2009 year in review

December 30, 2009 at 1:41 pm | In medium deep thoughts | 4 Comments

Borrowed from the delightful kvknowsherfun. Feel free to answer some in the comments or reblog.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Got married and househunted. Tweeted. Turned thirty.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think last year’s resolutions were kind of vague, so I’m not sure and I probably didn’t keep them. Will I make more for next year: YES. More to come.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! Several of my friends had babies this year. And a couple more people close to me are about to. New niece or nephew in 2010!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully no.

5. What places did you visit?
Maine and Maui. Those are really the only places I visited in 2009, and they were more than enough. I still think about Maui sometimes when I can’t fall asleep. I was very very happy there.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A home of our own. Maybe a dog? More time set aside to read and more visits with friends.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 2. I’m not that wonderful with dates, but I think I’ll remember that one.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Paying off my car. Getting in great shape before our wedding.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting out of great shape after our wedding. I KNOW. For someone with a distaste for unoriginality, I can be such a cliche.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
This was actually a very healthy year for me in terms of being sick. But I did take Excedrin every single day this year for my jaw pain issues and I know that’s probably not good.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My wedding band, our tickets to Hawaii, and the Hot Tools professional curling iron which is a magical curling iron. Also lots of fun makeup.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? That of my working mom friends and sister-in-law who just…I don’t even know dude, I don’t know how they do it. I know it’s hard though and they are wonderful moms.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The kids responsible for the murder in Mont Vernon, NH. I cried every time I read anything about it and finally had to stop. Makes me so sad in a multitude of ways.

14. Where did most of your money go?
To feed my current cosmetics obsession.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My victory in the American Idol pool. The season finale of Lost. My wedding. Allcosmeticswholesale.com.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Anything off of Lady Gaga’s The Fame.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? I think my happiness level is pretty much the same. I have my bad/sad moods from time to time but in general I am a happy and grateful girl.

b) thinner or fatter? Same.

c) richer or poorer? At the moment I’m richer, though I’m certainly not rich, but once we purchase our new house I will quickly be poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleeping, writing, taking advantage of the summer months to get out and do more stuff.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Lying awake at night, overthinking things, giving into little frustrations and annoyances.

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2009?
With M.’s family and mine; exactly as I wanted to spend Christmas.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I continued to love M. in 2009.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Easily Mad Men. But I was also thrilled by Lost this year and still watch Gilmore Girls on DVR constantly. Oh and The Office and 30 Rock. Is that too much? I have such affection for them all.

23. What did you do for your birthday in 2009?
This, followed by dinner with friends.

24. What was the best book you read?
The book I’m reading right now (Special Topics in Calamity Physics) is phenomenal but I’m not even halfway through so I don’t feel qualified yet to say it’s the best. I’ll report back soon. Don’t be put off by the title though. It is a sparkling special book. My favorite book of the year would have to be a book by Elizabeth Berg. I’ll go with The Pull of the Moon.

25. What did you want and get?
Makeup. A fun honeymoon. An iphone, which I didn’t know I wanted until I got it.

26. What did you want and not get?
More sleep. A little more excitement. Post-wedding, it was a quiet year.

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
Up in the Air.

28. Did you make some new friends this year?
Honestly? I mostly made new blog friends this year. That counts.

29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? The fact that I’m having trouble thinking of something makes me think I had a pretty satisfying year. I felt very, very fortunate this year and experienced a lot of generosity and support and little indulgences and major life milestones.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Scarfy.

31. What kept you sane?
The same things that always keep me sane: emails to Casey and finding some quiet pockets of time to myself.

 32. Who did you miss?
Faraway friends like Meghan. Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. I miss YellowTop.

