Primavera (hopefully) here to stay

It may have been mentioned in previous posts that I grew up in south Texas. In that region the first of March inevitably means the weather will be 70-80 degrees and it will rain at some point unless we're in a drought but either way it will be humid. Here a few hundred miles north, Spring toys with us. Now, I know for a lot of you up north there's still snow on the ground and you have more to complain about but you can just do it on your own blog. Or in the comment section of mine. Whatever works for you.

But this post is not about bad weather...it's about glorious-sun-shining-pleasant-breeze weather. I'm hesitant to even talk about how great the weather has been these past couple days because I don't want to jinx it. I'm going to risk it though because I don't think Mother Nature reads my blog. So, yay, great weather. Now, I realize there will be rain too but that's okay because sunshine followed by rain followed by more sunshines=yummy produce, LOTS of flowers and green things everywhere.And can I just tell you I cannot freaking wait for the first batch of delicious strawberries! Oh I'm drooling on my keyboard just thinking about them. Strawberries and blackberries and raspberries. mmmmmmmm. And this year I live in an area with actual farmer's markets so I'm going to check some of those out and hopefully come home with tons of delectable little berries to be devoured raw or put in my little tartlette dishes with simple syrup and a graham crust. Oh man...it's going to be so great.

There's a small part of me that thinks it would be amazing to live on a piece of land big enough to grow all of my own fruit and veggies and have gorgeous, overflowing rose gardens. Like this:

Yup, trellis and all! But then the rest of me knows that would be a LOT of work and also I'm a bad gardener. I'm getting better but the count of plants I have killed overwhelmingly outweighs the ones I have kept alive. Ah well, a girl can dream, can't she?

Bio

So, I recently joined BlogHer and was in the process of typing my bio when the writing fairy suddenly took over and I ended up with a rather long bio. But what I typed was real and from the heart and so I thought I'd post it here too:

This is me:

I am a 25 year old graphic design student with, thankfully, only one year left before I graduate and can resume normal adult life. I became a hairstylist right out of high school but discovered soon after that I have a disease called rheumatoid arthritis. After struggling with intense chronic pain and a combination of different medications for four years I decided I could no longer continue my lifestyle.

I decided to go back to school full time and moved back into my dad's house so I could afford to do so. That was almost three years ago and even though the times have been tumultuous, I'm glad I did it. My goal is in sight and as a wonderful bonus, I get to go to Italy this summer with my school's study abroad program.

I no longer have to deal with the intense pain that once plagued me from standing all day and even though I still have some health problems and am living at home, I know I'm much healthier and happier. Often when I tell people about my disease, I get this "poor thing, but youre so young" bit. I know people are just trying to be nice but I still hate it. My view is this: no, I don't want to have this disease BUT it has made me grow up really quickly and has also made me appreciate life and what's been given to me a lot more.

I came to the realization that every person on the face of this planet has a set of problems they have to deal with. Some have it worse than others, obviously. But we all struggle. The best that you can do I suppose it to take joy in as many of the little moments as possible because inevitably, you're going to have a load of shit dropped on you somewhere down the road. I know that sounds pessimistic, but really I think it's just realistic. Life is a long string of stuggles and in between those struggles are moments of happiness and bliss. If you don't relish those moments (some of which are big, some small) you won't be prepared for the next thing life tosses your way.

The wonderful thing about us human beings though, is that even though it is in our nature to struggle against... well...almost everything (if you don't believe me just open up a history book), it's usually not those struggles we remember. We recall the good times; the laughter, the fun, the moments of pure bliss and ecstacy. We remember the graduations and the weddings more than we remember all the work, planning, and drama led up to those events.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though I have crap to deal with (we all do) I've found a way to deal and am overall pretty happy. I continue to pursue my goals and take pleasure in life and look forward to finding someone who I can share all of that with. So, while this may be a bit long for a bio, these words embody my view of the world and even though there is a lot more to me, this view shapes how I live and is therefore, quite effective as my "biography".

Love Her!

So can I just tell you how much I love the illustration of Stina Persson? A LOT. No really. Not to sound like a vapid valley girl but I totally love her work you guys! And it totally looks like something I would do if I was that original! LOVE IT. It gave me a great urge to hop down to Hobby Lobby and pick up some watercolors and a bottle of Frisket and go to town! In fact I might do that for a package design project I have at school. Just the technique...I'm not going to copy her or anything. That would be lame. I'm just inspired by her brilliance! Go to her site and you'll be inspired too.

Going Green

Two things I need to discuss:

1. I'm tired of the all lower-case thing. I'm going back to capitalizing the appropriate letters. I tried to lower-case thing for a while and it just didn't feel right. So, not that you care, I'm just announcing it formally.

