Confessions

Posted on April 17, 2012 by elizabeth

(Confessions One) (Confessions Two) (Confessions Three)

If I had no qualms about my health, my food groups would be bagels, burritos, pasta and pizza. Or, perhaps more accurately: carbs, burritos, and beer.
My hour-long commute really, really wears on me. Especially since I also end up driving long distances on the weekends more often than not.
I try to listen to audiobooks but fear I’m too picky about the narrator’s voice.
I feel all panicky if I leave my giant water bottle at home, but I rarely drink more than a quarter of its contents.
I feel awkward and uncomfortable wearing dresses/skirts on regular days (even at work) and am jealous of people who do so cutely.
I have never had a car that wasn’t silver or maroon and both want to keep that streak going but also am really over silver and maroon cars.
When I think too much about eating meat, I get really grossed out.
I understand the rules of chess, but the strategy completely escapes me. This makes Dan sad, because he’s really good at chess and has tried to teach me so we can play together.
I never buy food or flower-scented candles. I like them in other people’s homes, but I can’t deal with them in mine.
I have never, ever dyed my hair. Sometimes I feel like I missed my chance to dye it crazy colors, and then I wish I had lived it up in a more stereotypical way. (But it is kind of fun to shock hair stylists by telling them about my virgin hair.)

Oh, hello April

Posted on April 2, 2012 by elizabeth

And hello, dreadfully neglected blog. I suppose the biggest cliche in blogging is to write about how you haven’t written, or to apologize for not writing. And I could certainly do that. In the past few months, I haven’t done many of the things that I usually claim to be my hobbies: writing, reading, crafting… (although I have still been taking pictures) Because I’ve been busy? Because life gets in the way sometimes? Because I no longer have the downtime I used to during my work days? Because I really only ever wrote about impersonal things (like crafts) instead of life anyway, so when I stopped doing those things I had nothing I wanted to say?

I don’t really know.

But I have been craving writing again, and I think I have things to say, or maybe just things I want to document. (I haven’t even written in my paper journal since before the tattoo last summer. There has been a lot of Life in the time since then, that’s for sure.) So here I am.

And to get me started, here are the things that I absolutely want to tell you about: the craft supplies I’ve bought in the past few months and can’t wait to use; how I feel about my Big Career Change six months later; how that dumb True Colors personality test finally makes sense; getting! engaged!; why the internet makes planning your wedding more frustrating… and maybe somewhere in there I’ll find six more things to cook or craft so I can finish that damned Handmade52 project, too.

Completed: 30 Before 30 Minibook

Posted on January 26, 2012 by elizabeth

So I turned 30 back in July, and meant to get this book done soon after. (Back when I finished my 27 Things Before I turned 27 list, I finished the book BY my birthday, which seems crazy looking back. The 28 Things While I’m 28 book was only shortly after my birthday.)

Things were a little crazy just after my birthday, what with moving a week after, and starting a new job a month and a half after that. I was busy, and honestly? I pretty much lost my crafty mojo there for a while. I have this awesome craft room now and haven’t really used it. But a few weeks ago, I finally got the room organized and tidied up so that I could actually get some crafts done in there. I haven’t always felt like working on this, now that it’s so far past my birthday and some things have changed even since the list, but I pushed through, knowing how much I wanted to have the book completed, mostly to be able to come back and see it in a few years. It’s not my favorite minibook, but that’s not to say that I don’t love it and the things it contains. This list was my favorite of all the birthday lists, and I think I got some pretty major things done this year thanks to it.

2011: A Year in Photos

Posted on December 31, 2011 by elizabeth

Another year over, and what a year it was. I don’t really know how I’ll look back on 2011. I tend to be reflective around my birthday, and not as much at this time of year, but I’m feeling, well, reflective as the hours tick down toward 2012. I haven’t written here for real in a while, and I’d really like to change that in the new year. 2011 held a lot of good and bad, and as it draws to a close, we’re fully into the good, and I am so glad for that. I have a lot of hope for 2012, and I like that feeling. This past year tested me in new ways, stretched my patience and my ability to have hope that things would get better. I turned 30. I left my beloved apartment to move a whole county north to live with Dan finally, and that has been truly awesome, even if I still miss my beach and my pizza and my bagels. I suppose that other than turning 30 and getting a tattoo, I will look back on 2011 most as the year I made a huge career change, one that I was scared to make. I’m not a librarian any more, and I don’t have any regrets. So here are my favorite photos from this past year… I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings, and I hope you all have a wonderful and happy new year!

