Top row (L to R): Isphotography, Shop Shop Designs, Cheer up Cherup.
2nd row (L to R): Creative nuts , Home Studio, Berkley illustration!.
3rd row (L to R): Woodworking & recycled bike parts by Julien Jaborska, Bicycle paintings, Arcane Arts.
4th row (L to R): Velocipede, WD Design & Photography, bitter sugar, Rar Rar Press.

with spring weather in full force here in arizona (okay, it’s pretty much “spring weather” here as far as everyone else is concerned all winter long), i’m wanting to ride my bike everywhere. i think lots of people might be feeling the same way, judging by the bike imagery/inspiration i’ve been seeing all over etsy. art, clothing, accessories, stationery…from retro illustrations to gear-head inspired pieces, bikes are everywhere.


original photos from beachbikes.net

i'm loving this cupholder from beachbikes.net--it may not be ideal for all terrains, but for cruising around the (relatively flat) streets of tempe, it would be a handy, hands-free way to bring along my venti americano. and for those of you who tote around your lives with you on your bikes, how adorable is this double bike bag, which mounts over your back tire?


L ro R: sunlite wooden basket, carrie bicycle basket, topeak quick-release basket

for people like me who can usually fit your necessities in your front basket, how about one of these? the topeak basket, which has a quick-release function, would be great to tote along to the grocery store for smaller shopping trips. and i love the carrie bicycle basket (available at huset-shop.com) with it's bright green pop of color (it might make my orange bike looke a little bit pumpkin-esque, though...).

the pear project: artisan goods for every day life

pear project items
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

so if any of you are in the same boat as me, and i suspect that many of you are these days, you've got your mind on your money and your money on you mind (snicker). it's tempting at times like these to hit up the big box stores in search of low prices, especially when you're looking to purchase "extras". and while i am a big fan (and frequent shopper) of tar-jay, there's a lot to be said for putting in a little more leg work and maybe an extra few dollars to upgrade to an item that is unique, creative, and hand made.

etsy is pretty well known as a source for items like this, but there are other options, too. the pear project, run by north carolina artist (and looooong time friend of mine) brooke fuller, is a fantastic place to find household good, jewelry, handbags, and one of a kind art. and unlike larger sites like etsy, the pear project is able to carefully regulate the quality of each and every item sold through the site, so you can rest assured that your purchase will be well made (more well made, more than likely, than it's big box brethren).

so next time you're on the hunt for the perfect purse, necklace, piece of art, or even some new salt and pepper shakers, check out the artists over at the pear project for something a cut above that mass-produced "bargain" at tarjay. you get a great product, and you support an independent artist and a small business owner, all with one purchase--everybody wins! and who doesn't love that?

probably a better idea in theory than in practice...

road rage-pola

Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

these road rage sticks from urban outfitters are cracking me up. i especially like the "are you drunk?" sign. however, i imagine whipping one of these out after someone cuts you off might only fuel the already fired-up tempers that flare during rush hour. they sure are tempting, though...i can think of a few people i know who'd make good use of them!

how to work better

how to work better
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

i'm really striving to live by this lately. unfortunately, i can't recall how or where i stumbled across it, but i have it printed out and hanging on the wall in my office. #1 is especially relevant for me. i have a tendency to take on about 20 tasks at a time, and while some people are truly efficient multi-taskers, i have come to realize over the years that i am not one of those people. i work best, fastest, and most efficiently when i can sort the things i need to do into a list and tackle them one at a time. hence the legal pad next to my computer that serves as my "to do" lsit. i refresh it every monday, tearing off the top sheet and only transfering over to the next sheet the things that didn't get finished the previous week.

also relevant is #10...as someone who tends to wear her emotions like a flag on her face, i sometimes need to remind myself to smile when i'm feeling overwhelmed at work.

what do you do to stay focused, motivated, and efficient?

Who says you can only send Valentines on 2/14?

mustache valentine
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

So it's past Valentines Day, but I couldn't resist posting this free e-Valentine from katespade.com. Perfect for the mustachioed man in your life on Valentines Day, or any day!

clearly something's got to give...between facebook, twitter, and myspace, there are so many other places to check and update that this blog has fallen through the cracks. i'd like to fix that. so i'm going to be making some changes...i can't promise anything in terms of timelines since i'm focusing most of my energy on the wedding lately, but i'm a-workin' on it...

IMG_1019
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

Erika suggested that if this chicken hat ever needs replacing, I could always buy Chester a kitty wig:



What do you think?

my best girl brooke is having a sale at her online shop! the pear project is a great place to find handmade crafts by talented artists--check it out by clicking below:

more folders
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh

...these seem quite fitting lately. I could file lots of things on my desk under "Documents: Useless".

Changing things around again a bit...

A Political Diversion

I don't get political here often, but I thought this was a pretty interesting article...

"Few Americans (less than 20 percent) want to return to an America in which abortion is almost always illegal, and if they knew McCain's true views on the subject, most would not vote for him. So the candidate is...sneaking a little of his bad-tasting reproductive rights stance into the meatloaf of his candidacy—not by hiding it, but by trading on his reputation as a maverick."

Read the rest of this article at Slate.com...

Okay, so I know I'm stupid late to the party on this, but has anyone heard Obadiah Parker (they're an Arizona band) cover Outkast's "Hey Ya"? It's been out for a few years now, but I just heard it recently.

You're probably best off starting the video and then just minimizing it and listening...someone tried to patch the real video in with the live cover, and the timing is nowhere near right. But anyhow, I just wanted to share this because I lurve me some acoustic guitar and a good cover. Hear more on their Myspace page, or download them off iTunes. Enjoy!

I am in love with pretty much everything that Amy Butler does. Now she's come out with a line of eco-friendly paper products...I am presently coveting this blue and green gift wrap and this fancy paper tableware. Her designs are so elegant, and I consistently love the colors she chooses.

If you've always been dying to know whether you're rock, paper, or scissors, today is your lucky day. I, by the way, am paper.

