Obsession Confession (Plain White T's, Part 1)

A few years ago, when “Hey There Delilah” was in heavy rotation on the radio, I remember singing along like everyone else. My sister would sing it to my new baby, and he would coo and giggle. I remember watching the Red Carpet specials for the Grammys the year the song was nominated, when Tom Higgenson (although I didn’t know his name at the time) brought the Delilah for whom he wrote the song as his date. The Red Carpet interviewers made a big deal about Delilah’s presence, and she made it a point to clarify that she wasn’t there as Higgenson’s girlfriend. I don’t know if I even knew the band’s name, but I do remember thinking, “Dang, Delilah – the dude wrote you a Grammy-worthy song…what is wrong with you? Lock that down, girl!”

Fast-forward to one morning in November, 2010. I was getting ready for work, and had VH1’s Jumpstart on for background noise. Suddenly, I heard the intro to a song that literally stopped me in my tracks. Mascara wand in hand, my eyes were glued to the screen as “Rhythm of Love” entranced me with its mellow, upbeat acoustic guitar-centered song. Before the song was even finished, I had rewound live tv so I could record the video to my dvr. And thus began my obsession with the Plain White T’s.

Over the course of the next month, I listened to that song repeatedly, having bought it on iTunes as soon as it was available. My five year old son was equally obsessed, asking me to replay the song as soon as it had finished playing, and the two of us sang the song together, word-for-word. I followed the band on Twitter, became a fan on Facebook, and waited impatiently for their new album’s release. I had a gift card in my iTunes account, and earmarked a good chunk of it to purchasing the entire album.

Finally, the day came – I downloaded Wonders of the Younger, and listened to nearly nothing else for a full two months. Wonders of the Younger is like the audio interpretation of Tim Holtz’s designs – it is vintage, off-beat, circus-freak show, creepy-carnival-evoking, fantasy-igniting, creativity-inspiring.

After the first listen, my head was filled with ideas for music videos, films, books – all centered around this unique album. Each song stands on its own, but the songs fit together and create a world in which so-called “freaks” are normal. Is it strange to befriend a bearded lady, party with carnies, walk the plank of a pirate ship, pillage a village, share rose-scented kisses? Not in this world.

PWTS released their touring schedule for Wonders, and as part of my Christmas present, my husband (who tolerates my weird obsessions with random things/people/music/etc. with extremely good grace, although he usually wears a “you are ridiculous but I love you anyways” expression) bought us tickets to their Denver show. Meanwhile, I couldn’t stop listening to Wonders. By the date of the concert, I had every song memorized, knew which song was which simply by the intro, and could be found humming songs from the album under my breath nearly 24/7.

[to be continued]

It's 2011? Already?

I can't believe I have to start writing '2011' on everything. The last decade has gone by so quickly, and was packed with changes in my life.

In 10 years, I:

• graduated from college
• got married
• bought a house. Became a landlord, and bought another house.
• became self-employed.
• had a kid. *truelove*
• had another kid. *truelove*
• went to my 10 year high school reunion. *yikes*
• traveled to a bunch of rad places with family and friends.
• turned 30. *boo*
• became employed by someone other than myself.
• and so much more.

2011 brings a year of milestones:

• 10 years since college.
• 10 years of being married to my love.
• my love graduates with his MBA.

These milestones are pretty significant, and I've decided that this year's resolutions should reflect the same significance. So, here are my resolutions for 2011:

• to finish one of the four novels I've started. That's right - I've started four novels, and not one is even a complete first draft. This year, I need to get one to the point where it can be read and revised...like a real book.
• to continue the agonizing important trips to the gym. Upcoming family vacations will require time in a bathing suit, and after two kids, let's just say me in a bikini is currently not on any list of lovely things. I need to keep working on my fitness.
• create a portfolio of writing work. This is the resolution I'm most nervous to work on, because the portfolio will be part of my application to graduate school. Honestly, I haven't even totally decided on school again, but if I do apply, I'll need to be ready.

So, that's it. The desire to do something of significance is stirring, and so far, this is what I got. We'll see how long the resolutions hold.

Happy New Year! Here's to a great start to a new decade, which will undoubtedly be filled with amazing adventures!

New Cards & Tag

Inspired by Tim Holtz (and created with many of the items from his papercrafting line!)

NaNoWriMo 2010

Last year, I discovered NaNoWriMo, an awesome challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. The challenge begins at 12:01am on November 1 and ends at 11:59pm on November 30.
[details: http://www.nanowrimo.org/]

I participated in 2009, and finished - last minute, yes; but it still counted - a little over 50k before the stroke of midnight on the last day of November. I didn't write every single day, but my progress was pretty steady. Real estate was slow, and I was okay with that, as writing filled my down time. I began to dream of going back to school to get my master's in creative writing. After November, I wrote with some frequency...

Until this May, when I got a part-time job at our church as I phased my way out of real estate. [yeah; that's another post for another day] Now, I'm at an actual office three days per week, and those days are bu-sy. Don't get me wrong; I'm absolutely loving the job, and so excited to have it. But it has been an adjustment, losing 20 hours of what was essentially "free" time, during which I did important things like laundry, housecleaning, kid-corralling [blog updates] and writing. Additionally, mine isn't the only schedule to experience significant change in the past few months - with the kids starting school, and extracurricular activities taking wing, we do a lot of running around.

So, here I am, past the halfway point for NaNoWriMo 2010, and I am about 7,500 words behind the suggested word count for today.Wait; it's after midnight - make that nearly 10k behind. I wouldn't worry, but I have zero confidence in my story right now. Writing has become a struggle; a struggle that I would normally embrace, but I have no extra time or brain capacity to spare. This year, NaNoWriMo is less a challenge, more an agonizing struggle or a battle that I am nowhere near winning.

The beauty of NaNo is that it is a challenge for which the prize is bragging rights. To be able to say, "I did it!" is extremely empowering. Dictionary.com defines a challenge as "a call or summons to engage in any contest, as of skill, strength, etc." - for me, NaNoWriMo is a call to engage in a contest of skill, strength and creativity. Pushing myself beyond the boundaries of what I know I can do, and forcing me to dig deep to learn what more I am capable of doing. Encouraging me to turn off my "inner editor", that voice that interrupts the writing process with a snide "that's stupid" or "lame!" - at least, until the novel is done.

I don't know if I will reach my goal of 50k words before midnight on November 30. I do know that I will continue, despite the self-doubt, the time constraints, the doldrums of ineptitude, to try.

You aren't eating what?! Part 3

What I did was eliminate all gluten and dairy from my diet. I mean, all - no butter, cheese, sour cream, bread, crackers, Doritos, root beer (gluten - I know, weird!), lunchmeat and lots, lots more. For the first few days, I ate nothing but plain brown rice and plain vegetables. Then, I found a bunch of recipes online, and bought some GF (gluten-free) products. The recipes weren't that great, which didn't do much to encourage me during this transition...my family wasn't excited about it, either. I would have given up, except the diet was helping.

My stomachaches, gone. Acne, improving. Still feel the fatigue and lack of energy, but I'm hoping that will improve as I get better at knowing what to eat. I can wear pants today that were too tight a few weeks ago - I haven't lost a single pound, but my belly isn't full of air anymore. After about a week with not gluten or dairy, I accidentally had a bit of dairy - my mom invited us over for dinner, and made rice with a bit of butter incorporated. Afterward, Mr. Stomachache was back with a vengeance. Experiment successful - dairy was definitely off the team. I ate GFDF for another week, then ate gluten (no dairy) twice in two days. Again, the experiment showed that gluten does not agree with my system; it is also off the team.

So, where do things stand now, a few weeks later? Well, I'm sticking to GFDF - I may try to introduce small amounts again in the future, but for now, I feel too good without it. You might think that passing up pizza, bread, ice cream and the like would be torture, and indeed, it is difficult. But if I'm tempted to just eat it anyway, I remember how bad I felt before compared to how good I feel now, and suddenly, pizza doesn't sound that great. I'm learning to read recipes differently - when a recipe calls for cheese, I know to pick up some Vegan Gourmet from Sprouts. I made lasagna last week, a tough one as it calls for cheese and ricotta. An online search led me to a recipe for vegan ricotta (made with tofu), and voila - cheeseless, GF lasagna that every member of my family happily chowed.

Incidentally, I'm also cutting out meat. Since I'm going dairy-free, I figured I may as well go vegan - meat doesn't really appeal to me much anymore, and cheese is tougher to cut out than meat, in my opinion. Right now, my body is detoxing - my immune system is down in the dumps, and I'm catching every bug around. It's okay. I know I'm going to feel awesome once I get through it.

You aren't eating what?! Part 2

I've never been one to buy into the "what you eat affects your complexion" theory. I really just don't like to be told that cheeseburgers, chocolate and soda are bad for me. Sure, they make you fat and unhealthy, but they don't make you break out! Don't make me give up my beloved soda!

Here's the thing, though. Lately, soda hasn't even tasted that good. Neither have cheeseburgers. (Chocolate will always be good.) And I've noticed that burgers are on the list of foods that make my tummy hurt really bad. Plus, whenever I smell meat, raw or cooked, revulsion rises. Also, I've been more open to changing our diet since watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last fall. So, I read the info on the sites with an open mind, and the sites lead me to a curious possibility: could food really be the root of all my physical problems? More importantly, could removing certain foods help me?

Here's what I learned: the acne, the bloating, the stomachaches, the fatigue, the daily headaches, the tingly hands and feet, the irritability, the chronic sinusitis, and the 'lady-parts' problems are all thought to be symptoms of a person with gluten intolerance. Most of these issues have been part of my life for as long as I can remember - in other words, living with pain of some sort has been normal for me. Apparently, it's not normal for everyone. Huh...who knew? So, now that the idea had been planted, what would I do?

...to be continued...

You aren't eating what?! Part 1

I've had issues with my stomach for years. While I love food, I hate the way it makes me feel. My stomach hurts, I'm bloated, and I feel like a giant slug. There are other issues, but I'm not sharing them on the Internets. Since this was the way I'd been living for literally years, I figured this was normal - doesn't everyone's stomach hurt when they eat? The past few months, my issues have been worsening to the point at which I basically stopped eating until I knew I'd be at home for the rest of the day/night and could slip into something more comfortable. Namely, sweatpants with a stretchy waistband. Hot, I know.

So, the tummy-thing wasn't really worth looking into, but I had to do something about my acne. Seriously, my complexion is worse now than it was when I was in the throes of puberty - unfair! Now that I'm getting fine lines and the occasional gray hair, it seems only fair that the need for salicylic acid is in my past, right? Unfortunately, my face hasn't gotten the memo, so I started researching cures online.

As most searches go, my "acne cures" search branched out to all kinds of different sites. Pills, creams, skincare systems, natural cures, and changes to the diet are the main categories of "cures". I tend to avoid medication, since most cause more problems than they fix. I've tried all of the creams, and most of the systems; I don't have the resources to pay $50 on face wash. I thought about rubbing a clove of garlic on my face, but ixnayed it as soon as I remembered how long it takes to get the garlic smell off my hands when I cook. So, I spent some time checking out the diet-angle.

...to be continued...