From the Mind of AlphaBetsy

But it was a good one. On Saturday we went to the zoo with Chris, Niki and Moira, Seth's Brother, Sister in law and niece. It was hot, but a nice time. I got several complements on my parasol I bought from Etsy last year. I was sad because the new polar bears were not out when we got there, hopefully next time. We did get to see the new Arctic Foxes and the beautiful new exhibit for the brown bears. I also got to play with Moira a bit showing her the frogs and toads in the wetlands exhibit. I bought myself a little stuffed frog and I found a stuffed skunk for Seth's mom who collects skunks. After the zoo we went to Chris and Niki's and had a little cook out and hung out for a bit. Then we came home and played City of Heroes for a bit before we went to bed. On Sunday we were woken up early by a text message from my aunt with a picture of my Cousins daughter Kynadey. I noticed then that I had an email from my little sister about a craigslist add from someone looking for a...

A couple of years ago, well like 5 now, I left my job at Chase to go to the Aveda Institute for Cosmetology. Unfortunately I found out really late in the game that my financing would only pay for school and no cost of living at all, so I had to fore go school and inevitably I went back to work. But it's always been hanging there. I really felt that I would be an amazing stylist and still do. I had been doing my little sisters prom hair and such her whole life and I love to do it. So now many years later I am seriously considering looking at trying again to go to school for cosmetology. I want a more hand on career and I think this would truly make me happy. I'm going to set up a time soon to go talk to the Aveda Institute again and see if this time I can really make it happen. :)

I finally got my hands on some of the Relay for Life photos. The first is our whole team. back row: Shmoo, Seth, Mom, Pete and Jean front row: Sarah, Donna and me Seth is a Viking with attitude. Me in Garb. Walking with our banner. :) We were assigned our new WWP swap partners today and I have my first international partner. She is from Switzerland, which is kind of awesome. I'm so excited to get started crafting. I'm already getting some ideas. Though I am still stalking away.

Since it' not raining anymore I am going to get up early tomorrow and go out to work in my yard. It's not incredibly large, but it's a nice sized yard for Seth and I. I am going to dig out a space for my herb garden beside the backstairs leading from the kitchen. I am starting with a few aromatics and cooking herbs. Basil, Oregano, Sage, Rosemary, Lemon Verbena and Lavender. I will also get starts from my mother for Chives, Comfrey, Yarrow, Lemon Balm and maybe Bee Balm. I'm so excited to get my yard started. A lot of the yard is in the shade so I have been doing a lot of research on what I will be able to plant. I am probably going to work little by little over the next couple of years, but eventually my yard will be a little sanctuary for me, Seth and Zoe, my Chihuahua. Just add twinkly fairy lights. :) So, other than finding people to do readings for, how can one practice divination. When I was younger my friends thought it was awesome to get tarot readings and I w...

The relay for life was this past weekend. It was so much fun. The Wench Team raised approx $1800, and the whole relay event raised over $42,500.00 for the American Cancer Society. I will have to post pictures as I get them because I didn't manage to take any at all. Way to go Betsy. I am going to steal them from others as they get posted. But among the fun was vertical apple bobbing, stuff that glows, lot's of garb, dancing crazy, Sarah's first energy drink and much much more. I'm already planning and plotting for next years relay. I am going to sell jewelry to raise funds, and Seth may sell some chain mail. Lots of planning and plotting. A big thanks to Pete, Sarah, Jean, Donna, Mom, Shmoo, Seth, Travis, Jean's mother and father and everyone else involved. Another amazing year. :) Tomorrow is Seth and I's 3 year anniversary. I am going to make him a 52 things I love about you book using a deck of cards. I will post pictures tomorrow. He has to work his usual ...

For the past year at least I have been having these incredibly vivid, active and exhausting dreams. It's not quite nightly, but several nights a week and every time I wake up I feel like I spent all night running. And sometimes I did. The main themes of the dreams are mazes and being chased by unknown entities. The locations change almost every time. Recently my long deceased grandparents have begun appearing as well. I am absolutely aware that my subconscious  is trying to tell me something. I just have no clue what it is. A few months ago my subconscious got sick of trying to get through to me which led to me having a dream that I was a personal assistant for a vampire. He decided that he wanted to move to Philly and was getting mad at me because I was dragging my feet at telling Seth that we were going to have to move. Finally the vampire just looked at me and said " You're resistant to change". That's subtle. I think it's time I did a little divinati...

