so, news. first of all, a huge pat on the back for my darling friends katgiraffe and cudnovati !!! their work ended up on the front page a few days ago in the form of Rosetta's In Technicolor. Beautiful work!
second, i've been sick lately, but i feel better now. yay!
i also have some Christmas photos:
our house- the boyfriend put up the lights, but i held the ladder and helped to pick them out!
i told the boyfriend that i wanted a tree, but as our living room is currently filled with boxes of stuff that i brought home from my parents' house last time i was there, we really don't have room this year. i (very sadly) admitted to the truth, and we decided that we'd get a tree next year. and then he came home from the store with this:
and that, friends, is why i love him
in other news...
) in a box:
the thing that's most exciting to me right now is the development of my library. well, i call it my 'library,' it's really just a spare bedroom in our house that used to be full of crap and will (hopefully) soon be filled with bookshelves, comfy sitting places, and a futon for overnight guests. originally, the 'Elmo room" (so named because there is an Elmo runner going all around the room) was the place i stuck my stuff when i first moved in.
now, you have to understand that i moved in under...interesting...circumstances. my parents had basically told me they wanted me out asap (we were fighting all the time), the boyfriend wasn't anticipating me moving in so early, and i had a boatload of stuff. so for 2 years, we have both been totally lazy and have not cleaned out the Elmo room. we were facilitated by the fact that it was a room that we didn't need and we could close the door. but lately we've both been tired of being lazy, and we've started to clean out the room.
the boyfriend promised me that if i got the room cleaned out, i could use it as a library and general lounging area. we also decided to get a futon, so overnight guests that were not Amarena could have a place other than the couch to sleep (she sleeps in the bed with me, the boyfriend on the couch). this would be nice because it would allow us to invite couples over, and to have my brothers over more often. so i'm totally thrilled about this.
i'm planning to paint the room a creamy yellow and go with blue accents (ie futon, chair, etc). the boyfriend said he would build bookshelves onto the walls for me (he likes manly building things like that- he also wants to build a cat tree (for the cats that he still claims he 'could do without' 
yeah right...) we're picking out paint samples tomorrow!
i've become addicted to One Kings Lane, it's a great site that has fantastic sales. a lot of things are super expensive, but if you look around there are some fairly inexpensive treasures too. i got one of these:
for a bit over $100...which sounds like a lot, but that's actually more than half-off...and the damn thing came today and it is fucking HUGE!! 74" L x 51" W x 12" H; 18 lbs! and it's damn comfy too. i'm in love!
i always knew that i would love decorating, but this is seriously the most fun i've had and excited i've been in a long time 
i'm going to take some of the pictures i took when i was traveling around europe in college (pics of monuments and stuff), get them printed out in black-and-white and bigger at Kinkos, and frame them for wall art. this is going to be my dream room, and i'll keep you all updated with boring-ass pictures as it progresses.
well that was fucking long! i guess i had a lot built up over that month i was gone.
love you all, missed you all!
bises 
