Creole Wisdom

broken.

Two not so funny things in the span of two days. 
Yesterday:
•Went joyfully to go set up my new Epson printer.  I was so happy, so excited, singing to myself alongside the radio... then during step 2 of set up "error, turn off printer. then re-start" I did.  5 times. Then I called tech support. Verdict: "We're sorry, it looks like a problem with the motherboard of the printer.  We're going to Fedex you one in 5-7 business days."  Lovely.  So they put a hold on my debit card for the amount of the printer, which they'll release once I get the new (hopefully working) one.  Of all the luck in the world- I get the printer that has an "internal problem."  At least I get some free ink!

This morning:
•Today as I am walking outside to the car I slip and fall down on the ice (naturally).  And we're not talking a nice slip, but a fall on your a*s fall.  Of course my camera was slung over my shoulder.  I broke the piece that holds the battery in, and the lens cap was jammed, too.  Ugh.  I screamed a horrible, Alfred Hitchcock Psycho scream.  Someone help, my baby is hurt!
•I took the camera to National Camera, and the stupid, not to mention uncaring (hello, this is my baby, show some compassion!) tech told me that they don't to repairs, and that I'll have to wait a WEEK until I can get it repaired at the shop they refer to, because- that shop is "on vactaion."  Since when did stores go on vacation? Hm. I called them, and sure enough.  I can't fix my baby until January 6th.
•So what did I do?  I got out some duct tape, fixed the battery, and eased the jam out of the lens cap.  My camera works fine, so that's a relief, but I have learned my lesson- take better care of it.
•Becasue I have such a giant crumpler bag (to hold all of my lens, etc...) I don't have a smaller one.  That is tomorrow's job: find a smaller bag.

album update

•I'm still punching along with this project.  I am all the way up to 12.23


•Again, everything is posted on my flickr account.  I am really glad I did this.  I'm thinking of expanding it until the 27th since that's my birthday and all : ) We'll see.  I need to crack open my new printer and check that out.
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•I'm really looking forward to a somewhat productive week.  I have plans: get loans organized : ( , look for housing for next year : ) , search for jobs : /, figure out car insurance (I might be getting the car that I crashed), figure out the printer : ) , clean my room : / ...
•But in other news J and I are good.  Sometimes I think, it takes a lot of bad ones to get to a really nice, good, wonderful one : )

26,27

•Today I turned twenty-two.  I feel twenty-two.  But internally I'm like thirty-five : ) It was a crazy, fun day filled with friends, J, family, and pancakes-


•So you know we had to wait FORTY minutes to be seated at the Original Pancake House- and can I just say that the lady was crabby?  Like honey- if you don't like people asking "how much longer for a party of 5 under Katie?" then don't work at a busy breakfast restaurant.  And how come people frown down when you come with a large entourage group/family?  Do people not do big groups anymore?  Hm! (Rant over)
•Kate, Karen, & Becky joined me for games of memory, excitement over a pirated Twilight dvd (thanks to Becky's boyfriend who studied abroad : ), and birthday coffee in anthropologie mugs
•Then there was that little matter of the mistletoe and J ; )
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•But before my craziness was J's birthday! Yes he's a day before me.  We started out with an afternoon at the conservatory...

•And inside, a lush garden full of humid, floral smells...


•How fabulous does that look?  I wanted to take off all my clothes and swim in the koi pond, but as to not get arrested/traumatize children I resisted.
•Next... birthday dinner at Chino Latino with J and his family.  Happy Birthday!

•We ended the night with a jazz show at the Dakota, downtown.  It was magical, until the people at our table told Joe that engineers like him should have to take a second language/get a conscious (???) Ya for science (as long as I'm not doing it)

christmas day (act two)

•A bounty of gifts lay under the tree, all coordinating!  I love wrapping in kraft paper, and then using the seafoam green silk ribbons.  Thank you, papermart!
•Here's a closeup of the fun tags I did...

•We all eat a nice, late breakfast since Loren had to sing at mass.  Mom made banana bread and I poured the mimosas : )
•Then we turned to gorgeous, giant, easy chairs to circle the tree and exchanged gifts...

•My fantastic loot as follows: 1) pjs from J.Crew 2) peach woolen sweater from J.Crew 3) slippers (J.Crew and Target) 4) Eve's Bayou (yes!) 5) Tales of Avonlea (don't hate!) 6) Martha Stewart's Food Everyday cookbook- this was big on my list, I love those small recipe magazines, and now I have a book 7) Marzipan candy 8) Chanel Chance Perfume 9) Alphabet cookie cutters (another Martha Stewart product) 10) My BRAND NEW Epson Artisan 800 printer (obviously I'm on cloud 9)
•We do lists of stuff we like in my family, and it's just so nice to get what you want : )

the night before christmas (act one)

it was the night before christmas and all was well/the mistletoe was hung, with hopes of kisses there.

dinner was cooked, and fish it was- with heads attached and jam spread on/church was nice, with singing to suffice/and back home for dinner we rushed-

to exchange gifts with J- a cookbook for him, and new lens filter for me (yes!)/and after the parents were all snug in their beds- J asked me, "would you be my girlfriend" and... I said "yes" : )
... and to all a Merry Christmas, and to all a good  night...

(stay tuned for act two of Christmas celebration/chaos)

some things i know.

Today is Christmas Eve day.  I have taken the wise lesson I have learned regarding the car accident, and I am going to attempt to slow down my life.  At least for the next few days. 

