[images via Lisa Wiseman]7.11.2009
Go Ask Alice...
One pill makes you larger,
And one pill makes you small.
And the ones that mother gives you,
Don't do anything at all.
Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall.
And if you go chasing rabbits,
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar,
Has given you the call.
Call Alice when she was just small.
Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit
4.22.2009
95. Make a list of 100 things I love for future inspiration for art projects
- lightening
- astronauts/outer space
- plaid
- doilies
- vintage handkerchiefs
- birch, dogwood,
- teeth
- lace
- tutus/petticoats
- horse show ribbons
- vintage/romantic photography
- old maps
- dandelions
- peonies
- ranunculus
- unicorns
- woodland creatures
- dinosaurs
- corsets
- glitter/sparkles/sequins/shiny things
- typewriters
- engineer/graph paper
- stockings/long socks
- fur
- masks
- perfect fitting t-shirts
- satin shorts/slips
- abnormally large and gaudy jewelry
- teacups
- Ouija boards
- anatomy illustrations
- ribbon
- terrariums/bell jars
- feathers, especially ostrich feathers
- gnomes
- cocktail rings
- princess and the pea references
- eggs, but only the ones that are colored or speckled
- birdcages
- owls
- cupcakes
- tulle
- moss
- skeleton keys
- mushrooms
- beach cruisers
- palm trees
- pink/red eye makeup
- platinum blonde hair
- balloons
- vintage suitcases
- old picture frames or furniture that were painted white and now the paint is chipping away
- bats
- ridiculous raver outfits
- diptychs
- double exposures
- butterflies
- coral
- curls
- mason jars
- hydrangea
- wrought iron bed frames
- day beds
- floor cushions
- French doors
- apples
- peaches
- pears
- cowboy boots
- any light, flowy fabrics
- polaroids
- plastic/toy cameras
- sparklers
- hammocks/swings
- serving trays
- cute little tiny colorful birds
- dress forms
- mantels
- tin ceiling tiles
- ivy/vines
- quilts
- aprons
- white eyelet dresses
- globes
- grass
- clothes lines
- white picket fence
- fields of flowers
- silver
- pirates
- orcas/dolphins
- carousels
- hot chocolate
- stars
- skeleton keys
- hearts
- sheet music
- tattoos
- tears
4.14.2009
Book Lust: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Honestly, the first I saw of this book was the beginning of chapter 1 [below] and I didn't believe it was a real book. I quickly went over to Amazon.com and did a little bit of a search and saw that in fact, this is a real book. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
I'm dying for this book now and I believe I will indulge and buy a copy. I've always wanted to check out some of Jane Austen's books and I think the best way to try to get myself interested is to go for a copy that has some zombie action in it also! Plus it's only a little over $7 which is about what I spent for lunch today so I can't justify NOT buying it.
Once I order it and get it in the mail and read it... I'll let you know what I think of this book.
4.09.2009
TILT
- Housewarming registration... My Tumblr friends said they would actually buy me stuff if I registered somewhere for my housewarming so I started my list at Target.
- Hot lunch dates... Yesterday an adorable graduate student took me out to lunch and it was pretty much the best date I've ever been on.
- Garden... I thought I would have closed on my house by now and been able to transplant some of the seeds that I started, but so far no luck. My cucumbers and watermelons have gotten out of control and are taking over my apartment. I can't wait to eat something I grew myself.
- Compost... My compost bin was set up yesterday at the house. It'll be a while before I can really use it I suppose, but it's still exciting.
- Missed Connections on Craigslist
Sorry, that's all I got... Still being bitter about my closing date moving 5 times and having to pay utilities in my apartment and the house that I don't own and can't even go into.
Etsy Love: Sarah Seven
Sarahseven is based out of Portland, Oregon. Her dresses are feminine and romantic and made to your custom size. She even carries a beautiful wedding line [pictured below]. Did I mention the photography for her store is also amazing?
4.05.2009
Spring Has Sprung
Last Sunday I started seeds to go into the garden of my new house. Now that it's been a week, all but the red peppers and Chinese lanterns have started to sprout. I planted watermelon, carrots [probably more for my bunny than for me], cucumbers, forget me nots, lettuce, Canterbury bells, Chinese lanterns, and red peppers. I went in search of ranunculus today with no success.If you have any ranunculus or irish moss you would be willing to part with, please let me know!
4.02.2009
A Much Needed TILT
I’ve been feeling so tragic this morning that I think that a Things I Love Thursday might be exactly what I need to brighten my day up a bit... My closing date got moved again and I just keep getting pushed closer to when my lease ends, I'm petrified of not having enough time to get everything done.
- True Friends... I have so much love for my friends who can recognize when I have a big smile on face, but am screaming for help underneath. The accompaniment to the thrift store, chit chat, dancing, and amazing conversations keep me going and are greatly appreciated.
