you are calling

We bought this photograph about a month ago from our next door neighbor. I sort of fell in love with it. Seems like we have a "street art" theme here, I didn't think so but that's a comment that was made about our new place. Anyway, just picked it up from the framers and I like it even better than I remembered!

It's a photo of a street painting on a giant wall. I love that it has the original artists name in the photograph, as well as the place and year, almost like it was signed by them.

Close up, with tons of glare:

Painted with rollers and spray paint, isn't that incredible?

lavanila laboratories

I picked this up on impulse for a little Christmas present to me last time I was in Sephora. The scent caught me on the way down the aisle, and it was $28 for 4 mini rollers. I'm actually really glad I bought it. Most perfume, even if I love the scent, gives me a headache when I try to wear it, but this doesn't at all (maybe 'cause it's all-natural?). They came in a little box, with a note key listing all the stuff in each one.

I like the pure vanilla and the vanilla grapefruit best, hubby says he likes them too, and the vanilla coconut (smells like suntan lotion and beach cocktails) may be a favorite in the summer. I don't care for the vanilla lavender very much, but I am not much of a lavender person.

It's very easy to put on just enough with the oil roller, and I can keep one in my purse and one in my makeup bag to remember to put them on. I've been wearing perfume much more often since I bought these, and I will definitely replace them when they're finished.

guitar lessons

I need a haircut, badly. Add to my new year's resolutions the getting of a haircut more often than every 6 months...

Had the first guitar lesson yesterday. It was not bad at all, pretty helpful in getting over my social anxiety. I was really torn between dread and excitement. I know it seems little, but I really think I need to do more things like this to keep from becoming a completely anti-social hermit.

Things I learned that I pretty much already knew:

This electric guitar is not like the guitar in Wii RockBand.

It is heavy.

It hurts your fingers.

I'm not going to break it.

I also learned a bunch of things I didn't know, an easy version of Mazzy Star's Fade Into You (one of the prettiest songs ever) and a G Major scale, and this guitar is definitely going to take me a lot of practice to be able do.

This man, on the other hand, took about 5 minutes to pick up the guitar and play from memory the scale that I am still working on translating the diagram for:

He's going to be a great guitar player. It's the first thing he goes for when he comes in the door, at lunch and after work. I visited his guitar yesterday:

It's pretty sweet. And then we will need two more for these guys:

(this little dude is hooked on his saint's jersey. he opened it, put it right on, and then put it back on every day after that.)

(ignore the messy house - it was the middle of Christmas vacation week!)

today...

I woke up early, got dressed (makeup!), and it's not noon yet. And, I scheduled my first guitar lesson for tomorrow.

This story is so silly... We've been playing so much Wii RockBand and I am pretty much the best on the guitar, while D. is best on the drums. It's so much fun that we started wanting to learn how to play in real life. So, now we need a guitar. We visited guitars last weekend at the store, then went home and watched youtube videos of people playing all kinds of different guitars, then researched and read and read about the ones that we thought sounded the best. I didn't realize that they can sound so different, I also didn't realize that I would have strong opinions about the way I wanted mine to sound (or not sound). Anyway, I pretty much picked the one I wanted based on the internet, and then we went back to the music store, and just told the guy we knew nothing and here is what we want to be able to do and he picked the same guitar. Sign, right?

Look how pretty it it - I swear the color wasn't the main concern, but it may have been the clencher:

I also love the guitar strap we picked for it:

I can see why people would start collecting guitars, they are all so different. I think one like this is coming home next for D. (!):

Seriously, I love this guitar so much that I want to learn how to play it. Seems backwards, but I guess that is ok. Back to the lessons - I'm excited but mostly scared. It feels like the first day of school. It feels like I'm too old and unhip to start this, but I'm going to do it anyway!

2009/2010

(bad iphone pics of the new years firework display... we walked out at midnight.)

2009 was a funny year. I think it was the year that I felt the most happiest and content so far in my life. I feel like I know myself now, more than I ever have, and I think that's why getting older hasn't bothered me (yet). This year we were still - no moves or giant crises - which was a nice change. We were alone - with only occasional visits to family - and I've come to be ok like that. It was a whirlwind - feels like I can remember celebrating my 2008 birthday like it was last week, and 2009's celebration seems like ages ago. This year I trusted more, worried less, and enjoyed myself more. I feel happy. I had a good little year, and I think 2010 will be the same.

On to the resolutions, they are pretty simple and should be doable:

1. Wake up earlier - I think this has been a resolution for the last 10 years! I just can't get into the habit. But the day goes by so much quicker and when I sleep in every day I feel like I don't have time to do everything I want to. (I'm not even talking about 5:30 am or anything - my goal is 9 am! I'm revealing how lazy I am...)

2. Exercise. Every. Day. It's so fun and easy when I do it for a while, but so easy to let slide and before you know it it's been two? three? months. My plan is to start this today (but I already failed on #1 today...).

3. Be dressed before my husband comes home for lunch every day. Or at least every other day. This does not include pjs, sweat pants, or workout clothes (well workout clothes would be ok only if I've actually exercised) and does include makeup. I feel better when I put effort into my appearance (other than taking a shower, don't worry I do that every night), I think everybody does. I'm not talking about high maintenance here, there's been more weeks than not in 2009 that I've gone all week in pjs!

4. Keep the house so clean that at any given moment someone could stop by and I would not be embarrassed. I get embarrassed easily over a messy house - my mom always spend the day cleaning before guests came over, and I think I've adopted that mentality. At this new apartment, neighbors are sometimes popping by, and I don't want to be hesitant to be social because the bathroom is dirty.

5. Read my stack of unread books. I used to read books so much, now I never do unless I'm on an airplane. We have one bookshelf here, compared to 4 in the old bedroom, I have books piling up, and I hate having unread ones taking space that could be devoted to beloved ones. My goal for this is 1 per month.

6. Learn to play guitar. But this is a whole other post!