my fondness for retro-styled furniture goes back many years, even before i realized how much i really liked it.

i bought this chair at age 19, when i was living in an on-campus apartment from a flier posted in the student center. the ad had been for a "rocking chair," and since i wanted a chair and had $25 to burn thanks to my job as a shuttle driver, figured it was worth the gamble.

it was delivered, sight unseen, while i was driving a shift. when i got home, there was my chair, completely covered by a hideous southwestern patterned bedsheet. the previous owner told me that the actual chair upholstery was hideous, and had picked out what he had thought was a pretty snazzy looking sheet to cover it with. of course, i was completely thrilled with the yellow/green, slightly corduroy-ish fabric, and have lived with it as-is ever since.

that chair moved with me to my condo in utc, apartment in mira mesa, into the storage unit in poway when i moved in with l temporarily before i got married, into the condo in sabre springs, and now, finally, our house. who'd have known 12 years ago that it would have worked out so well in our little, retrotastic abode?

so back to the topic i touched on briefly yesterday of finding real-life acquaintances online, and whether or not you really learn much from them when they don't know that you are watching...

i take it back. sometimes you can learn a lot.

there probably isn't too much you are going to learn about me online that you wouldn't already know if you knew me in real life. i try really hard to just be who i am no matter where i am or what i'm doing.

but if you are so lucky as to come across somebody you know in real-life who is completely delusional, you are in for an eye-opening, interesting read.

man. there are some WEIRD people in the world. i suppose that is what makes the world such a fun place.

camilles (8:53pm, 4.29.09)

online journals are a weird thing. i've been aimlessly blabbing away here for going on 10 years, and i guess i never even think about how strange it must be for somebody i know in real life to find it for the first time.

so when i stumble across a person i know in real life online, i enjoy the thrill of feeling like i'm discovering some sort of secret side of them that is hidden away, as if i'm finally going to have some insight into what makes them tick.

but honestly...how much do random words and thoughts thrown up for all the world to see actually reveal about a person?

someone once told me that he was much more interested in the things i had to talk about when we were face-to-face than the junk i felt like sharing with just anybody out there who has an internet connection.

that makes me smile.

camilles (10:50pm, 4.28.09)

creepy photo by me! no photoshop necessary!

anyway, i just spent about an hour folding and putting away clean laundry.

as i was stuffing underwear into my underwear drawer, i marveled at the fact that i finally have gotten rid of the majority of the second rate undies.

you know which ones i'm talking about. EVERYBODY has undies that they like more than other undies, for the color or the stretch or they way they feel.

the second rate undies are usually only good for the purpose of being able to have clean undies on when all the first rate undies are in the hamper waiting to be washed. and even then, you might be a little embarrassed if you ended up in a car accident and the paramedics had to rip your pants away and reveal them.

the boring secret to why i've finally been able to purge my undie drawer of all those undies that don't quite make the grade? perusing the clearance bin at gap body everytime i'm there. the $1.99 clearance undies are just as fabulous as they were the month before when they cost $8. :)

camilles (9:16pm, 4.23.09)

it was an unbelievably packed weekend, from the moment we got home on friday night until when we went to bed last night. disneyland with l and t, all sorts of peeps visiting with an impromptu power outtage at 11:30pm (and subsequent hanging out by candlelight until the power went back on around 1am), kobey's, heat wave, and more visiting with out-of-town friends.

looks like we're shaping up for another busy spring/summer/fall.

i guess we wouldn't have it any other way.

camilles (8:01pm, 4.20.09)

actually, it would appear that the weed & feed that i've been applying in combination with the recent watering has actually made some grass start to wake up. we'll hope the trend continues.

what do you do with a bunch of carrots, leftover ham, potatoes, and half and half?

invent a soup, of course.

i didn't use a recipe or anything. just common food sense, which it seems a lot of people don't innately have. people who can't invent dinner just by knowing what will taste good put together are good bakers, because baking has lots of measurements and precise instructions. i don't particularly enjoy baking, mainly because there is no creative license.

first, i chopped up and onion and a few cloves of garlic. then i chopped up a three potatoes, three carrots, and some of the leftover Easter ham that was in the fridge. put them all in a pot, just covered it with water, and set it to boil.

while everything was getting hot, i was separating the lacey, leafy tops of an entire bunch of carrots from the stems. yes! carrot tops! if you've never eaten them before, and have just tossed them away or given them to your bunnies, you don't know what you are missing. i then chopped them all up.

once the veggies boiling in the pot were soft, i added a few chicken bullion cubes and the carrot tops and mixed them all up.

finally, i added what was remaining of a carton of half and half, a dash of thyme, a sprinkle of old bay, and about 5 cracks of freshly ground black pepper. stirred it all together, and voila! it was super easy, super delicious, and deceptively filling.

we've got another busy weekend in store for us. i'm looking forward to a bunch of fun!

camilles (9:14pm, 4.17.09)

honestly, i think it's the creative low that comes after looking forward to things (new house! mexico!) for so long, and now that they've come and gone, it's kind of like now what?

not to say that i don't have plenty to keep me busy (new house) or things to look forward to (vacations! turning 31 in about 6 weeks? yikes!), but i must have post-thrill depression. ha ha.

in the short term, i'm looking forward to disneyland, ben, and kobey's swap meet. and just a little bit after that is helen and the weather getting warmer and motorcycle rides. there is a housewarming party in the not-so-distant future. bbqs. figuring out that darned hot tub.

inspiration will come from all the adventures that are just waiting to present themselves to me.

camilles (5:39pm, 4.15.09)

living room before - our stuff, before painting and some art

living room after - painted and slightly rearranged

master bedroom before - previous owner's stuff

master bedroom after - our stuff, paint, chair rail, new baseboards, new vertical blinds

master bathroom before - what the heck? green spots, purple flowers, ivy border

master bathroom after - fresh paint that actually matches the paint in the bedroom

but looking at everything, it's amazing what a little paint and elbow grease can do to a place, huh?

happy easter! we hosted both of our families today, which was the first time my mother-in-law hadn't hosted easter in something like 35 years. it was great to get to see everyone.

camilles (5:28pm, 4.12.09)

in addition to still trying to settle IN to the house, i've started working on settling OUT of the house...specifically the garden.

my thumb is not green, but i'm going to do my best to try to coax a little order out of the weed-infested back yard.

jeff seemed somewhat amused by the amount of attention i was devoting to the raised flower beds by the fence. i tried to explain to him that each weed is like a little battle, and the amount of root i'm able to pull out of the ground is the measure of success for that particular war. most dandelion roots i was pulling up were just a few inches long, so i was practically hooting of joy when i pulled up the monster long one in the photo above. i was SO pleased, and i made jeff take a photo, even though he was saying i was crazy while he did it.

i'm most concerned about the suckers above. they are prickly and mean when they are green, and will basically be a disaster when they dry out and start sticking into people's bare feet. they are getting special attention.

a friend and i were talking about the appeal of pulling weeds. he said he finds it relaxing. i can agree with that. it's relaxing and it's instant gratification when you see the little bare area grow and grow.

next fall, i might try to see if i can actually harvest some dandelion greens to snack on, but i want to make sure i can get a patch that is far from the weed & feed i've spread on the lawn.

camilles (10:00pm, 4.6.09)

but that doesn't mean that i don't belong.

home safe and sound from my latest adventure down to baja and back.

i've been a little wrapped up in the whole moving process, so i apologize for the delay in getting photos up.

photos of baja, galore

had a great time. a different time than last year, but still an amazing experience. if you can ever scrape the cash together to go, i highly recommend it.

when i got home on sunday night, there had been an extreme home makeover - jeff edition in the master bedroom and bath. my sweetie totally impressed me. photos of that to come, at some point.

camilles (2:30pm, 4.2.09)