33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. I don’t know if I’ve really learned this lesson but it’s one that I’m working out right now. I’ve come to realize that it’s very easy for an entire year to fly past with me keeping my head down, working hard and trying to keep everything in order, and I can sometimes neglect the fun of my life and then I miss it and it makes me feel dissatisfied. So, I need to be more conscious of that. Not very wise words but maybe you know what I mean.

on cozy pants and long legs

December 30, 2009 at 10:51 am | In miscellaneous | 1 Comment

I’ve recently taken on a personal quest to have more warm long length pajama pants. I’m medium tallish, but though I am short in the torso, I am quite long in the leg. So most sweats and pajama pants are a couple inches too short, and when I’ve found ones that fit perfectly, they always shrink in the dryer, effectively crushing all my hopes and dreams. I refuse to do special laundry care for sweat pants. You have to draw a line somewhere.

SO, finally I accepted the fact that I have to find pants specifically labeled TALL or LONG. I found the perfect ones from Eddie Bauer and bought a pair, which I now live in. But they are on the pricey side and I’m a girl who loves a bargain. Also, they’re all sold out. So I realized that Old Navy has TALL things that are available only online. I was thrilled to find fleece TALL pants for only $5.99, but horrified that the shipping is $7. I’m not cheap, but the shipping is more than the product. Something in me revolts.

M. attempted to support my quest by giving me two pairs of warm pajama pants for Christmas, but he wasn’t in on the whole LONG thing which is the really the key. Thanks for trying though M.

So. Any suggestions on pajamas (or as my nephew once said, jamamas) for TALL women?

If this isn’t the most intellectually stimulating thing I’ve ever written on this web site, I don’t know what is.

quick oscar movie update

December 29, 2009 at 3:50 pm | In favorite things, tv and movies | 1 Comment

I have FINALLY seen an Oscar-y movie! Last night I went to see Up in the Air, starring George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Yes I went to the movies on a Monday night. Somebody stop me!! The long holiday weekend was fun, but it was pretty hectic and I was just in the mood for a dark theater, a good movie and two hours of being unavailable and off the iphone. I was going to go by myself thinking M. might not want to trek out on a cold Monday night to see a movie, but he surprised me cutely by showing up at the last minute, and thank god because this was definitely a movie to see with someone else.

I LOVED IT. I can’t remember the last time I left a theater so pleasantly satisfied. It was pitch perfect and so nice to see a smart, funny, mildly depressing yet kind of optimistic movie about grown ups starring two talented and perfectly cast people. YAY for movies like this one, just yay. It was directed by Jason Reitman who last directed Juno. I happen to be one of those people who tremendously enjoys Juno, but for the anti-Juno people, I don’t think you’ll have the same complaints with this movie. It has some of Juno’s charm but the script is not hyper zingy like the Juno script. In fact — I predict a best original screenplay win for Up in the Air. I’m sure it will be nominated for Best Picture since the new rules have them nominating EVERYBODY, but I would be a little surprised if it won. It’s fantastic — classic even — but I’m wondering if it might be a little too light for the Academy (Academy written with an upper class British accent).

Next up…well if I’m being honest, I kinda want to see Avatar in 3-D. Otherwise why bother?

holiday weekend ramblings

December 28, 2009 at 4:23 pm | In daily ramblings | 7 Comments

Looooong holiday weekend and now it’s snowing prettily and I’m sitting in my warm cubicle. It’s very very quiet. Mostly because they have mostly cleared out this section of the building as part of an ongoing relocation. But also because it seems that many people didn’t come into work today. Very quiet.

Christmas things. On the eve of Christmas eve we finalized an offer on the house we’re buying. Yes we are buying a house. I haven’t had a chance to really tell anyone about it yet because it happened right as the holidays were happening. Our home inspection is Wednesday. I suppose things could still go wrong, but if all goes smoothly we’ll have a house in February. It was almost too easy. We’re buying in a small town in a down market in the dead of winter from a couple who is splitting up and apparently eager to get on with it. So there were no other offers on the table and it all went very smoothly and was stress-free. The town is small, like, Stars Hollow small. It’s pretty much a tiny residential town about 45 minutes southwest of Boston. The experience of living there will probably be similar to the experience of living where we do now. Sometimes I wish we lived a little closer to the city for the convenience of more interesting things to do and much better places to walk and eat. But in truth, I’m a person who likes a driveway to pull into and a quiet street to go for a quiet walk on and this house has both of those things. I like it. It’s more than what I thought we would have, for less, and it has potential. I’m looking forward to working on making it our place. It will be the first time I’ve ever lived someplace I felt invested in, that didn’t feel like yet another home in an ongoing string of homes that belonged to other people. So — more on that to come. Here is our house:

