Muttersome

Back for a minute

2011-12-20T20:31:00.003-05:00

Hello. Long time no blog (Stace, this is for you!). Just a quick stop in for some rapid-fire notes about things that are happening in my life right now:

-We're building a house. Enter hours spent wasted on Pinterest looking for decorating inspiration. In very slightly related news, why do people always put stuff on their pianos? Drives me batty.

-Holiday season = cookie season = a quadrupled daily butter and sugar intake. I'm starting to think that faint smell of snickerdoodle that follows me around is actually wafting out of my pores.

-Bar chords had almost defeated me, but then...well, let's just say I think the tide has turned.

That's all for now. Hopefully blogging will resume on a somewhat regular basis (haha...yeah right) once the holidays are over and our hectic schedules have died down. Merry Christmas y'all!

(Yep, I said y'all. Not really sure why. Just seemed like the right thing to say.)

Breaking the habit

2011-09-25T17:07:00.001-05:00

I've always considered myself a saver. Not exactly a saver of money, though goodness knows I like to save it, but a saver of stuff. And not in the "I'm hoarding all these shoes" way (well, maybe), but more in a "this is special so I'm going to save it for an occasion/to make it last longer."

I do this with everything from clothes to food. But recently I've decided to try and consciously fight this instinct.

Those gorgeous strawberries I wanted to eat only a few at a time so I could savor them? Half of them end up shriveled and in the trash because I forgot about them. The cheese that cost $5.99 a pound, thereby requiring careful rationing of each delicious sliver? Inevitably it molds. Even the special sparkly shoes I don't pull out but once a year end up losing their shine, buried in a pile of the more frequently favored footwear.

This is bad. I should not do this. My instinct to "save it!" ends up wasting it instead.

Hence, my resolution. I think I have been marginally successful so far. The grapes are almost gone and that's a start, because usually a bunch of grapes ends up breeding angry raisins on the bottom shelf of my fridge.

Incidentally and as a complete departure from the topic at hand, a teacher once told me he saw a translated copy of "the Grapes of Wrath" in Japan being marketed as "The Angry Raisins." Pretty sure a lot of Japanese were rightfully confused.

Return of the blog

2011-09-15T16:50:00.001-05:00

Hola. It has been a long time. But recent events have initiated my return...specifically, I got a smartphone. And this will make it much easier to blog when something interesting happens to me. Like the praying mantis outside the apartment just now. Or the prehistoric millipede that meandered its way through my office building. Or the seriously thumb sized spider whose web I disturbed yesterday. With my head.

Yes, evidently the only interesting things that happen to me involve bugs. But at least I posted. Six months, what?!

My friend Sophia

2011-03-29T18:18:00.001-05:00

Loves me so much she sent me this picture of a mutant strawberry!

Thank you Sofa! It's awesome!!!

The Beauty of a Saturday

2011-03-26T12:27:00.003-05:00

Waking up at eight, an unparalleled luxury. It is also one of those mornings where everything is at equilibrium, so you can sleep under the blankets with your arms over the top, and your body is not too warm and your arms are not too cold. The pillows are exactly right.

Then, waffles for breakfast with the last of the buttermilk (expired 5 days ago, but it's perfectly fine and also lends a certain edge to your victory over food waste) and half a box of wilty strawberries, resurrected with a little water and some sugar and turned into a perfectly good, sweet-yet-tart strawberry sauce to go over the fresh buttermilk waffles (raised with whipped egg whites for that extra fluffiness). There may or may not be chocolate chips at the insistence of your husband.

Then, after all that, some strong Vietnamese style coffee and a book while your husband goes back to bed to ward off a headache. Playing some guitar and putting the final touches on a song you wrote a couple weeks ago but forgot about and never finished. Deep conditioning your hair with a free sample you got from the salon and looking forward to leftover hot wings for lunch.

Ah, the beauty of a Saturday. Too bad you have to ruin it later with a memo that needs to be written by Monday. But for now, just listen to the dishwasher run, your husband playing classic rock acoustic style, watch the way the sunlight just barely misses entering your apartment through the sliding doors, and enjoy.

Giant food

2011-03-06T14:27:00.002-05:00

Another footnote in our "wow we're married and grown ups" file is our BJ's membership. For those not in the know, BJ's is a wholesale club like Sam's Club or Costco, where everything you buy is gigantic. Before anyone in the universe begins to judge us too harshly, BJ's also has gas for about four cents cheaper than the regular gas station. So that was a significant factor in our decision to get a membership. Plus, it's just really fun to wander around and look at all the big stuff, like forty eight ounce tubs of cottage cheese. Because there are people in this world who can eat that much cottage cheese before it expires.

Anyway. The point of this story is that no matter how hard I try, going to BJ's always results in some kind of astronomical total at the check out (which, by the way, usually takes at least a half hour because everyone in the store buys hundreds of items at a time). If I go to a normal grocery store and buy, say, flour, eggs, cheese, veggies, some kind of meat, and fruit, my total might come to about $18. If I go to BJ's, that total is like $96. Except we're buying ten pounds of flour, two dozen eggs, two pounds of cheese, fourteen red peppers, four pounds of steak and three pounds of bananas. So I mean, it evens out...but still.

Finally, what is potentially the biggest hurdle in shopping the world of jumbo foodstuffs: fitting it all into our little apartment. Our refrigerator is a perfectly average sized refrigerator, with a perfectly average sized freezer. It was not equipped to deal with eighteen yogurts, two-carton packs of soy milk, and enough deli meat for fifteen sandwiches all at the same time. So a trip to BJ's usually means an exercise in fridge organization, wherein all items are carefully fitted into exactly-sized compartments. This requires extraordinary discipline, not to mention spatial intelligence, because as soon as you move the mustard two millimeters to the left the peanut butter is falling off the shelf and then you're sunk.

All this to say that life in suburbia is not always boring. Sure, I could be living in a pocket sized loft in the middle of a hip urban neighborhood. But then where would I fit the two gallon jug of olive oil?!

Someday I'll be a rock star

2010-12-06T14:12:00.002-05:00

So one of my favorite things about my (now spousal) relationship is that both of us brought our own tricks and talents into the match. I know how to cook, T. can juggle, etc. One of my favorite of his talents is that he can play guitar, and really well, too. Being musically inclined, I have tried in the past to learn guitar, mostly because it seemed like it would be easier to write songs on guitar than it was on piano. Also, I don't know about you, but I don't have the upper body strength to carry a piano around and keyboards annoy me.

But with the time that I have on my hands and my love of the country twang, I have enlisted T.'s help in charting a new course of guitar study. And its's awesome! He taught me the three chords that make up Louie, Louie, and any number of other classic rock and roll songs. I've also started practicing and learning on my own a bit, and even though 90% of my strumming sounds like a garbled mess, the 10% that rings true sounds so awesome that I can already picture myself on a stage wearing cowboy boots, crooning into a microphone while a soft spotlight highlights my gleaming hair.

Ahem. I digress.

But here's the problem with learning to play guitar: it effin' HURTS.

Oh sure, I knew that guitar playing in the beginning would be slightly painful, before I developed calluses. In theory. But it is worse in reality, and it hurts to type, to scratch my head with my left hand, even to push my glasses up (and may I say, I never realized I used my left index finger to do that, but boy have I realized it now).

This is all part and parcel of becoming a rock star. I know this. I would just like to skip over the next few weeks, however, and go straight to the part where I find the perfect pair of boots to complement my artfully ripped jeans. Sigh. Keep dreaming, right?

I finished!

2010-11-30T14:19:00.001-05:00

Well, not exactly. I reached 50,000 words on my NaNoWriMo Novel, which means that I am a winner! However, the book seems to be only about 2/3 finished. Annoying. Let's see if I can muster up the motivation to continue working on it, now that I don't have a deadline.

Things that have happened

2010-11-22T17:02:00.002-05:00

It has been a while, but I return again with a dispatch on some of the not-so-interesting happenings in my not-so-interesting life.
1. I passed the bar exam! For anyone who has taken the bar exam, you understand how this feels. For anyone fortunate enough to have escaped the experience, imagine you're standing on a public stage in front of thousands of people. There is a guy with a tattoo gun and he is about to tattoo "SUCKER" on your forehead, unless you managed to achieve a certain score on a test you took three months ago. You have no idea how you did on that test. The screen is about to flash whether or not you got that score. And then...you passed, the guy with the tattoo gun goes away, the adoring crowds cheer, and you can finally stop verging on the edge of constant nausea and be about your business. Yeah. Like that.

2. We just got a Wii and it is awesome. We use it every day...mostly to watch movies through Netflix. Because of it I have now watched The Young Victoria, The Princess and the Frog, and a bunch of cheesy kung fu movies. And Tom gets to watch his "cerebral military documentaries." Win win WIN.

3. I am steadily reading my way through the library's entire paperback collection. Until work starts, this is my job.

4. I am way behind on NaNoWriMo. Like, 10,000 words behind. I need to get my rear in gear if I'm going to finish this year. So why, you ask, am I writing this blog post when I could be writing another 500 words? I don't know. Why am I? See you later.

NaNoWriMo begins again and other sundry news

2010-11-01T18:36:00.002-05:00

Today marks the first day of another National Novel Writing Month, and I am super excited to get started. I feel so much more experienced now with one novel under my belt and totally ready for this blistering 1700 words/day pace. Well, for now at least. About ten days from now I'll start to slow down, so I better start building a word count cushion if I'm going to finish. Stay posted for updates on my progress!

Moving on, T. and I are trying to tackle the confusing morass of the first holiday season as newlyweds. Where do we go? Who do we see? Why does it cost so much money to fly to California for Thanksgiving? These mysteries may seem like nothing...but figuring them out is more than a bit of a headache. You don't want to leave anyone out, and you don't want to change your own beloved traditions, and you don't want to miss anything. Some people might say compromise; I say why the heckles can't I just have it all the way I want?

In other news, bar exam results are posted this Friday. Excuse me while I go vomit.

Californiaaaaaaa

2010-10-21T13:50:00.004-05:00

Things that have happened since last posting:

1) Our apartment turned magically from a pit of chaos into something resembling a decorated and functional dwelling
2) I visited and returned from California, the golden state!
3) I got my hair cut
4) I became addicted to make up

In order.

1) Apartment.

Since moving in with T., we have had a spare room that was basically a scene straight out of Hoarders: Buried Alive. Somehow in this room, we managed to cram a futon, two full bookshelves, six dining room chairs, a microwave, a washer, a dryer, a vacuum, pillows, comforters, blankets, and approximately twenty medium sized boxes. Yes. In one relatively small room. I used to open the door and cry because I knew we would never be able to clean it all up, and also because I suspected that the people living downstairs would sue us once the weight of all that crap crashed through the floor. However, with a little bit of chipping away, a smidge of sweating and cursing, and a whole lot of "We have guests coming over so we better get this done," we have somehow turned it into a usable room. Now there's a desk in there and I can actually access my (full to bursting) closet. Pats on the back, all around!

In addition to the guest room, we also put up the bookshelves we got for our wedding (gorgeous, leaning bookshelves) and T. surprised me by assembling them and stacking all our books on them! They look awesome, by the way, even though he had no idea in what order to put my books (mostly fiction) and one shelf is thus arranged: Robinson Crusoe, Invisible Man, The Professor, On Writing, Lucky's Lady, The Book of Margery Kempe, The Brothers Karamazov, To the Lighthouse, and Twilight. Yep.

2) California

My parents now live in an awesome state. Don't get me wrong, Kansas has its charms, but GEEZ LOUISE. I had so much fun visiting them. They live in a suburb of San Francisco and it is just the cutest, charmingest little town full of nice shops and restaurants. If T. had been with me, I would have never wanted to leave. Here are the things I did when I was there:
-ate as much Vietnamese food as I could handle. San Jose was freaking awesome and I got to satisfy every craving, to the point where I had to beg off and ask to eat a cheeseburger.
-had Shanghai dumplings, bubble tea, and dim sum from a place called Koi Palace. This dim sum restaurant was crazy, with a very complicated waiting system, but the food was totally worth the wait.
-Went to Santa Cruz and ate at the Crow's Nest, then walked on the beach. This was really fun and the weather was gorgeous.
-Went to Carmel-by-the-sea. We walked on the beach and took lots of pictures and my dad bought me a hat from the Carmel Hat Company. Any place where I get a hat is by default awesome, but we liked Carmel so much (the downtown area is so fun to walk around) that my mom spent half an hour in a realty office asking about potential properties.
-Went to San Francisco. We drove into town and stopped at the Golden Gate and then we walked! On the Golden Gate Bridge, to the first tower! It was amazing. We had a view of Alcatraz, and the city, and I even saw dolphins in the Bay.
-Went to visit R. at Google. I'll just leave it at AH-mazing.

