recreational hazard

This morning my forearms are so sore I can barley type. My hands ache and are so weak that double clicking is a challenge. And all because of the frenzied house work I did last night. I performed a killer-shoulder combo that should not, under any circumstance, be duplicated by anyone.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

In the span of an hour and a half I:

planted 200 flower bulbs in the hopes that this spring I will have some cherry yellow blossoms to great me when I enter the house.

I also:

stood on a home depot bucket and taped/painted the ceiling of my living/dining room. The previous owners had chosen a high gloss dingy white color and that just wasn't going to work for us. Now it is a crisp, clean fresh flat white. When I stand in the room I feel just a million times better.

The same can not be said for my shoulder.

Great debate

Help me make up my mind. Remember how we're doing family pictures after thanksgiving this year? I put together this little collage last month. I bought that pretty navy wrap dress and when I tried it on it was too short!

(raises fist in air while howling)

DANG YOU FORTUNE! Why did I have to be given such a short torso and long legs!

Well, now I'm trying to come up with an alternative look that will blend well with everyone else. So far I'm a bit torn between two ideas:

On the left we have option #1: Ann Taylor Loft's shirred v-neck cardigan in medium brown melange and the Ruched Front Scoopneck under for some texture. This is the combo I usually go for...colored sweater with white underneath...pretty standard for me.

And on the right is option #2: Again, the AT shirred v-neck cardigan on top in white, but then this pretty silk ruffle blouse in caramel chew from gap under. But I'm pretty sure with this option I'd wear a skinny belt over the outside of the sweater to keep my waist defined. And I like how there are a few different colors of brown in this one...a bit more interesting?

I think the warmer color of brown will look better with my coloring, but do you think those caramel ruffles will look strange with the cardigan? Which do you like better? And what kind of accessories should I wear? Necklace? Long or short?

Design our house round 2

Here's kind of the idea I've got brewing for the dining room:

It's actually the same space as the living room, so the paint, paneling and window treatments will all be the same, making the room feel unified and continuous.

The dining room table is the Basque honey from Crate and Barrel. I really wanted to get a table that wasn't very fancy. I wanted it to be heavy, slightly rustic and a really warm wood color. This one will fit the bill. The rug under it is the chunky wool jute from Pottery Barn. Neutral color and bumpy...to hide crumbs. Over the table will be an awesome drum shade hanging light from Room and Board. I love the subtle stripes...but I'm worried that the bottom one will end up being slightly blue? That's not allowed the the room. If it even hints at being blue it'll go back and we'll continue our search.

The curtains are from west elm and I just LOVE the pattern the introduce!

Under the window where a sideboard would be will be a cabinet that the ear doctor made. We're going to paint it an awesome color of green to tie in with our swirl rug in the other room. Inside the cabinet I'll put these woven baskets from IKEA to contain our dining linens and other dining room stuff. On top of the cabinet I'll probably put some pictures and a cool lamp...still looking for just the right one. I'd love to have something silver and shiny.

Any thoughts? or better ideas? I'm all ears!

White Knuckles

I left work a little early yesterday to pick up my dog from day camp and get to a deli to pick up dinner. We were planning on working at the new house all evening so we needed to get some food. The internet said the deli closed at 5 pm on Monday nights so I had to get over there quick.

Nervously, I screeched into their parking lot at 4:55 and noticed that the door actually said they'd be open until 8. What a relief.

I got to the house alright and started drilling out some holes. The ear doctor was supposed to meet me at 5:45 and around 6:30 he called and told me that his car refused to start and he was stranded all the way across town.

I'd have to leave immediately and make my way home to get him.

But we'd scheduled an apt with a Home Depot kitchen designer to get a quote for renovating our new kitchen.

I tried to call and cancel the apt, but they put me on hold so long that my phone battery died.

AH! I had no way to call the ear doctor and make sure he was OK!

I raced back to our apartment to charge my phone and call to check on him. He'd called a tow truck and asked me to meet him at the dealership to asses the damage. At about 8 I found myself wandering around the dealership looking for my husband getting hassled by a salesman that suggested instead of fixing his truck we just buy a brand new one.

Memo to salesman: do not suggest incurring MORE debt to a red head who has just signed a commitment for 30 YEARS of indebtedness.

I then found my husband and drove him home. We sadly left his truck behind with the hope that said salesman doesn't attempt to sell it to someone else, or that the bill for fixing the truck will not totally wipe out our little house renovation budget.

When we got home we found an express mail envelope on our door mat. The ear doctor opened it and found out that he has been awarded a $4k scholarship because he is the smartest little audiologist this side of the Mississippi!

Happy dance of joy ensues.



I then collapse into bed totally overwhelmed by the life roller coaster I'd just been on.

Something you don't want to see

Well, since Halloween is over, I can officially start celebrating the holiday season without being deemed a total weirdo. And after reading this post over on Emily's blog I knew I just had to get my bake on.


I woke up early Sunday morning, mixed up my dough and excitedly waited all day for the dough to cool in the fridge. At about 6 I started rolling and stamping the dough with the awesome cookie molds the the ear doctor got me last year.


