Category Archives: Life

04Feb 2014

Going on a personal archeological dig

⋅ Leave a Comment

So, normally I’m not one to make any New Year’s resolutions. That being said, I wanted to try to live a better life with less. I wanted to appropriate the mantra, “Quality over quantity.” this year. That being said, the first step was just getting my life in order (haha) and getting my act together to clean the apartment.

Last time we were in Oregon (in October), a friend of mine needed a place to stay and asked to stay at our apartment for a night when we weren’t there. Unfortunately the state of our bedroom was RIDICULOUS, but she was able to stay on the futon in the living room. That was embarrassing, but she’s like family, so what are you going to do, right? Either way, I was very much aware of how I need to clean my apartment.

20140201-223712.jpgThis time Ryan and I have been away from the apartment for nearly 4 week+ weeks. The aquarium was a MESS. (Although majority of the fish survived without anyone feeding it or doing water changes.) The living room was cluttered and it was everything we could do to just get rid of the filth and do all the dishes before we left. (We may not be doing this adult thing like we’re suppose to.)

So the first thing I did when we came back (ok – so this happened the second weekend back) was to clean the apartment. To facilitate this, I invited Jay and his GF over. I had to clean the living room, at least. I felt motivated. That’s saying a lot, since normally I would need to force myself to watch Hoarders to get the horrific inspiration to clean. I cleaned the kitchen (dishes, stovetop, and scrubbed the sink clean), bathroom, living area/TV… everything except my bedroom. Uhg.

20140201-223703.jpgEventually, on Sunday, I hauled my ass to clean the bedroom. It’s not perfect, but it’s SO much better. The floor is completely clear of stray clothes. I cleaned my closet for the first time in YEARS. I found this iced tea in one of those tote bags above. I also may have found a Duane Reade receipt dated 2011. Yeah. It has never been opened, so it’s probably fine. (If there is ever a nuclear disaster, it may have been a good idea to just go foraging for food and water in my closet. Thankfully there wasn’t too much more perishables in there. It was a little ridiculous how I found extra packets of hot cocoa mix in one of my bags still filled with sordid random items from my last job. (Mind you, I’ve been at my current job over 2 years now.) There were mountains of tote bags. I found random sweaters eaten apart by moths. Sweaters I used to like. :( (This resulted in a small shopping spree at Old Navy for 2 new sweaters – but that’s another story.)

20140201-223720.jpgIt’s always the case in these situations that you find things you COMPLETELY forgot about. Clothes that you never wore and bags you never saw again. I bought a tote bag the last time I was at a Tori Amos concert, and I found it. I don’t think I ever used it. :P (This also leads to the question, WHY ON EARTH DO I HAVE SO MANY FABRIC TOTES NOW? I never used to have fabric totes a decade ago. These are bags I collected in the last… 10 years? Where did all these bags come from? I’ve organized them into, bags I like and want to keep – aka. bags I bought – and bags I am going to set aside to give to friends whenever they need a bag to put shit in – aka. random tote bags I managed to accumulate via free stuff.)

It’s like a weird unintentional time capsule, don’t you think? I also found 3 random Magic the Gathering cards, H&M gift cards, scarves, hats and gloves I forgot I had (I suspect these were gifts from a friend who works at an accessories company), etc.

Also, WHAT IS THAT BLACK PIG with wire around it’s neck? I think it was given to me by someone at my last job, but why on earth would I take it and keep it? I just hold on to way too much stuff. Also, what is that unidentified clear bottle of liquid, which was clearly some free item without a label saying what it is, just the damn healthcare brand on it. WTH?

I still also found tons of shutterfly branded chapstick that I drunkenly took at a vendor event at shutterfly.

02Feb 2014

Quality over quantity

⋅ Leave a Comment

I want to adopt the idea of a capsule wardrobe. I just want to have a regular rotation of high quality items I can wear that will last. I want to get rid of all of my “crap” in my bedroom. (Hence the recent cleaning spree, which I will discuss later.) I want to stop being such a hoarder. I need to purge. (33 is an arbitrary number. I will probably settle on 40-50 depending on the season, but it’s definitely a start.)


(image courtesy of samishome, which illustrates the idea of capsule wardrobes well)

I have an insane amount of hats. It’s ridiculous. I have like 20-30 hats. I DID NOT BUY ANY OF THEM. This is what happens when you know someone in the accessory field. I like a lot of them, but I’m not a hat person. Hmmm. I may sell some of them to Beacon’s Closet or on Ebay.

I plan to throw away anything I don’t want. I want to store everything else out of sight and mind. The plan is that if I don’t think about these things when I move next year… I am throwing them out. (Reasonable, right? I need to take baby steps.)

I just want to live a better life with less.

