ode to something gross.

i wasn't sure what exactly i'd do for a blog post today, but i did want to say happy thanksgiving to my american friends, and happy thursday with food to anyone else who plans to eat today, so i took inspiration from carla. here's my simple poem dedicated to something i don't eat on thanksgiving (or pretty much any time, for that matter).

while i'm eating my thanksgiving feast,
i'm avoiding the food i like the least.

well, i don't hate it as much as i do beans,
but i certainly don't go crazy like the rest of the fiends.

it's on cakes, it's on pies, it's on donuts, too,
but as far as i'm concerned, it makes things taste like poo.

i think it's at its worst in ice cream form,
and i do realize my tastes may be different than the norm.

it sticks in your teeth and melts in your hands,
and i'll never understand how it's gained so many fans.

it's dark, it's white, and sometimes it's fudge-y,
i'll just eat french fries to make myself pudgy.

have you guessed what it is that i hate to eat?
it's chocolate, the dark and disgusting treat!

okay, so in the spirit of honesty, i'll admit that i do like ghirardelli chocolate covered blueberries, but i think it's because you can't taste the chocolate so much. what are your favorite and least favorite foods at thanksgiving?

i just like to smile. smiling's my favorite.

do you know which movie that quote came from...without using google? if so, i think we can be bff's. okay, so yesterday was all gloom and doom and i feel bad for being so negative, but today i'm back to the regular danielle! thanks for all of your comments, suggestions, encouragement, etc.; it really means a lot, and i hope you know it!

as if the cosmos could sense my bad mood, i was surprised with some pretty special gifts from people i'm happy and lucky to know. i took a walk yesterday afternoon and got my mail while i was out. i noticed that i had a package from oregon, but since i hadn't purchased anything in the last few days, i had no idea what it was. kjrsten had sent me a 5x7 print of her horse photograph that i love so much and included a sweet little note. i've already got it in a frame, and i can't wait to hang it!

then, when i got to the office this morning and was headed toward my desk, i saw a big gift bag waiting for me. cindy, my co-worker, crocheted me a pretty white afghan with fringe on the edges and left a really sweet, heartfelt note with it. too bad she doesn't work on tuesdays or i would've given her a dangerously powerful bear hug! i couldn't get a picture of it because it's so cloudy and dark this afternoon.

even though i'm an extreme introvert and often times a loner, i can still appreciate the power of friendship, and i'm so happy to have become friends with so many of you through blogging! you guys always keep me smiling, and i'm so glad you take the time to come say hi! i hope you're having a happy tuesday!

on christmas shopping and bad days.

because my blog is my own little place to say anything i want, i'm just going to be in a bad mood, okay?

problem #1 christmas shopping.
first let me say that i LOVE the entire christmas season. i love buying gifts for some people, i love putting lights and decorations on the tree, i love baking cookies (and i'm a self-proclaimed baker hater), i love oldies christmas music, i love the smell of cinnamon and evergreens, i love eating too much, i love waking up early on christmas morning.... so, you can see that i really love the holiday season. but, one big stressful area is christmas shopping for a few people. i finally decided that this year i will not buy buy gifts for those people anymore, and here's why: we are not close, they are not young children, i don't even enjoy shopping for them, and most of all, chris and i have very little money this year. so i thought christmas would be stress-free this year, but chris says i need to buy them gifts. so i'm wondering, when do you stop buying for people you're not close with? is there an age at which you stop (either their age or yours)? WHAT SHOULD I DO???

problem #2 my little camera.
for the last few months i've had nothing but trouble with my little point and shoot camera that i use to take pictures for etsy & my website. i try taking the same pictures over and over and over, at different times of the day, at different places in the house, and i CANNOT get a decent picture no matter how hard i try. my little camera has always served its purpose, and i don't know if its age, 4 whole years, is the problem or if there is something internally wrong, but i can say with absolute certainty that it is not user error. i could just use the big, bulky camera for product pictures, but since i'm photographing small items, i just think such a big camera is overkill. i'm so mad i even broke down and cried like a baby when chris called me just a few minutes ago. it's really starting to bother me, and seriously, how can i expect to run a successful online business when my camera is a crusty dog turd?

problem #3 i don't know.
i don't know exactly what the next problem is, but i'm just in a bad mood and want to have another problem. okay? and if you don't believe the foulness of my mood, take for example the fact that i don't even have a picture. maybe it's because i just want to spite my camera, i don't know, but i love blog posts with pictures, so this just isn't like me! oh yeah, and i lost three followers int he span of a few hours. what did i say???

the end. hopefully tomorrow will be better.

my weekend ended with a pizza coma...

