27 Things To Do Before I Turn 28

1. Get married!
   We were married on Nov 19th at the MIT Chapel
2. Take a real vacation
   I went to New Orleans for my bachelorette weekend, and J and I went to Vermont for our honeymoon over Thanksgiving, and were forced by the closure of every business and restaurant to just relax in our hotel.
3. Sew a dress
4. Take more pictures
   This is a goal of mine every year, and I somehow fail even more every year. I got a new 50mm lens, which made me pretty excited to take photos for a while, but it wasn't enough. I still wanted to take a picture every day for a year. I was going strong this year, and I think I succeeded at the goal of "take more pictures." Did I take a picture every. day? No, but keeping that goal through the year made me more likely to take a picture most days.
5. Wear lipstick more regularly
   After learning to do my makeup for the wedding, I made sure that I did myself up more often. Sometimes all I did was put on a little lipstick, and it's amazing how put together you can look with lipstick and nothing else.
6. Find a new hairstyle
   I learned how to do a dancer's bun and it saved me when I was growing my hair out for the updo I'd have on Nov 19th.
7. Host a board game night
   We had people over for Scrabble one night. It was brutal.
8. Use my kitchen every day
9. Do more yoga
   A friend of mine teaches a class on Wednesdays. I feel more accountable since I know the teacher. It's also helped me do more yoga at home.
10. Compost
    I did end up calling the city of Somerville to look into this, but they didn't have any bins available until after the New Year. After learning this, J and I went to Home Depot, picked up a 5 Gallon plastic pail, and we drop our compost off at Whole Foods weekly. I don't need it to garden (a wish/goal of mine when I embarked on this process that I have since abandoned), so this solution works for us.
11. Make a scrapbook
    I ordered a wedding photo book from pinhole press, and because I am feeling unambitious, but also like it was still an achievement, I will call this one a win, since I had to spend a lot of time with that layout.
12. Letterpress I letterpresesd and assembled our wedding invitations.
13. Make my office inspiring
    I did a lot of cleaning and purging, and it did help tremendously. I then bought a new (larger) desk and office chair and it's looking very professional and the addition of workspace makes me more efficient
14. Unveil a new website/blog
    Not that this is what I meant, but I did update the layout around here...
15. New business cards
16. Write more thank you notes
    After the wedding, I feel like I've done nothing but write thank you notes.
17. Drink more water
    I go back and forth on this one. In general, I feel like I've drunk more water this past year than I used to...but it wasn't measured.
18. Pimp our our bathroom
    Courtesy of our wedding registry, we now have matching towels. Matching. Towels. Also a spa-like bath mat, and a re-organized very spiffy basket to hold all of our bathroom needs.
19. Dog-sit a corgi
20. Organize my files
21. Clean out our bedroom
22. Start drinking tea
23. Participate in the Apartment Therapy Spring Cure
24. Thrift/restyle in my own closet
25. Eliminate chemicals from our home
    We are down to some Mrs. Meyers cleaning solution for the bathroom (since it's so gross in there), but everything else is all natural (vinegar, baking soda and lemon if I can help it, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, or Method products if I cant).
26. Tour a brewery
    We went to the Magic Hat Brewery in VT on our honeymoon, and toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery with friends.
27. Hang more artwork/photos

Wrapping up 2010

via qsprn

Wrapping up 2009

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?

• Got engaged!
• Hosted Thanksgiving dinner (made a turkey!)
• Rented a lens from borrowlenses.com
• Saw an Army/Navy game
• Had jewelry designed (my engagement ring!)
• Had a professional photo shoot (I felt like I was being followed by paparazzi!)

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?

From last year:

• Cut HFCS from our diet, or severely restrict it. I guess limit processed foods in general.
• Fix my little anxiety/fear of bicycle death thing.
• Resume cooking meals at home more often
• Eat healthier foods, and by exercising more, possibly look smoking hot when I'm naked?

