ladders

i finally painted again tonight after an almost year-long hiatus of desert-wandering, being stubborn, being fearful and also exploring other crafts and artistic expressions.

this one is called "ladders". i would write a long explanation about the meaning, but russ actually wrote a prose/poem that really gets the feel:
------------------------------------------
deep down i still believe
in success and notoriety
so i can't engage work
in freedom, like it's play
and do it because
i love you, because i love it,
no i do it because i let
it define me, and secretly
still believe that if it gets
me noticed i'll be happy.

god forgive me & free me of this stain
its color is deep & rich, but your blood
& sacrifice are richer. wash away the guilt
& shame.
------------------------------------------

i also uploaded some new garden pics and am in the process of adding 2 sock-monkey wallets to the etsy shop, if etsy would cooperate. i'll try again tomorrow after work.

-sam

allergic to barley

so my allergies have been acting up again and i decided to be an adult about it and go to the specialist again and find a solution for this stuff. (this is what usually occurs when my "avoid the problem" tactic fails to adequately mask the issue) in short, they had to re-test me (something about florida pollens vs. texas pollens, etc) and asked if i wanted the food testing. i said yes, as i'd been having some weird asthma-related allergies that russ kept saying were probably from something i was ingesting/eating.

test results: i'm allergice to barley.

at least it wasn't chocolate, but barley is in a LOT of stuff. here's the list i've compiled so far:
1. beer
2. boboli pizza crust (discovered this one last night)
3. snyder's pretzels (discovered this tonight...although it's not on the label... i'm researching this one)
4. many kinds of breads
5. many kinds of cereal

oh well, it's not like i'm not already reading every ingredient list for PHOs anyway... just one more thing to look for.
and think of it this way... it's more beer/bread/pretzels for the rest of you!

cheers,
sam

p.s.

i just learned that i share birthdays with:
emma watson (hermione granger actress from harry potter series) and emma thompson AND....
leonardo davinci.

:) sam

happy birthday me!

so today i turned 26. this was not as easy as 25 and i should have seen it coming. i woke up feeling lonely and strange. this is the first birthday i've spent apart from friends and family (russ was with me, which helped a TON)... but without my close friends and family it felt really strange. i was thinking that i'd gotten past the missing everyone stage, but i suppose i haven't. although i can't say that i miss a certain place, because a lot of my friends have moved all over the states and abroad and so it's just a missing-feeling of people really.

my choice of therapy? retail.
i got a pretty spoiled-brat amount of birthday money, so i got to shop this weekend. let me first off say that the "being in grad school" connotation is pretty much true for us right now. we're really very happy, but there are times when we're eating a lot of leftovers and breakfast tacos and bean burritos. this is fine and we were prepared for this upon choosing this state and again, we are happy. however, getting to go shopping for a weekend was pretty fun and being the thrifty person that i am, i got a lot of good stuff. here are some of my birthday finds:

1. owl tealight holder
2. amy butler's in stitches book

3. bag for work stuff (i.e. every day i carry a lunch, big water bottle, large 3" binder and sometimes a digital slr camera)... now i don't have to use the cloth HEB bag anymore!

4. friends season 10
5. garden gnome (you know you want one!) mine is the one on the left, holding the mushroom...

6. red t-shirt from the gap

AND i still have about $50 left to spend, although i'm saving it for employee appreciation at work in a few weeks.
OH and russ got me a pitcher plant this morning, which is a type of carniverous plant. he's pretty cool. between him and the gnome, i figure i've got pretty good coverage scaring off bugs and cats from my mini-garden.

cheers everyone! and happy tax returns to all!
xoxo sam

sunburned for jesus

miami + easter = beach service!

this is our little church at the beach having a seder and talking about jesus and the symbolism of the last supper. i had never been to one before, so learning about the parallels and foreshadowing was pretty powerful.

well... i'm writing this pretty late and i have to get up early, so i'm going to end by saying that i uploaded some pics of my orchid in bloom and some pics i took at the park where we go running. i haven't had a lot of time to make art lately, so i made myself take the camera out for a spin.

hope everyone's well!
happy easter!
sam