bluehighlights.blogspot.com

sometimes lists aren't good enough

2012-02-01T00:25:00.000-05:00

so here's the deal: i didn't so well with my list. and you know what? i don't really care. because this past year was so full of fabulousity that no list could contain it. and there's no way to know at the beginning of a year where you'll be by the end of the year. and all the adventures that get you there? sometimes you just can't imagine what those are going to be. with those thoughts in mind, i present you with some of the reasons why being 32 was better than my birthday list could possibly show. it's not all-inclusive and it's not in any specific order, but it's a good glimpse into the greatness of the past year.

i got to spend the year living with a fabulous roommate. rooming with marlana is a lot of fun. we get along really well, we don't drive each too crazy and she bought me a set of eyeball salt and pepper shakers. really, do i need to say more? she's fabulousity personified.

i got to see my oldest niece graduate kindergarten. living 2.5 hours from my family is hard, and i don't like being so removed from the little day-to-day activities. so being able to be home for alicia's kindergarten graduation was great fun. even if it does mean she's growing up too fast.

and i got to help my youngest niece celebrate her fist birthday! were there too many kids at the party for my enjoyment? sure. but as far as first birthday parties go? not too shabby.

i got to crochet like a crazy woman & give away a lot of yarned creations. this year i spent some quality time remembering how much fun it is to crochet. i taught myself some new stitches, picked up some new techniques and even created a few patterns on my own. and the best part? i gave almost every piece of crocheted goodness away to my family & friends. i trust they're all in happy homes and that whoever is caring for them enjoys them as much i enjoyed making them. :)

i learned why a tulip tree is called a tulip tree. just because i grew up in a house with a tulip tree doesn't mean i'd ever actually seen the tulips before. :)

i also learned that i really enjoy photographing cemetery statues. when brian asked if i'd ever been to crown hill (the cemetery situated on the highest ground in the city) and offered to take me - i said yes because i wanted to spend the day with him, not because i was particularly stoked about hanging out in a cemetery. and then we got there. and we started taking pictures. and i realized i'd never been in a cemetery with a focus on the artwork that's there. it turns out that if i let myself sort of forget that there are rows and rows of dead people underneath me - i kinda like cemeteries. who knew?

i found amazing friendship in an unexpected place. when i accepted the job at the craft store, i was expecting to enjoy myself, to be challenged by the new environment and to meet some nice coworkers along the way. i was not, however, expecting to find someone whose company brings me as much joy as brian does. he & i make a good team both at work and outside of work, and i love him dearly.

origami! i made a couple hundred pieces of folded paper goodness for erin's daughter to hang from her bedroom ceiling, and it was great fun. as i was folding each one i just kept imagining her face when she opened the box. i wish i could have seen that. :)

i got to take cupcakes to april on her anniversary. april and i started our jobs at the newspaper within a month of each other. summer of 2011 marked her 10-year anniversary, and i was so happy i got to go up and help her celebrate! 10 years is a big deal. cupcakes with candy eyes seemed like the least i could do.

i got to decorate a birthday cake for my brother. speaking of cakey goodness - being able to decorate a pirate ship cake for jonathan? yup, that was a high point of the year, too. i don't remember why he & laure were in town - but i'm glad we got to spend some together while they were. :)

i got to spend christmas with my family. and speaking of spending time with family - let's not forget christmas. :) working retail means i can't really request time off around christmas. and that means my window of opportunity is small and easily thwarted by poor weather (like 2010's little ice storm on christmas eve). this year my schedule and the weather worked together quite nicely to give me a couple days home with the family. they're a lovely group, as is quite obvious in the above photo, no?

i got the most awesome hair accessory ever. and speaking of christmas (after this one, i won't start with "and speaking of ..." again. honest.) - brian made me the coolest hair accessory ever. we'd seen these really great hair flowers in LA with day of the dead skulls in the center. but they were expensive, and we knew we could make one ourselves. or, rather, i could buy the supplies and brian could make it. so that's what he did. and it is awesome. i wore it out to dinner on new year's eve, too. because i decided is was still a poinsettia-worthy holiday. :)

i got a great pair of mustache socks. two pairs, really. ;) my friend dave has this uncanny knack for sending the coolest things, and these socks were for no reason at all except he wanted to. and THAT is why i love mail.

i planted a garden. my dad made me two garden boxes, and i planted them full of vegetables. lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, watermelon, radishes, green beans. so much good stuff. i suppose, technically, this one was on the goal list, so maybe it doesn't belong here? but i had so much fun with the garden. i enjoyed the whole process of helping build the boxes, going and buying the dirt, mixing it with the peat moss and then actually planting the seeds/plants. i even kept up with the weeding most of the summer! it was more than just planting vegetables (which was the goal on the list) - it was a garden. my garden. and i enjoyed it very much.

i got to see burt bloom. when i moved down here, april bought me a fabulous little striped succulent that makes me think of a tim burton creation. it took burt almost a year, but he bloomed! and every day i looked at the blooms i thought of april and how beautiful she is and how sweet our friendship is.

i got to collaborate on art projects. from photographs to crocheted pieces, i've really enjoyed helping brian with some of his art projects this year. it's fun to be able to contribute at the base level of a project, knowing that he's going to turn it into something completely different. i give him something simple and he gives back something so complex and intricate. i'm glad i get to be a part of it.

i learned a lot about gluten-free baking. in fairness, i think we all want what we can't have. but when what you can't have is wheat and everyone bakes with wheat flour? yeah. no cookies, cakes or pies for you. so this year, i did some experimenting with gluten-free baking. and cooking, but the baking's the most fun. not all the experiments were successful, but for the most part i'd say they weren't too shabby. and i like the challenge. and the smiles that result.

i got to eat lettuce that was growing in a cup. i'm aware that this seems very inconsequential compared to other things on this list - but c'mon! it was lettuce that was growing in a cup! perhaps the lesson here is that being silly is a lot of fun. and you can't always plan silly. you just gotta seize the opportunities as they present themselves.

photo day with april! when we worked together, april and i did a stint of photo lunches where we'd go someone near the office on our lunch break just to take photos. that got tricky once i switched departments and such, but this year we were able to schedule a day to get together and shoot photos. and it was superb.

i shot a lot of photos. with april, with brian, with marlana, by myself ... lots of photos. there's magic in taking photos. i mean, you're literally making a copy of what's in front of you. you're taking a slice out of today's reality (while still leaving it intact) and you have it to look at again tomorrow. it's ... magic.

i learned i like a good glass of wine. this photo is actually a poor representation of my learned love of wine, as i actually greatly prefer red wine to white. but in this photo, the wine is sitting on my patio table. and coupled with my enjoyment of wine is my enjoyment of drinking it out on the patio while staring at the stars and daydreaming about life and love and everything in between. drinking a glass of wine helps me breath deeply and exhale the stress of life.

