Wednesday, January 25, 2012

sisters and carrots.

firstly, some things that cracked me up:
hah. right.
who likes peeling and slicing [by hand; not food processor] carrots??
raise your hand. heh.
that girl enjoys pulling the smolder all too often. the second picture we took had us both smiling, but she wanted me to post this one instead. ;)
anyways, those carrots . . . are something you don't want to make more than twice a year.
butter, brown sugar, a dash of salt. carrots, with all the nutrients simmered out of them.
oh boy.

p.s. my laptop's power jack got fixed yesterday by my brilliant brother, ben. i'll have to post some pictures and the story sometime soon. ;)

Friday, January 20, 2012

i ♥ sisters. they're flippin' amazin'.


lyddie says she was thinking about flynn rider's smolder here. can't you tell. lol. :)

lyddie: what's the difference between mexico and new mexico?
me: ......let's google it.
lyddie: [huge smile] yeah! because i don't wanna go downstairs and find the meaning in the encyclopedias that weigh 100 pounds!
me: ...do we have any of those?
lyddie: of course. [wink] ...IF you piled them all together, i'm sure they'd amount to about 100 pounds.
me: or more than 100 pounds.
this is us at 11pm.
not too crazy.
yet.

lyddie, brushing my hair with water [because that's what siblings do when you've had a hat on all day because you didn't feel like putting hair crap [aka gel, wax, mousse, whatevs] in it, and now you've got hat hair and it's splendid]

me: ow, that hurts. i think you scraped my scalp over there. [gesture]
lyddie: oh, i'm sorry boss. i'll try not to do it again.
me: um...that's alright, [ahem] employee. just don't do it again.

lyddie: yeah, you don't look too good.
me: thanks.
lyddie: you're welcome.

lyddie: your hair! it looks exciting! [to you ignorant folk who haven't seen megamind, this is a quote from there that she uses often on me.]
me: um. sure.

rach, lyddie, me.
lyddie: i shouldn't be telling you this, but we [beka and me] had a very, ahem, personal talk. like, i'm saying so personal. . . . i almost cried.
rach: wow, personal, huh? [cracks joke about personalness] so personal...you can't even tell it to yourself. lol.
lyddie: hey, that wasn't a funny joke, rachel. beka's solemn. not laughing. so solemn, like a pig that doesn't get any food.

i love siblings.
have i said that before?
i love my siblings.
except for when i hear, after my hair has been mussed beyond all recognition of seeming like this-is-a-sane-person, such dreaded words . . .
lyddie: where's a camera?

lyddie, putting a pony tail --a tiny one-- in my bangs as i type, distracted from reality.
me, in pain: ow, that hurts! that hurts too much!
lyddie: it's ok. pain for beauty. [gets tiny mirror] wanna see how you look? beautiful. juuuuust beautiful. ;)
me: i can't even see me.

p.s. another blog that features siblings and their awesome hilarity is ladaisi. it's one of the things that got me hooked on her blog. :) :)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

link love. and life.

simple ideas. elegance. but nix the cat. i'm not a cat person. lol.

hmmm. open shelving against a fresh wall of a wonderful color. rugged table. mismatched seats.
remember that snowy day to-do list from january 12? well, i did make those cookies . . . they were good.

how to be interesting [in 10 simple steps].
unfocused capture of me and a cousin's little guy. :)
in which [love looks like] a mess.
another emerging mummy post. it's all just gorgeous. and unique. and precious.

coffee. little ones. yeah.
the link below sounds like something to try out . . . :)
homemade pop tarts.
love this song right now. on repeat.
sunday morning january roads. forgotten manual focus. freezing cold.
turning 27: stacey nicole.
a grounded, refreshing point of view.
yesterday, i woke up and it was blizzarding out. heh. i just invented a word, didn't i?
so i painted. and made green tea. [mostly because i was getting so tired of the too-dark espresso roast by st. arbucks. almost like brewing charcoal...] did my laundry. wore a comfy hoodie in the perfect color all day. and today i finished said canvas . . .
i'll have to update the canvas painting section of this web blog of mine someday soon . . . :)

i'm thankful for the building of trust in my Abba.
i'm thankful for breakfast blend that we picked up at the grocery last night.
i'm thankful for technology, even though freezing computers are not my idea of a fun half hour of time.

Monday, January 16, 2012

teahupoo. i'd like to know how to say that.

just. breathtaking.
so stunning. 9/10 of the way through it, my mouth is just slowly falling open, involuntarily.  

Sunday, January 15, 2012

eight days after christmas.

january 2.
the camera was finally picked up, once again; forgotten no more.
hah.

it was a monday.
cold, windy, and slightly nasty.
okay.
slightly is a nice little word i've been using a lot lately, mainly in favor of my love for sarcasm. ;)
but . . . we were nice and warm in the kitchen. because that's just how kitchen are.
right around 12 or 1, we went up town with mum and lyd; mum had something --a surprise-- to show us.
turns out, there's a hallway waiting for an experimental, awesome-for-experience mural by justin and me. :)
we're going to start on it one of the next times he comes to visit.
we're kinda excited. :)
so after we discussed it with mum, her friend flo, and flo's friend kelly, the owner of most of the building, i took justin and lyd on a walk down the street to get some hot coffee and show justin our town's cute little knick-knack, gifts, cards, kitchen stuff and wine-filled coffee shop.
we got to the doors, and beheld the most horrible, saddening sight.
brown paper in the windows, and on that, a dreary message sharpie marker:
closed until january 7. going out of business sale starts then.
even though it was windy and cold and we wanted to be warm, i stood there just staring for a minute.
i probably said "i can't believe this!" a dozen times.
eventually we started off to warm up in the library for a bit before heading out for the last 4 blocks home.
the library was closed. duh. january 2. only the day after new years. :P
so we walked home. freezing.
i brewed coffee right away, and we warmed up right nice after that . . . even though it was nearing 2 and justin and jacklyn were planning on leaving right around then because of the 6 hour drive home.
jacklyn the cutie was ready to go home to see her grandma [visiting over christmas, but lives in another state] and new puppies. :)
i have not a clue what time it was when this was taken . . . but after she took her bag out to the car, it was still probably an hour before they left.
 chillin' outside . . . literally.
 not quite so chilly.
awesome photographer of the weekend. ;)
his face in this picture makes me laugh every time. :)
another shot of the awesome photographer. heh. heh. :)
lyddie was trying to get something in the kitchen, and told us to move.
so we did. to the back door. hah.
many amusing things, looks, and words were said between us and the rest of whoever walked by us.
a lot of laughing went on. and that's the best way to say see you later. with lots of laughing.
yet another gift.
:)
they left around 3:30pm . . . and . . . cue my post: a few random things from today.

just a note:
my dell is in need of some fixing, therefore no more posts after this, at least i can't promise. lol. might be something random if i do. it might be a week before it's fixed. never know. 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

six days after christmas.

december 31st.
the final day of the old year.
we didn't take any pictures on the 1st of january 2012.

this is us at 1am, december 31, in the kitchen.
lyddie was the spur-of-the-moment photographer, and we laughed so much [while trying to be quiet for the sleeping house] at her jokes and random comments from her 11-year-old brilliance. ;)
she tried taking different shots, but i finally hijacked my camera and took this one. lol.
that is all.
:)

Friday, January 13, 2012

five days after christmas.

it was december 30.
gift time . . . one of the good pictures that was taken.
a gorgeous, utterly perfect willow tree figurine: promise. :)
a friday.
a sleepy, beautiful, wonderful friday.
:)
it was a friday comprised of sitting in the kitchen, right there, drinking coffee and eating breakfast.
hanging out on the couch looking through albums put together by gram how long ago, pictures of her travels to different states and parts of europe. :)
eating cuties with lyd. [cue the laughing right here, for those who witnessed it.]
then, that evening, after dinner . . . we went climbing. :)
my brothers, ben and caleb, had gone climbing before with our friend from bible study. he works there [yeah...you know what they say about connections, lol], and so we got in there and turned on our own music and had a grand time. ;)
yes. stylish is the first word that comes to mind when i see this picture.
actually, psyched is the word, honestly.
it was right before we went to pick the different parts of the wall we wanted to climb . . . exciting stuff. :)
rach took this; i guess she didn't like the hats too much. sheesh. she looked adorable in it. ;)
 my brothers, attacking the most difficult wall first. typical. lol. of course . . . this wasn't their first time climbing. heh.
she's. cute.
everything about her. :) 
she was a trooper; constantly trying to get to the top --even the easiest wall was challenging.
jacklyn and rach. :)

and . . . i decided that this is the only other picture evidence i was there, that needs to be posted to this blog.
doing yoga poses after climbing the easy, medium, then easy wall again. three times in all. more than enough for me, considering the first time leaves your forearms tight, trembling, and jelly feeling afterwards.
pretty intense.
a great evening, all in all. :)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

four days after christmas.

firstly.
this book thing. that marisa posted.
[dang, she finds some awesome stuff!]

amazing, right??

it was the 29th day of the last month of the year two thousand eleven.
it dawned beautiful, ordinary, and boring.
normal, in other words. ;)
it was 11am, and i had just taken new pictures of and listed the above canvas on my etsy shop, coffee.drips.art.
i unwrapped a random little snickers from christmas and popped it in my mouth.
then a sibling's voice: "beka?"
from the kitchen.
i look over.
ummmm.....why are southern illinois people in the kitchen?
it was a surprise, i'll give you that much.
and my family somehow kept it from me.
justin and jacklyn stood in the kitchen.
my word. :)
what followed was a blur of hugs, laughing, coffee brewing, and me, stunned. in my life, i don't get surprised very often. it all took around half an hour to finally set it.

fortunately, thursday was pretty darn beautiful, so we went for a walk. :)
we kind of brought the paparazzi with us . . . aka sisters. with cameras. much fun, to say the least. :)
two words: hilarious. jacklyn. :)
:)
photo credit via my camera: my little seester rachel. :)
we got kinda chilly, and he had yet to experience out town's awesome not-so-tiny library, so we went there to warm up for a bit before heading home. :)
we found a book on s'mores. all types of 'em.
we went and got cold at the park for a while.
the little dude, reese . . . given up on swinging.
this makes me laugh every time i look at it. :)
we played a short game of hide and go seek tag around our house and the empty one next door, then came in to warm up with a card game of war [lyd and justin's favorite game to play together ;)] and some fresh coffee.
later thursday, after a quick dinner, we set off.
dad and mom, grandma and grandpa t., justin, ben, and me.
anna carpooled with our friends anna and martha--they came after the lesson; we went earlier because dad, ben and justin had never done swing-dancing before; mom has done every dance under the sun since her college years.
the lesson went good, a rather large crowd in a circle, ladies rotating every couple minutes in the lesson from man to man.
let me tell you, it's a unique experience having your older brother there at swing.
because he was a beginner, i tried to give him a couple really simple tips. like lower our hands to my waist; just as the instructor had just said. or, hold my hands like so. instead of that other way.
el oh el.
well . . . you can imagine i had to remind us both to act like responsible adults in public, because we started acting like siblings --him stubborn and i-know-what-i'm-doing-don't-tell-me-what-to-do, and me getting all up in an attitude. hah. in other words, we were bringing out the sassy 5 year old in each other. heh. not good. ;)
i never laughed so much while dancing than when i danced with ben for the first time that night.
he was so done dancing with me by the time the live band ended that song. ;)
the great news is, both justin and ben were awesome first time dancers.
i don't know if them both being drummers has anything to do with their success as dancers, but you never know. :) there were quite a few other first time people there for the lesson, and i can tell you that my brother and my boyfriend did excellently for that being their first night.
i'm pretty proud i can type that. :)
we got home by around 12:30-1ish a.m., and i made a breakfast burrito type of thing because after you dance for 2-3 hours [though i did sit with grandma, grandpa, and the guys and we just watched all the awesome dancers with their variations of charleston and lindy for a while], you get hungry. really hungry.
funny: someone was super tired by then; i guess getting up at 4 to hit the road and get somewhere by 11am and being busy, getting fresh air, and dancing at night does that to a person. ;)

to-do list for a beautiful, snowy day.


fill out a job application for the sweet pharmacy/health food store in town.
make oatmeal chocolate chip [with maybe and/or cranberries] cookies.

brew more dark roast coffee by cameron's.

admire the pretty snow.
our part of the state has blue on the radar, and no break from it as far as i can see.
since my brothers do a lot of snow/lawn maintenance for people around here, it's called white gold. el oh el.
just glad it's a quiet day with no absolute need for going out . . . :) tomorrow's a different story . . .
another thing i need to do is write more on those december posts i've been working on. :) 

and --can't forget this-- draw hearts in the windows.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

three days after christmas.


once upon a time, it was december 28, 2011.
crazy, huh?
one nice thing about this year so far is, my hand and brain have adjusted quite well to writing 2012 at the top of my journal entries.
usually i go through quite a bit of adjustment time. and writer's block. and all sorts of other things.
but, it's a good year, and there are things to write about, the words are flowing, there's good coffee, wonderful family, and a best friend who actually seems to like me a lot, and i him . . . :)
so, yes. it's a good year.
goodness me.
no clue what kind of muffin rachel made that morning, but whatever. it looks good, doesn't it??
you know those rare days when you put earrings in just for the heck of it, even though you're not going out into the freezing cold day?
yeah. it was one of those days.
 redoing our bedroom, with lyd and rach: washing the walls...organizing stuff....filling holes with putty. this bedroom hasn't been painted in more than 5 years. maybe 10. so....yeah, it kind of needs a change. we want a change. and i just love paint. :)
lyddie, getting a turn at using the putty. personally, i love that part of redoing the room. but....when your cute littlest sister begs to try it....you kind of have to give in. lol.

we listened to music from my blog . . .
i took a white-washed picture of myself.
and . . . look at that. kitchen stuff . . . talk about oddness. invented in 1968. weirdness.
see that? this is a lower quality [than normal] photo of a magazine page. :P
but.
the idea is, this awesome room.
and the color.
and inspiration.
it says "this is an almost black, charcoal gray that has enough brown in it to keep it warm. it looks like all of those colors, depending on how the light strikes it."

and now for randomness:

i thought this was hilarious. i don't eat breakfast most days; 2 cups of coffee are all i'm hungry for in the first few hours of a day, but whatever. [ya know, someone i know says that coffee isn't a food group. but.....that someone knows that fact doesn't stop me from having just coffee for breakfast. bwahahahha. ;)] the whole post is pretty full of amusing things.
what do you like for breakfast??