Necklaces, New Windows, and Really Bad Acting

Well hello. I am bringing you this post to bring you this message. Big Sis is having a giveaway on her blog. She makes some stellar necklaces and with this sweet deal you will get a custom one with matching earrings. Rockin'! So here's the link:

Spunky Junky Giveaway

Yep. Do it. On a completely different note I'm sitting here with Big Sis #1 and Little B watching some Miley Cyrus movie that I've asked the name of three times and still not quite sure what it is. Hm. I can tell you something fo' sho', it is NOT Hannah Montana. It does have a lot of teenage angst and bad acting, though. This is looking to be a promising night indeed :D

Anywho, as for related news, a few days ago we had the grand idea to tear out my bedroom window (it was broken in a hailstorm 3 months ago and I never got around to fixing it, who doesn't like a nice breeze, eh? Alas, I figured I should fix it before it snowed). Soooo after a whole lot of shattered glass and tearing out an ancient frame from the 60s, I had an absolutely ginormous gaping hole in my wall. Then the window didn't fit...then window #2 didn't fit...now I have a lovely one made of weatherizing plastic, cardboard, and a foam sleeping pad found in someone's garage. Pictures to be posted shortly. Don't you worry.

So, that's all the news here. Peace out.

Yes

Click HERE. Hi-larious!

Also, I just found my new favorite song of the week. It's called "Scream" by Hedley.
Here are some of the lyrics:

There's no rest for
The reckless who run into love

Will you scream when you're alone
Even the beautiful lose control
Will you scream when you're alone
I got a burning need to know

I can't explain my bad behavior
And baby you're my savior
And I don't wanna end up alone

Will you scream when you let go
Even the beautiful, the beautiful
Lose control

Kind of cheesy, but also kind of applicable at times ;) LOVE IT.

Johnny Wishes He Was Famous...

Quote of the day for all of you, from Marilyn Monroe:

"This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends--they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything--they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soul mate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about."

Hmm...and the music re-discovery of the day: Gravity by Our Lady Peace (the entire album). Kudos to the song "Innocent" for giving us the title of this post :) By the way, I just figured out how to make text different sizes...did you notice? ;)

Happy One Year!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED IT!!! I missed the one year mark of this beast! Yeah, that's right. A full 365 days of my insights to life. Lucky you ;) Anywho, that's about all I've got for this momentous occasion. That AND a new layout. Yay!

12 Steps and 3 Things You Never Knew

Sooo the other day I was bored and happened on an article on how to write a successful blog. Seeing as I have more fingers than I do followers, I decided to read it (not that I am necessarily aiming to get a ton of followers, but I don't want to bore you guys that DO read all of my ramblings and exhortations). Anywho, this particular article said that the blog should concentrate on 3 to 4 main topics, as to build up an 'image'....righty-o! So that got me thinking...what would those main topics be? Here is a rough list of more than 3 to 4, but it will get narrowed down by the end. Here goes (the article also said to use bullets or short paragraphs for those people like me who hate to read HUGE pockets of text) For realsies now, things my blog COULD BE about:

*My hobbies
*My family
*Something that I'm SUPER good at
*Sports
*Politics
*Entertaining things I find
*Relationships
*Witty, funny stories about my life
*Movie/Book/Music reviews
*Celebrity Gossip
*Educational, Smart, Philosophical Things
*My wisdom about life

That list looks good enough for now, eh? So now to figure out what it should be about ('cause now that I'm at home, let's face it, life has gotten less adventurous, so I can't amaze you all with my wonderful traveling exploits). To start to narrow down the list, I could do a few things. BUT, I will not. Why not? you ask. Because. By specifically mentioning things I will avoid, I limit myself on the oh-so-wonderful possibilities that could come my way.

SOOOO where does that leave us? Do not be alarmed, I will now make a list of topics that will FO' SHO' come up in one way or another at some point in this blog (whether in the past or future). Here we go AGAIN:

*Costumes and/or dressing up
*My favorite pop culture at the moment
*My amazing philosophies on life and all that comes with it
*The weather
*Stuff I make, cook, or otherwise concoct

That looks good for now. Anywho, so now that it's established WHAT this sucker is about, this article ALSO said that the readers should know something about the author. If you have not noticed all the random junk on the right side of the page, you are missing out. It pretty much comprises all that is me. In addition to all of my favorite ways to waste or otherwise spend time mentioned, I will now divulge three super-secret things about myself:

1. My favorite thing to give people for presents is books (mostly because I love getting them so I figure other people should too).
2. I hate the smell of wet ceramic or glass plates...and raw hamburger.
3. I won a dance contest my senior year of high school.

There. Three SUPER STELLAR things about me. I think now that I have loosely followed two of the [roughly] 12 steps to a successful blog, I am well on my way :D

Music recommendation of the day: "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates. Peace out.

My Head is Spinning and I'm Seeing Double Vision

ANTICIPATION......You all REALLY want to know what my latest hobby is, don't you?
*

**

***

****

*****

****

***

**

*

Photography! That is the answer, but not the kind you'd usually think of. Hooookay, here's the deal, I found this article a few months ago (approximately February) so when I got home I built one! While it IS fun and all sorts of delightful, I could never get mine to work quite right--all the pictures were unfocused and blurry. Sad day. Sooooo I gave up on that little project.

