Category: Life
April 21, 2008
Patriot's Day
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:22 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
April 11, 2008
Beans for a new year
The culinary theme for February and March was beans. I didn't talk about it on the blog, because, honestly, how appetizing do those black-eyed peas cooked with a ham bone look? Let me assure you they were actually delicious.
Anyways, it seems appropriate to mention it now, because beans are a traditional New Year's food, and today begins a new year for me: it's my birthday! And I've decided that instead of making New Year's resolutions, I'll be making some birthday resolutions:
- For the next month, I resolve to not eat any pre-made or processed foods. I've been heading this way for a while and thought it would be fun to give it a serious month. I am still allowed to eat whatever I want at restaurants and friends' places, but at home I'll be making my own bread, yogurt, etc. The only exceptions are cottage cheese and whey powder, which I am not prepared to make just yet.
- In the next three months, I will go backpacking!
- In the next six months, I will take guitar lessons
- And then there is the boring but necessary one where I resolve that this year I'll keep up my gym routine, pick up my socks, hang up my coat, put my dishes in the dishwasher and finish all my craft projects.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 3:20 PM | C (3) | TB (1)
January 31, 2008
Back from California!
I've returned from eating my way up the west coast, and I'll be posting photos and more soon!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 5:06 PM | C (0) | TB (1)
December 18, 2007
Snow Lanterns
Snow lanterns are one of the things that make it worth it to leave your house during a New England winter. Here are two ways to make them:
Fancy-pants way: take some plastic gallon-sized freezer bags and fill them with a little bit of water. Fold them in half such that all the water is a flat layer all on the bottom half of the bag. My layers were about 1/4" thick. Lay the bags flat on a box or in a tray in the freezer. The goal is to create at least four pieces of flat ice, of even thickness. After they are fully frozen, cut the bags away and put the panes of ice up in a square. You can mount them in snow or ice - I had to use a steak knife to cut little slits in the frozen icy snow. Put some tealights in there and light them, and voilà!
Instant-gratification way: make a bunch of small snowballs and pile them in an igloo. Put tealights inside and light them, and voilà! You'll have to experiment a little with the igloo structure if there is very much wind - the candles can go out with the slightest breeze in this kind of lantern, while the ice lantern is impervious to the wind.
I put my lantern up on a pedestal, but they look great on the ground too.
Plus, with today's post only, a bonus photo of our tree!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:19 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
November 5, 2007
Holiday Ornament Swap '07
It's that time again!! Holiday Ornament Swap 2007 sign up is happening now, and I am so excited. I can't wait to go stock up on supplies and start crafting. Yes, I have an idea, but I am not going to share it - at least not until I am sure that it will work!
The Ornament Swap, for those of you who didn't see it last year, is just that. You sign up and are assigned to a group of 8-10 people. You make a bunch of ornaments and send them to your group, who, in return, send you their ornaments. This event is basically made for me. You can see my project from last year on Flickr, as well as the group pool for the swap.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 5:51 PM | C (3) | TB (0)
October 22, 2007
Halloween came early this year!
This year we'll be out of town for the weekends before and after Halloween, so we decided to make up for it by wearing our costumes to everything we did this weekend, whether costumes were called for or not. That meant a certain amount of appearing, completely cold sober, as the only people in sight in costumes. But the fun more than made up for some temporary awkwardness.
Greg went as an Apollo 13 Nasa employee. He took 15 minutes to get ready. I went as an eighteenth-century woman dressed as a neoclassical Diana the Huntress. It took an hour to curl my hair alone!
It took way too long to explain my costume to anyone, but I was really pleased with it. See, in the 1700's it was very chic to be painted, or to have your wife or mistress painted, as Diana. I originally saw a great example of this at Moritzburg, where August II had his mistress painted as Diana in a mural. It's kind of awesome because Moritzburg was ostensibly a hunting lodge, but really the only hunting that August did there was for booty. So a mural of his hot girlfriend dressed up as a Roman goddess of chastity and hunting was a perfectly witty thing for his pool room. Plus, paintings of goddesses don't have to be, you know, decent or anything. Anyways, this is a good example of the genre - and a better model for my costume, as I didn't intend to go around mostly topless like August's eighteenth century hoochie. So, that explains the "powdered" hair and face.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:20 PM | C (5) | TB (5)
October 5, 2007
Tie up loose ends day!
Yesterday was my official tie-up-loose-ends day at work. I cleared my desk (metaphorically, at least!), my email inbox, and most of my to do list. I've been really behind since we started working seriously on last week's conference, and I feel like I have yet to catch up, mentally, since the wedding. Now I've got a lot of new, exciting projects going, and it felt crazy awesome to have space for them, on my desk, in my email, and in my mind. Woo hoo!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 4:16 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
September 10, 2007
Delays
What if patients could be seen on the day they call? What if airline passengers could depart and arrive on time? What if I wrote in my blog occasionally? Hey, at least you're not paying ME.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 4:56 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
August 14, 2007
Party!
Of course I only managed to get photos of the cupcake-eating portion of the evening! I'm taking off for Germany tomorrow, so no updates for a while!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:05 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
August 3, 2007
One of those projects I've been working on
One of the the most problematic features of our interior decor has always been these two ancient lamps in our living room. Their fabric shades were yellowed and stained, sort of as if someone had spilled beef stew on them, and the faux-brass-or-something bases just looked dingy and darkened the room, even when the lamps were on.
After contemplating several fixes, from sewing new lampshades to just tossing the things, I settled on white enamel. This is probably due to an overexposure of Domino magazine. I sanded the bases, found some white lettering enamel at a local art store, and proceeded to paint one lamp with such a thick coat of paint that it didn't dry for a week. In fact, it never dried, I just got tired of waiting and making fingerprints in the rubbery enamel, and so I stripped it back to the metal. The second time around, I gave each lamp three of the thinest coats I possibly could, letting them dry a day between each one. That worked much better.
I then used spray adhesive to attach large paper sheets to the old lampshade frames. They aren't durable, but hey, the paper is $2 a sheet and I can replace it whenever I feel like it. The total cost of this project was either $25 (enamel, brush, paper, turpentine) or $37, depending on whether you count the $7 I spent on paint stripper and the $5 I spent on extra paper that I'll eventually use for something else.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:13 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
July 21, 2007
Harry Potter in Harvard Square
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:33 AM | C (2) | TB (0)
July 11, 2007
Camp Gimmiyabeeya
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:07 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
June 28, 2007
OMG CHAIR!
The chair of wonder has been identified!
I spent several frustrating hours researching the chair, and seriously, according to the internet it's as if there were only three mid-century modern wooden armchairs produced, ever. Wanting instant gratification, I emailed Apartment Therapy, and they posted it yesterday. Thank goodness for helpful online communities.
Turns out it was designed by Carlo de Carli, a mid-century Italian designer. There is not much information about him to be found online, but his furniture shows up in antique stores and auction listings. Here is the chair with its original cushions and ottoman. I am guessing that the yard sale guy did not know about this when he sold it to me for $5! Apparently I need to go to more yard sales.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 4:58 PM | C (5) | TB (0)
June 26, 2007
New love
Only married three weeks, and I went and fell in love again! With this lovely little chair. On Saturday morning, I was sucked into a neighborhood yard sale, something I really never do - it must have been fate - and this chair just screamed at me. I took it home, and ran right out for sandpaper, teak oil and fabric, and by Sunday evening, our household had it's newest (and second-most-attractive) member. It was a manageable project, and really satisfying to finish. You can see photos of its current state on Flickr.
I tried briefly to identify the chair - it's got a sort of Danish modern vibe, but no markings on it at all - and I honestly know nothing about furniture. It looks like the metal slats might not be original, too. If anyone out there has any ideas about who might have manufactured it, I'd love to know!
Best of all, in celebration of our new chair, we got to ditch our ancient papasan chair - which means we are officially grown-ups.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:11 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
June 15, 2007
From the top, in Uxmal
We're back from the honeymoon! It had everything a honeymoon should: adventure, excitement, romance, ancient ruins, beaches, food poisoning, great shopping, entire novels read poolside, canceled flights, lost luggage, and a warm welcome home. Someday soon life may return to normal, but it sure was a nice detour from reality!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:36 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
April 25, 2007
Most awesome bridal shower ever!
Ok, I am completely buried with work coming from all three directions (job, school and wedding), but I just have to take a minute to say thank you to my incredible friends and family who threw me an amazing bridal shower over the weekend. I mean, it was CHRISTMAS THEMED, people! How much more awesome does it get? There were cookies, evergreen sprigs, and ornaments, in April!
So thanks again to all my wonderful, thoughtful, and generous friends and family!! You are all the best!
In other news: Greg is healing well and has an appointment to have the cast removed two weeks before the wedding. My knee is feeling pretty good, too.
Things are coming together for the wedding, which means that things are coming apart in our house... there are boxes of paper, ribbon, and all sorts of miscellaneous materials strewn all over the house, piles of thank you notes crowding the table, and regular old mess that hasn't been tended to everywhere else.
Oh, also, we won another hockey game! I am sad that I will have to stop playing soon (Can't have any unsightly bruises on the big day!).
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:46 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
April 16, 2007
Somewhere in hell,
sulfurous crags and once-fiery pits are being dusted with soft snow. It must be cold down there today, because WE WON A FLOOR HOCKEY GAME. Boo-yah! It was tied most of the game, and there were a ton of penalties on both sides, but we played well, kept our rotations quick, didn't get too tired, and stuck to our guns. I didn't make any goals, but I pulled off a couple great passes and blocks, and I think I played better than I ever have. It's really satisfying to feel like I am actually getting better at this sport!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 4:00 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
April 13, 2007
Has it really been that long?
Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted any non-emergency content. The explanation for my silence: it's really getting to be crunch time with wedding stuff, and at the moment it is all I really want to talk about - unfortunately, I'd like to save most of it as (hopefully) pleasant surprises for our guests, so I can't go blabbing on here about the progress I've made on the decorations, programs, and so on. You'll just have to wait and see!
Other than wedding stuff, my time is filled with work, which is really exciting and busy at the moment, and classes, which are also going really well. Both at work and at school there are major projects that are supposed to be finished BEFORE the wedding, a reality that I have difficulty wrapping my head around - the urgency and excitement of the wedding has the whole world feeling weirdly fast-forwarded to me. I am also clinging desperately to the shreds of my fitness program, which has had just about every possible obstacle thrown in its way: parties and celebratory dinners, scheduling disasters, colds, knee pains... the whole nine yards. All in all, my knee recuperation is going well, and I am managing to put the time in either in the gym or on my bike, but it is not feeling terribly organized, and that's always unsettling to me.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 4:53 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
April 9, 2007
By the way
That was not an April Fool's Day post, unfortunately.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:07 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
April 1, 2007
Flirting with a wedding on crutches.
