it's all walt disney's fault...

The Theme-Parking, Mega Churching, Franchising, Exurbing, McMansioning of America: Walt Disney's utopian dream forever changed Orlando, Florida, and laid the blueprint for the new American metropolis - National Geographic

Walt Disney's utopian dream forever changed Orlando, Florida, and laid the blueprint for the new American metropolis.

Everything happening to America today is happening here, and it's far removed from the cookie-cutter suburbanization of life a generation ago. The Orlando region has become Exhibit A for the ascendant power of our cities' exurbs: blobby coalescences of look-alike, overnight, amoeba-like concentrations of population far from city centers. These huge, sprawling communities are where more and more Americans choose to be, the place where job growth is fastest, home building is briskest, and malls and megachurches are multiplying as newcomers keep on coming. Who are all these people? They're you, they're me, and increasingly, they are nothing like the blue-eyed "Dick and Jane" of mythical suburban America. (more)

wow.

in case you missed the cool performance at the oscars.




and if you were interested in the shadow dancing people. note: ignore the sound if you watch the below video.



it's a decent day. not much going on.

tonight i have my design and color class which i must admit i am really enjoying. i'm spending a lot of time on out of class projects but i think it's forcing me to get some creative exercise.

i'm eating good and went for a long walk yesterday. so i'm feeling pretty good about my goals. i've also starting counting points at dinner instead of in the morning - i'm more likely to have control at breakfast and lunch than at night - or at least that's my theory right now. we'll see.

creating our own happiness

some thoughts from wayne coyne.

just another monday...

errrrr....

i'm reposting my goals as a reminder for myself.

1. five servings of fruit and vegetables daily
2. take my multi-vitamin daily
3. drink more water (i'm generally good at this but i could do better)
4. limit myself to one sweet item a day (i'm addicted to post meal desserts)
5. exercise four days a week

this week is going to be busy. i have class monday, tuesday and wednesday evenings.

e started his early shift at target today - 4am to noon. poor guy is going to need a nap.

ramble, ramble, ramble.

happy monday.

some good news, bad news and catfish...

i took the day off yesterday. i needed a break. e had the day off, i needed a break from work and we needed to just hangout. so i used my in-lieu day and had great time. i've decided there is nothing like an unscheduled day off...just lovely.

so my free day started off with an early trip to target - you may or may not know that target has had a special section recently called the global market - all sorts of handmade (or not so handmade) things from around the world. well, they had the these tables that i've had my eye on and thursday everything was marked down 75% off - so i had to make a mad dash for me some tables. and fate would have it - there were two left at $24.99 each plus e's 10%. excuse the crap already piled on them...














after all my discussion of consumerism lately i felt sort of bad about sharing my good purchases with you but then i realized that the two tables i am replacing were both purchased at garage sales - and i decided that i don't feel too bad.

next there was some starbucks spilled in my car, another starbucks drank, canned cinammon rolls, and an online viewing of grey's anatomy.

around noon we headed out on a road trip. after much deliberation we decided to go to the action figure museum in paul's valley. but first we stopped here -














not the best catfish or bar-b-q we ever had...

apparently the leutinant govenor had recently visited the action figure museum and e decided to leave his own personal mark.














today is a lazy day. e is working this afternoon and i'm cleaning house a bit. i'm thinking about hitting a thrift store or two later. and for some reason the sky is a very odd color - i think it might be the wind or possibly the end of the world is near.















and i have just a little bad news. i failed my goals miserably this week but i'm not beating myself up too bad. i figure i'll just try again.

also, i heard from my doctor - i need to continue my weekly blood giving. suck, suck, suck.

but all will be fine. it is the weekend afterall.

i don't know...

if you will think this is funny. the odds are probably not but it made me chuckle.

some other tidbits.

nyc is such an odd but fun place.

i know, i know anna nicole is everywhere but have you seen this? very, very disturbing. a very, very shady man.

