What's Changing Over Here

How I take care of my body.
How I take care of my stuff.
How I take care of my finances.
How I take care of my car.

I hope I am not the only young(ish) adult who has selectively grown up. I have adapted to some aspects of being an adulthood but have literally repelled others. The four things I have listed above are what I will be working on this year as a part of my initiative to Grow Up. No, you can not be healthy on a Burrito-based diet. No, you should not buy more clothes that are just going to wind up in The Pile. No, your bank balance is NOT your available spending cash. And, NO, don't just add some more oil instead of getting an oil change.

not even one comment!

what the heck guys. anyway. whatever.

update on the stuart little situation. SL1 seems to be an OG (that is Original Gangsta) and it doesn't appear as if we're going to be bothered by that anymore. awkward way to say that I don't think there's another mouse. anyway.

hey so for one of my art classes, i get to design four tattoos! wahoo color theory! best homework ever!

i'm curious...my favorite way to drink diet coke is cold in a can. what are other people's favorite ways? in a can with a straw? bottle? over ice/with a straw? if so, from the can, bottle or fountain? if you don't drink DC, what about just regular coke or other sodas?

went to see Dave Matthews band on friday night! wahoo! also went to see Spring Awakening on sat night! wahoo wahoo! awesome arts-filled weekend!

update on the stuart little situation

well, i have to say that i do not enjoy baiting a mouse trap, setting a mouse trap, or disposing of the deceased mouse. notttttt my favorite thing. i did bait it with bomb peanut butter, so at least his last meal was delicious santa cruz organic crunchy peanut butter. not the same as unlimited supply of delightful snacks while still alive...but...

within a couple hours of setting it, we had already caught the mouse. i'll spare you the deets, but i couldn't deal with it. it was...i just couldn't deal.

the second trap is set, but so far we haven't caught anything. it gives me a mini panic attack (a manic attack) every time i walk up to the trap.

andrea trained with me yesterday and she is dying on the couch right now. snuggling her camelbak. awesome.

there are other things going on beside the mouse problem. aren't there?

dear friends

things have changed for me since i last bahloggged. i have discontinued my employment and begun classes at the art institute of san diego. i'm drawing, what? and it's not that bad! hoping to combine my graphic design skillz with my wells degree and just get a super delightful job.

also, we have mice. they are driving me nuts so the other day i did about THE most adult thing i've ever done in my life and bought mouse traps. i bought the kind that's a box and you don't have to see the thing--literally just pick it up and throw it away. i still haven't gotten the guts to put them out because if there's one thing that freaks me out more than mice, it's dead mice. cheers to mice...........NOT.

went up to san pedro this weekend for the tall ships festival. it was delightful. saw my sweet sweet friend anna. and so many tall ships! i went aboard the USCGC Eagle, the coast guard's big ass sail butt. it was so sweet. they have three steerin' wheels!! connected! because not just one person can steer at a time! that's...a..big..boat. waa waa wee wah!

as you know, i've really started loving me some cooking! last night i made a delightful set of concoctions...

fresh bean salad (grandmother status):
garbanzo beans, kidney beans, thin red onions, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, olive oil, balsamic & apple cider vinegar (twas hoping for red wine vinegar but we were out)

pasta "amandavera":
homemade spaghetti! and essentially a stew of grape tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, and mushrooms with warm goat cheese and toasted pine nuts finished with fresh parm cheese.

baked acorn squash:
acorn squash quarters, with a wee butter, cinnamon and brown sugar

aaaaaaaaannnddd MILK!

twas good, if i do say so myself.

last: free obama button, if you want it!

oh boy, where did february go?

Did you notice that today is March. Dude, even with a leap year, February just ripped on by. What craziness. What insanity. It's cool though, cause I'd say March is pretty rad too.




Did you ever notice how some things in life are worked out for you with out you even noticing that they HAD to be worked out? Okay, that sounds like I'm trying to be overly profound. If you must vomit over that, I'll hold your hair back; but let me finish:

It hit me this morning.

Drawers are basically created so an even number of Saran Wrap or aluminum foil cartons can fit in them. Even in retro kitchen land (unfortunately where our kitchen resides) the drawer seems to exactly fit all of the various wraps, foils, papers, etc. It's neither too tight a squeeze nor aching with awkward gappage. Someone somewhere just sort of worked that out for us. Without us even knowing it had to be worked out. To that person, Cheers!




Well, I have gone several weeks bypassing telling you of one of the greatest reunions in the past six months in my life. Me and my ipod dock are back together. I know, it's great, right? Sometime in late August of 07, we broke up. And it had me down for a while. I mean, the carcass of the actual dock was haunting me, every time I looked at my desk. But it was unchargable. I had lost the AC adapter. And I couldn't find it ANYWHERE. The speakers were just TAUNTING me. "Listen to zee ipod on zis dock, eh?" (Oh yeah, my speakers have an odd German/French/Canadian sort of thing going on , not a big deal.) And I was like, "Well, I would LIKE TO." Anyway, after months of searching through various random nooks and crannies, searching Amazon to Ebay, Logitech to apple.com, I finally broke down and just called the logitech customer service folks, hoping that in a moment of weakness, driven my my utter pity, they would just send me a free charger. Turns out there's a link on their website for missing parts. $10 was all that stood between me and destiny. A shame that I can't apparently read. Anyway, we are sitting at the table right now, me posting on this weblog, my ipod dock serenading me with overly depressing Coldplay. It's harmony and melody and destiny. And not in a trashy, born-in-the-80's, "My name is Harmony" kind of way.




I had thought that, now that I am either 23 or 24 (not sure) I would stop getting acne. Blemishes. Pimples, zits, you know the deal. Well, this is horrifyingly untrue. They have seemed to utterly ignore the fact that I am an adult now. I mean, I wear high heels to work, meet friends for sushi, have money going into my 401K. An adult. Sometimes, I get these blemishes (ok, that makes it sound more adult) that no amount of Katherine's secret Murad blemish zapper can solve. That no amount of cursing, "BUT I AM AN ADULT! THIS IS UNFAIR," can fix. That no amount of pressure with a hot wash cloth can cure. Like right now. Something worthy of a zip code is cropping up right under my nose. So painful that it's hard to smile.

Was that too honest?

allow me the brief moment to discuss something with myself.

Hey Amanda,

What's up? That's cool. I've been pretty good. Well, truthfully, I've been better, but who's counting?

Oh, nothing's wrong...per se. I just...I mean...I was kind of wondering what possessed you to decide to go to Costco at 5 on a Tuesday. Via the 5. It's not that it was rude, just that it was sort of...dumb. No offense.

You were out of Diet Coke? And toilet paper? Seriously? Toilet paper and Diet Coke couldn't wait until, say, Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon? I mean...it's your life, live it how you want, but seriously, that was uncalled for.

Next time you do that, I'm not coming. That's all I'm trying to say. You'll have to get value packs of toilet paper on your own.