I'm sorry.

So sorry.

So many wonderful (good and not-as-good) things to think on and write about and ponder, and I haven't written about a one of them.

I was under the impression I'd get less busy as a former grad student. Harumph, that didn't work at all.

Can I apologize by way of a short list?
(of course I can. My faithful 3 readers, you'll let me get away with that, right?)

Things I Have Learned Since Graduation

• Families, like the people they produce, are unique and wonderful.
• I think they way you are celebrated as you exit your life says a whole lot about who you were throughout.
• Small towns aren't where I want to live (necessarily), but they aren't anything to be scared of.
• It's damned hard to find a car everyone likes.
• I am a perfect fit for my new neighborhood.
• Even in the midst of a self-image crisis, being able to give away my old clothese to someone who needs them makes me feel like a beautiful goddess.
• You can always be busier. It's the slowing down that's hard.
• I am cursed to never grow decent rosemary.
• But I make a mean rhubarb custard (I am a killer meringue baker.)!
• Just when I think I'm not very strong, I prove it to myself otherwise.
• I'm doing a good job at work.
• I've got someone I realized I'm going to miss terribly this fall.
• But I also see that life takes you where you need to go, and it makes me excited.
• My daughter is going to learn how to read someday soon.
• When you build your life as a house of cards, it will fall down. It was only the illusion of grandeur to begin with.

Dirty Velour, is turning me on.

on this fine Thursday....

...my iPod is currently spinning a Melodious Owl song that makes me want to drink gin and tonics and get crazy-dancing at the t-rock (which I'm going to recovering from in a weeks' time, anyhoo.)

...my mind wanders into the realm of sewing skirts, and I bless the blog world for providing me with myriad patterns and tutorials.

...I am potentially kicking ass and taking names on my to-do list.

...There are 3 separate brews going in my basement, which I'm really excited about. And bottles of the last batch the DTs whipped up in April are priming in a dark corner as I type. Should be ready 'round Father's Day. Have I mentioned how much I dig on the way my house smells after we've been brewing all night?

...I'm in desperate search for a cheap used 10-speed roadbike.

...I anxiously anticipate a weekend of patio-loafing, St. Paul style, biking to Buffy, farmer's-marketing, beer-festivaling, and Grand-Old-Day sunburn and wandering. Sigh. Life is good.

Ringo Starrship Enterprise

Even in the midst of school deadlines, myriad work deadlines, and a couple of big upheavals in routine, I find myself compelled to repeat:

I love Tuesday nights.

It's not always about trivia - though that's typically a big part of it. It was old guy trivia last night, which meant decent, challenging questions we sometimes rue but more often just relish angsting over. Picture round was "name that hat". Adele made sure the Premiums never went empty. She remembered to pass along Dave's Grolsch bottles for round two of bottling. We had a Before and After round (my personal favorite)... and it's true, when you get one (collectively, we scored 4 of 8 on the round, which is damned impressive for us), it's likely the most intellectually satisfying thing you do all day. I especially delighted in the before and after round last night being about musicians... and yah, we probably should have gotten Peter TownSend in the Clowns... but it was good to feel like we actually *had* a chance.

We got 6th. Which is mid-pack, average, nothing to write home about. Makes me feel nostalgic for last week's 2nd place victory and a 15-dollar Leaning Tower gift certificate.

Other things which made my Tuesday lovely, and less strange than I anticipated it would be:

• A much-needed hair appointment with Jamie at her new salon in Northeast, which I love (I love it all: Jamie, the new salon, my funky new hair)
• Competently taking the bus wherever I want to go
• Eating Surdyk's deli food for dinner in the parking lot with Jana (ask her about the guy who rapped on her window while she had half a chicken in her lap)
• Smart, fun new additions to the trivia team, courtesy of Joel
• Premium. My friend and (almost constant) companion. How I love you.

life, death, and professional baseball

2007's Major League Baseball Opening Day draws ever-nearer.

I just received word I have tickets for the July 18th game vs. the Tigers and the September 21st game against the White Sox, both in amazing seats at the Dome. And while I'd rather be drinking sub-standard beer and eating too many hot dogs, sitting on hard bleacher seats and letting the summer sun beat down on my freckled shoulders, I'll take my baseball any way I can get it.

Tickets for the Home Opener in 2 weeks (Really! Just 2 short weeks!), as well as a mid-season battle and tickets for the last home-stand of the season (we close in Boston at the end of September... wish I had unlimited time, energy and money for baseball roadtrips...) have got me thinking about everything I love about baseball.

• Aforementioned junk food: giant all-beef hot dogs smothered in mustard and sauerkraut and relish and ketchup and onions, sub-standard and overpriced (but somehow still delicious) ice-cold beer, sucking the salt off peanut shells til my lips chap, warm kettlecorn in a giant bag you buy as you walk inside the ballpark.
• Wandering around the plaza before the game. Soaking up sun, my city, my neighbors. Listening to street music. Buying overpriced snacks.
• Getting my hands on a program in order to keep score. I used to do stats for our baseball team in high school. I love the art of keeping score, inexplicably.
• The ebb and flow of the game. I love the lull of a long at-bat; the mix of ennui and anticipation, knowing that the next swing of the bat could mean a riveting homerun or a deflating strikeout.
• Trying my very best to out-ump the umpire calling pitches at home plate. I don't know how many times I have screamed: Are you blind? That was obviously low and inside! He doesn't tuck his knees inside his cleats, you incompetent old fart!
• The jumbo-tron. Yup, I'm a geek, but I love peoplewatching (everywhere, not just the baseball game), and the jumbo-tron at the Dome is a kitchy, yet effective, method. I love the strange deformo-thing they do. And the kissing cam. And when they catch a baby sleeping, or a little kid tweaking, or an old lady knitting.
• Speaking of the jumbo-tron, I love the baseball game announcements. You know, the "thanks to Acme corp for having their summer picnic here" thing. And the birthdays, and anniversaries... always so embarrassing (and by embarrassing, I mean hilarious). Oooh, and then there's the classic (insert my best girly-swoon here) baseball-game-proposal. Yah, yah, I know there's the risk of "Ohmigod I'm going to propose on the Jumbotron what if she says no", thing, but that's why I love it. I LOVE IT. I think it's absurd and wonderful, and potentially (at the risk of being accused of using hyperbole), my all-time favorite proposal methodology. (I realize this makes me sound like I've propsed to several people in my life. Which would be both strange and entirely false. Ah well.)
• Dodging crap for 9 innings: foul balls, spilled beer, renegade nachos.
• Singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. There's nothing I don't love about the 7th inning stretch.
• The insta-communities that pop up over the course of a game. Inherently, you strike up a conversation with the people around you - and especially if it's a close or fast-moving game, by the 9th inning you have a new best friend and you are screaming incoherent chants together with your baseball cap turned inside out and backwards. You will in all likelihood never see these people again (unless you all are season ticketholders), but for those few innings, you are a family.

Take me out to the ballgame, baby. I can hardly wait.

It's Friday, I'm in love.

(urbanwanderlust confesses: I actually really dislike the Cure, and that's probably the only line you'll ever hear me quote from any song they've put out.)

If you know me outside internets (it's a series of tubes; it's not a truck!) you will know I have endured a craptastic week. Meh, we've all got 'em, right?

Well, it is Friday and things are looking up.

For one thing, the craptastic week is nearly done.
It's payday, and I was welcomed into my office this morning by a warm, chewy, decadent Everything Bagel with gobs of melty cream cheese, because my boss brought us all breakfast.
I got a good night's sleep for the first time in well over a week, after ignoring my laundry and dishes and chores in favor of a compelling episode of Buffy.
My best friend is getting married tomorrow.
It's my favorite holiday of the year tomorrow (OK, Thanksgiving is really my favorite. Food narrowly edges out drinking. This is my life.).
I get to celebrate Becca's birthday (which is today -- Happy Birthday!) with many people I adore.
Of Montreal is at First Ave tonight. I'm currently going through my Of Montreal collection (it's deliciously upbeat and absurd and nonsequitor) and seems to fit today perfectly.
That is, of course, after I partake of some Irish goodness at the Liffey.
I got to ride next to a lovely service dog (who was a beautiful Golden Retriver, and reminded me of Claire and how much I miss her and Denali and are looking oh-so forward to an East Coast roadtrip this summer) on the bus this morning.
I walked past a mailbox covered in a big sticker that made it look like R2D2 on my way into work. I have my camera with; maybe I'll wander down there and take a picture during lunch.
My hair did a semi-cooperative thing today.

