Life in Beta

Upon arriving at work today, I was greeted by the sight of a crime scene next to my desk.

  
The death of A. Plant – suicide or foul-play?

A smashed ceramic pot, an outline of the “body” of my aloe plant, and a note, which read:

My dearest Amanda,

It is with a heavy heart I must inform you that I am leavin gthis world. You have meant the world to me, and have cared for me when no one else has. However, I feel that I cannot withstand the constant threats from Sean and Theresa anymore. Their never-ending poking, prodding, and rubbing of my leaves have frustrated me to no end.

I thought I could deal with the bullying, but I can’t. Even your love and affection cannot combat the torture I’ve felt over the last few months. What has this world come to when a simple aloe plant such as muself can’t survive amongst humans?

I feel certain that I’m going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time.

When all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.

I must end it. There’s no hope left. I’ll be at peace.

Sincerely,
A. Plant

As it out, “A. Plant” accidentally got knocked off the window sill yesterday while I was off work by my boss, Ron. He decided to stage the entire “crime scene” to throw me off. Ha ha.

A. Plant, back from the dead.

Actually, Ron felt bad and replaced my pot with a beautiful new bamboo one that has lots of room to grow. I think my aloe plant looks much happier in his new pot. (I guess this makes A. Plant a zombie-plant, returned from the dead?)

This is just another example of why I love my office and my coworkers.

How on earth did it get to be December already? To be fair, the photo above is from last April. We haven’t had much snow this season  … yet. I have no doubt that it’s coming.

On the horizon for MY December …

• My mom’s (*cough* 55th) birthday is on Sunday. We’re celebrating Saturday afternoon with friends and family.
• I need to finish Christmas shopping soon. I have a couple things that should arrive via UPS very soon, but I have a lot more to make/buy/order online. Thank goodness for Etsy and Amazon because I hate fighting the crowds at the mall.
• Mom and I will be going to Tennessee for a long weekend to see my friends at the knit shop. Sadly, it’s going to be the last get-together we have at the shop before it closes. But I’m excited to see my friends!
• Of course, celebrating Christmas: decorating, cookie-baking and spending time with friends and family. Mike and I decided we’re going to try and keep it simple instead of going overboard like we did last year. (We’ll see how that works out, ha!)
• Preparing for the official launch of my web design and development business, Proper Dog Media, in January! All the paperwork, legal and banking stuff is set up, so now I’m moving on to the fun stuff! My graphic designer showed me sketches of my logo design earlier this week and I am so excited with how it’s coming along! Once that is finished, I’ll be working on business cards and other print and promotional materials too. I love being busy!
• Finally, I’ll be making plans and setting goals for 2012. I’m extremely optimistic about what next year has in store!

I borrowed this idea from Danielle at Sometimes Sweet. Just a little snapshot of what’s going on in my life right now …

Obsessing over: After being gifted some beautiful vintage Pyrex and Fire King the other day, I’ve been obsessed with researching all the patterns and shapes/sizes they come in. I like browsing for them on Etsy to get an idea of what pieces I really want to hunt for, but I’m looking forward to scouring thrift stores and garage sales to find them. I think the search is half the fun!

Working on: Launching Proper Dog Media, wrapping up a client’s web project, starting a new web development contract position with an awesome design company (SO excited about this!), and of course my real day-job which is super hectic right now too. WHEW! I love being busy!

Thinking about: Planning my mom’s birthday party this Saturday. I need to order a cake! (Just told Siri to remind me to do that tomorrow — gosh I love that thing.)

Anticipating: I’m super excited because Erica is coming to visit this weekend. We have a new campy zombie movie to watch (Zombie Honeymoon) and I’m happy she’ll be here for my mom’s birthday too. I’m also eagerly awaiting payday (Friday) so I can do some more Christmas shopping!

Listening to: For the first time in several years, I’ve really been enjoying listening to Christmas music! My Christmas playlist ranges from Bing Crosby to Trans Siberian Orchestra to the new She & Him album. The classics tend to be my favorites, but I like mixing in newer songs too. I just ordered Hue & Hum‘s Christmas CD on Etsy. Have you heard it? There’s a sample of one of the songs here. I’m super excited to hear the rest of the album!

Drinking: Lots of water, coffee, and milk. That’s pretty much all I drink.

Wishing: That I could pause life for a little while and catch up! I can’t believe 2011 is coming to a close. I need more time!

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P.S. Be sure and get in touch with me ASAP
if you’re interested in doing a sponsorship swap for December!

Spaces are still available for all ad sizes. Visit my sponsorship page for more info.

During the months of December 2011 and January 2012, I’ve decided to offer sponsorship slots on Life In Beta, as a sort of experiment.

I have a small but steady readership that I’m hoping to grow — so instead of charging for ad slots, I am looking for sponsorship ad exchanges on a per-month basis.

I’m hoping this will be mutually beneficial for other small/medium-readership bloggers out there!

.  .  .  .

Ads are available in 3 sizes:

Featured Sponsor Ad - 180×220 (Only one slot available per month)
Large Sponsor Ad - 180×120 (Limited slots available per month)
Small Sponsor Ad - 180×80 (Limited slots available per month)

For more information on which ad size includes, check out my sponsorship page. If you’re interested in swapping a similarly-sized ad for December or January (or both), please contact me.

And P.S. — Don’t think that your blog is too small or doesn’t get enough traffic. I love exploring new blogs and meeting new people, so don’t hesitate to contact me about a link swap!