Last year, my diet was worse than ever. I did get over a lot of my anxiety, with a lot of therapy and just having things generally go more smoothly than last year. I did not cook very much, unless you count frozen pizza. Blech.

This year?

• diet, diet, diet. I would like to eat waaay better than we did this year. Less booze and much less frozen pizza.
• start saving more money.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, everyone eked out their babies at the end of last year!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

None, once more. We were going to go to "Europe," but J traveled a lot for work and I was generally broke/working customer service jobs, so we mainly traveled for weddings.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

The ability to browse wedding blogs without having to hide it (or rather, hide just how often I read them!)

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

November 13, because that was when J proposed!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I found not one, but two jobs, one of which I truly enjoy, the other which starts next January. I also made some really great personal breakthroughs in therapy. I did finally get that client to pay—the one that was my biggest failure last year.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Letting one of my coworkers get to me to the point that it gave me serious stress when I had to go in to work knowing he and I would be spending the day/evening together.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I caught the flu, again, but nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The engagement photos, for sure, but we actually also got flannel sheets, which turned out to be an excellent purchase now that it is cold. I haven't even had to use the electric blanket since we bought them, and I'm sure that has saved us some money, as well as helping the environment a little bit (a stretch? Maybe, but they are awesome!)

I also bought some riding boots that I love. I have seriously been searching high and low for riding boots for three years, now. It is about time.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

• J's, whose support and devotion have never wavered, ever. And also because he proposed to me and all that.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Just this one guy who made me want to stop going to trivia, even though we've been going every Tuesday for over a year. He's such a dingbat.

14. Where did most of your money go?

rent, health insurance, wedding savings.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Getting Engaged!

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder?

Much happier. I am still in the engagement glow!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eating frozen pizza!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

In PA with J and his family

21. How will you be spending New Years?

Working at my restaurant job, then going dancing with my BFF, Jessica.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?

Yes, I still find new ways and reasons to love J more and more every year.

23. How many one-night stands?

Fail.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Walking Dead, Mad Men.

25. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*

26. What was the best book you read?

I am mostly reading a bunch of wedding books right now, so I am ill equipped to answer this question. Long and short? I don't know that I read very much this year. Offbeat Bride was probably the best wedding book, though.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. I was very sad when Ima Robot seemed to be breaking up. Now? I has a happy, again—and after Edward Sharpe, Ima Robot came out with a new album! Yeehaw.

28. What did you want that you also ended up getting?

MY VERY OWN LETTERPRESS. Also, a pair of riding boots.

29. What did you want that you did not end up getting?

A Clarisonic Mia

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Black Swan

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant with a bunch of friends. The owner even gave us a free cake!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Getting to tell a customer off. What a waste of a last day at a restaurant.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Pretty much the same as last year. More sweat pants, more flats, skinny jeans, comfortable chic.

34. What kept you sane?

Medication, therapy, and yoga.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

John Kraskinski.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

Health Insurance

37. Who did you miss?

Our friends Dan and Lydia moved last year, but the loss is still just as strong.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Almost everyone at my new restaurant job.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

Let it Go

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"This is the first day of my life

Glad I didn't die before I met you

Now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you

And I'd probably be happy"

Heart

Things I love Thursday

Getting some work done. As I posted previously, I finished a website and the restaurant menus this week. Exciting to be done!


Hanging out with other people's pets. I hung out with my neighbor's corgi the other day, and I will be hanging out with Jess' cat this weekend. The next best thing until we can get our own dog.

So Much Going On Lately

My To Do list has been growing at an astounding rate, lately—business is going well, things at the restaurant are going well, and there have been other personal developments that are finally going well now that everyone is on track. The things that have been keeping me from updating this thing, ever, these days.

I keep thinking about starting a professional blog—something I can tie to my website; a website that is woefully out of date at the moment. The Catch-22 of being a web designer is that I haven't had the time to work on my own portfolio recently. Which is why a professional blog seems like such a silly idea.

Tidbits from the past while:
We have met the neighbors. Drank a few bottles of wine with them. I ended up massaging the downstairs neighbor's dog's feet, which I could have done all night...LOVE HER. She was going to be a show dog before she broke her hip, so she has pins holding her together. I told her I knew how she felt, and about how my jaw is held together with pins, too. Downstairs neighbors' chihuahuas are scared of her, though, so they didn't really want to hang with us.

The new restaurant menus that I designed will be unveiled this week, and I am so excited about them.

I got a rockin' haircut.

J finished his Master's! No more grad school! For now!

I launched a hair studio's website

Plus other stuff, that I can't talk about just yet...Exciting times! As they say, Stay Tuned for more!

Quelle Belle

Palomino Colored Pencils

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms"

Making Marriage Sound Cute

quote via so much to tell you

Choose Your Own Adventure: Logan Airport

Every time I come home from the airport, I manage to take a different route. This is never my intention, and usually I get home without incident, even if I end up taking Storrow Drive to Harvard Square instead of the more direct route to Inman Square.

This time however, at three o'clock in the morning I might add, I veered entirely off course in a way that was terrifying, moreso because I didn't even have my cell phone on me. My usual exit was closed, and instead of taking the next exit, I managed to get off the highway a little bit too early and ended up in Boston's North End. J and I have walked through Charlestown to the North End before, so I figured it would be a snap to get back from there using my bearings. Boy was I wrong.

I had no cell phone and no way of knowing when to get on and off the dozens of highways that might or might not send me back to Logan airport, where at the very least I would know where I was! I kept trying to catch a glimpse of the Boston skyline, so I'd know vaguely which way to go. Long story short, guess who ended up at a Walgreens in Revere, nearly in tears, asking the security guard how to get back to Somerville. I'm just really glad I had decided against driving in skimpy pajamas and had opted for real clothes, instead. His directions weren't really very accurate, uh, AT ALL—the only real insight he provided was that instead of taking a left out of the parking lot like I wanted to, I should take a right. I found signs for Everett/Somerville, and things finally began to look familiar at some point.

This is the route I SHOULD have taken, provided the exit I needed hadn't been closed:


View Larger Map

And in the end, this looks pretty close to the route I ended up taking, instead:


View Larger Map

When Gilmore Girls Mirrors Real Life

"I feel awful—I feel sick...It just sucks, you know, because I graduated today, this was supposed to be a happy day in my life and now when I look back on it I'm just going to think about this whole other thing that happened." --Rory Gilmore

I don't really think about my own graduation anymore, but the penultimate episode of the Gilmore Girls dredged up some pretty awful memories for me. Thank God life has turned out beautifully every since I left college boyfriend's wretched family in my past. The wonderful thing about heartbreak is that it leaves you feeling alive, though. Going through it at the time is no picnic, and I personally learned a lot about depression when I graduated from college, but watching Logan's heartbreak was as beautiful as it was painful. I can imagine Logan telling the story about Rory—the love of his life before he met the actual love of his life—to his grandchildren when he's 80.

I won't be telling any stories about my awful college boyfriend to my grandkids or anything, but I can imagine talking about other boys in my past. And that kind of childhood heartbreak is just the type of maudlin thing that brings a smile to my face.

After all, I wouldn't be here in this wonderful place if life had taken a different turn at any point along the way.

Nice Guys

The captions: hilarious.

Swagbucks

Over the past few months, I have gone on a spending spree on Amazon. First, I finally bought the ipod I'd been saving for, then, when my mouse broke, I broke down and bought a magic mouse. When I went on this spree, I didn't spend any of my own money. I had accumulated amazon gift cards by participating in surveys and by using swagbucks.com for my daily searching.