i got to visit los angeles. when beth saw an episode of cupcake wars that referenced a tim burton art exhibit, she told me about it. when i found that episode online, i proclaimed to facebook that i wanted to go. when brian said he would go with me, i booked tickets. and the trip was phenomenal. the exhibit was great, but i wouldn't call it the best part of the vacation. just being there, taking hundreds of photos, milling around the little shops in the historical district, seeing the day of the dead processional, parading a cupcake around macarthur park ... the whole experience was an absolute highlight to the year. so much laughter. so much fun.

i got to host thanksgiving dinner. again, being 2.5 hours from my family is hard. but this year my parents came down for thanksgiving dinner, and being able to host was a lot of fun. what started as a simple dinner quickly turned into a challenge to create an entire traditional thanksgiving feast that was gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and seed-free. and you know what? it was awesome.

in fact, i'd say the entire year was awesome. so what if i didn't see a bunch of movies or read a book or make ethiopian flatbread (mmmmm ... injera). i took pictures of donkeys, saw my first drag show and colored on the carpet with permanent markers. i learned that brown sugar and mustard are a good combination and that making time for the people i love is always worth the effort.

i've not given a single thought to making a goal list for next year. but here's hoping i enjoy 33 as much as i did 32.

32g: final wrap-up

2012-01-30T17:13:00.000-05:00

alright, a final wrap-up on my list of goals for this past year. :)

1. finish The One With 31 book: done! i do love having that book binding machine. it makes keeping a goal book so easy. :)

2. create a book to track my 32 goals: done! "create" and "finish" are two different things, right? i need to get some photos into the book, and update a couple of last-minute successes. and add a cover. and bind it. but it's started ... that counts, right?

3. watch all netflix-available Vincent D'Onofrio movies: bwhahaha! nope! netflix had 41 vincent d'onofrio movies available. i watched ... drum roll please ... 12. that's right, 12. and i'm okay with that. as it turns out, a lot of his movies from the 80's and early 90's? not so impressive. there are a few newer ones i still wouldn't mind seeing. but i think i'll keep d'onofrio as my law & order hero, and leave my movie obsessions to johnny deep and alan alda.

4. watch half of marlana's movies: nope, didn't do this one, either. i watched three of marlana's movies, and i enjoyed two of them. movie-watching just wasn't my strong suit this year.

5. finish watching all netflix-available episodes of The Office: now this one i accomplished. twice. ;)

6. watch Law & Order: Trial by Jury: nope, never even had a single disc of the show delivered to the house.

7. post items on etsy: nope, and this one still scares me.

8. plant vegetables: done, done, done! i had tomatoes, cucumbers, a variety of greens, carrots, jalapenos, bell peppers and radishes that all grew successfully. less successful were the green beans, watermelon and squash. but all in all, not a bad year in the garden.

9. play every game in the house: oh, most definitely not. when the year started i identified 54 games. of those, i played 12.and that doesn't take into the account the news i've gotten. i'm looking to move this spring, though, and i may pare down some of my game collection. nothing major, but the ones i haven't played in years (if ever). just a thought.

10. decorate my bedroom: well, no. i mean, there is a stripe of white foamcore running around the room - but i'm pretty sure that's not really considered a decoration.

11. cut my fabric stash in half: definitely not. i worked on exactly ONE sewing project this year, and it's not done, yet.

12. finish a quilt front or back: this one i accomplished. i finished the front for my t-shirt quilt! okay, i guess that means i worked on two sewing projects this year, as i wasn't counting my half-finished quilts in the previous goal. but, still.

13. cut my yarn stash in half: hahahahaha. okay, here's the thing. as i started projects with the yarn i already had - i needed to buy more to finish those projects. and then i needed to buy more because i was having so much fun crocheting. i did a LOT of crocheting this year. and i don't even slightly regret not accomplishing this goal. i had so much fun adding to the stash to work on projects that i don't even care. :)

14. complete a pattern from ravelry: i heart ravelry. :) i'm not sure i could count how many of their free patterns i was inspired by this year. so much fun.

15. finish the tree scarf: done! apparently a neighbor stopped marlana to tell her he liked it. in the course of the conversation she learned the fellow who runs our homeowners' association is a crotchety old man who complains about everything. but so far, no request for us to remove the tree scarf. yay!

16. make some jewelry: nope, don't think so. i did make some beaded spiders, though, which helped use up some of the beads. and enjoying working with the beads was really more the point than what i made with them anyway.

17. save money for a stand mixer: yeah, not so much. i had a decent stash for awhile, but it all got used on other wants & needs. i've started a new stash with some christmas money. hopefully i can get a stand mixer before getting distracted and spending that money on a food processor or pizza or something. ;)

18. try six recipes from Baked Explorations: done! i made a devil's food cake, angel frosting, grasshopper bars, a chocolate cake, almond buttercream frosting and a chocolate glaze. yes, that only amounted to three different desserts - but i still say it counts. :) they were tasty, that much i know.

19. use my madeleine pan: nope.

20. use my tart pan: yes! for a very tasty pumpkin custard. mmmmmm.

21. make injera: nope.

22. use my ice cream maker: yes! i made a very tasty cake batter ice cream.

23. make pierogi: nope.

24. succeed at meringues: nope. but, in fairness, i didn't fail at them either. i simply didn't try. ;)

25. eat pizza at Bazbeaux: yup! marlana and i went to celebrate my birthday last january. tasty pizza and a muffaletta to go. yum!

26. end the year weighing less than i do now: yes! from last year's birthday to this year's birthday i lost 28.7 pounds. part of that was really gradual and slow as i paid no attention for the first 7 or 8 months. but most of it has come off since september, when i decided to focus on losing some weight before taking a trip to LA. currently, i'm not so motivated anymore - except that i really don't want to regain what i lost. and i just booked a trip to new york city ... so maybe that'll help, too. ;)

27. regrow/replace Bill: yup, bill's dead. and the only thing his pot turned into was an ash tray at thanksgiving. now it's just sitting empty in the garage. looking lonely.

28. paint Bill's pot: oh. guess i should have talked about his pot turning into an ash tray here. oh well. ;)

29. read an autobiography/memoir: i just can't focus on reading. i want to read. but i want to do other things more, and i think that's fair.

30. fast from the internet for three consecutive days, twice: wow. this is almost as funny as watching all the vincent d'onofrio movies. no. i did not fast from the internet. are you kidding me?

31. send mail to my nieces: i sent alicia a card, but not sami jo. good thing she's too little to care, eh?

