My wallet is falling apart

That means, time for a new one!

This past weekend I was in the process of cutting out my fabric (and Peltex and Interfacing and oh no, I have not cut out those damn bias strips yet) for the Weekender Bag. As I was looking at the amazing fabric I bought for the bag, I decided before I started on such a huge, time consuming project I would make myself a quick wallet out of the same delightful fabric. It was on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for $4 a yard (originally $14), bonus.

I scoured the inter-webs for a pattern to use as a starting point. With a little Google sleuthing, I discovered this gem. I had a hunch I was going to want to make more than one of these, so I even made myself a little pattern to use because I am not very good at measuring things.

I decided to do some stitching on the outside with two different colors of thread. I kind of just went with the flow and stitched how I felt.

The back looks pretty sweet too.

The inside pockets are just fabrics I already had that I figured looked good enough with the outside fabric. The bottom pocket took me a while; figuring out how to fold it correctly did not come easily to me. I thought about it real hard and compared it to the picture and then it made sense.

That was as far as I got today. This weekend: putting in the zipper for a change pocket and hopefully putting the whole thing together. Can't wait.

Wedding Dress Part I

There's not very much I've planned for when it comes to a wedding. I was never one of those girls who dreamed about their wedding day. I never cared about location or flowers or cake. But the one thing I always knew I'd do is make my own wedding dress.

The wedding is in two months. I've been messing with the muslin for the dress for about a month and a half now. I made the muslin and then I fitted and re-fitted. I ordered fabric samples and it took me forever to decide on what to use. I finally settled on some duchess satin (@ $40 a yard, it's the most I've ever spent on fabric), with some dupioni silk for a contrasting sash, both ordered from Thai Silks.

Nevertheless, I've been a little paranoid about starting the real dress. I keep thinking I'm going to majorly mess it up and then I will cry very, very hard. With only two months to go, I decided I need to get over this fear and start cutting the dress out from real fabric. I started with the sash because it's simple and quick. There wasn't much I could do to mess it up, and besides I ordered plenty of fabric to be able to re-cut if I made a major mistake.


Yesterday I unrolled the fabric and pinned the pattern for the sash. I knew as I was cutting out the fabric that it was the most beautiful, luxurious fabric I have ever used. And that was just the dupioni! I can't image what the duchess satin will be like to work with.


I managed to sew the sash in about an hour. This was being super extra careful, and pressing very thoroughly. I had my helper Frankie and the movie Office Space to keep me company while I sewed.


I'm so thrilled with how it came out. One thing I can check off the list. Next up is cutting out the lining and attaching the boning to the lining. I've never worked with boning and I'm a little intimidated but I think it will be fine. The pattern for the dress itself is so simple that I can't imagine messing it up. It took about an hour to make the muslin, so making the dress shouldn't be that difficult either. Of course, duchess satin and french seams will make it a little more time consuming. I've got plenty 'o time.

Man Socks

I really enjoy knitting socks, especially for people I know appreciate the time and effort that went into creating them. No person more than Steven enjoys being the recipient of my handmade socks.

I started these socks at the beginning of December with the hopes of getting them done in time for Christmas. I got distracted making my friend mittens for Christmas (which I never did get a picture of). On Christmas Eve morning, I wrapped up the one sock I had completed, and the partially, really-barely-even-started, second sock. I gave it to Steven and told him to open right then and there. I told him I was making him the socks and he would get the second one down a lot faster if he knew he was getting it and I could knit in the open instead of trying to knit in secret. I was able to finish the second sock up this morning and I think they turned out quite wonderfully.

The sock yarn is Smooshy by Dream in Color. The colorway is called November Muse. I really liked the colorway; mainly brown with various shades of blues and greens mixed in. It struck me as a very manly and appropriate colorway for what I hoped to be manly socks.

I used size two needles, and the basic 4 needle top-down pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, casting on 64 stitches. I didn't use a stitch pattern found within that book. I picked out a really awesome 4 stitch pattern from my stitch dictionary called Crossed Braid. It is a two round pattern:

Round 1: Slip first stitch, knit next stitch, yarn-over, pass slipped stitch over knit stitch and yarn-over, Purl 2
Round 2: Purl

Somebody is happily wearing their socks this morning.

