on my desk

At any given time, you will find my desk littered with fun, colorful, random items. 

 

My soul thrives on lots of color and at least a little bit of clutter.  :)

What about you?  Are you the type who can only get work done when the surface of your work space is neat and tidy?  Or do you function better when surrounded by a little bit of a mess?  

~abi~ 

true life stories ~ renewing my license

I don't know what you did on your lunch break today, but I went home and made a healthy lunch and then renewed my license.  But of course, it's me, so there's more to the story.  See, first of all, I've been delaying getting my license renewed.  One, because I am a procrastinator and that's just what I do.  And two, because I accidentally washed my nose ring down a hotel drain in Texas last weekend.  Oops.  And of course I wanted to be wearing my nose ring in my new license pic, considering that four years ago, my nose wasn't even pierced.

my old license pic, from 2008

So, I ordered a couple new nose rings from my favorite nose-ring-maker on Etsy and waited for them to arrive.  I crossed my fingers that they'd get here before my license expired {which would have been tomorrow}.  When I went home on my lunch break, I was happy to see the mailman at my mailbox.  Sure enough, my nose rings had arrived, yay!

I ran into my house, put in my new nose ring, fixed a delicious, healthy lunch and touched up my hair and makeup.  Back out to the car and down the road toward the tag agency.  Realized I forgot the delicious lunch I'd just made.  Back to the house, retrieved my lunch.  Back down the road to the tag agency.  {This is just how my life works: always forgetting something, losing something, messing something up; turning around, starting over, correcting mistakes, and so it goes for me.}

More makeup and hair fixing in my car before glancing at my phone and seeing that it's 12:32pm and my lunch break is more than half over.  I hurry inside, thankful to find that there was no line.  I make an awkward, half joking comment to the woman behind the counter about being nervous about my new license photo.  What I don't tell her is that I am extremely vain {I could use more pc words like self conscious or insecure, but let's just call it what it is}; and that as a photographer, the photo that represents me for the next four year is a way. bigger. deal. than it should be!!  I also don't tell her that I still remember quite clearly how the nice lady at the tag agency four years ago actually let me look at my pic and even {gasp!} retook it for me when I didn't like the first one.  Maybe I should've told the lady today about that, but she didn't seem nearly as sympathetic.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that she used all of her self control to not sneer and roll her eyes at my apparent vanity. 

Took a few moments to look in the mirror and mess with my hair.  Sat down like the lady told me to; she answered a call; I stood back up and did more hair fixing.  Phone call {finally} over.  Sit back down.  Lady informs me that I have to take off my glasses.  Dang it.  Stand up.  Put glasses on counter.  Fix hair again.

As I'm sitting in the chair facing the dreaded little camera, I lose all my courage and force up a fake smile while holding my breath.  Crap.  I can see that the lens of the tag agency camera is all smeared and I sincerely contemplate getting up to wipe it off, but then I actually think about the fact that the smears might make my skin look better.  Yep, I really thought that.

The lady tells me, "We'll snap on three."  And snap on three she did.  By then, my fake smile was three times more strained that it was at first.  Great.  I let out my breath and wait.

my new license pic, taken today

Okay, it's not terrible.  I'd rather have less earrings and less bottom teeth showing and less squinty eyes.  But it's whatev.  I'm happy with my eyebrows and my hair.  Hahahaha.  {Now you see my vanity.  Shameful.}

Just to prove to myself that I am a better photographer than that tag agency woman, I snapped this pic once I was back in my car and my heartbeat had returned to normal...

This is how I'd prefer my license pic to look: glasses and a more sincere smile.  Oh, and a nose ring that isn't obliterated by smears on the camera lens.

Happy Monday, friends!  :)

~abi~

p.s.  As if this post hasn't already proven my weirdness, I just have to say that although I have no idea what the four digits on the side of the license pics represent, I am happy that the first two digits in my old pic are 55 and that the last two in my new one are 23.  I have a numbers "thing".  Five is my favorite and I also have this thing about thirty-two, and more recently, twenty-three.  :)

i'm not complaining, i'm just stating facts

Today has just been "one of those days".  You know, the kind of day where your boss makes you photocopy an old tractor manual of about one hundred and fifty pages {true story}; after which the office copier/fax machine gets jammed and then a strange man who came to your office has to help you un-jam it so that it can print out the invoice he sent over; never mind that your boss isn't there to approve the check and sign it; oh, and then you have to void and reprint several checks once your boss is there; and then your Photoshop crashes, losing something you've been working on for a day and a half and didn't have saved, even though you know better than to not save as you go.  You know, just little things like that.  Nothing too major, but annoying enough to grate on your nerves and maybe make your eyes teary even though you know that none of the above is really reason enough to cry.  And then you want to have a pity party, complete with black tutus and gray streamers.  No cheery, bright colors, please.  But hugs are welcome. 

