Craft Night at the Bat Cave!

View from the apartment this afternoon

Gorgeous day outside! Mid 50s, sunny all day, a bit breezy, but hey, that's what you get when you live by the coast. Bear woke up with a nasty hangover this morning as would be expected when one finishes half of a handle in a night by oneself. I was sick with a gawddawful migraine last night (completely different, chaotic story) and slept for what felt like eons! (more like 15 hours? yeah, actually I checked it; 15 hours is, in fact, equivalent to 3 eons! woooow!).

but i digress

So we just kicked it for most of the day. I cleaned the apartment (always therapeutic. ALWAYS!) and did some laundry. Put together a grocery list (probably for tomorrow, since Bear oddly loves going grocery shopping with me), enjoyed some clean refreshing winter air with the windows open and decided to get crafty!

I own a ton of necklaces and earrings (thanks to shopping sprees, if you recall, at cheap sales at Forever 21. Again, I shudder to hear those words escape from my lips...). I may not wear them as often as I would like, but at least they're there when the craving hits or appropriate outfit calls!

Beginning canvas piece

Tonight, at the Bat Cave (the nickname our apartment has so appropriately earned), I'm getting crazy with some crafts....as the guffawwing of our downstairs neighbor fills the air. (He must be watching the Game Show Channel again.)

I started out my first craft - a earring/bracelet holder - with a large 12"x12" Artist's Canvas: "medium texture cotton duck", for all you arteeests out there - and wrapped some simple ribbon twice around a pair of diagonal corners. To give it a painter's tape sort of look. (it didn't turn out perfect, but i didn't want it to, so that's just fine with me...you'll see).

My favorite color I own ("own", because lord knows there are more colors out there in this world that will steal my heart one day) is Cerulean. You must know that my favorite color in the world is yellow and most gentle shades of it. For heaven's sake, I want my wedding dress one day to be a beautiful egg shell color. Screw white, that's boring! Anyway, I painted the whole canvas a....sloppy solid cerulean. Didn't really matter to me if the whole canvas was the same stroke, or even if there were streaks of white showing. It's hard to see in the picture...simply because it's dark, but you get the gist. Of course, made sure to get around those ribbons, so the effect worked!

Ingredients: paints, brushes, glitter, twine, puff paint, scissors

Cerulean canvas with cornered ribbons

So we'll let that mess dry up and work on craft #2 - a necklace holder. Be thirsty for this piece, 'cause you'll need to down a (preferably large) can of something. I chose Peace Tea: Sweet Tea, my most favorite tea in the world! Yummy and still very healthy for as much as I found myself gulping! :)

Sawed the top off of it, straight across, about an inch down from the top rim of the can. This is a frustrating step, so be patient with yourself. It'll look pretty botched once the top is freed, so (if you're right handed, like me) trim  counterclockwise, and as if you were looking inside the can. Next, I trimmed solid 1 inch wide strips at various heights toward (what is the bottom, but will be referred to as the top, since it is here that I tie the hanging string!) the top. Had about 9 strips total. At each top of the strip I bent it very tightly, then bent it back down to make it look like a spider leg, staircase, accordion; whatever you want. At the end of each strip, just because I wanted it to look formal, I bent a teeny part down to round out the tip rather than have a sharp end exposed.

Best. Tea. Ever! 

Now comes the difficulte part (to wordly explain, that is). I took some fabric twine (this, or thin ribbon is cool) and weaved between and around and over all the strips, distributing evenly and liberally plenty of twine, strengthening the strips as they would be holding soon some heavy necklaces. Wrapped the last wind around the top, and tied a knot around the weave of twine. Snipped a 2-foot piece of twine, knotted one end around the weave again, centered, and the other end, looped to hang from a hook in the ceiling! Annnnnnd DONE!

Hooray!

Top cut off. ~1 inch down from the rim

Strip 1, down. Must make more strips!

Bendy strips. Holds....let's see....at least 2 necklaces

~9 strips. Completed product, all bendy and whatnot

Close up of my "rounded tip" idea

Threading begins!

Expect an imperfect-looking creation

Tethered necklace creature

Now, it's back to the earring holder, since it's all dry! The next bit happens quickly since my paint will dry quickly and I've got some quick steps to make. I blot some silver clouds on the pretty blue, which contrasts swimingly! With the wet silver paint acting like glue, I dusted some glitter along the bottom of the clouds to give it a "there's always a silver lining" vibe to it. Added some black puff paint doodles to give it character. Tossed the ribbons and nailed 2 staples on each side to hold some loose bracelets! Annnnnnnd DONE!

