The Scoop

Let's get decor-ganized!

2012-01-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

I stole that from 30 Rock.

Anyway, I am on a mission. A mission to sort through junk, and toss, donate or sort everything in sight. I am starting on the guest room.

Let me tell you something about our guest room. It has had approximately three guests in it. Four, if you count the exercise bike. It's where I keep linens, grad school stuff (read: stacks of papers and notebooks I have yet to burn in a post-school ritual), sewing/craft supplies, costumes and suitcases.

It's a total mishmash -- likely the reason no one ever takes us up on our offer to house them. That, and whoever stays here has to share a bathroom with us as our master bath shower has never functioned correctly.

So I ignore it most of the time. But in the spirit of the new year, and watching the agony my sister went through in a recent move, I decided I would be proactive and get organized.

But not just organized. I want it to be cute! I want it to match! I want it to be so beautiful that I relish every chance I have to go file away a spool of thread or glitter pen! I want it to be decor-ganized!

So I spend time on Pinterest looking for ideas to copy. I see girls who have entire rooms devoted to craft organization, and they have beautiful matching tote boxes with hand-made labels hanging from the lid by a DIY piece of twine. And I feel inspired. YES! I say. I can do this!

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

WELL....turns out I suck at stuff like that. I buy cute plastic storage boxes, but only if they are on sale and I never take the time to fit them into a color scheme. I tend to reuse containers, even if they are old shoe boxes or a free purse I got from Macy's. I can't seem to care about labeling:

So my conclusion is this: Organizing is great and I feel happy when I've done it. But I am too cheap and lazy to really go the distance. (Honestly, in order to make everything match, I would have to spend hundreds of dollars. And that is just stupid.)

I'm thinking in the future I should just stick to white boxes, and then if I get really ambitious, go for some kind of color-coded label system.

Haha yeah right. Here I go again. Do you see how this happens? My dream of matching totes = totes unrealistic for me.

Morning After Christmas

2011-12-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

It's December 26 and I'm sitting at our computer desk with a hot minty drink.

I'm not playing Christmas music anymore, because frankly I'm a little saturated with everything (yes, even you, Charlie Brown).

I'm not eating Christmas cookies for breakfast like I have for about a week. Doesn't seem right. I'm also afraid to step on the scale.

Interesting how the novelty and magic of Christmas just fades away. I'm glad for it. If we celebrated Christmas all year I fear it would become a chore. Looking at my Lindsay stocking made of felt and yarn would make me shrug instead of making me smile. (These are stockings my mom made several decades ago for all the family members. Each one is designed with a little doll with hair and uniquely colored dresses. I always thought mine was the best because the dress is red and white and goes perfectly with the Kelly green color of the stocking. )

While I'm glad that Christmas is gone this year, it occurred to me that I should write down a few highlights so I can look back in future years and remember a few things that might be easy to forget.

Baking cookies has become a tradition for me. It allows me to give handmade gifts to my friends and spend a little time in the kitchen. This year, the treat boxes featured chocolate chip cookies, orange cranberry cookies, candy cane cookies, peanut butter cups and chocolate-covered marshmallows.

I gave a duffel bag to my brother, who is commuting to San Diego for work these days. He loves it but sometimes I miss him.

We also gave a duffel bag to T's sister, who will be spending several weeks in Mexico this spring. She is excited; her mom and boyfriend are not so much.

We gave a new bedspread to my sister and her new husband. They were just married a few weeks ago and they are doing new couple things like buying King-sized beds and moving into a house just for the two of them. They are wildly cute and I like how newlyweddy they are.

These newlyweds have also brought a little joy to our family in the form of a Pomeranian puppy. Pippy is tiny, fluffy and endlessly adorable. She wears little dresses and shirts that say, "Meet me under the mistletoe." Lots of entertainment for the whole family.

I received so many gifts that I loved I almost don't know where to start. My mother-in-law made me a denim apron that ties at the waist, a crocheted scarf that is just the right color of red and a skirt with a little flower on the front. So much time spent on these gifts; I can tell they were made with love. I received a number of cooking and sewing accessories -- I guess I can report that I have some actual hobbies now. I'm excited to try out my new toys.

T and I...well.....we got each other the same thing. And not just the same CD that we both like. But a custom-made plush toy representing a character in the book that we are writing together. We both worked on it secretly for weeks, hoping to surprise the other with such a unique and unexpected gift. But when you share a brain you tend to come up with the same ideas. I love that we now have two of these, and a story to boot.

So now our house is filled with gifts, random plates of cookies and treats, and wrapping paper shards. I plan to clean it all up today. The decorations won't come down just yet, but soon we'll be putting all this stuff in the attic. Can't wait until next year.

Good morning zebra!

2011-11-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

I'm trying a new recipe today: Zebra Cakes. To create a zebra cake, you alternate between scoops of devil's food and vanilla cake mix to create a stripey look when it's baked. (More on that later.)

I was so excited to do this, I woke up at 7 a.m. And I didn't hit the snooze button once. In the last two hours, I have made four zebra cakes and a pan of brownies. I have also swept and vacuumed the floor. And started a load of laundry. I am a maniac.

Yesterday it was all I could do to get out of bed before 8 a.m. And that's just to get to work on time -- not even to do something honorable like work out.

Lately I've been wondering how I would do if I didn't have a job and just stayed home all the time. Optimistically, every day would be like today: shooting out of bed to achieve my goals with tornado-like enthusiasm. Realistically, that kind of fervor would last for three days. Then I would probably turn into Borezy, the lazy bore.

But I'm not at any risk of having that life for now. So I'll just be happy for the days that I get to be a little busy bee in my own house, rare though they may be.

As for the zebra cakes, I believe I made one fatal mistake. I substituted apple sauce for most of the oil in the cake mixes. As a result, the batter was a little thick, and did not spread too evenly. So maybe my zebras are a little dizzy. Or maybe I'll change the name to "Zany Cakes (which bear no resemblance to Zebra Cakes but are in fact a little crazy)".

Italy - three days later

2011-09-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back. Very little Internet opportunities abroad, so I was not able to blog.

I want to spend the next hour outlining all the little details, telling you funny stories, expressing my love for this country and the best week of my life.

But frankly, I am too. effing. tired.

I thought I really had this jet lag thing beat. We had few problems when we got there -- full days and fairly restful nights. And when we got back, we were so exhausted we slept overnight and were awake the next morning. See? Beat. We sleep at night and are up during the day.

But the long arm of the law (of gravity? of the theory of relativity?) has finally caught up with us. The past few days have been somewhat of a blur....waking up at 2:45 a.m. one morning (went back to sleep), and waking up at 4 a.m. the next (did not go back to sleep).

And now we are so tired we are watching the clock until we feel we are allowed to go to bed. You see, we don't want to go to bed too early for fear of waking up too early again. Make sense? Oh and also, we both slept from about 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. Little nap to tide us over.

So....Italy was beyond my wildest dreams. Swimming in the Mediterranean made me want to be a better person. It was that beautiful. But right now, so is the Bed of Sleep and Dreams. So I'm not in a good state to judge.

Italy - the night before

2011-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

It's the night before we leave for Italy. Conan's on. Beverly's meowing at the door. Things are pretty typical.

We packed up our fancy new backpacks tonight. We totally look like real backpackers. Surprisingly roomy, those things! Can't wait to heave those around the Mediterranean.

For some reason, I feel nervous about this trip. We've traveled before: New York, Boston, Chicago, Key West. Just not to a foreign country. I honestly don't know what to expect. Maybe I don't have enough imagination, but the only thing I think of when I think of Italy is the shape of the boot.

We are preparing for the worst. If you only looked at our packs, you might think we were traveling to a remote jungle. We have a first aid kit, extra garbage bag, toilet paper, spork, flushable wet wipes, disposable tooth brushes, and a little roll of duct tape. Seriously, if we get caught unawares on this trip, it will be because we did not pack for a zombie attack.

I know I'm being paranoid. I'm sure we will learn our own travel tricks and can probably leave the global phone at home next time. I just want everything to go well, avoid spending thousands of dollars on fancy amenities like flip flops.

I was asked which monument or museum I look forward to most. My response: Uhh, does food count? Honestly, I can't wait for all the cheese, pasta and gelato I can stomach. Then I suppose I'll go get me some Sistine or David or somefink.

I will try to blog as we go...no promises. I am happy we are going. Trips just seem a little unreal until I'm actually on the plane. With my all-weather poncho at the ready.

You're so vanity

2011-09-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

There's not a lot I can remodel, repaint or replace in my house. The kitchen cabinets are not worth the time, and the master bathroom requires a professional. And possibly some professional grade explosives.

So I do what I can. And this past week, I repainted the bathroom vanity in the guest bath. Step by step for those who like that kind of thing. If you don't, skip ahead to the photo:

Take everything apart. Knobs, hinges, etc.
Sand lightly. Fill in any unwanted holes with wood filler.
Prime with oil-based primer. One coat will do ya.
Paint. You can use a combo of roller and brush, but I learned that the folks at Young House Love were right: skip the foam roller and go with a cotton or fabric roller. Foam rollers = bubbles.

4a. I chose Dark Granite by Olympic. Don't let the patronizing paint guy at Lowe's talk you out of this color. Specifically his words were, "Now, are you looking for BLACK or ALMOST BLACK?" in a "do you know your colors, little girl?" kind of way. He also pointed out to me that I had picked the wrong paint to tint. I would put money on the bet that he is single.

4b. I ended up with kitchen/bathroom acrylic latex, semi gloss, base 5. I also ended up with an entire freaking gallon of it, thanks to the advice of the aforementioned patronizer. You will probably need only a quart.
Wait 48 hours. Visit often to admire your nearly finished project. Do not let the doors dry while sitting on the bathroom rug. Trust me.
Add adorable, overpriced knobs. I recommend Anthropologie.
Attach hinges. I bought new ones. Then I bought more new ones that were actually the right kind.

And once again, I have spent two weeks on a painting project and I am vowing never to do one again. But I do love it, so I'll probably be back in a month.

Magnolia Experiments

2011-08-01T22:19:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a lovely gift from my bud Sarah B., I have been experimenting with recipes from the Magnolia Bakery. This book is AMAZING. Everything tastes better, from chocolate chip cookies to buttercream frosting.

After a few successful tries with the more traditional outings, I mustered up the courage to try a few new things. For instance, the cookies below. In the book, these are called Chocolate Covered Logs. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the name. So I renamed them Lindsayfingers. And boy are they delicious! The cookies are kind of a shortbread with orange zest, dipped in chocolate and rolled in hazelnuts. Never made anything like them before, but they were DELISH!

Another recent experiment were mini Key Lime pies. I used the Magnolia recipe for Lime Tart and added it to these Nabisco/Keebler/whatever mini graham cracker crusts. I added a generous glob of homemade whipped cream and brought them to a pool party. They were a huge hit! Only mistake I made was adding the whipped cream before the pies were cool (so it all melted and got messy, but I added more when it cooled off and no one was the wiser ;).

As I get more courageous, I'll keep you posted on the other experiments. Absolutely recommend the cook book for an average baker who is looking to add some OO! to your cOOkie sheet.

Groovy Curtains 1 and 2

2011-08-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

When we first moved into our house, we discovered a few, uh, peculiarities left by the previous owner. These included a bathtub on a pedestal (read slipping/falling hazard), a few duct tape interventions and these:

Notice the sheen on the pure poly curtains. On one hand, it's way more disco than I prefer. On the other hand, it makes it harder to see all the oil stains.

So I finally picked out a new fabric and replaced those suckas. I also discovered the Ikea fabric corner, which is separated by color, has funky patterns and totally satisfies my need for organized and limited options (no offense to you SAS-lovers out there; I just can't handle pawing through mounds of fabrics to find what I want!).

