The Beginning of the Beginning

I was 16, it was a cold New Mexico night in December 1997. Eric and I were taking a friend's truck out for a spin. The bed of the truck had Christmas lights, making for a festive mood. Eric and I were not yet Eric and I. We were just really good friends.

I drove the truck and we were smiling, laughing and listening to music. I turned a corner and began to slide out of control on the ice. Quickly my mind flashed to driver's ed. I had completed it just a year earlier. I remembered that when you are sliding out of control you are not supposed to break, rather you are to gently press the gas and even out the vehicle. Well, tell that to a teen girl experiencing the panic induced waves of adrenaline. My gentle tap on the gas was apparently just putting the pedal to the metal. I guided the truck right into a big tree.

My face slammed into the steering wheel. I bit through my lower lip. Eric's head slammed into the rear view mirror. It was over in a heartbeat. We were silent for just a moment. Shocked. Suddenly I feared that the car would explode...not sure why because the wreck wasn't that bad. I turned off the still lit Christmas lights on the bed of the truck. We exited the vehicle and decided to walk to a nearby friends house in order to call the police, this was before cell phones were widely used.

As we walked Eric leaned forward so he wouldn't bleed onto his clothes. I used my finger to wipe up a bit of blood I could feel trickling down my chin, my finger went through the spot where I had bitten through my lip. I began to panic. Eric calmly suggested that I just put a lip ring into it. What a guy!

We arrived at our friend's house, opened the door and I said,"We are in serious need of medical attention." Our friend laughed at us. She thought that we were joking because we were so calm. Quickly she realized that was not the case at all. We called our parents to let them know we were fine and then called the police. Our friend's father drove us back to the accident. The police were already there, they had a flashlight and were following the trail of blood! They thought it was a hit and run. When we got back, we explained the story and went to the hospital.

They kept us in separate rooms in the hospital and it was more than we could handle. We were both so worried about the other. My Mom kept shuttling back and forth between us, assuring each that the other was OK. When it was all said and done, our wounds were really superficial. We were released that night.

The following morning I had to leave town for a small (really it was quite small) heart procedure that had nothing to do with the accident. My family was leaving very early in the morning. Eric called and wanted to stop in to see how I was doing before I left town. Worried that I looked ugly with my purple eye which had swollen shut, my swollen nose and the hole in my lip I hurried to put on make-up! Always look your best right? The photo above is the result of my effort to look nice for Eric that morning. I am not showing you a picture of Eric's wound, because the photo is a bit gory. We checked in quickly with each other and then I was off.

When I returned home a couple of days later Eric was there with flowers. He visited me every day. Before December was over we both knew that someday we'd be married.

Treasure Hunt: Another Reason I Love My Husband

Last night I came home from work to find that my wonderful husband had prepared a little surprise. I grabbed the mail pile and in between the boring invitations to subscribe to this or that there was a letter from my hubby.

I tore open the letter and discovered a sheet of paper that read:
Clue #1 It's "Just the two of us" and I couldn't ask for a better friend. Think about this clue, it's time to begin.
So, it took me a bit to break down the clue. First the Just the two of us quote was a reference to the song Will Smith sang about his son. Why do I know this? It was on a mixed CD that my brother Ben made for us many years ago and we laugh about it regularly. So, we don't have any Will Smith on CD (the mix is now on our ipod). I was led to think of just where Will Smith could make an appearance in our house...

Yep, we own a Will Smith DVD combo (don't you judge us, it's fort night material). I grabbed the DVD and sure enough there was the next clue which read:
Clue #2 "I want candy" do you? Deep inside you know what's true. I bet Manet never had this problem!
This one took a moment. First I looked in Manet books and through my art supplies. Eventually I realized that the real clue was in "I want candy" which was a reference to a Bow Wow Wow song. Their album cover references the Manet painting Le déjeuner sur l'herbe. So, I ran to our record collection...