- Comedy Night... Last night I went to my first comedy night and it was hilarious, much better than what I had expected. I just wish it were on a weekend so maybe I could have had a drink also! Wednesdays are not good party nights for an 8-5er.
- DIY Projects... I keep seeing amazing DIY projects online that I'm dying to do and bookmarking them in hopes of accomplishing them when I get into my new house... Here are some of my favorites and links of the instructions so you can try them too:
- Decor Amor: How to throw a tea party
- Photojojo: How to develop film with coffee and vitamin c
- Lucky Star Origami
- Craftzine: Mason Jar Terrarium
- Design*Sponge: Custom Wedding Car Cans
- Design*Sponge: Cedar Slice Silhouettes
- Mr. Peacock: Decoupage your ceiling
- Design*Sponge: Recycled Painting Magnetic Noteboard
- Design*Sponge: Babydoll Coat Rack
- Tumblr friend virtual hugs... A common practice for people on Tumblr is to stop following you if you have a bad day, just one post about having a bad day. Talk about fair weather friends, but every once in a while someone will reach out from the big scary world wide web and give you a nice virtual hug and that's so amazing... A stranger cares enough to let you know that it'll be ok and they've been through the same thing. Aww, feel the love :)
- My Emo Playlist for today
- Ranunculus... That's the flower at the top, I think they are so adorable, but never knew what they were called till yesterday! Now rest assured that my garden will be filled with them.
4.01.2009
3.31.2009
Feng Shui
[image via remind]I have been obsessing over house things lately including interior design. I started to dabble a little bit into Feng Shui and how different colors affect the different functions of rooms... I wrote a couple of articles, one about the best Feng Shui colors for your bedroom and another about the best Feng Shui colors for your living room so check it out if you are in the market for updating your home decor with a fresh new coat of paint you might want to look through and see if any of these color suggestions would work for you!
Determining the Best Feng Shui Colors for Your Living Room
Designing Your Safe Haven: A Guide to Feng Shui Bedroom Colors
Determining the Best Feng Shui Colors for Your Living Room
Designing Your Safe Haven: A Guide to Feng Shui Bedroom Colors
3.30.2009
Etsy Love: Wren & Chickadee
Creature Comforts has been one of my favorite blogs for a long time now. When I found out that she had her own Etsy shop, I had to check it out. Wren & Chickadee is full of adorable photography prints, mini prints, and PDFs for you to print your own cards. The prices are great too! Go by and check out the shop and the blog, you won't be disappointed!
3.27.2009
DIY Tea Cups Suggestions?
last night at the YMCA i found 3 white tea cups in one style and 5 in another so i bought all 8 of them up. i am going to do this project since i haven't been able to find tea cups that i like.
i need suggestions on what i should put on them and i'm praying my limited artistic abilities don't ruin it for me. so far some ideas that i like are:
- dandelions
- bunnies
- mushrooms
- owls
- jellyfish/octopus [i wish i could just have hers to be honest with you]
- eggs
- plaid
- silhouettes
- post card
- coral
- dinosaurs
How to Get Out of Credit Card Debt
Having outstanding credit card debt for one or more credit cards hanging above your head can be a major cause of stress. This is a guide to how I dug myself out of a mountain of credit card debt.
After working a horrible food service job that didn’t pay enough to make ends meet, I found myself buried under a huge pile of credit card debt that I thought I would never be able to pay off. I decided to consolidate my credit card debt and force myself to pay it off in one year. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it feels to be out from under that credit card debt so I want to share with you how you can work towards freeing yourself from credit card debt and have that same feeling of freedom for yourself.
How Much Credit Card Debt Do You Have?
The first step to getting yourself out of credit card debt is to take inventory of your credit cards. Create an Excel spreadsheet with a column for: name of the credit card, amount you still owe, and your interest rate. Make an extra row at the bottom for the total of the amounts that you still owe.
Request Lower Interest Rate
If you only have one or two credit cards carrying a balance on them and you make your payments regularly you might want to request a lower interest rate from the credit card providers. Over 15% interest is too much to be paying in interest and most of my cards were running at about 22%. If you cannot get your banks to reduce your interest amount by a substantial amount or you have multiple cards that make it difficult to pay each minimum payment you will probably want to consolidate your credit card debt to one credit card.
Consolidating to One Credit Card
I have read some articles that say that consolidating your credit card debt down to one card is a bad idea, but this is a method that I have used myself and successfully got completely out of debt within a matter of months after doing so. Shop around for a good credit card with the lowest interest rate you can find. If you bank with a credit union they should be able to get you a really good interest rate and if you are lucky you might end up getting 6 months to a year without interest meaning that around $20 more of each payment you make will go directly to your debt and not to paying interest. I was able to indicate the exact amount I wanted my card for so I rounded up my total credit card debt to the nearest hundred and transferred all of my card balances to one place. This of course means no more using your credit cards until the balance is paid off. Using cash is a good practice because you can physically see the money leaving your hand which is much more painful than swiping a piece of plastic.