THEN I re-discovered a camera like this:



My mom had given it to me awhile ago and I had forgotten about it. Anywho, found the camera, went exploring, took some pictures and here is one I particularly like (by the way, this hasn't been edited AT ALL)



That is camera #1, camera #2 I acquired today and it is flippin' sweet, it is a Kodak Pony 135 from 1950:



Yeah buddy. So that is my newest hobby. We'll see how long it lasts ;) Yep yep. I'm super sleepy and must go to bed, but not before leaving you with the recommendation of the day. Hmmmm....tv show: Arrested Development. Hilarious. Oh and for music (compliments to this song for the title of this post), "Double Vision" by 3OH!3.

Peace out.

Hola from the Student Newspaper

Da-da-da-daaaaaaaaa! I am now a legit published photographer. Yes, that is correct. I entered a photo I took in a Study Abroad photo contest, got that puppy accepted, they put up in the student gallery on campus, and it was the ONE PHOTO from the exhibit featured in the student newspaper. Heck yeah. What is the photo you ask? Here it is!



Now you will enjoy basking in the pure awesome radiating from the screen above this. Aaaahhhh. Refreshing.

Hey Guess What?! I'm Back!

After roughly a two and a half month sabbatical, I am leaving all of you a nice update. The summer went swimmingly, school has started, and I have a shiny new contraption to distract me. You see, over the summer I went through a phase where NOTHING was working--my laptop, my iPod adapter in my car, my car brakes, my walking skills, my phone, NOTHING. As it turns out, none of these things really left that phase, most notably my computer. In two years I owned two laptops and in BOTH OF THEM, the screens went out. Unfortunately for me, Laptop #1 had a warranty that expired shortly before that point and Laptop #2 for some reason I did not buy an extended warranty at all. Baaaad decision, Kelty. Anywho, I twaddled off to the bookstore and bought myself a nifty new MacBook Pro. I think I'm in love. Also on that note, I had my car brakes fixed, a new iPod adapter located, a phone soon to be ordered and life is lookin' good :) So there is law homework to be done (I've been working on it all morning, but there is still loads to finish), so I must bid adieu and keep on truckin' with the homework.

Music recommendation of the day: "You Wanted More" by Tonic and "Falling Into You" by Days Difference. Ciao.

I am Home

Pretty self-explanatory, really. I am now back in the 406. Woot. Let's sum up the past two weeks, shall we? {Ahem}:

1. For some reason none of the clocks in my house are showing close to the same time and consequently only ONE has the right time (and all of the clocks are still working. Odd.).

2. I have FIVE loads of laundry to do. Woof. Not to mention the whole stack that I have to drop by the dry cleaners.

3. I was in Utah for a week in the glorious, glorious hot weather and now that I'm back in Montana I'm starting to wonder if summer will last for more than day-long spurts before reverting back to storms.

That's about all I've got. So moving on to what y'all want to ACTUALLY see--as in pictures from the last couple of weeks I spent in Ireland. Here they are, enjoy! :)



This is the only coral beach in Ireland.


Nifty signs, eh?


These are the Shandon Bells


This is how one would play the Shandon Bells.


The salmon weir on the River Lee in Cork.


Tandem biking around the Aran Islands!! :D


Oh yes, sheep. Lots and LOTS of sheep, especially in the middle of the road.


Working boat races in Carna.



These are the Cliffs of Moher. Freakin' sweet.

School's out for SUMMER

I finished all of my classes three weeks ago, so what have I been up to? I will tell you--Dublin for a night, Morocco for a week, Cork for the better part of five days and back to Galway. Since then we've gone out to the Aran Islands (it was GORGEOUS) and rode a tandem bike around for a couple of hours, drove through Connemara, went to some boat races in Carna, went to a coral beach, and went to the Cliffs of Moher. That is the past two weeks in a nutshell. Here are more deeeeets and some pictures (they should all be fairly self-explanatory):

MOROCCO






I'll post pictures of everything else later, later as in 'when I'm back in Montana'. Weird. Tonight is my last night in Galway and that is tragic. I leave tomorrow morning for Dublin and fly out on Tuesday, travel 19 hours, and finally get home. Oofka. Yeah. So in entirely stealing the idea from a friend I have made a list, two actually. Things I'll miss and things I won't. Here we go,

Thing's I'll miss about Ireland:
Squash (the drink, not the veg)
Melissa and Sinead
Good chocolate
Walking everywhere
The ocean
Being able to take the bus and be across the country in a few hours
Trad music
Walking on the prom
Everything being green ALL YEAR
Watching entire episodes of tv shows on YouTube
Everything running late ;)

Things I won't miss about Ireland:
Leatherjackets (aka flying daddy long legs. gross)
Hanging clothes to dry (I'm a whiner, I know ;))
Wood lice in my bedroom
Conversion charges at the ATM

Those were just what I could think of on a whim. If I think of anything else, I'll post them up there. Anywho, it's getting late and I have to be up early to finish cleaning everything up and scoot out the door.

My music recommendation for now is the album Films About Ghosts by Counting Crows. Amazing. Ireland, I heart you.