In case you're wondering

Things have been much better the past few days.  I have been busy, which is good because it doesn't leave me any time to overanalyze.

Andrew and I had a big discussion about our financial situation this weekend.  That was part of my stress.  We definitely needed to discuss it, but financial discussions are not my favorite.  (I actually don't think they're anyone's favorite.  Except for possibly accountants...)

We're slowly moving closer to the end of school!  One of the students asked me the other day how many days we have left of school and I honestly don't know.  (Though I do know how many weeks we have left.    Six!!!)  Too bad it's not as much of a countdown for me because I go straight from school into summer school.  Though the good thing about summer school is that it's half days.  And this year I have an intern from Ball State.  I can't believe that I'm far enough in my career to have a college student interning with me!  It actually makes me excited about summer school!

Tomorrow night Andrew is taking me on a surprise date.  I can't wait!  I'm so excited!!!

Have you ever had one of those days where it's bad from the moment you wake up and nothing you seem to do can make it better?

That would be today for me.

I don't know what it is, but today has been awful.  I'm frustrated and feel like I can't accomplish anything because I've done all I'm able to do on my own.

On a positive note, at least tomorrow will have to be better!

My jewelry storage

I finally got time to work on my jewelry storage.

Until I finished this project, the jewelry I wear on a regular basis has been in a dish on my dresser and the jewelry I don't wear much has been in a jewelry box in a drawer.  This wasn't working for me.

So I decided that however I was going to store my jewelry had to keep it from getting tangled and had to let me see it all so that I would remember to wear it.

I found the solution in these five shelves.  I found the first two at a garage sale last summer and the other three at Goodwill a few weeks ago.  They all matched except for the paint color, which was easy enough to change to match the wall I would be hanging them on.  Then I screwed all of the tiny hooks into the bottom so I could hang my necklaces from them and viola!

I have a fabulous storage system for my jewelry that makes me happy every time I look at it.

I haven't completely decided what I'm going to put on all of the shelves, but I wanted to share what I've gotten done so far.

Schmoo!

Today Schmoo is being featured on Elizabeth Anne Designs.  Check it out here!!!

Book review: The Reader

I had started reading this book four different times before I started it again this time.  The difference this time was that 1) I had seen the movie so I knew how the book ended 2) I knew that I wanted to read it and 3) I listened to it instead of actually reading it.  The book is really interesting because it is split up into three parts that were extremely different.

Part one describes the relationship between Michael and Hannah.  Michael is a young high school students and Hannah is a streetcar conductor.  They meet one day and begin an extremely passionate romance.  A few weeks or months into their romance, Hannah has Michael start to read the books that he is studying in school aloud tto her every time that they meet.  They continue this pattern of reading and spending time together until one day Hannah disappears without telling Michael where she is going or why she is leaving.








I give away parts of the plot in the rest of the review so you may not want to keep reading!

Part two describes the next time they meet.  Michael is a law student who is participating in a seminar on the concentration camps.  As part of that seminar, the students observe a trial of some of the Nazis who worked at Auschwitz.  One of those Nazis is Hannah.  The Nazi women are being tried for an instance after the death march of the prisoners from Auschwitz where they locked the women they were caring for in a church that later caught on fire during a bombing. The other Nazis pin this on Hannah.  While observing the trial, Michael realizes that Hannah does not know how to answer the questions that are posed to her in court because she has not been able to read the materials for the trial.  He puts the pieces together and figures out that she is illiterate.  If she had revealed this, which she does not, she could have gotten off with a less severe punishment than the life in prison she is sentenced to.

Part three describes the time that Hannah spends in prison after she is sentenced and the way that Michael maintains their connection by taping himself reading books and then sending them to her.  The warden at the prison tells Michael that this is Hannah's only connection to the outside world.  I won't tell you the ending, since I've already given away much of the plot.

This is one of the few instances where the movie that was made from the book was as good, if not better, than the book.  Most of that has to do with the casting of Kate Winslet as Hannah.  She does an amazing job.  As she always does with the roles she plays.  If you are considering reading the book or watching the movie, I would definitely recommend it.  It gives you an interesting view on the Holocaust.

Our day in Cincinnati

Yesterday we took a little trip to Cincinnati to visit Ikea and Jungle Jim's International Market!

We had a lot of fun wandering around Ikea.  We weren't looking for anything specific so we had a fun time picking up items as we went.  The great thing about shopping at Ikea is that almost everything there is useful.  Everything we bought is something that is useful and will help us be more efficient/organized/happy.  I had to say happy because I bought these awesome cookie cutters.  Don't they just make you happy looking at them?  My favorite is the porcupine!!!

Jungle Jim's was interesting.  We were pretty excited about it because we had heard about it on some TV program (probably on Food Network or Cooking Channel).  We knew that it had a huge selection of international food, so we were excited to check it out.  The thing we figured out?  Jungle Jim's is interesting, but would be better 1) if we hadn't just come from Ikea because we were already getting tired of walking/looking at stuff 2) if we had lived close enough to actually grocery shop instead of just browse.

We did spend a long time in the beer section.  We were excited to see they had beer from the New Holland Brewery in Holland, Michigan where we went to college.  We didn't let ourselves spend any time in the wine section because we didn't want to spend much money.  And we wandered through all of the international food sections.  They have it split up by country/type so there were sections for Germany, England, India, Hispanic, Asian, etc.  We definitely saw some interesting food.  I think it was good to go once, but I don't know if I'd go back again unless I was looking for something specific like the tiny pineapple Andrew's holding in the picture.  Isn't it cute?

Movie review: Yes Man

Last night I started watching Yes Man about half way through.  Thankfully I was watching it on one of those channels that replays the movie again directly afterwards so I eventually saw the whole thing.  While there were parts that went a little too far for me, I liked the overall idea of the movie, which is basically about saying "yes" to your life and being open to the experiences that present themselves.

I have two favorite scenes in the movie.  The first was when Jim Carey and Zooey Deschanel go on a date to the airport where they decide to leave on the next flight that's boarding.  How fun would that be to do?

The second scene was where Jim Carey talks a jumper down off a ledge by singing him the song "Jumper" and the entire crowd on the ground starts singing along.  Who doesn't love that song?

My favorite quote in the movie pretty much sums up the overall feeling of the movie.  "The world's a playground.  You know that when you're a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it."

Tangled

Today we bought Tangled!  I've been waiting to get it since we saw it in the theatre.  I can't wait to watch it!