john cusack

the day before i left the great state of alaska, i had an opportunity to help out with a movie. well, not really. my dad and i were security escorts for some of the filming of the frozen ground (look it up here). nicholas cage is in it...along with *girly sigh* john cusack! JOHN freaking CUSACK in anchorage. i just about passed out when my dad told me i could (possibly) meet him.

and for those of you who don't know, i adore john cusack. love his movies.
say anything? a classic - lloyd dobler, you're the key master to my heart. just kidding.
grosse pointe blank - who couldn't love the hit man with a heart of gold?
high fidelity - he has top 10 lists....i always make lists. coincidence? no.
serendipity - who doesn't like the idea of fate?
and let's not forget one crazy summer & better off dead...

long story short, two big name actors were going to need escorts....and neither of them was john cusack. sadness. heart breaking, soul crushing sadness.

however, the day was not lost...i got to hang out ALL DAY with my dad :) which was super fun. and i'm certain that memory will last in my heart much longer than if i had met a movie star.

hooray internet!

hello blogland! we made it to okinawa, safe and sound. after a long and trying month, we have a home and a few adventures under our belts. we just had our internet installed (thank goodness!) and are slowly getting unpacked and organized. since i just found all seven seasons of the gilmore girls, the house organizing is now coming along at a snail's pace. but that's okay with me.

after staying a night in seattle, we started a 26 hour trip to this little island. while the flights were long, we were primarily concerned with our pups welfare. this airplane ride was their first experience flying...and they made it through with flying colors. they are much more resilient than i gave them credit for and am so relieved that they are alright. i'm pretty sure mia and vito have adjusted to okinawan life easier than i have.

we decided to live off base and found a wonderful 3 bedroom home. its so different from homes in the states, partially due to the fact that pretty much every building is made from concrete. one of these days, i'll take some pictures - but it's far too cluttered now :)

i'm 24 weeks into my pregnancy today and things are going well. i have nice bump growing and the baby is kicking quite often. seems to kick more when i eat chocolate....maybe a girl? :) we still haven't found out whether the baby is a boy or a girl and don't plan to unless the doc slips up.

hopefully i'll have some new posts coming up shortly...i do have a few stories to share. i can't wait to catch up on your blogs too!

hi there!

hello friends! it's been quite a while since my last post and i've recently been feeling the urge to blog again. i'll probably be inching my way back into the blog-o-sphere in the near future and have a bunch of catching up on your posts too.

the big move to japan is still on - we have about another week here in snowy alaska and then we start our adventure to the other side of the dateline. two sets of movers have packed up all of our belongings and sent them on their way, not to be seen for another month or two. i finished up my day job in mid september and have been surprisingly busy since then. i honestly thought i would be getting bored, but there's been so much to do day to day that i feel like i haven't had a chance to slow down. i have spent time working on books and printing cards (especially since my big press is going into storage, sadly) - creating all of these items has had a somewhat calming effect on me. i've realized that as things get more and more stressful, i'm going back to doing things that are familiar and comforting - making art and knitting/crocheting.

while the impending move has kept us busy, we've had another surprise come up:


that's right....i've been eating a lot :) hubby & i are expecting our first bipedal kiddo!! i'm at 17 weeks now and finally have a bit of a pooch. it's pretty amazing to see how my body is changing and adjusting to growing a mini-me. i was a bit hesitant on how and when to announce the big news on my blog, but i figured that this community has been incredibly supportive and kind in the past and i'm sure sharing this announcement won't be any different.

i'll do my best to post a few things here and there - i would like to write and share more about my pregnancy, but i don't want this blog to become a journal for baby stuff galore. i want to make sure i maintain my own personality...that being said, if i get a little baby crazy from time to time, try to be understanding :) that's all for tonight....take care friends!

new store!

well, it's official! tama press now has books and cards at the incredibly popular sevigny studio in downtown anchorage! if you are out and about tomorrow for first friday, drop on by and check out the goods. sevigny studio is located at 608 w 4th ave, next to cake studio & the 4th avenue theater.

i met with katie a couple weeks ago to show her some of my products. i was nervous...this is KATIE SEVIGNY - a very well known artist in alaska. i've always admired her work and have wanted to approach her about my products for years...and i finally decided to go for it. and i'm so glad i did...

sorry that posts have been extremely infrequent...things have been so busy around here and there isn't any sign that it'll slow down anytime soon. i will post when i can but i'm not gonna make any promises. i'll try to catch up on your blogs too. i just don't like feeling guilty for not posting when things are so crazy. do you know what i mean? thanks for understanding...

a gift...

as i was working in my studio one evening, i had a great idea to make a gift for my friend. (her birthday was in early july.) i wanted to make something she would use...so i pulled out some sketches and measurements from a project i was toying with months prior. i decided on a portfolio - functional, but beautiful.

here are the results of a few hours of labor and love:

i used japanese book cloth in her favorite colors to cover the entire piece. i wanted to have a nameplate of some kind and went with a handstitched spirograph piece with hearts (also her favorite).

the inside left side contains a pocket for various notes & a small strap to hold business cards. the right side has a couple of strips to hold a legal pad (see below).

this project was challenging and fun - i really love how beautifully this piece came out. i think i'll try making a few and putting them out on the market....

home

i haven't fallen off the face of the earth...but i have been extremely busy. the clock is ticking on the move to okinawa and my to do list is growing a mile a minute.

we met with a realtor for the first time last week. she did a walk through of our home and discussed some things we need to do to spruce up the house. paint, clean, declutter...

one thing stayed with me after that meeting:
as we start making these changes, our home will be less ours...it'll turn into another house on the market. and that fact just breaks my heart.

this place is our first home, from when we were dating to becoming a married couple. this is where we brought home our puppies, where they grew up. there is a height chart on the wall for vito - starting when he was just 10 weeks old.

i know i should be excited about the adventure approaching. but right now, my heart aches as i mourn for the loss of our home.

"home is where the heart is" - i don't know...

new project...

i signed up for the sketchbook project again...but this time i'm actually going to get it done! i just received my sketchbook yesterday and t-shirt the day before. for more information about the sketchbook project (and to sign up! DO IT!!), go here.

image from here

so to recap, last year's project: fail. this year's project: its on like donkey kong.

lost dog update

as of last night, the pups i found were no longer listed on the animal control website....which means their owners must have picked them up! YAY!!

wedding set

this wonderful couple contacted a few months ago for their wedding guest book...and then ended up ordering a ton of other things too! i just finished up the whole set over the weekend. here's the final pieces:

the guest book is about 12"x9.5" inches - probably the biggest one i've made! they chose a sturdy belgian binding, giving their guests plenty of room to doodle.

they also purchased a cake cutting utensil set from a local artist in town that does amazing work with polymer clay - and they wanted a box to display the utensils at the wedding.

here's the outside:

and the inside:

they asked me to print recipe cards, which they mailed with their invitations and asked their guests to bring them to the wedding filled out with their favorite recipes. so, i made a box to house their recipe cards and a matching box for their wedding photos:

here's the whole set:

i love how everything turned out! it was such a pleasure to work with them :)

lost (& hopefully found soon) dogs

i had a different post planned for today...but this happened yesterday....

it's been a couple of months since any lost pups have crossed my path...but fate decided yesterday was the day. i had actually stayed at work a few minutes later than normal, which was a good thing. otherwise, i don't think i would have come across these guys.

they were trotting alongside a very busy street and no one was even slowing down. i pulled over ahead of them, popped on my hazards, and got out. my plan was to get a look at their collars & call the number on the tags. the second i was standing next to my car, they ran up and said hi, happily wagging. so i opened the back door and they immediately jumped in and sat down.

i kept thinking "well that was easy." then i noticed they had collars, but no tags. so i called animal control to see if anyone called in for them (nope) and they suggested bringing them to the shelter. they would be scanned for a microchip and cared for until the owners were found.

the one in the front is probably a pit bull and the other is maybe a shepherd mix. both were SO sweet, obviously someone's pets.

this guy practically curled up in my lap

as of this morning, they are still on the animal control's website. i hope their owners find them soon. i think they only have 3 days before they are adopted out.

this week...

check back this week for:

....a beautiful wedding set i finished over the weekend!
....a new project on the horizon
....new equipment in the works
....a birthday gift for my dear friend

and, let's face it, there will probably be puppy pics. because they are so darn cute.

puppy owiee

thursday afternoon, we took the pups to the park - they ran around like crazy and had a blast! then, as we were walking back up to the car, we noticed vito had blood from is upper pad to his paw. he had a pretty good cut on his leg (not that it slowed him down at all), so we cleaned him up and bandaged his owiee as best we could.

friday afternoon, i checked on him & mia and took one look at his paw and immediately called the vet.

i took him in and they looked his cut, cleaned it and redressed the wound. they gave him a sedative that made him seem drunk so they could really check his cut. and seeing vito that way, SO helpless and sad, just broke my heart. especially since he's such a happy, vibrant pup.

i had to help vito into the car and he laid down the entire ride home - which he's never done is his 2.5 years of being alive. he whimpered quite a bit and barely managed to get up the stairs. i'm pretty sure that trip to the vet was harder on me (emotionally) than it was on him.

thankfully, he's back to normal now. i'm pretty sure he's trying to make up for his afternoon of sleeping because he's become extra crazy vito.

guest book

i just finished a custom guest book for a lovely bride getting married in july. she chose hiking as their wedding theme and wanted a guest book to reflect her & her fiance's love of the alaskan outdoors.

i chose an olive green japanese bookcloth for the spine & bound the book with chocolate waxed linen thread. the birch trees were drawn then emphasized with sewing - this cover certainly took some time! i'm so happy with how the finished book looks. happy wedding to jen & her fiance!

memorial weekend

i know i'm a bit late on this, but that's okay. hubby, dad & i went for a hike up north over memorial weekend with the pups. the weather was gorgeous and i actually managed to get a sunburn. here's a couple pics of our little outing:

crazy mia

she is so entertaining....

phone blog attempt 2

i'm trying out a new photo app & blogging from my phone... let's see if this works!

below are some pics of one of the projects i'm currently working on. i handset some type to print a name plate for a guest book:

ink! thank goodness for my pantone chart...

handset lead type in 16pt century gothic

ta - da!

* it sorta worked. i can't format the posts from my phone, but that's okay. it is a much easier way to get photos uploaded without the hassle of e-mailing, downloading, then uploading...

grandpa

i debated on whether or not to post this...

today is the 3rd anniversary of my grandpa's passing. i can't believe 3 years has gone by already. so much has changed in 3 short years. i still miss him dearly and think of him often.

guest book cover

i'm currently working on a guest book for a client. her wedding has a hiking theme and her colors are brown & a light olive green. last night, i focused on the cover. it's a sketch i did of some trees on cream paper. i'm in the process of hand stitching a couple of the trees so that they pop out a bit more:

i've really missed sewing on paper.

indesign logo

my most recent class is focused on indesign - a program i've never used before. i'm getting the hang of it, slowly. my last assignment was to create a logo for myself or my business. i gave it a try, but i tell you what, creating your own logo is so much harder (for me) than making one for someone else. here's my latest attempt:

what do you think? kinda fun, no? i, of course, incorporated shades of blue into it and tried to make something fun that would look good printed by letterpress.

wanna win an iPad 2?

ok, so i don't have an iPad 2 to giveaway, however, the lovely erin at design for mankind does!! the contest is offered by MeridaHome. you can enter a few ways...

- leave a comment on erin's post here
- tweet the contest using the link on erin's post for an additional entry
- or post the contest on your own blog for 10 extra entries!!!

it's funny because my hubby has been bugging me about an iPad for ages...maybe i will win it...and then taunt him with it. no, i'm kidding, i would actually give it to him :)

if you don't feel like winning an iPad 2, you should still check out design for mankind. erin posts all kinds of rad stuff and on top of that, she usually writes back when i comment on her posts. which is truly awesome in my book.

wanna help?

on saturday, i received news that my friend's house had caught fire. she lives in condo with a handful of other residents that share the building. all people got out safely, but one kitty didn't make it :( a couple of the units were incinerated and the other were damaged by smoke. go here to read her first blog post about it, and here to read the newspaper article on it.

this wonderful friend is named annie and she's a local jewelry artist & owner of bella boutique. she's freaking awesome. she was the first person to approach me about selling my work in her shop and has had a big impact on my artwork. she's super supportive of local artists and has been a great friend to me.

due to the fire, there are quite a few unexpected expenses that she & the other residents of the building have had to deal with. if you would like to help, here's some options:


1) are you a local resident? drop by bella boutique and drop some dough in the donation jar!

2) you can send a check, made payable to:
Bella Boutique
2601 Spenard Rd
Anchorage AK 99503
Memo: Fire Donation
(checks will be immediately turned to cash and given to the residents)

3) donate through paypal to shop.bella@hotmail.com

if you can help, please do - even if it's just by spreading the word on your own blog. every little bit will help.

weekend & moving

how was everyone's weekend? mine was good - hubby & i went to a friend's house for a beer tasting. i found out that i don't like pilsners. ugh. and i tried a new recipe: lasagna cupcakes - mini lasagnas made in a cupcake tin & they were SO GOOD. i also made strawberry brown butter bettys for the first time, which were also delicious. i think i'll just start cooking everything in my cupcake pan.

i cleaned up my studio a bit and worked on a box for a client that is housing their custom made cake cutting set for their wedding. it turned out pretty darn nice. it's drying right now but once it's done i'll take some pictures. i'm also making a guest book & a couple of recipe boxes for them. pretty cool!

with the impending move approaching (which is still months & months away), i can't help but think of how much i will miss everything here. waves of sadness hit me as i try to file away detailed memories of mundane things, like the sights i see on my way to work or the changing of the seasons here in alaska. spring is here and the trees are just now getting ready to shift from fuzzy green on their limbs to a burst of green leaves. i'm not even gone yet & am already getting sad!! what's with that?? while i'm excited about the new possibilities that okinawa holds, i'm still allowing myself to be sad.

catching up...

is it me or does anyone else get overwhelmed when they don't check up on the blog world for a while and there are literally hundreds of posts in google reader?

lots happened this week -

mother's day was great. hubby & i had my parents over for brunch. we made blueberry pancakes (i actually cooked these - i can do breakfast pretty well), bacon, maple sausage, and these little appetizers that were caprese salads on a stick...SO yummy. i have to say, my fur babies were very well behaved too.

wednesday was hubby's birthday. we went out to eat at a restaurant called ginger, which was SO good. then...we went to BLUE MAN GROUP! i hadn't seen the show before and it was amazing. SO entertaining and creative. interactive and (good) weird. if you ever get a chance to see them, GO!

after the show, i set up a little treasure hunt for hubby's gifts. i hid the gifts with the clues to the next hiding spot all around the house. i even managed to use metallica lyrics in the final clue :) hubby got a pasta machine as his big gift, and i am fully anticipating crazy fresh pasta dinners from here on out.

i have a ton of homework to do and custom art work too...those two things are heavily weighing on my shoulders. i really wish i didn't need to sleep. i'd have so much more time to get things done.

i will try to visit you all in blog world. hope you are well!

p.s. have you heard the new decemberists album "the king is dead"? if not, go listen to it! i've been hooked on a few songs...i can't get enough of them.

easter

i know this is a bit late, but i had to share. our easter was a bit different this year - we celebrated at my parents house instead of ours. it was SO nice and the food was amazing. after the meal & visiting, we were heading home and our friends sent us a text & said they found a puppy. so we turned around to see if we could lend a hand.

they had checked the houses around where he was found and no one knew who his owners could be. he had a collar, but no tags and was quite friendly. we estimated he was about 4 - 5 months old, since he was in the process of losing his baby teeth. this puppy had to be about 60 pounds and his paws were huge!

hubby and i volunteered to take him to animal control to see if they could scan him for a microchip. after we arrived, they scanned him and nothing came up. SO disappointing. they gave us a couple of options - we could take him home & foster him, while actively looking for his owners or animal control would hold him for 3 days, then try to adopt him out. we wanted SO badly to take him home & take care of him, along with our other fur babies...but ultimately decided he would be better with animal control.


i checked their website for lost dogs for a couple of days & finally called them to see if he was picked up. they said he wasn't listed in his system so his owners must have taken him home.

i joked with hubby that going to animal control on easter was becoming a tradition...if you don't remember why, read here, here, and here to find out :)

this dog is the fourth lost pup this year that i've come across. i can't believe it. i hope this never happens to my pups....i would be heartbroken. hopefully i've built up some good doggie karma.

tournament

hello there! it's been a while!

my martial arts school is hosting a tournament this weekend and since i'm on the committee, most of my time has been taken up with meetings and planning. we've been working on this project since january, so i'm looking forward to it being completed.

in addition to gathering all of the competitor information and creating the divisions for each category, i also made the t-shirt design:

i had a chance to practice my illustrator skills, which was challenging, but fun!

i'll be taking a break from blogging until the beginning of may, since i just can't seem to keep up with everything else that's been going on. looking forward to talking to you then!

the big news....

thanks everyone for the well wishes regarding the accident. it's nice to know that you all care :)

remember when i said i had some big news? well, i didn't forget about it. drumroll please..........

we are moving to:

OKINAWA!! map source

after the initial shock of the news wore off, i starting thinking of a gazillion questions.
from big ones: "where are we going to live?"
to little ones: "do we need power converters for our stuff?" "can we drink tap water?"

there were some sad realizations: "family & friends will be so far away"
and some happy ones: "i can learn Japanese" "cool Japanese paper everywhere!!"

and then i thought of all the stuff that needs to get done between now & the move...cleaning out & packing the house, figuring out what goes into storage, how to manage tama press....

have any of you experienced a big move? do you have suggestions on how to make this less overwhelming?

car "accident"

why do people call them "accidents" anyway? usually the crash is due to someone being careless.

last week, hubby & i were minding our own business in our SUV, stopped at a stop light behind a line of other cars. then, CRUNCH. an old rusted car slammed into the back of our car - we estimate he was going 30mph. no warning, no screeching brakes, just a hard hit.

hubby checks to see if i'm okay, then gets out to talk to the guy, telling him we are going to call the police. through the back window, i could see steam rising from the hood of his vehicle. hubby snaps a bunch of pictures then gets back into our car & tells me that the guy "preferred if we didn't call the police." hmm. i'm pretty shaken up, trying not to cry, while fumbling with my phone to call 911. the operator answers and i explain the situation & our location.

we move out of the way of traffic and make sure the guy follows us into a parking lot as we wait. then he approaches our car and is fumbling with his pockets....and we wonder for a split second, does he have a weapon? so hubby tells him to go back to his car & wait for the police (a couple of times). so he does...and then he starts driving away!!!

back on the phone with the operator, we follow him for a bit, give the operator all of the info we can, then pull over and wait for the police. they also send an ambulance because at this point, my neck is hurting pretty good along with hubby's back.

the ambulance arrives in 2 minutes and they check hubby & i out....then put a neck collar on me, slide me onto a board, & whisk me away. the paramedic told me it may seem like overkill, but better to be safe than sorry when possible neck injuries are involved. so i went on my first ambulance ride. when we arrived at the hospital, i was taken to a room...i felt like i was on grey's anatomy or something. so weird. the doc had me get a couple of x-rays and everything was okay.

