A list of some things I need/want that will be included on my Xmas list.

-This coat, that I've already mentioned.

-Knobs and drawer pulls for the living room.

-This adorable shirt, also from Anthro.

-I also want a cardigan that doesn't close in the front, like this one.

-I'm in love with this J. Crew cardigan as well.

-Lush stuff is always necessary.

-I also want the new Animal Crossing game for the Wii, the new Harvest Moon game for the Wii, and the Lego Batman game for the PS3.  I need to have something to do with my time after college haha.

-Lowe's and iTunes gift cards

-The Ikea table I mentioned previously and don't feel like finding the link for haha.

-The new Domino decorating book.

-Books by Augusten Burroughs and Virginia Woolf

-The third season of Robot Chicken, and the new Family Guy season

-Black Amethyst and Vanilla Bean Noel body lotion from Bath and Body Works

-There are about 4 prints I want from Etsy, but this one from Black Apple, and this one from Elle Moss are my favorites.

-For the house, I want three pairs of white brackets to make shelves out of the vintage trays I bought, a new bookcase for the library, and paint for the library and upstairs bedroom.

  This isn't a complete list, and I'm not sure who I'm going to ask for what.  Right now I'm focusing on Jason's Xmas and birthday gifts.  I think I'll buy the table and coat with the majority of my money, the coat is so affordable, but it's more than any one person will want to spend.  I guess I'll need a chair too if I end up with the table, we'll have to see if Ikea has anything that will work, and fit in my car for the trek back from Philadelphia.  I have an Ikea office chair, but it's clear plastic.  It's cute, but not at all what I want with that table.  I want something that isn't too modern, and hopefully wood.  This actually helped a little with my jumble of Christmas thoughts.  Sorry for the shameless materialism haha, but sometimes shameless materialism is very fun.  On a different note, Jason and I are hoping that after Christmas we'll be able to save little by little for a new computer.  His is a G4, and it's great, but it's too old to run any games or music software for him.  We also want to replace it before we have a baby, since with computers, sometimes you have to know when to let go before you end up with a "vintage" model haha.  We're probably going to get the cheapest Macbook model and just make upgrades as needed.  Pretty exciting, I hope we can pull it off.

First off, I have to say that Mortimer's gender confusion is officially over.  I won't go into details haha, but I double checked, and he is most certainly a boy.  We're glad that's over haha.  Jason is out of town this weekend, in Austin, so it's just me and the animals.  Last night I made one of my favorite fall foods- applesauce.  I used Sourcrisp, 20 ounce, and Macintosh apples.  I don't use sugar, I prefer sour applesauce.  It turned out very well.  I shared some of it with the little animals, since there's nothing but apples and water in it.  I even gave Mortie some, even though chinchillas are supposed to have a severely limited intake of fruit, because it can upset their stomachs.  I just gave him a tiny bit.  They all LOVE it, they become greedy little beasts haha.  Today I'm planning on buying animal supplies, giving Harlock a bath, cleaning the house, working on some research for school, and designing the graduation announcements for Megan and I that my dad is going to make at his office.  Ugh, busy busy, hopefully I'll make a dent in it.  I was going to rake and finish winterizing the yard, but it's supposed to rain all day.  Hopefully that can go on the list for tomorrow.  Later on I'm going to post my Christmas list progress.  I know it sounds a little childish to have a list, but when you have as many different people buying for you as we do, it's very helpful.  There are also things on it that I plan on buying in Philadelphia on Jason's birthday, when we take all of our Christmas money and go crazy.  So much fun.

I have a midterm tomorrow in my Architectural Theory class and I haven't even begun  studying.  I'm so burnt out, I had a lot of school things to do this week.  Yesterday was our second anniversary.  We actually celebrated on Friday, since this week is a little crazy.  We ate at the Lost Dog Cafe.  It was really yummy, especially the Tiramisu for dessert, I think it was the best I've ever had.  Then we came home, had some wine and watched Dead Man.  It was really interesting, very literary and almost existential, which aren't words normally used to describe "Westerns".  We didn't do anything yesterday, although we ran to Starbucks so I could try the new salted caramel hot chocolate.  It was so good, I've been really into salted caramels lately.  

So now I have to explain something kind of interesting that I discovered the other day.  I'm almost positive that Mortimer is a girl.  I know, after three months you would think that we wouldn't still be figuring that out.  Jason told me the pet store told him Mortie was a boy, and I didn't question it, until I was online looking up chinchilla info and discovered that boys and girls look remarkable, confusingly similar.  So I double checked, and I'm pretty sure we have a girl.  So now I have a female chinchilla named Mortimer haha.  If I had known she was a girl, I would have named her Petunia.  But, it's been 3 months, she pretty much responds to her name, and, until her vet visit next month, we can't be one hundred percent sure that she's a girl.  Everyone I've asked so far thinks she should stay Mortimer, so that's probably the way we'll go.  But I have to say that it feels strange to call her "little lady" haha.  

I have three days off this week for Yom Kippur.  This is great, but not because of free time, more because I have a presentation, a paper and a midterm all next week.  Our second anniversary is on Tuesday, but we're going to celebrate tomorrow since I'm so busy.  We weren't going to get each other anything, since we're trying to recover from summer in time for Christmas, but naturally we changed our minds haha.  Jason let me order some things from Lush, and I'm going to buy him the new Final Fantasy game for the DS.  I actually didn't get very much, it's so easy to go overboard, and plus, we're going to Philadelphia on Jason's birthday, and I have enough in my collection to last me until then.  Last night I took a bath with Bathos.  It smells lovely, like Violets.  I'll let you know how the new stuff goes once I get it.  We're probably just going to go to dinner at the Lost Dog Cafe, and then come home and watch a movie.  I'm going to get a bottle of wine, which is a rare treat for us.  Usually when I do this, Jason has one glass and I end up drinking the rest of the bottle on my own, without realizing it.  There's something about talking while drinking that creates this situation haha.  We were going to go see a movie, but it's so rare for either of us to actually want to see something showing, that it wasn't worth the money.  

My mom is sending us a gift card for Sweetest Day (I believe she is the only one who celebrates this haha), so we can get the Blu-ray version of Sleeping Beauty.  I've been collecting the classic movies Disney releases twice a year, but this will be our first Blu-ray.  Jason actually likes Sleeping Beauty, so we're going to share the gift.  

I really need to get back to studying, but I just wanted to share a story from babysitting.  The boys have a place mat that has all of the presidents.  We were looking at it and talking about George Washington, when one of them pointed at Nixon and said, very matter of factly, "he lied".  Haha.  Then he said "I don't think he should be on here because he lied".  I was just looking at all of those faces, and thinking that, if lying meant you weren't allowed on the place mat, I'm pretty sure it would make George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington very lonely. 

Autumn in New York

Yesterday we went to the flea market.  The pictures are from there.  I'm so glad it's Fall.  The leaves here are so beautiful, every day it looks different.  But, more than anything, I can't wait until next Fall, when I can finally enjoy it without school taking up all of my time.  I got that lamp while we were there, and only paid $4.  Sorry about the doughnuts and crumbs in the background haha.  Not sure where it's going to go.  When we were on our way home, we passed a billboard with an ad for the Cider Mill.  We've always wanted to go there, so we decided to give it a try.  It's so neat, they have apples, pumpkins, and cider.   You can also watch them make doughnuts and cider, and buy candy apples, cookies and pie.  It reminded me of going to the pumpkin patch with the family in Illinois.  We got doughnuts, cider, I got a cookie and Jason got an apple crisp pie.  Clearly we have no control when confronted with sugar haha.  It was all very good, and went well with the swiss steak I made for dinner.  

Last night Mortimer escaped while I was cleaning his cage.  Usually he hangs out in his bath house, inside his travel kennel while I clean.  He has no problem going in, he loves taking baths, but getting him back into the cage is a challenge.  He ended up under a small dresser we have, and was trying to get under the trundle bed.  It took almost an hour of coaxing to get him out.  The problem is, unlike our other pets, Mortimer can't be bought haha.  He likes food and toys, but not enough to let me catch him.  I sprinkled raisins around, and he would run out, grab them, and run back under haha.  He's a mad man.  

Today I went to the library to get books for my Theories and Methods research paper.  I'm looking at the early history of the Art Institute.  I've loved going there since I was a kid, and find it's place in Chicago history interesting.  But it's hard, because the whole point of the class is to look critically at the institution of the art museum and the problems with it.  But at the same time, I so enjoy going into a big, echoey, ornate building to quietly contemplate the work of men and women so obviously greater than I haha.  I love the fact that the Philadelphia Museum of Art looks like a giant Greek temple.  I can't help buying into that stuff.  Not only that, but I enjoy ignoring the problem of viewing an artist such as Marcel Duchamp in the context of a large museum.  He was so interested in destroying the aura surrounding art, and now people like me go into a large room in Philadelphia (they have the largest collection of his works in the world, which is the main reason I was so excited to go), and sit in front of The Large Glass to view it in a quiet, almost worshipful manner. But, I guess he did will his works to the museum, so it can't be all bad.  I don't know, critical thinking so often interferes with emotion haha.  

Some Internet Window Shopping...

Sorry for all the images this time, but I'm so happy that I finally figured out how to right click on the mac! haha.  The first pic is of this beautiful coverlet set I saw at Target a few weeks ago.  Eventually we'll need new bedding for the trundle bed when we move it upstairs.  The walls are going to be a medium taupe kind of color, except two small walls that form a corner between the first closet and the next two (yes that room has three freaking closets).  That corner will be a golden yellow color.  So I thought the lavender would look beautiful.  In person it's quilted satin, and more of a grey-purple.  But, unfortunately the smallest it comes in is a full, and it's too expensive, especially since we would have to buy two.  But, it definitely provides inspiration.  So, that room will also be a craft room/ work room for Jason.  The third closet is big and has no places to hang clothes, so that's become Jason's "music room" haha.  But we're looking for 2 craft tables to put in there.  I thought I wanted white, but after perusing the Ikea site, I'm kind of liking this silver table.  I don't know, it's a little more than we wanted to spend, but it's perfect for working on, and it's also pretty and curvy.  And, since this has become an "I can dream can't I?" post haha, I included this chair I found on Anthro.  Would that not look amazing with the tables?  Jason said that he might want a writing desk instead, so I might see if I can't get that table for myself for Xmas.  Unfortunately the pictures from Anthropologie are blurry, I'll see if I can't remedy that for the future.  I think this coat is so pretty.  For some reason I'm really itching for a new coat this year, though I doubt I'll actually get one.  Then we have the mirrored bedside table, which I'm in love with.  We really need new bedside tables, but we'll probably head to Home Goods, they have really pretty ones for good prices.  And, last but not least, I want a new cardigan.  I own probably 50 cardigans, and I just got one last month, but I really need this one haha.  I love cardigans so much, I would die without them, I'm sure.  Anyway, other than that, I got my hair cut off on Wednesday.  I got about 8 inches cut off, more than I was going to, but I wanted to donate it.  I really like it, it was time for a change.  We watched the debate last night, and were both surprised that we really like Biden.  As for Palin, all I will say is that I can't understand why so many Americans still want to be spoken to like they're idiots.  That whole "I'm just a small town girl, just like you" thing is so irritating.  These people will be running and representing our country, so therefore they should be the most intelligent people we can find, not someone who stutters through a bunch of buzzwords and never answers a damn question.  Sorry about that haha, I just couldn't believe how hard it was to listen to her.