P.S.

P.S.
I've also been thinking about renaming/redoing The Roller Girl Blog. I feel like it's gotten a bit stale and that I could make it a bit more awesome.

I have some favorite blogs that I draw inspiration from: Cup of Jo, Design Sponge & Design is Mine are a few...

Future Blog Hints: Ambrosia on the Rocks. Ambrosia Blossoms. Poppy Seed Studios.

♥

TV Cozy

I know it's been a while but I've been busy and while I could tell you lots of potentially boring/interesting things about my life happenings, I'd rather tell you about this amazing creation that I just can't get over!

It's a TV Cozy! A TV Cozy! TVs are so ugly, especially in a beautifully decorated room. And here's the solution! This image is of a Martha Stewart version but go to this link, it is so much cuter!

I want, I want! Just another thing to add my crafty inspirations.

♥

Tired of the Job Hunt

I love you, The Littlest Birds, really I do - but you're not giving me enough hours. And my bills are squeezing me to death.

I have to find something to compensate, but Demand Studios editors can be such complete morons, making it really discouraging to write for a real income.

Job hunting is so fatiguing. I'm so sick of it. I've been doing it nearly constantly for almost three years now. I am so tired of it. When will my one real job come?

It's February! What a Month it is!

February is a crazy month for me. It begins with Bastien's and mine 6th year anniversary on the 5th, then it jumps to crazy old valentines (validation) day, then skips on to one of my best bud's 25th bday on the 18th and then completes the month with my 25th bday on the 26th! Aye!

Right now in my life, I'm still considering lots of things because at the approach of my quarter-life crisis I know I still have plenty of time to contemplate. Here are some of the contemplations/plans:

-I'm still working at my most favorite place of employment ever, The Littlest Birds. I'm only working half-time right now because that's all the time they can give me...but...soon come I will be getting many more hours. Come August/September of this year I will be working nearly full-time when one of the owners moves. Her and her lovely spouse will be moving to go to grad school and I will get to take over her time. I am so excited and so privileged to get this opportunity to run a small, locally-owned business. I am also way impatient and would love for this to happen NOW! But patience is a virtue, I hear.

-I've been yearning to take some more classes. I am so in love with this Earth we live on and I want to do as much as I can for it. Despite this passion, I need to be more knowledgeable. I need to know some basic science, some basic scientific facts. I have never been a science kind of girl, but I really want to take some herbalism classes at the Appalachian School of Herbalism (so I can grow my own awesome garden and create my own beauty and cleaning products) and I want to take lots of environmental science, botany and ecology classes so I can be a better educated environmentalist. I'm starting to look at ways of doing that in Western NC.

-I want a car! Ack, I have a very deep love/hate relationship with the Asheville Transit System, the sweet thing. But I want a car. And even better, I'm thinking about getting a diesel car so I can use biodiesel to run it. That's right, ya'll - I want a vegetable car! ;) I'm thinking about getting a late 90's VW diesel car. It's pretty much my choice of a Mercedes or a Volkswagen, only. Not many other cars have diesel engines.

-Omg, beer! The beau, er, fiancé, and I have been brewing beer (well, mostly the beau). And we love it! And he loves it! I really do believe he has found his passion and his life path. Whew! So our plan, now? Create a microbrewery/restaurant. I won't give any more details on that plan right now. It's so juicy and delectable, but it still needs to do a bit of fermenting (ba-da-ching!) before more details are released. Let's just say I love to write business plans and I've already got a good start on this one.

-Oh man, I just have too many ideas and plans and desires, it's almost too much! Oh, and I have, like, no money. No money to save, no money to invest. Nada. Anyways, I would also like to have my own business where I sell handmade, handcrafted, preferably local, goods for the home. And of course I have a business plan written already. ;)

-I would also like to be an environmental constultant. Hence, the desire and need to take some environmental science classes. I figure I could hire myself out to plenty of people who need some practical and easy advice on taking steps to helping the Earth.

-Oh yes, I'm a bridesmaid. I'm one for the wonderful, soon-to-be-my-sister-in-law-in-just-over-a-year Lucie.

-And then I have a wedding of my own to plan. (Wow, did I really just say that? Good god.) But it will be lighter on the wedding planning and much heavier on the party/reception and the traveling/honeymoon planning. I've already got some ideas floating around in that lil' head of mine...like May 1st, courthouse wedding, big-arse party in a park/backyard/natural, outdoor setting with lots of friends and fam, family celebration in France and Corsica traveling afterward.

A lot, a lot. A lot that I like.
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Engaged!

