my wiggy

my wiggy, originally uploaded by cottoncupcakes.

My pet guinea pig Hedwig "Wiggy" Scanlon died yesterday. She was the first pet I got when I lived on my own. I went to get her in November 2004 from the Greensburg Pet Smart. I was super excited about having a pet again after a year in the pet-less dorms. My entire life we've always had a least 2 pets living with us, usually a cat or dog. Wiggy was my first guinea pig. She lived with me in several apartments and traveled to school with me each year.

When I decided to move to Seattle I looked into bringing Wiggy on the plane and made sure I could take her in the cabin. The people at security told me it was the first guinea pig they had seen travel. She traveled 3000 miles with me and in the first few months was the only one I knew here.

I am going to miss her so much. Feeding her carrots and yogurt drops and petting her nose. I'm glad I was able to have her for so long. I hope she wasn't in any pain yesterday before I got her to the vet. : (

Pets really are the best. I can't imagine not having them. I'm hoping I can find a good home for all of Wiggy's supplies so someone else can get a guinea pig like Wig.

Feels like fall

pumpkin spice bundt cake, originally uploaded by cottoncupcakes.

The weather in Seattle right now reminds me of the fall season. Its been in the 60's and windy the last couple of days. So I was inspired to make a pumpkin spice bundt cake. It turned out pretty good considering I use a toy oven to bake.

I've been getting ready for my trip home in 3 days and I'm getting really excited. I can't wait to see everyone and enjoy the 80 degree weather. It is going to be so much fun.

Over the weekend Philip and I took the ferry over to Vashon Island. It was a rainy day but we walked down to the water and went to lunch at small restaurant called the Monkey Tree.

+ sleeping cats
+ vacation
+ magazines in mail

Testing out the flickr blog feature

you rule card, originally uploaded by cottoncupcakes.

So I finally got around to uploading more photos to my flickr account and and I set up the blog feature.

I made this card yesterday. I really like how it turned out and working with paper was fun.

My foot is asleep right now and my cat Lucy is trying to rub up against it. Ahh.

Yesterday before work I was working on sewing ideas and I made this fabric flower pin. I really liked how it turned out and thought I'd share.

+ new camera
+ iced coffee
+ 1 week until vacation

Hot hot heat

The last few days in Seattle have been so hot. I have been obsessed with the weather all summer usually complaining that it has been freezing. I don't feel a wool sweater should be worn in any month that starts with J except Janurary but this weekend was the complete opposite of sweater weather. I would enjoy it more if our apartment wasn't a tiny oven.

Yesterday Philip and I walked around Lake Washington and I wish I would have taken my camera. I have been terrible about taking my camera out of the apartment and remembering to take photos. I need to start doing that. Maybe if I try and take a photo everyday or something it would help.

I have a job interview tomorrow and I'm a little nervous. My mind always seems to go blank when I know others are judging me. I really hope it goes well. I can't believe I finally got an interview.

Today was a fun day spent studying for the GRE and watching too much TV.

+ Plant Earth series
+ warm brownies
+ washing the car at night

Which door

The first career I can remember wanting was to be a mountain climber. I thought this would be the ideal career for me. I was excellent at climbing trees and loved being outside. I thought for the longest time that China was located on the other side of the mountains surrounding our town. I'm not sure how I put that together but I think I truly believed the other side of the earth was just beyond our backyard view. Good thing I didn't try to hike there, I would have been disappointed to find it was only more farms and fields for miles.

My sister was the one who first put doubt in my mind about the profession of climbing mountains by telling me only mom would be willing to pay me to climb anything and I couldn't live on that kind of money. I think she was probably right and I no longer think I could be a professional mountain climber now. In fact earlier tonight I carried the laundry up 3 flights of stairs and my lungs felt like they might explode, it was quite a climb.

After my climbing interest faded I decided I would be a writer. I even purchased the world's heaviest typewriter at a yard sale. I loved the giant old thing even though it was missing the letter E. I decided that I could do without it. I have the first completed book I think I ever wrote titled The Orange Horse, two slightly different versions are located on a shelf in my living room. I don't know if I've completed a full work of fiction since.

I also went through a short phase of wanting to be a massage therapist but that didn't work out. I'm still not sure what it is I would like to spend my days doing to pay the bills. I think my dream job would be sewing items for sale or designing a line of fabrics. I don't know if thats something I'll ever get to do full time but I hope someday I'll be excited to get up in the morning and start work rather than start dreading it the night before.

I spent a little over 3 hours applying to jobs this morning. I really hope I get a call for an interview this week. I better get to sleep so I can be refreshed for eternal hell.. I mean work in the morning.

+ video games
+ clean laundry
+ staying up late

Did you check under the bed?

For as long as I can remember I've been great at misplacing things. Even the really important items like my keys, wallet, and pets. They all seem to vanish before my eyes and I immediately slip into panic mode.

Some of my most memorable loses include the time I left my purse purched on top of fabric bolts at JoAnn fabrics two days before I was to move cross country. I searched for hours while sweating more than I ever have in my life. I think I lost 12 lbs that night.

My abillity to lose is something I've believe has been passed down from my parents. I have many memories of helping to search the garbage for that irreplaceable piece of mail or running through the neighbors' yards hoping to run into our dog who decided to take himself for a walk. Even calling home when I realized that my parents forgot me after church.

Today I yet again managed to misplace a very important check. I was on my way to work and doing the usual throw things into my bag while putting on shoes and eating lunch routine when I thought I safely secured a place for the check in my GIANT bag.

On my way down the hill for some reason I decided to dig the check out of my stuff and realized it was gone. I fantically searched my bag even kneeling down on the sidewalk to remove all 30 of the items in my bag and still no check. I decided I wouldn't be able to continue my trip to work until I figured out where the hell I put it. So I ran back up the hill to search my apartment which resulted in nothing.

Finally I decided to call home and let my mom know I lost the birthday check because I am incapable of safely transporting money to the bank and should be killed. Moments after I called my mom she called me back to tell me that someone had found my check!

A wonderfully kind person who works at the hospital beside my apartment building met me in the lobby and gave me the check. The wonderful check finding angel had even gone to the trouble to google my parents due to the fact that my parents don't even have their phone number on it because they hate calls from strangers especially during meals.

It made my day that someone was so kind to return it. Now I just have to hope that all my cats are still in the apartment when I get home.

+ sunny Friday afternoons
+ m&m yogurt
+ nice people