I dragged out my little Hello Kitty sewing machine and busted these out in an afternoon:

I'm pretty proud of them. I only stitched up ONE opening, and the seams aren't straight (stop looking at my seams, you Neurotic Nelly!) so overall, pretty sweet.

And I get to cross off an item that has been on my to-do list since we moved in, 2 1/2 years ago. Yay!

Harry Potter treats

2011-08-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

Over the summer we got to watch the final Harry Potter movie with our two nephews. To commemorate the occasion, and prove to the boys that their aunt is a hopeless nerd, I made some Harry Potter theme treats.

Pumpkin Pasties:

Assembled with pre-made pie crust (thank you Marie Callender's) and a number of fillings, but mostly pumpkin (made with canned pumpkin and evaporated milk and stuff). Later we added cinnamon apples, fresh apricot, Snickers, Nutella, and ham and cheese. We went a little crazy with the fillings.

I also made these Black Bottom cupcakes (from the Magnolia cookbook) and added chocolate licorice to fashion some Cauldron Cakes:

They were both cute and delicious.

I'm not sure the cuteness really resonated with my super cool nephews, but hey, it made me inordinately happy. Riddikulus!

Losin' It

2011-07-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

This time I'm not losing my mind...I'm losing my body!

One of my goals for post-school life was to lose weight. I am about a month out of school and happy to report I've lost about 8 pounds. I'm way excited, but the battle has just begun.

So I thought I would post some of the things that have worked for me. These tips are not meant as a how-to for anyone else...actually it's really just for me so I have something to look at later. Like when I'm thinking of going out for pizza at 11 p.m. and I need a little inspiration.

Eating

I try to keep track of what I eat. I do much better when I write it down. Makes it more obvious when I cheat or tell myself "well you didn't really eat much today," when it turns out I did!

Plants. We buy way more fruits and veggies now, and try to add a little something to every meal. I also bring Pink Lady apples to work as a wonderful, crisp snack. Quite filling, too.

Pasta. I basically don't eat pasta anymore. Sad but true. (Don't worry, I plan on breaking this little rule when we visit Italy.)

Less. This is a follow up to keeping track of what I eat. I find that I can eat less and still be full and happy.

Plan. I do so much better when I pack a lunch for work or plan out some meals for dinner. The worst situation I find myself in is starving and unprepared.

Working

We joined a gym. It helps us to exercise together.

Spin. I have a spin bike at home to use when the gym is inconvenient.

Heart rate. I bought a heart rate moniter. This thing is a game-changer! It's amazing the number of times I have been completely out of breath, sure I was ready to pass out, and my heart rate was at a piddly 150. It also helps me realize when I should probably stop (180).

Time. 30 minutes is a joke. I honestly think I have to work out at least 45 minutes a pop to see results. Right now it's all about cardio and sweat (sorry to be offensive, but yes, sweating buckets is part of the plan). I'm hoping once I reach my goal I can focus more on muscle building/toning, but not there yet!

General

If you want to splurge, splurge. We all have birthdays. And in my case, it's usually a birth-week. Just don't use it as an excuse to fall off the wagon.

Take your time. If you just ate but are still feeling hungry, give it the Tummy Ten. Or Tummy Twenty if ten seems short.

Be aware of boredom. If the gym gets boring, take an interesting class. I took Zumba, where I realized I suck at Zumba. But I might take it again.

Now for anyone who feels compelled to say something nice like tell me I am on the verge of an eating disorder, save it. I want to be healthier and look better. If in a few months I start telling you about my new friend "Anna" or giving advice on how to make yourself throw up, we'll talk.

It's all happening again

2011-06-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

School is just days away from being over. I only have a few assignments left, and the stress level is at a minimum.

So what do I do? The same thing I did right after my wedding. I find ways to fill the stress gap. This morning I woke up early to worry about my parents' anniversary party today. And I sprinkled that anxiety with a dash of stress about an upcoming event at work.

Neither of these issues are inherently nerve-wracking for me. But it's the next best thing so my mind automatically clutches on to it.

I suppose that part will die down as it did two years ago. Until I find my next big life-changing crisis. :)

Totally Bitchin' Chicken

2011-05-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

I stole this from a Weight Watchers recipe book, but did it way lazier than they wanted me to:

- Cook 2 chicken breasts on the stove in light olive oil, garlic salt and pepper
- add cut up veggies such as red and green bell peppers and onions
- in a separate dish, mix up 1/2 cup of light sour cream, 1tsp garam masala and 1tsp cumin.

When the veggies are nearly done, pour the creamy mixture into the pan until all pieces are evenly coated. Add cumin to taste.

T and I just ate this without any rice, but I bet some brown rice or quinoa would have been pretty good, too. Oh, and the recipe actually called for fresh mint and a dash of honey, yadda yadda yadda.

This was delicious and totally bitchin just the way it is!

It's May Day!

2011-05-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

No, that isn't a cry for help. That is a celebratory greeting that means, in short, "Thank goodness April is over because I was ready to collapse!"

April was all things sad and tired: work + school = 7 days a week with no break.

May is all things bright and wonderful: anniversary dinner, housewarming party for our friends, graduation, graduation parties, and a trip to California!

I told myself I just had to get through April and everything would be OK. Well we are about 10 hours into May and I feel like I just barely made it. But I did make it.

No I'm not out of the woods yet. The next few weeks will be very busy, and I still have a class to finish in the month of June before I'm a fully fledged couch potato again.

But I'll be smiling all the way!

Overwhelmed

2011-04-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Seems like I can't take 20 minutes for myself these days.

Can't wait until May 13th: Graduation and the start of a two-week break from school.

Hope I can make it til then.

Between work and school I have exactly one weekend day to myself in the next MONTH. And that's Easter Sunday. Which will be busy.

Meanwhile my stress eating is giving me a lovely spare tire and fat arms.

Sigh.

Creativity: Who's Who

2011-04-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

Assignment: Take each decade of your life, 0 to 100, and picture what you're doing.

0-10: Trying to find my identity as the fifth of five girls and the older sister of an attention-seeking baby brother. I find success with my quick wit, which is sometimes mistaken for a sassy mouth. I spend a lot of time trying to be like my older sisters but spending the majority of my time with my younger brother.

10-20: I discover boys and have a string of little relationships. I excel in school and music. I make friends with the nice kids in the honors class and usually do not get along with the popular girls. I care less and less about this fact. I start dating a guy named Tony.

20-30: I attend college, move out for the first time and move to Florida for a summer to test my independence. It goes pretty well, but I move home to be close to friends and family. I get my first job as a newspaper reporter and spend my days barking at people on the phone. I enter my second career in public relations. I marry Tony. I get my master's degree.

30-40: Tony and I start a family, either by having kids of our own or adopting. We go through the joys and pains of parenthood. We move to California so Tony can pursue his movie-writing career. I continue to work as I enjoy the interaction of an office and co-workers. I miss my family in Arizona, but we visit often. We visit Paris for the first time. I love it.

40-50: Tony makes it big in his career and I don't need to work anymore. I spend my days working on my book, "The Force of Personality," and continuing to raise kids. This might include carting them around to various activities like horseback riding, piano lessons and French lessons. We take our family to a different exotic locale each year to give them the joy of traveling and the education of culture. Our parents are aging. We feel obligated to move back to Arizona to be closer to family.

50-60: With kids in college or near-adulthood, Tony and I spend our days looking for new projects in which to invest our money and creativity. We spend time with friends and take long weekends up the coast. We still travel, but spend more time in our favorite places rather than trying new ones. We buy a boat and learn how to navigate the shores of the Pacific Coast.

60-70: We become grandparents and discover a new world. We surrender our own free time to spend it all with them, hoping to become the ideal grandparents. Tony takes them on tours of the library and his studio, introducing them to little treasures and wonders he has collected over the years. I teach the kids to bake and dance in the kitchen. We play board games with the family and offer to host slumber parties.

70-80: Age begins to catch up with us, and we decide to slow our pace a little. We move to a smaller home, allowing one of our children or grandchildren to manage our larger place. We make friends in our neighborhood and try to stay in good health with long walks and bike rides. We still enjoy visits from family.

80-90: Tony and I spend most of our time together alone. We reminisce about old times, wish our families would call and talk about what life will be like in the future. I spend time reading a journaling, hoping my posterity would want to read about my life or know something about me. We hire someone to cook and clean for us. Tony hates the intrusion.

90-100: Technology has surpassed our wildest dreams, and we read the news each day on a gadget that hasn't even been imagined at this moment. We wonder at all the new things that come about. We look for pictures of our great-grandchildren in the mail. Or e-mail. Or whatever it is in 2080. We talk about what it would be like to die. We tell each other "I'll miss you." We are happy.

Creativity: Something unpleasant

2011-04-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

Something unpleasant I have to do: mop the floor

Three ways to make it enjoyable:
- Turn on a different genre of music for each room. Country for the bathroom. Rock for the living room. Britney for the kitchen.

- Set a timer for 10 minutes. When it rings, take a break and do something fun.

- Buy a new mop or bucket, or try a new technique to make it novel.

I tried the first method. Danced my heart out. Didn't even notice that the floor happened to get clean at the same time.

My Creativity Journal

2011-04-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

The following posts are from a journal I've been expected to keep for my creativity class. I sort of use my blog as a journal, so I figured I would just post them and not worry that other people are reading (or worry that no one is reading this blog!).

Creativity Journal Entry 6: The joy

2011-04-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

The joy of baking.

So one of the activities that has suffered since I've been in school is baking on the weekends. I love to look up new recipes or buy new cookbooks and experiment with the results.

Luckily, I've been able to sneak in a few items between classes or homework, including mini peach pies, chocolate hazelnut cupcakes, lemon curd cake, pumpkin trifle, sour cream apple pie, chorizo stuffing and mocha brownies.

The nice thing about my kitchen is that I can't watch TV when I bake. I usually just turn on NPR's Saturday radio shows and start mixing it up.

Other things I like about baking is that I use my hands. I'm not very skilled at building things, and I'm not much of an artist, so homespun projects don't always turn out so well. But baking seems to go pretty well most of the time, thanks to the clear instructions of the recipe I'm following.

Baking also gives me immediate results. I get to taste everything along the way, and I get to try it as soon as it's done. I don't always get everything right, but this is one of the few activities I do where I don't really mind if I fail.

And finally, the wonderful thing about baking as a hobby is that you have something fun to share with your friends. My coworkers are more than willing to try the extras (because I always make too much) and my family is always impressed by the final product.

Baking for me is a creative activity. I love that it allows me to try new things, get outside of my head or my email for a while, and spread a little cheer to my friends.

Once school is out, I really look forward to taking some actual classes to refine my skills. My first choice will be cake decorating :)

Creativity: Things I love to do

2011-04-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Actvitiy	Last year	Last week	To do in next week
Read	x	x
Sleep	x	x
Shop	x
Movies	x		x
Camp	x
Rocky Point trip
Spin	x		x
Download songs	x	x
Go out to breakfast	x		x
See nieces and nephews	x
Watch Dexter	x
Bake	x		x
Repaint furniture	x
Plan DIY projects	x
Drive in the car	x	x	x
Attend Sunday dinner with my family	x		x
Paint my toenails	x
Sit by the pool			x
Play on Facebook	x	x
Financial planning	x
Dance party	x

Creativity Journal Entry 5: Pink bubbles

2011-04-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Surrendering to sleep

One of the major inhibitors to my creativity, and energy for life in general, is not getting enough sleep. And for me, enough sleep means at least 7 hours a night. I relish my sleep like it's going out of style. And I get extremely crabby if it gets disrupted.

Usually I have something or someone to blame when I don't get enough sleep. But if I'm honest with myself, I am usually the reason for my problem.

