Choclatea.

Belgian chocolates and gourmet tea.... what more could a girl ask for?

They are chocolate bars from Smile Chocolatiers

(I also fell head over heels for the lovely water color illustrations for the packaging!)

happy birthday kate!

Today is the birthday of the ever lovely kate alison. I met her through Sean (my ex) and she is the best. She has such a big heart and is always giving without needing anything in return. I love her. She likes to bake cupcakes (which i will be doing with her tomorrow!) We are having a tea party for her tomorrow night and i have busy making decorations for her. my room is a disaster!! haha but totally worth it!

heres just a sneak peak. ill have pictures of the whole thing after tomorrow sometime.

once again happy birthday kate! love ya!

what a mess!! (also i can now see someone was texting me haha)

wiggly eyed flowers!! they are my favorite =]

HAPPY THURSDAY!

(thirsty thursday to be more exact *wink*)

hi helloooo

18 more days til xmas!!!! I cannot believe in just a little over 2 weeks it'll be here. I have so much more to do. So many gifts to make, so many cards to be mailed out, so many treats to bake! ahhh!

I did finish my dads coasters, made out of old 45's.

I am spending this night to finally start some sewing. I got my tunes going and my xmas glass is filled with wine and i picked up my room so i have enough room for things. whew.. what a night this will be.

xo.

I lust for both of these lockets!!!

sigh.... ♥

whew, finally

Hi hello. I finally took my sister's senior pictures. She kept putting them off till the last second and boy was i getting nervous for her. She wanted to go back to the place I took Rachel's so she kind of knew the places she wanted to go which made it go by faster because MAN was it chilly out!!

Enough of my blabbing. Presenting Katie...

Stay warm out there! =]

yes!

A whole month has passed.

WOW! What kind of blogger have I become? This is truly sad but I am hoping I have some time within the next few days to start up the posts again.

A few days ago I took some senior pictures for a lovely girl named Rachel. She is my little sister's best friend and I was honored she asked me. It has been awhile since I've done a session like this so I was a little nervous. But all in all I think the shoot went well... we had some laughs and took a lot of funny bloopers. I will be taking my sisters hopefully soon as well.

But until then... I give you Rachel.

Have a good day!!

New ink.

This is my homage to MCAD. That place has changed my life in more ways than one. It is where I lived on my own for a year. It is where I have made some truly great friendships that I will cherish till the day I die, even if we don't talk as much or see each other, they will always have a place in my heart. This is also because I have declared graphic design because Parkside does not have the option for photo and this is the next best thing... maybe better. Maybe next time I'll get RGB on my left wrist.

I just want to D△NCE!

hellooo, I have been in this weird mood where I just want to move my body and listen to really rad beatz. I think because it is getting closer to my birthday and I'll be able to go to the bars and nightclubs and dance that I am being like this..cool.
thats all I wanted to say and enjoy my playlist, its a little of what ive been listening to all day.
oh and p.s. Im in dire need of a haircut.....

eyes big love crumbs.

"i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite a new thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh . . . . And eyes big love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you quite so new"

-E.E. Cummings

Quite possibly my favorite poem to read over and over again.

Happy Tuesday!!

so today was the day...

I figured out I was heartless.

I cant stop listening to this song!!

The embedded format for the official video was disabled but I highly recommend watching it. It is lovely and fun! Just enjoy the song with this vid.

I get neat *cuss* from old people!

Oh my cussin god! My co-worker from Hallmark just gave me this little puppy bag that will hold all my pens and things for school. It has a little pouch that says lunch money for and then a banner where I can write in my name. It fills me with delight.

waves remind us that there are reliable patterns like our breath.

This morning I'm trying to get in some much needed blog time with the newest addition to my dad's record collection of Joni Mitchell and my Beatles mug filled to the brim with delicious coffee. I cannot emphasize on the much needed.

Anyway, I have recently started my training at Target and I gotta tell ya... my position is probably one of the most ridiculous ones there. The operator has to answer calls, direct them, manage the dressing rooms, get carts ready for the "reshop party" which is just when some of the floor people come and take time to put back things that were out of place in the store the night before. I have to remember to call out breaks and give the closing announcements and do pulls, zones, and reshop at the end of the night. WHAT!? That is crazy amount of shit to remember!! I think my brain might just stop working after all this haha. Right now its not that bad because I have other people to help me but oh man...we'll see.

Alright so I have been trying to find some new artists on the web that I really like and I think I find one!!! She does a lot of illustrations and they all have some really beautiful details. I love the John Lennon ones!

Till next time..

Two jobs & school full time.

idontknowificandothis...idontknowificandothis....idontknowificandothis!!!!!