Yes, yes - it's true! Me and Bastien are engaged! It happened late Friday night on our way back to our apartment. Friday Asheville had a really good snowstorm and the after effects were beautiful. So after being in our apartment all day going a little stir crazy we decided to go on a lovely night snow walk. It happened then. And it was lovely.

Lovely.

Would you like to see the ring? Here it is:

And here is the link to the awesome handmade artist who made it. You should buy some stuff from him. I know I will buy Bastien's ring from him. And the ring was just the perfect fit for me.

And so now I'm engaged! Would you like to see the man I'm marrying? Here he is:



<3 <3 <3

Burrr Freezing Weather - Chill Out!

It is so efffing cold here in Asheville these days. One can NOT wear enough clothing, socks, mittens, scarves and layers. Currently, the temperature has been staying around 3 or 4 degrees with this frigid-arse wind chill.

It's cold. So painfully cold!

Meanwhile - it's the beau's birthday today! The old fart is turning 27! So let's all get down and party because time goes fast!

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Mr. First Snow

(From @h0zae)

It's the first snow of the season. And it could very possibly stick any moment now. The first snow is always the best.

And with hot chocolate, please.
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I Told You So

Didn't I? Our computer is completely down and out. I have to use the one at work or go to the library to get on the internet. So big poo on that.

The good news? I'm pretty, pretty sure I'm getting a laptop for the Solstice season. So big yay to this!

Meanwhile, update:
Tuesday: O'Charley's potluck! Even though I had a terrible migraine for most of the day, once I saw our old neighbor Beth come inside, I felt much better! It was a bit overwhelming to host so many people (11 people total!), but everybody was so nice and the all the food was so good that it was all very nice and relaxing.
Wednesday: A good ol' Bastien and Amber night. Watched Band of Brothers series, ate some vegan recipes that I tried out from the "Kind Diet" book by Alicia Siverstone (she writes so adorably!) and just cuddled up on the couch together.
Thursday: Went to Boone w/the gals. Did a little shopping, a little me-time, some yummy veggie food at Portofino and then headed to a very bizarre show featuring Taking Back Sunday and the All American Rejects (who I found out is, unfortunately, one of the sleaziest, dirtiest male performers I think I've ever seen or heard).
Friday: Early drive back from Boone. Arrived to find my kitteh and lovah awaiting me. After a not-so-healthy lunch, the beau and I began our beer-making adventure! And, oh boy, was it an adventure! We were super careful about everything and making sure the brew didn't boil over - I think we may have some very toned arms after stirring the pot for over and hour straight! I left the beau and brew to have some girl time w/some other lovelies. Where, despite our immaculate planning, we arrived 5 minutes late to a showing of New Moon and found ourselves in a seating conundrum. After five minutes of frustration of not finding seats, I decided to sit by myself and let them sit together in the front row. Those had to be the worst seats ever. But I find that this movie was better than the first, Twilight.

Coming soon...
-Thanksgiving with the rents at our place (also, the first time we celebrate/host a holiday feast in our new apartment!!!)
-Black Friday at The Littlest Birds
-My path back to vegetarian/veganism.
-We got accepted for financial aid for the YMCA! We're going to be svelte so, so soon. ;)

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Dead Computer?!

It just might be possible. So I may be even less frequent on this crazy, fast-paced electronic world. Meanwhile, isn't this beautiful?



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Wkend Recap: Post Sickness Fun

Thursday: Stayed at home for the last day of a three-day run so that I could fully recuperate from the Sickness that had plagued me all week. It was a lazy day, it was a productive day.

Friday: Worked my last day at the B&B! Then came home to find that I had left my keys in the apt. Called to interrupt beau's Mela lunch so he could come let me in. After all this, we joined the beau's parent's and a French family friend (she lives in the same neighborhood as Johhny Depp in Paris![swoon]). We spent a fair amount of time walking around some of my favorite spots in downtown and having coffee. And then had the always delicious goulash and bread and cheese. Afterwards, we played some darts, smoked some hookah ("shouldn't you close the window - isn't this illegal?") and collapsed for sleep, precious sleep.

Saturday: Halloween! Worked at The Littlest Birds till 6. Got dressed in an old halloween costume (flapper!) while watched bemusedly the beau have costume identity issues (his final choice was a hot skull-faced woman). Spent the night at the Pocket, got drunk way too quickly, failed miserably at beer-pong and ended the night w/the best Waffle House experience ever (hashbrowns by candle-light).


Sunday: Worked at TLB till 4. Went to a potluck w/the beau that Alexandra was hosting and ate some unbelievable orzo salad, chicken pot pie and vegetarian pizza, among other yummy dishes. Also made a lovely spill of red wine on my favorite white shirt and cardigan. Then we went over to a co-worker of the beau's to pick up a sweet little kitty, named Tabitha. After a hilarious car ride back home we watched her explore the place and contemplated her replacement name (goulash, cinnamon, cardamon).

