Storms and Naps.

The weather outside right now is really magical. There is a huge storm coming and its warm and muggy but with a slight crisp chill sneaking up on you. Its dim outside,  the clouds are now blocking out the whole sky. Huge gray fluffy ominous clouds filing the sky, high and low. I am in love.

So I took a nap on the stairs when I came in from walking the Cowdog and visiting a friend.

I think if you are going to take a nap it should be such an immediate necessity that you take it wherever you may be, this was the stairs for me today but has often been the floor in my office or the porch. Just be mindful of mosquitoes.

I am going to take this wonderful weather and treat her right. I am going to snuggle the Cowdog on the couch while watching Downton Abbey, look at my amazing book I just got in the mail, its a book that teaches you Hawaii's Pidgin, a slang language, with pictures, I found it when I was 13 and in Hawaii with the fam, it was a really important book in my formative years. Rambling.

Oh yeah I'm also going to make myself a new tote with this rad fabric I got.

Fun times start now.

sorry its backwards, but at least the dude is still havin a good time

                                                                              cowdog

                                                                     fabric for new bag.... woot

 xoxo            

Donut=the original super food.

Donut time.All the time.

Old wallet New wallet

I had this HOBO wallet I got about four years ago, I loved it and it was my standard wallet for a couple of years, but it was forced into retirement because it has powerful magnets that keep it shut, this magnent also has a habit of demagnetizing BART cards and hotel keys. Not fun. So it got pushed to the back of the closet, then packed up. 

Now that I am in Austin I don't have to worry about BART cards and there are no hotels in my near future, so I can revive the HOBO. The only problem is I'm not really into the pale blue anymore, and it seems to have gotten some stains on it I cant get out. 

So its time to play.

First I got out some old Manic panic hair dye and died the little mirror attached to it. Now it has a hint of purple. Then I painted the outside with glitter and adhesive, I let that dry for a day. THEN I got out the black oil paint and painted the outside. Some of the glitter comes threw and it looks like space mixed with a 17Th century painting. I love it. 

I really tried to add a lot of texture with the oil paint, letting it dry a little then adding more, and just being really sloppy with the application. 

So far the paint had stayed on perfectly, but if it ever does come of it will be really easy to touch up, also I am kind of looking forward to some cracking in the paint, then the glittery blue will peak threw and it will look even more like old space.

I still might do something to the fabric inside but I don't know what yet.

Sightly purple mirror. 

It felt a little scary completely changing this wallet, I don't know if this is because I loved it for so long or if it was because it was a 'nice' wallet. Either way I am of course happy I did what I did. Change is good. 

xoxo

Traveling

I thrive on change and challenges, getting to know a new space, learning from it, letting it change me, falling in love with it, then finding a new space. Maybe I live in these spaces for 6 months, maybe I live there for years. I wont like every place I live, some places will make me miserably even, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have lived there.

I want to see as much as I can in this life, and I think living in as many different places is the way to do that.. I like vacations just fine but you don't really get to know a place from a vacation, its more of an escape, escaping is fine, I am a fan, but escaping is not what I crave, its not what keeps me up at night and fuels my body. Escaping doesn't give me energy or stimulate me. Traveling, living in as many different place as I can is what keeps me going. Its what makes me want to live, and live forever.

I want to learn the little details. I want to find the hidden treasures of a place and live inside them. I want to meet the people, fall in love with them. I want to eat the food and drink the drinks. Dance and party. I want to read books outside, on the beach, in the woods, on a cliff in a mountain, or snuggled against a window on a cold day.

I want the place I live to make me cry but also feel like a blanket. I want to be comfortable because I remember what it was like to feel alone and exposed.

I want to know me. As much of me as I can.

xoxo

Style: Lana Del Ray

I'm not sure if there is a sexier woman in the public eye right now. I may change my mind on this and remember some one else.. but I don't know.

I mean come on.

I admittedly have a strong thing for red heads.

She recently did put out a collection with H&M. Its cute and cheep. True H&M. I am having my sister send me some leggings and a top from SF H&M but soon I wont have to bribe my Cali loved ones. Austin seems to be gettin.g our own H&M in the Domain.

About time. i wonder how packed it will be that first day. Will they sell out of everything?

I'm not a fan of the domain but I will have to push threw all the tan blondes in those small running shorts to get me some cheep designer knock offs of my very own! -sounded bitchy. meant it to be more excited than bitchy. But really why do those girls ALL have those running shorts on ALL the time? Its strange right? 

