flickr faves

1. 686, 2. One last storm, 3. IMG_2718_tone, 4. Untitled, 5. brillobox huh 010, 6. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

So Not Good With Titles Sometimes

We went to Albuquerque last Saturday. It was a good time. We got to ride around town with my sister in her fancy Mercedes. You can warm your ass up in the front seat. Pretty nifty.

Anyway, we had lunch with my sister and two of my nieces at the Flying Star Cafe in Nob Hill. I remember it as the Double Rainbow back in the day. I had a BLT that was drenched in butter and mayonnaise. It kind of freaked me out. After lunch, we walked around and checked out some of the cool shops around Nob Hill. That area has changed so much since I lived there (way back in the early 90's), but some of the shops remain the same. I've always loved the paper store that I think is actually called Paper. That's where I bought the Lotta Jansdotter postcards and the sweet vintage cat card in the photo above. They have great cards and a huge selection of journals, a dangerous place for me to be. I have a hard time resisting paper products.

Eventually we made it down to the Buffalo Exchange, another store that's been around since way back when. I was hoping to find some new spring duds, but no such luck. I did finally talk my nieces into letting me take their photo.



I lugged around 3 cameras and took one picture. Nice. I really wanted to spend more time with the girls, but Cassidy had a boy/girl get-together to attend and Caroline had plans with her dad. So we headed back to the West Side with my sis and ended up going to see Juno. I'd already seen it, but I loved it so didn't mind seeing it again. And then it was back to Santa Fe. A quick trip but better than nothing. We haven't been anywhere in freakin forever.

This week has been mellow. Work. Knitting. Watching movies. We rented We Own The Night, American Gangster and 3:10 To Yuma. 3:10 To Yuma was the best of the bunch. I thought We Own The Night and American Gangster were terribly mediocre. For tonight we have The Darjeeling Limited which I am excited about. Hopefully it delivers.

And speaking of going places, we're hoping to be able to take a vacation this summer. First on our list is getting to Maine for the wedding of two good friends. We're thinking about taking the train out there. If we do it, we'll probably stop in Pittsburgh for a day or two, New York for a couple of days and then to Boston where we'll rent a car and drive to Maine. I've never been to Maine and have always wanted to go there so we'd probably spend 5 days or so up there. Then back to Boston and fly home. We'll see though, it might be more than our budget can stand. I've just been wanting to take a train trip again. I took the train out east from Albuquerque in the early 90's and it was such an experience. I met some of the strangest folks. Good times. And I figure it would be less stressful than flying both ways considering the travel anxiety I get around flying.

So there you go, I'm either totally neurotic or totally boring. Or I don't write at all. No wonder I have like two readers out there. I'll be back tomorrow with my Flickr favs.

flickr faves

1. Room no. 1, 2. 20080113, 3. zickig, 4. acceptance, 5. Watermelon, Mercado Municipal, 6. a tree on a hill

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Just What I Needed

I was off today and I was very determined to relax after stressing myself out for way too many days in a row. No errands, no cleaning, no thinking. Okay, so I did do some thinking, but I did my best to quiet some of the chaos in my head. I watched two not so good movies and worked on my latest knitting project, the Accidentally On Purpose Vest from Stitch-n-Bitch Nation. Usually one of the cats will eventually come sit with me while I am knitting which I love because they keep me warm. But today, not one but *both* of them hopped up on the couch and settled down next to me. A first, I believe. And oh how sweet it was!

So, on the job front, I did not get the new job so neuroses and stress have quickly come to an end. I'm not really disappointed since I had quite a few misgivings about the whole thing and according to my recruiter, it wasn't me. Yeah, I know, but this business exec. really didn't seem to know what he wanted so I am not terribly surprised. Apparently he decided he needed to "rethink" how much he was willing to shell out for an assistant. So there you go. Overall, a learning experience for me so it's all fine and dandy.

The End of An Era

Does This It Explain It?

Virgo Horoscope
(Aug 23 - Sep 22)

This Full Moon Eclipse is in Virgo, overwhelming you with complex emotions. Your feelings have been intensifying for the past few days, but now you must acknowledge what you feel in your heart, even if it creates additional problems. Although you cannot ignore the facts, things won't settle down until you surrender your irrational need for logic. [via tarot.com]

I slept slightly better last night, but I am still overtired and thus filled with anxiety about what direction I should follow. I am so conflicted and have not felt this out of sorts in a very long time. I don't know if I should read that as an indication that I should NOT make a job change in my life or if it is just fear holding me back. All I know is that my mind will not stop today. I am totally obsessing and it is not particularly rational or productive. Here's hoping for some good sleep and better thinking mañana.

Feeling A Little Distraught

You're either on the bus or off the bus. Right now I feel like I am UNDER the bus.

I am dead tired, distraught and in tears...not because anything is so bad, but because I cannot deal when I am overly tired. And I don't mean just a little on the tired side. I mean, OVERLY TIRED. My current boss is quite understanding when I have this problem, but in addition to that job, I had a job interview today which was short and sweet and hard to really absorb in my zombie-like state. I have no clarity of mind when I am like this and so when my recruiter called, I should have said, "I need to sleep on this..." but instead I said, "okay, okay and okay," and now I don't know WTF I have done. I have turned my quiet little comfortable existence upside down in some ways. And it's probably okay. Once I get some sleep, I may realize that it is all fine and dandy. But right now I feel like I have made a bunch of big ass mistakes. But see, this all started because I let myself get too comfortable and maybe, just maybe, I should challenge myself instead of taking the softer, gentler path. But you know, when you don't know what you want to do, it's hard to leave one job for another because, well, neither of them are the dream job. It's only recently that I have even come up with a dream job and it's one that I probably can't have. I want to work for the NFL. No, seriously. I want to be that person who funnels historical facts into the commentators headphones. Or something like that. And of course that's not actually going to happen, at least not in Santa Fe and, well, we're not going to be moving anytime soon. So in a way, for me, a job is a job is a job. And I prefer a job that lets me have a life as well which is exactly what my current job does. Perfecto, no? No. I just fear that I have signed on for too much now, but hey, maybe making some extra cash will be good considering that every time I see things like this on the internet, it makes me totally panic and buy more film.

I hope I sleep tonight and this all makes sense to me in the morning. Good grief.

240 Miles Later...

...Cat Found Unharmed.

I love happy endings like this. And I guess there is something to be said about putting a microchip in pets.

I Wish I Could Sleep

(Polaroid Spectra shot of the lovely Valentine's Day tulips.)

Insomnia is wearing me down again. After many weeks of better sleep, the past week has been far too many nights of laying awake for hours and hours. Last night was the worst as I have a big day today and all I could think about was how tired I would be. Sometime around two I finally fell asleep, but I still feel pretty out of it this morning. Tired, anxious, on edge. Lack of sleep brings about much anxiety for me which is not a good thing. Here's hoping I get through the day without screwing things up. Or getting overly stressed and upset about the decisions that need to be made.

It all feels too heavy right now. And it doesn't need too.

flickr faves

1. Untitled, 2. pink january, 3. 20071222, 4. Letting Go Was A Lie, 5. .791., 6. the ten, 7. Untitled,
8. Kitty, Frederick Street, 9. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Good Things Are Afloat

Hope you all had a enjoyable Valentine's Day yesterday, if you are into that sort of thing. I don't have any strong feelings about the day myself, but I certainly don't mind getting a bouquet of lovely white tulips from my sweet husband! I gave him the oh so romantic gift of SLASH! We had tilapia tacos for dinner and finally watched Once which I think we've had for about a month now. (Not making very good use of the money I pay out to Netflix every month!) It was a super sweet movie and the soundtrack is so beautiful. I mean, it is a movie about music, and wow, yeah, I really loved it. In fact, I downloaded the soundtrack this morning and I am listening to it this very moment. Good stuff.

I should also mention that I did make it to see The Savages. It's pretty damn depressing, but a good movie. I saw it with my mom and her comment was that she hopes she never gets that old.

