Back to it

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I just re-started Couch to 5K the other day after fits of sporadic jogging (some which resulted in three miles, some which didn't). I'm starting back up at the Week 5 mark, which I'm fairly confident I can handle and progress from there. Every time I try to incorporate jogging into my regular routine I feel like this scene from Romy & Michele:

[youtube id="S4ZRJ-Cxw4A" width="600" height="350"]

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Back to it

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I just re-started Couch to 5K the other day after fits of sporadic jogging (some which resulted in three miles, some which didn't). I'm starting back up at the Week 5 mark, which I'm fairly confident I can handle and progress from there. Every time I try to incorporate jogging into my regular routine I feel like this scene from Romy & Michele:

[youtube id="S4ZRJ-Cxw4A" width="600" height="350"]

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Bears in a Boat

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A couple of years ago, I worked in a giant cube farm. I survived because I was surrounded by a really awesome group of people (like, REALLY surrounded - they split up the cubes in half so there'd be a charming Cube Tweener forced to sit on the crack between two cubes). AND because there was such a thing as Cookie Time. Every Wednesday, 2:00 pm. Cookie Time. Think about how awesome that is. Despite the cookies and the cool peeps, sometimes I got overwhelmed sitting in such a massive space packed to the gills with people. Anyone could interrupt you at any time, and no headphones could block out the conversation noise and blanketed fluroescent dim of the lights. Since my coworkers and I would habitually change up our computer backgrounds per season, I was scrolling through the usual choices (deserted island, forest glen, inexplicable sand dunes) when I came upon this picture: Just these two bears sittin' in a boat. I have no idea how they got that way, but I assume that their current predicament is all the smaller bear's fault. It looks like we've happened upon the scene right after a family spat occurred.  Why was it just sitting there among all the other typical kitten and mountain range backgrounds? A mystery that will never be solved. This picture immediately became my background, for months and months. There's just something about that overcast sky and the cool gray of that lake that soothes the soul. My coworker Sean started saying "Remember the bears, Monica!" whenever I stressed about the latest insane deadline. And he was right. Just take a look at those two bears, off on some kooky adventure because Junior Bear didn't realize when they'd hopped in that the canoe wasn't tied to the dock. Ridiculous antics ensue, I'm sure. Recently I tried describing this picture to my boyfriend, and he sent me dozens of inferior knock-offs. Googling "bears in a boat" just doesn't do this picture justice. Luckily, while sorting through old office things, I came upon a printout I'd made and taken with me to the next cubicle. And now I'm convinced I have to preserve it for all time. Accept no substitutions. Never forget the bears!

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Am I a Douchebag for Liking the Avocado App?

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I know the last thing anyone wants/needs is another tool to do something they already can. But hey, where would stores like Target be now if they couldn't keep selling you the same crap, repackaged differently? That's kind of how I feel about apps in general. On my phone I have Evernote, Simplenote, Real Simple and Weave, each one for the purpose of taking down my ideas and lists. Instead of using any of them, I default to the Notes app that comes standard with the iPhone. Each one is just a little lacking in what I want to do, therefore I hang onto ALL of them. So you can understand my reluctance to embrace the Avocado app, which is essentially just another checklist-making app to throw in my Never Use pile. avocado BUT WAIT. For some reason this one is actually packaged and designed well with enough things in one spot that I actually use it. On the regular! I make lists, calendar invites, send messages, take pictures, and it doesn't bother me a hoot that I already have a million other apps that can do those very things. Unfortunately the thing that makes me like it is also the thing that makes me cringe. It's an APP FOR COUPLES. *barf* I know, I'm rolling my eyes really hard right now too. But as much as my boyfriend and I shun cutesy couple things altogether, it IS kind of convenient to be able to send him messages and requests to pick up wine on the way home without having to navigate the various other apps. It's all in one place, and it makes sense for it to be so. Sure, we could also send photos to one another of hearts and "I wuv you" notes but WE AREN'T THOSE PEOPLE. One app doesn't make a nauseating couple, does it? Oh and did I mention the app says supportive things to you when you cross off items on your lists? Oh god. I'm off to Lowe's. It's all downhill from here. You'll tell me if I've gone too far, right?

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Am I a Douchebag for Liking the Avocado App?