Glossy Glossy

I am the kind of person who gets magazines in the mail.

When i was living in NY, anticipating what it would be like to come back to Austin, I worried. Rightfully so, I  knew it would be hard to leave the public transportation, millions of good coffee shops, cute stores, storms, but i knew, above all I would miss the people, the millions of people, dressed up and walking around with purpose. I do miss those people.. a lot. I miss being able to see a easy dozen people every time you look up, no matter where you are, who put effort into there outfits and took chances.

So I was trying to think of a good present I could give my future self. my land locked heavily freckled self. I wanted to get me The Times, delivered to my house every day. This would be good, I would feel like I was still in the know, but also be happy I actually had the time to read the whole thing, even all that amazing Sunday stuff. But then i looked it up and found out I could not afford to get the times. It is actually more expensive to get a subscription than it is to just pick one up. FUCK.

Then I got a bunch of adds for those glossy woman's magazines. $5 bucks for a full year and it comes with a million other subscriptions for free! Really though those glossy magazines are almost free, you sign up for one and they give you a ton of others. So I did it. I think I got five or ten all together and didn't spend more than ten dollars. Crazy.

They started arriving last week. So far I have 2 issues of Harper's Bazaar, yes 2, Vanity Fair, W, Elle, and Marie Clair and I know I have more coming.

I have bought glossy magazines maybe twice in my life before this, not including Vogue that is, I went threw a  Vogue fad when I was 12. I am learning what the differences in them are, who they are written for, if they even have much writing, what the styles they prefer are. I am still figuring all this out, and also if I even want them around.

Before this impulse present to myself I have always had an aversion to these glossy things made 'for women'. When I was in High School I had a internship with a woman's whos daughter died of bulimia. This woman decided to take action, raising awareness of body image. She went from city to city giving talks on the media giving a girls and woman a unrealistic body image and then putting there worth in that image.

This woman would take tours of schools k-12 and give talks about body image, I edited short movies to go with these talks. I worked with her for a year, she would visit for a couple days every month and give me a new project and we would chat. I really loved her, she was so warm and so passionate but easy to talk to. She helped me realize how much girls and woman have to offer and how stunted we are. how little we are contributing and how much we are focused on image and the things we have. I loved clothes, and stuff, but I have always had my own style, and it had empowered me, not held me back. She helped me be comfortable with wanting to look good, but not look the same.

Important stuff.

So now I am older. I'm older and I have a stack of these magazines staring at me, and I am vulnerable. I'm at a time in my life where I feel a bit lost. I am in a city I don't love yet, and I left the career I thought I wanted to start something new.

Scary stuff.

Is having these magazines around going to corrupt me? Am I going to be able to take them for what I want, fun fashion porn? Are some of them going to surprise me in a good way? Am I going to end up giving them all away to a doctors office every month?

I don't know yet. But I will keep you updated.

Overload.

I'm flailing.

I am currently reading five books. Five. Its not okay.

Some people need to be reading multiple book at one time, they have one for the gym, one for before bed, one for the morning. Not me. I am a one book kinda gal (maybe two), so how did this happen!? It happened because I am both stressed, and bored at the same time.

I am not the best at handling stress if it is coming from multiple places for multiple reasons. And moving back to Austin has been tough on me. I am not sure exactly what I want to do here, I know I want to write,  but I also know that's not enough. I need something more structured. I do well with structure.

So I have made a few new rules (I don't like the word Goals, unless its in sports, it just seems so optional, like setting yourself up to not have to commit to them) to follow to get myself on track. To focus, and relax, both at the appropriate times.

In no particular order these are my rules.

Train!
I am starting to train for a half marathon that will happen in February. I have some time to train, but I have a good deal of work to do before I am ready to do all that running . I will need to stay focused starting now.
I have a fake knee and hip and femur from a motorcycle accident when I was younger so I need to really be prepared if i want to make it threw the marathon.
I am going to focus on mid-high speed running, not muscle training. I will also focus a lot on stretching and rolling my muscles out.


Book control!
I am limiting my book consumption to two at a time at most. For example, one of the books I am reading right now has a lot of personal accounts of  9/11, during, and the aftermath. I love reading this book but if I start reading before I go to sleep, I just wont go to sleep. It hits me hard. So another book for bedtime is needed. But that's the limit!