Hmmmm, bacon

I recently looked at my budget on Mint.com (which I signed up for long ago and then completely forgot about, even though I do get weekly e-mails from them - OK, let's be honest, I'm just really lazy about financial matters). Anyways, I realized that I have been spending way too much on eating out. So since I had Friday off and had time to plan and get organized for a visit to the grocery store, I came up with some really good ideas of food to eat. For instance, last night we had filet mignon topped with blue cheese and walnut butter, along with baked buttercup squash and cheddar garlic mashed potatoes. Add some lovely merlot, and you've got yourself a meal my friend.

But what I'm really proud of, and what this post is all about, is this delicious salad I made, topped with warm bacon dressing:



Honestly, I never knew that salad could be so scrumptious. Granted the bacon dressing probably kills any nutritional value of the salad whatsoever, but I have to tell you it is a delightful taste explosion and I loved it.

Spinach Salad w/Warm Bacon Dressing

Spinach
Blue cheese
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
Grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
Almonds
6 slices bacon
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

1. So the salad is basically some spinach topped with the blue cheese, sliced eggs, tomatoes and almonds.
   
2. To make the dressing, I cut up the bacon into small pieces first. You could cook whole then crumble. Anyhow, cook the bacon to your desired doneness. Remove from pan, reserving the bacon grease (see this where you know the recipe is going to take a turn for the un-healthy).
3. Cook the onion in the reserved bacon grease until tender. Stir in the bacon, sugar and salt. Keep stirring until the dressing thickens a bit, then spoon over the salad.

Deliciousness!

There's probably enough dressing there for 5-6 salads, depending on how much you like bacon. We had for dinner on Friday night, but had enough left over dressing to have it for lunch again on Saturday. I just stuck the dressing in the fridge Friday night and then put it in the microwave for about 1 minute 30 seconds the next day, and it tasted just as delectable.

I thought these would be the awesomest socks in the universe

[And then the mustard ended up right next to the bright green, and it ended up looking kind of, I don't know, "pukey." I mean, overall I still really like the socks and think that they are pretty neat, but they could have been a whole heck of a lot better if I had had the foresight to think about how the colors were going to line up. Such is life.]

May I present to you, the Socks of Kidness. They are a birthday present for my dear friend who unfortunately has a birthday four days before Christmas. I always like to make sure I give her separate birthday and Christmas presents, and she specifically requested a pair of my hand knit socks for her birthday this year.

When I saw the skein of Noro Kureyon sock yarn (colorway 164) I figured it could easily be made into the best pair of socks ever. The colors were perfect for my earthy, fun-loving pal. I had read up about the nifty striping effects you can create with Noro. I carefully wound the big skein into two separate balls, and then cast on for the pattern on my teensy, tiny size one needles. I alternated four rows of the pattern from each ball. I loved the zig-zag effect immediately, although I gotta tell you, I'm not much of a fan of lace (counting is hard!) either. The socks did go surprisingly well, although I'm not going to lie and say I didn't have to rip it out once (or maybe like five times, whatever).

The colors were looking pretty good at first. Manly, almost (the one that starts with the gray and mustard is the first sock). The boyfriend thought they were really neat and wanted a pair for himself. That is of course, until they went into the bright green. Then the bright green melded with the mustard, and the socks started to look kind of, um, unfortunate. The second sock doesn't even look like it came from the same bunch of yarn because it's mostly teal and green. I really like the teal and green combo but it is the complete opposite of the first sock. The second sock also unfortunately had the pleasure of the green/mustard combo too.

Oh well, I love them just the same. They are quirky and unique. I hope my friend will see them that way too.

Sorry, we have no bananas

I am a fan of banana bread, and we happened to have 3 bananas sitting on our counter just asking to be made into banana bread (aka, we had 3 bananas that neither of us had eaten and that had started turning brown). My tried and true banana bread recipe is actually a vegan recipe and is quite delicious. I've probably made it a dozen times over the last four years. It also fools me into thinking it's somewhat good for me because it contains wheat germ.