Every time my account reaches 450 swag bucks, I get a $5 Amazon gift card. Searching the internet is something I do anyway, every day, and their search engine gets better and better as the site develops and grows stronger. Searching is a simple way to see swag bucks add up, but the real money is in referrals. After I had a few friends join, my points went through the roof and I ended up slowly being able to afford a $150 mp3 player, $5 at a time. There are some other prizes on there, and I can't speak to their value, but I know some people will "save up" for things like an XBox (I can't imagine how many swag bucks you need for an XBox).

If you're interested, you should check it out. It's pretty exhilarating when you get your first prize, just for using the search engine, and if you're into online games, they have a pretty active twitter and facebook account where they post opportunities and contests to grab swag bucks every day. And because this post is clearly about shameless promotion:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/dearsweetbriar

Magic Mouse To The Rescue...I Hope

In continuing with my whorish consumerism, I made another Apple purchase today. The scroll button on my mouse constantly sticks, and it has become a daily battle with the thing. I use lotion pretty frequently, and I know this has contributed vastly to the problem, which isn't helped by the fact that I eat at my desk sometimes. Yesterday the scroll button stuck, and after my usual struggle with it (which I will sadly admit includes banging it on the desk to dislodge the dirt) it did something awful—the whole mouse got stuck in the clicked position. I figured it was just dirty, so I tried to clean it to no avail. Now there's a piece of my mouse on J's desk, and the rest of it's over here, still in the "clicked" position, rendering it unusable.

So after absolutely no deliberation or thought whatsoever, I bought a magic mouse. I immediately regretted the spontaneous purchase, and I don't know how I'm going to feel about this new toy once it arrives. It is all unicorns and glitter and rainbows, I'm sure, but it's also relatively new and probably buggy, and now I'm the proud owner of something that will most likely become outdated this summer and obsolete by next summer.

A lot of the people whose twitter feeds I follow bought this toy when it came out—and they were all duly impressed. The reviews on CNet, however, seem to indicate that no matter how impressed people were with the magic mouse when it first came out, they are not thrilled with it after using the thing for a bit. So, we'll see what happens when the package arrives for me. If I return it, I'll have to see what else Amazon has to offer before my Amazon Prime trial is over. I've always had good luck with logictech mice, and I will be damned if I spend money on another stupid mighty mouse that I will have to throw out the window once the track ball starts sticking.

iPod Madness

source

I got a brand new 5th genereation ipod nano on Wednesday. After applying swagbucks gift certificates and signing up for an Amazon credit card, I spent a whopping $32 (I had $180 saved up in a bank account for just this reason).

I've been so out of touch with new technology that I was overwhelmingly impressed with my new tech toy. I got an 8GB nano because I figured that my old ones only carried one or two albums and a dozen songs that I listened to at once. I was able to store everything I listened to on a tiny little 4GB ipod, before. But this nano? This nano plays video! This nano has a pedometer! This nano has games! In color! This nano makes me feel old.

But it is so pretty, and now I can watch episodes of the Office when I travel. I'm kind of starting to regret not going for the 16GB, or holding out for a touch!

Massholes, Revisited

Some interesting theories put forth by the Boston Biker on his blog:

A normal well adjusted person would be able to take a 30 second delay in stride, a normal person wouldn’t roll down their window and threaten to kill another person, a normal person after they had just nearly killed someone would have apologized (and mean it). It would seem that driving a vehicle in Boston on a regular basis can actually turn you from a normal well adjusted human being into a murderous asshole.

This is stuff I witness on a daily basis, and my commute, from point A to point B has never taken me more than 15 minutes. In 15 minutes, I am threatened multiple times, even if sometimes it's just by accident. Usually it's not. Parts of me just want to move, the parts that value my sanity over the sadness that people can't be better towards one another in my little city.

My April Goal

My goal for April is to workout more, especially in the mornings. As a server, I don't have to report to work until 10:30 AM, so there is a whole chunk of potential time to do...things! I could work! I could answer emails! I could...sleep in.