Sure enough I found the next clue:
Clue #3 Wow good job! I think I'll call you a winner.
You can imagine that I assumed that I had won and Eric would be handing over the prize. Nope, it was clue number 3. I read the note aloud, searching Eric's face for reaction to each word. Finally I realized that the important word was call. I ran to the phone and picked up the receiver...


Where I found the next clue:
Clue #4 That was easy young Jeezy. I wonder if you can sink the last clue?
So, this drove me into a frenzy and I tried to figure out what the last clue might be. Finally I honed in on the word sink. I went through every ship, boat, actual sink or whatever. Eric was laughing at me the whole time. Finally I decided to do a room by room search. When I went and stood in the closet for a moment and then came back out Eric busted up laughing. So, I knew it was in there. Minutes passed and then, duh, I realized that I was staring directly at the game Battleship. My prize was inside...
Nope, another clue. He lied.
Congrats. Now time for your prize, I didn't want to cause a love triangle so I didn't tell Bee. It's only for your eyes to see.
Huh? I got hung up on the word time and started looking at all of the clocks. No luck. Next I moved on to the word triangle. I started scouring the house for triangles and then spotted the triangle cabinet...
There in the third drawer was an envelop. What could my prize be?


A Primal Strip (vegan jerky) and a love letter (you can't read that) from my wonderful husband.

What a great guy. He got me a little treat and just wanted to make my day a little special. I've been with this man for over 11 years and it just keeps getting better.

Tour of Our Apartment

Today I thought I'd give you a little tour of the apartment in which Eric and I live. I am sure you've seen it all throughout the course of my blogging, but here is a little bit of a more organized presentation. I always love looking into other people's homes and thinking about just what it reveals about the people who live there. You may notice that our house is almost entirely decorated with thrift store finds.

On top of the computer cabinet

Here is the top of our computer cabinet. We have a little cabinet that closes up and hides away our computer. Sometimes it is just necessary to take a break from the computer; I know it's a scandalous suggestion, but I like to be edgy like that. Anyway, the light blue typewriter belonged to Eric's mother and we still use it. The brass lotus candle holder and the gold clock are both thrift store finds. The owl print is by an etsy artist named Ryan Berkley whose whimsical artwork has charmed my socks off.

The Credenza

Eric and I found this Stow/Davis credenza on craigslist. When we got it home we found a bunch of receipts and old documents for some sort of grain business. The prints above the credenza are by Lester E. Varian; we found them already matted and framed at a local thrift store for a couple of dollars. The lamp is a junk store find, but we are absolutely in love with it. I have no idea who the maker is.

The Couch

So our couch is not a thrift store find, nor is Bumblebee. The photo above of Susan the Elder was an antique store find. The coffee table we found at the Salvation Army.

Dining Room

Here is our dining room. The chairs are yet another thrift store find, can you believe it? The art is by relatively unknown artists; the painting is by Lambro Ahlas and the bird print is by Fujita Fumio. Eric and I love to find and rescue art (we are both art historians lest you forget) that is languishing in thrift stores, junk stores, on the Internet or at garage sales. The light is coming from our egg lamp which was still another thrift store find. Should I just write a disclaimer and say we decorate from thrift stores????

Bedroom

So here is part of our bedroom. The awesome dresser was found at.....Hobby Lobby. I know, it's a weird place to find awesome (impractical) furniture, but we did. The top drawer is really just for show. I think we have one cassette tape in there. The 1960s owl print (another thrift store find) is by Kawano Kaoru.

Bedroom

Here is another shot of the bedroom. Truthfully this area belongs to the cats, they just let us sleep there at night.

Bedroom

Here is a final shot of our bedroom. Eric found the dresser abandoned in the hallway of our apartment complex. The lamp was found at a local glass collectible store, thought it's not glass. The amazing painting is by my husband E.K. Wimmer. Speaking of my hubby, he just released a single which you can see here.

Study/Art & Music Room/ Guest Room

So, this is sort of the catch-all room. Normally it houses a ridiculous amount of books; only about 15% of our book collection actually appears in the photo. We have them from our zillion years of college, thrift store finds and treasures from our childhood. The two paintings on the white wall are by me and the print is by Toyokuni Utagawa.

Study/Art & Music Room/ GuestRoom

The peacock painting is a collaborative piece by both of us. Eric did the background and I painted the peacock. We have gifted it to our beloved Mr. Copeland, but still need to drive down to NM and deliver it. The chest belonged to my Grandfather; he died before I was born and I absolutely treasure this.

The Record Player

Finally, here is our beloved record player. We love to listen to music and hang out talking almost every night. The awesome painting is another piece by my hubby.

I didn't show you everything, but that is the general idea. Some of you may be wondering about the kitchen. I spend a lot of time in there, but it is really a very boring apartment design.

So, I hope you enjoyed the tour of our digs.

On Napping and Sleep Talking

I have never been a napper. I have a very busy brain and I feel as though I am missing out on life when I take a nap. Well, that was until recently. I have developed the ability to snooze at random and not just in the dark of night.

My current napping location is on the couch with Bumblebee as my napping partner. I nestle up in some pillows, drape myself with an afghan and get busy with sleep. I feel like I have crossed some barrier into a world that, until recently, has only been something of a tall tale. I didn't think naps were possible, not really.

Eric has been really pleased with my new found napping abilities and he loves to photograph the event. A few days ago as I was settling in for a good nap I was startled awake by the beep beep beep of the self-timer on the camera. My dear husband forgot to turn it off before photographing my snooze.

Speaking of sleep. Are you a sleep talker? I am not really. I used to annoy my cousin by pretending to talk in my sleep when we had sleep overs. I thought it was hilarious and she was not amused. Anyway, while I may occasionally mumble in my sleep I am always in the presence of sleep talkers.

Sometimes in the middle of the night I will hear Bumblebee huffing, puffing, groaning and barking as she has some wild adventure in her dreams. Also, I don't know if she is sleep walking or not, but from time to time, she will get up in the dark of night, wander into the guest room and grumble and moan before coming back to her bed. She may just be telling the cats to keep it down. I am just not sure. How can you tell if an animal is walking in their sleep?

Finally, the event that prompted this entire blog. The other night my dear husband was sound asleep when he released what can only be described as a giggle. Not a laugh, not a chuckle, a full on girlish giggle. Stunned I asked, "What's so funny?"

There was a pause and then he responded," Pin stripes." He followed it up with a second girlish giggle.

It was over as quickly as it had begun. When I asked him about it the following morning he had absolutely no recollection of the event. Being married is such fun.

Are you a napper, sleep talker or sleep walker?

The Kindness Bandit: Starting a Recycling Program

OK, so this week's Kindness Bandit has not really been done in cognito as is my usual practice. The project is really quite large in scale and I thought I would share it with you today.

I am one of those weirdo's who dig through the garbage after meetings and gather up the recyclables. When I was in college in NM the town I lived in did not have a good recycling program. So, I started saving it up and when Eric and I would leave town we would take it all with us. In Roswell they had tin, newspaper and plastics. We would drop those items in Roswell. Then we would drive to Alamogordo (our families lived there at the time) and we would drop off the aluminum and cardboard. Slowly but surely our friends would drop off their recycling for us to take and we would end up with a car full each time we left town. While my example may be a bit extreme I think it illustrates the value I place on being responsible...even when it takes a bit more effort.

Last week my boss decided that I could work to make our company more environmentally responsible. So, an opportunity to have a more established program has been really exciting. Furthermore I get to encourage our member organizations (which span the entire state) to follow our lead.
While I may not turn into this guy I do plan to make some really big changes. Here is what we've got in the works so far:

• Compostable plates, utensils, cups, napkins, etc. for all company meetings!
• Large coolers of drinks instead of individual pop cans or bottled water, combined with compostable cups.
• Printing on recycled paper.
• Less printing in general and more emailed material. Also, when printing is necessary, always print double sided.
• Recycling bins in the office.
• Environmentally responsible (and vegan) cleaning products.
• Recycling old computers and other electronics.
• Emails with tips to member organizations.
• A committee that encourages members with new information and data based research.
• Finally, working to get employees and members to bring these practices into their daily lives.