Um, ok so some things that happened Thursday evening: We mailed the catering contract, took the invitations to the printer, had a wonderful dance lesson, and uh... Greg broke his ankle! Wah! I'll let you have the good news right up front, though... It's not too serious, and he'll be off the crutches well before the wedding. He may still be wearing a walking cast, but he won't have to swing himslf down the aisle.
Greg's ice hockey games are really late at night, so when he called me around midnight and said "I think I sprained my ankle, can you take me to the hospital?" my sleep-addled brain thought "wait, what? why are we going to a hospital for a sprained ankle? are you kidding me? I'm sleeping here!" But half an hour later, when Greg's wonderful teammate drove him up to our door, and I saw Greg's ankle protruding mournfully from the back seat, an apple-sized lump where his ankle bone should be, I really woke up, and realized that this wasn't some kind of inconvenience, but a real injury. We went over to the Somerville hospital, which is a fantastic place to have an injury in the middle of the night, because it is practically deserted, and everyone was incredibly friendly. They were able to zip him in and out of the x-ray right away, and get him in a splint with a minimum of hassle
The strangest thing is that the 4 am visit to the 24 hour pharmacy to load up on vicodin, plus cookies and beef jerky for the invalid, was so romantic. While one never WANTS to be up at 4 am because the person they love has been injured, I was just filled with relief that Greg was ok, and with happiness that we have each other to be there in times of need.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:14 AM | C (0) | TB (0)
March 19, 2007
Pushed Out
If you are contemplating someday having children, this [via Daddy Types]may be the most important thing you read in a while. Reading it, I realized that I had been duped into, if not believing the opt-out theory of educated white women in the home, then at least using the language of that theory. The question of women leaving successful careers to be mothers is too easily framed in terms of the woman's choice of family over work, rather than in terms of the workplace's failure to accommodate parents.
The fight for women's equality is largely regarded as won, and the prize was a career - I had already started building up a well of feminist guilt for wanting to take time off or work part-time while my children are young. It feels like betrayal to all those who have fought so hard for my right to work.
But wanting to spend time with my children should not make me feel like a bad feminist. And work-family flexibility should not just be for women either - I expect my husband to be able to have a flexible schedule as well (and I think that the workplace's hostility towards parents has strongly enforced the gender-imbalance in parenting). Economically it just doesn't make sense to make it inconvenient for talented, dedicated, educated workers to reenter the workforce after time off for parenthood. What if we could give all workers 5 years of part-time or flexible work arrangements, and in exchange got 30 years of work from all of these so-called opt-outers AND healthier, happier families? I know this is pretty much the antithesis of the way our career system works, but man, wouldn't it be nice? So, I resolve to fight for something more than my predecessors, something more than on-paper equality. I'm fighting for the right of all people to value their time with their family AND their successful career.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:04 PM | C (6) | TB (0)
Itisitis
Dude, what is it with me and the -itises? First bursitis, now sinusitis? I am just inflaming up all over the place! Now, I can still feel the side of my face, but I gotta say, a sinus infection is not high on my list of things to do again. It's kind of like a combination of a toothache and someone hammering a dull nail into the spot between your cheek, nose, and eye. But with more snot. Luckily it can be quelled with a basic course of antibiotics.. knock on wood!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:45 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
March 16, 2007
Home Sick
So, I am home sick, AGAIN. Yuck. The worst thing (ok, the worst thing after the terrible pain in my sinuses) is that I have this huge list of things to do at home, sewing and cleaning and wedding stuff, and here I am with barely enough energy to sit upright. I mean, heating up canned soup for my lunch pretty much wipes me out for the rest of the day. And blowing my nose? I have to lay down afterwards.
Also, what is this, the frickin 800th time I've been sick this winter? Laaaaaaaaame
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:44 AM | C (1) | TB (0)
February 27, 2007
Even famous people don't wear the right size bra...
How is it that so many beautiful, famous women do not know how to find a bra (or dress top) that fits? Take Jennifer Hudson's Oscar's dress. This is a beautiful dress, on a beautiful woman. How can she not notice that the dress is two cup sizes too small? How much better would this dress look if all of her bosom were lifted magnificently skyward, with no sign of boob fold, no span of fabric hovering uncomfortably away from her body all around the edges of her breasts? And if you watch the red carpet, this happens all day long! Take Naomi Watts, who, yes, I know, has probably gained two cup sizes in the last month, but come on! Or Kirsten Dunst, who has maybe, on accident, worn the right bra size once. When she was 14.
I know everyone is sick of hearing this statistic, but something like 80-85% of women wear the wrong bra size. And nothing can make you as miserable as an ill-fitting bra, or as comfortable (and great-looking!) as a good one. Bra-fitting is a subject close to my heart, and not just literally. Poorly fitting bras make me fume. Bras are a symbol of female empowerment, not enslavement, and if you feel like burning yours, it's simply because you don't have the right one.
A good bra will always be comfortable. In a good underwire bra, the wires sit flat against your chest, right at the bottom of the breast. They never poke you, and they never press painfully into the skin two inches below the point that your breast joins your chest. If the curve of the wire doesn't fit around your breast, your cup is too small. If the band rides down, allowing the bottom side of your breasts to touch your chest, the band is too big, and the cups are probably too small. Women with larger breasts, which lay against the chest when standing bra-less, often buy bras with giant band sizes and too-small cups. This leads to the band and wires cutting into the skin below the breasts, lack of proper support, and sweaty underboob. This all leads, in turn, to massive uncomfortablenesses. If you are wearing a bra, no part of your breast should be touching your chest. I guarantee you that Jennifer Hudson, under that dress, has sweaty underboobs.
