Merry Berries

I think the phrase is actually "the merry berry month of May" and its only February, but I've got my favorite fruit on the brain lately. Well, in all honesty, I'm always on the look-out for cute stuff with a strawberry theme. Its a disease. And someday, I'll have to draw a line...but not yet!

A recent trip to a flea market with my mom resulted in the above purchase. Three color-tinted lithographs from the US Department of Agriculture's annual regional plant catalog. The USDA used to put out this hand-drawn, leather bound book every year, beginning in the late 19th century. Every farmer in America was eligible to receive one, and it provided them with the latest hybrids and strains of all the various plants approved for cultivation in the US. And the best part? The artists were all women! My particular lithographs date from 1890, 1908 and 1914. I'll have to do a little research to find out when the USDA quit publishing the catalog.

Anyway, what to do with my new-found artwork? Originally, I planned to hang them on a wall in my guest room (which doubles as my crafting room, and predicatably there is a strawberry theme going on in there). But they look kind of awesome against the green walls int he living room. Hmmm....

Sick

I'm home sick from work today. You can tell just by looking at the mess in my kitchen. When I'm under the weather, I give myself permission to not clean up dishes or fold laundry or put things away. Oddly, having stuff sitting around like this drives me crazy, so I'm not really sure its helping me get any rest today.

I might watch Twilight: Breaking Dawn this afternoon. But first I have to get through a 2 hour special on the History Channel on the Mayan 2012 calendar. Yep. Livin' the life.

aawWWW FREAK OUT! (or, London Calling, Part 1)

Well, I'm carrying a new, incredibly high balance on my credit card thanks to the pre-paid, non-refundable hotel room in London that I just booked, and I'm feeling okay about it. I have a room reserved for the 4 days around the dates I have Olympic tickets for, so at least I will be able to see my events. The length of the trip and other activities are yet to be decided. Possibilities include a concert in Hyde Park featuring various British rock groups that coincides with the Opening Ceremonies (Coldplay might be a decent substitute for the actual ceremonies!), a 4 day small-group tour to Dublin, Ireland, the annual film festival in Edinburgh, and an overnight stay in the Cotswolds that includes a guided tour of the inner ring at Stonehenge. Needless to say, I'm stoked!

So, why am I freaking out? After I booked the hotel room, I was feeling all empowered and decided to take a look at airfares...thus confronting images of my greatest fear - FLYING!! Seriously, I am really not sure how I'm going to do this. Sit on a plane for that long?? Over water? Really, really deep water? Immediately I chewed through three finger nails and had to shut the computer off. Perhaps I need to do some practicing? Like short, mini-flights over ponds and such? Working my way up to multi-hour flights? This is sounding like an expensive way to get acclimated...

Things That Make Me Happy

It has recently come to my attention that I need to focus on all the things in my life that are good, and at least attempt to stop dwelling on the things that are less than great. So every once in a while, I'm going to try to mention, out loud, something that makes me happy. Today's deep thought has to do with this photograph. I took that picture of the western sky one evening last week from my front porch. I think its beautiful, but that in and of itself is not the happy thought. The happy thought is that I love my house. MY house. I love having my place and that it feels warm and homie all the time. But what I really love are all the little routines that I've developed in the 2 1/2 years I've lived here. Having a cup of coffee after work, and sitting on my couch while looking at the sunset is one of them. I can see out over the entire downtown area, and watch the lights come on as the sun sets. It only last about 10 minutes, but I just love it. Makes me happy.