Today I decided to try something new and made some Chocolate Banana Bread courtesy of AllRecipes.com. I just ate a piece as dessert for dinner, and I must say it might beat out my tried and true recipe for the best banana bread ever. It's pretty heavy on the chocolate taste, and therefore kind of rich, so I can't picture myself making it all the time, but it will definitely be added into the banana bread rotation.

Chocolate Banana Bread
NOTE: The recipe on All Recipes makes 2 loaves. I halved the recipe, and used half white sugar and half brown sugar. Otherwise the recipe is unchanged.


1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup lite sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

Acorn Squash Soup w/Pasta

Fall is not entirely upon us, at least not yet. With temperatures in the upper 70's today, I found myself wishing the weather was a little cooler. I want it to be cool and crisp and sunny, not it's-so-hot-I'm-constantly-sweating sunny. I want to curl up with a warm cup of coffee and a good book. I want steaming hot, warm-you-on-the-inside soup.

So today I decided if fall won't come to me, I'll come to fall. Soup was in order, and lucky for me I had two acorn squashes handy from the farm share. This recipe turned out to be quick and easy, especially with being able to use the handy-dandy immersion blender. I would highly recommend this recipe if you've got some winter squash you don't quite know what to do with.

Acorn Squash Soup w/ Pasta



8 ounces pasta
2 acorn squash (medium size), split, seeded and quartered
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup grated carrot
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
3 cans (13 1/4 oz size) chicken broth

Topping
1 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 tbsp sugar

1. Cook squash in one inch of water in covered saucepan for 15 minutes, or until tender. Cool. Scrape out pulp and put back in pot with water.
2. Add margarine, onion, carrots, sugar, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until vegetables are tender.
3. Add 3 cups of the broth and puree all in a blender or food processor (or even better, use your immersion blender). Return to the pot and add remaining broth, bring to a boil and add uncooked pasta.
4. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until pasta is done.
   
5. Before serving, blend sour cream or yogurt and sugar in a separate bowl. Put dollop on top of each bowl of soup. Serve hot.

I heart vegetables

The other day I was checking my bank balance and I became confused when I saw a check for $250 on my statement. These days I never, ever write checks. Pretty much the only checks I write are to Steven for my “rent” (aka, my share of Steven’s mortgage), and that is definitely more than $250 a month. Then I remembered that I had the brilliant idea, like every other young yuppie in Madison, to join a CSA, and that the check I had sent off the farm at the beginning of March had been cashed. Yes, I am the proud owner of a half-share in a farm located in Belmont, WI.

I knew that I wanted to join a CSA this summer, but I also know Steven and me, and we have a tendency to get busy and let our produce go bad. From what I’ve read about farm shares, I knew a full share was going to be way, way too much produce for the two of us. I did a lot of research about what my options were. Living in Madison makes this an incredibly easy thing to do. All I had to do was go to the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC) and find the list of farms participating. I knew that I definitely wanted a farm that had half-shares, and that would also have a convenient location for us to pick up the goods. I narrowed my choices down to one or two farms and decided that Two Onions Farms was my best bet. So every other week from June to November, Steven and I will be swinging by Atlas Deli on Whitney Way to pick up our share.

I cannot wait to have a bunch of awesome, locally grown produce to use in my kitchen. No more staring at the disgusting selection of produce available at the Pick ‘n Save, not knowing where the hell it came from (my best guess is probably somewhere I don’t want to know the details about). Instead I know that it will come from Belmont, from people who care.

Last summer I also built myself a little garden bed in the backyard to grow some of my own vegetables. It had a less than stellar turn out, but I blame that on the fact that I bought my plants way before I was ready to put them in the ground and I seriously stunted my peppers by doing so. My two tomato plants did wonderfully, and my basil plant also did very well. This summer I think I’m going to grow my herbs in containers on the deck and reserve the garden bed for tomatoes, peppers, radishes, carrots, and salad greens. I have to build some sort of contraption to keep the birds away from my salad greens because they definitely had a field day with those last year. I’m hoping that I learn from my mistakes this time around, and therefore this year will have the awesomest vegetable garden on the street. This will probably be pretty easy, since I think it’s the only vegetable garden on the street.

My other produce/garden related goal for the summer is to get a compost bin going. I have no excuse not to. I just need to figure out what will work best for me and Steven.