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Wkend Recap: Mountain Adventures & Parties

Thursday: Worked at the B&B. Watched Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince at the Asheville Brew and View w/Steph, D & the beau. Had some yummy Ninja Porters.

Friday: The beau and I had a mountain adventure...but not like it sounds. We started our day in the hopes of making it to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the US east of the Mississippi. After eating at Asheville Pizza, we soon realized the day was much too foggy and rainy. So we continued on eastward. We stopped in Marion at a visitor's center and found a map and decided to venture to Johnson City, TN taking all back roads. So after taking many windy, old beautiful roads we made it to JC. We walked around the town and the beau's alma mater and remincsed about the days when we were still in college. We also stopped by the wonderful Acoustic Coffee House for some beer, tea and chips. As the sun began descending, we thought we'd head back home (the fast way). Back in Asheville! We then hung out w/Alexandra & Nik, where the girls throughly kicked the guys butt at both Trivial Pursuit and darts. Take that!

Saturday: Worked at The Littlest Birds. And instead of doing anything exciting, I just stayed at home and relaxed w/a cup of warm tea.

Sunday: Worked at The Littlest Birds till 4. Nik dropped off his cat, Gonzo, so he could make a visit to his parents in Chapel Hill. Next, we headed to the Mountain Xpress' Best of WNC party at the Orange Peel (The Littlest Birds won Best Kid's Clothing Store & the owners gave us the tix!). We had a blast filling our bellies from some the best restos in Asheville and listening to an amazing bluesy-rock teenage band, called Skinny Legs and All.

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Wkend Recap: Wine & Beer!

Thursday: Worked at the B&B. I'm a little hazy now as to what happened on Thursday. ;)
Friday: Worked at The Littlest Birds (TLB) all day, my first time working on a Friday. It was a success! Hung out with the Heather and Sam. Ate at O'Charley's and visited our favorite sections of B&N, having good laughs in the Sexual Interest section. Came back home afterwards to watch the 2 most depressing episodes of Buffy to date.
Saturday: Worked at the B&B (and put in my 2ks notice of resignation!). Came home and passed out instead of doing anything productive. Dreamily woken up by the beau. Cleaned the apt, while the beau made goulash and we prepared ourselves for some new frenchies. The poop-face and his parents visited us and gave us a nice bottle of wine from the Biltmore Estate. We ate goulash, sipped on wine and tea and listened to the hilarious, but sad, airport stories from Jean-Marie. Afterwards, we had our first darts & liquor night. I won!
Sunday: Worked at TLB till 4. Hung out w/Alexandra at Asheville Pizza. Had two yummy Ninja Porters and a quesadilla. The food and the convo was super-excellent.

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Some good laughs

I bet you've heard of Lolcats, but have you heard of Fuck You, Penguin? Now this stuff is funny. It's also raunchy and somewhat offensive. But hilarious.

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Wkly Recap: Lots o' Movies

Monday: Yoga, Grove Arcade Copy Shop (w/the adorable older couple!) for forever trying to fax something to gas company, also forever on the phone w/the gas company trying to make them believe I am not the old tenet who lived here (who owes them money), The Littlest Birds blog work, made Squash soup and salad for me and beau (which was so delish but totally not enough of), watched Year One & our fav. Gossip Girl w/Steph.

Tuesday: Yoga, The Littlest Birds boutique work (lots of consignment organizing), grocery shopping (where we can't stay at our shopping limit!), the beau and I are really tired so we pick up a couple of pizzas and watch Vanity Fair, which was way too long and drawn out, by the way.

Wednesday: Worked at the Bed and Breakfast, came home to collapse but instead made food and prepared to make more food, beau then gets home so we go to my credit union to drop off some money and then we make a stop at Ingles for a movie, cough drops & some boxed wine (for us and for the stew we made), at home we made Beef Stew w/Mushrooms and watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The stew turned out o.k. overall, but the movie was pretty bland.