When I can't sleep, it's usually because my mind won't turn off. I start thinking about a project at school or work. I start to get really worried about it, like I'm going to forget to do it. Like if I don't think and stress and kill myself over it right at that second, something terrible is going to happen.

So one night, when my mind was cruising at 80 mph, I was reminded of the phrase we learned from The National Geographic video: "When I weave, I weave." It was a directive to live in the moment and stop multitasking. I realized that trying to think and trying to sleep was not only multitasking, but it was impossible to do both at the same time.

So I started to use "When I sleep, I sleep" as a mantra. I repeated it to myself over and over, and tried to use it as a barrier to any rogue thoughts that threatened to interrupt. I thought it worked pretty well.

Another tactic I have used to shoo away stressful thoughts is to imagine these worries as bubbles. Every errant thought is placed inside a bubble, and I watch it float away. And once it's gone, it doesn't come back. Sometimes the bubbles are gray. Or pink. But they all float away once I fill them with my distractions.

Creativity Journal Entry 4: Surrender

2011-04-01T21:03:00.001-07:00

Maybe I shouldn't have surrendered so soon.

When I was leaving work the other day, I was rear-ended by a doctor who works at the same hospital. We were both trying to exit the parking lot, and there was a long line of people trying to leave behind us.

At first I was shocked. It felt strange, like I didn't know what really happened. When I got out of the car, I met him at my bumper. He was still on the phone. He was starting to look at my bumper, and I could hear him muttering to himself about how there probably wasn't too much damage. He mumbled something to me about "leaving insurance out of this" and "I'll just take care of this myself."

In a hurry to get home, I did everything wrong. I thought it would be easier if I left the cops/security guards out of this one, and since he didn't want to involve insurance, I just agreed to take his business card and get on my way home. I thought I was just surrendering. Going with the flow. Stopping all the mental striving.

As it turns out, that was a bad idea. I should have gotten the name of a witness. I should have demanded his insurance information. I should have at least called security. Because when I tried to call and get his insurance information later, he was completely rude and refused to give me the information I needed. I was going to have to do everything his way.

It perturbs me when I can see people taking advantage of me. He was trying to intimidate me, and it was working. And as much as my years as a reporter might have prepared me to work with difficult people, I still don't respond well to nasty people. It was basically the reason I stopped being a reporter. But I didn't think I had lost my edge so quickly.

What this experience did was teach me that surrendering doesn't necessarily mean surrendering your rights. When I thought I was being agreeable, I was actually being a pushover. It made me want to explore ways for me to be more assertive. The bad part is that I thought I was assertive.

Creativity Journal Entry 3: The race

2011-03-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Race ya to the next bite

During my trip to Baltimore, I got the chance to spend a few days with my sister, mother of three boys. Her middle child is 5, and he expends as much energy being cute as he does creating mischief.

Being around children of this age is not something I normally do. Ironic as it is considering I work at a children's hospital, I don't really spend a lot of time with kids. And since I don't have kids, I certainly don't spend any concentrated amount of time with children if and when I come into contact with them.

But I did happen to pick something up at work, which is that boys around age 5 love to be TIMED. So whether it's a race up the stairs ("I'm gonna beat you!") or a request to be timed doing a certain activity, they want to know who did it the fastest.

I was able to put this principle into play when I noticed that my nephew spends most of his mealtime playing, and very little of it actually eating. He will bug his brother, jump up from his chair or even bust out into spontaneous dancing and singing...essentially anything to avoid eating his food.

So when dinner had already been dragging on without any food leaving his plate, I tried an experiment: I told him that he only had 10 seconds to take his next bite, and I started counting down from 10. He perked up. To add drama, I stared at my wrist as I counted. Note that I did not have on a watch, but it seemed like I did and it made the countdown that much more intense. He started to get nervous. As I approached counting down to the number 1, he quickly took a bite. I acted very relieved. And 2 minutes later, I did it again.

This turned out to be a regular routine at mealtime. While his parents would plead with him to "just sit down and eat," the only thing that truly motivated him was the countdown. Now I'm not claiming to be a parenting expert. Perhaps the novelty would have worn off eventually and he'd go back to avoiding his food. But I think that experiences like these are sort of the essence of creativity. You try something that you are not sure will work, or even if it does, how long it will work. But it doesn't seem to hurt to try, and short-term success is still considered a success. And so is a clean plate.

Creativity Journal Entry 2: Land, Sea and Air

2011-03-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Getting from BWI to the Baltimore Marriott via cab and water taxi

I needed a creative idea. When I landed at the Baltimore airport, I knew there would be difficulties in traveling to my hotel. The children's hospital conference organizers informed all the attendees that a St. Patrick's Day might add a delay to our journey. I figured that meant some slower traffic. I was wrong.

It turns out that the parade, which was being held the Sunday before Thursday's holiday, was a traffic nightmare. It blocked the main road that provided access to the hotel, and its participants would be celebrating until 5 p.m. I had arrived at the airport at 1:30 p.m. And I needed to have my display ready to go before 5 p.m. I was in a pickle.

I approached the Super Shuttle service provided from the airport. The informed me that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for them to take me to my hotel. IMPOSSIBLE. As in, no roads would ever take me to this hotel...until 5 p.m. Not being familiar with the area, I took them at their word.

So I needed another route to the hotel. I noticed another woman asking similar questions to mine. It turns out she was going to the same conference as me, so I asked her if she wanted to team up and find a creative solution. After much plotting and questioning of the information desk volunteer, we decided to take a cab to the inner harbor of Baltimore, and take a watertaxi to our destination.

So, luggage in tow, we took a cab to one side of the harbor with little problem. Taking a watertaxi was a different story. This wasn't just any watertaxi. Passengers could not just stand at the shore and hail the next boat that drove by. This was a sightseeing taxi, and it had several stops around the harbor before it came anywhere near our hotel. However, it did come, we did board, and we did make it to our hotel, with about 30 minutes before I had to be ready for my presentation.

In hindsight, I probably could have chartered a taxi and just paid the driver to take the long way around the parade. Being from Arizona, water travel is not my usual means of transportation. But it sounded, well, a little romantic. Very "Italian Job." And I loved the idea that I could tell people that I traveled by land, air and sea just to make it to the conference.

I liked this creative solution that arose by collaborating with people I didn't know, and rejecting the narrow-minded solution provided by the airport shuttle folks, who should have been better informed.

Who knows? It may have taken just as long and maybe less money to take a regular cab ride, but the new experience was definitely worth the wait.

Creativity Journal Entry 1: Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Today I tried something new. I attended Ash Wednesday services with my co-worker, who is Catholic. I have attended Catholic Mass before as a visitor, but never to watch the ceremonies associated with certain holidays, such as Ash Wednesday.

We got there a little late, but found a seat with an excellent view of the proceedings. The first feeling I had was that of respect. Here is a religion that is centuries old, governed by sacred rites and rituals that have their roots in Biblical times. This is a religion that is home to millions of followers. And I was watching one of their most basic rituals.

I marveled as I watched the throngs of people line up in front of the ministers to have the ashes of burned palm fronds wiped on their foreheads, for all to see. Each person, including very small children, were told to turn away from sin. Then they returned to their seats, the mark clearly upon their heads, the ponder about the implications of the day. I researched later and found that the mark on the forehead was to remind the believers to be humble, that the mark itself might remind them of their insignificance and spiritual debt.

The sermon that followed focused on the ensuing 40-day Lent, where believers choose a personal habit or sin to give up for 40 days. The priest encouraged the crowd to eschew gossip and passing judgment on other people. I thought this extremely appropriate as I pondered this week's "Live With" rule to silence the voice of judgment.

It occurred to me that when we are spending time criticizing others or ourselves, we are losing time to develop new ideas or solutions. Adding to this lost time is the death spiral that can occur when you beat yourself up over an idea or an event. Negativity begets negativity, which leaves the mind barren and scorched...hardly a fertile ground for creativity.

So perhaps I should give something up for Lent, even though I'm not Catholic. Maybe I will take the priest's advice to let go of judgment. And allow this unique experience to make some room in my thoughts for positive idea creation.

Top 10 Things I'd Rather Be Doing

2011-02-23T16:30:00.000-08:00

I have a couple days off school this week, which has led me to reflect on my life before school. Dinner. Sleep. TV. These are all little relics I sometimes think about.

Now don't get me wrong. I like school and it was definitely the right choice. But these little doses of freedom just get me thinking about things I wish I could do if I had time. And things I may just accomplish once school is over.

So here goes...Top 10 Things I'd Rather Be Doing:

10. Finishing my Craigslist desk. Still needs a fancier bulletin board and new knobs.
9. Sewing curtains for the guest bathroom.
8. Planning our video submission to HGTV.
7. Taking a cake decorating class.
6. Working out. I do it in the mornings sometimes but I am not good at getting up in the morning.
5. Seeing family and friends. Right now I often miss parties or dinner invites, and I would love to reconnect with some of these people. Husband included!
4. Buying and hanging cabinets in the laundry room. Never done cabinets before so I figure just a few couldn't be so hard, right?
3. Vacuuming my car. I guess I could go to the car wash and have them do it. But when?
2. Going on a taste-cation. I love a good theme. Why not apply a theme to the next vacation? I would even combine a stay-cation with a taste-cation and try new restaurants in the city. Ta-stay-cation?
1. Sleeping. I went to bed at 9:30 the other night and it was so blissful.

I guess blogging would be number 11. I've noticed that I blog about twice a month. Kinda pathetic, but hey at least you know what I'm doing when I'm not blogging, right?

Desk it Yourself

2011-02-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Another great Craigslist purchase has finally made it indoors. If you look very hard, you can tell that this desk was sort of a Southwesty beige color. Not sure why it's Southwest, but it felt that way, and it looked pretty ugmo.

Note the little drawing left by the previous owner, a 7-year-old girl. :) We hauled this thing away for $100, which wasn't bad considering it has a light and a hutch. Perfect for my guest room and my Hello Kitty sewing machine. Please pardon the junk already piled beneath it. I sorta suck at taking blog pictures.

But now the dilemma is what to do with that cork board. Much as I love the little drawings, I painted without tape and with the plan to cover the cork with something. Paint? Fabric? Metal? I've had a few good suggestions from friends. This is what I've fashioned using the free image software called, no kidding, GIMP:

Slate blue. I have other blue accents in the room. This is probably not my favorite idea.

Argyle? I stole this image from Google without looking closely at the pattern, which has little skulls. Not sure I would find this at Jo Ann's, but I might be able to find a less skullish argyle pattern.

This is probably my favorite idea. I like the swirlies. Definitely looking for more ideas! And now that I have a space to work on more sewing projects, I could even sew this mutha. Very excited to finally have this addition to my space. I had been searching for the right one for months, and then had to take the required time to prime, paint and cure. And wipe off the little paw prints left by the numskulls known as Beverly and Merriweather!

The REAL city of lights

2011-01-31T08:23:00.000-08:00

First day back from a weekend trip to Las Vegas. Doesn't it seem like the day after vacation always sucks? I'm spilling liquids on myself in the car, I hate my outfit, I can't tune the radio to my favorite station...the list of atrocities goes on. Maybe this week seems so terrible because the weekend was so very fantastic.

I always like to blog about our trips not so much because anything significant happened but because I will likely forget it in 6 months if I don't write this stuff down.

So the following is a list of highlights and lowlights from Vegas 2011:

Hotel room was nice; hotel (Excalibur) itself a little ghetto. But the price was crazy low so I guess I can't complain.

Weather was beautiful. Sunny and warm during the day, little chilly at night.

We saw two Vegas shows, which we never do (probably because we're super cheap and prefer free shows). We saw Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil and Penn & Teller. Both were amazing in their own ways. The first had a lot more nudity than the second, which is probably best.
- extra highlight from Zumanity: the midget who flew around the room holding on to a curtain.