The cups and the band should do almost all of the supporting. If the straps cut into your shoulders, your bra does not fit. Standing still, you should be able to slip the straps off your shoulders and have your boobs remain basically in the same place. Underwires, combined with a solidly-constructed cup and correctly-sized band, will hold your boobs up much more comfortably than the straps alone. This can be problematic with very large bra sizes, which can require those wider, padded straps, but is true well through the 40-DD cup range, and probably higher.
You can never walk into a store, find a bra with a particular number on it, buy it, and walk out with a good bra. You always have to try it on, since bras vary in size, shape, and construction, even within brands. You may be multiple sizes - I am at least three. ; ) And trust the fit of the bra - not the salesperson. I've had lingerie salespeople recommend the wrong size more often than not, and since sizes vary so much, the number doesn't mean much anyways! Always try the same bra on in multiple sizes, on the loosest band setting. Jump up and down and bend over. If the band budges or your boobs flop out, that bra is not worth your hard-earned $30, let alone more.
Check out Oprah's Bra Intervention and the Knickers' Top Five Bra-Sizing Myths for more tips and examples.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:36 PM | C (3) | TB (70)
February 25, 2007
Ok, Ok Already!
I did it, ok! I joined MySpace. Now, world, you can stop harassing me about it and move on to making fun of my friend count. Yes, I've heard of Facebook. But it took me three years to give in on MySpace, so just chill.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 1:08 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
February 24, 2007
This came in the mail for a previous resident
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:03 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
February 20, 2007
Come back, warmth!
A few nights ago, I had to wait outside in the cold for ten minutes, yes, a whole ten minutes, and it made me cry. Like, literally, cry, with tears and little horking noises. People all around me were also waiting, in the cold, and many of them had been waiting longer than I or were dressed less warmly, yet they all seemed completely unaffected - some of them even appeared to be in a good mood. How do they do it?
The point is, I have a dose of the good ol' seasonal depression, and it's making me a little moody and a lot sluggish. I haven't felt like blogging, or anything else, really, aside from cooking (Moroccan chicken with apricots, herbed trout with homemade tomato ragout) and my physical therapy appointments (it's about 78 in that office, and then they put a heating pad on my knee! Plus, every one of them gets me that much closer to being able to run by the spring time.)
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:46 PM | C (1) | TB (0)
February 13, 2007
The leg, it liiiiives
A very exciting step in physical therapy today: I am moving into the strength building stage! I have lost a ton of muscle in my quads, especially on the injured side, and that puts me at a risk for reinjury as I return to some activities, so I have to fix that before I can really think about planning a running schedule (grr, argh). For example, I played a few rotations of floor hockey on Sunday, maybe 15 minutes total, and while I stopped before it became painful, my quads were burning the next day, and I had some stinging pains above the injured knee (Thankfully, my lovely physical therapist says that this is fine, just another sign that that muscle is weak.). If I had played the way I wanted to, I don't think I'd be walking today. So, today I did 3x10 leg lifts with a 4lb weight. The PT mentioned that she won't let people with serious injuries *off their crutches* until they can do 3x10 at 5 lbs. While I probably could have handled the 5lb weight, the 4lb one was definitely work, and that was pretty scary. I used to leg press 120 lbs, and when I go into the gym tomorrow I'll be happy if I can press the empty sled! The best thing, however, was that after the leg lifts, she put electrodes on my leg and had me flex with a buzzy little current running through my leg! Like I'm some kind of Frankenstein's monster... crazy!
Also, my new swimsuit arrived! There is some hope for cardio (cardio that doesn't involve the saggy ass of my high school water polo swimsuit, anyways) after all.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:23 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
February 5, 2007
Since you asked: The Boston "bomb scare"
I wasn't going to talk about it, because I find it so utterly ridiculous. It wasn't a hoax, and they certainly weren't anything remotely like bombs. Now Boston, struggling to save face, is just making itself look worse and worse by prosecuting these guys and insisting that it was a criminal hoax. And the city did look bad to begin with: Boston utterly failed at handling the "situation" by taking hours to resolve anything, even after any semblance of danger had past, closing down major transportation routes, and generally sounding like doofuses (It had wires! and a battery!! Very sinister!!). On top of that, the one person who actually planted a fake pipe bomb? NOT ARRESTED! WHAT?!?! I think planting a fake pipe bomb sounds like a crime, unlike, um, planting lite-brites?
As for the actual mooninites, they had been around for a long time, and I thought they were totally charming - there were a couple in our neighborhood, and they made me smile.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:07 PM | C (1) | TB (0)
January 31, 2007
Ow.
I biked to work today for the first time since September. It felt great. And also not so great. My knee would have preferred warmer conditions, frankly. So it might be a few days before I attempt the commute again.
Also: wow, am I out of shape!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:52 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
January 26, 2007
New Planner
The centerpiece of my organizational system is writing things down, and it always has been. When I read Getting Things Done, I thought Oh! Of course! This is why I try to write things down! And I realized that my organizational problem was that I wasn't consistent with where and how I wrote things down. I learned a lot from GTD, and GTD-obsessed people online. I realized that a planning system designed by someone else wasn't going to work for me, since the pages that they designed had the wrong boxes! I didn't feel comfortable writing down my stuff in other peoples boxes, or in ugly binders. For a couple years, I used a planner customized from a moleskine notebook, and that worked pretty well, but it was a little cramped, and I found that it was a major annoyance to copy to-do items from page to page.
This year, especially since I am managing one giant long-term personal project (the wedding) and taking on all sorts of new long-term projects and new responsibilities at work, I decided that I needed a new system, one that was more flexible and robust. My geniustical idea (which I have since realized has been had by many others, of course!) was to put the to-do list (or next actions, in GTD-speak) on a piece of cardstock that pops in and out. I made the list double-sided, with personal to-dos on one side and work to-dos on the other. When it pops into my planner, the personal list is next to a daily personal page where I can check of my daily actions (like taking my vitamins), track my exercise, and make notes about social events. The work to-do list is opposite the daily work page that has my schedule in hours and room for notes. I used the widgets from DIYplanner.com to design my pages.
Also in the planner are pages where I can keep track of long-term projects, make lists or notes, monthly calendars and reference material. I bought a giant flash memory stick and popped it in the front pocket, so now I can carry all my crucial work, wedding files, and mp3s wherever I go to. I've only been working with it for a week, but so far so good - lets see how it holds up when things get busy!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 5:15 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
January 23, 2007
Resolutions
1. Get Married
By which I really mean Have a Wedding. That should be enough for one year, but nooo, I had to go and make more...
2. Be Healthier
- Consistency. I am usually good at eating healthily, exercising, etc. But my bursitis threw me for a loop and the holidays and illnesses ambushed me at the top for a complete derailment. I just can't let these things keep me from caring about my health. Which brings me to;
- Patience. I can't make my bursitis better overnight, and I have to be careful not to re-injure it. I just have to keep doing physical therapy and try to find some exercise that won't exacerbate it.
3. Be Greener
- Switch from paper towels and napkins to cloth. I've already set this up, I just need to stick with it. We have convenient hooks for clean kitchen cloths and a basket for dirty ones, and I am really, really happy with it.
- Only buy environmentally responsible meat products. I've been trying to do this, but I would like to be a little stricter. I don't like the idea of any more of my money going to these guys.
- Use less paper at work. This is hard, because our fax machine gets more spam than all my email addresses put together.
4. Work Better
- At home and professionally, I need to be better organized, write down everything, and keep track of large projects. I have been using a modified GTD system, and setting up a new planner and filing system that is easier for me to use.
- Track spending. This is a habit that is not essential to me now, but if I could just start writing it down now, setting up budgets and doing financial planning will always be easier.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 5:35 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
January 22, 2007
Erican New Year
Today is a good day. In addition to being an important anniversary, today is also my personal new year's day. The Erican calendar was changed this year to accommodate travel, illness and general disarray across the countryside. But today I finally got my personal planner organized, got back into the gym, and even started a new class.
Resolutions and organizational geekiness to follow, but for today, some nice news via boing boing: Other Music, the best music store evah, is talking about opening an online music store full of DRM-free, high-quality mp3s, and is even leaving the door open for bands to deal directly with them, rather than necessarily surrendering a huge cut to a label. This is the best thing to happen to digital music since flash memory.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:48 PM | C (1) | TB (0)
January 14, 2007
Holiday Ornament Swap '06
This is a little bit of a catch-up post - this has got to be the most exciting thing I did in November, but the finished product never got blogged, because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for some folks who were getting ornaments as gifts.
This year freshly{blended} and cake + pie launched the Holiday Ornament Swap. The idea is so fantastic I can't believe I ever lived without it: you are assigned to a group of 8-10 people, and each of you make a bunch of ornaments. Voila! You get a fun project AND 8-10 awesome new ornaments! I was already planning on doing a craft project to give people with my holiday cookie boxes, so it seemed like perfect timing. I decided to use the lab's water jet cutter to make some simple cut-out ornaments. I created two designs in Illustrator, imported them into a CAD program, cleaned them up and fiddled around with the machine paths and then our shop helped me cut them out. Then they were polished up and ready to go!
I had SO much fun doing this, and I got some amazingly beautiful ornaments in return. I can't wait for next year's swap! You can see photos from the entire swap on flickr.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:27 PM | C (1) | TB (0)
January 10, 2007
Happy New Year!
If New Year's is supposed to be a time of renewal, a time for celebrating the past year and creating hopes for the next one... then mine is running a little late. I'm back from my fantastic vacation on the west coast, but I brought back a terrible cold (yeah, another one) and probably an extra 5 lbs (I'm not sure, but I'm giving myself a week to rebound from all the cookies and culinary tourism before I even check). I have a stack of unwritten email and thank-you notes, a pile of laundry, an empty fridge, a full schedule, and no desire to do anything that doesn't involve a lot of Tylenol PM and blankets. I don't even have a 2007 notebook yet. So all that hope and those good intentions are going to have to give me a few more days to recover...
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:01 PM | C (1) | TB (0)
December 7, 2006
Old Friends
I had a dream the other night, probably sparked by seeing a friend's wedding photo, full of old acquaintances, in our college magazine - it made me think about all the people I hope to see at my own wedding. In my dream, all my best college buddies had planned a big surprise for me - I thought there were just a couple of local people getting together at a bar, but when I showed up, my two old friends R and V, whom I haven't seen for ages, were there! I was so happy to see them again. In the dream, these friends were also very happy, doing well, and looked fantastic (for some reason, everyone was wearing fancy cocktail dresses), and that made me even happier - and I hope it is true in real life.
In other news, if you are an old college or high school friend who may have changed email addresses recently, email me!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:01 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
December 4, 2006
I'm a holiday-lover
I'm not sure how to explain what I celebrate this time of year, but it has something to do with family-and-friend-togetherness, love, and sparkly lights. It definitely involves a tree and some presents and lots of cookies, and it makes me think about how much I love all the people in my life (and how much I love cookies). Now that I live in New England, it’s got a touch of that “the vibrant evergreen tree proves that life can survive through this #((&@# weather, and that the sun will come again” feeling. But it's hard for me to put it all together into words.
What I know for sure is that this season makes me appreciate the people I know and love, near and far. It fills me with anticipation and excitement… when I was a kid, most of that anticipation was for presents, and while I certainly don’t mind a present or two now, my anticipation is for the happy times spent with family and friends, the look of joy when a good gift is opened, the building and enjoying of traditions, and for finding new obscure holiday music (ok, that last one might be my own personal mental disorder…). I love making special foods for the people I care about, and decorating my house to celebrate that it is a home to love and joy. (ok, I know that sounds super-corny, but you just try to think of something more wonderful, more comforting, than a room filled with people you love, the light of a Christmas tree and the smell of fresh-baked cookies. Just try.) Whether it is through Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Solstice, or entirely secular, as mine is, it is a time to remember the power and endurance of family, of traditions, of love. People have been celebrating variations on this holiday for thousands of years, celebrating the same feelings, hopes and dreams, and making the same cookies (well, maybe only for a couple hundred years on the cookies), and I think that’s pretty awesome.
Earlier today I wrote a little tirade about people hatin on the holidays. I was sick of hearing radio announcers, coworkers and convenience store clerks lament the early arrival of Christmas decorations, the crowded malls, etc, etc… Cheer up, you @$(&#@#s!, it started, they've been putting up the decorations in mid-November for my whole life, so stop bitching about how it happens earlier every year. Better to have decorations early than none at all, you ungrateful whiners! And it went downhill from there.
But then I sat down in front of the TV, and what was on but good ol’ Rick Steve and his European Christmas. I love seeing how people around the world celebrate, and watching people all over Europe sing, eat, and share stories with their families made me realize that my ranting was pointless. People have always complained about every damned thing, and they won’t stop because I think it’s dumb. The holidays are what you make them, and I love them because I choose to fill them with gingerbread houses, twinkly lights, chocolate coins, hot toddies, this kid, ornaments, spiced wine, latkes, stockings hung by the chimney with care, mulled cider, this, this and this, fresh evergreen smell, holiday parties, candles, wrapping paper, ribbons, carols, cards, hot chocolate, candy canes, with love and joy and family. And with cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:02 PM | C (3) | TB (0)
December 3, 2006
Thanksgiving blog blackout
Ok, I know I’ve been slacking around here, but in the real world I’ve been busy: baking pies, decorating trees, traveling, hosting, visiting, baby-kissing, and a variety of wedding-related stuff. And to be honest, I’m about to launch into another whirlwind, this one consisting of cookies and holiday parties, and, oh yeah, a final paper. I’ve got a backlog of things to post, too, though…
First off: PIES!
I have made four pies this holiday season, and I’m hoping to do more, but the focus is really shifting to cookies pretty soon. I’ve been experimenting with duck fat and European butter crusts, as detailed in a recent New York Times article (and elsewhere), and I have to say that the crusts have been phenomenal. Very crisp, no grainy shortening mouth-feel. They are also a total pain to work with – maybe I haven’t found the right amount of water to add, but so far I haven’t managed to get the crust from table to pie pan without serious disintegration issues. Luckily, they taste just as good, and in the case of a pie with a gooey, sticky-sweet filling that seeps in and bakes into the crust, even better!
I made two pies for the pre-turkey day party, the first a honey-thyme apple-pear pie – a fun variation on apple, but next time I’ll add more thyme. The second was a Brandy Alexander pie – simple (except for the gelatin-based filling setting up like the flick of a switch, making it hard to time the folding-in of whipped cream and meringue), delicious, and sort of like a creamy chocolate jello shot. I’ll definitely be making it, or variations, again. The two thanksgiving pies were traditional apple and a peanut pie, both from my good ol’ Pie book. The traditional apple was good but not spectacular – I like something a little sweeter and more tart that what I got. I am not sure if it was the apples I used or the seasonings, but I’m sure I’ll be experimenting – probably with granny smiths, more lemon juice and sugar. The peanut pie was fun – it’s basically a pecan pie with peanuts. While eating it, I kept being surprised that it was peanuts instead of pecans. I think that the traditional pecan pie base just tastes better with pecans, frankly. I love peanuts, but I found the contrast between the filling and nuts sort of distracting: I think that the filling needed something to unify it with the peanuts. If I did this again, I would want to try something to fix that.
More cooking goodness soon!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 8:03 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
November 21, 2006
Misdiagnosed
It is not a sprain of my medial collateral ligament. It is not chrondromalacia. It is pes anserine bursitis.
