- Driving with the windows down instead of using the A/C
- Positive Vibrations on KEXP
- My very handsome hubby
- All this sunshine!
- Warm mornings
- "This is your captain speaking. Next stop is whenever. Just be, like, 'stop.'"
- Free coffee at Dutch Bros.
- The palm trees in my yard
- The chickens in my yard
- The adorable naked Roman running around my yard
- Pineapple upside down cake. ("Why's it upside down? WHY'S IT UPSIDE DOWN??")
- The hot, hot heat (the actual hot, hot heat, not the band Hot, Hot Heat, which I am sure is a perfectly fine band, I just don't know them well enough to add them to this list)
- "Hey Beaver, what was that sound?" "Gee dad, I don't know. I think it was some sort of noise." - Leave it to Beaver. One of the best quotes ever.
- Wearing a watch
- I've had this twitch on my cheek all morning...I'll like it when that's gone
- The Tin Shed. I was so happy to go there for breakfast for Mother's Day
- Believe it or not, I love it when Roman wakes me up at 6:30 in the morning on the weekends (but I won't like it if you quote this back to me when I complain about it later)
- I will REALLY like it the day my neighbors across the street move away. Someday....
- Music from the mid 90s, especially 1995
- Fireflies
- Music in general. Music is an incredible thing....it's amazing what it can do
- I like wine
- I like to check the mail. It's my favorite chore.
- Line-dried clothes - the smell and the crunchy feel
- Really green trees against a really dark (as in stormy) sky, especially if the sun is also shining on the other side of the sky
- Baseball games on the radio
- Cabooses
- "rif-raff" and "toodaloo" and "ruckus" "lady friend"
- I've taken up jogging in the last month or so and have been doing better at it than I ever have before. I like that.
- The very satisfied/relieving feeling that comes after sneezing
- Grilling
- Dirty feet at the end of a warm and productive day
- Payday!
- QuickBooks
- Mid-Century Modern
- Tiki
- My job. Which I should probably get cracking at.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
To Quote Brak Exactly, "To Quote Wally Exactly, Here's Some Stuff That I Like:"
A very brief overview of some stuff that I like (I am sure similar posts will follow....)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Knowledge is Power? Not in This Case....
For someone who has a journalism degree, I sure hate the media. I mean really, really hate.
I think people in general are more afraid now than they were before this interweb era. Every day I look at sites like MSN and Yahoo! and every day I tell myself that I'm not going to read the news anymore. No matter which site you go to, they have nothing good to say. But somehow, they keep sucking me in.
They report on such things as a girl who is being attacked by some flesh-eating parasite that she contracted while going ziplining on a vacation. Now I bet tons of people who had "go ziplining" on their "bucket lists" are going to be too afraid to go, even though this was most likely the rarest of cases and it was just her bad luck.
I just wish more people would use their power for good. Everyone I talk to likes to read good news, and I think good news sells too, not just bad news. I think more and more people are getting frustrated with the media fuleing the fire and giving bad people more ideas on how they can be even worse. All of the knowledge I now have from the crap the media gives to me has not made me more powerful. It has made me more afraid and thus feeling more weak. Why is the media okay with this? If I were a news anchor, I'd want to go home and kill myself every single day after reporting the news.
Maybe this is me just being my pessimistic self, but even if it is, to you, dear Media, I give a giant EFF YOU for making everyones lives more miserable. Now you sit there and think about what you've done.
Thus endith my rant for today.
I think people in general are more afraid now than they were before this interweb era. Every day I look at sites like MSN and Yahoo! and every day I tell myself that I'm not going to read the news anymore. No matter which site you go to, they have nothing good to say. But somehow, they keep sucking me in.
They report on such things as a girl who is being attacked by some flesh-eating parasite that she contracted while going ziplining on a vacation. Now I bet tons of people who had "go ziplining" on their "bucket lists" are going to be too afraid to go, even though this was most likely the rarest of cases and it was just her bad luck.
I just wish more people would use their power for good. Everyone I talk to likes to read good news, and I think good news sells too, not just bad news. I think more and more people are getting frustrated with the media fuleing the fire and giving bad people more ideas on how they can be even worse. All of the knowledge I now have from the crap the media gives to me has not made me more powerful. It has made me more afraid and thus feeling more weak. Why is the media okay with this? If I were a news anchor, I'd want to go home and kill myself every single day after reporting the news.
Maybe this is me just being my pessimistic self, but even if it is, to you, dear Media, I give a giant EFF YOU for making everyones lives more miserable. Now you sit there and think about what you've done.
Thus endith my rant for today.
Friday, May 4, 2012
10 Albums That Have Shaped Me, For Better or For Worse.
3. Buena Vista Social Club, “Buena Vista Social Club” – makes me feel nostalgic for something I’ve never known.
4. Zero7 “The Garden” – Zero7 was the best band I ever serendipitously discovered, and this was the album I bought when it happened. And it is signed by Sia, whom I love. Thank you, Bumbershoot, for searching backpacks for beer when going to the main stage to see Kanye West. If we hadn’t been so unwilling to dump out our contraband, I’d never have seen Zero7. Side note, I couldn’t care less about Kanye West. I appreciate his talent, but I’d never seek out his music (except for Love Lockdown. That’s a great song). And I’d always choose beer over Kanye West.
5. The Flaming Lips, “The Soft Bulletin” – For me and Jacob, it marks the start of a beautiful relationship. Especially the song about bugs.
6. Fiona Apple, “When the Pawn…” - Brings back pleasant memories I am unwilling to divulge. Not that they are something I shouldn’t divulge, it’s just nice to have some things all to yourself.
7. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges” – It serves as a perfect reminder that even if you hated an album the first time around, give it another chance. There’s nothing wrong with a band experimenting a little and it could turn out to be one of your favorite albums after all. Yes indeedy!
8. The String Cheese Incident, “Carnival 99” – because on a sunny day, there is nothing better than a jam band.
9. Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters, “Super Ape” and “Return of the Super Ape” – because on a sunny day, there is nothing better than reggae. (P.S. I know…I am cheating here because this is two albums. But they are by the same folks and practically have the same name and one album has some songs I love and the other album has other songs I love. So too bad.)
10. Bjork, “Post” - This album represents the greatness that was the music of 1995, which is my all-time favorite year of music. And I think it takes a good ear to really recognize and appreciate the immense talent that is Bjork.
11. Upon receiving the news, almost literally the second I finished my list, that Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys died, I have deemed it necessary to add a number 11. I love the Beastie Boys. I have so many fond memories that float to the surface when I hear so many of their songs. So for my number 11. (with a bullet), the entry is The Beastie Boys, “Hello Nasty” – plus the song “Sabotage” – Wendy, I hope that brings back as awesome memories for you as it does for me!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Goodbye, Hello
I kissed Facebook goodbye this week.
Leading up to the deletion, I was surprised at how big of a decision it felt to be. There were so many people that I was in touch with from my past, family included, that I wouldn't have been in touch with otherwise and, sadly, would lose contact with if I deleted the account. But it felt like the right thing to do. I posted my email address in a final status update and said I was outta there. Most of the objections came from folks who were sad they wouldn't have updates on Roman anymore (it is true, that once a child is in the picture, the people who gave life to that child suddenly doesn't exist quite as much anymore. Totally worth it, though. I love you, Roman). Sorry folks...keeping Facebook just so you can see pictures of Roman isn't enough for me. I'm not that good at posing updated pictures anyway.
So I gathered the email addresses of people I really did not want to lose contact with, saved pictures I had been tagged in that weren't mine originally, and that was that. Once I confirmed that I did indeed wish to end it all, everything felt so anticlimactic.
Oh....that wasn't so bad. Huh....I feel pretty good.
Suddenly, the responsibility of knowing where dinner group is this week isn't mine anymore. JACOB will have to be the one to step up to the bat on that one!
Suddenly, I'm not seeing a bunch of religious/political/general-opinion-crap-that-I-don't-want-to-hear-about status updates!!
Suddenly, I have one less Big Brother creepily tracking my every single move!!!
One strange thing I will admit to, though, is when something happens or I think of something and my next thought is "ooh, that'll be a great status update." (Gawd, how ridiculous! But it's totally true that we do that!) It's okay...that phantom limb will be gone in a few weeks, I suspect.
In the meantime, I will get back to what I was doing during Lent and actually being more thoughtful and deliberate in communicating with people. I WILL keep writing letters! (E-mails too, because sometimes it's just quicker and not everything requires a hand-written letter.) Who doesn't love to get a piece of actual mail, even if it is just someone who wants to say hello. Who knows, maybe I'll get good at actually getting together with my friends once in awhile too.
So goodbye Facebookland, hello real life!
Leading up to the deletion, I was surprised at how big of a decision it felt to be. There were so many people that I was in touch with from my past, family included, that I wouldn't have been in touch with otherwise and, sadly, would lose contact with if I deleted the account. But it felt like the right thing to do. I posted my email address in a final status update and said I was outta there. Most of the objections came from folks who were sad they wouldn't have updates on Roman anymore (it is true, that once a child is in the picture, the people who gave life to that child suddenly doesn't exist quite as much anymore. Totally worth it, though. I love you, Roman). Sorry folks...keeping Facebook just so you can see pictures of Roman isn't enough for me. I'm not that good at posing updated pictures anyway.
So I gathered the email addresses of people I really did not want to lose contact with, saved pictures I had been tagged in that weren't mine originally, and that was that. Once I confirmed that I did indeed wish to end it all, everything felt so anticlimactic.
Oh....that wasn't so bad. Huh....I feel pretty good.
Suddenly, the responsibility of knowing where dinner group is this week isn't mine anymore. JACOB will have to be the one to step up to the bat on that one!
Suddenly, I'm not seeing a bunch of religious/political/general-opinion-crap-that-I-don't-want-to-hear-about status updates!!
Suddenly, I have one less Big Brother creepily tracking my every single move!!!
One strange thing I will admit to, though, is when something happens or I think of something and my next thought is "ooh, that'll be a great status update." (Gawd, how ridiculous! But it's totally true that we do that!) It's okay...that phantom limb will be gone in a few weeks, I suspect.
In the meantime, I will get back to what I was doing during Lent and actually being more thoughtful and deliberate in communicating with people. I WILL keep writing letters! (E-mails too, because sometimes it's just quicker and not everything requires a hand-written letter.) Who doesn't love to get a piece of actual mail, even if it is just someone who wants to say hello. Who knows, maybe I'll get good at actually getting together with my friends once in awhile too.
So goodbye Facebookland, hello real life!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Hobbies - Part II
Gosh, almost exactly two years to the date later, I FINALLY have some hobbies! Hip-hip-hooray! And seriously, it did take this long to figure something out.
So first off, we are raising chickens now. Yep, we have jumped on the urban farming bandwagon. Right now, we have four baby chickens living in a kiddie pool in our living room! They are kind of in their ugly phase right now, where their cute, soft fuzz is giving way to feathers. Their tushy feathers are growing in now as well. I suppose this would be the equivalent to the awkward puberty, hair-growing-in-strange-places (but, you know...feathers), acne-riddled junior high phase we all so fondly remember. But maybe without all the angst. Anyway, we are raising the chickens for the eggs, not so much for the meat. Roman (that's the baby I had since the last time I posted on here. He is now almost a year and a half) is pretty interested in the chicks. I think it'll be a fun chore for him when he is a little bit older - gathering up the eggs every day. I think he'll learn a lot from it.
The second task I have taken upon myself is to make some of my own household products, like cleaning supplies and soap. I wanted to make our household more self-sufficient and less of the problem. I am trying to get rid of some of the toxins we use regularly in our house to "clean" it. It is amazing what you can do with natural, non-poisonous stuff (not that you should eat or drink any of what I am making). Lemon juice! Vinegar! Baking soda! Along these same lines, we'll be planting our garden very soon and I am looking forward to it! We didn't do it last year and I missed the fresh and free produce. I am excited to tend to it and put a lot of time and care into it.
The other thing I have been doing is making my own cards (greeting, not playing). I did this once before, actually. When I graduated from college, I made all of my own announcements/grad party invites by cutting things I liked out of magazines and newspapers (pictures, one-liners, fun facts, etc) and mod-podging them onto card stock. Everyone got a different card and it was really fun! The last few months, it has practically been an obsession for me, cutting things out of papers and magazines for future use. I love it. And then I slap them on to cardstock and away they go! During the season of Lent this year, I gave up Facebook again and instead wrote people actual letters, using the cards I made. It was fun to pick out which card from my stockpile I thought the recipient would most appreciate. Making these cards has been a really FUN hobby for me. And some of the pictures that I found that I REALLY liked and wanted to keep for myself I just taped into a journal :) You know...like Pinterest, but REAL.
Anyway, I am really glad to have found some real, actual hobbies! It feels really good and accomplishing to have these. And I think that they are all worthwhile and beneficial. Hooray for hobbies!
So first off, we are raising chickens now. Yep, we have jumped on the urban farming bandwagon. Right now, we have four baby chickens living in a kiddie pool in our living room! They are kind of in their ugly phase right now, where their cute, soft fuzz is giving way to feathers. Their tushy feathers are growing in now as well. I suppose this would be the equivalent to the awkward puberty, hair-growing-in-strange-places (but, you know...feathers), acne-riddled junior high phase we all so fondly remember. But maybe without all the angst. Anyway, we are raising the chickens for the eggs, not so much for the meat. Roman (that's the baby I had since the last time I posted on here. He is now almost a year and a half) is pretty interested in the chicks. I think it'll be a fun chore for him when he is a little bit older - gathering up the eggs every day. I think he'll learn a lot from it.
The second task I have taken upon myself is to make some of my own household products, like cleaning supplies and soap. I wanted to make our household more self-sufficient and less of the problem. I am trying to get rid of some of the toxins we use regularly in our house to "clean" it. It is amazing what you can do with natural, non-poisonous stuff (not that you should eat or drink any of what I am making). Lemon juice! Vinegar! Baking soda! Along these same lines, we'll be planting our garden very soon and I am looking forward to it! We didn't do it last year and I missed the fresh and free produce. I am excited to tend to it and put a lot of time and care into it.
The other thing I have been doing is making my own cards (greeting, not playing). I did this once before, actually. When I graduated from college, I made all of my own announcements/grad party invites by cutting things I liked out of magazines and newspapers (pictures, one-liners, fun facts, etc) and mod-podging them onto card stock. Everyone got a different card and it was really fun! The last few months, it has practically been an obsession for me, cutting things out of papers and magazines for future use. I love it. And then I slap them on to cardstock and away they go! During the season of Lent this year, I gave up Facebook again and instead wrote people actual letters, using the cards I made. It was fun to pick out which card from my stockpile I thought the recipient would most appreciate. Making these cards has been a really FUN hobby for me. And some of the pictures that I found that I REALLY liked and wanted to keep for myself I just taped into a journal :) You know...like Pinterest, but REAL.
Anyway, I am really glad to have found some real, actual hobbies! It feels really good and accomplishing to have these. And I think that they are all worthwhile and beneficial. Hooray for hobbies!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Hobbies
As previously expressed, my life is getting monotinous and boring. Therefore, I have decided that it is time to find some new hobbies (or, as I said on Facebook, my new hobby is to find a new hobby).
I already really enjoy cooking, so I will expand on that I think. Maybe cook fancier on the weekends when I have more time to put into it. I am already a reader as well, but I have a hard time counting reading as a hobby. That is something that, really, everyone should be doing and it doesn't take any special skill or anything. That said, I need to take on more of that (although not too long ago I went through three books in one week, so....). I also already play disc golf but I am REALLY bad at it and I usually leave frustrated and with low self-esteem, and that really is NOT what hobbies are all about.
I need to sit and think about some things I wouldn't mind having as a hobby. I want to learn to sew/knit/crochet. I could stand to learn at least a little bit of a different language. I definitely want to do this more (blogging - I used to be an avid journal writer and I really miss it!!). My goal is to come up with a decent list of things I'd like to incorporate into my life and then just do it. Try it out for awhile and see how I like it.
Stay tuned!
I already really enjoy cooking, so I will expand on that I think. Maybe cook fancier on the weekends when I have more time to put into it. I am already a reader as well, but I have a hard time counting reading as a hobby. That is something that, really, everyone should be doing and it doesn't take any special skill or anything. That said, I need to take on more of that (although not too long ago I went through three books in one week, so....). I also already play disc golf but I am REALLY bad at it and I usually leave frustrated and with low self-esteem, and that really is NOT what hobbies are all about.
I need to sit and think about some things I wouldn't mind having as a hobby. I want to learn to sew/knit/crochet. I could stand to learn at least a little bit of a different language. I definitely want to do this more (blogging - I used to be an avid journal writer and I really miss it!!). My goal is to come up with a decent list of things I'd like to incorporate into my life and then just do it. Try it out for awhile and see how I like it.
Stay tuned!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Why have I become such a slacker??
Look at that - it has been since October that I have bothered to do any blogging. Lazy? Maybe. But mostly I think I really have that little to say about anything. Isn't that sad? My life has become so routine that I have nothing exciting to write about anymore.
How does one go about changing that? It is easy to SAY things like "if you want to do something, you have to just do it or you never will do it," but really, it isn't logical or even doable most of the time. Then you just feel bad when people give you that kind of advice. Most of the time I shrug that off because many of the people who say things like that to me don't follow up on anything they say they are going to do anyway (which makes the advice even more frustrating).
Anyway, I'm looking for some excitement and change. Things have been realllyyyyyy monotinous lately. Wake up, get ready for work, make our lunches, ride the bus, go to work, do crossword puzzles on my lunch hour, ride the bus back home, (sometimes go grocery shopping), make dinner, spend the rest of the evening on the couch with Jacob, watching TV. BOR-ING.
Me thinks it's time to shake things up a bit. Let's see what I can do. I think anything would make a difference at this point.
How does one go about changing that? It is easy to SAY things like "if you want to do something, you have to just do it or you never will do it," but really, it isn't logical or even doable most of the time. Then you just feel bad when people give you that kind of advice. Most of the time I shrug that off because many of the people who say things like that to me don't follow up on anything they say they are going to do anyway (which makes the advice even more frustrating).
Anyway, I'm looking for some excitement and change. Things have been realllyyyyyy monotinous lately. Wake up, get ready for work, make our lunches, ride the bus, go to work, do crossword puzzles on my lunch hour, ride the bus back home, (sometimes go grocery shopping), make dinner, spend the rest of the evening on the couch with Jacob, watching TV. BOR-ING.
Me thinks it's time to shake things up a bit. Let's see what I can do. I think anything would make a difference at this point.
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