Hear Me in the Harmony

Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from our surroundings and giving us back our primitive, unattached state.
— Thomas Mann

Well, hello there, internet.  How are you?

Yeah.  It’s been a while, I know.  But I’m not making any apologies or explanations.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see this t-shirt I recently bought for my niece (aka the Princess):

This is the only way I can get behind her whole princess obsession.  I don’t want her growing up internalizing all this Disney crap about how you’re supposed to sit around and wait for a man to come save you or make your life complete.  She loves those goddamned princesses, though.  I’m trying to do what I can.

So what else?  Oh yes.  If we’re Facebook friends, you probably know I recently went on a lovely vacation with David, since I went back on my word to have an internet-free vacation about 10 seconds after we set foot on the train in Chicago.  It was pretty awesome.  I will do some posts with pictures soon.  I think.  We did a LOT of stuff – it was the busiest vacation I’ve ever been on.  I did not, however, get engaged on that vacation.  I’m a little sad about that; I’d hoped he’d ask, but I’m trying to trust the universe on this one.  I know it’s in the cards, I just kind of want it to hurry up and happen already.

Am I the only one who thinks this year has FLOWN by?  I mean, Christ, it’s the middle of September already.  It feels like last week was Snowpocalypse 2010, and now it’s practically October.

While we were on vacation, I got a new cell phone – the Droid 2.  I love it so much.  It has changed my life.  No more dumb phones for me!

Tomorrow, we’re going to the Texans-Redskins game – a friend on FB was selling his tickets to this game, and it’s on the list, so . . . I’m excited, even though I really hate the Redskins.

Are you reading Rachel Wilkerson?  I can’t remember how I found her, but it was very recently, and I’m kind of digging her.  I’ve got at least one idea for a post inspired by something she’s written, so you’ll be hearing more about that in the weeks to come, I hope.

Anyway, as usual, even though I wasn’t writing, I was reading all of you who write, and thinking of those of you who don’t.  I hope you”re all well and happy!

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
— Leonardo Da Vinci

A year ago yesterday, I posted my list, with a year ago today as the starting date.  One year in, I’ve completed 26 items and have started 21 more.  I think that’s pretty good!  By the end of the year, I anticipate that at least 10 things will change from either not started or in progress to complete.

This has been a good exercise for me.  Even though I haven’t been writing here at all lately, my list is always on my mind.  David often comes up with ideas and says, “Is that on your list?”  I love that he’s as invested in me completing it as I am.  Having goals is important, I think; it helps you to keep moving forward when you feel stuck or overwhelmed, as I have been lately.

I hope you enjoy following along with me; I’m sorry it hasn’t been a more interactive experience (i.e., I’m sorry I’ve been to lazy or apathetic to post about some of the things I’ve done).  Hopefully that can change going forward.  There’s lots of fun stuff on tap!

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
— Voltaire

I’m here.  I’m thinking.  I want to write, I’m just lazy.  I’m trying to snap out of it.  Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.  Bear with me.

I did change my layout, though, and I have been updating my 101 in 1001 and What I’m Reading pages.  So there.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that lost by not trying.
— Sir Francis Bacon

I want to write like this.  But I can’t.  So I don’t try anymore.

The silence depressed me.  It wasn’t the silence of silence.  It was my own silence.
— from The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

Yeah, I know: It’s been a while.  It might be a long time again after this, I don’t know.  I’m debating the whole blog thing.

Here’s what’s been up:

This is the closet in the guest room:

Well, that’s one side of the closet.  The other side has luggage and holiday decorations and crap.  Irrelevant to this discussion.  The reason I’m showing you this is because slowly but surely, over the past year or so, I’ve moved clothes from my closet in our room to this closet because I’ve grown out of them and I didn’t want to look at them anymore.  There are still several things in my closet that should go here, but, as you see, I’ve run out of room.  This collection includes: two suits, THE dress, a fitted boy-blue button down down shirt with pearly buttons that looked amazing on me, the pencil skirt I was wearing the day David and I first kissed, this shirt, several awesome pairs of pants, and an untold number of other items of clothing that I would ordinarily wear to work.  Isn’t that terrible?  There’s probably $1000 or more of clothes in there that I can’t wear right now, which is really such a bummer.  The corollary, of course, is that I’ve had to slowly but surely buy bigger clothes, and shopping has become my least favorite activity and hasn’t been cheap.

But hey, let’s look on the bright side, shall we?  I lost two pounds at weigh-in this week, and 1.something last week, and it’s the first time I’ve had two losses in a row in a very long time.  I also tracked everything this week for the first time in forever.  So, maybe things are looking up.  Hopefully, in about 10 pounds or so, I’ll be able to slowly but surely start shopping in the guest room closet!

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I was down in Richmond over Memorial Day weekend, and the Princess (who turned SIX last week and just finished kindergarten) read me a whole book on her own, sounding out the tough words and everything!  I was so proud of her!

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David and I are planning a big vacation for the end of the summer.  We’re flying to Chicago and then taking the train to Seattle – it’s two overnights, so we booked a sleeper compartment (yeah, #9 on the list!).  We’ll spend a couple days in Seattle, then rent a car and drive down the coast, spending one night in Portland and another night somewhere in Oregon.  The we’ll head to San Francisco for several days before flying home.  I cannot wait – I love traveling with David, and this trip is going to be awesome.  Last night, we got baseball tickets – of course – so I get to go to three new stadiums (we’ll see the Twins/Mariners in Seattle, the Rockies/Giants in San Fran, and the Angels/A’s in Oakland)!

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We’re gardening on the balcony again this summer, but I haven’t taken any pictures yet.  Flower-wise, we’ve got petunias, geraniums, and – new this year – snap dragons.  We’ve also got two kinds of tomatoes, spinach, and strawberries.  I can’t wait to see how everything comes out!

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. . . Really?  It’s been almost a month since I posted, and that’s all I can come up with?  I sure am boring, I guess.  Well, there’s one other thing I’ve done that I’m very excited about, but I’m not really supposed to talk about it, so . . . sorry!