lately

I really wanted to make 2012 the year I resumed blogging on a regular basis, but, alas, it was not to be. So, here's a long catch-up post to tide you over until the next time the urge to blog hits me. A few things:

1. I am rounding the corner on week three of my unemployment, and, so far, things are going okay. I know I made the right choice to move on from my previous work situation, and I am giving myself a little bit of guilt-free (mostly) time to figure out what my next step will be. It was a difficult decision to leave a job where I had such great co-workers, but I feel very good about the decision now that I'm on the other side. I have been working on paying more attention to my intuitions, to learning to go with what feels right, and quitting my job was a good example of my progress in that direction. I feel good about my options for the future, and I am looking forward to being more deliberate about whatever work I choose to dedicate my time and energy to next. In the meantime, I am looking for a seasonal retail job to bring in a little cash, to keep me busy, and to, basically, buy myself some time while I figure out my next career/life move. Also, I want to avoid the dreaded slump into the unemployment blues (you know, pajamas all day, ice-cream for lunch, watching made-for-TV movies on Netflix, and going without bathing for a few days at a time), and I think a part-time retail job is a good preventative measure. I would also like to establish a more consistent schedule of daily exercise, daily cooking, daily dog walks, daily crafting (for my personal satisfaction, but also to bring in some pocket/holiday money), planning for Christmas (we're hosting both of our families this year!), doing some personal growth work, doing homework, working on organizing my office/craft room, reading, and exploring my career interests in an effort to determine what to do next. (I am nothing if not unrealistically ambitious about what I can accomplish in any given period of time.)

I am taking part in an awesome 8-week yoga workshop, and one of our assignments was to make a vision board for our life. I have my board up in my office and I am using it as inspiration for my next step.

2. I finally did it. I bought eye cream on my last trip to Walgreens. It was on sale, and, you know, I'm only twenty-one days away from turning thirty, so it seemed like a prudent thing to do. Recently, I've started to notice some fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes that were definitely not noticeable in my mid-twenties. I have no idea if eye cream is legit, or if it's just another money-making hoax by the beauty industry, designed to make me feel bad about my normally aging skin, but, nevertheless, they have successfully appealed to my vain side, and, for a mere $13 I figured it was worth a try. After two days of use I told Kevin I thought it was really starting to make a difference, and he just laughed. He says I'm a marketer's dream. (He should know, since that's his field of work.)

3. Speaking of turning thirty, I am excited to say that birthday plans are well underway. The week (yes, week) of birthday fun will start with the Reindeer Run, a 5K run around Lake Harriet on December 1, and a post-race brunch hosted by our good friends, Kristin and Kevin. The week will also include lunch with girlfriends, yoga, a massage, a mani-pedi, brunch and the Holiday No Coast Craft-o-rama with my sister, a night in Madison, WI with Kevin at the Speckled Hen Inn and dinner at Forequarter, dinner with Kevin at Travail in Robbinsdale on the night of my actual birthday (December 6), and a big party at our place on Saturday, the 8th. Woot! At first I felt a little guilty about wanting to celebrate my birthday in such an extravagant way, but I decided to let that guilt go and just enjoy this birthday because, 1) I LOVE birthdays, and 2) I am big on the marking of important occasions. Also, I've been through a lot in the last few years, and I think there is a part of me that is going to mourn the end of my twenties, and I want to say goodbye to this complicated, fun, crazy decade - and welcome the new decade - with fanfare and friends, and some good red wine. And cake.

4. Speaking of cake, I made my sister's birthday cake last week and I was pretty pleased with the results. She wanted a camping themed party (which included an awesome fort in the basement), so I made a camping themed cake, complete with tiny boughs from our evergreens, a plastic fox, a banner that read "Camp Melissa," and a mini tent made of scrap fabric and toothpicks. We also had a nice celebratory birthday breakfast for her, which was a good opportunity for me to finally get to put a candle in a stack of pancakes, and a great reason for me to bust out the hot pink crepe paper.

