Me: Female. Mid-twenties (okay, late twenties). Short. Curvy.
You know what that means, right*?
It means that everywhere I go, I have this intense urge to scream things like “Cut your hair!” and “Pull up your pants!” and “You’re a boy, why are you wearing skintight girls’ jeans?”
It also means that my body is no longer the body of a teenager. This is something that my brain is very slowly coming to terms with. I eat a pretty healthy selection of stuff (usually), my life isn’t totally sedentary, and my job affords me the freedom of not being chained to my desk. In any case, the point of all this is that the phrase “Muffin Top” is one that strikes fear into my heart while my gut sits there silently, reminiscing about that tasty half a cake it forced me to devour.
CupCate is a new-to-me blogger and her stuff is funny and well written. She’s witty and girlish and lives in freaking LONDON (transplanted from NorCal). This means she is going on my bookmarks, and hopefully you’ll all do the same.
Anyway, her article is what sparked my thoughts:
http://cupcate.vox.com/library/post/highly-proficient-in-camel-toe-excels-at-muffin-top.html
——————–
*another novel idea - novel as in words on paper; get it published. Goal date: Summer 2009.
…and it’s starting to close in on me.
Just discovered FriendFeed, which basically takes all your online personas and puts ‘em into a nice lineup. It takes my little obsession with lists and makes me feel more ADD, and then reminds me that I make lists for more reasons than just to have them.
I’m basically trying to go fully digital - you guys should see the major contact/music consolidation projects I’ve got going. Sheesh.
Anyway, I haven’t toyed with FF enough yet to see how well it suits me as far as interaction goes, but it seems okay. At the rate the Internet is going, people won’t really need personal pages anymore. You just link them to your Myspace/Facebook/Twitter…… or in this case, FriendFeed, which is slowly taking *over* Twitter, ever since the ‘view replies’ function broke.
Interesting.
“A hack that uses Google’s mapping application to help record distances traveled and calories burned during a running or walking workout.”
Well, it doesn’t mention biking, but that’s what we did. Jason bought a bike, finally, so hopefully this will be the start of a good habit. I’ve been biking on my own (with a non-beach cruiser) since April 23rd, but it’s nice to have someone else there for motivation, especially when it’s someone who you know will push you to keep going. There’s a calorie counter where you enter your weight, but I don’t know (don’t want to know) my weight, and I’m not sure how it calculates. It doesn’t account for hills or speed, so …oh well.
Still… this is AWESOME. I love maps and stuff like that. So! I’m hoping it’s correct. It looks correct. It also means we went 11.2 miles this morning and 6.3 miles on Friday night… something that my glutes and quads can attest to. It *also* means that my route to work is just under four miles (2 miles each way), which is nice.
Back in the day I used to walk around my Pennsylvania neighborhood quite a bit. The month or so before I moved found me awake every morning before 7, then off to walk/jog almost four miles. I’d come back home, make breakfast, and play the Sims/chat with Jason, and not really do much else. Mainly I was just waiting for the moving day to get there. It was fun looking at the route though just now, and remembering why I took a specific way or some of the things that used to be there.
My next goal is my Bird Rock Route/LJ Route, one of the most scenic and peaceful rides ever. With some hills and everything.
Chart your own course!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
I’m pretty torn between several people, however a recent present has swayed my decision.
Dirge’s work has been a favorite of mine for almost a decade now. Maybe it’s the dead animal factor. I don’t know. But he is, indeed, very snazzy. If you haven’t seen his Myspace or website yet, do your eyeballs a favor and head on over.
Damn! There’s so much good stuff I am having a tough time even posting an example. Instead of being biased, you’re just going to get a picture of his cat.
PS: You’ll notice that either you’re behind the times or I merely started this series at Number Eight.
Go with the former and blame it on me - I have the first seven parts in my MySpace blog, but haven’t yet linked ‘em up. You can peruse the archives if you’d like.
Filed under: Miscellaneous Insanity
Mine, this morning (0500 to be exact) was the following: MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW MAOW? MAOWMAOW!
When you are pulled against your will from your sub-conscious, your brain goes into Kill Mode as soon as you recognize the noise. Oh Kitty, where aaaaarre youuuu? There you are. Why, what’s that in your mouth? OH A MOUSE HOW PLEASANT.
Mister Murderer had successfully caught - and killed - a little mouse very early this morning. What threw me was that as soon as I stumbled into the bathroom and found a light to help deduce this situation, he stopped making noise. I saw Brak stretched out on the living room floor in kind of a weird position, and my brain immediately said “Hello, your cat is no more. He has ceased to be.”