Hooray!

(Note: I completely understand that the earring holder looks just like a fancy pants painting, but just jab some pointed earring through it all, and viola! An earring holder!)

Dusted clouds with some "silver lining"

Glittery details!

Finished product! Wheeeeeeee!

Get crafty, my friends! Get crafty!













(PS: i'm so so soooooooo sorry my pictures are as chaotically displaced as they are. If this blogging pictures thing doesn't work for me, I'm doomed..... Will practice this, dear friends!)

A LUSHious Bubble Bath

So one of my best girlfriends - Jessica. Jess, I love you for this! - introduced to me over the Christmas break the organic cosmetic store, Lush.

Now, before you get ahead of yourself and freak out on me, let's get some things out on the table. 

A) I'm from the most liberal city in the state and "organic", is something to me like my parents' dog. Hypothetically speaking, if my parents even liked dogs. The dog's not mine as an obligation to care for, to love (even though I guiltlessly would), to enjoy, to play with, to feed, to walk. But when it performs its little entertaining acts on command...I'm human, for god sakes, I'll laugh. It's there when I want it to be there and not there (thank you parents) when I don't want it there. "Organic" is something I've never really been too interested in, as faaaad as it is. It's too expensive, I don't care....enough, and honestly, as a student subjected to the sciences, we Homo sapiens have been doing just fine in this world for millions of years with the simple(st) shit. In my opinion, no need to splurge on "orgaaaanic". (Shoot me if I've offended you, but please, I refer to the initial message my first post so boldly proclaims). 

B) Simply speaking, I'm a Dude's Girl. I hate spending $$ on the fancy shit. Frankly, a lot of that mindset has come from the fact that I'm a college kid. I don't have the $$$ to splurge. To....buy. I'm cheap. I buy what's not healthy, what's not cute, what's not in because it's saving me dinero! I'm down with cheap eats (frozen bulk from Wally World. Dammit, cause they're taking over the world.), cheap clothes ($10 or less from Rainbow or...Wally World. .....dammit), and no make up. Cause let's face it, boys love it when you're not wearing any of that! Or so they proclaim.




.....so.

The fact that I've spent my whole Christmas bonus on (cheap!!) jewelry at Forever 21 (may I burn in hell for even uttering such blasphemy) and organic cosmetics is quite a feat. The thing is, I might be hooked on this Lush-ious product! Lush sells all kinds of cosmetics including those in the categories of "Products that Turn You into a Goddess" and "How to Bathe/Shower like a Goddess". I probably won't be touching the hair and cosmetic products just yet; I don't think my folicles or pores are ready for that drastic transformation. Instead, I've invested in tons of bath and soap products. Tonight is the debut. 

I'm trying out what's called a Christmas.....Multilayered.....Bath Bomb. 

Sounds intimidating. (getting excited!)

This is the Rocketeer: "A candy stick-scented Bath Bomb for big and little kids, a mini adventure (for the tub)." Bathtub, wine (obviously included), bombs? Sounds like my kind of adventure! 

So he looks a little tattered....prob still works, right?

In preparation, the bathtub is filled to completion (note: mine and Bear's color-coded loofas in the background. lol)

A comfortable 100 degrees Fahrenheit...

Mr. Rocketeer is ready for launch. 5.....4.....3.....2.....1....blast off!

The initial 20 seconds look something like this. Plus a tidbit of fizzy sounds. Like baking soda mixing with vinegar.

The rockets finally kick in (~1:30 minutes in), filling the tub with a.....candied orange scent. Very fruity, to say the least. I dig, I dig!

A swirl of tie dye colors (~1.45 minutes in)

Bathtub is starts to change into a sea-green bluish color (~2 minutes in)

More rocket action! (~2:30 minutes in) Now this is probably the most exciting part - the "rockets"

Roughly 3 minutes in, and the rockets begin to propel my Rocketeer in counterclockwise circles. He's aimed for Uranus! OH nooooo!

Hahaha, I'm entertained by rocket bubbles (~4 minutes in)

Right before I make the plunge, I realize that my whoooole bathtub is a lovely tropical green! Who doesn't want to bathe in that??

