Archive for August, 2011

« Older Entries  |  
August 27, 2011

A Domestiphobe’s Top 3 Underrated Chick Flicks of All Time (Or at Least What I Could Think of During 5 Minutes of Brainstorming)

by Katie

I’m sitting in the middle of the sofa, sandwiched by a couple of warm, sleeping pups, while the roof of my front porch makes scary, creaking sounds outside of the window behind my back.  Lucky for me, that’s the worst I’m experiencing of this hurricane, which is fantastic, considering my hurricane preparation consisted of getting out of bed twice in the middle of the night — first to fill 3 pitchers with tap water in case the water went out (which it did during my first hurricane experience back in Georgia), and second to grab a flashlight in case the power went out (which it also did during my first hurricane experience back in Georgia).

I didn’t even know if the flashlight worked, but I didn’t dare try because, upon ultimately discovering its failure to bring light during my nearly sleepless night, I knew I would only get depressed at my inability to prepare.  You would think that after living in south Georgia during the infamous hurricane season of 2005, I would know how to go out and purchase the basics, like jugs of water, flashlight batteries, and ice cream I’d be forced to eat if the power went out.

Darn.

But let’s face it — in a true emergency, I would be the girl knocking on your door, half-starved and begging for a sip of water or even a bit of dental floss from your undoubtedly pimped-out emergency kit.

Trust me, that visual would probably be funny if it weren’t so… true.

Anyway.

The good thing about being on the outskirts of a hurricane or in the midst of any good storm is that it’s pretty much the only occasion during which I allow myself to just stop.  The only time I allow myself to just relax without constantly berating myself for not working on some kind of project.  It’s probably the only time I can sit through an entire movie outside of the theater, and in this case, several.

I enjoy plenty of action movies and comedies given the right combination of mood and film, but when my husband is out of town, I go full-blown girl up in here.  I’m not going to lie to make myself sound cooler — I like my chick flicks.  And, while the obvious choices are movies that apparently give women unrealistic expectations about love like The Notebook, P.S. I Love You, and Love Actually, I especially like chick flicks that, while inspiring warm, loving feelings of chocolate pudding romance and silly female antics, also have a worn, crusty edge of realism — that fight against the perception that

life is about looking for a “soul mate,” and is instead about fully loving and appreciating the souls in life whom you make your mates.

Unfortunately, these types of movies often tend to get overlooked for the aforementioned obvious choices.  So here, for your reading pleasure, are a Domestiphobe’s

Top 3 Underrated Chick Flicks of All Time (Or at Least What I Could Think of During 5 Minutes of Brainstorming):

3) A Lot Like Love

It’s silly, it’s quirky, and if you can deal with the fact that it has a cheesy guitar solo that I happen to love, it’s fairly realistic when it comes to assessing personality types and priorities when it comes to love, career, and expectations for both.  What else can I say?  I dig it.

2) Definitely, Maybe

Okay.  I will admit the premise sounds a little creepy when I explain the movie revolves around a dad explaining to his daughter how he met her mother and making her guess which, out of the 3 women he describes, is the woman he went on to marry, make a baby with, and then divorce.  But for some reason it’s not.  It’s touching.  The running themes, of course, are how life doesn’t always work out the way you plan, relationships are complicated and have good aspects as well as bad, and there are many types of people in the world who can make you happy for different reasons.

1) Vicky, Christina, Barcelona

I’m just going to say it.  It’s a Woody Allen film.  Whew.  Now that that uncomfortable bit is out of the way, I can talk about the movie.  It follows two young women on their extended trip to Spain.  They’re friends, but have quite the opposite perceptions of “love,” and what they want out of it.  While Vicky takes the more practical stance on relationships, feeling love should be stable, reliable, and treated like an investment on which the makings of a long and content marriage can be built, Christina finds that excitement, exploration of the depths of the unknown, and most important, passion, are the true ingredients of what make love — and any relationship — worthwhile.

Complete with gems like, “only unfulfilled love can be romantic,” the sheer genius of the writing lies in the fact that the true, complicated, and never fully understood desires of women are captured in both Vicky and Christina.  While each of us may lean more towards one or the other, there’s no denying the fact that we all want fireworks, and we all want stability.  The trick might just be finding both.  Add to that a beautiful soundtrack of Spanish guitar, lots of Spanish wine, and an intriguing love uh… pentagon, and you have the makings of a sharp, intellectual chick flick that, if you let it, will make you want to introduce more passion into your life while appreciating the simplicity of a comfortable romance.

And P.S., for any guys out there who’ve made it this far through this post, there is also a kissing scene between Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz.  You’re welcome.

I’ll tell you one thing — it really, really makes me want to go back to Spain, where the pace is easy and wine is a lunchtime staple.

