Strange

The writing prompt for March is about "strange" or "strangers" ... that could be fun, but not 31 posts fun, so this should be my final forced post for a while. Perhaps I'll have something to write about every day in March, but I doubt it.

There is a soothing sense of accomplishment by doing something regularly -- a habit that becomes a ritual. And writing is something I want to keep up with, although perhaps not these throwaway posts that don't really stretch my skills or imagination.

Recapping my life is great and I can imagine myself as an old lady reading back through these posts and being able to remember exactly how I felt when I wrote them, not knowing what will happen next, the way I feel now when I read back over old journals. Who knows what technology will be like in 50+ years.

The snow is melting -- everything is slushy and wet and I bet the piles will be gone by week's end because it's so warm. The weather may send more snow though, so I'll just keep going with the flow. Either way I'm an inside girl almost all the time.

Thanks for reading this February, and I'm sure you'll see me writing in March (if nothing else to express my joy over March Madness and/or the thrill of getting through yet another year's "Super Tuesday" at work). OMG.

Memory Reset

My memory is a funny thing. I saw an Ikea commercial sometime before Christmas -- only saw it once (it has since been aired much more often) -- but I was CONVINCED that I'd seen the actress playing the wife before, and I had a feeling it was at a play Shawn and I had seen. I searched and searched for who she was based on the commercial (it's the one with her and a red haired husband talking to their mattress like they're sports coaches). Although that search was fruitless, several months later I finally figured it out.

I saw her in The Good Guy last Sunday and figured I would be able to find her name, and I was right. She's Kathy Searle, which I figured out by looking up The Good Guy on IMDB. Then I searched for her name, found her website and ta da -- listed right there on the home page: Just wrapped the 2 and 1/2 year run of the Off Broadway hit "My First Time" directed by Ken Davenport. 

It's been a while since Shawn and I saw that play, but for whatever reason her face and voice stuck with me, but I couldn't place where I had seen her. Mystery solved!

Closing

February is coming to a close, and I can say I'm glad for that. I won't try to do a NaBloPoMo again until November I think.

Last night I went with Kellie to see Shutter Island. Creepy and the more I think about it the more I like it. We also ate at Spice, and it was certainly spicy Thai food!

Shawn's flight was canceled, so he's been rebooked for tonight ... will be home around 11 p.m. I guess another lazy day alone won't kill me. AH!

Shawn also reminded me that he was gone to Norway longer than he's been gone on this trip. I had been thinking this was the longest we'd been apart. Not sure why it feels that way. I can't even remember what I did when he was gone to Norway. Maybe there was better TV on, and certainly work was less stressful at that point.

The snow is still piled up here, but no more falling. The white blobs are nice, and kids seem to be having a lot of fun playing in the big open playgrounds of snow. I'm sure Washington Square Park would be fun -- if it weren't overrun with construction and mostly cordoned off. Oh well.

Giving up on listening to this NYU women's basketball game. Just a slaughter AND the announcers aren't really clear about the game -- all they do is cheer for their team, not really calling the plays. So awful.

And I have to go out and get cash for the laundry card. GRETCH!

Buried Snowman


Last night I made a mini snowman with the snow accumulated on the air conditioner. If I'd had coffee beans or mini carrots I would have decked him out, and it was all I could do to keep from crocheting him a mini cap. (Can you tell I'm going stir crazy without Shawn?)

Anyway, this morning I woke up and my poor snowman is neck-deep in fresh powder! It's a winter wonderland here and NYU is closed again. The gym closes at ~5 p.m. today, so it's a good thing I went yesterday and decided to take today off!

Wiggle It

I was crossing off an item on my to do list (things are crazy enough that I'm creating a new one each day), and I started scribbling a bit -- just an up and down motion that led to a small flood of color. The motion and resulting scribble reminded me of a pen I had that would vibrate on its own and create squiggles while I wrote. I'm sure it was a late 80s/early 90s thing, but wouldn't you know Amazon has it.

While I know I would enjoy owning a squiggle writer again, I also thought it might be a fun toy for Owen of which Shawn could approve (although perhaps when learning to write it's not ideal to have your writing implement wiggle violently?).