A bad feeling, that one - until his tail flapped a bit. Then the other girl-y portion of my brain kicked in to remind me of the prior time he caught a mouse. That’s right. I was standing on the sofa for 25 minutes and trying to get the mouse outside via telekinesis.
Brak had begun jumping around a bit and pawing at the carpet where …something seemed to be, so at this point there was really only one thing to do: Wake Up Someone Else. (He’s a guy, things like this are in his contract.)
Me: ::squee squee:: kitty - he has something - i think it’s a mouse - itsamousehehasamouse
Jason: ::sleeping:: guh. whut?
Me: I THINK THE CAT HAS A MOUSE
Jason: grr. uh. guh. k.
He went out to the living room to confirm that the cat did indeed have a mouse, which had now upgraded its’ status to Dead Mouse. Probably a heart attack, possibly Death By Kitty. This current (very dead) mouse looked just like the one that had previously been trapped in our place, so I can’t help but wonder if he came back to try and claim some vengeance.
Sorry buddy, today it looks like you’re traveling by failboat.
As J was helping Brak realize that his new toy was going out to its’ new home (the dumpster), I see a spot on the blinds. A large black spot, and we don’t have Christmas lights that could possibly be poking through.
Me: Look at the blinds. In the front.
Jason: ::looks::
Me: What is that black spot?
He pokes at the blinds, and you know what it is? A MOTH. A moth!!!! You don’t understand.
As he proceeds to score more man points by removing the mouse, killing and removing the moth, I close the bedroom door and go back to bed. It is 0530. Happy Sunday.
If I ever finished everything that I needed to finish… what would I post about?
Cali to the A, we speedin’ on the freeway… Look at me, look at me, hands in the air like it’s good to be… alive.
Progress draws progress and patience sits patient, you flow with the inside of the inner circles, you don’t know what to do or where to go, you keep on knowing what you know, oh I don’t know… oh I don’t know.
v1 versionzer0.
Friday - worked until 7. Blank spot after that.
Saturday - worked from 8 to 4. Spent most of the day giving tours and trying to figure out what direction to go in. Weather: HOT. After: Sushi at Mizu with Maria & Trent. Mizu is still the numero uno sushi joint in all of SD (in my opinion). VIP seating and people watching made the food taste even better. We also noticed that THE MOTHS ARE BACK. I hate the moths. They get into my apartment and flap like bats. They scare me. Screw you, moths.
Sabbat, accompanied by Jason. The place was empty at 11 (upon our arrival) and somewhat awkward. The beat was off and neither of us really wanted to be there. Met up with Daisy & Eric. Discovery: it is difficult to dance in flats. Secondary discovery: I still love dancing, but not to Goth Musik. Whatever playlist they were running should have been wiped clean of Du Hast and Closer. Oh wait, it wasn’t Closer, it was just some song that flat stole the infamous beat and put some crap yelling over it. Winner! Anyway, I was painfully sober and realized Air Conditioned would have been a better choice. Either that or maybe another Saturday, one with more patrons and whatever music they played at the 10-year anniversary. It just seemed like there was an abundance of newly-turned-21s and weirdness.
Sunday - Slept until 1500. AWESOME. Daisy showed up around 1800 and succumbed to my craving for Dairy Queen Goodness. I’m freaking lactose intolerant, I knew what I was in for. That peanut buster parfait (with chocolate ice cream) was so worth it. Then we went to Ichiban (on the rocks), Trader Joe’s (my first trip in there ever), and finished up at Whole Foods. Got to listen to some chit-chat about an upcoming event in the leather scene, and saw a girl from my past. Of course I didn’t say hello because I didn’t know for certain if it *was* her, but a quick convo via MySpace confirmed it. Yay for Kitty.
Today - bills to pay, errands to run, cleaning to do. Relaxation to attend to as well, I do enjoy Mondays for that.
In other news, we are looking for a new spot to move to. The beach scene has pretty much killed my love for the actual beach. Since house-buying probably won’t happen in under a year, my sanity needs to be saved and we need to GTFO. This is frustrating but A) the neighbors won’t give me peace, B) the landlord won’t put in double-paned windows, so C) I need to do something about this. Five years is enough already. Of course Hillcrest/Mission Hills is my spot of choice, but it’s tough. A large one-bedroom under $1100/monthly, that comes with parking, no drama and a decent neighborhood within 10 minutes of my job. HOW HARD CAN THIS BE.
Oh yeah, the Nigerian/West African/South African scammers have moved on to not just spam, but putting up houses for rent. Awesome.
I don’t invite people over.
The prospect of a relaxing Sunday afternoon stippled with sunny reflections
over breezy chatter isn’t something on my agenda. Yet.
You know why?
It’s because I hate my couch. Not just in that way where you kind of don’t like your couch, and it seems a little outdated… but with the burning hot fury of a thousand suns.