After pulling the first sheet of cookies out of the oven I was a bit concerned. They didn't look right. They hadn't puffed up the way that I expected them to. Then I glanced over at the counter and noticed one perfectly intact, now room temperature egg innocently sitting on the counter.

Here's hoping that this is NOT an omen of the upcoming season...

Dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

I would never consider myself a fashion designer in any way, but when I heard about the Shabby Apple Dare to Design contest I thought I'd at least throw my hat in the ring.

I mean, I own 2 Shabby Apple Dresses, regularly go to their site, and recommend it to almost every girl I meet. And if I had enough dresses to wear one every day of the week I would.

There are lots of places and reasons to wear a dress. In that spirit I've decided to exhibit 4 different designs that I would happily wear in a given week.


Dress #1: She Works Hard for the Money

This dress would be perfect for me to wear to the office. Starting at the top, it is a white cotton top...double thick of course so it is totally opaque. Is there anything worse that having to wear a cami under a dress? It always rides up and bunches under the bust. I hate it so much I can't even explain. Around the neckline are a few very deliberate box pleats to provide some interest. The sleeves of this dress are so cool. I attempted to borrow the construction from a fall Kate Spade dress. They have a typical sleeve and then on top there is a piece that wraps from front to back, and just at the outside there is a little tube that the wrap around piece goes through. Trust me, I'll look cool.

Buttons go up the back of the bodice and at the waist is a 2" wide black belt-like feature that also buttons in the back with a slightly offset tab. If you can't tell yet, I love the little details.

The skirt is a tight pencil made of a pin striped stretch wool (or cotton if wool makes the dress too expensive), complete with a slit in the back to help you be able to walk. However, the slit will not be too high. Flashing my blindingly white inner thigh at work is NOT on the agenda.


Dress #2: What a day for a Day Dream


Did you see the awesome brown plaid skirt from Shade this fall? I love it so much. It inspired the designing of this plaid weekend dress. I just can't think of a better dress to get out and take that first warm spring day bike ride. Me, on an awesome cruiser bike with the front basket filled with bright yellow daffodils?Perfect!

The fabric for this dress is a loose slightly silky cotton plaid in gray, olive green (or alternately a warm brown and lilac purple...I can't choose) and crisp white that drapes perfectly, making it so easy to wear.

Sometimes sleeves seem like such and afterthought to a design, but I think they can really make or break a look. The ones I've shown here are have ruffled cut outs, but still go all the way around the inside of the arm. There is nothing I hate more than those ruffled flowy sleeves that don't go all the way around, thus necessitating a cami just to cover the exposed bit of skin under your armpit. As stated earlier, I HATE wearing a cami under a dress....

Another cool detail of this dress is the self-fabric built in belt. Whatever happened to the fabric covered belt that matches a dress? It's all over Mad Men, but I hardly ever see it done really well these days.

Oh, also, the ear doctor calls this one "The Haggis" because of the plaid. Do you think I should change it's name?


Dress #3: Easy like Sunday Morning


For me, this would be the perfect dress to wear to church. Inspired by this dress at Anthropologie it has a sailor feel, but what makes it special is the construction.


Basic royal blue striped fabric, cut on on angle and sewn together to make a herringbone bodice will be so slimming and flattering. The shear volume of the skirt will create a pretty hourglass figure and make it really easy to wear. If you haven't noticed yet, I like a dress with a very defined waist band.....

Dress #4: Eight Days a Week


This is the dress that I think will fit in best with Shabby Apple's overall design aesthetic. It's comfortable, cozy, easy to wear and has pretty easy construction, so could probably be sold for a pretty low price.

This dress is made from a sky blue light weight jersey...it'd feel like you were slipping on your favorite broken in t-shirt. But have about a million times more style, especially if you paired it with a sunny yellow cropped cardigan!

The upper yoke of the dress is made from woven tubes of the jersey and backed by a solid of the same so it isn't see through. The sleeves are slightly puffed with a stretchy ribbing that hits just above the elbow. I have a shirt with this same sleeves and I LOVE it. Sooo flattering. It has a very wide, gathered waist band that sits at the natural waist and is the only part of the dress that's close to the body.

My usual complaint with a jersey dress is that it shows all my body's imperfections because they don't usually float away from my body past my waist. In an attempt to solve that issue, the skirt of this dress is a full circle, meaning that if you sat on the ground you could pull it out in every direction all around you. Having the weight and volume of all that fabric will really help create a pretty silhouette and be very flattering on almost every body type. I tried a banana republic dress that was very similar to this dress a year ago and loved everything about it....except how it didn't have sleeves and was annoyingly short!



So there you have it. Any comments?

The best Colorado Halloween costume is a ski bunny

Because of this, the view from my office window:


I'm really wishing for this:


and these:



Instead, I'm consoling myself with this:

Clash of the Titans

The ear doctor and I are stopped at an impasse. We were wondering what time the average person gets up in the morning. Please, help us settle this debate. What time do you wake up in the morning? Is it closer to 6am or closer to 7am?

Two of a kind

There are so many crazy similarities between the ear doctor and myself. Things we experienced in college, places we've been on vacation, shows we watched as kids. Our parents even both made personalized melamine places for us as kids and then gave them to us when we moved out of the house.

So it shouldn't really surprise me when we both think of the same things sometimes. But it still does.

