confessions of a typeface collector

 

Since First Grade

My best friend and I have been friends since we were in first grade.

And being the awesome friend, I failed miserably in the remembering her birthday department.  I did send a happy birthday on Facebook, with full intentions of sending a text later that day, but it didn't happen.

Em = suck-y best friend :-(

Sorry Lindsey!!

a little bit late!!

My Etsy Taste Test

Fairly accurate I think :-)



http://tastetest.etsy.com/#/recommendations/e8db1c30-f34b-012d-25ca-12313b031b47?self=true

redesign

I am not 100% happy with my blog.  Almost a year ago, I trashed my blog, deleting the negative, the painful memories and the things that reminded me of what was but could never be.  I have been trying to redo and recreate what I loved about blogging in the first place.  But its so hard.  People never comment anymore.  I miss the feedback that I got from other bloggers.  I am thinking of going tumblr but I love that I can use my blog as a jumping off point for the other blogs I keep up with.  (I know, I can get a reader, but I HATE when the RSS feed takes the design out of a blog.  Some people spend a lot of time making their blogs look nice, and I appreciate that).  I guess I need to re evaluate what I want/need from the internet and from blogging.

blackbird singing in the dead of night

my front yard, a few days ago

fields

When I am cold or feeling a little blue, I set my desktop on my computer to this image, which I love.  It makes me remember the random, silly things in my life.  It makes me appreciate little details, and the amazing ability nature has to produce a million shades of green.  I ignore the fact that it was raining when I took this photo, (but that actually made the entire trip more fun).

I love images of fields, and if hunting season would ever END in the park near me (yeah) I would go and take some more photos of a winter field.  (and I can't wait for some good NJ snow, so I can take some with grass sticking out of a snow bank...)

(and don't worry Linds, the bronx bombers background is still my default desktop)

Lots going on

I have a ton of stuff going on in my life right now; new, crazy and exciting stuff, but I am not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag yet.  Some people know, so if you do know already, please just keep it to yourself!    Other than that, I am mostly editing old photographs, hoping to take some good ones this holiday, and spending lots of time with my family, which is awesome.  (and a little trying at times, you know how families go!)

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone!

123roses

1.




2.


3.







Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fall, from my phone

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The lake

The lake at sunset, using hipstamatic

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

National Novel Writing Month

OMG this is fun, but hard.  I am only a fraction of the way in, and I seriously doubt that I will actually write a novel before the end of the month.  But the idea is to make it work.  You just write, without much planning.  I can always edit it later ;-)

The working title is "Friend of the King" and its a fantasy (think LOTR not vampires...)  Main character is the youngest daughter of a king, who sets out to avenge her mother's death.  She learns that those who killed her mother and are reeking havoc on her kingdom and the kingdom to the south of hers are actually being enslaved.  She must convince the king that they are not all bad or the same and then rescue them from their master.

Anyway, its fun.  So hopefully sometime by the end of the month I will have something share :-)

Fall Color

Pre-Op

**Edited**

My mom made it through surgery with flying colors - they ended up taking the skin from her calf instead of thigh, but besides that she's doing great! Tonight she enjoyed some au bon pain from downstairs in the lobby (yeah our hospital is fancy like that) and now we are watching NCIS.

We still don't have a discharge date, but we're hoping she'll be home before Sunday!  Keep your fingers crossed!!

Original Post:

So today my mom is having her skin graft, so I am hanging out with her in pre-op.  So far, she's had a new IV put in (#3 and she has been here for like 36 hours... thats not a good record), and thats pretty much it.  They put her in a curtain area that is decorated with fish and has pretty ceiling tiles because its the children's area; they also have big bookshelf of books and legos on one wall.  The pre-op area is pretty boring - if its an emergency you skip this place all together, so everyone here is a scheduled surgery.

The surgery is pretty non-envasive.  They are taking skin from her thigh and grafting it over the vascular wound on her ankle (her leg looks like a burn so they are kinda treating it like one).  And thats pretty much it.  It should take an hour, so I guess when she's out I'll blog again.

winner winner chicken dinner

Aiming Low has started hosting a little photo contest once a week, where they ask for submissions on a theme and then pick the top 5 that they think stand out.  Its silly and fun, but on my first submission, bingo, I was a top five!  woot!  The theme was lens flare - the real not the photoshopped, and I just happened to be using flare a lot in my photos lately.  It was awesome to see some other photographer's take on lens flare - man people are freakin' creative!  I like that there are little contests like these to inspire me to take some better shots, and to see what other photographers are doing :-)

If you lived here, you'd be home by now...

I went back to AZ last weekend... my college roommate's wedding and the 30th Annual Flagstaff 10's Tournament - How could I pass that up?!  Needless to say, it was amazing.  I saw some old friends, got to see a beautiful wedding, basked in the AZ sunshine (it was a beautiful weekend) and tried to remember why I ever moved away... (ok, I do remember, it was for quite a few reasons).

Oh and for the record, I did not go to school in the desert.  We have snow (record snow fall last year actually) and trees (Ponderosa, Cottonwood and Aspen) and our mascot is Louie the LUMBERJACK!  Go Jacks!!

Yes, the sky is really that color.  There were no clouds, just endless blue skies all day.

SNOW ON THE PEAKS!!! 

New dining all wing... and Louie!  

Of all of the Lumberjack statues on campus, this is the only one that isn't creepy

Old Main steps

My teammate Rachel, getting her, um, war paint on?

I bet you are...

My home away from home for 4 years, with new windows and a new sign!

Wildflowers on campus

I think this plant is poisonous... 

**Edit: It is poisonous!** 

It's in this genus of plants: Datura; I knew I learned something in my AZ Forests and Wildlife class at NAU!  (it was such a great class)

everything in AZ is either poisonous or has thorns

HDR sunset from Sunset Point on I-17

The Simpsons....

Weird

So last week my neighbor's dog was stolen.  Apparently when little Roxy got out, a random person lured her away and took her to Newark, NJ.  When they figured out that she was fixed, they dumped her at a pound.  She's a purebred dog, so they figured she would make good breeding stock for a puppy mill.  I guess this has been happening a lot, so the pounds in Newark know to contact the pounds in the suburbs about lost purebred dogs.  Roxy is safe at home... but seriously, it creeps me out that people are driving around stealing dogs.

Travel Plans

The next few weekends are going to be a little crazy around here.  This past weekend I spent hanging out with the Teen Leaders up at Fall Rally.  It was a great time, we volunteered, we played games and sang songs and it really energized my own teens for this coming fall (everything a rally is supposed to do!)  This weekend I am off to AZ to see my roommate marry her long time love (it was love at first sight for them, but took a few years for them to actually get together - so sweet) and reunite with the Timberdoodles up at NAU!  I am so excited to see everyone, check out how much NAU has changed and watch some rugby!! I am not playing, because a: I am out of shape and b: Crystal will kill me if I show up at her wedding with a black eye or something!

The next weekend I am staying in the area but hopefully going down to Philly to bother (I mean hang out) with Lindsey, then to a baby shower for a good friend.  After that, my cousin is getting married in the Southern part of VA, so I might just spend the rest of that weekend in NC visiting and harassing the rugby team.


Still dont have a dress to wear to Crystal's or my cousin's wedding... better get on that lol

7

Peter M. Wood 9/29/03

When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heav'n so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

I think about you everyday, which is weird, because its been quite a while buddy.  I hope things are good where ever you are.  

With love, Em

If you or someone you love is considering taking their own life, please visit 

http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Tiny Tomatos... and other things in the yard

I know what I am doing November 19

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/


whoa.

Books and Things

After I graduated from Northern Arizona and moved out to NC, I found that I didn't have enough time to actually take pleasure in reading.  My English classes at NAU let me basically spend days reading novels, memoirs, essays and poems - it was awesome.   But being an art student, I was reading art history, staying up late drawing the interior of my apartment and finding myself so burnt out from hours of lecture the only thing I could do was sit in front of the TV.  Being home (and unemployed), I now have as much time as I want to read.  I am a big re-reader, so since moving back from AZ I have re-read the Harry Potter and the LOTR series, random novels from my childhood, plus 12 books that are listed on the side of the blog.  My latest book?  The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  WOW.  I read it in one sitting (about 5 hours) and it was great.  My friend recommended it, and without knowing she picked a book that is in one of my favorite genre's of writing - post apocalyptic/post american society.  I know, I am weird, but books like The Handmaid's Tale and The Road are among my absolute favorites.  The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy (should have gotten the boxed set at Target when I was there!) and this first book was descriptive, well paced and completely entertaining.

I will definitely be buying the rest of the series tomorrow...

What do you say?

So today, one of my closest friends called me to tell me that her friend got horrible, devastating news yesterday.  Her little boy has cancer.  The bad kind.

(pause, breathe)

I've met this friend, and her little boy.  I actually didn't hold him when we were visiting because babies tend to SCREAM when they are in my arms (also they scare me, because they are so small and I drop small things a lot -- you know, cellphone, keys etc... so yeah didn't hold him).

But what do you say?  I don't even know what to say to my friend, and its not even her child.  I am the kind of person who wants all the facts.  When K's mom had cancer, I needed to know EVERYTHING.  I am sure that it drove her nuts, and she probably thought I was insensitive, but when I see a problem, I want to find out solutions immediately.  It's how I deal.

This cancer is one that I am familiar with.  While I have never experienced it first hand, I have read, researched and cried about it on more than one occasion.  And while I dont know her very well, I feel like I can be of some support, and I want to.

But what would you say?  What would you send?  I also need to be there for my friend, but I don't know what to say to her either...

cancer sucks.

A Cause Worth Fighting For

Here are two of the many MANY organizations dedicated to finding cures, treatments and providing support and hope to children and their families.

Cure Search

Alex's Lemonade Stand












PS - Do you want a cool image? new header? 
I'm bored and I love making them, so let me know.

I hate living at home.

Some work

Just some photos I have been fooling around with.

A Life Well Lived

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit…what a ride!’” ~Hunter S. Thompson


On Saturday, my family and I attended a beautiful memorial service for a member of our church, Ron Menendez.  Ron was the smiling, name remembering, youth inspiring, bright, funny, problem solver at our church.  He had the uncanny knack to remember everyone, was always ready with a smile and a hug any time you saw him.  He died suddenly and unexpectedly, and his absence will be ever-present in our community.  Rest easy Ron.

I wish.

Je tiens je parlais français. 

Adventure Aquarium

Photos from Jockey Hollow

Spent the day playing at Jockey Hollow with Viv.  It was perfect weather for photography (well, before it started to rain anyway) and Viv even sat for me while I took her picture in the orchard.  Thanks Viv!!