If I do any more homework I'm going to shit ten bricks and die.

Seriously. I don't have a brain left. I squeezed out every last bit of gray matter last week and it's not growing back fast enough.

Boo.

Song o' the Day: TITHE

I love the...

...slow build-up in the beginning.
...entire arrangement and composition - they really know how to emphasize the different aspects of the song.
...bass when it hits and opens up the rest of the instrumentation.
...easy-paced but driving beat, and especially how the band lets the drums take the spotlight for a bit.

Just plants

I didn't quite make a terrarium, though I did turn the Brita dispenser into a planter for a couple strawberry plants. They're doing very well and that pleases me immensely.

Post 2/2

In keeping with our apartment theme of "small," we've decided to make a terrarium. We already have the container ready: our large Brita filter/dispenser that is way too prone to growing algae. Seriously every week for the past month or something, we'd peer into the plastic reservoir and notice a faint but very real cloud of green, just hanging out in our drinking water. Enough, we said. Obviously something wants to grow in the Brita, so might as well jump on that trajectory!

This project has not been hashed out yet, since more research is definitely needed, but I'm excited to make a little container garden for the kitchen. We've already run out of space for having plants, and that is not a conducive situation for growing plants.

...Also, the tap water really isn't that bad at all.

Terrariums! Yeah!

Post 1/2

Yesterday John took a half day off, and I had a whole day off, so what did we do? ...Not much. Burritos for lunch and a casual sunny stroll down College. Went to a bookstore for the first time in...months?...and splurged on retail therapy. First, a birthday present for my uncle. Then a new pack of stationery. Finally two books for myself - an origami handbook and this:

I'm pretty dang excited to read it, since a) this will be my first novel since I started and ended spring semester and 2) it's about a kid cartographer! Who wins an award for being a kid cartographer! I actually think the writing might be a bit affected and not entirely realistic for a 12-year old narrator, but I'm more than willing to give it a go. A neat aspect of this book is that it includes tons of illustrations and diagrams (!) in the margins, a.k.a. annotations. I'll try to remember to write a review when I'm finished reading it.

Two for the Reading List

Just so I don't forget... I heard about these books on NPR today.

Window Garden

The newest living additions to the apartment are our cute lil plants! They've been around for awhile now, but this is their online debut, ta-da. We're growing chamomile, basil, and mint, but the more engaging specimens are our bonsai. Since this is a new hobby, the plan is to keep the trees alive before shaping and sculpting -- so far so good. Mine is even sprouting new leaves, after some conservative pruning that I've been doing over the past couple of weeks. Incidentally John is the unofficial pest control dude. Blah blah blah check out the pics.

Basil!

Mint!

Droopy chamomile: recent victim of bug infestation

Close-up of my succulents - those aren't spines; they're super-soft fuzzy hairs!

My growing bonsai: Chinese elm

John's robust juniper, with neighbors