behind per usual... but i had midterms people!

I had my last midterm this morning, and now I get to start spring break! YAY!! Since I had midterms and lots of projects due, I once again fell behind on journaling. Now where should I begin?? Ah, yes, Monday!

Feb 25, 08

Today was back to school and work after a nice, and unexpected, weekend off work. Classes today were pretty productive. In my digital media class we had a critique of our latest project. I got a really positive response and felt great afterward! Work was not too bad today either, which was good. When I got home from class, at about 8:30pm I had to start cramming for my two midterms that were going to be on Tuesday. As I was in the office studying, Matt fell asleep on the couch (pictured above). I finally got him up and into our bed, and I went to sleep feeling very uneasy about my two midterms the next day.


Feb 26, 08

But have no fear... the snow was here!! I woke up to a completely snow filled world this morning. Luckily the snow was falling in such heavy amounts that they had to CANCEL SCHOOL. UT never cancels!! So, I got bonus studying time. I spent all day working through all of my German for my test that would be moved to Wednesday. I was able to put off studying for Photography until Wednesday night because my midterm would be on Thursday! Such a wonderful thing. I did have to pull an all nighter still because of my huge project I had due in Drawing. I literally, did not sleep at all this night.


Feb 27, 08

So after not sleeping AT ALL. My drawing teacher has the class do student critiques of all the work and then decides to give us until after spring break to turn them in. I busted my butt for nothing. At least I will not have to worry about getting it done while I am all vicodin infused. In digital media we played around with found google images. I thought the way I did this one was funny. I replaced all the strawberries with cabbage. It may not be as amusing to ya'll, but I like it. Plus, it is seamless. Kick booty, yo! Then later we walked to Daddy Oh's and had some pizza and beer with Chris, my brother-in-law. He left this morning on a train to Seattle. I am so jealous! He gets to do cool things for spring break.


Feb 28, 08

Today, I took my last midterm! Woohoo!! Now a long weekend of working ahead of me before I get my teeth yanked! I was a guinea pig for an artery test today at the office. No arterial plaque here! Awe yeah! So for all of you who make fun of me for eating healthy, HA! Tonight, I am going to my friend Jackie's house for a Pampered Chef party. Not really interested in the Pampered Chef business (we have more than enough kitchen things), but it will be nice to see Jackie and eat her food! :) I will post a picture from that for today. So you will just have to wait for that one.

"...and you'll meet them again when you are on your long journey to the middle."

Matt and I are having a nice Sunday. We fell asleep on the couch last night and woke up this afternoon. We then made french toast and took a nap. I worked on my art projects and then we watched Almost Famous, one of our favorite movies. Good day hanging out at home. :) Now to start the busy week again. I have my midterms this week. Oh joy! :P

The picture is part of my photo/media project. Try to figure out what it is...

in the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight...

Oh what a few days......


2.21.08
This was when the lunar eclipse was happening (which I believe this was actually the 20th, but i will pretend it was after midnight). It was really hard to get a good picture and this was the best i could do.

2.22.08
I was playing around with my camera phone, and this is what I got. Nothing fancy, just a silly camera phone picture. Thursday was uneventful. Just went to class and work. I did get to take a trip to the art supplies store and bought some more charcoal. The highlight of my day was my 20 minute nap.

2.22.08
Today I went to Ashland with my mom to see my niece in her high school production of OLIVER!. It was a lot of fun. I immediately started crying when she danced on stage. She is so beautiful!! I am so proud of her. It was really nice seeing my sister and my two nephews too. I don't see them nearly as much as I should.


2.23.08
Tonight, I got to go see the Lion King at the Stranahan. IT WAS AMAZING!!! It was pretty awesome how Matt got tickets. It is one of the perks of having so many connections at work. We had front row, center seats, and they were FREE!! I would love to see it again. Before the show we went to Capers for some dinner. It was good and not far from the Stranahan. Now we are at home and getting ready to watch Beetlejuice.

Bis morgen!

memories...

Since I had to clean out my mom's house, I got to bring all of my salvaged goods back to my house. Because I have very little room at home, I got to go through everything when it got here to figure out what stays and what goes. My favorite is my high school box. Above are just a few things that I have saved throughout the years. I would like to note that both the white ribbon and the Burger King birthday hat were both from Eva, and they both have specific instructions NOT to throw them away. The pine cone is from German Club. When you became a member you entered into the Association of the Lucky Pine Cone. I found so many random things from Jessica Clouse, including tons of froggie stuff, crazy pics with Keating, Kerry, Laurie and Ashley, and even a postcard from Jamie Berning from when she went to Chile. Haha, I even have the detention slip from Herr Aufderhaar for "note looking at in class." I am not going to even try to get into all of the crap Eva and I collected throughout high school. Eva and I almost went to my mom's to get the box when she was in town. Now having seen what was inside, we really should have taken the trip. For next time. :)

So I went to the oral surgeon today. I get my wisdom teeth out on March 3. Woohoo. What a way to start out spring break! I got to go to the regular doctor today too. They took my blood. Now my arm hurts. . .

blahblahblah

Yet again, another cell phone picture. We were on our way home from Jacob and Trz's birthday dinner and I realized I needed a photo. So here you go... I would like to reference that one 80's song, "Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long..."

