Don't Wake Me, I Plan On Sleeping In.

I apologize for the fact that it has been so long since I last sat down and wrote an actual post. I wasted too much energy freaking out about my stupid test and stressed myself right into a nasty cold/body flu. My energy levels are close to 0 and I am getting a little tired of being so exhausted and crabby every second of my day. Just ask Garrison, I am NOT a fun person to be around when I am sick. The next time I get sick will someone just lock me in a room and feed me bowls of chicken noodle soup and NyQuil through a little hole in the door? At least that way I can only be a mean monster to myself. Sleeping is supposed to provide with the energy you need for your day. I hate going to bed early, waking up super late, and still feeling like I only slept for an hour or two (if I'm lucky) the whole night.

Another reason I haven't been writing as much is because I have started discovering (for the first time, a little late...I know) the world of blogging. Most of the people writing the blogs I have been reading have interesting stories to share, are super funny, or extremely clever. I know I am just writing to keep family and friends updated a bit, but still. When you're reading some of the best it kind of makes everything you write seem a bit dull. I never realized just how many different types of people keep public blogs. Even just through blogspot.com alone I could (and I have, oh boy) waste a good part of my day sorting through the pages and pages of random stories. I will have to list a few of my favorites I have stumbled upon once I get them written down. As for right now, one of these that comes to mind is yourfaceblog.blogspot.com. The creator Damien Weighill, is a really fun artist. You send him your picture and he draws it and posts it on his blog.


HEY, REMEMBER THESE?!

area of a triangle = 1/2 bh
volume of a cylinder= pi times r squared times h
1 gallon = 8 pints
y= mx+b
c squared = a squared + b squared

.......

So, Saturday morning I took a state required test for grad school. Wait a minute. I guess I just assume most of you already know the main things about me, but I forget that I am pretty much the worst at keeping in contact with old friends. Actually I am pretty bad at keeping old friends, really. Something that really has been weighing on my mind pretty heavy lately. Anyway, for those of you that don't know...I have been applying to various graduate schools here in Chicago, hoping to get into a master's program for Elementary education. If I am accepted, I will be in school for two years and leave with a Masters of Arts in Education degree and a certificate to teach grades K-9. In order for these schools to even look at my applications, I have to pass the Illinois Basic Skills Test.

Basic skills. I know. So why was I freaking out weeks ahead of time? It has honestly been so long since I have had to revisit high school math rules and numbers were never my strongest skill to begin with. Plus, every time I have to take a test my heart races so fast I feel like I will probably pass out. SO, I thought that if I studied myself silly I would at least be heading into the whole thing with confidence, which counts for a lot in most cases. I didn't sleep very well the night before and had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get there on time. I tiredly stumbled down the stairs with my Whidbey Island coffee (thanks dad!) and a mess of papers that I felt like I had put together in my sleep (half of which I ended up not even needing). I was picked up pretty quickly by a really friendly taxi driver who later told me that he couldn't take me to where I needed to go, but that he could find me a taxi and then I wouldn't have to wait in the cold. He didn't charge me a penny and drove me around until we saw an empty car coming down the road (we were the only people driving so early). He wished me luck and I told him that I didn't know how to thank him enough. And seriously, what a nice person. When things like that happen to me it always makes me realize just how I need to be more understanding and giving I need to be.

Once I was at the test site, I felt so much better. The cups of coffee I had sucked down were just starting to kick in and I could see the end of the tunnel. Also, there was something calming about being surrounded by 200 other people that were all there to try and become teachers someday. Everyone was really friendly and funny and I soon felt a little more at ease. It did take me a while to get into test taking mode (it didn't help that the first reading assignment was on stress management). For the first hour of the test (the whole thing was FIVE HOURS LONG, with NO BREAKS!) I felt like I was never going to be able to concentrate on the material in front of me. My mind was focusing on everything but the test! I had figured weird things would happen mentally during the test, but I have never experienced anything like that before. It was like the more I tried to focus on the test, the further away from it my mind ran.

Once I had completed the test, my body felt relaxed and I think I even smiled finally. It felt so good to be finished with the whole thing. I remember hazily walking down the hallway after finishing, watching the next batch of people waiting to take the test. I was considering shooting them glances that read, "Oh, that test was much worse than I had pictured" but then figured it would have been pretty mean of me. I was so tired after the test that I even forgot to grab my cell phone from the check in desk. I had to walk the huge hallway back again, right past all of the people I had passed already. Probably good that I didn't ham it up on my walk out. As soon as I got back into my neighborhood I bought and took some Theraflu for my cold and fell asleep faster than I had for a month or two. So now, all I can do is sit and wait for two to three weeks. I think I did just fine and I'm not too worried. We'll see.