whine, whine, pout, pout...

i spent two hours tonight watching american idol...sigh.

i attempted to count points today and follow all of my goals for the week. but then i got caught up in the emotional and physical funk of being stuck with a needle four times today. both hands, an arm and a finger.

i didn't do horribly bad - mostly because taco bueno gave me a plain beef burrito instead of a potato beef burrito. and who wants to eat a burrito just of beef - not me or my iron loving self. so i only managed to stuff a taco and cinnamon chips in my mouth. oh and the medium coke. but other than that i behaved - except for the water intake, veggie/fruit intake...oh suck i failed everything today.

i'm fascinated by the below. i'm caught somewhere between - i will feel like a complete idiot and i will be able to call other people complete idiots. regardless in the promo tonight a contestant was asked what a prime number was and i didn't know. sure i've heard of a prime number and answered it on test once but it is long gone. it left somewhere between debits and credits and how to use proper ap style (note - i still suck at both of those examples).

Fox tests nation's fifth-grade knowledge
Associated Press

PASADENA, Calif. - Every parent's nightmare - being exposed for not knowing what's in your kid's school textbook - will soon play out on national television.

Fox announced Saturday that it is making a new game show, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" that will air sometime later this year, perhaps as early as the spring.

Adults will compete in a quiz based on questions from elementary school textbooks. Actual elementary school students will be on hand as "experts" for the adults to consult with.

"While most game shows measure how smart you are, this is a show that will measure how dumb you are," said Peter Liguori, Fox entertainment president.

Fox won a competition with other networks to buy the idea from Mark Burnett, executive producer of "Survivor," perhaps because Liguori - not too modestly - said he was the only chief network television executive to answer all six questions from the show correctly.

And in case you were wondering...
A prime number is a positive integer that has exactly two positive integer factors, 1 and itself. For example, if we list the factors of 28, we have 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, and 28. That's six factors. If we list the factors of 29, we only have 1 and 29. That's two factors. So we say that 29 is a prime number, but 28 isn't.

tuesday recap...

today was another beautiful day. work was fine. class was good and short.

1. five servings of fruit and vegetables daily - complete failure today - only two
   
2. take my multi-vitamin daily - check
   
3. drink more water (i'm generally good at this but i could do better) - check
   
4. limit myself to one sweet item a day (i'm addicted to post meal desserts) - check
   
5. exercise four days a week - 1 day down, 3 to go

still counting the points. i think i'm going to start my counting at dinner - i'm interested to see if that will work better for me.

tomorrow i have a doctor's appointment and i'm doing some labwork. i'm sure it's wishful thinking but i'm hoping for some good numbers so i can cutback on the blood stuff. and at some point tomorrow, i will have to visit those needle people. eeek.

random website...

i have a soft spot for antique/vintage images so when i found this site i was quite pleased. here is a description...

New York Public Library's Digital Gallery
digitalgallery.nypl.org
Lose yourself in this vast collection of rare prints, vintage maps, manuscripts, posters, photographs, sheet-music covers, dust jackets, menus, cigarette cards and other artifacts. There are more than 300,000 digital images of original materials available for viewing. Access is free, and you can download images to your computer for personal or research use. The My Digital page will store your favorite discoveries along with your search history.

the description of this photo is "soldiers expelling sooners from oklahoma."

happy birthday george!

since i work for a "pseudo" state agency, I am actually at work today. we have these things called in-lieu holidays - because all state schools aren't closed today - someone needs to be in our office. so the in-lieu holiday means that we can either take the day today or save it for another time. generally i am the first to jump on a holiday but e is out of town today and i don't have a ton of leave (see this past november and december) so i'm going to save it for later.

but it would make sense that the day i chose to work is beautiful. just beautiful. oh well and really i'm not working that hard.

reader, i have some bad news for you - i'm back on the point counting wagon so you will likely hear some food drama for the next few days (or weeks if i have any luck). the last month (or last six) i have been out of control and completely ignoring the voice telling me to not eat the cookies and cheeseburgers. and i think it's time to wrangle in the bad me.

it's interesting because i know i am an emotional eater but sometimes i just am out of control. and i've been trying to figure out why it's so bad right now. and i don't know. but i do know that i'm tired of this guilt that i feel. i don't mean guilt from eating badly but really the guilt of feeling like a failure. bear with me here, but i heard oprah say one time that it's very destructive to make promises to yourself (ie. start a diet on monday) and then not follow through. generally it doesn't hurt others and doesn't increase your waistline immediately but somehow makes you feel like a complete failure. so i'm wondering today, how can i be better to myself. how can i follow through with the things that are healthy for me - and i'm thinking this is applicable in many areas of life - habits, relationships, attitudes.

and honestly, my weight and size are only a portion of my issues. i'm 31 - prime time for decreased metabolism and health issues arrising. i am anemic thanks to the weekly blood sucking - and i've not made any efforts to counter this (ie. eating my fruits and veggies, taking my vitamins). i'm not getting younger, life is short and i just get so angry that i get so wrapped up in stress or worry or life's stupidity that i short change myself. errr.

anyway, so along with my point counting i've made a couple of goals for the week. wish me luck.

1. five servings of fruit and vegetables daily
2. take my multi-vitamin daily
3. drink more water (i'm generally good at this but i could do better)
4. limit myself to one sweet item a day (i'm addicted to post meal desserts)
5. exercise four days a week
   

now if i could only make myself like apples and convince e to eat green vegetables.

in my pondering this morning i realized i really don't know what a serving of fruits and veggies is so i found the following -

To clear up any confusion, the new government nutrition guidelines don’t use the term “serving.” Instead they use real measurements -- ounces and cups. (courtesy of pbskids)

Vegetables: (Get about 2 to 2.5 cups a day)1 cup of vegetables =
1 cup of most raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice
2 medium carrots or a dozen baby carrots
1 large sweet potato or 1 medium white potato
2 cups raw leafy green vegetables (like lettuce).

Fruits: (Get about 1.5 to 2 cups a day)1 cup of fruit =
1 small apple (2.5” diameter)
1 large banana (8” to 9” long)
1 cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit like applesauce or fruit salad
1 cup of fruit juice
1/2 cup dried fruit

consumption junction...

i read a couple of blogs that write about youth trends and i thought this post was really interesting.

just some of my thoughts -
how do we stop the cycle of consumerism?
can it be stopped?
do we ever really want it to stop?

a couple of weeks ago...

i went to my great uncle's funeral. his name was ted and he was married to my grandma's older sister. the funeral turned out to be a much more emotional event than i anticipated.

growing up i spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents (that is me and my grandpa in my profile pic). my first five years i'm pretty sure they raised me and were the only stability i had. my mother was trying to get her stuff together. when i was five they moved to beaver mountain - a little community (on a mountain) in eastern oklahoma. from about 5 to 13 i would spend weeks in the summer with them. i would come home for a week here and there. i was generally at their house one weekend a month during the school year. i loved them and consider them to be the saving grace in my really dysfunctional family. and in all honestly i think they were trying to make up for my crappy father.

but somewhere along the line i grew up and we don't see each other so much. holidays are now split between my immediate family and e's family and often there's not enough time. and then there's my father who after his stint in the pokie, now lives with them. this does not encourage me. anyway, i don't see them enough and probably am a horrible granddaughter. but i do love them, and tear up just thinking about how much they mean to me.

back to my uncle ted and aunt dortha, growing up they were always around. they are in most of my childhood memories that include my grandparents. they also lived on beaver mountain and i would walk to their house almost everyday. aunt dortha always had butterscotch candy and homemade lemonade. and they made wood crafts back when wood crafts were cool - always something to look at while visiting.

the funeral was so sad. my aunt told me that my grandpa and my uncle were the best of friends. my aunt told me i was always her favorite. there were photos and 56 years of marriage memories. my grandpa broke down at the casket. i think the funeral was my first glimpse into the future. the future of my grandparents dying. the future of everything changing - my childhood slipping away.

since then i've been thinking about the things that i can attribute to my grandparents - random skills, personality quirks, experiences - and the list is quite lenghty. i wish you could all meet freda and sug - i think you would like them.

