all of the aminals! :)

we got kitties!!!

Meet Pistachio, or just 'Chio for short.

And Basil! :)

as you can probably tell, chio is significantly more outgoing and friendly compared to basil. we were originally only going to get one kitty, but then realized that since we'll be travelling sometimes, especially when ultimate season rolls around again, it'd be good for two kitties to be able to keep each other company. also, these two were just such a good pairing.

chio had been living on the street, but was being fed by a local taxi driver. unfortunately, the taxi driver couldn't take him home with him and take care of him, so he was brought to the shelter. basil was also a stray, but he just showed up on his foster mom's back porch one day. basil didn't warm up to anyone or any of the other cats much until he found chio's crate. he apparently sat in front of his crate until he got let in, and he never left chio's side after that. since it looked like chio was helping basil come out of his shell so well, we very well couldn't separate them. plus, chio was just SO friendly! so now we have two kitties! and basil has slowly been getting better and better around us. he doesn't just hide in the dark anymore. he comes out for meals, and explores the apartment with chio. he's even started playing with the toys and knickknacks lying around the apartment.

the best moment so far has been when i woke up one morning with a strong urge to turn over in my sleep, before realizing it was harder than normal to flip over. in my groggy state, i slowly realized it was because there was more weight than usual on my legs! i just figured it was chio so i paused to see if i could move without waking him. then the weight started shifting...there were two weights on my legs! basil had come up to snooze in the crook of my knee! and chio had snuggled up on the other side of my leg. alright. it was decided. i didn't move and proceeded to lose all feeling in my right arm. then mr. aaron "fidgety-when-sleeping" magil briefly sat up to turn himself over. this apparently scared the shit out of basil, who then bolted off the bed and god knows where...dammit, magil. le sigh. oh well...here's hoping they do it again soon. :)

for now...more kitty pictures!

chio: "what....what are you..? and what are you eating??"

look who's curiosity outweighed his scaredycat-ness!

chio + basil | sitting back and observing.

"any idea what that is...?"
"nope...also, your butt smells..."

most adorable snapshot to date | kitty snuggles!!!

he actually fell asleep like this...on my hand...

cute.

so i had an idea for a post today, some time in the middle of the night when i woke up from the worst nightmare i've had in awhile. but then forgot it.

so here are some cute corgi halfers:

corgi/husky

corgi/basset hound

corgi/beagle

corgi/black lab

corgi/shiba inu

corgi/german shepherd

ba-friggin'-dorable. totally what i'm going to try for when my dreams for a graduation puppy happen. corgi mixed with almost anything. then i'm going to teach it the corgi flop.

more adorable corgi mixes here. i just chose a few of my favorites to post.

the gross, the hopeful and the adorable.

the gross.
yesterday, in my infinite wisdom, i managed to give myself minor food poisoning. so that wasn't fun. turns out, that pumpkin soup i made from scratch a little while back didn't keep as well as, well, anything. and this all had to happen about twenty minutes before i had to head out the door. so then i was just a mess of running around getting things ready so that i could leave and also running to the bathroom so i could throw up (with small breaks in between of standing/sitting/lying really still to see if i could calm my stomach down enough to leave. i finally got out and walked to andy's to borrow shaniqua to drive myself to the dchs for my volunteer orientation. for the first hour (of a three hour class), it was not good. i was very much regretting hauling myself out for it and wanted to bail. but after that, my stomach seemed to settle for the rest of the class. until i got back to andy's. on the walk back, my stomach decided to get a little more aggressive. then, when i got home, realized i'd puked up my only meal of the day and decided to try some light chicken noodle soup. apparently, bad idea. stomach got angry. i spent the rest of the evening lying on the couch miserable until i passed out into a gross-feeling nap. and then it was bedtime.

woke up this morning feeling significantly better, though not 100%, and thoroughly exhausted. i was tired enough and even after waking up, walking around, feeding puppy and, y'know, carrying on with my day, i still managed to pass out for another hour and a half completely by accident. decided to get out of the house. headed to starbucks for a nice, holiday peppermint mocha. which, by the way, didn't come in the signature red holiday cup! disappointing. vented to smingle, who's sitting in urban lab studio right now. hehehe. anyhoo. it's now 2:30pm. first meal of the day: an artisan breakfast sandwich. so far so good. no urges to get rid of it immediately.

