and delish and not a scary truck stop. if the servers there were plotting my death i did not know because i do not speak chinese as well as i speak spanish. which also meant we had TWO meals and tried TWO new-to-us restaurants.

 

go us.


it also doesn't excuse the original restaurant, so maybe i'll amend this date later this week and try it out.



in other non-date related news: i got my hurrs cut on friday by my friend monica who is amazing at that and maybe gave me the best hair cut of my life? i think so. it's so soft and pretty and even after i washed and dried it and slept on it (wet) it's still soft and pretty. and mostly, i changed up my bangs. my fringe. after the same bangs for 5 years, i think i'm allowed a change. i haven't tried to side sweep them ONCE. ha! i feel like an adult and like i maybe don't look like i'm 18 anymore.

Tuna burgers

i don't normally post recipes on my blog because i don't normally cook. umbut i am obsessed with this recipe and i want to share it. i've made it multiple times in the past three weeks because 1. it's easy 2. i always have the ingredients 3. it's yummy in my tummy. this recipe is the yummiest twist on tuna sandwiches.


here's how you do it in pictures. but if you like words better, scroll down through the end. make sure you stop real good at the last one though. that'll make your mouth water.

here's what you need: tuna (duuuhhhhhhh). (i'm partial to those little packets, you may get them confused with cat food? listen to me DO NOT GET THEM CONFUSED WITH CAT FOOD. that would be gross. however, i sent evan to the store and he swears up and down that they didn't have them. um, what store doesn't carry those? my gosh. men. if you get the packets, which you should, get the garlic and herb or the lemon pepper. DO NOT GET THE SWEET AND SOUR. sweet and sour tuna? you guys that is cat food. and in case you missed it, see above.), eggs, celery, yellow pepper, bread crumbs, salsa, thai chili sauce, mayo, mustard, worchestershire sauce, salt/pepper, lemon pepper, mrs. dash, and red pepper flakes.

important: one packet of tuna is "a serving" so if you were making a sandwich for yourself you'd probably use just one packet. the first time i made this i used 2 packets and that was plenty for us, we even had left overs. depending on how much you want, i'd say 1 packet per person. with all the extra ingredients i probably doubled the amount of tuna i had, so don't worry if two packets of tuna doesn't look like very much. also? these are freaking AMAZING left overs. i'm a left over freak. don't give me soggy, gross crap. it better not congeal or separate or do anything weird in my fridge or i won't touch it. this? THIS IS THE BEST LEFT OVER MEAL I'VE EVER HAD. hands down. EVER. so don't worry about it being weird tomorrow. it will be fine and it's even better on day 2. and 3. if it even lasts that long.

here's what you do: (first, let me teach you something about myself: i don't know how to measure. i refuse to use measuring cups ever. it pisses evan off which is probably why i do it. but just so you know. you're not going to find any sort of exact measurement crap here.) use one egg for every packet/can of tuna used. mix everything together. see above for exact measurements. HA. i used a couple handfuls of breadcrumbs--enough to help it stick together. they'll soak up the wet ingredients so i always add extra. i just put a little of everything in and then mix it together then maybe add some more of something if i feel like it. it's like a game. we like our food spicy in this house so i add lots of salsa and thai chili sauce and red pepper. obviously add/delete ingredients based upon your liking. when you're happy with it stick it in the fridge for a while. this will help it to firm up so it's easier to handle.

cook: heat oil in a skillet. make sure it's HOT. form mixture into patties and saute about 4 minutes each side. i don't make mine too big or too thick so i don't feel so bad about myself when i eat 34 of them so they cook thoroughly. i'm paranoid about raw food: chicken and eggs especially. the burgers will be flimsy and not firm so be careful when you flip them. if they fall apart it's fine. they'll get brown and crispy on the outsides and they're supposed to.

the first time we ate these on a hamburger bun, but we ran out and tried them without. i prefer them without a bun, with just lettuce and tomato. and the best part is this is one of those recipies that really only needs the tuna, eggs and breadcrumbs. the rest is just up to you and those happy little taste buds. so seriously. try this. you will not be disappointed.

two;

date two:

we're ridiculous & i love it. we took our kitchen table and chairs into our den and threw all of our blankets on top. and by we, i mean mostly evan. i helped him carry the table and that was the extent of my help. HA. we pulled the papajon chair cushion in as a mattress and that reminds me of a dane cook joke about a futon. what also reminds me of that exact same joke is how horribly uncomfortable it was. i am pretty sure that floor is the hardest cement in the whole world and then some carpet throw on top of that. we watched some TV in our cool tentfort and then tore it apart to re-make our real bed and sleep there. my body has never loved my pillow-top, marshmallow cloud real mattress as much as it did during last night's sleep.

we may be two-year-olds but we sure have fun at this age. =] and when i have children i'm building them a real tentfort.

oh, and that? that's my no make-up-that-flash-is-really-bright face. cute, i know. it's also my really handsome husband who has the manliest beard he's ever had and i'm kind of in love with it. but don't tell him. it's a rule.