1. knowing how to bait a hook (worm or minnow)
2. knowing how to cast a fishing pole
3. have painted my name on a turtle
4. know where blue moutain, tater hill, goat canyon and tucker's knob are
5. have been to robber's cave more times than i can count
6. know what a guinea is
7. my love of junk stores and flea markets
   
8. was driving a car by the time i was 10
9. ran over a turkey while doing #8
   
10. give names to random things - my grandma has a plant named herbie (that's about 25 years old) and a blanket named clara
11. know how to dig potatoes
12. am deathly afraid of ghosts
    
13. appreciate bob wills and jimmy rodgers
    
14. my love of willie nelson
15. my love of fresh eggs
16. my double love of gravy made from bacon grease
17. my love of fried taters
18. my love of blackberries and my hatred of picking them
19. starting my period at their house and having to tell my grandma
    
20. appreciation of pbs nature specials
21. exposure to crazy pentecostal women
    
22. love of glass hens
23. loving the sound of a window a/c because it reminds me of summers with no central air
    
24. picking corn off the stalk and eating it five minutes later
25. snapping green beans
26. shelling peas
27. my appreciation for crafty stuff
28. going to town once a week
29. having a pony named princess
30. in the fifth grade writing a report on the state of utah because my grandpa's name is utah but for some reason everyone calls him sug (pronounced like sugar)
31. my sense of humor
32. knowing how to identify deer tracks
    

the sun is shining...

it's friday. the sun is shining. the dosters are heading back to middle america. all is well in my world.

i've realized over the last year or so that i have bad decorating taste. i don't like floral, i don't like classic and would rather shoot myself than have a maroon room. but i have realized that i really like stuff that makes me happy and often times those things are just obnoxious. they often remind me of my childhood, or fun memories.

so i'm going to share my newest purchase. i don't think everyone's grandma had one of these but a lot did. i love old glass chickens - i'm guessing they are candy dishes. they just remind me of my grandma and my crazy aunts. so when i stumbled across this updated bunny version - I couldn't help myself. It will take me through the easter season.
































happy friday friends.

it's snowing again...

i think i am becoming paler by the day. i never realized how much the sun (or lack thereof) affects me until this winter.

come on spring...

i think i'm covered...

Study says blood donations may help donors' health
Wed Feb 14, 8:30 AM ET

Blood donations may help keep the body's circulatory system healthy by reducing stores of iron, but the effect may not work for older people, a U.S. study suggested on Tuesday.

Researchers at the White River Junction, Vermont, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School said they looked at 1,277 men and women ages 43 to 87 who had peripheral arterial disease, a common condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs. The study lasted for six years.

Blood was drawn to promote iron reduction at six-month intervals from some of the patients but not from others. As a whole there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of deaths, heart attacks or other problems.

But when the researchers analyzed the results just for younger patients aged 43 to 61 they found fewer deaths from all causes in the iron-reduction group, and also fewer nonfatal heart attacks and strokes.

"While our study did not show that reducing iron led to across-the-board decreases in overall mortality, or combined death plus nonfatal (heart attack) and stroke, it did support the theory that vascular health might be preserved into later life by maintaining low levels of iron over time," said lead author Dr. Leo Zacharski.

He said blood letting is "safe and inexpensive, and correlates to routine blood donation (and) appears to contribute to improved vascular health." But, he added, until more research is done people should not try to donate blood just to lower their iron levels, and added that reductions in iron can also be achieved through dietary restrictions or drug treatment.