You Are Paper

Crafty and creative, you are able to adapt freely to almost any situation. People tend to underestimate you, unless they've truly seen what you are capable of. Deep down, you're always scheming and thinking up new plans. Your mind is constantly active. You are quite capable of anything you dream of. You can always figure out a way to get what you want. You can wrap a rock person up in your sheet of trickery. A scissor person can sneak up and cut you to pieces. When you fight: No one can anticipate your next move If someone makes you mad: You'll attack them mercilessly when they're unprepared

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

I blame Sonia, who instigated this with her "what karaoke song are you?" blog post. (For the record, I am "Living on a Prayer.")

Finally, a scientific(ish) explanation for something I have always known to be true...
how to properly position a roll of toilet paper.

*blows dust of blog*
Anybody in here?

Probably not, seeing as I've been the Queen of Inconsistent Posting. Yikes. Life has been eventful lately, too.

We're buzzing right along with the wedding planning; we'll be getting hitched on May 9th 2009, most likely at Elizabeth Park in West Hartford Connecticut. We've booked the Pond House Cafe for the reception, which is located within the park. Erika has mocked up some incredibly cool looking Save-the-Dates (which we'll be sending out soon-ish)and invitations for us. Lots of other kettles on the Wedding fire, as well.

Also, Dana and I are in the process of packing up and moving. We found a great house in Mesa (just east of Tempe, where we currently are) with more space, an enclosed garage, a pool, and room for the dogs to run around like idiots. We move in 2 weeks, so our current house pretty much looks like a bomb went off. Good times. You can see some pictures of the new pad here, but I'll be posting more once we're in and settled. I'm pretty jazzed about the thought of a fireplace. Indoor s'mores!

That's all for now...more in a couple of weeks, at the longest!

dana and i are engaged!

after weeks of high-quality secret-keeping on his part, dana proposed to me on christmas eve! no date has been set yet, but we're planning on getting married in connecticut next spring (2009). i have never been happier, and i am so jazzed about planning the wedding that i can hardly see straight :). we'd really like to be married outside, and for the reception to be able to have some sort of outdoor component, so i've been scoping out locations...and I already managed to stumble across the perfect bridesmaid's dress. other than that...well, what's to say other than that? christmas was fantastic; i was able to see a ton of friends (though not as many as i'd have liked), and got to spend some time with two of the CUTEST wee ones ever (that's you, babies renshaw...). now it's 2008 (2008?!?!), and it looks like this year will revolve largely around wedding planning. i'd love to throw some house buying in there as well, but we'll see...

i hope you all had a great holiday and new year's, and that 2008 is being good to you so far. cheers!

just so this is out of the way, i am fully aware that i am the worst blogger ever and should not be allowed to have a blog, because i have lapsed into quarterly updates at best, which is fairly pointless.

anyhow, it's monday night and today was my last day of work for the next two weeks, which is frickin' fabulous. tomorrow is our arizona christmas (which means sipping hot chocolate while walking around zoo lights, takeout from p.f. chang's, and opening most of our presents from one another (oh, and i got some good ones for dana...:D). wednesday i fly out to connecticut, and don't come back until new year's eve. so on the off chance that anyone actually still reads this blog (which, you know, thanks), i'll be in the middlebury area and the uconn/storrs area intermittently over the next two weeks. let's go to the bidwell!

i am so excited for christmas...there's actually going to be snow in connecticut this year, i'm hoping to see lots and lots of my friends (i miss you guys so much!), and also some babies that i have not yet had the pleasure of squeezing and smooching on (hailey! mila! a bigger tristan who will not remember me!). i was lucky to see a lot of my family this year, considering they're 2600 miles away, and christmas with them is always the best (ain't no christmas like an osterberg christmas!). it's sort of been christmas for a couple of weeks now (basically, i'm sold once the tree goes up), but this past week has really gotten me in the spirit. i baked lots of cookies on saturday and made glug, and then we had a little christmas get-together saturday evening in which all (ALL) of the glug (THREE BATCHES) was consumed, causing many hangovers on sunday. but you loved it, all of you. you know you did. and now tomorrow, i will pack my suitcase, and celebrate my little arizona christmas with the love of my life, and then i will get on a plane and see family and friends and SNOW and not work for two weeks, and really, what's better than that? nothing.

happy holidays everyone, and a wonderful new year! and merry christmas to you, jeff--you will be missed.

first and foremost:
happy birthday erika!!

and then:
it is GORGEOUS outside!

today is my day off, and i am enjoying my morning for several reasons:

~the sun is shining, but there is a wonderful breeze (which we don't get often here) keeping me cool and making my wind chime make lovely bright happy jingly noises.
~i am sitting on my new patio furniture, which happily redd did not consume while i was at work yesterday (he did nibble on one corner, but you can barely see it and he appears to be sorry).
~the internet! she is working! this is sort of like an endangered animal sighting.
~did i mention my happy wind chime?
~i'm going to ph!lly for EPA training at the end of the month, and while i am sad that i will not be able to spend halloween with dana, i am psyched that i may be able to spend it with the lovely nieci!
~we had our first group training run last night, and it was super-motivating to run in that large of a group of people. we have another one on saturday morning, and i'm excited to push myself to run the whole thing.
~i've already got $325 $350 (just saw a new one! thanks jared!) in donations to the leukemia and lymphoma society for my 1/2 marathon run. it's a far cry from the $2200 that i need, but i only started fundraising a few days ago!

so, lots of things to be happy about. including my awesome boyfriend, totally not at all cute pets (ha!), and great friends and family. life is good.

on january 13th, dana and i will be participating in the p.f. chang's rock 'n' roll arizona half marathon here in tempe. we're doing it as part of team in training with the leukemia and lymphoma society. those of you who know me know that i normally participate in the american cancer society's relay for life; this year i'm mixing it up a bit. don't worry--i'll still be hitting you all up for donations for this incredibly worthwhile cause...details to follow!

last week i went rafting down the grand canyon with some co-workers (we did the "diamond down" trip, where you go in at diamond creek, and raft all the way out to south cove at lake mead). it's about 60 river miles, of which becky and i jumped off the boat and swam about a half-mile (swimming! in the colorado river! in the grand canyon!). what a blast...since redd ate my camera a while back, i don't have any pictures of my own from the trip, but i'll post links to some photos once i get 'em.

the big news this week is that brooke is getting married on saturday!!!!. brooke and i have known each other since daisy scouts, and i am so, so, SO excited to be a part of this. yay brooke and dave! whooooo!

anywho...that's all for now, more to come. look for marathon and donation updates in the next week or so...

i! love! my! new! bike! thank you, dana! you're the best!!!