I have had an absolute blast this evening figuring out how to personalize my blogger and how to create my own button. In general I am not the best person in the world with computers, though I am a quick learner and pretty damn eager, so I am proud of my new found abilities. And I really like the blogs new look. Seth and I had a little date night yesterday, and we went to dinner at On The Border which was yummy as always. After that we went to see Iron Man 2 in IMAX. It was a great film, of course I loved Iron Man so... In general though it's a fantastic action flick. Robert Downey Jr is still smarmy. Mickey Rourke was a great villain. Sam Rockwell cracked me up as the competition. And also definitely worth the extra money to see in IMAX. Seth also surprised me last night with tickets to see the musical Wicked when it comes to town in August. I'm so excited. I was going to major in Musical Theater once upon a time and I love to go see shows. The fact that this is based off o...

Danni at The Whimsical Cottage posted a series of questions which lead to a Life is Good Award. Personally I'm just a sucker for random questions. :) So without further ado... 1. What is your Quest? To be happy in all aspects of my life...I'm working on it but my biggest hang up is my career. I just don't know what I want to be when I grow up. 2. What is your favorite color? It's pink... in particular bright pink. After that black. 3. What is the Speed of an Unladen Swallow? Is that an African or an Asian Swallow? 4. Where is your favorite place to go and relax? My corner of my couch. I have it squished just right so I am perfectly comfortable. 5. Who is your favorite fictional character? Ooh...good question...I have so many...I will go with my first crush Kermit the Frog... I love all Henson creations but when I was little it was him who stole my heart with Rainbow Connection...sigh. 6. Which is better the book or the movie? The book in almost all situations. ...

I had a great weekend with my mother. We went to a couple of antique/crafty stores on Saturday. I got some great ideas, as well as found an amazing antique store that had antique keys, wooden spools, cigar boxes, and a lot of other amazing things. I am definitely going to have to remember it for the next Jar of Whimsies swap (which should be soon, w00t.) On Sunday we went to a couple of garage sales where mom and I got some awesome vintage jars, which I am going to use to organize my craft room. I also got an old 45 case with 45's for $5!! I had been looking for one but they were always $20+, so I feel like I got a deal. Beyond that we just had a good time running about and laughing a lot. I get to see my mom and sister again this coming weekend because we are doing the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. We are walking with some of my sister Wenches in West Chester Ohio. This will be the second year for me and technically Seth, though he wasn't officially a team me...

I am going to my hometown of Newark for the weekend to spend some time with my mom. She and I have always been really close and it is hard living as far apart as we are (and that's only about an hour.) Mom, Shmoo and I are very much the three musketeers, even in spite of the distance between us. In fact the three of us even have matching tattoos. It's a cricket wearing a sailor hat with an anchor tattoo on it's flexed from leg. The different elements represent both my grandmother and grandfather. And the tattoo may have saved my mom's life. Because of it she discovered a lump in her breast which ended up being cancerous, but she found it early enough that it had not spread beyond the lump. She has been in treatment since, but I often think how amazingly lucky those crickets were that they saved my mom.

And screw everything up. I found out today that the package that contained all the jewelry from the party I had, plus all my personal jewelry I got for hosting the party and such, was stolen from my front porch on Thursday. I didn't even realize it was shipped so I didn't know it was missing until Sunday. It turns out it was left on the porch by UPS on Thursday at 3:12 and by the time I got home at 6:30 it was gone. I am so embarrassed because we bought a home in a reinvestment area (which we knew was a little rough, but is coming up little by little) and I have defended the neighborhood and the area to everyone who had something bad to say about it and now they just proved everyone else right. I just don't know what to do. A woman across the street said she watched the package get taken, which begs the question why didn't she call the police or say something to Seth or I about it, but in any case she will tell the police what she saw, so that's something. But one o...

Had such a great Beltane. It started a little differently than I had expected. We ended up running a bit late because we had to bandage my heels which I had ripped to shreds with a new pair of shoes on Friday. So we went straight from home to lunch with my friend Wendi at Adriatico's Pizza on Campus. Such fantastic pizza...yum. I'm glad Wendi suggested it. Then the three of us walked over to Mirror Lake for the Renaissance Faire. The first thing was it is much bigger than I would have thought. And for a free festival it was really really nice. It was really fun because Wendi had never been to a Faire before. A lot of the vendors who were at the Ashville Viking Festival were also at this faire. We walked around the upper circuit and when we came around the far side we ran into our friends Mike and Belinda and their awesome dog Oberon, Obie for short. When we left them we walked a little further and I saw what looked like a group of Wenches. So I approached and that's exactl...