3) Hair Cut.

Pretty self explanatory.

4) Make up

So yeah. I think I'm making up (hah) for the last ten years of my life in which I wore barely any makeup, and in which a lot of makeup consisted of both eyeliner AND mascara. Ever since the wedding, in which I realized that make up really DOES make you look a lot better, and that all the people I've been envying my whole life for having such great skin/such big eyes/such bright smiles have actually been using this thing called makeup. OR they are extraterrestrials from Planet Perfect.

Anyway, I bought some makeup stuff and have started using it. This is great, because I'm now moisturizing my skin on a daily basis and learning how to use foundation and powder and blah blah blah, but also bad because I now want to buy EVERYTHING and because I go about my errands every day with a different face and sometimes they're really weird. Last week I was experimenting with a smoky eye and I think the lady at the library was a little shocked to see me sailing in at eleven a.m. looking like I'd just left an all night disco. But I am not deterred! Practice makes perfect, and if that means setting the locals to tittering about my funny face, I'll take it and gladly.

Look out, world! Here I come (tastefully made up, of course).

More soon, love B.

My daily bread

2010-10-03T19:57:00.004-05:00

Becoming a lady of leisure has taken a mild interest in baking and elevated it to a full in frenzy. One of my new resolutions is to never buy another loaf of sandwich bread (someday, I might even be able to stop buying any bread, but baguettes are beyond me right now). Regardless, I have a good white and a good wheat loaf under my belt, and because every bread-baking effort results in two loaves, we've essentially been well supplied with bread for the last three and a half weeks...enough for sandwiches and a near-daily toast breakfast for me. Mmmm. Maybe the best thing is that making bread makes me feel connected to every person who has ever baked a loaf to feed a family. It's wonderful to measure flour and oil a bowl knowing that for hundreds of years people have been making bread the same way and it still works and still tastes good. Like magic! Finally, a way for me to relive those Little House on the Prairie fantasies.

When I'm not up to my elbows in flour kneading some delightful loaves, I am making granola (a habit I picked up law school). Do you know how expensive granola is when you buy it? Do you know how cheap it is when you make it? And how much more delicious it is? If you don't, I urge you to try for yourself.

I have caught a serious case of the homemades. Never heard of this disease? It is a terrible affliction that makes you want to cook everything from scratch. Like...chicken stock, chicken soup, breadcrumbs, marinated red peppers, pie crust, and pizza, in addition to the aforementioned bread and granola.

Phew! The oven may be working overtime, but at least we're eating well.

A (semi) triumphant return, with breakfast

2010-09-29T09:21:00.003-05:00

What you see above is my attempt to kickstart my day, and hopefully kickstart a return to (semi) regular blogging. I have sorely neglected this little journal and my very few readers, but as it's both good for me to write on a (semi) regular basis and keep my creative juices flowing, I'm going to make a real attempt this time. I (semi) promise! I also found my camera charger and port, so I can actually use it to take pictures instead of as a paperweight.

This morning's repast: one slice of homemade wheat toast, one egg, lightly fried, one handful of trail mix, and three fat strawberries. And a cup of coffee. Incidentally, when you start using a new coffee maker, it is perhaps better to follow the machine instructions on the amount of coffee to use (manufacturer suggests 3 tbsp for every 4 cups) instead of the instructions on the coffee bag (which suggests 2 tbsp for every 1 cup). This morning's coffee was undrinkable, as I used 8 tablespoons for a 4 cup brew, so I had to run it again with water in order to drink some coffee that didn't threaten to strip all the enamel off my teeth in one go. However, the newly diluted coffee is very delicious and I feel all fancy drinking coffee out of a coffee maker. Then I look over at the mound of dishes in the sink and the pile of laundry to be folded, and the fancy feeling disappears pretty quick, I can tell you.

I am currently stuck in limbo, and am determined to enjoy it instead of allowing myself to fall (again) into a rut. This is an opportunity for me to be productive! And I shall! I shall! Starting with a new resolution: start each morning by getting fully dressed and made up. There's something about staying in your pajamas all day that tends to get you muddled. I will hopefully avoid this and also teach myself some valuable lessons about how to apply foundation (in downward sweeping motions) and how to blend a smoky eye (crease, lid, browbone...I think).

In the meantime, Martha Stewart chirps in the back, there's chores and unpacking and organizing to be done, and this born-again blogger is signing off. I'll write again (semi) soon.

We're married

2010-08-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

And exhausted. Regular posting should resume in September...until then, rock on.

McCrankypants

2010-07-14T16:26:00.003-05:00

Yes. In case you were wondering, I am cranky. ALL the time. I exist mostly in a constant state of crankiness, punctuated by brief bursts of terrible cheerfulness, followed by anger. How dare the sun be so shiny? How dare the clouds be so fluffy? How dare that squirrel eat a nut?!?! Why does the entire world not collapse in on itself, a frightful implosion of happy and fun and funny, simply because I am stressed out? Why must the universe point out so vividly that I am NOT Its center?!?!?!?! WHY???

Ahem.

In other news, the cessation of my work schedule has limited my run ins with Shower Hook Girl, and I no longer take the train every morning. So my life has become a lot more boring and a lot more consistent, which I guess is a good thing? Monk like, that's me. Nose to the ever-loving grindstone.

But at least I can find some joy. Today, for example, I wear yellow sneakers, purple leggings, a green tshirt, a blue hoodie, and am carrying a hot pink bag. A certain L. would not approve...especially of the pigtails. But! It cheered me up. So there! I will face the world in rainbow armor, impervious and unbeatable.

At least until the next squirrel looks at me the wrong way. Rodent, I will CUT you, mmmkay?

It's alive! And annoyed.

2010-07-08T22:26:00.002-05:00

Well, that was a long break.

As a welcome back to the world of (very casual) blogging, I have complied a list of characters in the last few days, all of whom have either annoyed or fascinated me. Pithy comments accompany, and forgive the cantankerousness (cantankerosity? Cantanker?)--me plus a needlessly hot summer plus studying for the bar exam obviously equals cranky pants. As a further note, I am now a dorm dweller...yeah I know...and also a mass transit commuter, which makes for some interesting characters.

-Girl who takes up two shower hooks.
Listen, sweetheart. There are four shower stalls. There are four sets of hooks. Do the freaking math and realize that if you take up two sets of hooks, that means someone else will be left without towel space. Said someone might be operating on a delicate balance of caffeinated beverages, carbs, and sugar, and may be on the cusp of throwing an unreasonably infantile tantrum.

-Girl who licks her chips on both sides before she eats them.
What, the chewing gets in the way of that unadulterated barbecue flavor?

-Guy on the train about to bust his eardrums.
I'd like to get that dirt off your shoulder too. Too bad I'm repelled by the wall of sound you have surrounded yourself with via earbud.

-Lady who reads "romance" in large font on her kindle on the train.
I like a good bodice ripper as much as the next person, but this just makes me uncomfortable. 8:15 is too early to be reading over your shoulder about the slow reveal of Raevynne's 'sweet, heart shaped derriere.'

-Dude who sits next to you when there are five other empty rows.
I see you went with the Old Spice today.

-Chick who needs her friend to meet her at the bus stop because she, like, so doesn't know where she's going.
Thanks to your loudspeaker cell phone voice, you also so don't know why Bobby didn't call last night.

-Guy who just has to dance.
Well, the rhythm was going to get him, I guess.

-Guy who waxes poetic about the lemony undertones of his craft beer but has never heard of canned chicken.
The Magic Hat can't save you from being judged.

-Tool sitting in the chair that I brought to the party for myself.
The eff?

-Teenagers who think they're above the no eating rule.
Stop flicking your crumbs on me.

-Lsdy who walks slowly but speeds up as I try to pass her.
Don't you need a car to be this obnoxious?

-Woman who just ate that fruit that fell on the floor.
Yeah, I saw you.

-Guy criticizing his friend for owning a car; friend too spineless to stand up for herself.
(a) you're being a jerk. (b) stop making excuses. It's okay to like having a car.

-Girl who looks gorgeous, cool, calm and composed, while my skirt wrinkles, my face melts, and my hair straggles under the withering pressure of this blasted heat.
Does she have air conditioning in her genes? Like...oh crap. I give up.

The Secret

2010-03-15T10:56:00.002-05:00

You know that book? That book, that everyone you trust says is awesome, that won all those awards, the one you bought and started to read but stopped reading after the fifth page, the one that stays on your shelf taunting you even though you always bypass it for The Shining?

Yeah. I have finally, once and for all, discovered the secret to finishing That Book.

For me, That Book is Midnight's Children (well, there are others but this is the biggie). I bought it about five years ago, after hearing one of my friends, whose taste in literature I trust absolutely, rave about it. It's so good, I heard over and over. So good! So good! Salman Rushdie is a literary god!

Well, I bought it, full price trade paperback (and as anyone who knows me knows, I hate to pay full price for anything and if I do it better be worth it), and I read maybe the first chapter. And I would randomly pick it up sometimes when I was bored, and try to read it. But I could never get into it.

So here comes the secret. I discovered last year that if you want to force yourself to listen to the music you own, bring the CD with you on a long car trip and nothing else. It was in this way that I listened to the full Indigo Girls Retrospective and learned how much I liked it; it was also the way I learned how deep my MCC love really is. Now for books — when you know you're going to travel by plane, pack only the book that you want yourself to read. Pack nothing else, no other distractions except maybe work, because that's guaranteed to drive you back to the book. Do not allow yourself to buy another book. Then — and only then — when you have no other resources of entertainment, THEN you will finally read it.

Now. All that said, having read Midnight's Children cover to cover and more slowly than I normally would read a book, I have to say that I don't really care for it. I understand its premise and admire its ambition, and I also appreciate its scope and imagination. However, it did not stir any emotions in me. I disliked the dense, tightly packed prose, which to me seemed like a person trying to drum! it! into! my head how "literary" this book was. I felt no connection to the story, and at times outright disliked the protagonist (but not in a good way, not the way I think I was supposed to). I also felt the arrogance of the author (complete conjecture on my part, no idea if he's arrogant, he seemed nice when I saw him speak) or at least the arrogance that must inevitably accompany a book of this scope, a story that essentially covers all of India's recent history. This arrogance, if that's the right word, permeated the book to such an extent that I found it irritating to read and continue reading.

But that's the secret, folks. Even when I thought I couldn't bear to read another word, when it just didn't work for me, when I closed it and put it back in my bag, I had to take it out again. Because there was NOTHING else to read! Nothing else to do! I didn't have a choice!

And that, my friends, is how I got through Midnight's Children. Now, if you're interested, I'd say you can read a similar story better written if you pick up "One Hundred Years of Solitude," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, probably the closest thing I have to a favorite book and one that I have read about sixteen times and will continue to read until I die. The similarities between Rushdie and Garcia Marquez are instantly recognizable — both obviously are magical realists who (attempt to) evoke the entire range of human emotions. The contrast, however, is more striking, because I feel like Garcia Marquez is simpler, less haughty, and writes with more clarity. In short, I am a GGM girl. And I like it that way.

So.

2010-02-28T14:07:00.002-05:00

Yeah.

It's only been about, oh, a month. And a lot has happened...well, a lot of little things have happened. A few missed weekends of training and bad shin splints effectively ended my goal of running the half in April. However, I am still keeping up with the running, every other day or so, and hopefully I'll be able to run a race something in the future that will make up for missing this one.