That is not at all the actual color of the house though. It’s actually a much darker gray blue. I guess they had the crazy camera setting turned on.

All of the offer and counteroffer (and counteroffer and counteroffer) stuff was preoccupying. Finally it was all settled and Christmas was the thing. On Christmas Eve we met up with M.’s family in the afternoon to exchange gifts and enjoy some good company before heading up to New Hampshire that night to visit my family. My entire family — my parents and my siblings (and our significant others) — gets together very rarely these days, even though we all live about an hour from each other. It’s sad to say, but we seem to all get together only once or twice a year. Twice this year — once for my wedding and again for Christmas. I guess that is just what naturally happens when we all have busy lives, in-laws and “in-laws” (air quotes because my brother and sister are not married but I don’t know what else to call their significant others’ families), and a city-dwelling sibling without a car. My point is: it was really nice to get everyone together for a day. We played Apples to Apples, ate, slept, ate, opened gifts, ate, opened more gifts, then ate. That is a literal play by play.

OH. Guess what? I finally got a NEW CAMERA. Life was bleak with no camera, and now I have finally disposed of the monkey on my back named KODAK and have returned to my much beloved Canon. So happy. More pictures will probably be posted from this point on. None from Christmas, though, since I didn’t have the camera then.

My parents gave us a grill for Christmas. Because we are soon to be homeowners. Our first grill, how I love it so. My parents (read: my mother) tend to go a little overboard with Christmas gift-giving. You would have to know my mom to truly understand, but believe me when I tell you she can’t help herself. But although I always tell her not to go crazy with presents, and although she always does anyway, it was a lot of fun exchanging all of our gifts.

I painstakingly made wedding albums for both sets of our parents on blurb.com, which had been assembled incorrectly when they arrived. I moaned and wailed and emailed customer service. I was pretty bummed that I wouldn’t have the albums to give our parents as Christmas gifts. But in the end, they fixed the albums very quickly and overnighted them and they arrived in time. I was thrilled to have them and happy with how they came out.

Saturday was “free day.” We slept in. (Although I did wake up to M.’s alarm. Who sets the alarm on free day??) I watched Annie while FINALLY sewing buttons back onto all of our buttonless clothing, some of which had been buttonless for a LONG time. But finally, I did it.

Annie was my favorite movie as a young kid and I hadn’t watched it in many years and it was delightful. Yes there is some nostalgia there, but I swear the songs in that movie are fantastic. Carol Burnett’s Miss Hannigan is amazing. I never realized that FDR is played by Richard Gilmore, and I never appreciated the political humor in the movie. Because I was seven. LOVE.

I put up plastic on our bedroom windows. Never as a young girl would I have imagined that putting plastic up to weatherproof windows would become one of my top life skills, but it is. It is.

We attended Miss Ella’s second birthday party. Have I mentioned before how much I enjoy two year old birthday parties and single-digit human beings in general? And yes, that is a tutu you can sort of see here.

She LOOOOOVES M. Like, loves him to the point that I might as well be a houseplant in the corner of the room. BUT during this visit M. was distracted by football, so I managed to get some one on one time and I think she now has at least a mild interest in me. PROGRESS.

By the time we got home last night, all I wanted to do was read and that is all I did do, until I was falling asleep on the couch and decided to put myself to bed early. Christmas made me tired. Of course, once I went to bed early I couldn’t actually fall asleep until 12:30, because my brain and body do not know how to cooperate. I am now diligently planning for my New Year’s resolutions.

