Since this edition is about travel, I thought I would include one of my favorite “travel” photos. That black speck on the bottom is me doing what I call “the coffee cake dance” at the base of Himeji Castle, Japan. 2005.
1. My favorite place i’ve ever traveled to is Japan. Never in my life have I seen such a perfect blend of tradition and modern. I am dying to go back
2. Paris is somewhere I’d love to go someday.
3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by playing games on my phone or listening to music. I wish I could sleep.
4. My three must-haves when I travel are my iPhone, iPod and camera. There is no way I would ever check my camera bag. No chance in hell.
5. My favorite travel companion is dependent on where I am going. Certain places suit certain people.
6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is a tie between the great ankle injury in Japan and when Josh got chased by monkeys in Bali resulting in a sprained ankle. What is it with us and feet?
7. The most exotic food I’ve ever tried while traveling is a multiple course meal of different parts of unagi (eel). I was not prepared for the innards on a skewer. I pussied out on the raw horse… in hindsight I should have tried it, I am sure it would probably have been better than the eel whatnot.
8. If I could live anywhere else, I’d live in Japan, Paris, Barcelona. AKA nowhere in this country.
9. I have been to 9 states in the U.S. (CA, NV, OR, ID, LA, NC, NJ, PA, NY) – where I actually have been, airport layovers don’t count.
It was only a matter of time, yes, I know what you’re thinking… “this broad is turning into a crazy cat lady” and to this I say, “SO?” If you had these two in your house you probably would too.
The meows are doing awesome, loving all of us and have been venturing into dog territory on their own. Judas, who is the smaller of the two is a lot braver around Nena which is hilarious cause Gomez is a big ole pansy. Nena could give a flying fuck about them, she tries to sniff but other than that she is more interested in finding the pot of gold at the end of their rainbow aka their food bowl.
They try to spend their time elevated, giving Nena the stink eye from afar. Case in point…
The other day we did have a “pissed in our bed” incident. Not sure which of the two did it but it happened. Gomez is getting a lot heavier and it’s only a matter of time we take him to get neutered first, before the banjos queue up and we have some deliverance on our hands. Judas will follow when she gets more weight on her.
We are pretty happy with them, why lie. They brought more light into our lives. They are growing at rapid pace though so I am going to enjoy this kitten phase as much as I can.
I saw this photo for valentine crayons on Pinterest and decided to give them a shot for Reza’s valentine goodie bag at school. Yes, I am going to be “that mom” that doesn’t hand out candy. Crayons and bubbles it is!
Since they seemed a little labor intensive I decided to work on them this week so I am not scrambling the week of Valnetine’s Day. Reza had a great time peeling the wrappers with me. The wrapper removal is the most labor intensive part but was made easier by using a razor blade down the center, but in case you didn’t see the band-aid that Nurse Reza applied, we did have a little bit of a casualty so careful!
The silicone muffin tin was from the Target dollar section but I think it was $2.50, Reza had tons of broken/abandoned crayons, enough to yield muffin size. I looked for the smaller sized baking tray but came up empty handed. So happy hunting! You can also find boxes of crayons for cheap at Big Lots or save those restaurant crayons when you go out with the kidlets.
Instructions:
Peel & chop crayons
Place in tray
Melt in oven. I went 260 on mine, all ovens are different.
Pull and transfer to freezer til hardened.
And you’re done!
The other day Josh and I were talking about this image that was making the rounds on facebook. If you are on facebook chances are, you saw it. Here, let me refresh your memory…
He said to me, “did you see that photo?” and yes I had. He asked me how I felt about it, which then led me into discussion similar to this post…
I have a problem with this image. Want to know why? Here we go…
I am what society calls fat. I know this, have struggled with it all my life. By definition of the medical community I am considered obese. 5’3, size 14. I was lucky to be born with hips and chesticles, big ones too! Josh loves them. Now, what I don’t have is ass. I am a pancake back there. So there, I’m the “big girl”.
