Two Trailers

Where the Wild Things Are.

500 Days of Summer.

Rock. My. Socks.

Another List?

I had every intention of writing a non-list post.  Really, I did.  But then I wrote my Paroxi-Wife Wednesday post for Hardwood Paroxsym, and a post for Gouda Buddha Books, and now I am tired.  But I still have things to say, including:

- I am not sorry I voted for President Obama.  Please stop suggesting to me that I should be, or will be at some point in the future.

- As great as my new workplace is, I’m still struck with bouts of awkwardness and embarassment at possibly having said/done the wrong thing.

- I caved and bought books this past weekend even though one of my New Year’s Resolutions was no new books until April.  Still, two out of three months is pretty good, and if I keep it under control this month, then I’ll have done REALLY well over all, especially considering my genes and normal book-buying habits.

- Another New Year’s Resolution, to go back to cutting my sandwiches in half diagonally instead of straight down the middle, is going very well.  I was absolutely right: sandwiches in the shape of a triangle do taste better.

- I’m really pissed off about The Bachelor, and won’t be watching it anymore.  In fact, I had planned to donate an entire blog post to this topic, but a) sleep is more important and b) I have a feeling all of this uproar might have been exactly what those bastards wanted.

- House’s Season 4 finale rips your heart out, and I was not informed of this ahead of time: who dropped the ball?  I need to be prepped for things like this!

- I like being paid again, but man, it is taking my body awhile to adjust to the new sleep schedule.  Maybe my expectations are too high, or maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so comfortable sleeping in until 11:30 a.m., but either way, I’m coming home with not a lot of energy to do much of anything.  This “anything” includes: reading, writing, calling people on the phone, writing notes/letters, focusing on TV shows, catching up on my Google Reader, cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands, and tolerating pet squabbles.  Things I can do, however, include: shower, put on comfy pants, huddle under blankets and zone out.

- Along these lines, I feel like I’m keeping my head above water in terms of functioning, but hoping to pick it up quite a bit in the next few weeks.  I miss being productive.

- Working again is going to be bad for my weight, as well as my coffee intake.

- I have high hopes that spring will come sooner rather than later.

Random Musings

- 3:30 p.m. is too late for an interview.  There is too much time to think, prepare, brush my hair and question my clothes.

- Our basement is quite scary without lights working in the laundry room, and it makes me reluctant to wash clothes.

- I’m really loving watching Frasier on Netflix.  I needed a new sitcom.  Also, totally into House, and caught up to season 4.

- I’m going to be really irritated if they kill off Katherine Heigl on Grey’s.

- I finally opened a bag of Casi Cielo coffee, and now I need to make sure I buy another before it runs out.  It’s my favorite kind of Starbucks coffee, and only comes out once a year.

- If I can get to the DMV in the next two days, I will feel accomplished for the week.

- I am having trouble getting into a new book, so I am reading Nora Roberts.  And I can’-t write THAT up on Gouda Buddha Books.  Oy.  Need to focus soon.

- The dog loves her Kong toy.  Who knew?

Currently I Am

… watching Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix.

… reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

… remembering just how funny Arrested Development is.

… celebrating having made wonderful nachos in the oven!

… hoping my interview this week goes well.

… surprised it is already the last week in January.

… far too obsessed with my Google Reader.

… realizing there is a lot I’m not saying.  Hm.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Image via Design for Obama, which has awesome downloads available for free.

Is everyone having as great of a day as I am?  I’m so happy- this is when 2009 begins. 

Blogs In My Sleep

I’m having trouble falling asleep at “normal” times.  I’m reverting to how I was during my Starbucks days when I didn’t work until 1 p.m., and therefore it was not a problem when I was really inspired to write late at night. Even now, two years later, the question remains the same: do I stay in bed, try to sleep and hope the thoughts will still be there in the morning, or do I get up and type out all of the words in my head?

