24 August 2009

I really want to bake.

There's that age old cliche you read in every interview with a model or actor. "Yeah, this modeling gig is great, but what I really want to do is act." For the actors, it goes like this, "Yeah, acting is awesome, but what I really want to do is direct." I can see the logical progression from each gig to the next wannabe profession. Each allows the person to contribute on a more personal and creative level.

Lately, mine goes like this, "I'm a writer, but what I really want to do is bake." No logical progression from my current profession, but definitely something that I love to do. I've probably been baking since I could write. I say that because I don't really remember when the baking started. It seems like it was always there. I never had the Easy Bake Oven so many of my contemporaries had. I had the real oven. I helped my mom mostly when I was really young. I can remember the easy stuff like box brownies and muffins, but also trying out a few advanced recipes in my teens. Let's be real about this, I worked at bakery in high school and into college. While I didn't actually bake, I spent my time among racks and racks of cakes, pastries and breads. I so enjoyed watching the cake decorators do their thing and dreamt of having my own buckets of butter cream frosting!

I read cookbooks like novels. I check them out by the bagful at the library each week. There's something so amazing about turning raw ingredients into something lovely and delicious. I relish the zen of losing myself for a few hours in baking a pie, cake or cookies. I also REALLY have a sweet tooth. So I mostly bake so I can have a taste and then share with friends and family. I think one of the best parts of baking is seeing how happy my sweets make people. It's pretty cool.

This weekend I built a beautiful blueberry pie with fresh blueberries from Farmers Market and a crust from scratch just like my mom taught me. The baking happened on Saturday afternoon. I brought the pie to last night's cookout with R's friends. That meant there was a span of about 24 hours where all I could think about was how badly I wanted to cut into that pie and have a taste. Unfortunately, bringing a pie to a social function with a slice or two already cut out of it would be a social faux pas. I'm glad I waited. My in tact blueberry pie was well-received at the cookout on Cherry Street.

I wonder if I'd get tired of being up to my elbows in frosting and flour on a daily basis? Would I lose my sweet tooth? Would I gain 100+ pounds? Today, I bake because I love it. For now, with no actual plan to go full time, I'll just keep it at that. I am, however, already thinking about my next pie. The peaches looked pretty good at Farmers Market.

18 August 2009

this is my brain on tuesday

i say i like to travel, but when it comes down to it, i'm not into all the details that it takes to actually travel for fun and leisure. i guess that's why they have travel agents. i can't tell you the number of trips i'd like to take. need to get passport updated. need to commit and just flippin' go somewhere.

*****
just so we're all clear, i'm not going to not go somewhere just because someone (who may or may not happen to be my ex) might be there. it's MY neighborhood and i can go to the blockbuster whenever i want. i'm waiting for the day when we will all just run into each other and have that awkward "we used to know each other, but we're going to pretend not to know each other" moment. i have a feeling it's going to happen sooner rather than later, this town is REALLY small.

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i would like to start eating like a true athlete, not someone who runs/works out so i can eat whatever i want. my metabolism is fast, but it's not that fast. with that being said, i'd like a personal chef/nutritionist who can prepare me tasty meals and keep me on track.

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i've learned to be more at peace with peace, but every now and there's still a part of me that wants things stirred up a bit. i'm resisting the urge to stir the pot myself.

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i'm looking forward to ArtPrize. art has already started appearing around town. this event is going to be huge! have you heard about nessie?

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have i told you lately how much i like butter? i'm eating a toasted cinnamon raison bagel right now, with butter on it. it is delicious in all of its toasted buttery cinnamon goodness.

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my office is slightly illogically heated and cooled for whatever season we happen to be in. this weekend was blistering hot with humidity. for that kind of weather i can understand turning the air down to keep the workers cool. as best i can tell, it's not near the 90s today. i've been wearing fleece all morning in my cube. fleece, people. in august. that's just not right!

14 August 2009

Your vs. You're. R U kidding?

I write/edit for a living, so it should come as no surprise that the use of proper grammar scores points with me.

This article on grammar was a featured article on the MSN homepage yesterday. I clicked on it out of curiosity. I was a little flummoxed to read an article that dished out all the simple grammar goodies everyone should have learned in school, but clearly did not. I know darn well that in an age of text messages ("ill brb. txt me when u get there"), instant messaging and every other form of electronic communication that seems to wag its tongue in the face of proper grammar that knowledge of English grammar is floundering.

I came across this tweet from a local public relations firm today while looking at Grand Rapids Social Diary's Twitter "following" list.