Strangely, for the last day or so I've been in a very weird funk. Kind of just feeling...useless and fuddly, trying to stir myself up to some kind of productivity. Today, I folded about five loads of laundry, finished off some leftovers (which is always such an oddly satisfying accomplishment), and baked some banana bread. Hopefully just keeping busy will help me get out of this mood, although honestly I think it is just a combination of winter and being at school and missing T. and kind of just getting sick of all of it. Spring break cannot come soon enough.

Perhaps it's just the inevitable depression that accompanies interminable gray skies, and being stuck in that valley right before the end of something: you know it's coming, you want it to arrive, but you can't get there yet and it won't come any sooner and all you have to do is trudge onward.

But I'm starting to feel my spirits lift a little. Maybe it's the satisfaction of seeing a cleanly organized closet, or the smell of that banana bread wafting around the apartment, or the excitement of playing hostess. Tomorrow I'm throwing a dinner party for my friend L., whose birthday is today. Happy birthday, L.! I have a (hopefully successful) menu planned and can't wait to celebrate.

And then next week, I'll be home with family and dogs, and then the end of the year will be here before we know it. And then I'll look back and wonder what I did with all that time, and why didn't I savor it more?

Yep. The inevitable contradiction of human nature. Man, I'm deep.

VICTORY

2010-02-04T11:47:00.001-05:00

Slight, yes, but there it is.

2.35 miles! Bahahahahahahahahaha!

And again

2010-02-02T14:26:00.002-05:00

Today was 2.07 miles, but I stepped up the speed quite a lot. I'm hoping to break 3 by the end of this week so that I can start building up a mile per week until the race.

Also, it is snowing like keeeeerazy here! But it is beautiful snow. This is the kind of snow I (somewhat) enjoy, because it's not monkey-butt freezing outside and it doesn't seem to be sticking. I feel like I am living in a giant snowglobe. Also it is sooo fun to try and catch them with your tongue — however, if you are a pedestrian traveling on the same sidewalk as me I apologize in advance for running into you while I stare at the sky, mouth wide open and tongue stuck out.

World's most boring blog posts

2010-02-01T10:29:00.002-05:00

Apologies in advance. I need a place to keep track of my mileage for 1/2 marathon training so I'm going to post it here, kind of as a way to keep me motivated and also to embarrass myself into training harder when I see three days of nothing but 1.6 miles.

Today: 1.67 miles

Other news: Visited T. in NJ last weekend. Got a ton of wedding stuff done, so I felt very productive. Here was my weekend itinerary:

Friday:
-Flight at 9:03.
-Arrive in BWI at 1:30.
-Drive to Philadelphia to visit A.
-Out for a late (very late) lunch.
-Vegged to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (possible one of the trippiest movies ever)
-Got ready for a late (very late) dinner.
-Ate delicious dinner.
-Slept HARD.

Saturday:
-Drove from Philadelphia to NJ.
-Showered.
-Met with priest.
-Ate lunch at potential rehearsal dinner restaurant.
-Visited six different hotels in the vicinity of our reception hall.
-Ate pizza for dinner.
-Came home and passed out.

Sunday:
-Drove from NJ to BWI.
-Flight at 2:30.
-Arrive home at 6:30.
-Drive home from airport.
-Pass out.

Exciting, yes? I thought so. But these things must be done and who's gotta do 'em? Us, that's who.

The most important meal(s) of the day

2010-01-25T15:24:00.003-05:00

May I just start by acknowledging that I am, indeed, a little bit crazy.

However, despite my inability to run more than three miles at a time, I have decided to train for the Holy Half Marathon, held on campus, on April 11. That gives me a little more than ten weeks to whip myself into tip top running shape.

So far, so good. The only problem is that apparently my body insists on increasing its food intake accordingly. Every time I up my mileage or increase my speed, I end up eating at least one more bowl of cereal or one extra cookie. This would be fine except I don't think it's really healthy—just because you're exercising doesn't mean you should eat anything and everything in sight. Hopefully my stomach will catch on, because last night, after two servings of tuna pasta salad, an orange, and a cookie, I ate three mini-bowls of granola with milk and a big spoonful of Greek yogurt. So essentially, yesterday's consumption looked like this:

-Breakfast
-Lunch
Gym
-Snack
-Dinner
-Breakfast

Believe me, the cereal producers of America have appreciated the bump in their sales over the last few weeks. However, my skinny jeans do not thank me. A balance must be struck! The only problem is that right now I'm tending towards striking it on the side of extra bowls of cereal.

Golly

2010-01-19T15:48:00.002-05:00

I have printed out two copies of my novel's rough draft. One is going to L., one of my first round readers. The other is going to my mom — I'm going to get it bound and send it to her for her birthday, which is Friday.

Yes, I am a little nervous about sending this baby out where other people can see it; however, if I don't do it now I may never do it. 2010 is going to be all about putting myself out there, whether it's taking a class that requires a TON of public speaking, trying at last to become a real live author, or singing karaoke in public (I can't promise that I'll do this last one, but we'll see).

I also am here to sing the praises of solid perfume. Wowee do I love that stuff. I feel like I'm actually getting my money's worth, instead of just spraying the good-smelling stuff into a vague cloud around my head and hoping that it sticks. Other benefits are that a solid perfume stick takes up a lot less room than a perfume bottle and is more airline travel friendly.

In other news, I saw Avatar in 3-D, and it was pretty cool. I have to say that I went in with low expectations, which didn't hurt, but I am very glad that (a) Zoe Saldana's career is finally taking off, because I actually really like her a lot, and (b) the score was as great as it was. However, I think that James Cameron is probably not the nicest guy in Hollywood (I don't know him personally so I can't say for sure, I'm just going off reports) and I DO wish that female directors such as Katherine Bigelow would be getting more credit for movies made on budgets far less blockbuster-friendly. If I ever become a bazillionaire, I am going to form a media company (music, film, books) focused on nurturing and marketing female-helmed projects that actually contribute substance and quality to the massive glut of entertainment that's out there — sort of a Lilith Fair for women in the arts. This is the pipiest of pipe dreams, but there it is.

Finally, I am here to announce that L. makes some very good chicken-fried steak. Her gravy was a little...different...but in her defense, she had to improvise and what turned out wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been! Bottom line, if you want to experience an instant arterial blockage, see her for dinner. She'll set you up.

Stretches of time

2010-01-12T10:25:00.002-05:00

Long blocks of time. Giant OODLE-BUGS of time!! Glorious time!

Intensive week has ended and school has begun, which means that I now have space to breathe. Phew! Thus far it looks like class this semester will be rock 'em sock 'em, with excellent professors, great class times, and interesting topics.

A few matters to discuss:
-In a couple days the first draft of le roman will be sent out to first readers. Yikes!
-My apartment is a nightmare. Perhaps I should use some of those oodle-bugs of time to straighten it up before T. comes to visit (!!!) this weekend.
-I'm not wearing socks. And therefore my feet are cold. See post below.
-And finally, thank you to all people everywhere who believe in customer service. Lately I have had quite good experiences and it has been a real eye-opener for someone who was as cynical as I was about the prospect of being heard by the great corporate giants.

Ending radio silence never sounded so good

2010-01-08T20:30:00.003-05:00

I have returned!

Yea, though I am cold, wearing four layers, trying to get a piece of lettuce out of my teeth, and have a closing argument to write and memorize for tomorrow before I get picked to pieces by professional attorneys (constructive criticism, always), and yea, though my apartment be littereth with random blazers, pairs of shoes, and empty water glasses, and yea, though all these things be non-triumphant, I am triumphant.

A few things to note:
-T. is very devoted. In fact, he drove 13 hours on the day before New Year's Eve just to surprise me!
-It has never snowed this much ever. Anywhere in the world. In all of history. In the universe. It has never snowed this much since snow was created, which everyone knows was in 1913.
-Socks really do keep you warm. How surprising is that? All these years I've been dismissing common wisdom and tucking my cold feet under my bottom to keep them from freezing off and all I had to do was put on a pair of socks! Because I am stubborn, I always keep my heat at 68 degrees. Therefore this is a very valuable and much delayed discovery.
-Currently I have ten boxes of cereal in my apartment. What? All of the kinds I liked were on sale this week. So sue me (don't sue me).

Until trial ad is over I will have no further posts (I think). Wish me luck on the grand launching of my final semester of school (hopefully EVER!!!!!).

Holiday...celebrate!

2009-12-21T17:12:00.002-05:00

Many things are happening at once. Christmas, New Year's, trips to Maryland and New Jersey, and trial advocacy starting on Sunday, January 3. Fantastic!

Seriously though, I am pretty happy to see 2009 draw to a close. A lot of good things have happened, certainly, and I am definitely grateful for them; but other, not-so-good things have happened as well and I think the fresh start that comes with a new year and a new decade will do everyone a bit of good.

In other news, Honeycomb and Lucky are still adorable, still a lot of work. I might be getting a little bit of a cold (thanks to T., whose cold relapsed with the hideous weather that descended on the East Coast this past weekend--but I don't mind your germs, love you!). And I can't wait for Christmas (but what else is new).

Happy end of the year, everyone! Here's to a healthy, safe, happy holidays and a brilliant start to a brilliant year. It's our time!

The internal debate

2009-12-12T13:53:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday, I went to the gym for a thirty-minute run (Day 2, Week 9 of C25K if anyone is interested). It was fine and I actually did complete the run. But for some reason--maybe I'd had a big lunch, or was wearing pants that were too tight, or something--I started to get a stitch about four minutes in. usually I can make them go away if I regulate my breathing. But this time, it just stayed, not a bad stitch or unbearable, but definitely uncomfortable.

About eight minutes in, once I realized that it wasn't going away, I told myself that I would stop after ten minutes, because I didn't want to run uncomfortably. I'll just include a (practically verbatim) transcript of the conversation I had with myself for the rest of the run:

8 mins: OK, just stop at 10. Then you've run ten minutes, almost a mile, you can go home and drink water and lie down.

9 mins: Almost there. Almost to 10. But...you've only run three quarters of a mile. At least run a mile. It'll be just to 12 or 13 or so.

13 mins: OK, yay, mile run. Let's stop now. But the guy next to me has been running like a maniac for who knows how long. And that girl on the other side is still going. I can't just stop after one mile, they're going to think I'm lame. And I mean, I'm still running, even with the stitch. Maybe just go to 15 minutes.

15 mins: Well, now the run is half over. It's stupid to stop unless I really feel like I need to. Maybe run to 20 minutes. 20 minutes sounds more respectable than 15 minutes.

20 mins: Yes! The girl! She left! I ran longer than her! I can stop now! But maniac guy is still going strong and...wait, he just stepped the speed up! OK, I have to go at least a little more.

25 mins: There are only 5 mins left. You might as well finish the thirty minutes.

28 mins: I don't think I can do this. I think I need to stop. But only 2 minutes left! Come on. It's just 2 minutes.

29 mins: How has it only been one minute since I looked down at my feet and then back up at the timer? I think that time is slowing.

29 mins, 30 secs: HOW do I still have 30 seconds left?

29 mins, 52 secs: come ON, come ON, come ON, COME ON!

30 mins: YES! YES! I DID IT! I RAN THIRTY MINUTES!

Sometimes people tell me that they are bored when they run. I, on the other hand, am fully equipped to have a very detailed, argumentative internal dialogue. So yeah, boredom isn't so much the problem.

Last thirty minute run is today. Let's see if I can figure out any more persuasive things to tell myself when I have only fifteen seconds left.

Observations...

2009-12-06T16:34:00.003-05:00

...of Specifis Studiara Undergraduatum, or the studying undergraduate.

Studying in the undergraduate library has its benefits (close parking on nights and weekends, large tables with multiple outlets, good lighting, easily accessible bathrooms and water fountains) and its drawbacks (tons of undergrads, strange smells floating around, the inevitable butt-ache that afflicts anyone choosing to sit on a library chair for longer than an hour). Usually the benefits are enough to make me feel like it's worth it to study there. I am also unusually productive when surrounded by people reading novels and practicing in foreign language grammar workbooks (no hate, trust me, I was once one of you and I wish I could be again--sorta).