...but it began with lasagna. have you noticed just how much i love food? i talk about food even more on twitter and facebook, but i just can't help it. i'm a woman obsessed. on friday we ended up staying at our friends' house later than we thought (with josh's lasagna to keep us energized) drinking wine and playing a game called compatibility. it was hilarious and so much fun! chris and i were way behind, but ended up coming back to win! saturday was a pretty lazy day, but i did put the finishing touches on things for charlottesville, which is where we went today.

my husband just told me to put "photo courtesy of chris tanner." now that we have photo credits out of the way, i can get back to the point. anyway, once we dropped everything off at the bridge, we headed to the downtown mall. if you're not familiar with it, the downtown mall isn't actually a mall at all. it's like an open air brick road for pedestrians, no vehicles, enclosed by a collection of individual shops and restaurants; it's a great place to go on a nice day. we went to bittersweet to look at toms, and to my surprise, they had a size 5 in stock! this never happens which is just one of the 500 reasons i hate my small feet! the toms above are the exact pair i want for christmas, but to be honest, i'll probably die of shock if i get them. chris doesn't understand the whole toms thing, but i keep telling him that if he wears a pair, he'll totally get it. so i'm keeping my fingers crossed! and to drive the point home even more (since my sweet, loving, handsome husband reads my blog), he better not bother coming home anymore if they're not wrapped and waiting for me on christmas morning!

once we finished there, i was starving, like always. somewhere i love going when i'm in charlottesville is rebecca's foods, which is a small natural foods store. we stocked up on coconut macaroons, chocolate covered blueberries, yogurt covered pretzels, and honey nut granola. i mean, it's organic, so it can't be that bad, right? RIGHT?!? we finished off our day with brick oven pizza, and that's when my food coma started. if i had to guess, i'd say i'm pregnant with not one food baby, but more like food triplets. i could go walk some dust off my treadmill, but i think i'll stay right here on the sofa until i go to bed tonight.

so, how has your weekend been? have you added anything to your christmas list yet?

my brain is a mess, and so is my desk.

before i get to the point, i've noticed that my blog has picked up a few new followers these last few days, so in the words of my friend adri, "oh hai!!!" (waves). she's funny! so, i'm pleased to announce that in just a few short days, my brain will no longer be a mess! i'm so excited to get my almost fully functioning mind back that i'm not sure what i'll do next! the last few weeks have been so incredibly busy with all the work i've been doing in preparation for the great gifts holiday shop (running at the bridge in charlottesville from november 26-january 29) that i haven't been able to think clearly, and my desk has been such a clusterf--- that i can't even see what's there. if i've neglected our friendship, not returned your calls or emails, or not commented on your blog, don't blame it on me, blame it on the fact that i can't multitask.

i've been making bullet necklaces like crazy, which i'm super happy about because i love any excuse to go to the gem shop! now my only problem is that i'm not sure about packaging. luckily i don't have to take my own display as the bridge is setting everything up, but i'm not sure if i should just put a little tag on the necklaces and let that be it, or if i should attach the necklaces to a card like i have the rings, which is what i do when i ship them. what do you think?

chris and i will take everything on sunday and then spend the day in charlottesville, which i'm really looking forward to. even though charlottesville is only an hour north, it's completely different than lynchburg (by different, i mean that it isn't run by the falwell cult); charlottesville is so much more artsy, open-minded and all around more welcoming. it just feels right there. anyway, that's where i'll be.

tomorrow we're going to our friends chris & jen's house and our friends josh and cossandra will also come with josh's world famous lasagna. it's so delicious it brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. he still hasn't given me the recipe, so i'm thinking a threat of bodily harm is in order. so, i guess we'll meet again saturday or sunday! have a good week and weekend!