news.

good and bad news:

good news:  i just have to replace the keyboard and track pad.

bad news:  i just have to replace the keyboard and track pad.


and i am never drinking around my computer again.
unless i have a lid.
or maybe if it's spill proof.
but probably until i forget how much money i had to spend on fixing 2 tiny parts.

29.

oni's demanding face.  if she stares long enough at what she wants to move, it will move.  

massacre of the year.

you guys.  things are not looking good for me.

there was juice.

the juice was red.

now my floor looks like a massacre took place in my living room.

my computer was the casualty.

and now i am in mourning.

tech support isn't sure if the computer will be completely fine, or if i will have to buy a new computer next week.  "it could go either way, really, and we can't tell until it dries and we open it up," they say.

and you know me, and how i continuously fail to back up my crap, no matter how much data i lose and how many computer casualties there are.  some day.  maybe some day, i will learn my lesson.

until then, my scheduled stuff will post until it doesn't anymore.  and then things will be on hold until the fate of my computer (and my financial life, or my sister's, really) is decided.

adieu, for now.  (can you believe i spelled that word right?!)
it's been great.

cross your fingers for me...

28.

i finally washed sarsaparilla puce so i could put her clothes?  tattoo?  whatever.  i finally support my own country again!
i know it's hard to tell, but it is pink, as i'm sure you all know.

u dub, i never thought i would say this, but i think i miss you..!

goal!!!

you guys.  finally, a goal that i have succeeded at for more than 2 weeks:  i have made my goal of posting blogs for 3 months!!  success!

i have been slacking these last couple weeks.  i had spring break - which was fantastic. and then there was the part of getting back into the swing of school.  and then there was stomach flu.  and i got a flu shot!  first one ever.  do you know when i last had the flu?  so long ago, that i don't even know! ok, maybe it was the year before last, but it wasn't last year!  nice going, flu shot.

anyways.  the flu is not the point.  well, kind of it is.  but the main point is that it is a lot of work to fix my photos and then put them on this little place.  you see.  i have a new computer, which i got to go to nursing school.  and it is a mac.  i know!  so when i upload photos onto my computer, they go to this place called iPhoto.  and when i upload photos on the internet, the internet does not acknowledge iPhoto.  which means that i have to move any of the photos that i want to use into a new folder in my documents/photos/whatever folder so that the internet understands.

so here is what happens:
1.  take photos
2.  upload photos into iPhoto
3.  fix photos (not that i need to!)
4.  choose photos that are perfect for blog
5.  move photos
6.  rename photos and put in folder so i can find them again later
7.  make blog
8.  do 5-6 again to get better photos to go with blog i just made
9.  and again!

you see?  it's an exhausting process!

and that is why it's so impressive that i have not failed at this very goal.

27.

i was trying to show you how i am such a good student and that i study even when i don't have a test coming up.  but you probably noticed within the first second that skype is up on my computer...
so much for that, i guess.

are you noticing a theme yet?
study, drive, smoothie, cat.
study, drive, smoothie, cat.
my life.
for now...!

26.

this is one of the ways oni loves to spend her time.  stretched out in the weirdest way possible and staring.  i was doing homework and she just stared at me.  with her laser beam eyeballs.  maybe she thinks she looks innocent if she stretches weirdly...

mommy blogs.

beautiful song by beautiful men.  but seriously.

_____________________________________________

i've had this thing for mommy blogs for a while.  and i finally have a conscious reason why.  or 2.  which is nice, i guess.  not that i need a reason to like them.  but maybe it's nice to know why certain things attract you sometimes.

the mommies often blog throughout their pregnancies and then continue blogging as they parent.  which is the point, i guess.

number one reason i realized i like to read them:  their perspectives [on a little bit of everything] often change over the course of their pregnancies and after the birth of their child.  and i find this fascinating.  i'm not sure if my blog is mature enough for you [3 readers] to see that i have maybe changed or grown or something in the course of my  - holy crap!  i just looked it up! - almost 4.5 years on here.  in fact, i'm not sure i'm mature enough!  i don't necessarily feel that my blog has evolved in any way - not that it needs to.  i just find it interesting to read about strangers whose lives evolve so visibly, so clearly.

number two reason i like them is that they all write their birth stories.  which are fascinating.  and beautiful.  and tragic.  and graceful.  and ecstatic.  and emotional.  i find them even more appealing and interesting the more i learn about nursing, and the more i form my own opinions and values on a subject i had never really thought about (other than the fact that it happens).

and then occasionally you find the blog writer who is actually a beautiful writer.  so not only do they have a beautiful story, but they tell it with the most beautiful words.

these are a couple of today's favorites:
TheDayBook
MamaMandolin  (her name is mandolin - i think that's so gorgeous.)
KincaidParade
ComesInColours

25.

peach smoothie!!!  so far i have also made

• nectarine/strawberry
• peach
• blueberry/peach
• blueberry/cherry
• strawberry/banana/nutella.  

just say it:  i am a smoothie genius.