"We suspect that the toxic effect of excess (iron) may become permanent at an older age, such that the benefits of iron reduction are realized only if it is started early and continued over time," Zacharski added.

Excess iron in the blood is thought to promote free-radical damage to arteries, particularly in the early stages of heart disease, said the study published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

hugs and kisses...

Saint Valentine of Terni and his disciples. 14th century France. Richard de Montbaston.

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards or candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.

Valentine's Day was probably imported into North America in the 19th century by British settlers. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, and she took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received. Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary."
In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manners of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. (more)

(courtesy of wikipedia)

colors, colors and more colors...

hello. welcome back to my blog. yes, in the past this blog has been known for pointless ramblings, emotional vents and purely useless information. well i'm making an effort to return to those good ole' days. as my post from a couple of weeks back mentioned - i've been super busy at work and i really mean super duper busy but i have also just been in a funk. i think this dreadful winter has been somewhat of a downer - i would really love some sunshine and temps in the mid-50s. oh how i would love that. i'm still a little funkified by my blood stuff and really 2007 has not been good for me so far. but, i say all of this to say - i'm trying to get out of this funk. and i think blogging is a way to help me - it's my emotional decompression - so i'm trying to get back in the swing of things.


swing, swing, swingaroo. on to colors. as you may remember, i'm taking foundations I:color and design this semester. seriously...who knew colors could be such serious business. and who knew a color wheel could be so challenging to me. i've had homework every week. and this week have an assigment on analoguos with transparency and monochromatic with triadic accents. what the hoo-ha - i barely know how to mix my primary colors yet alone paint something with traidic accents. but i would like to point out that my last two assignments have ended up on the board - where the good papers go.

and i ask myself again - how did i manage to make it through a 13 years of school without ever taking an art class (ie. painting a color wheel).

work is ok. i've been working on a new project - a new degree completion program for adults. my office has been working with a local advertising firm to develop the name, logo and creative for the program. i sort of function as the project manager in our office. it's been a super good learning experience for me. i've never worked with an ad firm. i've been forced to step up and take on more responsibility (which i don't like to take unless forced). and i've been doing some public speaking. so all is well, i'm just prone to stress, worry and become agitated when there's a lot riding on my shoulders - one day i will learn to control this.

a few other notes -

- e is working at target - i'm digging the extra cash and the 10% discount

- i'm still going for weekly blood taking - and i have a faulty left arm vein - i'm sure you will hear more about this eventually.

- i've been exercising pretty consistently. i'm on the third week of the couch to 5k plan.

- i'm not going to talk about my horrible eating habits as of late.

- i am cold all the time these days

- i hate winter

- i'm taking a dreamweaver class in a few weeks - work is paying for it and i figure it can't be a bad thing

- e and i are contemplating buying a mac - or at least starting to save for one. i figure it i want to piddle in more design stuff, i'm going to have to do it. thoughts from anyone. at some point, i will be looking for suggestions, recomendations, warnings from those apple lovers out there.

- blujones has been getting lots more business lately - we're offering some package deals - spread the word - mama needs a mac! for some reason blogger won't let me link to the myspace page so you will have to manually go there if you are really interested - www.myspace.com/blujonesmerch

- what's up with the new dollar coin? have we not tried this before.

later gater.

thanks to the robot...

for some other fabulous greeting cards...

there was much laughter on my end.

my kind of greeting cards...

from here.

more interesting photography...

stranger a day

today...

i went to a funeral and a two-year old's birthday party.

i'm exhausted - both physically and emotionally. i probably need to emotionally unwind but i don't think i'm up for it tonight. maybe tomorrow.

for you crazy evangelicals with cable...

looks like it could be interesting. i'm always fascinated by the outsiders take on our crazy evangelical christian culture. fascinated probably because it reinforces my ideas about it. is that healthy? probably not.

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/friends_of_god/index.html