Back to Carol Burnett. Seriously. This was never one of my favorite songs as a kid. What does it mean that I kind of empathize more with Miss Hannigan when I watch this now?

right resolution, wrong start date.

December 23, 2009 at 12:12 pm | In best laugh, conversations | 1 Comment

On Monday my friend Casey emailed me to tell me she would be starting a healthy detox diet on Tuesday and to let me know she would be emailing me everything she ate. Because friends hold their detoxing friends accountable. Naturally, I tried to talk her out of it. Because starting a healthy cleansing diet the week of Christmas is CRAZY. I can’t think of a worse time to start a diet, except maybe the day before you were set to participate in a pie-eating contest. IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE. And then after Christmas comes New Year’s Eve, also known as Diet Eve, or the Night of Final Indulgences. I’ve already told you that I’m a New Year’s resolution cliche and proud of it. But there IS a logic to it besides the fact that January 1 is a poetic starting date for anything. It also makes sense because the holidays are about…well, Jesus, but also about getting together with people and eating food.

But alas, I could not talk her out of it. Here is the approximate series of emails I received from her during the day yesterday, day one of her diet:

10:00 am. I’ve had two cups of chrysanthemum tea, handful of wasabi peas and tons of water. I’ve got some broccoli and tofu roasting right now.

11:25 a.m. Another mug of tea…2 pieces of tofu and 2 stalks of broccoli.

*During the afternoon, finds out that the Urban Decay Book of Shadows II she had ordered (after saving up and making the big decision to purchase it) is sold out and they will not be making more because it’s limited edition. Some of you will understand the tragedy here.*

2:36 pm.  I just ate a brownie. #%*$ it — I’ll start next Monday. Onto brownie #2.

whoa.

December 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm | In miscellaneous | Leave a Comment

world’s possibly tallest dog.

The Daily Mail is always good for this kind of thing.

life update: nothing to update

December 18, 2009 at 1:20 pm | In daily ramblings, tv and movies | 11 Comments

I have not really written much of anything this week and I will tell you why. I’m distracted.

Several significant things have been going on. One is that we made an offer on a house on Monday night. A lowish offer on a house over our price range that has everything we could ever want in a house for the rest of our lives. In general we have avoided going to see houses that are over our price range or even looking at them online. I do better when I don’t start coveting what I can’t have. But then we made the mistake of going to see this particular house and it was the whole package. Brains, beauty, a sense of humor and a cute butt. The one that you know is out of your league but can’t help crushing on anyway.

So a lot of this week was spent waiting for Unreliable For Sale By Owner Guy to call us back, only to learn that he’s really serious about his asking price and it’s not going to happen. So now we’re trying to focus again on our second choice house, the one that’s nice enough and pretty enough. The one that we thought was really great until super hot dream house came along and messed with our heads. But honestly, it is a really good house. It’s just a longer drive to work for M. and it doesn’t have as awesome a yard or the Holy Grail–the master bathroom.

In addition to that distraction, I’ve also been interviewing for a job. Interviewing a lot. I’ve had six interviews. In fact, I’m now so used to interviewing that I feel weird that today I don’t have an interview. The good news is, a LOT of people applied and I know they’re down to three of us. The bad news is, there are three of us. Which means there are two other people competing with me and I can’t even adequately evaluate my odds because I don’t know who my competitors are. So I’ve been hanging out, interviewing, and waiting to find out about that this week too. I thought I might find out today, but it’s looking like nope. Though I did get a couple nice little recognition awards this week following my weeks of chaotic work madness, so that was nice.