You Are 44% Girly

You're a little girly, a little boyish, and probably a whole lot indie. You have your own unique style, and it pretty much defies gender lines.

How Girly Are You?

This is actually a bit girlier than I was expecting...

oh...uh, hi there.

so. you may have noticed that it's been three months since i've posted. and that my other website is gone. or, you may not have...but there it is. i let my old domain expire because 1) i hadn't updated anything on the page in a year, 2) between blogger and flickr, i just didn't really need it anymore, and c) if i do decide to start up a web page again, it will probably be because i want to sell crafty things from it, which you're not supposed to do from a .org anyway. as for not posting here in three months, i have no excuse. i suck.

in the three months since we last saw our fearless heroine, she has changed jobs (still working for the grant program, but now instead of being a project manager, i'm the program coordinator! and my cube is bigger!), cut her hair (not too short, but much shorter than it's been), decided to do a half-marathon in january, partied in vegas, and hung out by the pool. the dogs have gotten bigger (well, at least redd has), dana and i have started to look into home-buying, i got a kick-ass new phone...and life is good.

i'm hoping to get back in the swing of posting here and updating more...there are some exciting things coming up in the next few months (rafting down the grand canyon! brooke's wedding! philadelphia! erika and rich visiting for thanksgiving! and more!), so i'll have lots of stories to tell. and hopefully there's still someone skulking around here to tell them to...

so i've actually been crafting quite a bit lately...i've got this idea in my head that if i can come up with a good range of different things to make, and sit down and make at least one of each thing and take pictures, that maybe i could get some kind of on-the-side "hey, buy my stuff!" thing going. this isn't a new idea, but one integral part of it is dropping a decent chunk of change on materials so that i've got something to work with. i've been so budget crazed lately, what with my student loan payments starting up and trying to develop some savings and still going on fun weekend trips...and i'm thrilled that in the next month or so, we're going to be hitting a nice financial groove (which will allow me to finally drop aforementioned decent chunk of change).

anywho, probably later this summer i might start up a new blog (or revamp the old website, which i'm feeling has been rendered fairly obsolete between this blog and flickr) soley for displaying crafty goodness. in the meantime, save your shiny pennies so you can buy yourself something pretty ;).

i've been tagged by sonia! here are the rules:

"Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog."

i feel like the only people that read this blog are already going to know all of the random things that i can think up, so excuse me if you've heard this one before...

1. i love corny jokes. like, really bad, probably-people-are-just-laughing-when-i-tell-them-to-humor-me corny jokes.

2. i cannot watch movies and tv shows that put people in uncomfortable situations and are supposed to be "funny". i get all anxious and squirmy on behalf of the character, and end up vaguely irritated. examples: seinfeld, meet the parents, and i'm sure borat, which is why i haven't seen it yet.

3. an oldie but goodie: i can sing the quadratic equation to the tune of 'pop goes the weasel.' i think that this should be taught in all algebra classes.

4. i am ridiculously hard on myself. this makes me, i think, a not very fun person to teach things to, because i get frustrated with myself when i don't pick things up right away. one might think that recognizing that fact would be a good first step to rectifying the problem, but one would be wrong.

5. i was a full-on tomboy until roughly the age of 21, when i got a wild hair across my ass and decided to start baking and cooking. after that came random craftiness, which then led to sewing, crocheting, beading, and knitting--listed in order of mastery level ;).

6. despite my love of crafting, i have an aversion to patterns and instructions. that is not to say that i refuse to use them, but if i think that i can figure it out on my own, i'm going that route first.

7. i can drive long distances without getting lost (like, all the way across the country, for example), but i will probably get you lost if i try to give you directions across town.

i don't think i know 7 people with blogs who haven't done this yet, but i tag
april
laura
and
jenn

happy birthday rob! and happy birthday to dana, who's birthday was exactly one week ago! :)

we spent the weekend in mexico at rocky point, and brought rob as his birthday present. aside from one member of our party running off with the mexican guy that sold us fireworks on the beach (uh, no, i'm not kidding), it was a great trip...really, even that had its drama value. jet skiing on the sea of cortez, playing in the tide pools, walking on the beach, setting off a huge fireworks display...good times :).

not much else goin' on here. i'll post a link to mexico pictures as soon as i get them uploaded...

an update, for the brave few that have the perserverance to check this blog (because i do always update eventually...sometimes it just takes a while...):

-redd is getting huge. he's learning how to sit and stay and all kinds of good things. i think we might be taking him on his first camping trip this weekend!
-gearing up to go rafting down the colorado river again in a few weeks. site visits must be done, and who am i to shirk my duties?
-also gearing up to go on my first trip to mexico, which will also be rob's first trip to mexico, because we're flying him out here for his birthday! i fully intend to make him ride the mechanical bull, because that's what a good big sister does. for sure.
-while going over my site statistics, i saw that not one but two people stumbled upon this web site by searching for images of stone cold steve austin. which now makes my second reference ever to stone cold steve austin on this blog (the first of which being a mention of the not-quite-life-size cardboard cut out of said wrestler that resided in my grad school office, which was in a post roughly two years ago).
-i also noticed that people from work have stumbled across my blog. hello, mystery co-worker(s)!
-uh...yeah. not much else. see, you should thank me for not posting when i don't have anything to say! then you don't have to read really boring pointless posts like this one.

adios, muchachos!

it's a shame they don't like each other. really.

first and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!! :)



life around here has been pretty puppy-centric lately. redd is doing very well, learning the ropes from big brother lukin and giving the cat grief whenever possible. chester is pretending to hate the puppy, but for the most part he's very tolerant (he'll make "I hate you" noises, but won't actually make any great effort to get away from redd unless he's really, really pesty). lukin loves having a play buddy, and he lets Redd chew on his ears and use him as a jungle gym--i'm very impressed with how good he's been (props to kate's mom for breeding such wonderful dogs!).

mom and dad are coming out for a visit this week, so dana and i are doing some house cleaning this weekend. we're going to take them up to the grand canyon next weekend, which will be very exciting b/c they haven't been before. speaking of the grand canyon, i may have another trip down the river for work coming up in late april. not definite yet, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed...hey, i need to visit my project sites and make sure everything is going well!

