Design of the Week #1

So far, 2016 is me running around in teeny tiny circles with really greasy hair. I started a new job that's keeping me busy and I've been dedicating a lot more time to my school work which actually isn't the worst. Any ounce of free time goes to Jerimiah and Luna. They keep me sane. So that means that this little blog has become, yet again, neglected. Surprise, surprise. Graphic design stuff takes up 80% of my days and this is a record of my life sooo. I'm going to start another little series, "Design of the Week" because turns out I only write when the topic is chosen for me. It'll probably be mostly the work of designers who inspire me, with my own stuff thrown in every once in a while. Maybe. I'm insecure. Also, it goes without saying that I use the term week loosely. Tbh it'll probably be more like monthly. Maybe. I'm inconsistent.

I love typography! For this project we were supposed to apply the rules of the International Typographic (swiss) style and design a record case for a band. Fun. Mostly happy with the way it turned out. For now. You definitely don't get the full effect until it's an actual sleeve, but either way, it would catch my attention in a record store.

Happy list #2

Snow hikes with Luna girl | Luna sleeping for two days straight | Being accepted into the USU Graphic Design Program | Breaking Bad marathon with babe | Playing Oh Heck! with Steve and Car | G-ma and how she only eats hot chocolate and mac n' cheese | Going to Carly's ultrasound | The disco ball Em got for Christmas | Planning a spring break trip to Seattle | Getting a graphic design job on campus | Borscht and rye bread | Sledding and how Luna obsessively chases every sledder down the hill | Cafe Rio night with Ben and Erika | Jerimiah always blaming Luna when he toots | Cooking classes at Natural Grocers | New friends at church | Jer spelling his name wrong | Luna freaking out at road cones | When Jer called me Melissa and how hard we laughed after | Kayla workouts with my sisters | Scattergories with my mother-in-law | Flashing Lights by Kanye West | Looking through old polaroids | Our New Years Eve dance party | New slippers | Whenever we leave the house Luna jumps on the couch and watches us through the window | Getting to sleep next to Jerimiah every night | 14 new pairs of socks in my stocking |

Funny things people said: 

I was feeling experimental this Thanksgiving and wanted to make a new dish for the great feast. So I wanted to make a coconut butternut squash soup. I had no idea how tradition-based my family is until I offered this idea and it was swiftly shot down. 

Me: "Why can we have 12 different yam dishes and no butternut squash?"

Emily, practically yelling: "I love freaking yaaaaams!"

Sidenote: I absolutely made the soup. And I'm also the only one who ate it.

Melanie, stroking a butternut squash: "this is my body."

Apparently my mom is allergic to the hot chocolate at Starbucks (hahaha). She had some face swelling going on after drinking it. Anyway my mom was telling us all about it, then my dad chimes in with: "I should've taken a picture of it. It was scaaaary."

While talking politics with my MIL she casually dropped this mid conversation: "Saddam Insane" (rather than Saddam Hussein). Still not sure if it was intentional or not but either way hilarious and adorable.

Jer really loves NutterButters, but we don't get them very often because $$$. The NutterButter bites were on sale for a dollar so I convinced him to "treat yo self" and get them. After eating a few, this happened.
Jerimiah: "They just taste different." 
Me: "Be postive."
Jerimiah: "OK. I'm positive they taste different."

Hope u r having a v merry Christmas!

What we've been up to: We spent two days with my family before coming out to Roosevelt. Those two days were filled with football, food, and Star Wars. All of this was v good and I recommend it all. Breezing through the boring because I know by the time my grandchildren are reading this humans will be smart enough to not play football because of concussions and as awesome as the new Star Wars is, it will probably look to them like the old Star Wars looks to me. Hello holograms! My parents spoiled us with a new stereo system in our car so the road trip out to RSVLT (just started that, RSVLT is now a thing k) was full of Kanye West, Borns, and icy roads but we made it. We are spending Christmas day 2015 out here, and it's no Mexico (last year) but it's been a perfect winter wonderland. Snow out the ying-yang! We haven't been out here since last Thanksgiving and the longer I'm here the worse I feel about that. It feels so good to be surrounded by my Lamb family. Bonding over food and board games.

Now we can get to the important stuff. I know everyone reading this is dying to know what it's like to be me so let me lay it out for you. How to be Alyssa 101: feel too much and obsess over all the detailz. 

Details. Exhibit A) We are staying with my mother-in-law who still lives in the house that she raised her family in, and I can't stop thinking about little Jerimiah running around naked because apparently as a child he had a tendency to do that. At this point in his life, Jerimiah has spent more time in this house than anywhere else in his life. Isn't that cool!? Rn I am sitting in the living room that Jerimiah watched Days of Our Lives in with his mom. And last night we slept in the bedroom that he stayed in for 19 years. It's mind boggling to think about all the experiences he's had inside this house, and just the history of this home in general. I love the thought that someday we will have been together longer than we ever were apart. These are the types of things that I think about on the reg. Welcome.

Feelz. Exhibit B) The fact that I cried in Home Alone because of the scene at the end when the old man reunited with his granddaughter. Also the time Jer and I were reading an article out of the Friend for FHE and I couldn't even get through the first paragraph because the son in the story didn't visit his elderly mother on Christmas. And how I cry pretty much every time I say bye to Gma. Or the way I don't love The Price is Right because I feel overly bad for people who lose. Last night I teared-up over some texts from my sister, and how rn I still have a pit in my stomach from watching that commercial about homeless pets for 4 seconds too long. Let's not forget the fact that these have all occurred within the last week. Happy tears, sad tears, I don't discriminate. Most of the time I hate my hypersensitivity but I am sllllllooooooowlllllllllly working on not letting it hold me back so much. Maybe even someday I will learn to embrace it, but for now it's a conversational crowd pleaser because who doesn't love hearing stories about people more pathetic than you?

BRB

Random Alyssa fact: since 7th grade I've always said that my favorite movie is The Grinch. I kid you not, there were like three years that I didn't go more than a month without watching it. I told Jerimiah all of the above on our first date and I have a sneaky suspicion that's probably why we're married. Is that right? Sneaky? As I type this I'm realizing that I'm not even sure what people are actually saying in that idiom. Sneaking? Squeaking? Stinking? Slinking? "SLUNK!" A Grinch reference seems appropriate. ANYWAY. While I'd still count it as a favorite, I have added to the list. In fact, I have a running list on my phone of movies I would like to own someday. Because yes, we have yet to own even one movie. There are only 4 movies on it at the moment, but that's mostly because ever since getting married I'm one of those annoying people who can only watch a movie once. The ones that made the list are ones that I want to watch again. 
While writing this I've realized two things #1: people don't ask you your favorite movie as much when you're married. Probably because the only people who care are the ones who will be spooning you during said movies. And #2: I started this draft with the intention of posting that single meme and nothing else. Free time is rare at the end of the semester but I'm trying to hold myself accountable and ride out the momentum I feel to not fade away from this blog again. It's now an hour later and I'm still wasting precious finals week time talking to no one about absolutely nothing. Procrastinating for you, posterity.

For breakfast I had Oreos and peanut butter

An old pic for an old post

Yet still somehow rationalized going out to eat twice today. Last night Jerimiah and I had to change the sheets at 3 a.m. because I was sweating so much, and the lunch I packed for him had two celery sticks and a tortilla. A girl on the bus told me that I look like Dakota Fanning the same day one of my professors told me I look like Rihanna, and someone told my husband he looks like Hilary Swank. Siri made a loud appearance today during my yoga session, and I accidentally talked through my three hour drawing class. I currently have three canker-sores from finishing an entire package of sour Icebreakers I bought yesterday, and I have 6 packets of Cholula hot sauce in my bag right now. I have four lamps without shades or bulbs, and two of the three flower arrangements in our apartment are dead. There's a 2 ton tv in the middle of our bite-size kitchen, a standing closet in our living room, and pinata hanging in the doorway. There are only 5 outlets in this place, two of which are in the ceiling. And our bed is 4 feet off the ground. I rarely have pants on past six o'clock, I wear my husband's deodorant because I like the smell of his better than mine, and to top it off, my husband recently nicknamed me his "little dirty feet". Probably because I don't have one pair of ankle socks that doesn't have a hole in it. TMI?

       Dear posterity,
       ...
       Love, honey

***OLD! I found this in my millions of drafts. Dated 10/15/2013. It's old and a bit outdated (thank goodness) but I'm posting it now because memories. Also, lolololol.  People, this was so real our first few months of marriage. Which makes me think about how far we come which makes me, again, feel dumb about my pity party post a couple back. Progression is real! I guess this is why they say to write in a journal? A great reminder to see how far you've come. Working on it.***

Happy list #1

I've seen a few peeps doing happy lists and I think that's brilliant, so what better time to start than thanksgiving week, amiright?

The song Olivia by One Direction. / The fact that 1D is on my "most played" spotify list lol. / Running with Luna. / Loving blogging again, in large part because of Melanie's new blog. / My grown out nails and how strong they are. / Training Luna to respond to Frida. / Spontaneous road trips. / "flippin' flip flipper flap"/ The fact that Luna has the reputation of being the nicest dog at the dog park. #proudmom / Using hashtags incorrectly. / The song Sexual Healing by Kygo. / Going stiff and flat as a board when Jerimiah picks me up so it's super hard for him to hold me and the specific laugh that he does whenever this happens. / Luna being freaked out, but then excessively excited by the snow. / Burning though a candle a week (except I kinda hate this one... never enough candles!). / Adele's new song Hello and all the videos of people tapping the shoulder of their pets and the animals turning around right as Adele says "hello". / Singing to the radio and Jerimiah saying I sound good hahaha OK. / Old fashioned doughnuts. / The song Body Ache by Purity Ring. / On our road trip, whenever we saw a Cinnabon we would all yell "cinnabooooooooooon" until everyone joined in on the same note. / The three Cinnabons that we ate. / The fact that Cinnabon reminds me of shopping with my mom at the University Mall +10 years ago. / How I'm still talking about Cinnabon. / Rediscovering clothes in your closet. / When I forgot my yoga mat so my sister horizontally-shared hers with me. / When Jerimiah surprised me with the best-worst fort ever on our bed, and then when I jumped in he casually mentioned to be careful because he lost a tack somewhere in the bed. / Our new duvet cover. / First little nephew due a few days before my birthday. / How whenever the song Hurt Me by Lapsley comes on, luna runs to the TV (where we play spotify from) and tilts her head back and forth just staring at the screen. / Clementine season. / The anticipation for thanksgiving food. / The general public being more gratitude-minded. / When I find memes that describe how I'm feeling better that I can. / Emails from my dad. / Floured dates/ Cafe Rio Wednesday/ Kissing Jer while he's asleep / When Luna sleeps on the bed with us. / Riding home from campus on Jerimiah's handlebars. 

Hey loved ones, I love you and I'm grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Full disclosure

I feel like I should admit to selling 1/5 of my clothes to Plato's Closet and using the money to buy the sweater and skirt combo I talked about in my last post. I'm a little bit ashamed but I've worn this turtle neck for three days straight so honestly how sorry can I really be? I'm nothing if not determined, I guess.

     Dear posterity,
     You don't need so much stuff. Avoid clutter! If you take after me at all, 
     clutter is probably 80% of why you stress out and get cranky. Live 
     simply! Stay clean! Try to replace rather than add to. Working on it.
     Love, honey