I am now here.  See you there.

Well, a picture’s worth… you know the rest.

To see the rest that could not be in this mosaic (limited to 36 pictures)…see here.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Can you see a picture of the book too? Or just the link?

At first, you think, “This is going to go on for a minute? It’s not really that funny.” But then as it continues, it just gets funnier and funnier because he CANNOT get up.

Oh dear. I hope someone helped him up after they turned off the camera!

First, there were the Magnolia trees.

by michiel thomas

And then the Cherry trees….

by chrys h.

And now, the Dogwood trees. My favorite.

by fauxto_digit

by nardell

I can’t decide whether Spring or Fall is more beautiful.  I wish the trees could bloom forever.  The Magnolia leaves have already mostly fallen to the ground and are laying in damp, browning piles.

Fortunately, my springtime Wisconsin allergies have not followed me here, but I do seem to have a newer case of “sick of school.” I can hardly bring myself to do any work. I don’t mind being there, but the putting in extra hours part is just not in me.  I honestly felt very sick this afternoon so I left school early intending to do the work at home after a short nap, but….I have not done anything at all.

to this…

American Honey :: Lady Antebellum

i miss her. and i don’t mean lady A.

Here are some pictures of my Spring decorations (bunnies from Auntie Ann) and my bed (finally complete with the duvet I got for my birthday).

I’ll take a picture of my back door decorated for Spring when I get home.  I’ve got a plane to catch!

Happy Spring!

Life is good at 24 :) I was totally spoiled this year for my birthday.  I feel so loved.

(This picture was taken in Mystic, CT. Marta and I met there to celebrate my birthday last weekend.)

Here I have some examples of what I imagine.  The first is from Anthropologie and is the perfect color and style and I would buy it right now…if it were not $250.

The next is from West Elm. The duvet pictured is white and I’m not sure if it comes in the exact right color for me, but it’s an example of what I’m looking for.

This is also from West Elm.  It does come in just the right shade of gray, but I liked this picture better.  I would also buy this right now…if it were not … well actually, this duvet is $100.  It’s not quite as easy to swallow as $40 at IKEA, but it’s much more reasonable than $250.  Right?

When I painted the frame of my bulletin board aqua (like my bed) and covered the back with a gray patterned paper, I realized that those 2 colors look really pretty together.  I think that’s why I then imagined a gray quilt on my bed.  I have pretty white and aqua quilted shams from Anthropologie (when they were on sale) and this pretty pillow from Target (a gift from Marta).I really am madly in love with this pillow.  The birds are brown so brown bedding would be OK too, but that just seems too dark.  White and aqua are also beautiful and calm together, but I want something other than white on the bed because all the walls are white.

So, that’s the search I’m on.  Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be completed.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for unique, sweet and completely unaffordable sheet sets, look no further than here.

Or here…

Sweet dreams!

The month also started out with extremely stressful amounts of work at school.  All of the paperwork for Extended School Year was supposed to be due the 17th and then today and now….who knows. But it’s still not done.  I also had 5 IEP’s due.  It is doubtful I would have survived the month without the extra days off.  As it was, I still took 2 sick days because I just kept working so late and starting so early and stressed myself out.  (That and all my students were coughing all over me every day and wiping their dripping noses all over everything.) My cough has finally gone away and the nose dripping situation is starting to dry out. :)

I had 2 dear visitors this month.  Marta came the last weekend in January and started the month with me. We had such a fun time and it was hard to let her go home.  I always miss her, but after spending a whole weekend with her I’m reminded just how MUCH I miss her and even that I might be a little lonelier than I thought in my little apartment by myself.

My mom came Valentine’s Day weekend and even got to come to school with me one day and then take care of me when I stayed home sick the next.  It’s so nice to be taken care of by someone who loves you.  I crave that too, when I’m on my own.  While she was here we made a trip to IKEA and spent a long, long time in the office section debating table lengths, widths, height, chair, drawers….and finally decided on this for my craft table.  The chair, the drawers and the table are all new.  I’m so excited about this.  The circular card table was NOT cutting it and I was still ending up with huge messes on the floor and every time I wanted to make something it was a huge ordeal so I ended up avoiding it a lot.  In this picture you can see I have my laptop set up in the corner so I can watch movies or catch up on TV shows.  Perfect.  Here’s another angle that shows that whole side of the room.  And the amazing drawers…  (A whole drawer for all my stickers!)I think that I have yet to show a picture of my whole bedroom.  The reason is that I am still searching for the right duvet.  Well, I’ve found it, but I’m searching the for right duvet in the right price range.

I did finally paint the dresser.  The knobs were plain wood color at Anthropologie so I painted them to match my bed.  So stinkin’ cute.

And yet another event in February – Mia turned 3!  This little girl right here…is 3!!

Mia you have a fiery little personality.  You are loud and full of energy and let everyone know you’re there and what you think about it.  You can charm your way into anyone’s heart with your endearing lisp and missing front tooth and adorable faces of concern and endless string of jibber jabber trying to fit into the conversations going on around you.  I love when you want to pretend to be a baby and you let me hold you and sing to you and snuggle into my arms so still and quiet.  I wonder what you’re thinking.  It ends as quickly as it began because you can’t stand to be still for long, and then you’re off to destroy something else.  But we love our Destroyer.  You’re impossible not to love. And you give us so much love in return. Especially to your sisters.  I’m so glad you’re in my life.

So February.  You’ve dumped enough winter on us to last the whole season. I’m really not complaining. It was beautiful.  It got a little lonely in there some days, but I also accomplished so much and took naps and stayed cozy.  I also watched lots of amazing athletes pour their bodies and souls into competing in the Olympics. I saw a lot of heartbreak and a lot of joy and I guess that’s what happens when you give something your all. There is no guarantee that it won’t crush you, but if it somehow does not, the feeling you get in succeeding, I would imagine is … I don’t know. I guess indescribable. 

2 more days and we’re into the third month of 2010. And we all know what happens in the third month…

My birthday!

Soon I’ll be posting 24 things I want to do when I’m 24. Modeled after this and this and this of course.