Oh, my poor little neglected blog. Life is crazy right now.

A quick update:
School is crazy busy! Last portions of "upper" level accounting & tax classes. I left all 'easy' classes for my last semester, so this semester is pretty tough.
Started an internship at a local CPA firm, and I am killing it. I'm so proud of myself. Initiative and confidence have always been a struggle for me, but I'm going great. I'm proud of myself. My boss is impressed.
Lucas is awesome. He knows all of his letters now, and really enjoys "doing e-mails". He's quite funny these days.
I finally joined this century and got an iPhone. I love it, and of course am loving Instagram. I should start posting  photos here more regularly.
I had a girls night this past weekend, and it was pretty funny. I met up with John and his friends after, and hilarity ensued. (Heather, we have to Karaoke at the Turtle next time, much younger vibe, lots of dancing)

Well, speaking of... Heather from Just Another Story , she was nice enough to pass this along to me, so I will do the same:

Here are the rules...

Upon receiving this award, you are to:
1) Link back to the person who awarded you;
2) Answer all of the award questions;
3) Tell something about yourself that you haven't told anyone on your blog yet;
4) Award as many bloggers that you think are worthy of this award and make them aware of it.

Here are the questions:

What is your go-to makeup brand:

Ha, funny. Umm... I like MAC shadows but only get them as gifts b/c I'm cheap. I am obsessed with various lipstains lately, and have really enjoyed playing with them. My only everyday makeup is mascara, and I stick with the tried and true Maybelline Great Lash. 

What was your favorite fashion trend of 2011:

Baha, fashion is SO not my thing. I've been pairing a lot of long cardi's, with simple tanks, leggings or skinny jeans and either flats or boots depending on the weather. I've been a thrifting machine lately. 

What is your favorite dessert: 

I've been loving ice cream lately. I am a salty girl, more than sweet. I am currently obsessed with Archer Farms Peach Mango Salsa (not a dessert, I know...) 

What is your favorite color:

Mustard, Navy

What is your middle name:

Elizabeth

The last song you listened to:

Don't Carry It All by the Decemberists (Thanks, Spotify!)

Dogs or cats?

Dogs, though I have both

Something I haven't told anyone of my blog yet:

I have nightmares of waking up and realizing I have turned back into the person I was 10 years ago. 

I'm going to nominate:

Lauren of Before I was A Mom

Adriana of Just by Living

Break

I've been taking a break. I have no idea why. I love blogging, I like getting my thoughts out there. I like reading other people's blogs, but I just haven't been feeling it lately. The past few months have been rough around here. Lots of sad personal news to begin 2012. A few family friends have passed away in quite tragic ways. I'm having a hard time keeping a grip on reality through it all. It seems so unfair to have bad things happen to such good people.

I get the whole "God only gives us what we can handle" thing, and I'm sure that's comforting to some. Not so comforting to me. I know my family/friends are strong. I know they will get through it. I just feel bad that they have to. It sucks, plain and simple.

On a happier note, there have been many birthdays that we've celebrated in the past couple weeks,and will continue to celebrate a few more for the next couple weeks. That's always fun.

John & I both got tattooed last night, which was interesting. I haven't gotten tattooed since a month before my wedding, so it had been nearly 4 years. I was too nervous to commit to anything on my "naked" arm, so I decided to just do a tiny bit of filler work on my other arm. I had a space about the size of baseball just under my armpit to fill in, and a finger long gap on the backside of my arm which will eventually blend into my shoulder cap. So, I decided to attack the baseball sized area, figuring it was small enough that it would be quick & I could handle it. Getting tattooed sucks. I was painfully reminded last night. Luckily, it was only about an 1.5-2 hours of needle-to-arm action. I am looking forward to working on a less sensitive part again! Wrists, elbows & armpit regions are no fun. I did come away with a rose that looks like it's been there all along. It's perfect and I love it.

I am having a tough time getting into the swing of things this semester, and my internship hasn't even started yet. I need to get my butt in gear. I just need to power through tax season, and then everything will be much easier.

Oh, also, I am running for an elected town office. While that sounds all scary and super "adult", I'm only running to be a Town Meeting Member. I don't even know if I'll be able to get the 30 signatures on my petition to be put on the ballot. I want to become more involved in this community. I need my voice to be heard, and I am sad that 99% of our TM members are old enough to be my grandparents. Don't get me wrong, those people have earned their seats and their opinions are just as important as my own. However, I feel that young members of this community need to step forward and have their voices heard as well. We will eventually be"taking the reigns", and I'd like to be well prepared for that day. We'll see how it goes.

Lastly, we signed Lucas up for the town's public preschool lottery yesterday. John & I walked into a giant high school building with our little guy and signed him up for preschool. Where the hell has the time gone? I wanted to break down crying.  I just gave birth to this little guy. He just took his first steps and uttered his first words. He just started putting sentences together. Oh yeah and recognizing letters and numbers. And sounding out words. Ok, maybe he is ready for preschool, but I'm not.

Sorry for the word dump. Just wanted to get it all out there. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things with this blog. Maybe I'll fall off the Earth again. Who knows.

Attempt at watercolor

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT an artist. I don't claim to be one, or even really want to be one. What I do want to do is try new things. My husband got a set of watercolor pencils for Christmas, and I wanted to give them a shot. Here's how it went...

Line drawing

My first attempt at watercolors

What I copied... from this book

Now it may not look great, and I'm ok with that. I'm just proud that I finally found it within myself to try something out of my comfort zone... and then share the results with the world. I challenge anyone to do the same. It's not as easy as you may think.