White Legs + White Russians

Ah, first week of February and today I wore shorts.

I've been holding out on surrendering my sweats and skinny jeans, but today I just couldn't any longer. I was vacuuming (which now I do every other day because, thanks to our ridiculous "winter" weather, Oscar has already started his summer shed), and sweating, and running the A/C. So when I actually had to go outside and walk said shedder, I knew it was time. Time to bare the freak show that is currently my pasty white legs. I felt naked.

This was similar to how I felt last night when I attended the Bliss Bridal Magazine 2013 cover launch (it sounds swankier than it really was), and my pal spilled her White Russian right into the lap of my filmy peach dress. Which then soaked right on through to my lady parts. Cold. By the time we left my thighs were sticking together - well, more so than usual - and I looked like I'd had, um, a preeeetty nasty "accident." On the front AND the back of my dress. Oh, did you think White Russians were white? Wrong! They are a very poopy shade of brown that dries a diarrhea shade of brown, at least on filmy peach garments.

Fortunately (hmmm, that is debatable), lots of people saw it happen, as it was right as the magazine cover reveal was about to happen, so I don't think anyone actually suspected me of not making it to the bathroom in time. My ever-prepared and solution-oriented friend, the very same who spilled, whipped out a tampon, fluffed it up, and began wiping me down. "Look! It's absorbant!" she cried with glee. We were all lucky I had both a sense of humor and a couple of cocktails in me.

White legs and White Russians is a lot of white in my life, for less than 24 hours.

And that (⬆) is how I feel about that.

"Com'on, Maaaan."

The Daily's

My totes lame post from yesterday reminded me that it's not often I use this forum to update on our personal lives. The sad truth behind yesterday's "Status Updates" is that I do much of my "every day writing" on Facebook, through pictures and short status updates. It's the modern day equivalent of keeping a daily journal or diary, I suppose, only not nearly as romantic or scandalous for my grandchildren to uncover in a dusty attic trunk years from now. I wax poetic here far more often than I just write about what's actually going on in my life. This is ironic, because I read many, many blogs and the ones I enjoy most are people who write about their daily life. It's like literary realityTV. Perhaps I avoid these because I just don't think anyone will find my life that interesting, but then the Kardashians DO have a mass following, so anything's possible. We'll experiment:

So here's a little bit about our January. First, enjoy a random dog butt.

Along with trying to eat better, starting back up with my trainer, and generally reevaluating our lifestyles, I've been practicing domesticity. This includes, keeping up with the house in a daily fashion, rather than once a week. It doesn't give me quite the same satisfaction as deep cleaning every weekend and then enjoying a spotless home for exactly 2 hours before it's dirty again, but I'll admit it is more manageable.

I also realized today that I can only count four times in the whole month that we ate out. (And two of those "nights out" were actually dates where we ordered food and a movie at Alamo Drafthouse - and one was on a gift card! So boom.) This is huge. Really huge. (Pssst: you should be impressed.) It's no secret I hate to make grocery lists, shop for groceries, or turn those groceries into anything but cookies and pumpkin gingerbread, so the fact that we have been eating out of our refrigerator on a seriously regular basis is a tremendous accomplishment for me and mine. More impressively, we have not only been eating out of the refrigerator, but we have been making our own food. You know, like people used to have to do, before your neighborhood Chinese takeout and hamburger joints existed.  I'm really patting myself on the back for this, and you can pat yourself, too - just so you don't feel left out.

Tim's life goes like this: Monday he hates his job, Tuesday he loves his job, Wednesday he hates his job and comes home at lunch to WFH (work from home), Thursday he likes his job okay, and Friday he usually comes home early so he hasn't decided if he loves his job or hates it yet. Then he drinks some beer and the weekend starts. And the next week it's all of those same mixed emotions but maybe in a different order, on different days. I think this is all because he's nearing the big 3-0 and still not in his dream career of brewing craft beer in the Netherlands. Just a hypothesis. We struggle for contentment in this family, we surely do. In his spare time, he's been doing crossfit workouts (on his own, not a with a CF gym - yet), and is starting to run again. He has to prepare for all that craft beer he's going to be brewing...

In the last month, I've reconnected with my old friend Katie, from my theatre days in high school. This was super fun as she hasn't changed an inkling, except she has shorter hair. So as we sat and sipped coffee, I totally felt like I was staring 16 in the face again and we were "playing adults." (Because had I actually been 16, it would have been a Dr. Pepper in front of me, not coffee.) Hopefully, when I'm 60 I'll still feel like I'm "playing adults." I can only pray I'm that young-at-heart. She brought her scrapbooks to our coffee date, and wow - let me just say - some things do improve with age up to a certain point. I'll take my almost-28-year-old-self and sense of fashion over my pre-18-self and sense of fashion any day, thank you. Cheers to old friends!