32. make christmas cards AND send them: done! it was a very limited edition, however, so don't feel bad if you didn't get one. even though they were awesome. ;)

and no, i haven't finalized this year's list, yet. but we'll talk more about that later.

new year's eve

2012-01-01T21:56:00.004-05:00

i don't have an image that properly portrays the goodness that was my new year's eve. we'll come back to that in a moment.

i usually spend new year's eve with my family. laure's family joins my family for an evening of games and food, culminating in sparklers at midnight. it sounds low key, probably. that's because it is. we have a relaxed evening and a lot of fun. this year, however, i had to work on new year's eve and new year's day. living 2.5 hours away, that made being with the family impossible. so, what to do? make an evening of fun in indy, of course.

back to the inadequate photos. i don't know what an adequate photo from last night would be. catching that errant piece of pizza mid flight on its way out of the oven and onto the floor? us laughing like school kids as we went into kroger for no reason other than to buy 20 grapes? weighing and counting the grapes because we only needed 20? (thankfully, we did get some extras since once we got home we realized that we actually needed 24.) watching brian's awesome new year's video? multiple times? sitting around for hours watching youtube videos and listening to snippets of random songs? realizing at 2am that we never opened the champagne at midnight? finally crashing about 90 minutes before i had to be up for work?

we had a great night. and i leave you with the video. i know i'm partial because i took some of the photos, i'm in some of the photos, and i happen to think brian's an amazing artist. but watch it, and try to tell me it's not amazing, okay? ;) may you take the time to reflect on where life has taken you this past year, and may your new year be filled with happiness, peace and joy.

day off wrap up

2011-12-30T21:48:00.002-05:00

with the exception of cleaning the office and taking photos at goodwill, the list is done. yup. the laundry is done (i even threw in a third load just for kicks), the dishes are done (i even swapped the christmas dishes for the winter dishes - which are in the dishwasher now), the tree scarf is up (and the neighbor across the street loves it!), the pizza place verified they do indeed offer gluten free pizza every day (and cheddar cheese is definitely an option), my christmas cards are off the tv and i took a three hour nap. oh yeah, it was a good day.

i narrowed my focus for the birthday list. there's no way i can get every goal accomplished by my birthday. i've spent way to much time distracted this year to do that. note: that is not a complaint or even an attempt at an excuse. it's just true, and i'm quite okay with it. as erin said recently, i've done a whole lot that's NOT on the list, and this year has been great. so i've pulled twelve goals that i figure are my best bets. in fairness, most of them are related to cooking/baking. but i had to go with the most likely, ya know? :)

i left in the goal about posting items on etsy. it still scares me. and i'm not sure what i'd post. i've got a few crocheted rose rings sitting around ... sigh. maybe i just need to admit i don't have the focus? i haven't crocheted since before LA. the big secret project isn't even done, yet. meh.

day off to-do list

2011-12-29T23:57:00.002-05:00

i'm off work tomorrow, and i've got plans to be productive. that's right. i plan to do more than sleep all day. go me! :)

- finish the laundry (two loads, i think)
- wash dishes/unload the dishwasher
- take photos at goodwill
- sew the tree scarf on
- formulate a plan to maximize success at the birthday list
- clean the office
- call the pizza place
- clear the christmas cards off the tv
- take a nap :)

christmas cards

2011-12-10T01:15:00.001-05:00

i figure i have one week to get cards in the mail to be delivered before christmas. one week. so today, i had an idea on how to make them using this stack of black/white photos i've got sitting around. photos that have been sitting around for years. literally, years. how do i know? because the only reason i have the stack is because i got doubles printed when i got the film developed. that's right - they were on film. i haven't shot on film in - that's right - years. so as i'm searching for the HDMI cable that i'm convinced came with my laptop (which i didn't find because it didn't come with my laptop), i find the box that has all my negatives and prints in it. except ... no prints. apparently at some point (the move to here, perhaps?) i tossed them. sigh. one week and i need a new plan.

51 days ... what?!

2011-12-05T12:50:00.001-05:00

ummm ... we may have a problem. my birthday is in 51 days. 51 days! and i haven't recapped this list even once. so, at marlana's request, here's a look at how scary this is going to be. :)

1. finish The One With 31 book: done!

2. create a book to track my 32 goals: it's pretty up to date. just a couple of things need to be added - maybe some photos - it's going well.

3. watch all netflix-available Vincent D'Onofrio movies: okay, he's got 41 movies available on netflix. i've seen 12. that means i need to see 39 more in the next 51 days. ummm ... wow.

4. watch half of marlana's movies: i need watch 14 of her movies. i've watched ... drum roll please ... three. yeah.

5. finish watching all netflix-available episodes of The Office: done! easy.

6. watch Law & Order: Trial by Jury: yeah, haven't even thought about this one. but in fairness, i've been watching a lot less tv the past few months.

7. post items on etsy: nope, still too scary. plus, i've not made anything to post except for a few crocheted rose rings.

8. plant vegetables: done! tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, squash and asparagus.

9. play every game in the house: HA! i actually made a list of the games in the house. there were 54 when i started the list. i've played nine. and i've added at least two games to the stash.

10. decorate my bedroom: nope. unless the two photos & the cocktail umbrella stuck on the wall count?

11. cut my fabric stash in half: right ...

12. finish a quilt front or back: done! i finished the front of the t-shirt quilt.

13. cut my yarn stash in half: nope. pretty sure i have more yarn now than i did when i started. BUT, i've still been super productive with my yarn arts. i just accumulate as i make new projects.

14. complete a pattern from ravelry: done! several, actually.

15. finish the tree scarf: done! and i'm thinking if it's not too cold tomorrow, i might go put it on.

16. make some jewelry: nope.

17. save money for a stand mixer: currently, no. i started saving money ... but it's all been used for other things.

18. try six recipes from Baked Explorations: halfway there: devil's food cake, angel frosting and grasshopper bars.

19. use my madeleine pan: no, but i do have several yummy looking recipes. :)

20. use my tart pan: done! the thanksgiving pumpkin custard was in my tart pan.

21. make injera: nope.

22. use my ice cream maker: done!

23. make pierogi: mmmm ... pierogi. but, no, i haven't made any.

24. succeed at meringues: HA!

25. eat pizza at Bazbeaux: done! marlana and i went for my birthday.

26. end the year weighing less than i do now: so far so good on this one. it would take more effort than i'm willing to put into it to tell you how much i've lost since my last birthday, but i know it's at least 25 pounds. i've lost about that much in the past 11 weeks.

27. regrow/replace Bill: yeah, bill's dead. and he's not been replaced. so ... yeah.

28. paint Bill's pot: nope.

29. read an autobiography/memoir: nope.

30. fast from the internet for three consecutive days, twice: hahahahahahahaha ... nope.

31. send mail to my nieces: i sent alicia a get well card a couple of months ago. so i'm halfway there.

32. make christmas cards AND send them: nope. but then, i never said they'd be out by christmas, right? :)

so ... yeah. 32 goals, and i've accomplished ... 12. awesome. it's gonna be a busy 51 days. :)

thanksgiving dessert

2011-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

the oven went out on thanksgiving before i had a chance to finish baking the pumpkin custard tart. i had the tart shell baked, but not the custard. i was ready to toss the shell, but then decided i should at least try it first. i was nervous about it because i'd had to futz with it a lot to make it workable. but it was really tasty! so instead of tossing it, i took it for a drive to brian's today and used his oven to bake the custard. definitely a good choice. so good.

X is for Xylophone

2011-11-27T23:19:00.001-05:00

blargh.

that is all.

