Everything is too much; let's start with just a little bit. Home from a glorious weekend in Vancouver with little more on my agenda than relaxing in the tub, dinner with an old friend, and oh wait that's right, coordinating a new friend's wedding at an art gallery. Did it... Continue reading

...That I return to what I know, the blog, the way of dumping words on a page with both hope and hesitance--hope that you will read them, the hesitation over how much to share and when--but the urge to spill it all out has been nagging at me for weeks... Continue reading

My resolutions list last year was pretty brief, I'm sure it had something to do with eating local and HFCS-free (with which we did reasonably well if you disregard our late-November grape soda binge), and probably also about exercising (snore, what a cliché), and surely something about finishing knitting projects (sort of accomplished) but the one that I can remember most clearly without going back and looking at my (password-protected) former blog was "BLOG MORE". Which I ceased doing entirely in July. Twitter saw most of my blather-traffic for the remainder of the year, and photographic documentation of my life... Continue reading

Ugh, pass. I will give the WORST ad to anything that Sprint did. All of the fake data and fast-talking and black-yellow-gray made my head hurt. Well, maybe Sprint was best runner up after the intractably despicable singing Fr33 Cr3d1t R3port ads. You know what I'm talking about. Those are terrible. Continue reading

I know this will make some people go OH MY GOD WHAT A LOSER, SHE STILL LIKES SNL??!?! but man, this one made me laugh so hard I cried. I know there was another sketch at some point this year that had the same effect but obviously it wasn't as funny to me because I can't remember what it was. So here you go: (Now you know why I keep singing about knives, knives, all types of knives!) Continue reading

Another kind of trite prompt, but it turns out these are the easiest for me to answer: The inside has a dachshund, of course. I should buy up all the stock there is left at Crane.com and send these holiday cards for the REST OF MY LIFE. Continue reading

I like the internets a lot, and the internets tend to like me. I spend an embarrassing amount of time on both Flickr and Twitter and Ravelry and actually, those three things might have been what kept me sane in the totally mental first half of the year, and kept me entertained during the latter, more enjoyable half of the year. They're how I keep in touch, document my days, remember how many skeins of handdyed alpaca-silk blend laceweight yarn I have (only two, shh), and I'm pretty sure that it's weird to my parents (and my brother) but when... Continue reading

My answer to this prompt is too similar to Learning Experience(s) so I'm going to substitute my own prompt: Best Movies Viewed In 2009. ...actually there is only one that I want to make note of, only one movie that held my attention in a way that I haven't felt since Jackie Brown, and that is Inglourious Basterds. Thank you, Quentin Tarantino, for making crazy, awesome, witty, violent, ridiculous movies that make my heart go boom. Continue reading

A new career direction, a new home office, lots of time with my husband, a bunch of vacations, an air conditioner during the heatwave, permission to look like a slob if I'm just staying home all day, those super-cute Miz Mooz shoes I keep talking about, yarn-a-plenty, forgiving myself for my holiday-related additional pudge. (It's been a good year for gifts, too.) Continue reading

This year was a big one for personal growth, I've already talked at length about what's gone on. Distilled down to bullet points, here's what I learned: Change is inevitable, and if you open your heart and mind to it, it's not as scary or painful as you think it will be. Independence is of greater value to me than stability. Realizing that was kind of mind-blowing. I need my own oxygen mask on first before I can help others apply theirs. This was a tough one--it was a good lesson to learn, but it made me feel kind of... Continue reading

I am not a web-fanatic in the sense that I seek out the new and untested. Sometimes I worry that I'm already becoming some crotchety old lady, unwilling to try to understand what the hell Google Wave is on about, or what Brizzly is, or how Tumblr is better than plain old blogging, or why someone would want to use Listorious or Klout or Twittzler or Kabloogie or whatever web 2.0 bullshit is being promoted in sidebars or on sponsored blog posts. (just typing that made my head hurt. Which ones are real and which did I make up? WE... Continue reading