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Wkend Fun: Frenchies & Old Friends

I really adore Lu's Weekend Recaps. So I thought I'd try a version of this:

Thursday: Worked at the B&B. Had a glorious shower and headed to TN to see the Gilots, Lu, Mitch & Eli & special guest Eliane, Alain & Rosine. Had a scrumptious meal of Morracan Cous Cous & Chicken + Banana Flan for desert. Followed by a French-dubbed version w/English subtitles of Chocolat (Johnny Depp just isn't the same in French) w/tea & petit gateau.
Friday: Wake up at 9:30 to have a petit dejuner w/the Frenchies. Good convo & translations. Talk about Wal-Mart, birds, dreams & bigger bugs in the U.S. A slow mid day of reading, catching up & lunch. Then back to NC where I worked at the bookstore (& gave them my 2wk. notice!). Ended the night w/some yummy Asian Chicken Noodle Soup (how I adore cilantro & ginger!) and listening to my stepdad (And the Address) on Asheville FM.
Saturday: Worked at The Littlest Birds until 6. Seba, the poop-face, visited. We ate at Universal Joint, where I had a yummy Blue Cheese & Bacon Burger and a Foothills Oktoberfest. Then we met up w/our old college friend Mary + her new beau + Nik at Hookah Joes. Ended the night w/trivial pursuit where poop-face kicked our bums.
Sunday: Worked at The Littlest Birds until 4. Then made some disastrous pork, mushroom & tomato pasta. Was super tired so I just stayed at home and watched old episodes of CW shows while the beau played pool.

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Week Recap: Sick Beau & Movies

Monday: A day off to do lots of work. Got a whole bunch of papers together to get bills ready for next month. Have to start repaying my loans back. Got that ready & sent out. Filled out remainder of EBT forms. Just one more thing to find to send that out. Called gas company. They are going to start it on next Monday. Worked on The Littlest Birds blog and newsletter most of the day. Beaucoup computer fun.
Tuesday: Worked at The Littlest Birds til 4. Built a mini grocery stand for them. Broke a whole bunch of boxes and got recycling ready to be taken out. Moved some furniture w/the girls to rearrange the store. Went over blog ideas. Voted in local elections. Did laundry & went to W. Asheville market to buy some local produce and meat. Had raclette with the beau. Watched There's Something about Mary. I'd forgotten how funny it is.
Wednesday: My candidates won! :) Worked at the B&B until 3ish. The beau is sick, stayed at home all day. I cuddle up with him and take care of his sick self. We make Minestrone (his mom's version). So delish w/the local pork, carrots and tomatoes! Watched W. Not a bad film for such a bad subject matter. ;)

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12 things

(Source.)

Right now:

1. I'm soaking in the sun rays in our new apt. & trying to get warm from this solely.
2. I'm listening to Dr. Awesome on AshevilleFM. They embody community organizing and community radio.
3. I'm filling out our EBT form so we can get another 6 months worth of food stamps. This has been so helpful to us the past 6 months and we continue to need assistance.
4. I'm working on creating a blog for The Littlest Birds. I'm so enjoying working for them.
5. I'm reading about the Women's Expo that's coming on Oct. 8th to Asheville. This may be some good source of publicity for The Littlest Birds.
6. I'm smelling the to go box of food I purchased from Nine Mile not long ago. I ate their w/the stepdad & I thought it'd be nice for the beau to have some, too.
7. I'm closing our door and trying to cover the broken window b/c it's entirely too cold in this apartment.
8. I'm thinking about warming up in the new organic cotton sheets my parents bought us as a housewarming gift. So soft!
9. I'm excited about the hair cut I'll be receiving on Sunday at Blue Ribbon. I get 20% off & they serve PBR!
10. I'm concocting tonight's meal.
11. I'm downloading Cool Edit so I start recording for TGR again.
12. I'm so using the same format Lu did in one of her recent posts.

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The Littlest Birds

(Originally posted on Lu-n-Am)

(Source.)

This is the home of my latest job. And I love it. Such cuteness all around. Let me give a small tour of the lovely place.

Name: The Littlest Birds
Owners: Sonja & Allison
What: An organic and natural baby boutique.
Sells: Organic and locally-made clothing; baby carriers and slings; safe baby bottles & such; natural baby shoes; safe, lead and bpa-free baby toys; consignment clothing & such; natural cloth diapers; and lots more!

Some great brands they carry:
Simple Shoes
Livie & Luca
Ergobaby
Maya Wraps
Under The Nile
RolyPoly
Grimms Toys
Plans Toys
Born Free
Bum Genius
Happy Heiny

Newness

(Source)

New job!

The Littlest Birds: organic baby boutique in W. Asheville. (More deets found here.)

New apartment!

A 2 bed/1bath w/a huge kitchen and lots of light! (Pictures soon to come.)

<3>

Why you should hire me

(Weheartit.)

I have written for:
-The Echo
-Search Placement's clients (includes more than 50 websites)

I currently write for:
-Demand Studios

I have done work for:
-The Mountain Xpress
-The Global Report

I have written:
-Press Releases
-News Articles
-Feature Articles
-Opinion
-Movie Reviews
-Product Reviews
-Guides

You can find more of my work at:
-Lu-n-Am
-Rainbow
-Roller Girl

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