Use. The. Clutch.

On bearing the scars....

2012-01-21T12:04:00.001-07:00

"No one cares about the hero until the hero has a crisis to overcome...that's when the story begins." Someone from my distant past said that to me several weeks ago and it's caused me great pause in my own life, reflecting on what has happened in the last few months. I've experience the full breadth of emotions in that time: sadness, fear, anger, loneliness, disgust, regret, empathy, wistfulness,

On preparing for what's coming up....

2012-01-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

I think there are plenty of lessons that can be learned when looking back on a year lived. It's natural (at least, I hope it is) to want to learn from our past and our mistakes and our accomplishments. For me, it's hard to define the things that I learn in a year (unless I've been in school and then I can tell you pretty concretely what I've learned) so I end up reading about it from other people

On getting some answers....

2012-01-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

I’m the type of person that always wants to be “in the know.” I love knowing about the newest restaurants or latest fashion, even the best beers. It’s part of why I read magazines like Vanity Fair and 5280. I just want to know what’s going on around me. Unfortunately, this can also sort of bite me in the ass from time to time. Wanting (sometimes even needing) to know everything can often

On living through art...

2012-01-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

There is quite a bit of art in the world that I truly love. From friends photography to ancient sculptures, I'm kind of a sucker for art. There are two pieces that I've been in love with for a really long time. Water Lilies by Claude Monet and Winged Victory (Nike) I've loved Water Lilies for as long as I can remember. I honestly don't know the first time I saw

On hopes, rather than resolutions...

2012-01-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

It's the time of year when many of us make resolutions to be better people in the new year. I've been known to make resolutions in the past...some have been attainable (eat at as few chain restaurants as possible, see a Broadway show, etc.) and others have been totally ridiculous (walk to Russia, etc.). 2012 is bound to be a year when I become a markedly different person. There's really no way

On a year gone by....

2012-01-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

This is usually about the time of year when I start to reminisce over the last twelve months and think about what I've done, where I've gone, things like this. To be sure, there were a lot of great things that happened this year. Todd got a wonderful new job doing something he's very passionate about and also very good at. The company is perfect for him. Hilariously, we both interviewed for the

On the end of an era (mostly)....

2011-12-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of Christmas songs that I love. I made a playlist the other day on Spotify of just a few of my favorites (and I even managed to miss one...The Happy Elf by Harry Connick, Jr.). But one of my favorites has a bit more meaning this year than it has in the past. Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Obviously the original by John Lennon is far superior to any cover out there, but I won't deny

On choosing differently....

2011-12-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

People often ask the question, "If you could know everything about one thing, what would it be?" I've been asked that a lot. My answers tend to vary, but my standards are either dance or languages. I choose dance a lot because I love doing it and I love the way I feel when I'm dancing. Plus, because the Foxtrot is one of my favorites, I also get to listen to music I love while dancing. It's

On taking a giant step backwards....

2011-12-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

Christmas is kind of an absurd time of year. It gets incredibly busy; extraordinary amounts of money are spent...on gifts and baking and electricity; churches practically go in to upheaval when it comes to Christmas productions and Advent Sundays and the like. For me, Christmas has always been marked by these things. I love buying gifts for those I love and wrapping them in lovely paper and bows

On the most wonderful time of the year....

2011-12-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?: Have to go with wrapping paper. Bags are sometimes necessary, but I love love love wrapping gifts and putting all the pretty bows all over them. It's really hard to beat! 2. Real or Artifical Tree?: I grew up with a real one so it's sentimental, but also a giant pain in the bum. Plus, a real tree costs every year what a fake one costs once and it'll last for,

On WINNING!....

2011-12-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't won very many awards in my life. Most of the ones I have gotten were from high school. Some were awesome and some were just plain weird. There was the National School Choral Award (or something) which was a super huge deal and I cried when I won it. Then there was the one I got for going to same school for 14 years. Kind of weird. There were four of us that got the same award at our

On the most hilarious annual fight....

2011-12-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

My dad's handmade Christmas village. As pretty much everyone in my life is aware, I am absolutely bonkers about Christmas. I love the lights and the smells and the sounds. I even kind of like the cold weather, but only very slightly. Why can't there be snow on the ground and the air still be 65*F? Part of what I love so much is the tradition of it all. There are so many things that I grew

On purple mountain's majesty....

2011-12-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

I'm a Colorado girl, through and through. Born and raised in (or around) Denver, I've had some pretty fantastic experiences with this city and those gorgeous mountains out to the West. I can't remember a day of my life that I haven't woken up to see the mountains. It's the beauty of living so close to them. You'd think by now, 30+ years later, I'd be so used to seeing the mountains that I'm

On the road I wish I hadn't traveled....

2011-11-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

There are very few places I've been in my life that I wouldn't want to go to again. I've basically fallen in love with just about every place I've ever lived or traveled to. With the exception of one place. Minnesota. I have never hated being in a place so intensely. There are a lot of reasons why, but I really didn't like living there. Not one bit. It's funny because I wanted to go to

On the lonliest number....

2011-11-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

but even stillthe dark is not the giftnor even the light that seepsinto itbut the knowing itcannot stay darkforeverthough a cloud mayever hang Life, unfortunately, is not all sunshine and rainbows. Darkness creeps in and overwhelms probably more often than any of us would like. It's hard to feel okay with wallowing in despair and, essentially, self-pity when there are so many other much darker,

On information overload....

2011-11-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those people that has a really hard time shutting down, going off the grid, disconnecting...specifically from technology. More often than not, you can find me texting or talking on my iPhone, watching movies on my iPad, and emailing/Facebooking on my MacBook. So, not only am I a slave to consumer electronics, it would appear that I am fully Apple Assimilated. It's just that I love

On people I don't understand....

2011-11-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

If there's one type of person I absolutely cannot relate to, it's a Republican. Oh, calm down...I'm KIDDING. Most of my family is Republican. In fact, it's safe to wager that I'm the most liberal person in my family, most days. No, really though. The person I'll never be able to relate to is the person that says, "I just don't read." WHAT?! I really can't understand a statement like that.

On trigger points....

2011-11-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I'm a huge ball of stress most of the time. I've lived a significant portion of my life under quite a lot of stress, so the feeling is somewhat normal to me. Which kind of suck, when I really think about it. Who wants to live life in a constant state of stress...and subsequently, fear? I've started to try eliminating stress where I can. I use yoga and general breathing

On alternate career choices....

2011-11-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

My very first college major choice was secondary education. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. Well, that's not entirely true. I wanted to teach English. The problem is that when I made that choice, I had just come off a summer internship wherein I discovered that I kind of can't handle kids, of any age. That opinion has changed markedly in the 10+ years since my internship, but I still

On the fear of money....

2011-11-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm easily scared. There's no denying it. I jump when people sneak up behind me. I start shaking in line for a roller coaster when I know I'm on the next train (despite how much I love riding the things). I can never really predict when the bad guy is going to pop onto the screen during a scary movie. Things that go bump in the night make me lose sleep. The idea of jumping into the ocean gives me

On becoming a monster....

2011-11-01T15:04:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that I like cookies. In fact, I probably love them. My default cookie is a classic Oreo. None of this Double Stuff or backwards or even mint Oreo nonsense. Just plain old Oreos. I love them. I could eat an entire sleeve and probably wouldn't feel all that bad about it (I have a similar physical reaction toward pizza). But there's just nothing quite like a homemade cookie, is

On worthless memories....

2011-10-28T11:23:00.000-06:00

Do you ever wonder why you keep some of the things you keep? I've been wondering that a lot lately. I have a ton of stuff stored in my parents' basement right now and they keep hounding me to get it out so my dad can install a dance floor, but mostly it's because I've had boxes of crap in their basement for more than 10 years and it's time to get rid of some (okay, most) of it. Some of the

On the taste of feet in my mouth....

2011-10-26T15:36:00.000-06:00

No matter how nice a person we think we are, it's practically an inevitability that we'll act like a total jack-wagon from time to time. I'll be the first to admit that I can be a real jerk sometimes. Most often, this comes out when people misspell words or eff up basic grammar. Yes, I'm an English language elitist. So are a lot of my friends and I can pretty much guarantee they'd readily admit

On getting my next fix....

2011-10-21T10:21:00.000-06:00

I'm one of those people that tends to have a really addictive personality. It's gotten me in trouble more times than I can count and it's led to me doing things that I'm not necessarily proud of. Fortunately, I was finally able to curb the crazy several years ago and have focused my addictive personality on one very specific thing. Adrenaline. My name is Micah and I am an adrenaline junkie.

On the joys of losing....

2011-10-18T15:53:00.004-06:00

I like to play games. Scratch that. I LOVE to play games. Growing up, my siblings and I could spend hours playing either Trouble or Monopoly. We were those kids that would save the Monopoly board under the couch and keep coming back to the same game for at least a week. We were champion Tag players, too...two acres of backyard made for some crazy games of Tag, there's no doubt about that. It

On the cost of living....

2011-10-10T10:56:00.000-06:00

The older I get, the more conscious I am of how much things cost. Growing up, I don't think any of us really understood what it cost our parents to feed and clothe us. Now that I'm an adult, I'm acutely aware of prices and there's very little I buy that isn't on sale or doesn't come with a coupon. When I shop for clothes, I'm hard-pressed to find items I'll pay more thatn $10 or $12 for. I have

On being forceably severed....

2011-10-07T12:12:00.000-06:00

One of the worst feelings is being cut off. From people, places, things...it just kind of sucks. And maybe it's not actually BEING cut off, but FEELING cut off. I'm someone that likes, even needs, to feel connected at all times. I haven't watched the morning news in several days and that's starting to get to me. I like knowing what's going on around me and in the world. I've even been known to

On keeping things regular....

2011-10-05T10:57:00.000-06:00

WARNING: Jesus post ahead. Because I am a creature of habit, there are things that happen every day and every week in my life, typically without fail. I have the same routine every morning...wake up, check the news, jump in the shower, put on makeup and clothes, comb my hair, drink my coffee, blowdry my hair, head to work...all that good stuff. Most Wednesdays, I play games with some friends.

On stopping to smell the roses....

2011-10-04T17:13:00.000-06:00

A little more than ten years ago, I was living in Minnesota and generally hating life. So to help myself make it through some really rough days, weeks, and months, I started writing down things that made me happy. I called them Simple Pleasures. My best friend would help me from time to time...she came up with "standing on a dock and looking around." We discovered that Simple Pleasure on a choir

On states of mind and being....

2011-10-03T13:34:00.001-06:00

I am a firm believer in the Sacred Space. I think we all need one. A place to be at peace. A place to be alone with thoughts and feelings, no matter what they are. For a long time, I've always considered the Sacred Space to be somewhere in my house. I love setting up the bedroom to be a place of ease and contentment. Somewhere I can go to release and relax. A place that's calm, void of noise,

On the cost of joy....

2011-09-30T10:31:00.002-06:00

Indulgence is kind of a funny thing, isn't it? It seems to have such hedonistic connotations associated with it. When I think of indulgence, I often think of over-spending or over-eating...things like that. I wonder, though, if that's just my childish view of indulgence seeping into my adult mind. When I was a kid, there was nothing better than indulging in a giant bowl of ice cream with

On time standing still....

2011-09-27T15:28:00.000-06:00

There are plenty of things that happen in my life that just take way too long. Things like waiting in line at the grocery store. Or getting my meal after I've ordered at certain restaurants. Or driving from place X to place Y (I'd much rather fly). But maybe the thing that takes much longer than it ever should is the time between now and whenever my next vacation comes around. It seems the less

On living up to my own expectations....

2011-09-22T12:04:00.000-06:00

I've been doing a lot of introspection lately. Part of it stems from an article I read while having trash magazine/Emmy's/dinner time with a friend over the weekend. I read a lot of interesting, thought-provoking articles, but most of them come from the likes of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. It isn't very often that I read regular, ol' girly mags. But I found an article about having a five-year

On loving the living dead....

2011-09-19T16:11:00.000-06:00

Fall arrives (officially) on Friday. I always say that fall arrives with the first NFL game of the season...that's always been a good marker for me. Football season, for me, equals the following: lazy Sundays, delicious soups, cozy sweatpants and sweatshirts, fuzzy blankets, afternoon naps, seven-layer dip, a house full of friends. Generally speaking, I guess football season is for me what Fall

On things that make me, me....

2011-09-16T14:02:00.000-06:00

I've done these kinds of things before so it's not like this is new or different. However, it's Friday and I have nothing terribly interesting to write about (yet) so this is the best I can do right now. Ten Random Facts About Me 1. My parents have effectively scarred me for life. "How?" you ask. I'll tell you. When I was 17, the movie SCREAM came out. My parents knew that I wanted to see it,

On showing my scars....

2011-09-16T13:59:00.000-06:00

From time to time, Life likes to smack me up-side the head with a good reminder of how old I am. It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does...hoo boy! It's a solid reminder that I am far too old to be making the same silly choices I made in my 20s. Sometimes it feels as though my brain thinks I'm still 22 while my body is most assuredly in it's 30s. Many times, these reminders come in

On fixing the unfixable...

2011-09-08T12:14:00.000-06:00

When it comes to fixing things, I tend to be an #epicfail most of the time. I'm not super handy around the house, even though I grew up learning everything about everything from my dad, in that regard. I can make pretty decent guesses about how to fix things, but when it comes down to actually fixing stuff, I fall apart. Unfortunately, that hasn't really transcended every area of my life. You

On feeling the burn....

2011-09-07T09:44:00.000-06:00

The first cold rain of the season came yesterday and carried on through the evening. Fall is definitely here and it came with a bit of a vengeance. One week, it was 95*F; the next it's barely scraping 70*F and the rain and chill has come. Fall can be a bit of a strange season for me...it signals the end of summer (my favorite) and begins to usher in winter (my least favorite). It's also the

On learning to lean and balance....

2011-09-01T16:54:00.000-06:00

Life, for me, has always been a bit of a balancing act. Sometimes, that's taken to quite literal extremes. I tend to wear shoes that have a heel height of more than 3 inches. Currently, I've been rocking 5"-6" stillettos. It's not great for my feet or back or whatever, but I really just don't care. I love the way I feel when I wear those shoes. It's just that it takes a bit of skill to manage

On smelling my memories....

2011-08-30T15:01:00.000-06:00

Any time I'm asked, "If you had to live without one of your senses, which would it be?" I generally respond with, "I can't possibly choose." But if there's a sense that evokes the strongest emotions and memories in me, I'd probably have to go with smell. Sight is a funny one. I love seeing things like sunsets and graduations and lightning storms, but I also get really queasy at the sight of

On climbing walls and crawling through mud....

2011-08-24T14:51:00.000-06:00

This is going to result in some rambling. I'm okay with that. My blog; my rules. I ran the Warrior Dash last weekend. I've been wanting to do that since it first came to Colorado last year. Obstacles, running, mountains...it all sounded like something that was right up my alley! Basically, it's like field day for grown ups...in that you get a delicious (free) beer at the end. Mmm! So with nary a

On becoming who you will be....

2011-08-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

It seems that back-to-school season is upon us. I don't have kids, but I know plenty of people that do. "First Day of School" photos are running rampant on my Facebook feed right now. My cousin's first day of Grade 1 is today...she's starting a new school in a new state on the opposite side of the country. And she looks all kinds of adorable in her Arizona-style clothes. I bet North Carolina's

On the necessity of sleep....

2011-08-18T15:01:00.000-06:00

Vulnerability is a funny thing. It can hit us at the most unexpected moments. For some, it happens on an anniversary of an event. Or maybe passing by a certain restaurant or coffee shop. Scents are a good trigger for other people. Me? I feel most vulnerable when I'm tired. And not just, "Oh, I could use a nap" tired, but completed exhausted. Absolutely worn to the bone. That's when I start

On unintentional side-effects....

2011-08-16T08:42:00.000-06:00

As is probably obvious at this juncture, I've been thinking about happiness a lot recently. And I've been having very Phoebe-esque reactions to it. Remember that episode of Friends when Phoebe want to find a good deed she can do that DOESN'T have the unintended side effect of making her feel good? I wonder if I'm reacting to happiness in a similar (though backward) fashion. Is there something I

On letting go and feeling alive....

2011-08-15T09:26:00.000-06:00

Most of the time, I'm a pretty reserved person. I don't get all that excitable, as a general rule. Even when I'm doing things I absolutely love (like singing or baking), I don't really just let loose and go crazy. Karaoke, you'd think, is a pretty safe place to just go nuts with the singing (just watch my friend, Jill, and you'll understand) but I never really let go. She's a performer; I'm

On the over-use of vocabulary...

2011-08-12T14:08:00.000-06:00

For as much as I love words, there are definitely phrases and words that I tend to use rather frequently. I might even over-use them. The two phrases that come to mind are: "No worries!" and"Thank you!" (which often goes hand-in-hand with "No, but thank you for asking!") The "No worries" thing came from when I was living in Canada. It was just a common phrase that I picked up. Other lingo from

On the guilt of happiness....

2011-08-11T10:31:00.001-06:00

At what point does it become necessary to concern oneself with personal happiness? And on the same token, does personal well-being ever intersect with personal happiness? I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately. What makes me happy, what I can do to be happy, that sort of thing. I grew up in a world where personal happiness was a relatively secondary emotion. In my world, doing the right

On losing sleep (but only when it matters)....

2011-07-26T00:19:00.001-06:00

I'm a huge fan of sleep. Like, I really, really love to sleep. The problem is that I'm a bit of an insomniac so I don't get to do the sleep thing nearly as often as I want to. Even when I get to sleep in, particularly on a weekday (like today, for example), I just can't seem to do it. Sleep is very elusive for me. Once every couple of days, I get the best night's sleep I could possibly hope for.

On holding on to the past....

2011-07-25T23:08:00.000-06:00

There are certain things that we all have from all periods of our lives, whether they be physical "things" or simply memories that we refuse to let go of. For me, there's a stuffed toy I've had since I was nearly 3 years old that I just won't ever get rid of or give away. No way. She's this tiny little yellow baby doll my parents got for me right before my sister was born. I got it because I was

On the destruction of stores to save the world....

2011-07-20T11:47:00.000-06:00

If there is one way that my inner-traditionalist fights most with my inner-environmentalist, it's in the books department. I love books. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I love having them and reading them and finding out about new ones. The only thing I don't do with books that I wish I did more is mark them up. My friend, Jill, does a remarkable job of marking up and generally loving her books to death.

On loving some of the things I love....

2011-07-19T16:15:00.000-06:00

I have a mere three days left at my current job. I'm excited for the changes and opportunities that lie ahead of me, both at my new day job and through Use The Clutch, but it is a little weird leaving behind something that I've been a part of for over five years. I resist change pretty mightily so when I got the offer for my new job and accepted, I had a brief moment of "buyer's remorse"...had I

On thinking about the future me....

2011-07-12T20:12:00.004-06:00

It's funny to think of leaving a legacy. Probably because I've always felt that I'm just too young to be thinking about it. My grandparents left (or will leave) incredible legacies, but they're, well, OLD! The reality, though, is that their legacy began far before they were "old" (which is a stupid word to describe any of my grandparents because they, like my parents, refuse to let their minds

On finding the time....

2011-07-05T17:19:00.000-06:00

It's not easy for me to lose track of time; let's just put that out there. I've become known in my circle of friends as the person who can plan her life in 15-minute increments. I'm super Type-A and can admittedly be kind of a control freak sometimes. So when I do lose track of time, it's a big deal for me, personally. One of two things can happen: 1) I can completely lose my head and fall

On radiation, love, and acceptance....

2011-06-30T09:11:00.000-06:00

For as long as I can remember, I've been the type of person that wants to look my very best nearly all the time, even when I'm camping. Call me crazy, but that's how I've always rolled. Pretty everyone that's ever known me knows this to be true. I took it to an extreme once when people started making fun of me for this and took a curling iron on a camping trip. It was a giant "F*** you!" to a lot

On creative disasters....

2011-06-29T23:05:00.000-06:00

The other day, my creativity came up in conversation with my husband. We're both rather creative people, to be honest. He's written several books and has come up with no less than three different universes for those books. It's pretty amazing. I'm looking forward to hearing the stories he comes up with to tell our kids at bedtime (because, sorry honey...A Game of Thrones is NOT, I repeat, NOT an

On being average....

2011-06-24T18:35:00.000-06:00

There are a lot of times in life when I just want to be the best at everything, anything, whatever comes my way. I get this feeling in my gut when someone tells me I can't do something that makes me want to be the best EVER and just go for it. This has happened with a lot of things...and I think my desire to prove myself started when I was about 12-years-old and I just never stopped. Being told

On getting serious with me....

2011-06-18T07:29:00.000-06:00

I recently read a post by Ash Ambridge via Erika Nepolitano (RedHeadWriting...really, you should check out both sites, because they're pretty awesome gals) which was something of a wake-up call for me. For a long time, I've been flirting with a lot of career moves...well, I've been flirting with starting a career at all, frankly. I've spent the last 10 years of my life - TEN YEARS - simply having

On feeling engaged....

2011-06-16T07:48:00.000-06:00

I think we all have a path; some sort of destiny that we're to fulfill. Some find their path much sooner than others. Some, like me, take their sweet time trying to figure out exactly what they're supposed to do and when to do it. But with that, I think there are several paths that we're all destined to take. Life is too long and too interesting to only take one journey, right? There are a few

On living in the moment....

2011-06-09T17:46:00.000-06:00

There are people that like surprises and people that loathe them entirely. I'm part of the group that likes them. In fact, I kind of love them. I think that probably has a lot to do with my propensity for organization and planning. When you have the capability of planning a day (nay, a LIFE) out in 15-minute increments, surprises are a welcome, well, surprise. I hate when plans go awry or when

On the validity of life....

2011-06-08T21:04:00.000-06:00

"It's not like I subsist on external validation; but it is nice to get it from time to time." - me For a long time, I think I did subsist on external validation. It was like I had to hear from someone else that I was good enough or smart enough in order to really believe it for myself. It took a good long while (and some counseling) to finally start believing that I was good enough simply

On remembering the good times....

2011-06-08T21:02:00.000-06:00

I feel like I've been doing a great deal of reminiscing lately. Sometimes, I really just like to think about the past and all the good things that happened there. Sure, there are plenty of parts about my history that I'd be happy to forget, but in the midst of all that crap, there are a lot of bright, happy, shiny moments. Those are the ones that I like to think about from time to time. Do you

On making changes....

2011-06-06T22:31:00.000-06:00

I have lost a lot of motivation for writing lately. I used to want to write all the time; now, while I still want to write, I feel like I have nothing to say and no energy to think of anything. The wedding blog is something I want to pursue with a LOT more gusto than I have been and I've been trying to think of topics to write on for that. But for this, my more personal musings, there's just not

On unclogging the pipes....

2011-04-14T21:23:00.000-06:00

I was talking to Todd the other day about how I have little motivation to do much of anything right now. There's nothing I really want to write about, cooking is very blah to me for the moment, and there are so many things I want to do around the house I can hardly stand it. Todd asked if I'd been writing in my journal recently. "No." I said. "I just haven't had the motivation." He said that I

On choosing to see the good in life....

2011-03-18T15:14:00.000-06:00

As women and men, when we're in relationship with our chosen lovers, there come times when we focus on nothing but the bad. We all have faults, that's fact; and it's just so easy to focus on what's wrong with our mates. It's been said that it's much easier on the body to smile than to frown...uses far fewer muscles to smile. So why is it that it's so much easier to bitch about our companions than

On learning from life's cliches....

2011-02-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

"Be the change you want to see." It sounds so idyllic, so cliche, so positively obnoxious. I heard that quote on the radio the other day during an ad for a university. It's true though, isn't it? And in so many ways. We can all think of ways where this statment applies to either our lives or the world at large. Most often, we think of it in the context of changing our world for the better..

On getting that lovin' feeling....

2011-02-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've been learning a lot about compassion in the last several months. It's a difficult concept, that's for sure. It's very multi-faceted and much more complex than I think I ever really thought it was. The most incomprehensible thing I've come to learn is that understanding compassion also results in a great deal more intolerance than I previously had. In general, I'm a pretty intolerant person

On predicting the future....

2011-02-01T10:01:00.003-07:00

"Anyone can imagine a car or an interstate highway system. It takes a science fiction writer to come up with a traffic jam." So said one of the panelists, Connie Willis, during a discussion last weekend at COSine in Colorado Springs on the relevancy of Robert Heinlein. I feel like I might need to justify my weekend actions momentarily. I never, not in my wildest dreams, thought I'd be an

On choosing your next battle....

2011-01-24T15:38:00.003-07:00

Lacking direction or focus is one of the most frustrating places to get stuck. Often times, though, we wind up there of our own volition. We do it to ourselves. Not all the time, but most of the time, it would seem. There is always something to do or somewhere to go or someone to be. It's just that we get caught up in where we are right now and forget about all the dreams we had for ourselves...

On doing what comes naturally....

2011-01-07T16:31:00.004-07:00

I have a good friend that runs a really fantastic blog about her adventures in home ownership. She and her husband are wildly talented at building and decorating so seeing their home and it's progress is simultaneously motivating and jealousy-inducing (in only the best ways). More often than not, she does something to her house and I respond with, "That's what I wanted to do, but didn't know how!

On figuring out who you are....

2011-01-06T09:52:00.004-07:00

I feel like most of us spend a substantial portion of our lives trying to define ourselves. What is it that makes us who we are? What is that one "thing" that we do or are that tells the world (or, at the very least, our friends and family) what makes us tick? For some, that "thing" is a job or career. For others, it's a hobby. Maybe it's an emotion. Maybe it's "wife" or "husband" or "parent."

A decade in review....

2011-01-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

So...it's January. The beginning of not only a new year, but a new decade! It's exciting to think about what the future holds (I have my hopes for what my own will hold) and interesting to think about all the things that have happened over the last ten years, to me and to the royal we. In 2000, I dropped out of school (for the first time) and started working for a cabling company in town...my

Top Ten of TwentyTen

2011-01-03T11:51:00.002-07:00

(I forgot to publish this on December 31, 2010...so just pretend). Being the last day of the year and all, it's the time of year when many of us bloggers reminisce on what we did (or did not do) over the last twelve months. So here is my official Top Ten of TwentyTen for your enjoyment. A departure of typical musings, yes; but fun (for me) nonetheless. 10. Visited Paris and Versailles, France

On feeling underwhelmed...

2010-12-13T14:30:00.002-07:00

Maybe this is a common feeling for people, but finishing school - completely finishing - is about the most underwhelming thing I have ever experienced. I just don't know what to do with myself right now. I no longer have papers to write or research to do. I don't need to log on to my online classes and get discussions posted. I'll never have another spring or Christmas break which means I'll

On taking stock of life....

2010-11-23T16:30:00.004-07:00

Thanksgiving, much like the dreaded Valentines Day, is a day when the retail industry seems to prey on our overly-consumerist brains. We spend tons of cash on food, to say the very least, and Black Friday...well, let's not even go there. People tend to rag on Valentines Day quite a bit for being a consumer driven man-made holiday designed to guilt us into buying expensive chocolates, flowers,

On being SAD....

2010-11-09T16:22:00.004-07:00

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Winter is, without question, the worst time of year for me. This is not surprising or new information for anyone who knows me. I survive the first half of winter through the knowledge that Christmas is coming which means baking and parties and music and general excitement are well on their way. I survive the latter half of the season through the knowledge

On preparing for parenthood....

2010-10-28T17:08:00.003-06:00

I have recently discovered there is nothing my dogs won't eat.When my husband and I first adopted them nearly 3 years ago, they came to us with instructions to feed them only the highest quality (and most expensive) organic dog food imaginable.Then we learned that they'd been eating bacon double cheeseburgers while in foster care. Imagine our surprise when finding this out (from the same foster

On cooking up a human...

2010-10-04T12:11:00.004-06:00

I was recently required to write a poem that had to do with something "work" related, but also had to be something entirely different. For the assignment, I needed to find the etymology of the topic I chose (baking, which should come as no surprise) and various words related to the topic. Here is what I came up with: