Ali sent me this link and I must post it before I leave today: proof of purchase
I absolutely love this. I am obsessed with the idea of time capsuling, (obsessed meaning when I am not thinking about my other obsessions, I remember that I am also obsessed about this), and this is such a cool way to document an experience. How odd to attach moments to purchases, yet there are so many meaningful things that happen when we buy things….oh not enough time to expound on this.. will finish blog later…
Ok, I’m back. After reading through the website I must say that if I were to start doing this, my records would be more about observations and interesting life notes and less poetry/raw emotion. In general, I don’t like to write that stuff down unless I’ve just purchased a large vat of ice cream…nevermind, even then I don’t want to make things all poetic etc.. It’s just not my thing. I do, however love the idea and plan to do a few of these receipt memories in the future.
Occasionally, I browse through Amazon.com to check out their interaction styles, see if they have any new features, and also check out the products. Today Amazon reminded me of something very dear to my heart. As I browsed the magazine section my eyes landed on one particular title “Birds and Blooms”. I immediately smiled because I had forgotten all about this magazine until now.
My grandmother “Connie” used to order a subscription of Birds and Blooms for me each year for Christmas and I always looked forward to the new issue each month. I was not that I was a bird or bloom enthusiast, but I loved the photography, colors and textures of the images. I also loved that it was truly a reminder of my grandma. She absolutely loved birds and always had a bird feeder outside the kitchen window and as a child I would stand and watch her make lunch while she educated me on the robins, blue birds and humming birds that dashed about in a frenzy. It is one of those scenes that you will always adore.
Each month I found new pictures that I would cut out and paste to my school notebooks, especially a certain notebook that we used for a garden project in middle school. Ofcourse my beloved Birds and Blooms magazine imagery was fitting to the occasion - why not adorn my garden journal with hummingbirds and daisies? Its too perfect. It was our little connection, my grandma and I; and I don’t even know if she realizes how much it meant to me. I’m going to visit her next month at the farm in Ohio and I think I’ll take an issue with me to remind her :). We all need reminders sometimes.
Last weekend, while I was visiting Atlanta or “Hotlanta”, I went to the Georgia Aquarium. It. was. incredible. When I was a kid, my dad loved to take me to Sea World and let me pet the sting rays and feed the dolphins - it was our time together when we bonded and got our picture taken and I got to drink sugary juice drinks with crazy straws. The Georgia Aquarium was not quite Sea World, but it was pretty great. They had the sting ray pool, which also had little sharks in there too…as well as a small pool where you could pet Sea Anemones, Starfish and Sea Urchin. The anemones were fabulous. They had tanks that were over head - each categorized by body of water such as “The Mississippi River” which was a darkened cave of sorts with giant catfish swimming overhead. They also had otters and sea lions, beluga whales, salt water tropical beauties (the banded eels ROCK), and amazing elephant nosed fish that I had never seen before in my life. I must say that my absolute favorites were the beluga whales, the jellyfish, japanese spider crabs, leafy seadragons, the octopus, and the piece de la resistance: the whale sharks. These whale sharks are the Georgia Aquarium’s main feature. They have 4 of them that were flown in from Taiwan, each in their own container that weighed 25,000lbs via UPS on a 30 hr plane ride. Wow.
I highly recommend visiting if you have Georgia on your mind. Here are my photos for your viewing pleasure. Yay banded eels!
A delightful person that I am glad to know is now engaged to her equally delightful boyfriend Johnny. I would like to say congratulations to Mariane and Johnny - best wishes all around! I wish I was there so I could celebrate with both of you!
The fun part is that it was in front of 30,000 people 
Hooray for love!
It has been a long time coming, but I am finally learning CSS. Yes folks, it’s happening…watch out. I’ve been meaning to learn this fascinating language for quite some time, and the only thing that was holding me back was my inability to read and comprehend the textbook that has been on my bookshelf for 3 years (along with a flash book and a “Speak Mandarin in a week” book - they are next). I’m not sure why it is, but I have a serious issue with focus when it comes to tackling something new. If I am not captivated by page 10, forget it - I’m looking around the room, watching the cats chew on something, and then back to staring blankly at the pictures on the page. Thus, my tendency to stand CSS up whenever we have had a date.
Last week was different because (drumroll)… CSS learning came in the form of a HUMAN! Real DIALOG! YESSS!! Welcome to the learning extravaganza! My good friend and coworker who we’ll call “Lava” agreed to teach me CSS at the end of the workday - which has been simply awesome. In 2 days I was off on my own and able to start coding our company website. I now feel comfortable with the “Box Model” and the language in general. De-bugging is still a daunting task, but I will slowly get there. One thing at a time. For now, my focus is set on getting things to work. Once I get a little further along in my experience I will pay more attention to perfect, clean CSS that will blow. your. mind.
I am proud of this achievement; I am checking things off the list and it feels good. Now I need to redesign my website That too will come in time, but for now blogging and Tumbling is where its at.