What's a summary that doesn't summarize things?

Do you have New Year's Eve traditions? I try to clear off all those niggling chores and errands - drop off the recycling and goodwill pile, clean out the fridge (thankfully already done last weekend), finish the laundry, etc. It feels good to start the year without any UGH chores to do. I also always summarize the prior year of blog posts by taking the first sentence from each month's first post and pasting them here. Some years it really does summarize things well. This year it does work ok, but I feel like it misses some big parts of the year - like any mention of zombies. Here's the 2011 chronology:

I was holding off posting waiting to get the photos off my phone - I finally sit down to do it, can't find the cord, try to use the one from my USB charging mat, and learn that NOT ALL USB CABLES ARE CREATED EQUAL.

I hope my travels never get as complicated as this:

So my plan to post more frequently, and with photos, has clearly not held up.

Are you familiar with Flat Stanley? 

I’m really starting to see the variability of TSA screening at different airports.

Imagine walking down a grassy path through a sprawling garden.

I have a secret - I want to be in a Flash Mob one day.

Thunderstorm doesn't begin to describe the amount of rain coming down right now. 

It means I've been knitting (and finishing things) like a maniac!

Recent trips have laid me over in Detroit - wait that sounds really wrong.

Part of developing a marketing campaign should be to check online and see if your clever phrase already has an established meaning.

Never enough time.

What is it about an impending event that really stirs the creative juices? I have so many ideas for cute decorations and things to make, yet definitely don't have the time for them. I think that's something I'd really like to work on for next year - make note of all these great ideas and refer to them in time to actually do them for next year.

Things like creating a 31 day advent-esque calendar. There are so many really cute ideas for calendars! I thought 31 days, counting down to the end of the year, would be fun. But first I need to decide what media to use for it. And since it's clearly going to be for next year I have the time to do it.

For this year, I'm hoping it stops raining long enough to gather some holly boughs from our overgrown shrubbery. Does it still count as a shrub if it's taller than the house? I'm thinking to drape them on the mantle and entertainment center, maybe tie them onto an old grapevine wreath I have. I also have popcorn and cranberries I can string together.

I wish I had a week off now, to devote to all these great ideas. Enough time to bake cookies, knit things, and still cut out paper snowflakes. Well, we'll see how much I can do, and how well I hold to my plan to start early for next year :)

Solstice

Embrace the dark, be curious, dig deep, stay in your body, practice stillness and presence in each moment. Love yourself and all of the raw and intense feelings that may arise. Embody spirituality. Breathe.

While we tend to shy away from commercialized holidays, I do love celebrating the seasons. The death of the winter sun and its rebirth, every day from now being longer and brighter - that is truly a reason for celebration. On days like this, so many like minded people are honoring the return of the Light, you can feel the energy around you. How wonderful.

May you all be filled with peace, joy, love, and Light this season

What a find!

There's a large year round flea market here in town. The main building has permanent shops, including a coin shop - our usual reason for going. It's an odd building, the front part is somewhat ok, but the further back you go the scarier it gets - the outer edge shops are made of plywood and chicken wire. Out back is the main flea market full of random tables of junk and treasures. It also has an incredibly diverse Hispanic food section with fresh produce I didn't know you could get outside of a border state. There's also an antiques area - still a mix of junk and oddities, but worth a visit to see what's there. I've always loved skeleton keys and recently started collecting them, and sometimes find some for a good deal out there.

But what we found last week was definitely unusual. As soon as we walked in the garage we saw a dusty Victorian sofa pushed up against the wall. We both were intrigued, but knew it could have all sorts of problems. We looked it over in detail - I even bent down to smell the fabric, which got odd looks from D and the booth owner. It was in remarkably good condition, still supportive and comfortable, just in need of a good vacuuming and oiling.

We walked around the other tables, trying to decide why we should buy it. It's pretty and we have a place for it, but seriously - are we really going to randomly buy a Victorian sofa? There's no good reason to do it. Then D said we should look at it from another angle - why shouldn't we buy it? We both grinned at each other and hurried back to start haggling.

Friends with benefits

Part of developing a marketing campaign should be to check online and see if your clever phrase already has an established meaning. Particularly if the current meaning is sexual. Especially if you are a family-oriented organization.

We just got a brochure asking us to support the art museum. They offer Passion, Excitement, and Intrigue - by becoming a friend with benefits. They repeated the Friends with Benefits line many more times throughout the flier, so it's obviously their new catch phrase. I'd like to think it's an innocent mistake, but when it's linked to passion and excitement, I can't imagine there's not some level of intentional double entendre.

