Giveawy love

Upon arriving home from work today I was super pumped to find a special package in my mailbox! Mountains of the Moon did a giveaway on the Dainty Squid and I won a beautiful dress. I ordered a size bigger than I normally would because I live in fear of buying clothing online that will be too small so the dress is a bit too big actually. But not so much that I can't shrink it in the wash. I'll try to take a picture of myself in it this weekend for you guys.  My dress is the twilight blue color

And then when I logged into my email I found I had won a giveaway on one sheeping girl for a set of chalkboard gift tags from katespapergoods. Aren't they cute? I'm not sure if I will be able to give them away.

I've been really lucky about winning things online - I should do a giveaway myself shouldn't I? How about whoever replies to this with the best knock-knock joke gets a portrait drawing of themselves? I need some portrait practice and just bought some nice new paper. Make me laugh!

Links I like

I've had a couple of low-key days and have just been trucking along with work and getting organized, so I thought I would share some of my favorite things on the internet at the moment.

The Maria Bamford Show! Seriously Maria is one of my favorite comedians and this reenactment of her breakdown stay at home with her parents was wonderful to watch. It also has me jonesing for a diet coke and the great state of Minnesota. And a fat pug.

Watch this one and then try not to watch them all.

D.I. Y. Projects - specifically this one

Wine Cork Bathmat

 I have a large collection of wine corks that I have toted around with me through several moves for some reason and decided to go ahead and make this one. CrafttyNest has a walk-through of it and I'm working on it! So far I have just been working on cutting all of my corks in half and getting rid of the non-cork corks and  broken ones. Here is my progress:

I'm really looking forward to getting this together.

Kate Beaton, of Hark, a Vagrant is amazing and wonderful and I could spend hours and hours (and maybe have spent hours and hours) reading and laughing and getting inspired. Her comics are not only hilarious but smart and you should look her up and buy a t-shirt of hers while you are at it. I did. After all, you put the Brontes on a t-shirt and I am all over that like Bronte heroines on broody men.

Bronte Garden Party

Also I am finally caught up on True Blood Season Three and cannot wait to watch the season four opening episode tonight (late I know) with the man. I was way into the books for awhile, so much so that I drove to a 24 hour grocery store at 2 am to get the fourth book because I COULD NOT WAIT. I love the difference that are in the TV show, especially anything with Eric Northman. SWOON.

Weekend in Photos

This weekend has been nice and relaxing. Yesterday Geoff and I went down to my family's and visited with my Gram and my siblings.  I got to show my Gram my quilt top and we had a good chat about the next steps and brainstormed what color should be the border and backing.  My dad (and Rachel) made us homemade pizza and we were able to grab more of our things from the garage.

My dad got a box of old wines at a garage sale for a few bucks and gave it to us. The labels are very cool and most are from the 80s and 70s. We tried to open a few and they had gone bad as expected, but the rest are just making the empty wine rack look classy. He also got me a box set of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books which I am super excited about. I adored those books as a kid and can't wait to re-read them.

My sister, the chef. She loves helping in the kitchen and made delish pizza dough!

Board games are a huge part of how my dad, brothers and I connect so of course we had to play one this weekend. Settlers of Cattan is known for driving my brothers from the room, but we talked Ryan into playing and he even won. If you like nerdy games that focus on dice and trading sheep for bricks, this game is for you. Also this set-up might be inspiring me for a new quilt design, possibly for my brother's Christmas present.

I've been doing a lot of work on my new Matryoshka doll quilt and have been brainstorming so many crafty things I want to do. Out new apartment has so much more space than I am used to, and I want to fill it with pieces that are handmade. 

And finally, a childhood photo of me with my peers.

Migraine

Yesterday was a fairly sucky day. I've been majorly stressing and this tends to mean that I get a bad headache. I have had headaches almost every day of my life that I can remember but usually I am able to go through and do what I need/want. However, every once in a while I just cannot function and get a migraine.

The first migraine I can remember was when I was five or six. I was on the top bunk of the bed I shared with my brother and I had a washcloth over my eyes. I could hear my brothers and my dad in the next room being very noisy, but I couldn't bring myself to move. While my headaches have been a constant in my life, migraines have come and gone. In middle school I seemed to have one every other day and often went to the hospital after all home remedies failed. I even spent a week in the hospital while they ran every test under the sun to see if they could find the cause. Nothing showed up.

I've gotten a better handle on them, but they still crop up once in a while. I have not had to go to the ER in years, but that head-caving-in feeling still comes around. If you have ever experienced one, you know what I mean.

When trying to get rid of a headache, I usually take the following steps:

• Big glass of water: dehydration is a common cause of headaches
• Soda or coffee: Caffeine (which is in many painkillers) sometimes knocks the pain out
• Breath of fresh air: Get outside
• Eat: Sometimes I forget. But seriously if I don't eat a headache soon follow. Even if it is just a spoonful of peanut butter, it might help.
• Move around:  while outside, walk around. Moving tense muscles helps.
• Take an over-the- counter: unless you are enjoying your pain. 

If those don't work and I do feel a migraine coming on I try to do:

• Lay down in a dark room: I hate sleeping a day away, but I hate headaches more
• Get a damp cool washcloth for you forehead: I don't know that this does anything, but my mom has always given me one when I have a bad headache and it makes me feel better.
• Meditation: I don't take this step seriously, but I try to use some meditation steps that have been passed on to me. I start by imagining that low light is filling up my body, starting with my toes and working my way up. And sometimes I picture cool water being poured over my brain. Basically anything to shut my brain down from obsessing about what the difference between "almost" and "not quite" or what my cat thinks when I am not home.
• Prescribed Meds: Basically my final step is to take something prescribed to me for migraines. This usually puts me in to a mini-coma and then hopefully my migraine is gone when I awake. 

Any tips out there that I am missing? 

I am feeling much better today and am looking forward to hopefully taking my little sister to the zoo.

Blog rehaul

I have been unsure about what to do with this space (again) but rather than let it die I am just going to try to have a blog without an over-arching theme per say, but just blog about whatever happens to come my way. So, if you are reading still or reading for the first time - or even if you aren't reading, here are a few things you will likely find in the foreseeable future

My sister - Rachel - who is basically my favorite thing. She is 18 years younger than I am and has Down Syndrome and is the best sister I could ever ask for. She has made me think about things I might not have otherwise, most notably the concept of whale underpants.

I love to draw/doodle/cartoon and I am trying to focus my energy on getting these drawings into a cohesive story line. Also I have a very large (18 pounds) cat named Taft. He is hilarious.

I sew things! Right now specifically I am working on a couple of quilts under the guidance of my awesome gram. When she was younger she had to quilt something like thirteen quilts before she was allowed to get married to my grandpa. Thankfully I don't have the same restrictions. I also have been know to knit and do other craft things.

Taft - the handsome devil.

Other than that expect to find silly photos of my adventures running around the mid-west and trying to figure out what direction my 20-something life is going. If you are out there let me know!

geeking out over here

Oh lord.



I of course went to the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This was my favorite book so I was super excited to see everything on the big screen. I was less excited to hang out with twelve year old fan girls and guys shrieking in the theatre for over an hour before the movie started. My friends and I kept our cool. We sat there in our matching Harry Potter shirts and played HP themed hangman. Some ladies who worked at the theatre were tossing out candy if you answered their triva questions correctly. I tried to refrain from answering but couldn't help myself. Free candy and showing up the 12 yr olds - worth being a total dork for.

hey I'm going to spoil things for you if you haven't seen it so there


I loved this moive more than I thought I would. Hands down, my favorite movie so far. This one isn't as action heavy as some of the others; there's nothing like the ministry showdown from OOP. Most of the focus is on the teenage relationshippy drama, but the movie does a good job of combining that with the attacks from the death eaters, Dumbledore teaching Harry, and Draco's super angst.

So firstly, the teen drama. Harry suddenly realizes that hey Ginny's a girl but she's dating Dean and the two of them are all makey outy in front of everyone. No explosion from Ron about it though. Ron and Hermione are super akward and adorable but Lavender Brown wrangles him away from Hermione. The girl who plays Lavender was amazing. Seriously she committed to that role and I could not help but crack up every time she was on screen.

I was actually really impressed with the acting in the movie. The kids are growing up and getting so much better. Ron was the stand out for me. I mean, he usually gets short-changed in the movies but I think he made the most of every scene he was in. When he was under the love potion I about peed my pants. He was perfect! So funny and goofy and again he just committed to the part. No hiding that he is my favorite and I love him. Hermione had her moments too - I hardly noticed her eyebrows waggling at all.

Harry was a little stiff as usual, which is too bad. But after taking the Felix Felicitus (or however you spell that) he was hilarious. Pinchers! He managed to make me crack up just by saying "Hi." My favorite Harry moment was when he touched Slytherin's ring (although Dumbledore never tells him it was Slytherin nor connected Voldemort to Slytherin - ACK). Harry gets a flash of images and when he comes out of it he does that creepy neck twitch that he does when he's tapping into that connection with Voldemort.

The extra scene of the Burrow burning down was prety cool, even if Harry totally should have been killed then. Who runs out into the cornfield after Bellatrix LeStrange? Not me man. But it gave them the chance to show how unsafe everywhere is but Hogwarts.

Bellatix is pretty much made of awesome. Helana knows what she's doing. I loved her dancing on the tables in the great hall, smashing everything in reach. I was dissapointed that we didn't get to see the Carrows, even though I'm really sure I saw promos of their WANTED posters. Hopefully they're on a deleted scene or something.

The cave scene was great. Kept me on the edge of my seat, mumbling to Harry not to touch that freaking water. And everyone in the theatre jumped and shrieked when that hand reached out and grabbed him. The inferni were so creepy. They cut that great line after that scene though, where Dumbledore tells Harry that he isn't afraid because Harry is there.

The tower scene was really changed from the book, but I was ok with it. Although, to be fair, you just cannot apperate in Hogwarts, I don't care if you are Dumbledore. Harry isn't frozen in place and all the other deatheaters join in to watch Draco kill Dumbledore. I think it was easier to feel for Draco in the movie than in the book. In the book he was really whiney and in the movie he was more depressed and desperate. Harry's about to jump in when Snape comes in and tells Harry to be quiet. This moment is why I'm ok with the change. Because Harry makes an instant choice to trust Snape. Which makes Snape killing Dumbledore all the worse.

Uhhhhhh Snape. I wish that they had given him more lines at the end when Harry's calling him a coward. I also kind of wish Snape had been a little angrier at Harry. But I'll deal. And why didn't Harry freak the shit out when Snape is announced as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? There really isn't any Harry/Snape direct conflict in the movie which is super sad.

This moive is hella long - 2.5 hours - but they still had to cut a lot from the book. I was dissapointed that we only got TWO memories of Tom Riddle. I'm pretty sure they should have at least put the one with the cup in, because we don't get the sense that Riddle liked to make his horcurxes out of historically significant magical items nor do we see the cup. I wonder how they're going to have the trio learn about this in the seventh movie. The other change that bothered me was the whole Harry/Ginny kiss/relationship. More like lack of relationship and single peck in the room of requirement. It was nice to see Harry happy with her in the book for awhile.

And of course there isn't a funeral for Dumbledore. Nada. Harry does pick up Dumbledore's wand at the end (it's just sitting on his desk? really?) but there's no song from Fawkes or Harry procliaming that he's Dumbledore's man through and through. Sigh. The ending is actually a let down, but I was so excited from everything else that I didn't care. That might change next time through.


Needless to say, I'm seeing this movie again. I'm going on Sunday to see it with my little brother and my mom and I think I'm going again after that with friends. Oh and if you're interested, I blogged about the book at my other journal: girlreads. Here is the link to that entry: HP Baby

KaBOOOM

Oh Micheal Bay. You try so hard. Or not at all, I haven't figured out which.

I went to see Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen with my brother this past weekend. I'm making myself review it today because later tonight I'm off to see the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and I'm pretty sure that's all I'm going to talk about for the rest of the week.

So, Transformers. I wasn't into the toys or cartoon show as a kid and can't really remember my brothers being into them either. I liked the first Transformers movie in that I got to sit in AC, eat popcorn and watch things blow up. I had a harder time in the first one telling the Autobots/Decepticons apart when they were fighting.

I loved Sam's mom. She was awesome but only in the first hour or half hour of the movie.

Plot-wise, you just have to suspend the notion that a movie should have a really gripping plot. There's a piece of that box from the last movie that makes Sam a little crazy and those Decepticons are after a machine that will destroy the sun.

Oh and now that I don't have to pretend to hate Shia anymore. I love him and his girly shrieks and rapid mumbling.

I think this movie had all the potential to be a good movie. They could have done so much more with the script in terms of Decepticons changing side and the morality of taking one life to save millions. But Bay just threw in some more explosions and called it a day. Which is what I expected, so I wasn't disappointed.

Fun note, when my brother and I parked at the movie theatre we parked next to a huge red semi truck.

I'll update the summer movie ranking later this week since I'm going to at least two more movies this week.