Ready to Start

I am so ready to start the weekend!

{by Jesy}

An Egyptian Family Photo

The family was found at Neues Museum, Berlin. Nefertiti was not available for portraiture.

This is my contribution to Dragonstar's The weekend in Black and White.

In Lincoln, the Cathedral Looms Large

Lincoln Cathedral (part 1)

Looking up at the cathedral towers, the only thing higher is the sky.

(It's SkyWatch Friday, so stop by here to see other SkyWatch blogs.)

Just about anywhere you go in Lincoln, the cathedral dominates the landscape. In fact, it can be seen from nearly 30 miles away. Construction on it began in 1072, and after partially surviving a fire and an earthquake within its first hundred or so years, rebuildings, renovations, and additions over the centuries brought us its current imposing image. We spent the entire afternoon in the cathedral, and could have spent another full day without seeing everything. This post will look at the exterior.

as seen from a bridge on the river

looking up at the facade

Greek Evening Atmosphere

A fountain of light on Crete.

This is my contribution to James at Newtown Area Photo's meme called Weekend Reflections. Post a reflection during the week-end, log on to MckLinky via his site - and you're on.

New Stimulus
In the face of even weaker economy, President Obama is being urged to do something dramatic to turn things around. The White House is reportedly willing, but isn't sure it can get away with killing Joe Biden.



Dundee Back
"Crocodile Dundee" actor Paul Hogan will be allowed to leave Australia after running into a tax problem in his native country. He will return to the U.S., where he has no tax problems because he hasn't worked here in 20 years.



Earl Effect
Hurricane Earl has left hundreds of people in North Carolina without power... which means they are the only people in the world lucky enough not to have to listen to news anchors shouting about Hurricane Earl.



Clooney Regrets
Actor George Clooney says the biggest failure of his life has been his inability to stop the war in Darfur. But despite the thousands killed in that war, it's obvious his biggest failure is really his one season on the "Facts of Life."



Hillary's Plea
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says both Palestinians and Israelis need to make concessions for peace. In other words, she wants the Israelis to stop defending themselves and the Palestinians to start being a little quieter when they kill Jews so nobody notices.






September 3rd


1802: William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802… and wins the award for “Laziest Title Ever.”


1803: English scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements… but the bigger kids still beat him up at recess.


1976: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands on Mars in hopes of safely riding out the impending Carter presidency.

It's Working Thursday

Perhaps not everyone would find glamour and grace in using a street sweeping machine.






But then, not everyone sweeps a castle.

Men at Work appears on Thursdays.

Unrealistic Expectations

I'm going to admit something here...I have unrealistic expectations.

Before I moved into my own house, I imagined myself as the perfect domestic goddess.

A magazine worthy house. Perfectly decorated and scrubbed clean with all natural products. Everything organized in cute little baskets and containers, with pretty labels identifying the contents. Fresh flowers on the kitchen counter.

A strict grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry schedule.

Gourmet style meals. Healthy lunches packed for taking to work. Dinner put together, waiting in the refrigerator for easy cooking on busy nights.

A beautifully landscaped yard.

A hammock hanging out back. Homemade iced tea and baked goods served nightly.

Well, now that we have been on our own for all of a little over a month, it has come to my realization that this is not realistic.

The fact of the matter is, we are twenty-one years old.

My fiance works three part time jobs while searching for a full time job and deciding whether to continue on with his education. I work part time while struggling through school.

There is never enough money. I have a million great ideas, but projects take forever because we are always waiting on that next paycheck.

I hardly cook and we eat out more often than I would like to admit. I eat frozen meals for lunch at work and my fiance is on his own.

I sleep in too late, leave the bed unmade, towels on the bathroom floor, and dishes in the sink sometimes.

 I don't know how to sew and can't make pillow covers or curtains.

I take horrible pictures and don't know how to edit them to look perfect before posting them on my blog.

I don't have the most positive attitude and take stress out on my poor fiance.

It is so easy to look at all of the gorgeous blogs out there and feel overwhelmed. Not good enough. Everyone has that huge, magazine worthy house. They are all professional photographers and photoshop users. Between sewing, crafting, cooking, and baking, they redo entire rooms in a weeks time, all while managing to be perfect wives and stay at home moms.

There is nothing I want more than to be a wife and mom. I want to be that domestic goddess. But I have to learn to relax and not expect perfection. Maybe I can start by actually sticking to my goal of planning our meals and aiming to cook most nights ;)

~I hope your day is beautiful!~

{sources: kitchen from here, laundry basket from here, vintage scale unknown}