good riddance '09

it's the last day of the year. i wasn't a fan of 2009. it kinda sucked it up. big time. i can think of more bad days than good ones. but that doesn't mean that good things didn't happen. because they did. but let's keep our fingers crossed that the new decade will be 2010 x's better than the last :o)

happy 2010!

christmas re-cap

so how was everyone's christmas? what did you get? i got sick. again. but thursday, i woke up to some REALLYYYYYYYY good meds thanks to mom. it was an interesting christmas....put it that way.

this year, i had one thing that i really wanted. my red ryder b-b gun. beatles rockband. i've been playing non-stop. aside from my north face jacket that i got two years ago, i think this is my all time favorite christmas present. ever. i love the beatles. and i love beatles rockband. greatest game ever.

christmas day, we set it up and played all day long. walt on drums. i played guitar. and richard sang. mom and dad watched. mom chimed in on vocals for a couple of songs and then we got dustyn and laney in too. it was probably the most fun we've had as a family in a long long loooong time. i don't think any of us has laughed that hard in forever. next time, i'm going to get it on video.

my favorite christmas present!

other christmas gifts i got this year:
ravin' rabbis wii game. (hilarious.)
ipod dock.
pillow top mattress cover.
memory foam contour pillow.
new york puzzle. (i've been wanting a puzzle for forever!)
candy. candy. and more candy.
sock monkey slippers.
lots of toiletry goodies.
juicy couture socks.
betsy johnson socks.
besty johnson belt.
pjs.
orange peace sign purse.
tie dye blanket. (made by my grandmaw)

also, found out that my parents have an old record player that they're giving me! yay!!!!

i'd call it a successful year.

Merry Christmas...

i'm off.
ready to start my vacation!

i hope you all have an amazing christmas!

love, anna claire

updates

it's another tuesday, one of my least favorite days of the week for sure. BUT on the brighter side of things, tomorrow is the last day of work before christmas vacation. YAY! so i thought i'd update you on all of the things i've been up to lately seeing as how i won't be around for the next few days after tomorrow.

last week lauren and i went to benjy. it was a mellow night but fun none the less. just what we both needed i believe. we love us some benjy. although we were missing miss moreau's precense.


this year, i decided to go the homemade route with some of my christmas gifts. i got a pretty big response from my last painting (3 little birds silhouette) so i thought it would be nice to pass it along. i've been really inspired by photographs of birds lately. i did four paintings each based on birds. i may decide to keep the gray one just because it was more of a impulse painting than an actual plan. it's nothing special by any means. plus it looks nice paired with my yellow painting i did for myself. haha! although i haven't decided yet. i still need to do one more but i'm not sure i'll have the time. anyway, here's what i did.

i did the same textured background i used in my yellow painting. basically just a messy and uneven background. i really love it when brush strokes show up in paintings because i like to see the work that went into it. then i sketched out each idea on the canvases and just filled them in with black. easy and SUPER simple. but way fun!

i took some of these while the paint was still wet so there's an ugly glare on a few of them. but you get the idea.

in other news, my best friend from high school, sandy, who moved to new york a few years ago, flew in saturday for the first time since she's been gone. i haven't seen her in FOUR years since i went to visit her in NYC. she was my thrifting and show attending buddy back in the day. ahhh....i miss those times. i was so so SO excited to be able to go pick her up from the airport. we've been having a great time catching up and i'm oh so happy that she will be here for the next two weeks!

p.s. a little bowie for your day.

:o)

Livin' XL with Grizz and Dotcom

Merry Christmas!
Love, The Entourage.

