this is what work looks like

 

sometimes i'm all like "blah blah blah work is blah blah and i don't want to wake up and you can't cage this bird blah blah"

and sometimes, i get to play with all this fun stuff. and all that bird talk flies out the window.  

solo salad sunday

  

some weekends require big ass salads with an egg on top. they are just too boozey and fried and it needs to be remedied asap by something that is the polar opposite of all that, but not too crazy healthy because it's still the weekend.  this salad consists of couscous, asparagus, greens, and feta tossed in a giant wooden bowl with homemade caesar dressing and an over easy egg on top. good gravy - it hits the spot.

shady dealings

 

guys. sometimes my job requires me to be really shady. it requires me to do things like google 'gray children's wig' or 'child's foot to scale'. it requires me to go into the baby section of stores, pick up clothing and stretch it out as far as possible. recently, it required me to walk around philadelphia with a bar of scissor up my sleeve and stealthily snip off greenery from the limited city shrubs and trees. i looked like a straight up crazy person. i wish i could have worn a sign that said, "it's for work!" but that might have raised even more questions. can you guys just mail me some green things to prevent this from happening in the future?  

top five

 

cloud cult is an amazing band with eighty thousand people in it. it's full of brass instruments and string instruments and two paints who travel around and paint original art during the show then auction off the works at the end. they sing about beautiful and sometimes sad but all the times true and hopeful things and i just melt all over the place. at their live shows, i literally get goosebumps. all of their lyrics are so sincere and they genuinely look like they're having a blast performing. here are my top five tracks: 

1. 'washed your car last week'

2. 'ghost inside our house'

3. 'a good god'

4. 'your eighth birthday'

5. 'complicated creation'

(photo from their show a two weekends ago at johnny brendas - best concert venue in philly in my humble opinion. my boyfriend pointed out it feels a lot like the bronze for all you buffy fans. it's just super intimate and cozy and sweet. go there!)

nutella cinnamon rolls

 

i don't know what your lifestyle is like, but i feel like a lot of homies complain about baking or act like it's some kind of wizardry out of their humble reach. this homie disagrees. baking is terrific, because it's just following directions! measure this! mix this! wait for this! does it look like this? now bake this! you did it! i made this nutella cinnamon roll recipe a few weekends ago and gadzooks it was simple yet so delicious. also: if you ever want people to like you stuff on instagram i recommend putting nutella on it. smear some nutella on that sunset! put nutella on your selfie! nutella wins instagram. dogs also win instagram. babies total trump all of those and are instagram gold. imma rent a baby and make it sit on a puppy holding a jar of nutella. walden filter. you're going to love it. they'll throw a parade for me.

mad for mad men

 

are you nerds watching mad men? because if you're not riding that train, you better hop on. three solid reasons: 

1. i'm watching it and it will strengthen our bond if we're consuming the same programming & discussing it regularly. 

2. stunning costumes. 

3. gripping, character-driven stories. 

it took me a couple tries to get into the show, i'll admit. but day-um. worth it. i blew through the first five seasons in two and a half weeks. these people are nuts! my jaw was dropping so frequently i started to just let it hang open! the first four seasons are on netflix so you're in luck - the fifth season is on demand or you can watch it online or you might be so hooked at that point, you'll just commit to the dvds. (though i'm not sure if they're out yet. i have no time to fact check this post! my passion for mad men is taking over!) and we're currently only 3 episodes in to this season, so you haven't missed much! 

i watched the two hour season premiere with some homies and this was the spread - pb&j ritz crackers, unpictured mac'n'cheese, full size pigs in a blanket with an american single squashed in there, and of course, some whiskey sours with homemade sours mix and tiny umbrellas to wash it all down. because this show seriously makes you want to drink. all the time. if you watch this show, i promise i will buy you a glass of bourbon at our next meeting. 

spoils of sale

 

 did you guys know there's a yard sale section on craigslist? recently, craigslist has been my main hub for internet time wasting. i can scroll through that business for hours. i typically stick to the same categories: apartments, motorcycles (sorry mom!), gardening, free stuff, furniture. but occasionally i branch out. 

hence, the discovery of the yard sale section. 

and further hence, the discovery of the most stylish yard sale ever. 

these two lady gal pals apparently host seasonal yard sales where they cull all their beautiful, yet somehow unwanted things and sell them for stupid cheap. this also all takes place in one of their gorgeously decorated homes (blue walls! built in book cases! vintage black printed couch!) and they're wearing matching aprons. so. cute. 