still can't even think about that pumpkin soup without wanting to throw up. so i'm going to have to ask aaron to help me get rid of it so it doesn't bring back those gross feelings...ew.

vox populi vox dei | milwaukee county courthouse

the hopeful.
before that debacle with the gross happened, i had an interview at eppstein uhen architects at their milwaukee office in the morning. first off, it was my first time to milwaukee. and hey, it's nice. cute. kinda like a smaller, less schnazzy chicago. i took the badger bus there since i hadn't driven on the highway before (i only just started driving on the beltline) and wanted to see what the trip would be like before i did have to make that trip by car on my own. btw, not bad. i totally could have driven there and back perfectly fine. damn me and my habit to second guess myself. anyway, got to milwaukee. started walking my way over to where the office was located in the third ward. so here is my interpretation of the third ward. it's like a combination of pittsburgh's south side and the strip district. or how i initially put it to aaron, "like the south side, but less kitschy", if that makes sense. cute historic district with art galleries, stores and coffee shops, and a couple of architecture/consultant offices sprinkled around. it's nice. i could totally see myself working there. even with the commute from and back to madison every day. the commutes would suck, but the drive itself is actually kinda nice.

so the interview: the interviewer definitely made me nervous with the number of time he emphasized that it may take some time for them to judge their need for production people. but anyhoo. the interview was for a production role at the milwaukee office. it would essentially be taking architect drawings and sketches and developing them into more technically correct drawings in revit. it would be a temporary position. but all the same, i need a job. and he did mention that it was definitely a good thing that i would be willing to work in either their madison or milwaukee office. because their madison office is the newer, smaller one and they were looking to expand, hopefully soon. again, like all architecture, it would depend on the demand. but i would love a position with this company. the more i look into eua and talk to them and learn more about them, the more i really, really, really want to work for them. their portfolio looks awesome. they have plenty of projects that really speak to me and attract me to want to learn more and be a part of them. and now having been to their milwaukee office, i love their office. it just seems like a really fantastic place to be everyday for work. i really don't care that i'd have to commute for almost three hours everyday just to get between home and work. i'm really hoping that all came across in my interview, because i think i sometimes come across as super understated, which would be bad in this case. i want this job. so badly. i'm super excited about it. and really hope it can happen soon. i really want to be able to get moving on doing architectural work again. as stressed as i was in school, i still liked what i did. and very much want to be able to get going in doing it in a work environment. i would do anything. seriously.

fingers crossed. hard.

the adorable.
as i mentioned in the gross, i had been on my way out the door when the onset of disgusting hit. i had been scheduled for a volunteer orientation session at the dane county humane society beginning at 6pm. i've decided to take on more volunteer opportunities while simultaneously actively working on my job search.  so i hit the road, still feeling queasy. and after the trip this morning convincing me that i could totally make the drive to milwaukee, i was thinking really hard about jumping on the beltline to give it a shot. i was still iffy about it until the i headed out after being sick at home and realized i was already running late, and my longer route avoiding the beltline may not get me to the shelter in time. so i decided to suck it up, my nerves about getting on the beltline and the queasyness.

now for the actual adorable. i got selected to be a canine companion at the dchs! i'm super excited. since all my plans to get a graduation puppy when i moved out here got shot down by the fact that finding a dog-friendly apartment was near impossible, i was hoping to get back in interactions with some adorable pups until i could finally get my own again. now i can! i still have to schedule training with my coordinator, but the gist is that i get to volunteer multiple times a week to play with dogs and pups, take them for walks, socialize them and whatnot, and also just, in general, help out at the shelter with cleaning dog dishes and supplies and doing a little laundry. i'm okay with that. fair trade. i am super excited to get started. even though i'm starting out just as winter is about hit. whatever! puppies!!! :) hopefully i can do it for long enough so then get more experience and volunteer at a more advanced level or in more than just one area. :) so excited. :D

so that was my day yesterday, very much full of super ups and downs, excitement and terrible then more excitement. as long as i don't think of pumpkin soup for a loooooooong while, i think i'll definitely be able to chalk this one up as a positive. :)

sheep test.

went apple picking a little while back. door creek orchard also has a sheep farm. adorable.

wanted to test out posting from my phone via email. so here's a sheep.

baa.

thirteen. fisheye.