Seriously, Spring and Summer? Get here as fast as you can! Love, Julia.

Aarf aarf

I woke up this morning not very pleased to find that it had started snowing. I tried not to believe what the weather people were saying. I think they make it up most of the time these days. Yesterday afternoon Steven and I took a long, invigorating walk after work. It had been a bright sunny day, and for once we felt motivated to actually do something. My poor little brain can’t even fathom how we got 6 freaking inches of snow less than 24 hours later, on Good Friday of all days. I know that Easter is obscenely early this year and every thing, but this is ridiculous. Seriously, Mother Nature better make this up to me big time this summer.

Lately I’ve been feeling bad at how I let this winter get the best of me. Granted I’ve never before seen this much snow in my lifetime, I still feel like I could have done things that would have helped me enjoy it more, or at least not despise it so much. I didn’t go cross country skiing once this winter, nor did I get any snowshoeing in. That’s just pathetic considering the amount of snow we had. I am at least partly proud of myself for going to a night hike again this winter. The weather wasn’t as great as it could have been (too much cloud cover), but it was still good to get out and get moving for one brief moment this winter.

I think that’s why I feel so disappointed at the moment. I fell for the spring tease. You would think after living in Wisconsin all my life, I wouldn’t fall for that shit any more, but then you would think wrong my friend. The tease at least did get me thinking about moving again, and I went for quite a few walks this week and even got some strength training in again. My poor muscles haven’t been the most cooperative, but I can hardly blame them because they were rarely ever exerted this winter.

Spring has also really made me want a dog. I grew up in a dog family, and now that I live in a house and am a little bit older and more settled, the time is right for a dog. I think a dog would help me stay active and that we could do a lot of fun things together. I would need to take the dog for a walk before and after work. I would need to take it to obedience class. I would need to take it to the dog park to socialize with other dogs. It would force me into at least getting out of the house, if not get me into new situations, meeting new people. It’s always easier to talk to people about their pets. Everyone can agree that pets are awesome.

I’m not so sure Steven is completely convinced that now is the right time for a dog, but I’m slowly bringing him around to my point of view. I can hardly resist the dogs on the Humane Society page at the moment, and I have been torturing him with their pictures all day. I’m going to have to try really hard not to go there tomorrow and scoop one of them up right away. Of course, I need to do a little more research. You know, find out where the dog parks are around this town, figure out which kind of breed would be good for me, find a kennel close by for when we go on vacation; that kind of stuff. Soon though, soon I hope to the proud owner of a shelter dog.

Bah, hambug!

It is official, I hate Christmas.

As a child I loved Christmas. I loved helping my Mom unpack all our Christmas decorations and carefully arrange them around the house. I loved listening to Christmas music, particularly the Muppet Christmas Album with John Denver. I loved watching the same Christmas movies year after year: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas. And I loved the gift exchange; both the giving and receiving part.

That is gone, all gone now. I despise it and want nothing to do with it. Oh sure, I'll buy gifts for my family but instead of taking the time to carefully orchestrate some fantastic present they'll love, they're getting gift cards and booze.

As an aside, I love my family. This is the conversation I had with my brother yesterday:

ME:

Seriously, Steve and I don't want anything. Do you guys want stuff? Because we'll get you stuff if you want it, but I would prefer not to exchange gifts.

Wait, do you think that would upset Mom and Dad, if we rejected Christmas? Well, what would you guys want?

BROTHER:

Well, I was kind of thinking along the lines of booze.

ME:

Perfect. Steve and I like booze, therefore we will exchange gifts of booze. We will come over to your apartment after Christmas dinner, and we will drink the booze that we have exchanged.


I've tried, really I have, to get into the Christmas spirit but I can't. I've tried to watch the movies and listen to the music, but it doesn't stir one iota of feeling up in me other than that of disgust.

I'm not entirely sure where this hatred of Christmas has stemmed from on my part. It's partly because I've been really busy the last few months, so I almost feel like I don't have the time for it. I just want it to be over and done with. Another factor is the rampant consumerism. That is just not where my priorities are at this point in my life. Stuff does not make you happy. Well, some stuff like booze, and good food, and yarn can make you happy, but having the latest and greatest thing that every advertiser says you need to have does not a happy person make. Relationships with people, now that's where happiness comes from. I would much prefer to cook an awesome Christmas dinner for my family while having good, meaningful conversation than have any amount of gifts or money. I am just so beyond that and for that I am thankful. I guess the other part is that we're not religious, so the day itself really holds no meaning for me. The thing is, for even the people who claim they are religious, that's not what the day is about anymore either. Christmas makes people crazy. It puts all sorts of pressure on people, and before you know it your beating down some other parent for the last toy on the shelf. Where is the peace and joy and love in that?

The only thing good about Christmas will be seeing my friends and family that I don't get to see as often as I'd like. I just hate all this Christmas crap I have to put up with to get there. Really, I just want these last 10 days to go quickly so that every thing can get back to normal. I like my world surly, thank you very much.

Winter wonderland

Things I would like to do this weekend:

• Sled at Elver Park
• Make a snowman
• Have a snowball fight
• Drink hot cocoa by a warm fire
• Traipse around a Christmas tree farm to find the perfect Christmas tree
• Decorate Christmas tree with all my childhood ornaments
• Snowshoe at Blue Mound
• Cross country ski at Governor Dodge
• Catch up on some sleep
  

Things I will actually do this weekend:

• Volunteer for 8 hours at the Rape Crisis Center
• Write a paper and a PowerPoint presentation on rape for my Women in Society final
• Sit on my fat ass watching TV inside the warm house because it will be too cold and I will be too tired to do any of the aforementioned outdoor winter activities
• Get drunk and pick fights with people

Jolly old Saint Nicholas

Tonight is the night that good old St. Nick delivers the goods to kids. I was having a discussion with Steven last night about St. Nick's Day. He came from a very strict Catholic family who didn't really do anything fun. I thought since St. Nick has to do with a Saint, maybe his family would have celebrated it. Of course not. They were far too busy saying the rosary and doing a bunch of Hail Marys. When I explained to him what it was, he said, "Were you the kind of family that got PRESENTS for Easter?" He said it with such disdain that I just burst out laughing. Of course we got presents for Easter! We sure weren't religious, but we did love our presents.

For those of you that don't know, this is what Wikipedia has to say about St. Nick:

While feasts of Saint Nicholas are not observed nationally, cities with strong German influences like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and St. Louis celebrate St. Nick's Day on a scale similar to the German custom. On the previous night, children put one empty shoe (or sock) outside, and, on the following morning of December 6, the children awake to find that St. Nick has filled their previously empty footwear with candy and small presents (if the children have been "good") or ostensibly, coal (if not). For these children, the relationship between St. Nick and Santa Claus is not clearly defined, although St. Nick is usually explained to be a helper of Santa. The tradition of St. Nick's Day is firmly established in the Milwaukee community, with parents often continuing to observe the day with even their adult children.

Since my parents were born and raised in Milwaukee, and we lived there until I was 8, it really is no surprise that we always celebrated St. Nick's. Wikipedia is totally accurate too because my Mom continued to fill my stocking even after I moved out of the house. Also, I think my parents secretly relished the fact that they could threaten us with coal in our stockings when we were younger if we were behaving badly. There's nothing like the threat of coal to get you to act right.

Happy St. Nick's Day!

Ireland in pictures

The Emerald Isle

It has taken me a while to write a post the accurately sums up my trip to Ireland. I wrote one, but it was filled with a little too much vitriol and negativity.

I'd love to say the trip was an amazing adventure. There were parts of it that were great, and there were parts of it where I was pretty miserable. This is partly because I was not at all mentally prepared for this trip, or the concept of traveling with people besides Steven. Lets just say that I probably would have enjoyed the trip 100 times more if it had been just Steven and me. I knew before we left that I don't travel well with people, and this just solidified that fact for me.

The short summary is as follows:

We arrived in Dublin, where we only spent about 6 hours before getting on the road to Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a really neat little town, and we met a bunch of crazy Irishmen at the pub across the street from our hostel. Apparently the way to get Irish people to talk to you at a pub is to start playing cards. This is a pretty normal bar activity in Wisconsin, at least where I come from. Apparently not so much in Ireland, and we were made fun of for doing so. At least it was a good conversation starter.

