if i bruised, i would be bruised

I've started playing volleyball on Wednesdays with a group of people from the other side of my building. I'm not exactly a volleyball player. Sure, I know what I'm supposed to do. I've just never been very good at actually doing it. Case in point: We were playing 3 on 3 today and after I set the ball WAY too close to the net a number of times, one of the guys said "You can always set it back if we're still standing a ways behind you." Um, duh! Just because I don't set it in the right direction doesn't mean that it wasn't my plan. Ha! Luckily it's quite non-competitive. I still feel stupid half the time. Working on getting over that, though.

So last time I played everything was great, but today my arms are killing me! Sure, I accidentally hit a couple bumps off my arm bone or off my thumb knuckles. I'm not perfect. But most of them I hit exactly where I was supposed to. But now I have tons of tiny red dots on my forearms as if I broke little tiny blood vessels. And my arms actually feel bruised.

The thing is--I don't actually bruise. I never really have. I have to get hit incredibly hard in order to bruise. But rest assured that if I did bruise, my poor arms would be covered in bruises!

Poor me. Complain, complain. Whine, whine. Ok, I'm all better now.

lunchtime thoughts

Lunch break!

1. Christian told me that if I blogged about #2 then he would tell everyone about #3. I thought I'd save him the trouble and share both with you.

2. The other day we went and visited Ashley's new adorable puppy, Scout. When it was time to leave, Christian and I chit-chatted as we walked to the car. As I got in, I looked back and saw Christian (who was still talking to me) sitting in the back seat with a very confused look on his face. He immediately let out an embarrassed laugh and jumped back out of the car. Turns out he was concentrating so hard on how to get back to the freeway that he grabbed the nearest door handle and got in, only to realize that he was NOT sitting behind the steering wheel. Looks like I'm rubbing off on him.

3. While watching a show on amazing survival stories, the narrator said, "So-and-so ended up with the worst injuries, breaking 12 of his ribs." I then, true to my open-mouth-before-thinking character, turned to Christian and said, "What? We don't even have 12 ribs!" I'm a very smart person. Really. Christian asked me how many ribs I thought we had, and I said, "What, like 4 on each side?" That didn't sound quite right, so I said, "No, 5 or 6 on each side." Turns out we have 12 on each side. How exactly did I not know that? Seriously. It makes breaking a rib sound like less of a big deal. "No big deal, ma'am. You have 23 more."

4. Yesterday I was walking back from grabbing lunch and two little finches were hopping around on the sidewalk in front of me. As I came closer, they decided to fly away. When they were about 6 inches off the ground they slammed head-on into each other, recovered for a split second in the air and then proceeded to run into each other again before flying away. Serious entertainment right there.

Lunch break over!

my favorite song

This is my favorite song right now. It's even better when I'm not in a cubicle and can sing along REALLY loud (this is saved for driving in my car). I forgot--THIS is why I need to keep my ipod charged.

music to my ears

Our imitation car ipod charger doesn't work with my new ipod (as in ipod nuevo, not nuevo ipod) and we haven't bothered to buy a real one. And I always forget to plug my ipod into the computer when I get home to charge it. So my ipod sits in my purse dead.

In fact, my ipod has been dead in my purse for months. How can I stand to go without my ipod for months at a time, you ask? Let's just say an ipod probably wasn't a necessity for me. I love it, but my life goes on just fine without it.

On Saturday we bought ipod speakers to take to (and leave at) the cabin in Tahoe. It's about time we have some speakers up there. So to test it out, I stuck my ipod on it and listened to music while it charged. We were just going to test the speakers out and take them back if we found better ones, but considering they work just fine and we lost the receipt already, it looks like they are here to stay.

Long story short, I charged my ipod by default while testing the speakers and today I have music to accompany me at work!

So because of my music, shuffling around students' schedules hasn't been as bad today. And if you want an idea of how bad this has been lately, imagine trying to put a square block in a round hole. Now imagine trying to put a square block in no hole. Amazing how that just doesn't work and yet here I am trying to make it work... all... day.... long.....

my amazing memory

Just had to share my wonderful memory blunders from Saturday. Good think I can laugh at myself instead of freak out that I have no memory.

First:

I went on a great run with Ashley and Ian down in Hollister on Saturday morning. Beautiful morning, but I'll post pictures later. About a mile and a half into our run, we passed a cute little white country home on 5 acres for sale. It was adorable, small, and perfect. How had I not noticed it before? I was in love. I always say I don't want to move to Hollister, but I would move there for that little house out on the country road. The minute we got home I looked it up online. WAY too expensive for us. Maybe someone forgot to tell them that the house will never sell at that price. I mentioned it to Christian and he said, "Oh, you mean the house out on Santa Ana Valley? The one I've had my eye on for a year now? The one we drove past not too long ago and you said you really liked?" Nothing. Didn't even ring a bell. I do not remember ever going past that house and talking about the fact that 1) it was for sale, and 2) I liked it. Turns out we've had multiple conversations about it. Would that kind of lost memory scare any of you? I just laughed at myself. I think Christian may be worried for our future. One day I'm going to forget we even got married.

Second:

On our way home we stopped by my friend Jayme's parents' house where they were having their annual Easter party. We stood around chatting with Jayme, Greg, Julianne, and Tim. We definitely don't see them enough. While Julianne and Tim were sharing details about their skydiving experience, I chimed in with a story about what happened to my friend who came skydiving with me years back. Here's how the conversation went:

Molly: "When I went, my friend's goggles came off and the guy she was strapped to had to cover her eyes until the parachute was pulled! Sad, huh? I mean, can you imagine having all that air rushing into your eyes?"

Jayme: "Yeah, and having your contacts come out?"

Molly: "Yeah, that would suck."

Jayme: "No, that's what happened. My contacts came out."

Molly: "Oh really?"

Jayme: "Molly! I'M the friend who went skydiving with you! MY goggle came off!"

Let me just tell you. That was pretty embarrassing. I had completely forgotten that Jayme had flown out to Utah for my birthday and gone skydiving with me. In fact, I forgot that Kerri came, too. I couldn't remember who came besides my brother. Isn't that horrible??? There were 6 of us there and all I could remember was my brother! Needless to say, the minute Jayme pointed out that I was telling a story about her in front of her, every detail of the trip (and planning the trip) came rushing back to me. Jayme was laughing at me so hard she was crying. EMBARRASSING! But hilarious. I'm a horrible friend.

Stupid lack of memory.

previous projects

These are the things I've been playing with over the last 5 months or so.

I have a problem with going all out on the first try. The design isn't my own (found it online), but I did cut out every single little piece with an exacto knife. Excruciating.


Stencils for our family Thanksgiving 5k awards.



Baby shirt for Aubrey's little Drake.


Painted tree in our bedroom.


Paper pom-poms with Lenessa. We didn't come up with this idea, but we sure had a lot of fun making them!




Baby onesies for Brooklyn's little Xochi.


Potato stamping with Ashley (I can't take credit for the ginkgo leaves--all Ashley).

my first carved stamp

I opted to start with a softer medium than linoleum. I saved my linoleum block for my next project. If I'm going to mess something up it should be a cheap little piece of soft rubber, right? I pleasantly surprised myself. Can't wait to do another.

springtime

I spent Saturday with Ashley, Amy, Diego, and my mom enjoying springtime.

First stop: Filoli. Thanks for the tickets, Dyan! The day was beautiful and we wandered slowly among the flowers and trees. Watched Diego find the minnows in the ponds and play with the pebbles. Sat in the sun. Amy and I tuckered out on a bench with Diego while the plant ladies wandered the rest of the garden. Thanks, Ashley, for the pictures.




After eating way too much food at Bucks in Woodside, Ashley, Mom, and I took off in search of Yerba Buena Nursery, a California native plants nursery. The picture below is from http://seedbyte.blogspot.com/2008/10/yerba-buena-nursery.html. I highly recommend a trip to the nursery, but I recommend making a day of it. Pack a picnic. Drive up to skyline. Take in the views. Take a hike in one of the many open space preserves up on skyline. Enjoy the 2-mile dirt road to the nursery. Explore the demonstration garden. Play with the salamanders in the pond. Buy yourself some wildflower seeds in the shop.



What a beautiful day.

a name and a hobby

I think I like this new name. Naturally Molly. I think it fits. Not cheezy. Not a play on words. Just me, naturally. And all I can think about right now is how beautiful nature is as I see my japanese maple, heuchera coral bells, and brand-new ribes glowing in the evening sun just outside my open door. Yes, I think this name is the one.

Also, I googled the name to be sure nothing ridiculous had the same name. Success. The search did, however, pull up some pretty entertaining sentences:

"...naturally Molly addressed her concerns to Bill Gates..."
"Naturally, Molly put playdough in her mouth..."
"Naturally, Molly is intrigued"
"naturally Molly must use a razor-sharp blade to slice off her hands..."
"Naturally, Molly wants to do the the one thing that pervades and defines her very existence -- watch the Elmo show on TV."

Like I said. It's perfect. (At least until I get bored of it...)

On to my new hobby. For my birthday, my sister gave me a book on printing by Lotta Jansdotter. This inspired me to carve stencils out of index cards, cardstock, and any other paper I could get my hands on. Primitive, simple, and so fun. All I need is paper, an exacto knife, a sponge, and some paint. I haven't posted any of my creations yet, but I will eventually. Perhaps I'll even start a side blog for my creative endeavors. Unfortunately, it would only be updated every couple months or so. I'll think about it.

Today I bought my first linoleum block, because stencil is limited--everything has to be connected or the stencil won't hold its shape. Try it sometime. You have to be creative. I can't wait to get started on my first block print.

While I was searching for tutorials and inspiration, I came across Geninne's Art Blog. I think her work is simple and beautiful. Thought I'd share it with all of you.

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm an artist. Can't wait to carve into my linoleum block.