Just reviewing my upcoming weeks with my new target schedule...im getting very overwhelmed and questioning if i can really succeed with this "full plate"

School starts on the second which is stupid to do because its before labor day and its a thursday. Its a waste to have the first day of classes to be on a thursday. Plus the fact that once i get out of my last class that day i have to rush back to racine to make it to my job. ugh. Please give me the strength to make this work.

I will have gray hair before I am 25.

A quick update!!!

Today I went to my second "interview" for Target. Why the quotations, you ask? Well this wasn't an interview more like an offer. Yep thats right I got offered a position at Target, heaven as I sometimes call it when I find super cute stuff there. Half my wardrobe is from Target my favey sunglasses at the moment are from there and I always enjoy their "back to school" section out of all the other chains (ie: walmart, shopko, kmart) My go-to place! So anyway I accepted and then they tell me I have to take a drug test...24 hours after the offer. So I am thinking to myself "oh shit karen you had a lemon poppy seed cookie yesterday, I am screwed" but hopefully if i tell the people at the drug testing place of my slip up that it wont ruin my test results. Stupid delicious cookie!!!!!

So then I went to hallmark to pick up my check and chat with some of the ladies. The newest piece of gossip is that one of the girls is getting fired today! But she was asking for it. Always giving her hours away and not showing up half an hour late. Ugh, so as of today she has been terminated. Oh well more hours for the rest of us!! *smiles*

After all that I went over to Margarets house because she was going to take me to Parkside so we could find my classes. It was so nostalgic for her seeing where she use to meet her friend after psych 101 and how she met Gary her husband there and it was cute! We had a good time, lots of laughs and talks of getting so much coffee there! I am getting more and more excited to start in the fall. I just want to be a college student again!!!!!!!!!

So to recap....I have to pass drug test and then ill have 2 jobs going to school full time and trying to have a social life.. which by the way is getting way out of hand .. ha ha. Too many functions to keep track of!!!!!!!

Just the week alone I have work on monday, brewer game on tuesday, interview on wednesday, work and my friends "going away bon fire party shindig" on thursday, milwaukee with my lady jessica and my friend alex's ladies night party friday, work and my friend kevins 21st and kates second going away party at my fellas house on saturday, and work open to close on sunday.

WHEW!

goodnight.

*ps... sorry this "quick update turned more into a rant about all my happenins

bonding time.

Since my mom left she has been desperately trying to retie that bond that she had with us kids. It has been kind of hard and I am not going to lie I havent been the easiest daughter to her about the whole situation. But I did get a "talkin to" from the godmother so I have been trying to be a little nicer. So today was bonding day and my mom came over to the house and took Katie (baby sister) and I to Horsefeathers, a novelty shop in Illinois that sells a bunch of weird things and cheap gauges for people and incense and scarves and handmade paper.

Its just a neat little shop and the owner Lorenzo has three cute dogs that walk around the store!! Coco is my favey because she doesnt move from the counter and shes cute as a button!! Anyways here is what I got for 15 bucks.....drum roll....

TADA!!!

chinese mary janes! I got a pair in white and turquoise. Pretty fricken comfy too!

I am planning on wearing them tomorrow for work! I showed them to Margaret at work tonight and she was very impressed and told me I have to take her sometime soon! Ill probably be buying more pairs in the other colors. =]

flakjakt music video shot on the iphone 4.

beautiful.

pen story

A really beautiful stop motion going through the life of a man for the olympus pen camera. Shot 60,000 pictures, developed 9600 prints without any post-production. Very inspiring. =]

mountains made of steam.

So its been quite awhile since I have updated this blasted thingie. My apologies! I dont even know where to start.... this saturday is my aunt's benefit. WOW! It has been an incredible journey seeing how far she has come from earlier this year. I dont know how many times I am going to say this in my lifetime but she is the strongest woman I know. I am going to be beaming on saturday, watching her walk and talk and triumph over all obstacles.

This past sunday I came home from Pulaski which is up north near Green Bay to go camping with the boy and some of his friends. I am not going to go into detail because that would take too long and I might end up with carpal tunnel. Lets just keep it simple and say we drove up friday morning got stuck in the mud..twice! Then just decided to not even try to rough it and enjoy the rest of the weekend...which we did! Ill post a few pictures.

Anyways, tomorrow the boy and I are having a Mad Men marathon!! Attempting to watch from the beginning. It will be a great feat for us. Plus we are cooking a yummy dinner. Hopefully mashed potaties are involved and since hes a vegetarian he better come up with something for the main course. But we all know a good pork chop or meat loaf would be the best! (haha) And did I mention we are also dressing up for this!? Yep! Hes wearing a suit and Ill be digging in my closet for one of my vintage dresses, Ill style my hair and makeup and also bring my classy cigarette holder... I am very excited!!!!

Well thats all for now. I have been on this computer basically all day editing photos from the trip. But I will leave you with this gorgeous photo that I found browsing the net....

When I do find this spectacular van, who would be willing to drop everything and open a fruit smoothie business with me? We will drive all over the U.S. selling happiness in to-go cups with colorful straws!!

this pug is greener than all of us!

this will never get old.

A long hard journey.

On Feb. 18 my aunt was admitted to froedert medical hospital for aneurysm surgery and due to complications was put in a coma for a week. miraculously she woke up and continued to fight against the odds to walk and talk. 4 months later she is coming home to us! it is truly a miracle that god granted us these months to realize that all miracles take a little time and doctors may not always have to answers to our questions.

god climbed mountains with our family and we are at the top of the highest peak... what a beautiful sight this is! to have her coming home, talking and joking and even walking lengths some doctors never thought she would.

may you all be blessed like my family has been these past months.

i love you!

BEE RAW

Oh my! Arent you just the prettiest things in the world!?

I wouldn't mind having you at my picnic. =]

Bee Raw is a company that specializes in varietal honeys. There are 10 varieties and they also sell them in flights of 4 or 9. The viles would be so cute to have in your purse! =]

PS the packaging is so gorgeous!

sweet talk.

Oh gosh do I love these guys. Perfect soundz for summa. =]

I WANT ONE!

Cherry blossom and green tea kit kat.

Sounds weird and delicious at the same time!!

J. Crew FALL 2010

Girl Scout Camp!!! Boyfriend chinos and textured tights!! Ah! Im in love! I wish I was a billionaire so I could purchase allllll of these wonderful outfits!

original star wars movies told in lego form.

good stuff.

irritated as curse!

I hate hallmark, cards, 9 hour shifts, people who buy last minute mothers day cards 5 minutes to close.

Today was probably the worst day Ive had at hallmark. In my whole three years working there.. yeah i said it.

Ugh.

And now about to go to sleep to wake up for a 7 hour shift with the two worst employees there.

___kill me now___

What a perfect day for a funeral.

It was gloomy, cold and quiet. Today we buried my friend James, it was pretty hard to realize that he wont be around anymore. I think he is finally at peace though. which makes it a little easier to process.

cloud man

Grieves & Budo "Cloud Man" Music Video from Jesse Brown on Vimeo.

This is such an amazing stop motion with really beautiful hand cut lettering. The song is actually pretty catchy as well.

So today I found out my friend since elementary school died. It was a complete shock considering how he was such a wonderful guy. Nice and talented and he was a pretty good lookin kid too. It makes you really think how precious life is when someone so young and so deserving could be taken away from us early. I cant even imagine how his family must feel especially his mom, how its so close to mothers day. How every year from now on is going to be so hard. I pray that they will get through this...some how.

Like i said before...may is going to be the hardest month. I now have two friends to remember. James and Brad. Both were taken away when they werent suppose to go.

"you cant control the boat that youre on.."

kids and scarface.

The best school play ever!!

"you son of a bee"

holy cow this puppy needs an update!

WHEW! this past week has been completely nutz. I have been working NONSTOP so my check is going to be pretty nice looking but that also means I havent been getting a lot of sleep. (oh well I'll sleep when I am dead) =] But anway on top of working at Hellmark like hella lot I might be getting another job at either Aurora with my older sister and mom or a job at Bath and Body Works with my friend Richelle. Who knows... as long as I get another job I'll be happy. I NEED MORE MONEY!!! haha...

This saturday is my fellas birthday... I am throwing him a superhero themed party where we are going as super owls!!!!!! we've been busy making masks and wings and figuring out our attire... hes going to wear tights!! I am very excited to see him all decked out! I hope he has a good time. I am also taking him to Organ Pipers Pizza for lunch when I get out of work at 3. It will be a treat!

Today I was very productive... I finally scheduled my classes for this falls semester. Math, reading, writing, soc and digital art...yay! But I am not looking forward to the math yuck. Also I finished my homemade saddle shoes... they are caaaaaaa-ute! I cant wait to wear them out!

That is all for now... I promise I will keep up with this more.

Till then, have a good day!

wheres B?

I want a pet lamb so she can bounce around my house!

this is how i feel right now.

The weather has been beautiful out! Spring is on its way!!!

Everything has just been going much better. My aunt is doing well so far, she had her 5th surgery since shes been in the hospital to have her skull put back on. She was awake for a bit when i saw her. She was smiling and wiggling her toes and giving thumbs up. I couldnt be more proud of her, shes so strong! Sean and I are going on a picnic on thursday...way too excited! im making choc chip cookie dough truffles for dessert and after we'll be seeing a movie either at the oriental or just the regular theatre. Either way im pumped! I have my taxes all done and im accepted to parkside for fall '10 and ill (hopefully) will be getting another job at aurora for a csr position. more hours and more money!!!! things are looking up and im grateful for every day.

Hope everyone else is enjoying this weather as much as i am!!

♥

so...

I don't care what any doctor says...when my aunt bit down on her breathing tube while still being unconscious tells me that that isnt just reflexes, its her knowing that something is there.

she is a feisty woman who still has a whole lot of fight in her.

god help me, ive come undone.

I know i dont really talk about my religion or praise jesus as much as most people do but right now, more than ever im crying out for him to hear me and respond with some miracle that will restore my faith in him.

My aunt leeann came to froedert hospital a little over a week ago with weakness to her left side and lose of vision. the doctors thought she was having mini strokes so they decided to scan her head and saw that her aneurysms we huge so they decided to do the surgery to get them out. we heard that it went well but after the surgery she had a stroke so they put her into an induced coma and cooled her body down so her brain could recover and for the swelling to decrease. come to find out the pressure was increasing so the only option they had was to remove part of the skull so her brain had more room to expand without causing more damage. that surgery went fine so they were watching her pressure and slowly raising her body temperature. then the beginning of this week they started to notice some signs of the pneumonia so they were aggressively giving her antibiotics. they did more ct scans of her brain and decided to remove part of her brain in the front because it was completely dead. good news to that was that people who have had that part of their brain removed could live normal lives without any complications with speech or other functions. so after that surgery they scanned her head and saw that after that surgery she had another stroke on the other side of her brain. the doctors decided to leave her alone for a couple days and scan her head on sunday and reevaluate her then. so saturday the doctors called a family meeting and showed all her scans and were explaining all this stuff about her being disabled if she does wake up from this. so far we know that the right side of her brain is 60 percent affected with stoke and that means her left side of her body will be paralyzed but more so in her leg then her arm and she would only be able to look to her right side. and the left side of her brain is a sliver in the front affected with some stroke, which is good because the left side controls speech and breathing functions and that wasnt damaged. but now her doctor is saying they have done all they can and suggests pulling her breathing tube and letting her die dignified.....how the hell is basically suffocating to death dignified? shes a young strong woman whose body is still willing to fight. hes not giving her any time to heal. she still has brain function and her numbers are still really good. we are not ready to give up on her and obviously her body isnt either. leeann will tell us when shes ready to go and shes really the only one who can make that decision.

my mom and my older sister think they have been given signs to keep fighting for leeann. my mom told us of her dream she had where shes walking in a field and in the distance she can see leeann, and she yelling something to my mom, and once my mom gets close enough to hear her she says "give me time" and then my mom wakes up.

my sister one night leaving the hospital gets into her car and hears a song on the radio called "give me a sign" by breaking benjamin. "no longer the lost. no longer the same. and i can see you starting to break. i'll keep you alive if you show me the way."

my chest feels like someone is constantly sitting on it pushing all my air out till im gasping to catch my breath. my eyes are heavy from no sleep and tears i hold back so i can look strong for my mom and my aunts and my grandma and my aunts husband and children and my brother and sisters and dad and the nurse barb whose taking care of her and esp leeann because once my aunt wakes up and finds out we have all been crying she will kick our asses. i suck at consoling people esp when its something this bad so i feel like i have to not cry to make up for the comforting words im not saying.

i need some salvation to keep from falling apart.

daayyumm

Its been quite awhile since Ive updated this thing. Oodles and oodles have happened in my life, but ive been working so much i havent had time to slow down and since valentines day is this weekend, ill be even more busy at hellmark. =/ also trying to juggle my new fella while things at home are somewhat horrible has been kind of a feat for me, and im glad hes been there even though this isnt how i wanted the first part of our relationship to be....heh.

going back to the topic of vday, i still havent fully finished seans gifts but im glad we're having a belated vday because i have to work all day sunday so this will give me more time to finish everything. =]

alright well if i dont get back on this thing before.. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY LOVES!!

whaaaa!?

This is probably by far THE best thing i have seen in awhile. (and ive seen some pretty crazy awesome shit in my time)

but im pretty positive you cant find these in the US. =/

bummer.

I LOVE THIS PART!

the music box scene in chitty chitty bang bang. ♥

winter song.

A really adorable animation for the song "winter song" by sara bareilles and ingrid michaelson.

enjoy it! its super cute!