I am really excited about this and hope that it becomes a lasting legacy. What do you do to be environmentally responsible? Do you have any ideas that I can pass along?


Photo taken from here.

Simple Joy: Bathing (Terrifying) Bumblebee

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to give Bumblebee a bath. She smelled terrible from dog daycare, but the deal was sealed when we took her to the off-leash dog park yesterday and watched in horror as another dog urinated on her head (GROOOOOSSSSSS). So, she was destined for a date with the bathtub. Since she is such a bizarre gal I thought you might enjoy a play-by-play of the drama of the bath.


She first realizes that something is about to happen when I take off her collar. Almost immediately she connects the dots and realizes that the bathwater she hears in the other room means that it's time.


Oddly she begins wagging her tail sweetly and climbing all of the furniture. First is the couch, where she tries to look nonchalant.


Then she moves on to the chair. At this point she is really scared and shaking. Don't feel too bad for her though, she's a big baby...and you'll recall she had dog urine on her head.


Finally she climbs onto the bed and I pick her up and carry her into the bathroom. She is absolutely incapable of walking into the bathroom (chamber of horrors) on her own.

After inserting her into the tub I quickly set to work on soaking her thoroughly.

I give her a good scrub down and the whole bath debacle is over in less than 15 minutes. For Miss Bumblebee it seems to be a lifetime of unspeakable horror.


Finally, liberated from the tub, she tries to shake off the awful cleansing water. Please note her saliva is also whipping around in this photo.


She then likes to plow her face into the carpet while she moans. Sometimes she barks for joy. She runs from room to room, thankful to have survived.


She eventually settles down and her teeth literally chatter. The whole show is over when I wrap her up in a blanket and give her a good rub down.

Ophelia passes her judgment as usual.

Time to Clean Up

Today it is time to clean up and get back to it. I have spent the last couple of days being generally lazy and recuperating from the last few intense weeks at work. So, Eric and I are going to get to business:

First I need to cut Eric's hair. For some reason people trust me to cut their hair. I have absolutely no training and I don't feel as though this a special skill. I do it anyway. With Eric I will often cut his hair into a mullet or something of that nature before I actually cut it into the requested style. The best haircut was several years ago when he simply wanted his head shaved, instead I shaved all of it except I left bangs. I took photos before finishing the hairdo.

While I am cutting hair I need to trim my own bangs, I am beginning to look like Cousin It.

Next we need to give Bumblebee a bath. She went to dog daycare this week and came home smelling like death. So, she is getting a nice bath. Generally she will put on quite a production when she realizes that it's bath time. Maybe I should photograph her freak out, it's pretty funny...

We also need to pay bills, do laundry, clean house and get groceries for the week.

By the end of the day we will have everything in order for the week. Do you have a day of preparation like this?

Last Snowfall of the Year?

Well, February is drawing to a close and winter is on it's way out, slowly but surely. Last night I took a look outside and noticed that winter still has a bit more to offer up.

The wind was blowing and the snow was falling. The sky had that purple hue that it gets during an evening snowstorm.


This morning I awoke to a fresh white snow covering the ground. The sun was shining the wind was quiet. Off in the distance I could hear people scraping their cars and crunching through the snow.


Bumblebee had her nose to the ground, looking to uncover scents hidden by the snow. She uses her huge basset hound nose like a little snow plow.

Good Day On It's Way: Mittens and Muffins

My day is just getting started, but it is already going quite well!

A nice glass of orange juice! I just need OJ to feel like my day is going to be good. No OJ and I feel all wonky and confused.

Some fresh fruit. No, I am not going to eat it all. I will share with Eric and my Dad, who stayed here last night (we didn't keep him up too late Mom).

Blueberry muffins....yessssssssssssss. I have been on something of a muffin kick lately. Blueberry muffins are just the best, in my mind.

Finally, I received these Gorgeous hand-knit mittens from Carmen over at About a Girl. The mittens are from the Pay it Forward blog which you should read about. I am so excited about these little beauties. I am definitely on the bandwagon for mittens over gloves and I didn't have any mittens until just now. Yay!!!

So, as you can see after a very hectic period I am feeling relived, relaxed and ready for an amazing weekend. How has your week been? What are your weekend plans?

Resting on My Laurels, For Just a Moment

The photo to the left is of my laurels; I am currently resting on them. Yesterday was the big event. All of my planning (and worrying) has finally come to an end. The event I spoke about earlier this week was yesterday. I have been planning it since last March!

My wonderful husband was there to help and he did his part perfectly. Everything went well, there was only positive feedback at the end of the day. Phew!

When the day was over I came home and collapsed into a heap. I was so exhausted that I lay on the couch doing nothing all evening.

I have one more, much smaller, event today and it's all wrapped up. I will be able to get back to normal. Yay!!! My reward today is a visit from my Dad. He is coming through town on his way to a conference. So, it will be a lovely conclusion to a hectic, but successful work week.

What have you been up to?



Image taken from here.

Two Part Blog: Part 1 Tagged Top 5 Music Part 2: Gifts!!!

Part 1

My husband made his own tag and he tagged me. The tag is to pick my top 5 albums and to explain why they're my top 5. So, in no particular order, here we go...

The Sound of Music is something I have blogged about way too much. I am constantly running the soundtrack in my mind as the soundtrack to my life.



Depeche Mode is my brooding high school music. I absolutely love the album Black Celebration. It reminds me of an important and transitional time in my life. Every time I listen to it I feel, in some way, like I found a part of me that had crept away.


I know, if you're a die hard Cure fan then you are disgusted that I chose the album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, but let me explain. When I was a young gal I decided I didn't like The Cure because they were the favorite band of a mean girl I knew. Anyway, when Eric and I started dating he insisted that I take an album home (I chose this one randomly) and I listened to it and was eventually won over. Now when I hear it I remember falling in love with Eric for the first time.



Tom Waits and the album Rain Dogs makes me feel like I need to do some art. Michael Copeland, my dear friend and former art teacher, used to play this album in art class. Now it has a sort of Pavlovian effect, but instead of drooling I feel compelled to create when I listen to this album.



Tied for this place is my Dad's album, Part of Something More, and the next one. I grew up listening to my father's music and I would say I missed it more than anything (beyond my actual family) when I left home. This album makes me so happy and crazy nostalgic. Plus, I painted that cover.


Eric's album(s) are all tied with my Dad's I love his music. He is so talented and so passionate. He plays like every instrument...I am not joking. Hand the man a didgeridoo and he'll know how to play it before the day is over. Words can't express how much I love his music. You can check out his albums here.

So, I am not going to tag five people, but please try out this 5 album tag, it's really fun!!!

Part 2

So, I found a few things in my mailbox this week and I was overjoyed. I loooove getting anything but bills in the mail.


First I received this delightful body butter (above) and the gorgeous pincushion(below) from my friend Sophie at Her Heart in My Hands. I won these in a drawing! The pincushion is delightful; I love the chocolate and pink combination! Thank you so very much! I am thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Second I received this absolutely stunning blouse from Elizabeth at Bits of Sunshine. Apparently the blouse belonged to her Grandmother, but Elizabeth thought is was my style and it is! How absolutely thoughtful is that?! I was planning to model it for you, but I am in my PJs and my hair is soaking wet, so another time. Anyway I love the collar and the pearlized buttons. It fits perfectly.


Oh and if you made it this far you deserve an award, this has been a monster blog. I just have one last thing to mention. Eric and I have started an Esty shop which you can check out here or on my sidebar. For now it just has prints, but we will be expanding.