artwork

after a trip to IKEA to buy the frames (among other things), i finally finished the artwork i have been working on for the apartment.  you may recognize my doodles - i've been doing them my whole life!

here's the final product:

(and for those keeping score, please note that this takes care of #12 on my '20 things to do in 2012' list)

happiness is...

...having just paid off your graduate school loans IN FULL less than ONE YEAR after completing your degree

*pats self on back

election day

i think obama's got this, but i'm still nervous!!!!  i just want this day/election to be over, for obama to have won it, and for the country to move on to bigger and better things.

and in the meantime, i want some wine!


UPDATE: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadie the dog

yesterday was the one year anniversary since sadie joined the moore/michael family.  when i first got her, i was worried that i was going to somehow screw her up, but it looks like i haven't.  at least not yet anyway.  turns out that all you have to do is make sure you treat your dog like a dog, not a spoiled kid, and they'll be all like "ohhhhhhhhh, duuuuuuude, i get it now... YOU'RE in charge" and then do/listen to whatever you say.  that is unless you're telling your dog to do something important, something that should probably already be pretty darn clear to them (example: i overheard granger tell sadie the other night, as she was wheeze-coughing over her food bowl, "sadie, you idiot, you have to BREATHE while you eat!").

anyway, as i think everyone already knows, i had wanted a dog for a long time before i got sadie.  and then she waltzes into my life at exactly the right moment: granger is in afghanistan (making me relatively emotionally unstable) and approximately 143% of my time is spent writing my MA thesis (making me relatively emotionally unstable), working part-time (less money!!!!) at my less-than-ideal job (making me relatively emotionally unstable), and going to class/completing assignments for class (making me relatively emotionally unstable).  getting sadie, aka ms. snugglemuffin extraordinaire, at that point in my life was PERFECT.  every time i got completely overwhelmed with everything and started crying i had a real live thing i could hug and snuggle with, and all she'd do was wag her tail, snuggle closer, and sometimes fart to lighten the mood.  and then i finished my MA and granger came home, and i STILL had an awesome dog that i could do fun things with, and she would still wag her tail and snuggle with me.  even perfecter!

and now, with granger and i ensconced in an apartment that actually allows her overly-aggressive/vicious attack-dog breed (see "snuggling" from above), things have gotten even perfecterer.  can't complain about perfecterer!  this is, of course, not to say that sadie is 100% responsible for the awesomeness that is my life right now, but she sure helped when things were less awesome last year, and now that things are awesome again she just adds to their awesomitude.  granger and i laugh at her ridiculous antics several times a day (see: running into the screen door when she thought it was open, getting her tug caught on the arm of a chair and then dragging the chair through the living room trying to free it, scaring herself with her loud farts because "guys, did you hear that?!?! where the hell did that sound come from??? and WHAT is that SMELL???", her quite un-ladylike snoring, her twitchy dreams where you can tell if she's chasing something or eating something, and the routes/methods she chooses as the "best option" for getting onto the sofa with us, including jumping onto granger's lap and then walking across my abdomen to get to "her" spot.)

of course, no one is perfect (except me!).  but, the rare occasions when sadie has done something bad, i use her full name - sadie moore michael - so she knows she's in trouble.  when she's being annoying, however, i just call her sadie michael, since she CLEARLY didn't get that skill from the moore side (see: me = perfect from above).

anyway, flaws and all, it has been awesome having a dog, and even awesomer that my dog is sadie.  just look at that floppy ear!!!

haikus

it's raining outside
i wish i was still in bed
instead i'm at work

maryland drivers
keep your eye out for bikers
and learn how to drive

happiness consists
of a Redskins victory
and a Cowboys loss

BAM! done with #7 on my list of things to do.  :)

UPDATE: 20 things before 2013

given that it's the end of september,  i should be about 3/4 done with me 20 things to do before 2013 list.  so, how am i doing?

1. Finish knitting the scarf for my mom - well, this is getting embarrassing... sorry, mom!
2. Get an awesome job that i love - had an interview, didn't get that job. now revising my cover letter and firing this process up to full speed. i am D-O-N-E with my current job, i *literally* have dreams of quitting...
3. Learn how to coupon - gotta figure out how i can get multiple copies of the coupon inserts (everything i've read says you need at least 10/week!)
4. Practice my Spanish - todavia, no
5. Start learning French - non
6. Travel to a foreign country i haven't visited yet - Turks and Caicos!!!
7. Write poetry/fiction - nyet
8. Make something (scarf, quilt...) -nein
9. Take pottery classes - la
10. Take a class in photoshop - nahin
11. Get an apartment - moved in on Sept. 1 :)
12. Make artwork for the apartment - in progress (i'm working on turning this little doodle technique i've done my whole life into actual frame-able artwork. i'll take pictures of the final result)
13. Visit Annapolis - it's gonna happen
14. Visit Monica in Charlottesville - also gonna happen (esp now that Caroline is in Charlottesville too!)
15. Visit a state i haven't been to before - NJ? i might just have to drive there for a day just to check this one off my list...
16. Volunteer at least 6 times - 4 so far: Kenilworth-Bandalong Litter Trap clean up, IONA house meal packaging, Marvin Gaye Park-Bandalong Litter Trap clean up, cleaning and doing maintenance at an orphanage outside of Prague
17. Read at least 12 books for fun - 29 so far: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, The Missing Person's Guide to Love, Dracula, Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanter's End Game, Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, Wuthering Heights, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Beautiful Girls, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Fifty Shades trilogy, A Game of Thrones (regarding the completion of the last book: DEAR DC LIBRARY PATRONS, PLEASE RETURN THE KINDLE VERSION OF 'A CLASH OF KINGS' SO I CAN READ IT. K THANKS. LOVE, BRIGIT)
18. Consolidate, organize, and get rid of excess stuff - moving to an apt always makes a person want to get rid of things, so i would say i've made good progress on this one! still not complete, though
19. Pay off grad school loans - made another BIG payment, so now i've paid 77% of it (WOOHOO!!!!!).  only 23% more to go... sooooo close!!!!!!
20. Lose 20 lbs (starting weight: 170; goal weight: 150) -well, there was some backwards sliding this summer when i was in prague and greece (good food, good beer, no gym = hello again, pounds-i-lost-in-the-spring). current weight = 160 :(

ok, so i've done 3 out of 20 things (#s 6, 11, and 17). that's only 15%, not anywhere close to the 75% i should be done with... not very good at all! *hangs head in shame

granted, some are in various stages of being completed (#s 1, 2, 5, 12, 16, 18, 19, and 20), some are definitely probably going to happen this year (#s 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20), or if they don't happen this year, they will definitely definitely happen next year (#s 2, 5, 19, 20).  the only ones i don't really expect to be able to finish this year are #s 3, 4, 9, and 10). so if i end the year with 16/20 completed, i'll be happy!

word cloud

i think this word cloud might only capture the first page of my blog (i couldn't figure out how to capture the whole thing), but still, it seems fitting that the 3 biggest words (meaning they're the most repeated) are "granger," "apartment," and "beach." they're some of my favorite things!!! :)  also, if it caught the whole blog, there would probably be more words like "stressed," "school," and "paper." maybe it's best that those entries aren't included...