this is the post where you shake your head and say "she's a mean person"

you know on the price is right when bob barker asks the contestant if the price of the item is too high and they scream in righteous red-face-inducing fury "that's too much bob!"

such are my feelings about easter baskets.

i know i'm clueless about most things, but when did every holiday turn into a gift extravaganza? (and why didn't my parents celebrate like this?! maybe it would have curbed my cynicism) i've been seeing these crazy "easter baskets" that look like toys r us exploded in the living room. maybe as a general consensus, we could say that at least half the stuff has to actually fit inside the basket. too crazy? probably.

i'm sure that this post + my deep and abiding love for dave ramsey and all things frugal will ensure that i have the unluckiest kids in the world. they'll probably be cynics too.

moooooooovies. what a strange word.

mike likes watching movies. i like sleeping through movies. i rarely make it past the opening credits - and i'm pretty sure it's genetic since my mom is the same way. sometimes i will wake up sporadically throughout the movie to ask mike what's happening before crashing again, which i think is more annoying than just staying asleep. he doesn't believe me that i can watch them subconsciously.

but... miraculously this year there have been a few movies that we've both wanted to see (gold star!) and i've managed to stay awake through (triple gold stars!) and are actually great stories (1000 bonus points and a rainbow! it's that rare). we recommend all of them, although hanna is a bit violent and i covered my eyes for parts of it. the soundtracks are all really great too.

uno. the king's speech

dos. hanna

tres. the way back

oh vegas, sometimes you're so tacky.

we had the most relaxing time in vegas. we slept, a lot. i think we were still recuperating from finals. the wedding was so beautiful. alas, i am still camera shy when it comes to taking my own photos with other people around, so i only got two or three photos on mike's phone and left the real camera in the car. but i can describe it for you. just close your eyes and picture the reception in the middle of an orchard, at sunset, with hundreds of candles and flowers and the most delicious food. and look at jana's gorgeous bridals here, that will give a good feel for things.

and now, tell-tale signs you are staying in a cheap hotel.

1 - police cars outside
2 - a rickety glass elevator
3 - orange faux textured walls
4 - a tacky fountain in the lobby
5 - fake ivy covering the tacky fountain in the lobby
6 - wood veneer. everywhere.
7 - signs offering $10 off for some questionable entertainment...
8 - teal and yellow "party carpet" (think chuck e. cheese)
9 - plastic columns
10 - clipart for the "room service" menu

it was a great adventure.

to jana

we are taking off today for jana and collin's long awaited wedding in vegas. i've known them both since sophomore year when we were all just wee designers and they were on the verge of their little romance. i knew something was up between them when they started sitting closer and closer in our classes. i'm so happy/relieved they are finally getting married because my worst fear was that they would break up and the class would have to choose sides and things would get very east side vs. west side and i'm sure gangs and hit men and black trenchcoats would be involved.

anyways.

it's hard to be more awesome or random than collin and jana. especially when jana leaves harry potter/rebecca black love notes in your sketchbook

or keeps you on your toes by changing your phone background to some of these gems

ah! peaches! she was by far the creepiest... staring out at me from behind my apps...

and collin introduced me to TINY WINGS! that alone deserves a drive to vegas to support them. they are some of the most best people i know. and soon to be blissfully wedded. this trip should also be an adventure because we are:

a) driving the completely unreliable neon
b) staying in a cheap hotel no one has ever heard of that mike booked at 3 in the morning
c) listening to a book that no one else has ever heard of because all the legitimate titles were checked out. i think it involves unicorns? dwarves? should be amazing.

my lovely assistant

poor mike. i make him watch project runway, assemble invitations, and eat cake for breakfast (ok, so maybe he is more willing on that one.) a month or two ago i needed a guy's hand for a poster design. luckily, mike has very manly hands. i told him to make a loose fist... and the photos went something like this...

thank you, vanna white. he will be adding hand modeling to his resume. and the poster is looking like this... i need to shadow the text to make it more legible still.

sometimes i achieve my goals

since we bought our iphones last year i have gone over the data limit twice. the budget does not like that very much. so this month the goal was stay under the limit. our data reset this morning, and check this out:

ooooooh yeah.

tidbits

my nephew jake. he has me entirely wrapped around his chubby little finger.

the other night mike walked over to me, moved my bangs out of my face and said "there. they were covering your one good eye."

i have not been to my m/w american heritage lecture since the first week of february.

there is a sudden sprouting of terribly named stores around here. tonight's favorites include "cleo's white moments" and "petals & promises."

the perfect client emailed about invitations this week. i believe the words "no budget" were involved. the only time i can imagine saying those words is in the dollar store - if they were having a really great sale.

our national debt is over 14 trillion dollars. that means i owe around $46,000. mike and i will be collecting pennies. in buckets. it's got to be more than obama is doing.

i shipped some posters to malaysia three weeks ago. after keeping my fingers very tightly crossed, they finally arrived. phew.

we have a new hobby. it's trying-to-find-a-sublet-that-won't-bankrupt-us-completely-when-we-move-to-new-york-in-june and it is a whole heap harder than when i tried to learn how to crochet. at least with crocheting you can choose the yarn color. i'm just praying that wherever we stay has a bed. or a futon. or we could always bring sleeping bags? the subway seems warm...