Fortune Cookie Inspiration
I just remembered that fortune that I got in a fortune cookie in Portland that said something like, "a trip to the east will bring you good fortune." I was amused when I first read it, even when I wasn't sure I was going to move back here. The fortune cookie was right!!
***
I am very glad to realize that it's only 6:30. I still have a nice evening ahead of me, and it's already been a lovely weekend.
I got to hang out with Nic on Friday night after he IMed me earlier that day and asked if he could stop by. He's so much fun to be with, and it hadn't worked out for us to meet up yet, so it was quite a pleasant surprise that he came over. I gave him a tour of my crazy basement and I told him to look around at whatever he wanted. He had a lot of fun opening boxes and drawers and cabinets, just exploring to see what he'd find. It was fun to look at the basement and all it's treasures through the eyes of someone else, so to speak. He saw the 50's style lamps that I'd gotten from my mom's friend when she moved to Roanoke. They are cute with funky bases, and equally funky shades that somehow don't quite seem to match the bases, yet somehow it works anyway. I still like them, but they aren't really my style anymore, so I gave them to Nic since he said that he'd actually use them.
He stepped in dog poop twice in the basement. It was totally my fault. I was so excited to have him over, and eager to show him stuff, that I neglected to take my dogs out right after they ate. When they gotta go, they gotta go, and I have two dogs, so 2 piles of poop.
It's kind of amazing that Nic managed to find both poo piles and step right in them. He was a good sport about it even though I'm still pretty embarrassed.
We went out for Thai food, then went to one Starbucks where there was a family with 4 kids who were already horsing around and screaming, and they were all just getting settled for the night, so we decided to drive 20 minutes to a different Starbucks. There I ran into the mom of one of my friends from high school. My friend apparently has a baby that is 14 months old now. The mom/grandmom showed me photos of course, and the baby is really cute. Still, that's the one weird thing about living around here--random run ins like that one. I got along pretty well with them though, so it wasn't unpleasant, but high school is a time of my life that I like to distance myself from.
We went over to Border's and browsed around. Their art books section has dwindled considerably. It was kind of sad. We perused the goods section. Then we found the clearance bins. Everything was 75% off, but mostly it was a bunch of junk like address books, ugly cards, awkwardly proportioned vinyl shopping bags, pastel colored stickers, and passport covers. However, in the bottom of one bin, Nic found a cute little sketchbook that had brown kraft paper on the inside. Since he doesn't sketch, he handed it over, and I promptly went and purchased our find; with the discount it was only $1.33. After I'd checked out, he showed me another book he'd found. It was a photo album with a pretty purple cloth cover; the kind that has a translucent thin sheet of paper that covers over the thicker paper that you mount the photos onto. I thought it would make a cool mini-portfolio, so I asked the cashier how much he'd charge me for it since the original sticker was missing. He said "$1.50?" and I said, "sold."
We headed back to my house, and I looked all over for the sketchbook I'm currently using because I wanted to show him a couple of things that I'm working on. I couldn't find it ANYWHERE, so eventually gave up. Yesterday I found it on the floor under the ottoman. Figures.
He left and I decided to watch "Nights in Rodanthe" since it was here (my mom's pick from Netflix). It was kind of like stepping in dog poop twice. barefoot. and not being able to wash it off, but instead having to walk around awkwardly till it dries up, cracks and falls off, leaving you feeling filthy still, even if you can walk normally again.
The next morning was Valentine's Day. What a glorious day. I love Valentine's day. The best part of the day was when I finally took a shower and had a moment of inspiration. I figured out the Valentines that I had to create.
I knew the sentiment of what I wanted to say, but it was hard to write it in a normal card without using the words, "I hope" before it. There were a few phrases I liked, for example, "I hope you have lots and lots of love in the coming year." "I hope you will have more and more love in your life all the time." "I hope you know that you are loved." I don't like to write "I hope" anymore, because to me that includes doubt and the possibility that they might not actually have or get the thing you are offering to them. Then again, if I write, "I offer you lots and lots of love in the coming year" or "I declare that you will have more and more in love in your life all the time" or "Know that you are loved," then I sound a little bit douche-ier than I wanted to sound. I was in a pickle, but as I worked the Pantene Volumizing Shampoo into a frothy lather, the solution hit me: I could make "valentine fortunes" which offer predictions in a cute, clever way, instead of a dumb, cheesy-sounding way.