i could have just gone in and done a sweeping motion with my hand and roared, "I'LL TAKE THE LOT!" but i was a poor more discerning shopper, and instead selected a few items to add to my collection: 3 books, 2 bird ceramic wine stoppers, camel tea pot, and 3 rolls of unopened decadent wallpaper. what am i going to do with wallpaper as a 20-something renter? probably just droll all over it. which might ruin it. but, for $3 a roll (compared to the original $30) i think it's worth it. one day, i will be a person who can wallpaper a room. one day.

good things

 

happy spring ya turkeys! holy blog hibernation - it's been a while since I ventured into this territory. but i'm back! with a feeble attempt at a simpler blog design and big ol' pictures shot on my state-of-the-art i-phone! a technological marvel! 

 the photo is of some gorgeous blooms i picked up for myself at trader joes (main grocery store crush) around valentines day. sweet goddamn how i love having flowers in the house! six bucks at the grocery store - a quick impulse buy - and i feel like i'm living in the lap of luxary. i'm a lady who lunches or buys not just one (a feat!) but multiple things at anthropologie. i'm suddenly a person who might laugh in a convertible with a scarf blowing around my head or ride a bike in a full crinoline with a basket full of flowers and not look like i'm drenched in sweat. i'm a lady who can make fondant or buys make up at department stores. that whole lifestyle - for six bucks! oh trader joes. how you make the good things in life accessible for us little folk.

foods i'll always love

1. avocado
2. caramel
3. sweet potato fries
4. crab & cheese on an english muffin
5. august tomatoes from my parent's backyard

an ear lowering

guys, how much do you love haircuts? a lot, right? we're all on board with that. i love haircuts. though you won't be able to tell - i get it cut once a year. i typically treat my hair like a blanket that someone draped across my head. i think it's great that it's up there - it makes my large round face look less weird but i'm not about to start spending my time twirling it and applying product. so i just let it hang up there, like a furry veil. and out of nowhere, it'll just hit me that i haven't had a haircut in a long time and suddenly, shit gets urgent. IT NEEDS TO ALL BE GONE NOW! I AM LIVING LIKE A CAVEWOMAN OR AN EIGHTIES GLAM ROCKER! GIVE ME ALL THE SHARP THINGS AND LET ME TAKE CARE OF THIS SITUATION STAT!

so i sent up an appointment on monday. and i went. and i felt guilty that i ignore my 'do consistently. i made small talk with the fancy lady flashing the sheers. and now i'm sporting slightly shorter locks that feel infinitely lighter and healthier.

but the better part of getting a haircut? feeling like it's a fresh start. it's difficult to make changes to how you live or what your career path is or how you're perceived by your peers. but getting a haircut is immediate, and in your control, and noticeable. and if you can do that, maybe you can do all those other things. maybe this is a new version of yourself. this is the start of you finally becoming who you really are. (i've been watching mad men a lot, can you tell? i feel like i'm writing copy targeted at betty draper right now.)

so the long and short of it is (but more aptly short): i got my hair cut.

rice blind

sometimes, i'm extremely rude. i know you find this hard to believe, dear readers, because if you are reading this you are probably related to me and think i'm just swell & dandy & sweeter than a molasses covered marshmallow. this is not true.

sometimes i think i am the jason alexander of my friend group. and not the fun neurotic seinfeld jason; pretty woman jason. i'm not slapping julia roberts but i'm still the wet blanket of the group. squashing fun. acting as a nagging reminder of obligations and expectations.

yesterday, my dear roommate spilled rice on our counter. not just a few grains; a handful. just scattered across the counter like a bunch of armless, albino sunbathers on a private beach. i should have just sighed to myself and scooped them up and into the trash. but i didn't. i had to be a jason.

"hey ben? did you maybe spill some rice over here?"
"umm...i don't think so?"
"could you come look?"
"sure. oh yeah - i guess i did spill some. i didn't even see that."
"you didn't see that?! ARE YOU RICE BLIND?"