2. Now for the real topic of the day. So, everyone is obssessed with "going green" and companies all over are jumping on the green bandwagon. Now, I'm all for doing things that are better for the planet, better for your body, and just better in general. But I feel like it's gone a bit overboard. We're all so bombarded by information from all directions, how are we supposed to know what's accurate and what's not.

"They" told us we were not drinking enough water so we all started drinking more water but now we're not supposed to drink from plastic bottles because we're creating massive amounts of waste from these old bottles. So...ok...now drink from reusable metal bottles but god forbid! don't drink tap water. You must have a filter.

Oh, and now "they're" saying we should all be vegetarians because of all the extra gases being pumped into the atmosphere from the cows and from us after eating the cows. I just don't know about this. I mean, I believe it, but human being have been eating other animals ever since there were human beings and animals. I know now we're making a lot more cows to feed all the beef eaters out there but I don't think Americans will ever go vegetarian. So if people aren't willing to do it, it's just not going to happen.

I guess what started my rant was my latest "green" issue of Country Living and they addressed everything from organic cotton sheets to a pitcher made from recycled coke bottles (which was actually really neat). Also, now by buying antique furniture instead of new you're being eco friendly.

I think there are a lot of good ideas out there. But I really have to approach all of this with a skeptical view. I mean, how much of this stuff is actually going to "save the planet". Now, I completely agree that pumping petrochemicals into our atmosphere is not a good idea and we all have to make changes in our day to day lives but I also know that this planet goes through cycles. It always has and it always will. And long after we're gone, it will still be going through cycles...well...until our sun dies anyway.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that all of this "going green" and "save the earth" stuff has to be approached intelligently. Yes, we do need to conserve the resources of our planet. That's a big duh. But I just don't think $300 organic cotton sheets are the answer. I don't have the answer, but I think switching to alternative energy sources is going to be the greatest thing we can do.

I'd certainly like to hear other people's points of view on this issue. I mean, it's one we're all talking about anyway right? So please feel free to share.

darn you allergies!

here in okla-freakin-homa the weather has been yo-yo-ing like craaaazzyyyy! this means one day we get two inches of snow and the next day it's 57 degrees out and sunny and then three days later it's 22 and blustery. and whatever i am allergic to up here...it has been kicked up by all the freaking cold fronts and wind. so i have been sneezing, my eyes itching etc. now, one thing i know i'm allergic to is cat hair/dander. so why do i insist on petting the cat and then forget that i just pet him and touch my face? because he looks like this:he's just so cute i just want to smoosh his little head with my kisses! i forget to wash my hands and then i rub my eyes and it's just bad! i guess i'll just have to find some way to cope because there's no way i'm going to stop loving on the tiggmeister (his name is tigg...yes with two g's. deal with it). which is unfortunate for him because he HATES it when we kiss him. he tries to wriggle free and he gets this miserable look on his little kitty face. poor tiggy....he's got such a hard life.

it's that time again...

well, it's midterm time again. time for writing essays on things like Polykleitos' Doryphoros:isn't that a gorgeous grecian hunk of man meat! btw, this is a roman copy as evident by the supporting block between his hand and thigh. the romans were turning out these copies at a mad pace and didn't have time to make sure all the sculptures were perfect and wouldn't fall over or apart without braces. those romans loved them some cheap grecian knock offs. actually, we know a lot of greek sculptures only through their roman copies because the greeks were always at war and melted their bronze and ground their marble sculptures for battle related needs. especially the bronze ones. which is why we have only a small handful of orginal greek bronze statues. and now you've learned something new. don't you feel better about yourself?

now who could forget Praxiteles' famed Aphrodite of Knidos:she's sassy isn't she? her posture seems to say "excuse me, i'm trying to bathe. would you please go away!" but her facial express says "seriously, go away. if you don't leave i'm going to use my goddess powers to turn you into a frog (or other small, slimy creature)". of course, that's not the academically accepted interpretation (and also not the one i put in my essay) but whatever. and here's your official historical tidbit about this artwork: the Aphrodite of Knidos was the first artwork to represent a nude woman in the history of western art (at least as far as we know). this little lady was the start of a long....long...long parade of art representing nude women. i'm not going to go off on a feminist rant or anything because i have mixed feelings about it, but i just thought you might like to know. alright, that's it for the art history lesson today. i hope you enjoyed it :)

sans mouth o' metal

so i just recently got all my braces off and am quite happy that i no longer have a mouth full of metal. and i'm not embarrassed to smile now :) yay!

my empty frames will soon be filled...

thanks to Holly over at decor8 and this post, i discovered the Mincing Mockbird's etsy store and his wonderful bird paintings, prints, etc. in fact, i just purchased this print:

it's called "Will You Please Put Down That US Magazine and Listen to Me?". all of his prints have cheeky titles like that. i just love it. and at $13 ($15.25 with shipping) it's completely affordable. i also love the felted pebbles that Holly posted about. i'm thinking a purchasing handful and placing them in some simple dish or arranging them on a table somewhere.