On Friday we closed on our house! To celebrate I went out and bought him a brand new fancy pen. You know....so he could sign all that paperwork in style. It was the perfect gift...simultaneously functional and sentimental.

After signing our lives away we both went to work and met up at the house that evening. He unlocked the door, scooped me up in his arms and carried me over the threshold into our empty, echoing, cavernous house. We at take out Thai food on the floor of our barren dining room and had to ask the neighbor if we could borrow a couple of forks.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to start working on our little home. Our first project was to pick paint colors for the front room and mark out the wainscoting we're planning to build. I ran around asking him if he brought a tape measure and all I got was his iconic sneaky I've-got-a-secret face.

He led me out to the garage, told me to close my eyes, hold out my hands and brace myself for some weight. Then, he filled my eager expectant palms with the coolest housewarming present ever. My very own TOOL BELT FILLED WITH BRAND NEW TOOLS!

How cool is that!

It was the perfect gift....both functional and sentimental.

staggering

It’s only 8:54 this morning and already I’ve heard two heart rending stories told by co-workers that I just barely met.

The first I was getting to know and I asked what his wife did for a profession. He told me that she started out in the early 80’s as a nurse. A nurse, who contracted a staph infection, was in a hospital bed for 40 days where she flat lined twice. A nurse who 5 years after healing from the infection was then poked by a needle improperly stored in a sharps container. A needle infected with Hep C. Which she contracted. A nurse who 5 years after that found out she had liver cancer. After waiting a few years on the transplant list she eventually was saved by her own son’s donation.

Which triggered the second co-worker to tell me of his recent experience. One May morning he took his 18 month old daughter in for her check up. Upon examining her abdomen the pediatrician cancelled his family trip and told him they’d be taking her to get a CT scan. They found a tumor in her liver the size of a softball. For the next 6 months their lives revolved around the hospital. He showed me a picture of his adorable little girl taken on the official day of remission. One week before Christmas. The holidays for them last year were euphoric. Her middle name is Noel.


Sometimes I’m blown away by the experiences that people go through. You look at someone on the surface and see them plugging away. You see them just living their lives and figure you know who they are and what they’re about.

But you don’t.

Almost everyone has an amazing story like this. Everyone has deep, real issues that they rise above on a daily basis. Amazing.

Stereotypical

Are you watching the Next Iron Chef on Food Network? Because the ear doctor and I totally are. I can’t decide which show I like better, this or Top Chef. I like that the potential Iron Chefs are typically older and more experienced. They’ve each paid their dues and there aren’t too many total dish failures.

Plus Next Iron Chef has my food crush Alton Brown as the host.

Love that guy.

Anyway, I ask because I was thinking about a past challenge they gave the contestants. They gave them each a surprise ingredient that reflected their culinary pasts. The Jewish guy got Matzah, the German gal got some beer, ect. As I was suddsing up my hair this morning I wondered to myself, “If I were vying to impress the commissioner enough to become his next Iron Chef, what ingredient would they throw at me? What could possibly symbolize my background?”

Since I grew up in the Seattle area I hoped that they’d give me a nice fresh wild salmon fillet (which I’d probably make en papillote). Or maybe they’d give me a firm juicy Fuji apple (then I’d try to make a quick version of this cake…I made it last week and it blew my mind).

But then I realize that since I’m LDS (Mormon) I’d probably whisk off that gleaming silver dome and find a box of lime jell-o or a red and white can of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup.


What do you think they'd surprise you with?

No need to rage against

The only thing that bugs me about living in Colorado is condemning look I get from people when I bring a McDonald’s cup into a room.

I know it’s not good for me to eat at McDonald's. I get it. I’m slowly killing myself with saturated fat and aspartame. And I know some people would NEVER succumb the lure of the golden arches, but does that mean that I deserve a dirty look if I do?

I mean, it’s not like I’m lighting up and filling your air with toxic second-hand smoke or anything?

It’s just a soda.


If someone doesn’t eat fast food because they don’t like it or it makes them feel gross then I totally understand not partaking. I wouldn’t either. If someone was worried about teaching their kids healthy eating habits so they try to avoid it, props to them. If they don’t think they’ll have any kind of self control because the nostalgia associated with the flavor of some crispy salty fries, by all means, stay away.

But just keep this in mind: not eating it does not make a person cooler than someone who does.


Similarly, not having cable does not make you more hip/righteous/awesome than someone who likes to watch a little mindless reality TV every now and then. It just means you’ll probably be left out of a lot of water cooler conversations at work.


Mainstream is not always horrible.

Paint chip round #1

Well, we close on our house in 1 WEEK!!!!!!!! I'm so excited that I can barely contain myself. In honor of this exciting occasion the ear doctor and I took a little trip to a couple local hardware stores to pick out...you guessed it...PAINT CHIPS!

We've decided that we're going to put up a light colored wall paneling about 4' high and paint the upper portion of the wall a brownish gray. We got roughly 60 different options and started narrowing them down by holding up the chips to our couch and rug. At this point we've narrowed it down to our top 10 that we'll get samples of an paint square on the wall a la Jeff Lewis.