24.

apparently oni loves to burrow.  no wonder i have super allergies every time i take a nap/go to bed.  what a jerk.

23.

i have been making oatmeal/banana/peanut butter/nutella smoothies for a while.
but i decided i should branch out.
so i got some frozen fruit (i think it's cheaper than the fresh, and it lasts longer) and some jars from mikah (because they fit on my blender blade - her idea, not mine).
and now i am a smoothie master.
i can't stop eating them.  and since i have 3 jars (well, i have 4, but 1 is full of ground up oatmeal/chia for better texture that i may or may not have stolen from pj's house), i can make a few smoothies at one time, and stick them in the fridge, and have them for the next few days!
and it's so great because the oatmeal and chia (i like to call it chia pets, you know) soak up liquids and thicken, they stay super thick and smoothie-ish.

22.

(i can't make it as big as the other photos because it's just too gross.)

you guys. do you see that?  so do i.  but i didn't until after i cooked and ate my pizza.
i just thank the higher powers that for once i pre-heated the oven (to cook off the sick, sick bug germs), instead of just shoving the food right in.

yes, that thing is still in my oven.  no, i haven't cooked since.  maybe if i call maintenance they'll come get it out while i'm at school?

21.

i know it's kind of a blur, but can you see those black blurries?  those are birds.  and trust me, i did not even catch a quarter of them in my camera.  seriously, for a second the sky was black.  it was like the power went out for a second.  and then i saw the wings.

20.

are you surprised that this is what your kitchen table looked like, pj?

i have been studying for a few days.  a week and a half.  nonstop, it feels like.  only around 5 more months, though.  we can do it!

19.

it's a little blinding, isn't it?  i didn't even photoshop this time.  but maybe i should have, just to tone it down a second!  my apartment doesn't have any blinding roses.  but pj's does.  i go there to study sometimes.  and by "sometimes," i mean "once."

18.

these books were to study for one exam.  plus the clipboard (with the man on it).  it has cool lab values and stuff on it.  i like it.  and i actually use it in clinical.

17.

i like photoshop.  well, not the actual photoshop, because i've never used it.  but i like photoshopping my photos.  but it makes it hard to choose which photo is my favorite.  because they all look good after i fix them!

i brought an apple with me to study.

it was kind of a let down study day.  i studied a lot.  but my tea was not the ginseng peppermint that i ordered and my apple was all dry and pithy and gross on the inside, even though it was so perfect on the outside.

16.

i have diagnosed myself with exercise-induced exertional compartment syndrome.  i went running on saturday.  and noticed that my shin was numb that night.  by tuesday it was still numb and tingling.  of course, i diagnosed myself by sunday morning (not that diagnosing is within the scope of nursing.  i think there are exceptions when it's self diagnosis...).

because i have exercised induced crap, and may need surgery sometime soon to return the proper blood supply to my leg, i went for a walk on sunday instead of another run.  (still having a hard time fitting all my workout time in...boo.)  and it was cloudy and windy (aka. there was a slight wyoming breeze).  can you believe it?  wind in texas?  i know.

non-memory

i found a photo in my computer.  my computer says it was taken in july.  which was when i was in texas.  i have no memory of this photo, whatsoever.  but apparently i took it.

i do like it.  it feels a bit nostalgic...

15.

i don't know if you can see those purple baby flowers beside the super green palm bush (as opposed to the palm tree?  named by: me).  but they were so vibrant in person.  also.  they were blooming in february (when this photo was taken).  and in january.  and december.  i'm pretty sure they've had flowers since late august...

the one thing that my apartment complex has going for them is that their gardeners (or whoever does plants) are fantastic.  the catch is, is that plants are only around the welcome sign and the main office.  the rest of us can suffer gratefully (according to them) in our dying grass and cat poop.  feral cat poop.

i always plan to take a photo when i am out and around - this was from a run day - and then i completely forget until i'm back at my apartment...

workin at the carwash

i like car washes.  i really don't mind the kind where you have to get out and scrub your own car.  but i especially  like the ones where you go through all the giant scrubbies and showers.  probably because they're so expensive.
i found one near my house that is five dollars, plus free vacuums.  probably you pay more in coins to scrub your car yourself.  so i think it's a pretty good deal.  but i don't go very often.  because i forget.  and i have other things to do.  like study.  and make smoothies.