I decide to break out another product from Lush, purchased separately from the "Christmas Box". This is called Sandstone Soap. Smells like candied lemons. Smells soooooooo yummy. Like a drink I haven't yet discovered. Well, the brown part....is in fact, (wait for it....) SAND!!! Exfoliant to the max! This might just be my new favorite thing in the whole wide world. I LOVE exfoliants, and nothing is more exfoliating than actual - teeny tiny - ROCKS!!
Didn't need a loofa for this one; just scrubbed allll over! What joy!

So maybe there's just something about a rocket-shaped bomb in my bathtub, maybe it is all the citrus filling my nose, maybe it's the sandy particles I found myself playing with on the bottom of the tub, maybe it's that I'm chillin' in tropical, green water for a change. Whatever it was, it kept me tubbin' it for 3x the time I usually hang out in the tub. I was so comfortable and content in my little apartment bathtub. And that's new to me!

Haha! My green tub! I feel now like I was a mermaid or something!

Anywhoo, just wanted to share my luxurious experience with you fine folks. I hope you find yourselves wanting to hit up a Lush store soon, at least just to see if they have anything that fits your pampering needs. Men, that goes for you too! Lush has products just for me as well! Anyway, now it's off to finish the laundry and dishes before Bear gets home from a night out with the boys. 

....I'll hang with the mermaids soon again...

Clouds That Look Like Snails

Blah. 


It's been a while. Needless to say, there have been some pretty.....life changing events occur in my life. Been taking care of that mess, to say the least. 


Sooooo. I'm finished with college (...at least for a while) and realized so during the Christmas holidays. For the past couple of weeks, I've had a very exciting discovery. This is it. I'm done slaving underneath someone else's whip, performing at my finest upon risk of losing my head (or student loan...), waking up every day to drive to school to sit in a lecture hall to rack my brain of all things unholy to take an exam to show my professor just how much I learned (aka "remember") during the semester. I have given The Man all that he's wanted. For 4.5 years.

whew! 


How exhausting! 


And now, while everyone else is hustling and bustling to get their last wahooos in for the winter break before it's Back to School, I get to pause and breathe and watch the clouds that look like stubby little snails float across the sky over the lake right outside my cozy little sun room. 


I'll get my schedule for work at the beginning of each month (days off made upon my request. WIN!). I go to work, on time, each day. I do my job ("And what sort of chocolate can I get for you fine folks? (yeah, that's right. I work at a chocolate store. Nanny nanny boo boo!) Oh, that 1/4 lb peanut butter cup? What a good choice. That'll be $68. Out of $100? Here's your change sir"). I get my paycheck every two weeks (a fine 3-digit number). I pay the bills, then I get the rest of my day, my days, and my life to play with my friends and my sweetheart, Bear. 


I had off today from work and will receive tomorrow off from work as well. Today, doggone it, I woke up around 9:30, sat in my sun room and watched the beautiful world for a while. It is an absolutely GORGEOUS day (Mr. Weather Man said it was 68 degrees and felt like 70. A gentle western breeze. The water was wonderful and looked so inviting. ON JANUARY 4TH! Can you believe it?) Put on a sundress, flipflops and aviators and Bear and I went out to lunch, a hearty walk along the beach, and then watched a movie before he went off to work. I'm about to go see a movie at the theater with Sara, Trey, and hopefully Ryan then off to Bear's best friends house to watch the basketball game.

And that's my fine, pleasant day on The Island. 


What feels so right is that Bear and I are off to a great start in our adult lives. We have many wonderful things graciously provided by our parents. He and I have big dreams to move to the big city once he graduates in May where, hopefully, I'll find also an awesome full-time job. We are so looking forward to living big, with big fun, and big dreams. And it's coming. 


And I can't wait. :)

The Cave

So....

I have pretty awesome to share.
But instead of totally fizzing out the story with the grand finale, I'll take you along on a stroll.


Once upon a time ago, I was born on the coast of a beautiful ocean. Shortly after my birth, my family and I migrated to one of the most liberal cities in the country. (the one where pretty boys where tight clothes and smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, ladies with septum piercings zoom passed you on their road bikes or Vespas in full-length silk skirts they made themselves, the generation of today is found either at the closest record store, picnicking at the Springs, or doing yoga on the curb, while tripping on shrooms! All of them without a single care in the world. Yes. THAT city.) I've grown up in this beautiful city, but didn't blossom in the way I would've wanted to.

