One Day Photo Project

Yesterday I took pictures of my day for Hollywood Housewife's One Day 2013 project! I did something like this once, about ten years ago, and have since lost the pictures. Hence, I know that what feels ridiculously mundane to document in the moment can be precious to you later. So I decided to participate for the sake of ten-years-from-now me! All photos were taken with my phone for simplicity's sake.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

6:20 am. Get up after snoozing several times. As always, my morning companions are Gandalf and the Action News 5 news team. Ron Childers says it's going to be a cold day!

7:15 am. Eat my usual breakfast of two muffins (today, pumpkin).

7:36 am. Listening to Drake & Zeke on the way to work. Daily showdown with the school bus: do I have enough space and time to merge around it? Will anyone let me in? Should I give up and get behind it, adding 10 minutes to my commute? Beside me is what I carry to work each day - coffee, purse, and tote bag (containing my dayplanner and, today, Addie Zierman's When We Were On Fire). Myla made the tote bag for my birthday about eight years ago.

8:00 am. Arrive at work.

9:00 am. I ran out and cut the last of my roses on Tuesday morning before the hard freeze, and brought them to work to enjoy. They're fading a lot faster than the last batch.

10:00 am. Daily necessities: planner, hand lotion, and some variant of Crystal Light in a well-worn insulated McAlister's cup. The glare on the cup is from my sun lamp, which I started using immediately after the time change.

12:45 pm. Lunch! Lean Cuisine cheese rigatoni.

1:45 pm. Hitting the elliptical.

2:15 pm. I live and die by this dry-erase schedule board. Having scheduling information right in front of my face really helps me. My job involves real estate closings, if you couldn't tell. (Hopefully this is all vague enough not to constitute confidential information. :\)

3:30 pm. Hey, my friend Janet launched a food blog today! Go say hello! Excited for her. Also: snack time!

5:05 pm. Leaving work. Heading to Muddy's to pick up a little surprise for my friend Tessa since it's her birthday! The last of the daylight reflecting off the Clark Tower is always beautiful to me.

5:40 pm. On a normal Wednesday, I'd be killing some time in the Target parking lot before heading to church for dinner and small groups. But tonight I have other plans! I stealthily leave the birthday cupcake on Tessa's doorstep, then drive downtown for a networking event that my friend Lexie invited me to. I've been working up the motivation to go to one for like a year.

7:30 pm. Sampling craft beers with Lexie at the new High Cotton brewery! The founder gave us a group tour and samples, and answered questions. I'm not a big beer drinker and didn't know much about the brewing process, but it was FASCINATING. These guys are artists.

8:30 pm. Heading home. I was near our iconic Wonder Bread/Hostess factory (which is now closed), so here's a picture of the sign!

9:00 pm. Arrive home. Feed and tend to cats, who are displeased by my late homecoming. :)

9:30 pm. Since I never ate an actual dinner, and I baked biscuits last night, I decide to have sweet and savory biscuits. One with ham and cheese, one with blueberry jam. My diet is usually much more vegetable-based... this was an off day.

11:00 pm. Good night!

Home Life Lately 8/6

Here are some recent domestic goings-on:

 

Last weekend I finally cut scalloped shorts from some bootcut jeans I got at Goodwill! I measured the cutoff length against my favorite shorts, then used a scrapbooking border template to outline the scallop pattern in chalk. (I find chalk much easier to work with than a fabric pencil.) After cutting the shorts, I applied fray check to the edges as a finishing touch. I also wanted to stitch a hem for extra security, but my attempts to follow the scallop pattern with the sewing machine were disastrous. Thankfully it only took me one side to realize that it wasn't going to work, and I just ripped it out. Fun fact: I've probably ripped out and re-done 75% of the hems I've sewed up to this point.

I'm happy with the shorts, but if I had it to do over, I'd cut them a little longer. My favorite short shorts work because they're not fitted tightly to the leg. But jeans are, so now I have an unfortunate muffin-leg situation. I'll just have to remain standing when I wear these! :P

   

After months of waffling, I gave up on my shrilly wheezing Hoover vacuum and bought a Dyson Animal cordless stick vacuum. My friend Stacy loaned me hers for a test drive, and I fell in love. But the painful price tag still made me hesitate. Then Emily alerted me that Costco had them for $70 off, so she ordered one on my behalf and we're all living happily ever after. I love vacuuming any old way I want, instead of following a strict pattern dictated by how far the cord will stretch (and tripping over/re-extending the cord multiple times). I can take it anywhere, including out to the car, so I don't have to wrestle with those vacuums at car washes anymore. I can get under cabinets and tables and into tight spaces with no problem. And it's so quiet - I literally had to wear earplugs when using my Hoover, even though it was barely over a year old. This Dyson better have a longer track record! #firstworldproblems

   

I harvested my first eggplant last week! (At least two more will be ready soon.) The resulting Grilled Eggplant with Tomatoes and Feta was fantastic. All ingredients were homegrown except the cheese, and I felt like a pioneer. I also made Watermelon and Feta Salad for the first time (where has it been all my life??), so basically I'm going through feta cheese like Greece is about to fall off the map.

What I Learned On My Day Off

Every so often, life sneakily builds up on me until I'm at a breaking point. Over the last month or two, I've spent most of my lunch hours rushing to appointments, crossing tasks off my to-do list (stressing all the while about getting back to work late), or leaving early so I could go out of town or meet a service person at my house... then scrambling around attending events and stuff in the evenings and on weekends. I realize that this is normal life to many people, but personally, I can only power through for so long. I felt stressed constantly and couldn't deal with it anymore. Even after taking some time to relax last weekend, I hadn't come out of my mental fog.

So last Friday, I took a vacation day just to catch up on my life. I accomplished most of my nagging to-dos in that one day!* It's crazy how much easier it is to get things done in the daytime. Even though I slept in, by noon, I had already visited the car tag office** and gotten my tires rotated at Wal-Mart (and easily did the shopping while I waited). In just a few hours, I knocked out a list of errands that would have taken forever individually on a night or weekend. It was incredibly liberating. Then, with nothing hanging over my head, I was able to HAVE A WEEKEND. I had time for a leisurely brunch with a friend, reading, napping, catching up on my DVR, and even renting a movie (which has become the height of luxury to me for some reason).

I've concluded that my life would be vastly improved if I could have one Errand Day per month. One day (or even half-day) solely devoted to Doing All The Things, during which no one is allowed to call and redirect my plans or ask me for anything. Sometimes I feel ridiculous struggling to manage everything as a single woman. I sense mothers rolling their eyes at me thinking, How hard can it be? (and seriously, working mothers, I don't know how you do it). But as my friend and I agreed this weekend, single women are solely responsible for managing our own households. Even if it's only a household of one (and pets), we're doing it all on our own with no help and little time.*** As I've said before, single homeownership is not for the fainthearted. In addition to home responsibilities, most single women juggle busy social schedules to meet our needs for interaction… not to mention the time-suck of "putting ourselves out there" at every opportunity in the faint hope of meeting someone (because, as people love to remind us, God will not deliver the right man to our door). This is especially draining for me as an introvert, which is probably why I have these occasional breakdowns. I want to live a full and interesting life. I also want to know when I'm still single and too old to have children that I did everything I could. But often, all I really want is to stay happily at home with my cats and a good book and have it be okay.

Anyway, taking that day was one of the best things I've done for myself in a while. I can't really afford to do that as often as I'd like to, but in the future, I'll be less hesitant to take the time when stuff starts piling up. It's worth it.



* = The main thing I didn't do: call Comcast to cancel/negotiate my cable. I can't pay their exorbitant costs anymore, but I don't understand the competitors' cable/internet options and false advertising and hidden installation fees, and I also dread calling and arguing with them. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP.

** = Heads up: if you buy a car outside Shelby County and keep your old tag, it will NOT be transferred automatically. Even if the dealership said they would handle it, and you received completed transfer paperwork from the Tennessee Department of Whatever.

*** = This is still fathoms better than managing a household of two with no help and little time. (Been there, done that.) But that doesn't mean it's easy.