I could sit here and applaud that image, thinking to myself, “YEAH! Curves are so much better! REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES!! YARRR”. But instead I cannot help but be offended at how much wank goes on about women and their sizes. The sad part is a lot of the time it’s women ripping apart other women.
Let’s look at who was used for basis of comparison, shall we?
Heidi – girl had multiple plastic surgeries to look that way. AKA unhappy with herself, probably emotionally skewed views of her body image.
Keira – Have you seen her EVER? She has ALWAYS been rail thin. She has probably been naturally waifish since she was a teenager.
Have you ever thought that those thin people also feel the pressures of looking a certain way? That they don’t obsess on the insults just as much as we do?
I know what you’re thinking! “ZOMG, the fatty is defending the thin people, aren’t they glorified enough?! What the hell, aren’t you supposed to be on our side?! Traitor!”.
What am I getting at here? I am getting there….
I know women, online and otherwise who are just naturally thin. They have lean, athletic, small boobied, no assed, small hipped bodies. They’re not anorexic, have eating disorders, etc. Sure, there are always going to be those who do but for all intents and purposes, this post is not about those with DISEASES. That is a whole other animal. But a lot of these naturally thin girls? That is what they are and have been most of their lives.
I defy you to tell me that they are not REAL cause they don’t have “more cushion for the pushin’”. Seriously? If you really believe that dribble than you are no better than the fashion industry force feeding “thinner is better” into everyone. Newsflash! Meat on your bones doesn’t make you a “real woman”, being more than a B cup or being 36-24-36 doesn’t make you a real woman either.
I am just so sick and tired of all this wankery. You know what the worst part of it all is? A lot of the times these statements are coming from WOMEN about other WOMEN. Aren’t we supposed to stand up for one another? We expect the perceptions to change and instead you’re posting that lame photo on facebook to justify yourself and make yourself feel better that you aren’t a size 2. Yes, women have changed over the years but last I checked this isn’t the 50′s anymore… and if that was 20-30 years prior all of the women on the bottom row would be labeled as whores for showing too much skin. See what I did there?
So this is me, saying yes, I am a not a size 2, and probably will never get under a 10. I am ok with this. What I am not ok with is seeing this bullshit perpetrated and fed into. Let me tell you something… Your calling the thinner girls “GROSS” and “SKELETAL” is just as prejudice and demeaning as someone calling you a “FAT ASS” or a “PORKER”. So cut it the fuck out already.
Being honest, truthful, honorable, comfortable, happy and respectful to who we are is what makes us REAL. Being that person and doing it with grace is what makes us a woman. There are things I would love to change and every day I work to change them, to be a better person. By definition, that is what makes me a real PERSON. What makes you real? It certainly isn’t the size of what is attached to your chest.
We got white stuff! We had a forecast of possible rain/snow today and well, you proud of yourself Mr. Weather Widget? You were spot on. Reza had a friend over for a sleep over last night and I was woken up around 2:30 a.m., I peek out and it had already dusted. But this morning I was woken by the dog who had to pee and promptly left her yellow stain out on the snow covered lawn.
The girls woke up in full blown excitement, wanting to head out at 7:30 to go play. Already geared up we said “No way ladies! Breakfast comes first”. I notice it starts raining and it was kinda melting it down a tap so we unleashed their 5 year old fury out into the back yard. They were out struggling to make a snowman (and promptly lost interest) so I decided to gear up in my Michelin Man jacket and boots to help them and to take photos.
I was promptly ganged up on by Reza and Maya and it turned into my shoveling and flinging snow at them, then out of left field Reza totally creamed me across the face with a snow ball. Josh, who was watching all of this from the kitchen window was laughing his ass off! It was my first snowball fight. I lost.
Dare I say it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it was going to be. Granted it is only about 25 degrees but with the right gear it isn’t nearly as horrible. I feel like I blew it up to be this big monumental thing, kinda like when you get laid for the first time and when it finally happens you’re left going, “Really? That was IT?”
