Day 53

So many books to read, so little time. And ambition. I'm currently reading East of Eden by Steinbeck and even though I'm 1/4 of the way through, I still have 400 pages left!

Day 52

This picture happened for 2 reasons: 1) I planned on taking picture while having ice cream with friends but was so absorbed by said friends and ice cream, I didn't even take my camera out and 2) I was going to take a picture of a puppy at the puppy store they dragged me to, but I was so depressed because the puppy store is the most depressing place on earth, so again, my camera didn't come out.

So, I came home, pictureless, and found this flower on my nightstand that my mom got me (also in celebration of my grad school acceptance) and snapped a pic of it.

Day 51

That's AM people! Much, much too early to be getting up. Especially if you're getting up to walk in the cold morning weather.

Day 50

What my brother is currently enjoying in boot camp. But isn't that the cutest little bottle of Tabasco sauce you've ever seen?

Day 49

My mom brought me a cute present in this even cuter bag for being accepted to grad school. I know it's a Valentine's Day bag, but I couldn't care less. Cute is cute.

Day 48

Every day, I checked this mail box to see if I got my acceptance letter for grad school. On this day, I trotted out to the mailbox with my camera (mostly just so my neighbors could laugh at me) and found no mail.

But, later that day, since the mailman was being a slacker, it finally arrived! Grad school, here I come!

I hate this damn thing. I worked my ass off for an entire week only to lose a pound. One, tiny little pound!

Day 46

Flowers thanks to my mother's valetine's day gift.

Day 45

The pic is much better viewed larger - the cheesy message of the dove chocolate was 'to trust the ones you love' But Dove is my favorite, so I let all of their cheesy messages slide. Especially on Valentine's Day.

Day 44

Valentine's cupcake from one of my mom's coworkers. Nice and sprinkley, just the way I like 'em.

Day 43

Every year, I ask my boss to be my valentine. Every year, he turns me down. It does not, however, stop me from bringing him chocolates in an effort to bribe him. He still turns me down, though.

It might have something to do with the fact that he's gay.

Cute story, though: We were checking in a group together, bickering back and forth in our usual manner, when he looks up at this group of people and says "You'd think we were married, but we're not." Like, it's not totally obvious that we're not married.

Day 42

I will become a runner, I will become a runner, I will become a runner...

I just wish it wasn't so damn hard. I did manage to complete the first week of the couch to 5K, though. After many starts and stops. So I suppose that's a start.

Day 41

It finally came! My diploma.

Day 40

As I was doing my hair, I spotted this cool pattern on the floor outside the bathroom from the sticky valentine's day decorations we have stuck onto the windows. The weird things above and below the heart are owls. I think Target has a thing for owls this season.

Day 39

This little piggy was purchased in Nice, France. It holds all of my Euros (and 4 Pounds) for a return trip. Hopefully that return trip will come soon. Very, very soon.

Day 38

Wii family bowling game. I just took the pictures. And watched as grandma kicked their asses.

Day 37

My long lost lens cap. I lose this thing on a daily basis.

Day 36

A letter from my brother, from bootcamp. Don't try to read it, I could barely make out his handwriting. Apparently they don't teach penmanship in boot camp. The gist of it was he gets yelled a lot, he misses home, and he is sorry that I have to spend my birthday in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Day 35

We love the Wii Fit (even if I gained .5 pounds this week, argh). So does the cat.

Day 34

The birthday girl!

I love pretty much every single thing about this picture, but here's what I love the most:

1) The fact that she's wearing a zebra print halter top despite the fact that it was like 55 degrees outside. Fashion over comfort! My kind of girl.

2) Her bright pink finger nails.

3) How hard she was laughing over the previous pictures I had taken of her and the silly faces she was making.

4) That I took this picture without even looking. I was putting my camera away and just snapped this and it turned out perfectly!

Day 33

Rainy days call for lazy days.

Day 32

Homemade donuts just like Nana used to make.

Day 31

The neighbors moved out and left a boat behind. How odd.

One month down, only eleven more to go. Oy.

Day 30

Nothing beats a late night cup of homemade hot chocolate with lots of whip cream.