Off to the gym, since I'll probably take tomorrow off. (One good thing about living in relative isolation is that people will be able to tell the difference/appreciate the results after not seeing me for a few months.) The snow should be fun to trudge through. The snowfall has been absolutely stunning today and it was impossible for me to be as grumpy as I have been the rest of this week.

Smiley for that reason AND because Shawn comes home tomorrow!

FREE Lance

Emphasis on the free.

Doing some donated work on a brochure for my church. It's harder than it seems and gave up on trying to do it in Word. These people will just have to make due with a PDF and I can make their changes until they're happy. Oiy!

And thinking about this title and Lance made me remember my most embarrassing high school moment -- when I hooted and hollered over a baseball player (opposing team), not knowing that his dad was sitting nearby in his truck and heard everything. I was at least 4 years younger than the player, but it was so humiliating. I still blush a little when I think about it. The dad called me out and I just ran away mortified. But I never did anything like that again!

The player's name was (is?) Lance.

That's all you get for tonight. Until tomorrow.

Five of Five

It's a perfect storm -- everything at work crashing all at once. Such is life, but this is the fifth blog post I've written today.

It's a special day for two of my favorite people who also happen to be readers of this blog: my mom and friend Holly. Funny that they share a birthday.

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück.

It's been raining today, which I'm pretty sure is my favorite kind of weather. I didn't even mind trudging through it to the gym (although my pants soaked up a ton of water). It's cold and grey and soggy. Very Eeyore-ish.

At the gym I felt like calling the locker room police, which isn't unusual, as I'm always ticked off about something going on in there. Usually the offenses are to my senses -- i.e., please don't wander around naked in front of me, old lady or the smell of chlorine is so strong I think I have singed my nose hairs -- or puddles of water because swimmers refuse to take their towels with them to the pool and instead traipse in to their locker, dripping. It's disgusting! Today my complaint was the number of lockers that were filled with stuff (in some cases a single umbrella) without locks. And they were TOP lockers. Geez. I think I'm a little too ... too. But I didn't steal anything!

I'm looking forward to Monday, which will be the end of NaBloPoMo. I'm not feeling particularly inspired or writerly of late. Just pouring out some things out of my head and nothing else. I should revisit my "ties" post ideas and make some of those happen to finish out these last few posts. I'll believe it when I see it.

Chain Chew

One in a chain of no-good days, and today one way I combated the stress was with a chain of gum. Some people chain smoke, apparently I chain chew. I've only allowed myself one pack, but I've certainly buzzed through it, spitting out the gum almost as fast as it gets in my mouth and definitely before it loses its flavor.

Hello, Sunday

Lazy days. But I still got to church and a gym run. Will try to catch a movie -- something Shawn wouldn't want to see.

Thought I would need to work today, but after an e-mail check got the good news that everything can be handled tomorrow.

On the way back from church/to the gym I stopped at K&G Fashions. I almost bought two more suits and a really cute lacy skirt. (I bought a pinstripe skirt/jacket combo at Penney's last weekend.) The two suits today would have cost together the same as the one I bought last week (the one last week was $45, so we're not talking big bucks here). One was a purple jacket and skirt (the skirt hit at a very cute length), and the other was a pinstripe pant, vest and white shirt combo. (The lacy skirt was cute, but the lining was still super see-through.)

My reasoning against the purchase included: I have too many clothes I don't wear anyway; I don't have much reason to dress up and have plenty of clothes that will work for the dressing up I need to do in the near future; any clothes I buy now will theoretically/hopefully not fit me in a few months, so certainly doesn't make sense to make that investment; the white shirt w/ the pinstripe pants/vest was super see-through and had weird bell sleeves (if I could have just bought the vest I would have -- because that looked great); and can I really buy a PURPLE suit? I've owned a purple car, I have on purple pants, I have a purple cord jacket, a number of purple scarves, etc. etc. So it's not like I'm a stranger to surrounding myself with my favorite hue. But something about a purple suit. I just couldn't do it, even at $15.

