Mar. 28: Daybook

Today…

Outside my window... there are tons of new blooms in the front yard—the daffodils, crocuses (crocii?), and hyacinths have all popped open, and the tulips are well on their way. It’s so cheery and lovely that even with the grey skies today, it seems like spring is on its way.

This weekend, I… enjoyed Poker Night with friends. It was a blast, as always. I remember a lot of loud talking and grabbing of Val’s boobies and way too many kids downstairs and at one point I looked down and all my chips were gone. Someone stole them, I just know it, because how else would they have disappeared? I spent all of yesterday recovering from Poker Night. Yep, this girl overdid it just a bit, but it was worth it. **

**It wasn’t actually worth it. I still feel like someone kicked my head in.

I am thankful that... we went to Medford last week. It was good to get away from home—it almost felt like being on vacation. Thanks for having us, Mom! We found a new bead store that we loved, and got to visit with Uncle Paul and Claire, Nana (stories later, I promise!), my favorite cousin Deanna, and GILLY GILLY GILLY.

I am working on... some new décor ideas for my office. See, I have these IKEA boxes:

…and I want them to look less boring. I found this paper (the photo is a super-duper close-up of the teeny-tiny print):

…that has the new wall color in it, and I hope to combine it with other colors to pretty up those plain white boxes. I’m not sure yet how it will all come together, but if it looks even halfway purty, you can be sure I’ll share a photo or seven.

I need to tell you about something I love: stamped metal jewelry. You know what I mean:

etsy has tons of it, and I am going to learn to do it too. I don’t think metal stamping can really be just a hobby—the supplies are far from cheap—so I might just have to start my own etsy shop. That’d be a darn shame, right? I found this site that tells all about metal stamping, and I’m very excited to get started! Can you just imagine how satisfying it will be to pound out letters on metal? The hammer! The noise! The dents in all my furniture! I predict my anxiety levels will decrease dramatically with the first strike.

I am kind of excited because… Fancy Anthony™ is talking about creating a Stuff Jen Says iPhone app! I have no idea what it’s supposed to do, but it sounds way cool, because, um… STUFF JEN SAYS IPHONE APP. Hello! Suggestions friends came up with while playing poker: a drunk Facebooking translator, a keyboard that creates gibberish, a breathalyzer that locks me out of Facebook if my blood alcohol content is above “legally shit-faced,” and I just realized all of the features have to do with me being a drunk. Hm. Not so excited all of a sudden.

A few plans for the rest of the week: work, a visit with Sarah Vowell tomorrow night, PTO thangs, more work. Tentative plans: daily naps. One can hope, can’t one?

Here is picture for thought I am sharing: It’s more art from Curly Girl Designs. I just can’t get enough of her creations.

Have a good week, my pretties.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Oct. 9: More Sarah

Well, for a little while it looked like I might have to go to Indianapolis next week, but I’ve just found out I’m going to be home after all. What does this mean for you? Nothing. But for me, it means I can see Sarah Vowell when she’s in town Tuesday night. Hooray!

Here she is on The Daily Show a couple days ago.



Ed, are we on? PLEASE? It will make Mother Mary greeeeen.

Oct. 8: Sarah Vowell shines

If you’re familiar with NPR even a little bit, you may have heard of Sarah Vowell. If you’ve seen The Incredibles, you may recognize her as the voice of Violet. And if you’ve spent much time with me or my mom, you’ve probably heard us sing Sarah Vowell’s endless praises. We love her.

I probably know her better as an author than from all the other work she’s done, although I remember seeing her on Letterman years ago—at the time I had no idea who she was, but thoroughly enjoyed listening to the very clever interview. I would compare her to David Sedaris—a smart, witty writer—but instead of writing about wacky family members and travel experiences, Sarah Vowell writes about history and politics. This is her Wikipedia page. And here you can find an overview of her work and schedule of appearances.

The topics of her books are especially interesting, even to a non-history buff like me. Her last, Assassination Vacation, is about what she learned while touring sites of important assassinations in our country’s history. Her newest book, The Wordy Shipmates, came out yesterday; it’s about her research into American Puritans.

If you’re not a TiVo convert yet, what is wrong with you? Don’t you listen to anything I say? Because one of the best things about TiVo is being able to create a wish list so that any upcoming show that lists “Sarah Vowell” on it will be recorded. That’s how I caught her scheduled appearance on The Late Show Monday night. For your viewing pleasure, I dug up the YouTube video of the interview.



I love the part about the Supreme Court decision with which Sarah was not so pleased.

Barnes & Noble page for The Wordy Shipmates
Amazon page for The Wordy Shipmates

Sarah’s reading from her new book in Portland next week. I’m not sure I’m going to make it to that event, but I went to her last one and thought she was fabulous. If you ever have the chance to hear her lecture in person, go. You will most definitely be entertained.

July 10: Laurie Notaro again

This morning I wrote about an author I recently discovered, Laurie Notaro. This evening I was looking around the 'net for more info about her and found out she lives in Eugene (Lori, I hope you won't hold that against her). The cool thing about this is that she may do more frequent readings in this area on her current book tour. I love going to author appearances; my favorites so far have been Armistead Maupin and Sarah Vowell. I'm hoping to see David Sedaris when he's in the northwest in October. Now Laurie Notaro's on my list too. Yay!

--Jen