I am still alive...

I've been busy and not...

working a fair bit (at a Gap Kids store downtown part-time) and busy shopping. haha.  I've finished my Christmas gift buying except for the hardest two - my brother and my grandpa.

Mostly because my brother has interests in things I know nothing about - cars.  And my grandpa has everything you could ever think to buy him.  Suggestions accepted if you know of anything!

Otherwise, in life:

Steve and I finally had a little book club.  He's been so busy with school that it ended up being a book he had to read to teach from, but that was ok by me.

We read: The Visit a play by Friedrich Durrenmatt

It was really interesting and thought provoking.  As I suppose texts that are studied my philosophy majors would and should be.   A brief synopsis without spoiling it:  A woman returns to her hometown 50 years after being forced to leave in shame.  The town has fallen into dire economic times.  She offers $500 000 to the town, and $500 000 to the residents (a lot in 1955) if they kill one man.

Obviously this raises many social and ethical issues, which the play deals with in a thoughtful and "non-preachy" way.  The book is under 100 pages, but Steve and I had a lengthy discussion afterwards.

I have also spent my time on schoolwork, we've done some studio photography sessions now, and I am having great fun with them.  My coworker Cynthia came to be a model last week - we had a blast.

annnnnddd, my friends and I had a cookie swap this past weekend.  I spent 4 hours making triple batches of what turned out to be the most amazing cookie I have ever made.  Time well spent.  And then on Saturday we partied, I made homemade apple cider and we all traded our baking efforts.  (Sorry, I didn't take pictures!) Now I have 2 giant tupperware containers of cookies and sort of feel a bit sick from all the sugar.  hah.

my boyfriend has started blogging.

hello hello!

just stopping in with a quick note to tell you some exciting news.  

(i have already spilled the beans in the blog post title.  i realize this.)

steve has started a blog, which is very academic and is focused on political theory and philosophy, which he studies.  in case you or anyone you know has an interest in it, check out:

nonideal theory

cheers!

p.s.  i should have some real posts soon, i have just finished a 9 day stretch of no days off, and am fully looking forward to having the next 2 days to do what i want. 

(but sadly groceries, laundry and cleaning too)

A new take on the flash mob

None of this is in English, but you will understand what happens.
Awesome that this man's boss organized it for him for his birthday :)

Music to love. Pogo.

 

this is my favourite thing on the internet lately. 

Pogo remixed some Snow White to make this beautiful and addictive track. 

(He also has Harry Potter, Toy Story and more on his site - i believe he now works for Disney)

12.5 down - 9.5 to go.

hey folks!

how are things in your corner of the world?

october was a good month :)

and goal-wise too.

i'll start by explaining the half-accomplished goal - learn how to screenprint.

you see, this month i did learn how to screenprint from a housemate who actually has a job at a screenprinting place. however, i learned by watching him do a print, and not a print or design of my own. so i'm only giving a half point to this until i actually print something myself.

plan a nice surprise for my mom's 50th birthday.

this goal was the only one that had an official due date. on the 14th, i flew to my hometown to spend the weekend celebrating with my mom, brother and sister. my aunt and i had been planning a bigger party, but in the end my mom really didn't want one and we went hiking in northern minnesota instead.

hike footage:

i also surprised/spolied my mom with a couple new outfits (she never buys herself anything) and i made her a necklace, which she really loved.

all in all she was very happy with her birthday festivities. which is all that mattered.

take up yoga again.

this goal has felt great since i started! i makes me wonder why i ever quit. i've joined a 'good life' gym and am taking classes on wednesday nights, and also bought a yoga mat and a book to be able to do it at home. it's so nice how relaxed my shoulders get even after 10 minutes of the right stretches.

so that's that for october! i've started this week on a big one for november - my own etsy!

lots of work still ahead of me, but i'll try to have things listed in the next week or two, in case anyone wants to shop or trade before the holidays! cheers! love mel

mini halloween recap

i had a great halloween this past weekend.  i spent loads of time spent baking, decorating and making my costume and steve's but it was well worth it.  

i'm especially proud of his foam hat that i made out of an old mattress topper.  haha. 

we partied with our huge fabulous group of friends at our place and stayed up waaaaaay too late + ate much too much candy.  

here we are, in case you want to see :)

how was your halloween?

p.s. i'm from the movie A League of Their Own and steve is from a SNL skit