Waving My Flag
I am an astrology nerd.
This is probably not a revelation, but I'm curious about the opinions of others. Is astrology gospel or garbage? Or, like me, do you feel somewhere in the middle? I think most of us know our sign, but do you know your Rising Sign? Do you know what a Rising Sign is? Do you have any astrological anecdotes for me?
Essentially, I have a one-track mind, and this is what I'm thinking about at the moment.
In unrelated news, share your fabulous links now! I would love to see what's been tickling your fancy and share it!
Labels: everyday musings
Things I Love Thursday
America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Sarah Bradford; pretty autumn leaves; Puck's odd sleeping positions; the sound of rain;
Read My Pins, a book by Madeline Albright about her use of pins in politics; chicken salad on croissant; incredibly cute kittens; wide open windows; corn muffins; "vintage" television; meeting incredibly nice people; feeling needed; anonymity; thoughtful neighbors who bring me dinner (these neighbors are also known as Mom and Dad).
Glee; long, detailed conversations regarding astrology; meeting childrens' author Kate Klise; excellent espresso, something I haven't been able to get since moving back to Small Town; physical exertion; the mind and social dysfunctionality of Gregory House; "shut up and write"; exfoliating with Optimism; cashmere weather;
Gossip Girl; my cute new bag from Giant Bookstore - and the fact that it was a gift.
Holding out hope for snow (Small Town is just far enough north of College Town that we get more snow; my personal proof of global warming); The Daily Beast; defeating Bowser and executing a double fist pump while having a conversation with my dad (I have Super Mario World on compy); the now far-reaching legend of the chocolate Guinness cupcakes;
Project Runway night, though it isn't the same without Bradshaw on the couch next to me, and I'm still not completely used to it; Twinings Lady Grey; physical exertion; the sound of typing; attempts to follow my dreams; conserving makeup; reading things outside of my ordinary and expanding my knowledge; spending a day with my favorite Giant Bookstore manager.
Smiling; discovering treasures; an opportunity to browse; gaining perspective; anticipation of making birthday cakes and holiday goodies; finding good use for all of my college sweatshirts that I no longer wear on a day-to-day basis; drinking coffee; whipped yogurt - and sharing it with Marilyn; the bookshelf in my living room and the reasons for the things on it; rewriting history; being Little Red Riding Hood; forcing myself not to get caught up in the details; the hope that my shower will be fixed within a week; judging via text message.
Labels: TILT
Inconsolable
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
Sydney J. Harris
Labels: quotation
Seen and Heard: Marriage Edition
Sunday, 18th October '09, via text messageBradshaw: [friend] would like to know if you would marry him. I told him about your Guinness cupcakes.
Nic: Did you mentioned the Bailey's cream cheese frosting? And the plethora of other tasty goodies I can make?
Bradshaw: Bailey's yes. Just mentioned tasty goodies. He says any time you want to get married give him a call. It's been commented that your would be the shortest wedding ever. :)
Nic: We'll do the old school pact: Still single in ten years, I'm his.
Bradshaw: *double fist pump* Quote, "I'm engaged!!"
Monday, 19th October '09, in the middle of the road, following a conversation about my moving back to Small TownNeighbor: So, you aren't married?
Nic: No.
Neighbor: Never have been?
Nic: No.
Neighbor: And no steady boyfriend?
Nic: No.
Neighbor: Well, if you want, I can keep my eye out for you.
Nic: You know, I think I can handle it. But thanks.
In chatting with Bradshaw this evening (actually, as I type this), I decided that I should have told him that I was, in fact, engaged and he could expect an invitation to a wedding in a decade or so.
Labels: eavesdropping
Things I Love Thursday
Baking My last facebook update was "Nic is going to fatten up her family." This is because I keep baking, and if I keep all of the stuff I make in my own house, I will weigh 200 pounds by Christmas (oh god, Christmas baking = love). In the last two weeks I have made sour lemon scones (to be cut smaller next time), sour cream coffee cake (to be made for no less than six people next time), and pear plum crisp (which was perfection in an 8x8). After several perfect and much-complimented batches of cupcakes from a mix, I decided that it was time to branch out and start making things from scratch. The chocolate Guinness cupcakes were a smash hit, and since then I've been branching out even further. My new goal is to have a collection of excellent baked goods to make for myself and for others. I love the idea of people being excited when I mention that I'm planning to bake, of people raving over things I've made and anticipating what is to come. Plus, you know, making giant messes like that is excellent fun. (Read: coffee cake batter all over my kitchen.)
Rain This part of the country is going to end up being a soggy, muddy, dangerous mess, but when I'm sitting inside with a fleece blanket, a tea kettle, pear plum crisp, and various diversions, the rain is pretty fantastic. Not to mention the fact that it gives me a really awesome reason to wear my trench coat, which I'm pretty much in love with. On top of all of that, I adore the sound of rain and it makes me sleep even more like the dead than I already do.
Television Living for nine months with no television whatsoever, in hindsight, made me crazy. The first six months, I didn't really miss it too much. Then I started to miss having the background noise that comes from having the TV on when doing things like reading a magazine or cleaning up the clutter. Then I started missing things like
America's Next Top Model marathons that eat up entire Saturdays and falling asleep to The Colbert Report and the forthcoming seasons of
Gossip Girl and
Project Runway. But now, I have DirecTV and have seen all of the things I listed and more. I have, of course, already become addicted to new shows (
Rescue Ink Unleashed,
Glee, and
Trauma).
Vacation I decided to enjoy some much-needed time off to decompress from the retail headache of Giant Bookstore before jumping into the glorified babysitting of substitute teaching. I think my slight happiness about the fact that it's flu season and I have an exceptional immune system is probably a recipe for disaster, but I'm willing to risk it. The most mentally challenging activity I've undertaken in the last two weeks is playing Mahjong and chess against my computer. Love.
Living alone I sincerely do love my former Roommate; she and I got along beautifully and I cannot imagine having had a more positive experience that came from nothing. That being said, I am so incredibly happy to be living alone again that I'm not even sure I have the words - and I have a lot of words in my brain. Being able to live without worrying about anyone else's reactions or problems is so freeing and lovely.
The laptop There are so many things that I love about this computer. The mobility is even more excellent given that I don't have wireless set up in my house yet. I just go across the yard and steal my mother's. Fab.
Bits and bobs Lady Grey; windowsills big enough for giant white cats; Kennedy week (my own invention); Stephen Colbert; sleeping in a comfortable bed for the first time in years; alphabetizing books; roasted garlic; cooking for myself consistently (tonight is the first that I've eaten something I didn't cook);
Vanity Fair; pretty glass cookie jars; pink candles; singing The Beatles a the top of my lungs;
Project Runway; beautiful quotations; receiving compliments; homemade passion tea lemonade; in-season pears; leisurely morning coffee; DVRing my favorite manager's local television appearances at my parents'; Mom's chili; reaffirmed beliefs; black eyeliner; beef taquitos; my living room bookshelves; irony; scrambled eggs with Asiago cheese; naked time; extra storage space; autumn nail polish; Tumblr; clean laundry; wearing heels to the grocery store; saving a significant amount of gas; considerate neighbors (read: Mom and Dad).
*All photos, with original sources, can be found at my Tumblr through the sidebar!Labels: TILT
Love Like That
Labels: quotation
High-Maintenance
Bradshaw and I are excellent at talking on the phone. From five-minute chats after important life events (last hurrahs, surprise kisses, quarter-life crises) to the marathon calls that last longer than we've realized, this is something that we have down to a science. We could say that it's because we've been living in different cities for the last two years, but I think this was a skill that we brought to the friendship (I remember having some weirdly long phone calls when we were going to see each other just a few hours later).
Last night, we had something in the middle, and she mentioned something that set my mind working. At a baseball game, the men sitting next to her mentioned that she seemed like a low maintenance kind of girl, which, of course, made me wonder if I'm a high maintenance kind of girl. It forced me to attempt to define what that means, and I'm not entirely sure.
The example the boys used was the jacket that she wore in lieu of something fussier, and I don't really follow. Does the fact that I don't even own a jacket (but do own a trench, a purple military-style wool coat, and a houndstooth wool coat) mean that I'm high maintenance? Somehow, I think that's too general. It's been suggested that my propensity for skirts might make me high maintenance, but I can do anything in a skirt that I can do in jeans - unless you ask me to stand on my head, but I can't do that at all.
Cosmetically, I am most certainly high maintenance. I don't go out without makeup on, my preferred hairstyle takes at least twenty minutes (though I'm not always willing to work that hard), I'm a fan of the half-hour shower, my skincare routine is very involved, and last night I spent an entire episode of
The Rachel Zoe Project* painting my toe- and fingernails. I sometimes wear extremely precise liquid eyeliner, I do a twice-weekly clay mask, I would have my hair cut and colored every six weeks if I could manage to keep up with it, and I have eight different pots of eyeshadow in my bathroom (at $18 a pop, that's pretty bad).
I alphabetize my DVDs and books and I tend to hate loaning them out. I wash my whites, delicates, and other clothing separately. My computer folders are arranged to exacting specifications. I can tell when things in my bathroom have been moved - and I can tell the different between things people have moved and things nudged by nosy cats. My makeup brushes have their own little bag separate from the actual makeup, and all of the bristles must be facing the same way.
Having said all of that, I'm not sure that describing me as high-maintenance is true. I need alone time far more than I need to spend time with other people. I am more than capable of feeding myself, cleaning up after myself, and entertaining myself. There is no one in my life that I feel the need to speak to every day. I live alone - and I love it. I can figure out how to open the most stubborn jar, kill spiders, find flashlights and candles when the electricity goes out with minimal anxiety, talk myself down from a nightmare, go to the movies alone, and choose outfits without asking anyone's opinion.
Maybe I am high maintenance. In pondering this, I've realized something a lot more interesting: I like who I am, whatever that means. And if there are people - and I do know some of those people - who love me for being this person, that's fantastic. I am constantly being reminded that I would much rather have fewer friends who love the girl I am than more friends who either don't know me or don't care. And those people, who think I am too high maintenance, aren't the sort of people that I need in my life.
*The fact that I'm watching The Rachel Zoe Project is probably a red flag, huh?Labels: everyday musings, personal growth