I think that bursitis might just be the the worst word ever, by the way. I don't even want to think what sounds like might be inflamed, infected or bursting. In reality, the bursa in question is just a little sack of fluid that sits under three tendons on the inner side of your knee. It helps the tendons move smoothly. And mine is inflamed. It is especially inflamed now, because the orthopedic doctor (who was actually great) insisted on demonstrating with great enthusiasm that he could find the exact point on my knee that would make me cringe in pain. "Does it hurt here?" (vigorous yet accurate stabbing at sore point in the knee) "Yes" "Does it hurt here?" (vigorous yet accurate stabbing 3.5 millimeters to the right) "Yeah" and so on, until it was replaced by "See, the reason we can tell that you have bursitis (stab stab stab for emphasis), rather than a sprain, is that when I press (press press press) here (poke poke poke), that's when it hurts, rather than when I flex the leg like this (cursory, yet thankfully painless, sideways flexing of knee). At the end of the appointment, he was like "oh, and you should probably put some ice on that tonight" and I was like "No shit, sherlock, I'm headed to stick it in the freezer right now."
Anyways, what this all boils down to is: a month of physical therapy, maybe more, maybe a steroid or cortisone shot, orthotics for sure, and pretty much a death sentence for my marathon career. The doctor said something like "Well, I'm not going to tell you that you can't run, but with your leg geometry it might not... might not be the best thing for you." But then he said it was fine as long as I cut the pure running with some biking or elliptical. And that's what I am choosing to remember.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:31 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
November 11, 2006
Back in the saddle!
This week I was feeling like my knee was finally showing enough improvement to try a little exercise, so on Thursday I rode my bike to work for the first time in over a month, and while I've lost a little speed, my knee came through just fine! I missed biking so much. Not only because I enjoy it, and because a lack of exercise was making me stir-crazy, but also because without it I was totally dependent on the bus and rides from Greg to get around. I couldn't go run errands after work, or change my schedule on a whim, and I ended up spending a lot of late nights in the office. So its really nice to be back.
I am also back to swimming, but I think serious running is still going to be out of the question for another month. I am going to try to play a little floor hockey this weekend, which involves a some sprinting, but never hurt my knee before like longer runs did.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:31 AM | C (2) | TB (0)
November 8, 2006
YAY DEMS!!
I am breaking my not-so-hard-or-fast rule against talking about politics here for a very brief celebration:
A female democrat as speaker of the house! The second black governor since reconstruction! Santorum and a host of other haters are out! Sad news for same-sex marriages across the country (Except in AZ! You Rock, AZ!!) diminishes the victory, but I know the road to acceptance will be a long one on that issue... at least we held on to abortion rights! I often don't have a lot of hope for politics during this long conservative swing we're in, but we have to celebrate what we achieve and keep believing and trying. Democracy works, so lets just keep fighting to protect it! Demand paper trails for votes! Protect civil liberties! Support rights for all! Love America! Woooo!!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:21 AM | C (2) | TB (0)
November 5, 2006
Dear god...
Thanks to The Comics Curmudgeon, I am now a dedicated Mary Worth reader. Now, sometimes I joke with Greg about how I am becoming an old woman - particularly when I yell at the damn kids on the lawn - but this, this is a new low. Just order my walker now.
But it's alright, because I love The Comics Curmudgeon. Besides, he apparently shares my (and Greg's) taste in indie wedding songs, and that's pretty cool.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:03 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
November 2, 2006
hint, hint
So today, C sent me a link to this: NaBloPoMo. Ok, I get the hint... it's been a little quiet around here. While I am SO not up for a month of daily posting, here are not one, not two, but three posts to make up for my recent slacking off!! Counting this one, that is ; )
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:59 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
October 27, 2006
Holiday Ornament Swap '06
This year, on top of my wedding projects, holiday card sending, messenger bag and other ongoing crafts projects, I've decided to participate in the Holiday Ornament Swap. Am I crazy? Quite possibly. But I am also super-excited about this because 1) I love crafts, 2) I love the holidays and 3) I have a mildly debilitating obsession with ornaments.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 5:17 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
October 24, 2006
The tub
Cleaning the tub is my least favorite chore. I'm not a huge fan of dusting, not enamored of cleaning the outside bottom of the toilet, but I would put a full day in at either of those chores rather than scrub a single tub. The only thing that approaches the horror of the tub is the non-self-cleaning oven, but I haven't seen one of those in a while. Actually, that's not true; my least favorite chore is cleaning anything that is not capable of becoming clean. (Which is why I am not buying any more white plastic kitchen appliances. It's a recipe for short term love, long term rage.) The real problem is that I have never cleaned a tub that was actually capable of becoming clean - cleaning a brand new or well-maintained tub may be all butterflies and daisies, for all I know. Our current tub has some sort of disease of the enamel - the bottom of the tub is discolored and splotchy, and the two inside edge corners are rough and a little yellow. It's been there since we moved in, but I think the corners may have gotten a touch worse. I thought it was a hard build-up, so a while ago I went after it with a blue scrubby sponge, which only succeeded in turning the corner of the tub blue. Scrubbing doesn't seem to make any other difference - better or worse. After reading up on tub cleaning methods, I tried coating the whole thing in dish washing detergent, letting it sit for 24 hours, and then scrubbing with Comet. The tile and un-diseased enamel looks amazing, but our entire house smells like dish soap, my hands are withered and dry, and the rough spots and discoloration have not budged. Hours of kneeling, scrubbing, rinsing (without one of those shower-heads on a hose, natch). For essentially nothing. Dear gods of housecleaning, when someday we are the owners of a new tub, I promise to buff it every day with a flannel cloth to prevent build-up and damage, so that I, and the inheritors of my tub, will never have to suffer so again.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:03 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
October 17, 2006
Recipe for the perfect fall weekend
Excellent pizza and a little too much wine. A sunny fall day, a car full of friends, Stonyfield dairy and whole milk chocolate truffle yogurt, a musty old sugar shack and maple candies, christmas ornament shopping, eating country-store candies until slightly ill, picking apples and eating them until slightly ill, pumpkins, gourds, dried red corn, fresh cider, roast corn and cider donuts. Hearty lamb stew, Brussels sprouts and baked apples. Unexpected reunions. Lazy Sunday brunch, ritual box-store consumerism, naps and NPR. Just a couple entertaining innings, and the Mets securing a solid lead before bedtime.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 7:46 AM | C (0) | TB (0)
October 12, 2006
October is Winning
Being out of the exercise game is NOT good for me. I have been meaning to write a post for so long, about all the wonderful weddings and wedding-related stuff, about noodle-bars and pizza ratings and the onset of fall... but I can barely manage not to fall asleep on the couch after eating dinner and watching Lost. Being benched by this piddling little sprained ligament has made me lazy beyond words, placed me into a near-comatose state, with only occasional energetic bursts of griping, bitching and moaning. My goal was to get through this injury with a minimum of upset to my regular routine, but my brain chemicals had something quite different planned. They are waving little white flags imprinted with the words "bring me a box of caramels, I will be in bed!"