However, I feel like these Undergraduatum are both careless and inconsiderate, perhaps as unavoidable side-effects to being carefree and in college. When I was searching for a table I saw no less then five that were being "held" by a handful of papers and a lonely water-bottle. I saw one girl who was napping in her (four seater) booth. And I saw a bazillion of them giggling and sharing video clips on computers and making jokes.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that you sometimes have to get up and go to the bathroom, requiring you to leave all your crap splayed out on a table that someone else could use. That's fine. But don't leave your things for over an hour--that's just mean and selfish. Obviously you don't care very much about studying in the library if you are not even in the library. So please, allow others who need your space to use it.

Secondly, I also sympathize with people who might feel so sleepy that they need to put their heads down for a catnap. That's fine, and I am guilty of it myself. But twenty minutes of dozing is one thing; an hour and a half of hard sleeping in a space meant for four people is another. You go to school here. You (most likely) have a bed. Use it and let me sit in your booth.

Finally, I commend those who can socialize and study effectively. I also understand how that Funny or Die clip could be the most hilarious thing you've seen all afternoon; that these boots about to sell out on Zappos require trusted girlfriend input; and that this dirty knock knock joke simply must (must!) be shared. So please, share it elsewhere.

Phew. Now that I've purged myself of all my bitterness, I will take a few seconds to note that I eventually did get a table and am wearing headphones. So please, undergrads. Carry on. As long as I can get into my groove, I have no quibble with you or that Modern Cinema paper you need to write. However, if you do have any spontaneous tax knowledge, specifically pertaining to capital expenditures, please don't hesitate to share it with me. Thanks.

It's what everyone does

2009-12-02T15:16:00.003-05:00

So now I'm going to do it. My Christmas wish list for this year, in no particular order:

For us to stay healthy: my family, friends and I have managed to stay (for the most part) relatively healthy, and I have seen how illness and injury can cause a host of other problems. I would like to say thanks for keeping us strong and hope that we'll be able to stay that way.

For Patty Griffin to sell more albums: I have only recently discovered Patty Griffin, but upon doing more research I learned that, while incredibly talented, has never been a real chart-climber, I would like for her to experience a measure of the success she really deserves. I know she's probably too much of a real artist to gauge herself by how others receive her; but at the same time, if she makes more money, she can make more music. So really, this is a selfish wish.

For stability: I would like to avoid the old Chinese curse ("May you live in interesting times") and ask that my family, friends and I be able to rock along in our little boats, until such time as we are prepared to take what the world wants to throw at us.

To find a place to settle: I have not yet figured out my post-graduate situation, and the sooner I do, the better I will feel. So please, Santa, if you could somehow work out some administrative/bureaucratic changes in the state I'm shooting for, that would be great. Thanks.

These are my real wishes. However, since I feel like many of these have to do more with luck and self-help than anything else, let's just toss in the material things I would like as well.

--Flaming Red by Patty Griffin.
--A lip balm that will keep me from getting chapped.
--A running watch/heart-meter/calorie counter that I can use when I go to the gym.
--A swishy winter skirt.
--A DVD copy of Star Trek.
--Under the Dome, by Stephen King.
--Socks.

T., take note! ;)

The end and the beginning

2009-11-29T18:50:00.002-05:00

As evidenced by the cheery little banner at the right side of my screen, I have finished my NaNoWriMo Novel. It isn't complete, exactly--there are huge chunks missing in the middle that I need to go back and fill in, a lot of character development and plot reveals, but it has a beginning, a middle, and an end--and that's the important part. This was probably the first time I have ever written something or tried to write something without having a strong idea of where it was going to go, and it was an awesome experience. I always hear about writers who say that their characters "just do this" or "somehow ended up doing that" but never really believed it; now I know it's true, and it's really fun.

I'm going to use my downtime over Christmas break to edit and fill out the story, and then a select few of my acquaintance will be permitted to read it. Since there's no point in writing this unless I'm honest, I'll admit that I am harboring a few hopes for publication someday. However, being realistic, I understand that (a) it is a first novel and (b) first novels rarely get published. Also, it's more than a little narcissistic to think that it is publication worthy. But I think I'll wait until I get some feedback from readers before i make any final decisions about whether I'm going to try for publication. This is a great first step, though, for someone who has always wanted to write and whose answer, when asked what her dream job is, always starts with "novelist."

With the end of NaNoWriMo comes the beginning, hard and fast, of finals. I am buckling down like whoa to try and study for Fed Tax, probably one of the hardest exams I'll take in law school, and my other classes. Luckily this semester I have only 2 in class finals; the rest consists of a take home and a paper, which already exists in first draft form. Go me!

Fingers crossed that I'll survive this second-to-last finals gauntlet. No doubt I will continue to post as I procrastinate; until then, this fledgling novelist (!) is signing out.

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-23T23:56:00.002-05:00

So everyone knows by now but...I am almost done with my novel for National Novel Writing Month!

The project is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of the month of November. So far I have kept pretty well on course (you need to average about 1700 words a day) and at this point I am a little ahead. I am SUPER excited that I've managed to come this far--I have always wanted to a write a novel, and now that the pressure's off for writing THE Great American Novel, it's been a wonderful and exciting journey to just get something down on paper, no matter how awful. A bad novel is still a novel, and it's better to have written a bad one than none at all.

If (when!) I finish, I am going to leave it alone while I take finals and then spend Christmas Break editing it, in the hopes that it might turn into something readable. At this point I'm not even going to hope for publication, since I haven't read it over yet (and won't until I'm done). But it really gives me a lot of faith for the future. Who knows...I might get my name on a bookshelf someday after all.

The last time

2009-11-18T08:47:00.003-05:00

I just finished registering for my last semester of classes in law school. I'm oddly complacent. I think, even when I was in college, I was a little more emotional about it. Maybe it's the fact that I'm just ready to be done, in general--law school has been great to me, really great, but at the same time I'm prepared to move on to the next phase of my life.

Next semester, I'm heavy on the practical courses, like Criminal and Personal Injury stuff. I think in the long run, this will be more useful to me than some of the more theoretical classes I've favored in the past, like Federal Courts (which is really only useful if you practice in...well, in federal courts...and since I am almost sure that I will be state-based, it's probably a better idea to take advocacy and adjudication courses.

This semester is quickly drawing to a close, and, per usual, I'm not prepared for the craziness that is finals. However, I'm ahead on my directed reading, three of my credits don't require a final, two aren't graded, and one is a take home project. So I plan to devote all my time to the two classes that are exam-based starting next week.

Last but not least, I am proud to announce that after today, I will be done with Week Six of the nine week Couch to 5k I've embarked on. It has been a surprisingly smooth journey--maybe the most surprising because I didn't think I would be able to stick to the schedule for this long. At this point, it's routine--one of my friends told me that it takes 21 days to form a routine--and I'm actually really proud of myself that I can manage a light run for a mile at a time. Today's run is one 25-minute block with no breaks, so fingers crossed I can do it!

Butting in

2009-10-29T16:30:00.004-05:00

Something happened to me today at Borders that I thought was kinda weird. So I decided to share.

I've been stalking a Patty Griffin cd there for some time--it was already priced really well, but I wanted to wait until I had a coupon. Today, they sent out at 40% off any one item coupon, so I printed it off and went to use it.

In line in front of me was a woman and her son. He was maybe ten or eleven, and he was absolutely the rudest kid I've ever seen. He was pouting because she had refused to buy him a book, and kept making snide comments every time she spoke to him. Finally, when they reached the register he turned and walked out of the store while she paid for the things she had in her basket.

She started talking to the cashier and I learned that her son had wanted a Star Wars book that cost $40, and that he was upset that she wouldn't buy it for him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She had five things in her basket, but they were all final clearance gift sets that I could tell she was buying for presents--maybe Christmas. There was also a buy 4, get the 5th free deal that she was taking advantage of.

She seemed really upset, so I made a split second decision and told her that if she signed up for a membership card, she could get a 40% off coupon (the same one I was using). She was really happy to hear that, and when she left I could tell she was talking to her son.

My dilemma was that I didn't want to tell her, because I didn't want her son to be able to get the book after all. Kids like that really just tick me off, because they seem so ungrateful--he was spoiled and rude and didn't care who knew about it. In the end, I was pretty sure that she would end up buying the book for him no matter what because she wanted him to be happy. So I figured I'd rather give her the opportunity to spend $24 instead of $40 if she was going to give in anyway.

I still feel bad about it. I completely wanted to just grab her kid and give him a good shake. Ugh. I hate it when things happen in real life that keep lingering in my mind. I'm still not sure I did the right thing by enabling that boy to get the book he wanted. Sigh.

Gorgeous, talented women [that I don't personally know]

2009-10-04T19:41:00.002-05:00

Recently I have been using Pandora for its real purpose (instead of just listening to bad pop music on regurgitation) and have discovered that I *love* the female, alt-folk-country-bluegrass crooner. I've always had a thing for Mary Chapin Carpenter, obviously (as of this past week I have accumulated her entire studio collection), Joni Mitchell, Alison Krauss, etc. However, I have acquired a number of other musical soulmates:
-Emmylou Harris
-Dolly Parton
-Lucinda Williams
-Neko Case

Um, HOLY TOLEDO. I can't get enough of this stuff. Dolly Parton is on repeat in my car and dear LORD, Lucinda and Neko with their trembly, husky, smooth voices and their songs in minor keys and their poetry-as-lyrics have gotten me all swoony. I'm using up some of my hard-earned Lexis points to try and get some of their CDs, since all the stores I've looked in have them selling at over $15 a pop. I may love music, but I don't love music enough yet to be using the money I'd normally spend on food to buy some CDs. But dang, are they good CDs.

Check it out though. Could Neko be any more beautiful and talented? I don't think so.

Turning to the parts of my life that don't revolve around endlessly thumb-upping songs on Pandora, I have some job applications that are taking up a lot of my time. Hopefully something will come down the pipeline soon and the work I'm putting into this will pay off. Also, the wedding wheels turn slowly, but surely. The next step is getting together a decent guest list, so that we can continue with the other five hundred and thirty seven things left to do.

The ramp up

2009-09-23T21:35:00.002-05:00

Wedding planning is starting to become a real thing to me, I think. While we have the big stuff nailed down (church, reception, dress, bridal party), we haven't even begun to tackle the million other little things that make up a wedding: photographer, guest lists, invitations, flowers, limo, etc.

Another thing that's beginning to build: school. A lot of my curriculum this semester is based on independent study--which means that I have to self-motivate for a huge part of these next few months. A 10,000 word directed reading is only the beginning.

I say this every year, and I totally mean it every year, but THIS IS IT! This is the time when I buckle down and start getting my life together. Yes, it's true, I do float through the world as a kind of self-contained chaos bubble, but this year is the year I organize some of that chaos. It's all about motivation, actualization, and desire! (No clue what that means but it sounds good). To that end, L. and I have embarked on the Couch to 5K running program--it promises to whip us into running shape in 9 weeks. Today was the second day of the first week, and I have to say that it was a lot tougher than the first day. Hopefully it will get easier. The program itself consists of interval training, jogging/running for different periods, in order to build our endurance without burning us out. I'll post updates as we improve.

Finally: I have started a project that hopefully will pan out within the next year or so. I don't want to go into details because there's a good chance it will all come to nothing, but declaring myself (at least partially) to the world is a good first step to holding myself accountable.

Dispatches to follow as events occur...

(As a side note: in the fifth grade city-wide spelling bee, I was eliminated on the word "occurred." I spelled it with only one "r." I'm still a little bitter, as you can tell.)

Absolute loathing

2009-09-12T23:38:00.002-05:00

I hate crickets. HATE. THEM.

Once I have removed all the crickets from my house (or what I think are all the crickets) it seems like one or two just start hopping in! I feel like they are stealth, choosing the minute before the door closes to sneak in.

Crickets, take this as a warning. Do not enter this apartment. I will spray you, I will corner you, and I will squash you until you stop kicking.

That is all.

A (somewhat) clean slate

2009-08-30T19:17:00.003-05:00

I have a zillion billion articles of clothing. Like, whoa. It is ridiculous to the point that I am semi-disgusted with myself that I refuse to throw away those baby tees I wore when it was a) fashionable and b) attractive for me to show my midriff.