Over the year I have experienced some religious changes, and while they have not necessarily been easy, I am thankful for them.

There are some things that I know are true, and as I wish you a Merry Christmas readers, beyond the glitz and sparkle and giant rolls of wrapping paper there is my testimony of Christ.

I know Christ, the only son of God, was born of a virgin, under the most humble of circumstances.

I know he was cared for lovingly by a devoted and dedicated mother and caring earthly father.

I know that he grew to live a life of miracles, and healed many people.

I know Christ endured and experience all the pains and afflictions of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I know he died on the cross for humanity's sake, for our sins.

While Christ was most likely not a Capricorn, I also connect to the inner spirituality of today.  Which for pre-Christians, meant the winter solstice.

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I love to look for classical paintings of the Madonna with child.  I have yet to find one particular that I am drawn to (since most depict Christ as either black or blond, and I always imagine him as middle eastern looking- since that's where he was from!) But I do love some of these.  I think Christmas is another opportunity for us to look at the loving and wonderful bond between ourselves and our families, especially the bond between mother and child.

Merry Christmas readers!

sushi.

•It was a good night, and i love Caterpillar rolls : )
•In car news: took the poor car to Abra, estimated repair costs of roughly $3500 : ( I keep going over the thing in my head.  I'm so angry at myself for making this mistake and getting in a dumb accident that could of harmed myself or others.  The whole day, as I was driving, I kept thinking about how dumb I am in the car/with cars.  I have a license, obviously, and other than yesterday, a perfect record, but I still feel like an idiot.  I am so thankful to mom who has taken this all over, and called Allstate, and dealt with everything.  What great timing. 

rush. jingle. sign. crash.

So... I got in a car accident today.  I have absolutely no idea how to feel about he entire thing, which is long from over.  Clearly I am not hurt, since I'm blogging about this (but really, would I let anything stop me? Probably not), and neither was the driver of the other car.  Thank goodness.

Let me paint a lovely picture for you, set to the tune of flight of the bumblebee...

Me: an observant person by nature driving in stop and go traffic.  on a four lane highway. after a crazy winter storm leaving the roads coated in spots of black ice and piled high on the sides with heavy snow. picture me realizing in sadness that I'm going the wrong direction, and will be late to meet dad in Edina.

Then. The traffic eased up a bit.  And then right before my eyes was another car.  Adlfdhlkfhsdklhfslh.  Too. Close. To. Stop.

So I put on the brakes, and by the grace of God I was in the right lane, so I obviously start to swerve right.  Start spinning thanks to said ice.  And managed to only slightly hit the car in front of me, and while only the right corner of his car is hurt the ENTIRE left side of mine gets banged up.

Ugh.  My fault : (

And the entire time I'm spinning, all I can think of is how angry my mother is going to be.  Not if I'll die, just how mad I'll make others.

Thankfully no one was hurt.  The other driver was very nice, he was 23, and consoled my hysterically crying self while exchanging information.  "I've been in a few accidents before, so I'm not too upset," he says to me. 

After that I drove, meeting both dad and mom in Edina.  We eat dinner.  And no one was mad.  Strangely.  I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but right now it all looks like it won't be that horrible of an ordeal: the guy I hit, and I have the same insurance...  Mom said to me, "well good side to hit it on because there was some rust over there."  The only thing that sucks besides two giant dents near the back (where's Edward when I need him?) is that the passenger door is hard to open and only opens a little bit. This is motivation not to eat too much over break.

And what am I doing tomorrow?  Running around as usual, making a return, hanging out with dad, and seeing J.

But wait- I didn't fill you in on the REST of the day, let me sum it up:
•Hurried to get downtown before lunchtime (rush).
•Met Jana for the adorable 8th floor Macy's display (jingle)
•Met the bride and groom for whom I'm shooting a wedding for to sign photography contract (sign)

my album

•Here it is.  I've uploaded everything to my flickr account, so you can see my entire album so far here.
•My supply list as follows:

•Album: American Crafts
•Cardstock: Bazzill (dotted swiss green), Archiver's, & watercolor paper (art supply)
•Transparencies: K & Company
•Patterned Paper: K & Company, Martha Stewart
•Buttons: K & Company
•Rub Ons: K & Company
•Letter stickers: Thickers, Making Memories
•Buttons: K & Company
•Ribbons: Archivers

•I'm not going to lie and say this is easy.  It's kind of stressful, especially if you were 20 days behind like me.  But it's worth it, and I already am in love. 

2:30

yes I am blogging at 2:30 am, you're not? why am I up at this ungodly hour? oh, because I had twenty days to catch up on in my december daily album.  yes. twenty. it occured to me around 12:30 that I had gone mad.  But readers, it's gorgeous, and I cannot wait to get it up here.  I just have to figure out/print the journaling.  then I'll really be caught up. 

it's such a crazy christmas zoo at my parent's house.  we are so crazy, in a good way, like making/baking/wrapping crazy. 

friday, my first day off i finally got to see where Kate and Karen live when we're all not together at the sorority house.  i loved getting the full tour of "pinestone manor" (kate don't kill me!) I totally fell in love.  Can you see why?

then we went and saw twilight.  yes, for the thrid time.  and someone told me that feminists don't like twilight, so of course, now i love it even more. bwahahah. 

i am really loving my life right now, even though i am breaking one of my break rules: establishing poor sleeping schedules.  ahhslhrelhkdhfeh! oh well!

i've got to go, back to the grind- er creative chaos.