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:28 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
October 4, 2006
The Verdict:
I have a sprained medial collateral ligament. The doctor gave me another week of absolute rest, and two weeks until I can run again. Then I can start slow, and hopefully be good as new (whatever that is, I'm not sure!) in 4-6 weeks. I'm also well-armed with Aleve, ace bandages and ice. I check in in 2 weeks, and if I'm not improving they pull out the big guns: physical therapy, x-rays and MRIs. I feel noticably better than last Thursday, which is when I stopped all unecessary knee movement, including biking to work and standing up to get my own water refill after dinner (Thanks, Greg!), but not as good as I would hope after nearly a week of down time. I suspect that I will need a little longer than two weeks to recover to the point of running, especially if I resume biking before then.
Apparently there are two ways this injury can happen: being hit forcefully on the outer side of the knee or twisting the knee. I can't remember either of those things happening to me. The cause really seemed to be overuse, and I tend to think that the problem comes from my wonky feet and leg geometry. I will probably ask the doctor about orthotics when I check in, as several people have suggested to me. In fact, I had orthotics for a huge portion of my childhood, so it won't exactly be news, but I hear they are much fancier now than they were when I was 11 and had these ridged amber plastic things to stick inside my awesome high-top reeboks (with hyper-color laces!).
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 9:59 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
October 2, 2006
September Wrap-up
Greg and I celebrated the end of the September challenge with a Ladytron show and the purchase of a large amount of winter clothing. Of course, now comes the October challenge, but that's another post - the point of this post is: wow, why don't we go to more shows!? Ladytron rocked. I had imagined that they would be mostly sampling pre-recorded stuff, but they actually play the synthesizers live, which is pretty impressive. I had to sit through most of it due to my knee (dancing sort of pathetically with my shoulders), but it was still just awesome. Just awesome.
As is being warm. After three years in Boston, and a year of trying to bike to work through most weather, I have finally given up. Fashion be damned, I will be warm. If I have to wear three layers of fleece swathed in gore-tex and snow pants so voluminous they could shelter all of Milwaukee, I will be warm!
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:39 PM | C (2) | TB (0)
September 28, 2006
Checking In
Just a quick update on the September situation. This week’s cook-ahead meal was Cooking Light’s Three-Bean Chili with Vegetables and Brown Beer Rye Bread, and it was amazingly delicious. It reminded me that I should make bread more often, especially healthy quick stuff like this.
Unfortunately, my exercise routine ground to a nasty halt this week: my knee finally reached the point of no return. What started as a gentle nagging pain that showed up at 2.8 miles on my weekly 3-mile runs has become a constant, undeniable, stabbing sensation, sort of like a high-pitched voice screaming “Why did you wear those high heels on Friday? Why did you run on Monday? Why did you add 10lbs to your leg press on Wednesday? Are you STUPID?” Yes, apparently, I am. But I have removed my head from my rear and made an appointment with my lovely doctor, who will hopefully tell me that I can slap on a neoprene sleeve, pop some Aleve and hit the track again in a day or two (rrriiiiiight). Anyways, I’ll keep you updated.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 6:10 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
September 20, 2006
Public Notice: Phone Communications Successfully Restored
So, I lost my phone charger and was out of juice for about a week. If you tried to contact me by phone during that time, you probably didn't succeed. But things are back to normal now. Sorry for the disruption.
About Life, by Erica McDaniel at 10:44 PM | C (0) | TB (0)
September 18, 2006
This may be the saddest thing I have ever read:
"According to Rudolph Leibel, an obesity researcher at Columbia University who was involved in the discovery of the first human gene implicated in obesity, if you take two nonobese people of the same weight, they will require different amounts of food depending on whether or not they were once obese. It goes in precisely the maddening direction you might expect: formerly fat people need to eat less than never-fat people to maintain exactly the same weight. In other words, a 150-pound woman who has always weighed 150 might be able to get away with eating, say, 2,500 calories a day, but a 150-pound woman who once weighed more — 20 pounds more, 200 pounds more, the exact amount doesn’t matter — would have to consume about 15 percent fewer calories to keep from regaining the weight. The change occurs as soon as the person starts reducing, Leibel said, and it “is not proportional to amount of weight lost, and persists over time.” The New York Times
Damn it!
About Life, by