oh ho ho.

I have a vague plan for this year's gifting! Once again, it's a lot of making things, but I think I could do it if I do one thing every night. I started going to yoga three times a week (or more, depending on things - there are classes I like every day except Thursday) so that might eat into some times, but our CSA ends next week so we might do a little less cooking at home and that will help with time too. Just as long as I can keep my stupid butt off the couch and up in the studio...

The list looks something like
6 fabric storage boxes
1 stuffed elephant
Something small for each of carol's girls
use iPhoto or something to make wedding albums
at least one car-themed small wall quilt


I've seen a few things I'd like to buy for people - which doesn't happen often because I suck - so I might have to do a bit of internetly shopping soon.

The summer, yeah, it destroyed my will to leave the house. and all that. It's like, I went to work, and on Mondays we picked up our CSA share, and sometimes we went out to dinner, and sometimes there was food shopping, and sometimes there was other shopping, and Bill's band played a few shows, but we didn't do a ton of stuff.

Shortly before the wedding I got a lot more interested in cooking (it may have had to do with buying onions and fresh garlic - Bill would never buy onions and used minced garlic from a jar. But it turns out onions are e-fucking-ssential and fresh garlic actually tastes good). So the CSA stuff made me really work on those skills.. So much produce we wouldn't have bought from the store normally, now what do I do with it? I have now made enough tomato sauce to make up for my previous 28 years of eating Prego. We made soups and things. My greatest love, though, is galettes and rustic tarts and other kinds of pastry-based baking that don't need special pans (thx to smittenkitchen for recipes and inspiration). I took some to a cookout, and I've fed them to Bill's band, and everyone seems pretty happy.

A yoga studio opened up in a strip mall about four minutes from my house. They started classes in early August. Bill drives past that mall every day, so he noticed the sign going up. I started going in the middle of the month, slowly increasing my attendance until I got up from one beginner to two regular level hatha classes in one week. This week I am going to try out vinyasa. It has been extremely helpful for my brain to remember that it controls a whole bunch of muscles and that those things need to move and that we can all be friends. It is also rather relaxing. I do have some trouble with the spiritual aspect, so in the beginning when they tell you to dedicate your practice to something, it's usually like, "the cracking sound my elbow makes" instead of "deepening my sense of inner peace and aligning my chakras" or whatever. I have trouble being serious ever, so hey.

The last time I posted was right after we got back! I guess some things have happened, but not a lot of huge things.

The summer was so brutally hot that I pretty much never left the house except to work. Back in May I decided to make plans to go to NYC every month to visit museums or do fun stuff or whatever. I went that month, but skipped June, July, and August. It was just too hot. I wanted to do fun things, but every time I went outside, my brain would stop all rational thought and just start freaking out about the temperature, humidity, and my personal discomfort. In 2008 and 2009 I got season passes for Great Adventure, but didn't this year, and man I LOVE rollercoasters, so I guess that says something.

This summer also afforded us the opportunity to rip the back yard apart. The pool got torn down and hauled off by some dude with an axe. An old nerdy dude came over and dismantled the part of the deck that had been around the pool. Some other dude took away all the sand that had been under the pool, and also the shed that had the pool stuff in it. Etc etc. Last week we had dirt and grass seed spread finally. If I liked going outside, I would garden. But no.

The whole season really bummed me out. It's like, other people get seasonal affective disorder when it's dark and cold, and I get it when it's bright and hot. I made approximately two things the whole time. Did a little drawing, made a very small wall quilt thing for my dad for Father's Day, and that's about it. Last week I made a small witch hat (pleading with fall, really). And oh, I hemmed some jeans. Wow. I signed up for a swap that needs to mail out in ~3 weeks, and I have some ideas, so hopefully something happens.

OH HI INTERNET.

Did you want to see some wedding pictures? Here are some wedding pictures. I will put a few in this post, actually, to illustrate my story...

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We were supposed to fly out of Edinburgh yesterday to go home after a week and a half of UK honeymooning tourism! But we are now, like thousands of other people, stuck in a place where we are not supposed to be. I'm on the watch for polar bears.

My mom called me today because she needed me to identify a My Little Pony. It took me less than thirty seconds to figure it out - it was the blue mailorder Baby Ember.

SCADS AND SCADS OF USELESS USELESS USELESS KNOWLEDGE

My favorite thing about Linus' website is when someone new signs up as a follower, and then proceeds to go through the whole post archive and hit the like button on every single picture.

Tumblr recently did a couple of things:
1. They shifted the stats to the dashboard (instead of having to click on the "Tumblarity"). This is a little strange because now the follower count is RIGHT THERE. I kind of hate looking at it, because I get a tiny pang of sadness if I lose one - even if I have no idea who it is and I wasn't following them anyway.

2. Messages. This is kind of awesome, because I'd set up a Linus email account on squishythings.com but couldn't get it to work with Mail - I assume this is because I already download one squishythings.com account to there, and it didn't like it when I tried to do two (did not care to investigate). But really I got about four messages in it ever, so it didn't matter. (Luckily 1and1 just revamped their webmail from THE SUCKIEST EVER to THE SECOND SUCKIEST EVER so it's been easier to manage.) BUT, then the Messages happened. Now I get requests and questions right there! It has been excellent. And a couple messages have just been about how people love Linus, which makes me feel WAY better about all the time I've spent on it. phew.

3. They just opened a Directory of popular stuff, and included Linus in the cute section. So now part of my concern of #1 has been a little bit decimated - the number has gone up a rather large jump in just a couple of days. UNSETTLING!

Oh man, I had no idea they were starting another Project Runway season so quickly. I'm glad I checked!

Right now I'm looking at barrettes on etsy to use in my wedding hair - I think I know how I want it to be done (updos are BANNED), but I have yet to find someone to actually do it. haha. Perhaps I should try the place in walking distance from my house.

This year I will read twenty-five books and watch twenty-five movies; not counting rereads or rewatches. This is a lowball goal - last year I did not do very well at all. (Already on book two, and watching movie two tonight!)

My biggest issue is with time management: I work 30 hours a week, and sometimes a little bit more. 2009 saw more growth in my makin' stuff - I had more commissions than ever before, and sold a number of things on etsy. Then there's the whole Linus website thing, which I do not spend a huge amount of time on, but it's enough to count. Throw this all together with my desire to never get out of bed, and it's quite a mess.

The last book I finished in 2009 was in the beginning of November. I had so much other work to do (paid commissions!) that I swore off books until the new year for fear of getting so engrossed I would not finish things with deadlines.

Currently Bill and I are trying to schedule our time.. We've got a lot of our wedding planning done but there is always an avalanche more to deal with. Then there's the sewing/craft time, and the hanging out together time, and the reading, etc etc. I want to be in bed around 11 every night, and then I can read or do puzzles for a bit. Then I do crosswords on my DS and fall asleep.

The biggest troublemaker is still the reading bit: I really need to not go to sleep after 2AM. The book, and the world inside the book, will still be there the next night, where I left it. Perhaps giving myself a day to wonder about what is going to happen next is a better idea.. Imagination-growing and whatnot. But it's so hard!

(I'm sort of considering reading The Now Habit or one of those procrastination self-help books but it just seems so cheeeeesy. Why do I have to have such terribly low amounts of motivation?)

Linus in Hats was posted on CuteOverload omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg