US meets UK

In case Nick or I disappear you know where to look.

I’ve been trying to figure out depth of field and aperture with my dSLR.  Here is a tip-I don’t recommend practicing on moving objects.

Especially chickens.

Especially chickens that you just gave your jam making scraps to. They are too excited to pose.

Except for Rhoda.

Because she’s a natural chicken model.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s DC Tea Party? No? Perhaps you’ve heard of the hilarious post regarding where is safe/unsafe and what to do in DC?

My personal favroite part of this is the list of items and actions they are hoping to restrict. I did not however, see pitchfork listed-so expect to see many of those.

Prohibited Items
DO NOT BRING ANY SORT OF WEAPON, INCLUDING A POCKET KNIFE

• Tents/canopies/structures
• Glass containers
• Alcoholic beverages
• Firearms (real or simulated)
• Ammunition
• Explosives or incendiary devices of any kind (including fireworks)
• Knives, blades, or sharp objects of any length
• No staking of grounds
• No digging or trenching
• No attachments to existing landscaping
• No firearms or explosive devices, no open fires

It’s good they included this though, because I was planning on digging a trench.

I hope these Tea Baggers asking for representation will head on over and demonstrate with DC vote for those who ACTUALLY don’t have voting power.  I’ll be out of town with first anniversary festivities partially celebrating, partially avoiding the crazies after my last visit to a Tea Bagger rally.

Remember when I threw my hat into the ring asking about dream jobs with Mighty Goods/Haus? Staircase Ventures replied! They asked me to do 3 brief product write ups and I’m sharing them with you. I tried to capture the essence of why I always read Mighty Haus religiously: great finds with a hint of humor.

Tocky

($79) Clocky is jealous of his hipper, more annoying younger brother.

Alternate: Because there aren’t enough rolling, beeping things about the morning.

Alternate: Alarm clocks that escape, and only snooze once? The horror!

Book Book

($79) Now that we’ve replaced books with laptops, it’s nice to make laptops look like books again.

Bottle Opening Ring (BeerRing)

($20) You look like the type of person that needs to open bottles ‘on the go’

Have you found any great goods lately?

I actually sent this to a company…

Hello, I see that you might be offering dream jobs… could you let me know what types of dream jobs are available? Additionally could you let me know if these dream jobs come with specific location requirements? Thank you!

yours, Christiana

To be fair.. this was the listing and I couldn’t find further information about available positions with Staircase Ventures. ce la vie!

I’m off to San Diego for work, so posting may be lighter. Nick is coming with me, and he was plenty irked when I told him he might want to bring jeans in addition to shorts.

“WHAT?!?! But California is HOT, it’s like, beach town USA, it’s hotter than DC!!”

was his response. I told him to check the weather, and he was a bit bummed to see that highs were in the upper 60’s. I think it’ll be a nice break from this oppressive DC summer.

Well, not exactly, you’ll really be sewing along with these three lovely ladies.  Remember the birthday post? I was still undecided-until a friend passed along this course.

Decision made. Sewing machine ordered. Sewing machine delivered. Signed up for above class. The projects seem super neat and I can’t wait to get started!

Won’t you join me?

ps. posting has been light because I can’t find my computer/camera cords! i have all these posts about jam making and canning and pie and blueberry picking… with no photos. sigh.

I FINALLY completed a job application for a position I truly, deeply wanted. Now that I’ve spent a few hours on this application… I’m not so sure. First, there were the multiple short answer questions. Then there was the fact that your previous employment information could not be uploaded-it had to be entered field by field. Then, they asked questions such as “how many addresses have you had in the past 5 years”-making me feel awful for moving when asked to by my previous employer!

Then, after hour 2 of this application had passed… and I was finally able to upload my cover letter and resume (which took additional time to craft) I came to the ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME part. Where I have to rank attributes that are most/least like myself. Okay… fine, whatever. But wait! the SAT questions rolled in:

Then, the creepy gestapo-esque questions.  Young people are EVIL-give me my traditional values!-This country is headed for destruction!!!! RUTHLESSSSSSS

I should have saved the next sheet of questions-because they were even worse. I’ve applied to government, private sector and nonprofit jobs before and I’ve never faced anything like this! If a company can’t respect your time (I’m just asking for a <3 hour application) as a candidate-can they be expected to respect you as an employee?

Seen anything like this? Want to take a stab at the questions?

*admittedly, I did find reviewing the first batch a bit fun, especially the word questions. But I’m not a math lover, and didn’t particularly enjoy that set.

I sent this to a friend in Arizona that I haven’t seen in a long while. It’s a bit like a cliff notes version of my life.

Life update? Still looking for a new job. Turned 26 on Tuesday, kind of feel like I’m supposed to be a real adult. I held a baby and liked it-which was super weird. I’ve banned myself from touching them, because the last thing I want right now is a baby. I would however, love a pug puppy (or 2-6 year old dog). I don’t want to get a dog right now though, because Nick works from home and I know that the dog will end up loving him more than me. Which is just unacceptable. We now live in Capitol Hill in an adorable apt with a nice little side garden.

So, that’s the quick and dirty version of the last few months - what’s yours?

Fall low. Looooooow. Airline prices have been an annoying barrier this past year. First, it was hard to find an affordable flight for Nick to visit England in March, so he went alone and I stayed here.

Then we tried to find an affordable flight so he could go with me on a work trip to San Diego. We were super syked about the possibility of him attending with me, as he has always wanted to see California. Plus the Estancia is not too shabby….

Nope. All flights were super expensive.

Now the worst blow, Nick researched flights to England for the Christmas holiday and flights are about $1000. EACH.

We were both really, really looking forward to being there for Christmas. We’re several months out, so I’ll keep stalking travel deals. Last year we skyped, I made yorkshire puddings, and my sister made a pavlova - I even found christmas crackers! But it’s just not the same, and we’re both really missing his family at this point.

Anyone else dealing with far-away family travel for the holidays? Or am I thinking about this way, way too early?

ps. In case you see one from DCA/IAD/BWI to MAN let me know!