The green chip is our rug color, and the gold is what we're thinking of making our sparsely distributed accent color. Any chips that you would throw out? Any that are particularly intriguing?

Nick names

In my line of work there is a particular nick name that I've just grown to love. I've heard it at least twice a week for the last 7 years. It's funny, endearing and just so perfect.

What is the nick name?

Graybeards.


A graybeard is an wizened old engineer who has an astounding amount of experience and knowledge crammed into his brain. He's seen everything and he can give advise that no one else can. These people are honored. Their opinion is gold.

The entire aerospace industry is pretty awesome, but one of the really cool things is that these graybeards are still working. They birthed the industry and are still around.


For a society and culture that considers youth the pinnacle of living and tends to see little value in the elderly I feel proud to belong to a group who honors the knowledge gained by age. Who values the experience and insight garnered during a long life. Who realizes that the previous generation has a critically important voice.

That's all.

Misjudging book covers

Yesterday I had a meeting at a remote office at noon. Usually these meetings take a while and I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I thought that I would have to skip lunch.

The ear doctor HATES it when I skip lunch because I come home to him a grouchy, tired, frazzled mess.

So when my meeting ended early and I knew I was going to drive right by a Panera it seems the stars had aligned. There was nothing more in the world I wanted than a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

After I ate my $9 lunch (which would have cost me $.73 at home) I threw my purse over my shoulder and practically started sprinting across the parking lot to my car.

However, as I got about half way to my vehicle I passed a group of high school kids who looked a little rough around the edges. And since it was about 1:30 at this point I was pretty sure they were cutting class. I myself, never cut class in high school. My friends never skipped, so I never saw the point of missing out on the social interaction. How would I know what hilarious thing my crush said in English class?

The kids who stood around in the school sanctioned smoking area (yes, Spokane is ghetto and supports under aged smoking) and always ditched classes made me nervous.

And, despite being out of high school for over a decade, passing by this group of kids in the parking lot made me nervous. That old feeling of uncertainty bubbled up. I tried my best to seem confident and self assured so no one would know how I felt inside, but it was still there.

Until the last kid, the scraggliest one looked up at me, made eye contact and called out in a friendly voice, "good morning!"

On autopilot I responded, "you too!"

We passed.

I realized it was way passed noon and turned around and said, "actually, good afternoon, right?"


He turned around, gave me a big goofy nice smile and said, "yeah, I guess so."

I'll take one of everything please

I was really bummed to learn that Pushing Daisies got the axe. Not that I totally loved the plot lines or some of the crazy characters. My affection for that show was won by the costuming department. The clothes on that show blew my mind and served as a reminder that I should (1) wear more color and (2) invest in some great hats.

But with the end of the show where would I turn for outer vestment inspiration?

Enter Glee.

My oh my! Is anyone else just loving the clothes they're putting on our clean freak, overly neurotic guidance councilor Emma Pillsbury. I mean, it's probably a stretch that high school guidance councilor could afford this wardrobe...but let's suspend reality, ok?

Just take a gander:

Would I wear any of these looks? You bet your bottom dollar I would! Plus it doesn't hurt that her hair is pretty much exactly my color...

Friendships with strangers

Did you watch Nie Nie on Oprah this week?

Because I totally did.


I sat on the floor of my living room with my cute little doggie on my lap and cried my little eyes out. (he's not allowed on our couch). It was so awesome to get to see her actually moving and talking and breathing.


She was exactly what I'd imagined...someone who is so loving and warm that you just want to be around them all the time. Like a big steaming mug of hot chocolate in person form.

Family photo

My mom told me last night that our family will be taking family photos the day after Thanksgiving this year. So, I threw this little pic together as an inspiration for our outfits.

So far I think it's a pretty good jumping off place. The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the color of little Charlotte's skirt. I think/hope that it's just the coloring from the screen grab and in person it will probably be a bit more of a khaki color?

What do you think? Any wardrobe change suggestions?

Out of the woods

Good news! I survived.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't really sure I'd make it. The first couple days of the flu aren't really that bad for me. I usually have a pretty positive outlook and only expect it to last the requisite 48 hours. I figure that being sick is a part of life...part of the human experience, you know?

But when hour 49 rolls around and the incessant throbbing of cranial pressure hasn't yet subsided I start to slip into the a realm of the unreal where the world spins around me and time has lost meaning. I sit on the couch in my pajamas where day equals night equals day.

Until, glory of glories, the end is granted. The haze of influenza is lifted up from my sorry carnal body on the blessed wings of divine goodness and I am freed.

I look around, reborn and realize that A WEEK AND A HALF has passed without my notice.

The only indicated that time has passed inside my home is the 3 foot tall tower of used Kleenex on the floor by the couch and the different striated layers of mystery goo on the cuffs of my pajama sleeves.

On being sick

There are a lot of things that aren't fair in this world. 1% of the population controls 99% of the wealth. Chance randomly picks people to get cancer and suffer. Kids grow up without parents who love them.

There's lots of unfairness.


And while it's not anywhere near that magnitude, there is a certain annoying element of unfairness in my life that I experience about 3 times a year. It is this: I get sick as a dog and the ear doctor remains untouched.