So a few things:

1. Liz's daughter Ellie decided to make herself a bra (Ellie will be three next month). She went up to her parents and said, "So I wanted to make a bra, so I said what the heck." Hilarious. This picture is priceless, but since she is in her diaper I decided not to post it.

2. So yesterday when my mom's house flooded she did not help with the clean up process. Instead, she frantically searched for one of her cats (Smokey) who she was positive ran away. However, there was no possible way the cat could have gotten out of the house. She was not at all concerned about the ruined furniture, pictures, books, etc.... but the cat (who I told her had to be in the house). Let me just say that after a whole day of crying to everyone she talked to that the cat was gone, the cat came into her room and crawled up on the bed and went to sleep. Silly mom.

3. Went to the dentist today, loads of fun. Get to go to the oral surgeon tomorrow and plan my wisdom tooth removal. Yippie.

4. Had dinner with Jacob, Trz, Katie Z. and the Keating's at Shorty's. Food was good. We celebrated Jacob and Trz's birthdays. Both 1/4 century. It was a nice evening. Kris, as always, was very entertaining. After dinner, the Keating's had us over. I got Charlotte to smile a bunch. She is so adorable.

5. Homework time.

hahaha...

Okay so I just have to note that I totally fell asleep with laptop in hand while writing my blog last night. I really think that is funny.

AH!! 7 DAYS BEHIND!

Okay, I have a perfectly good excuse for being behind. First off, I was sick for two days and then on Valentine's Day Eva came to stay with Matt and me for a few days. It was really nice having Eva in town. When we picked her up on Thursday (at the mall no less), we headed straight to Joseph's Beverage Center to stock up on copious amounts of good beer and red wine.

Needless to say, fun times started right away. Eva and I stayed up late and watched The Last Kiss. It is a good flick.

Friday, I was able to take the day off of work. Eva and I took a walk with Magoo at the park in the snow. It was nice, but really cold. Then Eva became aware that a Gap outlet was in existence near by, so we grabbed some coffee and headed up to the great state of Michigan. We of course did our usual of buying matching sweaters and headbands. Both of us rocked our headbands all weekend. Then we headed down to BG. Matt and I were meeting up with our good friends Chad and Sarah for dinner, and Eva was meeting up with her family. Oddly enough we all ate at the same restaurant. After dinner we headed over to the sweet hotel Eva and I were staying at for the night, and then we headed out to Nate and Wally's. The bar was fun. I got to meet Wyatt's fiancee Erin. She is really sweet, even after she threw up on all of our feet. Lol. I think the pictures explain it all:





It was really awesome hanging out with Chad and Sarah too. (Chad, I know you are reading this. Don't forget our wine tasting double date!) So everyone left Eva and I at the bar around 11 because they are obviously not as cool as us. Eva and I hung out at the bar for awhile and then walked back to the hotel. The walk was a lot of fun, but then when we got settled in I fell asleep mid conversation. I am special. Here are more photos:


The next morning Eva and I had breakfast with her sibs at Waffle House. I ate way too much bad for me food. Then I came back to Toledo and left Eva with her family for the day. It was nice to have a day off from work. It was a strange feeling to not have to be at work. So I spent some much needed "me" time. I hung out at the coffee house for a few hours and worked on my art and wrote some poetry. It has been so long since I have made time to write, and it felt soooooooo good! Then Jacob got into town and I met up with him and Eva at the Claddagh for a drink and some food. We all went back to my house after dinner and drank wine and had wonderful converstation. Eva and I got to stay up again and have a good heart to heart. I ended up getting all emotional and crying. It was so nice having her in town! I miss her. :(
OH yeah! Plus we sang Happy 1/4 Century Birthday to Jacob at midnight. I cha cha cha'ed my ass off.


Then Sunday we got up and Eva left us for Columbus. It was really sad to see her go, but I keep telling myself I will see her again in June! Yay! After Eva left, we went to OLPH for Charlotte's baptism. She is so adorable. There was a lunch at the Sterling's afterward. It was really nice, and we ate good food. It was nice hanging out with Kris, Kate and Jacob too. After this Kate and Kris invited all of us over for leftovers and a movie. We never got to the movie though because the guys got really into the new Nightrider series. The guys were really excited that the Hoff was going to do a cameo. I worked on my drawings while we were there and then again when we got home. I was up to 4am catching up on my work, but I got them done in time to turn in at 9am this morning.