i love this man.

life according to my phone

one:
1/our adorable little "date" jar. 2/the most amazing painting i thrifted a few weeks ago. 3/mista fox by my blog bff katie. i love him and i cannot wait to build my mantle around him because he's he perfect little centerpiece. 4/my new iphone case that only took 3 weeks to get to me. BEWARE OF SOCIETY 6.

two:
1/leopard jams. 2/most beautiful bow from nelsonnnnnnnnn. this girl is amazing, ya'll. 3/me wearing the beautiful bow. why is my hair that color? why am i yellow? so many weird things about this picture. just look at the bow that you can only halfway see, and ignore me. 4/my bedroom light. i could stare at it forever and ever amen.

three:
1/gloom&doom. 2/evan tossing our little cheerleader pup in the air. she is not a fan. 3/flat. 4/caught the most amazing sunset on my way home one night that made me catch my breath. this picture does it no justice. 


*oh, and seriously, society 6 has just about the rudest customer service ever. they lost my order, lied about it, and made a huge deal about me being upset about it. i don't see where i'm in the wrong when it's your job to ship my junk to me. it's too bad, too, because i'd much rather support artists than MBMJ or Kate Spade or whomever....but not if they can't get their junk together to get me my junk in a reasonable amount of time. now i have to use this sweet iphone case and be reminded of how mad i am at its seller. lameeee. i think the cuteness will overshadow that in a few days, don't worry.

one.

like i said, i am SO excited for this year. i am devoting this year to my marriage and relationship with evan. i just love that man so much. when a million people did the "twelve dates of Christmas" date party i wanted to join in but we were so insanely busy over the holiday season with moving in, working, and just life in general, i decided to make up for it in 2K12.

with FIFTY TWO dates. fifty two of 'em.



so we had our first tonight. in the future, we plan on drawing these out of a really neat jar i thrifted last week for this exact purpose, but because i have a case of the lazies, i haven't written all our ideas out on paper yet. but in the future, we're going to draw these and be surprised. but tonight, we picked a simple date to start us off.


1. SUSHI.

 so much fun. we tried a new restaurant called "fancy sushi." it sounds sketch, right? but no. SO good. we got this shrimp tempura roll and we both died a fabulous death of yum. we even had tempura ice cream (we srsly love tempura, obviously) but i forgot to take it's picture before we devoured it (and died for the 85th time).

also? i taught evan how to use chopsticks and then he dropped the ginger in his water. pretty successful night.


i so very love this man. and i am so very excited for this year.

some funny things that have happened to me recently;

1. today, evan brought me a coffee. (actually a white chocolate steamer because i don't drink milk so he sneakily sneaks it to me in concealed forms.) he dropped it off on his way to work, as he was simultaneously running late. our jobs are not on the same side of town, btw. he's a devoted lover.
anyway. he called me as he was turning onto my work street so i could run down the stairs and meet him at our top secret coffee/kiss exchange location. he pulls into the parking spot on the street, the kind that are perpendicular to the curb and as he gets out of his car, the car jumps the curb and heads straight for the parking meter. in such a hurry he didn't even put it in park. you probably had to be there, but i added it to my phone in my note of "funnies" because it basically made my life to see his face as he dove back into his moving slash jumping car.


2. this conversation: let me warn you in advance. this proves that i'm a selfish, conceited, narcissistic brat. just to clear things up.

after i screen shot this to save and look at and make my day whenever i wanted, i realized that maybe he was telling me to punch the other person i had wanted to punch in the first text. (reason: she said "anywho" like 65 times in a phone conversation. that is not ok, ever. it's not a word, just like "anyways" isn't a word.) but i like to pretend that he was saying it about legs. and FYI- i didn't have the BK. i had a homemade tuna burger. 10 points for me. but you know how i think i'm really funny? this proves just that.


3. i just finished Mindy Kalling's book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns..." and i think that we might be soul mates. i told evan i might be leaving him to move to LA and stalk Mindy until we are bfff. she freaking has an entire chapter dedicated to her FUNERAL. um, hello?! i talk about mine all the time (but mostly in the fact that i don't know how i want to be....um...preserved. DO NOT cremate me. DO NOT bury me. FREEZE me.) also? she had me LALing every other page (the only acceptable form of LOL, kills me every time. i imagine i'm a blonde socal bimbo (no offense to my hundreds of blond bimbo socal blog readers) when i say it and i crack up and then evan looks at me like i'm a psychopath....i overstate.) and anyone who is half as funny as me deserves to be my bff&e. (ALSO? she wrote my most favorite office episode: "the injury" and i could watch that every single day and never be sick of it. we could probably be long lost sisters or something.)

