Update

I think about blogging a lot, but it appears I haven’t managed to sit down to actually write a post in some time. Let’s remedy that, shall we?

My most exciting news is that I bought a used car nearly two weeks ago. It’s a zippy little Mercedes that looks way more expensive than it ended up costing. My Dad found the listing online and I purchased it in Portland from a very nice woman, making it to date the largest check I have ever written. And I am happy and relieved to say I now own a very comfortable car that gets me from point A to point B. And I am 99.99% sure it will start (and stay running) every time I try to use it, which is a refreshing change from my last set of wheels, that unfortunately left me stranded several times in the past month.

Job-hunting is a very interesting process. For each application packet I submit it feels like I’m playing dress-up. I carefully read through the job description and start to visualize myself doing the tasks being described (putting on my job hat, so to speak.) Then I compare that vision to my own job experiences and craft a letter that will (hopefully) wow the hiring manager enough to call me and beg for an interview. When I hit “send” and the packet is sent off into the worldwide web, I take off that job hat and go try on another one, starting the process all over. So far the phone isn’t ringing off the hook from employers, but there is a chance I can stay at my current job a few weeks longer than originally planned, which buys me a little more time to find a job that’s perfect for me.

Summer is here and I am keeping close track of my garden. I planted 12 dahlia bulbs (my favorite flower!) and 6 have emerged. I have been told that there is still a chance the remaining bulbs will still grow, but I’m starting to get skeptical. Patience is something I possess in spades when it comes to knitting, but gardening is another story altogether. I also keep telling my tomatoes to hurry up and get ripe, but they are taking their dear sweet time as well.

Speaking of knitting, I am having all sorts of problems with my set of Viking Hats. I expected this to be a short project that would take about 2 weeks. Well, about four weeks later I am still working on them. It turns out that I am using a different size needles than I intended and the hats are knitting up WAY larger than I planned. So both hats are knit, and large enough for full-grown adults, and not 2-year-old children. It’s time to spend some time in the frog pond, ripping (ribbit!) out the projects and starting over. Again. Ah well, knit and learn.

Updates coming soon (with pictures!) of finished Viking hats and deck chairs!

Dabble

The older I get, the more I realize that I am a dabbler. I like to learn how to do many different activities (mostly falling under the "home arts" category) and tend to pick up creative hobbies left and right. In addition to designing knitwear patterns, decorating my apartment, and turning trash into treasure, I have found three new activities that have made my life more enjoyable.

1. Personal photographer to the cutest baby (now toddler) in the world.
This is by far the most effortless hobby to develop, considering my subject matter is so darn easy to photograph.




















2. The potluck pie-baker.
That delicate mixture of crust and filling is not as easy to master as I once thought. This one is rhubarb and was oh-so tasty, if not the most gorgeous pie ever. I'm ready to make another one, who wants to have a potluck??



















3. Flower arranger.
My boyfriend's bush roses have gone completely insane with all of this sunshine, and I can pick enough roses for a bouquet every couple days. This is a new skill for me that isn't coming along as quickly as baking and baby-photographing, but is very satisfying. And it smells lovely.




















All in all it's not a bad way to pass a lovely weekend like the one we just had.

Stay tuned for some exciting "after" pictures from my patio furniture makeover. My handyman Dad will be making a special appearance! :)

Reality Bites

Did you see the movie "Reality Bites" when it came out in the early nineties? I did. I was 13 or 14, not yet in high school, and was blissfully swept away in the fictional story of four twenty-somethings just graduating from college. The main character, played by Winona Ryder, seemed particularly comical to my pubescent self, especially her desire to be individual, independent, and not cave to the conformity of a typical 8-5 office job.

Fast forward 10 years. The 10-year DVD release of "Reality Bites" came out in 2003 (or 2004?), when I was in my first year of graduate school. I watched the movie for the second time with the same girlfriend who went with me to the movies in middle school ten years earlier. This time I was the same age as the protagonists, and the movie made me a little squirmy. College graduates working at the Gap, unemployment issues, and a general sense of unease and confusion about the future made me fairly uneasy. But I remember my arrogant, graduate student response to that feeling was, "good thing that will never be me."

Fast forward five years. I am now Winona Ryder. I drive my father's German luxury car on semi-permanent loan, I have no idea what in the world I got for all of that fancy education of mine, and I just found out yesterday that my current job with so much long-term potential will be nonexistent as of the end of the month. Winona's character and I even have the same propensity for eating cheetos puffs when we are upset. Sigh. Isn't it funny how you can draw so many different things from a movie depending on your current life situation? Well, at least Winona gets the guy at the end of the movie, and that is definitely a part of my life that I can't complain about at all, so that is a bonus similarity. And my boyfriend is cuter than Ethan Hawke, too. So should I go full-circle and apply for a job at the Gap? Well, maybe Ann Taylor is more my style...