My thought process is sort of fascinating. The breakdown:
1) Pick up tiny pink tee shirt that hypothetically might (MIGHT) fit over my head.
2) Evaluate whether or not I will ever wear it again.
3) Put it in the Goodwill bag.
4) Move on to other articles of clothing.
5) Take tiny pink tee shirt OUT of Goodwill bag because my brain has convinced itself that I might someday need to wear it as part of a Britney Spears costume should I ever lose 20 pounds and become seriously ripped.
6) Put tee shirt back into the closet.

Repeat 6 months later.

I am trying to be ruthless. Really, I am. It is completely irresponsible to hang on to jeans that I can't even squeeze a leg into, not to mention a waste of space and a contribution to needless clutter. I've done a good job keeping my downstairs relatively junk-free (or so I fool myself) but the upstairs is an entirely different matter. If I can get my closet organized by the end of next week, I'll be proud of myself, not to mention utterly amazed. Fingers crossed.

All good things

2009-08-17T20:21:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning I drive back to Indiana and school. This summer has been amazing and a great preview of what "married life" will be like once T. and I get hitched next summer.

Surprisingly, I managed to pack nearly everything this afternoon so there will be no scrambling around, last minute, to ensure that each power cord and half-empty lotion bottle somehow makes it into my vehicle. I've been spending the time snuggling and hanging out instead and I can't bring myself to believe that tomorrow morning, I'll wake up, drive away, and T. will come home from work and I won't be there.

This is going to be a massive adjustment. This is the last year that we'll have to do this sort of thing though, so I'm hoping that it goes by quickly. At least school and friends will provide a welcome distraction.

Well, wouldn't you know

2009-07-28T17:51:00.002-05:00

Just as I blog about not having anything to blog about, I realize that I do have something to blog (the bloggiest sentence ever blogged, I think). It's time for the Summer Round-up List!

Books I have read:
-Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill*
-Year of Wonders by Gwendolyn Brooks*
-People of the Book by Gwendolyn Brooks*
-A Simple Plan by Scott Smith*
-Gunslinger (The Dark Tower Vol. I) by Stephen King*
-Desperation by Stephen King*
-Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell
-Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn*
-Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
-Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer

Books I have re-read:
-The Lost World by Michael Crichton
-IT by Stephen King

Books I have started to read but have not finished (and the forecast isn't good):
-The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
-A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott
-The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
-

Movies I have watched:
-Star Trek (x2)
-Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (x2)
-Downfall (or Der Untergang)
-Rachel Getting Married
-Dave
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Movies I have re-watched:
-P&P (both versions)
-Quantum of Solace
-Enemy at the Gates
-lots of other piddly little ones I don't feel like listing

This summer's signature food: homemade pizza

This summer's signature beverage: water from the fridge (bottled b/c the municipal water tastes like crap)

This summer's shoe: the Steve Madden Astro in black (seriously so comfortable)

This summer's anthem: Good Girls Go Bad, Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester

This summer's album: Fearless, Taylor Swift

Phew! The last three months in one post...not an easy task, my friends. I probably forgot about 27.64 things.

Terrible, the blogger

2009-07-27T22:00:00.002-05:00

I suck at blogging; unfortunately I have nothing interesting enough to write about, so my small audience will just have to wait for my next semi-attention-holding post.

Joining the clubs

2009-07-01T21:14:00.003-05:00

As of this moment, I am the proud owner of the following shop club cards:
-CVS Extracare
-Martin's Shopper's Card
-ShurFine Gold Card
-Giant Card
-Food Lion MVP

Why? I ask you. Each of these cards saves me probably at least $10-12 every time I shop, but I don't understand the logic. It takes me 22 seconds to fill out one of those forms and then the membership is free. They make no money off of me by forcing me to get a card. I shop where the sales are good. The little plastic tab on my keychain does nothing to buy my loyalty (although they do look awfully cute swinging back and forth from the ignition). Stores are weird.

Other news: car was a little broken, and now is fixed (after a whole lot of inconvenience). The giant bag of popsicle tubes in the freezer is slowly decreasing. I think I killed my second basil plant (actually, I had forgotten about it until just this second). The new hair stuff I got from Victoria's Secret makes my locks lustrous and shiny smooth. I loathe wearing pantyhose in the summertime. I found the perfect Americana dress for Fourth of July (black and white plaid) that I can easily put jeans under and a sweater over for fireworks at night. We found a place to host the wedding and I LOVE IT.

Um...dispatches to continue upon occurrence of interesting events.

Slightly abashed, with a change of plans

2009-06-21T17:23:00.002-05:00

Yeah, so...anyone who was excited to see Basel (on the edge of your seats, I'm sure) will just have to wait until I make it out to the farm stand for Basel 2.0, because the original Basel is now shriveled up and kinda, well, dead. I have no idea what happened! Except that I forgot to water him and then it stormed so he sort of got tossed around on the balcony and then it was super bright and he dried up. Yeah. Anyone who wants to trust me with a plant or a fish can take a number.

In other news, T. and I have hit up Annapolis twice in the last week and holy goodness, I want to live there. As I told T., it is the perfect mix of yup, prep, and hip. The downtown area has lots of historic rowhouses and cobblestone streets with original brickwork and I can already picture my idyllic life, sitting on my stoop with a glass of wine and walking down to the harbor to get ice cream and wander around at dusk with my adorable and well behaved dog Zeke, who is affectionate and well-liked by all my neighbors. Somehow in this fantasy I have also won the lottery and can afford a historic townhouse with all its traditional details preserved, bright and filled with vintage posters, stainless steel kitchen appliances, and solid wood bookshelves.

Sigh...keep dreaming....

A brief introduction

2009-06-09T20:34:00.003-05:00

Having tried my (unfortunate) hand with two fish, and not being in a position to acquire a doggie of my very own, I've decided to take a different tack with small, living things dependent on my care. T. and I have adopted a little basil plant, who now cheerfully resides on our balcony. His name is Basel (pronounced Bah-zul), and please, no comments from the peanut gallery about the imaginative name.

Yes, it's true, I've changed class (phylum? genus? something like that. Bio was a long time ago). He seems to be doing well but when we first got him he started looking a little peaky. Some internet research informed me that a shady, air conditioned apartment was not the best environment for him, and he now basks in the full eastern sunshine every morning and is dutifully watered by yours truly at dusk.

It's late so I don't feel like staging a photo op, but rely on a picture of our household's newest member sometime soon.

In completely unrelated news, last night the fire alarm in my building went off at 1:43 a.m. As I shuffled down the stairs in pajama pants a little too big for me, squinting at all my neighbors, I experienced an uncomfortable flashback to all of sophomore year. Jeez. I graduated from college so I wouldn't have to deal with this. Fire trucks showed up, alarms blaring, dudes in uniforms tromping up and down stairs carrying sledgehammers--the whole works. T says that the system has been having some operating problems lately. I'll say.

The start of something summerful

2009-06-03T20:35:00.002-05:00

I've been working for three days now, and I can definitely say that it is an adventure! I've gotten some great projects right off the bat and also got to watch a docket call in court and tag along for some witness prep sessions. Due to the nature of the job the attorneys in my office are colorful and quick thinking and I can already tell that I will be learning a lot from them.

Otherwise, I leave work a bit earlier than T. does so I get to do most of the dinner cooking. It's been SO much more fun cooking for two, because I can do bigger and fancier meals without worrying that I'll be eating the same stuff for five days in a row. Probably one of the best parts about cooking for two is that the other person does the cleaning for two...hehe. It also helps that T. can come home for lunch most days, so he helps clean out the leftovers (I can't, because my office is too far away, so I've been packing PB&Js and fruit to get me through the day). My hours are great so I don't mind nibbling on my sandwiches while researching. In fact, I think it's pretty cool...makes me feel like a grown up (although I'm sure I'd feel differently if I worked normal hours!).

To be perfectly honest, I think this summer (work-wise) will be amazing. I already feel my mind absorbing stuff. T. and I also have a lot of adventures planned for the summer — trips to the beach, flea markets, etc. Should be a fun time! After so much time spent apart (we've done long distance for 2.5 yrs now) it's a treat to have so much time together.

A whirlwind of a while

2009-05-28T10:46:00.003-05:00

By next Monday, I will have:
-packed my apartment
-driven from Indiana to Maryland
-unpacked
-driven from Maryland to New Jersey
-attended a wedding
-flown from New Jersey to Kansas
-celebrated an engagement weekend
-flown from Kansas to Maryland
-started work

...all in three weeks' time.

Everything has been wonderful, despite the frenzied pace. My cousin's wedding was lovely — very romantic and an excellent starting point for my own wedding (T. and I took quite a few notes on things we liked, didn't like, etc.). Interesting and trivial things that have occurred in this same time:
-Dad suggests both a traditional Vietnamese band AND a Polish band for the wedding.
-I shot them down.
-I ate my weight in strawberries.
-I met my cousin A.'s dog, who is cute BUT NOT EVEN CLOSE to being as cute as Honeycomb and Lucky.
-I played with Honeycomb and Lucky a lot.
-My uncle sent me two kangaroos from Australia (stuffed, not alive)
-I learned that kangaroos cannot jump backwards
-I am a little aghast at my list-making tendencies

The engagement weekend was really fun, although it was a whole lot of shtuff crammed into a whole not lot of time. I wore a traditional Vietnamese gown and T. wore a suit. We took a lot of pictures. There were a lot of things wrapped in red cellophane. And as always, there was a whole lot of food involved.

Apologies for my delay in updating but I will try to be better about in future. Hopefully, this summer I will do many interesting things to provide me with plenty of blog-fodder (blodder?).

The real world, aka boredom, layovers, cooking dinner

2009-05-14T15:48:00.003-05:00

Life has finally settled down a bit--I've arrived at T's and am pretty much at home...except for the spare room that has essentially turned into an explosion of all my clothes. A few days here resulted in some delicious experimental pasta dinners, some massive shopping for summer suits, and a lot of sitting around being bored. All necessary activities for post-finals recovery.

Today we leave for NJ: my cousin is getting married on Saturday. Then I leave to go to KS for a week and a half (during which time engagement events will commence and doggies will be snuggled), and then I come back. And then I start work (hopefully, considering my funding hasn't come through yet). And then the summer will go by quicker than you know it.

Phew! Two paragraphs of recap and I'm off to pack. Happy summer!

Studying, or: How I'm done for

2009-04-15T13:01:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of stuff to be doing now. All the time. Which may mean I blog less or may mean that I blog more. We'll see how this goes. Apologies in advance if it turns out to be the former.

The saddest sight

2009-04-09T23:59:00.003-05:00

Behold. The banana chocolate chip mini muffin I forgot about and left in the oven for half an hour. It is both hard and gummy. I could play marbles with these guys.

Dress up in you

2009-04-09T21:56:00.002-05:00

Or, rather, dress up in the dress!

Ever seen that episode of Friends where the girls all sit around in their apartments wearing wedding dresses? It is taking so much willpower for me to not do that. You don't even know how much. So much, in fact, that it's sucked up all the discipline I had dedicated to not eating too much chocolate and not watching TV.

Spelled asleep

2009-04-07T10:03:00.002-05:00

Due to an unfortunate (and irresponsible) combination of too much caffeine, nerves/a little bit of stress, and the excellence of late night television, I've been having some interesting sleep issues over the last few days. By issues I mean: Saturday = 5 hrs of sleep, Sunday = 2.5 hours of sleep, Monday (afternoon and night) = 12 hrs of sleep.

Yesterday (Monday) I had class at 8 a.m. and a presentation later in the day that keyed me up so much I was unable to fall asleep the night before, until I finally smothered myself in pillows and blankets and forced my brain to think about the number of squares on a chess board, combined with mentally putting together the outfit I would wear if I were a spy who was going undercover as a fashion editor in Paris. I fully recognize that my brain is weird.

I got home from school, scarfed down some delicious Chinese food and decided to "just close my eyes for a little bit," with the best of intentions to wake up in about half an hour. This was at about 6:32 or so. I woke up from a dream in which I was late for class to squint at the clock and realize that it was 9:45 and I had slept the sleep of the martyred dead, mouth open and hand still clutching the TV remote control, for approximately 3 hours. Called L. back (she'd called while I was unconscious) and, taking her excellent advice, dragged myself up to drink a couple glasses of water, watch a couple episodes of SATC, and then collapse back to sleep.