After my long nap on Saturday, I went out with Jenny and her friend Betsy. I had a really fun time, and it was nice to be out without feeling like I had a whole bunch of stuff that I needed to get done. It was also awesome to be able to share things that had been on my mind for a while with a friend. Jenny really has this amazing way of making everything seem like it's not such a big deal. Saturday night I realized that I am getting better at being friends with girls. I am a pretty shy and nervous person usually, but have been finding that since we have moved to Chicago I have been (slowly) getting better at not being incredibly awkward.

I am posting the picture below to prove two things:
1.) Getting married does not automatically make you a responsible adult.
AND
2.) Dishwashers are nice.


In one standing, I must have washed 7 plates, four glasses, two mugs, pots, pans, bowls, and silverware. Seriously disgusting. I realize that this picture also makes us look like fat pigs who eat all the time. How can two people create so many dirty dishes?! We honestly don't eat that much and the answer to how we create so much crap: laziness.

We're working on the problem and hopefully we will have it all fixed by the time we have kids. Oh wait, maybe that is why we will have kids. Chores teach responsibility and someone has to do all those dishes...right?!

Here are my latest projects, though I have to admit...with everything going on I kind of sent crafting on a vacation. A red pillow with felt birds, and a miniature quilt for Zoe's little doll Hannah. Carly, the red pillow is for you. I just need to get the time to mail it!



Do you all remember my "Books to Read in 2009" list a few posts back? It is such an Allie move to start reading a book that wasn't even on my goal list. The book that snuck into my list and bumped its way up to the top was one recently given to me by the family I work with. It's called "13 Reasons Why" and is written by Jay Asher. It is about a highschool girl who commits suicide and then has someone passing around cassette tapes that she recorded before she took the pills. She addresses the tapes to 13 different people, telling each of them that they had something to do with her death. The more you read, the more you discover exactly why she killed herself. Pretty morbid sounding huh? The lady I work for said, "It's an easy read, and once I started reading I couldn't put it down. I finished it off in just a few days!" First of all, I'm curious about what types of books she is interested in and second, how can I pass up an easy and exciting read? I'll read this one now and get to the rest later. Wow Allie...how predictable.

Sorry if this post seems to be all over the place, hopefully by the next time I write (soon! soon!), I will be feeling much better. Before I get some sleep, I need to share with all of you my friend Amy's blog from China. Amy is dear to my heart and a friend that honestly changed my life. She is an amazing, beautiful person and she writes more eloquently than anyone I have ever met. I love reading about her adventures in China (she teaches English) because she has such a unique way of looking at the world and handling new challenges. If you have the time, please check out her blog at:

http://www.thisismynoise.blogspot.com/

I promise you won't be disappointed.

MOM: I am no longer scared of this video! Yay!

Pump It

I seriously cannot get enough of this....


Pump it !! from Capucha on Vimeo.

I'm Only Sleeping.

GUESS WHAT?! Today I took a five hour test for grad school AND paid off the last of my school loans!!! I am treating myself to a very long nap...

Hazy Shade of Winter.

Dear Winter,

I have handled you like a champ so far. Always talking about how pretty the snow is, getting excited to walk around in the crisp air and drink things that warm my insides (tea, coffee, wine), and loving the fact that I actually have the time to listen to a lot of my old records that haven't been dusted off in months. But today I woke up and just decided that I have had ENOUGH. I am tired of the same thing happening every day. In the Summer I can ride my bike, go on adventures, get out of the house. I miss sitting on our roof deck, reading books and drinking slurpees and lemonade. I miss being so hot that it's actually a good thing our crappy shower mostly pumps out cold water. I miss the good smells that flow in through our open windows. I have had enough of your snow, your wind, and the lack of green. I don't like dressing in three layers just to go across the street. I don't like slipping on the muddy snow still covering the sidewalk. I'm even beginning to dislike wine. Please end sooner, rather than later. If you stick around until March like you did last year, I'm really going to loose my cool.

(un) Affectionately yours,

Allie


One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

And Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson...