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I know the last thing anyone wants/needs is another tool to do something they already can. But hey, where would stores like Target be now if they couldn't keep selling you the same crap, repackaged differently? That's kind of how I feel about apps in general. On my phone I have Evernote, Simplenote, Real Simple and Weave, each one for the purpose of taking down my ideas and lists. Instead of using any of them, I default to the Notes app that comes standard with the iPhone. Each one is just a little lacking in what I want to do, therefore I hang onto ALL of them. So you can understand my reluctance to embrace the Avocado app, which is essentially just another checklist-making app to throw in my Never Use pile. avocado BUT WAIT. For some reason this one is actually packaged and designed well with enough things in one spot that I actually use it. On the regular! I make lists, calendar invites, send messages, take pictures, and it doesn't bother me a hoot that I already have a million other apps that can do those very things. Unfortunately the thing that makes me like it is also the thing that makes me cringe. It's an APP FOR COUPLES. *barf* I know, I'm rolling my eyes really hard right now too. But as much as my boyfriend and I shun cutesy couple things altogether, it IS kind of convenient to be able to send him messages and requests to pick up wine on the way home without having to navigate the various other apps. It's all in one place, and it makes sense for it to be so. Sure, we could also send photos to one another of hearts and "I wuv you" notes but WE AREN'T THOSE PEOPLE. One app doesn't make a nauseating couple, does it? Oh and did I mention the app says supportive things to you when you cross off items on your lists? Oh god. I'm off to Lowe's. It's all downhill from here. You'll tell me if I've gone too far, right?

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January Pants

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So last year my boyfriend and I decided to finally buy a house. No, not the perfectly good 1920 rowhouse we'd been living in for five years, but another house. Because that's what you do. We also decided to do it right before Thanksgiving, and then spend the holidays frantically shuttling stuff back and forth, making mountainous donation piles, staring wistfully at our pinterest boards, and wondering when our house would start to get its act together.

Soooo ... now it's January. And normally I hate January. It shows up for no good reason after the end of the holiday season, to mock you. And where I live, it doesn't even snow to trick you into thinking the holiday feelings were stretching out into the new year. Nope. It's JANUARY. Big, stupid, mocking, and 50 degrees. You can't do anything in 50 degrees. In 60, you can go for a hike. In 40, you can dream of snow. In 50 you start to wonder what season it's supposed to be.

Anyway. So while my head has been spinning with all the things I want to do with my house, I stumbled upon Apartment Therapy's January Cure. Apparently the genius folks over at one of my favorite blogs have found a way to tackle the January Blahs by giving you a list meant to distract you from the fact that WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER AND IT'S STILL NOT SNOWING. I know I'm late to the game, since this started on January 2nd and it's now January 9th BUT! There's nothing stopping me from grabbing onto the tail of the bus, Back to the Future-style, and join the home improvement.

I've already done Day 1: Make a List of Projects and Day 2: Make an Outbox, thanks to the moving process. The other day I sat on the floor and stared vacantly at the fireplace for a while, which in my mind counts as Day 4: Get a Fresh Perspective in 10 Minutes. This is going to be a piece of cake!

What's everybody else doing to conquer the January Blues? Or am I the only one afflicted?

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January Pants

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So last year my boyfriend and I decided to finally buy a house. No, not the perfectly good 1920 rowhouse we'd been living in for five years, but another house. Because that's what you do. We also decided to do it right before Thanksgiving, and then spend the holidays frantically shuttling stuff back and forth, making mountainous donation piles, staring wistfully at our pinterest boards, and wondering when our house would start to get its act together.

Soooo ... now it's January. And normally I hate January. It shows up for no good reason after the end of the holiday season, to mock you. And where I live, it doesn't even snow to trick you into thinking the holiday feelings were stretching out into the new year. Nope. It's JANUARY. Big, stupid, mocking, and 50 degrees. You can't do anything in 50 degrees. In 60, you can go for a hike. In 40, you can dream of snow. In 50 you start to wonder what season it's supposed to be.

