A Little Bird

This morning I woke up to the beautiful sound of birds singing, and it put a smile on my face. 

In case you can't tell, this is not a live bird (though I wouldn't mind getting one). Doesn't he look curious? I can relate to that. I'm a big asker of questions. I'm always wondering about things. Why this, why that? I think the bird's expression is enhanced by the slight cock of its head. Or maybe it's in the eyes. No matter what, I find this little guy lovable. Plus, that yellow is gorgeously peppy.

He's normally attached to my inspiration board, and keeps me company while I work. I actually rearranged my inspiration board today. Recent additions inclue a bag that once held lemons and a candy wrapper. Yum. Candy!

Check out Everything Little Miss for the latest edition of Lost In Thoughts.

Hot Stuff

Eric spotted this license plate the other day, and I was happy to see the car parked in the same place today because I had my camera. HOT5TUF. 

Not much to report today. I spent most of the day cutting out envelope liners and then gluing them into said envelopes. I watched old episodes of Bones on hulu while I worked, so it was fun. I have a history of watching of TV shows (every single episode of Doogie Howser, M.D., for example) online while working. What a magnificent invention. Do you ever visit hulu?

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Mornin'. Where to begin?

I'm so mad at myself! We were at HBS all day Friday, and I don't have a single picture. I had a camera. I even took it out and took some photos. After taking about 20 I realized that the memory card was at home. Dang it! What was I thinking?

This morning while we were out walking at 6:30am I saw the cutest lady. She's elderly - probably 80ish. Yeah, she was definitely jogging. HA! We live right by a big hill, and she was shuffling down (it really wasn't faster than walking, just in a running motion). Then she walked back up. Good for her! 

The commercials for Cash4Gold look like such a scam. Send them your gold and they'll mail you a check? Hmm. No thank you, I think I'll keep my gold. 

Notice how they call it the swine flu? Do you think they use the word swine because it's gross and we don't relate it to food. We eat pork or ham, not swine. Just like bird flu. We don't eat bird. We eat poultry or chicken. And mad cow disease. I sure don't eat mad cow. But I've had beef or steak on occassion. 

I finally got a picture of a robin.

Check out The Un Mom and Baby Boogers for more totally random thoughts.

Pink Blossoms & Lens Flare

Hello, hello! It's been a few days, but now it's back to business as usual. 

Thursday afternoon and all day Friday Eric and I were at HBS for the Admitted Students Welcome. We now have a better idea about what to expect in the coming months and years. We also made some friends. Can I just follow that with a WOO HOO!? It's nice to have friends who will be going through the same thing and learning with us. And I say us because even though Eric is the one who was admitted, it's pretty clear that partners are encouraged to participate in almost everything. And yes, I'm getting used to thinking of myself as the partner (and of Eric as my student).

Did everybody enjoy the weekend? Boston was (still is) beyond gorgeous. I took the photo during a meandering walk on Saturday morning. That night we met friends for drinks (and delcious after-dinner nachos) at Devlin's and we sat outside in T-SHIRTS! That's how warm it was. Wow. 

In other news, my allergies and/or cold are officially over. That means that my head feels clear and I was so productive today. I'm finishing up a freelance website redesign, and it'll be live soon; check out Everything Little Miss later this week for a peek. I also put the finishing touches on a secret project, which I'll reveal on May 7.

I just have one last thought: yay Red Sox! They swept the Yankees this weekend and have now won 10 in a row. Plus, Ellsbury stole home last night! 

Flowers On A Tree In Blue

This afternoon we went to HBS for day one of the Admitted Students Welcome. In all of the literature, Eric is my "student" (sounds like I'm his mom or something) and I'm his "partner." However, when we got there all of the name tags looked the same, I got a t-shirt that says HBS class of 2011, and nobody could tell that I was a partner (rather than a student). So that was a little awkward. Especially when people started asking where I worked and my answer was "well, I was laid off in January." Of course I followed that with "but I'm starting my own design business called Everything Little Miss." It was a large crowd and I think I was a tad overwhelmed by it all. 

Once we split into small groups for dinner, I felt much more comfortable. We ate at Spice with a current student and two other admitted students. The current student told us about her experiences so far this year. She answered all of our questions honestly and was really very helpful. It was interesting to hear the other students' questions and also learn about their interviews. 

Tomorrow our day starts at 7:00 am with a continental breakfast. Dinner is at 7:00 pm. It's going to be a long day, so I doubt we'll have time to post.

Oh yeah! The photo. I took this picture on the campus. Our little Minolta is on its last legs, and I'm not sure what happened here, but I adore the outcome! Blue! I think it's a cherry tree or something like that. Am I close?

Last but not least, today I posted part 2 of my Lost In Thoughts series and about a masthead I designed. 

Earth Day 2009

Happy Earth Day! I wanted to post about being green, so I took a picture of one of our compact fluorescent light blubs. But that's not actually green, so I also took a picture of one of our plants too (for a lovely burst of color). 

Things aren't too different around here today, because we try to think of every day as Earth Day. We recycle, have re-usable grocery bags, take public transportation and walk when we can, turn out lights in other rooms, wash our clothes in cold water, and we obviously use energy saving light bulbs. We don't have an air conditioner and in the winter our apartment stays pretty warm on its own (but we also use sweatshirts and blankets before we turn up the heat - even though heat is included in our rent). We unplug our cell phone chargers when our phones aren't charging. We use plastic shopping bags as trash can liners and bring extras to the recycling bin at the super market. We use cloth napkins and glass water bottles. You get the idea - we're trying to be aware of our impact. What are you doing to keep the Earth clean?

For more information about recycling, check out this really cool A-Z recycling guide from Real Simple.

I used the digital Polaroid application to awesome-ify today's pictures. Shake it like a polaroid picture, shake shake it!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Hey! I'm back for another round of seemingly unrelated thoughts.

Last week we had beautiful weather, and many people were sporting shorts for their outdoor exercise expeditions. That's cool. But I saw this girl wearing shorts with a drawstring, and the string was longer than her shorts! Yikes. The string was touching her leg, and that would drive me crazy. Didn't it tickle? The makers of the shorts knew the length, why would they make the string so long? On a more awkward note, I was staring at her shorts and then she smiled at me. Guess I wasn't as stealth as I imagined. 

I use band aids the way a six-year-old might. Like a band aid per day. If it hurts, a band aid fixes it. Small paper cut, hang nail, scrape - I'm using a band aid. At my last job, I considered the band aids in the cabinet a benefit. Anybody else love band aids as much as I do?

On Sunday we saw a license plate that said "EFN." I thought it was really funny. (In my head, it says effin', as in "no effin' way!")

Isn't it funny that a pint glass, which is generally reserved for beer, can also hold a pint of cream? Since cream comes in a carton it seems like a totally different form of measurement. It's not. 

Commercial of the week: MicroForce by ShavePro. For all those times you need to shave in the deep end of the pool. And if you're prone to dropping your razor into glasses filled with liquid, you might want to consider switching brands.

I used an entire box of tissues last week (Monday - Saturday). How many did you use? 

On Thursday I started a new series on Everything Little Miss. It's called Lost In Thoughts, and will appear on Thursdays for 8 weeks. I'll share things that I find inspiring, so stop by for some lovlieness and motivation! :)

I think this tree and its root look like a giant's leg and foot. Do you see what I'm seeing?

Check out The Un Mom and Baby Boogers for more totally random thoughts.

Ribbons

I'm feeling sun kissed because we went to a BBQ yesterday afternoon. There was a lot of meat, which Eric enjoyed more than I did. We brought angel food cake, stawberries, and whipped cream to the gathering -YUM! I can't tell you how nice it was so sit outside for a few hours. Today I look and feel healthier. I think the sunshine really gave me a boost. Isn't it the best when the weather cooperates on the weekend?

