ZOO ADVENTURE, PART 1

So, last Friday (the 26th), Aaron and I went to the zoo for his anthropology class. Thankfully, as of a few days ago, I now have a laptop (my dad's old squad car laptop, which is from 2008 but works really well!) and can edit the 900+ pictures I took of the various animals (I am ashamed of how many photos I took, really). I downloaded a free version of photoshop from my college database and now can edit pictures... although I'm still rusty with this newer version of photoshop. 

Anyway, Aaron and I went to the zoo and had a blast! I have a bajillion pictures, but I'll just do a general outfit overview today and get into the animals next time!

I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU

My camera was having a love affair with the sparkle ball -- hence, the crummy focus!

Hey, guys, those of you that read this blog: You're awesome. I can't stop loving you. I also love these six stop signs on the way to my grandparent's house that someone vandalized in the most awesome way ever. They're too cool for school and all that 90's jazz. So, on Tuesday, Aaron and I went Goodwilling -- i.e. Goodwill shopping. It was awesome. Last time I went, I'd totally forgotten about the dress section! How sad. I couldn't believe it. I got so much stuff. Two items I need to sew -- a dress and a skirt that are crazy long. I got two shirts, three skirts, a bunch of dresses, and belts that are fantastic. Also, I saw this awesome light switch cover on a blog the other day and was obsessed. I posted it all over my personal facebook and couldn't stop talking about it. Guess what? I found two antler wall hangs at Goodwill for $3. Score! Now I can just make my own! So happy. When I move come May, someone needs to remind me to post pictures of it -- it's going to be swell! With that out of the way, on to the daily outfit!

Frostbite and mid-terms

First and foremost: this is the least appropriate dress to wear when there is snow on the ground and a -5 windchill. Yet, it worked well with tights, scarf, and a cardigan (there's also a belt buried in there somewhere, but it was too cold to take off my coat today)! I dressed up to do errands today which mostly consisted of going grocery shopping and finishing up an application for a summer job in the town I'm moving to this summer. Hate it, but have to do it, right? So, while I was waiting for some people to get back to me on being references, I decided to go out into my grandmother's backyard (she has a computer scanner) and do some pictures. It was cold, but really pretty. There had just been a light snowfall and it was clinging to the grass and trees, and the neighbor's three little girls were outside playing. You could hear them laughing from across the cornfield. While I was out there, I could see dark clouds coming toward our area -- the air beneath it was fuzzy and, as it got closer, I realized it was snowfall. It was really cool! 

THE CRACKLE OF THE PIER, THE SMELL OF THE ICE

The metal slabs of the pier crackled and snapped beneath our feet as we stepped out upon the water. An icy gust whistled across the expanse, making our eyes water and our fingers miss the shutter key. Ghostly memories of mirror-still water and tired fishermen -- their boats bobbing lazily in the reeds -- drift through our minds like afterimages. Our little pier sits alone -- now too frozen to dismantle by people that were too busy to care.

That was our backdrop for pictures this evening. 

VALENTINE'S DAY BROWNIE POINTS!

Yes, that is my blue Volkswagen Jetta. I call her The Blue Meanie. Reference, anyone? 

Happy Valentine’s Day! While there’s a lot of festive holidays that I quite enjoy -- Christmas being one of them -- Valentine’s Day is probably the one that feels most nostalgic, and the one I kind of miss. It makes me miss elementary school, especially third grade. Back then, our teacher would hand out brightly colored printer paper -- the kind that are connected and folded into long sheets -- and we would cut out heart shapes, trying to get it so if we unraveled the paper, it would be one long festive spool of hearts (or blobby circles, which is what mine always looked like -- I had shaky hands). I also was one of the kids that went all out on Valentine’s Day with handmade TMNT valentines (couldn’t find those anywhere!) and home-made cupcakes or cookies. Why can’t we grown-ups hand out Valentine’s Day cards like that anymore? Why can’t my college classes put out little baggies so we can collect valentine cards? I saw some Transformers valentines that would've been awesome to hand out! Too bad. Maybe I'll do it next year just for fun.