Books: 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by elizabeth

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness D’Orczy
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Blackout by Connie Willis
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts
Vision in White by Nora Roberts
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Three Fates by Nora Roberts
Room by Emma Donoghue
All Clear by Connie Willis
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Giver by Lois Lowry
One Day by David Nicholls
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Drought by Pam Bachorz
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
Ape House by Sara Gruen
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout

Well I certainly came down to the wire with my books this year. Looking back at 2010’s list, I really didn’t remember that I read so much last year. 52 books as a goal was a perfectly reasonable one for me, until my new-job-related exhaustion meant I pretty much didn’t read at all from the middle of September through the beginning of November. When I started my new job, I was 18 books ahead of schedule, and by early October, I was already behind. I rounded out the year with a lot of audiobooks, which both helped me feel like I was reading again, and also helped my progress toward my goal. The funny thing is that I don’t really think not being a librarian or being in a library every day really affected my reading progress, more getting used to a new routine, and not reading at lunch made a pretty big impact.

But what were my favorite books of the year? I was SO excited for A Dance with Dragons, and even though I was afraid to keep reading for fear of my favorite characters meeting untimely ends, the book was fantastic and although it was a bit slow at times, it lived up to my (high) expectations. The Bosspyants audiobook was amazing. I read a lot of YA as predicted, but my far and away favorites were Across the Universe and If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. Gossamer was also so charming that I still think about it a few months after finishing it.

Another part of my goal (that I admittedly forgot about until I re-read last year’s post just now) was to read two classics that I hadn’t read before. And imagine that, I actually accomplished it despite forgetting about it. I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time this year (… I know. Especially since Jane Eyre is my very favorite, so it’s not like I’m afraid of books from that era.) and loved it so much more than I expected to. And I also read A Brave New World, which was only one of two books I was assigned to read in high school but didn’t actually read (the other being Crime and Punishment, which I started but just didn’t finish), a big deal for this book-loving rule-follower. I still think there are way, way too many classics that I haven’t read, and I’d really like to fix that.

So what will my 2012 reading goal be? I toyed with not having a goal at all, but I don’t know if that’s really in me. I should probably make my goal a bit lower, just because I haven’t been reading as much as I used to… but I don’t LIKE not reading as much. So my official 2012 reading goal is to read 45 books, with the full intention to completely crush that goal. I will also read at least three more classics that are new to me, including another by Jane Austen.

In Previous Years…
Books Read in 2010
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006
Books Read in 2005

Best Bet Ever?

Posted on December 18, 2011 by elizabeth

Dan and I are in the same fantasy football league, although this is my first year having my own team. Each time our teams play, we’ve set up side bets to make things more interesting. For the first matchup, if I had won, Dan would have had to take me to a restaurant I’ve always loved but he had no interest in, but if he won, I would have to not eat cheese for a whole week. He won, and I was not happy. But the second time we played each other (and by this point my team had established itself as pretty solid, thanks to Aaron Rodgers), we raised the stakes. Or, I did. If Dan won, I would have had to take him to see the Immortals. But if I won, he would have to go with me to a paint your own pottery place for an afternoon of craftiness. I wouldn’t be writing a whole post about it if he won, so clearly I won. Dan fought tooth and nail, and I twisted the knife by giving him the impression that it’d be HOURS of painting (as opposed to one, since you pay by the hour).

We went a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon, and going during the Christmas season was the best thing, just because owning crappily painted Christmas decorations somehow makes more sense than attempting to paint something you’d actually use. (Although I do still use the toothbrush holder that I painted back in 2002.) Dan was pretty obviously unhappy when we got there, and the clerk at the store could totally tell that he’d been dragged there. He made sure to tell her that he lost a bet. I had a hard time, as usual, deciding what to paint, knowing I wanted to paint stripes, but also knowing how much imperfectly painted stripes would annoy me.

Dan picked a wizard-ish Santa figurine after I pointed out that it would be awfully funny to bring it out every year and remember how he had to paint it because he lost a bet. I went with a giant mug, since I somehow only own one Christmas mug.

It was so much fun, and although he’d never admit it, I’m pretty sure Dan didn’t hate it anywhere near as much as he expected he would. Not that he’s clamoring to go again anytime soon, or, you know, EVER… but it was really fun and different and if winning a bet is the only way I’d get him to go with me, I’ll totally take it.

Week 42: Christmas Stockings!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by elizabeth

I’ve been in love with Crochet Today’s Stuffable Stockings ever since Erin made her red and white ones a few years ago. I never felt a strong desire to make a stocking for myself when I lived alone, though, because the ones my grandmother made for me and my siblings way back when are pretty much the most perfect ones ever.