Sorry for this poor-me post, it's just my way of venting.  And now I want to turn it around.  So, immediately after I leave work in about fifteen minutes, I plan on doing something nice for someone else.  Then, I'm going to go home and work on my room transformation.  {Doesn't "room transformation" sound like a much nicer way to spend my Friday evening than "cleaning my room"??}  After that, it will be time to watch my Thunder play some basketball, which we all know will lift my spirits.

I'd love to hear all about your day or your week or your weekend plans.  Leave a comment and distract me from my pity party! :)  Or put on a dark party hat and join in.. ;)

~abi~

dreamer

I am going through photos I shot last year, choosing favorites to feature in galleries on my coming-soon-new-site.  As I was going through the wedding photos from the lovely Kevin & Melissa's wedding, I fell in love again with this simple image...

This sweet tattoo is on the arm of the always fabulous Stephanie Jane.  She is such a cool girl.  {You can follow her on Twitter here.}

And as much as I love dreams and dreamers, let's not forget the words of my man Jack Johnson:
A dream's a dream
And all this living's so much harder than it seems
But girl don't let your dreams be dreams
You know this living's not so hard as it seems
Don't let your dreams dreams

Cheesy {but necessary} thought of the day:  Don't just dream it, achieve it!

~abi~

that's what she wore ~ lace & skinny cargos

I have literally owned this denim jacket since I was seventeen years old.  I'm thirty-one.  I got it from Target.  A long, long time ago. :)

I guess it's held up pretty well, huh?  It does have this one pretty decent sized hole by the collar.  But I don't mind that a bit.

I think I got those earrings at Burlington Coat Factory awhile back.  Burlington has some really great accessories.  And it's cheap!

 

My mom got me this lace shirt for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure she found it at a thrift store. :)  Like mother, like daughter.

I found these pants at Goodwill.  They were brand new with the tags from Target still on them.  Gotta love that.  The leather ankle boots were from Ross, and I think the belt was, too. 

This nail polish was a gift from my sis and nephews.  It's e.l.f. in Metallic Blue.  I love it. :)

The following pic is not really a picture of my butt. :)  I just wanted to show you the cool satin detail on the back of my shirt.  Do you know how difficult it was for me to get a shot of my back??  Man, I need someone to photograph me for these posts.  Then I could have them use my "real" camera, too.  My little point and shoot cam is just easier for me to hold out on my own and use for now. :)

~abi~

mute monday ~ just trust

image by Abi Ruth

my favorite fashion sites

As I might have previously mentioned here about eighty-two times, I am a reader of blogs.  Just for fun today, I thought I'd share my three favorite style bloggers.  Just in case you need some inspiration for what to wear this weekend. :)

First up is Blair Eadie at Atlantic-Pacific.  I absolutely love the way that Blair fearlessly mixes patterns, adds layers, and uses color.  She can rock a downtown cool girl look or a sophisticated lady outfit.  Blair also wears stacks of bracelets at all times, which of course makes me love her style that much more!

image from this post

Next is Keiko Lynn.  Keiko is adorable and seems so sweet and fun that I want to be friends with her in real life.  :)  All of her posts are great, but I especially love her makeup and hair tutorials!  She is not afraid to play around with some bright, bold makeup shades, yet she manages to still look fab instead of overdone.

image from this post

And, last but not least, is the well known and totally legit street style blogger Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist.  If you aren't at least vaguely familiar with his name, you must live under a very unfashionable rock! ;)  Scott set the standard for street style bloggers, in my opinion.  His eye for style is spot on, and his photos are always perfectly executed!  I could gush a little more, but really, you should just spend some time browsing his site...on a weekly basis. :)  {Oh, and p.s.  Guys, he features lots of well dressed gentlemen, so this site is for you, too!}

image from this post

So there you go: my three go-to sites for some fashion inspiration!  Here's to a well-dressed weekend, friends!  Happy Friday!

~abi~

genius

A couple months ago or so, one of my friends tweeted this quote, and it has stuck in my head ever since:

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see."
- Arthur Schopenhauer.

I love that quote and think it's so good, because sometimes I think our society values "talent" more than "genius".  Or maybe it's just that we think "genius" is weird because we can't see that target!  Even as individuals, dealing and processing our own ideas, I feel like it's easy to just dismiss what could be a genius thought or idea, simply because "no one else does it that way". 