After Kilkenny we headed to Kilarney where there is a national park. We ended up staying in Kilarney two nights and I really enjoyed the time we spent there. It was pretty much the highlight of the trip. I sure do love nature, and nature abounded. We saw mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and lots and lots of sheep. You know what I don't love? Narrow Irish roads and using a map that isn't drawn to scale to figure out where in the heck we were in the park. It sure was beautiful though.

We filled out the rest of the trip with stops at the Cliffs of Moher, a stop in Galway and then on to a wedding in Rathmullan and a reception in Ballybofey. Irish wedding receptions apparently go until 5:30 in the morning. There was no way I was going to make it that long. I was actually pretty surprised at the number that did.

Let me pass on some things I learned while I was on this trip:

• When one is traveling very long distances by plane, one should set aside a day to become acquainted with the new time zone, especially if one has already been awake for 20 hours. One should NOT attempt to get by another 12 hours with 20 minutes of sleep. If one does attempt this, let this be a warning: you will become one tired, cranky traveling companion.
• Ireland is hella expensive. I thought it was terribly ironic that the dollar reached an all time low against the Euro the first time I leave for a European vacation. Add on top of that the fact that Ireland is known for its "rip-off" culture. I paid 9 Euros (about $14) for the greasiest fast food quarter pounder and cheese with fries. I had no choice because...
• In the off tourist season, you have a very small window in which to eat dinner. This window is 6-9. If you had a late lunch and aren't hungry until 10, you are fucked and you will pay $14 to eat a meal that will have you hurting for days afterwards.
• Also, bring Kleenex with you when going on a hike in the woods. I think that's all I'm going to say about that.
• If the other couple you are traveling with suggests playing Euchre, politely decline. Especially if it ends up being boys against girls and one of the boys is officially THE SOREST LOSER ever. Arguments will abound.
• When one is entering a really cool area of a bar in Galway, one should pay attention to where they are stepping. Otherwise, one might inadvertently miss two stairs and roll their ankle. This was even before any drinks were to be had. [Incidentally that happened to Steven and not me.]
• If you are prone to panic attacks, do not try to visit Slieve League, Europe's highest sea cliffs, with someone who drives like a maniac. The roads to get there run very close to cliffs, and as I mentioned above, Irish roads are already too narrow for my tastes. Every time a car came at us I kept envisioning our car careening off the road and down a very steep cliff into the very cold ocean. It was not a good thing.
• I say this every time I fly there, but I refuse to fly out of O'Hare ever, ever again. I am ashamed to admit that Steven and I got lost in the Economy parking lot (sadly, this is the second time that's happened). We were tired and disoriented and cranky. We just wanted to get home after a fairly stressful trip, and O'Hare was determined not to let us do that. F-off O'Hare.

I'm labeling this trip an experience. That labels it neither negatively nor positively. It just was. The country itself was incredibly scenic, but I don't really feel the need to go back anytime soon. I have so many other places I need to visit.

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah

This time of year always makes me think of The Beatles. It was a Sunday evening in November 1995, the Sunday before Thanksgiving to be exact, when I feel completely, hopelessly, head over heels in love with The Beatles. I was 13 years old. This was the Sunday when the first part of The Beatles Anthology aired on TV, and from that moment forward I lived and breathed The Beatles.

As any adoring Beatles fan should, I own The Beatles Anthology on DVD, and yesterday I popped it in. It had been a while since I watched it (I did eventually expand my musical horizons to encompass music other than The Beatles.) I think the last time I watched it was when I forced Steven to sit through all 8 parts when we first started dating. If he couldn’t do that, then there was no way I was going to be able to continue seeing him. I knew he would like it though, as one of the reasons I agreed go on a date with him in the first place was due to a drunken debate we had over which Beatles album is the best. He thinks it is The White Album. I contend it is Rubber Soul, although I am apparently the only person on the planet who thinks this. I have my reasons.