W is for White Christmas

2011-11-26T20:35:00.001-05:00

"but it's only one verse, so i added one extra one," she says. love it.

thanksgiving recap

2011-11-25T19:13:00.001-05:00

thanksgiving was amazing. my parents came down, and we had a lovely dinner together. my parents are awesome. my mom even brought bouquets for brian and i (mine was asparagus, his was radishes) and goody bags filled with tasty treats. plus, when i went to work this morning? she cleaned my kitchen! and it was a mess! she's much too good to me. :)

among the funnier events of the day: we realized we couldn't fit the potatoes in the oven with the turkey to bake, so we went to kroger and bought firewood. :) we pulled out my little patio fire pit (which had never been used before) and brian started up a fire. it worked quite well, and gave the potatoes a tasty smoky flavor. and the baking element in my oven shorted out! it started about halfway through the turkey cooking. we kept a close eye on it, watching the short progress around the element until eventually it completely fried. thankfully, at that point, the bird was done. :)

unscheduled free day

2011-11-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

so i skipped monday's free day because i was just too excited to re-post the S video. or i forgot - one of the two. :) i'm up early this morning, hoping to work some magic on the chair back covers for thanksgiving. they did not fair well in the wash. i'm hoping to get them fixed without brian realizing i had to fix them. luckily, the chances of him reading this are slim to none. :)

edit: one hour later and Project Chair Back Recovery is complete. maybe i AM magic ...

T is for Two

2011-11-22T23:34:00.001-05:00

as in two days until thanksgiving!

we went out tonight and got the last of our goodies. groceries? check! dessert dishes? check! flowers? check! butter dish? check! tomorrow is all prep work (with a little bit of actual going to work in the middle), thursday is all celebration, and friday? friday you just might see pictures of the whole amazing hoopla. ;)

S is for Shake It

2011-11-21T23:59:00.000-05:00

R is for Really

2011-11-20T22:23:00.001-05:00

yup, i skipped yesterday. really. :)

P is for Procrastination

2011-11-18T10:38:00.001-05:00

remember that big crochet project i told you about last month? yeah, it's still not done. :) i'm thinking another 12 hours of work and it would be completed. but, you see, i gave it to its new owner before it was done (in celebration of Tim Burton Day) ... so now i'm having some issues working up the motivation to actually finish it. i mean, the surprise is over, ya know? :) maybe in time for his birthday. that gives me a week to focus on thanksgiving and then a week to crochet. i can do that, right?

O is for Olvera Street

2011-11-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

N is for Narwhals

2011-11-16T11:00:00.001-05:00

M is for More Important

2011-11-15T12:43:00.001-05:00

on sunday i said i wasn't looking forward to this week. that is true, but only if i put on blinders and focus only on work. there are certainly times when it is much too easy to focus on a possible disaster that way. i want to mull over every possible outcome. i want to believe it's going to be bad because being surprised by success is always better than being surprised by failure. but this is not my point today. my point today is that there are much more important things happening this week than work. yesterday, when i wanted to retreat into my own gloominess? that was both work related and erased when a conversation with a dear friend reminded me there were much more important things that needed my attention. people i love, for example? much more important than work. and spending time with those people? much more important than sleep. :)

good night

2011-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

tonight i haven't the words to actually describe what's going through my mind and my heart. both are aching just a little. my head from need for sleep, my heart from need for an outlet. six hours ago i wanted to retreat into my own gloominess for no easily defined reason. three hours ago i wanted to scream at the indecency and injustice of others' actions. now i want to curl up and sleep it all off. wake up to a new day, holding onto the simultaneous feelings of warmth and love that showed up somewhere along the way.

L is for Long Week Ahead

2011-11-13T23:19:00.001-05:00

i am not looking forward to this week. i am not dreading it, but i am apprehensive. what i need to remember is to not let the apprehension undermine the possibility of success. i need to go in with an open mind and just let things happen. then, when things have happened, i can make an informed decision to embrace the change or run away screaming. yes, i do believe those are my two options. nothing in between. ;)

J & K are for ... Just Kidding?

2011-11-12T09:34:00.001-05:00

wow. apparently alphabetical order isn't always my strong suit at 4:30am. because at 4:30am i apparently start working backwards and I is followed by H. i could change it since probably no one's seen it, yet. but ... why not just embrace it, right? :)

H is for Hmmmm

2011-11-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

the chickpea bread did not turn out as we had hoped. but this is why you do a trial run, right? i need to try it again with a few modifications (like precise measurements, for starters) and see how it works.

I is for Ice Cream

2011-11-10T20:09:00.001-05:00

i joined a group of gals in a six week weight loss challenge. we agreed to compete for six weeks and then take a week off before starting up again. today's my last free day before the next six weeks of focus. so tonight we went out for dinner (pizza ... mmmmmmmmmmm pizza) and picked up ice cream on the way home. might as well go out with a bang, right? :)

as a side note: i won the first six-week challenge, losing exactly 20 pounds. hopefully i didn't gain back too much of it in the past seven days. ;)

H is for Hollywood

2011-11-09T23:59:00.000-05:00

G is for Good Things

2011-11-08T22:52:00.002-05:00

- Great breakfast with a Great friend
- Getting to start my day in a skirt and cute boots
- Going on long drives filled with laughter, singing and honesty
- Going bowling, bowling, bowling!
- Guys who will let me play with their hair :)
- Gourds! and pumpkins and squash
- Guys who can sew
- Green batik fabric
- Gorgeous weather
- Gorgeous life

flying away

2011-11-07T12:33:00.001-05:00

F is for Fabulous

2011-11-06T00:56:00.001-04:00

yes, i originally wanted to post this for D, but i couldn't get it uploaded in time. however, i'm pretty sure i could come up with a complimentary adjective for every letter of the alphabet that describes it. so Fabulous it is. :)

E is for Effort

2011-11-05T13:15:00.002-04:00

sometimes being patient takes a lot of effort. sometimes i want all the answers right now. sometimes i forget to remember to just breath and let things happen. sometimes possibilities are just so exciting that i can't contain myself. :) oooo ... Exciting! that's another good E word. :)

i get to see a bunch of friends from home tomorrow. we're going bowling and then out for dinner. i'm pretty Excited. :) brian's coming with me - without me even asking. i swear he volunteered. hopefully he has as much fun as i do. mixing groups of friends can be a bit ... Edgy. ;) luckily my friends from home are all Extremely Excellent, so there shouldn't be a problem.

D is also for Dispirited

2011-11-04T23:17:00.001-04:00

some days i just want more than the people i'm surrounded by have to offer. often on these days i have the cure all worked out in my mind. mostly that cure never comes to fruition. some days are just like that, i suppose.

D is for Driving Into the Sunset

2011-11-04T08:24:00.002-04:00

it was a beautiful evening. and the drive wasn't too shabby, either. ;)

C is for Cancellation

2011-11-03T15:31:00.002-04:00

i believe i'm finally going to cancel my domain name and web hosting. the domain name expires at the end of january, i'll keep my web hosting until then to give me time to back up all the files. i guess. do i need the files? probably not. but why not have one more CD sitting around that i never use, right? :)

i'm still not sold on cancelling flickr, as i've started actually using that as a viable option for sharing photos.

