I try not to take this blog too seriously. I've been blogging for about 8 years now, and I've certainly hoped at times that it would make me wildly popular and famous (it's ok, I'm laughing too), but ain't nobody got time for the amount of effort that takes. I find I get the most out of blogging when it's an available platform for me to play with or share through, but it becomes stressful and stiff when I try and force it to advance my "career" or otherwise glorify myself. I would love to hone my professional writing skills further by practicing here, but I'm also really trying to focus on my real life. Taking care of real people, working hard in real life so that I don't just have to dream about a dream job falling in my lap because of my bloggy-hobby. I'm not going to make any official statements about how much I'm going to be blogging in the future (it seems to go in seasonal waves), but I haven't felt a big need to inhabit this space recently, thus the relative radio silence. Anyway, I greatly appreciate all of you that encourage me when I write, and keep coming back. With the exception of #7, I've found this list of reasons to blog to be pretty accurate, and as I learn to give blogging the proper amount of weight in my life, I'm even more excited about it. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, it will become something even more exciting somewhere down the road. :)
Now, on to a December recap...
Heard: This song, all the way. "Georgia" is definitely on my girl-name list, for many reasons, but this song is only helping its place.
Watched: Apparently my family likes to watch movies during the holidays. I saw so many that I'm just going to rate them rather than review each. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zussou (2.5 - too disjointed, but at least there was Cate Blanchett), ABC's Hannibal (5 - Obsessed. So beautiful, and I can't figure it out, which is a huge plus to me), American Horror Story: Coven (3.5 - Better than the other seasons, but over the top in the last few episodes), Netflix's Marco Polo (2.5 for lack of energy and awful accents, but 5+ for the opening sequence!!!) , How to Train Your Dragon 2 (3 - "Meh" compared to the first, but not your average sequel storyline), Guardians of the Galaxy (4 - Rockit forever! But the nemesis part of the story was weak, IMO), Joyride (4 - awesome if you don't know anything about it going in!), Labyrinth (2 - maybe you had to have grown up on this?!). // Also, Ayn Rand reviews children's movies. My favorite.
Tasted: I bought some sunflower sprouts at the SB farmer's market and really enjoyed them on sandwiches and in salads. I'd like to try and grow some! The best recipe I made was this cranberry cream cheese pound cake. Hearts for eyes!! Although I'm not a huge fan of drinking eggnog straight, I really like to put it in pancakes and coffee during the holidays.
Browsed:
My eyes glaze over (in happiness) at things like this underwater Victorian ballroom.
If you didn't already see these, check out junk food wastelands.
Migrations creating patterns takes my breath away.
Several of these cleverly staged photos are pretty impressive.
This book looks very sweet - I still have some much loved (if ragged) items from childhood. I have a beanie-baby (but before that was a brand) turtle whose eyes are flat and scratched because I used to suck on its head.
A fascinating article about how pronunciation changes. Did you realize that we all pronounce "skiing" incorrectly? I just eat this stuff up...
Experienced: I was very, very busy in December, making gifts to sell and give away. I think I saved a lot of money, but it was pretty stressful. Jonas and I took the boys down to LA to spend the weekend with our sister-in-law and nephew while their husband/dad was away in Ukraine picking up their second adopted son. It was a fun little trip, and we especially enjoyed getting to know our nephew a little bit better. Christmas was pretty low-key, but spent with loved ones. My favorite part was seeing Ishmael so excited by gifts and enjoying having everyone home. We spent NYE with friends watching 80s and 90s movies in sweat pants (which I'm still grumpy about because I wanted to dress up ;)) and drinking some pretty darn good gin.
Boys: Ishmael's leg hair is bristly now. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen so early. He also swears like a sailor, though unintentionally. F-bombs right and left, which is both hilarious and embarrassing because we can not figure out what it is that he is actually trying to say or if he just came up with that sound on his own?! I love how uninhibited he is, he claps and dances in church (even if it's not a clapping song), claps wildly for everyone at Pampered Chef meetings, waves at Julia even if she doesn't wave back (because she didn't see him). He has quite the fake laugh, accompanied by exaggerated knee slapping, head thrown back, and the whole nine yards. He's also big into saying "n-n-n-n-nooooo!" and "stop!" if you do something he doesn't like. // Ira is growing in to some unique nicknames, including "cherub" (Annelise's name for him), "bean dip" and "virgil" (my mom's names for him), and "weebsie", which is what I call him (after weeble wobbles!). He's very drooly (pre-teething?) and grabbing at food. He flaps his arms wildly (but in unison, which I kind of remember Ishmael doing too), screeches loudly to let us all know that he exists, and stares intently at the stuffed pig I put in his seat with him. He has a deep "voice", which I like. // I tried to pick just a sentence to quote from this excellent article about why it's so hard to make mom friends, but the whole paragraph is just a big "yep..." from me.