As I watched The Beatles Anthology, I realized yet again how much certain music signifies certain parts of my life, and how closely associated my memory is with this music. The Beatles are 8th grade and freshman year of high school. I hear that music, and I instantly feel 13 again. These are my memories:

• This one girl and I used to type up Beatles lyrics and give them to each other. This was before the Internet and the possibility of just going to one of many lyrics web sites. In order to type up the lyrics, I would listen to the song on my walkman, pausing after each line so I could slowly henpeck the keyboard to get the lyrics down. I wasn’t typing 70+ words per minute back in the day, that’s for sure. It was always a competition over who loved The Beatles more with this girl. I think I won. If not, I’m declaring myself the winner now.
• I would exchange notes with my BFF that were basically glorified games of Pictionary based on Beatles lyrics. You know, a hammer for "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer," a raccoon for "Rocky Raccoon," etc. The one drawing that I will always remember was actually kinda mean. There was a girl at my middle school named Michelle who always wore really tapered leg jeans and, as everyone in 1995 knows, those are totally not the cool pants to be wearing. She also had really stringy hair that looked like she never washed it and, like me, she played the clarinet. Therefore, the picture that signifies the song "Michelle" was a girl with tapered leg jeans and stringy hair playing the clarinet. Don’t feel too bad for her. Last I heard she got rid of the stringy hair, got a boob job and was doing pretty OK for herself.
• I read a really terrible Beatle’s biography for a paper for my English class in 9th grade. Seriously, it was one of the most terrible biographies I have ever read. I have the most recent Beatle’s biography, and I still haven’t trudged through it (all 1,000 plus pages) because this other biography I read was so terrible.
• I borrowed the movie version of Yellow Submarine from the library over Christmas break in 9th grade. I forgot that we had to go to Milwaukee and therefore would be unable to return the video in time. My parents wouldn’t make a special trip to the library. I therefore had a $5 fine on my card and I carried that balance through the rest of my high school career. Instead of paying the fine, I just stopped using my library card. I used my Mom’s or Dad’s instead. I am a horrible library patron.
• I would beg my Mom to purchase me Beatles’ t-shirts from kiosks in the mall. These shirts were overly expensive and were inevitably too large for my 14 year old self. I persisted though and did persuade my Mom into a Rubber Soul shirt, a Revolver shirt and a White Album shirt. Oh how I loved those shirts.
• My stand partner in band and I would sing "All Together Now" really loudly during class. One of us would just say, "Boom boom boom," and we would be off. That really is one catchy, if not all together annoying, song.
• If my piano teacher let me pick a song to learn next, I would learn a Beatles song. I played "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" for my piano recital in 10th grade. I still have it memorized to this day. That song is also where the title of this blog comes from.

I could come up with some more, but those are the ones that came flooding back to me yesterday. Beatles, I still love you

Back, right where you started from

I have to laugh, because everything comes full circle.

A month and a half ago I was in so much hate with my job it wasn’t even funny. It was actually beginning to affect other aspects of my life, like my relationship with Steven. I got up every day and dreaded the next 9 hours ahead of me. The only thing that got me through the day was the sheer relief I knew I would feel as soon as I walked out the door. I didn’t really want to take the time to find a new job for a number of reasons. First, I’ve only held this current position for a little more than a year. It took me 9 months of searching to find this position alone. Embarking on another long and torturous quest for a new job that isn’t guaranteed to be any better than the current one seemed like an insurmountable task, a task that I did not want to take on at the moment. Second, I was only going to continue working full time until I got into grad school, and it didn’t seem worth it to find another job that would hopefully only last until next fall.

To calm myself down and quell some of my feelings of frustration, I took two sick days back in October (or “mental health” days, as I like to call them since I wasn’t actually sick) and hoped that would make me feel better. It did, and I’ve trudged through work week after week with little incident, knowing that this was only going to be temporary until I got into grad school. I didn’t even want to think about how devastating it would be if I didn’t get into grad school and was stuck with no other option than to continue working here.

Earlier this week I received an e-mail from my former supervisor from the job I held when I lived in Oshkosh. She has, in the three years since I left that job, on and off offered me, no practically begged me, to take the job back. I really, really like the job and everyone I worked with. The problem is that it’s in Oshkosh and I’m not. I would never consider moving back there, not to mention the fact that I’d be hard pressed to convince Steven to go back there with me. This e-mail, though, was to let me know that it’s now possible for the position to be done in Madison and that they wanted me back. I called and spoke to her that evening to let her know I was definitely interested. Here I was sitting at a job I despise, when this position just fell into my lap again. No long and painful job search required!

Former supervisor said she would work the boss man for me, and yesterday I spoke with him and the wheels are now in motion for me to go back. I can’t believe my life works like this some time. The best part is they know my plans for grad school, and they want me back regardless of if I plan on staying short term or long term.

SO HAPPY!

A good day (or weekend) ain't got no end

I love lists. I can't help myself.

A weekend in bullets:

• New clothes that fit well
  
• Taking a sleeping pill to be able to sleep in until 10 on Saturday
  morning
  
• Yarn, glorious yarn
  
• Ordering tickets for my Mom and I to see the Saturday matinee of The Nutcracker at the Overture Center
  
• The Darjeeling Limited, which I enjoyed very much
  
• Yummy Indian food (naan and butter chicken, I love you)
  
• Chocolate martini for dessert at Madison's
  
• Two glasses of wine at Natt Spill
  
• Going to bed mildly buzzed at 10:30 on a Saturday
  
• Waking up Sunday morning and realizing that I magically and unexpectedly now have another hour due to DST
  
• Not getting out of my pajamas all day Sunday
  
• Egg Boats and Dad's Awesome Potatoes (recipe follows) for brunch
  
• The Packers winning, not because I actually like football but because I know how happy it makes my Dad and brother
  
• Grilled cheese with stone ground mustard and a huge slice of tomato with Sweet Potato, Squash, and Apple Soup (recipe follows) for dinner
  
• Going to bed at 8:30 due to extreme tiredness from extra hour due to DST
  

Things that were not awesome about the weekend:

• Realizing at 8:30 on Friday night that our furnace was no longer working
  
• Shelling out $140 on Saturday to get our furnace to work again
  
• Not doing any work on my final presentation for my Women in Society class

Dad's Awesome Potatoes

1/2 to 1 stick of butter, depending on how unhealthy you want to be
2 baking potatoes, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Melt butter in frying pan over medium high heat. Add potatoes, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are crisp and onions are caramelized. Garlic will become blackened. Makes 4 servings.

Sweet Potato, Squash, and Apple Soup

1 med onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
2-3 apples, cored and diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil on medium high in stockpot. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add vegetable stock, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apple, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Transfer two ladles worth of vegetables and one ladle of broth to food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Add back to stockpot and heat on low for an additional 5-10 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings.

Some pictures I took this summer

 

 

 

 

Are you a positive person?

A conversation from last night:

ME:

So yeah, I don’t want to be around negative, lazy people anymore. That’s my choice, right? I want to be around positive people who want to do stuff!

STEVEN:

Did you honestly just say positive people who want to do stuff?

ME:

Yes, they may not necessarily be doing stuff, they just have to want to.

STEVEN:

I think you should start www.positivepeoplewhowanttodostuff.org

ME:

That would be so awesome. It’ll be the first step for people. “Are you a positive person? Do you want to do stuff? Well, here’s what you can do!”

And I can be all, “Hi, I’m Julia. I’m a positive person. I wanted to do stuff, so I volunteered at the Rape Crisis Center!”

And you can be all, “Hi, I’m Steven. I’m a positive person. I want to do stuff. That’s why I’m here!”

STEVEN:

I’m neither positive nor do I want to do stuff.

ME:

Oh.

Life is what you make of it

Things that have been making me happy lately:

• Watching Freaks and Geeks (although I am sad that I didn’t know about it while, you know, it was actually on TV)
• Otis Redding
• Apples from trees in my parents’ backyard
• Cool, crisp mornings
• Franklin Delano Rosencat, the wunderkitten
• That yoga made my muscles feel all happy and stretched
• New haircut
• Awesome dress (and boots and purse) I found for an upcoming special event in…
• IRELAND, which I am leaving for in two weeks

Things that have been making me unhappy lately:

• Realizing a person you classified as a “friend” is really not a friend at all and is instead highly irritating and not worth associating with.
• The red truck on University Ave this morning with a serious exhaust problem that was spewing out highly visible pollution all over the place. Where is a cop when you need one?
• As always, my evil Women in Society class