My parents raised me in a strict Christian home and, I realize now, limited my resources that would've contributed to the lifestyle I wish so wistfully I could've grown up in. They judged the crazy events, people, and aura that flooded the city. The flood that changed someone as soon as the refreshing waters touched the skin. They forbade me to go out and explore, saying "come home as soon as you're done with school......No, of course you can't have a job, school is your job.........No, you can't drink with your friends, drinking is illegal...........No, you can't go downtown, do you know how wild it is down there?" 

Collectively, my parents bestowed these rules on me. But if it was up to either of them, mom is the one whose harsher hand would've struck much more rashly. Instead, they demanded that I play sports, all sports. And do school, all school. That was my life. School and sports. Day in and day out. Over and over. And over and over.

I managed. It was boring, but I managed to make it to college.

When I finally spread my wings and flew to college, on an island far, far away from all things normal and.....legal.... I rediscovered a life I'd always wanted to live, a new person I wanted to create in a islander's body in which I wanted to fill myself. The island life that consists of watching the waves roll along the shoreline as the sun rises, running on the beach with the dog, snacking on a fresh fish taco then grabbing a cold one and cruising the island in nothing but a bikini and a bike and where shoes and business outfits are foreign objects, watching the gorgeous ball of fire that is the sun engulf the ocean in layers of pink, orange, hints of purple as it sets and the world quiets down for another island evening.




I discovered a feeling within me today that I'm proudly defines what I have become. The woman I've blossomed into. I lie in the category of what is called a Hipster. I also incorporate all that is an Islander. But I cannot shut of my love of sports that grew so painfully within me. The pain that exists because of a love for victory! I am so very proud to report that this feeling is me. That this truth exuding from every pore radiates the very person I want to shout to the world, "THIS IS ME!!!"


Today's ephiphay: I am half hipster, half islander. Stuck in a jock's body. What a glorious mess!
A New Beginning to a Beautiful Existence

My Never Ending Circle

Are you and only child? Or did you come from a family of a few kids?

I'm an only kid. Well, kinda... I am my father's only and my mom's third. But older sister and brother are twelve and thirteen years my senior. So by the time I was five, they were both out of the house. No lie. So I practically grew up by myself. Of course there are the pros and cons to growing up an only child, just like there are pros and cons to growing up with siblings, pros and cons to meatloaf, pros and cons to glue sticks, basket weaving, ant farming, and even blowing bubbles.

I'll just say that one of the most psychological problems I've struggled with obtaining a "family" (and the right family, at that) since college is bonding and trusting too strongly too quickly. When you enter into a world full of people, full of excitement, full of a spontaneous agendas, full of a trust and a protection that only a select few seem to be worthy of, the thought of losing this family breaks your heart. Losing a member, or someone close within that family, is like losing a significant other. (I use that metaphor because, I, myself have not actually lost a family member that is close to me. Nope, no siblings, parents or grandparents have passed away on my record; and by no means am I close to my extended family, ie aunts, uncles, cousins, distant cousins etc. still no deaths within that realm either). I have gone through the heartbreak of losing a significant other (disregarded now, of course, for obvious reasons) and losing a friend is just like that. 

I don't know what I would do if those close to me left. 

One day, they will. 

It's inevitable that graduation befalls us all and we'll be required to grow up one day, possibly move away and get big-kid jobs. I am just now establishing my "family." And, since now is the most crucial time to keep them close to my heart, I can't imagine the effect of what post graduation will have on me. 

Ugh. It's going to suck. To say the least.

Right now I have a circle within a circle. And it's a complicated botched up, zig-zagged, crazy design. It's hard to follow and it takes some repetition to memorize, but that's why I'm educating you folks early. 

Jen

•  "Jen": Jen is my best friend in the entire world. that ONE person you know will be a part of your life forever. Jen cannot be described in words, but in my attempt, she is dynamic, intriguing, complex, responsible, mature. She's spiritual in many ways that I find fascinating and inspiring, not ways you would think. She takes me to better places. She's honest, even in the most brutal of ways. She's stimulating. She provides for me what I need in life and I meet the humane needs that she requires. I love her, with all my heart and she's going to be a part of my life forever. She is not a part of my circle of Island family, only because she lives in a different city, but she fits right in with our little family to a tee!



Sara

• "Sara": my beautiful blond bombshell, whom I've known since Day 1 of college. One of the nicest, most generous, selfless, spontaneous creatures I know. Shit, just last night at 11pm she came home from the store and decided to make chocolate chip cookies! She has always been there for her friends, for her sisters, for her roommates, and even for that random drunk girl at the bar, who so desperately needs a ride home.
• "Bear": Sara's best friend from grade school (they met at church. you'd seriously think otherwise), her partner in crime, her roommate aaaaaannnddddd my sweetheart. Yes, after a friendship of 3 years, Bear and I are finally dating. He's crazy, open-hearted, open-minded, handsome as the devil, a total beach bum, easy going, down to earth; literally, my other half. And he lives up to his name. He's practically my big teddy bear!



Bear

• "Ryan" (who not only is a female but is totally rocking one of my favorite female names! part of the perks to owning your own blog! Bwahaha!): is Bear's best friend. They are very close and I couldn't have asked for a better friend for him. Ryan could give two shits about yesterday's drama which she tried to avoid, but hey at least she's willing to sit down and talk about your drama with you if you were to ever need it. She's the girl that wears the pants in the relationship, because let's just face it - boys (especially her's from the past) are just pussies these days. If Home  Dude is showing signs of weakness, she's done with him, lighting up a bowl, pregaming for the night, and scoping the beach for the next hott prize! No, not a slut, but rather just that nomadic powerhouse who knows how she works and exactly what she wants in life. 



Ryan

• "Ethan": Sara's and Bear's childhood friend who joined the Marines right out of high school but "got bored and left" shortly after and came to join us down on The Island for classes. He met Ryan a couple years ago, and, like Bear and I, turned their close friendship into relationship. He's the quiet type - keeps to himself, is rather introverted, muses over the deep shit, expresses himself through art, but still pitches in the best laughs from time to time. He's useful; I guess we'll be keeping him around for a while.



Ethan

• "Rico": Rico is my flamboyant little bit of sunshine. The nicest boy in the world, always happy, always willing to try new things with shy, hesitant apprehension at first, but warms up to everything and everyone. His biggest wish in life is that everyone could just get along and be one big happy family....and that he didn't gain any weight after chowing down on those evil stoner munchies. He's not dating anyone (sorry to disappoint yall) but he's usually got his eye on a new boy each week. But that's all; just an eye. He's very shy and even that shows up in his love life! He's a great roommate, very responsible and rather proactive! One of our favorite past times is sharing a bowl, kicking ass in Foosball and destroying some Disney coloring books! Haha! 



Rico & co

• "Trey & Luke": These two roommates are a creature of chaos themselves. Trey is dating Sara (ps: just to wrap it up for you, we all kind of started dating each other around the same time. But we've all known each other for yeeeeears!) and he's a nut. I swear, he's a 6 year old trapped in a 21 year old's body. Owns some wicked Marvel paraphernalia, loves pop-rock bands, splurges on tye-dye kits and hates the high school drama from which we all inevitably can't escape, no matter how hard we try. Seriously, Sara and Trey are meant for each other. They're never going to grow up and that's perfectly fine with me, they'll be the one's keeping us young. While we're suffering under house payments, and angry bosses, and maybe crying children, they'll be rock climbing at Pace Bend, sky diving over the farms in France, or kayaking the Amazon. hhmmmmm, is it morally wrong to wish to be like them? Luke, Trey's roommate, is the group drunk. If he's not passed out, at work on campus at the library, or in class, he's drinking. If he's not drinking, he's thinking about the next event at which he can drink, regardless if it's socially appropriate to do so. Yes, he's that person who's not ashamed the pictures he doesn't remember being taken, the person that's memorized all the specials and happy hours on the island, the person at the bars studying(!), and the one that brings over his own case to a hw study sesh. But as the designated tank, he holds his own, shells out some awesome stories from the night before, and always sacrificially jumps in front of the figurative bus of other's drama so we don't have to take the hit.



Luke

Trey

This is my circle. We're a jumbled up little circle, hard to follow, hard to read, but a tight family nonetheless. Later on, you'll read of the one circle outside of this circle. Individually, we are exceedingly unique but together we all make up this intricate, beautiful design, and I love them like family. They are my family. And I will keep them forever.