speeblog

So I just found out that I'm one of seven (I think he said seven; I was really excited at that point and I may have misheard) finalists in this year's Austin Chronicle short story contest! There is an event at Bookpeople next Wednesday (Feb. 7) where they announce the winner, and the first-third places will read their stories! They are going to have free food and drinks and who knows, maybe you'll get to hear me read my story!

Here are the details:
Bookpeople
Wednesday, February 7
7 pm

I think I am going to post a myspace bulletin about the event so if you're on my myspace friends list, you'll hear this again! And PS if you're not on my myspace friends list, why not??

So today in French class, we were doing this exercise where we had to go around the room and find out if anyone had a birthday in the same month as our own. Finally I found the only other person with a June birthday, and hers was the 13th (mine is the 12th). When she found out our birthdays were one day apart, she asked me, "Were you born in 1987, too?"

I had a little moment where I thought, whoa, I am seven years older than this person, but then I realized, wait, she thought I was seven years younger than I am. Sweet! Thanks mom, and thanks Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer SPF 15.

Alright, enough bragging about my compliment of the day. I finally came up with a new display for my shelf at Parts and Labour! Please excuse the mirror reflections in the photos.





xoxo,
s

Well, the massage/pedicure was AMAZING. I got an Ayuervedic/Reflexology pedicure, which included a 30 minute foot massage, and a head/neck/shoulders massage. I hold a great deal of tension between my shoulders so this was perfect. The massage therapist told me I might want to come in again because of all the tension in my shoulders--I had no idea that she would even be able to tell!

I walked past the mirror when I was at home later that day and noticed that I looked really relaxed, so I thought I'd take a picture:

So, Shea and I had our 2nd anniversary on December 16th! He took me to Fonda San Miguel (it was a surprise). I had never been there; the food was amazing. We even had my favorite dessert ever, Tres Leches cake. Then we went to the 37th Street lights--this is a mini tradition because we went there on our first date. This is us at the lights this year:



I got these lovely flowers:



Along with a video game I've wanted forever (Paper Mario), and a gift certificate to a fancy spa! My appointment is this Friday. I'm having a Signature Aroma-Reflex Pedicure and an Indian Head Massage. I've never had a massage before.

Then, my cousin Megan (see link to the right) came to visit me for a few days after Christmas! She lives in Chicago for now. I hadn't seen her in forever! We got to talk politics and global warming and current events and all the things everyone should be talking about and it was great. And I liked hearing about all her adventures (and actually, there's one particular follow up adventure that I need to call her and get the scoop on). Anyway, did you know she's been to Africa? If you see her, ask her what her favorite and least favorite things about it were. She loves that. Just kidding.

Other than that I'm just enjoying my break. Two of the funnest girls I know--Raquel and my neighbor Brittani--and I went to Blue Hanger last week. I found a vintage blouse and scarf (I used to hate the word "blouse" but now I love it. Blouse blouse blouse!) and a couple of shirts for Shea.

I also rearranged all of the living room furniture.

I've also had like four cups of coffee today.

The other big thing is that I'm all registered for school! I even got my ID and the photo isn't bad! Except that I'm sort of posing which is mildly embarrassing. Ha! On the plus side, I found out you can use UT ID cards to ride any bus for free, AND there's a bus that stops right by the house and right by the school. It's like a 4 minute ride.

My classes are still up in the air as I'm waitlisted for a couple of them (why they have new students for the spring register after just about everyone on the planet has already registered is unclear), but one that I'm really excited about is French! I took it in HS, and while I learned a little, I still couldn't understand spoken French to save my life.

So my first day is Tuesday, and I'll tell you all about it!

xoxo,
Sarah

PS-I had a dream last night that I went on a motorcycle race through the jungle, and two of my competitors were Mel Gibson and Joan Collins. If that doesn't deserve space on the internet, I don't know what does.

YAY! Today was my last day of work. This was my first grown-up, full time job. I hated it. It is so strange to me that I don't ever have to go back there again--I've worked there for four years. Almost all of the time I've lived in Austin. I am a totally different person than I was when I first started there. It's funny because I can even remember my first day very clearly; I was wearing a red dress and by about 4 pm I got all glossy-eyed because I wasn't used to having a full-time job. I had to get my photo taken for my ID badge, and I remember feeling a little silly that the backdrop was an American flag.

It is a bit strange to have something that took up so much of my time and energy for so long just end quietly. I didn't even have to do an exit interview or anything, I just packed up my little lamp that I never turned on and my poster from Flatstock, gave my plant to a coworker, and walked out. I gave back the badge that had the photo of the different me. I hated to look at that photo; it was this little daily reminder that I had no idea what was about to happen. Every time I saw that photo I felt like I was making fun of myself.

I don't feel sad at all. This morning I went in thinking, "I have so many things I need to do before I leave!" and by the time we went to my going away lunch, I was over it.

And now, I've got about a month where I don't have to do ANYTHING except what I want to do. I haven't had a real break since winter break 2001. Nice! I have a huge list of things I want to do, including:

- A Month of Yoga. That's right, during my break, my plan is to up my yoga classes from my current 3x a week to 7x a week. Half of the reason I'm writing this down is to sort of cement my commitment to it. I have an unlimited pass so it won't cost me any extra. The only time I can see this getting a little tricky is when I'm in BMT for Christmas. They have a yoga studio there but I don't know if they have classes every day. If not, maybe I can do a little mini practice in my room or something.

- Finish making all my Christmas gifts. And by finish I mean start.

- Get ready for/host the Glitterati holiday party! Yay! My first real (non Project Runway) party.

- Make some big steps with my business, including a new line for the spring and a revamp of my workspace.

And so many other things. And then in January, I get to start school again! Things are looking up!

Okay, so first, the big news (which some of you may already know): I got in to school! Starting in January, I will be an undergrad in English at UT. AND, I put in notice at my job. My last day is December 15th! I have 9 days of work left. This does not seem real yet.

Porridge and I went to Alabama over Thanksgiving weekend. As we were walking into the airport in Houston, I realized I forgot my ID (nice). This amazing person at the Houston airport let me board with my yoga pass and my car insurance card. But when we were heading back, the people in Huntsville wouldn't let me use that. So my sister and I stood at the ticket counter for over an hour (starting at like 4:30 am) while the airline people tried to get someone to give me permission to get on the plane. Finally I called Shea, who scanned/e-mailed a copy of my ID and sent it over.

After all that, not too much drama. It was a really short trip. There are photos on my flickr account (the flickr account which I can't access right now, and some of my contacts are mysteriously gone, but whatever). Here are the photos from Thanksgiving:
http://flickr.com/photos/manekicollection/sets/72157594393562470/

We went to this old cemetary where some of my relatives are buried, and I can't believe I didn't take a picture of this one thing my Granddad referred to as the "8th wonder of the world." It is the grave of one of his relatives who was married to two women at the same time. The original wife had herself buried beside him with one of those shared headstones that stretches across two graves. The additional wife also had herself buried beside him in the same way on the other side of him--her shared gravestone is at his feet. So this one guy has a headstone with one wife and a footstone with the other. Don't hate! <--sorry, couldn't help it

And here are some photos of photos I took at my Granddad's house:
http://flickr.com/photos/manekicollection/sets/72157594393584747/

I don't know when it is, but it's not today. When I moved here, everyone told me that it would take five years for me to start having allergy problems. It has been four years and nearly three months, so I guess I'm ahead of the game? Oh, how I used to brag about how my allergies went away since I moved here. I didn't know how good I had it. What's worse is that I tend to cry when I get sick, so here I am with my mouth breathing and my face that hurts, feeling pitiful.

Okay, enough whining!

My sister came to stay with me last weekend, which was really fun! We decided we're going to fly to Alabama this Thanksgiving to see my grandfather and family there, instead of going to Beaumont like we usually do. My parents always drive out there anyway, and since Porridge has to work on Thanksgiving day, we came up with this plan. And none of my cousins are going to be in Beaumont for Thanksgiving anyway.

This is a bit of a disappointment because last year was seriously the best Thanksgiving ever. There are seven of us cousins within about a ten year age span. It makes it pretty awesome because we're all still willing to do fun things. Like last year, we skipped our usual Thanksgiving night movie and decided instead to play Sardines! My favorite part was when I hid behind a couch, which unfortunately meant we all had to lie on our backs, stacked on top of each other. My sternum may or may not have been crushed, but it was still hilarious.

Here are some photos from that Thanksgiving on my new flickr account (hey, I got a new flickr account). Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so there aren't as many pictures as I would have liked.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91636629@N00/sets/72157594353385921/

I better get my pitiful self to bed, but before I go, here is something you all need to see.

I am so tired!

Last weekend, we went to the Mediterranean Festival on Friday. We didn't stay that long, since the only thing to do there really is eat, and they sold out of the only vegetarian dish (falafel). Then on Saturday my friend Rebecca came in from Dallas. Her husband wanted to watch the UT game on Saturday, so R and I went shopping. All day. I don't know the last time I shopped that much, if ever. Then we got pedicures at Milk + Honey down on 2nd street.

Then on Sunday night, we went to the moon viewing festival at the botanical gardens. I had been wanting to go to this for a long time, since I saw the sign for it in what, May? It was lovely and we ate moon cakes and drank green tea.



This weekend, I went with Natalie and her friend Liz to the City-Wide Garage Sale. It was so much fun! I really liked meeting Liz, and I had a lot of good finds at the sale. I found a few pieces of old jewelry for parts, a tablecloth for my booth at Stitch, and the best thing--Natalie found it for me--a vintage lucite display rack. I think I am going to use it for these new bracelets I'm doing.

Today I've been working on things for Stitch all day. Tracking down promo items, making/pricing jewelry, etc. I did take a break to go to my yoga class, though.

So anyway, it's Sunday night and I'm exhausted! I am sitting here at my computer feeling like I am sort of doing flips for some reason. That didn't make sense at all, I know. Probably like most of this post. I need to go to bed.

I finally got to talk to my sister Porridge on Monday night. She is an OB/GYN now! My sister, from whom I could always get a laugh with the "Me-Maw" song, is delivering babies and doing c-sections and running through the hospital when someone pages her.* That is awesome. It does not seem fun to be a resident, though. I can't believe they make them work for like, fourteen hours straight, and then go, "Hey, could you come down here and do this surgery now? Thanks!" Weak! Give Porridge a break. Porridge is tired.

I asked her about my ear infection (did I just blog about an ear infection? What is happening to me), and she was like, "It's this, do this," etc. and she was right and it went away.


*In case you were wondering, the Me-Maw song's only lyrics are "Me-maw, eh eh eh eh eh."

Thursday night I met up with Natalie at Thai Passion. It was a lot of fun. She showed me this really awesome piece she had made in silversmithing class. Then we were talking about reading, and Natalie said that there was a short story she had read a while back, and always wished she knew who the author was. She told me about the story, and I had a major nerd meltdown when I realized it was (my favorite writer) Alice Munro. I have a mild to moderate Alice Munro obsession.

This weekend Shea and I went thrift store shopping. I found a little brown ceramic bird planter for $1.99, and a red rug for the craft room for $24.99! It looks really good in there and the Nuge loves it.

We also played tennis Friday and Saturday! We have been playing a lot lately, and it is really good exercise. I'm not that great yet, but we signed up for lessons next month.



I finally got some old photos off my camera, and I had to share this one. It is from a few weeks ago when we were dog-sitting Juan C. I let the dogs out in the yard for a while, and when went to let them back in, only Reggie came and not Juan C. After a while I wondered what he was doing out there, and I found him sunning himself. OHMYGOD I miss that guy. He is really adorable. I also have a little video to post whenever I figure out how to do that.

xoxo,
s

Last week, I lost my ring. It's one of Kristin Laing's kimono fabric rings. I love it and I wear it just about every day. It has a lot of sentimental value to me, because Shea gave it to me for our first Valentine's Day, and he happened to pick out the exact one I wanted--he bought it at Eliza Page and I had just tried it on there about a month earlier.

So anyway, I lost it last Tuesday. I was getting changed in the bathroom at work, because I was headed to a yoga class on my lunch break. My purse was sitting on the floor and I dropped the ring in the front pocket. Later that afternoon, I went to put it back on again, and it was not there! I emptied my whole purse, shook it out, etc. and couldn't find it. I actually did this three times. I checked the lost and found at work and then at the yoga studio. I looked everywhere in the house and my car.

On Sunday, I decided to think positively about it. When I woke up, I thought "This is the day when I find my ring," and all day I imagined it back on my finger. In yoga class that night, when I set my intention, I had finding the ring in mind.

So I went home from yoga and we were about to go to the store, and for some reason I decided to check my purse again (the one I had completely emptied three times), and there it was. It was tucked into the corner of the front pocket, right where I had dropped it the week before.

I was so excited! It was like Christmas. And I think it was so weird that that happened immediately after class, too.

I am having the worst luck getting a dog. I found one that was PERFECT from a rescue group. I filled out the application online, one of the people from the group got in contact with me, and everything seemed to be going great! She said they would check references, etc. and then schedule a home visit. A day or two later I get an e-mail from someone else at the rescue group, saying they need my landlord's phone number. I replied that evening and said that I would get it back to her ASAP (I never call my landlord so I don't know her number or have it handy. I was planning to ask Shea). Well, the next morning I get an e-mail back that says that they received another application for the dog we wanted and "since the other application didn't have any questions" they went ahead and scheduled a home visit with them. Keep in mind that the only "question" on my application was my landlord's phone number. And they gave me less than one day to get it to them. They had everything else, including names and numbers of references. I was so mad! They could have at least given me a day or two before giving the dog to someone else. We have looked at a few rescue groups and the other ones at least say "application pending" on the dog's profile, or they tell you when you ask about the dog that someone has already applied. Ugh. I just wanted to cry when I read that.

Sorry about that little rant. Apparently the kinds of little fluffy dogs that I like are hard to come by as rescues. So I think the dog plans are on hold for now.

Some good news, though--we got a Gentle Leader collar for Reggie and it's amazing! It kind of looks like a muzzle but it's not. We took him for a walk last night and I was actually able to walk him with no tension on the leash! This is so awesome because Reggie needs exercise, and I go walking on the trail most days, but I haven't been able to take him with me because I am pretty much dragged the whole way, with me going "Reggie, heel!" over and over and him wishing his little fingers could bend so he could give me the finger.

xoxo,
s

Shea and I went over to Natalie & James's house last night for board games and yummy Home Slice pizza. We played Dictionary, which was awesome, and we learned the word zugzwang, which Natalie suggested using in everyday conversation. I like that idea! We also got to hang out with Zaphod, who is a sweetie and whose personality reminds me of a non-crazy version of Reggie. We had such a fun time.

Today Shea and I went around running errands, etc. We went to the downtown library to turn in some books, and then Shea decided to check out some books for a website he's working on. I didn't expect to be there that long, and I got bored, so I made up this little message game and hid it around the library. I hope someone finds it and plays it, although I guess I will never know.

Here is where you start. Can you see the clue?


And then each clue leads you to a book where another clue is hiding.




Here is where you end up if you win:


And the prize is that you get to check out this book, which Shea and I stumbled across the last time we were in the library. In case you can't read it, the cover says "Descended from genetically engineered commando stock, he was the perfect private eye: tough, smart--and a tiger!

Last night we had some people over to watch Project Runway. It was so fun! Everybody was upset about who got kicked off (bubble skirt needs to go), and after the show we all sat around and chatted about it and other things for a while. I was a little worried that people wouldn't be comfortable because our living room is pretty small, but I think it worked out fine.

I have been wanting a tiny dog for a while now, and watching that show last night didn't help. I found a little rescue dog that looked a lot like Juan Carlos, but she was a girl. But then I called about her, and she has some sort of rare disease and she isn't going to be up for adoption anymore. Boo!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the meetup tonight!

Until recently, I never ever got spam in my e-mail, but now I get it every day. The best part is that they always have the most ridiculous subject lines (the title of this post was one of my favorites). And then the message itself is a little snippet from a story, with dialogue and everything.

I found this site where you can make a template for your blog, and I had some fun with it this morning. I can't decide whether to keep it or not...

xoxo
s

Sometime this week or this weekend, I want to see if I can figure out how to put people's blogs in my link area. If I can figure it out, can I link you? Let me know!

Shea and I watched the first two episodes of Project Runway last night. My favorite thing was when Michael Kors said called the little boy shorts under the dress Stacey made "step-ins!" That is what my great grandmother used to call them, and I've never heard anyone else actually use that term. I always thought she made it up.

I think I am going to make a post of all good things, since my last one was all bad things...

1. My friends Rebecca and Spencer came in from Dallas this weekend! I hadn't seen them in forever, so that was really good. We went to Shady Grove on Saturday, and then they came over to our house for a while. They got to see how our house looks now that we've painted, and they gave me a lovely Swarovski heart necklace for my birthday.

2. Dixie and Clint came over Saturday night, and it was so fun! Shea made dinner and we hung out with our neighbors, and then we went to see Camera Obscura. The show was amazing. Clint and I had to get all tough on this one really tall girl who showed up partway through the show and kept trying to stand in front of me.

3. We got cable, so now we can watch Project Runway and I don't have to cover my ears and run if I hear anyone talking about it (we had been watching it on Netflix, so we were one season behind everyone else).

4. Tomorrow I am going to use my lunch break to participate in a market research study. It's only about an hour and I get $75! A friend of mine told me about this company (my friend Rebecca from Dallas actually).

5. Tonight I remembered I had some money left on this gift card my mom gave me for my birthday, so I decided to use it. I got a royal blue dolman sleeved top, and still got like $2 back in cash.

xoxo,
s

So ever since watching An Inconvenient Truth, I've been thinking that I am going to start trying to take the bus every once in a while. I thought today would be a perfect day to try it out. There's a bus that stops really close to the house, and I don't even have to transfer. Plus, I had plans to go to lunch with a co-worker, so that solved my problem of not wanting to be stuck at work all day (I usually go home for lunch).

I was almost to the bus stop when I realized that I forgot my wallet. Not too big of a deal, because the stop is really close to my house, and by the time I got back to the stop the bus was pulling up, and I didn't have to wait. So I get on the bus, and everything is going along just fine, and my cell phone starts to vibrate. I almost ignored it, since I was on the bus, but I saw that it was Shea so I answered it (today is his first day at a new job). He goes, "Um, Speebie? Do you have an extra key to your car?" I had left my car parked behind his in the driveway.

Fourtunately, I remembered that I had a spare key at the house, which would have been really awesome except that it was in this vintage jewelry box that I have. The box is (was) in unbelievably perfect condition. It is this lovely cream colored box with green floral designs on the front and top, velvet and satin lining, and this little fold-down panel for pins. So anyway, for whatever reason it won't open, and Shea has to break the lock off. He got the key, but I am not looking forward to seeing what the box looks like now...

So I get off the bus and walk into work, and realize that my badge is where I always keep it, in the little pocket in the driver's side door of my car. Where I work, you have to have a badge to get up and down stairs, through doors, etc. Nice.

Then I get upstairs and my friend and I realize that neither of us has a car today, so we won't be able to go to lunch.

Boo!

Did you know that I am allergic to almost anything metal? Earrings, necklaces, any material, even sterling silver or gold. It tarnishes this black color that won't come off, or it hurts my skin, or both. Even sterling silver or gold jewelry. I can only wear earrings for short periods. Even my lovely kimono fabric ring, which I wear most days, is black on the underside (luckily you can't see it because of the way the ring is shaped). I still wear jewelry, because I love to accessorize, but I can't wear it for very long stretches of time.

Here is an unrelated photo:

I brought some pieces to Storyville last night! The owner saw my ad in Venus and contacted me. The store is amazing! I pretty much wanted one of everything they had. I can see myself getting into a lot of trouble there. Anyway, it feels like an exciting time for my little business right now.

Sarah

PS - Little Juan C. is back! He is the cutest little guy EVER. I seriously cried when he left last time.