A few randoms.

* Danger Will Robinson Weekend Reader: this is a Long Post, even though it didn't start out to be, my fingers are just feeling especially loquacious today.
* It's raining! 
* I'm sitting by the fire and not running around in the rain and I like it that way...for right now at least.
* My "cold" is still lingering; it's almost like a half a*% cold that can't quite decide if it should stay or not and I'd really prefer it to make up it'd dang mind already. I took the generic Target brand dayquil/nyquil pills yesterday. They shouldn't be called "pills", though, because "pills" conjures to my mind dainty little tablets that can be taken quite easily with a sip of water or Pinot Grigio. These dudes, though, are massive and oblongly shaped so that there's a bit of a bulge in the center. The dosage is two of these puppies and they do not go down easily. Figuratively and literally for me because both the day and night versions made it so that my limbs are tingly and my head is cloudy so I'm going to stay away from those things from now on.
* We had fun at a 1920s/Gatsby themed party last night; I declined the advances of the craps and roulette in the game room and stuck to "Go Fish" instead.
* It's my friend Monica's special day today; ¡feliz cumpleaños chica!
* On Friday while our home fires were most definitely not burning, Mike and I walked around the mall to a} be in the light and b} re-live some middle and high school memories. There's a garishly lit and very bright pink {not to mention terribly over priced} candy store in the mall {people of my generation, do y'all remember the Sweet Factory? I seriously LOVED that place and would get the chocolate covered gummy bears mixed in the same bag as the giant Jaw Breakers and the strawberry cheesecake and coconut Jelly Bellys. This place, though, was not a cool; to loud and trying to hard. They did, however, have these creatures:

blech!!!!
* I meandered around Target Friday night and looked at some frames. We got our wedding pictures on a disc but didn't purchase any pints because we had the rest of our wedding to pay for and whatnot. Are there any recommendations for places to get quality prints? I use photobucket to store them online but haven't been thrilled with their printing services. I also have iphoto on my computer and those print out better {they're through Kodak I think} and we are Costco members but I haven't gotten anything printed there either. I had fun, though, looking at some cute frames that could hold some wedding/engagement shots. We did our "engagement shoot" two weeks before we got married but we were technically still engaged; ha! 
I'll probably snag some frames from the likes of Marshall's and/or TJ Maxx since I somehow feel better about frames from there; something about the random assortment and the bargain. I love this style, though:

the faux-vintage resin frame thing.

I also like the idea of having lots of pictures in one frame and not just one big one. I'm not so much a fan of the large portrait style and I think it's because of my tendency towards bright colors and patterns; I like a lot going on at once.
* I'm making my ultra-caloric Brussels sprouts/prosciutto/heavy cream dish for the day of thanks gorging that's coming up this week. We were chatting at breakfast today about how eating out on that day would make things SO much easier and I think I would like it because it would mean that I wouldn't HAVE to graze all night and eat twice my weight in whatever is out to be had; I would be limited to just my plate and maybe a bit of what's on others' plates but that's about it and would probably feel all the better for it.
* Something that I've got on the burner for that next chunk of free time in my life {queue in canned laughter from invisible audience} is sewing. I forayed into this activity when in my youth and going through my calico-loving Laura Ingalls Wilder days and was thrilled when someone gifted me the hand-held sewer that had been advertised on the TV.

The contraption did not yield very impressive results and it also broke within a few days; this may or may not have been because it was an "As Seen on TV" product and/or because I wasn't even ten years old. I tried again in high school but needed some help from my step-mom to finish the skirt I attempted. I've also tried to follow a few patterns here and there but the fruits of my labors have always been lackluster. I don't think that I was fully paying attention to those patterns and the sewing machine that I was using was {and still is, it's in the hall closet} a genuine antique Singer whose bobbin had serious issues with staying in place. I was about nine when the hand-held experiment failed {I was trying to make a doll...} and it has been almost a decade since I've really tried to do anything {other than our work capes} so I think I'll be a whole lot more successful this time around, keeping in mind the following:
       - I'd like to have access to a fully functioning and non-finicky device. Maybe even have my own.
       - There are SO SO SO many cute and well-explained tutorials out in never-never land a.k.a. the internet. 
Hopefully with the above mentioned points I'll find some fun in sewing land and live to come back and show the proof here on this very blog.
My actual, point, though, with having typed everything I just did, is that we started a little thing. Our school offers a variety of Justice-Immersion-Service-Learning trips to the students. These are amazing opportunities for the kiddos to see the world at large and learn about the issues that are all around us locally and globally and to learn and understand a bit about sustainable development and the roles that they can take currently and in the future once they've gone to college and become adults. This program can't run by itself, though, and will gladly take donations to help cover the cost of travel scholarships for students as well as a variety of other needs. There has been a little farmers market on campus twice this year in conjunction with a local urban farm that we work at and for the past one faculty and staff were invited to sell things and the proceeds would go towards the justice immersion program. We decided to make re-usable ziplock baggies!
They're not as fancy as some that you can get on etsy but they're great and re-usable and cutely colored. I didn't actually sew any but a friend of mine/coworker brought in her sewing machine and some students helped us cut and sew them together. They spread them all out on my desk and look how pretty they are!

 

So, all in all, I'd like to start sewing.
* This has gotten super long folks and you deserve a star for making it this far into the post. On that note, I leave you to enjoy your Sunday and whatever it is that you're doing with this day of rest.
xoxo, natty ♥