magnificent obsessions

Rooted in psychology, my education tells me we're all a little obsessive about some things. I tend to obsess about the things I find most enjoyable: food, music, city sights, beverages, purses, crafts.

With that in mind, allow me to elucidate my current obsession(s):

Mates of State: I love the dissonant harmony created by this couple-turned-indie-band. Mmm.

Cottage cheese with fresh pineapple for breakfast: I have a great cafeteria downstairs. Yes, you may call me spoiled.

Lush's Dream Cream: I realized I purchased a tub of this lotion just before Thanksgiving in Chicago, and while I use it almost every time I get out of the shower, it's only about half gone. And it makes me feel soft and delightful without smelling like I was standing next to the perfume factory when the nuke hit (it is all essential-oil based, so it doesn't really smell. It just makes me want to touch my skin all over.)

The yellow Granny purse: My winter purse imploded on itself this week. So I picked up an adorable yellow number from Target (it's that lovely Isaac Mizrahi stuff). I love how beautifully, perfectly bumblebee yellow it is. And it's an ideal size, with good pockets.

Pond's Cold Cream: I have been suffering some winter dermatological woes (dry spots, then blemishes, which form on top of dry spots... make up your mind, face.) So I followed the advice of my foremothers and grabbed me some Pond's Cold Cream. Who knew that would make my face lovely and clear and smooth... all for 4.99? Hurray. And, more proof that grandma's always right.

Alton Brown's cooking and baking methods: I cannot stop thinking about the way Alton Brown explains baking (and to a lesser extent, cooking... but we all know where my skills and passions lie.) I love the science, the chemistry, the order of it all.

Bloody Crafts: It's a happy delight every time I visit this blog. So much cute, crafty, sassy goodness.

fair and balanced: two sides to every story

Good morning! It's Thursday, it's March in Minneapolis, and we're in the flux of another snowstorm. In like a lion, baby.

Things currently making me :)

• The Twins tying Boston in their opening spring training game. OK, tying doesn't actually make me happy. Ties are unbaseballian. Almost unamerican. But spring training is in full swing, which means spring itself (and a baseball season I get all antsy about every time I think about it) is nearly here.
• A darling, poppy, punky scottish outfit called The View. I just listened to Hats Off to the Buskers. The whole thing was energetic, frenetic, britpop deliciousness. I love having the music hookup, and I love knowing people who know and love music.
• A haircut and brow wax this evening.
• Tasty, thrifty dinner goodness thanks to Athens Cafe.
• Mad sewing and 3red-season-Buffy-viewing post-preschool-storytime tonight.
• Musical evening,including wine, chocolate, and Caffrey's sammiches, with the ever-wonderful Jana tomorrow night.
• Getting past page 200 in the Jest.
• Having my stepmom call to rave about David Sedaris. I'm totally bringing her the entire set when we go up for Easter.
• Planning East Coast roadtrips.

Things currently making me :(

• Another foot of snow.
• The inability for my crappy upstairs neighbor to move his scary-kidnapper-van, thus making it nearly impossible for me to ease out of my parking spot.
• Let's be real: my crappy upstairs neighbor, in general. Why hasn't he moved out/been evicted yet?
• Only being at page 200 in the Jest.
• Meat that prematurely expires and thus stinks up your entire fridge.
• Laundry that seems to procreate on its own time.
• Unnecessary, yet seemingly unavoidable, conflict.
• A never-ending to-do list.
• The last big push of homework for school. I know it will all be over soon, but there is so very much to get done before I walk in that graduation ceremony...
• 5 more months of a strange commute from my place in Linden Hills to preschool in Golden Valley to downtown for work, and back again. Doesn't make any sense to move Paige into preschool til we find a place in Northeast to put our roots down in, but still.

6 more inches. But what do they say about in like a lion?

Spring antsiness ensues at the Green House (and Green cubicle. and Greenmobile.)

Why, praytell, aside from the foot of snow 9and developing winter storm) which reminds me it's still gonna be a while til I can play in the dirt, swim in the lake, or roll down grassy hillsides again?

* Spring training games start tomorrow. Joy!
* A beautiful epistle about how to clean. Makes me want to purge junk, organize closets, and scrub my fridge out top to bottom.
* Burpee sent me a lovely brown package full of seeds yesterday. They felt marvelous... small and round and full of potential.
* I'm sick of wearing winter pants. And now that I work downtown, I see loveliness all the time in the form of spring clothing. Drat.
* I'm sewing a wedding dress which just oozes spring.

things I sometimes forget

• You can put your mail in those blue mailboxes on the street. And they are all over downtown.
• I can buy First Ave tickets at Shinders over my lunch.
• Scrambled eggs are almost always improved with a little salsa and cheese.
• Not everyone knows the definition of "indie hipster music".
• Even though I am open to change and find myself to be an adaptable person, there are other people who, no matter what life throws at them, just won't budge.
• Those people are not my problem.
• ATMs will sell you stamps in a pinch.
• You can take the early bus.
• Shin splints sometimes develop way later than you expect them to.
• It's harder to give up meat during Lent than I remember it. The bacon looked so delicious this morning.
• I am really good at spelling (unless I am just typing really fast).
• There's plenty of time for just about everything I want to accomplish in life.
• I love running.
• One man's trash is another man's treasure.
• The best way to get through a stint of writer's block is to let myself daydream a bit.

other randomness

the song-of-the-morning:
Brick - Ben Folds

Things that make me happy:

• Pictures of the people I love on my desk
• Quality family time at my cousin's wedding
• Anticipating quilting and beermaking weekend
• Frantic sewing
• Successfully completing a to-do list
• A MBTI type I finally feel at home with
• Free coffee
• 80% off sales on cute shirts
• eMusic downloads (I'm currently obsessing over Magnus, Minus the Bear and Mason Proper)
• Hour-long girly, gossip conversations while procrastinating on the next to-do list
• Bolthouse Farms mocha cappucino protien shake thingy
• Prospects of brunchy bloody-marys
• Planning summer roadtrips
• Successful toilet training, bedtime prayers, and two-way communication with a preschooler
• The makeup my sister got me for Christmas
• Pad thai leftovers
• Public transit

beaming with pride, and other news.

Fimoculous has a link to a great list: top 10 songs about wonderful cities. But why is Detroit on this list?
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Diana just passed on an article which infuriated me. Apparently the Little House on the Prairie book series (which I had read twice over by the 3rd grade) is getting a makeover, which includes nixing the original Garth Williams' illustrations. Uh, I do not approve. Make sure you read the 10-year-old child's comment about how pictures are more real than illustrations. Great. This is the environment my precious preschool gets to initiate herself into next year.
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Closed loop to Gin and Phonics: Precisely why my faith has been restored in humanity, too. It's just damn cool to know such a quality human being. Besides, the food was amazing. (am I a big flapping dork to say how proud I am that this is about my boyfriend?)
---
I'm relatively certain I wore this dress to an 8th grade dance. Why? Why are these disastrous 1980s tragedies reappearing on people?
---
Coo! The Walkmen and Kaiser Chiefs will be here on April 21.
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[via Lifehacker] I'd try this neato thing, Grocist. As soon as I can get my hands on a barcode scanner. Yah. Because that's the one thing I need cluttering up my kitchen counter.
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Why the museums in NYC are the best. [via Make:]
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Hmm. As an avid seamstress, vintage-clothing recycler, etc... this got me thinking about my penchant for the 8-dollar old navy t-shirt, and if I should consider reusing before I run out and buy disposable clothes. Fascinating; I never thought about it this way. The green part of me is ashamed.
---
Gah. Reason #059483 I'm not a fan of endorsements creeping their way into the arts.
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From the Star Tribune: File this in the WTF file.
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Have I mentioned Tastespotting yet? (warning: don't look at when hungry.)

Nothing's bringing me down today

I entered another year of twentysomething today, and for the first time in years, I am tickled. Life is good. I am Sarah, and I'm just where I want to be.

Highlights of my birthday:

• I slept in. The alarm rang at 6; the radio was playing Sunday, Bloody Sunday. Thank you, Universe, for starting my day with an old-school favorite of the band that made me fall in love with rock and roll. I just lay there in semi-consciousness, enjoying that toasty-sheet feeling, lazily drifting in and out of dreaminess, burying my face in the cool side of a down pillow, watching the sunrise seep in through the slits in my shades. I rolled out around 7ish, or so. Lingering in bed in the morning is so rarely something I get to do. It's heavenly.
• I allowed myself to take a scalding-hot, extended-time shower. Complete with shaving, a facial, grapefruit sea salt scrub, deep hair conditioning. Again... the extended-time shower is a rare occurence in a house cohabited by a preschooler with a 5-minute attention span and the Queen of Overbooking herself, then Procrastinating.
• All my favorite clothes were clean... I love love LOVE when that happens, because I get to live in all of my favorite things, all day long.
• I look the time to do my hair. Put on my makeup. In fact, I took my sweet time. Heck yah.
• Put Lily Allen on in the car. Proceeded to sing along with her. I love her accent, and her sass.
• Bought myself a birthday latte. I have either been eschewing coffee or at least buying the real cheap stuff at work (or bringing it from home), but today I treated myself. And, by the way, was delighted to learn that Caribou is now making yummy light lattes. I had a sugar-free, skim turtle latte. Hurray, and mmmm. Let's not forget strawberry yogurt for breakfast. My signature morning meal.
  
• I got to my computer to myriad happy birthday wishes from friends and family.
• I played my top 25 songs on my iPod. All of which are essentially favorites. And cube-danced. Heck yah.
• I got honorable mention on the Current Blog. Squee.
• My favorite foods, packed from home. Cottage cheese, fresh pineapple. A big ol' salad with all the best veggies (who can resist the allure of the cucumber, anyway?) all topped with blue cheese. Tuna and Ry-Krisp.
• Late lunch outing - net gain: (1) Pair of kickass suede black boots. (1) Pair of hipster white sunglasses (as it's bright out today, and I keep losing my non-prescription sunglasses.) (1) Brand-new manicure. (1) Really raucous set of bad car-singing with the Pipettes.
• Leaving work early.

More on tonight's adventures, later... thanks to all for the happy birthday wishes; it's been a spectacular day!

reasons why the ladies' restroom at work is my least favorite type of room

1) honestly. there are plenty of semi-private places to have a mobile phone conversation. the handicapped stall in the ladies' room is never the answer. especially so because I would hate to interrupt your conversation about Tarniqua and her baby-daddy with my flushing.

2) the woman who's always in there at 9:15. She's audibly distressed by her morning goings-on. for the sake of us all, see your doctor. that's not normal.

3) simple rule. if you make a mess, clean it up. No one wants to walk on toilet paper, used hand towels, and I'm not even going to mention what else I find when I walk in there.

4) flushing. it's not a new concept. my guess is you do it at home. why is it problematic in the workplace?

5) speaking of flushing, automated toilets. I personally do not want the toilet to flush on it's own accord. I like to be in charge of that. call me crazy. or at least call me not-a-fan of getting a wet behind when the toilet spontaneously flushes. I am an American. I'm not used to that.

6) automated sinks that don't turn on. automated towels that don't come out. It's just a bathroom. Why all the fancy-smarmyness?

7) stop. putting. your. makeup. on. in. the. restroom. Listen here: it's OK to touch up your lipstick. Or dab on some powder, or whatever. I'm on the girl train with the rest of you. But please don't: pluck your eyebrows, pop pimples, curl eyelashes, apply beauty cream, take out your hot rollers, in the ladies' room at work. It's weird. The rest of us show up (at least mostly) dressed and (generally) properly groomed for the workday. Why do you get special priviledges?

8) Most of us aren't interested in breathing your perfume and/or hairspray fumes when we need to pee. Stop spraying that stuff in public. If I wanted to smell like Jean Nate and Aquanet, I'd have doused myself with it before I left the house (see #7).

9) The doorway of the ladies' room is not the place to discuss Jennifer's promotion, Andrew's performance review, the latest STR report, or which administrative assistant is giving hummers under who's desks. This stuff should be discussed in HR, or at least behind a closed door you don't *think* someone else is going to walk into. Chances of a random stranger overhearing you in the restroom = real damn good.

10) Public restroom toilet paper. 'Nuff said.

thank you, listeners. This is 2006, signing off.

I spent a good portion of my morning determining the (lucky?) songs which would make it into the 2006 edition of Sountrack: Urbanwanderlsut. Oh, and also angsting over an iPod which desperately needs a trip to the MP3 doctor. It's frozen. And iTunes told me it was corrupt. Gah. (we're going over to Ridgedale this afternoon to get her checked out. Promise.)

In the meantime, I was wise enough to burn my 33 selections to disc, so I have something to jam with while dodging actual work today (hurray coincidental forethought!)

Without (much) further ado, Soundtrack: Urbanwanderlust (2006 edition)
Disclaimers:
(what this really means... mostly, songs I fell in love with this year, with notable exceptions made for songs that held special meaning throughout the year.)
(what this most certainly does not mean... best of songs, critically acclaimed songs, songs that hold some sort of inherent and quantifiable music quality. It's just the stuff I like, folks. I claim no expertise here.)

1. Juicebox: The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth (2006)
2. I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News) : Eagles of Death Metal, Death By Sexy (2006)
3. Gone Daddy Gone: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)
4. Some Things Never Stop: The Alarmists, A Detail of Soldiers (2006)
5. P.O.S Is Ruining My Life : P.O.S., Audition (2006)
6. Is It Any Wonder?: Keane, Under the Iron Sea (2006)
7. Chasing Cars : Snow Patrol, Eyes Open (2006)
8. Farewell to the Old Me: Dar Williams, The Beauty of the Rain (2003)
9. Girlshapedlovedrug : Gomez, How We Operate (2006)
10. Change: Tracy Chapman, Where You Live (2005)
11. Munich: Editors, The Back Room (2005)
12. Goods (It's All In Your Head): Mates of State, All Day (2006)
13. Drama Queens: Dan Sartain, Join Dan Sartain (2006)
14. Love Me or Hate: Me Lady Sovereign, Public Warning (2006)
15. I Will Survive : Cake, Fashion Nugget (1996)
16. Infra-red: Placebo, Meds (2006)
17. Still Take You Home: Arctic Monkeys , Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not (2006)
18. Massive Nights: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America (2006)
19. Rise Up! Rise Up!: Cursive, Happy Hollow (2006)
20. Emma, Get Me a Lemon: The Walkmen, A Hundred Miles Off (2006)
21. Province: TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
22. Citrus: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America (2006)
23. Breathe Me: Sia, Colour the Small One (2005)
24. International Allan: ZibraZibra, The End of the Lion (2006)
25. Freedom 90: George Michael, Ladies and Gentleman the Best of George Michael (1998)
26. I Should Have Known Better: Yo La Tengo, I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006)
27. Real Life: Nellie McKay, Pretty Little Head (2006)
28. Maneater: Nellie Furtado, Loose (2006)
29. I Wish I Was A Punkrocker (With Flowers in My Hair): Sandy Thom, I Wish I Was A Punkrocker (With Flowers in My Hair) (2006)
30. A Man/Me/Then Jim: Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous (2004)
31. Sons and Daughters: The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (2006)
32. See the World: Gomez, How We Operate (2006)
33. This Year: The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (2005)