So I finally found the time to sit down and sew! I've decided to try and make my first quilt and if it turns out okay I will give it to our friend Jenny's baby Lex. Luckily his birthday isn't until May, so I have a while. When I was at Joanne's purchasing sewing supplies I decided to not spend the extra money and get a rotary cutter, which turned out to be a pretty stupid decision. I have great scissors, but cutting out the squares with them makes the fabric bumpy and uneven. When I go back to Joanne's I might just spend the money and pick one up, I can see now how it will make the whole quilting experience a pleasant one. After cutting out all of the squares, I was excited to sew them together with my machine. I got about two strips of squares pieced together before my sewing machine jammed. Now that I'm super pumped about sewing and actually have the time, my machine gives out on me. There might be some way to fix it, I just need to take the time to untangle the string inside the bobbin and figure out what the string keeps getting caught on. The colors I have chosen for baby Lex's quilt are blues, green, red, and yellow...pretty basic colors mixed in with cute fabric I got on sale two weeks ago (it has little cowboy dogs riding horses and stars all around). When I'm finished, it will look something like this:



I just purchased a Flicker Pro account, which is something I have been trying to talk myself out of doing since Christmas. Flicker really gets you though, it's such an easy way to store and share your pictures...you can even edit them with their quick and simple editing software. What they don't tell you, however, is that you can only upload 200 photos and then it won't let you add any more pictures. By the time you've uploaded 200 photos, you are so used to the convenience of photo sharing that you kind of have to upgrade to Pro. I know, I'm a sucker. Good news is I will be able to post a lot more pictures on this blog! And yes, Zoe you may use any of the pictures on here for scrap booking purposes!

Two days ago, while it was still 0 degrees outside we decided to walk down the street to a bar and grill we always pass, but never go in. It was too cold to get groceries so our fridge was empty and we were getting a little tired of the usual Thai and Mexican food downstairs. Our dinner was really good and I think it might be one of my new favorite places. Ever since the new year, I have been trying to eat less meat. I've found that by cutting meat from my diet I eat much healthier because my options are limited. When we go out to eat, instead of ordering a huge burger with a plate full of fries I'll order a salad and soup, or a veggie burger. The bar and grill we went to had a delicious black bean veggie burger, much different from the veggie burgers usually served. The burger was a lot like refried beans pressed into a patty, served on a cabatta roll with salty pico de gallo, onions, and slices of avocado.


I have been drinking a lot of tea lately, because I have gotten a little tired of coffee. We are finally using the beautiful tea pot that our friend Chris brought us back from China last year and I swear it makes the tea taste so much better! I have been working on perfecting the perfect pot of tea and I think I just about have it figured out. In one pot I add two bags of green tea and one bag of orange lemon tea. Then I mix in two tablespoons of lemon juice and three tablespoons of honey. A week ago I felt like I was coming down with the worst cold ever so I drank cup after cup of my delicious tea. I didn't get sick! I love tea so much.

Mentioning honey reminds me of something pretty funny I heard the other day on the radio. It was a discussion about how much people are willing to pay for organic foods and how almost everything is labeled "organic" these days. They started talking about organic honey and mentioned how it's pretty much a scam. Although the honey is coming from beehives on a farm, there really is no way to keep the honey "pure" because the bees leave the farm. There is no way to tell where they are getting the pollen from! Anyway, the whole thing kept me smiling for a while.

Yesterday I ran over to the 7-11 to get some juice and I was behind this older lady dressed in a floor length fur coat. She was buying a huge bottle of white wine, lottery tickets, and a pack of cigarettes. Classy. She reminded me so much of Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, which reminded me that I need to watch that movie again, it has been way too long.

















LOST starts in just a few days and I am really looking forward to this season because both of our mothers are totally into it now, so it will be fun to talk Lost with them. The past three seasons my mom would, very politely, listen to me go on and on trying to explain to her what happened. I would say, "You have to watch it mom, you'd really like it" and she would say, "I just don't get it, there's too much to catch up on". So last year she started with season one online and now she's hooked. I'm still working on my Dad.

So I have been pretty addicted to this site lately. It is a collection of brilliant, artistic ideas ranging from trick photography to clever advertisements. I probably waste way more time that I should be scrolling through the millions of categories and pictures. Also, if you are really bored and feel like learning something new check out TED at http://www.ted.com/. This site features thousands of free video lectures on almost everything including space discovery, the history of bread, underwater exploration, and American history. There are 25 or so categories and at least 100 lectures under every subject. I last watched a lecture on teaching monkeys sign language. The lady had videos of her interaction with the monkeys and it just blew my mind how smart these creatures really are.

While I'm talking about websites...CARLY, this one is for you. It is an online kaleidescope! Just move the mouse around to change the design and see what you can come up with.

In case you have forgotten, anything written above in yellow letters can be clicked on to reach the link that I have attached. You won't have to download anything, it just takes you to a picture or the mentioned website.