I kind of think that’s the way I’m supposed to live.

How about you?  Know of some underrated chick flicks I should try?  How about movies that inspire you to live a different kind of life?  And the biggie:  Whether you’re a guy or a girl in Barcelona or elsewhere, are you more of a Vicky?  Or more Christina?

Posted in Just Sayin, This 'n That | 6 Comments »

Tags: , , ,
August 25, 2011

Every Room Has An Unshaven Armpit. Here’s Mine.

by Katie

I know, I’ve kind of been MIA lately.

But I have an excuse.

Several, actually.

Remember when I showed you my nice, newly built desk that’s all pristine and clean and fantastic?

Well.  That’s all fine and dandy, but the other side of the room — the side I was too embarrassed to show you — has been looking like this:

Oh, the shame.  If the desk side of the room were the pretty face with fresh makeup and whitened teeth, this side would be the armpit.

It’s the unshaven armpit of my office.

It didn’t look like this due to laziness.

Okay, part of it was due to laziness.

But mostly, it’s my indecision that’s the cause of the hold-up once again.

I’ve definitely decided to paint the bookshelves white.  I’ve definitely (kind-of-sort-of-I-think) decided to stain the long wall shelves that will go above the long part of the desk a dark-ish color.  Although, I’ve since read that pine doesn’t like to stain dark very well, so now I’m considering painting them once again.

I also love this rug and want to have its babies:

Company C Tapestry Rug

“Tapestry” by Company C.  See it on my Pinterest page.

I could use something like this to cover up the horribly old and stained carpet in the office, but the more I look at it, I actually kind of want this for my kitchen.

And that doesn’t really matter because it is so far out of any rug budget we’d have if we actually had a rug budget, that I probably can’t afford to even look at it, let alone visualize it in any of my rooms.  So if you’re aware of a good knockoff or know how to knockoff any of the multiple online stores that carry it and get away with it, please let me know.

Anyway.  The good news is that I’ve at least managed to tackle some of that organizational nightmare that’s going on in that corner.  The bad news is that I don’t have time to show you right now because they don’t seem to like it when I show up to work looking like someone who woke up terrified in the middle of the night because her husband’s work pager was going off and now has to deal with the fact that he’s leaving town when there’s a hurricane coming our way.

But that’s another story.

Obviously I’ll need something to keep me busy this weekend, so let me know if you have any more office ideas!

Posted in Around the House, Crafts and Decor | 11 Comments »

Tags: ,
August 22, 2011

There’s a Reason You Can’t Have 2 Alphas. No One Likes to Clean Up Blood.

by Katie

For the past 5 years, the closest I’ve ever come to a hostile working environment is the time, only a couple of months ago, that I went all Office Space on my home printer and accidentally-on-purpose dropped it in a childish fit of frustration at its apparent refusal to do its job.

We haven’t spoken since.

Looking back, I realize I’ve been very fortunate.  Aside from one boss of questionable moral character and another with questionable people skills whatsoever, I’ve had some pretty fantastic co-workers throughout my adult working life.  (I say “adult working life” because we can’t even begin to explore the smorgasbord of bona fide taxed jobs I’ve carried since I was 15-years-old and literally flipping burgers at an ever-classy A&W Root Beer/gas station combo.)

Not the exact one where I worked, but you get the idea.

It started with my first “real” post-college job doing GIS (i.e. “making maps”) for engineers in an environmental consulting company, complete with the extra-private, 6-foot cubicle walls to ensure maximum productivity with minimum person-to-person interaction and an hour and 20 minute commute each way, and then continued when I moved on to working in GIS and then sustainability programs for the U.S. Army in an office full of mostly women – amazing women and one guy – surrounded by a world full of men and politics and acronyms and things that exploded and made the walls shake.  It even continued when I reverted back to waitressing in a bar where I worked only for shoddy tips and the occasional bounced paycheck and where I mopped floors for free.

Throughout the history of these endeavors, my co-workers have always made the job, no matter how mundane, interesting and worthwhile.  They understood the fact that we were all in this together.  They joked, they laughed, and they didn’t mind when I launched the random stress ball over opaque and foreboding cubicle fortress walls.

They were good times.

But apparently, times are a-changin’.

At the risk of someone discovering me and subsequently finding myself dooced, I have to say — things at my new job are not so easygoing.  Imagine 3 women working together in a 6′ x 6′ closet, trying to be productive and answering phone calls and pretending to be tech savvy, all while the big boss is away for an extended stint in the Reserves.  Then imagine that 2 of those women can’t stand each other, and the third — that would be me — was only just brought in as extra help and currently feels like the knotted sock her dogs like to pull taut between them with clamped and barred teeth.

Only more uncomfortable.

On the one hand, we have the fiercely strong and independent Alpha Female, who territorially stands her forged piece of ground, the boarders carved deep into the earth with her constant pacing and panting and paranoia.  Judge her as we might, the pack can’t help but admire the Alpha for her undying loyalty and self-assurance.

Drawing by: Beeju

On the other hand, we have the timid-yet-determined Under Dog, the one who knows she was brought in to be the boss, knows she has to strategically yet tactfully put the Alpha in her place, and knows that in any good plot line, the underdog wins.  The pack likes the Under Dog.  We know she can bring good things to us.  But we’re afraid to show our faltering faith in the Alpha.

Drawing by: Beeju

And then there’s me.  What role do I play in this little saga?

So far, all I can figure is I’m just the one who cleans up their shit.

And for right now, I’m thinking that’s the best place to be.

Happy Monday!

Posted in Just Sayin, This 'n That | 12 Comments »

Tags: , ,
August 18, 2011

The Momentum of Mediocrity — My Race Against Life

by Katie

I’m going to be honest for a second. (I mean, when am I not?)

I’m tired.

And there’s not even any real reason for me to be tired.

It’s like I try so hard to be all these things — independent career type person, decent wife, acceptable cook, counselor to friends and family, responsible dog owner, assistant property manager/marketing person, knowledgeable DIY project-doer, good speller (pretending I didn’t have to look up the word “knowledgeable”), writer, extrovert, smiley, computer-savvy, photographer, compassionate, professional, on top of things – all these things that I know I can be, but not necessarily without practice.  And almost definitely not all at once.  And it’s sucking the life right out of me.

And I don’t even have kids.

But maybe that IS life, you know?  Feeling crazy all the time.  Fortunately, I’d like to think that if I’m aware of my craziness, I can’t possibly be insane.

Comforting, no?

I can’t describe what has been making me crazy.  It’s been happening for over a year now.  I keep waiting for it to go away, or for it to magically resolve itself, or for a sign to drop down from the heavens, grab me by the shoulders with iron fists, and literally steer me in the direction I’m supposed to go.

Just like in the movies.

There’s a silly movie from 1994 called “Don Juan DeMarco” with a young Johnny Depp who thinks he’s the actual Don Juan of yore — celebrated lover of women and passionate pursuer of life.

Until recently, I hadn’t seen it in years.  But Justin was bored one night without our cable, and I had taken a moments pause from my manic pursuance of one project and then another, so we streamed it from Netflix.  We made it a good hour into the movie before I ran off to do something else.  This is not uncommon.

Anyway.

Marlon Brando plays Depp’s psychiatrist, who initially is cockily confident that he can “cure” young “Don Juan’s” delusional illness in the 10 days before his retirement.  Instead, he finds himself getting swept up in Don’s tale of adventure, love, and sex.  Then one night, in bed, Brando confesses to his wife his fear of getting swept up in the “momentum of mediocrity.”

And that, I think, is one of my greatest fears — getting so caught up with life’s little distractions, that I forget to enjoy it.  Or worse, worrying so much about how to enjoy it, or how I’m not enjoying it, that I let it pass.  Brief.  Unnoticed.

So, how do I do this?

When I head to my job tomorrow and have to call people because their rent is 21 days overdue or a contractor decided that painting a room with primer only and slopping it over the switch plate covers is acceptable (puh-lease, like I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to painting a room); when I realize my one and only work skirt isn’t clean because I blogged instead of doing laundry tonight; when I remember it’s Friday and I still haven’t picked my home project to complete over the weekend; when I take a breath and realize the photographer I assisted at the wedding shoot last Saturday still hasn’t given me any feedback about my photos; when my friend Alaina calls and tells me her baby is on its way and our lives as we know them are about to change forever; how do I do this?

How do I live in this moment without continuously counting down until the next?

I firmly believe that there is a disconnected wire somewhere inside this screwball brain of mine that makes me think these daily things — these things that make up life — are just the build-up to what I’m really supposed to be doing.

That, at nearly 29-years-old, my life hasn’t even started yet.

Well, I’m here to tell myself that’s about the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.

That doesn’t necessarily mean I should ignore the feeling that I could be doing something more.  But it does mean that I shouldn’t be wishing for days to pass by more quickly so I can get to the good stuff.

The good stuff is turtle cheesecake in the break room at lunch.

Wet puppy noses.

Dinner on the deck.

Goodnight kisses.

New life.

Why would I want those things to pass by more quickly?

Such is the bane of the “right-brained curse”, as one of my favorite bloggers, Brittany from Blunt Delivery would put it.

I hate my restlessness.  And I love it.

And, until I figure out how to beat the momentum of mediocrity, I’m afraid I will never be able to rest.

That’s just kind of… sad.

Posted in Just Sayin, This 'n That | 17 Comments »

« Older Entries  |