Shawn will be proud of my spending restraint!

silvermari writes

I read the Mouthy Housewives almost every day. And they recently had a guest blogger, so I clicked over to her site. On her sidebar I saw this "she writes" group, clicked on it and realized it's a ning group for writers. I'm trained as a writer/reporter, although I don't report in any fashion anymore I do write, albeit for myself. Still, I have a Ning ID and was able to join, with my blog as my "reference" I guess -- to show that I do write. So I'm glad for that.


Visit She Writes

Shawn just left for his conference in Minnesota. Nothing more to report on that just now, but I'm sure as the week progresses I'll get crazier and crazier.

Last night we had Crab Stuffed Salmon, a FreshDirect dish I hadn't ordered before. YOWZA it was good. And cheap -- for $12 we had two beautiful pieces of fish STUFFED with crab, and all I had to do was pop them in the oven to cook. We ate with a salad and were quite satisfied. I'll be adding that to my regular shopping order, and it was as easy to fix as a frozen pizza ... or fish sticks ... or any number of pop-in-the-oven treats that we don't really eat anymore.

HA -- I just got a comment on my last post, anonymously of course, and possibly spam, given the odd syntax and typo:
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
Isn't that kind of what I've been dealing with/thinking about "out loud" in this space? Whatever the case, yes, I know that the way I write now and the content is not attractive to a wide audience. And right now that's OK by me. We'll see if I ever come up with any truly interesting content. I highly doubt it.

Contagious

I woke up this morning determined to change my reactions, to keep a positive attitude and spread that infectiously.

It's COB, and while I've had my moments of frustration, today has been a vast improvement over yesterday in terms of melt downs and overall productivity. It's helped by the fact that Shawn is home, but help us all as he'll be gone ALL next week at a conference. Egads!

Decided I do want to keep my notes from the AW service:
  • Lent is a season of confession and change. From facade to faith. From resolutions to reality.
  • It is a lifelong endeavor to be Christian. When people tell Maya Angelou that they are Christian, she responds "Already?!" It is in the search itself that one finds ecstasy.
  • And how about the best Good News: Nothing can separate me from God's love through Jesus Christ.
A perfectly silver white hair was on my desk today -- definitely mine and definitely one of many. I'm truly becoming SILVERMari, although my hair has been greying since teen years. I remember Pam mentioning it when she cut my hair ... that I'd have to start coloring early. I've dappled in hair dye in the past, but my hair as it is now is natural, in that any dye I may have put in it would have long ago grown out.

Frazzly

At the gym tonight it was student night, or something. All-university games I think? Maybe something riffing on the Olympics. Anyway, the place was crawling with students in brightly colored, matching team shirts. There were signs along the railings with themes that matched the teams' shirts, so I think it must have been Greek night or something.

ANYWAY, the teams were SO loud cheering for each other it was deafening. And all I could think was why can't the students get around and cheer for their actual athletic teams?!

Got a new pair of workout pants, and that's all my news for today. Cheers. (now if only I had a drink.)

To Dust You Shall Return

Working from top of the morning to the end of the evening. I did have a 4 hour break in there when I left for the chiropractor and Ash Wednesday service. I finally gave up after a few final tasks at 9 p.m. Kind of ridiculous, but if I didn't knock them out tomorrow would be even worst than it probably will be.

"Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." I would write more about the experience but I realize that is sort of like practicing my piety before others in order to be seen, even though that isn't my intent. (See Mathew 6:1-6) But at the same time I want to share those experiences, so catch-22.

I webcammed with the sweetest baby boy tonight, who isn't so much a baby as a 5-year-old Kindergarten kid! And now I'm webcamming with Shawn, although it's one-sided. I can hear him, but he can see and hear me. I'm not that interesting -- typing away on a blog post to get it done. He's working on the Mensa calendar puzzle -- I held it up to the camera and he took a screen shot. Are we nerds or what?!

I rode the bus home from church -- down 5th Avenue. One of my favorite trips in the city. Cheap too. I like seeing all the windows and bustling people (yes, people are always bustling here, be it Sunday morning or a Wednesday night).

Tomorrow Shawn will be home, if only for a couple days before his next big trip. That is all I can muster for today.

Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain (Paperback) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was amazing, up to the end. The book has been sitting on my shelf for years. I think I bought it on a discount somewhere. I got swept up in the story and pulled into Civil War history. I read the paragraphs quickly, drinking them in like water -- excited to get to the presumable happy ending. Of course it didn't happen, and it seemed like a FORCED bad ending ... because the bad part was out of character and almost off track, at least in my mind.

If it weren't the middle of the night when I finished it I would have thrown it across the room. Other than the ending the book was amazing. I think I might even rewatch the movie ... and hope that Hollywood gave it a happy ending. Eh.

View all my reviews

Frosted Window Panes

Absolutely nothing exciting today. Woke up a little early because Shawn left for his next interview, the one rescheduled from last week. He'll be home on Thursday, but then he flies out again on Friday for a conference and is gone for almost a full week. Yikes!

The entire day was grey and overcast, with lots of fluffy snow falling down. It melted upon impact for most of the day (although late afternoon there was slight accumulation that has since turned into slush), but from my vantage point on the 8th floor it was a lovely sight.

After an especially stressful workday, I certainly didn't want to go to the gym today, but the days you don't want to go the most are the days you NEED to go the most, so I mustered the energy to go. The gym is still so crowded with students. I don't remember it being as busy last semester. But I guess NYU students getting healthy is a good thing. But I'd rather not have to jockey for position in the locker room ... or wait in line to exercise. That seems a little ... off point or something?

I've been pondering goals for this space. Writing, blogging, journaling, chronicling. I am my target audience, although secondary audiences include my family and a few IRL friends who know about this blog. But should I pick a topic and try to flex my writing muscles? Write about more than myself? And for audiences beyond my small circle?

It's not like I need another project or really want to. I'm just letting that tumble around in my head a little. I also want to do some site work with regard to silvermari.com, which hasn't been updated in over a year. I may even install a WordPress blog and port silvermari & the city into that format. I've also been thinking about possible blog renaming if/when we move from the city. something to play on the reflective nature of my initials. Not sure I'm ready to make that kind of WordPress commitment, but it wouldn't hurt to have a more solidified online presence on my URL.

And then I think about URL. I own silvermari.com, that's where I have my random attempt at a languishing vanity site (and where I hosted my wedding information/pictures). But should I do something using my real life name? There's an author Mari Walker, so she has the .com of the URL, but it seems the .net and .org versions are available (neither of which really appeal to me). marijwalker.com seems open, but that isn't right either. Also, if I were ever to integrate/leverage Facebook, that vanity URL is silvermari, although I'm sure I could do a redirect w/in a new URL'ed site to my profile.

I can't get away from it. I AM silvermari. It's a somewhat ridiculous screen name I picked as a ~14 year old, but it is me. So just writing that out and looking at the options of URLs makes me think silvermari.com is the ticket. Feel free to disagree but I might just delete you. (Like I said, I write for me!)

Thoughts of a nothing-girl for now.

Oh, Bobby!

My cousin is in town this week, and she and I made plans to meet up for lunch today, since I have the day off work (it's only 4 p.m. and I've already worked out!). We met at Cozy's, for lack of a better suggestion, but I got there a little early and she was going to be late. For whatever reason I can't hear my phone ringing ... EVEN WHEN IT'S IN MY HAND. I'm suspecting that it didn't ring at all, but whatever.

I got a voice mail from her that was a little garbled, but I suddenly got the idea that she was at Cosi, up Broadway about 8 blocks. (We had used Strand as the reference point, and Cosi is much closer than Cozy.) So for lack of anything better to do, and to get my blood pumping after standing in the cold for 30 minutes, I hightailed it up there. I went in Cosi and looked around, didn't see her and decided to go back to Cozy.

Across the street, by the movie theater, who do I spy?

My Holy Grail of celebrity sightings...

Vincent D'Onofrio. [wikipedia]

ZOMG. Crap on a cracker. And all the excitement in the world!

He was not filming or in character. He was smoking a cigarette, leaning on a newspaper box and looking very grizzly. Smoking hot (literally). Anyway, I was NOT smooth, and the recognition on my face caught his eye, even across the street. He looked at me, I looked at him. He smoked, I looked at my phone, trying to decide how rude it would be to try to take a picture.