[Redacted] co-founder, [Redacted], congratulated us on the @[redacted] merger with a giant cake: http://yfrog.com/cb16nj11:59 AM Aug 7th from Tweetie

In case cake link doesn't work, (because it wasn't earlier) it says, "Congratulations Heard your eating for two now." Please also note the random quotation marks at the end of the sentence. Here's the amusing part, this firm is now considered one of the largest public relations firms in Michigan and they can't even get the copy on a cake right. "Your" vs. "you're"? Really?! Folks, it's not rocket science and it's kind of your JOB to get things right. And if a vendor is doing work for you, it's your job to make sure they get it right! Or if someone messes up, notice the error, eat the cake and don't post it on your Twitter account for the entire world to see! Duh!

We all make mistakes, but this is one that did not need to be paraded around on the interwebs. Who exactly manages the public image of this firm? They clearly need some help on getting the simple things right. Just saying.

11 August 2009

Shopping the Closet

A coworker of mine just asked me if I’d been shopping alot recently because of what I'm wearing. No, I wish. I’ve been saving the dolla dolla bills y’all, by shopping my closet instead of the stores.

I’m wearing a skirt I bought probably over three years ago and have never worn with a rarely worn dressy t-shirt that matches it. I had to do a little creative pinning for a proper fit on the skirt, but so far it’s working and it’s almost as fun as having purchased something new! Maybe even more, since I know I didn’t spend any money (recently) on the new look.

I tend to get stuck wearing the same outfits to work over and over again, so the whole shopping my closet thing every now and then helps out with that. Another idea I’ve had for breathing new life into a wardrobe, but have never made happen, is having a couple trusted fashion friends over to play stylist. You look at your own closet every day and may be overlooking fashion gold. Your fashion friends, on the other hand, may spot a few things you’ve never thought to put together or have long since given up on. You could take turns over a few weeks visiting each gal’s closet – everyone gets a chance to catch up on each other’s lives and may get a few new outfit combinations out of it. Simple. Goodness. Savings!

10 August 2009

Latest Running Recap

Rain played a major part of shaping my weekend. Saturday morning's long run was pre-empted by a torrential downpour, thunder and more importantly lightening. I would have been fine to run in the rain, but I was not so keen on getting sizzled by lightening! A & I hung out in Sbux with a bunch of other rained out runners waiting/hoping the storm would pass quickly so we could still get in our run.

We went Sunday morning instead and probably got as soaked (in sweat) as we would have gotten had we ran in the rain on Saturday. If you're in Michigan, you know of this opressive heat/humidity combo of which I type! Make one move and you're instantly sweaty. We struggled through nearly 8 miles. I don't use the word struggle lightly. It was gross.

I have a 1/2 marathon coming up on Saturday and I'm a little bit nervous about how it's going to play out. I haven't been as gung ho about my training for this race as others. Perhaps I've hit a summer training slump?! As best as I can tell, Saturday's course has hills and a bit of trail running. Oi vey! I just hope it's a cool morning, so I can actually breath while I make my way through the course. Just looking to finish injury free and hope to actually enjoy the race.

This week's schedule looks pretty light, just to keep things from siezing up. The taper week before a long race always mystifies me. I know I can run the distance, but always think I should do more. The tapering actually helps the body prepare for what's ahead...it's really all beyond my control now! I'll just keep eating carbs and hope for the best.

05 August 2009

i have green eyes.

envy.



it's one of those feelings that just comes up unexpectedly. i don't think anyone sets out to wish they had what someone else has, be it be possessions, status, abilities, or to experience what someone else gets to experience. it comes from a feeling that you're somehow getting shortchanged, that your abilities are going unnoticed or unappreciated, that the spotlight is not shining on you.



something recently has made my natural green eyes greener and i was not happy with the feeling. that's not who i want to be. my way of working through it was joking around, making fun and taking playful jabs, but afterward i felt like my true feelings were too thinly veiled and i was being a complete bitch.



in order to work through it and move beyond feeling envy, i focused on gratitude. focusing on all the things i do have. all the ways in which i've been blessed. as with most feelings, i knew the envy would fade. it was my ego saying "i want mine...", to which i said, you've got yours beyond what anyone can even see. if you still want more, work harder for it. make your own spotlight. create your own opportunity.



another thing i've thought about...whenever you actually do end up getting that thing you've coveted, it's often not as amazing as you built it up to be. i remember wanting white leather tennis shoes when i was in 6th or 7th grade because a couple of the more popular girls had them. i finally got them and the inevitable happened. i slipped my middle school feet into them and somehow they no longer seemed as cool. they weren't me. today, i think, "what were you thinking? white tennis shoes? nikes? really?! " recently, i've seen boys pull this look off successfully, but its white adidas with fitted jeans. boys. not girls. i guess that's a fashion post for another time!


crazy feelings. sometimes it would be nice if we could just shake them off, but feel them we must until we've worked out whatever it is we need to discover about ourselves. big or small, the discovery usually helps the next time an uncomfortable feeling appears out of nowhere.