Regarding the title of this post, I say good things are afloat because I had a really productive interview at an employment agency yesterday. Shocking, I know. I generally have very low expectations when it comes to employment agencies, but the person I met with yesterday seemed to get what I'm about which is a nice change. I'm not actually in serious job hunting mode, but the agency had a listing that I felt I should investigate. I love my current employer and the job itself is entertaining most of the time, but it's not a situation that is going to change very much with time. I think that if Will and I are really going to be here in Santa Fe for a long time, I'll probably feel more fulfilled if I have a work situation with the potential for growth. It's so easy for me to let myself be stagnate, I have to be careful. So anyway, I don't know if anything will come out of the meeting that I had, but it made me feel excited, like something good is going to happen.

I'll leave you with a photo of my sweet Rocky.



Both cats have been so happy with the warmer weather. Rocky likes to sit in the flower beds in the backyard. I often shut the gate so he can't get out and I think it makes him feel safe. We're supposed to get anywhere from 3-5" of snow tonight...we'll see if the weather folks are right. Will and I are going snowshoeing for the first time ever on Sunday so it'd be nice to have some fresh snow. Happy weekends to you all!

P.S. I'll post my flickr favs a little later.

Not Just Another Internet Rumor

Sad, but true, Polaroid abandons instant photography.

Hopefully Fuji or some other company decides to pick up the slack. I love using Polaroid film and the "instant" nature of digital photography cannot be compared to the old school instant photography. *Sigh.*

This means I will continue to stock up on 600 film before the prices start getting totally jacked up and it disappears altogether.

flickr faves

1. The Perfect Snow, 2. Sometimes, that is just that, 3. awesome color with kid millions, 4. Untitled, 5. Santiago de Cuba (Havana Club), 6. Behind the Madonna, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. butterfly

Created with fd's flickr toys.

GIANTS WIN!

Need I say more? No, but I will anyway. I can't tell you how joyous we were to see "The Path to Perfection" come to an end. Enough about the damn Patriots already. See, they are not so perfect after all. And I suspect that the whole media lovefest over the Patriots probably went to their heads just enough to make them think they actually were perfect. Or superheroes. Sometimes it pays to be the underdog.

Anyway, I am thrilled the Giants won and we are happy that post-season is over so we can actually do things on Sundays again. Yesterday was the last day of stuffing ourselves with food and beer until next season.

After the game, it really seemed to me that the announcers were all so in shock that they had no idea what to say. They truly thought the Pats would take it all and had no back-up plan.

Any given Sunday.

And what have you been doing?

Well hello there, if there is anyone out there. I barely come here anymore so how can I expect you to visit? At any rate, I have the best intentions and keep meaning to post more around here, but then, you know, I end up knitting instead or watching movies or running errands. And so on.

Our lives here in Santa Fe are pretty quiet most of the time...no rock shows to report on or embarrassing party pictures to post. Just me, my husband, our two cats and the days passing by. In the best of ways.

So, I am just going to ramble on in no particular order about what we've been doing. Or not doing.

We don't go to movies very often, but this past week, we went to see No Country For Old Men. We both liked it and in fact, felt it was one of the best new movies we've seen in a long time. I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't yet (it's been showing for awhile) and it's still playing at your local movie theater. It's worth seeing on the big screen. A few days later, I went to see Juno and I absolutely loved it. Imagine that, two of the best movies I have seen in a long time, all in one week. Next up, The Savages.

It's been bitterly cold for the past month or so. We had a break for about a week and then it started again. I guess once February rolls around, no matter where I live, I am just done with winter. Right now I am tired of freezing at home, freezing at work and wearing the same damn outfits every week because I don't have that many sweaters. Not that we moved here expecting a warm winter - I grew up here, I know that it gets cold - but the low temperatures that we've had are unusual for Santa Fe. It's been anywhere from 0 to 10 degrees for many mornings. That's cold. The saving grace is the sunshine. The afternoons are always somewhat tolerable just because the sun warms things up. And while I have had the winter blues for a couple of days, I think the daily sunshine has also saved me from a longer period of the winter doldrums. (Knock on wood.) So come on Spring! No matter that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.

Have I mentioned that it's been bitterly cold here? Oh yeah, I just did. And our cozy little home is not so cozy. We have gas wall heaters and a couple of electric baseboard heaters and they are just not that efficient. If I stand directly in front of the heater, it's nice and warm. Anywhere else, not so warm. And gas prices here are so high that even though we freeze half the time, we still have to pay out the ass for it. The utilities for our much smaller house here are significantly higher than they were for our four-bedroom house with a basement and an attic in Pittsburgh. Nothing like living in an expensive city!

Oh, earlier today while browsing Flickr, I discovered that Polaroid 779 film has been discontinued. Sucks. Fortunately I have a few packs in the fridge, but still, I wish I had gone ahead and ordered more in early January when I was ordering other film. It's already being listed on Ebay for exorbitant prices. The fact that both Adorama and B&H are both out of Polaroid Spectra film made me panic and I ordered some from a place via Amazon. Hopefully it shows up as the last time I ordered from this place, they just randomly canceled my order. Apparently Polaroid is going to stop manufacturing the OneStep cameras this year, or maybe they already have, I already forgot the specifics. That's not the end of world since I have plenty of OneStep cameras, but it doesn't bode well for the continuing production of the regular old Polaroid 600 film. One day it too will be gone. And what a sad day that will be. In the meantime, I may have to buy a bunch of the 4-packs at Sam's Club before they disappear.

My trouble with insomnia continues although I am sleeping better than I was there for awhile. I don't have trouble falling asleep at night, I have trouble staying asleep. Or maybe I don't actually have insomnia, I just have two bratty cats. Anyway, I've started keeping a "sleep journal" by the bed. Basically I just keep track of what time I go to bed, what I eat and drink, what time(s) I wake up...I don't know, I am just trying to figure out if there is a pattern to my insomnia. From what I read online, as you get older, the worse you sleep. Fabulous! Another thing I do every night is pop in the ol' earplugs. I actually hate having them in my ears, but they do help in blocking out the cat noise. The cats are pretty smart though. The past three or four nights, Rocky has been lobbing himself onto to the bed causing the bed to rock back and forth. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying this is, particularly at two in the morning. If that doesn't rouse one of us, he starts smackdown time with Simon. Now that Simon is sleeping on Will, at least he gets the brunt of the smackdown. And if that doesn't work, Rocky's final tactic is to stand on my back, forcing himself to weigh as much as possible. That usually works because it seriously feels like he is trying to crush me. Yes, our worlds revolve around the cats.

Other than going to movies, not sleeping well and freezing to death, we haven't been doing a whole lot. Working, of course. My job is slow right now and Will is heading into super crazy busy time with a de-installation/installation happening next week. I've been knitting pretty constantly for the past month or so. I love it, although I need to move on from the hat making kick soon. Hats are just so quick; I love the instant gratification. My football obsession has subsided since the Steelers lost their first play-off game and every other team that I was for during the play-offs lost as well. Now I am stuck rooting for the Giants tomorrow. Because we all know how I feel about the Patriots. Hate them. With a passion. I started feeling nauseous this morning as I read the "Tom Brady Is Perfect" article in the Post-Gazette. Gag. Sure, they'll be making history tomorrow if they win, but do I care? No. I find them to be entirely unlikable. Not to mention the cheating. Um, Mom taught me that cheaters never win but apparently that's not true. And god, I hate to even mention Arlen Specter, but I have to say, I always wondered myself why Goodell trashed all the evidence. Oh well, whoever wins tomorrow, I'm actually just looking forward to it all being over so I can have my Sundays back again.

On the music front, I've been listening to the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss CD (Raising Sand) that Will gave me for Christmas. Also Led Zeppelin Mothership, the latest Cat Power record, Jukebox, and the soundtrack from Juno. I love the soundtrack from Juno. Love it. The Cat Power record is good too, but after a few listens, it still is nowhere near being my favorite Cat Power record. I think I prefer it when she does her own stuff. I am sure there are a zillion other albums out that I should be listening to, but I am bad at keeping up with the music stuff especially without CC to burn stuff for me. Oh, I got the new Mary J. Blige too which I dig.

Okay, wow, that was long-winded. Back to knitting now. Go Giants! Hope ya'll have a fantastic weekend.