Today has been slightly overcast, but bright. These ribbons looked so delicate in the soft light that I grabbed my camera. The light's not too harsh, not too dim, just right (now I'm thinking of Goldilocks). 

Three Men At Dusk

Cute old men. It was a sweet scene; they looked like old friends. 

So sorry for the gap in postings. I blame my cold/allergies. I will post more this afternoon. Thanks for visiting!

Our Evening Walk

Most evenings, when the weather's nice, Eric and I take a walk when he gets home from work. We usually push ourselves and turn it into a bit of a workout. However, this week I've had allergies (or a cold, I'm really not sure), and our walks have turned to strolls so I can breathe. 

Early in our walk today, the ground was littered with these fluffy little blossoms. Just as I was starting to wonder where on Earth they came from, we happened upon the source. We also saw a few robins (those little devils are fast! I haven't gotten a good picture yet), squirrels, and some bright red tulips that were ready to burst. 

Do you know what we didn't see? A woodpecker. We heard it though! We stopped and stared at a group of trees trying to find it. No luck. So we went on our way, and it immediately started pecking again. So we stopped to look. When we didn't see it we pretended to walk away. But the bird was too smart and didn't make a peep (or a peck) until we were walking away in earnest! 

After that nothing much happened until a police car pulled up beside us and asked if we'd called the cops. Nope, not us. So he sped off. A few minutes later we saw him circling the neighborhood, so we don't know what was going on. 

*I started a new series over at Everything Little Miss, called Lost In Thoughts. Each Thursday, for 8 weeks, I'll share some things that make me feel creative. 

Do Two Negatives Equal A Positive?

Today is April 15th, known as tax day here in the U.S.  I've had my taxes done for a while, in order to apply for FAFSA loans for business school.  Most people know that April 15th is tax day, because, well, most people wait until the last minute to do their taxes.  What many people don't know is that April 15th is also the day Lincoln died.  Not exactly an uplifting piece of trivia, but might as well get all the bad feelings out of the way today and start fresh tomorrow.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

One night last week, just as I was drifting off to sleep, I was jarred awake by a loud noise follwed by a woman's voice: "BEEEEEP. LOW BATTERY." Say what? I asked Eric if he heard it and if it sounded like it was coming from our apartment. When he said yes, we both knew we weren't dreaming so he went to investigate. It was our smoke detector! I didn't know they could speak. We were able to scrounge up 3 AA batteries and shut her up. I'm sorta glad she spoke up while Eric was home because it was really freaky.

If you're looking for an awkward way to start a conversation, you can use this: I was thinking of you in the shower this morning. I've definitely said that (and then cringed because I realized it just didn't sound right). 

Guys, I found this fun website called Wordle. You can either enter a bunch of text OR use your blog RSS feed and make a fun word cloud. It's cool, really. Try it.

Last week I mentioned that I rearranged our apartment. If you're interested and you missed the insanely short follow-up slide show, you can check it out here.

Check out the Everything Little Miss blog to see my newest custom design! It's an engagement party invitation. All pink and cream and yummy.

I took this photo on my birthday. Lately I've been really interested in structures (like bridges). This deconstructed building is in Downtown Crossing, and it's massive and impressive. I have no idea what the plans are for this site, but I couldn't resist the photo.

Note: I LOVE when you guys comment! So thank you, thank you, thank you for all off the comments the past few weeks! I'm working on being a better commentor - I know I've left comments for some of you - but I do check out your blogs. 

Check out The Un Mom and Baby Boogers for more totally random thoughts.

Boston - New Jersey - Harvard - Boston

Wow. It was a looooooong weekend. I need about 10 more hours of sleep. But it was a good weekend. Better than good. 

Friday afternoon we drove to New Jersey. With traffic, it took us about 5 hours. Our first stop was my grandparent's house (mom's parents) for dinner.  We met my parents and brother there. I've been missing my family a lot, so it was really exciting to see them. Unfortunately, my sister was busy and couldn't come, but my aunt Lisa joined us, and that was a welcome surprise. 