i'm going to go outside and play with lukin and redd. later gators! :)

more puppy pictures up over at my flickr site :)

this picture pretty much sums up how i felt throughout much of my college physics experience:

(click to see it bigger)

holy puppy breath, batman.

today is day six of Operation Puppysit. we have the entire litter of golden retriever puppies introduced in the previous post (12 puppies!), plus their mommy (gidget!), and for a few days, their daddy (bear). plus lukin, of course. for those counting along at home, that's 15 dogs. 15. dogs. yup. they are friggin' adorable and it's been a lot of fun having them here, but i must admit that i am looking forward to the restoration of order when they go home tomorrow. but damn are they cute. lukin has been phenomenally good with them--herding them around the yard, checking on them while they sleep, investigating when they make funny noises--i think he'll be very, very sad when they go. chester, however, will do a little kitty dance of joy. gidget and bear kind of want to eat chester, so he's been hiding in our bedroom. he will be very, very happy when they go. then we've got just enough time to wash the sheets on the guest bed before dana's dad gets here on thursday afternoon. hopefully. (kidding--we'll wash the sheets! jeez!). which will be cool, because i haven't met dana's dad yet.

in other news, there isn't much other news. isn't 15 dogs enough for you people?

meet the newest member of the family! dana's friend greg bred his golden retriever bear (to the lovely ms. gidget), and we're taking this little guy once he's old enough (early march). all twelve of the puppies (plus mom) are actually going to be staying with us thursday through wednesday of next week while gidget's owners are on vacation. puppy doesn't have a name yet; he's going to be dana's, so dana gets to name him. for now, you can check out my puppies photo set over at flickr to bask in the cuteness that is puppy. enjoy--more photos to come ;).

this french commercial based on march of the penguins had me laughing so hard i was crying.

"sometimes they slide on their bellies, to go faster"

"there are some really tender moments, too, like when they pass their eggs to one another"

ahahahaha! very, very funny.

...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!

just wanted to post something prefacing what is sure to be a lack of posting for the next week at least...

so it's wednesday night--oh, wait. thursday morning, technically. anyway. thursday is finish packing the trailer and clean the apartment day, which should hopefully be done by early afternoon. then i've got some western-ct errands to run, and am spending the night at my parents'. then it's back up here (but only to uconn, not the apartment) on friday, and back down to erika and rich's on friday evening. saturday morning, we leave for arizona.

day one: ct to toledo, oh.
day two: toledo, oh to omaha, ne by way of chicago.
day three: omaha, ne to trinidad, co.
day four: trinidad, co to tempe, az.

and then, my friends, i will have officially moved. don't know how long it's going to take to get settled out there, so i may not be posting for a bit. i'll catch up with you all soon, though.

i have taken my bed apart and am sleeping on the floor.

i think i am going to cough up a lung.

my apartment looks like a tornado hit it.

holy crap, when did i get that many pairs of shoes?

these are my random thoughts for today.

i love me some pearl jam :)

rob and i went to see pearl jam in harford earlier this evening, and it was such a great show! i'm really loving their new stuff, and they played some of my favorite older songs as well (including their usual closer, yellow ledbetter). so good.

last night april and mark threw me a going away party. many martinis were consumed. got to see some faces i haven't seen in a while, and was really touched by the thoughtful gifts people brought. seriously, presents weren't necessary. but seriously, i love them ;).

i just gave away my mattress and boxspring. tomorrow evening, i have to pack. a lot. uf.

it's been a busy week, and it's not going to be letting up any time soon. but that's okay, because the stress level is finally dropping. and it's been a long, long, LONG time since i've been able to say that.

to recap: last saturday was graduation, and on monday, dana, chester and i flew to arizona. tuesday was dana's birthday (happy birthday again!). wednesday morning, i met with the people who want to hire me and got the building and co-worker meeting tour (just need to have all my paperwork approved by the HR powers-that-be, and it's official). wednesday afternoon, we went and looked at a house that it looks like we will be living in (yay!). i flew out of phoenix at 6:30 this morning and got home at four (hey, who ate three hours of my day??), and i've pretty much been sitting in my comfy bowl chair with mexican blanket, surrounded by tissues ever since. i think i'm going to have to go to the doctor tomorrow, because i've been sick since monday and i felt like someone was stabbing me in the ears on the plane today. not fun.

looking forward: tomorrow, i have to go buy the ridiculously expensive paper that my thesis needs to be printed on, polish up the final edits, print it all out in triplicate, and then run around and get the signatures that i already got last week, but on the wrong, non-ridiculously expensive paper. tomorrow night, par-tay at april and mark's, where i'll probably end up crying because it's the last time i'll be together with everybody before i move. saturday is the pearl jam concert with rob (which is looking like it's going to be very, very soggy). sunday is a get-together at the 'rents. monday, the freight trailer gets dropped off for me to pack (which means that between now and then, i need to pack up my whole apartment). eek. next saturday...poof. i leave for arizona.

i swear, just yesterday i was saying "i can't believe i have a whole 'nother year of grad school." crazy. post-college life, here i come.

I PASSED!

i've got some revisions to do, but you may all start calling me by my proper and offical title: krista leigh 0sterberg, master of science.

:D

my defense is in THREE DAYS. really, more like two, because it's sunday evening now, and my defense is wednesday morning. i'm so excited and nervous. i'm thrilled to finally be done, but to be honest, i mostly just feel ill over the thought of being closed off in a room with my committee and questioned for two hours after i give my presentation. i've worked so hard for this, and i know it'll all be alright in the end (though i certainly expect that i'll have some revisions to make)...but i can't help but be nervous.

i got rid of my couch yesterday, and i've packed a few boxes. this whole moving thing is suddenly becoming very real. we're not sure where we'll be living yet, but we're looking...and i have a pretty good job prospect, which i'll go into more detail on in the next few days hopefully. three weeks. that's crazy. time is flying by so incredibly quickly...

okay. enough of that. i need to practice my presentation, and study for the question session. off to make those open channel flow hydraulics equations nice and fresh in my brain...

i've started up a flickr photo set of lukin pictures. because i am becoming That Dog Owner. well, not quite...i'm not going to dress him up in sweaters or anything. and he's got a tough act to follow (chester, my supremely well behaved kitty cat). but i'm pretty sure he might be the cutest puppy ever.

:)

lukin2

lukin2
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

meet my new puppy :)

his name is lukin, and he's a 6 (almost 7) month old welsh pembroke corgi. he's so incredibly sweet and adorable and smart, and when i call him he comes running and his big corgi ears flop all over the place. seriously, you could pass out from that much cute.

i can't have a puppy in my apartment, so he's going to be living at the breeder's until i leave. luckily, that's only a few minutes away, and i can go and pick him up whenever. my plan is to have him days and bring him back in the evenings, but i might try keeping him here overnight. he's not much of a barker, so i might be able to get away with it. we shall see.

i feel like maybe this wasn't worth the effort...

i got a CALL about a JOB!!!!

and it's a really interesting-sounding job!!!

okay, no more. i don't want to jinx anything. nothing's definite yet...

...but i got a CALL about a JOB!!!

things i learned this weekend:
~cd's look really neat when you heat them up in the microwave
~lightbulbs look even cooler. then they explode.
~it is possible to kill a microwave by cooking a lot of things inside of it that, according to generally accepted protocols, should not be cooked in a microwave.
~it is possible to drive a jeep on top of a microwave and have said microwave support its weight.
~rhode island's highest elevation is its landfill
~you can fit four people, two twelve packs, a saws-all, and various other miscellaneous tools in a mini cooper, all at the same time.
~a "coney island dog" has beef and onions on it, but no cheese.

...that's all i can think of right now. it was an interesting weekend :).

three reasons today is good:

the second draft of my thesis is done!

i bought my cap and gown yesterday and got my graduation tickets (and i only had to pay for half of the total regalia price, b/c i had a $25 gift certificate from speaking at a career services event)!

hanging out with dan and eating yummy indian food*

*not until next weekend...i lost my wallet and couldn't drive down to new haven. but i've got it back now.

my advisor left me a voicemail this evening telling me that he's bringing me a pigeon feces-covered piece of linoleum tomorrow.

i just thought that might make someone laugh out of context...

i woke up to snow this morning. what the heck? look, weather, if you know what's good for you... *shakes fist threateningly*.

i think they put crack in diet coke. for real. i don't even *like* soda.

i find out in a week and a half or so if i'm getting my dog!

i got my first issue of "southwest hydrology" in the mail the other day. i'm excited. you're probably not.

thesis is coming along...what with the new pigeon related data, it's going to be changing condsiderably (because hey, why not tack on extra analysis with three weeks to go?), but i'm doing what i can with what i've got right now.

i am going to need SO MUCH BEER when this is over. and a really good backrub. and a pony. and maybe a cookie.

check him out! i made this little octopus for a friend's baby. he took about half a skein of lion brand thick and quick (a little less maybe). i stitched on the eyes and mouth with some wool ease scraps. he was inspired by an octopus that april was making a while ago, but i didn't have a pattern, so i just made him up as i went along. it was a nice, fairly quick "i-can't-stand-my-thesis-anymore" project.
fairly low-key weekend...went out and saw stand play for jim's birthday, got to meet his girlfriend (finally!), and found out that they're playing three more times before i leave (i thought it was going to be my last show). spent yesterday in the office, last night had dinner with the family then stayed over erika and rich's, and i'm back in the office today. hoping to get the first round of thesis edits all tidied up by wednesday...so i probably ought to get back to that. later gators...

i went running in the park this afternoon. i love running, but between years and years of horseback riding, several occasions of over-abuse, and probably genetics, i have cranky knees and a really hard time running on pavement. subsequently, i'm always looking for new places to run that won't wreak havok on my joints. i was looking at a trail map of a park by my apartment and noticed that there was a nice 3.5 mile loop, most of which is on the blue-blazed hiking trail system and, blessedly, unpaved.
so anyway...i'm running through the woods, enjoying the gorgeous spring weather and listening to my ipod, and i notice a very persistant buzzing/humming sound over my music. so i took my earbuds out, and realized that it was frogs...spring peepers and bullfrogs. a lot of them. so off the path i go, pushing through the underbrush, trying to get closer. the closer i got, the louder it got, until i finally came across a large vernal pool FULL of frogs. i could see their shiny little heads poking out of the water, and they were all peeping and croaking and making an enormous commotion. it was awesome. it's one of my favorite sounds in the world, and i'm going to miss it when i move...growing up near water, it's a sound i've always associated with home.
on the rest of my run, i spent a lot of time thinking about the little things like that that i'll miss. but then i started thinking about all of the new sounds and sights and little things that i'll notice when i get to arizona, and how they'll be associated with new memories. how now i associate spring peepers with the coming of warmer weather, but in arizona, there will a new sight or sound or smell that i'll associate with spring...maybe geckos running around on the side of the house, or a certain type of flower. i don't know what those signs will be yet, but i'm excited to find out. it's part of taking a new place and turning it into a new home...

(click to enlarge)

how many bands can you find represented in this picture? leave the ones you find in the comments. I'll start off:
1. scissor sisters

new bangs! well, they're actually a few weeks old; i just got around to taking a picture of them. is it a "dramatic" haircut? well, no. but the last haircut i got that wasn't abbie trimming my hair in my kitchen with my fabric scissors (which, btw, she does a WONDERFUL job of) was roughly 3 years ago. so, baby steps. you can't see it in that picture, but my t-shirt says "Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!". It's marvelous.

my jeep is leaking coolant. this makes me cranky. i can see where it's leaking from, but i can't get at it (believe me, i was under there trying). grrr. and, i sliced my knuckle on a tin can. it's a pretty deep cut...i can't bend my finger all the way, and when i try, it starts bleeding again. no fun. okay, i'm done complaining now.

take the gun, leave the canolis. oh, and don't forget to arrange the pillows when you make the bed...

i just looked at a calendar.

see, i knew that time was flying by. i really did. and i knew that i was going to be graduating soon. but i just looked at the calendar, and my defense date is in six weeks, people. six weeks. the good news is, i handed in my first draft of my thesis on friday. this week, i'm preparing for a presentation i'm giving on friday, doing some job hunting, getting graduation paperwork done...i just sent out some quote requests for movers, and i want to start weeding through my clothes this weekend and set aside bags for donation. and mark my words, there will be bagS.

now if i can just fend off all the vultures who want my couches... ;)

because i needed to do something that didn't require me to think very much...
i tag april!

A - Available: nope.
A - Age: 25
A - Annoyance: people who always have to one-up you, slow drivers, being crowded by people.

B - Best Friends: brooke, lisa, abbie, april
B - Bar: bidwell, the half door, willimantic brew pub
B - Birthday: september 8th

C - Crush: haven't got one
C - Car: jeep wrangler
C - Cat: chester

D - Dead Pets Name: pippa mouse, oscar, nicodemus, archimedes
D - Dads Name: robert, but he goes by bob
D - Dog: soon, i hope!

E - Easiest person to talk to: april
E - Eggs: scrambled with cheese
E - Email: gmail, yahoo, school/work, website

F - Favorite color? blue. no, green. bluish green.
F - Food: depends on my mood. i like food a lot, it’s hard to pick a favorite.
F - Foreign Slang: schiesse, shite

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: worms. but really, gummy anything.
G - God: …
G - Good Time: being outside, exploring, hanging out with friends and loved ones

H - Hair Color: dark blonde
H - Height: 5'7”
H - Happy: when my thesis is done

I - Ice Cream: ben and jerry’s dublin mudslide
I - Instrument: kazoo
I - Idol: “a representation or symbol of an object of worship”

J - Jewelry: ears: diamond studs, silver hoops with little blue beads, my cartilage ring. and the ring dana gave me.
J - Job: looking for a real one…
J - Joke: how many ears did davy crockett have?

K - Kids: someday
K - Karate: i took a semester of jukido, but i only remember a few moves now
K - Kite: never was good at flying them…

L - Longest Car Ride: to montana and back with ray and matt
L - Longest Relationship: just shy of four years
L - Last Person you spoke to on the Phone: ray

M - Milk Flavor: i like milk flavored milk. ooh, and chocolate soy milk.
M - Mothers Name: lisa
M - Movie Last Watched: harry potter 4 (bought it last week)

N - Number of Siblings: 2
N - Northern or Southern: northern. but southwestern soon!
N - Name: krista

O - ONE Wish: less stress
O - One Phobia: not being good enough
O - One Goal: master of science!

P - Parents, are they married or divorced: married
P - Part of your appearance you like best: i like my toes; i don’t care if they’re short :P
P - Part of your personality you like best: if it needs to be done, i’ll find a way to do it

Q - Quote: ‘those who dance are called insane by those who don’t hear the music’
Q - What is your quest? i seek the holy grail.
Q - Quick or Slow?: depends on what the adjective is modifying

R - Reason to smile: my cat thinks i’m the greatest thing, like, ever.
R - Reality TV Show: ugh.
R - Right or Left: right

S - Song Last Heard: ‘happily ever after’ – the gufs
S - Season: all of them. i love the transition between seasons.
S - Sex: female. dirty birds, what did you think i was going to say?

T - Time you woke up: which time? 1:25 am, 3:30 am, 4:07am, etc…
T - Time Now: 8:54pm
T - Time for bed: it varies. always too late, though.

U - Unknown Facts about me: if i told you, they wouldn’t be unknown.
U - Unicorns?: make me think of a girl i knew in middle school who used to say she could see invisible unicorns in her yard. crazy loon.
U - U are a......?: person who hates when people spell words with one letter. u know who u r.

V - Vegetable you hate: olives. are those vegetables?
V - Vegetable you love: spinach
V - View on politics: i work in the environmental sciences. draw your own conclusions.

W- Worst Habits: putting things off, setting unrealistic expectations for myself, being insecure.
W- What do you wanna be when you grow up: happy
W- Where are you traveling to next?: arizona!

X - X-Rays: taken a billion, never had one.
X - X-Rated Porn: isn’t all porn x-rated? isn’t that why it’s porn?
X - X-Marks your spot: right now, that would be on my couch.

Y - Year you were born: 1980
Y - Year it is now: 2006
Y - Yellow: the color of my yarn bag

Z - Zoo Animal: i want a hippopotamus for christmas…
Z - Zodiac: virgo
Z - Zest:fully clean.

i'm starting to actually feel like this thesis is going to get written after all. the end of my college career and my impending move keep becoming more and more official. i've got two people interested in moving into my apartment when i leave, which makes leaving seem all the more real suddenly. i just realized that the next time i go see my favorite local band play at the end of march is the last time i'm going to get to see them play (hopefully not ever, but definitely for a long time). it's suddenly the middle of march, and i've only got a month and a half to tie up pretty much all of my loose ends. that's nothing, especially when time flies as quickly as it has been...

yikes. okay. back to the thesis.

you thought i fell off the face of the earth, didn't you?

well, i may as well have. it's crunch time, people. that thesis isn't going to write itself, after all. i took advantage of this past weekend as being the last weekend that i could feasibly devote to something other than thesis writing, and spent it up in saranac lake with lisa and chad. now it's back to the tables and figures and data and pages and pages and pages of notes and calculations and semi-formed thoughts that need to be turned into a cohesive and intelligent sounding masters thesis. egad. the next two weeks are going to be HELL. really, the next two and a half months are going to be hell, but i need to have my draft completed within the next two weeks, so they win the short term competition of abject suckiness. suckitude. sucktasticness. whathaveyou.

fyi:

you can now download a free (free!) mp3 of pearl jam's next single, "world wide suicide", from tenclub.net.

you can download lots of free (free!) live music from archive.org. i recommend this recording of a concert by the weepies.

my cat is friggin' adorable.

there are 72 days until i leave for arizona. holy crap.

okay, back to the thesis. later gators.

the second coming of christ...

apparently, a hardware store in manchester (right down the street from my old apartment, actually) has become a mecca for those interested in seeing the image of jesus in a piece of sheet metal. and if you're feeling particularly inspired by the whole thing, you can even make a bid for it on ebay (but you might want to hurry up; bidding is already over $500).

i don't even know what to say, aside from the observation that if jesus has time to be sending signs in the form of sheet metal to a connecticut hardware store, then perhaps he's got his priorities a bit mixed up.

