July 29 - August 4 in photos

July 22-28 in photos

July 15-21 in photos

July 8-14 in photos

WHOA

YOU GUYS

TODAY I RAN FOR TWENTY MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING

then I put on a romper

cleaned for two hours

did three loads of laundry

gave my dog a bath

did my nails...

Now I'm gonna go buy some pink wine. And watch Buffy on Netflix.

I HAVE SUPERPOWERS TODAY

July 1 - 7 in photos

I turned thirty-one! Thirty-one might have been more fun than twenty-one! So that's a good sign for the future.

So because I don't have enough arbitrary internet projects going, I signed up at www.365project.org on a whim. The premise is very simple. No set theme, just take a photo a day, every day, for the next year. My photography skills are mediocre at best, but I figured, what better way to learn, and document my year in the process?

Then I went back and forth, back and forth about whether I actually wanted to posted my pictures or share them anywhere. I'm not a photographer, my inner voice whined, my pictures are stupid, nobody wants to see them...

Fuck it! It's all true, but you're going to see them anyway!

I'm tired of hiding without knowing what I'm hiding from.

Day Zero

Isn't it so awkward when you have this blog you haven't written in forever, and you feel like you maybe want to write in it but it's been so long that you feel like you have to have this epic comeback post, and there's nothing in either your external or internal life that warrants that at all? No, I think, I'd rather just delete the damn blog than have to contend with that.

Unfortunately, or not, I can't abandon or delete the blog just because I'm in a bit of a mental funk right now. I can't do it because I anticipated this very compulsion some weeks back when I was in a better mood, and I plotted against my future avoidant self. When several members of my acquaintance and I were formulating lists of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days, via Day Zero Project, I added Write a blog entry for every goal completed to my list. And now that my list is 5% completed, I have some catching up to do.

So hi! This is not a comeback. It's just another day.


* Initiate a conversation with someone at a bus stop.

Said conversation lasted approximately thirty seconds and largely revolved around the weather and frustration regarding late buses. I considered making this more difficult -- initiate twenty conversations! initiate a conversation every month for a year! -- because really, as written, it's absurd that a thirty-year-old woman should find the goal a challenge. But I did. So it stands.


* Mail the three books I've owed forever.

Okay, some goals are going to be better topics of discussion than others. I used to swap books online pretty heavily but have become less interested in doing this, and as a result of decreased interest + financial issues had owned a few books for months. And now, I don't. The End.


* Visit my sister in Chicago.

My parents were in town for my niece's second birthday and Mother's Day, and I desperately wanted to go but couldn't get time off work and couldn't justify purchasing a plane ticket just for a short weekend. So... I spent Friday night on the Megabus, spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning in Chicago, and got back on the Megabus on Sunday afternoon to get back to Minneapolis at about 1am, ready for work on Monday morning.

Worth every minute. Since I moved to Minneapolis in April 2012, I've managed to visit my sister in Chicago four times. The visit I made in May will be the last, because she will be moving to Los Angeles next month, so it felt very important that I go one last time, sixteen hours on the Megabus be damned!


* Complete a Sunday crossword.

I downloaded the New York Times Crossword app onto my phone, and I can't stop doing the damn things somewhat compulsively. The Sunday Puzzle felt like the obvious goal... but as it turns out, the Saturday one is harder. Who knew! Coincidentally, I've just completed my first Saturday puzzle today, so now I have won crosswords and can stop doing them. (But won't.)


* Dry clean my suit.

... I had my suit cleaned.


* Obtain a permanent job.

And I didn't even wear my suit to the interview!

I've been debating how much I want to say about this. On one hand, I had some thoughts about it that I would like to voice, but on the other, I had decided when I started this blog that I wasn't going to get into specifics about my job. It too easily leads to venting and venting online gets dangerous. Also, I have a tendency to obsess over whatever job I have and tie it too strongly into the image I have of myself, when really, I think I need to go the opposite direction and try to focus more on accomplishments outside of work.

So, for now, I'm just going to say... hooray, I'm employed full-time again! This will be the first time since we moved that my husband and I will both be holding down full-time work consistently, and I am looking forward to worrying about money less and giving ourselves the opportunity to experience this still-new-to-us city more fully.

That's all.

Since this isn't a comeback, I don't suppose a proper closing is terribly important.

Your Foreign Correspondent

I am reporting from the wilds of the Chicago suburbs, sipping a latte and trying not to blow my nose so loudly as to gross out the other coffee shop patrons, but I know it's hopeless and they all hate me. Such is life. I'm not going to leave just as they put on the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack, that's for damn sure.

I'm here in Chicago attempting to help my sister as she approaches the birth of her second child. I say "attempting" because I feel pretty useless most of the time... Mainly, I find myself playing with my niece a lot, as my poor sister gets burned out on reading her the same books and playing the same games over... and over... and over...

My niece will be two in May and is the cutest and sweetest little thing you ever did see -- except that she's just figuring out how to be verbal, and occasionally it's just easier to scream. I get it, sweetie, I get it. Sometimes I just want to scream to get my point across, too.

But I love being an aunt. I get to invent awesome games that she loves and make her laugh and play and have fun, all without having to make any of the big decisions or educate her or ever discipline her for anything!

My stay has no set end point, because it all depends on when that nephew of mine decides to show his face (likely by next week, we are told!). I work from home* so I don't need to be back by any certain date. Which is getting me lots of wonderful quality time with my sister, niece, and brother-in-law, and enables me to be here when they will most be in need of help, but I certainly am getting homesick, and not knowing when I will return makes it harder. I miss my husband, I miss my dog, I miss my -- friends? Do I have friends, now? I think I do, and I think I miss them! And... I miss my adoptive home. This is the third time I've gone away from Minneapolis since moving there in April, but it's the first time I've been able to think of it as home when I'm not there.

Chicago finally got its first snowfall of any significance, so it feels a little more like home now..!

Did you know that our dog Brian escaped the other day? He went for an adventure in sub-zero temperatures because somehow both of our front doors blew open and Dan was in the other room and didn't notice. Very luckily a kind stranger took pity on him and caught him after he was almost hit by a truck, and kept him safe and warm till Dan could come get him. Thank you, thank you, stranger. You have no idea how much that dumb little mutt means to us.

This afternoon I get to accompany my sister and niece to a toddler dance class. Apparently the little one gets a tutu to wear and gets really excited about it. Oh lord, the cuteness.


*Although I technically work from home, it's kind of not going so well -- see how I came to a coffee shop to work, and instead I wrote a blog entry? That's pretty much how working from home has been going for me. And other work bullshit that I don't care to address. And probably we won't be able to pay our rent and will be evicted onto the street and everything will be ruined forever, the end. Or, perhaps more likely, we'll scrape by till I can get my act together (...) or find a new job (yes!).