This is what I feel like...

...most days.

via Brecht Vandenbroucke

Snow Day Photos

Remember when I promised to share photos from my film camera snowy day adventure? Despite having to drive 15 miles to the closest camera shop that could decently develop my film (yes, I live in Dallas, the thriving metropolis of opportunity), I am here to make good! Disclaimer: this was my first outing with a manual film camera, I am simply proud that these photos are viewable at all.

(this was a (adorable) test shot...the aperture is obviously way off)

Did you notice that last photo? Do you see how delicious that pizza looks? Yes, that is Pastazios pizza, and it is awesome. If anyone is ever visiting Dallas and is in need of delicious pizza, this is where you should go.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how these came out. The camera was super fun to use, and now that I know that it still works, I think I'm going to try to take it out more often. If anyone has experience using vintage film cameras, I would love any advice you could give!

Bunting How-To

This month I've finally gotten around to starting a decorating project in our bedroom...only a year after we moved into the apartment. Better late than never?

I started by making/hanging a cute little string of bunting. :) I always try to be conscious of not making the spaces my husband and I share too "girly," so I chose neutral colors from my stores of left-over fabric. The whole project only took a couple of hours (I did all my cutting while watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and was made completely out of supplies I had lying around!

First, I made a pattern out of a piece of computer paper. I created the flags by pinning the pattern to the fabric and cutting around (to save time I folded my fabric in half and did these two at a time.)

Second, I folded and ironed the tab on each flag to prepare them for the sewing machine.

Third, I sewed the tab down on each flag. I used grey thread to give it that hand-made, carnival look. I used a sewing machine, but this could be done fairly quickly/easily by hand.

Fourth, I threaded basic craft twine through the loops that I just sewed by taping my twine to an unsharpened pencil with blue painter tape.

Fifth, I tied loops on both ends of my twine, and voila! Bunting!

So cheerful, it really brightens up a formally drab little space! I've also ordered some lovely prints and can't wait for them to come in. Our little room is really coming together. :D

Jane Austen's Fight Club

You can't tell me that this isn't the funniest thing ever, because that just simply would not be true. I'm not normally a fan of remixes or fan fiction based on classics (maybe I'm just a fuddy-duddy, but I couldn't get more than two pages into Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies without wanting to injure someone...don't even get me started on Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife) but, this is just great.

Dialect Meme

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and film my own version of the dialect meme that you've all probably seen going around. I studied linguistics in college and English dialects (micro dialects in particular) are completely fascinating to me. I would still love to get my masters in some kind of linguistic study.

Anyway, here's my video. Please ignore my makeup-less, frizzy-haired appearance. Corban and I just got in from playing in the snow.

Say these words:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
Now answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Wow, I knew that I had an accent, but there it is in full force. I tried not to "refine" my speech as I often do when I am being recorded or meeting new people. I'm a southern girl and proud of it. Also, I definitely could not figure out where the "stop" button was for a moment. As you can plainly hear, my cat got the last word...as she always does.

I tried out my dad's old 1980-something Canon AE-1 while Corban and I enjoyed the winter wonderland...hopefully at least a few of the photos turned out and I will be able to post them in a week or so. :)

Etsy Love

For those of you who don't know, Dallas is completely iced over right now. There have literally been people ice skating down our street.

We have left our building once in three days, and only because we have a friend with a Jeep who is not afraid to die and has very particular ideas about draft beer vs bottle. Aside from that one outing, I've basically just been drinking wine at Astoria, watching Frasier, shopping etsy, and trying not to freeze to death every time the electricity goes out. On the upside, I have found some amazing art prints that I am determined to own one day.

Vixen by Caitlin Shearer

Hula Girl by Rosy Designs Online

Girl In A Field by Brooke Kent

Know By Heart by My Folk Lover

There Used To Be A Girl by My Folk Lover

Sooooo gorgeous! Time to start saving my pennies. :)

Stay warm, all.

For Good

I promise to stop obsessing about my music ventures soon, but I just have to gush for a moment about having my keyboard back at my apartment. ♡

My lovely sister has been borrowing it for the past year or two, but now that she's in the dorms I have reclaimed my baby. Corban was a great sport to go with me to help load it up. Of course, he was handsomely rewarded with (brace yourself) a jar of my grandmother's much coveted home-made pickles, so it was kind of a win-win situation for him.

Unless you are related to me, you have no idea how amazing these pickles are. I don't even like pickles generally, but these little guys are just to die for. My grandmother makes them completely by hand, even growing the pickles in her backyard vegetable garden. It's usually quite the feat to pry a jar out of my mother's hands.

And speaking of delicious food, here is a photo of my love making me Sunday breakfast. :)

I'm pretty sure...

...I just peed my pants a little reading When Parents Text. Oh, internet, U R my BFF 4 ever!!!11!!1!

What Is This Feeling?

I am so terrified excited to perform! If the already-amassing butterflies don't cause me to explode in a big, gory mess first, that is.