We came inside shortly after, the girls got warm, Josh is on the couch while the kittens play around and showing Nena who will soon be boss of the house. It’s such a trip to look out the window and see a sea of white, it almost warms my black heart.
Almost.
*****
the rest of the photos can be seen over on my flickr
Not sure how this happened but I looked down and most of January is gone. Time hasn’t felt so painfully long, probably cause my headspace is in a much better place. People were lamenting “blue monday” which I never really felt, so the holidays are over, big whoop… we get more ya know? That is unless the Mayans were right then we are all fucked.
For the past almost 2 weeks I have been much better with my intake and as much as I hate to admit it, the bread/gluten and overall dietary abuse was making me one pissy, overinflated bitch. I see the correlation the minute I realize how much happier I am when I don’t eat that shit. Paired with some 5-htp, my hippie herbs and more solid sleep? Feels like night and day to me.
I’m an interesting place right now. I have become so disinterested with so many things, and most of those things are for the better. A year ago I was always glued to the television, reading celebrity gossip, stressed out over uncertainty… basically a bunch of negative feelings that were doing nothing good for my frame of mind. Josh and I are moving forward with canceling our cable btw, I have a feeling there will be zero regrets there. Why pay for something you only partake of once in a very long while? It makes no sense and considering how much time Josh spends away from home, the last thing I want to do when he IS here is to park in front of the box as much as we used to.
Since moving here I have seen such a decrease of drama in my life. I think it has a lot to do with the lack of contact with people, which within itself can be a bad thing but I am choosing to take this time to look into myself a little deeper. I am sitting here typing, listening to some chill music and I have two kittens happily purring and sleeping on my lap. This is what it’s all about. The simple things.
I tend to be a horrible reader cause I need so much quiet and lack of interruption in order to focus. Recently, my book arrived, the Letters Of Frida Kahlo. I have been denting it at a pace that is more rapidly than usual. She gets me thinking, here is this person who was ridden and destroyed with crippling pain, emotional and physical, yet somehow despite all of those debilitating feelings she still managed to put out beauty into the world. It puts shit in perspective so fucking much. Moral of the story: read more and be grateful.
I am trying so hard to exercise a higher sense of self and humility. It’s not an easy thing to do especially when we are in the day and age of the first world complaint, where everyone does nothing but complain about the most trite of things. Shit, even I do it sometimes… the point is, it is distracting to focus on the task at hand, the bigger picture if you will, when people you expose yourself to are doing nothing but looking for a pat on the back. Everyone wants a medal for living these days. Sometimes it takes everything in me to not pipe up on facebook posts and say, “Jesus, will you listen to yourself?”. You think you know people. Note to self: Do a better job of ignoring it.
Reza turned yet another corner. Fed up with her constant insolence and defiance, Josh and I implemented a reward system. She does good, she gets a red heart, she does bad she gets a blue one. 3 blue hearts = time out, for every 5 red she gets to choose from a little prize bin I put together. I was hesitant about whether it would work and it really has, girl has been so much more polite, conscientious and considerate. All so she can pick out stickers. Whatever it takes, right? You don’t know how many times Josh and I stand in her doorway as she sleeps, his arm around me, telling one another how fortunate we are. We know we aren’t perfect but we know we are doing a good job with her and by her. It’a all we can do, right?
Things here in Jersey are surprisingly chill. Yes, it’s cold but I always think it could always be worse. One morning we woke up to find snow all over the place. A white morning and as much as I have been cursing the snow coming, it was actually beautiful to look at. Probably cause this is the first time I really saw it in that kind of abundance. Reza was besides herself, to the point she ran out barefoot and kept eating it. To her dismay it didn’t stick and within hours it was like it never happened. It is supposedly snowing this Saturday and I am thankfully prepared. One thing I have learned about being here? Fashion stops the minute you’re freezing your ass off. Function trumps fashion when your toes feel like they are gonna fall off. Holy Hell.
I have come to accept where we live. I miss my friends, that will never change but we are making the best of what we have for now and rolling with it. I am surprisingly calm about the whole thing, it is so unlike me. Either way I am looking forward to a lot of fun times in the months to come.
1. The last thing I ate was some oatmeal from Starbucks. I really should eat something else by now, it’s lunch time yo!
2. The last song I listened to was “The Walk” by Mayer Hawthorne. I love the way he says “shady fuckin’ attitude”… as I was typing this though, it is now “A Sky Full Of Clouds” by Winterlight
3. Using the letters in my name I can spell (Ivonne) – In, on, vein, vine, ion, one. All good ones.
4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick black. I pretty much do this most of the time already.
5. If you were to look in my bag right now you’d find… Let us look shall we? Thankfully I just purged it a few days ago if not there would be lots of receipts and loose change.
Top row: house keys, Eos lip balm in Lemon Drop, Mac Cosmetics Lip Gelée in Moistly (now discontinued, those bastards!), Clinique lip gloss in Black Honey that really needs replacing, Kiehls Facial Fuel eye de-puffer, hair clip
Bottom Row: replacement Tokidoki wallet, Advil, Pilot pen, Contact Cold & Flu, key to the Volvo, hair tie, iPhone and headphones.
Curious kitty was not in my purse.
6. When I finish filling in the blanks I’m going to go take a piss and fix myself a taco salad.
7. My all time favorite song to dance to is After Every Party I Die by Sneaker Pimps. Really now… such a sexy track.
******
So what else is going on in my world? Here we go…
I finally decided to get my ass back on the damp-heat diet that the Tibetan Dr. put me on. Here I am 5 days later and I feel INFINITELY better. I may not have lost any weight but just the removal of bread, gluten, dairy is night and day. My body just cannot handle them. Tis a shame cause I love me some baked goods but if I want to be a shape other than round I need to lay off. I also signed up for a gym here and am gonna try to hit it at least 3 times a week for now.
Speaking of the gym, I went yesterday for the first time and let me tell you… gym in NJ vs the gym in SoCal is a huge difference. It’s more comfortable cause it isn’t full of beautiful, perfectly chiseled people. Takes a lot of pressure off people like me.
Tom was out here last weekend and it was really cool to show him around and stuff him full of tasty local eats. He really seemed to like it here.
My husband? Working like a mad man but being challenged and really liking his job.
I picked up a Q&A 5 year journal and have been really enjoying it. Unlike the Sketch A Day Journal that I kinda ditched cause of the whole moving process. I need to pick it back up. I am waiting to get a book I ordered in the mail, The Letters Of Frida Kahlo: Cartas Apasionadas. Very much looking forward to it.
Josh and I have been seriously considering canceling our cable. We never watch tv and feel like it is money going to waste. Most of the stuff we watch is on Netflix, iPad, Hulu, etc. but then I think about Game of Thrones starting up in April and I know it would suck not watching it. It’s an interesting conundrum but the fact we have SERIOUSLY cut down on television time is such a good thing.
Reza? She has been such an interesting kid as of late. Vocal, wordy and extremely inquisitive about everything. We have been working on implementing a reward system with her cause she really needs it. The other day I busted her lying to me and if there is something I cannot stand are liars. I told her that I am more mad about the lie than what she did to cover up with said lie. On another occasion I asked her if she did something, and knowing she would get in trouble for it, she admitted she did it. She followed it with, “Mom, it felt good to be honest and tell the truth”. Every day is a learning curve.
Her report card came in and she was mostly Excellent and Good. There are a couple things we need to work on like her address, phone number, shoe tying… and of course there were comments about her talking too much. I am not worried about it cause I defy anyone to tell me they have a quiet 5 year old.
I am just finding out that the school we are zoned for has a half day kindergarten program. 8:30a – 11 am / 5 days a week. Is this shit fucking normal?? What do 18-20 kids in ONE class learn in 2.5 hours? It’s either that or fork out a ridiculous amount of cash on private school. Also, I find out that if we choose to put her in a non-resident school we have to pay for it regardless if it is public. And I am not putting her in a god squad school. What is this ass backwards shit? It is times like this I am lamenting her acceptance to the language immersion school that she was going to attend before we moved.
The kittens… ah man. I am thoroughly enjoying their company even if my ass and leg have been used as a climbing post already. Gomez, who sometimes I call Whiskerton, is definitely the more playful and mischievous of the two. Judas really likes Josh, Gomez lets Reza play with him more than me. He hangs out in the bookcases a lot.
When they are not playing, they are sleeping. They do a lot of snuggling, it is pretty damn cute too. Really!
They are adjusting really well to everything. I did however introduce Judas to Nena and wow… she went from zero to Halloween kitty in 2 seconds flat. She. Was. Pissed. We are keeping them upstairs for now cause they’re still too small for canine introductions even if Nena is the size of a football.
Overall, things here are as well as they can be… there are a few things that have room for improvement, mostly my headspace but I am conscientious of those things that need changing. Now the question is, will I follow through?
Yesterday Reza and I had a much needed day out of the house. With the weather being all over the place, it was acutally pretty cooperative so I decided to take her into Philly to go to the Academy Of Natural Sciences.
A little on the steep side to get in but I am so glad we went cause she had the best time! I of course forgot to get fresh batteries for my flash and had to drop more than I needed to on gift shop batteries but after you see these you will know why I did…
I went totally unprepared but equally as excited when I found out what two of the temporary exhibits were: The Art of Charlie Harper and a large insect exhibit. Bugs and art. I was pretty happy about that.
The dinosaur section has an area where they were doing actual fossil restoration on an impressive specimen that has yet to be published or named. For those reasons photography was not allowed but the men working the section were very attentive in answering all of Reza’s questions. They also had a section where Entomologists where cleaning/classifying specimens. They have a class at the end of the month about the care, prep and pinning of insect specimens that I am seriously considering attending.
The one thing that was the highlight of our outing though was getting to see the live butterfly exhibit. It’s an additional $2 from admission but it was so worth it cause you get to walk through a very warm, moist room where there are live butterflies all over the place. Reza was lucky enough to make contact with one of them while standing in front of the chrysalis chamber. She was pretty jazzed.
I got to hand it to her, she is super fearless when it comes to the critters. They have a room where you can touch and pet different animals and she had no hesitation touching beetles, turtles and this… (apologies in advance if this makes you wretch)
Fearless.
I was very pleased with this outing and she was so thankful to me for it. This Natural Science museum blows the one in San Diego out of the water for sure. I cannot wait to take her to the one in NYC and god, the Smithsonian. Not sure who will love it more, her or us.
*******
The rest of my photos can be found over on the flickr set
It has been weeks of waiting and finally the day came that we were able to pick up the kittens and bring them home.
Judas (the all black one) was the runt of the litter but I don’t mind one bit. She is little but adventurous. Josh was taking a nap in the room they were in and she came up to him, licked his back and later on snuggled in the crook of his leg and took a nap. I have a feeling she is gonna be all about him. The only bummer is she is kind of hard to photograph.
Gomez (tuxedo) is definitely the more playful/mischievous of the two. He has these crazy whiskers and eyebrows we had not noticed before until today. KHAAAAANNNNN! He looks like a lobster. So awesome.
We are definitely happier that we adopted a pair of siblings. We were lucky that they have been fostered since they were born for the most part. I am grateful to the people who found them and did what they could to keep them warm, fed and loved. It shows too cause they are so sweet.
They are acclimating quite nicely, have been eating, drinking and using the box and scratcher. They are chasing one another and playing. Currently we are keeping them in my studio space till they get used to their new surroundings then we will work on the introduction with Nena and the rest of the house.
Reza is a little over excited. She has yet to grasp that cats are on their terms, not yours. She will get there eventually.
I noticed they were looking on the tired side so I picked them up half asleep and put them in a little box with a blanket next to the heater. THEY ARE STOKED. My god, I am going to turn into one of those crazy cat ladies aren’t I? Come on… look at this!
Yeah.
A new year is here! It’s interesting how the change of the year is supposed to be all about renewal, clean slates or starting over. You got to think about it, why can’t every day feel like that? It all passed by so fast and I cannot help but feel sad as I drive through the neighborhoods, seeing the abundance of abandoned Christmas trees dumped out on the sidewalk with everyones garbage. Total bummer town.
So the year started off with somewhat of a lot of goings on…. here is a nicely disjointed and poorly composed list! Woo!
Winter is slowly but surely working his way up in our asses. It’s cold as a motherfucker today! No snow as of yet (THANK YOU JEEBUS) and I wasn’t very stoked to start off the year a little under the weather. I am taking some thera-flu and passing the F out as soon as it kicks in with the hopes I get better sooner than later. I am gonna start doing yoga in my attic nest as soon as I feel better.
Tom King comes into town this Thursday and it will seriously be nice to have another piece of home around here. I do have to say, we have been here 5 months and have already had 3 visitors. I like that number and only hope everyone else takes us up on the offer to come see our part of the world. It softens the blow, plus, I like people to see with their own eyes that we are actually in a nice place. You think Jersey and the visions of refineries, hoagies and crispy haired Italian guys come to mind. It’s not a bad place to be really, not ideal but not horrible either.
Big news for my side of the family that I am not allowed to share for one. I realize I just became one of those people who post cryptic shit on facebook and then don’t care to extrapolate. Trust me, I want to share but there is the whole privacy of others whatnot and I am not about to start the year off by pissing in someones wheaties. It’s good news though.
I am gearing up for the fact that Josh is going to make me a Revel widow over the next few months. The casino is slotted to open this Spring so it’s crunch time. Lots of crazy hours are going to be put in.
Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of Kevin’s passing. I spent most of the day in a funk, doing a lot of thinking and doing my best not to lose it. I can’t help it. The other day I was writing out a card to his mother and I just totally lost it. I haven’t done much crying over him for a while and I think it was necessary. It still hurts and I know it gets better, it will get better. He would kick all our asses for moping around over him. I just don’t know if I will ever recover from watching someone so rad go so soon before his time.
And of course there are the kittens. We had decided on adopting just one but I got to thinking and decided on adopting a pair of siblings over just the one. It would be better for them and I won’t lie, I wanted them. I am home so much and the company will be nice. It will also be nice if one of them really bonds with Josh. It’s scary to add on to the family, it is a big deal after all… I think Reza is going to love them until they scratch her. Heh. Nena will get used to them I am sure, poor girl is getting so old but maybe these michos will give her a little run for her money. I expect many floor urinations in protest. She has been doing that lately, mostly when someone she doesn’t know comes into the house.
Their current foster sent us this photo and can the cute get any cuter? We are adopting the black one which we are naming Judas Iscariot and the tuxedo kitty, Lord Gomez Zyxt. We pick them up on Sunday…. oh Carley household you are in for the whirlwind. I will try my best to not become one of those crazy cat ladies that do nothing but post photos of their cats.
Try.
Happy New Year. May it be awesome! And as much as I love it when we are right, I hope my people are wrong about this whole end of the world bullshit. Although, wouldn’t it be hilarious that a bunch of Mexicans were right?
My name is Ivonne and this is where I come to unload. I am am artist, wife, mother, loud mouth and Mexican jack of all trades.
Currently my family and I did the unthinkable and uprooted from the West to the East Coast. Me and NJ. You can imagine the hilarity that will ensue when the snow comes.
Flickr