14.

you may know that i like to eat snacks on my couch-bed.
you may also know that my couch-bed is actually a bed.  with sheets on it.  but many many pillows to make it look couchy.
you may also also know that i like my fruit on the crunchy side.
my nectarines were super delicious, and slightly crunchy.
they were extra delicious because they were so cheap.

i thought it was weird that peaches were so much more expensive.  not that i know anything about growing fruit trees, but i would assume that since nectarines and peaches are alike that they would be in season around the same time.  aka cheap around the same time...

13.

somehow, oni got on the top shelf in my closet (i think she's half ninja).  when i came in she couldn't remember how to get down.  but when i reached up to get her and help her down, she just attacked me and wanted to play.

if my video thing works, then maybe you will see oni being a weirdo, trying to get down.  you will also see that it may or may not have been "laundry day"....

study adventure

sometimes i like to go study in new places.  i can go see things, but i'm still being productive, i guess.  san antonio probably has a billion libraries.  i've gone to the main branch downtown, but it is...not very conducive to studying, and you have to pay to park.  at the library?  really?

anyways.  i looked up a library sort of near me, and it was very cute.  in a really old, small building.
it also was not very conducive to studying, as there were only two tables, and one squishy chair.  and i had to pay to park.  again.

but the grounds surrounding the building were really nice.  i kind of want to go back, just to walk around outside.

12.

i accidentally ended up at half price books the other day.

i accidentally ended up at the dollar section of half price books.

i accidentally found some dollar books that i needed.

i accidentally bought them.

it was worth it.

11.

this is my most common view of oni.  constantly hunting, constantly avoiding me and my unwanted snuggles.

if she had it her way, the door to the deck-patio would be forever open so she could come and go any time it struck her fancy.  she's kind of dog-like like that.

tippy toes.

the other week i went to pj's to get her mail, since i told her i would, and also to study.  my house was too dirty.  and when it's time to study, i always clean instead of studying.  i have this thing where messes distract me, but only when i need to study.  

there are some great trails near her apartment.  so i went and used them.  and i tried  toe running.  and it was so hard, and my calves were burning so bad.  and i had to go really slow (which is saying something, since in my out-of-shapeness, i run super duper slow), but my feet felt a lot better than they have been feeling.  so there's that...!

you know how this one's all blurry?  the only conclusion i can come
to is that it's my sweat... i know.  gross.   but sort of awesome too.  

another sweaty one...oops

10.

can you see that orb of light in the middle of the black?  that was the lamp in my living room circa monday when i came home from yoga at 9 30 at night.  technically, i had power.  but not enough to shower by (not that i had the hot water to shower with), or study by, or read by.

so i called the electric company (because the other week, maintenance told me that they don't deal with electricity).  they told me they would be "right out."

an hour later i got a call from the electric company saying that i had to talk to maintenance, because they didn't do apartment calls.

so i called maintenance and they told me they would be "right out.  but why in the world didn't you call us 2 weeks ago??"

"sir, because my power wasn't an issue 2 weeks ago."

an hour later maintenance showed up.  looked in my breaker box thing.  tramped down the stairs.  tramped back up the stairs and looked in my breaker box.  then told me that he couldn't even do anything because he wasn't a licensed electrician.

"....can i at least borrow your flashlight?"


at my next grocery shopping experience, i will be purchasing a flashlight.


UPDATE:  i did not purchase said flashlight on said shopping trip.  but it is in the plans for the near future.... (i like to leave these things open, in case i forget and need to "take my time")

just thoughts.

i know it's not valentine's anymore.  in fact, it was many many moons ago.  but i saw this.  and it so made me smile.

______________________________________

i like little kids.  they know everything.  and everything is so literal.  so black and white.  they know no gray.

speaking of gray.  i've read a few bookers (hah.  i was trying to write "books", but bookers made me laugh so i left it) with names that have gray in them.  and i like them quite a bit.

grayer.  grayson.  just gray.  or grey?  i guess it doesn't matter how it's spelled.  just has a nice feeling to it.

when i was small, i used to think it would be fun if my name were spelled with a k.  klaire.  just because it sounded like claire.  klaire.  claire.  klaire:  it just doesn't have that french classy feel to it.

me?  classy?  yes, please!  someday.  i think it requires at least a slight income to be classy.  well, to look classy, i guess.

which reminds me of a hoodie i wore for a while probably in middle school.  i think it may have been my mama's?  it had a little embossed (i think is the right word) group of flowers with "a touch of glass" written around them.  i always thought that was weird.  is it a beauty and the beast flower, where it has to turn to glass or be in glass?

later i found out that i just didn't know how to read in cursive.  it was 'class,' not 'glass.'  no duh, middle school self!

some rambly photos for my rambly thoughts: