Whale Watching 1.14.12

Spent Saturday morning whale watching off the coast of Ventura (north of Los Angeles). We were chasing 3 grey whales (likely 2 males and 1 female) while a huge pod of dolphins (well over 100!) chased us. It was a fantastic day.

Being a hoarder sucks.

I came home to a 'surprise apartment inspection' notice. Awesome. My insides liquified, my heart raced then dropped to my stomach, and I panicked.

I should be okay. If not, well...I should be okay.

But, seriously - being a hoarder fucking sucks.

Leap Blog Day!

Check it ~ Leap Blog Day!

Short version: visit site, sign up, select a guest blogger from the list, wait for someone to select you, write, yay!

Get and give some blog traffic.

Get and give some blog love.

Girl of 100 Lists - 2012...

• "Be open to a change in direction. Know that the path I walk today will never lead to the same tree tomorrow." (thank you, Kurt Sutter)
• more experiences
• less things (however, if the 'experience' is to purchase a new 'thing' - a handbag, a pair of shoes, a dress - this goal may be broken, on occasion)
• stuff out
• furniture in
• friends in!
• London
• soda out (my sincerest apologies, Dr. Pepper. We were so good together.)
• read good things
• write good things
• do good things
• love
• Love
• LOVE!

Girl of 100 Lists - 2011.

family

two weeks in Hawaii

shark dive

third row for Duran Duran

a weekend of the Fixx

an 80s weekend with my favorite 80s bands

44

featured post at the3six5.com

cleared clutter in six weeks

people in my place for the first time

relapsed in six weeks

first piece of furniture in my place

writing - judged, defeated, pencils down

writing - fuck that, I'm good, resumed

friends - fun, laughs, love, bonds strengthened

Adele, Florence, GirlTalk, Mayer Hawthorne, G Love, Belle Brigade, ABC, Tony Hadley, Truth & Salvage Co

weddings

funerals

English Beat to close my year

Christmas Songs

Christmas music has been playing since October and I am sick of it.

However, there are 2 Christmas songs I can tolerate:

Bah humbug!

Christmas no longer brings me joy.

There, I said it.

The sad, but true, realization hit me when I heard the first holiday song and saw the first Christmas display in October. Too soon!

By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, I was done. My family talked of trees and lights and ornaments and gifts and I sat with my arms crossed, cringing.

I feel your pain, Suri Cruise.

The 'maul', the traffic, the crowds, mean & pushy people, kids that run amok, the parents who let their kids run amok, the lines that trail down an aisle to the back of the store, the music - good grief, the music. Ugh. I can't take another Christmas song. I. Just. Can't.

The Christmas season does have a few redeeming qualities: Elf, Christmas lights display at Candy Cane Lane in Woodland Hills CA, my mom's once-a-year Dunking Platters cookies, and Peppermint Bark.

Despite my rant, I sincerely wish you a wonderful holiday season. May your days be merry and bright!

The You're Awesome Holiday Letter - by Slackmistress

One of my most favoritist people on the planet is the Slackmistress. She is uber cool and lovely and nice and funny and a fantastic writer. Below is her post from yesterday ~ the "You're Awesome" Holiday Letter! What a great idea, huh? Yeah, that's why I'm sharing it with y'all :)

The You're Awesome Holiday Letter

Every year instead of getting gifts that are probably awesome but just add to our "stuff" I send out a "you're awesome" letter. To friends, family, or random people on the Internet. Sure, it's not commercialized and it doesn't kill the environment and you can't unwrap it and force a fake smile ("IT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!") and it's not a Lexus with a shiny bow.

But it's free, it's easy, and it just takes a little bit of time to make someone's day.

So pretty much not what the holidays are about. But I encourage you to do it anyway.

Love Seat

do you want my love seat?

That was last Sunday's text from my friend, Bee. She just moved to Santa Monica. Turns out, her love seat didn't fit through the guest bedroom door frame.

oooooh. i have no way to get it and no place to put it yet. thanks for the offer though.

I know, I know. But, really, it's one excuse and one very valid reason.

Two days later - you sure you don't want the loveseat?

Two days after that - okay, i'll take it

My apartment only has two places to fit a love seat - the short interior wall/corner nook where my computer desk is or the longer exterior wall where my bookcase, chest of drawers and rolling clothes rack reside. I had to decide which was the path of least clutter.

For thirteen years, I imagined that interior wall space would someday be a cozy nook with a sectional or sofa and chair or even my dad's rocking chair. Instead, I filled it with boxes and bins, carts of cassettes and computer-related stuff. Out of sight, out of mind - put a computer desk over it! It was so easy to stack stuff under the desk - unwanted items, "I'll take care of that later" items, "What the hell do I do with this" items.

On Saturday morning, I took apart my computer desk. Wow! WTF?! I started to panic, feel overwhelmed and immediately thought to call Bee and decline the love seat. It was too much - too much stuff, too much for me to handle, too much. I stopped for a minute, sat down and looked around. What can reasonably be done here? What do I have and where can it go? I stared at the wall for a long time. The rolling clothes rack had to go. That was it. For the time being, I needed enough room to get the love seat into my apartment; its permanent place would be decided later.

Once the love seat was in, I got to work - moved the clothes from the rolling rack to the closet or into drawers, bagged up more clothes to donate, tossed out a few pairs of shoes and extra clothes hangers. I took the rolling rack apart, immediately taking those pieces down to the dumpster. There will be no clothing rack in my living room! I righted the love seat, pushed it against the wall and smiled.

This love seat is the first piece of furniture I've had in this apartment. I've always had clutter. It's not the cozy nook I imagined. But, it's a start.

this here blog

At the beginning of November, I was over my blog design. That orange swirly thing, while pretty and quite appealing at the time, was now annoying. I left it alone since the focus of the month was to be on content.

This morning, with the Santa Ana winds howling, I embarked on a new blog design adventure. Good grief! SO MANY blogger designs. SO MANY blogger color options. SO MANY choices! I just want simple, appealing, easy-to-look-at. Pfft.

I tweaked several different templates, but the 'live' look was icky. So, I ended up with this. It's not exactly what I want. It'll just have to do for the time being.

If you know anyone who does blog design or a site with blogger templates or have any suggestions for blogger design help, lemme know, willya?

Happy December :)