I drew up some fortune cookies, copied them a few times, colored them in, cut out fortune strips and wrote out the fortunes on each strip carefully with my most fine-tipped pen. I glued each one into a card after cutting a slit along the edge of the fortune cookie so the fortune would stick out a bit. They were really adorable when they were all finished. I made three; one for each friend that was coming over that night.
They were a success, and each fortune said something different, so they got to choose which card they were drawn to, and therefore get the perfect message.
We celebrated all evening with lots of food and drink. We got Mandalay takeout which was delicious as always, and I ate too much of it as always. I made a vanilla pudding from scratch poured over raspberries and blackberries. It turned out great. We sipped on wine that mercurialdawn's boss gave her for Christmas; it went perfectly with the pudding.
The next morning I woke up early-ish because of the dogs (though they let me sleep in til 9:15 which is unusual). Since I was up, I decided to make waffles from scratch. They turned out really good. I even made a "berry syrup" from the leftover raspberries and blackberries. I didn't know how to make a berry syrup, so I just heated up the berries and added 1/4 cup of sugar. It did the trick and was absolutely, smashingly delicious on the waffles.
We sat around at the breakfast table and chatted til about 1pm when we all got the energy to get up and get on with our various days. mercurialdawn and I decided to go to the mall to scout out dealz with a z. We didn't really find any. We didn't even find any regular deals with an s. We had the parking karma and the table karma (we had some McDonald's at the food court and found an empty standing table to stand and eat at in the otherwise packed seating area), but not the actual shopping karma.
I think I mostly just wasn't in the mood. It's like, if something is not $10 or less at this point in time, I'm not interested. I didn't find anything I wanted in the $10 or less range.
I got home and all I wanted to do was veg in front of the tv, but we don't have actual tv, and I don't want to re-watch Nights in Rodanthe. I took the dogs for a little walk, fed them. Then I sat out back on the porch steps in the cold for a while. I watched the pretty pale and wispy winter sunset. I enjoyed a hot cup of tea as the dogs had a ball digging in the yard and barking when barked at.
I think I must just be a little tired from a couple of late nights and lots of activity, because when I came back inside, I still just wanted to watch tv, but we still don't have tv and only a limited dvd selection. So instead I wrote this journal post.
the end.
***
I am very glad to realize that it's only 6:30. I still have a nice evening ahead of me, and it's already been a lovely weekend.
I got to hang out with Nic on Friday night after he IMed me earlier that day and asked if he could stop by. He's so much fun to be with, and it hadn't worked out for us to meet up yet, so it was quite a pleasant surprise that he came over. I gave him a tour of my crazy basement and I told him to look around at whatever he wanted. He had a lot of fun opening boxes and drawers and cabinets, just exploring to see what he'd find. It was fun to look at the basement and all it's treasures through the eyes of someone else, so to speak. He saw the 50's style lamps that I'd gotten from my mom's friend when she moved to Roanoke. They are cute with funky bases, and equally funky shades that somehow don't quite seem to match the bases, yet somehow it works anyway. I still like them, but they aren't really my style anymore, so I gave them to Nic since he said that he'd actually use them.
He stepped in dog poop twice in the basement. It was totally my fault. I was so excited to have him over, and eager to show him stuff, that I neglected to take my dogs out right after they ate. When they gotta go, they gotta go, and I have two dogs, so 2 piles of poop.
It's kind of amazing that Nic managed to find both poo piles and step right in them. He was a good sport about it even though I'm still pretty embarrassed.
We went out for Thai food, then went to one Starbucks where there was a family with 4 kids who were already horsing around and screaming, and they were all just getting settled for the night, so we decided to drive 20 minutes to a different Starbucks. There I ran into the mom of one of my friends from high school. My friend apparently has a baby that is 14 months old now. The mom/grandmom showed me photos of course, and the baby is really cute. Still, that's the one weird thing about living around here--random run ins like that one. I got along pretty well with them though, so it wasn't unpleasant, but high school is a time of my life that I like to distance myself from.