I wallow on the couch, throwing used infected tissue all over the place and he has the audacity not to ever be affected by it. It's not that I really want him to be sick, but it just doesn't make sense. He's the one on an undergrad infested college campus all day. He's the one that gives therapy to little germ-riddled kiddos during the week. He's the immuno-compromised diabetic for crying out loud!

And yet, it's me who is laid up.

Always.



This annoying bit of whining brought to you by a lot of frustrated staring right at the ear doctor's forehead at 3 am.

Help us Design! Living room edition

Great ideas all! I sort of love all you fellow bloggers out there. So here is what we were thinking:

First, place our big couch under the front window. I think it's the only place this big guy will really fit.

Then we'll frame out the front window window with floor length curtains. Originally I was just thinking f using my thick white brushed cotton curtains, but maybe we could get a bunch of these from IKEA. It'd be a cool pattern and not too girly...

We'll put the TV and the black entertainment center on the wall across from the couch. Last, but not least we'll have the mid-century chair in the middle of the long wall facing the couch for a conversation area with the ear doctor's leaning shelf behind the chair for height. I'm pretty sure we'll need some kind of footrest for this chair. I'd really like to make a cool Moroccan pouf out of some geometric gray and white fabric. Then I could make a pillow out of the same fabric for the couch. However, I'm not so sure the ear doctor is sold on having anything called a "pouf" in our house.

After seeing this room start to come together I think we'll really need a new coffee table. The one we have was a $60 steal, but it's dark black and rectangular with turned legs. I really think we need more curved lines in the room since everything is so rectilinear...so this one from overstock might be ok:

Maybe that would make the room feel too cramped and filled with furniture. So here is the big question: What color do we paint the walls?

If you suggest beige/tan/oatmeal I might just puke everywhere...

Help us design!

The ear doctor and I have lived in the same 3rd floor apartment for the 2.5 years of our marriage. I love how we've put the apartment together, but it has never really felt totally US. We can't paint the walls so they are the plain flat tan. The same flat tan as the carpet and even the ceiling. We're starting to feel like we live inside a bowl of cheerios.

So now that we're pretty much in the home stretch of this house buying extravaganza my thoughts are turning to what we'll do when we move it. What color we'll do the walls, how we'll arrange furniture, and all the rest.

I thought it'd be fun to get your thoughts on the subject so I'm starting a help us design! series. Fun? I hope so!

Here is a 3-D model I made in about 10 minutes of the main floor of our house.

It has a living/dining room that is all one space seperated by a cool architectural arch. Behind the dining is the kitchen. Behind the living room is our bedroom. In between the two is the bathroom. It's a pretty typical little 1920's bungalow. Here's a bird's eye view of the layout.

I thought it would be fun to start today with furniture layout of the living room. We've somehow got to work in our deep brown leather couch (88"Wx43"Dx32"H) :

The awesome mid-century chair that my dad made:

Our green 5 x 7 rug:

and our TV/entertainment stand:


Tell me to put my stuff, what to add, what to get rid of, whatever! Tomorrow I'll show you the idea the ear doctor and I came up with.

Work with what you've got

Between the ear doctor and myself we own 6 cameras. 2 use real film (a Polaroid and a point and shoot), and 4 are digital (2 phones, 1 point and shoot and 1 beautiful SLR). Every camera except our phones has some sentimental value to me, as they were given as gifts.

I LOVE my beautiful expensive camera. I love messing around with depth of field in my photos. And nothing comes out crisper that the photos taken with that lovely contraption.



However, I have confession to make. Lately my favorite camera has been my cheap little camera phone. The way natural light always saturates the color out of things blows me away. And the fact that the "shutter speed" is so slow makes the coolest images without me even trying.





At my skill level I NEVER could have got this image with my SLR.

My hero

Last weekend we had our official home inspection.

In the past 2 months I think I've heard roughly 1.23 million horror stories of people finding horrible terrors during home inspections. My cube neighbor at work had to pay $8000 on his house to fix the stucco siding. The ear doctor's advisor had 4 contracts fall through because of horrible home inspections. People flipping houses on HGTV always have problems with their home inspections.

As a result I was so anxious to know the results of our inspection I was almost sick to my stomach.

We met our inspector at 8 on the dot. We introduced ourselves and I immediately trusted this 5'6" curmudgeon. I put my full faith in his experienced eye. He held my little heart in his hand.

For the next 4 hours he took his time cautiously poking around our new house, moving the seller's furniture, opening and shutting their windows and running their dishwasher. He used his heat gun to make sure the fridge was cold enough and the oven had it's heat. He crawled in basement crannies and stretched through attic eaves.

When, after this exhaustive search, he told me the worst thing wrong with this house was an improperly installed window and hose spigot I wanted to throw my arms around his slight shoulders and deeply breath in his stale coffee breath.


Full steam ahead, little house!

The best season

This might shock my mom when she reads it, but I'm going to go ahead and let the world know. I can't keep it in any longer. If I do I might just burst.


This weekend I made oatmeal for breakfast and I REALLY LIKED IT!


Growing up in my mother's house meant one main thing: breakfast. Real food, together, r-e-a-l-l-y early. And after bowl upon bowl of hot gooey oatmeal I just couldn't take it any longer. I graduated from high school, packed up my box of lucky charms and never looked back. For the past decade the soft, mushy, hot whole grain hasn't willingly passed my lips.