But once I moved in with Dan this summer, having our own stockings seemed a lot more important. I originally planned to knit striped ones, since the idea is to knit the fair isle ones for future children, and I like when the mom and dad stockings don’t match perfectly with the kids’ ones. (I overthink things a bit. Just a tiny bit.) ANYWAY. I couldn’t pick one, and wasn’t sure about my knitting abilities.. and really, I just wanted to crochet. Hexagons and the contrast with the white borders just seemed so perfect.

Making the hexagons was really easy, and I ended up going with a forest green and lime for Dan’s stocking (he asked that the forest green be the dominant color) and maroon and bright red for mine, just so they’d go with each other.

Stitching them all together, six sides times seventeen hexagons, was not really all that fun. For the red one, which I made second, I was completely flummoxed by the diagram (even though I had already done it successfully with the green one). I finally figured it out, of course, and hung them on the mantle-less fireplace on Monday night.

I think they turned out pretty fantastically.

Week 41: Salad in a Jar

Posted on November 27, 2011 by elizabeth

A few weeks ago, I was quickly scanning through old posts on Lifehacker, and came upon this gorgeous recipe on fat girl trapped in a skinny body. I’m constantly struggling with lunch at work, even more now that I stay in more often than not. No matter what I do, I can’t bring myself to be very motivated to put a healthy lunch together in the early mornings, and when I attempt it, I sometimes get it done for a day or two, and then end up buying lunch because I’m too lazy. I need something that I can just grab and go, and yogurt doesn’t cut it, and soup gets old.

So those gorgeous jars of salad full of healthy food sounded perfect. And easy, especially after I realized I could get quart-sized canning jars at the craft store for super cheap. I made my first batch two weeks ago, and even Dan wanted in. (When asked if he liked chick peas, he said, “They sound healthy. So sure.”) I couldn’t find quinoa at the grocery store I stopped at, so I went with orzo instead. These six salads fed both of us for a whole week, and it was fantastic.

We’re back to full work weeks this week, so I put another batch together this afternoon. It’s idiotic how easy it is to put these together. The important part is the layering, so that the dressing and lettuce don’t touch, meaning the lettuce stays fresher for more days in the fridge.

For this batch of six salads, I again doubled the balsamic vinaigrette recipe that Julia lists in her post, just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey, although I didn’t blend mine. I cut up two bell peppers, a pint and a half of grape tomatoes, a can of chick peas, a handful each of chopped pecans and craisins, 3 cups of cooked quinoa, and about two bags of lettuce. (You can really jam the lettuce in there.)

They’re portable, healthy, and super fresh, and I don’t have to do anything in the morning. They shake up pretty well, but both Dan and I have found it easier to dump it into a bowl or onto a plate to eat it. It’s a big, filling salad, too, and let’s face it, I could use to eat some healthier food, especially at this time of year.

The Story of My First Grade Bangs

Posted on November 21, 2011 by elizabeth

Every month or so, my much-loved bangs start to look like this and it turns me into a crazy person.

I usually head into the salon to get them trimmed by professionals, but this time, I couldn’t get an appointment and things were getting bad, so I decided (after MUCH debate) to cut them myself at home. They turned out just fine, as you can see…

But there was a lot of unhappiness the night I trimmed them. Thank goodness Dan was around to fix my mistakes calmly. And I’m not sure I wouldn’t attempt it again, despite my freak out. But the reason for this post is that this is actually not the first time I have cut my own bangs. See, back in the early 80s, I had the same bangs that I have now.

And as it goes, it was time to grow them out. Everything was going fine; my mom employed a lot of those awesome 80s plastic barrettes and such. Fast forward to one fateful day when I was in first grade. I had seen Mary Poppins and became convinced that the girl in Mary Poppins didn’t need an elastic underneath her hair ribbon, and so obviously I could wear a ribbon in my (fine, slippery, straight) hair without a rubber band to hold it in place to. My mom humored me, as moms do, and off I went to school. Except as the day went on, bits of hair freed themselves from the ribbon and fell into my eyes. Being the logical and resourceful six-year-old that I was, I used the scissors in my desk to cut the hair hanging in my eyes.

Obviously.

So imagine my mom’s surprise when I came home from school – with a half inch of bangs in the center of my forehead, bangs that I most certainly did not have when I left that morning. I still can’t imagine how my mom reacted. But the kicker of the story is that I REFUSED to grow that half-inch of bangs in or let my mom cut more for THREE YEARS. So I had a half inch of bangs in the middle of my forehead from first through fourth grades. I still remember being REALLY MAD at my mom for making me hairspray them back for my third grade class picture.

So I guess my self-styling instincts will always steer me in the right direction, eh?

Dear Daylight Savings,

Posted on November 5, 2011 by elizabeth

I really don’t like that you are leaving us this weekend. Not just because we’ll get less light after work, but because I will no longer get to see these amazing sunrises and sunsets on my commute thanks to just an hour of difference.