This blog!
I am going to post something five times a week. No more and no less. I need to be able to take days off and not have it add to my stress level. But I also need to keep up with the posting if I am going to kick internet ass.

I'm sure when I have these things down I will add some more, I love lists and do will with rules/ structure.
Wow, if only my 15 year old punk self could read that, I would have kicked my ass.



Austin is a good city and I need to make the effort to start loving it the way so many other rad people do. I will be here for a while and I need to feel like its my home. California and New York seem to be pulling me apart and I need to make it stop. Austin is my home. This is my life.


Thank you and I love you.

xoxo

sugar sugar sugar rush

Crash.

Uhg.

Tons of ice cream, m&ms, oatmeal with TONS of brown sugar and I just topped it off with three donuts from Miss. Johnsons bakery.

Blueberry donuts. The most amazing food in the world.

But now my belly is full, really full, hard full.

Had to tell you.




I'm starting the British mystery/madmen/sexpot show Hour.

I will let you know how it goes.

Xoxo

Dollar store for life. Glittery nail polish.

I like painting my nails, not so much paying someone else to do it (even though I know they do way way better work) and I like getting a little crazy with the colors, I also don't really want to have to start making a budget for  my nails. Nail polish is expensive! I was just at the grocery and spotted the Nicki Minaj nail polish, it was beautiful and sparkly and I needed it, then i noticed it was ten bucks. HA. That was more than my milk butter and ice cream put together. So I got more ice cream to spite Nicki, because thats what made sense. 

Still wanting some super fun party times to be happening on my nails I decided to DIY them finger caps.

I got some clear polish and a variety of glitter from the dollar store and experimented. 

I ended up giving a nail one clear coat then immediately sprinkling on whatever color glitter I wanted for that finger and then doing a couple more clear coats to seal it in. 

This way you can have different colors for each finger if you wanted.

But make sure to work really quickly is you have a fast drying clear coat. It gets bumpy if its not super wet.

Also I but some glitter on top of other nail polish then sealed that in with clear polish.

It was fun and now my house looks like a little pixie had a rave in it. 

xoxo

Get out and have some fun. Bingo!

BINGO!

I go to Bingo every Monday. Its like going to class, but I cant miss it.

I'm not much of a drinker, that's not to say I don't, on occasion get stupid drunk and make an ass out of myself, I love doing that. My main issue with drinking is it tends to be the actual event itself, like going out to a bar just to drink is considered doing something.Boring. I think drinking should be a part of a bigger plan to have fun and make memories. really. 

Then when you get super drunk you are already doing something! Being drunk and board is never a good thing. Have I told you about the dead chicken I have tattooed on my neck?

So I am a for fun events, events like BINGO!

What does bingo have going for it you ask? Well let me tell you, its cheep, its everywhere, anyone can go, if you do good you are expected to yell and you will be surrounded with all kinds of interesting people, example, last night at bingo there was a girl who must have been 15 with a tiara on and had her own customized bingo bag. I would like to be friends with her.

Have I mentioned the food? Oh the food. Bingo halls always know whats up when it comes to eats. My preferred bingo hall is Luck Lady Bingo in Austin TX and it has everything from taco plates to chili cheese dogs, burgers, and even chocolate cake. Oh yeah and of course the National Beer of Texas, and its all super cheap. duh.

Also you can keep the Bingo pages if you want. Wallpaper?

Im baked. Strawberry breakfast cobbler.

The grocery has strawberries on sale, so naturally I got 7 lbs of them.

I made close to a million strawberry cupcakes, they were/are amazing, but I still had three lbs of those red suckers left, and an ungodly amount of sweets already overflowing from my fridge.

What is a girl to do?!

I made a not so sweet breakfast food. Like I do.

Strawberry cobbler.

I used

3lbs of strawberries
1/3 cup or so olive oil
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup or so agave syrup
dash of sea salt
about a tablespoon of vanilla extract

preheat the oven to about 350
I roughly cut up the berries, thew them in a bowl with some agave to bring out some sweetness then put them in two 9" round cake pans.

Then I mixed the rest of the ingredients, including the rest of that agave in the same bowl and split the mixture  between the strawberry filled pans, topping them as best I could.

Then I stuck those babes in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Thats it!

Its a tart quick healthy breakfast. easy peesy

Its was still really hot but I didn't want to wait.