i was a guest speaker at a wetlands-related meeting today, and presented my research to a room full of people who i was certain would immediately recognize me as a fraud and run me out onto the streets, possibly lashing me with phragmites stalks on the way out the door.

instead, i got two job offers. muahahaha, i've fooled them all!

in other news...

this is brilliant. who wants to share a pint?

clean water and flood retention: unconstitutional. who knew?

the supreme court is hearing a case by a michigan developer who claims that the clean water act is unconstitutional. you need to click the "listen" button to get the real meat of the story (my favorite part is where he tries to make the environmental consultant rip up the report stating that he needs to apply for permitting). at first i was surprised that the supreme court even agreed to hear the case; however, the more i think about it, the more i'm betting that it's based on the nebulous terms that define the clean water act itself. the wording of the act states that it applies to "navigable waters of the united states." traditionally, this is interpreted as all waters of the united states, which extends the coverage to wetlands. intuitively, this makes sense: though many wetlands are not 'navigable', if you dump chemical waste into a wetland, you can't act all surprised when it shows up in the nearest river. so wetlands are covered by the clean water act, and based on that, our friend the developer was told that he had to apply for permitting before he could bulldoze his (at least partially) wetland-classified parcel of land. truth be told, the vast majority of wetland-related permit applications are granted either entirely or conditionally. but did this guy bother to apply? nope, he just started bulldozing. brilliant.

my worry here is that somehow, someway, the supreme court will rule in this guy's favor. if that happens, wetland protection is going to be in big, big trouble. ugh.

look at that...weeks without a substantial entry, and then i go and get all political and topical on you. i wonder if this will be a hot topic at the meeting i'm speaking at on thursday...

states i've been to...i'll be able to add oklahoma and new mexico after i drive through them this spring!
create your own visited states map

from the livejournal ladies...
Four jobs I've had:
* exercise rider at a horse farm
* vet tech
* shelver at the university library
* teaching assistant
Four movies I can watch over and over:
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
* Guys and Dolls
* The Professional
* the Lord of the Rings movies
Four places I've lived:
* Oxford, CT
* Willimantic, CT
* Manchester,CT
* North Windham, CT
(wow, that's boring...)
Four TV shows I love:
* Grey's Anatomy
*any nature documentary
*that's all I've got for this one...
Four places I've vacationed:
* Arizona :)
* Chilean Patagonia
* Colorado
* Montana
Four sites I visit daily:
* gmail.com
* students.uconn.edu
* treehugger.com
* lifehacker.com
Four places I would rather be right now:
* in arizona
* at my graduation three months from now
* on vacation
* asleep

back to the same ol' daily grind :P. had a great weekend; dana came on friday night and was supposed to leave on sunday morning, but ended up staying until tuesday morning because of the blizzard that we had here. but now he's gone, and i'm back to focusing on the work i need to get done for my thesis and the presentation that i have to give next week. boo. time's a-flying, though, and i'll be out there before i know it.

today i:

woke up early
went to an environmental policy meeting
read about dry depostion of nitrogen
gave blood
ate chicken tacos
made a johari window

not my most productive day ever, but it'll do.

yaaaaaaaaaay! i can wear contacts again! i've been wearing my glasses since november (scratched corneas :P ), but i got a clean bill of eye health today. woo hoo!

also woo-hoo:


oh yeah. i pre-ordered that. why? because i'm addicted. and sunday's episode ROCKED my SOCKS off (fyi, as of 7:30pm on tuesday, that's an abbreviated recap. the full one should be up in the next few days). okay, the socks stayed on, but holy edge of my seat, batman! i can't wait to see the conclusion this weekend. but what i can't wait for even MORE is for dana to be here! he's only coming friday night to sunday morning (so basically, a day), but it's better than nothing and we haven't seen each other since christmas. so yeah. that's the biggest 'yay' of the week :). which is nice. i haven't had a yay-filled week in a while. it was starting to feel a little past due...

finally! some progress with the data! i'm finally starting to feel like i'll be able to get this thesis written. time is passing by so quickly...and, i've got an official time frame for moving out to arizona (end of may). not exactly sure how i'm getting my stuff out there (psh, u-haul, not renting trailers to vehicles with soft tops), but i'm working on it. baby steps. apparently before i go, i'm going to hike mount washington with ray (and abbie and adam? yes?), so that should be fun. exhausting, and cold (mid may, most likely), but fun. and a nice farewell to the northeast, even if it is only temporary. the job market out in arizona is starting to perk up a little too, which is encouraging. i can't speak for the job market in general, but ones in my field were sadly lacking for a while there. and no cracks about "well duh, there's no water in arizona." i assure you, there is, in fact, water in arizona. they just hide it really well ;). found a job listing for a water quality specialist right in the town we'll probably be living in, but it's almost entirely lab work. i can do lab work, but i find it repetitive and boring, so while the pay is decent and i'm certainly qualified, it's not at the top of my list. there are a few that look interesting, though. i know there's always consulting jobs, but i'm gunning for something in a federal (or at least state) program so that it will be easier for me to transfer jobs later on. i'm not ruling out consulting entirely, though...it's certainly not going to hurt my resume to have two years of consulting work under my belt later in the game.

this is a boring entry, but i wanted to write something because i've been slightly less than prolific as of late, and this is the stuff that's been on my mind lately. so that's what you get. tough noogies.

almost 1 am, eh? to bed with me, i guess...

those of you who know me well know that really random things can crack me up. a good example of this would be the monkey joke. or the davey crockett joke. or the pirate joke. or my complete inability to get through a single one of those jokes without dissolving into giggles before i get to the punchline. i apologize about making references to things that most of you won't get; next time you see me/when/if you meet me, ask me and i'll tell you all three. anyhow. another example of something completely random that's making me laugh: almost naked animals. my favorites are trout (likes: rumpus rooms, a good cry, fancy dishes. dislikes: winter boots, cronyism, narrow streets), rooster (likes: interrupting, aquariums, bazookas. dislikes: selfishness, team sports, mandolins), and squirrel (likes: traveling, chili dogs, jazz music. dislikes: gobal warming, minivans, green olives). really can't argue with the squirrel.

robotic conscientious objectors coming in 2008

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Kristaleigh!