We are leaving to get some dinner now, lately I have had this huge craving for anchovies and pineapple pizza (sounds disgusting but it is really good, something about the salty mixing with the sweet of the pineapple...)

I will leave you all with these amazing pictures. Can you believe these are all DRAWN with chalk on a sidewalk?! If you want to learn more about this artist or see more of his work, just click on these yellow words!

Lessons in Patience.

To the wonderful guys downstairs at Los 3 Panchos Taco Place,

After tonight I have the utmost respect for every single one of you. You all have more patience than most people can even begin to try to have, and I don't know how you do it. Even when I try to talk to you about the drunk jerks I have seen in your restaurant before you just laugh like it was nothing at all. The last time I ordered food from you there was a man complaining about a rash he had gotten all over his arm (which, by the way, was from his cheap watch), because he had been rolling on your floor. First of all, how drunk do you have to be to roll all over the floor of a restaurant?! Second, how much nerve do you have to have to refuse the food that people have cooked for you and yell in their faces about how much you think they suck? You all just laughed as he cussed at you and flexed his muscles a whole bunch. Tonight a guy didn't even pick up his order because he was way too busy trying to get the phone number of a girl whose friends kept yelling, "Come on, let's go. HEY... creepy corduroy guy, say goodbye to our friend now..." You just took his food off of the counter and forgot him. When I was leaving I held the door open for a shivering guy and said, "You're probably colder than me!" His response? "Probably not..." Do I really come off as rude? Ha. I am impressed by the number of times I have seen you all hold your tongues and keep your cool....I know I wouldn't be able to do it.

Love,

Allie

Brrrrrr.

I promise that I don't always talk about the weather as much as I have been lately. It's just that this Winter has been crazy cold, and full of a lot of new weather experiences for the both of us. Whenever I was freezing in college my friend Huck would always say, "You think this is cold?! I am from Alaska and this is what we call Summer weather!" Oh how he'd rub it in our faces. And I could do nothing but just sit there shivering in that 40 degree weather, all while hating his guts because he had some real bragging rights. Oh Huck, if you could see us now! Walking around in -4 degree weather actually having the nerve to say, "This isn't too bad, it's much warmer than yesterday!" And it really isn't all that bad, I think we have gotten used to it pretty quickly. Tonight we even ventured out to a restaurant to get some dinner. Granted, by the time we got there our snot was frozen to our faces and my cheeks were so cold it felt like someone had slapped me really hard for five minutes straight. Right now it's -12 degrees out and our windows are laced with ice, even on the insides. Our apartment is all snuggly and warm though, you would never guess it was so cold outside from here. I am pretty excited to have an excuse to stay bundled up inside with Garrison and Cat. We both were fortunate enough to get the next four days off from work and school and it will be nice to spend so much time with each other after a hectic week of life.

Sunday night G and I went to the Vic Theater just down the street and saw two movies for five dollars. Five dollars! The movie theaters around here are all $9 for one movie, at the cheapest. The first movie was pretty funny (Role Models) but the second one was so horrible. It was nice to be out of the house and we still had a huge bag of popcorn left so we stayed anyway. The inside of the Vic is beautiful, it's an old theater with balcony seating and intricate, gold details on the red velvet walls. I wanted to take pictures of the inside of the theater so badly, but it would have looked strange and I didn't feel like blinding everyone with the flash.

Before the movie I went on a walk and was only out for about 25 minutes. When I got back to the house, my toes were so numb I couldn't feel them at all. I was so cold that I started a shower and got a little freaked out when I realized that I couldn't feel the water temperature around my feet. I sat and rubbed them for five minutes until they started to tingle a bit and continued until I could feel the water. The whole time I kept thinking about when my dad fell through the ice into a lake when I was a child. I remember being really scared while I watched him and my mom rub his legs and toes. I was also thinking about this man that I had seen on a science channel show called Superhuman. They called him the Ice Man, or something like that and his body didn't react to cold the way most bodies do. He ran for eleven miles barefoot in the snow, in the middle of Winter. AND he was only wearing running shorts. He would also sit in large tubs of ice water for hours and his body temperature would not drop one bit. During my near-frost bite experience, I was wishing so badly that I was as cool as Ice Man (get it?!) Do you have to train for something like that? And how do you even discover that you are capable of such things?