In the end I decided too rude, and he moved away from my line of sight as the light turned green and traffic ran in front of me.

I booked it back to Cozy, arriving just as Jenn did, and we had a lovely lunch. Although the food isn't spectacular, it is cheap and the company could NOT be beat! I forget how much I like people and being around them! Ha-ha!

And the delay in connecting and the garbled voice message were all in the plan to let me see Mr. D'Onofrio, me thinks.

I wish I'd taken the picture though.

The Look...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't have many ruminations for this post. We just watched another loss ... the NYU women's last home game of the season. Possibly (probably?) the last we'll ever see. Such is life.

We're planning to take a brief shopping trip just for something to do. I have tomorrow OFF work so am most looking forward to sleeping in. Hopefully I'll be able to put thoughts together for an actual content-rich post tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

Bedlammo!

How 'bout those Cowboys? WOW. My workout today went so much faster and easier because I was watching the first half of that game. Amazing! I guess that somewhat soothes the NYU women's team loss to Chicago last night.

I've got a lot of things done today -- errand types: bank, post office, drug store, gym. When I work out on the elliptical I usually read a magazine and listen to music. The number of magazine subscriptions I have is a little ridiculous, but of the ones I read I've started to find I enjoy the women's magazines targeted to families. Instead of Cosmo and Glamour I like Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping.

Here is an ad spread I found particularly funny ... and it was in Glamour - the one with Posh on the cover!

 

There's no way they don't go together, because they don't make sense without the other. I love it! It's the little things in my life.

Busted

At coles watching the women get their butts beat. Sad.

Via my iPod cuz Shawn has a log in.

Hatin on the refs and ready for this to be over.

Optional Hair Styles

Picture 1: my hair after washing, blowdrying after about an hour of air drying and then sleeping on it. Lots of body but OH-SO-SHORT! (My teeth are not that white -- it's clearly a factor of the webcam and blurring the teeth together or something.)

 
Picture 2: Later that same day, my hair after being flattened with my Chi straightener. Serious rocker face, right? LOVE the razor-ed ends, so I know it will grow out and I'll grow to love it. 

My hair seems a little LESS short, although still shocking my system to see it so chopped, especially the random 3 inch section at my crown. Alfalfa moment for real. This flat it will fit in a ponytail, although so short and the hair around the nape of my neck isn't long enough to fit.

Temperament

Learned something today -- I would have bet money that temperment was how that word was spelled. (I wrote it in a blog comment and the little red squiggly line led me to look it up). The correct spelling reminds me of tempura and tempera paints. But the more you know ... or something.

Starbucks sent me (and I'm sure thousands of others) an intriguing e-mail about a coffee delivery service. Unfortunately it's not a daily latte-delivery service, but rather whole/ground coffee delivery. I love the idea, but alas as a single coffee drinker (Shawn doesn't even really like the smell, can you IMAGINE?!), it doesn't seem feasible. Although I AM tempted because of the offer of a free red French Press pot for new signups.

Lately I've been digging Mud Truck coffee, which seems to be available only in NYC and possibly ONLY at Morton Williams (there's one by the gym). The Mud Trucks themselves are visible in my neighborhood, but I've never actually got a cuppa from one. Anyway, my last purchase accidentally was whole beans rather than my pre-ground laziness of late. I have a grinder, so no big deal, just an additional step each day. And I'm sort of thinking it does make a difference/the coffee tastes better. Not sure I'll restock with whole beans on my next grocery stop.

I mentioned Etsy a couple posts ago, and today read an article about PicClick, which has a page for Etsy that allows for visual shopping. You put in a keyword (might I suggest purple jewelry?) and then see all that the site has to offer. You can even limit the price range.

The federal government, and therefore my office, are still closed today. But I'm still working and making relatively reasonable progress on my projects, including a great interview today that almost made me miss reporting. I am looser with personal blogging time (as evidenced by the published times on this week's entries), but unlike what a co-worker suggested, I will NOT be working over the weekend to make up for the time others did not work this week.

 
The single snow picture I took yesterday -- of a fence on Mercer on the way to the gym.

Flat hair shots may come later today, or maybe I'll save for tomorrow. Meh.

Pixilate You

Beth, as viewed via webcam tonight. One of us was having a slow connection that came and went.

What Did You Expect

The snow has been underwhelming. While beautiful during the day, it seems to have stopped and probably the roads will be clear in the morning. We'll see. Not that it impacts me in any measurable way.

Shawn's flight did get canceled, so that trip is rescheduled for next week.

Things in DC, however, are probably not as good ... and I expect the office to be closed again tomorrow. I have a lot of griping to do about that, but won't do any good, so there's that.

The gym closed early today, so I took advantage of the "officially closed" work status to go work out a few hours early. Offsetting the time by still working right now, but better than not exercising at all.

All for now.

Model Citizen

I'm not a model employee, but I do OK. Example: the office has been closed since 1:30 p.m. on Friday. It hasn't affected my work situation other than it being much, much slower than normal. I will say it's been very tempting to turn off the e-mail, grab my crochet hook and watch my backlog of DVR'ed shows. I haven't done that ... yet. :)

Today I was another kind of model -- a hair model at the BBU project, where stylists from around the country come to NYC to learn the Bumble & Bumble techniques. I've had a free cut there before, and there were last minute slots available for today, so I signed up again. The goal: get rid of the triangle Supercuts cut I subjected my hair to.

I'm not as excited about this cut as I was about the first one. Mostly because it's SO much shorter. I mean, Little Orphan Annie, or serious MOM hair (which I'd be all about if I actually had a baby, but that's a topic for a non-public facing blog and personal conversations). But hair grows, and mine grows exceedingly fast. And I'd never know how my hair looked so short if I hadn't cut it! Shawn hasn't seen it yet, so we'll see what he thinks. I think it's even too short for a workout ponytail. Eeek!

I did before/after shots again. Let me know what you think. I know it will grow fast, that I can style it to be less round AND that it will look banging when it's straight (and I'll actually have long fringy bangs if I want - the hair in the front is THAT short).

 

 

Am I a little too hair obsessed?! It's only for today.

Brief weather update: the walk to/from the salon (it's on W 13th, near the Hudson River ... so quite a hike) it was GORGEOUS -- sunny and low 40s. They say the snow is coming, but we'll see. Shawn has travel plans for tomorrow so I hope whatever comes doesn't impact air travel. Although being snowed in with Shawn doesn't sound like the worst thing!

Already Pretty: A Head to Toe

I really like the blog Already Pretty. I probably share a post from there once or twice a month. The author is just very good at writing pro-body, pro-love yourself posts without seeming sappy or icky.

I also scan a lot of sartorial blogs, which seem to be the ticket in NYC -- people love to blog about their daily outfits and record their clothing choices. I'm down with that, but clearly I could never aspire to being a fashion blogger like that (in part because my work-from-home routine means jeans and T-shirts at almost all times). Sometimes I wear a something cute (at least cute to me) and I want to take a picture of it. This was one of those times -- a dress for church on the one Sunday it wasn't bitterly cold.

I used the Gorillapod tripod that my mother-in-law gave Shawn as part of his post-Christmas Christmas gifting to capture the shot on my own. The shoes aren't visible, so I took a separate picture of them. LOVE!

Dress: grey and black paisley, Bijou-Bijou/JC Penney
Camisole: Old Navy
Tights: We Love Color
Shoes: Aerosoles at DSW

Cupcake March


Cupcake March
Originally uploaded by silvermari
The pattern was dense – and I am convinced there are either a few mistakes OR I misunderstood (probably the latter). I left the errors in, considering it to look more handmade. Plus the laciness of it all hid anything serious.

I am IN LOVE with this yarn though – the name (cupcake), the color name (sugar plum) and the color itself. Not to mention that it didn’t split or pill and just worked up beautifully. Really happy with how the entire project turned out.

I hope the intended recipient will like it as much as I do -- I still need to wash it, block it and get it in the mail. And I'm torn about whether to send directly to the mom-to-be or to orchestrate its gifting at the baby shower.

In the Family

My mom's sister has an Etsy site (actually both her sisters are collaborating on it): JustKilnMeCeramics. Check it out and purchase some pottery if you're in the market for such things. Or just enjoy the artful photography of the pieces.

I am quite fortunate to have several JustKilnMe originals -- my favorite coffee mug (which I broke the handle off of, then glued back together), a cup I use to hold change, a vase and a jewelry holder.

Floral Prose

From The New York Times: A Storm Part Crippling and Part Enchanting:
A blizzard that had forecasters reaching for superlatives engulfed the nation’s capital and the mid-Atlantic states on Saturday with record snowfalls that paralyzed transportation, commerce and all but emergency services. But it transformed the weekend into an enchanted snowbound adventure for millions.
Starts out promising (that's the lede) -- but then it just goes off the rails, using the very superlatives that the writer makes fun of weathermen for using in their excitement about being in the spotlight:
The hard edges of Washington were softened as the snow recast the capital of monuments and malls into a postcard town of soft ice cream shapes that had been statues and aerodynamic blobs that had been parked cars: the buried machines of a lost civilization. The Capitol and the White House vanished in the whiteout, cross-country skiers appeared in parks and the Potomac was a grayish plate of pewter.
I kind of like the language, but so weird to see in the A-section of the Sunday Times, right? These types of paragraphs were peppered between straight-news writing with snowfall totals and service suspensions.

To be fair, I read to the end, although in part to make fun of it. And then I went and looked it up online so I could write about (and link to it) here ... so maybe the writing served its purpose. Here's the final graf, which rivals the "hard edges" paragraph for flowery writing:
On the National Mall in Washington, cross-country skiers and children on sleds moved through the storm like ghosts, padded and muffled to the eyes. Sounds were distant and subdued. The trees were magical: dark limbed, looped and netted, with flourishes of white lace. And in the distance, the Capitol standing like a sentinel in the storm.
Our weather in the city is bright and blustery. Very cold, but not dangerous. Although the Super Bowl is on in a few hours, Shawn and I are going to brave the bitter winds to try to see a movie, hoping that the game will mean the theater will be less crowded. I just hope my cough remains at bay. Quite tired of being sick.

Stye update: not any worse. Warm compresses may be helping, and the medication/ointment says it just alleviates symptoms of burning, itching or stinging, none of which I have. So I passed on paying $10 ... for now.

Conspire

I'm not feeling this February nablopomo, but I'm not sure how to stop, because I know I'll want to blog about some things at some point this month. I think I'm just in an overall funk.

Weather update: a light dusting of snow overnight. Nothing at all to speak of. It's very cold, but not bitter and the wind doesn't seem too high. The gym outing was fine -- pretty much my only foray outside every day, even when working. But that's another issue.

Health update: chest cold still lingering, although it hurts most in the mornings after sleeping. I don't necessarily feel BAD, but I'm not at the top of my game. Also a stye or something has cropped up on my left eyelid. It's worse than any I've had before (and they're kind of a regular occurrence), and it seems the entire eyelid is pink and more than just a spot is puffy. It impairs my vision a little bit, but nothing drastic. Certainly no contacts for me for a while, although I rarely wear them anymore it's nice to have the option. Also no eye makeup, although the same thing -- I hardly ever wear that. And the mascara I used the day before this cropped up will be tossed. Ugh.

If I want to be a writer I need to write. But I'm not sure I want to be a writer beyond what I am today. I would need focus and drive and IDEAS. Something key I believe to be lacking. For now I'll keep reading and consuming media, sometimes thinking "I could do better than that." Maybe someday I will. When will someday be? Eck.

Taking Advantage

It's Go Red for Women day, and I've got a great red sweater on that no one but Shawn and maybe some lady in the gym changing room will see.

Working from home is on my mind because this afternoon the DC office is closed for weather. The DC area is getting walloped with the winter weather, and the forecast says at least 2 feet of snow. It's perfectly clear here in the NYC, and aside from a slightly-chillier-than-normal apartment, my working conditions are unchanged (and would remain unchanged even in a blizzard, as long as power and cable internet held out).

So here's a review of a book I finished last night.