We went over to Border's and browsed around. Their art books section has dwindled considerably. It was kind of sad. We perused the goods section. Then we found the clearance bins. Everything was 75% off, but mostly it was a bunch of junk like address books, ugly cards, awkwardly proportioned vinyl shopping bags, pastel colored stickers, and passport covers. However, in the bottom of one bin, Nic found a cute little sketchbook that had brown kraft paper on the inside. Since he doesn't sketch, he handed it over, and I promptly went and purchased our find; with the discount it was only $1.33. After I'd checked out, he showed me another book he'd found. It was a photo album with a pretty purple cloth cover; the kind that has a translucent thin sheet of paper that covers over the thicker paper that you mount the photos onto. I thought it would make a cool mini-portfolio, so I asked the cashier how much he'd charge me for it since the original sticker was missing. He said "$1.50?" and I said, "sold."
We headed back to my house, and I looked all over for the sketchbook I'm currently using because I wanted to show him a couple of things that I'm working on. I couldn't find it ANYWHERE, so eventually gave up. Yesterday I found it on the floor under the ottoman. Figures.
He left and I decided to watch "Nights in Rodanthe" since it was here (my mom's pick from Netflix). It was kind of like stepping in dog poop twice. barefoot. and not being able to wash it off, but instead having to walk around awkwardly till it dries up, cracks and falls off, leaving you feeling filthy still, even if you can walk normally again.
The next morning was Valentine's Day. What a glorious day. I love Valentine's day. The best part of the day was when I finally took a shower and had a moment of inspiration. I figured out the Valentines that I had to create.
I knew the sentiment of what I wanted to say, but it was hard to write it in a normal card without using the words, "I hope" before it. There were a few phrases I liked, for example, "I hope you have lots and lots of love in the coming year." "I hope you will have more and more love in your life all the time." "I hope you know that you are loved." I don't like to write "I hope" anymore, because to me that includes doubt and the possibility that they might not actually have or get the thing you are offering to them. Then again, if I write, "I offer you lots and lots of love in the coming year" or "I declare that you will have more and more in love in your life all the time" or "Know that you are loved," then I sound a little bit douche-ier than I wanted to sound. I was in a pickle, but as I worked the Pantene Volumizing Shampoo into a frothy lather, the solution hit me: I could make "valentine fortunes" which offer predictions in a cute, clever way, instead of a dumb, cheesy-sounding way.
I drew up some fortune cookies, copied them a few times, colored them in, cut out fortune strips and wrote out the fortunes on each strip carefully with my most fine-tipped pen. I glued each one into a card after cutting a slit along the edge of the fortune cookie so the fortune would stick out a bit. They were really adorable when they were all finished. I made three; one for each friend that was coming over that night.
They were a success, and each fortune said something different, so they got to choose which card they were drawn to, and therefore get the perfect message.
We celebrated all evening with lots of food and drink. We got Mandalay takeout which was delicious as always, and I ate too much of it as always. I made a vanilla pudding from scratch poured over raspberries and blackberries. It turned out great. We sipped on wine that mercurialdawn's boss gave her for Christmas; it went perfectly with the pudding.
The next morning I woke up early-ish because of the dogs (though they let me sleep in til 9:15 which is unusual). Since I was up, I decided to make waffles from scratch. They turned out really good. I even made a "berry syrup" from the leftover raspberries and blackberries. I didn't know how to make a berry syrup, so I just heated up the berries and added 1/4 cup of sugar. It did the trick and was absolutely, smashingly delicious on the waffles.
We sat around at the breakfast table and chatted til about 1pm when we all got the energy to get up and get on with our various days. mercurialdawn and I decided to go to the mall to scout out dealz with a z. We didn't really find any. We didn't even find any regular deals with an s. We had the parking karma and the table karma (we had some McDonald's at the food court and found an empty standing table to stand and eat at in the otherwise packed seating area), but not the actual shopping karma.
I think I mostly just wasn't in the mood. It's like, if something is not $10 or less at this point in time, I'm not interested. I didn't find anything I wanted in the $10 or less range.
I got home and all I wanted to do was veg in front of the tv, but we don't have actual tv, and I don't want to re-watch Nights in Rodanthe. I took the dogs for a little walk, fed them. Then I sat out back on the porch steps in the cold for a while. I watched the pretty pale and wispy winter sunset. I enjoyed a hot cup of tea as the dogs had a ball digging in the yard and barking when barked at.
I think I must just be a little tired from a couple of late nights and lots of activity, because when I came back inside, I still just wanted to watch tv, but we still don't have tv and only a limited dvd selection. So instead I wrote this journal post.
the end.