Fun with packing, part 2

We recently made a pretty big decision in our moving process. Instead of paying a few thousand dollars for movers or renting a truck, we decided to get rid of all of our stuff and move with little to nothing. Which means that for five hours last Saturday, our driveway was an Ikea outlet, as well as a place to get very highly sought after movie memorabilia. 

And let me tell you, it feels amazing to be rid of all the stuff we accumulated. It makes me want to never buy anything again and live without anything, in an empty wooden box like Pete Campbell.


Except when I remember that our new house is 5 minutes away from an Ikea. And a Crate and Barrel. And, um, the Mall of America where I can purchase ANYTHING in the history of things. There's an entire store devoted to PEEPS, for heavens sake. 


And then I get excited to shop for more stuff. It's a vicious cycle.


But back to our garage sale. 


We kept the important stuff, like wedding presents, favorite books, sentimental photos, and canine companions.

I'm not quite sure what he's doing with his teeth, but it kills me. It just might be my new favorite Ike face.

Book club: MWF Seeking BFF

I think I've seen She's All That too many times.


And for that matter, 10 Things I Hate About You.


Not because I often break out into choreographed dances to Fatboy Slim songs (I do), or pine for a place where Y and I can throw giant paint balls at each other (I definitely do).  I actually came to this conclusion because I'm convinced that when anyone seems to like me, they're only doing it as part of a bet. 


Since I've been married for almost three years and am pretty sure Y isn't betting he can turn me into prom queen, I've displaced this fear onto friendships. People are only hanging out with me because there's some kind of bet on the line.


 Okay, maybe I'm not that down on myself, but when I hang out with a new friend, there is a tiny part of my brain that thinks that after we hang out, she's going to go make fun of me with Sean William Scott I mean Paul Walker (are they the same person??), Andrew Keegan, and everyone else who is in on the bet. 


All that to say that making new friends is awkward. I'm really glad my book club decided to read MWF Seeking BFF, a memoir that goes into detail about the complete awkwardness of making new friends as an adult. Rachel Bertsche, the author, reminded me of myself in so many ways, including having incredibly creepy hyper-recall (I remember every conversation I've ever had with you, friends...and possibly what I was wearing for each one) and never knowing whether to hug or shake hands. I was kind of sad when the book ended, in the way that you get sad when you hang up the phone with an old friend. 


Katie decorated her house with polka dots to match the front cover of the book. It was pretty freaking cute. 

Oh and did I mention we Skyped with Rachel Bertsche? That's her on the laptop above. My favorite thing she told us is that for her birthday this year, she's having a 90's throwback slumber party... with 26 people! Pretty fun, since at the beginning of her book she barely had a handful of acquaintances, much less anyone you could invite to a slumber party without seeming like a total weirdo.

Pink was the unofficial color of the night; pizza was the official meal (including dessert pizza, above). 

And there were favors! Friendship bracelets, of course. I loved mine, wore it the next day, and assumed everyone was talking about me behind my back.


Oh, and FYI I'm not ashamed to admit that yes, I learned the She's All That prom dance to Rockafeller Skank when I was in high school and yes, I have googled "paint balls that you throw" many, many times in my life. Want to be my friend?

i'll miss you... house

One of the first weeks we lived here, Y was already in the midst of nonstop studying and I had no job and no friends. I was having an ongoing pity party for myself -- here I was, alone in our new house, the only one home on my entire street except for the 16 neighborhood cats. I was acutely aware of the fact that I was not contributing to society while my husband was off with his 120 new friends learning how to do Super Important Things.

One day I was doing the dishes on a creepy, rainy day. It was eerily quiet in my house (we didn't have Ike yet) and, like I said, I was mid-pity party. I was scrubbing a dish, gazing mindlessly out the window, when -- out of nowhere - a cat flew through the air and landed, stomach first, on our window directly in front of me.

If you recall, I have a dire and tragic condition called Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome. I'm also not a fan of cats. I screamed, fell to the dated tile kitchen floor, and burst into tears. How had I ended up in a place with ugly tile and flying cats, my two worst nightmares?

But then I got a job,  found a guard dog and gained the cats' respect, and eventually, made some friends. And suddenly, my house was my favorite place in the world. The perfect place for a game night, a royal wedding tea party (side note: can you believe it's been a year?), or watching the first three seasons of 30 Rock in bed while eating Mickey Mouse shaped pasta. (best. day. ever.)

I'll miss you... archive:

what is it?

roundabout

coffeeshop where everybody knows your name

crape myrtle

corn

movie moments

antique stores

nice people

lunch date 

Counter Culture

Baton Rouge
local radio
New Orleans
mall
Louisiana
book club

about me

A few weeks ago I did something that still makes me cringe.


I had a job interview via video chat. (Above, I'm making my I hope this isn't too awkward face/admiring the awesome thing I somehow managed to make my hair do.)


The first thing I was asked: Tell me a little about yourself.


The first thing I said -- and this is the cringey part -- Well, my husband is in medical school.


That was the first thing I said. About myself.


Anything would have been better than that, right? I sometimes call my dog Stinkerton McDoodleface.. I learned how to burp on command when I was 11. I eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich every day for lunch. My dream karaoke song is "Kiss From a Rose". I have a birthmark on my knee and one directly behind it on the back of my knee, and when I was little I thought it had bled through. 


We live in a city that feels smaller than it really is. The city is saturated with people in the medical field, and when anyone I meet hears that I'm married to a medical student, they want to know more. They want to know everything about him and usually nothing about me, except for the occasional Why aren't you in med school? 


I've gotten used to it. Apparently so used to it that I've decided to give in and just skip the small talk about myself and get right to the "good" stuff. 


To be fair to myself, when I led with that tidbit about Y, I was trying to explain why I would be in Minneapolis in the first place. But the fact that I brought it up in that way is so telling, and a great reminder of why I'm excited for a change - a chance to go somewhere where medicine doesn't suffocate me, where I can make friends who have absolutely nothing to do with medicine whatsoever.




My faux pas couldn't have been that bad though, considering I got the job! It must have been the awesome thing I somehow managed to make my hair do.  

on body image and confidence (sort of)

These pictures of Britney Spears in her prime are taped to the mirror in my childhood bedroom. I was a pretty optimistic teenager. Pictures of unrealistic, beautiful celebrities didn't make me feel bad about my chubby, freckly self. I was sure that one day -- with a little hard work and her trainer's secrets clipped from Seventeen magazine -- I would look just as good as Britney Spears.


I was in this bedroom this weekend, and I thought a lot about poor, naive, Teenage D. I laughed to myself that I thought I would ever look as good as Britney.


And then I had an epiphany. At some point, it had happened. There was a time when I looked, dare I say, better than Britney.  


And it took a lot of effort on my part.

I think Teenage D was wise beyond her years.

weekend lessons

01. Instagramming a picture of a Polaroid does not, in fact, cause the world to implode with awesomeness.

02. On a related note, if you want to be the most popular person in any given location, bring a Polaroid camera. 

03. If someone tells you your bangs look like Zooey Deschanel's, you should pretend they told you everything about you is like Zooey Deschanel and carry a false sense of confidence the entire night.

04. On a related note, singing the best kind of girl is a quirky girl while on public transportation is frowned upon.

05. Starships were meant to fly. If you're still confused, the Goldmine Saloon will be happy to remind you 437565 times. 

06. If you are officially in your late 20s and feeling slightly not okay with that, a great temporary cure is to stand in the middle of a bar belting out "We Are Young" by Fun at the top of your lungs with five of your friends. You're welcome.

What did you learn this weekend?

come on down to Minnesota

When I found out that we were moving, I decided to treat this news -- like I do all things in life -- as if it were  part of The Price is Right. 


Which obviously means that I just won the Minnesota Showcase Showdown! And Y has agreed that we can purchase all of these things! That's a lie!

poster:  Minneapolis neighborhood poster by Ork
blanket: Pendleton
shoes: Minnetonka mocassins
lotion: J.R. Watkins apothecary (which I didn't know was a Minnesota company until I came face to face with a wall full of it at the Mall of America)
dvds: don't think I don't have a whole blog post planned entitled "we're going to make it after all", with the main focus being a picture of me throwing my hat in the air. 
earmuffs: I decided I should buy some kind of ear protection, since people seem to think it's cold in Minnesota for some reason.
bike: in case you weren't aware, Minneapolis recently surpassed Portland as the #1 biking city in the United States. 
Twins shirt: Yes, I'm almost 28. Yes, I still sometimes wear Pink clothing. I also like to pretend my life is a cheesy old game show, and I think that's way weirder.