I feel it.

Tonight, someone reminded me that...

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

I'm thankful that I have known love.

+/-

These are the bane of (today's) existence:

Soggy moccasins and wet feet (due to rain).

Book stores not carrying what you need.

Not getting paid on time.

Cold, uncomfortable libraries.

The prospect of missing cupcake happy hour at Wink.

Needing to read and report on two books that you do not own and have not read.

Positive things that balance out the day to make it tolerable:

Coffee at The Grinder with Elyse, Danny, and Josh.

Delving into the Old Testament with Professor Spina.

Waking up and having naturally messy hair.

A clean bill of health at my doctor's appointment!

Yummy breakfast: toasted everything bagel and pomegranate green tea.

Beautiful mist, drizzle, and fog.

We have the technology.

I need to re-establish healthy sleep habits.

I don't recognize when I am tired anymore. Honestly. I stay up until 2 feeling fairly awake, then sleep until 10 and wonder why I wasted my morning. I used to have great sleep habits: in bed by 10 and awake at 6, it was glorious. I hate wasting perfectly good daylight, so good sleep habits are important to me.

I am literally here talking myself into sleep. Yes, Heaven, you are tired. Your eyes have a heavy feeling: this is tired. Your mind is quieting down, and moving slowly. This is also tired.

It is 11:41. Goal: be in bed at/before midnight. GO!

Tee time

Lately I've become a fan of Threadless.

I don't own any of their shirts, but have heard about them for a long time, and I like their way of going about things.

First of all, Threadless primarily makes Tee Shirts, with the designs on the shirts being made by independent artists. They are not promoting a "brand" through their design, just the design itself! This leads to a lot of creativity in each shirt. For example, some shirts have UV activated ink, meaning that when one steps out into the sun while wearing the shirt, colors and designs will appear on the shirt that were hidden in the shade. Cool!

Here are some of my favorites:

Lions Are Smarter Than I Am, Infinity MPG, Friendly Beasts, The Cheshire (with and without UV activated ink), and Egyptronic!

Second, their shirts usually are printed on quality American Apparel tees, which I love. (Yeah, sorry if you hate American Apparel because of their business practices, but the fact of the matter is, their shirts are great quality.)

Also, some of their designs come printed as posters (such as Infinity MPG), and you can usually get the design printed on a onesie for any junior Threadless fans.

Also, you get free stickers with every order, and if you send in a photo of you wearing one of their shirts, you get something like $1 off your next purchase.

les lists

I've noticed that several of the blogs that I follow have been posting about lists. I love lists. I often make them, so I stay on track of tasks throughout the day. (I either make lists on notebook paper, in my planner, or on Google Tasks). It is very rare that I follow the list exactly however, but I at least try to start off with one, and see where my day goes.

I even wanted to get a list based planner for 2010, called Listography. (You might have seen their other books at Urban Outfitters. They are fantastic.) It describes "Your Life in Lists" and has great illustrations to go along with the personalized lists. 

Sample page from their website. This one asks you to list places that you've lived! :) I want to get one of their journals, it would be fun to fill out!

Anyway, at Meticulous Markings, Alexandra lists things that are the "bane of her existence." I can definitely relate to numbers 1, 2, 9, and 12. I kind of want to make my own "bane of my existence" list, maybe I will in a future post.

At Shellyisms, Shelly references a list of the best things in life, all of which I can agree on! (Especially the point about long hot showers, which are few and far between with my water heater).


Color Me Katie talks about 12 things that make her smile, and couples them with charming pictures! That girl is so creative.


Vanessa links to her YouTube vlog, where she lists all of the things that made her Monday a good day!

And finally, Madame Lamb sort of references a list, (this is kind of a stretch because actually it is more like a chart) of the evolution of modern art! It turns out to be very interesting and helpful.

Happy listing!

Duwamps

During the past hour and fifteen minutes, I have felt the most Seattle-ish than I have ever felt. Plus, I accomplished many things. Let me walk you through it.

First, I headed to Fremont for a meeting with my Craigslist job. I was supposed to meet them at 1, at by 12:57 I still had not left my apartment. (Fremont is about a 15 minute walk from where I live). I decided, on a whim, to ride my bike instead. I don't have a bike lock, so I never ride my bike alone, since I don't want it to get stolen. But I decided to do it anyway.

This is when I started to feel like a true Seattleite. It is an unseasonably warm, sunny day. I pedaled out into the sunshine and wham, it was magic. I realized that I love to bike.

Pause along the canal. I only had my phone camera so these pictures aren't the best.

(side note: I wore my hair in a large knot on the top of my head. This style is typical of the male Seattle hippie with long hair and/or beard, and even though I am not a man, I had fun "not caring" about what people thought of my hair.)

I got there, and told them that I couldn't handle the work load, and that I had to quit. They were really understanding about it, so I left the office feeling good.

Next, I decided to purchase a bike lock. If there are more sunny days like this ahead, I'm definitely going to need one. After checking at a local bike shop, (Wright Brothers Cycling, they were so helpful and nice. Photo here.), I saw that their locks were a little out of my price range. I decided to bike to Fred Meyer in Ballard.

 Piggy watering cans, found at Fred Meyer.

I have NEVER been to Fred Meyer. For those of you who don't know, Fred Meyer is the Wal Mart of Washington, but a little nicer. They have everything. It was amazing. I knew I couldn't spend a lot of time there, so I went straight to the sports section.

Bike locks are confusing. I ended up getting one with a "teflon" core, so bad-guys won't be able to cut through the rope. And unfortunately, they didn't carry the bike lock of my dreams: The snake lock.

Oh well :(

 

After that, I biked back along the canal trail, hit up Yak's in Fremont for a chicken and veggie humbow, and made my way back home. All in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

therapy

For me, crying is therapy. I cry over everything. I have determined that whenever I experience an intense emotion, whether it be happy or sad, I feel the need to cry. I just experience emotions really intensely.

Today I was in the bank, and "Linger" by The Cranberries came on. I haven't listened to that song lately, because, I mean, even when I wasn't in my current state, that song made me cry. But I decided to listen to it now, and share it with you. Another song to add to the list of redefined relevance.



But I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you.
You got me wrapped around your finger,
Do you have to let it linger?


Oh, I thought the world of you.
I thought nothing could go wrong,
But I was wrong. I was wrong.
If you, if you could get by, trying not to lie,
Things wouldn't be so confused and I wouldn't feel so used,
But you always really knew, I just wanna be with you.

On a slightly happier note, another song that keeps coming to mind is the Ditty Bops "All Over You." This song is precious in general (the Ditty Bops are precious in general) but it is also re-defined.




Every time I see your smile
It gives me a chill
I'm waiting for that cold embrace
To warm me still
To me you're everything except for mine

Sorry to get all sappy up in here.