It's the daily things, really...

Things that I'm digging lately, in no particular order:

• I thought I was in Heaven seeing the Martha Stewart line of crafts at Michael's... but now I'm hearing about her exclusive collection at Macy's. Mmmm, that white serving ware is making me DROOL just thinking about it.
  
  
• Ali Edwards' Daily Something is really inspiring me right now, even though I won't be committing to it anytime soon. I love the idea of creating a little something everyday, even if it is just for 10 or 15 minutes and using simple products...just to get the stories out there. But that's not the way I create (maybe it should be?), I'm sloooooow and deliberative. Something to think about! Ali even gave away a "daily something" Photoshop brush or .png file, so go pick it up!
  
  
• I've found a couple people making 101 in 1001 lists. What a concept! I saw on Elsie Flannigan's blog how she made a layout to do 24 things before she turns 25 in a few months. I'm also having a birthday in a couple months - we won't discuss my UPCOMING AGE - but I thought I could do a similar layout for the little goals that could be accomplished in two months. Until I saw the 101 in 1001. Choosing 101 things to accomplish is 1001 days. Pretty much the same, but allowing some longer term goals and things that can only be done in certain seasons, etc. Maybe I'll do both challenges? Who knows. I'm all about the lists and goals lately, but dallying around online and gaining inspiration is a MAJOR part of my vocab also. So maybe I need to make a list and be held accountable. What do you say? (Really, I just want a reason to use a blogger category because I'm too lame eclectic to have posts consisting of only one topic.)
  
  
• I have a new artist on my repeat-until-it-dies playlist. This guy: Linus of Hollywood. Long story short (ha!) - there is a new show on Showtime called Californication with David Duchovny, and one of LoH's songs was on a promo. Got it? Dan was able to figure out who the artist was and find his myspace. Hopefully this guy can't tell how many times I've played the promo song The Girl I'll Never Have or another good one, Farewell to the King. I might have to buy them. Let's see if I can embed the youtube promo.
  
  

Other things lately:

At the end of July, I met up with Mandy, her mom, her future MIL, and future SIL to find her bridesmaids' dresses. We knocked out that task in about two hours flat, and found a very classy dress. And I think it'll have thick enough fabric and look awesome in her winter wedding. And who could argue when the dress is going to be a purplish wine color? ;)

Last weekend Dan and I went to visit Sheri and her hubby, Adam, in Columbus. We got to check out their first house, have dinner and ice cream (the latter at a very interesting house you can read about on her blog). We also played around in Photoshop while the boys played video games. Here's a photo I took while we were driving (as if you couldn't tell). I like that the clouds make it look like I'm picking my nose. Can you see me?

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you look behind me you'll see the lovely Ohio interstate 71 north - somewhere between the Red Bank and Kenwood Cincinnati areas. And always remember, objects in your mirror are closer than they appear..."

Today I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life, and it was actually pretty enjoyable. Mainly a consultation, x-rays, and figuring out what the heck is WRONG WITH MY BACK! I've always had back pain, and since college I've endured a couple pinched/pulled things. Poor Dan was with me for the last one when I woke up one morning, turned my head to look across the room, and heard SNAP in my neck! Holy freaking PAIN, Batman! Actually, Dan wasn't there, but came home about 10 minutes later with me crying that I couldn't get out of bed. After many days of babying myself with drugs and using IcyHot (good thing I was off work for Christmas and New Year's), I could finally sit up and lay down on my own without piercing pain. Then I caught the flu for New Year's 2006, go ME!

Anyway, I have my next appointment with the very nice chiro lady on Monday during lunch. She thinks that there is a shift (?) on my left side, but will know more once she sees the x-rays. I don't know all the chiro lingo - I just know I have issues. Yeah, yeah...

Time to do something productive now that it's almost time for bed.

Lovely random things...

I'm IT! I was tagged by Stephanie, so let's see if I can think up some random things about moi...

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

• Whenever I find a new song or album that I like, I play the heck out of it. That's what I've been doing with Craig's new album. I'll listen to some other songs when I start to get tired of the new one(s), but I come right back to the new. It's especially horrible when someone is in the car with me and all I want to do is play a new song on repeat...have to restrain myself.
  
• It's my own medical diagnosis, but I think I have a little ADD mixed in with a little OCD. I'll start on one thing and think about something else in the meantime, which will lead me to do/remember something else, which will lead me on to five other things...you get the picture. Then I'll remember what I started doing originally and repeat. And the OCD can be seen in the above point about music, finding new obsessions, my need to have things a certain (perfect) way, etc.
  
• A friend in high school gave me the nickname Vixter, among other "Vic" variations. When I wanted my first personalized license plate, the license bureau wouldn't let me use my graduation year (because they couldn't differentiate between zero and the letter O), so I decided to use Vixter. On a similar note, the car with that license plate was lovingly deemed "The Skittle" by Mandy. That car has since been handed down to my younger brother and wrecked. :(
  
• I have ridiculous motion sickness. The Dramamine stays by my side for every road trip and vacation. Macon, Georgia will forever be remembered for my car sickness on a trip to Florida.
  
• Cinderella is my all-time favorite Disney princess. She was my inspiration on wedding day, especially as I walked down the aisle to "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."
  
• Growing up, I always wondered what it would be like to have a twin. Since I didn't have one, I've hoped for a long time to have twins of my own someday. Our twin kitties are a start, haha...
  
• Some may know this already, but I have a fear of making phone calls that I never/rarely make, and voice mails. If you call my cell phone you will not hear a greeting from me - you will hear the Sprint lady telling you to leave a message, and if I leave you a voice mail you are very lucky indeed. I would rather fight and scream before having to make a phone call to someone I've never called before, and I will get very frustrated when I hang up if the call does not go well.
  
• I don't like old office supplies. I would rather throw out old pens and pencils, scissors, folders, etc. and go to buy new pretty ones - and roam the aisles of the office supply store.

Let's see... I'll tag Sheri, Mandy, and anyone who is reading that hasn't been tagged. I can't think of eight people! :)

Topics o'plenty...

Oh, married life...how I must learn to balance all of your different facets. Would you mind possibly putting a few more hours into my day? Maybe that'll help me tackle everything without the weeks flying by and me failing to accomplish it all...I'm sure it would. Or maybe I should just give up my hobbies for a while, that could help - I haven't completed anything hobby-wise lately - I'd have a lot more time for home and wifely things that way, right? Oh, married life...give me your wisdom.

Music
Right now I'm listening to Craig Lyon's new album, Goodbye You. I met him through Dan, who met him through our friends, and we saw him play in Cincy a few times. He moved out to LA so we obviously can't see him play, but he just released this album and is up for some awards. Very cool guy and mucho talented, so go check out his myspace or buy his new album for only $10. My fav song is Change, listen to that one first . ;) If you go listen or buy, let me know what your fav song is.

Books
I've been on a book craze lately. In the last few years, the most I've read included Harry Potter one and two, and some Chicken Soup books. Easy reading. But after reading about different book reviews in the blog world, and getting a book to read for our small group, I was kick-started into an obsession. Here's my list lately - holding myself back from buying more until I can finish what I have (flashbacks to being a child and not finishing my dinner, ick).

I know, I'm WAY behind the times here. Harry Potter THREE. But what can I do? I was on chapter five in this one from a couple years ago, but I decided to re-read those five chapters before moving forward. I was toying with the notion that I had already seen this movie, because I remembered it SO vividly, but now that I've read more I'm sure I haven't seen it. I'm halfway through this book - switching between this one and our small group book.

This is our small group book, and one that's really helping me to see what marriage was designed to be.
[This is no ordinary self-help book on the Christian family; it focuses far less on how to improve one's marriage than how one's marriage can improve one's Christian faith. Author Thomas even goes so far as to suggest that "God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy," an idea that may shock romantically inclined Americans.]

I read a few pages of this one on Google book search after seeing it on Gina's blog. I was immediately pulled into the story and HAD to buy it. It has a longer description than I want to post here, but check it out here. I won't be reading this one until I finish one of the first two...drats.






Disregard the "search inside" thing on my pretty picture. This one is from the same author as above, so I read a few pages of it and was SUCKED into it, too! I also won't be reading this one for a while either, but I'm darn excited to start it. It has a similar murder theme like The Lovely Bones, but is based on the author's life.



Kitty babies
I haven't shown any pictures of them in a while, so I have some today! Our babies have gotten so big and have such different personalities. Merry does this thing now where Dan will open our bedroom door in the morning, while I'm still in bed snoozing, and she'll bust through and jump up on the bed to lick my face and nudge her head into my hands. For some reason she won't do this when the situation is reversed. If I open the door and Dan is still in bed, she'll still jump onto the bed, but doesn't bother waking up Dan or licking his face. Dan says he's trained her well. Right now, Merry is laying under my desk and licking my TOES every so often. Gotta make sure they're clean, I guess!

Urpel is still very independent. She likes to lay on the couch with Dan, but must approach the situation herself. If you try to approach her she's more keen on running away.

We bought them a blue feather toy because the last feather toy we bought them only had three or four actual feathers in it - they had them ripped out within a few days. They're in love with this thing. One day Merry tried to get it up on a dining room chair with her so she could lay/play with it. Hilarious! Oh, and see my little clown there... Merry with the circus collar? We thought that was too funny at the pet store so we picked it up with the blue toy. The girls didn't think it was as funny, and kept looking around every time the bells on it would ring.

Urpel and I, after she got the collar treatment... mwa-haha. She looks happy, right?

And LOOK! The first one was Merry at Christmas time, and the second was Merry today! My baby is as big as the sink! And unlike her younger days, I had to put treats in the sink to bribe her into it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
Because Dan is SO awesome, he made some changes around the kitchen...

And I decided to switch up our bathroom a little... and there's Urpel taking the last of Merry's bribery treats.

Dan put a couple not-in-use monitors into storage so I could have some extra desk space for CRAFTY things. Now I just have to figure out how I want to arrange things in the baskets we have, and get rid of the mess in here. Sounds easy, right?

Other random things lately...

• We bought Fla-vor-ice popsicles at the store yesterday and I've had three already. I forgot how GOOD those things are.
• Website work is moving sloooowly with the combination of life - see discussion at beginning of post. I'm also not sure what direction I want to take in displaying samples, and that zaps time trying to figure it out.
• If you have some room in your prayer life, throw in a good one for a family in our small group. They've been going through a very rocky time and have so many things to deal with every day. Much appreciated.