I have been wanting to create a game of our own with C for some time now, but haven't had the time or frankly the energy to cut cardboard with dull kid scissors and write out millions of cards. And then there is the task of finding extra game pieces and unused dice. Yesterday we put our heads together and combined her love for art and silliness with the Jenga game we have had since our wedding. The result: Super-duper silly, even MORE kid friendly JENGA! I was really happy with the outcome and we had a ton of fun pulling out the personalized pieces one by one, until the tower collapsed. We colored the 35 different blocks with markers and crayons and wrote fortunes or activities you would have to perform if you picked that piece. Activities such as, "Sing your favorite song", "Stand up and fly around like a bird", "Do a silly dance", and "Sleep like a Sleeping Beauty sleeps" (thank you C). Here is a picture of the finished product:




















Yesterday, the kids and I were reading a book about four little kids that each had something so cute about them that their parents had to either kiss it, tickle it, or touch it to their nose...not the best children's book I have ever seen. About half way through it was all I could do to keep reading with every ounce of enthusiasm I could find within me. And then the funniest thing happened and I couldn't stop laughing about it for the rest of the book. There was a picture of a dad throwing his little baby boy into the air saying something pretty lame like, "My little chicken, you are mine. I will fly you to the moon and you will be home soon". The way the pictured was painted though made it look like the dad would really have to go out of his way to catch his baby that he had tossed into the sky. C just stared at the picture wide eyed and when I was done reading she said, "Oooooooh...I HOPE he catches that baby!!" :-) Again, thank you C.

Tomorrow we are sticking around the house, keeping warm and getting things done. We both need to go to the post office at some point so hopefully it will be more comfortable outside than it was today.

AND NOW, more pictures for all of you!


Shopping after Christmas:

Making our gingerbread house with Carly:

G, Me, Chazz, and Lindsay, Christmas break:

Our little snowman:
.

So Busy!

It's getting late and I have a pretty busy day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'm really going to try and hold back from writing a whole lot this post. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the chance to sit down and write about what's been going on with us lately. Sunday I hung out with Jenny, something that I have been looking forward to for a while since we got back from break. It's so nice to have a girl around to talk to. Those of you who know me, know that I am pretty picky when it comes to girls I choose to hang out with. Jenny is a good friend and it is nice to hang out with someone my age after spending a whole week with the same five people (two of those people being kids!)

Today it was a whopping 8 DEGREES! Tonight when I left work at 10:30, it was only two. I can't believe that Winter isn't even half over (it seriously stays cold here until late March...) I love the cold and the snow and other joys the Winter season brings, but towards the end I start to get a little antsy. I can't even imagine how stir crazy I am going to be come February! Even the kids are starting to feel it. Today we wanted to go to the library, after a half hour of what I like to call, "Chicago sledding" (definition: sledding down a four foot tall snow pile your dad shoveled in your front yard). About two minutes into our walk with a huge pile of book returns, we were both so numb that not even the four layers that I had wrapped Carly in were keeping her warm. You don't even shiver in this kind of cold. You are so focused on reaching your destination that you don't have time to shiver. You just feel like your limbs are going to fall off. As much as the kids love playing with their toys, I feel like we are all beginning to wonder when we'll finally be able to put away the Polly Pockets and Littlest Petshop and run off to the park for nature hunts.

Some things the Winter has brought me are endless craft ideas and the biggest, prettiest icicles I have ever seen. AND, unlike Spring flowers, you can break the icicles off and keep them without having to worry about killing a living thing or ruining it for everyone. Chances are all of the icicles we collected today will be back and just as big in only a few days (most of the ones we found were from gutters or roof drips). Painting white on black, snowflake discoveries, knitting, mitten painting, bird feeder making, the list goes on. Winter has always been one of my most favorite seasons for children's crafts and teaching opportunities.

And now, the video I told Carly I would post...although I am pretty sure she is going to hate me once she sees which video I was referring to. It's way to funny though.

Stay warm everybody!!

Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring.

So, lately I haven't been able to get over just how much James Mercer of the Shins and Raffi look alike. Garrison swears I am bad at finding people who look similar to each other and that when I think two people look alike, I am usually way off. I'm sticking to this one though, especially after catching Mercer on this kid's show that Carly likes to watch (Yo Gabba Gabba).

Banana phone, anybody?

A list of books to read and finish.

1. Love in the Time of Cholera
2. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
3. South of the Border, West of the Sun
4. Another Roadside Attraction
5. Franny and Zooey
6. Norwegian Wood
7. Same Kind of Different as Me
8. A Short History of Nearly Everything
9. Will You Please be Quiet, Please?
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I should probably get started on this list very, very soon. Will someone please give me more time?!

Outside the Elbo Room, Saturday night at the Thunderunderus show: