January 30

I was in Target (damn that store) and turned the corner of an aisle and look at the reflection in the mirror! Ah, Paris follows me everywhere I go.
Also, this is probably the best sandwich I have ever had-Black Forest sandwich from Fox and Hound. The bread is a pretzel! Simply amazing..

January 29

This was so cool-I walked through the library on campus today, and above the main lobby area are hundreds of pages from books hanging over string. It was really neat to see!

January 28

Again, another great week for sunrises. I love mornings-going to work, stress-free, the sun is just coming up, a nice cup of coffee...I feel so happy. Remember when you were a kid and you would wake up and just feel so great that you had an whole day in front of you to make it what you will. I hope that feeling never leaves me.
On the way home from campus, there was this truck in front of me. You can't read the bumper stickers, but some of them were great! The guy in the car next to me was looking at me like I was crazy when I was taking this picture, so I figured I should turn the flash off at least...

January 27

So we went out for Mexican food today (YUM!) and this was how my lovely margarita was presented to me. Beautiful. And today was the last day I will see Ian for awhile as he is being badass and going to Europe for 8 months!! I went to see him play at Tip Top Tavern and he rocked! I will miss you Ian, and will be in constant envy of you the entire time you are gone. :)

January 26

I am trying to not dedicate all of these posts to the puppies, but it is so difficult when they are this adorable. Soon, they will be way to big to be eating out of the same food bowl, so I had to capture it now.

January 25

Today's weather was crazy! It was 55 degrees yesterday, and then this today. Indiana weather...Good thing I was nice and cozy inside :)

January 24

Ah, my Ruth's Chris family. How I love you all so..It was Carla's birthday and the five of us planning on singing to her turned out to be almost the entire staff. It was so great. The main reason I've stayed at Ruth's so long is because of the people I work with. They all are my best friends, they drive me crazy, and they make my day. I've never worked with a group of people who get along so well. It makes me never really want to leave :)

January 23

I got to work this morning, and the parking garage was much emptier than usual. I thought this picture looked great-especially the lone car in the background.

January 22

Ok, this brownie picture might be stretching it a little..I think I had forgotten about pictures today, so it was a last-ditch effort. But when you analyze it, it is a beautiful thing to be able to go out with friends, eat wonderful food like this...these moments cannot be bought.

January 21

So I work in the study abroad office, and we had our spring study abroad fair. It was fun to be away from the computer and out with the students. I love working at study abroad because there are so many diverse people in one office! I think we are representing the entire globe, and it is such a great environment. I wish the world could be like this-where everyone is respectful to their differences, and its so damn interesting.

January 20

I have a little liquor bottle on my desk that I should just throw away..I think it's cherry vodka..I don't like cherry and I don't like vodka. But here it still stays on my desk, and I noticed that the ribbon tied around the top made a heart! I thought it was neat. :)

January 19

I met someone really beautiful today. I was walking out of class and noticed a man drawing with him and his artwork set up in front of rows of empty chairs. I asked what was going on. Supposedly there was a workshop for his art, but no one showed up. I look at his artwork-bowls, necklaces, head pieces, jewelry, and even though I had little free time, I felt like I wanted to stay and watch him for a little bit. He was looking at a tiny picture of MLK and recreating it on a huge canvas. I walked up to him when he was drawing the eyes. He said that it's all in the eyes-if you don't do the eyes right, you have nothing else. I found out he was here for a week from Kenya. The more he talked to me, the more I had a feeling that there was much more to this man than I could see. You know when you hear about people's energy and how it can radiate without a single word being said..that was this man. I don't want to sound cliche, but there was just something about him. So here he is-Nicolas Sironka.

January 18

Bet: one man could drink a full glass of beer quicker than the other could drink a full glass of water.
Conclusion: Beer always wins.

January 17

Ok, here are the puppies!!! They are Bernese mountain dogs mixed with Mastiffs...aka: massive dogs. The darker one is the girl and the lighter one is the boy. It took me approximately 23.7 seconds to fall in love with them. Soon, they will be bigger than me, so I have to take as many pictures of them now as I can.

January 16

I knew today was going to be a good day simply because it is the 16th! (My favorite number). There was a good amount of fog in Indianapolis today, and I took this picture when I parked on Market Street going to work. I love the capital building. Something else great happened today after work: we got two new puppies!!!! (Tomorrow's pictures) I just felt...good today. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed with happiness. I am reminded so many times of the amazing friends I have, my health, my energy, my family...it's just so fantastic...None of this really has to do with the capital building, but it was just a great start to the day.

January 15

Another cheat. These pictures were from yesterday (but remember my balance comment in the earlier post!). These are a few members of our French Meetup group that meets on Thursdays. This group is so great. I love being surrounded by people who have the same passion for the beauty of French. After all, France is the whole reason this resolution started in the first place. :)

January 14

I went into a local CD store today and it was so great. The wear and tear of the building, as you can see, excited me. It almost feels unnecessary buying CDs anymore due to the overdose of YouTube and IPODs. However, I thoroughly (I hate spelling that word because it never looks correct to me) enjoyed skimming the racks and talking to the employee there.

January 13

This week has been great for good sunrises! There were many great missed pictures due to the fact that it seemed a bit unsafe to be taking pictures while driving. But I did get this one while I was stuck at a stoplight. I've realized lately how happy I am when I am awake early in the morning to see the new beginnings of each day.

January 12

So...I warned you. I have done pretty good about not making Gunnar the focus of every picture, but he looked so damn cute when I was leaving this morning, that I couldn't resist. Gunnar, like myself, hates the cold. Actually, he hates the extreme heat too. He would appreciate it if the weather was a perfect 65 degrees, no precipitation of any kind, all the time with plenty of food for him to choose from. Anyways, back to the topic of the picture. In order to protect himself from the horrible cold that is our house (apparently), he buries his face in the pillow so all you can see are his little eyes. It is adorable. This pictures doesn't even give it justice, but it sure does make me happy. :)

January 11

Today was a lot of work again (I don't like this trend), but I got a chance to relax afterwards. I took a nice bath, lit some candles, read my book, and ate an exceptionally good brownie. It was perfect. This picture is a bad attempt at trying to capture the calm atmosphere existing in my room tonight.

January 10

So I'm late on my pictures again, but I swear I took these yesterday! I was out running errands when I passed Sahm golf course and had to stop because it looked too perfect. Winter would not be so horrible to me if the days had sunshine, like this day! It felt like the calm before the storm (aka: college). So, I enjoyed every bit of it.

January 9

Today I worked a lot again, but ended up having a great night afterwards. I met with Jeff and some of his friends (had pizza again!) and then met up with one of my best friends, Karolina, for some old fashioned bowling and pool fun. It was such a great evening. This is me and Karolina (very white since my camera is not the best). I would have had some other pictures on here of the sky from the drive home, but again, my camera would not have done it justice. But there is a great amount of beauty in the friendships like the one between me and Karolina. I love you girl! :)

January 8

Today was my first day playing wallyball. I'm not even sure if this is how you spell it. If you aren't aware (as I wasn't), the game is like volleyball but it's indoors in a confined box basically, and with a smaller ball. Maybe I wasn't as terrible as I thought I was, but I feel like with so many sports, I feel like an awkward flamingo trying to play ball. But, the point was that I did hit the ball, and lost feeling in my right arm while doing so. So this is from the sidelines when I sat out a game. I thought this was a very different and great way to spend a Friday evening. Especially when pizza followed afterwards :)

January 7

Today was the first major snowfall all year! It was so pretty. Driving always comes up as a major issue for most people when it snows, but I like it because it forces me to drive slower...and by slower I mean at the speed of an old woman. But I like it. Anyways, so I get to work and there is this atrium that I've always liked. It looks even better when it's snowing. It's a kind of life brought "indoors" that is just great. The other pictures with the bench and the Coke machine are outside/inside one of the buildings on campus. I always wondered why they chose to have the roof open above this area of the building, but hey, it made for a cool picture I think.