365 Days Ago: April '12

Once again, my catching-up post is late. But you see, I have been self-diagnosed with Final Semester Blues, so every slip-up will be automatically justified from here on. Just so y'all know. But then again, this time last year was actually pretty slow. The only thing I took pictures of was my haircut?




And then this dress, of course.



I remember I visited like... three stores to find it, nobody had it in my size, so I ended up bringing home an extra-small. Bad idea. I'm wearing it in the picture, but it was impossibly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, days later, I was lucky enough to find the next size up - and I made the switch. Of course, being me, I haven't actually worn the dress enough times to justify the purchase. Why does this always happen? Because I can't function with more than 10-15 pieces on regular rotation, that's why.

How about you guys? Tell me about your relationship with clothes!
xx

Puppy Love

Everyone, meet our new puppy, Crude! (because my sister likes to name dogs after petroleum, go figure)

Crude was born on March 8th, and in these photos, he was around six weeks old. It was also his first time meeting our resident dog, Bo, and realising that maybe it's not such a good idea to refuse to play with a Lab. Bo accidentally hit him with one of his mammoth paws, and the rest was a string of very terrified sounds which culminated in Crude hiding behind my sneakers. I guess that settles it: both of my dogs fail at spatial awareness.

Now, at eight weeks, he's moved into our country house for good. Surprisingly, after that rocky start, he's getting along with Bo just fine. They go everywhere together, I've seen them eat together (even if they both have separate bowls?), and they curl up to sleep together. It's the cutest thing. It's not quite as cute when Crude tries to bite Bo's tail and ears, but... I guess the Lab knows how intimidating he can look - one snarl, and Crude vanishes out of sight. I would too, because I've seen that dog turn some big bones to pieces between his teeth, and it was terrifying.

Today, Crude had another misadventure, though. We were walking along the creek, my father, Bo, Crude, and I, in that order, when the puppy tripped and tumbled into the water. It was a two, maybe three foot fall, into maybe a foot of water - but he got tangled up in some plants halfway down and I'm not sure whether that made it better or worse. He panicked, sure, and he whined a bit, but he ended up struggling to safety. Then he fell into the water, but it was cold, so he whined some more. By this point I was already on my knees to pull him up, but he kept running around. Then Bo jumped in, but alas he's so big the water doesn't bother him at all - and, you know, he can climb out. So then my father jumped in. This whole ordeal lasted a whole of five minutes, but the poor puppy was quite shaken, even though he was never in any real danger. Fast forward a few minutes and he was back in the water just because he felt like it. Okay.

On different notes, two of our mallards died, so... I am now the proud owner of four mallard "graves", which will eventually culminate in four Mallard Skeleton Projects. I'm thinking of lining up the skulls in a dainty box and using the rest of the bones for... jewelry? Bits and pieces of bigger curio cabinets? I have no idea. I should probably start an Excel page if I want to remember these guys at all.

xx

Times Like These #1

The Flea Market, this past saturday. I droped by to huh... support a friend, aka drool at the mere sight of her cake stand. This time, I fell for the pineapple brigadeiros, and I kind of regretted only buying a couple. More next time? I think so. (And by the way, if you're from Porto and you're into sweets... most people are, yeah, okay... I'd advice you to like her Facebook page, right here.)



A completely random shot of my bathroom. That rose's been there for... more than two months now. It wasn't planned - I just have this very strict, rather lazy policy of never throwing roses away (unless they start to rot, that it).



Experiments in dermatographism. Don't be allarmed, those aren't scars, and no one got hurt. The thing is, I have a skin disorder called dermatographic urticaria - it's quite common, affecting around 5% of the population. What happens is that my skin reacts to pressure in a slightly dramatic way, all red welts and whatnot. The effects last around thirty-forty minutes, and then disappear without leaving any trace. For this particular picture, I just wrote the word "skin" with the blunt end of a sewing needle, as an experiment to see how long it would last. This depicts the... three minute mark, I think? But then the word was visible for another hour or so. The upside is that needles work perfectly for this. The downside is that I tried on my chest and huh... I kept a couple of red lines over my sternum for two days. Oops?




I really like this shirt.





I also really like tea, so I took a few minutes a couple of days ago to reorganise my tea box. From left to right, we have: linden (which I don't like), the unbeatable Twinings Earl Grey, some random brand of black tea, lemon balm (which I don't like either), Twinings English Breakfast, Orange Pekoe in the visible black bag (second favorite tea of all time - and recommended by a Ciel Phantomhive roleplayer, you doubtful peasants), lemon flavored green tea in the black bag behind it, Lipton Mango & Peach, chamomile (which, go figure, I also don't like), mint (my current favorite), another random brand of black tea, a cute little tin of green tea from the Chinese grocery store, red fruits (OH GOD NO), and finally, a third random brand of black tea. Right now I'm also on the hunt for the Lipton Rose Violet White Tea, which is impossibly good... and, you know, open to suggestions.

Any tea lovers around here?
xx