We ate at First Food and Bar, which is pricey but very tasty. We also ate at Bouchon, which is pricey and completely overrated. It sounds like it should be amazing, but I was even disappointed by the chocolate croissant. Seriously, how can a French restaurant screw that up?
- extra highlight from Bouchon: the middle-aged couple seated next to us kept staring at us and listening to our conversation. The wife finally made up a reason to talk to us and proceeded to point out the "celebrity" at the next table, who was nobody famous and she was a little delusional.

We hit the buffet at the Rio and the Bellagio. Bellagio won, hands down. We tested the limits of human consumption and loved every minute of it.

We saw The King's Speech. Amazing. Highly recommend.

The worst part of the trip was our car trouble, wherein my Honda would not get into gear while we were driving down the Strip...MEGA scary. But even that wasn't a huge crisis. We drove to an auto parts store (entirely in second gear) and bought some brake fluid, which provided a temporary fix and meant that we were headache-free for the rest of the trip!

I'm facing several weeks of intense school and work commitments, so I'm very grateful we had this opportunity to get away. I'd love to make this an annual trip if possible; midgets will be optional.

Love Letter to Love Letters

2011-01-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

The other day I came home in a huge funk. To cheer me up, Tony showed me something I wrote in his high school year book: a page-long love letter that was so VERY deep and serious. It also contained impeccable grammar. Guess I had the hots for him.

So I pulled out my ceramic turtle from Rocky Point that Tony got me several years ago. It holds a small collection of notes that Tony wrote to me in high school and college. Most of them are on "On-Star Auto Glass" stationery, and make references to finding his way around ASU campus, weird people in his drawing class and how much he missed me.

We would write these letters in school and give them to each other at the end of the day or between breaks. We don't do that now; it's mostly phone calls and text messages.

At the risk of sounding like a total curmudgeon, is this a lost art? Can't imagine any teenagers feel the need to write messages on ther Five Star notebooks when they can just send a text. I guess e-mail is a little more permanent, and for a long time we both saved our early e-mails to each other from our Hotmail accounts. Then Hotmail deleted them before we could print them out.

It was so fun to sit next to Tony, laughing at these notes and remembering how much I liked him, even then. Now, 12 years later, they are just as meaningful. Inspires me to start writing these letters again. I might need another ceramic turtle.

Home Remedies

2011-01-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

I had the unfortunate honor of being sick over the holidays. It started on Christmas Eve and kept going for 12 DAYS. So it's sort of like the 12 days of Christmas from HELL. The sad part is that I always pride myself on never getting sick and never taking sick days at work. Well this one threw me for a loop. It had it all: coughing, sore throat, the never-ending headache, low energy...the works!

Throughout all of this, I began seeking home remedies. I found some pretty interesting stuff. No guarantees on whether any of it works, but worth a read I think:

Kickapoo Joy Juice: A favorite of my brother Dally. Drink 8 oz of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a dash of lemon juice and some honey to sweeten. Repeat way more than you can stomach. (Not exactly clear on the amounts in this recipe FYI.)

Salt Water: The New York Times recently posted a story about a study looking at the effects of gargling with salt water. The conclusion was that it prevented colds and made other colds shorter. I tried it a few times but had a hard time controlling my gag reflex.

Netti Pot: There is a cult-like following for this nasty business. Essentially, you pour a salt water mixture through one side of your nose and watch it cascade gracefully from the other. I did not buy a real one, but sort of jerry-rigged one that only kind of worked. It DID clear up my sinuses, and I've heard good things from people who use it regularly. My husband refused to be in the room while I did it; I think it preserved our marriage to keep this private. I might try it again if I got really sick.

Vicks on the feet: Rub Vicks Vapo-Rub on your feet and put on socks right before bed to cut down on nighttime coughing. I don't know how much this helped but I was already putting Vicks on my neck and face so why not the feet, right?

Definitely still open to ideas. I'm hoping that I am excused, jury-duty style, from another nasty cold like this. If not, I will totally Kickapoo.

Did I ever tell you about the time...

2010-12-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

...I submitted a wedding announcement to the New York Times? It's true. And we almost made it.

Here was the submission:

The bride and groom met in high school and their romance blossomed at Arizona State University, where Lindsay briefly served as Tony’s editor at the State Press newspaper. She was a demanding boss, and Tony was always submitting his comics after deadline. She did, however, try to nominate him for “Staffer of the Week,” but was turned down on account of nepotism. The couple enjoys putting on lavish theme parties for their friends, including a murder mystery written by the couple called “Diamonds Aren’t Forever.”

Tony proposed to Lindsay on their ninth anniversary as a couple. He was three days away from closing on his first house in Mesa, Ariz., and set up a table with flowers and chocolates in the courtyard. He invited Lindsay to see the house, and when she arrived, she found him sitting at the table, dressed in a suit. He asked her to marry him and she accepted. Then she told him that technically they were trespassing, since the property did not yet belong to him. They packed up their table and went to share the news.

And here was the reply from the actual EDITOR of the society section:

Hi Lindsay,
Could you kindly shoot another copy of your wedding submission to my e-mail address?
Also please resend the photo and let us know if there's a professionalphotographer that must be credited.

Thanks,
Bob Woletz

Editor, Society News

The New York Times

Of course, I flipped out and started celebrating. The story never ran, for reasons I can only assume have to do with how funny our writeup was. They like things to be a little more snooty I guess, and trespassing doesn't quite fit that bill.

Baking my way in the world today

2010-11-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Not only does it provide a much-needed break from school, it gives me a chance to try to spend some time in the kitchen and try some new things.

This year I have on my list to try: chorizo stuffing, pumpkin trifle and apple donuts. I'm also looking forward to replicating my mom's famous sour cream apple pie and making a Southern pecan pie.

Not sure why baking makes me so happy. It's messy and time consuming. I could be painting my toenails, or, even better, attempting to scale Mount Laundry.

I guess I'd rather be fat and happy than focus on fancy frills like clean clothes. :)

Pumpkinitis

2010-10-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

I no longer have to hoard the gourd. The pumpkin shortage is over. What? What's that you say? You didn't know there was a pumpkin shortage? Well, there was. And it was pretty tragic. The only place I could find real canned pumpkin was at Sprouts, and if you didn't get there fast enough, someone else would snatch them all up.

The reason I was so deeply affected by this shortage is because I have recently developed an obsession with canned pumpkin. I want to put it in everything. So far, this is what I've made:
* chocolate cake/cupcakes (cake mix, pumpkin, 2/3 cups water)
* enchiladas (add pumpkin to the sauce for fiber and moist, thick goodness)
* oatmeal (just stir a couple spoonfuls in for fiber and delicious taste)
* pancakes (add a half cup with cinnamon)
* cookies

I've read that pumpkin is considered a super food: high fiber and vitamins, low in calories. Plus it's delicious. And, luckily, now available in hordes. Hordes of gourdes.

I'm stressed out and I need a donut

2010-10-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

The past couple weeks I've been a bit of a wreck. My finance class is really hard and it's not going well. I do not take bad grades lying down. I take bad grades lying awake at night with nightmares about the Weighted Average Cost of Capital.

It's been interesting to see how school has impacted my life. I now believe that there are different kinds of stress. I felt a specific stress while I planned my wedding. School stress leads me to have nightmares and be a little high-strung, where the only way to calm me down is a box of donut holes (thank you husband).

Mainly I complain a lot and want everyone's pity. I always think I will never survive, I will never sleep again, I will never be happy again. But the sun has start to come out, and I'm not worrying quite so much anymore. Now I just need to worry about losing that donut weight.

House by Hoarders

2010-09-28T16:07:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a new addiction to HGTV and Hoarders, J place has seen a little facelift.

First came the curtains. It never occurred to me how ugly our sliding door had become (try to ignore all the junk on the table):

With some basic white curtains from Wal-Mart for less than $20, we still get light but no ugly tinting in view:

Next came a much-needed upgrade for our TV, DVD player, cable box and Tivo. Our old TV stand was a holdover from T's bachelor apt days:

$200 at Ikea later, our entertainment is a little more grown up:

And finally, we converted our old coat closet (aka junk closet) into a fully functional mail center. We no longer dump the mail on the kitchen counter or lose bills. We do need something in that little vacant space, so shoot me your ideas:

I'm thinking I need to take a break from all this TV, or I will 1) go broke 2) become some kind of crazy OCD lady who is terrified of becoming a Hoarder.

And now for something completely different

2010-09-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

At long last, T and I have tackled the bedroom in our decorating derby. We saved it for last since it's a less-visible area of the house, which is sort of a silly strategy considering we probably hang out in here as much as we do the living room, and we don't have guests all that often. I digress.

Here is what the room looked like before the previous owners completely moved out. What you can't see in here are the giant holes on the wall from some failed project, and the phone jack that is currently duct-taped to the wall behind the bed.

I guess that doesn't really count as a "before" pic since it's not our stuff, but I like the contrast to our newer digs. What this post is really about is the new artwork furnished courtesy of my artist husband, who is amazing:

Materials included three canvases from Jerry's Artarama and paint from Michaels. Of course, the inspiration came from my favorite domestic bloggers: http://www.younghouselove.com/other-redos/ (scroll down to about the eighth picture).

Safe to say I love it and am so glad I married someone so talented.

Putting the FUN in FUrNiture!

2010-09-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

This post is all about a labor of love called the Armoire For the Guest Room. I bought it for $50 on Craigslist. As usual, I forgot to take a "before" pic. But it kinda looked like this:

I armed myself with some Internet-based instructions and a dream to paint it white. The armoire was laminate pressboard, which I've always heard is difficult to paint. But after sanding and priming, the paint rolled on pretty easily. I was feeling great! So I followed my favorite bloggers' advice and moved on to the next step: coating it with a clear polyurethane. So easy! I left it alone to dry for extra awesomeness, and went out to the garage today to put it together and enjoy my new life as an armoire owner. But it soon became clear that the poly coat was not.

Can you tell how YELLOW it is? Can you tell how MAD I was by the use of these CAPITAL LETTERS? I ended up having to buy more paint and add two more coats. But I guess it was OK because it inspired me to repaint the dresser I've had since I was 5, which also lives in the guest room. (New knobs from Anthropologie made it even better!)

ANYWAY, after a long day and a slight setback thanks to some poorly timed sprinklers, I finally got the armoire into the guest room and started turning my life around:

Now, one more detail about this armoire. It came with a super lame feature designed to help you set up your TV:

At first I was just going to paint over it, but was inspired by a cool little product at Target -- a sticker made for college dorm rooms. With that and a roll of sticky white shelf paper, this is how it turned out:

I love it. I also need a break from painting furniture. Maybe my next piece will be purchased the way I actually want it.

Camping Fail

2010-08-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Turns out camping is not always a paradaisical journey.

Saturday's list of failures:
* Missed turn to get to Prescott. Detour takes an hour.
* Finally get to camping spot. Seems a little hot. Seems a little sparse. Seems a little --- bee-swarmy! A giant cloud of bees heading our way prompts us to pack up.
* Next spot is full
* Find a spot. Nice and shady. Bee-free.
* Neighboring camper pulls up with a license plate reading "ANTHRAX" and proceeds to BLAST 80s crap rock until 1 a.m.

Sunday went great. Weather was beautiful and we got in plenty of reading and eating of Fat-Free Pringles...anthrax-free.

Not ready to give up on my quest to be the ultimate camper.

That's how I Knoll

2010-07-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July, we headed up to a campground near Knoll Lake. It takes a 45 minute drive in what basically amounts to piles of rocks, but the bumpy dirtiness was worth it! We got the last open space with a site near a trail leading to the lake.