Anyway, it's a thought-provoking quote, at least to me.  Then today, I saw this:

"Genius gets you nowhere. Execution is everything."

That thought sort of goes along with my word for the year: achieve.  After all, what good is a genius thought or idea if you never act on it??  Now my mind is really spinning!  :)

~abi~

p.s.  Hey, any of you grammar snobs, please help me out...Should I have put the period inside the quotation marks in the sentences above, or did I do it properly?  It's been too long since I learned that punctuation rule! :)

my tattoos and other news

So, as you can see, things are changing here on my blog.  This is really just a bit of a sneak peek of sorts, because there's about to be a whole overhaul!  I'm super excited about it, and I have my incredibly talented friend Kelly Beane to thank!  Not only is she an amazing photographer {she does all of my photos}, she also designed my new logo, above!  And she is the one redoing my soon-to-be new site for me!  Yay!!!  Thank you, Kelly Beane!

If it weren't for Kelly, things would probably never change around here.  Change is difficult for me {except when it comes to my hair!}.  And it's not even that I don't desire change sometimes.  It's more that I procrastinate and want to be 1,000% sure, and want everything to be absolutely perfectly set up and ready before I change it -- which, let's face it, hardly ever happens. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are some things you can't really change.  Like tattoos. :)  I saw this post earlier on a fun blog that I like to read called thxthxthx.

It made me smile.  I have two tattoos, and to be honest, neither of them is absolutely perfect, but I do love them both.  And I do plan on getting more! :)

My first tattoo I ever got is this tiny green star.  It's about the size of a dime, and it's on my left hip.  I got it on Hollywood Blvd.  I smile every time I see it and think of that trip.  My friend and former roommate got a tiny blue star on her right hip at the same time as well.  Fun times, fun memories.

My other tattoo is a memorial tattoo for my younger brother Jack.  He was a Green Beret and was killed in 2009 while on a mission in the Philippines.  It reads, "De Oppresso Liber" meaning "To Free The Oppressed", which is the Special Forces motto.  Underneath that is Jack's signature from a letter he wrote. 

So those are my permanent body decorations. :)  Do you have any tattoos?  If not, would you ever get one?  If you have one or more, are you planning on adding any? 

~abi~

photo shoot ~ k

My friend K is vacationing in San Diego.  I'm trying not to be envious as I read her tweets and see her Instagram pix.  :)  Here are some photos I took of K right here in OKC, at her very cool apartment.  I also got to play stylist as well as makeup artist for this shoot, so that's always fun.












K~
You are too cool.  I hope you are having a lovely vacation.  You deserve some beach time! :)  Love you!

~abi~

a spoken word ~ thoughts on religion

This video is making the rounds on Facebook today.  It's really good, and definitely worth watching if you haven't seen it yet.  Or, if you have seen it, I encourage you to watch it again.  And this time, when you watch it, try not to just think "Oh yeah, I agree."  Try to view yourself and your religion, aka spirituality, through the lens of this spoken word.  That's what I did.  It's convicting and challenging. 



It was interesting that I came across this video today, after reading and pondering the following verse this morning:
James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

That's it.  It's all right there, in that verse.  And expounded on in that video.  Good stuff.

~abi~

thrift thriving ~ my new laptop bag

So, the other day I stopped by Goodwill, as I often do on my lunch break.  The very cute laptop bag I had been carrying {a gift from my mama last Christmas} was falling apart, so I was excited to see this cute orange bag for less than ten dollars.  It also looked like it had never been used.  Score!



Check out all the useful pockets inside, too.  For all my useful stuff.  Or junk.  It's whatev.

 

And filled with all my goodies...

Here's a shot of me wearing it, taken in my office.  {Check out some of the cool stuff on my bulletin board! :)}



I was curious about the original cost of a bag like this.  So I did a quick Google search, and ended up on the Target website -- where I found you can purchase this bag for eighty bucks.  Nice!  :)



I also found a really cute bag the other day that I will be using as a camera bag.  I'll post pix of it soon.

And here are a few thrifting tips, just for fun:
~Stop by often
Find one or two thrift stores close to where you work or live, and get in the habit of dropping in to browse.  I do this on my lunch break all the time.  Thrift stores are constantly putting new stuff out, so the more you're there, the better your chances of finding some great stuff.
~Try on everything
The other day, I bought three shirts in three different sizes.  Due to the wide variety of clothing age {can clothing have an age?} and name brands, sizes obviously will vary greatly at thrift stores, and you should always try stuff on before buying.  I mean, it's not like you can return it, you know.
~Go after the holidays
At the beginning of the year, people are getting rid of old stuff to make room for new items and clothing.  Or sometimes people even donate new items that they maybe didn't have on their Christmas list.  Silly people.  Lucky me. :)

~abi~

fascinating, to me

This morning, on my twitter timeline, someone retweeted this..


{from here}

I just thought it was pretty cool, so I had to share it. 

I am such a visual person.  And aside from that, money and numbers can be confusing for me, so seeing this image kinda blew my mind. :)  Isn't it crazy??

~abi~

mute monday ~ self portraits at dusk

{taken by me, in my backyard, this evening}

~abi~

achieve

It's no secret that I am a lover of blogs.  There are several I follow faithfully, and many, many more that I check often.  Today, I clicked over to my friend Abbi's blog from a link she posted on Facebook.  Her post today was about choosing a word for the year.  It's a good post, and I clicked through to the post she recommended at the end.  Before I had even gotten all the way through that post, I had my word for 2012:

Achieve

There it was, in my head.  And it wasn't going away.  Normally, I can be pretty indecisive.  Especially when it comes to choosing something like a word for the year.  I mean, that seems like a big deal.  Shouldn't I put more thought into it, dwell on it, maybe sleep on it?

Nope.  Because that's exactly why that word is perfect for me, for this year.  It's time to stop dreaming and start doing.

Since my birthday is New Year's Eve, I always start a new year of my life at the same time as I am starting the New Year {but I get a one-day head start. ;)}  So it's always an especially good time to reflect on the previous year and look forward to what I will achieve in the coming year.  {See how I did that?}  Except lately -and by lately I mean the past several years- I feel like there hasn't been much achieving going on in my life.

Sure, there have been some noteworthy things I have taken on, but I have way more ideas in my heart and mind that have never come to pass.  I think this will be a good year to achieve more than just think about, to do more than just dream.

a·chieve

 [uh-cheev]  verb, a·chieved, a·chiev·ing.

verb (used with object)

1. to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish 

2. to get or attain by effort; gain; obtain: to achieve victory.

verb (used without object)

3. to bring about an intended result; accomplish some purpose or effect.

Synonyms
1.  consummate, complete; effect, execute; realize, reach. See "do" .  

2.  realize, win. 

 So, here's to achieving, completing, reaching, realizing, winning. :)

~abi~ 

 

various thoughts and photos from the past several days

~Kristin Chenoweth is tiny and beautiful and has an amazing voice.  And I like her even more after she  got into the spirit of things by sporting the Thunder colors when she sang the national anthem for last Thursday's game!



~Meeting Twitter friends in real life is pretty cool.  Even cooler?  Meeting them randomly at a Thunder game!  You rock, Stacey!



~He's my fave!:)



~A good fortune to get right before the start of a new year, yes? :)  {And my nails look terrible here.  Yikes.}



~When I was in Iowa for Christmas, my grandma {who I am pretty much a carbon copy of} and I did a little shopping together.  She bought me this amazing necklace for my birthday.  She even had them gift wrap it for me, with me standing there.  Love her, love this necklace! :)



~I have really pretty friends who are beautiful on the inside, too!  Here are some fab ladies who joined me on my birthday to watch the New Year's Eve movie.  I wore gold for my golden birthday: 31 on the 31st plus NYE, woohoo! :)



~I love dressing up!  {Still my birthday, so more gold.}



~This is the fanciest I've ever dressed for a Thunder game! :)



~I got a streamer from a proposal that took place a few rows behind me during the game.  I feel like this could possibly be a good omen for my love life in 2012.  Also, I'm knocking on wood now so as not to jinx myself! ;)



~Awww!  {I debated the rightness of posting a pic of some unknown child, but I figured since he's in disguise that it's okay. ;)}



~My nephews do a really good job of making me feel loved!





~I refrained from using photoshop to suck in my chin in the following pic.. :)



~I think I was born on the right holiday..



~My awesome-birthday-weekend-high sort of came crashing to a halt on Sunday night, when my sister and nephews returned from church and a trip to the store to find that their house had been broken into.. :(



~Thieves suck.  They took two tv's and two laptops, a PlayStation 3, my old camera and a lens of mine that my sis was borrowing, some dvd's, my sister's cell phone, and other items.  Oh, and my nephew's jar of change! :(  Jerks! 



~But God is good, all the time.  At least my sis and nephews weren't at home at the time of the robbery.  And they're safe, that's what really matters.

~Happy New Year, friends!

~abi~