This is a clearly unhealthy and highly unproductive way to live. I clearly need to figure out a way to get my sleep schedule back on track. Before finals come around, because once those arrive all bets are off.

I hurt all over

2009-04-05T18:08:00.003-05:00

In the interest of getting back into shape I did the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred workout on OnDemand cable. Please, let me just say, that if my muscles were trembling anymore today I would be a quivery puddle on the floor. I cannot even type without a slight shake in my arms. Ahhhhhhhh....

Playing dress up

2009-04-04T20:02:00.001-05:00

Because I (a) no longer have a fish, (b) am sick of looking at the same old layout, and (c) am sort of at a cross-roads in my life, please welcome Magical Realist's new look. A round of applause for my rudimentary photo-editing skills!

School Time

2009-03-31T09:54:00.003-05:00

Apologies to the five or six people who read this blog, but due to a little thing called law school posts may be sparse on the ground over the next few weeks. Updates on my life thus far:

-Barrister's ball was awesome! I had a great time, especially since T. trekked long, long miles just to be here for the big event.
-It's almost April. Crap!
-...I got nothing

When more interesting things happen I'll be sure to post. Until then, rest assured that I've settled into a boring, but necessary, routine of study, study, study, interrupted by forays into healthy snacking (yeah right) and the occasional nap.

I want a dog

2009-03-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

It may seem ironic that I am posting this immediately after a notice that my fish has died, but I don't care. I want a dog. The desire is now full-blown, completely and totally out of control, to the point where I'm trolling the internet on Petfinder looking for dogs to adopt even when I know that I can't adopt one right now.

I can't wait until I'm "grown up" and know where I'm going to be, and am finally in the position to have a dog of my own. I know I'm not ready to have one now--at least, with all the craziness going on in my life, it wouldn't be the ideal time. Also, I want my dog to know both me and T., and for that to really happen we'll have to get the dog together.

At the same time I just want something warm to cuddle with when I watch TV and play with and take care of. Not sure what it says about me, but my apartment was actually neater and more organized when Honeycomb and Lucky were living with me — I couldn't leave stuff around because I knew they would get into it. It's nice to have something to take care of that will love you unconditionally.

I can't wait until I can have a dog of my own!

I give up

2009-03-24T12:38:00.000-05:00

Percy is dead. Am I really that bad of a fish mom?! WHAT HAPPENED? He was TOTALLY FINE yesterday. WHAT WENT WRONG? AND WHY CAN I NOT STOP TYPING IN ALL CAPS?

Various attempts

2009-03-22T20:42:00.003-05:00

Because due dates are fast approaching, not to mention exam dates, I've tried to put in a concerted effort to be more productive in my off time, instead of doing things like endlessly reorganizing my stationary drawer and shredding junk mail (suprisingly, one of the most emotionally satisfying things you can do!). With that in mind, I'm currently at the undergrad library on campus in the basement. A brief recap of my evening thus far:

—7:30 p.m.: depart apartment. Forget to bring travel mug, so return to apartment and then depart once more.
—7:35: stop at 7-Eleven for coffee, gummy worms, and Twizzlers. The clerk compliments me on my travel mug, engages in a brief discussion about how he has a similar cup that isn't insulated, asks me if I am a student at Notre Dame, and then rings me up.
—7:40ish: arrive at school parking lot. Park. Enter library and descend the steps to the basement, where I successfully find an open table with an outlet. SCORE.
—7:43: commence studying. Some people, such as L., find it hilarious that it takes me 3 minutes to unload all my stuff and longer to pack it all back up. Hey, I just have a lot of stuff.
—8:21: shoulder cramp! Shoulder cramp! I perform various contortions to try and stretch it out. I think the guy across from me is worried that I'm spasming or something. Over the next half hour I will study in many different positions in an attempt to ease the cramping—not very successfully.
—9:15: J swings by for a visit, takes a couple of Twizzlers, and departs for the land of fed tax unknown.

It's now quarter to ten and I have been surprisingly productive. Although I might have just destroyed all that work by taking four minutes to write this post. Defeated!

Stuff

2009-03-16T09:56:00.002-05:00

For some reason I'm just suddenly overwhelmed by STUFF. STUFF to do, stuff to read, stuff to clean up, stuff stuff stuff. This includes:

-taxes
-financial aid
-regular school assignments
-2 term papers, one with a rough draft due on on Friday
-thank you notes
-planning and preparing for the summer
-trying to get back into shape so I can enjoy said summer in less than a full-body caftan

Sheesh. Accomplish literally nothing for a whole week, and all of a sudden there's stuff that needs doing. Whoda thunk?

The First Wedding

2009-03-07T23:25:00.003-05:00

This weekend we went to the first wedding of one of our own Disney Divas (high school friends, to the uninformed). It was different and happy and sad and hello and good-bye all at the same time. The first night, we clapped and sang songs to drum beats as Tater sat and was admired. I got my first henna tattoo which was really cool. The second night we ate dinner, and took pictures as the bride and groom sat on the cushions at the front of the room.

Probably the strongest thing I'll take from this weekend is the vague, unfamiliar taste of things changing. Tater's the first one to go. Eventually, other people will get married, and have babies, and buy houses and grow up. I will too. And it's so strange to think about, because everytime we're back in K-zoo it's just like we're in high school again. Except this time it wasn't.

I guess I'm growing up? This is all very peculiar.

An ode to my willpower: how I'm awesome

2009-03-04T07:54:00.003-05:00

I am proud to announce that as of last night, the floor of my bedroom is actually visible. I forced myself to organize all the piles and do a massive laundry attack. Go ahead and marvel at my greatness. Also, feel free to marvel at T.'s wisdom and understanding in threatening to actually disapprove if I didn't do something — ANYTHING — other than lie on the couch all day.

And the streak of success continues! This morning, I actually GOT UP in time for my 8 o'clock class. I am AMAZING. FANTASTIC. SUPERB.

I am also half asleep, but who's counting? I'm physically present and that's good enough for the JV team.

Uhhhh...what? or Am I normal?

2009-02-27T08:05:00.002-05:00

It's Lent, and as a result I've started looking my habits, both good and bad, in order to try and figure out what will be the most healthy thing for me to do. While I don't really believe in "giving something up" for Lent, I don't think it's ever a bad thing to try and improve yourself with a purpose in mind. Lent often makes it easier because it has a definite end date, so you sort of trick yourself into thinking that the good habits won't stick (but they usually do).

Some of my (bad) habits:
--hitting the snooze button a minimum of 3 times
--taking clothes out of the closet, trying them on, and throwing them on the bed instead of hanging them back up
--leaving DVDs and CDs out of their cases, such that I can never find what I'm looking for

This morning, especially, my snooze habit amazed me a little. I know I do it just because it feels so wicked and delicious to snuggle back into the warm covers after launching myself across the room at the alarm clock. But today was particularly bad. A brief description of my morning from 6:46 to 7:14—

6:46—my first alarm goes off. I don't remember getting out of bed to hit the snooze but I must have.
6:53—my second alarm goes off. I get out of bed and hit the snooze. My alarm clock has 2 alarms which you can stagger to your liking. I do this KNOWING that in 5 minutes the other alarm will go off again.
6:58—first alarm goes off again. I get out of bed, hit the snooze, and return.
7:01—T. calls me to wake me up. I mutter something about two more minutes with my face squished into the pillow.
7:02—I rouse myself enough to SET MY PHONE ALARM for 7:04. I lay back down and close my eyes. Why I thought 2 minutes was a good idea is beyond me. It gets better, though.
7:04—phone alarm goes off. I set it again for 7:07.
7:05—the second alarm goes off (my snooze is only 12 minutes). I get out of bed, hit the snooze, and then go back to bed.
7:07—phone alarm goes off. I turn it off.
7:10—the first alarm goes off again. I stagger out of bed, turn it off, return to the bed where I lie for a few minutes before mentally flagellating at the realization that I have spent more time in the last 15 minutes getting up and turning stuff off than having my eyes closed, uncomfortable with the idea that I've actually gone to absurd lengths for what amounts to approximately 4.5 minutes of extra sleep.
7:14—I get up and hop in the shower. I have class at 8.

Is this normal? For reals. I have no idea whether or not my insanely convoluted and difficult morning routine is just a typical thing, or whether I am exhibiting symptoms of some profound and rare sleep disorder.

As a final note, I had considered giving up the snooze button for Lent. As you can tell, I rejected that idea pretty darn quick.

2009-02-23T11:49:00.004-05:00

Overheard in Lafun:

Girl #1: What's the capital of Washington?
Girl #2: Uhhh...uhhhh...Helena!
Girl #1: Helena?
Girl #2: Wait, no. Helena is...
Girl #1: Tacoma!
Girl #2: Helena?
Guy: Olympia
Girl #2: Olympia?
Girl #1: Olympia? Olympia! How did you know that?
Girl #2: So what's Helena? Ah! Montana!

Round of applause, folks!

Clarification: I wouldn't really care about this at all had it been a simple conversation between friends. However, it happened to be a simple conversation between friends from across a crowded room. As in, shouting. The rule is: if you're going to be loud, we're going to make fun of you.

Percy: It's complicated

2009-02-23T08:16:00.004-05:00

Percy has an unusual habit that Maurice did not: he likes to go into the castle (and I mean, really go into the castle) and squeeze himself up into the hollow body. Maurice, too, enjoyed the castle, but he used to just lie in it with his head and tail sticking out. Percy folds himself up to such a degree that I'll often look into the tank and panic because I can't see him anywhere.

I'm not really sure what to do with this. On one hand, I'm glad he likes his tank and castle. On the other, I'm a little worried that something is wrong with him; Maurice was very lethargic in the latter days of his life and I'm concerned that Percy might follow in those footsteps (finsteps? tail sweeps? whatever).

Getting used to the habits of a new fish is an interesting endeavor. I won't really be comfortable with this little routine of Percy's until a month or so goes by and I'm reassured that he is, in fact, just chilling (rather than, you know, slowly wasting away to a sad and lonely death).

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming

2009-02-20T14:30:00.002-05:00

Big news (like getting engaged) is a rarity in my life. Instead, I usually blog about the mundane trivialities — how I'm planning for the 30th time to organize my apartment (it's going to happen, I swear!), what delicious but calorie-laden baked good I've recently produced, the weather, etc. Clearly, I know what the public wants. And I deliver. Case in point, this M&M:

It's attached! A mutant M&M!

I have a weird thing for funny shaped foods. Once, in college, I discovered a heart-shaped potato chip which I saved in a little plastic container. My roommate Ruth, on a cleaning frenzy, thought that it was an empty container and washed it. She realized a little late that my special chip was inside — despite her valiant attempts to dry it out in the oven, it was never the same and we had to throw it away. This story, to me, demonstrates 2 things: one, that I'm really odd and two, that Ruth loves me. A lot. Enough to indulge my whims and do things like try to salvage a heart-shaped potato chip.

Not sure yet if I'm going to save this. I've already photographed it so it's been preserved for posterity. We'll see how this goes.

At last, a bullet point

2009-02-16T09:36:00.002-05:00

--I'm engaged.

I'm really excited and happy. It couldn't have been any more romantic — T. took me to the top of the Hancock building in Chicago and proposed overlooking the city at night. It was wonderful. Even a number of minor snafus (forgot to pack my outfit for Saturday, couldn't find my camera charger so had to use a low-quality disposable, etc.) couldn't dampen the trip.

Did I mention it was Valentine's day? Because it was. And Chicago on Valentine's day will always be special because of it.

Besos

2009-02-11T09:16:00.002-05:00

life is not that busy, but really busy right now. I guess I'm spending a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing, which is good for my stress level but bad for my productivity. A few things of note:

--Monday night tennis lessons have turned out to be really fun and one of the few things I look forward to each week. If I can keep it up I might be able to hit more than 3 shots in a row.

--

--

Wow. My life is really boring. I can't even muster up enough news for more than one bullet point. If you have only one bullet point, what's the point of even bullet pointing?

I'm thinking in circles here. Maybe I should stop procrastinating and just do my reading.

The crumbs of life

2009-02-04T08:36:00.003-05:00

So between the baking, the baking, and the still more baking, life has rolled on. T. comes to visit in less than 2 weeks and I am so! excited! Percy is doing well, just chilling in his tank, and my apartment is gradually sliding out of the canyon of despair (a.k.a. piles of clothes and books).

In a conscious effort to declutter my life I've started trying to maintain a neater and more organized apartment in the hope that it will lead to a neater and more organized mind. Can't tell you much about the latter, but at least the former has had a positive effect on my life. It feels pretty good to come home, look around, and be serene because my surroundings are serene.

I've also tried to get a jumpstart on the two papers I have to write this semester. i figure that if I can manage to get them done earlier I'll have more time to study for exams. Come on, productivity! You know you can do it!

Having said that, it might be time for a nap.

Confirmation of my absolute insanity

2009-02-01T12:08:00.003-05:00

Stayed up until 3:30 baking and frosting these bad boys:

I'm a little shocked at how ambitious this project was, but really proud of how they turned out. Even though some of the cardinals do look a little...blobby. And the blue on the Steeler stars isn't as dark as it should be.

Please welcome

2009-01-28T10:30:00.002-05:00

Percival Pasquale Daubert.

A.k.a., Percy.

I got him yesterday. He seems to be adapting to his new home fairly well and has even taken up Maurice's old habit of chilling in the castle. He looks very different from Maurice, which is good — as a blue/purple fish he even coordinates well with his bowl. Who knew fish could be so fashionable?

Houston, we have a problem

2009-01-26T00:49:00.004-05:00

Let's see if I remember anything from algebra/geometry/whatever math uses proofs:

--Sleeping in + 2 hour nap = not sleepy
--Not sleepy + procrastination = baking
--Baking + new cookie cutters - not enough counter space + creative use of washer and dryer = roll-out sugar cookies
--Roll-out sugar cookies + they look naked = frosting
--Frosting + 1.5 hours - 2 cookies bravely lost in combat - 1 cookie sampled by the baker = 50 frosted sugar cookies

Therefore:

Sleeping in = 50 frosted sugar cookies

Something tells me that my math is a little off, but in the twisted logic that is my brain, this makes complete sense. Ah, the joys of the semester's early weeks...plenty of time later to feel guilty about all the hours of possible productivity I've wasted.

But look how pretty!

Wednesday morning coffee

2009-01-21T09:11:00.005-05:00

Not much has happened in my life since my last post—the bad day adventure chronicled actually continued, if you can believe it. Since I don't feel like reliving the moments spent sobbing on the highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic because I had missed my exit and was about to run of gas, I'll move on to bigger and better things. Like...finishing my note (relief) and the terrible, terrible weather, and lemon bars. Which I baked on Sunday and which Tom and I inhaled. They were delicious...so lemony and tart.

Next: angel food cake w/ berry sauce.

Pretty much the crappiest 24 hours I've had in a long time

2009-01-16T08:17:00.003-05:00

If this comes across as whining, that's because it is. If you can complain to the internets it minimizes complaining in real life. This is actually true.

Things that happened
-woke up yesterday with sore throat, slight cough (sure signs of being sick)
-my fish died
-it was butt-freezing cold
-came home at 2 in the morning to discover that my hot water pipes had frozen in the kitchen
-My cable and internet are disabled, probably from the cold
-maintenance arrives at 4:30 to check it out — I have waited a long stinking time for them to show up
-maintenance informs me that my pipe has burst. He shuts off my hot water so I can't take a shower or wash my face without contracting frostbite.
-I get approximately 2 hours of sleep. The weather is such that every moron on the road drives approximately .007 miles per hour. I am exactly 1 minute late to my 8 o'clock class and the door is locked.
-I check Tom's flight status online. His flight into Detroit is delayed. His flight to South Bend will be leaving without him most likely, unless it is also delayed. The next flight is at noon.

Good things have happened too, but they aren't exactly counter-balancing the total suckage of the last day or so. Ugh. When it rains it pours — my bad days are always REALLY REALLY BAD days.

I write this from Lula's cafe while nursing hot chocolate, capped with a staggering froth of whipped cream. I have given up on this week.

Requiem for Maurice

2009-01-15T14:46:00.002-05:00

Maurice has died. For the last day or so he had been really lethargic, lying on the bottom of his tank, with alternate bouts of spastic activity when I tried to prod him into action. I'm not sure what it was caused by — he had been relatively normal. My only conclusion is that during my prolonged absence he was so weak from hunger that he succumbed to an infection, and that is how he died. Today, I came home from school and he was dead.

I'm sorry, Maurice, that I left you for so long and didn't take good enough care of you. But you had a great life and you were a great pet while you lasted. Enjoy your time in fish heaven — I hope you have many castles to swim in and around.

I'm not sure if I'll get another fish, considering the difficult logistics of vacations and whatnot that I hadn't considered before. I did like having Maurice around though, so I guess we'll see.

The Curious Case of Maurice Murphy

2009-01-08T20:47:00.002-05:00

I return home and Maurice, who ended up staying at my apartment (alone! for three weeks!) after all due to slight technical difficulties in fish transfer, is alive. Or is he? This Maurice is smaller and less flamboyant of tail than the Maurice I remember. Not to mention the characteristic white streak in this fin is gone.

Suspicious. I have a few theories. First, and most absurd, is that the maintenance staff noticed that he was dead and replaced him with a similar looking fish. Second, Maurice "thinned out" due to his lack of diet and company and his new appearance is such a result. Third, I'm losing it. This is highly possible.

Clearly, I was a better writer

2009-01-03T16:13:00.002-05:00

Found this while going through our interminable boxes full of old crap. Punctuation and capitalization copied verbatim.

The bag full of rocks.

Once there was a little ghost who had a bag. but what was in it? Try to guess. how about a rock? close. how about rocks. Right.

I think I was probably about five or six when I wrote that. Gotta say it's better than anything I've written lately. What happened to that prodigy? How about law school. Right.

2008 recap

2009-01-02T11:51:00.001-05:00

On second thought, let's not do this, because 2008 turned out to be a surprisingly disappointing year. Let's hear it for 2009! Actually, according to the Chinese zodiac 2009 is supposed to be a good year for me because it is the year of my sign (the Ox). On that note:

Goals for 2009 if I were an ox:
-plow an extra acre of field a day
-keep hooves clean
-be productive enough to stay skinny and therefore, less desirable as food

And now, real goals for 2009:
-stay happy
-stay healthy
-become a lean, mean, ambition driven machine. With plenty of room for squishy doggies, snuggles, and nights spent exercising my dancing queen muscles.

The last few weeks

2009-01-02T11:41:00.003-05:00

Highlights, of course with commentary:

Christmas: incredibly low key, accompanied by one f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. steak dinner. Holy toledo, that was good. We did not open Christmas presents on Christmas eve, as is usual in this family. Instead we waited for the NJ contingent to arrive on Christmas day and opened presents then. Some highlights: assorted tart pans, measuring cups (silicon collapsible AND porcelain DUCK!), lotions, clothes, and hopefully (when I get back), one very large TV.

Sister's Sweet Sixteen: Lucky ran away during the party. Tom found him. Twenty something sixteen year olds bopping along to club music in the basement and a DJ who also did digital sketches. She got a car. And she does not even have her learner's permit. I'll just leave this one at that. Oh, and she also got Rock Band and a PS3. Which is AWESOME and really fun. I like the singing because it is the easiest, clearly.

Family vacay: played untold hours of online Tetris and watched movies in the new, shiny, incredibly spacious home theatre. Did not get enough sleep.

New Year's Eve: family all left during the day. Spent a few hours cleaning up the whirlwind mess. Then collapsed and slept for a zillion hours straight.

And the last few days: some more low key stuff. Nothing to report. Which is exactly how I like it.

The busiest time of year

2008-12-24T12:34:00.002-05:00

All I wanted was to be able to sleep for, oh, 20 hours or so. Instead, since arriving home on Sunday night, this is what I have done:
-vacuumed and dusted this entire house, top to bottom
-spent 3 hrs at Sam's Club, shopping for Christmas dinner and my sister's party
-picked up a Tom from the airport (YAY! one of the only good parts so far)
-put together a solid wood freaking gigantic table and 8 chairs to go with it
-put up and decorated a TWELVE. FOOT. TALL. Christmas tree.
-hung curtains, shower curtains, placed pictures
-ordered party favors, planned menus, decorated.

I have barely had a moment to myself except for eating, sleeping, and a late night screening of Mamma Mia last night in the as-yet-unfinished theatre. Please, let things calm down. I'm looking forward to a quiet Christmas and New Year.

Hear that sound? That's the universe, laughing at me.

Why?

2008-12-21T17:41:00.002-05:00

I can tell you where to get these shoes for $2.50 — any Chinese variety store. I have no idea what is going on here, but somewhere in Southeast Asia a bunch of pajama wearing grandparents suddenly became very fashionable.

Minneapolis: surprisingly cold, hospitable OR At least I got a blog post out of it

2008-12-21T15:19:00.007-05:00

So I haven't posted in a long time...I guess I'll use the seven hours of spare time I have in the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to update my life. Readers who are aware, feel free to skip the garbled mumbo-jumbo below. I haven't removed my contacts since Friday, so I also cannot vouch for the spelling or grammatical accuracy of this entry. Forewarned!

Behold: the travel saga, abridged in bullet form. All times are estimated, but close to accurate and NOT exaggerated. Believe me. This is the best I could do while looking at the NWA flight schedules and comparing them to the call log from my cell phone.

-4:56: Flight scheduled to leave South Bend
-5:15: Flight arrives in South Bend
-5:21: Board flight in South Bend
-5:30: Everyone on board in South Bend.
-5:45: Everyone still on board in South Bend.
-5:55: Everyone still on board in...you guessed it, South Bend.
-6:00: Six people are taken off our plane. It is too heavy. Apparently the agent thought it'd be a better idea to burn 3 hrs of fuel to lighten the weight instead of removing 6 passengers who were last minute bookings from other airlines. Pilot disagreed. Argument ensued. Pilot wins after forty five minutes.
-6:15: Cargo dudes finally find the departees' luggage and close the door. We chill for a little while for no apparent reason.
-7:15: Wheels up! YES. [Note: if you look on the NWA site it says that we left at 6:12 and arrived at 7:51. This is false because it does not take 1.5 hours to fly from South Bend to Detroit. What they really mean is that we moved away from the gate at 6:12].
-7:51: Arrive Detroit. Connection from Detroit to Minneapolis was scheduled for 7:12. I assume I didn't make it. I assume wrong, because it is delayed.
-8:40: Flight from Detroit to Minneapolis scheduled to depart.
-9:35: Flight from Minneapolis to Wichita departs...without me.
-9:50: Flight from Detroit to Minneapolis actually departs.
-11:08: Arrive Minneapolis.

This is followed by a blur of waiting in lines of hundreds of people, news that the next flight to Wichita that they can guarantee me isn't until MONDAY (but standby for a Sunday flight is available), a late night shuttle trip to a hotel in Eagan, Minnesota, the realization that I have eaten nothing but a bowl of cereal at noon and have therefore consumed no food for over 13 hours, the realization that nothing is open here in South Fargo and my hotel has no room service, the quiet and desperate inhalation of a single granola bar, five hours of fitful sleep, and a trip back to the airport at 11:30 to wait for the standby flight. And apparently, the longest run-on sentence in the history of blogging. Ever.

It was (and is) also -26 here. The first time I was struck in the face by that wind, I think I broke out in cold blisters immediately. The people here are obviously made of hardy Scandinavian peasant stock, whereas my folk come from the land of 100+ degrees and 80% humidity. Clearly, I was built for this.

And then...THEN! Success!!!!!!

I am booked on a flight to Kansas City tonight at 7:05. KC is about 3 hrs from my house but at this point, I just want to get home before Christmas. Parental units will be arriving to pick me up, hopefully with food in tow. I will sleep for 48 hours straight and, with any luck, wake to find that if nothing else this ordeal has caused me to lose two pounds. Score.

