...in which krista pimps out a craft site with its very own magazine to which she would very much like to subscribe:



this is from the makers of make magazine, if you're familiar. brilliant stuff.

...in which krista does some housekeeping. or blogkeeping. whatever.

i've edited my links over on the left hand side (no more dead ones!), taken out the "currently reading/recently read" on the right hand side (just don't have the time to read as voraciously as i once did...), and am absolutely flummoxed as to where my archives have gone to. not a clue.

in other news, i'm thinking about putting up some sort of web-based "store front" to sell some of my crafts...more on that as it develops...

[edited 1/28 to add that thanks to a helpful tip from jane, the archives are back. big, cumbersome, and dating back to 2002, but back. lucky you.]

some randomness...

*i am in love with this response (found by the lovely ms. jinxie) to this series of asinine articles claiming that the ingestion of soy is perilous and induces homosexuality.

*dana and i have been running together, and i love it. he's very motivating to run with.

*i am sorry, new england, that it is negative 150 degrees there today.

*this woman drives me batsh!t crazy. seriously.

*i want really, really good soup. who wants to make me soup?

i am baking today. scratch that, i am attempting to bake today. i'm making sourdough bread (from scratch! i even made the starter for the dough, which is a long, drawn out, slightly smelly, bacteria-involving process), but my dough is not rising. pf. i did the damage control mom phone call (which, may i say, i pretty much never have to do when baking--cooking, occasionally, but baking? not so much), and have amended the situation by dampening the towel laying over the bowl with warm water, and turning on the oven (which the dough is in a bowl on top of) so that the heat emanates upward. now i am waiting patiently to see if that does anything. i have also instructed the dog and cat to be very very quiet, and have turned down the volume on the tv very very low, because i specifically remember my mother telling us when we were little that if we made a lot of noise, the dough wouldn't rise. it may have just been a (very effective) way to shut us up, but i'm not taking any chances. i shall report back later with results.

ETA: i am the goddess of sourdough bread. holy yum, batman.

behold, the crackberry. i broke my cell phone in half last week, and was told by ver!zon that the cheapest phone i could get to replace it would run me $150 since my contract isn't up yet. but the guy that does the cell phones for dana's work was able to hook me up with a crackberry for much, much cheaper--it's used, but barely, and it's all wiped clean and looks brandy spankin' new. i've been spending my morning re-entering phone numbers into it, and basically trying to figure out how it works.

dana left at 3:30 this morning to go on a fishing trip in NM, so i am on my own until monday (which is our 2 year anniversary, btw...). my general plan is cleaning today, girl-time tomorrow, and brunch with some friends on sunday. other than that, i'm just enjoying the first day of my 4 day weekend, and my new go go gadget technology. whoot!

yay hooray! we've finally got dependable internet at home! this means i can check my email on a regular basis, which i am very excited about, and that i can update my blog more than once a month. yipee skippee! i'm also pretty psyched because i am (hopefully) getting a new cell phone today. i broke mine (as in, dropped-it-on-the-floor-and-watched-in-horror-as-it-broke-in-half kind of broke) last week, and have been phoneless. dana managed to get a deal through the guy who does the phones for his work so that i can get a phone for $50 versus paying $150 through veriz0n (my contract isn't up until april, so they'd make me pay retail).

also: the new pasttime du jour at the parmelee-osterberg household is guitar hero II. feel free to come over and get your butts whupped*. that's right, i'm talking smack. uh huh. so go on and bring your feeble guitar attempts, because we're punk rock over here**. that's how we roll.

