Saccharine Thoughts

I am joining Sarah Von in her endeavor to do 30 new things before she turns 30. I have 24 weeks until my 24 th birthday, so that just worked out way too well to not take part. Drumroll please: Find an organization to volunteer and become actively involved with. Hostess a breakfast/brunch, with Saturday morning cartoons. Take voice/singing lessons. Take a stripping/pole dancing class. Hostess a RockBand party. Learn to make pasties! Get an addition to my tattoo. Take a bellydancing class Go on a date. Go country dancing Do Karaoke. And rock at it. Spend a day thrift shopping Have my tarot cards and palms read. This may not be a first - I had a tarot reading done at the ren faire, but the reader was adamant that I would have a proposal for marriage before March, which I adamantly protested - so I am demanding a second opinion. Spend a day book shopping. Take a vacation. Preferably to somewhere I've never been. Make a wedding cake! (Not my own)

Well, that's it. After a weekend of shenanigans, Jack is off to LA. My longest running friendship since moving to Austin... is no longer in Austin. Jack is going to kick ass in LA, there's no doubt about that. Looks like it'll be Scrubs and macaroni across time zones from here on out :) *Yes that's us, circa 2005

*self-punch in the ovaries, per order of Jack* Today was spent reveling in Renaissance fun at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie. We had a group of 10 people meet up out there, and I've been led to believe that everyone had a good time. That's what I call one hell of a Memorial Day :) Half the crew: Marc, Topping, Kristin, Kacey and Kareem. Click for the rest on Flickr!

I have recently come to see that one of the hardest things for me to deal with is being misunderstood. Before you go calling me a melodramatic emo kid, hear me out. I am not referring to the no-one-gets-me, I’m-a-lonesome-snowflake-floating-in-the-dark type of misunderstood. What I am getting at are those moments when I have the best of intentions, yet somewhere between planning and execution something goes awry and someone I am close to reacts in a way unforeseen through my rosy specs. It may be so clear to me that my reasoning, my opinion or my words and actions are justified and may be the best way to reach an objective, yet the person on the other end just misses it. Maybe they can’t quite see past their own understanding and emotions to the grand scheme in my head, maybe I just haven't communicated clearly enough, or maybe my scheme really isn't so grand. Perhaps the people closest to me aren't used to anything but the agreeable and occasionally over-a

From the brainthoughts of me and my crazy friends, brought to life by the makeup artistry of Jason Vines and awesome photography of Jon Bolden . Be prepared to be slightly creeped out.

I know I have played hooky from the online world for a week or so; what can I say, we all need a vacation every once in a while. Unfortunately mine has not been from the real world. I've been busting my tail at work to crank out our second newsletter which is coming out this Thursday. May 8-11 was spent in dear old Mineral Wells for my kid sister's 16th birthday. Watch out world, the kid has reached the driving age and will inevitably wreak havoc on that tiny town. At least, I hope so :) Friday was spent in the Texas summer sun, volunteering with a small team from HomeAway to renovate a NE Austin school yard. I specialized in inverted hopscotch design. We spent Sunday putting into play the long-awaited Dolled Up photo shoot, details and photos to come ASAP. The roommate situation (ie: my roommate wanting to bail on our lease 6 months early and my scramble to find a trustworthy sublet) is cured for now. She's sticking it out, and we're now tentatively planning to pay a

One credit card completely paid and canceled. Take that Bank of America.

Ian Fleming When I was presented with this book in exchange for Nightwatch it was tightly bound in a discreet brown paper jacket, looking much like a package that might be as likely to contain some earth-shattering top secret information as it was to spontaneously self-destruct. The front appropriately read "Christa's Secret Book of Secrecy." Being strictly forbidden from researching it, I was told only that it was really good and had plot twists that were not to be prematurely discovered. In addition to the cover being concealed, all pages preceding Chapter 1 were also tucked away into the makeshift jacket. Being a chick and not exactly a Bond fiend, I had no idea this was a Bond book. A very good Bond book, I might add. I can't really compare it to the others since I haven't read them (yet!) but it was definitely entertaining and extremely well-written. Clear language, great development of the characters (even conveying their personalities through their choices

Today marks 2 months since my ACL reconstructive surgery, and I'm really feeling pretty good. I checked in with my physical therapist yesterday after he let me loose in the gym for the past two weeks. My balance is still lacking pretty badly, but my strength is getting better and things are looking good overall. The knee is sore, but it's a totally different sore than after the other surgeries; more of a been-working-out-making-progress-building-muscles sore than a oh-god-something-is-way-out-of-whack sore. I also wore heels yesterday for the first time in over 2 months, and it's SO good to feel sexy again. I didn't hit my weight loss goal of 126 lbs, I am still fluctuating between 129 and 131. Geez, it sucks to admit failure and it's no one's fault but my own - I'm only making it to the gym 3 times a week max, and my eating habits haven't been the best... I've given in to sweets here and there and have been drinking too much beer to expect to lose m

In case it hasn't terribly obvious as of late, I have devoted a lot of energy and time to evaluating myself and my relationships with others. I have been trying to take a somewhat objective look at my character and determine which traits are healthy and which may not be, asking myself in the process: if I change X, how will it affect Y, and will that change me? Will I still be Christa if I completely alter how I manifest my emotions and interact with other people? Hard things to face, and neither my craptastic laptop nor my dog are providing any revelatory responses to my queries tonight. I think it's time that I ran this by someone other than my nonexistent blogging audience.

Backtrack to April 1 - how far did I make it on my to-do list? Made cookies for people who helped me out last month. Took Jon's headshots and am shooting promo shots for him and Kacey tonight. Currently awaiting the completion and arrival of a new computer for the editing process. Stuck to the gym routine Made Rice Krispie Easter eggs I did reorganize and scrubbed the hell out of my kitchen. I've since come to learn that I'm losing a roommate, hunting for a new one for the summer and will probably be moving out in late September, so on second though I won't be putting toooo much energy into gussying up my kitchen. Instead I'll be saving for furniture! Finished Nightwatch and am almost done with From Russia With Love Practiced drawing caricatures - practiced a lot of artistic things and remembered how much I loved it! I am currently very proud of myself for my drawn works as well as the written ones I've posted here. Plan ted jasmine on my patio Now for May, w