The Great Rat Challenge

I struggled SO much with picking out a villain and an outfit for this week. It was ridiculous how difficult I made it on myself. Oi. Additionally, I didn't actually get around to wearing my outfit until today- the day where I went no where and saw no one (I'm not really as hermit-like as I sound. I have friends.). Thus, I had to take my own picture. So sorry for the poor quality.

I realize that this outfit very possibly looks like other outfits I've already worn, AND it's very neutral-heavy. Several reasons: 1. Villains tend to wear black 2. My closet is very heavily saturated in neutrals. Perhaps this says something about me...? After looking at this shot, I realize how- after so much thinking and frustrating about this outfit- it looks as though I put zero effort into it. Gee whiz. This is the wicked mammal I was going for:

Ratigan...boo hiss. I really enjoyed this particular film as a child. I think my auntie got it for us, and Amiee and I wore it out. However, I haven't seen it in forever (one reason very well may be that it was a VHS...) and feel as though I need a refresher. What is it about mouse movies that speaks to the hearts of children? I remember loving the Fievel movies, as well as the Rescuers movies. All mice. Is it because they're underdogs? Or perhaps because film makers and storytellers want children not to fear mice or see them as infectious? Whatever the reason, my enthusiasm for The Great Mouse Detectives probably spurred on my abiding interest in Sherlock Holmes. Hurrah for intelligent, sleuthing mice!

Character: Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detectives

Outfit:

*Gray top from New York & Co. 2010

*Black shrug...I have no memory. It was a post-Ukraine purchase, though.

*Red earrings are from Ukraine.

*I was also wearing red shoes, but I was too photographically challenged to include the shoes. They, however, were post-tornado purchases from Target (2008). Amiee has the same ones, and our friend, Kylie, has the same ones in black and brown. She was a smart girl. I should have done that.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I'm not sure that anyone is actually going to see me wearing this outfit today, except for maybe Brad, depending on when he returns from his trip (to visit one of his potential grad schools). Hopefully, my outfit next week will be more inspired. Here's hoping I get an inspiration soon, as next week is about 36 hours away.

Also, any thoughts on the mouse issue? Is it just me?

Images from here and here.

Hunger Games

I never followed up with my thoughts on The Hunger Games, but I did, in fact finish the series. Anyone else? Did anyone else see the movie? We went to see the midnight showing the night it came out. (insert sheepish face here) Any thoughts?

Brad and a professor friend of ours and his wife have been having a email back-and-forth on many of our thoughts. Our professor friend has also been really good at scouting out articles and blog posts with lots of interesting thoughts. If you haven't read the books, some of these links contain minor spoilers, but if you have read the books, I'd love to know any thoughts y'all are having. Here are a few links for you: here, here, here, and here.

Not kidding about hearing your thoughts. These books have left me with a lot of issues to wrestle with. It sort of reminds me of the time that I ended up writing about Harry Potter for my senior thesis...

The Can't-Accept-My-Age Challenge

On Pinterest, I think I called this one the "creepy fake mother" challenge. I actually had a difficult time picking out a villain to emulate (in clothing only, of course). I landed on this:

Yes, I realize that this is a very dramatic pose. Brad laughed out loud. I thought it was fitting, given that my villain does this move a lot. As seen here:

This week, I was Mother Gothel. Ooooh...creepy. She has issues with aging and can't bear to look remotely older than, what, 30-something? I can't really tell in the movie. She's really about 30 times a billion years old and looks extremely yucky when her anti-aging tactic fails her.

Character: Mother Gothel from Tangled.

Outfit:

*Dress was a gift from Karen. She had a mix-up with the company and they ended up sending her two.

*Jacket is about 10+ years old and I have no memory of where it came from. I think I might have had it in high school.

*Belt is from Francesca's right at the end of 2011.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I think I sort of matched the board fairly well this week. Yay, me! I should probably start working on next week's villain now. Any suggestions??

Images from here and here.