While I was in class this morning, my mom called and left me a message that went exactly like this: "Erica, your bedroom here is flooded. Bye." Of course my room at my mom's house acts like a storage unit for Matt and me. This clearly is not something good. So I called my mom. Apparently, the sump pump went bad and the entire first floor/basement was in 2 inches of standing water. The worst part is, my mom didn't even think about trying to get anything up off the ground. SO between work and school, every extra second I had I was at my mom's sorting through the mess. Luckily, we didn't lose too much.

Now, I am tired. Exhausted even. I am going to bed. Plus, I figure I have made up for my lack of photos with this blog.

TODAY IS... FEB 11.08

I like clocks. This is at the CVA. I thought it was cool. So here it is.

Today was an odd day. I didn't go to my AM class because whatever Matt had over the weekend he gave to me. So I slept until I had to go to work. My evening class I only stayed for like 10 minutes because it was just an open studio day to work on our projects. I didn't feel like doing that, so I walked around the CVA and took pictures instead. I came home a few hours later and Matt had made dinner. He took chicken and folded it over asparagus and orange slices and covered it with a white wine reduction that had orange zest, garlic and honey in it. It was AMAZING!!! (See what you have to look forward to this weekend Eva?? It pays to stay with the coolest kids in town.)

After dinner we drove around town and I took more photographs. I have another project due tomorrow. Now, we are home. I am updating this blog. (Four entries in one night. Oops.) After this, it is drawing fun time!!

February 10. 08

New hair cut. Woo. I wanted a trim, she gave me a shag. It is REALLY long in the back. Not like a mullet though. Apparently the shag is "in" right now, however I hate it (when it is down), and choose to wear it in a pony tail instead of the "stylish" poof-ball way. Here it looks fine. I am just not one for hair that takes longer than 10 minutes to put together. I think that is why I love pony tails so much. Luckily, she got the bangs right.

February 09. 08

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY BOB-BO!!

That's right today was my brother's 4oth birthday. He is 15 1/2 years older than me, and he is the sibling I am closest to age to. My brother was really surprised to see that everyone came to celebrate his birthday. It was really nice to see my brother, my sisters, my bro-in-laws, my nieces and all the Spice clan. We all shared our 'Bob' stories. Since we almost lost my brother 18 years ago, we shared a lot of tears of joy that he is still alive and doing far better than any medical doctor thought he would. My brother and I also had a moment about how I have taught him a lot about what he knows about being a father. I will admit, he is a very protective brother. Matt was more afraid of him than he was my dad. :) Bob was happy to hear that. We shared a lot of laughs and a lot of tears. It was just good to be together. Matt missed out on the fun though. He was stuck at home with a fever. :( Luckily he is feeling much better now. (Just in time to clean the house for our visitor!!! YAY!! Eva comes Thursday!)

BTW, I LOVE MY NIECES!!! This picture has a bit of motion blur, but we were having so much fun and it is so cute.... :)

February 08. 08

Today I put together my brother's birthday board. Tomorrow is the big surprise party. My brother is only suspecting that my mom and I are coming along with my sister-in-law's parents. Lori and Rick, Cheryl and Mr. Matt (her boyfriend) and my sister-in-law's family also came.

catch up... again...

February 6, 08:


This photo was taken yesterday afternoon at around 4pm. Ottawa Park is flooded like crazy. The whole golf course is like completely covered in water. There is a bridge that goes over the little river on the golf course that was completely covered. The problem is, there is too much snow and rain, and the ground is too saturated and cannot absorb any more. So that leads to NW Ohio being a big lake basically. So anyway, an hour after all this rain it was blizzard like and the whole ground was covered in at least an inch or two of snow in 30 minutes. Mind you, it was like 42 degrees and raining an hour before that. The weather patterns are just becoming a bit too strange for my liking.

So the fun for the day was going downtown to the library. I got 9 books out on artists like Degas, Jasper Johns, Van Gogh and the Dada movement. Also got the movie Factory Girl and a Tegan and Sara cd, IF IT WAS YOU. I really like the cd a lot.

