pictures

Now That It’s Getting Colder….

5 October 2012 / life, pictures

Now that it’s getting colder (when I left this morning, it was a terrifying 42F), it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming holidays. I mean, it’s only 26 days until Halloween, and I haven’t been to a big box store in a while, but I’d imagine that the Christmas decorations have already snuck onto the shelves, competing with the Halloween costumes and candy.

I’ve already gotten a gift for my mom, and it arrived safely a few days ago. I’ve only begun thinking of ideas of what to get for Adam and Aidan and other people.

I don’t care for the cold, but I don’t mind this lead up to the holidays so much. The cold weather is accented by the pretty oranges, reds, and golds of autumn, then the festive greens, reds, and silvers of the holiday season. There’s Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts and Christmas music to listen to. Lots of opportunity for photos, and even I can admit that evergreen boughs with red bows sprinkled with snow is gorgeous.

But once the holidays are over, it’s just nothing but dirty, grey, slushy snow. Slick, slippery ice. Cutting winds. Bitterly cold temperatures and the depression that comes with it. As far as I’m concerned, once Christmas is over, the snow can go away and the temps can start being in the 70s and above. If the seasons went this way: Spring-Summer-Fall-Spring-Summer-Fall, I’d be happy. The ONLY good things about winter, in my opinion, are Christmas, Aidan’s birthday, and our February trips to Disney World. Summer really does go too fast for me.

But I still have several months until January, and I still have lots to look forward to in the meantime, so YAY. 🙂

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Short Update

29 September 2012 / family, life, pictures

Early this week, I drove out to Ohio to visit my mom. I hadn’t seen her since Christmas and was missing her. I had a really great visit with her! We stayed up til 3, 4, 5am every night talking. It was so nice to reconnect with her.

Adam and I arrived Sunday morning around 1130EST. (We left home about 430CST.) I drove the entire six hours with direction from the Hungarian Grandmother I downloaded to my GPS. I probably wouldn’t have stopped at all for more time than to get gas and/or pee but Adam woke me up and started asking for food. He didn’t want the food I’d packed. Hmph. I listened to my three playlists (The Commute Mix, Elventified™!, and The 90s) and had fun singing along. The only hard part was when the sun was rising. I was driving East. You do the math.

It felt SO NICE to drive like that, you guys. When you’re on the Interstate between 4-6am, it’s pretty much empty. I was able to sit back and really just become reacquainted with my car. I am not comfortable driving her in the city, but I certainly enjoyed bonding with her on the highway.

I ate terribly when I was there. Well, except the home cooked stuff. Somehow that doesn’t count, right? 🙂 But I ate fast food three times (shh, don’t tell my yogi friends) and I snacked a lot more than usual. My mom and Adam said I don’t eat enough. Three meals and day and two snacks just sound like SO MUCH, though, and I just can’t do it. I don’t get hungry enough.

Here are a couple of new things I tried:

OH MY GOD this juice is soooooo freaking good, I can’t wait to get more!!!

I know right? But they tasted really good. I shared this little bag with my mom and Adam.

We don’t have Bob Evans very close to us yet, so I ate there twice on this trip. This is the French toast topped with blueberries. More please.

I visited with some cousins and Aidan and Chris came up to visit too! So I get a bonus Aidan visit! 😀

I’ve been home for a few days now. Still worn out and I have yet to unpack. Haven’t been to a yoga class in well over a week. But I did make it to my anatomy class and I worked yesterday. I spent all day today reading and being lazy.

I promise to get back on track tomorrow. There is a rogue cat turd in this house and the scent is driving me up a wall. That’s how they punish us for leaving, by the way. Pooping all over the place. Ugh. There is always one that is hidden very well and I literally have to sniff it out. Gross. I’ve got to eradicate that ASAP; my nose can’t take it.

OK then. Til next time.

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Autumn 2012

21 September 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures, to do

Well, there was no more denying it after today. Temps in the low 60s/upper 50s, rain, grey. Adam’s favorite but blah to me. Still, it was a good day and for that I cannot complain. And as you can see, I’ve updated my site’s theme to reflect the new season. Do you like it?

Today the iPhone 5 came out. Adam and I were both due for upgrades. I was going to wait because my iPhone 4 is still great, but when Adam came home with his new phone and started ordering Siri around, I decided I wanted to go ahead and upgrade today as well. Especially because he told me that he’d only waited in line for 20 minutes. By the time I got there, there was no line at all!

I got the white one. It’s so fast and lightweight and the screen looks great.

I also got another big purchase. Remember last year when Disney released a bunch of Designer Princess dolls? (I didn’t post about them here, but I did on my Disney blog.) This year, they released a bunch of Designer Villains. Well, they’re not all out yet. I only wanted Maleficent and surprisingly, getting her was NOT at all the big deal it was to get Jasmine and Tiana last year. No long lines. No getting up at 6am. No hoping to get a number and the disappointment when they ran out right before me. No crashing websites. I just sauntered on to the Disney Store’s website early this week and she was there. Easy as pie! I got cash back from ebates for that purchase, too!

She’s GORGEOUS. And this photo does her exactly zero percent justice.

Maleficent-Disney Villains Designer Collection

I am going to visit my mommy for a few days. I can’t wait to see her. I haven’t seen her since Christmas. WTF. So I’m looking forward to the drive (I typically hate road trips, but I plan to make Adam sleep while I listen to Lana Del Rey, Mariana and the Diamonds, and Purity Ring) and just cruise for about three hours. Then I’ll wake him and make him drive the rest of the way. Hee hee. I have a lot to do before I get there.

· back up the computer
· charge iStuff
· go to Bari and get Italian subs for Mommy and Greg
· pack (clothes, electronics, homework & textbooks, books, bathing suit (my mom’s place has a pool!), snacks & sandwiches for the road trip–will help me avoid being tempted by McDonald’s)
· clean out the car (gonna suck b/c it’s going to be cold and rainy tomorrow too)
· straighten up the place so we won’t come home to a dump

And while I am there, I need to (in addition to visiting with whomever I can):

· work on anatomy homework
· write book review for Fire of Love
· write out apprenticeship sequences
· email Zoey private lesson reports and info about the class I took outside Moksha
· email Susan at VSA re: next friday
· work on freelance projects (I’m expecting at least two to come in—finding Internet will be tricky but I think I can manage it as long as there is a Starbucks around)
· personal yoga practice and/or hit the treadmill

I already know this trip isn’t going to be long enough. I’d wanted it to be somewhat relaxing but it won’t be, because I’m taking a to-do list with me. And once I get back, I’m going to have to hit the ground RUNNING. It will be exhausting. I will have to make sure I get good sleep and take care of myself so I won’t get all overwhelmed and stressed and stuff.

But hey, see how I mentioned anatomy homework? I’m enjoying that class! It’s three hours every Thursday night, and the teacher, Shanna, really makes it relateable. For example, she will talk about certain muscles and have us feel the muscles on our bodies. And I don’t know, I just like the way she teaches and the stuff I’m learning. We have a big binder and every week we focus on something different. Last night, we did bones and joints. Here I am, randomly before class started:

Wow. That is SO not flattering.

OH. And remember last months when I was talking about how I was going to try to clean this place up? Here are some of the fruits of my labor. Only one before/after because I forgot the other times.

My Nest

Bedroom

Bathroom

What do you guys think? 🙂 I mean, you can’t tell what my interests are at ALL from those photos, can you? And why yes, we do have a bookcase in the bathroom, what?

I got hit with a horrible stomach flu type thing Wednesday night. I was so sick. Managed to stumble into work Thursday but it wasn’t good. I was so tired and weak and COLD. Maybe that’s why I look the way I do in the photo from last night.

Anyway, that’s my life update for now. Till next time!

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Ode to Summer In The City

20 September 2012 / life, pictures, ronni

bare feet, pink nails, iPod, shorts

I will miss this.

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Teaching Yoga

14 September 2012 / living in chicago, pictures, ronni, yoga

At the beginning of August, I had the privilege of teaching a yoga class at Musecon, my favorite convention ever. It’s not a sci-fi con, it’s a con for more creative folks. The emphasis is on things like writing, knitting, art, photography.

Here are a few pictures from the class I taught (pictures from the Musecon photo gallery):