Resolutions Revisited

The whole point in posting my "goals" for this year was to have some kind of accountability for myself (even if my mom, Kat, and Mrs. Tidwell are the only ones keeping up with things). So, here's my update thus far:

1. Amiee and I are "so far, so good" on our clothing challenge. I haven't bought a single thing! For the most part, I haven't even been tempted. I did find two swimsuits that I REALLY would like to buy (thanks a lot, Pinterest). Here and here. Think they'll still be around next year? Perhaps it's a good lesson in contentment.

2. I'm doing really well on my reading goal. Three months in and I've tackled five books: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and Same Kind of Different as Me. We'll see if I can keep it up.

3. Our ethnic food cooking goal is a little behind. We (thanks to Mom) had kusherie (Egyptian) in January, but we never got around to any ethnic cooking in February, unless you count Mediterranean-inspired pasta. On second thought, maybe we will count that. :) For March, we just tried out a Cuban recipe found on Pinterest.

4. The Union t-shirt quilt hasn't really happened yet, other than me sorting through the t-shirts and finding myself overwhelmed at the number of shirts we own.

5. The wedding scrapbook is actually going quite well. I'm stalled on it until I can get over to Hobby Lobby again.

6. I have not visited a new, cool city yet. It's only March, though.

7. The dining chairs have not been reupholstered yet...

8. I'm going to ignore my number 8 challenge...shhh...forget I even mentioned it... (unless you count going with Brad the last time he had his hair cut and watching/picking up tips. I haven't actually tried it yet. Scared face...).

I'm going to add a new goal, though, with a big life change (moving for graduate school) in mind: culling through our belongings and aiming to scale back on things we don't use very often (or ever). I foresee a smaller abode with limited storage options in our future.

Here's hoping I keep my momentum up!

Weekend activities

Y'all. I think I may be growing up. Or turning into a pioneer woman (only, I'm the kind that doesn't enjoy the outdoors too much and would definitely have been trampled by buffalo in my attempt to cross the country in an un-air conditioned covered wagon).

This weekend, I made hummus (like, out of chickpeas and tahini--- that stuff is pricey. Ouch), salsa, two loaves of bread, and Cuban food.

I blame it on Ukraine; I had to do so much from scratch. I also blame it on this blog. And that Brad is really into the ethics of food, producing food, and eating it.

All I have to say is that it results in a LOT of dishes.

The Arrrgh Challenge

For starters, this week's picture is wonky for a couple reasons: one, I didn't get it taken at home because Brad and I decided to do breakfast at Chick-Fil-A spur of the moment and two, the angle of the picture/rumpled nature of my outfit made me look pregnant, and we are currently NOT expecting. So, I had to crop it, of course.

I'm thinking this one is probably pretty obvious. But, in case it's not, I was going for...

Captain Hook! Such villainous villain. I did my "hook" with the wrong hand. Oops. I'm REALLY sad I didn't have the fluffy feather. However, Brad completely disapproves of hair feathers.

Character: Captain Hook from Peter Pan

Outfit:

*Red sweater and white ruffled shirt are both from New York & Co. 2011.

*The pants (not pictured) also from NY & Co. circa 2008 (post-tornado pants)

Disneybound inspiration board:

I rather liked this outfit, I must say. I decided to pass on the boots (it was 80 degrees, for goodness sake) and went with black flats. Nothing to write home about, but at least I wasn't sweating, right? Be sure to check out Amiee's furry villain! (and her character from last week- we went rogue and did our individual takes on the same character last week. We're zany, we know).

Images from here and here.

The Evil Sorceress Challenge

I could probably also title this one the "scared-me-silly-as-a-child" challenge. It's true. I was easily frightened by fictitious cartoon characters. However, I did think that all of the characters in this film were all very pretty: even the villainess (I'm not sure this is a word...). Here's my take on her from this week:

That's the best I got at "evil sorceress" in the pose department. I should definitely work on it. Any guesses at who I'm going for?