Of course, taken literally, I think I'd be pretty disappointed to go there and find out all I get is free admission to see the art.

Unexpected Thanksgiving

We were meant to be in Phoenix right now, celebrating my aunt's 70th birthday on T'giving day with all our family. The airlines had other ideas, and as we watched our flight get delayed yet again and learned we would miss our connecting flight and there were no others available at all, I was really bummed about the holiday. I really wanted to be with them all, to go around the table sharing what we're thankful for, and have the chance to catch up with everyone. Instead I was on the phone with the airline confirming our tickets would be refunded and trying to decide what to do about dinner on Thursday. But it's turned out to be a really delightful holiday.

It was only 9:30am when we left the airport (although being up for 6 hours already made it feel much later). D needed a new coat, so we headed over to the stores and enjoyed having fully stocked racks and shelves everywhere we turned. We decided that rather than try to create a traditional turkey dinner at home, I'd grill steaks with mushrooms and onions, grilled asparagus, and mashed potatoes. We stopped at Fresh Market and they had chanterelle mushrooms - so far my favorite fungus and not one you see fresh in stores this time of year. I picked some up and sauteed them with cippolini onions from our garden, a nice holiday-level treat.

I had thought about running a Turkey Trot 5k out in Phoenix, I figured it'd be warm enough I could do it barefoot. I decided the night before T'giving to head to town and run in our local one. Although it was cold enough I did wear shoes:

It was a fun event, and the race organizers said over 14,000 people and 700 dogs had registered! The shirts had big turkeys on them, and the dogs got matching bandannas with bones on them. I have no idea what my time was. With that many people the start was really sluggish and for some reason I'm not listed in the chip timing results :(. Not that it really matters. I ran at an even pace the whole time and had fun doing it.

The weather warmed up in the afternoon and we went outside for a game of catch. We were a bit rusty, including our outfielder Kayla, who kept losing the ball in the leaves. Kayla was a riot. She kept running back and forth between us each throw, rather than stand still and wait to see where the ball was headed. When one of us missed a catch she'd crank into high gear and chase after the ball no matter how tired she was.

So overall, despite the change in plans, it turned into a very nice holiday with a lot of the features I had hoped for. And since it seems incorrect to end a T'giving post without a mention of thankfulness - my heart overflows with gratitude at the life I have and the people I get to share it with. I love you all!

From cool to disturbing

Recent trips have laid me over in Detroit - wait that sounds really wrong. Ahem, recent trips have been routed through Detroit as my connecting airport rather than Atlanta. Now before you uggh in sympathetic dismay, let me say that the Detroit airport is relatively new, clean, and fairly easy to navigate. And closer to the Northeast as a layover than Atlanta. Plus they have a super cool walkway between the main terminals. It has continually changing muted lights and synth music playing. Which is nice, because without that it would be a painfully long hallway to traverse underground. Also an interesting bit about Detroit is the Delta SkyClub lounge has an open bar. And by open I mean you walk up to the shelves of liquor and pour your own drink, or pull a beer from the tap.

 

However, not everything is cool in the airports. I noticed this incredibly disturbing sign in Atlanta in very highly trafficked area.

"Did you SEE something suspicious commuting 

to work or grabbing a bite to eat?

Then SAY something to local authorities

to make it right.

Report suspicious activity. Call 9-1-1"

Now, I'm not one to jump on the Nazi bandwagon, but really in this case I think you can't help see the similarity. How many Hitler Youth turned in neighbors and community members to the authorities for "something suspicious"? Let's all spy on our neighbors! Turn them in and "make it right"! Classic 1984. Also, did you notice the phone number to use? My first thought was oh, they have a 9/11 phone number for this. Then I realized it's the freakin emergency number they're telling you to call!! Like 911 Emergency Response has the time to handle every overzealous person who calls in because they think someone is behaving suspiciously while they're grabbing a bite to eat. I'm also disturbed that the motto is trademarked.

And to go from the seriously disturbing and trademarked to the mildly disturbing and slightly trademark infringing:

What in the hell is this? No, it's not Splenda. It's not even a generic form of Splenda's ingredients. I know the color yellow can't be trademarked, but I was about to put this in my tea when I saw the name and then the ingredient list. Which would have sucked, as this is essentially the pink packet sweetener with some extra chemicals added. If I use artificial sweetener at all, I want real yellow packets. Or blue if I have to. Never pink. And don't be putting pink stuff in a yellow packet and pulling the wool over our eyes.