Day 29

This envelope contains my future. It will be the deciding factor on whether or not I get into grad school. If not, there's not really a Plan B, so this is it!

Godspeed envelope, godspeed.

Day 28

I played Susie Homemaker and made cookies (rare) and cooked dinner (never happens). I even cleaned the kitchen.

Although, I was going to take a picture of the grocery store parking lot to show how insanely busy it is at 11AM on a Wednesday, but as I was getting to ready to shoot with my camera, I saw this old man staring at me and I'm pretty sure he was seconds away from calling 911.

Lesson learned: Work on my stealthiness.

Day 27

Ya know, I think this whole thing would be a whole lot easier if I had kids. I mean, you take 365 pictures of your kid and and it's cute. You take 365 pictures of your cat and you're a crazy cat lady.

I'm trying to remain firmly in the 'not crazy' territory, but it is rather hard to not take more than a couple pictures of such a cute cat. Especially when you're having a rough day trying to find something interesting to photograph.

Day 26

Planning is seriously one of my favorite things about traveling. I just love, love, love to plan.

Day 25

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Day 24

So many places to go, not enough time.

Or money.

Especially for London and Dublin.

Day 23

It's bronchitis.

I took this pic on the sly while waiting for the doctor. Thankfully he didn't catch me or he probably would have sent me for a psych evaluation.

All in all, though, this visit only took me 20 minutes. Waiting and all. Which really impresses me since I had only called 40 minutes earlier, hoping they could squeeze me in.

Now, excuse me, while I go hack up a lung and sip my Sprite.

Day 22

Yup. Sick.

Day 21

Always on the go, go, go...

Working 8 straight days in a row really wears on my sanity. And apparently my immune system.

Day 20

"Obama" cookies to celebrate the occasion.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day. As an American. As a long-term Obama supporter. As a bleeding heart liberal.

As I watched the inaguration of our 44th president, I was so proud that I was able to witness a time when this was all possible. Yesterday being Martin Luther King Jr. Day made it all the better. His great words echoed in my head today as our new president addressed us: "Let freedom ring."

I feel as though it finally as. Freedom, equality, hope.

And it's a wonderful feeling.

Day 19

Breakfast of champions.

Or big fat cheaters who blow their diets. In my defense, it's technically a holiday and this donut has sprinkles on it. Though, I think Publix could have been a bit more liberal in the sprinkle application process.

Promptly after eating this, however, I threw up.

Karma kinda sucks like that.

Day 18

Half-dead roses. It was a lazy, lazy day and this was all the energy I had to snap a pic.

Day 17

A picture of a picture. The frame is from etsy (aka the place that takes allllll of my money) and the picture is a vintage one of my grandparents, circa 1970-something.

Day 16

The cold weather and this cute little thing make it nearly impossible for me to get out of bed these days. Good thing there's nowhere to go early morning anymore (sans Thursdays).

Day 15

I found a flock of birds in my yard and the neighbor's yard when I got home from work today. This little guy was nearly left behind by his flock, until they called for him as they were flying away and he finally went after them.

It was rather difficult snapping this pic. I had just gotten home from work so my arms were loaded with my giant bag, my coat, my camera bag, my camera, my water, etc. Not easy.

Oh, and don't let the palm tree in the background fool you. It was freeeezing today. And it's only suppose to get colder. I live in the south for a reason - I like the warm weather and this isn't really working for me.

So, get warm soon weather! Or else.

Day 14 - forget me not

Today I took my baby brother to the recruiter's office so that he could get on a bus and go to boot camp for 17 weeks.

Day 13

I HATE running.

Hate, hate, hate it!

I don't know how I'm ever going to work my way up to a 5K.

Day 12

4 pounds. A memento.

Day 11

Day 10

Happy Birthday, Madre.

Day 9

This is Kit.

Kit does not like having his picture taken.

This is Kit trying to escape from me, but being stopped in his tracks by some unidentified noise.

Day 8

Two day because I couldn't decide.

A horrible day of work concluded with a gift. That was from New York. From my best friend. That indulged my new-found obsession with birds.