Maleficent! I decided to forego the creepy bird. I generally like birds, but this one is out of control. Also, does anyone agree with me that she's kind of a pretty villainess (if you ignore her yellow eyes and the fact that her skin is green)?

Character: Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Outfit:

*Purple shirt from Ross 2011

*Black jacket/shrug from Papaya 2010

*Gray pants from New York & Co. 2008 (yes, they made the Ukrainian sojourn with me)

*The green necklace (and earrings) that you can't really see I'm wearing is from Mom from a looooong time ago. It was supposed to be a subtle nod to our green-skinned villainess.

*Gold belt from New York & Co. 2011

Disneybound inspiration board:

I think this is one of the ones that I actually hit a little closer to the mark than usual. In an interesting turn of events, Amiee and I did something we haven't done thus far this week. Check her character out here (caveat: she's been super busy this weekend and may not get to update until Sunday. Oh, the suspense!).

I'll update soon on the continuing graduate school sage. Have a lovely Saturday.

Images from here and here.

Where, oh where, will we be?

Remember this post a while back? It has felt like an eternity around here, waiting for some kind of answer/indication. We were starting to feel desperate at the beginning of this week... Brad was pretty calm in his frustration. I've been swearing off each of the schools in turn, declaring that they're all lame and stupid.

Thankfully, we've been getting responses this week (I've recanted most of my accusations). All positive responses. We've heard from four out of seven programs. It's pretty fair to say that they seem to be clamoring for a piece of Brad. I'm quite proud. Update: We've heard from another school. It's another acceptance!

We're still waiting on some of the "big" ones. Brad's still fairly calm, and I'm biting my nails and dancing around with nervous energy.

Where will we be in 6 months?? It's safe to say we won't be here:



As much as we love Union and our friends and our church.

But...will our destination be here:

Or here:

Maybe here:

Perhaps:


Or:

Or (I'm-not-so-sure-how-I-feel-about-it) here:


It's all terribly exciting and nerve-racking. Decisions...

Images courtesy of Google images.

The Expectorating Challenge

Gross title, I know. It seemed appropriate for this character, though. Before I post the pictures, I should note that Amiee and I started a new "theme" this month: villains. I'm rather excited, as my wardrobe is very well-suited for villainy (read: I have a lot of black clothing). Here's the beginning-of-March picture:

Brad liked that I posed so that my "chin looked bigger." I wasn't sure how to take that at first, but then he pointed out that it fits my character...

Gaston from Beauty and the Beast! He does have a rather large chin, I guess. I prefer to think of it as "strong." I was always a little afraid of Beauty and the Beast. I think it's because I hated that her father is in trouble and she has to be so brave. And the Beast freaked me out, too. However, I feel a connection to the story, as every "which Disney princess are you" quiz pegs me as Belle. I'm fairly certain it's because I like to read. Figures.

Weekly breakdown...

Character: Gaston

Outfit:

*Red top from Wal-Mart in Richmond, VA 2008. I remember it very specifically because I got it the week that I went to Conference to determine where I would be spending my two years as a Journeyman. In fact, this shirt made it through the tornado (side note: the other shirt I bought that week was the shirt I was wearing the night of the tornado...it was pretty much ruined)

*Belt...I've had it since high school. I don't know when or where I got it.

*Black skirt is the same one I've worn a couple of times. Old Navy...high school. I might wear it until I die.

*Same Clark's boots as always.

*Earrings came from Budapest- the first time I went in 2009. I love them.

Disneybound inspiration board:

Eh...this one is closer to the inspiration board than some of my outfits/not as close as others. I liked it, so I think it was a winner. And, to clarify the "expectorating" part of the title, here's a little clip for ya. I sang the song basically all day. Brad was getting a little bit tired of it. Bless him- he's a good sport. Maybe I can get him to be a "guest character" for you sometime. Any support for that idea?

Images from here and here.