hubby & my parents met us there and hubby got checked out & was okay too. the doc said we would feel like we had played rugby for a couple of days. a week later, i'm not quite normal, but much much better. i'm amazed that i was that sore.

as for the other driver, the police caught up with him & he was arrested for a number of charges. he had filed a false report saying that someone had stolen his car - fortunately, the pictures taken at the scene proved otherwise. his criminal past is quite lengthy and includes a number of things, including a DUI & assault convictions.

i know things could be so much worse right now. i'm so thankful that we are okay, that we were in a big car, that our pups weren't in the car with us, that our insurance is handling everything, that my family came to the hospital to make sure we were okay. i keep replaying the whole thing over & over in my head. i'm jumpy when i'm driving, but also much more aware of my surroundings.

be careful out there...

dog update

last week i found this dog and took her to animal control - so her owners would find her. and it took all week. i checked the animal control website everyday to see if she had been picked up. finally, friday night, her listing was gone.

then the dog that lives behind us started barking like crazy - an annoyance that has persisted for over a year.

coincidence? i think not.

i didn't know what the dog behind looked like, other than it was small & fluffy & loud. so i tried to get a better view from the upstairs window...and i'm 90% sure that the pup i found is one & the same. kind of ironic, don't you think?

this time when i heard the barking though, i didn't get pissed. i was relieved. and glad that she got home safely. because she was pretty sweet for the short amount of time i cared for her.

lost dog of the month

so far this year, i've found one dog per month. go here to read about january's pick and here to read about february's.

this pup was shivering out in the cold and was pretty dirty & wet. and scared. without a collar. i, of course, got out of my car and trying to convince it to come over to me, without much luck. i think it had been outside for a while because it was pretty finicky.

i called animal control and wasn't impressed with the "help" they offered. pretty much "we'll send someone out when we can." well that's great. since i was right around the corner from my house, i zoomed back and grabbed dog treats and a leash. i made a little trail of treats towards me and the pup would eat and walk, eat and walk, until it was close enough that i could loop the leash over it. i picked it up gently with a towel and set it in my car.

i thought it might have been the same dog i found in february, but tried ringing the doorbell at that house and no one was home. i should have taken a picture of the february pup.

so i drove to animal control and by the time we got there, the pup was nice and warm and super friendly. i dropped her (as i found out) off and am keeping my fingers crossed that she was picked up. keep your fingers crossed too. she's a sweetheart.

baby blankets

here's the pics of the blankets for the baby shower i mentioned last week. my friend is having twins - a boy & a girl! i thought they turned out pretty nice!

this one was made for the girl:

and this one for the boy:

i haven't made anything like this in quite some time. i used to crochet & knit all the time and have gotten so busy that i just haven't. i've missed it - it's kind of a relaxing thing for me to do. hubby just recently had a new nephew added to the family so i might be busting out some more blanket skills soon :)

haircut!

i feel SO much lighter now! here's the before:

and the after:

what do you think? i haven't had it this short in years & years so i'm still getting used to it. but it's pretty spunky :)

studio toys

i decided it was finally time to order a couple of things for tama press....

pic from hollanders

sewing frame: i did a restoration of a giant book a few months back and didn't have a sewing frame. so i constructed one out of cardboard boxes and other stuff i had laying around. no good. so i decided it was time to get a real frame. plus, i've been itching to try some new bindings.

pic from talas

awl guide: i punch a lot of holes in paper by hand. and sometimes, they aren't straight. and boy, does that irritate me. this awl guide takes care of that frustration. plus, it'll beat using an old phone book as my guide.

pic from talas

book press: i've been making books for a few years now, and haven't had the luxury of a book press. instead, i've been using old yearbooks as my weights (at least i'm using them for something). this press is pretty multi-functional and only weights 10 pounds. i'm pretty excited about using it.

pic from talas

corner rounder: i'm going to round the corners of every piece of paper i come into contact with. seriously. paper corners too pointy for you? i'll round them. i have wanted one of these little guys for YEARS. i got the lightweight model, since i think it'll cover my current needs.

hopefully i'll receive everything next week. then i will play with my new toys and definitely not get any homework done.

cooking

you guys, you should be so proud of me. i cooked dinner last night...

let me preface this: between hubby & i, he's the one that cooks a lot. i can cook...but i mainly stick to vegetarian dishes because cooking meat kinda freaks me out. beef, not so much, but chicken or pork? ewwww. oh, and whenever i cook, he always asks "is there meat in this?" he's a carnivore at heart.

so, hubby got back from a trip yesterday and i wanted to cook him dinner. i bought a couple of steaks, called my mom for a simple recipe, and went to work: sliced the steaks into thin strips, marinated for a few minutes & cooked the strips up on a hot pan. i taste tested a piece and was pleasantly surprised at out it came out!

in the meantime, i made a parmesan risotto with a twist....we had fresh red beets from our full circle farm order. so i chopped those up and threw them into the risotto. this risotto cooks in the oven for 45 minutes, so when i took it out, the beets had stained the rice, transforming it into a deep vivid magenta red. SO pretty & yummy.

i also made a salad with some mixed green, diced tomato & strawberries. dinner was GOOD. and i actually managed to cook MEAT. very proud of myself. one day, i might graduate to chicken.

baby shower

i'm going to a baby shower this weekend - the second one in the past month! and i've been working on a couple of baby blankets for my friend....who is having twins, a boy & girl! i finished the first little blanket last night and really like how it came out; i made it with the little girl in mind. the second one is still in process for the baby boy.

i'll try to post the pics of the both blankets soon.

is it just me, or is there a sudden boom of pregnant women? i know NINE people who are currently pregnant. pretty crazy.

appointment is made...

the big haircut appointment is made for this weekend....i keep pulling my hair back and trying to envision it super short again. and i'm waivering a bit.

so i look at more pics of this pixie cut...

pic from the fashionable foodie

channel my inner audrey hepburn (my grandpa said i looked like her when i had my hair cropped years ago)...

and make a plan to not wuss out at my appointment.

Japan help

last week, i posted about "for Japan with love"....and when i decided to participate in the shelter box donation, the fundraising goal was set at $5500. at the time, about $3500 was raised. well, i checked back today at the fundraising site and the amount of money raised is now at $56,303. that isn't a typo, guys. FIFTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. amazing! giving a little bit from a lot of people CAN make a huge difference. if you want to check out shelter box and their program, go here. and if you want to see that number keep rising, go here!

another blog i follow, called SWOON is hosting a giveaway from PalmerCash vintage t-shirts. PalmerCash developed these shirts to support Japan at this time of tragedy. All the profits from these t-shirts go towards the relief efforts in Japan. Here's a couple of my favorites:

pic from PalmerCash

pic from PalmerCash

i have a close friend who has a ton of family in Sendai. she still hasn't heard from many of her family members with whom she's been trying to get in touch. please keep them in your prayers.

reading...

i've been doing quite a bit of reading lately, in between schoolwork and lots of other more pressing things.

i finally finished the twilight series...full of teenage angst? yes. overly dramatic? yes. call it a guilty pleasure read. lots of people were all for team jacob....but i have a thing for vampires :) go team edward! besides, my father-in-law's name is edward, so i'm biased.

i also received a book for my birthday called "the art of racing in the rain" by garth stein. i sped through (haha) this in just under a week. it's written from the perspective of a dog named enzo as he tells the story of his life and his family. i really enjoyed it, although i did cry a few times. made me think of my own pups...

pic from amazon

anyhow, if you're looking for a new book to read, you might want to try it. if you're a dog person, you'll get a kick out of enzo...and will probably start talking to your dog a lot more.