B is for Bedtime

2011-11-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

i will be back-dating this post to 11:59pm on Nov. 2. in reality, it is nearly 5:00am on Nov. 3, but as i haven't slept yet, i'm still deeming this post on time. :) i have a million things i want to say, and a million more that are quite content just resonating in my mind.

A is for Awkward

2011-11-01T23:57:00.000-04:00

apparently i'm going dancing next month. this is not my idea, but i don't find myself having a good excuse to say no. granted, i have a month to come up with a good excuse - but it's a birthday request. how do you say no when someone's birthday request is to go dancing? sigh. this is guaranteed to be awkward.

macarthur park

2011-10-30T08:18:00.000-04:00

as we were riding the subway on tuesday, brian noticed there was a stop for MacArthur Park, which triggered a Donna Summer song in his head. so that night, we looked up the song and sure enough, it was talking about the MacArthur Park that's in LA. so we went back the next day and spent almost two hours taking photos. brian than turned those photos into the video above.

yes, we might be the biggest nerds ever. we flew a thousand miles to go on a vacation where we went spent a chunk of our afternoon photographing a cupcake in a park. but you know what? we had so much fun. :)

LA: Day One

2011-10-25T06:49:00.003-04:00

while the three-hour time difference currently has me wide awake at 3am, day one of our trip has been wildly successful. :)

blinding

2011-10-21T19:34:00.001-04:00

quiet now

2011-10-20T07:30:00.001-04:00

smiling

2011-10-15T11:44:00.002-04:00

because some things just make me happy. :)

pros & cons

2011-10-10T02:07:00.001-04:00

i re-read and re-read typed conversations. i love that facebook archives messages indefinitely, as i go back days, weeks, months later to re-read what was said. there have been e-mails that i've forced myself to trash so that i would stop re-reading them.

phone conversations do not allow the same revisiting ... but i think that's fairly replaced with instantaneous responses that haven't been written and re-written before being sent. i don't generally like phones, but tonight was good. i'm heading to bed with a million conversation snippets running through my mind, a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.

mushroom

2011-10-09T00:03:00.001-04:00

his cap is so tall. like he's pulled it down over his eyes, allowing him to hide from the world.

... yawn

2011-10-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

i planned to come home today and mow the lawn. and get the oil changed in my car. and mill around the red dot boutique. and buy eggs. and return some stuff i'm not going to need. but instead ... i'm thinking maybe i'll take a nap? and then crochet?

or maybe i should go take pictures ... the sun is especially shiny today.

it's all in the details

2011-10-07T16:19:00.003-04:00

it might be ridiculous how excited i get when someone takes the time to put the apostrophe in front of my name.

and breath

2011-10-06T21:07:00.000-04:00

i need to calm down. relax. remember that i made the choices that got me here, and i can make the choices that get me somewhere else. besides, where i am is not a bad place to be.

borderline guilt

2011-10-05T16:28:00.003-04:00

i don't think i can be held responsible for people assuming i still do the same things i did ten years ago. but when they make those assumptions, should i correct them?

photo fail of the day

2011-10-04T11:55:00.003-04:00

really, 'becca? you couldn't take two more steps to the left and get the entire statue in the picture? really?

that's multitasking.

2011-10-03T12:25:00.002-04:00

i got an extra hour of spare time this morning before needing to head downtown, and i thought to myself, "self, would you rather spend that hour dying your hair or pulling out your autumn dishes?" so i did both. because i'm a multitasking master.

this is my first time using my new lemongrass fiestaware. i only bought one piece because i wanted to see how it jived with my older chartreuse pieces. the bowl (top/left) is lemongrass; the saucer (bottom/right) is chartreuse. not too shabs, homer laughlin. not too shabs.

on second thought ...

2011-10-02T20:55:00.001-04:00

i don't know that i've ever deleted a post before. but if you happened to read this in the last five minutes, you read something that's now gone. :)

blasted anonymity

2011-10-02T00:08:00.001-04:00

know what i don't like about the like, dislike, think you're crazy buttons on here? i have no way of knowing who's clicking what. it's like a guessing game where i'll never know if i'm right.

is there an echo in here?

2011-09-30T22:59:00.000-04:00

i told brian the other night that i do my best to not blog about the same thing twice. however, tonight i do find myself once again contemplating the ineffectiveness of the internet. ineffectiveness? limitations? yes. limitations. some things just can't be expressed by the typed word. and it doesn't matter if you put asterisks or parentheses around the word ... you just can't hug a friend online. no matter how much you'd like to.

i love the fall

2011-09-30T16:33:00.000-04:00

daydreaming

2011-09-28T18:38:00.005-04:00

i would estimate i spent at least 2 hours today doing nothing more than sitting and daydreaming. mostly daydreaming, at least. there was a little analyzing going on there, too. but not in the overcritical way i usually analyze. (people often make the mistake of thinking i turn a blind eye to the possible ramifications for my actions. in truth, i spend a lot of time concocting in my mind the worst possible consequences for the things that i do. once i know i can make peace with the possible outcomes, it's easy to make the next step. but i digress.) it started as i was waiting for a phone call from a friend. i was idly clicking around on facebook, and then just started to let my mind wander instead. and you know how a mind can wander. i have no idea where i started, but i ended up dreaming about a little bit of every thing. after the phone call and running a quick errand, i came home with no real plans for the evening and seven or eight new thoughts running through my mind. it was gorgeous outside, so i took a glass of wine onto the deck and settled into one of the patio chairs. another hour or so passed by, and it wasn't until i came inside to make dinner that i realized this song had been running through my mind.

there are, of course, lots of youtube options for this song. this one's got good audio, a little bit of background about the song and a decent angle to see that JoCo looks like a muppet when he sings. :)

it's all in the last eight lines.

So enjoy yourself, do the things that matter
Cause there isn't time and space to do it all
Love the things you try, drink a cocktail, wear a tie
Show a little grace if you should fall

Don't live another day unless you make it count
There's someone else that you're supposed to be
Something deep inside of you that still wants out
And shame on you if you don't set it free

on blogging and letting it go

2011-09-27T01:09:00.002-04:00

in retrospect, i practically led my coworker to my blog tonight. she's a friend of a friend on facebook, and as she & i shared space in the break room tonight she asked me about a facebook conversation she'd seen. i told her we were talking about the song Disco Dancing Dragon because brian had used it in a video and i hadn't been able to find any information on it, even though it's been indelibly stuck in my head ever since. she was sitting there with her phone in front of her - of course she googled it. now, i KNOW that if you google Disco Dancing Dragon, my blog pops up first on the list. but that thought didn't cross my mind. she quickly pointed out what album the song was from and who the artist is. i confirmed that that's what brian had told me and that i had downloaded the song last night. then she says " ... wait. are these ... ? i think these are brian's pictures. yeah, these are brian's pictures! that's the dragon you gave him!" and she's laughing and turns her phone so i can agree that, indeed, those are brian's pictures.