*by dana. i pretty much suck at guitar hero, but dana will whup your butt.
**if by punk rock, you mean pretending to play guitar on a little piece of plastic. in which case, we are very punk rock.

well chickadees, that's all for now. happy 2007! :)

pinetop/lakeside, az.

that's where i am right now. it's sort of near the new mexico border, about a 4.5 hour drive from phoenix. thursday i'll be in prescott, which is in between phoenix and flagstaff. last week, i was in sonoita and patagonia, down by the mexico border. i went on a trail ride at a ranch to check out some waterers that the landowner installed to keep his cattle out of the creek, and rode over trails in the long grass cut not by the cattle, but by mexicans coming over the border. not something you see in connecticut...

i've been traveling for work lately, and it's made the past month or so absolutely fly by. next week is thanksgiving, and subsequently, the official onslaught of christmas. not that i'm complaining--i love me some christmas as much as more than the next girl. but holy cow, where does the time go? i find myself still telling people that i "just" moved here, which is relatively true, but i've been here for almost 6 months now. half a year.

i haven't seen my family since june. that is so incredibly difficult for me. i can't wait for christmas, when dana and i head back east and get to spend time with everyone. but i also can't wait for them to come out here, and see my life in arizona (quick, before it gets hot again!).

i'm rambling. but i'm posting, so that's good, right? i need to spend some time reviewing the presentation i'm giving tomorrow before bed, so this is all you get for now. more to come soon (including pictures of our pretty yard and other fun things...). later gators.

i'm not dead!


but i also can't update right now. work is crazy busy, and i'm going out of town tomorrow. but i was told (hi dad!) that i have to update, so i'm doing the next best thing and promising to update. soon.

it's 9:30 on a sunday morning. it's still fairly cool out--around 80, I guess, which feels cool compared to 100 degrees. i went running this morning when dana left to go golfing, and then i sat on the back patio and ate my breakfast. it's nice when it's cooler out, because the patio is like another room of the house. and while i was sitting there eating my grape nuts, sitting indian style in a canvas directors chair and listening to the birds chirping and looking out at our backyard and the flowering mexican bird of paradise trees, i think i "got" part of this whole arizona thing. everyone keeps telling me "just get through the summer, then you'll see. the rest of the year is why we put up with the summer." and it's still summer, sort of--still hot outside, still hitting 100 degrees or higher. but i can tell that it's starting to change over. it cools down at night now, so when you're up early you get to see the mythical 70's before the sun burns through. and there's something to be said for sitting outside enjoying your breakfast in your running shorts and a sports bra on the first day of october. i miss new england fall...i really, really do. i miss the leaves changing, i miss the first cool days where you break out a sweater, and maybe a scarf, just for the morning chill. i miss my body feeling like the season is changing, and wanting to bake pumpkin muffins and zucchini bread and foods that make me think of fall. but arizona fall, while it's not quite here yet, is going to be pretty wonderful too, i think. now, we'll just have to see about winter...

besides, how can i complain about anything when i have a boyfriend who carves birds out of apples?

Rhacodactylus_ciliatus

Rhacodactylus_ciliatus
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

ello. *bat bat*. i am kreesta's crested gecko *bat bat*. i do not have a name yet, but that weel not stop me from batting my eyelashes at you *bat bat*.

okay, enough of that. i figured if he was going to be outwardly flirtatious and batting his eyelashes, then he ought to have an exotic accent to go along with it. anywho...this is my new crested gecko!! dana surprised me with him last night as an early birthday present! this picture isn't actually him (i stole it off the wiki site), but that's what he looks like. i'll post actual pictures of him soon!

i am officially 26 years old today. time flies when you're having fun, eh? 25 was a pretty stressful year, but wrapped up well--let's hope year 26 is relatively stress free. relatively.

chadlisa

chadlisa
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

i am sososososososo excited for this weekend! chad and lisa are getting married, and dana and i are flying to NY on thursday night and staying until monday night. i can't wait to see everyone, and i am so excited and thrilled and happy and honored to be standing up there with my babycakes when she says her "i do's" :D

hopefully this week will fly by...today already (mostly) has, tomorrow and wednesday are meetings all day (which sounds awful, but always seems to make the day go faster to me), and i only work until noon on thursday. whoo hoo, i can't wait! last weekend was fun (ladies' weekend at the camelback inn in scottsdale, and dancing at e4). i even danced on a platform whilst a hip-hop song about backing one's rear end up played (who can guess?). and i wasn't intoxicated, either :P.

someone, somewhere, for some ungodly reason, decided that bacon, corn syrup, peanut butter, and TANG had gone far too long without being married in one harmonious taste sensation.

please excuse me whilst i vomit. blargh.

redneckdogs2

you might be a redneck if...

redneckdogs2

dana and i were behind this truck on the highway last weekend. to be fair, the dogs seemed perfectly comfortable, but still...

for my engineer friends:

Engineer #1: What the hell were you thinking when you wrote this code?
Engineer #2: Boobs.
Engineer #1: Huh?!
Engineer #2: Truthfully, it's likely I was thinking about boobs.