4. We have had a beautiful fall this year, for which I am extremely grateful. Even though all of the leaves have now fallen off of the trees, it is still technically fall and we have had some warm days of pure grace before the long, cold winter arrives. Last weekend we had a 60-degree beauty that felt like a true gift. It gets dark now by 5:30, and it's always a difficult time of the year as we adjust to the season of going inward and hibernating. Kevin and I made sure to spend some quality time outdoors on that gorgeous warm day last week, and while on a walk we realized that, not only were we wearing matching shoes, we also both had on argyle socks. We've been together for 9 years now, so I guess we've basically morphed into one matrimonial being. Sad or cute? I can't decide. Let's say cute. 

5. Last night my friend, Kristin, and I stood in line for 4 hours waiting to get our books signed by John and Sherry of the blog, Young House Love. Only, we didn't actually get our books signed. I think the long lines worked against John and Sherry because by the time we had been waiting in line for about 3 hours and 45 minutes, holding our yet-to-be-paid-for books, we'd had enough time to look through the entire book and decide that there were only about three projects out of the 200+ advertised that we would actually want to replicate, and that, it turned out, we didn't actually want to spend $25 each on the book. So, uh, we sheepishly handed our books back and left. John and Sherry seemed really sweet, and were smiling and upbeat the entire time they were meeting people and signing books, so it was nothing personal against them. I enjoy their blog and thought their book was nice, it just wasn't particularly original (a hazard of reading so many design blogs), or something I wanted to spend money on at the moment (maybe if I wasn't currently unemployed?). On another note - can you even imagine being a celebrity blogger? Weird. Here's a picture of the back of Sherry and John's heads: 

6. Per tradition, Kevin and I went to the opening night of the new Twilight movie tonight. It was bad. So bad. And we were definitely the oldest people in the theater, and, also, the only ones not hooting and hollering at the hunks in the film (though I did at one point throw out a whoop for Billy Burke, who plays Bella's dad, because no one else was hooting or hollering for him, and I didn't want everyone over the age of 25 in that film to be considered sexually obsolete). We knew the movie would be bad, but somewhere along the way watching the Twilight movies on opening night became a funny tradition for us, so we went. But, really, just rent it. Or don't. Here's a recap: Bella and Edward are two malnourished looking vampires in love, and now they have a beautiful half-human half-vampire daughter, whom they have bestowed with one of the worst names ever given to a child, real or imaginary. (Her name is Renesmee.) There are some hot (literally) werewolves, vampire conflicts, and an epic vampire battle that involves a lot of ripping off of vampire heads. In this fourth, and final, installment of the Twilight saga, Bella and Edward continue their long history of indulging in their brooding, all-consuming, totally codependent type of love, and, now that they're married and are both vampires, they get it on a lot. Yep, there is vampire on vampire sex in this movie. So, they have their very pale vampire sex, play with their beautiful monster child, race through the woods, hang out with werewolves, fight the Volturi (the largest and most powerful coven of vampires), and then declare their undying (literally, because they're immortal) love for each other. The end. 

And, that about wraps up the recap of current events in our neck of the woods. My dad arrives next Friday to spend a week with us, and I am really looking forward to his visit. We're going to celebrate the third anniversary of Lola being in our family, go to Wisconsin to the Christmas tree farm, celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday (Fauxsgiving, if you will), since my dad arrives on Friday afternoon, watch It's A Wonderful Life, and take some long walks around the neighborhood. Good times ahead! 

holiday cheer

The holiday season in our neck of the woods means: a trip to Wisconsin to our favorite Christmas tree farm, trimming our tree, putting up lights, enjoying our traditional holiday snacky-poo dinners (smoked oysters, cheeses, salami, hummus, crackers, and green olives - one of my family's favorite traditions), hanging our stockings, sending out our holiday card, and bringing out the holiday moose hat. Lola loves the moose hat. 