4. this gem from a comment i left on erin's wall:

i'd say my life is pretty much a success right now. i will never be able to face time again without reminiscing about the shake weight kitchen episode. this girl kills me.


so yeah. this post should be retitled to: "how i'm really funny and entertain myself by making myself laugh and no one else." (that only made sense in my mind.)

currently: going out to not get drunk and throw things like tomatoes at my friend's faces and attempt to face-time in my kitchen while taking shots of whipped cream vodka while simultaneously handling hot pans straight out of the oven. <- my friends really care about my well being. <- as the hot pan was tipping in my hand, i thought to myself, "SELF. DO NOT GRAB THIS HOT PAN WITH YOUR NON GLOVED HAND." <- death.

hello 2012;

the lastlast sunset of two thousand eleven

i really like to start my new year's off with a bang. typically you can find me hoarding a bottle of some choice beverage and not sharing.

this year was no different. me, candy shot glasses, whipped cream vodka. also, peach presses with cranberry juice and champagne like a shot.


well, hello 2012, so nice to meet you.


also noteworthy:

+tried a PB&J for the first time ever. it. was. DISGUSTING. i am kind of pissed at the world for hyping that up so much and then, turns out, it tasted like foot.

+also tried a PB&honey and that was equally as disgusting and tasted like sand. who wants to put 3 of he driest ingredients together and eat that? who decided that tastes good?! someone suggested i drink it with a glass of milk. yes, say that to the girl who has NEVER in her life had a glass of milk. i hate milk and i hate PB&J. i'm not american. my friend erin snapped this lovely picture of my reaction. obviously in love.

+this was a conversation: "i'm not that drunk. take me driving."-me "why? so you can prove to me you're not drunk by giving me driving instructions? what? stop at that red light."-evan (exactly. this is how i prove i'm sober. and it's hilarious that i brought it up.)

+spent a good long time bawling to evan about my life problems. i'd cry and cry and cry and he'd say, "hey remember when you..." and then i'd laugh and laugh and then mid laugh start to cry again. "if you took me to the doctor right now, i bet you anything they'd say i'm bipolar."

+tried to watch insidious for no reason at all. i HATE scary movies. i refuse to watch them, see their trailers, speak about them, etc. and there i was, pulling it up on instant netflix. (i didn't end up watching it, thank God.)

+spent the night surrounded by my favorite people. erin, jess and ashley (&logan): thank you all for entertaining me ("pull something else out!") and letting me entertain you ("if i were sober, i would not be touching this").

+and evan: thank you for babysitting me, for laughing at me ("I NEED TO GO OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW...IT'S FREEZING. TAKE ME IN.), for holding me, for putting me to bed, and for letting me be a little outrageous and a little out of control once and a while.

+even the blog is ringing in the new year with a face lift. the floral tapes and layout design are from the pugly pixel. i added the pretty writing and put it all together. i think it's mature and....lovely. =]


i hope everyone else had a safe [and slightly outrageous] start to their two thousand freaking twelve.

once a month;

this year, my goal is to make a DIY project once a month. (at least. i'm hoping for more, but i'm going to go easy on myself and trying not to stress evan out too much with the crafty crap.)


so we started a little early when i saw a picture from one of my instagram friends (lindsey) who shared the most amazing picture. (you can see the picture HERE and her feed HERE.) when i saw this picture i about died. this is my all time favorite hymn, written by a man who encountered the most horrific experiences and went on to be amazing. i made evan stop whatever he was doing, shoved my phone in his face, "LOOK AT THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER LAID MY EYEBALLS ON. WE ARE DOING ONE OF THESE THIS WEEKEND. ALSO? DO YOU KNOW THIS SONG? WHAT. YOU DON'T. HOLD ON. YOU ARE LISTENING TO IT NOW." and then proceeded to cry my eyes out while listening to it. it's that good. (and if you didn't at least check out her picture, march your little cursor back up here and click it.) (and HERE'S a link to the song so you can be double amazed today. you didn't know you were going to get so many freebies here today, did you?!)


she freaking made that picture. i'm speechless. i've seen other versions around but i'm not going to lie to you, hers is the best.


so i had to try for second place. i didn't want to be a scum bag and straight up copy her like 2 seconds after she posted the picture (but i plan to in the future, duh) so i chose my other favorite line from a song that i've wanted to work into art for about a decade now.

"home, let me go home. home is wherever i'm with you."

um yeah. that needed to be in my house home.

and now it is.

excuse the crappy before picture. i got all excited to stick the letters on and then was 2 words in and remembered i needed to document.

basically, you find a canvas print, get a quote, find some sticker letters, stick them on, spray paint over them, peel them off. and done.

this picture was two dollars and ninety nine cents at goodwill. it's horrific. a barn with a child and a dog and some disgusting greasy stains i tried to lysol off because that's just how i am sometimes. but the spray paint covered magically, didn't bleed under the stickers, and the stickers didn't pull off too much of the paint.

all in all, i am kind of majorly in love with it.

(and evan and i are pretty sure that UO would want to sell the first one in their store. we debated not even painting it because it even looks cool with just the letters. so have your pick, UO, we are open for business.)