and that's when the light bulb went on. this is what she was looking at.

i don't know if she realized she was looking at something i had posted or not. if she read the actual text, she had to have known. i mean, the first line states "i gave the miniature dragon to brian" - that's pretty obvious. but if she noticed, she didn't let on.

torn between feeling awkward and being humored, i'm choosing to be humored. even if she realized it and comes back to read more - so what? it's a public blog. i've always had it that way, and i don't see any reason to make it invite-only or anything like that. that's why i keep stories vague and don't use a lot of names. that's why i don't post every thing that goes on, especially the stuff inside my head. ;)

i did come home tonight, though, and start reading through my posts. my original thought was to edit out anything that shouldn't be read by new readers. but, again, so what? i don't really blog about anything that's going to embarrass me. and i don't use it to unabashedly vent about work or coworkers. and if people want something to judge me for, they're going to find something to judge me for - they don't really need my blog to do that. plus, if learning that i'm slightly OCD about keeping my silverware off of restaurant tables is something that interests them - then read away, good people. read away. chances are you're going to find out i'm crazy eventually anyway. :)

mid-day progress

2011-09-17T15:26:00.002-04:00

so far i've managed to:

- sleep without an alarm clock
- make serious progress on the crochet project (in fact, i think i'm done until my yarn order comes in)
- watch one movie i haven't seen before

BUT, i've also managed to:

- wash dishes
- run the dishwasher
- get chili simmering in the crock pot
- sit around with a dopey grin on my face because my friends are awesome

today has been good. :)

tomorrow's to do list

2011-09-16T22:58:00.003-04:00

i'm off work tomorrow. my roommate's away for the weekend, so i've got the house to myself. what to do?

- finish the back of the t-shirt quilt
- sew together the middle of the t-shirt quilt
- decide next step of the t-shirt quilt :)
- make serious progress on the crochet project
- run the oven through a cleaning cycle
- bake cookies to ice with the leftover icing in the fridge
- sleep without an alarm clock
- watch two movies i haven't seen before
- contemplate why the plural of "hiatus" is not "hiati"

on calling people love, take 2

2011-09-15T22:32:00.001-04:00

i had a customer call me "love" today. yup, just as cute coming from someone i didn't know. plus, she had an english accent.

silent, not invisible

2011-09-14T23:07:00.003-04:00

has this ever happened to you?

i was having a conversation with Person A tonight, when Person B entered the room. Person B asked a question about the conversation, which i answered. my answer apparently surprised her, as she immediately exchanged one of those wide-eyed "did she just say what i think she said?" looks with Person A who returned her own "yes, she did. what do you think about that?" look.

okay, i know the looks were silent - but they weren't invisible, ladies.

did i mention ...

2011-09-14T10:57:00.001-04:00

that i'm going to LA?

good things, september 12

2011-09-12T23:01:00.003-04:00

- working with fabric, which makes the time go quickly
- amazing friends, both old and new
- parents more supportive and loving than i could ever describe
- sunshine for the drive home
- planning a trip to LA
- embracing possibilities

on calling people love

2011-09-07T19:13:00.003-04:00

have you seen the tv show Lie to Me? the main character is an expert at reading facial expressions (micro expressions, even) and judging if the person is being honest. it's an enjoyable show. the main character is british, so he has a lovely accent and a tendency to call people "love" during normal conversation. it's cute. and it's something he can get away with, in part, because he's got a british accent, which is also cute.

my point? i got a message from a friend last night that started with, "actually, love, you are proof of that" - and it made me grin. he doesn't have a british accent, but i can forgive him that. ;)

good things, september 6

2011-09-06T10:30:00.003-04:00

- eyeball salt and pepper shakers
- doodling through team huddles after the store is closed
- passing notes like kids in middle school
- open windows and cool breezes
- photo days with april
- dinner with good friends
- dinner with family
- copernicus the homicidal monkey
- sewing at 5am

please excuse me

2011-08-31T09:51:00.002-04:00

while i whine for just a moment, okay?

so there's this amazing (assumedly, i mean how could it not be?) tim burton exhibit in LA right now. over 700 pieces of his art (hundreds of which have never been seen), two large-scale outdoor pieces ... and it's all accompanied by music composed specifically for the exhibit by danny elfman.

i wanna go!

new flooring

2011-08-28T16:59:00.002-04:00

we had laminate flooring laid in the house this past week. it's beautiful.

last week i told erin that she hadn't missed much by not visiting my blog recently, as i hadn't been posting regularly. and now i've posted three days in a row. i'm flighty like that.

it's almost september. that means NaBloPoMo is only two months away. you should start thinking about committing to blogging every day in november. or at least to reading the blogs of those who do. ;)

gf snickerdoodles

2011-08-27T12:49:00.002-04:00

it occurred to me as i typed the title that "gf" could stand for god-forsaken. yes, these could be the cookies that god forgot. poor cookies.

however, it stands for gluten-free. in my recent trollings about the internet for gf recipes, i landed on the betty crocker site. as it turns out, she makes several gf baking mixes. she also offers up a variety of recipes using those mixes outside of their original purpose. for example, these snickerdoodles use her gf bisquick mix.

they're quite good! are they as tasty as the recipes i usually use? maybe not. but if no one told you they were gluten free, i'd bet good money you wouldn't guess.

meh.

2011-08-26T16:05:00.002-04:00

i found myself surrounded by negative nellies today. (where do we get phrases like "negative nellies"?) i haven't slept well the past couple of nights, and i was up early this morning. so i'll admit i'm a little crabby. but these ladies were just working my nerves! going on and on about this problem and that problem and how they could solve each of those problems so much better than the folks who are in charge of solving those problems. and if it wasn't bad enough that they were incessantly complaining - they were doing it in front of people who had no business hearing any of it. it'd be like going to a store and hearing the employees complain about their bosses, company policies and job expectations because they were unabashedly having these conversations out in the open, without concern for who was listening.

yes, it would be exactly like that.

peanut butter frosting

2011-08-19T22:44:00.001-04:00

apparently when i don't spend my time crocheting, i spend my time baking. unfortunately using a hand-held electric mixer isn't much easier on my wrist than a crochet hook. :)

crochet hiatus

2011-08-18T10:17:00.003-04:00

i'm taking a break from crocheting. i've got an octopus with one tentacle and a baby toy that's just starting to take shape ... but i've also got some irritated carpal tunnel in my right wrist that's slowing me down. i worked up some sample squares last weekend that i think did me in. one of them was single crochet with a small hook, and i didn't realize how tightly it was working up until i was done. looking at it now, i'm not surprised my wrist is hurting. a few days of rest will do it well.

i learned last week that my laptop came preloaded with a trial version of Plants v. Zombies. one of the guys at work has it on his ipod, and he had asked me awhile ago if i played it. i was intrigued, but not enough to go looking for it. and then i found it on my laptop, and of course i fell in love. it makes me want to get the pattern for a crocheted pea shooter. but then, i'm not crocheting right now, right? :)

grandma's peanut butter cookies

2011-08-17T12:34:00.000-04:00

32g recap

2011-08-09T17:28:00.002-04:00

i started a big update on where i'm at with my 32 goals for the year, then i decided i'm not posting it. why? two reasons. A: i've not made good progress on many of the goals. and 2: i'd hate for that lack of progress to reflect poorly on the year so far. we'll see where the next 5.5 months get me. :)

yup. i'm that smart.

2011-08-08T10:17:00.003-04:00

after a brief moment of slight panic, i remembered that the best way to start the dryer is to the close the door first.

storm: short, powerful

2011-08-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

this afternoon at work, a storm rolled through. it came up quickly. the rain dropped in torrents. the wind whipped violently. and within about 15 minutes, it was over. the sun was back out, the humidity shot back up and it was as if nothing had happened.

now when i left for work, i distinctly remember that our patio furniture was sitting in its rightful place: on the patio. and the potted tomatoes and peppers were all in their rightful places: in their pots. so i'm thinking maybe the same storm hit at home that hit at the store? maybe?

roy the toxic boy

2011-08-06T00:38:00.000-04:00

To those who knew him
-his friends-
we called him Roy.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.

He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make other people choke!

His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he'd sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.

He'd stand inside the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.

The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.

One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.
His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.

The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?

As Roy's soul left his body
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer.
(words and inspiration for the crochet by Tim Burton)

dinner with dave

2011-08-05T07:21:00.002-04:00

i had a fabulous dinner with dave last night. he's in town for GenCon and made some room in his schedule for marlana & i. lovely evening, really. :)

sally

2011-08-04T01:50:00.002-04:00

i've been uploading so many "in progress" photos for my sally doll to facebook that it didn't occur to me until now that i haven't shown her here at all. here she is!

sally stands about 12" tall and has posable arms and knees that bend. she was a lot of work - and i'm so happy with how she came out! hardest part? embroidering the face. i've done a bit of embroidery before, but this really challenged me. it's not an even surface, plus it's round and stuffed. yeah, challenging. but all in all, a good experience. i want to make more creatures with hair now. it's fun.

conversations that stick

2011-08-03T11:14:00.003-04:00

a couple of months ago i had a conversation with a friend i haven't spent a lot of time with recently. she was sharing her opinion on an area of my life, and she assumed i shared that opinion. as it turns out, i do not share that opinion. and that's fine. i found our difference of perspectives to be a little humorous and chalked them up to just that: difference of perspectives.

lately, however, that stupid conversation keeps playing in my mind, and it makes me wonder if i should share her point of view. if i share her point of view, i should be very unhappy with that area of my life. but i'm the exact opposite of that. i'm very, very pleased with that area of my life - more pleased than i've been in quite some time. but for some reason, these past few weeks, it's hard to just embrace that.

why must i over analyze? just be happy, 'becca. let the rest fall away.

the secret dragon

2011-08-01T23:59:00.002-04:00

thankfully, greg finally had his birthday so i can show you my first commissioned piece!

yes, he's practically identical to the first dragon i made with the exception of his spines being orange instead of purple. but check out the second photo. see the wire running through the veins of his underwings? they're posable!

now to finish up sally from the nightmare before christmas. i put a good 20 hours of work into her over the past three days. i figure another 2 or 3 and she should be done. i heart her!

if wishes were fishes ...

2011-07-31T13:29:00.002-04:00

things i wish i had today:

- an "all play" option on netflix so i didn't have to start each episode of Parks & Rec individually. just keep playing 'em, netflix. i'll let you know when i'm ready for you to stop, okay?

- the ability to work on multiple crochet projects at the same time. or, at least, the ability to go back and forth between multiple crochet projects without forgetting which hook i was using on each and not being able to match gauge later.

- an extra 47 hours. do you know how much work i could get done on sally in an extra 47 hours?

tonight's conversation

2011-07-30T23:58:00.003-04:00

over the radios at work
coworker a: do we still have any of those little drink umbrellas?
me: we have some with skulls & crossbones in the wilton halloween section.
coworker a: not with skulls & crossbones. for a birthday party.
me: i'd use them at my birthday party.
coworker b: i'd use them at mine, too.
coworker a: so that's a no, right?

photo movement

2011-07-29T21:30:00.003-04:00

i've been copying photos from my back-up cds onto my laptop. why? i'm not exactly sure. it just seemed like the thing to do. i've got the room for them, and i do occasionally have reason to go through them - so why not, right? and while i'm copying them over i'm testing the "facebook as a workable photo sharing option" theory. so far so good. i didn't realize facebook would let me arrange the photos however i wanted. perhaps that's a new option?

when words fail

2011-07-29T00:05:00.003-04:00

i love the internet.

there. i've said it. it's true. i love the internet. i'd rather send an e-mail than use the phone. i'd rather google information than ask someone standing next me.

but words just can't do justice in a situation that requires action. and sometimes, like tonight, i'm overwhelmed by the insufficiency of the internet. sometimes, words are just not enough.

edit/addition: the art of companionable silence (which, quite frankly, i rock at) is lost online, and there is no textual equivalent to be found.

letting it blur

2011-07-26T23:04:00.002-04:00

sometimes the beauty is easier to see when you stop focusing and let everything blur.

sunroofs, windows and photo storage

2011-07-25T09:58:00.002-04:00

i shot photos on my drive home saturday evening. i do enjoy shooting photos out my windows and sunroof while i'm driving. it's multitasking at its finest. plus, once the drive is over, i have the pleasant surprise of seeing what kind of photos i actually got. sometimes they're all useless. other times? well, i get something good often enough that i keep doing it. :)

i want to rig a way to attached my camera to the dashboard of my car. that way, with the help of a shutter trigger, i can shoot photos of the road in front of me. i don't expect those photos to be as interesting as the ones i get out of the side windows and the sunroof, but that's why i carry two cameras. ;) plus, i want the dashboard camera to very easily detach, so i could quickly get it out the sunroof if needed. of course, ideally i want the mounting system to involve no permanent modification to the camera itself - especially if it's my large camera. my smaller camera? i might be okay with some permanently adhered velcro on the little camera. i wonder if i can get a trigger for my little camera. ideal would be a single trigger that worked for both. yup. that would be superb.

i'm considering two options for future online photo storage/sharing, as i'm more and more convinced i will not be paying for flickr next year. A: facebook. i upload photos there anyway, although it's generally been smaller sets than i put on flickr. i wonder if there's a limit to how many photos i can upload to facebook. facebook does generate a url for each photo album that i could link to on the blog for folks who aren't on facebook (c'mon, patti. all the cool kids are doing it). or, i could go with option B: setting up photo albums here on the blog. that would require more work on my part, at least initially. and then i could share the url on facebook. i could do both, i suppose, but i'm leaning towards option A. so do i move over all the photos i currently have on flickr? or just let those disappear?

too much thought for a monday morning. ;)

time warp evening

2011-07-24T02:29:00.002-04:00

i could list three elements of tonight's goings-ons that made me feel like i stepped back in time ten years. it was surreal.

those three elements aside, i had a great time hanging out with some terrific friends. :)

disco dancing dragon

2011-07-23T10:40:00.003-04:00

i gave the miniature dragon to brian, as he's the one who extended the challenge to make a miniature dragon. plus, i think brian's a good guy who would appreciate it. so last night he uploaded a video to facebook with all these photos of the li'l dragon around town having a good time. the photos are set to music - a catchy little Disco Dancing Dragon ditty that i can't find any information on at all.

the video is great. i've watched it a half a dozen times, and i've been singing the song all morning. i'll have to ask brian for the file so i can post it. but for now, the still shots above give you a little preview.

i just ...

