christmas shopping:

i'm pretty low on funds to spend on extravagant christmas gifts this year, but i love browsing around on the internet nonetheless, finding sweet, handmade, interesting gifts that i would give to my friends and family if i were financially capable of doing so. for instance:
also, i came across this website -- gosucculent.com -- where you can pick out beautiful, exotic succulents and cactuses and have them shipped to you!

know of any get-rich-quick schemes?

a confession:

i finished two books today. which, in itself, isn't terrible, until i consider how much painting i could have accomplished in the time that i spent reading, or how many dishes i could have washed or miles i could have run... and then i realize it's pretty bad.

also, autumn is fantastic. i can't shut up about how beautiful each and every leaf on each and every tree is. i've tried. ask bradley.

world:

are you ending?

rainy monday:

casey and i stayed in bed this morning for a bit longer than we had planned, enjoying the overcast sky and the rain and the comfy warmth, and then we looked at maps of south america over coffee and yogurt.

also, i know that it's technically too early to be listening to christmas music... but the vince guaraldi trio's 'a charlie brown christmas' seemed like the perfect thing to listen to as i got ready for class on this chilly, rainy morning. i may be listening to it on a pretty regular basis beginning today. so, sorry guys.

dummy:

i tripped over a jagged piece of sidewalk on my run this morning, scraping up my right elbow (see photo below), banging up my left knee, and bruising my right hip bone and left thumb (right on the pad; a weird spot for a big purple bruise) during the fall. i felt like a huge dummy, but more than that, i was in a lot of pain. i blubbered all the way home, and sobbed as i tried to take my clothes off to get in the shower, and cried some more when i found a first aid kit with my cleaning supplies but couldn't bend my elbow to tape the gauze in the right place, and kept whimpering in bed until bradley came over an hour later and told me to stop being a baby.i'm feeling better now, but anticipating a bloody bandage and sore limbs for a few days, and hopefully some sweet bruises and scars later.

whatever you do:

don't look at all of the status updates on facebook. i just spent about five minutes doing so, and all of the bullshit about the election made me lose a little bit of faith in humanity. people referring to candidates as if they were football teams. other people thinking that they can change their friends' opinions this close to election day with a few malicious words about the opposition. come on, be civil already.

bakin' on a wednesday night:

this evening i finished a book, painted for two hours, cleaned my kitchen and baked some vegan pumpkin muffins. at 10:30 pm. i couldn't help myself. the photo may not be so great, but it smells pretty amazing in here.

a moth:

this is a moth that sat on bradley's windowsill all yesterday afternoon while i read and bradley drew, until shaq came in and scared him away.

miscellany:

an old zen saying (from this movie, which i watched this evening):

"if you have a little piece of shit on your nose, everything stinks."

& some interesting facts about coffee vs. tea.

what if:

i just let my hair keep on growing and growing and growing?
yeek!