my new toy! :)

 i've been scoping out lomography for awhile because i really love their stuff. i miss using film. experimenting with my images without knowing the outcome until i get the film roll in for developing. i settled on the fisheye2. i gotta say, i love it. i'm still trying out new things like color gels and the multi-exposure (mx) function, but it's all going really good. :) i'm super happy with some of the shots i've gotten so far.

the little humpty dumpty man sitting at the main entrance to the epic systems campus. i love the colors that came out with this one. the angle also worked out really well with this subject.

oh hai.

my first victim. hehehe. my adorable little puppybutt. sorry about the flash, but again, the colors and effects that came with it worked out well.

a little fun with multi-exposures out by the state capitol.

the state capitol.

the old orpheum theater on state st. i really love the angles in this shot. it was pretty much what i was imagining and hoping would happen.

yesss! an intersection along state st. coloring came out well. angle got all the composition elements i wanted, including the centralized capitol. even got a sunstar with flare in there. all-around happyface. :)

i had to get a little too close to these tracks for comfort.

i mostly took this shot for the content. the strong horizon line with train tracks contrasted with the manhole cover and the vertical towers on the left.

<3 sun stars and flares

the terrace above the front entrance to my apartment complex. the grid warped nicely. again, topped nicely with the sun effects. fave.

experimenting with color filters.

decided to try out some color filters, when a certain little bunny came exploring. this is definitely a favorite shot. and the color addition actually worked out decently. i've been trying other colors since, but this is one of the best.

self-portrait at my finest :)

just to see what all the fuss is about.

so puppy's taken up a new habit. licking rugs. for approximately five mins at a time. i blame reggie.

on the other end of things, apparently reggie has taken to standing in the middle of my old bedroom where puppy's pen used to be and whining. he misses the stinkyface. that is both adorable and a little sadface.

it'll be nice to go visit them after their move.

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oh yea. HAPPY JUNE, EVERYBODY! :)

you've got to share it, so you dare it.

B took me around the epic systems campus yesterday. let's just say, it's....epic. ha. the entire campus consists of a series of buildings named alphabetically as if part of a galaxy. they start at andromeda, borealis, cassiopeia, and work their way around to heaven, isis and kohoutek...so far. their two main parking structures start at the end of the alphabet, so the assumption seems to be that their going to make their way to the middle of the alphabet before the campus is finished. and all of this is connected by a huge outdoor courtyard. but here comes the real doozy.

we saved a baby duckling!!! :)

so there was a family of ducks in epic's lake/pond thing. with a stream, a couple of little waterfalls and one large waterfall leading into it. the stream goes through the courtyard. as we were wandering through the courtyard, we find one little duckling swimming itself in circles because it is clearly lost. it looked so sad! and confused! and scared! and here are two awkward humans trying to catch it and herd it back to its family! then a family of three with two dogs comes by. we fill them in on what we're trying to do. so they help. strangely, its the dogs' whining that attracts the little duckling enough for him to leave the water, where me, B and the mom play hardcore defense on this tiny guy for long enough to herd him into a tight circle and for B to sweep him up! seriously. best. D. ever. we quickly powerwalk him back to the lake, to drop his squeaking self into the water, where his mom promptly starts quacking back at him. except his terrified, confused self abruptly turns and swims away from his mommy. the dogs start barking. duck-mom gets scared and turns to swim the other way. its only at this point that the duck who looks like two crazed beagles aren't his mommy. and the duck who looks and sounds like a duck is, in fact, his mother. cue the most adorable beeline this duckling could make towards his mommy and his four other siblings. we saved his life! it was awesome.

sigh...

then we carried on our tour of the campus. i found katy fallon (bitner)'s office and have now creeped on her whiteboard. i guess i'll wait and see when she finds it and figures out it was me. ha.

p.s. heaven has a big metal slide between the second and ground floor. it is sick. at the suggestion of andy, we both go down head first. crazy! and strangely hilarious.

i'm not sure i have a favorite building yet, but i absolutely love the courtyard. adorable duckling aside. :)

random sculptures all around campus

ditto.

probably my favorite part of campus

there's a lake...

we later saved her baby!

nice.

NY subway-themed.

no idea what this was.

but it was in "Heaven"...

i don't remember which buildings these are...

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earlier in the day, we also headed out to the farmer's market out by the capitol. there was so much stuff! we only got a little to hopefully make some tasty fried rice and/or pizza for dinner tonight. we also got some fresh radishes for little puppybutt. :)