Until this weekend.


Because to me a hot bowl of oatmeal is akin to a new pair of shoes and a wool coat. It's the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and Elmer's glue. It's what I eat right before raking the fallen leaves and picking my Halloween pumpkin.

Oatmeal is my mom's love and my dad's annual prayer for my personal well-being.




And just so you know, I made it with a huge scoop of brown sugar, almond extract, dried cherries and toasted hazelnuts.....

Second degree

Every time I use my oven safe skillet to roast something in the oven I burn myself. I always forget that the dumb handle is the same temperature as the piping hot oven. Yesterday was no exception. As I reached in to test the temperature of my brick chicken my mind forgot to warn my arm of the impending danger. The result?

A disgusting weeping, painful blister.

I always thought a blister was a gross thing my skin did to remind my of my stupidity. Forget your sunscreen on a trip to the lake? Blisters. Forget to break in your hiking books before a 3 day backpacking trip? Blisters. Forget that a pan in a 350 degree oven for an hour might be hot? Blisters.

But that's not really the case.

From Wikipedia (AKA the source of all knowledge):

A blister may form when the skin has been damaged by friction or rubbing, heat, cold or chemical exposure. Fluid collects between the epidermis--the upper layer
of the skin--and the layers below. This fluid cushions the tissue underneath, protecting it from further damage and allowing it to heal.

Turns out a blister is something my skin does to protect itself from future pain. Its purpose is to help me move forward. To help me heal.

And the hardest part of the whole blister process is not the initial pain or the strange bubbled up skin. It's having the patience to just let it be. It's realizing that the best thing I can do is wait and let it heal itself. It's resisting the urge to poke at that strange water balloon under my skin just to see what will happen.

And I know if I can just WAIT, it'll all turn out alright.

But WAITING is hard.

It begins

The month between signing a contract and closing on a house is filled with one thing.




Paper.

Already I'm up to my eyeballs and this is only the paper showing the current status of my bank and retirement accounts. Just this morning I signed my name no less than a hundred times. Yes, my social security number is what I say it is. Yes, I understand that I shouldn't commit loan fraud. Yes, this pitifully small number is my boiled down material worth.

Before this is over I am going to be responsible for the death of at least 10 Amazonian rain forest trees...

We got it!

The ear doctor and I dated for 2 1/2 years...MUCH longer than the typical couple with our religious background. Neither of us felt any hurry to get married and we both really wanted to make sure that it was the right thing for us.

Plus, up until about the 2 year mark the idea of getting engaged was daunting for me. Actually, terrifying might be a better word. It loomed at me in the background. I worried about it's potential to ruin our relationship. I worried that it would signal the end of my independence and the beginning of the seemingly never-ending life of compromise. I worried a lot.

But one day I talked to my mom and she, as usual, had some words of wisdom to share. She told me to look at engagement not as the final commitment for all time, but as a promise toward that commitment. If something horrible happened, promises can be broken but commitments cannot.

And that helped.


And that's kind of what it feels like today because we are officially 100% UNDER CONTRACT on the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sure, last night I may or may not have had a moment of suffocating somewhat paralyzing fear over making a commitment that will last for the next 30 YEARS OF MY LIFE. But then I realized being under contract is like getting engaged. We've promised to love, honor and protect these particular 1380 square feet of Denver above all others. But if something horrible happens in the next month and a half we can get out of it.

If this commitment only brings me 1/10th the satisfaction I experience on a daily basis with the ear doctor I'm gonna be one lucky girl!

Our second attempt at making an offer

Well, our offer to purchase this little beauty is sent and the waiting-on-pins-and-needles has commenced.

These 3 beds, 1 bath, 1380 sq ft built in 1923 might be ours soon...

Cross your fingers, ok?

Giving is better than getting

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I'm getting pretty good at surprising my man.

Last Friday was his 30th birthday! That's right folks, for the last 30 years this world has been a better place because the ear doctor was in it. And if you've followed along the course of this blog you probably know that birthdays are a big deal in our little family.

A big deal.

And what could be bigger than turning 30? Nothing.


So, on Friday morning the ear doctor awoke to a towering mountain of gifts. 30 white boxes tied up with bright green ribbons and black and white twine. Each box topped with a tag numbered 1-30. As every half hour passed he got to open a gift and find a little treat inside.

The biggest surprise came at about 4 pm when he found two boarding passes for a flight to LA that night. Because, more than Wii games, BBQ tools and camping gear, what he wanted for his 30th birthday was to be with his parents.


So, we flew out and spent the most awesome long Labor Day weekend under the California sun. We went on a whale watching cruise (where I successfully avoided succumbing to motion-sickness induced vomiting), toured the Getty for the first time (BTW...it is STUNNING), drove down and checked out the San Diego Zoo, and (of course) hit up the one and only Disneyland.


As we fell asleep in his parents spare bedroom on Friday night he looked over at me with shining eyes and pulled me close. As he held me in his arms he whispered into my hair, "this is my best birthday ever."


My heart was so full the only word that adequately describes is this: JOY

Anyone know a cobbler?