February 7, 08

Today started with me getting up 10 minutes before I needed to be at class. I jumped out of bed and went to school all skanky in my sweatpants. Got to class, took some photos, ate a banana and drank some chai tea. All things made me happy. I enjoy my photography class. Then I went to campus and had some Phoenicia's. It was delicious. German class was a bowl full of excitement. Which reminds me, I have a bunch of questions to answer auf Deutsch. I then came home and was immediately put into this awful mood. Matt was not very chipper and I am/was just worn out. I haven't been doing much lately other than going to work and school. Matt and I also found out today that our trip is going to be a lot harder to fund than we originally thought. That is a whole other story. I won't even get into it because we are ironing out the kinks as we speak. So amidst my grumpiness my dear ol' friend Elizabeth Cottle calls me to have some dinner. It was perfect timing too. I just needed a night out with a great friend. I love me some Cottle. We both understand one another so well, and we have been through so many things together. I will never forget the first thing she said to me (besides "Hi, I am Elizabeth.") " So are you still a virgin? Sorry if that was too strong of a question to ask..." Still to this day, we are always that up front and honest. So anyway, she knows my love for all things delicious and healthy to eat. She took me downtown Perrysburg to a little place called Zingo's Mediterranean. There food was amazing, PLUS they had healthy fresh juices and vegan desserts. I had the falafel wrap (mmmm... i love falafel!), veggie grape leaves, carrot-apple-ginger juice and the vegan chocolate cupcake. I am still stuffed. After dinner we went back to her house and hung out with her hubby Ryan. I always enjoy conversation with Ryan. We totally ripped apart the new tv show Lipstick Jungle (not worth watching). It was just so nice being able to spend time with great friends. I cannot stress that enough.
Pictured below: The Zingo's coffee cup. I did not take the photo it is off of their website. (I did not take a camera with me) Awesome food. The other photo is Mrs. (Cottle) McCarthy. This was the day she got married. I would have taken a picture of us today (with Ryan even), but again no camera on my person.





ALSO!!!! (One last thing!) ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL EVA ARRIVES!!! YAY!!!!

So I have a lot of photo posting to do...

Lucky for you, as a loyal blog reader, I carry around a handy dandy cell phone with a camera on it, otherwise you would see a lot of pictures of me taken at 11:59 every night to make the deadline. So here are the photos for the last three days and today:

February 2, 2008:



This is Kristy, Liz and me at the CCHS Sadie Hawkins Dance. All the best professional equipment at my disposal, and of course I use a cell phone.

February 3, 2008:



This is me at the Super-dee-dooper Super Bowl party. So, I had a few glasses of wine... Matt took this one because he thought it wsa funny. I was sleeping on a couch. So what?

February 4, 2008:



I have to draw this hallway. So I took a pic with my phone so I could work on it at home too. Not really anything exciting as far as a photo goes, but it was taken yesterday so it works.

February 5, 2008 (today):



This is the new water purifier/ionizer that we had installed at work! It is fricken awesome.

Now for news:

Yesterday I was at the dentist for 2 hours. It was supposed to take 30 minutes but it took two hours because they almost took my wisdom teeth out yesterday. Neat. So instead, I get to go to an oral surgeon and get them taken out because my top two wisdom teeth have three roots instead of one. I also got measured for my mouth guard to prevent me from grinding my teeth at night. This should also lessen my overall jaw pain and reduce the loud clicking noise I make when I chew.

Still have yet to put together my brother's birthday board. I will probably work on it tomorrow and Thursday.

Hmmm... I am going to go eat a vegan cookie now and do my homework. I have to sketch a Degas, do a crap ton of Deutsch and photograph something (for school, not this).

edit from feb1

oh and a side note: there is a reason I do not go for the junk food and milkshakes.... they hate me. when i did my food allergy test at work, they told me to stay away from ice cream and heavy creams because they did not agree with my system. so instead of staying away, I decide I want a milkshake. Let me tell you, I paid for it. Matt wanted me to sleep on the couch it was so bad. Stupid milkshake. Apparently, my milkshake scares all the boys in the yard.... :P

February 2, 2008

My picture for last night will be up in a minute. I am at work right now so I cannot load it in. Yesterday was a busy day. I worked from 7am - 3pm at the doctor's office and then I worked 6pm-11pm for PKS shooting the Sadie Hawkin's dance at CCHS. It was really sad to see the low turn out of high school students that came to the dance. I only took about 40 pictures too. Apparently groups of students were throwing "anti-Sadies" parties and getting trashed. Good thing these kids still have their innocence... Even though the dance had a low turn out, it was really nice getting to hang out with Liz and Kristy. We had a lot more fun than we should have... but that is a-okay. It was really nice being able to catch up with both of them too. Since being back in school, that's the most fun I have had! Haha, and it was at a high school dance!

So I am counting down the minutes until I get to go home! I am off at 3pm today. Then Matt and I are heading to Elmore to Rebecca and Kevin's for a Super-dee-dooper Super Bowl party. I don't even like NFL, so I am obviously going for the beer. Should be fun. I am sure I will take a picture or two. Will post later.

yummtastic milkshake!

So I did not have school today because it looked like this outside:


At 9am the main roads still had not been plowed. LAME! The snow has let up so far. I am not sure if we are supposed to get more or not. The snow kept my mom from coming to make my brother's picture board, so we are working on it tomorrow in between work and the dance.



Matt took me to Steak and Shake for a milkshake tonight because I wanted a sweet treat.