I must say that we did SO WELL this time around:

Brought the air mattress.
Remembered the pump.
Got brave and brought a propane stove (I have this little fear of things blowing up...hehe nervous laughter).
Cooked eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, sausage and hot dogs.
Read two books that I've read before
Had plenty of cold drinks

The weather was gorgeous and even though the campground was full, they were spread far enough apart that we couldn't hear much and only had to spy on the neighbors a little bit. AND we saw an actual deer! He was beautiful. And very tall - I'd say 7 feet. Amazing. His name was Dennis.

This camping trip was fab. Of course I want to go again, but I know I always say that and then it never happens. If we do go again, I am going to advocate for bringing some kind of boat or floatation device. We always stay by lakes but never really benefit. I was thinking maybe an inflatable kayak? Or can we just use the air mattress?

Upside Down!

2010-07-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight I reached the height of procrastination when I baked a pineapple upside down cake instead of studying for my accounting class tomorrow.

I always assumed those were difficult, but you basically steep the pineapple in a mixture of 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1T water and 2T butter, then pour the cake batter on top. I made the Better Homes and Gardens recipe, which calls for the cake made from scratch. But I'm sure a cake mix would work just as well. Then bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Super tasty and quick. I didn't actually turn the thing upside down, but I did add ice cream, so hopefully no one will notice.

I wonder if you could make other fruits upside down? Is there something really special about pineapple? I bet blueberries or raspberries would work, too.

DIY...er....DIO

2010-07-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've had a week off school, so how do I celebrate? I've been reveling in house projects of course!

I would call it DIY, but usually T helps me, so it's more like DIO. The first project was an answer to a growing pile of snarled necklaces and less space to store them. So we turned an otherwise blank space into a lovely piece of jewelry art. The necklaces are hanging on flat-head screws, which, if you look closely, are topped with some little colored gems we got at Michaels. The little rhinestones dress up the screws a little bit and play into the whole bejeweled theme. And there's always more wall space as I add to my collection.
The next is one of my favorite projects we've ever done! For over a year, our shoes have lived in a little stinky pile at the bottom of our closet. But thanks to some supplies picked up at Home Depot, I can find my shoes quicker and have more open space in the closet. Of course, the only downside is that the stinky pile is now up at nose level. Any suggestions for neutralizing shoe odor? Maybe some bowling alley spray? :) You'll also notice the cute bin at the bottom for flip flops.

Other projects include hanging a few shelves (my favorite activity and T's least favorite), creating an actual broom closet, cleaning out some very messy closets and starting an office supply closet. That latest project involves removing all the ne'er used coats from our front closet and adding some cubbies for mail, scissors, pens, stamps, etc. I'll post more details as it evolves, but I'm super stoked because our mail 1) always ends up in a massive pile on the kitchen counter and 2) sometimes gets lost, which is a bummer if you lose a paycheck! I also just bought a little armoire on Craigslist, which will prove to be a lesson in painting laminate furniture....should be fun!

Any house projects going on out there? I love to copy people!

Pancake Experiment

2010-06-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

U.S. Egg, one of our favorite breakfast restaurants, serves a delicious dish called "protein pancakes." It lists it under a low-carb menu, though from what I can tell, nearly all the ingredients are carb heavy (pancake batter, oatmeal, etc). Oh well. They are delicious so I tried my own version this morning:

Oatmeal and Pecan Pancakes

- two packets of "cinnamon roll" flavored instant oatmeal
- 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tbs brown sugar

Saute in a pan on medium heat until mixture is coated. Add to regular pancake batter and cook as usual.

They did come out very thick, so the next time around I will probably thin out the batter with more water. I also wonder if it would help to throw the oatmeal and pecans in the food processor beforehand. I'm guessing this idea would also work with homemade granola.

Catching my Breath

2010-06-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a whirlwind trip to NYC, with a brief stop in Amish Country, PA.

Highlights:

* bought homemade jam from the Amish. It is delicious. Their way of life is a little weird and seems to be "off the grid" only when it is convenient. (They can have cell phones but not house phones. Wha?)

* visited the Hershey factory and got intoxicated off the smell. Also tried chocolate-drizzled popcorn, which was amazing.

* took the train to NYC and saw the Pennsylvania countryside, which is very green and gorgeous. Who knew?

* Stayed in New Jersey. No one is nice in Jersey.

* Went to the museum of Natural History to see dinosaur bones and the like. My favorite section was the gems and minerals. Truly like seeing another planet.

* played in Central Park (see pic above) and had a chocolate malted milkshake. mmmm

* Got lost on the subway and ended up in Brooklyn. Exciting!

* Paid $80 for a cab ride. On accident.

* Bought a purse in Chinatown and haggled the price down. Not by much, though. I lack the patience to be a really good haggler.

* Ate pizza, Indian food, brunch, ice cream, hot dogs, burgers and more. Liquid diet is going well.

One last highlight was actually kinda scary. I have inherited my mother's habit of choking on nearly everything...food, drink...air. At one point on this trip I swallowed down the wrong pipe as they say, and started coughing. But it wasn't helping. I felt like I couldn't breathe. And I wasn't eating, so it wasn't food. Just couldn't get any air. Scary. Obviously I'm OK. But I was pretty terrified for a minute.

Anyway, we were gone for a whole week, which was great. And it made the return home that much sweeter. There's something so comforting about your own crappy sheets and dusty nightstand.

Where's the beef?

2010-05-09T21:06:00.001-07:00

This weekend, T and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We got a room at the hotel where we married, and actually had time to use the amenities! Last time, we had to rush out, go home and get ready to go on a cruise. I remember scrubbing the bathtub the night before we left for our honeymoon.

This time, we hung out on Mill Ave, watched the Suns game and got 9 hours of sleep. We also laid by the pool, saw "Iron Man 2" and watched our new favorite series, "Breaking Bad." (Sidenote - that show is SO INTENSE and well-written. Highly recommend.)

Two interesting traditions: We drove several miles to buy a mini version of our wedding cake. When we got to the bakery, we were informed that they had sold out of ALL cakes thanks to Mother's Day. For some reason, this really bummed me out. I had waited until the last minute and it was my fault we didn't have a cake to eat on our first anniversary.I cried.

But it did set the stage for our second tradition: the hotel hamburger. Last year, as we prepared to leave the party and head up to the honeymoon suite, I leaned over to the banquet captain and begged him to send cake to our room because we were starving! He did us one better and sent a burger with fries. After a long day with little eating and lotsa stress, that burger was the most delicious thing we had ever tasted! Fast forward to this year...we had just arrived back to our room, and I was still sad. The night was on the verge of ruin. But we ordered the burger, and, lo and behold, it tasted just as delicious as it had last year. Not sure if it was the stress or just the fact that we got one tradition to work, but it totally saved the night.

I'd still like to get a little cake just to have a taste, but I'm thinking next year will be less about adhering to traditions, and more about doing what makes us happy.

Happy anniversary to my perfect match!

The art of procrastination

2010-05-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now. It's about how the theories of organizational behavior are applied at Google, W.L. Gore and Whole Foods. Hey, wake up! I'm talking here!

I finished my second paragraph, so I'm celebrating by blogging. I wanted to introduce you to my new favorite guilty pleasure: http://www.younghouselove.com/ I admit that I've been looking at it when I'm supposed to be doing any number of other things, including learning about forecasting in Statistics class.

I cannot get enough of this blog. I love what this couple has done to their house, and I am giddy thinking about how I could incorporate some of their ideas into mine. So far I plan to buy a chandelier for my little master bathroom and change up the colors in the guest bathroom. In that bathroom, the current color scheme is brown, black and maroon, which has never felt right to me.

Future projects include:

painting the kitchen cabinets back to white (sorry former owners, I can tell you recently painted them from white to this ugly brown/pink color)
adding ceiling lights to the hallway
painting a mural in our bedroom
buying a new desk/sewing table for the guest room
adding cabinets to the laundry room
buying a secretary's desk for the living room

OK so I just realized that I could have written another paragraph in the time it took to write this post. Guess it's back to the grind stone. Don't be surprised if I'm back in another 20 minutes to take a break.

mmmm vacation

2010-04-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

I need a vacation! I have a wicked statistics mid-term this week that is hurting my brain. And my next break isn't until the end of May. :(

But what a break! We're headed to Manhattan to attend the National Cartoonist Society convention, and I am soooo excited. (Also way stoked to see my sister's beautiful house in Pennsylvania and her even more beautiful boys.)

This vacation is also special because it will be a 2-in-1 celebration or our first wedding anniversary (May 8) and my 27th birthday (June 2).

I can't believe it has been a year since the wedding. That is both a relief and a disbelief. I still think of ways I could have done the wedding or the photos better. I hope that feeling goes away with time. Being married is way easier than getting married, that's for sure!

And as for my birthday, I feel ambivalent at the moment. It's farther away from 25...I think I'm squarely in late-20s land. But I'm happy. Nothing else I'd rather be doing with my life at 27.

Possible exception: studying statistics.

Nuts for coconut!

2010-04-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ah the power of advertising. A few weeks ago I saw an ad in a magazine for coconut cake, and have been obsessed with making one ever since.

For this one, I chose strawberry cake made with applesauce instead of oil (you can substitute it directly -- 1:1). That turned out fine.

The filling, however, did not. I found a recipe online (btw I would avoid cooks.com -- the recipes there don't have enough info and don't always work right) that included cream of coconut, milk, sugar and butter. Sounds easy enough, like frosting, right? No. It sat on my stove for 40 minutes and never thickened, even after I desperately started throwing cornstarch in. I had to DUMP IT DOWN THE DRAIN.

This is my first time baking where I had to completely toss something because it wasn't turning out. Frown!

So I found a more traditional coconut cream cheese filling recipe that I figured couldn't fail. I taste-tested it just to be sure. Smile!

I also tried my hand at multiple layers:

We'll see how that goes. Layer cakes like this usually get all crumbly when you try to frost them, so I sprayed a light layer of PAM before frosting and it seemed to work OK.

Topped it off with a low-sugar frosting and fresh Peeps. Hoppy Easter!

schooliosis

2010-03-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I love school.

Granted, I'm less than three months in. But going to class is fun. Talking with the other students is fun. Heck, even getting stressed out about class is fun.

I like having something besides work to think about. A tangible goal that has a definite end and a highly probable payoff.

Plus, sometimes they have free food.

cold sore crisis

2010-03-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

I could feel it happening yesterday morning. A cold sore. Growing right under my nose. Literally.

You know that tingly feeling that not all is right with your body? Well it reared its ugly head and by the middle of the day, I was in full blown cold sore crisis, made worse when my friend told me it looked like a harelip. Awesome.

Well I made the mistake of frantically looking up some home remedies online. The one I chose involved poking yourself with needles and dousing the area in alcohol. Note: Do not do this. It will not help. And then you're the person who poked her face with needles.

I have since found a much better solution: over the counter cold sore medication. Now, why didn't I think of that? Of course it's VERY SLOWLY going away, but I really only have myself to blame, since I went the "believe everything you read online" route.

You know, it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so ugly. I found myself asking, "Which is uglier, a cold sore or a band-aid covering up a cold sore? One makes you look like you have a harelip and the other looks like a moustache." I decided against the band-aid. I think people actually look at you more when you have a visible band-aid. They are just dying to know what you are hiding.

Either way, I feel a little bit like a leper. Or is it a leopard? Well, something with spots that is also an outcast.

I love a good fad diet

2010-02-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

This one's from Cosmo. It's not too terrible. I included the ones I liked and made a few edits here and there.

1. Drink mainly water. Hard for me because I drink mainly diet coke.
2. Ban white bread and pasta.
3. Do 30 minutes of cardio a day.
4. Drink caffeine an hour before working out.
5. Do 36 pushups/squats every other day.
6. Sleep an extra 30 minutes a night. Not hard - I get obscene amounts of sleep.
7. Cut out one indulgence. Hmmm....cheese or chocolate?
8. Do 36 squats and situps

Luck be a Lady

2010-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

Just returned from a fun trip to Vegas with T's parents and his brother/wife.

We stayed in the Bellagio, which is my favorite hotel on the strip. It seems a little less chintzy than some of the other places (hello - a Hooters hotel? seriously?) and the fountain shows are captivating.

There is so much to see on the strip. And once you get over the initial shock of being handed a prostitution flier, Vegas is a pretty nice place. Parking is free. There are skywalks that allow you to avoid getting creamed by a taxi on the street. And the food! I ate three weeks worth of wonderful meals.

Neither T nor I gamble, but we decided to play $5 on video poker just for fun. At one point we were up 25 cents, but we pretty much paid to have an hour of fun. It's true. It took us an HOUR to lose $5. I can only imagine if we had played more money or more often. No wonder people spend hours sitting at those machines. The smoke alone would kill me in less than a day.

While I enjoyed the fancy bed and bathtub offered by the Bellagio, I am looking forward to sleeping in our mismatched sheets. As long as the housekeepers refrain from knocking at 7 a.m. like they did this morning.

School Daze!

2010-01-26T20:57:00.001-08:00

I'm in a school daze...and a school craze! Taze, blaze, malaise, killer gaze...

I went to orientation for my MBA program and met 85 of my new best friends. I also picked up a big stack o books, one of which I began reading tonight.

Looking at a syllabus again is daunting, and I'm hoping it's not too overwhelming.

But I'm also pretty excited. I genuinely liked my first reading assignment, which was about how good bosses lead with emotional intelligence (read: spend less time loving yourself, more time understanding your employees).

Haven't attended a class yet. Check back in with me in a month and see if I'm still a-MAZED by this experience.

Date Night

2010-01-26T20:52:00.001-08:00

Sometimes T and I hang out in the bedroom and listen to music on iTunes or YouTube.

I would imagine it's akin to the old days of hanging out and listening to records.

Last night we started looking up songs we liked as kids -- and, naturally, they were both Huey Lewis Songs. I'm "Power of Love" while T is "Heart of Rock n Roll." The evening went down an interesting road from there and included Boyz II Men, Vanilla Ice, Kris Kross, Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords.

I love our music nights. What can I say? I'm a cheap date.

Cake from Scratch

2010-01-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I made my first cake from scratch. I usually have the opinion that cakes from scratch are dry and not as sweet as a mix. And I was right, to an extent. The chocolate taste was really good, but it was a little dry. It's possible if I had used actual frosting it would have worked better. Anyhow. Enjoy!

Chocolate Layer Cake from the "Bitten" blog on NY Times.

Ingredients

* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened; more for greasing pans
* 2 cups (9 ounces) cake or all-purpose flour; more for dusting pans
* 3 ounces high-quality unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Ghiradelli)
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs, separated
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/4 cups milk
* 2 cups sweetened whipped cream

Method

* 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of two 9-inch layer-cake pans. Cut rounds of parchment or waxed paper to fit bottom of pans. Butter paper, and dust flour over pans; invert to remove excess.
* 2. Melt chocolate in saucepan or double boiler, stirring occasionally. When just about melted, remove from heat; stir until smooth.
* 3. In mixer, cream butter until smooth, gradually adding sugar. Beat until fluffy, 3 or 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, then vanilla and chocolate. In a bowl, mix 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to chocolate mixture a little at a time, alternating with milk. Stir until smooth.
* 4. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks. With rubber spatula, fold them gently into batter. Turn batter into cake pans, and bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool on a rack 5 minutes, invert and complete cooling.
* 5. Put one layer on a platter, rounded side down. Spread with whipped cream. Top with second layer, flat side down. Spread cream over top and sides. Serve in an hour or two.

I added a layer of raspberry jam

This is homemade whipped cream. Heavy and Heavenly.

I used a vegetable peeler on some chocolate to dust the top of the cake.

Oh, and don't forget the most important ingredient :)

hey neighbor

2009-12-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

We used to have some really cute neighbors next door. They had a 4-year-old girl named Riley who had glasses, curly blonde hair, and a habit of walking into the house without knocking. We were given Valentines and invitations to her birthday party. My best memory of her was when she sat on a kid-sized recliner in a princess crown and sang, "Happy Birthday to Me" between bites of cake.

But they moved. And I think they stopped making payments on the house. The neighbors on the other side only live there part time so we don't see them much.

And those are the only neighbors we know.

We have never spoken to the people who live directly across the street. Or the drug dealer two doors down. I half expected them to come make introductions, but they seem pretty reclusive. And I guess we're just as bad; we haven't made any effort to talk to a family that moved in to a house kitty corner to us.

Is it a standoff? Is everyone expecting the other to flinch first? Or is there no reason to know your neighbors anymore? I'd like to think there is a benefit...seems like there is some sort of safety reason buried in there. We held a garage sale recently and I think some people lived nearby but they didn't mention it.

Maybe Christmas is the time? Make a plate of cookies and brave the cold call? Anyone have some neighborly advice?

Gingerbread!

2009-12-05T17:23:00.001-08:00

Gonna make gingerbread this year. Don't usually enjoy it. Hoping that it tastes better when it's warm and freshly iced.

Eggnog Frosting

2009-12-02T18:43:00.001-08:00

I'm in an eggnog mood.

Ingredients for the Eggnog Buttercream Frosting

8 Tbsp. (or one stick) of butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 to 4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons eggnog
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, for garnish (optional)

Directions for the Frosting

1. Place the butter and 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds to incorporate. Stop the machine and add the remaining confectioners' sugar, eggnog and vanilla. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute. Add more confectioners' sugar if the frosting is too runny to spread. Add a touch more eggnog if it is too stiff.

Well wishes

2009-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

I finally got the gumption to put all the wedding stuff away. Not sure when I would open this box again. Maybe when someone else gets married and wants a bride and groom teddy bear pair.

As a part of this effort, I opened and read through all the cards again, which made me really sentimental. The messages were so kind and loving. And I remember sitting with T in our house going through each of these cards and the long list of gifts we received and feeling so BLESSED. Hundreds of people came and brought us gifts to send us on our way into matrimony. Hundreds were so very generous.

I felt remorse when I saw the generosity, and I felt it again the other night as I looked through the cards. Not because I didn't thank everyone - I'm pretty sure I did. But because I had honestly thought many of them wouldn't care. Or I assumed they wouldn't approve. Or that they would merely felt obligated to send us something. But they came. Or they sent cards. And they didn't have to.

I could not have guessed that so many people loved us and felt genuine joy for our happiness. Even this inscription from our guest book surprised me. It's from my brother's friend: "You love each other. Nothing else will ever matter more than that."

Favorite Spaces

2009-11-15T13:30:00.001-08:00

Tony bought our house just over a year ago, and since then we have made a lot of changes. This post includes some "before" pics and also some pics of little spaces and things that make me happy at our house.

Gratitude

2009-11-09T08:59:00.001-08:00

Usually, Thanksgiving makes me grateful for a couple days off work. And then it makes me regretful for how much I eat.

But this year is a little different. We're facing a few unexpected challenges this fall, and they do have the potential to REALLY bring our spirits down. Luckily, I am married to T, who is especially skilled at calming me and easing my anxieties. He's also willing to make difficult choices and sacrifice for our little family.

So this year I'm especially grateful for him. Maybe I should bake him a pie or something.

Overwhelmed

2009-11-04T09:53:00.001-08:00

Cannot relax today. Too many balls in the air. Topics include a new shower, Twitter and a dance competition.

Sleeper hit

2009-10-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

T and I signed up for "Shaolin Power Hour" at our kung fu studio. It is a two-week fitness boot camp that lasts for an hour every morning.

It starts at 6:15 a.m., which means we have to drag our sorry butts out of bed at 5:30 (though it's been slipping to 5:40, 5:45). This does not bode well for me. I am historically a mean sleeper.

I have panic attacks about waking up early. And I attack others who wake me up or who prevent me from getting to sleep. I can be extremely grumpy in the morning, and incredibly irrational late at night. I think that means I am neither a night owl or an early bird. I'm a totally different breed of fowl. (A surly bird?)

HOWEVER. After four days of Shaolin Power Hour, I am finding that I have a lot more energy during the day. I still get sleepy around 10 p.m., but I'm not the kung fu zombie I thought I was going to be.

Holidaisical!

2009-10-15T16:53:00.001-07:00

Starting to receive travel plans from my three out of state sisters...and getting so so excited for the holidays!

Makes me want to organize the guest room so some little nieces and nephews can sleep over and play rock band with crazy cool Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Tony.

Finally figured it out

2009-10-14T15:49:00.001-07:00

For years I've been trying to determine how exactly I fit in among my friends and family.

I have labels for everyone -- the smart one, the emotional one, the easygoing one -- but for a long time I could not figure out which "one" I was.

Today it dawned on me, thanks to the help of a co-worker. It also explains why I have labels for everyone.

I'm the judgmental one.

Spooktacular

2009-10-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

Now that we have our own house, we are finally going to fulfill one of my long-term dreams: hosting a giant Halloween party.

I love Halloween. It's pure fun, without the spending and politics of Christmas. (I still love Christmas don't worry!) We put a lot of thought into our Halloween costumes every year. This year the pressure's really on to have a great costume, since we will be the hosts extraordinaire.

The biggest challenge will be to decorate the house in the bestest, most bitchin' Boo-fest ever. I'm already researching ideas for decor, both cute and creepy.

Anyone have any easy or cool ideas? Anyone want to have a craft/decor day on Oct. 24? :)

New shelves!

2009-09-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the stars align and T and I have the time and energy to put up new shelves. The result is usually wonderful and I am so very pleased.

Stick of butter...mmmm

2009-09-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

This recipe for frosting is SO DELICIOUS. I got it from Sarah B, who got it from Sprinkles Cupcakes. Try not to let the obscene amounts of butter put you off. Totally worth it. I added frozen raspberries to this batch.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 cup softened butter
3.5 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter, sugar, salt until smooth.
Add milk, vanilla and beat 3-5 minutes until creamy.

addiction

2009-09-11T15:33:00.001-07:00

I think Diet Coke might be keeping me alive

The Audacious Cook

2009-08-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

I don't usually have the patience to cook. I hate things with a million ingredients and hours of chopping. Our dinners usually consist of tortilla + filling + microwave. Anything that takes longer better include the crock pot.

But I kinda have the desire to bake. I like the idea of perfecting some wonderful dish, then making it for special occasions to the delight of all my sophisticated friends. Problem is, I don't have natural talent, and I am going to have to work for it. A recent attempt at cherry turnovers didn't end so great. It tasted OK, but looked pretty wimpy and a little soggy.

I'm tempted to buy the Julia Child book, since all of the NPR interviews with director Nora Ephron have said that taught her how to cook. And I do love things made with butter and cream. I'm not suggesting I try my own version of "Julie and Julia," where I blog my way through it, but I like the idea that maybe I could try some of the recipes and make something delicious.

One thing I have learned was that homemade whipped cream can cover up a lot of worries. And I know how to make that. So that's a start.

Blog on blogging

2009-08-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

I know. Bad title.

Just read one of my favorite bloggers, Girl in a Party Hat, and was inspired to write. She wears her heart on her screen, and doesn't seem to fear revealing too much, as I often do.

I don't blog about work - that's a gimme. But I could probably share a little more. I guess I'm torn about publishing that kind of information -- what if no one reads it? Or worse, what if they do?

I'm usually prompted to write when something bad has happened. For instance, this morning I managed to dump a whole pan full of muffin batter onto the hot oven door. I spent 20 minutes mopping up the goop instead of watching them brown into apple cinnamon delights. And was left with no reward; just a cat hoping for a little taste off the floor.

Or like now, when T and I have been stressed out - both for good and bad reasons. But I can't share that. It has more implications than a pan of muffins.

If I was a better cook, I'd share recipes. If I was crafty, I'd share photos of my latest homemade tote bag. If I had kids, I'd share photos. You get the picture.

I guess until I do acquire all of those things, you (and I) are stuck with muffin stories and gripes about free movie screenings. :)

Acceptance

2009-07-31T23:45:00.001-07:00

Today I made a huge leap toward full acceptance into the Latino community. Or at least half.

A Hispanic co-worker at the hospital asked me today if my husband is Mexican. I said yes, well, he's half. Then she asked me if I wanted to buy some tamales. I have worked there a year and never been offered the inside track on tamales.

Wonder what sweet Mexican hookup is next...

Movie Magic

2009-07-29T09:27:00.001-07:00

I recently took a flight to Los Angeles from Phoenix. These flights really should be easy. They last about an hour and they leave something like every 15 minutes. Yet every time I fly, thanks to heightened regulation, security and the removal of one's shoes, I can't help but repeat to myself this phrase, "Ah, the indignity of flight."

Well, that's nothing compared to the indignity of seeing a free movie.

My friends scored free tickets to see "Julie and Julia," the latest Meryl Streep flisk, dedicated to Julia Child. Thinking it would only appeal to a certain audience, I was unprepared for the huge crowd lined up at Arizona Mills, our sorta ghetto outlet mall. But I guess people will pretty much see anything for free.

The Harkins folks did their best to control the crowd, which was way bigger than the capacity of the theater. We three managed to slip into the last wave of people, high-fiving all the way down the hall. Until we got to the second line.

This line featured three security guards and a man yelling at people to "limit your ins and outs." In other words, don't plan to save your seat and then go to the bathroom. This line was dedicated to searching purses for cell phones or recording devices. Now, that is perfectly fair. It was a sneak preview. But they waited until people had been waiting for an hour before telling them they could not bring a cell phone.

And if they didn't happen to find your cell phone in your very messy purse (which, luckily happened for me), the security guards then used a wand to screen your body for hidden devices.

I totally understand the desire to keep out the riff raff. But the demeanor of these guards and the great lengths they achieved to anger their viewers made the experience a little less than magical.

It was supposed to be fun! Sneak preview of a cutesy movie about cooking and blogging! But instead of eagerly talking and reviewing the movie, all we could talk about was feeling like we had just visited a prison. My friend Catharyn was kicked out of line at one point because they discovered her old cell phone -- which did not have video capability, mind you -- and told her to put it in her car. Instead, she put her phone back in her wallet and got back in line. Made it seem like the security was all for show.

Bottom line, I don't think I'll be returning to Arizona Mills any time soon. And I am extremely disappointed in the Harkins brand, a local treasure here. Bon Appetit!

Lindsay, Unplugged

2009-07-06T14:28:00.001-07:00

T and I went up to the woods last weekend. It wasn't easy. And it wasn't pretty. But it was incredible.

Lately our schedules have been so packed that we can't find time to think. So even though we had to miss three (count 'em) different parties to hit the road, it was a critical move.

Lately I have become way too connected -- Facebook, Twitter, my Blackberry -- and I check them constantly. It's almost become a tic. It had to stop.

So Saturday morning we set out to the Blue Ridge Reservoir, which has a very nice camping area overlooking a canyon/reservoir.

I optimistically did not bring any kind of mattress, so we got horrible sleep. But we got some great rest. We sat in the shade and read books, enjoying the quiet and the 70-degree weather.

I'm hoping as the summer wears on, and 115 degree heat sets in, that we will get even better at dropping everything and leaving town.

Facebook will still be there when we get back.

Summer Doldrums

2009-06-23T10:41:00.001-07:00

I think I have officially hit my first summer doldrums. This starts when the AC in the car can no longer compete with the outside heat, and you will do anything in your power to avoid driving somewhere.

Usually my remedy for this problem is to escape the Valley of the Sun and head north. Definitely itching to go this weekend. Not sure we can.

The break would also be nice just to clear my head. I feel like I've been running on all engines since we got back from the honeymoon. Never got a chance to recover from the wedding/honeymoon chaos!

Still haven't sent out any thank you notes. Still haven't put away the gifts stacked in our living room. Maybe I could kill two birds and write some thank you notes in the mountains? Hmmmm.

26 at 26

2009-06-02T14:02:00.001-07:00

Today is my birthday. I'm 26. Last year Arizona revealed its new quarters. This year they're just raising gas prices.

26 things that have happened since last year

26. I got married less than a month ago. I love it.
25. I started learning Shaolin kung fu and now I am a green belt. I will be a brown belt in less than two months.
24. I moved into a real live house with a fireplace, vaulted ceilings and laundry nook.
23. I am considering going to grad school. For real this time.
22. For the first time, I voted for a winning president.
21. I got a passport and took a cruise. It was fun. Still have never traveled across an ocean or continent.
20. I decided I really don't want a dog.
19. I am really enjoying my group of friends and have added a few new ones.
18. I think about babies a lot, but only in the abstract. Real thinking is a couple years away.
17. Birthdays don't really faze me too much. 30 still seems far away, but I am happy with who I am at all ages, so I'm not too worried about it.
16. I really love living in Arizona but would consider California if T pursues a career in show biz writing.
15. I am learning to love people more and judge them less. (Emphasis on learning - as in not perfect.)
14. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that came from the woodwork at our wedding. It has taught me to be more community-oriented and rethink how I treat others during special/important times.
13. I still haven't learned to sew on my Hello Kitty sewing machine.
12. I didn't get to run a marathon. Turns out my feet completely give out after 15 miles. It would still be nice to do someday.
11. I'd like to do more camping. T and I have tried a couple times with disastrous results.
10. I'm not sure I want any pets, which will probably come as bad news to my cats.
9. My first choice of foreign country to visit would still be Italy, though we may end up going to China first (not a bad thing!).
8. I don't really watch TV anymore, aside from a couple shows we Tivo and then never watch.
7. I have a new baby niece who I adore.
6. I can do 40 pushups. Real ones.
5. I am considering laser eye surgery. It would be nice to say goodbye to glasses, which I've had since 4th grade.
4. I enjoy cooking and baking more than I ever have before. Possibly connected to all the new toys we got for the wedding.
3. I wish my sisters all lived here.
2. I'm glad my parents live here.
1. I'm very thankful for my health, my husband, my family and my friends.

Filling the Void

2009-05-27T13:01:00.001-07:00

Apparently I am replacing wedding stress with....just about everything else. Stupid stuff. Shower curtains.

Do I really miss the planning and stressing that bad, that I'm replacing it with anxiety over which night stand table to buy?

I always thought this post-wedding depression came from girls who miss being in the spotlight. I guess I miss being in the headlights.

Hopefully I will replace this fake stress with real stress (school perhaps?) so I can stop worrying about the fact that I have nothing good to worry about.

Oh it's SIR-rat-cha

2009-05-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

The New York Times has published a very interesting story discussing the origins of Sriracha, the red sauce people know by many different names (my friend calls it Death Sauce).

Very informative and kinda funny story about a sauce we discovered at Pita Jungle, but have seen in several different places since. The article mentions that big-name restaurants are now incorporating it into their sauces.

Read about it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/20united.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=style

Home Alone

2009-05-19T21:42:00.001-07:00

I am so rarely alone that it's hard to know what to do with myself.

T is at the Flight of the Conchords concert. Cam only had one ticket, and I figured he would enjoy it immensely. But that lives me at home alone with no car and suddenly all the chores I need to do (thank you notes, dishes) or exercising I could do seem very unappetizing.

Between T and sharing an office at work, the only time I am alone is in the car, and I usually like to be on the phone or have the radio blasting.

It leaves me wondering if I'm shallow or just uninteresting on my own. I already watched a movie and posted on FB. Now I'm tempted to shower and put on my jams, and it's not even 10 pm!

I feel like I should be doing some deep thinking or introspection. Instead I'm bored. And writing boring blog posts. Lucky you!

Back to business

2009-05-18T13:13:00.001-07:00

Back at work. It's not all bad, actually. I've been struggling to have a semblance of a normal life, and work really helps me get back in the motions. And it really helps that I'm not having to plan my wedding in between meetings!

It is always hard to come back from vacation. It's like trying to ice skate when you haven't done it for five years. Little sloppy. Can't remember all your moves.

Wedding, in short, was amazing. Longer post on learning your lessons and acknowledging life events still to come.

No caffeine required but I had some anyway

2009-05-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am a ball of nervous energy. I could barely sleep. I've already worked out, read the paper, done some banking and now blogged.

I'm not really worried, per se. There is a lot to remember to do (hit my parents' house, the bank, the mall, get some sun, pick up the cakes, rehearsal, family dinner sleepover) but I'm sure it will all get done.

Can't believe it's here.

My last Friday

2009-05-01T12:06:00.001-07:00

Today is my last Friday as a single gal. By the end of next Friday, I will be married.

Feeling OK. Really excited to see my sisters (honestly one of the biggest perks of this whole thing is that we will have a few days together).

The moment I am anticipating most is the first dance. Not sure why, but I keep picturing that as The Moment.

Should be fun. Can't believe it's already here. The last seven months feel like they flew by, and yet I've aged five years in the meantime.

Excited for it to come. Excited for it to go. :)

You're fired!

2009-05-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

I fired my doctor today after the last in a long string of rudeness and poor care. I also wrote a scathing review on Angie's List, which is now posting info on doctors.

Honestly, what doctor's office answers the phone with a simple, "Hello" ? I thought I had the wrong number. And that's just the beginning.

The problem is that I now need a new doctor! Hoping a referral from a friend works out.

Sure the recession's no biggie, but this?

2009-04-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

So at first I thought having a wedding during a recession was one of the most extreme cases of bad timing.

Now there's a pandemic.

Maybe we should just elope and send everyone the pics. Either that or hold it in an isolation room. Maybe the flower girls could pass out gas masks!

Three weeks and counting

2009-04-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wow. What an overwhelmingly wonderful couple weeks I have had. Two showers, both amazing in their own right. Everyone has been so generous and thoughtful. It truly makes me question whether I am showing enough support and love to those around me when they have special times.

Until now I have been fairly calm, but I can tell a storm is brewing. Things I have put off will come due and I expect the stress to build exponentially.

The one thing keeping me sane is the thought of being on a cruise ship with no Blackberry access and nothing more to glue, order, taste, nag or forget.

In the meantime, my mantra will be this: "I will not freak out. I will not freak out. I will not freak out."

and then everybody totally wigged

2009-03-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

So the aforementioned wig party went off like Uncle Jim's toupee.

All the friends got way into it, and everyone brought a wig or chose from the collection of 7 I had on display.

Seriously had no idea everyone would support this theme! I always thought my little wig hobby was weird at best.

But Wig Party II is already in the works. I would highly recommend this as a very cheap theme party.

Oh, and I went with some super fun hair-themed items to serve: bell peppers stuffed with angel hair pasta, braided bread sticks and beehive hair do cupcakes.

How to throw a wig party

2009-03-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

So I'm having a wig party tomorrow night. Everyone must have a wig to get through the door. Then we'll play rock band. I am looking for some suggestions on what to serve. Powdered wig donuts?

Meanwhile, I happened across this tip sheet on howtodothings.com:

How to throw a wig party

Determine how you will include the wigs. You must begin thinking about how you are going to incorporate the wigs into your party or activity early in the event planning stage. Ask yourself the following questions:

Will I provide the wigs or will I ask guests to bring their own?
Will I offer any prizes or awards for the best wig worn at the wig party?

Let people know wigs are a must. Make it extremely clear in your invitations that wigs are mandatory at your wig party. Nothing kills the vibe at a wig party like anything less than 100% wig wearing participation.

Organize your party or event just like you would any other normal event. The beauty of the wig party is that it is so simple but it adds a lot of fun and it tends to take a normal party to another level of fun.

Stir up some excitement. A few days before the wig party, email or share some good photos of either yourself the host in a great wig or some other good photo of people in wigs to get the excitement brewing.

Throw the wig party. Be sure to answer the door as the host wearing your wig and keep your wig on at all times during the event. A host's commitment to the wig theme is crucial in building and sustaining the level of fun that is possible during a wig party.

countdown

2009-02-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

coming up on 2 months to go until the big day.
still need a harpist.
sending in the order for the invitations tonight.
would still like to lose 20 pounds (not going to happen)
but may settle for about 7 (hopefully will happen).

need to meet with judge, dj and wedding coordinator.
looking for a nice pair of pearl earrings.

happy.
excited.

25 at 25

2009-02-23T21:36:00.001-08:00

1. I paint my toenails to look "salon-quality" using stickers from CVS.

2. I have run three half marathons. Slowly. I stopped running due to blisters. Now I do kung fu.

3. I'm not very touchy-feely. This I blame on my parents, who I am suspecting grouped me with baby brother Dally and raised us as one boy...

4. ....yet I own a fairly extensive doll and wig collection.

5. I will marry the love of my life in May. He gets me to the core. I want to be better when I'm with him. And no one makes me laugh harder.

6. I developed a strong fear of guns after taking a Social Psychology class (where I heard the statistic about being more likely to shoot yourself or your family).

7. When I was little I wanted to be a cowgirl. I'm still secretly a little country and I love rodeos.

8. I will get my first passport next month. The farthest I've gone abroad is Rocky Point. My first country of choice would be Italy.

9. I love to read Martha Stewart Living, though the recipes are too complicated and my motor skills too unrefined to do the crafts.

10. I rode a horse in a parade a couple years ago. However, I was in the wrong spot because the horse would not leave his friends.

11. I talk in my sleep. The weirdest thing I remember saying is that there was a zucchini jamming my bedroom door.

12. I often am told I look like Drew Barrymore.

13. I lived in Florida for three months. A hurricane hit my city while I was there. Nothing really happened.

14. I played All State trumpet in high school. I was also a drum major.

15. My cousin Brooke died when she was 9 after a lifelong battle with cancer. I was 8. She was my best friend.

16. When I was little, I had straight blonde hair and brown eyes. I now have naturally dark curly hair and green eyes.

17. I deeply admire my four older sisters, who are all very different.

18. I adore and feel very protective of baby brother Dally.

19. My favorite songs are very sad and usually about heartbreak.

20. I am a trivia fanatic. Tony and I often win trivia games.

21. I have fairly straight teeth and fairly horrible eyesight.

22. I studied journalism in college. Three years after I graduated I left journalism.

23. I have a fear of heights but have no problem with planes. I once rode in a helicopter with no qualms. But I would not want to go in a hot air balloon.

24. I have interviewed Bill O'Reilly, Kathy Lee Gifford and the trainer of Whiplash the Monkey Who Rides a Dog.

25. I was once an international hostage when a group of angry shrimp fisherman blockaded the only road out of Mexico.

Wedding Preview

2009-02-11T14:48:00.001-08:00

So these are some samples of what I am planning for TBD (The Big Day).

First picture is the actual location of the ceremony, which will be outdoors and feature some kind of live musician. Haven't decided on harpist or guitarist.

Second picture is a sample of the bouquet. Mine will have purple and green instead of those colors, and feature roses and orchids.

Third pic is a flower girl dress to be worn by my nieces. Their dresses will be sage green with ivory colored sashes.

And the last pic is an image from Tammie Coe Cakes. I haven't decided on the precise design - I can also opt for polka dots if a I want - but I'll probably do something with purple and white.

Less than three months away! Getting very very excited!

Bad Biscuit, Marathon Spellcheck and other things

2009-02-04T09:57:00.001-08:00

This morning, out of pure laziness, I ate a sausage biscuit that looked like it had been under the warmer for way too long. I didn't really want to eat it, but the deli is four floors away, so I took my chances. I'm assuming I will regret it.

Not many know this, but I share an office with a coworker and a string of octogenarian volunteers. There is a different person every morning and afternoon. They come in to use the computer. Most of the time they are barely noticeable, and one of them even brought me fruitcake. But every once in a while, I get called upon to serve as IT support. Most of the time, the problem is that they accidentally opened Excel and they don't know what to do, or they clicked off the document and can't understand what happened.

But today it got a little irritating. A very nice and wrinkled lady - skin like a leather handbag thanks to lots of tanning I assume - had me sit with her to go through every single spell check finding. There were many extra spaces and misspellings such as "terrior."

Maybe it was the sausage biscuit. But it was getting on my nerves a bit. Luckily she has gone to tool about.

On a lighter note, a friend of mine is lending me a tiara/headband for my wedding and it's sitting right here at my desk. Very pretty with pearls and silver leaves. Thanks much to Jenna for her generous loan. It will go so very well with another loan, a lovely pearl necklace worn by Beckbot at her own wedding, the first in our family. I still remember going with her and Evan to help take pictures (I was probably 12) and feeling very special.

It happened

2009-01-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well I caved. T has been on my case for months trying to get me to go to Kung Fu with him. And since I had a messy breakup with Running, I finally decided to give it a try.

What's worse? I love it. Which means I'll probably shell out money every month to keep going. Because not only is it a great workout, I feel like I'm learning practical self defense skills, which any modern gal like myself should know.

I'm hoping I will be in fightin' shape come May 8. Especially if a gang of thugs crashes the wedding.

(T, after seeing my post: "Wouldn't it be awesome if they did?!?!")

2009: A Year of Miracles

2009-01-20T09:48:00.001-08:00

You look tired. Are you tired?

2009-01-14T14:48:00.001-08:00

No. No I'm not. But thanks.

Easy Eggnog Cheesecake

2008-12-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

I made this cheesecake for a work party this weekend. It was a huge risk, given that I've never made the recipe or even a cheesecake for that matter! BUT it was a huge hit and I've had people asking me for the recipe! And I'm only a little proud of how popular it was. :)

Easy Eggnog Cheesecake

CRUST
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
Dashes each of cinnamon and nutmeg

CHEESECAKE

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 and 3/4 cup eggnog
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum or vanilla extract
1 pinch ground nutmeg

TOPPING
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Dash of cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. (Cover bottom of pan with foil for easy removal later.)
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a food processor combine cream cheese (softened in the microwave), 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum/vanilla and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 45 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Whip cream with powdered sugar in blender or mixer until peaks form. Spread generously on top.

Chill for 1-2 hours.

Serves 16.

My big break

2008-11-21T11:46:00.001-08:00

So I've finally launched my modeling career. Yes, it's late, but through hard work I'm finally a cover girl.

Or maybe my friend writes for a news magazine and asked me to do their cover as a favor.

But what a fun favor!

I got all dressed up while my friend did my makeup, then we headed over to the 99 Cent Store, who graciously let us roll around their aisles throwing coupons around. The cadre of ogling onlookers was a bonus.

So check out The Times publication next month to see the final copy of yours truly. I'm sure my phone will be ringing off the hook!

Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

2008-11-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I really do. The music, the treats, the family traditions. All bring joy to my soul.

So imagine my disappointment this weekend when I went to buy Christmas decorations for J Place, Tony's new house that will become ours in May.

My priorities were pretty simple going in: I was looking for garland and lights to hang outside; a tree and centerpiece for inside. I didn't think I would be looking for something more.

But as I looked at the displays in Target, Wal-Mart and Michaels, I noticed that anything resembling Jesus or the nativity is a little hard to come by. Sometimes they are even banished to one seemingly "Christian Corner" out of all the rows and rows of items. Instead, you can choose from fancy Santa, cute Santa, toy Santa, NASCAR Santa and any number of snowmen, reindeer and elves.

The worst was the row that offered Christmas decorations in hot pink and neon green.

I was surprised at my own revulsion. I happen to own a little white tree with pink lights. I buy into the commercialism every year it seems.

But this year was different. Maybe I was just looking for something unique. I hope it is because for the first time I am decorating MY HOUSE, the future site of a 2-person family with hopes for more. And I want Christmas to be about Christ. About joy. About the brave Mary and her loyal husband. About the grand sacrifice for mankind.

I want my home to feel warm and loving all the time, not only during Christmas. But you'd think it would be a little easier to create a Christian environment during such a holiday.

My first wedding gift

2008-11-08T07:56:00.001-08:00

This 8-piece Serva-Snack came from my Nana Payne. She said she received it when she first got married but never really used it. I think that makes it 50 or 60 years old.

Inside are glass cups and dishes just right to Serva Snack to your friends. I love it for its 50s authenticity. And that it came from Nana.

She's 92 years old and frequently has falls or little trips to the emergency room. I'm honestly not sure she will be around for my wedding, but I really hope so. She is an anchor to a family of hundreds, with three generations proudly bearing her name. She is sweet and tough as nails, ready to give a word of encouragement or an honest assessment.

I feel honored that she would give me such a personal gift. I hope it will serve to remind me to be hospitable, generous and lighthearted like my Nana.

Yes We Can

2008-11-04T21:28:00.001-08:00

yes we can.

Third favorite holiday of the year!

2008-11-04T11:16:00.001-08:00

OK so maybe every two years.

I just couldn't contain my excitement to vote today. Even when I showed up and the line was down the street. I really think Election Day should be a holiday. I almost didn't have a chance to go this morning, and I could have been stuck going tonight and waiting in an even longer line!

But why don't we have the day off? Would too many people go boating instead of voting? Maybe we could save it for national election years.

I think more people would vote. And then I would also have more people coming to my Election Party!

Fiber is #1!

2008-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

I met with a nutritionist this week, and it was very enlightening. Most of it was not new info (take half your meal to go, portion your meat to the size of a playing card), but it WAS nice to have the official word on food.

I am easily swayed by the advice from the last article I read, be it "focus on protein" or "carbs are OK," or "it's totally cool to eat Zebra Cakes for breakfast and lunch."

I took two major messages away from our meeting (and several minor ones): 1. Eat little snacks between meals. 2. Focus on being fiber-iffic!

Already the little meals are helping a lot. I'm not nearly as famished by dinner when I've had an apple or something at 4 pm.

And as for fiber, I was sadly uninformed about where it's found. Apparently it is in ALL fruits and vegetables! Wow! So I was given carte blanche for all fruits and veggies. I can go crazy with it.

So if you want some free second-hand nutrition advice, eat 2 snacks a day, and add veggies, fruits, beans and whole wheat to your menu.

A dyslexic man walks into a bra

2008-10-23T13:53:00.001-07:00

We saw David Sedaris at Gammage last night, and it was wonderful! He is one of my favorite writers and so very hilarious. This was the second time we've seen him, and both times were fantastic.

Adding to the enjoyment was something I didn't expect: The sign language interpreter. (Aside: Why would a deaf person attend a book reading? Much of the humor comes from the author's vocal nuances. Oh well)

The interpreters stood to Sedaris' left onstage and did a phenomenal job of keeping up with his fast-paced stories.

The best interpretations:

"Throwing up gang signs," where the interpreter promptly put her hands up in front of her chest with index and pinkie fingers at attention.

"Slave monkey," where the interpeter curls her arms under her armpits in classic monkey fashion.

"Human feces," which is some kind of gyrating stomach movement.

Anyway, good times had by all. Oh, and he shared the joke listed in the title, in addition to "A baby seal walks into a bar. Bartender asks, 'What'll it be?' Seal says, 'Anything but a Canadian Club.'"