Here's another question for you. How long do you expect a pair of nice heels to last?

I bought these cute expensive heels from Nordstrom in February and now they're totally trashed. The little rubber nub on one heel is totally gone so it clicks with the sound of metal on concrete whenever I walk. There are sparks when I run.

And the finish has totally rubbed off the cute buttons that secure the maryjane strap.

Now I know that, because Nordstrom is awesome, I can take them back and probably get a brand new pair for free. But do you think I'm expecting too much from a shoe? Should they really only last 6 months with a maximum of twice a week wear? Should I just suck it up, send them to the cute shoe graveyard and buy a new pair?

Stoke that flame

Before I got married I heard countless war stories of couples falling out of love. Couples whose relationship had burned hot and heavy and with time dulled down to a small little flame, so easily snuffed out when the winds of adversity blew their way. Stories of pairs who let their familiarity become confused with the ordinary, mundane, banal. Duos who ran out of ways to surprise the other and found the lack of excitement oppressive.

Well, my friends, that hasn't happened for the ear doctor and I. And, hope against hope, it won't ever. He surprises me almost every day with new little awesome things about him.

Take Sunday. We were casually driving from church to check out a few open houses and he pulled out an innocent peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was cut, the correct way, on the diagonal, from corner to corner. I had inserted the sandwich in its protective plastic sleeve with the bottom of the loaf to the bottom of the baggie. He paused, looked up at me and said, "I don't know if you know this about me, but I like to eat the bottom half first."

He then went on to explain that he really loved the chewy top of the loaf the best and so he kept it to the very end so that he could savor it in his last, final, perfect bite.








I thought this was hilarious. To have a preferred way to eat a peanut butter sandwich? Who thinks of these things?

Yup. That's all it takes for me. So maybe the lesson here isn't try to keep the mystery alive so much as teach yourself to be easily entertained?

walk the line

I maintain there are two types of people in this world. Those who follow rules and those who don't. I land squarely in the first camp. And I'm pretty sure I know why.

When I was in 3rd grade I had the bejeezus scared out of me.


Picture this: My cousin who was in first grade and I were waiting outside the front of our elementary school waiting for one of our parents to pick us up. Soon, we got bored. We had to come up with a way to entertain ourselves, right? Well, soon we found ourselves screaming, chasing each other and SPITTING AT EACH OTHER.

Well, the principal saw us and dragged us into her office. There is nothing so scary to the pure unafraid heart of a little third grader than the face of an angry principal. I've been scarred for life and have never since felt the desire to break school or work rules.



...oh, except that time in high school I sneaked out of a hotel in Portland in the middle of the night with my friends while away on a school sponsored trip....

Grow up already

The 10 years I spent in the dating pool taught me a lot about relationships. And the lessons extended beyond the confines of a romantic relationships. I learned that I really value a forgiving heart. I realized how important it was to be around people who help me take life less seriously. I discovered how truly terrible I am at expressing my emotions.

I learned how to start an interesting conversation. I learned how to gage someone else's interest level. I learned how to appropriately offer to pay the tab.

But the one thing I never learned was how to gracefully break up with someone.

I either got dumped (sometimes gracefully...sometimes not) or just stopped calling someone. I never once sat down and told someone that I liked them, I just didn't LIKE LIKE them.

And it's really too bad because in life, I've found, there are tons of times where this skill would come in useful. The ability to tactfully express displeasure....not in my bag of tricks. Put in this situation I find myself jumping from being too blunt to wanting to tell white lies to smooth over the rough edges and keep myself from feeling bad. And I know neither are the right, mature, open thing to do.

So I ask the ear doctor to do it for me.


GAH!


Mental note: husbands are there to lift you up to a higher plane. To stretch you out and help you become a taller, stronger person. They are not, as I've been using mine, a crutch to lean on, thereby developing scoliosis and becoming a withered old hag.

$1.42 down the drain

The biggest difference I experienced when I married the ear doctor came as a total shock. One day I was fine with him leaving, driving all over town, never checking in and the next I wasn't. Suddenly I was concerned about his safety at all times, in all places, and in all things.

After our wedded union I found that the first thought that entered my mind after our apartment door shut behind me was, "will I ever see him again?" or "what will I do if he dies today?" or "is my number his emergency contact in his cell phone...just in case the EMTs need to call me quickly."

Cheery, I know.

And I think it was because I knew that we were in this life together, for the long haul.

Which is probably why as I drove down to Chipotle for lunch today I wasn't really annoyed at the throngs of people slowing the flow of traffic to a pathetic ebb. They were dressed head to toe in pink, walking for courage, walking for strength, walking for people affected by breast cancer. Some were in tutus and most had bright pink energizer bunny ears on their heads. And seeing how happy and motivated these people were made me smile from ear to ear.

Until the portly fellow walking all alone passed by my front bumper carrying a flag that he'd made that read, "in loving memory of my wife."


It gripped me.

Even as I pulled up to the restaurant and stood in line it had me thinking about grief and loss. A bit emotional, I placed my order for my delicious chicken burrito and waited. The young guy in front of me spoke Spanish to the cashier, and, as a result earned himself a free soda.


It was just too much for my little heart to take.

Not only was I terrified and filled with grief at the thought of loosing my ear doctor, but annoyed that if he'd been there to spout off my order in his perfect fluent Spanish I'd be getting my diet coke for FREE today.

Admission

In my experience, getting older means getting more comfortable with who I am and what I like. Even if I am fully aware that my affinity for something is totally dorky. Even if I'm pretty much 100% assured that people will realize that I am the full on nerd that I am by exposing said loves.

And I hope that my hip, awesome blog friends won't think I'm too lame, but I'm here today to share two of my particular adorations that have really shocked the ear doctor in the past couple months.

First? X-men movies.

You read that right...I love em. Every single time one of them is airing on FX or TBS I curl up under a blanket and indulge in my guilty pleasure.

Second? Love-sick power ballads by Chicago. I know, I know, I wish I was hip enough to be able to roll my eyes and the cheesy cliche-ness of their lyrics or utter predictability of their chord progressions, but I just can't. Something about pining for someone to stay the night or declaring that they are my inspiration just really cuts clear to the core of my soul.


So there you have it, two of my totally nerdy, unhip, dorky, never-going-to-make-me elected prom queen loves.


Anyone care to share their own?

Weekend Update

Things I wished had happened this weekend:

1) Found a house I loved

2) Bought the ear doctor a big screen TV with the unexpected check we got in the mail

3) Saw a good movie

4) Taken our dog on an awesome hike

5) Bought a Chi flat iron at Costco for $54

Things that actually happened this weekend:

1) Made my dog wear one of those neck cones because he wouldn't stop licking his poor broken claw

2) Had a great pricey dinner at Happy Sumo instead of going to a movie

3) Continued the arduous task of house hunting

4) Decided to use the unexpected check on the ear doctor's text books for the semester that starts TODAY!

...and last, but not least...

5) This:

Question for the audience

Which did you do first?

Buy a house or have a baby?

Little giveaway

My cousin makes awesome jewelry with glass and she's having a giveaway from her etsy store. And the cool thing is that since she's not a huge blog your odds of winning are really pretty awesome.

She's got pretty stuff!

Come one come all...

It's that time of year again!

My long thick hair that grows like a weed is primed and ready for a cut. I mean, really, how long can an actual living working person make this length of hair work?

I'm at the end of my rope! And it's time for a change. Here's where I need your help. I have 4 different options of short cute haircuts. Take a look and give me your vote!

#1

#2

#3

#4

Attention to detail

Sunday night just as I was laying my tired bones down to bed the ear doctor noticed a strange small red stain about the size of a pea on our carpet.

Huh?

We then looked around the house and noticed that these stains were EVERYWHERE. All through the living room, all down the hallway, all over my beautiful green rug. All OVER!

As luck would have it our little Roscoe dog had a cut on his right front paw and he was gingerly spreading little blood stains all over the house. Gross. We bandaged up his paw the best we could and decided that the clean up job would have to wait until the next day.

We've been wanting to rent one of those steam cleaners for our carpet for months now and the ear doctor declared that Monday would be carpet cleaning day.

So, yesterday afternoon he dutifully went over to the supermarket to see about renting a cleaner. Now, you probably don't know this, but my husband is a little bit fanatical about stains. He treats their removal with mythical faith. Spray 'n wash is his stain removing shaman, Shout his spot bustin swami, and Oxi-clean his grime removal guru. He will try any product under the sun if it promises results. And he FOLLOWS THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LABEL.

And since the label on the steam cleaner said it would only remove bio-related stains and not specifically blood stains he decided that he'd clean each blood spot....individually...by hand...while crouching on his hands and knees.

He does nothing half way.

So yesterday my husband spent a few painfully hot and sweaty hours scrubbing about a thousand little spots out of our rental carpet with only a rag and a squirt bottle. Because, well, that's the kind of guy he is.

He's the kind of guy who will do the crap jobs because they've got to get done.



That's the kind of person you want around to help you through this life.

The one?

Could it be? Have we found it?

After walking through about a 60 different houses the ear doctor and I are *this close* to making an offer on this little beauty:

She is so perfectly located, and fits us to a T. I stood out on that front porch in the middle of a rainstorm yesterday afternoon and felt a sense of calm settle over me.

But I'm not about to lie to you and say she's perfect. The kitchen is tiny, there isn't a spec of counter space. The previous owners painted over wallpaper in both living and dining room and "finished" the upper floor with particle board instead of sheet rock. The back yard has weeds up to my shoulders and the only bathroom is on the main floor while the master bedroom is upstairs.

But, just take a look at that window! Lovely!

Work friends

If you've never worked in a large open gray room subdivided by hundreds of cubicles then I'm not sure you're really be able to relate with this post. Just a heads up.

There's a moment in Julie and Julia where she gets her first blog comment and she's so excited she stands up and high fives the woman who works in the neighboring cube.

I loved this moment.

And although I really related to the thrill of getting a new comment from a new reader that isn't what has stuck with me. It's the work friend relationship.


Since moving to this new job that is what I've missed the most. My work friends. I walk down the long hallways thinking of funny things to tell my old work friends or funny pranks to play on them and then I come to the sobering realization that I don't have them anymore.

It's quite a sad thing to loose people who played such a constant role in my daily life.