...can I just say my own? Continue reading

Hands down, the Morning Portrait project: Mornings are generally easy for me now that there is no rush to get up before I'm ready, dash through a morning routine, hurry to pick up my carpool buddy and then get into the office by 8:30. Our bed is a cozy haven, and these photos feel more honest than most that I take of myself, no shield beyond the sheets and maybe once in a while some pajamas. This is me, foggy-brained and fuzzy-headed, before coffee, with last night's makeup on, with last night's dreams still lingering in my mind. This is... Continue reading

I like gathering people to join my little tribe. This year didn't hold many entirely-new-never-met-before people, but I did find my friendships flourishing and feel so lucky for it. Probably the only NEW-new person is my career counselor, Diane. She has been such a positive influence for me--supportive and encouraging of my plans and always able to inspire the strong, confident behaviors that are sometimes scarce when I get overwhelmed by what-if-I-can't. She's a consultant and long-time small business owner and she recognizes in me what it takes to make this work. If she thinks I can, then it must... Continue reading

This one made me lose my blogging mojo. It feels redundant for me because so many of my awesome trips this year were roadtrips, or at least trips that heavily featured car rides. I loved all of them (even 20 excruciatingly long hours driving through Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah to get to Nevada and then 9 more hours going back through Nevada and Utah to get to our destination in Arizona...and then doing it all in reverse. Plus the stomach flu.) but I guess my favorite would be either the second trip Megan and I made to Portland, where... Continue reading

It feels so, so shallow to say it, but this shop improved my life by at least 50%. Not because the products are miraculous, and not because they are working to benefit the earth or the world or starving children in third-world countries, but because I fucking love the grocery store and Amazon Fresh keeps me from going bonkers. If I'm just ordering the basics from a website, if there's no sensory explosion--stinky cheeses and glowingly beautiful seasonal produce and perfect, crusty baguettes and and and--then I just get what I need and move on. Being able to search only... Continue reading

Er. I don't think I have one that is specific to this year? Maybe I'm not thinking hard enough, or maybe my coffee hasn't kicked in yet or maybe...nope, I think I just don't have an answer for this one. BLOG FAIL. Continue reading

I'm a die-hard coffee girl, this question is totally uninspiring to me. I guess it was the ginger tea that Miranda suggested when I was dying from the stomach flu. It definitely helped me stay hydrated after days of barfing and tentative-stomach. You know that feeling, right? When you've been totally sick to your stomach and just the idea, the suggestion of food as a concept makes you think that just maaaaybe you're going to throw up again. (did all the mention of vomit make you feel like you have tentative-stomach and maybe you want to throw up now? go... Continue reading

I'm with Joe on this one: the best packaging is no packaging at all. I hate hate hate plastic blister-packs that are impossible to open, I hate how Christmas means garbage bag after garbage bag of paper that will just be recycled (don't talk to me about how I LOVE wrapping the presents and make them look pretty, the irony is not lost on me. I am PAYING for paper that is just RECYCLED a week later.) and I really, really wish that the bag boy at our local QFC would learn to put more than three things in a... Continue reading

President Obama's Inauguration: Continue reading

(I hope you have that Crowded House song stuck in your head now, too.) I wanted to wait to post this until my office was no longer full of Christmas gifts waiting to be wrapped, half-unrolled wrapping paper, ribbons and bows and empty tape dispensers...but it's going to be a while, folks. Also there is the issue of what I'm putting on the newly painted walls. I've hung my vintage Lana Gatto print, purchased at an outdoor market in Lucca when we were there in 2005. The framed Jeff Tweedy tour posters from 2006 are up. Everything else? TEE BEE... Continue reading

I'm thinking that this topic, above all others, is the most challenging. I am rarely shy of palate and will pretty much put anything in my mouth at least once. (Go ahead, call my bluff.) I'm not a huge fan of brain, tongue or heart, and red curries are welcome to take their leave, but other than that? There's a simple questionnaire for finding out whether I'll like something: 1) IS IT FOOD? 2) IS IT DELICIOUS? ...then yes. So a new food that I have only discovered this year? Maybe I am just too full of foodennui (yes that... Continue reading