Now, on to a December recap...
Heard: This song, all the way. "Georgia" is definitely on my girl-name list, for many reasons, but this song is only helping its place.
Watched: Apparently my family likes to watch movies during the holidays. I saw so many that I'm just going to rate them rather than review each. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zussou (2.5 - too disjointed, but at least there was Cate Blanchett), ABC's Hannibal (5 - Obsessed. So beautiful, and I can't figure it out, which is a huge plus to me), American Horror Story: Coven (3.5 - Better than the other seasons, but over the top in the last few episodes), Netflix's Marco Polo (2.5 for lack of energy and awful accents, but 5+ for the opening sequence!!!) , How to Train Your Dragon 2 (3 - "Meh" compared to the first, but not your average sequel storyline), Guardians of the Galaxy (4 - Rockit forever! But the nemesis part of the story was weak, IMO), Joyride (4 - awesome if you don't know anything about it going in!), Labyrinth (2 - maybe you had to have grown up on this?!). // Also, Ayn Rand reviews children's movies. My favorite.
Tasted: I bought some sunflower sprouts at the SB farmer's market and really enjoyed them on sandwiches and in salads. I'd like to try and grow some! The best recipe I made was this cranberry cream cheese pound cake. Hearts for eyes!! Although I'm not a huge fan of drinking eggnog straight, I really like to put it in pancakes and coffee during the holidays.
Browsed:
My eyes glaze over (in happiness) at things like this underwater Victorian ballroom.
If you didn't already see these, check out junk food wastelands.
Migrations creating patterns takes my breath away.
Several of these cleverly staged photos are pretty impressive.
This book looks very sweet - I still have some much loved (if ragged) items from childhood. I have a beanie-baby (but before that was a brand) turtle whose eyes are flat and scratched because I used to suck on its head.
A fascinating article about how pronunciation changes. Did you realize that we all pronounce "skiing" incorrectly? I just eat this stuff up...
Experienced: I was very, very busy in December, making gifts to sell and give away. I think I saved a lot of money, but it was pretty stressful. Jonas and I took the boys down to LA to spend the weekend with our sister-in-law and nephew while their husband/dad was away in Ukraine picking up their second adopted son. It was a fun little trip, and we especially enjoyed getting to know our nephew a little bit better. Christmas was pretty low-key, but spent with loved ones. My favorite part was seeing Ishmael so excited by gifts and enjoying having everyone home. We spent NYE with friends watching 80s and 90s movies in sweat pants (which I'm still grumpy about because I wanted to dress up ;)) and drinking some pretty darn good gin.
Boys: Ishmael's leg hair is bristly now. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen so early. He also swears like a sailor, though unintentionally. F-bombs right and left, which is both hilarious and embarrassing because we can not figure out what it is that he is actually trying to say or if he just came up with that sound on his own?! I love how uninhibited he is, he claps and dances in church (even if it's not a clapping song), claps wildly for everyone at Pampered Chef meetings, waves at Julia even if she doesn't wave back (because she didn't see him). He has quite the fake laugh, accompanied by exaggerated knee slapping, head thrown back, and the whole nine yards. He's also big into saying "n-n-n-n-nooooo!" and "stop!" if you do something he doesn't like. // Ira is growing in to some unique nicknames, including "cherub" (Annelise's name for him), "bean dip" and "virgil" (my mom's names for him), and "weebsie", which is what I call him (after weeble wobbles!). He's very drooly (pre-teething?) and grabbing at food. He flaps his arms wildly (but in unison, which I kind of remember Ishmael doing too), screeches loudly to let us all know that he exists, and stares intently at the stuffed pig I put in his seat with him. He has a deep "voice", which I like. // I tried to pick just a sentence to quote from this excellent article about why it's so hard to make mom friends, but the whole paragraph is just a big "yep..." from me.
"Most of these women are cool individually. One woman at story time had these great sparkly shoes. Another is a midwife. One woman started her own company and is really funny. Another writes for the Times. Collectively, though, they are mothers. They park their goddamn strollers everywhere and they are alternately dressed like shit or way overdressed for someone who has nowhere to be at all. They’re either miserable or fake happy or smug. They’re lost, too, scrambling for affirmation that they’re doing things the right way, that their kid is going to be okay. Okay or a genius. They’re knee-jerk judgmental, compensating for their own lack of conviction, a little defensive, hiding their deep fear just below the surface. They’re tired. Their clothes don’t fit. They miss work, miss people, miss drinking. They have no idea what they’re doing and have spent way too much time reading about it on the internet. They are, I’m sorry to say, just like me."Loved: Cranberries in everything, Christmas shopping.
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