2011-07-22T18:40:00.004-04:00

i'm disappointed. and in my absolute need to over analyze, i find myself wondering at what point i can allow myself to feel justified in being disappointed. the actions i'm disappointed by are not surprising. i should have expected them. so perhaps i'm disappointed that i didn't see it coming? or that i let it surprise me?

maybe i just shouldn't think so much. yeah.

maybe i'll make cookies instead. :)

schedule shift

2011-07-21T22:49:00.002-04:00

i worked the morning stock shift yesterday and today. i got to play in fabrics for a good three hours before the store even opened, and i learned that the chaos of the store is greatly reduced when one is hiding in the back corner stocking foam and fiber. it was a good two days.

little butterfly

2011-07-20T18:10:00.002-04:00

one of my facebook friends mentioned she'd like a butterfly for her niece's room. i didn't promise her anything, but i did start looking for butterfly patterns. i really like this one. it's worked flat, folded in half and then secured with a chain that forms the body. i worked it up with thread thinking i might end up with something small enough for earrings. i think it's a little big for that. he's just under an inch from antennae to base, an inch and a half across his wings. a good pendant on a necklace, maybe. although i really think a group of them would make a really cute mobile.

it's just annoying, really.

2011-07-20T15:21:00.003-04:00

if i was picking pet peeves, being ignored would be at the top of my list. i'm not talking about the i'm-in-a-room-full-of-people-and-everyone-is-talking-amongst-themselves-and-not-to-me kind of ignored. or even the i-just-had-a-coworker-walk-right-past-me-in-the-supermarket-without-saying-hi kind of ignored. no. i mean the i'm-actively-trying-to-tell-you-something-you-need-to-know-and-you're-talking-over-me-instead-of-listening kind of ignored. it just grates at me a little.

although, the i-told-you-i-wanted-to-upsize-my-combo-meal-at-the-speaker-and-you-still-rung-up-the-smaller-size kind of ignored rates pretty high on the list, too.

more to come

2011-07-19T12:29:00.002-04:00

i've been working on a secret project lately. it's my first commissioned piece, and i'm quite pleased with how it came out. i'm also pretty excited for it to make it to its new home.

i'm also enjoying working up some of my smaller balls of yarn into flowers. the one in the front of the photo? it's made of that beautiful variegated thread i bought a couple of weeks ago. loving how that one came out. and once i finish up the dodecahedron i started three months ago, i'll have some fun brown & pink yarn to turn into flowers, too.

feeling good isn't all bad

2011-07-18T11:02:00.003-04:00

if compliments can be divided into categories, i think the best ones come without intention and as a surprise from someone you know is being honest.

last night at work i received a compliment that took me completely off guard. it came in the middle of a conversation and wasn't said with the intention of making me feel good. it was simply stated as a fact that was related to what we were talking about. and while it didn't take long for my brain to confirm that i had indeed heard what i thought i'd heard, it made me momentarily lose my train of thought and stop short.

after which i'm pretty sure i grinned like a kid in a candy shop and maybe even blushed a little. ;)

why limit the options?

2011-07-17T21:54:00.001-04:00

if you only give yourself options A and B, you're probably missing some great opportunities.

just sayin'.

the importance of motivation

2011-07-16T20:17:00.002-04:00

if you help someone change a flat tire - does it matter why you helped?

note: no one helped me change a flat tire in the recent past. it's a fake situation. don't get hung up on it.

but whether you helped them change the flat tire because you thought they couldn't do it themselves, or because you needed to feel like a hero, or because you enjoy changing flat tires, or because it's your job, or because you're a nice person who can't pass up any person needing help, or because you're friends with the person who had the flat ... does it matter? in the end, the tire gets changed. let's even assume the person you helped is grateful.

does it matter what the motivation was?

random bits

2011-07-15T23:39:00.004-04:00

- i have two bug bites on my right leg. they're mostly just big red bumps, but when they itch it's a little ridiculous.

- i picked the first of my jalapenos today. i should go buy an onion and make salsa.

- i'm trying to not spend any more money than absolutely necessary before next friday. but i'm pretty sure that "buying complimentary ingredients so the jalapenos get used before they go bad" counts as absolutely necessary.

- there's a full moon. i knew this by the actions of the people around me but looking at the sky confirmed it.

- being able to access facebook on my phone is only mildly entertaining, at best.

- i could buy limes & coconut instead of an onion and make cookies instead of salsa.

a she dragon?

2011-07-10T00:12:00.002-04:00

i picked up this gorgeously variegated thread at work tonight. i believe it will make a lovely she dragon with green spikes down her back. i'm not quite ready to jump back into such an intense miniature project again, but it'll be waiting for me some night when my eyes are feeling strong.

rose ring

2011-07-09T00:09:00.003-04:00

i can work up a rose ring in about an hour. if i could sell these for $10 each it might make crocheting for profit a reasonable option.

miniature zombie

2011-07-08T22:09:00.001-04:00

i was off work today and wore one of my cute skirts into the store for two reasons. A: sometimes i miss having job that lets me wear cute skirts. and 2: sometimes it's good to give people something to talk about.

good things, july 7

2011-07-07T18:58:00.003-04:00

i make lists of good things under two circumstances. A: when things really are so overwhelmingly good that i can't help but list their goodness. and 2: when i really need a reminder to focus on the good and let the rest fall away. for no particular reason, the past couple of days have definitely been 2s. but i'm glad there are still good things shuffled into the mix.

- plans to see awesome friends
- unexpected giggles from a person caught by surprise
- knowing tomorrow is pay day
- the smell of pizza baking in the oven

good things, july 6

2011-07-06T22:50:00.002-04:00

- margarita ice cream
- short days at work
- watching pam & jim be pam & jim

the little brother

2011-07-05T19:29:00.002-04:00

when i took the fierce and friendly dragon to work, it was suggested that if he was a little smaller he'd be awesome to hang from a rear view mirror. the only way to accomplish that, as far as i was concerned, was to work him out of thread instead of yarn. i've been wanting to work with thread for awhile now, and i've even borrowed my mom's baby crochet hooks to try them out.

the result? fierce and friendly dragon's little brother measures approximately 5" from the tip of his tail to his nostrils, 1.5" from the tip of his back spikes to the ground, and 3.25" across his wings. the perfect size for hanging from a rear view mirror, wouldn't you say?

all the bits and pieces

2011-07-05T15:28:00.001-04:00