So this week I have been using Hulu's exercise TV feed to explore new cardio workouts. I bought a stability ball recently, and as soon as we've moved into the new place, I'll buy some weights. I commute by bike, although my world is so small these days, I'm rarely on it for more than ten minutes, but cool spring nights are the best time for rides out to Deer Island, so one of those trips is surely coming up.

This is the one thing I'm going to focus on in April. Eating better is also on the short list, but I think that one goal a month is going to be the way to make these changes lifetime changes instead of whims.

Throw Out Fifty Things: Day Four

This week was great because I placed these ten items outside for the taking, and a lot of them got taken!

31. Method dish soap that smelled terrible. TAKEN
32. Success Rice that we didn't use for three years.
33. Prototype mittens that I've made but don't wear.
34. Shampoo. TAKEN
35. Frank Lloyd Wright coffee table book. TAKEN
36. Sticky notes from Target that were too sticky when stuck together, but not sticky enough when I wanted to stick them to anything else! TAKEN
37. My old bike bell, which I removed when my mom bought me a bigger louder one. TAKEN
38. Placemats that have seen their day. J will thank me some day.
39. See-through bag that I got when employed with that big retail store at the mall. It was to prevent staff-shoplifting.
40. More yarn, and there will probably be another round of yarn before we move!

Things I Love Thursday

This picture is fabulous.

Greening Our Apartment

J and I will be moving over the next few weeks , and I want to get more plants into our living space. I managed to kill many of the plants we had here, but mostly because...okay, I confess that there is probably nothing wrong with the sunlight, the placement or the hardiness of the plants I choose. I just forget to water them! But I want to resolve to be better about this in the new place. Things that might help are a balcony. And my being more responsible (ha!)

In addition to more greenery, I would like to have fresh cut flowers in the apartment more often, and I think there's a perfect spot for them, too, because there is a cutout between our kitchen and living room that has a groove where I would hope we can fit one of these planters from Urban Outfitters:



I also think that a hanging planter would be pretty great in the space next to the sliding glass door to the balcony:


I decided to take advantage of Amazon's universal wish list and set up my own New Apartment wish list. I hope this will help me budget for the new place, and maybe we can eventually get everything we need for our new space without breaking the bank.

Throw Out Fifty Things: Day Three

This week's things came from all over, again.

21. Florals from inside the centerpiece at a reception I went to.
22. The placeholder from another wedding J and I attended last summer.
23. A tank top that has always been too baggy for me
24. A shirt that is sadly a little bit too young on me
25. Some nail polish that I haven't really worn. These purchases can seem like such a good idea until I get them home!
26. Some computer mice that I don't use since I got my Mac, plus they are both missing the USB keys that make them work.
27. Sequined suspenders I bought for St. Paddy's day, then I didn't wear them PLUS I didn't make any money to pay for them. Fail, all around.
28. My old point and shoot which is outdated, cracked, and pretty much useless now that we have two other digital cameras and a bajillion analog cameras.
29. A candle holder that I've had for years, loved, and used, but it is now time to let it go, as it's been half hidden in the bathroom for two years, not doing much of anything—not even really being decor.
30. Scraps from the mesh earring hanger I made last year.
    

Things I Love Thursday

Feel Script from Veer, which I have been lusting after for so long I can't even remember. This font is not super cheap ($99), but I will be purchasing it at some point, when I feel it's necessary. Isn't it fabulous?



This cupcake kit from Meri Meri. Robots and Space! This has J written all over it. Hello, graduation party theme :)

This Flight of the Conchords poster by artist Dan Stiles. I would love to hang this on the walls of our new apartment, but sadly, it's sold out.

We got a new apartment! We signed the lease last night, and will get the keys April 1st! We're still hoping the stars will align and we will be able to work things out with our current place—the lease here doesn't expire until June 31st. For now we're just thrilled to know we have a top floor apartment that has a deck, a shared backyard, 2.5 bedrooms, and allows puppies waiting for us next week.