Do NOT get rid of your old credit cards that are now carrying a zero balance. Closing a credit card account is like burning bridges with a former employer. These credit references are like job references, but for your credit report. If you keep these accounts open it will help your credit score more than if you closed them even if you continue to carry a zero balance. Keep your old cards together locked in a safe in case you need one for an emergency situation in the future.
Budget
You should plan on creating a budget for yourself. Make sure you are allocating enough money towards your credit card debt as you can afford to pay even if it means cutting back on some luxury items. Once your card has been paid off you will have a new found appreciation for money and be able to slowly introduce those luxury items back into your lifestyle. Once your debt has been paid off, consider putting part of what you had been paying towards your debt into a high yield savings account such as with ING Direct or Emigrant Direct to help make sure you don’t find yourself in another stressful debt situation in the future. A really great free budget spreadsheet is available through free-financial-advice.net and CNN has Budget 101 that is also a helpful budget guide.
Even after you have paid off your debt it is a good idea to stick with your budget. Accounting for where each dollar you spend goes helps keep things in prospective and helps you avoid running out and putting unnecessary items on your credit cards so you don’t find yourself buried under a huge pile of credit card debt again.
After working a horrible food service job that didn’t pay enough to make ends meet, I found myself buried under a huge pile of credit card debt that I thought I would never be able to pay off. I decided to consolidate my credit card debt and force myself to pay it off in one year. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it feels to be out from under that credit card debt so I want to share with you how you can work towards freeing yourself from credit card debt and have that same feeling of freedom for yourself.
How Much Credit Card Debt Do You Have?
The first step to getting yourself out of credit card debt is to take inventory of your credit cards. Create an Excel spreadsheet with a column for: name of the credit card, amount you still owe, and your interest rate. Make an extra row at the bottom for the total of the amounts that you still owe.
Request Lower Interest Rate
If you only have one or two credit cards carrying a balance on them and you make your payments regularly you might want to request a lower interest rate from the credit card providers. Over 15% interest is too much to be paying in interest and most of my cards were running at about 22%. If you cannot get your banks to reduce your interest amount by a substantial amount or you have multiple cards that make it difficult to pay each minimum payment you will probably want to consolidate your credit card debt to one credit card.
Consolidating to One Credit Card
I have read some articles that say that consolidating your credit card debt down to one card is a bad idea, but this is a method that I have used myself and successfully got completely out of debt within a matter of months after doing so. Shop around for a good credit card with the lowest interest rate you can find. If you bank with a credit union they should be able to get you a really good interest rate and if you are lucky you might end up getting 6 months to a year without interest meaning that around $20 more of each payment you make will go directly to your debt and not to paying interest. I was able to indicate the exact amount I wanted my card for so I rounded up my total credit card debt to the nearest hundred and transferred all of my card balances to one place. This of course means no more using your credit cards until the balance is paid off. Using cash is a good practice because you can physically see the money leaving your hand which is much more painful than swiping a piece of plastic.
Do NOT get rid of your old credit cards that are now carrying a zero balance. Closing a credit card account is like burning bridges with a former employer. These credit references are like job references, but for your credit report. If you keep these accounts open it will help your credit score more than if you closed them even if you continue to carry a zero balance. Keep your old cards together locked in a safe in case you need one for an emergency situation in the future.
Budget
You should plan on creating a budget for yourself. Make sure you are allocating enough money towards your credit card debt as you can afford to pay even if it means cutting back on some luxury items. Once your card has been paid off you will have a new found appreciation for money and be able to slowly introduce those luxury items back into your lifestyle. Once your debt has been paid off, consider putting part of what you had been paying towards your debt into a high yield savings account such as with ING Direct or Emigrant Direct to help make sure you don’t find yourself in another stressful debt situation in the future. A really great free budget spreadsheet is available through free-financial-advice.net and CNN has Budget 101 that is also a helpful budget guide.
Even after you have paid off your debt it is a good idea to stick with your budget. Accounting for where each dollar you spend goes helps keep things in prospective and helps you avoid running out and putting unnecessary items on your credit cards so you don’t find yourself buried under a huge pile of credit card debt again.
I also published this article on Associated Content.
3.26.2009
Things I Love Thursday
Gosta Peterson "Young Sophisticates"Wow, how did it get to be Thursday again? Sorry, but there are only going to be a couple of things listed today since I've been goofing off!
-Gosta Peterson's photography... I saw it in a magazine when I was getting my hair cut last night and I just fell in love with the first image [up top] and went on a search for a couple more.
-Getting exhibit space for my photography club to display their photography in the next couple of weeks at She Sha, the local hookah bar
-Running off with my favorite coworker to look at boys... and going to Goodwill with her and Jimmy Johns and Revolutionary Road tonight!
-Getting to watch Twilight with my friend and go get our hair cut. We haven't spent much time together since she got her new boyfriend so we had a blast last night.
-Gala Darling's list of 100 Things to Do When You're Upset
i
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