Also on a friend + coffee note, I spent many Fridays last year catching up with my friend Christina (also from high school years). We lost touch during our college and immediately-post-college years, but then found ourselves living just a few blocks away from each other in ATX in 2011. What a blessing this girl has been to me, and I'm so thankful for all the Fridays we have in 2013 to grow our friendship. We both think we're right 99% of the time, so fortunately we agree on many things. We are similarly picky, both love home interiors (although she's a professional and I'm an amateur), plants, Anthropologie, and our dogs as if they were actually birthed from our loins. Apparently taking your friendship from high school to adulthood means escaping homes, husbands, and yes - even dog-babies, on occasion - to meet up "for coffee." This usually means cake is also involved, because - oh, yes I forgot to mention - we also both loooooove cake. So nice to have a local wifey-friend to spend Friday afternoons yaking with about our middle-class domestic lives. It's just a huge plus our husbands and dogs also get along. Thank you baby Jesus!

(Are you worried about how much coffee I'm drinking?)

We spent Super Bowl Sunday with the Stareys (that sounds like the title of a book; the aforementioned Christina and her husband Earl), and their friends and relatives, in their newly acquired home. Oscar had fun running around and stealing rawhides from their long-haired dachshund, Sophie. The boys smoked brisket and ribs, and we all played washers in couples-teams. It struck me that it couldn't have been a more picturesque American Super Bowl Sunday if we tried. I was also struck by the fact that had you asked me five years ago if this was the life I imagined I would be living, my answer would have been a resounding "No." (By the way I really hearted the "God Made a Farmer" Paul Harvey commercial. What beautiful shots. Sadly, I quickly remembered, with the help of this depressing article, just how "commercial" is that commercial - you can watch the video by following that link. Also, read some Wendell Berry.)

I went to yoga twice in January, and was only reminded of how good it is for me, and how much I need to get back into practicing on a regular basis. Even if regular is just a few times a month, it does my body and soul good to get out of my head. I was "blessed" with an awful lot of free time this January. I'll summarize that situation with a quote I saw on Pinterest: "Even if you gave me 25 years to accomplish _______, I'd still wait until the night before to do it." I have periods of great productivity and energy, and periods of lethargy and melancholia. It's like transitioning from being a classroom learner, to a self-taught learner. I'm trying to enjoy it. I'm trying to remind myself I might never, ever get the chance to do whatever I want all day, every day, ever again. I'm having to motivate myself, set goals and hold myself accountable, and be patient that there is more for me on the horizon.  I'm just not sure exactly what yet.

Next time I'll try to not to give you all of the Dailys all at once. Sure, you're welcome.

"Status Update"

No Facebook means more blogging. All the dozens of small updates and thoughts and ideas that get shared on Facebook each day will now be funneled into the blog. Here are a few thoughts from the last few days, in no particular order:

1. I wonder if a study has been done to show if I am helping the environment more by using a lot of water to wash and reuse Ziploc bags, or just recycling them after one use?
   
2. This article on the dangers of Diet Soda. I used to get so sick of people who thought they were besting my Dr. Pepper habit by drinking the diet version. Yeah, right. Read up, Suckers!
   
3. I am going to be playing a LOT of Words With Friends this month. If you'd like to help me stay Facebook-free by challenging me to a word duel, my username is lolawhiteout.
   
4. Even more than at Mitt Romney's, did I chuckle at this Bad Lip Reading: NFL Version. That is about how seriously I take NFL Football. Or football of any kind. Or sports, period.
   
5. I whine all the time about how Texas winters aren't long enough. Then I'm still eager to start sunbathing on the first day of February. And a little (secretly) sad when it still gets cold again.
   
6. For as much as I LOVE LISTS and making lists, and crossing things off lists... I hate making grocery lists. I hate meal planning. Blech.
   
7. How is $100.00 per person per household a feasible amount to spend on groceries a month? I guess this government set average is only for people who don't buy organic, fresh foods. Maybe if all we ate were cans of tuna this would work. Not happenin'.
   
8. Danielle confirmed what I always knew would be true for me (the virgin-snow skier): if you're not athletic skiing ruins your ski vacation. Danielle just doesn't realize, or give herself credit for, how funny she is - so I'm doing it for her by quoting her here. One day I will also take credit for her being famous.
   
9. Saul was speaking Hebrew at the end of Homeland Season 2 - not Arabic. Don't worry - this isn't a spoiler. If you haven't seen the finale, you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. But once you do, you will realize it's crucial to know the difference.
   
10. I do not yet have the will power to make cookies and not eat all of them in one sitting. Further, I do not yet have the will power to make cookie dough, freeze the remainder for a "rainy day," and not make that "rainy day" be tomorrow.
    
11. Married friends make your marriage so much better. And easier to deal with. This is such a huge revelation it will have to be a post of it's own one day.
    
12. I love all the crazy, fun, delightful people I meet at weddings that I then become "friends" with. Even if it is mostly through facebook, my life is fuller because of them.
    
