out of office response

I found this scrawled on one of my legal pads at work. I wrote it during one of our meetings about a month ago.

Meeting Minutes
sweet candy scents
wafting through the room,
useless employee laments
indicate such gloom.
lunch is creeping nearer
with each tick of the clock.
now i can scarcely hear her
over my stomach's knock.
all day i dream of leaving -
i can't wait until it's five.
so excited, heart heaving
i hit the door alive,
ready to escape the drone
of my computer screen,
fleeing from my phone
onto the next scene.
i can't do this every day -
desk, computer, chair.
i've got to get away
before i pull out all my hair.
rcp

That being said, I am outta here!

Sunshine, warm sand, blue skies, flip flops, bare legs, painted toenails, ocean waves - Florida, here I come!

how will my garden grow?

Tonight I planted the first seeds in what will hopefully be a mini garden. I don't have great ambitions for this garden, as we don't have much space, and I'm not even sure our landlady would smile on this endeavor. But she can't complain about a few chives, right?



Any suggestions for other easy things to plant & care for?
Don't even suggest tomatoes - I hate them.

I'm also growing some chives inside. I bought an adorable little planter at Target in the $1 section! It will need to be replanted when it gets bigger, but for now it works. I've been wanting to grow some cooking plants indoors for quite some time, so I figured, no better time than now!

loving literature

On Sunday, Doug & I went to the mall. I used up the rest of my GAP gift card (which was a birthday present! This may be the longest a gift card given to me has ever lasted!). I got an awesome outfit I'm pretty sure I'll wear to the Jack Johnson concert Doug & I are attending in June.

Oh, did I forget to mention before that DOUG AND I ARE GOING TO A JACK JOHNSON CONCERT IN JUNE?!

Because we are.

Anyway, while we were at the mall, we stumbled across what may have been the best used book sale in the world. I know I've talked about this before, but I am obsessed with books. The way they smell (especially old, musty books...), the way they look, the way the pages crinkle... when I saw the mountains of previously loved literature at bargain prices, I made the following remark to my amused husband: "I'm having trouble breathing."

We purchased the following:

-The Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
-Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (guess who picked out this one?)
-100 Selected Poems, by e.e. cummings
-The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky
-Crime & Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
-Notes from the Underground, Poor People, and The Friend of the family, by Dostoyevsky
-A Great Books Primer, ed. by Robert Hemenway
-The Sun Also Rises, by Hemingway
-Absalom, Absalom!, by Faulkner
-Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
-Robert Frost's Poems, by Robert Frost
-The Borrowers Afloat, by Mary Norton
-A Good Man is Hard to Find & Other Stories, by Flannery O'Connor
-1984, by George Orwell (I swear I have this somewhere, but apparently Doug wanted his own copy.)
-We the Living, by Ayn Rand
-Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger
-The Elements of Style, William Strunk & E.B. White (awesome 1959 edition!)
-Virgil and Other Latin Poets, by Virgil... and other Latin poets
-The Testament, by Elie Wiesel
-By the Shoes of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

All of that came to a grand total of $5.83. And Doug graciously donated an extra $2, at which point I thought the cute old lady cashing us out was either going to have a heart attack or attempt to steal my husband.

5 days...

random is the spice of life

It's been a pretty busy week, with nothing terribly blog-worthy to write about. I mean, awesome things happened, but nothing that provided substantial material for an entertaining blog.

Highlights of the Week:
-Our much anticipated reunion with the Castles last evening!
-Being asked to take several breaks (which I utilized to go to Starbucks) at work this week because of all the construction in our office.
-The Office returning (& going to the Townleys to watch it) - even though I was disappointed by the episode.

So, since I don't really have too much to write about (other than going to Florida in ONE week!!), I'm copying my new blog friend:

What was I doing ten years ago (1998):
*Practicing for the 8th grade musical - Li'l Abner
*Trying to grow out my bangs
*Being an awkward new teenager - trying to figure out what was "in style"
*Still loving on MxPx and wanting to marry Michael Herrera
*Putting sun-in in my hair and getting in trouble for it.

5 things on my to-do list today:
*update my educational portfolio
*set up the guest bedroom for Mom & Emily
*mop the kitchen floor? If I feel like it...
*sewing :)
*dinner with the Englands!

5 snacks I enjoy:
*chocolate chip cookies
*popcorn
*cheese slices & apple slices
*fruit of all varieties
*chips and salsa

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
*pay off all our loans & pay for my siblings' college educations
*travel all over the place with Doug
*quit working & pursue a business with Victoria
*donate to various organizations & charities
*buy a new vehicle finally

5 bad habits:
*reading blogs
*rubbing my lips when they're chapped
*not being consistent in my devotions
*not working out enough
*procrastinating (see first bad habit)

5 places I have lived:
*Kent, NY - Excelsior Farms! (1985-2003, spring 2007)
*Spring Arbor, MI - Spring Arbor University (2003-2006)
*Oxford, England (fall 2006)
*Plymouth, MI (July 2007 - current)

I've only lived 4 places, which is fine by me!

5 jobs I have had:
*growing up on a farm - this totally counts.
*insurance office - doing various office work
*SAU - School of Education (shout out to Marci Stanley!) and Student Development (both as an RA and a student worker)
*Last Chance Academy (yes, that is actually the name they gave this school) - English teacher
*documentation writer at foster care agency

Okay, this was a relatively boring entry. Time to go be productive. Maybe.