When in doubt, blog

2008-12-05T13:05:00.003-05:00

I need to outline, outline, outline...and yet, here I am.

Quick updates:

-baking time has been severely reduced, so the shiny new implements I acquired over Thanksgiving break are going to have to take a back seat until I get back to school in 2009...sob.

-I think I might be getting addicted to caffeine...I get these weird behind-the-eye headaches and they tend to go away with that first cup of coffee. This is absolutely not good and come break, I might have to figure out a way to slowly wean myself off the magic concoction that is 2 packets of sugar + a big splash of half and half. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

-I have given up getting my apartment clean; I simply don't have the time. Therefore, I've resorted to trying to control the mess: I have a bag for all the mail. All the dishes are in the sink. All the clothes are in a pile. Yes, they're clean, and yes, there's plenty of closet space and they should be there—but the point is that they're not EVERYWHERE.

-Taylor Swift. That's about all I'm going to say without going into a hundreds-of-words long review of how genius her pop songwriting skills are.

ACK. My life is a shambles. Please, please, please let me pull through the next few weeks with some of my sanity intact.

Please.

Drowning...

2008-12-01T22:04:00.001-05:00

...in Christmas present shopping, packing boxes, laundry, notes, books, unopened mail, and mismatched socks.

There could not be a better description of my life right now.

Santa, baby.

2008-11-24T13:52:00.002-05:00

This year's wishlist:

-The Joy of Cooking/Baking
-A Le Creuset Dutch Oven (yeah right)
-Silpat
-Extra bowl for KitchenAid Artisan mixer
-BtVS season 8 comics
-A replacement power cord for my MBP
-Frye riding boots (again, yeah right)

The geeky housewife factor here is through the roof.

Maurice: an update

2008-11-23T22:38:00.006-05:00

I've now had Maurice for over 6 months; possibly a record for me when it comes to fish-raising. As far as I can tell, he's doing pretty well. He just swims around in his tank all day, and since fish have memory spans of maybe 10 seconds, it means that every time he makes a circuit around his tank he notices his castle anew and is like "Cool! A castle!" And repeat...repeat...repeat.

The interesting thing about Maurice (well, I find it interesting) is that he's cold-blooded, and therefore is entirely dependent on the temperature of his surroundings. When my apartment is cold, he's sluggish, and when it's warmer, he's perky. There a few implications to this, but the most important one is that I'm afraid to really lower the temperature in my apartment when I'm not here, for fear that I'll return and find him a floating ice cube.

This poses some interesting dilemmas; this week I'll be traveling to the wilds of Northern Michigan for Thanksgiving with T.'s family, but since I won't be here I want to lower the temperature in my apartment so as not to waste money and energy heating rooms that no one will be in. Which means that I'll have to either leave Maurice here to freeze, or take him with me. Guess which option I'm taking here?

And the real problem will be Christmas break, because I'm not sure what I'm going to do, being gone for three weeks. I'll be flying home, so I won't be able to take him with me. But I can't leave him here by himself—he'll freeze, and starve, to death. So what should I do?

The options are:
-send him home with my Mom when she comes in a few weeks to pack up her stuff and take it back to Kansas. The problem with this is that she's killed the last 2 betta fish she's owned. While I trust him with her for just a few weeks, I can't figure out a way to get him back here when vacation is over. This might take some figuring out.

-drive home to Kansas so that he can ride in the car with me. I realize that this is absolutely insane and that I'm nuts to even momentarily entertain this idea for a pet that can't actually make eye contact with me. Really, this would be the only way for him to get to and from Kansas safely. However, I'm not quite enamored enough to drive 12 hours each way just to ensure that Maurice is comfortable.

-find a sitter. I have some friends who are rectors at the school who might be willing to let him dwell there for a little while; it'll be warm there at least (I think?) and depending on when they get back he should be OK with the no food (or I could get him some slow-feeding pellets). Or I can ask the law school staff if it's OK to let him chill at the school for a few weeks; at least there will be heat there and I wonder if they would feed him. Again, I understand that this is complete ridiculous, but I don't want him to die.

Suggestions are welcome. I'm sure you are all glad to know that I have given so much thought to the welfare of my fish, while putting off any concern for the welfare of my fed courts outline. Stay tuned for the outcome—I know you're all just riveted to your seats.

Sigh. Pudding. Remix.

2008-11-19T20:46:00.004-05:00

Unlike the delicious little sample I practically inhaled last night, the rest of the pudding...never...set.

What happened? What went wrong? I NEED TO KNOW!

Also, this is basically how I feel about Fed Courts right now:
Habeas brainus? Please?

Sigh. Pudding.

2008-11-18T22:06:00.002-05:00

I'm a bad person.

But it tasted sooooooo good.

Poem, before bed

2008-11-17T23:33:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of work to do.
Ooh, "Friends"!

On the ground

2008-11-17T07:28:00.001-05:00

There's snow on the ground. I don't remember feeling quite this enraged/frustrated last year when that happened. My cynical side must be catching up with me...that, and my cold toes.

The trends, they are a-changing

2008-11-14T12:00:00.003-05:00

This is what I wore last winter:

And this, thanks to the generosity of a much-missed trans-Atlantic friend, is what I will be wearing this winter:

The only thing that could make this better? If I could somehow wear both at the same time. Thank you, S.! I will picture you laughing at me every time I wear this hat.

It's that time of year again

2008-11-10T21:04:00.006-05:00

I've done some looking back in my archives, and it seems like each year, around this time, I post some sort of panicked/denial-ridden-perky post about how I need to sprint quickly and successfully through my final exams without losing my dignity or sense of personal hygiene. And I am here to say "Enough! No more pseudo-motivational phrases with snappy alliteration! No more talking about how stress is great, but success is greater! No more, I say! Let's just be honest."

I am in full-blown, 100%, all out holy-crap-I-need-to-get-my-rear-in-gear mode. And I am not ashamed to admit it! I do not deny it! Finals times SUCKS!

Whew. I feel strangely empowered now.

PS: Back to the clean slate. It was nice flirting with the girly swirl, but this is a little easier for me to look at.

What I've learned about myself

2008-11-08T11:15:00.003-05:00

I do way better when everything is a competition. Yesterday, t. and I compiled lists of things we had to do (lists that were comparable...we made sure of that) and held a contest to see who could get the most things done by the end of the day. And while I didn't get all my things done, I "little chunked" and won. BOO. YAH.

Why stop?

2008-11-06T22:31:00.000-05:00

If I'm going to dream, I might as well go all out.

Addiction

2008-11-06T11:46:00.004-05:00

I was already aware of my fondness for Gucci, Dior, and Valentino.

But I never thought I was a Jimmy Choo girl, until now.

Anyone have a cool three grand to drop on these? Something tells me I won't be able to find any of these on a final clearance rack at 95% off.

Election Day

2008-11-05T19:28:00.001-05:00

Amazing.

GOAL!

2008-11-03T10:59:00.003-05:00

In my attempts to be a more goal-oriented, forward thinking, and proactive person, I've adopted a new system for getting through my day--a system I like to call "little chunks" (which, now that I think about it, sounds kind of gross).

My problem, usually, is that I cannot manage to get things done because I feel that the enormity of the tasks I set for myself render any steps I might be able to take negligible unless the entire thing gets done (clean apartment from top to bottom, including scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush! read all my reading for a whole week in one day! organize all my clothes, hem three pairs of pants, and fold all t-shirts in a perfect square in an hour!).

Breaking up daily to-do lists into more manageable pieces is a time-saving task, a.k.a. life hack, that has been promulgated on the net and in various self-help books numerous times. I've tried it before. However, even when I did break up my day, I still found myself lingering over the first few tasks and eventually finding myself at dusk with a dishwasher half-loaded and a sofa covered in unfolded laundry.

Therefore, I have now found some success with breaking up the breaking up. By setting ridiculously doable standards, I find myself surpassing them: "Put away that dish" becomes "Well, I'm already putting away this dish...I might as well put away that mug, and that spoon, and that plate, and hey, let's put away all the dishes." Maybe I should call this "little little chunks"?

At any rate, it's working, and that's all that matters. So today's goals: read 4 pages of evidence. Throw away the old circular sitting on my coffee table. Put away my boots. Let's see how far these three things get me.

She's back!

2008-10-30T15:20:00.001-05:00

My computer! Is back! And fixed! Hooray! This is a cause for celebration!

If this blog were a baby

2008-10-27T11:45:00.002-05:00

I'd be a terrible mother. Hello, regular posting, how I've missed you.

Some updates on the past few weeks:

T. came and "surprised" me with a visit over Columbus Day weekend, which also happened to be the weekend of the Law School Fall Ball. It was so amazing to see him, and the weekend turned out to be one of the best ones ever. Thanks for driving 10 hours each way, sweetie!

I have turned into some kind of domestic whirlwind. The urge to bake comes over me so frequently that usually, the utensils from the previous cookie/cake/cupcake experiment aren't even washed yet. You know it's bad when you don't mind doing the dishes just so you can dirty them again. On the upside, I think I have managed to strengthen my relationships with all of my friends. Never underestimate the power of a chocolate chip.

School is...school. I have reached that point in the semester where I start buckling down and making all kinds of resolutions that, as usual, go half-fulfilled. This time: I've decided to regiment my TV time. This means that instead of flicking the dreaded box on for background noise and finding myself distracted by financial crisis/political scandal/Madonna's getting divorced, I will only watch television at appointed times with a purpose. Therefore, every time I pick up the remote control, I must say to myself something that involves a conceivable end: "The Hills is on at 10. I will watch until 10:30." or "90210 is on at 8. I will watch it until 9." Please, no comments on my terrible taste in television.

Finally, I've found an alternative to BtVS (still my first love, but I'll take what I can get). HBO's new series True Blood deals with similar issues (vampires living among the...living, I guess) and while it's a lot grittier and more scandalous, it still gives me that fantasy/action TV fix I've had to do without since Buffy went off the air. Thanks, l., for introducing me!

That's it for now. I've got classes to read for, things to do, cookies to bake. All in a day's work.

Quick hits

2008-10-09T22:07:00.001-05:00

-Fall ball. We're going. Got mani/pedi today--nails look great!
-Shoes. I am both purging and stocking my shoe closet.
-Buttermilk cookies. Oh. My. Gosh. They are sooooooooo good.
-School. Crazy. Per usual.

Today, summed up

2008-10-07T21:26:00.002-05:00

Nap from 5-8.

Topsy-turvy

2008-10-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

My life is a mess right now. Drastic measures need to be taken. Partial lobotomy possibly the only solution.

Honesty

2008-10-02T10:36:00.003-05:00

Really, the best policy.

My life has been in a constant state of stress lately; school, job search, life. All have been sort of an intense overload. I've been trying to cope by just taking things a step at a time, not letting myself get freaked out or feel overly pressured, but I think the time has come for me to acknowledge that something needs to be different. A good capsule example:

My apartment has been constantly messy since the beginning of the semester, when I moved back and didn't unpack all my clothes, but rather dumped them into a huge pile on the floor. It only got worse when I would do laundry and then fail to put my clothes away, instead leaving them jumbled in the basket.

While my apartment was like that, I felt assailed by an almost physical wall of frustration the second I walked through my door. Anything that was on my mind — assignments, bills, plans — would be instantly overwhelmed by MY APARTMENT! MY APARTMENT! IT IS MESSY! It became almost impossible for me to get things done.

Last night I took an affirmative step and finally organized, folded, and hung all the clothes that were making my room look like that of an 11-year old boy. I was finally honest to myself about the fact that I could no longer bear to step over piles of socks and scattered shoes on my way to my bed; that the giant piles of junk mail slowly conquering my living room were not good for my sanity; and that I needed to just suck it up (side note: this is, indeed, proper usage) and devote a whole evening to putting my life back in order.

So I did. And now I feel great about it. I'm still busy and occupied, but at least I can come home, walk in, and not feel immediately overwhelmed. A great weight has been lifted. And all because I was finally honest enough with myself to admit that I was turning into a messy, disorganized wacko and needed to make a drastic change.