Columbia, Maryland

via Overheard in the Office, Jul 28, 2006

in other news...the home internet connection is notsohot. we're supposed to have wireless, but i have to be hooked up to the antenna (by a wire) to access the internet. that is, when there's actually a signal. which is pretty much never. so i'm thinking that we're probably going to switch to cable intenet and just get a router so the laptop is wireless. in the meantime, if you've been emailing me and I haven't responded, it's because i have to way to check gmail (or any web-based email, for that matter). someday we'll be all settled in with functioning internet. and maybe even furniture. you'll see!

finally! pictures of our house! check 'em out!

a very interesting photo set of rake art photographed via kite. not mine, but i thought it was pretty neat...

i know. i know. it's been forever. i will defend myself by saying that we just got home internet last week, but i know i'm still lame.

so...where to start? i left connecticut with erika, lukin (the dog) and athena (the snake) on may 20th, and aside from seriously wanting to kick omaha's ass had a pretty issue-free trip out. we arrived in arizona on the 24th (that would be 4 straight days of 11 to 12 hour driving, thanksverymuch) and erika hung out for a few days, then flew back home. i know i've said it to her, but i'll say it again: thank you so much for driving out with me, erika!

i started my new job on june 5th, and it's been great. everyone is friendly, i like the work i'm doing and i've already had some great opportunities (like, for example, rafting down the colorado river in the grand canyon for two days). I get to do a lot of traveling (within the state, but still), so I don't have to worry about fermenting at my desk, which is really nice. I don't think I'd handle a job like that well.

dana and i moved into our house in the beginning of july. it's a cute little 3-bed 2-bath with a fenced in backyard (yay for lukin!) and a covered patio and lots of big windows for chester to sit and look longingly out of. i promise i'll take pictures soon (i really was going to this evening, but it's hot and i don't feel like straightening up). and lord knows i have to straighten up first so you all think the house is always that clean ;). actually, we've been really good about keeping everything neat. we're pretty good at this whole "living together" thing :).

okay--you're all up to speed! pictures (and more frequent posts) will be forthcoming!

i'm not dead!

but i am at work, so i can't really update. in short: everything is going very well, dana and i are in our new house, hopefully i'll have internet at home next week and can update then. later gators! i miss you, CT-ers!

anyone who is interested in really cool jewelry and funky art should go here and buy something from brooke, because she is super talented and wonderful and you'll automatically be cooler if you own something made by her. :)

i'm here i'm here i'm here!

the trip out was a lot of fun--thank you again, erika, for coming with me :). the driving days were long (11 to 12 hours each) and omaha was not kind to us, but all in all it was a good time, and i got to hang out with some very cool ladies (and cute kiddies!) in chicago, too! we pulled in to tempe around 8 pm on tuesday evening, and erika flew back to ct on friday.

dana and i are still staying in his current house right now, but we should be able to move in to the new house later this week. we went yesterday and walked around the park that it's near, which has a decent sized lake and picnic tables and lots of grassy areas. definitely a city-type park, but it's very cute and looks like a nice place to walk the dog in the evenings (probably while dana's fishing :) ). lukin is acclimating just fine, and really likes to eat the pecans that drop out in the yard. there's no pecan tree at the new house, but maybe i can smuggle some nuts over and hide them in the yard for him :).

today i'm trying to catch up on emails and get all of my financial stuff in order. hopefully i can get my trailer o' stuff dropped off this afternoon. i have some pictures from the trip, but i don't know where the cable for my camera is, so it'll be a few more days until i can post any of them. for now, i just wanted to say hello to everyone, and let you know that i arrived safely (though if you read the comments from the previous post, you already knew that--how cute is my boyfriend?). i'll be in touch with everyone soon!