Family Time and Tigers

Last weekend, I got to see my sister, BIL, and niece for the first time since New Year's Day! We met up in north central Alabama where Lance's family lives. It's roughly the halfway point between Memphis and Dothan, where Debra and Lance moved in mid-January. The visit was prompted by their closing on the sale of their Nashville house (which ended up being delayed), and my mom needing to be picked up after flying one-way to Dothan to spend the week. Whatever the reasons, I was way overdue for some hermana and niece time!

Niecy is over ten months old now, and had practically doubled in size since I saw her last. I can't get over how tall she is. I felt like I needed to get to know her all over again! She's crawling, standing (with help), and vocalizing (but not really saying anything yet). She also just learned to clap. :) She continues to be a generally happy baby and good sport. At one point three or four of us were following her around the living room with cameras, like paparazzi. "Over here, Niecy, who are you wearing?" "Gymboree!"

Since we only had a few hours all together, it was unfortunate that the Tigers' C-USA championship game was on TV at the same time - AND that it went into two overtimes. It's a good thing that Lance's family is like family to me too, because I made a spectacle of myself in front of the whole bunch, including cousins and other extended relatives. Most of them seemed amused, though. I think Lance's mom even got footage of me celebrating at the end of the game. :) Still, it made a too-short visit even shorter. We were all headed to our respective homes by mid-afternoon. It's a bummer that they live so far away AND work Sundays.

I proudly hung my Tiger flag yesterday afternoon before going to Kathy and Daniel's house to watch the selection show. We got a #6 seed, which was about as high as we could have hoped for - and also the toughest region, in my opinion. I may bleed blue, but I'm heading into this March Madness more realistically than I have in about a decade. If we make it to the Sweet 16, I will be THRILLED. Anything after that would be icing on the cake. I also like Miami (of course), Indiana, and Gonzaga. And I have a new fondness for NC State after watching "Survive and Advance," the amazing 30 for 30 about their 1983 tournament run (if you watched it without crying, I don't want to be friends with you). I love March Madness!! GO TIGERS GO!

Week In Review



Imagine Dragons - I was so inspired, I made this myself from my own photo



This has been a rough week, so in an effort to counteract, I'm going to list a few positive things that have happened:

- I finally got some good medication for eternally-sick me, and my eternally-sick cat.

- If my sick cat needs more testing, I found out it won't be prohibitively expensive like I thought. (I keep meaning to post about her, if only for other cat people, but I've been waiting forever for a diagnosis.)

- I received helpful and encouraging writing advice from an experienced friend (sorry I haven't responded yet!).

- The Tigers are 3-0 so far in conference play. We can't take this for granted.

- @FantasyPastner followed me back! (Honestly, I think this was the highlight of my week.)

- My Wednesday night church small group is meeting again after a long hiatus. I'm very thankful for these kind, genuine people, who care about what's going on in my life and don't let me get away with evading questions.

- I have a new blog follower - shoutout to Sassy Southern Mama!

- I've gotten a lot of compliments on my new haircut and general appearance (an area where I always need encouragement). A co-worker even compared me to Anne Hathaway. Which is totally absurd, but I'll take it.

- I'm finally reading Gone Girl. I was on the Kindle waiting list at the library for months. I'm over halfway through already, and will DEFINITELY need to discuss it when I'm done! I mean WOW.

- It's a three-day weekend. Hallelujah! I know it's nice to do some sort of community service on MLK Day, but seeing as I've been sick for two months, I'm just taking a pass to rest as much as possible.

***

Totally unrelated: Can anyone provide good tips for using Google+ in connection with my blog? Thanks to Alyssa, I found out that I was a no-reply blogger, meaning no one could reply to comments I left on other blogs. I think I've fixed it now, but what else do I not know about? :\ Google+ and the "new" Blogger are so difficult to figure out and use. I understand why most people eventually migrate to Wordpress.

These Trees Are On Fire

On Saturday night, I went to a mass Christmas tree burning. I'd never seen anything like it! A guy from my church does this every year on his family's farm. A group of people drove around town all day collecting nearly-dead trees that were left out on the curb, and ended up with 65 trees. The pile of trees alone was impressive, but the fire was incredible.