AND of course, on top of those things, it’s almost Christmas. My favorite holiday and a time of year I really love except for the miserable, horrific cold weather which has been in full force this week. I hadn’t even walked from my front door to my car this morning before my toes were numb, and something I really loathe in life is numb toes. It brings me immediately back to elementary school mornings, waiting out at the bus stop for the stupid bus to come, hoping I could get a seat near a heater to defrost my painfully numb little Steph toes. But anyway it’s Christmas, and I bought my Christmas cards REALLY REALLY early like in September, yet I am still finishing writing them, and I started Christmas Shopping REALLY early in October yet I’ve still making last minute mall trips, and I keep forgetting that Christmas is only a week away and if I want to enjoy my collection of Christmas music I better turn it on fast. To be clear, I LOVE Christmas shopping. I LOVE LOVE LOVE buying Christmas presents. I’m also enjoying these last weeks of indulgence, in terms of both eating and shopping, before January 1 because I am going to have some hardcore resolutions this New Year’s. I know that’s a cliche, but when it comes to New Year’s, I embrace cliche. I AM the cliche. New Year’s works for me, psychologically. It’s like the first day of school. Fresh start–nothing I’ve ever done wrong in my life counts anymore.

I also haven’t posted anything about the gads of movie nominations that have come out the last week, including the Golden Globe nominations. One of the things I love about this time of year is that it is Good Movie Season. As always, I have seen none of the nominated movies. Well usually I’ve seen one or two, but this year I have seen truly none. Partly this is because the nominated movies mostly come out around or even after the time of the nominations. Partly this is because I went to the movies to very, very little this year. I did make a decision to marry a man who is not especially into movies and that is something I have to live with. But I do sometimes wish I had a friend nearby who loved to go see these types of movies. Not that I have a problem going to the movies alone; I even kind of like going to the movies alone if it’s not a Saturday night. But a movie freak friend would give me more motivation. I know I could drag M. with me, but I just know he doesn’t really care about seeing the movies and that makes it less fun. He probably doesn’t even know what Avatar is. ANYWAY, regardless of whether I’ve actually seen the nominated movies, I’m always interested in what they are and who’s nominated.

On a related note, I suggest you go read this great review of Nine, where among other things you will learn which cast member should win the Best Ass Oscar.

scooter 2 came back

December 17, 2009 at 5:08 pm | In miscellaneous | 7 Comments

and he found my Kashi bar.

If you don’t know, Scooter 2 is my work desk drawer mouse. Yes I know that’s really gross, but…it’s actually kind of cute what a small amount of this Kashi bar he ate. It must have been enough to fill up his tiny little belly.

My coworker keeps saying that it is likely a whole horde of mice that are visiting my desk drawer and not just one cute mouse named Scooter. I choose to believe my version.

Ugh.

ha

December 17, 2009 at 3:37 pm | In best laugh | Leave a Comment

Another fun eyeroll from Prudie to the overly self-satisfied.

Dear Prudence,
My partner and I are adopting twins! We plan to raise them without diapers. There’s a method for this, and most of the world goes without diapers. We will also use only organic clothes and linens, and only natural wooden toys. I’m wondering how we can politely express this to the people attending our baby shower. It would seem a bit brash to simply tack a list of what we don’t want to the bottom of the invitation. I’m afraid that giving no indication about our organic preferences would lead to us throwing out or giving away almost all of the gifts we receive, and that doesn’t seem right, either.

—Two Dads, Two Kids, One Problem

Dear Two Dads,
Yes, you have a problem, and it’s not that people might sully your pristine nursery with a plastic teething ring. It’s true that there are swaths of the world—largely in rural Africa and Asia—where children go undiapered. However, in those places it’s accepted that elimination means squat-and-go. (And I have the feeling that the villagers, given the choice, would take three years’ worth of Pampers over a lifetime of carbon credits.) It’s also true that there is an infinitesimal number of people in the West who are involved in a (bowel?) movement to have babies go diaper-free called “elimination communication.” Here’s something else that’s true: The first time you take your undiapered duo to Whole Foods and they let fly on the organic arugula, the produce manager will communicate about eliminating you as a customer. I’m also trying to imagine the condition the twins will be in as you attempt to transport them from crib to car to grocery cart. As the mother of one, I’m here to tell you parenthood is hard enough without committing yourself to having your twins (twins!) defecate on your hemp clothing every time you pick them up. As for the baby shower, go ahead and register at Holier Than Thou Baby and have the host put out the word about your gift preferences. And if you get things that don’t meet your standards, give them away to a charity for people who are just trying to do their best.