Anyway. So while my head has been spinning with all the things I want to do with my house, I stumbled upon Apartment Therapy's January Cure. Apparently the genius folks over at one of my favorite blogs have found a way to tackle the January Blahs by giving you a list meant to distract you from the fact that WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER AND IT'S STILL NOT SNOWING. I know I'm late to the game, since this started on January 2nd and it's now January 9th BUT! There's nothing stopping me from grabbing onto the tail of the bus, Back to the Future-style, and join the home improvement.

I've already done Day 1: Make a List of Projects and Day 2: Make an Outbox, thanks to the moving process. The other day I sat on the floor and stared vacantly at the fireplace for a while, which in my mind counts as Day 4: Get a Fresh Perspective in 10 Minutes. This is going to be a piece of cake!

What's everybody else doing to conquer the January Blues? Or am I the only one afflicted?

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It's a perfectly acceptable food item. It's just not a cupcake.

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This weekend I spent time hanging out with darling friends and family. Some of whom were kind enough to navigate the tricksy FODMAPs land (the land in which I currently live) and bring me some gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free cupcakes so I could partake in a fine friend's birthday activities. It was such a sweet gesture, and I so appreciated it. But unfortunately there comes a time . . . when you're on a diet like mine . . . that you realize that what you're eating is not, in fact, a cupcake. It's good, and it's something that was baked and has icing on top and resides in a paper cup . . . But it's not a cupcake. It might be a muffin, or a paperweight. You're not exactly sure. It's even quite good, even though the icing is a little too hard to wash off your fingers. I learned this mistake my last birthday when I attempted to get a gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free birthday cake for my birthday. I was so excited I couldn't believe I could still have birthday cake and eat it too! Half of that sentence ended up being true. I think the problem was that the bakery gave me the option of ordering different types of cake, so I picked yellow cake with chocolate icing. Going in and getting a dark brown cake with toffee icing wouldn't have been so weird if I hadn't been expecting a certain something. The fact that my party guests could stick a fork in said cake and it would take a good 45 minutes to fall out of it ... I'm just saying, much like the vegetarian fake meat manufacturers of the world (I'm looking at you, pepperphony!), the GF/SF/DF baking community might need a bit of rebranding. Let the gluteneers have their stupid cupcakes. I'm sure we could whip up something with almond flour that tastes way better anyway.

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Mantras

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I've developed a recent love of mantras. I used to think they were just stupid, silly sayings people stitched onto pillows or reprinted in greeting cards, applying no real meaning to the words more than "here, I've heard this before, so I'm passing it along". But since lately I've been listening to a LOT of Game of Thrones (re: this post), I noticed how several of the main characters have their own mantras. Whenever they're in trouble or have to endure some latest horrible hardship (which happens, like, every 10 minutes in Game of Thrones World), they always turn back to their mantra and repeat as necessary, and somehow it helps them get through.

Ned - "Winter is coming." Daenerys - "I am the blood of the dragon. If I look back, I am lost." Arya - "Quick as a shadow. Still as cool water." Cersei - "I am a lion." Theon - "I am iron born." Jon - "I am a man of the Night's Watch."

I find the idea of having a simple phrase, that means something that I want to remind myself of or inspire myself to do, oddly soothing. My friend Jessie always says "I can control the effort, but not the outcome". I haven't come up with anything yet, but these below are a good start.

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Happy New Yaaaar's!

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Happy end of 2012, everyone! I'd like to celebrate by sharing a few of the Christmas commissions I've been working on lately ...

Hairdresser_Pinup_MGallagher

Becky_OneDirection

Sailboat_Monkey_2

Now, a SPOILER WARNING for the images below ... as I've blathered on about before, I'm currently obsessed with Game of Thrones (on book 5 now, yippers!). My brother is too, and for Christmas wanted to do some drawings featuring the characters. BUT these may be a spoiler for anyone who is reading the books and isn't past Book 3 yet, so tread further at your own risk!

I decided I wanted to do a series of Game of Thrones SUPERTEAMS, so for now I've just drawn these two:

GOT_Hound_Arya

GOT_Jaime_Brianne

I have a bunch of ideas for other ones I want to do in the future. Why? Because -- OBSESSED!!

Anyway, I hope you all have a shiny glittery New Year's Eve tonight (I believe this is a night for as many sparkles and as much make-up as you want to wear, as is my custom). Catch y'all on the flipside!

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