Library: cleaned!

Today Wayne and I finally cleaned our library.  Library?  Yes, library.  We have like, a thousand books.  Probably.  If you need proof because you have a history of me lying to you, look up waynegjr on LibraryThing.  Wayne has a special scanny-thing to enter in all of our books.  He hasn’t even gotten through all of mine yet.

There was more than one “This Chaucer is a prettier copy and it has pictures, but this one is a better translation… which should we keep???” crisis, but I think we made it through okay.  It’s not like we spend any time reading (at all) Chaucer, it’s just that we’d like to keep the best copy.  With other things… T.S. Eliot, J.D. Salinger, anyone with initials like that… C.S. Lewis… we just keep both copies because we love them and are nostalgic about our own copies.  Anyway.

In the 11 months we’ve been married we’ve let our precious library fall to shambles.  There were:  dishes, garbage, piles of books that were unorganized, a guitar collecting dust, peanut shells all around Wayne’s computer (not a joke, it was like Texas Roadhouse over there), bills, magazines, journals, sewing supplies, and one barely started latch hook rug with a cat on it.

Today we said, Enough.  We had two garbage bags full of crap to haul out, but it was worth it.  So worth it!  Our library is once again the safe haven where we can sit with our friends (the books) and talk to each other (about the books)(yes, even though they are right there in earshot) and look up the ones we want because they are in alphabetical order and arranged by section.

We also started the sticker process on our v-cart.  Did I tell you we bought one?  From a Borders that was closing and selling everything.  We got it for $10.

Pretty great, right?  Now we can move a whole stack of books a short distance with no stairs.  We decided it was the right thing in our lives to cover with stickers.  So we bought stickers on our most recent trip (yellowstone)(if you didn’t know already) and put them on it.  It looks great!  All we have to do is build a collection of stickers to put on it now.

Possibly our trip would’ve been a more interesting thing to talk about?  Another story for another time.  G’night y’all!

Chop chop

I cut my hair this week!  I know, can you even believe it.  Like, umm, 8 inches maybe.  Here’s me now:

I know.  It’s more fun to walk around like, hey what’s up?  And everybody’s all like, “Eeek, your hair!!!”  and I totally just ruined it.  But I’m not a huge fan of surprises.

Reasons to cut your hair drastically, by Amy G:

1.  Why not?  It makes life interesting.

There are no more reasons. 

Okay, there are a couple of reasons.  Like, Wayne and I are going on a camping trip and I thought that dealing with my stringy, dirty hair for five days wouldn’t be all that fun.  Like, I have resolved to go to the beach this summer, regularly and often, and I wanted hair that would be clean, fresh, easy.  Like, doing all that hair stuff in the morning was getting to be a real drag and I wanted to have the sweet sweet freedom of skipping it.  But ultimately?  Everyone has to get their hair cut eventually.  Why not get it cut?

And so now here I feast on a frozen Trader Joe’s chicken pot pie and a guava flavored Jarritos (the pink one)(the only good one, in my opinion) while my cat is sleeping (a rare treat)(usually she’s all like “love me; I’m nothing without you”) and I’m about to do some more work on the ol’ novel for Writer’s Group tomorrow.  First Writer’s Group in like 4 weeks! 

You know how they (magazines mostly) say that to change a habit you have to talk incessantly about it?  Like, the more you say it the more real it becomes and the more other people will ask you about it and hold you accountable?  I say that’s stupid.  I find personally that when I talk incessantly about something I get really sick of it and then decide not to do it after all.   So when I get all “I’m going to write/blog/play guitar/sew/cook/do yoga/feed the fish more,” then suddenly a little baby whiney Amy voice in my head goes, “nahhhh” and I just don’t do that thing.  Where am I going with this?

Oh yeah.  I am not going to try to update my blog more.  But shhhh!  Actually I am.

And our fish is FINE… he’s like 3 lbs and has enough stored fish fat to last weeks without being fed.  I’m totally confident in this.

Things to do while you’re not writing: cry at movies, update your blog

On Saturday night I cried thrice.  Once, of course, watching Return to Me.  Obviously.  I dare you and your cold cold heart to even attempt watching David Duchovny say to his dog, “she’s not coming home,” without breaking down.  The second time I didn’t cry cry, I just lost a little tear during Planet Earth.  There was a very sweet panda bear, who lived in a cave with it’s baby, and it licked it’s baby to keep it warm.  I know!!!!  And third….. well.  Okay.  I cried at the end of Legally Blonde.  That one is less explainable, but I would like to try by saying that I am also a spirited young woman trying to make my way in the dry and boring world of law offices.  So.  There.

Yesterday and today have been more emotionally stable.  For one thing, I sewed myself a little netbook sleeve for my netbook.  With matching iPod case!  Featuring a pocket for my headphones!  That is pretty good news.  I also have high sewing aspirations for the upcoming weeks:  I bought fabric for a new skirt (based on a book of patterns my mom bought me), and new tank top.  If there is enough leftover fabric, maybe a new scarf.  Yay!

Plus on Thursday I have a Story Studio writing class to look forward to.  I like to take a class there every now and then because it (a) gives me something fun to look forward to and (b) makes me feel like writing for another couple weeks before I start to get discouraged again.  So I have a class on Thursday about Plot.  Ooooooh plot.  Just what I need.  Seeing as I typically just make characters talk to each other indefinitely about nothing while eating well-described food in a well-described locale.  Now they might have something to do!  Hot dog!

Writer’s Group this Saturday.  So far I have 2 paragraphs of my 10 pages.  And one unrelated blog entry.

Resolutions and more

Is Christmas really over?  Well, not in my heart of course.  But everywhere else it is.  I know this because I had leftover salmon for lunch and there are a bunch of cookies waiting for me at home.  Those are the two main indications.  I’m itching to get the Christmas stuff down because I got new candles from mom that I want to put out, but I’ll probably wait until next week for all that. 

I had a fabulous Christmas this year.  Everywhere I went, I kept bumping into good things.  I gave gifts I loved.  I got gifts I loved.  I saw and talked to people I love.  There were cookies, which I love.  And now I’m back at work with some new technology in tow and an eye towards the new year.

My resolutions, then:

1)  To finally get down the novel I’ve had swimming around my head for ages.  I have pages of notes, two false starts, a playlist, concepts, characters, most of the plot.  Believe it or not, I think I actually needed all that percolation to prepare.  I’m ready now to write.  Not-False Start #1, here we go.

2)  To practice guitar again.  I need the music to help counter words when I’m in the middle of writing something– it’s thinking without sentences, and it can be a real relief.

3)  To finish:  All the time travel stories in my anthology, the Goon Squad book, The Unnamed, Who will work at the Frog Hospital, The Imperfectionists, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, some of Fringe, one Beth Moore book, my new Spurgeon devotional.

4) To start:  Memorizing bible verses, embroidery, cooking more.  (Becoming an old-timey housewife much?  I’m sorry world, I can’t help where my interests lie.)

Mostly though?  I’ll be spending most of 2011 trying to work on my novel.  Pray for me, folks.  In the meantime there will be HD tv channels to soothe my time travel addled brain.

Speaking of time travel, does time fly by or what?  I feel like I just got married yesterday.

Dusty rose and Jonathan apples

I haven’t blogged in awhile.  It’s hard, blogging.  I find.  It’s hard to have thoughts that you actually want to share with other people.  It’s easy to keep your thoughts to yourself.  That is one thing that makes it hard for me to sit down and just blog already.

Another thing is that I started a new job recently.  My old job, you recall, involved me sending out that birthday email once a month– you remember.  With the cake graphic?  And my choice of colors?  My new job involves large stacks of black and white documents, signed by a notary, utilizing really big words like “deposition” and “interrogatory.”  I make extra copies so I don’t lose things.  I have 7 different stamps and I know what each one is for– “THIS DOCUMENT SERVED ON __________” is an easy one.  “Faxed.”  Now that is a stamp I stamp on something that I’ve faxed.  Ok, so maybe the stamps aren’t really the hard part of my job.  The hard part is, of course, reading people’s minds– the hardest part of any job probably.  Figuring out what someone you hardly know or have anything in common with (your boss) expects from you.  I’m getting there, little by little.

I am amazing at going and getting coffee.  I hardly spill a drop.  I’ve been told that the previous secretary spilled all the time and burned her hand.  This isn’t a problem I have, although filing motions, I tell ya, that isn’t something that comes quite easily yet. 

I love this new job though.  I should say (way to bury the lead, Amy) that I am a legal assistant now.  That’s my new job.

In other news, I bought this kind of dusty rose nail polish (Revlon) that I am loving right now.  Maybe I’m sick of the blues?  Never.  But the dustiness is what really gets me.  I have been sewing etc.  I made myself a purse and a blue scarf.  The scarf is really long and wraps around my neck approximately one million times.  That’s what I love about it.  The bag and I have a love-hate relationship.  I made it for beauty, not utility, and it’s not holding up to the wear and tear of life very well.  Disapointing, but what can you do?

I have this amazing butter cookie with chocolate recipe.  It’s amazing because (a) it requires little time and few ingredients and (b) everyone gobbles them up when I make them so I feel like I have bakes something amazing.  I think that cookies might be my favorite thing.

And– wonder of wonders!– Trader Joe’s was selling Jonathan apples by the peck today!  Jonathan apples are my absolute favorite.  They are dark red and round and small and they taste slightly tart like a granny smith but sweet like an apple– no pucker factor.  They are good for both eating and baking.  Typically, Wayne and I buy them from actual orchards and never really see them at the store.  NOT ANYMORE.  TJ’s is exactly 8 minutes from our house.  I love you, apples.

I am toooootally going to have an apple in my lunch tomorrow.

Reader, I married him.

Just got back from the h’moon last night, to the messiest apartment in the land.  Wayne and I are developing a new reality show with a working title of Jungle Apartment.  In it, two people come back from their honeymoon around dinnertime, and try to move one person entirely into an apartment, open a bunch of awesome gifts without getting distracted by their awesomeness, and still get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Individual challenges include:  Taking the new knife set off the ridiculously high shelf you put it on like an idiot without killing yourself, getting the cat to calm down and drink some water, setting up the Brita pitcher with it’s three-time rinsing requirements, and deciding which utensils to keep.  Of course the ones you keep might not fit into the utensil holder, but that’s Jungle Apartment for you.  Always a new challenge in the last inning.

Luckily we have our happiness to increase our stamina.

Maybe you saw us get married?  Maybe you saw the pictures on facebook?  Either way, I probably don’t have to tell you that we were really lucky to have such a pretty wedding.  I watched a video of it last night, artfully taped by a 7-year-old (and I mean artfully) and I about cried.  At the wedding itself I did choke up– darn vows being so beautiful and all.  But I’m pretty proud I held it together.  That is very unlike me.

Anyway, the wedding was so wonderful, we almost didn’t want to go on the honeymoon and leave everyone.  Almost.  But who can resist a road trip?  

The Mississippi River is awesome.  I love it.  I love the river.  Even only spending a couple days following it, reading about it, looking at it– it’s wonderful.  So beautiful.  Missouri (where Mr. Clemens is from)(which we saw btw) is by far the prettiest state, and does the most around the river and for the river.  Mississippi, probably the least.  Eh, or Louisiana.  In Louisiana they have a hill blocking your view of it the whole way.  Jerks.  We also read a lot of Life on the Mississippi, which is a really fabulous book.  Who knew that in 2010 our new hero would be Mark Twain?  He’s so funny.

Dad and UB look out:  We drove across a bridge that was 25 miles long.  You heard right.  25 MILES.  Over WATER.  The guard rails were about a foot and a half high.

In New Orleans we did the usual (well not usual for us, but usual for tourists from what I gather).  We walked down Bourbon Street and wrinkled our noses (who likes that kind of stuff?), saw some jazz, ate jambalaya and gumbo and alligator sausage and oyster po’boys.  Our hotel had instant grits for breakfast and I ate them every day.  Oatmeal is for suckers, people.  Seriously.  We took a bunch of pictures.  Went on a swamp tour, which was pretty awesome and Captain Charlie, who apparently grew up on the swamp, made me really wish I had a southern accent.  Preservation Hall, beignets at Cafe DuMonde, wandering around the French Quarter and Garden District a lot.  Went to some cool bookstores, including one that was a place where Faulkner stayed.  Also, it was very hot.  HOT.  H-O-T.  Like 105 degrees and humid.  Like, figure out something air-conditioned to do between 1:00 and 4:00 because being outside is NOT AN OPTION.

I also have developed some opinionated opinions on trollycars.  They’re like if you mixed a bus and the el together.  We rode one maybe 4 times and of those times, twice we saw accidents.  Once we were in the trollycar when it hit a taxi.  Seriously.  The driver screamed, it was so crazy.

Best thing:  In New Orleans, every house is a crazy color.  Every.  House.  (Well, in the French Quarter and Bywater.  Not in the Garden District).  Crazier than my fingernails, that’s how crazy.  I’m all kindsa jealous, and it makes coming back to off-white-and-grey central (aka Chicago) a huge bummer.

Worst thing:  One of the days, my knee dislocated.  In the hotel, in Memphis.  Right after we drove past Beale Street, which was pretty cool and a fun way to end a day of driving.  I was okay, though, and my knee didn’t hurt too bad the next day and not at all by the third.  Still, ouch. 

And even though coming home was Jungle Apartment central, we had really amazing presents to open, and our friend Jessica (whose extremely useful contribution was to keep my massive Jungle Apartment fish alive while we were gone) left us a lasagna so we wouldn’t have to go grocery shopping (hallelujah!) and give us our video of the wedding to watch.  What a perfect way to end a vacation, huh?

Slideshow forthcoming.  Slideshow!!!!!!  With music.  Who’s in?  Eh??  I promise, there will be alligators and at least 20 pictures of my food.

In which I use too many italics and talk about Lost

I haven’t watched the new Lost yet.  This is the kind of information I begin most days with.  I wake up, there is a clothing fiasco while I decide what to wear, there is a makeup thing where I try to look at least as beautiful as I did yesterday (never works, it’s always going a bit downhill), I pour the coffee, dart out the door and think to myself, “Is today a Lost day?  Was yesterday a Lost day so now I have new things to talk about with Lost?  Is tomorrow a Lost day so I have something to look forward to?”

I obsess easily.  It is a dangerous yet fascinating and fun power.

The last time I was this concerned with a series finale was Gilmore Girls.  It was insufficient, to say the least.  But now at least I know I can handle disappointment. 

Fixating, I was told, is part of ADHD.  They told me this when they told me I had it.  “This is your strength,” the lady told me and I was like, “Oh, is that what my strength is?” and then I rode the Hyperfocus train all the way through the rest of college.  All I had to do was fixate on the papers I had to write.  Turns out I couldn’t just write a paper– I had to live and breathe a paper, I had to wear noise-cancelling headphones and think about the paper before I went to sleep.  I still live more or less this way, whether you believe that I have ADHD or not.  Although I took an internet quiz on recently and it said (allow me to paraphrase): RUN DON’T WALK TO A THERAPIST YOU ATTENTION DEFICIT NUT.  YOU PROBABLY WON’T EVEN BE ABLE TO FINISH THIS PARAGRAPH.  Although I think I’ve still got nothing on Wayne.  AND STOP SHAKING YOUR LEG YOU’RE MAKING ME NERVOUS.  Alright, alright.  Relax internet quiz, you don’t know everything.  I was only just shaking my foot.

Which brings me back to Lost.  Half the fun of Lost, for me, is speculation.  Half the fun is adventure.  One third of the fun is watching with Wayne, who has managed to keep a healthy intellectual distance and so says interesting things all the time.  Another third of the fun is watching with Joe, who I’m pretty sure has a ticket to Sydney hiding in his apartment somewhere just in case there IS a magic island and he can go meet the real Jack and Kate and Hurley.  The last third of the fun is talking to– oh let’s just do it– The Others, people at church and on facebook who are also watching Lost and are into it, like Jess and Rannell, Anna and Derek, Jake, etc.  Which brings me to the number 200.  200% is how invested in the Lost finale I am  (see the flawless math above).  So I am of course hoping that it is 200% amazing.

Is there anything wrong with that?  I don’t think so.  Sometimes I go for days with a color stuck in my head, there might be something wrong with that.  But the Lost thing?  No.  No way.  Lost is awesome, and awesomely fun to be really into right now.

And I haven’t watched the new episode yet.  We’re watching it tonight.  And then, Sunday!  Oh boy oh boy oh boy.  Oh boy oh boy!  And, I am willing to write this post before seeing it, that’s how dedicated I am.  Tonight’s (last night’s) episode could be terrible for all I know, and still this post will be out there, pledging my allegiance.  Now that’s committment.  Oh boy oh boy.

Alright.  I’ll stop shaking my foot.  I know it’s making you nervous.  But I have not even had that much coffee today.  I would even argue, not enough.

Miss me?

I know you did.  It’s ok.  You don’t even have to say anything.

Today my nails are grey, sort of a warm grey, like clay from art class.  It’s an Essie Resort color.  My bangs are growing out a little and they look better than they did last week.  And, I think I’m going to try starting a movement where we do away with the phrase “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” and instead replace it with “Don’t expect any lambs with any consistency until June.”  Although to be honest, I think it’s a little too dependent on the original to really catch on.

It’s actually nice out today, but I’m bitter because I’m wearing a sweater.  It was chilly last night!  How was I supposed to know? 

Since I last posted here, a lot has gone down.  There have been two (two!) morning centipede incidents.  What’s the good of a cat that doesn’t kill and eat these kinds of things descretely?!  There has been the woman’s retreat, and there have been weeks of studying Esther and celebration and what features a Country Inn and Suites includes for the low low price of a room.  There were the wedding invitations.  There are a bunch of wonderful, loving women in my life who love me enough to throw me crazy parties (“showers”) which is a delightful concept in every way.  There has been a new Hold Steady cd.  There has been a new favorite drink at Caribou, a Black Thai Latte.  It’s delicious and coconutty and being in Caribou makes me feel so homey.

Joe has his shoulder surgery tomorrow.  If you know me at all, and I think you do, you know that the love I have for my brother is equivalent to a large army of soldiers marching in a parade and waving sparklers.  I’m so confident that he can do this.  I’m nervous, of course.  But Joe’s so efficient and capable and has a good sense of humor about things.  If a physical therapist could pick any personality type to work with they’d be like, “I’ll take a Joe Gio, please.  Thanks.” 

Anyway, life is plugging along and I am going to put blogging back into the rotation.  Look out!

Joe’s birthday post (a present he never expressed that he wanted)

1.)  Finally!  I found the plastic travel mug I’ve been dreaming of.  I don’t have a very good reason for wanting a plastic travel mug.  I just know I do.  You know what I’m talking about, right?  Like the White Hen mugs people kept rattling around the floor of the Aerostar mini van in 1996.  Maybe that was just my dad.  Plastic, with a handle.  Anyway, whenever Wayne and I road trip or even pseudo-road trip I check gas stations for such a deliciously plasticy find.  And on Sunday, with Wayne and Mary Lee, I found one!  I feel awesome carrying it around.  It says, “The past lives on in our country store.”  I’m sure it does.  Go Country Market, go!

2.)  Here is a passage from a book that may as well have been written about me: “The next morning, of course, Betsy made a list.  Lists were always her comfort.  For years she had made lists of books she must read, good habits she must acquire, things she must do to make herself prettier– like brushing her hair a hundred strokes at night, and manicuring her fingernails, and doing calisthenics before an open window in the morning.  (That one hadn’t lasted long.)”  Thanks, Maud Hart Lovelace!  For knowing all about my inner workings somehow.

3.)  I know this is crazy, I know.  But I also think it’s awesome.  Like, maybe the most awesome thing I’ve seen in a really long time.  http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/would-you-dye-your-eyebrows-1043194/ 

4.)  For the first time in awhile, both Essie and OPI have nail polish lines out that I absolutely love.  They’re just gorgeous.  OPI’s Hong Kong is fun and spirited with the best blue and green I’ve probably ever seen and a serious brightness that stops just short of being neon.  Essie’s Art of Spring is sort of aggressively feminine, opaque, and pastel.  I love them both.  I’ve bought the shades I think are must-have’s already, but I’m jonesing for more.  I will probably not buy more, I just wish I could.  I’m wearing Tart Deco, a loud peachy tangerine, right now.

5.)  I don’t trust this “early spring” stuff I see outside.  I mean, I’d like to trust it.  But I’ve been burned too many times by a late March snowstorm, and I vowed many years ago to not get excited about spring in March.  I just thought, I won’t do it.  I won’t.  April is pretty steady, March is a fickle jerk.  I will stop trusting March.  That was my vow, and it was freeing.  But it’s been pretty tempting lately!  For one, I’ve got Tart Deco on the ol’fingertips.  For another, it even smells like spring out there.  And it’s only March 9th (happy birthday Joe!) so I know that there’s a lot more March left and I might not have the willpower for it.

6.)  I have new allergy medication.  You can read that sentence, “I am a new woman.”  Life has improved drastically.  And I have contacts, which I forgot are very cool for many reasons.  Both of those two facts together make me sort of feel like I just woke up after years of being sleepy.  And if spring is actually coming, I don’t know what I’ll do.  Probably a song and dance.

7.)  HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE.  I’ve been reading that and you know what?  I think things are gonna turn out ok for Hamlet.

Things I’ve bought lately, I guess

1)  I switched over all my makeup to Almay.  Why?  Because I have had a recurring “dry-peeling” skin issue under my eyes for, like, six months now.  I’ve even gone to the doctor for it.  This is the second time I’ve switched over all my makeup, and frankly, this time it wasn’t secretly fun anymore.  It was just annoying.  Anyway, I bought all Almay makeup because I read about how good it is for sensitive skin and skin allergies (which I might have I guess).  So far, I have perceived no difference in the quality of skin under my eyes.  However!  I have perceived a difference in how pretty I look.  Almay makeup is, like, really awesome.  So that’s a bonus.

1a)  Oooh sciencey:  I bought Smart Shade makeup.  Has anyone tried it?  I have!  It blows my mind, I think.  It comes out white with grey dots and then it blends perfectly on my skin.  How do they do that???  Also, I finally got wise to the fact that my skin is “light.”  For some reason I always doubt myself in the drugstore, and buy makeup a shade or two too dark. 

2)  I am loving cracking my knuckles right now.

3)  Things from Trader Joe’s I can’t live without anymore:  Space balls (I don’t know what they’re called but they have spaceships and aliens on the bag), tomato soup of course, and these mocha yogurt things for breakfast.  MOCHA YOGURT!!  Yes.  And the Space Balls are these puffy rice snacks with sesame oil and seaweed that are soooooo good.  There is nothing else like them.  They are perfect snacks.

4)  Wayne and I are going to see Casablanca at the Music Box on Valentine’s Day!!!  Yay, right?  There’s also going to be a sweetheart sing-along.  I’m scared of that, but interested. 

5)  I bought a bunch of bars for work because they are portable, and delicious, and after I eat them I’m not hungry anymore.  But let me tell you something.  Although Lara Bars seem like the right choice because they have cute, girly packaging and are uniform in size and shape and have homey-sounding flavors like “cherry pie,” they have nothing, nothing on Cliff Bars.  Cliff Bars are where it’s AT.  I mean, Lara bars only have 4 grams of protein.  That’s for babies. 

6)  Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about cosmetic allergies and groceries.  Can you tell?