—Prudie

“ten” on tuesday

December 16, 2009 at 1:30 am | In miscellaneous | 3 Comments

It’s still technically Tuesday, sort of! Here are my answers, inspired by the Houston bloggesses I enjoy reading.

1. If you could change anything about your physical appearance, what would it be?
I’ll be honest, I don’t feel like answering this one on this big, public, eternal thing they call the Internet.

2. Is there a habit in others that you find annoying?
There are THOUSANDS! Okay that’s a joke, mostly. I’m actually having trouble thinking of one that I haven’t already complained about right on this very web site. Since it’s after midnight I’m just going to go with the standard yet classic answer: chompy chewing.

3. What is your favorite recipe using ground beef?
I don’t really eat or touch that. Or like thinking about the words “ground beef.”

4. What was your favorite book as a kid?

I was a book loving kid so there were a lot, but Homecoming by Cynthia Voight always comes to mind and The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. OH and when I was younger, all of the Ramona Quimby books.

5. Did you work as a teenager and if so, where?
Yes I worked at the Book Gallery, which was a Hallmark store slash bookstore. Business was not very brisk and I made $4.25 an hour and read a lot of magazines.

6. Did you work while in college and if so, where?
During the summers I was a waitress at a restaurant that served a lot of fried seafood. And a damn good waitress I was, too. During college I worked in my school’s financial aid office and babysat for two girls who are still two of the coolest people I know.

7. When you go to sleep do you like total darkness or semi? When you go to sleep do you need quiet or is some noise ok?
When I sleep I need conditions of total darkness and total silence that exist only on other planets. Since these conditions don’t typically work out for me, I sleep with Blowy the sound machine near my head. Nevertheless my sleep efforts are often frustrated by things like the wind, the moon, and M.’s need to breathe.

8. When doing laundry, fabric softener or not?
I feel like our generation uses dryer sheets. Remember those commercials in the 80s where the woman was like “Holy shit I forgot to add the fabric softener!!!!!” I don’t think this is a big concern for the women in my peer group.

9. Open toed or closed toed shoes?
It’s hard for me to think about open toed shoes right now since my toes won’t be seeing the light of day for months to come, but I’m happier in sandals.

10. Would you rather be blind or deaf?
If I had to choose one of these unfortunate things, it would be an easy choice — I would rather lose my hearing. Not being able to see is something I could cry just thinking about. Not being able to hear would be sad since I am a music lover, but it wouldn’t be as tragic to me.

11. Dangle or stud earrings?
I like a little dangle.

12. Bottled water or tap?
I’m REALLY trying hard to drink less bottled water. I know it’s wasteful and studies always seem to say that there’s not a significant difference between the quality of bottle and tap. So I’m bringing a plastic water bottle into work and using our Brita and I’ve really cut back on bottled water. But…I still get a bottle sometimes when I’m out and I’m really thirsty. Incidentally, I love water and don’t really like drinking anything else.

13. What do you put on pancakes?
Earth Balance, syrup, and cinnamon. The cinnamon takes it to a completely different level.

14. On a long trip would you rather drive or fly?
Fly. I haven’t traveled a lot so I’m not a really experienced flier, but I haaaaate sitting in the car for hours and hours.

15. Do you prefer classic old movies or new?
AHHHH. Hard question. I enjoy watching new movies and I keep up with what new movies are coming out and stuff…but there is something so fun and wonderful about curling up with an old movie. Although every time I see one I really want to watch it’s always on TCM and I don’t have that network and does anyone have that network??? I feel like it’s there only to tease us.

Thanks Chelsea’s aunt! Feel free to comment with any of your answers…

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