New Years Resolutions

So resolving to do something long-term can often times just set you up for failure... but it also never hurts to make a basic assessment of yourself and be proactive in making yourself a better person, right?

They say it's the compiling of all the little, trivial, things that cause the most stress in a person's life. If you just take the time to mind the little things, it will carry over into all the important places.

So here are some of my New Years Resolutions for 2009. My first small step in minding the little things. (I've written them in 2nd person in case they speak to you as well... so sue me, I'm a week late...):

1. Stop thinking resolutions just set people up for failure. This one is crucial to insure success with the rest of the list.

2. Stop procrastinating. This probably carries over into every aspect of your life:

a. Work. Live a snooze-button free life. Give yourself some time to wake up and get ready while still being on time.

b. Music. When you have free time, don't put off finishing a song or playing guitar because it requires you to leave the warmth of your couch and the glow of the television screen.

c. Overall. When you see something you have to do, do it then. If that isn't possible, make a note of it and do it asap. Hypothetical example: putting off registering your car and renewing your license causes hours at the dmv and layers of late fees.

3. Be more organized. A classic and broad resolution. "A place for everything and everything in it's place".  Take the extra 2 minutes it takes to put something where it belongs... don't put it off and let it end up in a towering pisa pile of "stuff that needs to go somewhere else". Refer to resolution 2. 

4. Exercise on the weekends too. You may already go to the (free) gym at work about 3 times a week, but staying immobile and/or idle through the weekends stifles your flow and makes it hard to get going when the week starts over.

For clutter sake, lets simplify these even further. Don't be lazy! Help yourself out.

:) Happy New Year

Charlotte Charles' Apple Gruyére pie

Last night I made the aforementioned pie that jonna found a recipe for online. It was possibly the best pie my taste buds have met thus far. Inspired by the piemaker himself, I opted to have a positive attitude through the entire prepping and baking process. A positive attitude, even though I knew something was bound to go wrong. It was, afterall, my first real pie. Hopefully my good vibes replaced the homeopathic antidepressants found in the original. Although, I almost lost it when I sliced each of the 8 apples into perfectly consistent and nearly transparent 16ths... and then realized I forgot to peel them first. An hour later, I was pleased to have them peel free and coated in this blanket of golden, flaky, cheesy goodness:

If you find the recipe on Jonna's blog, I used all butter instead of lard for the crust and gala apples for the filling. Yum. If you are reading this you are welcome to come have a slice with a tall glass of Pushing Daisies tonight at my apartment!

oh, typos.

I just accidentally went to taderjoes.com. I laughed to myself as I pictured this. 

Time Trollop?

So lately I've been doing some stuff with my music. However, one giant blimp on the radar of my future is work. A blip* I'm sure is not exclusive to me as you can't play music without being alive, and you can't live without money. Thus: work. 

At the risk of being a downer, I get a little sadder every day I have to trek 30-60 minutes to San Bernardino, on a drive that gets progressively more depressing, to sell 9 hours of my life:

I share an office with one person and I mostly sit here and inadvertently avoid being terribly proactive. Which I'm not proud of. And of course, like I'm sure is true in any workplace, lots of pettiness and gossip is also taking a toll on me. 

On a more positive note...I'm trying to assess my options and obtain a different source of income. Perhaps one with a more fulfilling or interesting environment. If nothing else, something that has a change of scenery (aka geographically in the opposite direction of where I am...or in many directions). 

If you have any job ideas/leads or aspirations to join a traveling circus with me, please do let me know :)

*Yes, that used to say "blimp".

home away from home...

So, I have officially moved out. My apartment complex is perfect, my room is HUGE (I mean enormous), I have the best roommate ever (my sister) and it's close to home. 

...but it's way harder than I thought! It's really weird not living with my parents. It's strangely surreal. I know I did it because I had to eventually and I wanted to ease into it. It was the right thing to do...but it feels unnecessary from this new perspective. So much work and extra money just to feel weird and kind of alone. We'll see if I'm really ready for the responsibility. Not to mention, I don't get to see these guys when I go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning:

:(!

Trying to stay positive...we've acquired some pretty cool stuff and will probably start painting this week. I have so much extra space in my room I'm going to be able to set up a permanent mic for recording and even get a couch! I've got some hot air balloon collectible things and am going to try and do a garden manor/topiary/alice in wonderland kind of feel. Gotta keep busy. Here are some of my inspirations and possible accent wall colors:

Come visit...

Terrarisaurus Rex

So next month my sister and I will be moving into a sweet new apartment. New, as in, new to both of us. And probably you. But not to the guy who used to live in it before us.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about bringing in lots of eclectic furniture and defacing the stark white walls. We got a great vintage floral tapestry couch from an estate sale last weekend. (*Check back for pictures of all the cool stuff we get.) 

We were thinking about using the stencil from my room (pictured below) to paint the living room:


but I'm thinking some sweet DIY silhouette decals might be a better option. Much less effort, possibly just as cool. 

As I was looking for tutorials on wall decals (of which there are many), I came across this adorable blog. As easily sidetracked as I can be, I adopted a new goal. A terrarium, of which is not complete without a romp of dinosaurs (and maybe a lawn gnome or two). At least then when the plants die I have someone to blame it on:

Not an incredibly informative first post, but a fresh start on a clean blog slate.