2012, a Video.

Below is a little something I threw together to represent 2012.  Unfortunately, I did not video tape enough AT ALL last year, so while I wish I had more, it will have to do.  2012 was a hard year for personal reasons that I'll be sure to divulge at some point, but it was also an amazingly fantastic year in it's own way.  When I watch this, I try not to focus on my shoddy editing job and instead see how blessed and lucky we are.  And I also see how important it is to make memories like this one.  I've always felt pressure to be a historian of my life because you never know when you'll need to look back and "remember when"...

Click here for our Youtube yearly recap:  2012.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to see the video on mobile devices yet.  I swear, I am such a NOVICE....at EVERYTHING having to do with keeping a blog! Ahh.

Okay, enjoy!

Geezer Envy.

This, is seriously insane:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20624627,00.html

After reading the above article about Ms Besse Cooper from Georgia turning 116, all I feel like doing is stomping my feet like the girl begging for an oompa loompa in Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and screaming: I WANT TO LIVE UNTIL I'M 116 TOOO!!!

How cool is Besse?  Answer: So freakin cool. She was born in 1896 for goodness sake!  Before the Model T! She is the oldest person in the world (hello - that's how you get famous) right now, the 8th person to ever reach this age EVER, and the 4th person to do so in America.  So cool.

Making a fun recipe tonight. Stick around!

L

Crafty Crafty: Adding Ankle Straps to Flats

This is either an amazing way to update a pair of lame old flats OR a way to ruin them.  Depends on your level of crafty-ness:

http://thepennyrose.com/blog/2012/7/26/upgrade-your-shoes-with-diy-ankle-straps.html

xoxo
L

Holiday Fun: Happy belated Earth Day!

Celebrate Earth day with a meatless Monday!

Here's a neat-o article highlighting some benefits to going meatless.  

http://foodbabe.com/2012/04/22/eating-less-meat-can-save-the-environment/

Obviously, I eat chicken (as seen from my salsa chicken recipe post), but I still love to be informed.  Here are some things that I read and loved (in a depressing-but-I'd-rather-know-than-not kinda way) finding out:

• Feed more people – We have one billion people on earth already that don’t have enough to eat and a projected 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years. The fact that you can feed 2000 people the same amount of grain it takes to feed only 100 cows should help people wake up, but it hasn’t.
• Reduce pollution dramatically - The meat and dairy industry contributes 18% more climate changing pollutants than all modes of transportation combined.
• Save water -  It takes 60 pounds of water to produce one pound potatoes, but it takes 9000 liters to produce one pound of beef. A vegan can keep their shower running all year long and still not surpass the amount of water a meat eater consumes.
• Improve your health – Over-consumption of meat has been proven to cause heart disease, cancer, and diabetes more than any other food we eat.  If you don’t believe me – read The China Study. Also, you can dramatically reduce your exposure to cancer causing dioxins which are found in chemical pesticides that are used to grow animal feed.

Check out her blog to learn more!  Happy Belated Earth Day! 

xoxo

L

Quick Fix: Tiny Bathroom Shelf

Does anyone else have a room that is completely different than the rest of their house? A room that "jumped the shark," if you will.

Well, I do.  And it's the smallest room ever. 

Basically, someone converted a small food pantry into a bathroom at some point in my house's long life and it's a space I find myself constantly wondering about.  How do I make this room bigger?  Appear bigger, at least?

Upon moving in, I had the magnificent idea of painting the farthest wall bright yellow to "open" the space up.  I'm not sure if it worked, but it definitely gave the room a different vibe from the rest of my shabby chic casa because after the wall painting came random circle mirrors, a new toilet and a small modern looking shelf thing from Target (not pictured). 

I thought I was all done.  What else is there to do in a 3x3 bathroom?!  Well, I found a small something and I love it. Powder blue shelf arms! Wooooooo!  I recommend this quick fix to anyone looking to spruce up a nasty wrought iron something-or-other.

Love it. Love it. Love it.  Next up...that sink. Eeee!

YUM: Corn on the cob

Try this: 

Corn on the cob with

Cotija cheese  and

smoked paprika

Delicious!

Steampunk! V-day!

So, as I previously wrote....I was cruisin for a USB drive for Valentines day.   Well, I got one!  It FINALLY got here yesterday, by way of Etsy.

 I love it!!!

Time Travel & Making it

Last week, I had the pleasure of working for Lifetime Television.  Day to day, the job was much like any other.  I screened a new upcoming show, wrote script ideas for fun ways to promote said show and worked with an editor to get everything to air on time.  Same old, same old. However, this particular job was different than ANY other in one very specific way: All week, I was forced to work in a time warp.  

The back story:

My first job out of college was working for A&E Television's tape library (it's exactly how it sounds and yes, my title was "librarian") in NYC.  Back then, I didn't really understand the corporate world very well.  I just thought that a foot in the door meant big things, no matter how small the opening.  I am deliriously driven by nature and getting my first job in my field was no different.  I did the math and figured that within 2 weeks of working at A&E, every higher-up would know me and love me.  We'd all wave "hello" through glass conference room windows or commiserate, sharing Advil, while battling early morning hangovers from the previous nights' work happy hour. I had it all planned out.  Until about 3 hours into my first day when reality punched me in the throat and I learned something.

Working people are busy...too busy to care if the new librarian "makes it".

The first days were rough.  I was immersed in a world where running to the mail room 27 times before lunch, scheduling tapes to be picked up, and diving into "the racks" for some randomly misplaced, but VERY MUCH NEEDED tape, was considered normal.  It was a bit of a let down to know how unglamorous my life in the television industry was, but I showed up with a positive attitude anyway. Hey, why not? Each morning, as I got ready to climb the train stairs for my 2 hour commute to New York City, I'd tell myself that the day ahead of me would be the day some random producer or CEO would declare, "Laura, you are exactly the person we're looking to mold into some crazy sought after, high up, creative position!"

It didn't happen.

After 4 weeks, I started to lose hope.  Why didn't anybody care about me?  Why were the producers who I thought were so cool always in such a rush to snatch their tapes from my paws and run away without a word?  I had been commuting 4 hours every day to this job that was supposed to spur me into an awesomesauce life, but nobody cared.  Something was missing.  On my way home one night, as the train made it's 22nd stop, it hit me that I needed to spend time in New York without my crappy job holding me down.  4 hour commute, be gone.

I scraped together every penny possible, scoured craigslist for a crappy studio sublet in my price range and set up a viewing for the very next day.  My parents were skeptical (with reason), but I was determined. One week later, I moved in to my new (and completely haunted) sublet.   Having no cable, no internet, no roommates, microwave, or dishwasher did not matter.  Nor did my newly emptied bank account. Four hours of free time every day would be the way that I FINALLY MADE MY MARK!  I wanted to have a presence in New York, with or without my stinky good-for-nothing new corporate job.

But, an odd thing happened.  

After moving into my sublet, I stopped leaving work when my shift ended.  I showed up early and stayed hours later than I needed to.  I didn't care if it was a Monday or a Friday.  I was there...all. the. time. No, my job duties didn't change and some nights were so unbearably thankless that I wanted to shoot myself, yet I stayed.  Later and later. I wanted to make my mark on Manhattan, but I was barely even making time to see it.  

On weekends, friends would visit and we'd go out on the town each Friday and Saturday night.  Then, they'd leave and I'd wander the city streets, wracking my brain to determine what I could possibly be doing wrong.  I was lonely and alone.  When I jokingly told a story about eating a sleeve of low-fat oreos by myself in Central Park and my friend hugged me instead of laughing, I knew I was failing. I wasn't making it inside or outside of work.  

I totally sucked.  

Then, one night while I was working late at A&E, a producer I'd become friendly with asked if I wanted to sit in one of his sessions.  It was a quick moment, maybe 30 minutes at best, but suddenly I felt as if the day was worthwhile.  I had something positive to write in my diary.  The next afternoon, I grabbed lunch with a couple Production Assistants I was growing close with and mentioned the night before.  They didn't seem too excited by my excitement, but they listened nontheless.  

After that week, sitting in on sessions and kicking it with my coworkers became my way of life.  Every day I focused more on what I wanted to do in the future and focused less on the uninspired crappy position I was being paid to do.  (Dress for the job you want, not the job you have - that kinda thing) Every person who I thought ignored me in the beginning started coming around more and more often.  Most mornings, I'd find notes on my desk or a bag of juicy pear Jelly Belly beans plopped on my keyboard.  Had I made some friends in this hell hole?


Yes. Yes, I had.

Eleven months from my start date, I received a call.  A Creative Director from MTV was looking for a PA and wanted me to come in and interview.  She'd gotten my name from my friend (one of the production assistants) at A&E.  I interviewed, got the job and started 1 week (I know, I know...not polite) later.  I couldn't believe that I was finally on my way.  And my crappy job, with the crappy people got me there.  

They were wonderful.

Over the next 6 years, lots happened.  I worked with companies for far longer than I worked at A&E and I made it to a good place in my career.  It feels good.  But no matter where I've worked, I never again felt the same warmness for any place like I did when things turned right with A&E.  Something happened to me there in those 11 months.  I learned how to be alone, independent, scared and how to push through on my own.  I learned how to cope and grow.  My friends from A&E weren't easy to come by in the beginning, but some were lifelong (the production assistant who got me the MTV interview was in my wedding!).

That's why it was fully weird to show up back at the A&E building (who now owns Lifetime) 6 years later as a producer one week ago.  It was even weirder to find out that my current job would be on the same floor as my first one.  And the WEIRDEST to learn that I still knew nearly every face on the floor.  What.a.trip.  

All week, I struggled to live in the present.  I was married, not working at the library.  I wasn't 23, ravenous for happy hour plans, or terrified to go home to my haunted apartment.  But, in my mind...I was all of those things.  Even, if just for random fleeting moments as I walked down the hall to the bathroom.   The whole week was equal parts surreal and magical.  It was unexpected and yet, so unbelievably fun to experience.


Time travel. I have to say, I really recommend it.

Pretty pretty.

 I've decided on a NEWER...

 MORE FUN...

AND MUCH LOWER MAINTENANCE way to do nails!  Basically, I just pick two complimentary colors and BLAM...combination station.  It reminds me a little of having purple and teal rubber bands on my braces in 3rd grade, but way better. 

Works best with quick dry polish.  Mostly because I'm impatient :)

I hate exercise...

But....I LOVE CARDIOLATES!!!!!

Seriously, what isn't to love?  There are little trampolines, 1 pound arm weights (ONE pound!!!) and awesome music!  I cannot recommend this class enough.   It's easy on your joints and unlike pilates (which always leaves me feeling good), I sweat enough in one class to feel I've earned my right to sit at a computer all day.

Also, as a sidebar, ever since pilates and yoga came onto the scene, I've kinda missed the old 80's workout days where jumping around like a lunatic for hours and incorporating the grapevine were considered legit means of calorie burning.  This class takes me back to that...without the leg warmers, leotard, fluorescent tights or harsh physical side effects of unwieldy limb tossing.

Try it!

http://www.coremindandbody.com/#!cardio

I have a lot of wine corks...

A LOT.


So, I think it's time I either make 90 coasters, OR a bathmat.

Hmmm...

http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/11/diy-thread-spool-wine-corks.html

When you drink wine, the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Listening to...

It's a dreary day so I can't help but need a little of Seattle's finest...

Nirvana- Man Who Sold the World

HOME-GROWN: Fancy fancy Chandelier 3

 Jeff and I had the brilliant idea to change out all of our downstairs light fixtures this year.  Our house is almost a hundred years old and the lighting was probably last updated in the early 80's.  Making a change of this kind does wonders for an old home, but of course there is a downside...

 You never know what you're going to find.

Like...WHAT is THAT?!

Nonetheless...we trucked on, in a most improvisational kind of way.

Tested our electric...

Laughed in the face of our old, brassy fixture...

And made it to the finish line!

Ta da!  It's always worth the pain, isn't it?

Listening to...

Feeling inspired is tough some times.   Even if I have no problem feeling some sort of inspiration 6 days a week, it doesn't matter.  One moment of feeling less than excited about life is no bueno.   I am an inspiration junky.  Enough is never enough.  I always want more, more more.  Learning, observing, analyzing, thinking, thinking thinking...that's what I do.  But on a day like today where the sky is pure white, the air is turning frigid, and all of the to-do's on my list are done, I feel the only place I belong is on my couch with the TV turned to some mindless HGTV show (House Hunters!). This is one of those days that I must turn to one of my short cuts.  My little trip down memory lane that instantly brings me back...way back.

My So Called Life!

It only aired for one season, but in that time it totally changed my teenage life.  Of course I wasn't even allowed to watch it, so the ritual of sneaking off to catch a glimpse of Jordan Catalano wherever I possibly could became increasingly special, freeing moments for me.  Other than the book, Go Ask Alice, few other things spoke to my clogged, emotional teen brain like this show and that's why even now, when I need to feel anything, really...I watch a snippet and let it take me back in time. Here's one of my fave scenes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQAAQeNnC-E