1. There are now more than 4000 satellites orbiting kristaleigh!
2. It is impossible to fold kristaleigh more than seven times.
3. Only twelve people have ever set foot on kristaleigh!
4. All gondolas in Venice must be painted black unless they belong to kristaleigh.
5. Kristaleighomancy is the art of telling the future with kristaleigh.
6. Kristaleigh has a memory span of three seconds!
7. Kristaleigh cannot be detected by infrared cameras!
8. It's bad luck for a flag to touch kristaleigh.
9. In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become kristaleigh on New Year's Day.
10. Kristaleigh can't drink - she absorbs water from her surroundings by osmosis.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

that's right. you all best be painting your gondolas black.

edited to add that i think april's is even better :)

i have found my next crochet project.

if you don't get it, go here and scroll down to read the letter. brilliant.

now i just need to find someone who will wear it...any volunteers?

blargh. that is what i have to say about my data right now. i will not bore you all with details the way i did with poor dana earlier today, but suffice it to say that it is being uncooperative. so yeah. blargh.

tomorrow is the official start of the spring semester, which is the first semester in eight years in which i will not be taking any classes. that is not a typo. believe me, i wish that it were. so on one hand, this is very exciting. i don't have to take any classes! no more boring lectures! wheee! however...this is a very drastic change in the routine that has been my life since 1998. and really, i suppose, since i was five if you want to get *really* technical. but i'm just talking college here. so it's very surreal to think that the semester is starting, but that it really doesn't mean anything to me at all aside from TA-ing. which is no small potatoes, because you certainly don't want to be the one reading and grading the 15 page papers. although, it is fun to write comments with my little red pen such as "a tureen is something you serve soup in. i believe the word you are looking for is terrain. please proofread your work--just because it's a word doesn't mean it's the right word." that makes me sound like the editing nazi, but i'm really not. if you'd been editing that paper, you'd have been cranky by the time you got to the 'tureen' incident as well. i really want to write things like "you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means," but i think they're too young to get the reference.

but i digress. what i was getting at before i went off on my little tangent was that holy crap i'm almost done with college. which i've said before, and i promise you i will say again, and you're just going to have to bear with me because that's kind of the biggest thing in my life day-to-day right now.

moving on. new neat-o website: http://liveplasma.com. in a similar vein to pandora, which i posted about the other day, you type in a band you like (or a movie, director, or actor, unlike pandora), and it gives you a sort of flow chart of related bands/directors/movies/actors that you might like. you can click on any of the bands that come up, and it will re-expand further, which is nice for when you already know that you like all or most of the bands that it comes up with. also unlike pandora, it doesn't actually play music for you or link you to a resource; it's just a flow chart. but it's neat and visually appealing. and i'm a packaging whore, so visually appealing goes a long way with me. click on the image below to see the chart it gave me when i typed the band Spoon in the search box:

pretty accurate; of the other bands shown, i own (and like) music by eleven of them.

okay, that was a wicked long post. i'm out like a fat kid in dodgeball.

guess who got asked to speak at the state wetland scientists' annual meeting?

(pssst...it's me!)

so, yeah...a little nervous, as usual with the whole public speaking thing, but it will be a good preparation for my (*gasp*) defense. my defense, which is tentatively scheduled for may 1st. i have to make sure that date works for everyone on my committee before it becomes definite. so i've been analyzing data and making graphs and tables--not much writing yet at this point, although i've started a little bit. i have to get all of the numbers crunched before i can write about them, but i'll be starting that phase in the next couple of weeks, and my first draft of my thesis is due on march 13th. my thesis. holy crap, people. where on earth did grad school *go*?

maybe i *won't* be poor forever: check out number 10!

thanks april :)

bk3

i'm not sure where these pictures originated (i got them here), but they're cracking me up. because as i have posted before, the burger king kinda freaks me out. and yet cracks me up at the same time.

nikes

*sigh*

i think i have officially out-run my running shoes.

i guess i shouldn't be surprised, because i've had them for about a year now and i've certainly gotten a lot of good use out of them, but i'm bummed because even though they are space-agey and kinda ugly, they are a) incredibly comfortable, which is hard for me and my super duper crazy high arches to find, and b) expensive. not ridiculously so for running shoes i guess, but more than i'm willing (or able) to drop at the moment. the problem is, now i'm spoiled. example: my sneaks have no tongue--the boot of the sneaker is all one piece. this is great for me, because due to aforementioned crazy high arches, most sneaker tongues dig into the tops of my feet if the shoes are tightly laced. and up until this point, i've had no foot pain associated with these shoes whatsoever. and i have to admit that i really enjoyed being able to personalize them, from picking colors to having my initials embroidered on the heels. rockin'. i can't really justify buying shoes that are going to hurt my feet when for ~$40 more, i know i can get shoes that work really well for me, and that i can personalize myself. so i'm trying to suck it up and squeak a few more weeks out of this pair until i get my next paycheck, but damn...running in bad shoes sucks. i think i'm going to pick new colors this time around though...maybe red and a punchy looking orange. you know, keep my feet happy and motivated while i'm running ;).

i saw this in a print ad the other day:

"no, gravitational physics makes the world go 'round."

which made me laugh. because i'm a nerd.

yarn1

new yarn! april and i went to the yarn store on friday, and i got yarn to re-make rob's hat, and a neat book on felting, and the pictured yarn that i'm going to use to make myself a felted bag (probably something similar to the bag i made for erika, only maybe with a flap...). rock on. i have already professed my love of the noro kureyon yarn, but i was good and only got a few skeins of it. the two pinks and the green were much more reasonably priced, and complemented the noro well i thought. i'm excited to have a project to work on that i'll actually get to keep! but course, it's back burner...i've got to make rob a new hat first, and fix the guitar strap i made for george with the other noro. but i'm excited anyway :)

there are now three reasons that today is a date of note.

1)duh. it's january 1st.
2)it's my parents' anniversary (happy 31st!)
3)mike and sandra had their baby!!! welcome to the world, anna! yay for more cute babies!

if you had asked me on this date a year ago where i'd be in a year's time--not geographically, but it terms of my personal life and my future plans--i would have made a 100% inaccurate prediction. so here's to the unexpected, and the silver lining, and having an open mind. i guess i've learned better than to make predictions, but i know that the coming year is going to be full of change and excitement and i'm looking forward to it. i hope you all are, too.

happy new year!
-krista