The Beast, a nickname it has been christened with over time, sits - nay, lurks! - in our living room. We have a 600 square foot apartment, 90% of which is taken up by the goddamn couch. It was there when we move in, and it will probably be there when we leave. A green, cracked leather behemoth of furniture, it knows that it could never be replaced because it is just too much of a hassle to move.
I’ve considered getting the day laborers outside of Home Depot to just take it away. ¿Dónde a?, they’ll ask me, and I will shrug and point out the door. Just take it. The couch sits, smug in its’ permanence, and you can almost hear it laughing at us. Mocking.
It’s just not fair. Have you even seen what’s out there? Ever since buying The Entertainment Beast,
all I’ve really wanted to do is get a new couch. With the goods that you can find at ApartmentTherapy, InhabitLiving or MocoLoco,
it almost makes me want to have a tantrum.
What happens is that I see sites like Workspace of the Week over on Unclutterer and want my apartment to be cleaner. This either makes me surf obsessively (weeping!) through the home décor
sites, or launches an epic cleaning spree that results in the apartment looking like we just moved in. That latter bit happens perhaps once a month, and can probably be blamed on the moon… or the
cat.
Then my wishlist factor kicks in. The first symptom is astonishment: WHY does
a single chair cost more than I make in almost six weeks worth of work? The second symptom is answered by its’ own questioning: WHY can’t we have that? Well, because a single chair costs more than I make in almost six weeks worth of work. Don’t get me wrong: it’s an awesome
chair. It is, however, a CHAIR.
Other things that are interesting (and make me realize that I really am a packrat) are things like this, where someone lives in a space half the size of my dwelling. They probably don’t share that with a
significant other and a cat, but you never know. They also probably know how to pick up their laundry and put it away, however this is one of my major downfalls. The lines in those rooms are nice and clean, and all of those homes look like display models. My home is not particularly clean, nor does it look like a display model. It looks like a renovated San Diego beach cottage from the 70’s, which makes it stay true to form.
However, that last link brings me full circle… did you see the couch? Square, comfy, one piece? Yeah, I need to borrow that. You don’t need it. I need it.
While you’re at it, feel free to pick up some new sheet sets for me. Maybe it’ll offset the couch.
Filed under: Food, Gaming, Miscellaneous Insanity, San Diego | Tags: Food, Gaming, San Diego
…time for PEEPS!!
I don’t even care to eat peeps, but the sugary enthusiasm that so many people gain from eating (or mutilating) them is just infectious. For example, did you know about Peep Jousting?
The messy and largely self-entertaining game, “Peep Jousting” is played with a microwave oven.
This is a game played With A Microwave Oven. How can it not be a winner?
Anyway, in case you want to partake:
One takes two Peeps, and licks the right-hand side of each until sticky. A toothpick is thereby adhered to each Peep, pointing forward like a jousting lance. The Peeps are then set in a microwave, squared off against one another, and heated up. As they expand, the toothpick lances thrust toward each opponent, and the winner is the one that does not pop and deflate (or fizzle and die). Both usually are eaten after the competition, however, regardless who the victor was, calling into question the nature of “winning” in such a circumstance.[1] This folkloric tradition has been noted by the Washington Post. Peeps jousting has also been called such names as “mortal peep fight.”[2]
–courtesy of wikipedia, of course.
I was reminded of peeps and various other treats by stumbling around on Vox, running into Serendipity’s blog again. I didn’t realize it was hers until I saw the post about the hot cocoa again. She’s also got a fabulous post about Cheese Etiquette, which I encourage all of you to read and remember.
Speaking of cheese (one of the motives behind this post), I got to hang out with Rupert last night. Our original destination was Dairy Queen, but there is only one within a 20-mile radius, and it closes at 7. Something I found out when getting there at 715. So we found the Golden Spoon (that replaced Ben & Jerry’s in Hillcrest)… it was okay, but no Dairy Queen.
Then we decided to wander across the street to Wine Steals, which was a brilliant choice. We got a flight each (the first glass was high-fivable, the other two were decent but not my favorite), and split a half-board (cheese, olives, meats, bread, olive oil mixed with balsamic, fruits). It was very VERY good times, and I’m going to recommend it to everyone. He was also nice enough to treat me, which made it taste even better. 
That joint was so good, by the way, that it makes me want to host bi-monthly wine-and-cheese parties. You wouldn’t think it would be so difficult. Why not have a group that hosts it at different locations every few weeks? It’s probably cheaper than going to that place (although we could meet up there if no one wants to have it at their home)… and you could be in your house clothes.
Sounds like a good idea, that means its’ flake factor is in the high percentiles. Let’s hope not. My collaboration of friends has gotten smaller, but more consistent. We shall see.
Anyway, I’m off to finish doing laundry and installing the Sims [complete collection!!!11!]. Yes, it was already installed, but these are the trials we must face when we lose a hard drive. Bastards. Just like the washers & dryers outside… why must they forsake me? Why must they shut off two minutes into their cycle, forcing me to wait and reselect? Why must one of the two dryers smell like mildew, hence making my clothes smell the same? WHY MUST THEY BE A MAGNET FOR TRANSIENT URINE?!?!?!
Filed under: Daily Zen, Feng Shui, Health y Fitness, Homeprovements, Inspiration, Progress, Zentastic
A more appropriate title will be forthcoming. For now, that fits.
It’s my blog, I may keep that title. So there.
Just a little bit of daily routine, shared with all y’all, in hopes that it might add a little zest of zen to your lives.
When it’s almost time for bed:
-This site reminded me to clean up after myself (although I’ve been much better lately). For those of you who eat in front of your computer (or tv), go put your food trash/dirty dishes in the kitchen. Where it goes.
-Put away your shoes. Just do it. It sucks, but just do it. You can grab them on your way back from putting away your stuff in the kitchen and toss them in the closet/shoe basket/shoe rack. Then, surprisingly, you’ll know where they are in the morning. It may take a couple days but suddenly you realize that shoes have homes and those homes are the only logical place they belong when not in use.
-Stretch. One or two good full body stretches will get you comfy and ready for sleep.
-Go to bed half an hour earlier than you normally would. This way you’re probably asleep before you would have normally even gone to bed. Seriously, I know some of you (including me) have an Internet addiction, but you know roughly how long your daily e-rounds take. If you start doing those rounds a little earlier that’s helps, and for the love of all that is holy don’t get sucked into surfing Myspace, Facebook or Livejournal when it’s getting close to bedtime. No matter what, just try not to surf endlessly into the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps end your rounds at an inspiring site, a daily quote site or something that is not constantly updated. Bonus points if it’s a health/fitness site, maybe you’ll be inspired to do some yoga in the morning.
-Read in bed if you want, or maybe play some mediation music to fall asleep. Nothing crazy, just some nice nature sounds or maybe monks chanting if you like that sort of thing. SomaFm.com has 2 great playlists (Groove Salad & Drone Zone) that can help you pass out.
-Bonus points if you get up a little earlier than normal due to feeling more rested (hopefully from going to bed earlier)!
Have a good night, everyone.
Filed under: Current Projex, Feng Shui, Homeprovements, Inspiration, Progress | Tags: Feng Shui, furniture, home decor, ikea, storage
It’s been some time since my last venture into this blog. The WordPress side of things has been neglected in lieu of my MySpace, Vox, and LiveJournal… but I’m back now!
The word count that updates as you’re typing an update on here is really distracting.
My newest obsession is home decor. It all really started when my boyfriend’s parents came to visit. Truth be told, home decor and general interior design has always been in my head, but they are the ones who made me feel like we really should be doing more with this place. Not only that, but that things actually could be done with this apartment. The local Ikea here was built only a year or two before my move to San Diego, however I’d visited the one in the Pittsburgh region many times prior.
“Two people are needed to assembly this furniture.”
It says that on the tag as well as on the website.
We almost bought this sofa in this color, but it was either the new entertainment/storage monstrosity or a baby shelving system and the new sofa. I also wanted these open-back wooden boxes (kind of like shadowboxes) that could be mounted to the wall separately; so I could put them between the little round mirrors that are up. That way there would be somewhere to put all the CDs and DVDs and my art crap.
Anyway, since we haven’t sold our old sofa yet (and it’s too huge to get out of the apartment alone), I said who needs groceries?! and bought the Shelving Beast.
I’m not sure where this blog will go, but I’d like it to focus on reviews of my attempts at being domestic. Let’s start off with window shopping. The links in the following post will be embedded into this blog at some point, but for now we can just peruse the Links of Ultimate Want.
Something I’ve been looking into lately is shelving systems. When you have a tiny apartment, or at least an artist+gamer boyfriend+cat living in less than 1000 square feet, you need to think of how to store all their unique items. My last trip to Ikea introduced me to wall-mounted shelving, and this T-Shelf over at Chiasso does something very similar.
The one at Ikea could, I believe be separated into multiple tiny storage units, and would look great between the small round mirrors hanging up here in the bedroom. Another option would be a quick purchase of wood from Home Depot, and you could make your own custom sizes, which you’d be free to paint however you wanted. Now if only we could find that hammer…
Apparently enjoying organizing my apartment and making little crafty things means I am now boring, but at least my knitting needles won’t get rusty, right?
Scratch that - I actually like embroidering better than knitting.