After a quick cyber-trip to Amazon and a slightly less quick physical-trip to Pender's, I now have all my music books for spring!

I truly adore...

...this living room.

Dancing Through Life

Seriously, guys, you have it pretty easy on Valentines. Stuffed animals, jewelry, flowers, chocolate...it's all spelled out. Too bad there aren't any prescribed VDay gifts for men. Cologne? Tacky underwear? I am personally at a loss.

Mr. Johnson and I discussed it the other day, and we decided that 2011 is going to be just like 2010, only awesome instead of sucky. To further this resolution, I have started taking music lessons at a local collage. I am already in a haze of Italian solos and musical theater power ballads.

Don't wish, don't start

I'm not that girl

Wicked

Only musical theater can make hopelessness into something beautiful and glamorous (mostly cause you know she gets the guy in the end.)

So far I approve of 2011.

Wishing only wounds the heart

I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl

There's a girl I know

He loves her so

Despite the highly commercialized nature of the holiday, I happen to love Valentine's Day. Who cares if it is a holiday propagated by super chains to sell cheaply made cards and teddy bears? I like cards and teddy bears. Flowers are particularly awesome.

Anyway, I made some new Valentine's gift bags.

When I Grow Up...

"So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age."

-Grendel, John Gardner

Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet got me to thinking about my childhood expectations for my adult-self. In some ways, I still don't think of myself as an "adult," although at the ripe old age of 25 I can no longer deny that here we are, this is it, I am officially in charge of my own destiny. No one to blame it on when things get bad or disappointing. No feeling of entitlement to having my own way. Time to suck it up and figure things out.

When I was a teenager, I assumed that I would end up as a "professional woman." Someone who has her shit together. Someone powerful and confident who wears little power suits and has a personal trainer. My favorite cocktail would be a martini. I would graduate from college at 22, be generally awesome until 25, at which age I would meet the 6'2", brown haired, suite-n-tie wearing, Hunky McHunkerton man of my dreams. Marriage would follow at 27, setting me up for the big decision to pursue Career or Family in my early 30's. I would have it all figured out and be fully aware of this fact. I would feel like An Adult.

I had it all planned out. It was going to happen. It was destiny.

What I failed to take into account was my own personality and inclinations.

I am ill-suited for Business, capital B. I never, ever have my shit together. I am not confident in anything that I do or say. I hate pencil skirts and am not particularly attracted to the "hunky" type of male. Martinis disgust me.

I did everything wrong.

Getting down to the most basic flaw in my own teenaged dream for my perfect future self, I never once considered that in order to feel like adults, we must treat ourselves as such. I pretty much just let myself mentally stay in childhood, and now I wonder why some things suck so much. I never planned for adulthood. It was supposed to just happen one day, like getting my period or developing a taste for wine.

This is not to say that I am in any way unhappy with my life. Just a little disorientated. Somewhat lost without a map. However, I think that I have recently made my most adult decision so far: to stop trying to fit in to my childhood fantasy image of what an grown-up should be, and to try to decipher the inner-workings of my own messed-up brain to determine what it is that I would like to do and that would make me happy. Whether or not it is practical, fashionable, or exists only between the hours of 9 and 5.

So, that is what 2011 is dedicated to. Wish me luck. :)

Quarter Life Crisis

There are so many ways to think of birthdays- I know some people who celebrate their entire birthmonth and some who won't even admit to the day. I've been known, on occasion, to forget mine.

Not so this year.

This year I turned 25.

And I have nothing to show for it. For my quarter century of life, I have no real successes, no real career, nothing much to say for myself.

However, as I was reminded this weekend, what I do have is amazing people in my life who don't really care whether or not I have success, career, or property.

I have a best friend who will have Joint Birthday S'mores and Cocktails with me.

Tillman's Roadhouse

Hattie's

I have a wonderful group of friends who will take me to see a very un-funny Rob Schneider and make up for it with drinks after.

The Improv

Stadium Cafe

And I have a beautiful fakefamily and an amazing husband who will throw me a surprise party at the best little coffee shop/wine bar in the world.

Astoria Cafe & Wine Bar

So, I guess I'm doing pretty damn good for 25. :)

If You Were Singing For Pizza You Wouldn't So Much As Got A Wiff Of It

Go with a song in your heart, go with music in your soul. Leave with a memory of a melody. Go with a song in your heart.

RIP, Mr. Duane D. Gohlke, a great man who taught many generations of people to live with music in their souls (and shorts.)

Thank you, Mr. Gohlke, for always calling me by my last name, for telling the altos to be more manly, for lucky pennies that go in lucky left shoes, for never settling for someone's second best, and for always being a teacher first and foremost. So many lives were touched by your kindness, odd humor, and tireless devotion to music and education.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. Amen.

Company

New Year's is one of our favorite holidays. Here's how it went this year.

We sent out 2010 with a bang. Here's to 2011. Let's make it a good one. ♡