And it’s just how it used to be: words really are coming to my head, stringing themselves into sentences while I am closing my eyes.  I’m imagining entire blog posts, and the problem is I DON’T know that they’ll keep; I don’t know that I’ve ever been as good of a writer in the daytime as I’ve ever been at night.

But I am thankful that my mind has cleared enough in the past few months that I can even think about writing as much as I am, and for three blogs!  Sonika’s and my Gouda Buddha Books is going very well, and it’s a lot of fun, and I’m actually getting some things down for The Substance of Style, my decor blog (please do not judge the layout yet).  And I’m trying to figure out how to get in the frame of mind that I do when I write this or Gouda Buddha- just writing and not worried about the “audience” or looking like a moron.  To that end, I think I’m going to have to write much more for myself and my friends and block out all of the great design blogs I read.

I’m also thankful that Matthew is so wonderful about me not having a job yet.  I’m applying for jobs daily, and getting some responses, but I’m not yet freaking out as this is only the second week I’ve really been applying for a lot of jobs.  Money is tight but not impossible, and we are in a much better position than so many people right now.  In that sense, it’s also making me practice what I preach regarding the idea of having a comfortable home without spending lots of money.

Matthew has not ever made me feel guilty about not bringing in income- in fact, he’s comforted me when I feel guilty about it- and I’m trying to do my part by handling a lot of the everyday things.  Still, I do feel guilty.  I’m working on it.  The job, the guilt, the patience, all of it.  Because I am so lucky, and I have better things to do than feel guilty.  Like blog.

Hodgepodge

I can’t sleep, and I’m not sure I can be coherent either, so to list form we go:

1. I might be afraid of going to sleep because twice in the last week I’ve had dreams about dogs being killed (rather graphically).

2. I’m working on my Happiness Commandments as one of my New Year’s Resolutions/Goals.

3. I should actually post my New Year’s Resolutions.  This would be easier if it didn’t take me so damn long to PROCESS everything.  (Matthew is much more patient with this than I am sometimes.)  Some people have their resolutions decided BEFORE December 31st, and yet, here I am, January 12th, still trying to determine if I’m done with mine.

4. I’m having some confidence problems and need to be working on them somehow.  Fortunately, this has only shown up in flashes over the job search, but it is definitely showing up in my goal of getting the decor blog going.

5. I’ve been having awesome phone conversations with my brother.

6. I’m loving the book blogging: goudabuddhabooks.wordpress.com.

7. I’m also really grateful that I’ve been able to write and read more.

8. I should also post some kind of 2008, Year in Review.  I normally do those and glean a lot of perspective from them, and hey, perspective is always awesome.

9. Wonder if I can sleep yet?

Time After Time, Oh Yeah

The husband blogs on the NBA a lot.  And so, I now think this is hilarious:

More Blogs!

So Sonika and I started a blog (it was totally her idea, I’m just the tag-along) of all the books we read, which you can check out and/or add to your reader here: http://goudabuddhabooks.wordpress.com.  I can’t promise good reads or recommendations, but I can promise that we are both entertaining and like cupcakes.

And while I’m still pulling it together, I have started working on my decor blog, which I’ll hopefully be ready to share sooner rather than later.  This one’s much more intimidating because there’s so much already out there, but I’m working on it.

I’m also working on getting gifts and cards out the door for the new year, and I need to write a post on my resolutions/goals for this year, although one of my main ones is to do more reading and writing, instead of continually shoving those items to the bottom of my ‘to do’ list.  More on these later, but expect mail and book updates!

My Year in Cities 2008

I’ve not yet done any 2008 reviews, but I liked this idea and so I’m recapping all of the cities I spent a night in during 2008:

1. Austin, TX

2. Kimball, NE

3. Kansas City, MO

4. Texarkana, AR

5. Richmond, VA

6. Winston-Salem, NC

7. Corpus Christi, TX

8. Harrison, AR

9. St. Louis, MO

10. Columbia, MO

11. Boston, MA

12. South Padre Island, TX

13. New Orleans, LA

Not bad, though no international… let’s hope to get some more states or countries in there this year!