I started to get nervous a couple of times! This really showed me why real Christmas trees start so many house fires. The whole pile went up in minutes. (It smelled nice and piney, too.)

I've ordered a new camera, and I wished I had it to capture all the sparks against the night sky (my current camera isn't up to the task). It was weirdly beautiful. When the fire died down to a normal level, we made s'mores... so the trees' sacrifice was not in vain. :)

Christmas & New Year's Recap

My long holiday staycation is over. This year, I spent most of my time off sitting around with my family. Here are some highlights!
 

  

Christmas was great! My parents, brother, and I started the day with my dad's traditional Christmas omelets (plus grits!), then opened presents. I was excessively spoiled as usual. My favorite gift was the Vera Bradley Metropolitan bag that I've been stalking for months! It's exactly the carry-on I needed.

Last year my mom finally got real china (after 36 years of marriage! Sheesh), a china cabinet, and a beautiful dining table and chairs. So she was pumped about having a formal Christmas dinner. She even had mini-stockings monogrammed for place settings. It was very nice. For Christmas I gave her some chafing dishes (the kind with tea lights underneath to keep the food hot). They really work!

Debra, Lance, and Niecy arrived in the afternoon and opened their presents before dinner. Although Niecy is still too young to comprehend Christmas, she loved playing with her new toys and attempting to eat the wrapping paper.

 

 

 

It snowed on Christmas night, and we woke up to about an inch of snow!

 

 

We mostly enjoyed it from the warmth of the house. :)

 

Debra and fam left Memphis on Friday, but on Sunday afternoon I drove to Nashville to spend New Year's with them. On Monday morning, we ended 2012 on the right note with a visit to Pancake Pantry!

 

 

Debra and Lance have spent the last several New Year's Eves with the same group of friends (including Erin!). They all came over and we had a great time. We mostly sat around eating, chatting, and watching Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve, although we did play a game and watch The One With All The Resolutions!

 

 

Unfortunately, I kicked off 2013 by getting sick again. I know. It was like a repeat of Thanksgiving - I started feeling bad on the drive to Nashville and got hit hard the next morning. I was terrified that I'd managed to get the flu twice in one month. Thankfully, after some DayQuil and a long nap, the flu-ish feelings went away (and Niecy already had a cold, so I didn't have to worry about infecting her while I was there). But I'm still not feeling my best, and breathing is hard. I have now been sick or recovering from sickness for the better part of six weeks. SO READY TO BE DONE WITH THIS, but I believe the new year will get much better from here!

Life Lately 11/8

I'm sorry for the lack of original, thoughtful posts here lately. It's been a crazy few weeks, I've been going nonstop, and blog brainstorming hasn't been high on the priority list. So much is going on that I have to skip events in order to get any rest. By last Sunday night, I was so completely exhausted that I collapsed on the couch and watched 33 webisodes of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. (I'll be catching up on the other 33 plus the Lydia videos ASAP.)

Anyway, despite my exhaustion, I had a few friends over on Tuesday night to watch the election returns. I just thought a small, cozy gathering with snacks in front of the TV sounded nice, and it was! For the occasion I baked an apple pie in my beloved Emile Henry ruffled pie pan. I used this recipe (but using Pillsbury pie crust) and give it two thumbs up.

Last night the Tigers played Christian Brothers in an exhibition game to unofficially open the season! Our first real game is Monday night against UNF. I also got all my season tickets from Kathy and Daniel - we ordered them together and I paid them back. I had been waiting for this magic moment for years! Obviously I've been going to most of the basketball games for a long time, but there's something about being an official season ticket holder. I'm proud to be even more invested in my team and my alma mater. I'd also love to socialize more with the other season ticket holders around us this year. It would be awesome to have a "basketball family." I told Kathy we should pass around some sort of Getting To Know You survey. :)

Speaking of Tiger things, I did the True Blue 5K on campus last Friday night! I never ran at all until last year, so successfully running the majority of this race, with minimal walking, was exciting. I barely set a new record time for myself, despite briefly losing my shoe early on when a girl stepped on it and sent it flying. I'm not a serious runner by any means, but I felt really good about this experience.

So that's the latest.