Shopping On A Thursday Afternoon

Oh my gosh, you guys, I have had THE PLAGUE! I hate to admit it, but I am a mouth breather and have been for the past 72 hours. Because I can't breathe, I can't sleep, so as soon as I get home from work, I fall asleep, only to awaken at 3am where I read for an hour, then go back to sleep. It's a nasty, nasty cycle. Because of the plague, I sound like a man and have unhappily chapped lips - because I keep licking my lips because they're dry because I am a MOUTH-BREATHER.

But I feel so guilty now that I haven't written a real blog post in so long and that I haven't written up the upcoming giveaway feature (yep, another one!), that I am forcing myself to provide you with content!

First up, the big news - today I learned how to sew. Yes, I know, you've all known how for your entire lives and you learned it in Girl Scouts and made needlepoint creations with your grandma. Well, I didn't! So, today, my mom sat me down and taught me how to sew a button, how to hem and how to do some basic stitches. I promptly came home to practice and now I have lines and lines of wavy, uneven stitches on a thrift store receiving blanket.

We actually picked up that thrift store blanket today after I said, "Mom, teach me how to sew when we get home! We have nothing better to do." She agreed, because of course I was right, since here we were, shopping on a Thursday afternoon. I asked her to teach me how to sew because this particular thrift shop had some great fabrics that I was piling into my little basket. I, not knowing anything about anything, was sure I was going to make a skirt out of this and a scarf out of that and a pillow cover out of this one. She pointed out that some of them were more suited to machine sewing and that others were not big enough to make what I wanted and oh, that some of them used to be rabbit fur trimmed capes. So, thanks Mom!

The next exciting bit of news is that I lost another 2 pounds. It's slowed down, but that's still a great, healthy number for weekly loss, so I'm happy with it for now. That doesn't mean I won't be working it even harder at the gym as soon as this plague is gone!

Third, I made my very own lightbox/mini studio this past weekend! It's so cool and I love the pictures I've taken with it. Unfortunately, I've also had to hide it from Oliver, who thinks that boxes are FUN! and doesn't understand that he and tracing paper don't mix. I used the tutorial from Strobist.

{my completed studio!}

{i used tracing paper and painter's tape.

 mostly because that's what i had around}

{i only used one light, mostly because the bulb

burned out in my second one right before i started.

but one worked perfectly for me!}

{a shot of the peruvian silver and leather bracelet my dad gave me last christmas}

Fourth, I found a super cute stray puppy this morning on my way into work. Animal control didn't come until after 10am, so we hung out for almost 3 hours, he on my desk, me working around him. He was a spaniel mix, maybe with some chihuahua? He was sooo sweet and it killed me to give him up. If my parents didn't already have the legal limit of dogs, they would have kept him (obviously after making sure he didn't have people). I even said they should register him to me, but "hold onto him" until I have a place of my own and could take him. They pointed out that I might be getting a little emotionally attached.

Last night, in class, there was a discussion about Michael Vick and someone said that dog-fighting was all he'd ever known, that it was introduced to him when he was 5 years old. I do not accept that as an excuse. That man should have been in jail for decades. Everyday, people rise above the circumstances they were born into, whether it be abuse, neglect, drugs or poverty. He could have, but he didn't and it kills me that he didn't have to pay the consequences.

Just like I could never hurt an animal, there is no way I could ever ignore a lost or injured animal, but I knew the moment I picked him up that I was falling in love. I had no choice, but he broke my heart. I hope that little monkey gets adopted quickly and that the kindness we showed him this morning made a difference.

That is it for my short little update. I hope you've all been spared the plague I have acquired and that you have not been wrenched away from any canine loves recently. I sincerely hope to sound less like a man tomorrow and to be able to write insanely insightful blog posts for your weekend enjoyment.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!