Fifty shades of yoga

I’m the most annoying yoga student ever: I go sporadically, with no commitment to a particular class, instructor, or studio; I usually stop paying attention to my breath or any zen feelings and instead enthusiastically plan meals, blog posts, or works of literature I will likely never write; and worst of all, I’m really hoping this is going to pay off in the form of awesome abs and killer (but still feminine and sexy) biceps. But you know what? I’m a paying customer, and this is America. Don’t take away my freedom to half-ass my way through your yoga class.

Many important questions

Daylight savings time is just a grand conspiracy, isn’t it? Why am I still awake? Why have I started like 90 different blog posts that I haven’t posted? Why do I exaggerate all numbers to a multiple of 9? Why did my eyebrow threader do weird things to my eyebrow (right) this weekend? Why am I playing around with Photo Booth instead of just buying a real photo editing program with my NYU discount? Does this photo look OK not on Macs? Who doesn’t have a Mac these days anyway? Why I am still writing fake questions when I need to get up at 6am?

The Bright Side

We’ve gotten to that time of year when winter really just needs to be over, but every time you check the weather report there’s another snowstorm on the horizon.  This year is particularly annoying because there was hardly any snow during the period of time between December and February when snow is appropriate and occasionally welcomed (PEOPLE WROTE SONGS ABOUT WHITE CHRISTMASES FOR A REASON), and instead it delayed its arrival until the middle of February, and appears to be doing some kind of grand finale (well, it’d better be the finale) tomorrow, with 7 to 10 inches expected here in Chicago.  And it’s not even the light, pretty snow.  It’s wet, heavy, already-kind-of-gray-when-it-falls snow.  To put the cherry on that sundae, it was a particularly gray, cloudy February, even by Chicago standards.

What this all translates to is that I’ve worn all of my sweaters 10,000 times this season and all my outfits feel tired, I have a heightened annoyance at things that usually don’t annoy me, I can’t imagine what 80 degrees even feels like and am certain that it will be cold and gray forever, and I am over it.

However, in the interest of my mental health, I have realized that not everything about this sucks.  In fact, I have found the bright side.

DIY Desk Spruce-Up

Despite the fact that I have been at my job more than 3 months, my desk basically looked the same as it did on my first day.  Aside from some documents on my bulletin board and a box of tissues on my shelf, I had no personal touches on my desk.  And without any natural light, I spent my days looking at gray walls under florescent lights.  Not exactly the most inviting or comfortable setup.  So when I met up with some friends for craft club last weekend (yes, I am in a craft club, and yes, it is awesome), I decided it was high time that I made a few things to spruce up my desk!  A short time later, I had a new mousepad, pencil cup, and some flowers that won’t die in my windowless space.

Instant Fix: Jackie’s Netflix Top 5

Caelyn was right, sometimes Netflix does take over my life.  And sometimes, it’s in a really good way:

5) Bill Cunningham New York

If you’ve ever perused the Style section of the New York Times, you may recognize the name Bill Cunningham from his “On the Street” column.  This documentary gives a peek into his fascinating life: he lives in Carnegie Hall (in an apartment without its own bathroom or kitchen), is tremendously frugal, and has incredibly strong convictions about how to do his work, which has allowed him to forge his own path in the fashion community and still be wildly adored by everyone.  Seriously, just watch this and then tell me you don’t find him completely endearing.

Instant Fix: Caelyn’s Netflix Top 5

Ah, Netflix Instant. I love you, and yet I hate you. There are many Sundays where I planned a run, some light reading, perhaps a trip to the Grand Army Plaza farmers’ market, but did none of those things. I blame you, Netflix, with your siren song of all seventeen seasons of every show I watched as a teen. Can you still make your Facebook relationship status, “It’s Complicated”? Because if so, Netflix, I feel we need to own up to the truth.

Especially since I know that you’re doing the same thing with all of my friends, some relatives, and even Jackie. I know she bakes you cookies, but don’t be fooled. You’re better than that.

In spite of your brazen indiscretions, Netflix, I can’t move on. And here’s why:

Lately

• Three years after first hearing about them, I finally made the “ultimate” Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the New York Times.  They were definitely worth the 36 hour wait (taste-testing the dough periodically during the waiting period encouraged).  Next up: Boston Cream Cupcakes.
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• I’ve eaten an orange basically every day in January.  They’re cheap and they’re the perfect antidote to January in Chicago.
• The second video in this article is the cutest.
• Plans are my thing.  This year my plan is to read 52 books, and so far I’ve tackled Freedom and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs, Empty Family by Colm Toibin.  Book recommendations always welcome.

A Calendar for 2013

Last Christmas, my friend Eric gave me this awesome little calendar (thanks, Eric!); it had a different music lyric (June was “let’s go surfing now,” October was “hello darkness my old friend”) printed in a simple font on brown paper, and it came on a mini-clipboard.  I added a strip of magnet to the back and it made a lovely addition to our refrigerator.  I enjoyed it so much that I thought it would be fun to make my own for 2013.  So I spent some way too much time finding a song lyric from my music library that fit each month, and then the perfect font to go with each one.  I ended up printing it on the back of the 2012 calendar.  And viola!  A customized calendar that combines my love of fonts, music, and obsessively searching for things.  Perfect!

 

The leftover ingredients: buffalo chicken casserole

A few weeks ago, I made Jackie’s buffalo quinoa salad. Not only is it delicious, but it lasted me three days. Hooray!

The problem? Like any cooking adventure where you use one cup of one thing and two stalks of something else, I was left with a ton of ingredients. Luckily for me, I left for the holidays the week after I made Jackie’s dish, so I merely threw away all of the celery and carrots rather than trying to come up with a clever use for them.

The buffalo sauce, however, remained.

Seven ways to get nothing done on your time off

Fun fact: did you know a month where you have one week of no work due to natural disaster, one week of shitty public transportation from said natural disaster, and then two two-day weeks of mostly traveling, your work life becomes very stressful?

This was basically my entire month of November. So, when December finally rolled around, I was counting down to the week-long winter break that the university I work for gives all its administrative employees. I had tons of ideas of what I was going to do with my spare time: read academic journals, finish a few good books, catch up on my sleep, finally get in a full workout a few days in a row.

Five days into the vacation, and I have done pretty much none of these things. In fact, I really can’t even tell you what I did with my many hours of free time. How is this possible, you ask? Here’s your guide to excellently vacant vacations.