08Sep 2013

In that I lash out…

⋅ Leave a Comment

Can we discuss the incompetence of the USPS? This is all in the last 2 months. I’ve been waiting for my amazon purchase FOR-ever. (Which happens to equal 2 weeks.) Most of it was suppose to be delivered on the 4th. However, it apparently came on the 3rd (GREAT!). The USPS tracking system claims that they came at 11:13pm, left a notice, and is now inquiring about redelivery.

  1. Someone was here ALL DAY and all night.
  2. There was NO NOTICE LEFT
  3. Isn’t there usually re-deliveries? 2-3 tries until stopping?

I literally requested them to come back the next available day. I waited a day, since I was incredulous that they actually needed me to schedule a redelivery. AND I had another package coming in on the 5th, so I assumed it can come with that. At this point I should mention that I missed 2 parcels on the 3rd. I ordered 2 shipments, but amazon shipped everything in 3 shipments. So, what was suppose to come on the 5th was originally part of the shipment I missed. This other shipment came at was left in the lobby/1st floor of my building on the floor on the 4th. WTF, right? If they can do that, why didn’t they just leave my other packages? WHAT IS GOING ON. How can I receive only part of my package? I asked for redelivery on the 6th. That was yesterday. The tracking system has been down for the past 2 days. I RECEIVED NOTHING. This is really ridiculous.

Did I mention that 2 months ago I ordered some photo books from recent events from snapfish. I had a coupon, so I had to split 2 books to my mother in 2 shipments. I ordered one for me, and another to my in laws. My mother was home anticipating delivery (that I told her about via tracking). It never came. They never rang her. They left a notice, though. Do you know how frustrating it is? So she has been waiting for the redelivery that never happens and after 2 weeks of waiting (in addition), they make her go pick it up from the postal office. Seriously. And she lives in Manhattan.

I. AM. AT. MY. WITS. END.

(In other news, the L train isn’t running, which is annoying if you need to get to Manhattan. I braved the bus yesterday and it is a free for all. There is literally no rules anymore when the trains aren’t running. I find that funny. They don’t collect fare for these shuttle buses, so everyone just packs in, climbs in from the back, stand in the area you’re not suppose to while the bus is running, and ALL RULES ARE TOSSED OUT THE AIR. It’s an ugly time.)

02Sep 2013

It prickles and it’s uncomfortable, but I’m drawn to it…

⋅ Leave a Comment
postsecret

This morning I was reading my usual sites with my morning coffee. Did you guys notice the creepy post on postsecret.com? It basically says

I said she dumped me, but really, I dumped her (body).

(Here is a link on gawker that talks about it. The reddit community went wild and figured it out that this was a park in Chicago. This morning I tweeted/FBed about it, but that’s about it. I do honestly hope that is a hoax. It’s creepy as f*ck. (I love creepy stuff, and this gives me the willies that I usually get off on. Still, this is a little macabre for me and this shit is no joke. On the other hand, I totally get into cults, serial killer stuff, and weird internet creepy oddities, like that time traveler that popped up on forums back 10+ years ago – Google John Titor. Or how about that toynbee tiles documentary, still available on netflix? If anyone has any other recommendations, please let me know.)) Holy parentheses batman!

I think everyone is surprised something like this hasn’t happened before. I wonder what the QA process is like when putting up secrets. Do controversial ones get the automatic posting? Someone said, it looked like these postcards were sent prior to 2013. Still, I bet there is a lot of thought to go into it. Some are heavy, some are life affirming and uplifting, and others show us that we’re not alone in misery. Although eye-catching secrets are rarer, I still love the idea of this project.

Maybe this is why I watched that movie with Jake Gyllenhaal on the Zodiac Killer late tonight, and now I’m up… still wired.

Another thing that caught my attention lately is all the Leah Remini Scientology defection news that got TONs of press. You bet I read through the entire long interview with her sister to that small little radio station. Man, Tony Ortega’s site has been blowing up about it. I love it. I really hope the movement that demands the whereabouts of Shelly Miscavige gain momentum. Love. This. Stuff.

It’s voyeuristic, I know. Oftentimes things like this piggyback on real sorrow, so I don’t mean to make light of that. I’m just sort of amazed at all the things that people do.

On a more lighthearted note, can we talk about the VMAs? No one is talking about it, it seems, but Daft Punk’s “visit” was super lame. THEY DIDN’T EVEN “PERFORM.” THEY JUST PREVIEWED A SONG. Especially after that amazing Colbert dance off to “Get Lucky”, with the drama of getting Daft Punk on air. I find it disappointing that Steven’s whole segment wasn’t very genuine and Daft Punk was never suppose to perform on his show. (There were rumors that Robin Thicke was always the one booked to perform that day.)

04Aug 2013

Homebound and getting sartorial and home decorating cues from SATC

⋅ Leave a Comment

I’m home, “on-call” for work. So what did I do? I cooked a bag of dry black beans so we can have a little for breakfast and the rest for the week. I cleaned my aquarium (hopefully to fill with colorful platys), hooked up the XBox to YouTube and discovered Vice Japan Channel, and now I am watching reruns of Sex and the City. I randomly picked the episode where Aidan leaves Carrie for the second time after she cheated on him with Mr. Big. In that episode, they say goodbye in her bathroom… and that shower curtain!!!!! I NEED IT! I searched for the last 50 minutes and I cannot for the life of me find that particular screenshot.

It’s long and sparkly.

So this is what it has come to. Season 4 has pretty good outfits, I must admit.

At least I have some Rose wine.

I’m looking forward to getting my freedom back next week.

Edit: Pebbles Silver shower curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond! Voila! Pretty close.

I’m also digging the discontinued Tender Falls Anthropologie Shower Curtain.

And a little more affordable Kate Spade shower curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond.

04Aug 2013

Watching Jay-Z on Bill Mahr

⋅ Leave a Comment

20130804-123314.jpgI haven’t seen many interviews with Jay-Z, but he has no TV presence. My husband says it’s probably because he’s a “studio musician, like me.”

Bill better bring up J’s controversial statement. They just mentioned Belafonte, but it didn’t amount to much. #TeamBelafonte

Our Sunday routine is sleep in, he makes coffee, we make breakfast (this morning it is spinach, beans, sausages, and eggs – a la “4 Hour Body”) and watch Real Time from Friday. (And Bill’s OT from the prior week.)

Edit: So, although Bill didn’t mention anything about the “My presence is charity” comment (Really? I mean, if the man doesn’t want to be charitable or give back, I guess that’s his stupid business, but what a narcissist. As someone who has seen poverty, he still has no idea about the mechanisms that keep people down.), but he did make a final jab at him during the final monologue. He was pleading for a liberal billionaire to take advantage of Citizens United, like the republican party.

18Jan 2011

Dogbot

⋅ Leave a Comment

I would like to introduce you to our newest addition, here at www.winglike.com. His name is Dogbot.

Jane in my office told me that I need to give him a cute name, though. So I thought, why not “Destroyer of Worlds?” and Jane said, “DOW is a perfectly cute name.” But technically, he’s Ryan’s so… it’s probably Dogbot. Just sayin’

He likes crocheted bacon, chasing and collecting dust bunnies, and new friends (does not necessarily have to be made of yarn or stuffing). He’s the Chief Operations Officer around here.

Dogbot was made by myself using Nelly Pailloux‘s “Dogbot” pattern from her Crobots: 20 amigurumi robots to make book. It’s easy to use, even for the beginner. Dogbot was fairly easy to make for someone who hardly ever crochets (but I do knit).

He was made using wool medium weight scrap yarn and a 3.25 (not the 2.77 recommended) hook. He is stuffed with high quality toy-grade polyester and lots of love.

I hope to try to make one little guy a month. (Especially since I committed to making little handmade things for 3 of my facebook friends on a meme.)

27Dec 2010

Running Through Central Park

⋅ Leave a Comment

I ran outside yesterday for the first time in a long time. My iPod died halfway, but surprisingly the view was enough to keep me focused. I ran the entire loop from 59th st. to 110th st and back. I was planning to keep going but I definitely underestimated how it would feel to run on actual terrain for the first time in a while.

A lot of things are changing in the park. Near the 70s, there was a little tunnel made out of tree branches that inertwined, but it was hacked and cut through. Tavern on the Green, although I think I heard about this, was out of business and the lawn and parking lot bare. That was a little depressing. It was always a fixture at Central Park with all of its lights and pruned animals (I especially like the unicorns). I am surprised no one wanted to jump start it. It was always a place that just rested on its previous laurels and location. I had my prom there, which was beautiful, but the food was less than. I don’t remember anything from the food that night.

I used to run regularly when I lived in Manhattan, but now I try to fit a run in in the mornings, so I’m running on a treadmill for less time. It’s completely different and I missing running in Central Park. Especially with the winter, running outside after I get out of work isn’t really an option. The only opportunity I would have is to come into Manhattan early on the weekends.

I am going to have to do that more often, since I applied for the 2011 New York Marathon Lottery and joined Road Runners to qualify for 2012. At one point I could run 12 miles like nothing, but clearly I need some more training now. My aim is to run the 26 miles under 5 hours. My stride for running 5-6 miles is 9 minute miles, around 10 it’s over 10 minutes, around 10:15 miles. If I were to run 26 miles now, I’m pretty sure the time would go over 5 hours.

It’s not that I have any desire to be a marathon runner, but the NYC Marathon is different with an incredible vibe. As a New Yorker that’s lived here her entire life, I just want to run it at least once (and maybe twice – if I get in for 2011).

So… here’s to many other runs in 2011 in Central Park!