Hope things are cozy and cheery in your neck of the woods, too! 

thanksgiving 2011

I woke up this morning feeling a little sad. My mom is in Italy, my dad and my grandmother are in Southern California, my sister and her husband are in Texas, my other sister is in Northern California, my second family (my in-laws) are in the Bay Area, my Nicole is in Florida, my Sarah is in Oregon, and the rest of our family and closest friends are, well, all over the place. We are scattered, and I woke up today feeling a little too untethered, a little too far away from the ones we love. I didn't realize how much I missed a big family holiday until I woke up this morning feeling an achey mixture of deep gratitude for the blessings in my life and a longing to be with our parents and siblings. I feel better now, a little restored and more determined than ever to create the kind of life someday where holidays with our families are the norm. I had my cry, Kevin held me, I called my mother-in-law, I had a nice home-cooked egg breakfast, and then I talked to my mom via Skype - all of these things helped.  

Despite feeling a little blue today, I am also feeling grateful. I am grateful for friends who are like family who will welcome us into their warm and comfortable home for today's feasting. I am thankful for the many beautiful people in my life, for my sweet Lola, for my health, for a roof over my head, for a job, for my mind, for my marriage, for the many possibilities before me. I am thankful for books, wine, activists, and music. I am thankful for our family of friends here in Minnesota. I am especially thankful for my partner, my sweet husband, and for the strength and hope he's shown over the trials of the past year. 

Poetry always helps get me into the right frame of mind, and today has been no exception. Here is a lovely Thanksgiving poem by Linda McCarriston, from today's Writer's Almanac.

Thanksgiving

by Linday McCarriston

Every year we call it down upon ourselves,


the chaos of the day before the occasion,


the morning before the meal. Outdoors,


the men cut wood, fueling appetite


in the gray air, as Nana, Arlene, Mary,


Robin—whatever women we amount to—


turn loose from their wrappers the raw,


unmade ingredients. A flour sack leaks,


potatoes wobble down counter tops


tracking dirt like kids, blue hubbard erupts


into shards and sticky pulp when it's whacked


with the big knife, cranberries leap away

rather than be halved. And the bird, poor


blue thing—only we see it in its dead skin—


gives up for good the long, obscene neck, the gizzard,


the liver quivering in my hand, the heart.



So what? What of it? Besides the laughter,


I mean, or the steam that shades the windows


so that the youngest sons must come inside


to see how the smells look. Besides


the piled wood closing over the porch windows,


the pipes the men fill, the beers


they crack, waiting in front of the game.



Any deliberate leap into chaos, small or large,


with an intent to make order, matters. That's what.


A whole day has passed between the first apple


cored for pie, and the last glass polished


and set down. This is a feast we know how to make,


a Day of Feast, a day of thanksgiving


for all we have and all we are and whatever


we've learned to do with it: Dear God, we thank you


for your gifts in this kitchen, the fire, 


the food, the wine. That we are together here.


Bless the world that swirls outside these windows—


a room full of gifts seeming raw and disordered,


a great room in which the stoves are cold,


the food scattered, the children locked forever 


outside dark windows. Dear God, grant


to the makers and keepers power to save it all.

I wish you and yours a very happy day of feasting and gratitude. 

'tis the season

Merry Christmas to all of our dear friends and to our beloved families. We love and miss you all so much, and we send you our long-distance hugs, and hearty wishes for a lovely and joyous Christmas.

Since we can't be with all of you today, we're sending along these pictures, and a video, of our Christmas celebrations so far. As you can see, we are jubilantly embracing our first Minnesota Christmas - complete with snow!

So here's to peace on earth, remembering to count our many blessings, and to basking in the love and warmth of friends and family.

Our neighbor's charming snowman.

Winter walks to admire the lights.

The neighborhood is aglow.

Making snow angels.

Christmas morning two truck bonanza - ho, ho, ho!

Our tree. 

My favorite holiday picture. Ever.

Enjoying the novelty of walking on a frozen lake.

Cozy nights indoors, reading.

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning --- opening family gifts. Thanks for the blanket, mom!

Thanks for the hats, mom - we'll need these.

The chef. 

Christmas French toast.