1) totally unnecessary
2) completely passive agressive
3) wtf is rice blind? i am losing my mind.

my inner ranting madman says SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY?! HOW DO YOU NOT SEE ALL THIS RICE ON THE COUNTER? AND WHAT'S THE EXPECTATION HERE? THAT A RICE FAIRY WILL FLY IN CAST A SPELL ON THE GRAINS, TURNING THEM INTO MORE RICE FAIRIES? YOU KNOW WE HAVE MICE, RIGHT? WHO DO YOU THINK IS CLEANING UP THIS RIIICCCCEEEEEEEE.

but i know i should shut that madman down. that it isn't a priority for some people. that it was an honest mistake that could have been handled much better. but there i go again. metaphorically slapping julia.

i'm so sorry pandora

 

i think one of the things that hurts my feelings most on a regular basis is the little box that pops up on pandora and asks, "are you still listening? we pay for every song and don't want to play our music to an empty room." it just hits me where it hurts. sometimes i read the first line like a small child, who wants me to watch them do a trick on the diving board but i'm too busy digging salsa out of the bottom of the jar so i miss it and they know i miss it so they climb out of the pool all wet and shivering and say "didja see it? were you watching?" in a mix between oliver's 'please sir i want some more' voice and the 'say it ain't so joe' kid's voice. and i'm left with salsa on my chin and no good explanation as to what happened. and pandora's generally right on this one - i did walk away from my computer to make hot chocolate. i did take off my headphone cause they were rubbing against my earrings but forgot to turn off the music. i'm a crummy person. i get it pandora. sheesh. 

but the next line they give me is just snarky. 'we don't like to play music to an empty room'. that's a sitcom girlfriend trying to start a fight kind of line. no, i get it pandora - i don't think anyone likes to play music to an empty room. but you're not really a person. i didn't hire a dj and then leave him in a closet spinning discs solo. i didn't order a 25 foot ice cream cake and let it melt at a graduation party. let's try to keep the snark levels down. all that sympathy and shame you won in the first line? lost by the second line. now i'm pissed at you pandora. now i'm glad i wasn't listening. because you're rude and you're making me feel like a jerk. i'm shutting you down pandora! i don't care about your feelings anymore! because you have been abusing my feels. rude.   

don't let me near an elevator

once upon a time, in a large corporate building, i was starving. like, i could feel my stomach acids eating away at the lining of my stomach kind of starving. so i went up to the cafeteria on the 43rd floor, piled my plate high at the salad bar in a way that only a person blinded by hunger can (my vision starts to blur and i think 'MUST. EAT. EVERYTHING. SURVIVAL.') and i pay and i start shoveling the food into my mouth as i get on the elevator with a bunch of women. i'm working on the problem but it's still not enough - maybe it hasn't reached my stomach yet, it's still being processed through my other tubes or whatever - i'm not a body expert. so my stomach is still pretty ornery. as we stop at the 38th floor and the doors open, my stomach emits a sound that i have never heard before. it's incredibly loud and almost metallic, like something the tin man might be capable of. the women in the elevator stop and look at one another.
"what was that?"
"maybe we should get out of this elevator.'"
"it doesn't sound safe - that sounded like something breaking."
"who has the number for maintenance?"
panic was breaking out in the elevator and the three corporate ladies were all prepared to be heroes, risking their lives to save the broken elevator shaft but i had to step forward.
"that was just my stomach."
this news was met with a small, relieved laugh, then looks of apprehension like 'who-let-this-hungry-robot-in-our-shiny-building-and-maybe-it's-not-her-stomach-but-another-robot-alien-under-her-shirt-transmitting-information-back-to-the-mothership', then slight pouting that they weren't going to be heroes. i kept quiet in my corner of the elevator and continued to shovel food into my mouth.  

22 year olds should not be allowed in the work space

 

i accidentally called 911 this week. whenever i dial out on my work phone, i have to dial '9' then '1' then the number. and this week, i forgot that the purpose of dialing that initial '1' was to start off the full phone number. so i dialed a second one, then a series of numbers and waited and waited and was annoyed that it seemed like it wasn't ringing, and then someone finally came on the other end and said 'DO YOU NEED THE POLICE?' and i didn't quite put together what was happening and thought it was strange that the person at RubberStamps.net was asking if I needed the police. Then I realized what happened and reassured the person that I absolutely did not need the police, just needed to talk to someone about custom rubber stamps. Maybe some day I will grow out of this. 

do you guys use exclamation points in your emails? i throw them around like ms. deen throws around butter. 'hey blergyblerg! i can definitely work on this! just let me know the details! thanks!' i think i come across sounding like an enthusiastic golden retriever - you can literally see my virtual tail wagging as you read the sentences - but using just periods sounds so cold and sterile. 'hey blergyblerg. i can work on that. (BUT I DON'T WANT TO BECAUSE I AM EVIL) just let me know the details. (FOR THE MURDER PLOT) thanks. (NOT REALLY THOUGH - SARCASTIC THANKS)' i feel like the periods only email makes me sound like daria with more sinister intentions. and if my options are apathetic hit man or golden retriever hopped up on mountain dew and team spirit, I think I prefer the latter. 

i get extremely overwhelmed in the elevator. mostly because there are always a lot of people in grays and blacks and suits without wrinkles and i'm always hopping in looking like rainbow brite at an outdoor music festival. (i would like to blame television for this one - they convinced me everyone would be much more adventurous in their attire. cough::lizzie mcguire::cough) i also frequently get the 'close doors' and 'open doors' buttons mixed up so as a person races towards the elevator and i attempt to be helpful, i just end up shutting it in their face. i have made a lot of elevator enemies this way.

 

there is one particular bathroom at work i always use. i do this with pretty much every space i frequent - i assign myself a bathroom. i don't know if you do this, but i'm pretty sure it's a universal thing. it's typically the second bathroom in - something i think may have to do with me being born on a tuesday (second day of the work week, first part sounds like 2) or the fact that i was born in the second month. either way, i'm always heading for that bathroom. i have other rules i make myself abide by (the every other stall rule is also notable) but this one is seriously ingrained in my mind. 

recently i walked into the bathroom at work, 100% on autopilot, pushed upon the door to my stall and started to sit down before i realized someone was in there. yeah that's right - i started to SIT DOWN. i almost sat on a woman's bare lap as she was mid-urine stream probably. i mean obviously, the main issue here is that her door wasn't locked. but another main issue is that i almost sat on her lap. but at least she wasn't someone from my department right? i don't have to interact with her on a regular basis. 

WRONG-O. i do have to interact with her on a regular basis, not because of work things, but because we have the same friggin bathroom schedule! our bodies apparently thrive on awkwardness because they insist on making us pee at the exact same time! obviously we never speak of that day and that thing that almost happened. obviously. but in between the lines of our pleasantries? there are some heavy implications. those are some heavy silences.

first meal of the new year

sunny side up egg with an extra runny yolk (classic dippy eggs), topped with crispy, greasy bacon & an american single served alongside mushy sweet potatoes with onions (fried in bacon fat) & a glass of oj. boo ya.

crossing off my lists

this week feels like list-o-mania. and not a fun list-o-mania. pay bills, make deposits, run errands, clean, unpack, mail things - it's all been very grown up things that are not very fun, but are very necessary.

i think my ideal list would really be: 1) read a book, 2) watch thelma and louise, 3) set a timer and write for 30 minute, 4) build some puppets, 5) bake some earl grey cake.

maybe that can be my list for next week and i'll hold off on all this 'fix your bike' and 'hang your laundry' nonsense.

too many pictures of my new year's eve

 

ate a three course meal (complete with filet mignon & key lime pie) at Sabrina's in the Italian Market & polished off four bottles of wine among the 8 of us. then walked to olde city, watched fireworks on the roof of mercedes house, & played with sparklers. someone caught my hair on fire and left a burn on my chest but all was well in the end. danced and played with a terrific mix of friends from home and amigos from college. love all over the place. 

2013 Resolutions

1. Leave the country at least once. Iceland? Germany? At least Canada, right? That's totally plausible.
2. Get my motorcycle license. Take the class at PennDot and get certified to ride.
3. Learn to use my SLR camera better. It's such a beautiful piece of equipment (and so expensive!) that i rarely pull it out for fear of messing it up. but it takes amazing photos and there are so many pretty things in my life! i'm pulling this thing out more frequently, becoming more comfortable with it, and learning how this sucker works.
4. Interview my family. Video interviews with at least my immediate family so I have a little time capsule of who they are at this point in their lives.
5. Compile a writing portfolio. (2 spec scripts, 1 original pilot) If you're going to call yourself a writer you should probably write something to back it up.
6. Build at least 2 puppets. This has been on my list for a long time. I have the supplies I just have to nut up and do it.
7. Learn a little German. Maybe even buy Roestta Stone? The dream would be learning german then renting an apartment in Berlin for a week. That would be two resolutions in one go!
8. Make more videos. Generate content! 
9. Make one new recipe a week. Girl, you have enough cookbooks/pins/old Rachael Ray magazines. About time you worked through them. 
10. Read 20 new books. Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Confederacy of Dunces, and White Teeth are all waiting for you on your nightstand.

what are your big plans, amigos?