This recipe is less of a recipe and more of a starter kit, its stupid easy and you can do just about anything to it to get it to be more of what you want. Make it with apples, add seasoning, more sugar, no sugar, BUTTER. Really anything.

The cobbler is more tart then sweet, so if you want to make it more of a dessert: instead use a stick of butter, 1/2 flour, 2 cups oats, 2/3 cups sugar dash of salt dash of vanilla. Melt the butter then mix with the dry ingredients. No need to sweeten the berries before topping them off, unless you want to!

Texts from my sister. Pubic hair.

11am my time 9am her time

Sister: Do you have pubic hair?

Me: Yes. Yes I do.
Me:  Do you?

Sister: Yes, and I love it. Like as much as the hair on my head.

Me: ha, good! Yeah I like mine just fine. I would never want to get rid of it!
Me: You reading the book right now? (How to be a Woman by Caitlin Morgan)

Sister: Reading this book is making me realize how much women don't like it, my friends that tell me they shave or wax always surprise me. I think saying you like that whole waxed look is saying you like "baby vagina"
Sister: Ya I am

Me: Ha well yeah, I think it's just going for more of the porn look. But yeah it for sure doesn't make it look good. I keep mine trimmed.

Sister: I keep mine nicely trimmed and beautiful.

Out of the cell phones of babes. 

Get some style: My poppy.

So my poppy is a really rad dude. Lets take a short tour of some of his fashion choices over the years.

Lets start with these glasses. I want them. 

Also im into the neck beard thing he has going on here, I think he works it well.

Fish, a nice addition to any outfit, take note lady gaga.

This is Poppy on his boat. Hella happy like usual. 

                              Having some drinks with my Grams and her sexy turtle neck,
                     he knew how to pick em'. (and by em' I of course only mean my grams)

                                                                   Again with Grams, note her shoes, when  asked her about them she said "oh those were just my house shoes" Just an addition to her nightgowns and teddy s.

this is what I sleep in. (times have changes g-ma)

And last but not least, poppy in a bright blue shirt he got on vacation somewhere cool (actually it was prolly hot) hanging out with my cousin Aaron, Aaron later did a report on how cool my Poppy was for his 4th grade class. So I have references to Poppys cool-ness.

Breakfast time! The Original Pancake House!

Do you like breakfast?

Do you like blueberry waffles? Or want to know what a Dutch Baby is?

Well than I suggest going to The Original Pancake House!

I did!

See!

Fixings for the Dutch Baby

                                                       The dutch Baby! My new favorite thing.

                                           My strawberry waffle, with REAL (delicious) strawberries!

             

                                                                       before and after  

and after that.. 

I am still full. 

xoxo

VOTE OBAMA

Politics are exhausting.

I actually catch myself crying, actually crying when I hear some of the shit people think and are comfortable enough to say out loud. I really cant believe our basic civil rights are not only still in question, they are being attacked. And people are letting it happen. I honestly cant understand why everytime someone questions a womans right to be in charge of her body, or gays to do anything a straight person would be able to do we don't just laugh at them and treat them like the bigot they are.  Women and gay people should not have different rights as anyone else, this should not be a us vs them thing, we are humans, we should all just have human rights. I really cant believe, no matter how much I see and hear, that this shit is still going on, in this country.

Fucking crazy.

I see people I know on the FaceBook bitching about how both candidates are shit and they don't want to vote for either.

FUCK THAT

If you don't care about anything else care about womans rights.

Obama has, from the very beginning stood up for womens rights, from equal pay to the right to have fucking birth control, do these people not know that the right to be in charge of your own BODY is at stake. Really  truly at stake.

Obama is working for me as a woman, AND as someone who has not been able to get insurance due to a preexisting condition.

When I was 14 I got into a really bad accident and shattered my femur, I had no bone left and had to get a metal rod in place of my femur, part of my knee was replaced and a new hip.When this happened I was on my mothers insurance she got for working at Safeway, so we could manage the bills and I got better. Now due to my accident I am no longer able to get insurrance, that is not threw a job that is in any way affordable.
When i have applied I have been either rejected outright or told my monthly cost would be over $2,000. Bitches be crazy.

If I broke another bone, I would, of course still go to the hospital, they would still set my bone and give me a cast. I would then be in debt far beyond anything I could ever pay. So who would then have to pick up the bill? I would never be able to pay the amount of money I would owe, my fanancial life would be ruined and the hospitol would never get payed for a job they did. Who wins? Its not like our country was saving money having so many people uninsured, waiting until the last minute to get help, then only getting enough help to barley keep them alive and come back needing more help.

We should have a lot more pride as a country than that. We should be, or at least try our hardest to be the healthiest county in the world, because if we cant even take care of our people in the most basic way how are we actually better than anyone else?

Also watch this, it will be funny.

http://www.therumble2012.com/index.html

OMG WATCH THIS: My So Called Life

My So Called Life
1994-1995
RIP


Is this not the best title of a show ever? I think it might be.

You have probably already seen this show, like a million times, so I am just going to tell you how much I love Brian Krakow.

I might love Brian Krakow more than any other not real person ever.

Krakow is awkward but sure of himself, he sticks to what he knows is right, but is kind of a bitch about it, his hair, perfection. He likes the most amazing girl in the world, but knows her flaws and doesn't doesn't have a problem telling her when she is being an idiot.

He also spends a lot of time in trees or on his bike.

Oh yeah and don't forget this babe.

Its Tuesday right?

I may have stayed up too late last night, and I may be super sleepy right now, even though its almost 10. 

Last night was Bingo night, then we went to get some drinks at Hillside Pharmacy because it was so nice outside. Worthit.

A little something to wake me/you up...

Holy cow face, that was funface. I never got into Ben Folds Five, but I have always been and will always be super in love with the Fraggles.Win.

Oh and one of my favorite Kids in the Halls

Two things about Amanda Bynes, first I am proud to share her name, her show The Amanda Show was great, she committed to being funny, not cute or pretty, just funny. 

Second this outfit is the tits, even if she is going Brittany crazy right now, shes doin it with style. 

She looked like a hot Lady Gaga.

I love it.

Okay im going to go on a hike now. Yes a hike, people do that right? 

xoxo

Titts.

I want this to be true so hard. I love you Gillian Anderson, I thought Scully was lame, but not you, you are a gem, a red headed gem. If you could just actually be getting with Mulder that would be the tits.

Please and thank you.

xoxo

And lets just throw in a little Twin Peaks.

Read real books. How To Be A Woman

How To Be A Woman
Caitlin Morgan

Let me start by saying, get this book, now, preferably yesterday actually.

Caitlin Morgan is one rad lady.
Some of the many things I learned from reading this book, Dorthy Parker was the first funny woman, Iceland banned strip clubs and people in London drink a lot of champagne.

I was stoked off my ass to read her views on the word Feminism, like how as long as you think that anyone with a vagina should be the one in charge of it you should stand on top of the closest table and yell "I am a feminist" !!!!! really though, you should. really. like now.

Also thongs usually don't look good on anyone and having a piece of fabric rubbing against your asshole is silly.

Conclusion: Caitlin Morgan is a dream boat.

Monday Monday Monday.

The weather is all sleepy and chilly in here. I love it, like, the most, but it does not really motivate me to do anything but bake. I have half a pumpkin loaf and hella strawberry cupcakes still in my kitchen so baking is not the best idea.

I had some friends over yesterday to help me with the cupcakes, but I still ended up eating another five before the day was done (not to mention the three bowls of fruity pebbles-sooo goood) .

Anyways today is Monday, so I am going back to the gym. Exciting huh? You know you want to be my friend so bad, you want me to talk about overeating and the gym with you in person don't you. 

At least then you would get to eat the baked goods, and I also let my friends borrow my books. 

Friends with baked goods and book benefits. 

Also Science the cat brought me another lizard this morning, that makes it 12 I think, all alive and perfectly fine. I will take presents where I can get them. 

I am going to go run and think about this

Im baked. Strawberry cake!

Strawberry cake. If I were pee wee this I would marry it.

Instead I will just make it, and instead of cake I will make cupcakes, because I am back in Austin now and have lots of people I love and want to see/sugar up.

I got the most AMAZING strawberry cake recipe here, and will forever be loyal to it. Its perfect, real life partner material. Also that blog is neat-o.

I made a double batch of cupcakes and instead of strawberry jam for the frosting I uses blackberry and added about 4 more tablespoons of it.

I then ate five of them. So so good.

I ended up with way more frosting than I needed for even a double batch of cupcakes.

                                                      So I am going to make more cupcakes.

Then I might have to make more friends.

I don't think this will be hard, I am thinking I might just put on a rain coat and being cupcakes to all my neighbors. 

xoxo