A Study of Roses

This is my first 5-day work week in quite a bit...Monday I decided to buy a bouquet of flowers to have on my desk as a cheer-me-up. Yesterday I had my camera with me and took a few photos while experimenting with different color settings.

Here's a little collage I've come up with :)

3 New Purchases

I'm totally a girlie girl. I love pretty things. I love flowers. I would not get out of my apartment without wearing a pair of earrings. My nails and toenails are usually painted. I like the color pink. I like nice perfumes. I love dark chocolate. I pray to never have to do manual labor (although I'm pretty handy with a hammer and a hand saw, can change a light bulb and hang my own photographs).

And yet, I just bought 3 pairs of men's lounge pants from Target!!! I absolutely love them: thin, soft, with large pockets: all I have to do is sew up the fly :)

I bought a gray pair, a black one and a checkered one.

Lounging in these pants is going to become one of my favorite activities. And they were only $9.99 each! Go get yours today!

P.S. and just to clarify, that is not me in that photo!

Things Found On The Street

I like to carry my camera around: you never know what you can find! Last week I was walking to an elementary school where Ashley and I mentor, when Ashley spotted a key just hanging on a fence: how odd! So I took a photo of that. Then I found a broken zipper pull just laying on the ground...

A week later (today) when Ashley and I were going to mentor, we saw the same key hanging at the same place! (This time I did not take a photo).

Shadow Sundays

Finally I get to post something for Shadow Sundays! I saw this bike around U Street neighborhood and loved its shadow! However, I was too slow and a woman parked in front of it, blocking the sun! I decided to be bold and nicely asked her to move forward just for a few moments: and she did. My friend Theresa pointed out that the seat of the bike looks like a heart :)

Early Birthday Present

Yesterday when I went to Beadazzled with Radha and Theresa, I decided to buy an early birthday present for myself: a professional jewelry tool set!

I've been making jewelry for about a year now, but have been using the tools I "borrowed" from my dad...they were okay, but definitely not as refined as the ones I just bought yesterday!

And my new tools are pink and come in a pretty pink bag. LOVE!!! Can't wait to try making new projects with them. I'm really excited!

I think I'll do a few more knotted bracelet or necklaces, and then go back to working with wire! Check back to see some of my projects (and the ones I'll be doing for Cindy!).

A New Bracelet

Remember the amethyst knotted bracelet I made last week? Today I got together with Radha and Theresa for a few hours to work on our crafts. At the end, I was the only one to make jewelry, but it was still a great time! I made this pink quartz bracelet: love it! What do you think?

Say What???

Today I had a day off. I met up with Theresa, Radha and Adrienne for sushi and crafts. I will post my craft project later today :)

After our outing, I was taking a shuttle back to my place (the Metro decided to ruin my life by doing major maintenance job over the weekend!) and heard a couple behind me speaking Russian. I thought they were confused about which Metro line to take, so turned around and gave them an answer in Russian. Despite knowing that I spoke Russian and understood them perfectly, they proceeded to have the following conversation in Russian (thus, the title of this post: Say What?):

the girl: who loves me? who loves me?
the guy: I do

the girl: did you miss me?
the guy: what can I tell you?
the girl: the truth
the guy: I missed you as much as a fish misses the water in the middle of the desert

the girl: tomorrow I'm going to be really tired after work, so we'll just go to sleep ok?
the guy: what about the day after tomorrow?
the girl: we'll see

OMFG! For real? I was cracking up inside :)

Trees

I'm not quite sure why, but I really like taking photographs of trees. Maybe because they are strong and firmly rooted in the ground. Maybe because they go through the same cycle as we do. I especially like the stark contrast of the dark branches and the sky in the background. Here are some photographs I took on the way to mentoring this past Wednesday.

Things Found On The Ground

Wednesday Ashley's mentee wasn't in school again, so for the third week in a row I had to go mentoring on my own. It's boring: I have no one to talk to. So instead, I take my camera and my MP3 Player for entertainment.

And that's how I took two of these photos: a spoon embedded in cement and a hair color sample :) I wonder what people thought when they saw me taking photos of the ground!?



In other news, N (my mentee) was amazing on Wednesday. She listened, was in a good mood, did not complain about having to read, in fact read an entire book by herself! She was like a different child. I'm crossing my fingers this behavior will magically continue from now on.

Roses

I've always believed in treating myself to nice things. Luckily, sometimes those nice things can be purchased for $5, as is the case with these roses. Because this was the first week in quite some time that I was planning on being at work a full week, I needed something to cheer me up: I thought buying roses was a perfect idea. Stacey and Annie joined me.

I bought 6 peach colored roses and they've been sitting on my desk at work for four days. Yesterday I took them home to enjoy over the weekend.

It's amazing how flowers can cheer me up! Here are some close-up shots of the roses.

Sky Watch Friday

I have been so slacking on all of the Ruby Tuesdays, Sunday Shadows, etc.
I was on my way home from the grocery store today around 5:45 and just had to take some photos of the sky! It was so pretty! The first two photos were taken about 5 minutes before the last three: look how much can change in a short amount of time.

Check out other Sky Watch Friday photos.

My friends are turning 30

My friends are turning 30!!!!!!!!!! I'm soon to follow in their lead.

I thought I'd share a few cards I've made: the first one was for Wendy's birthday last night, the second one was for Anna S's birthday in January.

Today's Flowers

Here are 4 photos for Today's Flowers. The first two are of the progress of my orchid. The last two are the buds on my Christmas cactus: I'm so excited it will be blooming again. I think there are at least 8 buds!!!

Knotted Amethyst Bracelet

Today I set my alarm clock for 8 o'clock because I was taking another jewelry class at Beadazzled: classic knotting technique. I was very excited and really enjoyed the class.

In fact, I was able to start and complete an entire project: amethyst knotted bracelet. I've had these beads on an elastic cord for ages (my parents gave it to me), but haven't worn it much at all. I really like how the final "project" turned out and cannot wait to make a few more using some of my other beads! Check back later :)

First Sale!!!

On Saturday I sold my first photograph! I am so excited. My friend Theresa bought The Silver Spoon photograph, and I was at the gallery and got to place the red dot on the label to indicate the sale! So far this is the only one I've sold.

The exhibit goes on until this weekend, and alas I don't have much hope of selling any other photos. I guess I'll just pack them up and take them home.

But still, this was very exciting!

By the way, on the last photo you can see my new haircut: what do you think?

New PURPLE Shoes

Here are my new purple shoes. I've been looking for purple shoes for a while: purple has been a very popular color, and I have just recently bought a purple cardigan at Banana republic.

Then on Sunday I was at Aldo, just browsing, and saw these pretty purple shoes and could not resist! And my shoe collection has grown :)

These shoes remind me of a pair of shoes my mom had when I was a little girl. God, I'm a grown up now!