After dinner we headed over to my gramma's house (dad's mom). The next morning I woke up bright and early and had a nice talk with my gramma before we started preparing for the Passover Sedar (we always celebrate the holiday on the weekend). My dad's brother and his wife came around 2:30 and they brought some delicious cheese. The sedar started around 4:30.It was fun and there was lots of laughing. But it was a seriously long day.

Sunday we had fresh bagels for breakfast. Then we hit the road around 10:30 because we were headed to Harvard, MA for Easter dinner with Eric's family. I took the picture from the car. I really like that you can see the city through the gaps in the bridge's railing. The drive took about 4 hours (no traffic!) and we ate at 3:00. Dinner was delicious and the company was even better. After dinner we played the egg game.* I was out first and Eric's mom won. We sort of ate and ran, but we were soo, soo, soooooooo tired. 

The end.

*How to play the egg game: Select a hard boiled egg. Sit in a circle (or around a table) and go clockwise. Tap (or slam - your choice) one end of your egg against your opponent's. If yours breaks, use the other end to try again with the person on your other side (if yours didn't break, use the same side). Then your second opponent turns to her left and tries with the next person. And so on. You continue this way until both ends of the egg are broken, at which point you're out and the chain skips you. The person who is left with at least one undamaged side of their egg at the end is the winner. It's fun - you should try it. 

Mailboxes

Well this is something you don't see everyday. Yesterday afternoon I had my window open and I thought I heard the mail truck, so I turned around to look. I was sorta right. It was a mail truck, just not one delivering mail. It was just driving by with a bunch of new mailboxes! And they were shrink-wrapped. Hahaha. I grabbed my camera as quickly as I could and managed to get this picture. I have no idea where they were going. When I went for a walk I made a point of looking at all the mailboxes and none of them looked new. 

The postal service is a mystery to me. Not just these mailboxes - the whole thing. It seems very complex. I would love to see how they sort the mail. How does international mail work? Are postal workers impressed by nice looking packages? Do they read postcards? If I saw something addressed to Post Secret I'd totally read it. If a customer is rude, do postal workers delay (or "lose") the package? I'm sure that's not allowed. How much mail is there? Do the delivery people feel sorry for customers who only get junk mail and bills?

Okay, that's all for now. Please leave comments if you have answers!  I'm pretty curious today (as usual). 

New Inspiration Board

click image to enlarge

Now that I've rearranged the apartment, I have space for an inspiration board beside my desk. I'm always finding things in catalogs and tearing them out and sticking them in weird places. Now I'll just put them right onto the board! So cool. Plus, I'll add my own sketches and notes. I'm just starting out, but I think it'll be full of gorgeous things one day really soon. 

I find many of the images and words that inspire me online, so they probably won't make it to the board because I don't want to waste paper by printing them (never fear, I have an inspiration folder on my computer). It's cool how many beautiful inspiration boards, lines, and folders can be found online. Do you have one?

Blooming Magnolia And A White Sky

A blooming magnolia tree is one of the most beautiful signs of spring. But when I saw this tree today, its buds practically bursting, I was struck by the whiteness of the sky (when I think white sky, I think snow). I was walking to Brookline (a 15 - 20 minute walk) to pick up some supplies for an engagement announcement I'm making for a friend, and it was downright nippy out there when the sun wasn't shining. 

This kind of weather, combined with excitement about spring, makes people dress like maniacs. I saw a woman wearing a full-length winter parka and two people wearing shorts. This guy (below) had a really weird tattoo on the back of his calf, and all I could think about was how much that must have hurt.

P.S. Are you there Spring? It's me, April. I'm ready for you to take off your shoes and stay awhile.  

P.P.S. If you'd like to see photos of our newly rearranged apartment, click here for a super short slideshow. 

Random Tuesday Thoughts

For those of you coming over from The Un Mom, I thought I'd quickly tell you a bit about myself. I was laid off in January, and I've spent the past few months starting Everything Little Miss, a small design company. I have cards and card sets for sale in my etsy shop. I also do custom work; examples include wedding invitations, business cards, and my dad's website. When I'm not working I spend my time with Eric (roommate, boyfriend, co-author) and looking for a job.

Infomercials might just be the most entertaining programming on TV. Not the super long ones, but the 30 -60 second ones. Why are they always based on the most outrageous premises? I can't imagine a situation where I'd accidentally drop my wallet in a blender, but hey, these folks made one that can take that sort of abuse. 

People always say "Sounds like a plan, Stan." What's that called? Does a phrase like that have a name? Anyway, I'm starting a new one of those phrase-thingies. Mine goes a little something like this: "What's the deal, Neil?" Feel free to use it frequently. Maybe we can get a trend going here. 

My mom sent me a package for my birthday, and it still hasn't arrived (it should have gotten here by March 26th!). I think a postal monster ate it. Boo hoo. 

I rearranged the whole apartment yesterday. I'm still getting used to it, but I think this is gonna be good. I created a new office space that's much more usable. I'm doing a lot of work from home and Eric will have homework starting in September, so usable office space is a necessity. 

Sara gave me this awesome orange sqeezer (I think the technical term might be juicer) for my birthday. I don't have any oranges, so I squeezed a grapefruit instead. YUM. For those of you who don't know me, I love orange: the fruit, the scent, and especially the color. 

Check out The Un Mom and Baby Boogers for more totally random thoughts.

April Showers

I've been so busy today that I didn't even realize it was raining until I looked out the kitchen window this afternoon (pictured). I don't mind the rain, especially in the early spring. You know what they say: April showers bring May flowers. 

I started an e-course today, and I'm very excited. It's being taught by Holly Becker of decor8. Holly is a professional blogger, and she'll be sharing some of her tips over the next 4 weeks. Perhaps you'll notice a difference in upcoming posts! I'm hoping to increase our readership here and on my professional blog (Everything Little Miss). 

Stay dry!

Brighton, England

In 2003, Eric and I were studying abroad in London, England. At one point, we spent a day in Brighton. It was cold the day we went, but the pier was beautiful and we spent quite a bit of time on the rocky beach. I remember being relieved to be out of the city. We could look out over the ocean and our view wasn't interrupted by anything. I was craving time away from buildings, and that day in Brighton was just what I needed.

Today I'm wishing we were at the beach.

Eric's Going To HBS!

Today Eric found out that he's been accepted to Harvard Business School! I'm so, so proud. The next two years will be very interesting. :)

If you're wondering, I spent the last 45 minutes figuring out how to spell out "congratulations" with things I could find in the apartment. Success! 

From left to right: cookie, chocolate candy (thanks Kim), cigars, twisty tie, advil, broken rubber band, batteries, ribbon, corkscrew, letter cut from one of Eric's magazines (sorry), band aids, crystal + necklace pendant, top of a drink umbrella, q-tips, holes from a hole punch (aka confetti).

[click image to enlarge]

Friends & Pizza

Sara and Marcel are coming over for dinner in just a little bit, and I'm so excited. We're ordering pizza, and I made oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. I'm looking forward to catching up. Sara and I used to work together and see each other every single day. Now I get my daily dose of Sara by reading her blog, emailing, and following her on Twitter. Oh my goodness! I just remembered she's bringing my birthday present! Whoo hooo! I love presents. Who doesn't? :) 

The picture above is the only picture I took at their wedding (nearly 2 years ago now!). That's my bridesmaid bouquet in the foreground. Don't worry, Eric took a number of really gorgeous photos.

Sara's doing an awesome GIVEAWAY on her blog, and she's picking up the loot tonight. She's selected the Oxalis folded card set (pictured below) from my Everything Little Miss Etsy Shop. Head over to Sara's blog to enter the contest!