9 days

until christmas! i have so so so much to do between now and then. i still have a few more gifts to buy AND finish up friend gifts which will take most of my time. i decided that this year, most of my gifts would be homemade. i think a personal touch is so much better than going to some store and buying a random material object that i'm not even sure they will like anyway. i like the idea of customizing something and adding a little of my own personality to it a bit as well. i'm really in love with my ideas but haven't gotten down to the major parts just yet. i've only done the base work so far. i just have to devote an entire day to getting them done. i'm really excited about them and i'm hoping they turn out okay. incase you are curious...here's a little teaser! these are the things that have been my inspiration for what i'm creating:

michele mclaughlin: the first and only artist i've ever heard that has succeded in making me wish i still played piano. my god her songs are absolutely GORGEOUS. i'm so inspired by her and her music.
celtic christmas:

the north sea:

the eternal city:


these gorgeous photos:

i will post pictures AFTER my little creations have been received!

in the buying department of christmas gifts...i'm stuck. i've only got a couple to buy but i have no idea what they're going to be. but, i'm sure i'll know them when i see them. the thing i'm most excited about is sitting in my living room and listening to christmas music while i wrap. i LOVE wrapping. it's what makes me feel the most christmas-y. that and reading Matthew 1:18 - 2:23 and Luke 2:1-20.

other news: yesterday i got an e-mail saying that my purchase of the entire golden girls series has been shipped. i squealed in excitement. don't ask me what started this TGG kick. i mean, i watched the show all the time when i was little. and i've hit up a few episodes here and there over the years. but i've been having a pretty hard time lately and i've prayed for peace of mind and strength. a couple of weeks ago, for some odd reason as i was flipping through the channels, i stopped on WE, aka lifetime, (i NEVER watch lifetime) because i saw there was a golden girls marathon on. something told me that i needed to watch it. since that day, i have watched at least 3 episodes a day and have smiled every time. watching old women sitting around eating and talking about friendship, love and sex has helped me immensely. it's made me laugh when i REALLY needed to laugh. it's made me thankful when i REALLY needed to remember how blessed i am. who would've thought that a tv show could do so much?

my favorite quote: "picture it: miami 1987. a house, the only one in the neighborhood without a pool, but i digress. four women, friends. they laugh, they cry, they eat. they love, they hate, they eat. every time you turn around, they eat. the point i’m trying to make here is, what’s going on here is living. just because you have some rough times doesn't mean you throw in the towel. you go on living..........and eating."- sophia.

i love beautiful things. i hope you make the most of your next 9 days. i'm going to try my very best to do the same. and eat.

love, anna claire

thank you for bein' a friend...

there's something to be said about a show that can make you laugh during hard times. which is why, after this weekend, i bought the series. it reminds me just how much i love my friends and am so thankful for every single one. especially when they answer the phone no matter what time it is or what they're doing.

i'm going to be just fine.

i am currently suffering from this problem

i know how you feel man...i know how you feel.

my lips huuuurt. they chap chap.

redo day.

i haven't been very good at writing you lately. i've been in a bit of a rut in more ways than one. it's been a rough last couple of weeks. i feel like yesterday was a bad day for ALOT of people, including myself. but today i'm feeling much better. the night before last, i woke up in a panic and was up for hours with bad, BAD anxiety. i finally fell back asleep and when i woke up yesterday morning i felt fine. i was excited about starting on my christmas projects and feeling really inspired. and then about 2 hours after i got to work, it all went away and the anxiety came back and i wasn't motivated to do anything. i didn't feel like creating anything anymore. this is what i hate about anxiety. it ruins every good emotion i'm capable of having no matter how hard i try to fight it. after a long over due, late night phone conversation with miss moreau, it all went away.

sometimes, we just need to whine.

yesterday, i was especially good at it. i don't mean to complain so much. i'm working on that. but it's nice to know that there are other people out there who just want to complain with me. believe me or not, it helps. it helps just to talk about it so that it no longer becomes JUST my problem. it's not that i don't think anyone else has problems, because i know they do. i just want someone else to feel it for me so that it doesn't weigh so heavy on ONLY me. and that's true for anyone.

today, i woke up feeling refreshed. i decided that i was going to erase yesterday and allow today to be my "redo" day. and by pure chance, and probably the direction and help i prayed for, i stumbled upon a couple of things that helped me to start climbing out of my rut. so i thought i might share them, in hopes that they will help you out a little too. so here they are:

when i get in these awful moods and feel an extreme lack of creativity, it really bothers me. so much so that i feel like i no longer have a creative bone left in my body. this morning while reading one of my favorite blogs, i stumbled upon this post. it was EXACTLY what i needed to hear. if you have the time, or even care at all, read it. it is, to an exact T, how i feel and one day i hope to have the same kind of support she gets from her husband. not to mention, i'm IN LOVE with everything she does. she is an inspiration in more ways than one.

i realize that thanksgiving was two weeks ago. but when i was reading this blog this morning, i found this and it made me happy. and it made me want to find things to be thankful for all the time. not just on the 4th thursday of every november.

i am thankful for my home and all of the people that inhabit it: family, friends, animals and all. i am thankful for the blue sky today. i am thankful for food. i am thankful for the people in this video and for them reminding me to be thankful for simple things. i am thankful for having things to be thankful for. and if i could retweet in this post, i would retweet a hundreds times what the guy with the headphones said about being thankful for the future. "there is always positive in the future." that alone improved my entire attitude.

these things make me want to be better. i'm going to be better. it's a promise. and today, i'm gathering supplies for my christmas projects. i'm ready to start creating again.

source: promise tangeman blog, the rockstar diaries

anything to make you smile. it is a better side of you to admire.

today, i'm in a weird mood. you know like the kind that makes you want to leave everything behind, close yourself off, get rid of everything (and possibly everyone, for the sake of happiness) and start fresh. that's exactly how i feel. and chances are, i'm being overly dramatic. chances are, there's nothing wrong. chances are, i'll feel better tomorrow......chances are, i won't. who knows. i just wish i didn't feel a tug one day and a push the next. i want something to hold me still. keep me in the same happy mood i'm capable of being in. they say running away from your problems isn't the answer. but i believe in some cases, it just may be exactly what we need. somehow, i always choose the hardest route possible. i manage to pick the one that doesn't work. one day, i'll figure it out. i just wish i didn't care so much. but i guess if i didn't, then it wouldn't be worth it, right? i probably give too much and set the bar much higher than i should expect from others. but then again, it's kind of hard to deal with their mood swings. i just wish there was one constant source of good emotion to keep me happy. i just have to keep telling myself that there is a reason for this. there IS a reason for it. i just don't like being apart. that's all. and that's okay.

i have been sick, again, since saturday. i thought at first it might be the flu because i was throwing up and breaking out into cold sweats saturday night/sunday morning. but that only lasted a miserable 24 hours. thank goodness. unfortunately, it came in the middle of brent's show and 2 hours away from my bed, where i probably should have been the whole time anyway. now, i'm stuck with ANOTHER sinus infection and my voice has taken a leave of absence for an undetermined amount of time. awesome for having a job where answering the phone is one of the only things i do. i just want to stop being sick.

***because i was sick, i regretfully didn't take a single picture saturday night. what a shame, because lauren and i looked uber cute. plus she and rimmy were twins. yes twins.***

lately, i've lost my urge to stop spending money just because i'm bored. i've stopped not caring about what i eat. i need to not look like this anymore. maybe this is part of my whole "cleansing" mood. i don't know. about anything.

anyway, enough of the pity party. i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! i'm looking forward to the holidays! christmas is my absolute favorite thing. here are some things that are on my list for this year.

fuji instax mini: polaroid thank you notes: sooo cute!a new record player:
i've been searching for a good vintage one.
it's been tough. the beatles rockband:down pillow top mattress cover:
this is more of a need than a want.
my sleeping issues seem to be getting worse.
*********************************

p.s. tyler read just released their new album 'hallelujiaville' on amazon and itunes. if you haven't downloaded it yet....do it. now. it's so so so good. and i'm not just saying that.