Rage Against the Meshugenah: Why it Takes Balls to Go Nuts Rage Against the Meshugenah: Why it Takes Balls to Go Nuts by Danny Evans
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Meh. There's some good writing in here, but this book lacked a cohesive narrative. It's a memoir, but it jumped back and forth. It definitely read like the blog that it was based upon.

View all my reviews

January Snow



I took this video last week (?) during the snowfall. More is expected this weekend, but I doubt it will be so lovely!

Still impatiently waiting. I have not prayed for patience, but I am praying for direction and resolution and MOSTLY for the people making the decisions that will impact our life so profoundly.

That's all I can muster just now and still make a post today.

Waiting for Nothing

 
This is a photo by Beth - at the prairie dog habitat (?) over Christmas break. Those are my clip in bangs.

My terrible haircut should be repaired by this time next Tuesday -- I'll get a free B&B haircut ... they just emailed to say they had a free slot, and I'm willing to allow a training stylist to fix the triangle. We'll see how that goes. I don't think I'll go for bangs, as that doesn't really go great with curly hair, but we'll see.

I'm not sure any of my Ties ideas will pan out into posts, but we'll see. For now just writing what I can when I can.

I finished the first of 4-5 baby blankets, and need to weave in ends before washing and photographing. But good times to make progress.

Edit, some more photos:

 

 


 

 

Tying Together Some Post Ideas

OK, going to do a brain dump (although that's mostly what I use this blog for) of blog post ideas using the "Ties" theme. Whether I'll actually write any or all of them remains another story.
  • Neck ties, first about the search for the perfect purple tie for the wedding and onto other types of neck wear (scarves, etc.)
  • Family Ties -- both the connections to my family (blood and married into) and the TV show!
  • Ties to a place -- a post I've been meaning to do anyway -- chronicling my moves since leaving the Big I -- probably using ZIP codes
  • Tying shoes -- different ways to do it (Shawn and I have a dispute over this)
  • Hair ties -- I'm always wearing my hair up, so I have plenty to say about this, including a recent find of a $1 headband at CVS that is ideal for working out (and even stays on my giant head!)
  • Ties to habits -- OCD and specific ways of doing things or ways of LOOKING at things (including myself)
  • Sporing event ties: overtime in basketball or football, tied up/jump ball (and applying that to stagnant life situations) and Tie goes to the Runner (or girlfriend, in Office parlance)
  • Tie that binds our hearts in Christian love (leapfrogging into favorite hymns)
  • Tie a ribbon around your finger to remember things ... about being forgetful -- I am STILL realizing people in I-town that I didn't send official wedding invitations to who should have received them, etc. There's also a really cute ribbon ring that I've wanted for a while that would be good to post.
  • Tied up can mean busy -- phone line (and write about my aversion to phoning ... it's a whole thing) or just life in general (I got tied up)
This probably shouldn't count for a post because I didn't actually WRITE write, but it's better than a poke in the eye, so there you go. Time for dinner, crochet and DiNozzo (did I mention he said "snarky" last week?! Be still my heart!)

    February Theme: Ties

    Not sure if I have the steam to go full out NaBloPoMo for February, "Ties," but the theme is intriguing, as is the idea of only 28 days.

    So I'll start today and see how it goes.

    Thinking about ties led me to ribbons, which led me to bows and the image on the left (the result of a Google Image search ... I don't own such a headband, and even if I did it would pop off my giant head).

    The more I think about it, there are actually a lot of things I could write about in the ties theme -- neckwear (choosing the ties for the wedding, then getting into other types of neckwear), ties of family, ties to work, ties to locations. I thought about it a bit while on the elliptical. We'll see if I can make it work, but I won't officially commit until I have a couple days of February written. This counts though.

    Also, I just received my typewriter love Valentines -- I ordered them on Etsy. I'm going to keep one for myself and frame it. That leaves me four to send. Even with shipping cheaper than buying four cards at Duane Reade, and they are SO.MUCH.CUTER.

    Ah, and the cards were inside a waxed paper envelope (much like the ones my Gma Jane would send stamps in) and TIED with a darling bit of twine.

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