13. I am no longer a grammar-Nazi. Let others who remember grade-school grammar more clearly, and with more energy take over. I am happy to silently judge.
    
14. Three weeks is too long to go without seeing my nephew.
    
15. I saw this quote on Pinterest "shitty situations inspire brilliant solutions." Let's hope so -- maybe we can avoid another 20 elementary school children being executed.

My brilliance for today's post ends there.

Baking is Sexy

It's a fairly common belief there are two types of people:

Those that love to cook. And those that love to bake. 

I'm sure there are a few wildcards, but I do find that this theory seems to be mostly true. I bet you can guess which category I fall into. Yes - give me enriched flour and white sugar any day, and I will make your dreams come true.

There is something so beautiful about baking, that I don't find in cooking. Baking is messy in a pretty way - spilled sugar and flour, and a little bit of sticky egg whites, doesn't make my teeth grind like raw meat juices and veggie scraps. I dread cleaning up after cooking, which is 80% of why I don't like it. The other 20% is because I'm not good at it.

It's no surprise that my Type-A mind prefers the precise weighing and measuring of baking. The fact that I can taste-test practically the whole way through the recipe also wins points. I find utter delight in pulling something, that was just 10 minutes before a ball of wet dough, out of the oven perfectly browned and smelling sweetly. And of course, the inevitable enjoyment of each concoction just takes the cake (har har).

Baking also brings up memories of standing on a stool, licking the spoon, and sharing a special moment with my mother. It takes me romantically back to my youth, while at the same time makes me feel cultured, sophisticated, elegant, and beautiful. I can imagine that any woman, no matter how much flour she has down her front, or chocolate smeared on her face, is sexy.

Enjoy the video, my sweets!

Vœux Art'UP 2013 from Art-UP on Vimeo.

Facebook Free

If you're reading this, and you linked in from Facebook: be not alarmed! It is possible to share a blog post without actually checking my newsfeed.

People, sometimes our lives need perspective. I've started this post at least three different ways, and perspective is what I ended up with. Lord, help me. I need it. I need it every day of my life.

In an effort to substantially reduce my reliance on Facebook for entertainment and social networking, and just to refocus my priorities, I'm attempting to go Facebook-free for the month of February. I'm not going to be a Nazi about it; I accept that our society has come to a point where some things are inescapable. Some business is only managed on Facebook, as sad and depraved as that really, truly is. I have to face the fact that Facebook is free advertising and networking for my small business, and it would be bad for me to completely walk away from that for a month. However, I'm going to try to avoid all personal interaction. Really try. Yesterday was day one, and it was weird. Today was day two, and it was difficult, but easier than I expected. Do you have any idea how many times I had a mental response to something I read, overheard, or witnessed that I immediately wanted to status update?

It was gag-inducing.

Okay, sometimes I smirked. I'll have to "be okay" with finding myself funny without needing an audience to laugh with me (or at me), for at least a month. When I think about all the other really important things people have to give up every day, I believe I can manage not having a laughing audience. (And that's an exaggeration, anyway. I seriously doubt people even chuckle at most of what I say. I'm not a funny person.)

I can't believe I live my life thinking in Facebookisms! I made sure to do simple things like delete the FB app from my iphone and the bookmarked link on my browser, which has helped immensely. I must have unlocked my phone 30-40 times only to realize, I had no FB to check up on. My hope is by the end of the month I will feel so free from constant updates and notifications and statuses that I will not reinstall the app on my phone, and will only spend a small amount of time "catching up with people" (because that is how we ALL try to justify it) from my actual computer.

I'm embarrassed. Like really repulsed by myself. The only reason I'm sharing this is because I think it will hold me accountable. Actually, it already has. Today I had to check an event date on FB, and almost without thinking I responded to something in my notifications, and almost immediately my sister texts me "What happened to no Facebook?" Shit. Caught red-handed. It's okay. I'm not going to receive thrashings or time outs.... just snarky reminder texts! Good for her - that is exactly what I wanted people to do.

This all started a few weeks ago when I said to a friend - who will remained unnamed - "I'm so depressed at how much time I spend looking at other people's lives, and not living my own." Well, that's a little smarter-sounding than what I said. I think what I really said was "I hate how much time I spend on FB. Like, I don't even LIKE it! It's stupid! It's boring!" Then I mentioned I'd been thinking of giving FB up for Lent. Neither of us were sure when Lent actually started. Or when it ended. So I settled on the month of February, and she started immediately. However, this friend was smarter than I - and decided not to announce her departure, so people wouldn't freak out when she accidentally commented or posted a picture. Go friend.

Also, I had a lot more to say about perspective -- I spent all afternoon reading a mother's blog about her infant's struggles with spina bifida. That was what led me to "perspective." Giving up Facebook? No biggie. -- but in an effort to keep my posts shorter, less rambly, and more readable, I'll leave it at that for today.

Perspective.