haven't even made a dent in my list

it's one of those weeks. the list was long (two pages) and tho' i steadily worked on it, there are very few items that can be checked off. many of them just take time, but it's also because i did a lot of things that weren't on the list at all (maybe i need to put them there and cross them off to feel better). but on the whole, it leaves me here, on friday afternoon, feeling like i didn't accomplish much of anything this week. and a dull headache, i also have a dull headache. and it's been cloudy all morning, tho' they promised sunshine. the danish weather people suck, they just make shit up instead of actually trying to predict the weather. seriously, if everyone were as bad at their job as the danish meteorological institute (institute no less, the nerve!), this country would long ago have gone under. the norwegian weather service, however, says to expect sunshine later today, so i imagine my mood will improve. and now i'd better get back to that list...

happy weekend one and all!

this week i do solemnly swear...

do you ever feel you're just swimming along the stream with everyone else, not thinking about life, just going through the motions? i've decided i don't want to feel like that this week. like just one of the ducks. this week is going to be different, this week, i'm going to:

~ carry a camera everywhere i go (i've gotten a bit lax about this). inspired by spudballoo's CCC, i'm charging the P&S (point & shoot) as we speak.

~ create something every day (i've also gotten lax about this).

~ systematically clear out my to do list (happily, i've already started on this).

~ exercise - this is eternally on the list, but now after reading murakami's what i talk about when i talk about running, i'm feeling inspired. maybe not to run and certainly not any great distances, but to push myself physically in order to better be able to push myself mentally.

~ take one bag of unused clothing to the local version of the good will.

i realize this list sounds rather mundane, but i figure by putting it out here, where people know about it, it will help me to stick to it. i promise to be back later with something much more entertaining.

friday lists

very busy day ahead....here's my list (because we know i love lists):

1. lots of work to do (yes, i do work, believe it or not, i just don't sleep enough)--it's this work that's currently giving me nightmares about global warming and the environment in general. 
2. hair appointment (desperately needed, nearly unable to appear in public). 
3. thing at child's school where parents must buy middle ages inspired things made by twenty-first century danish children over the past week (i saw piles of cool leather in a classroom this week, so i'm looking forward to that). 
4. having visitors from north carolina for dinner (they are not the dinner, we intend to serve dinner to them). 
5. figuring out how to connect macbook pro to big-ass flatscreen t.v. for gala confirmation party on saturday. 
6. transporting said t.v. + Wii, wiimotes and basket o'Wii games to party location without breaking or losing any of it or having to strap self to roof of elderly toyota to serve as cushion for big-ass t.v.
   
7. creating playlist for party and putting it on one of our many iPods.
8. clean out horribly dirty ancient yet reliable toyota so husband can transport the north carolinians without being completely humiliated.
9. thank heavens for GEC* and the EU because they have brought me my beautiful, wonderful, fabulous sent-from-heaven cleaning girl from poland.
10. figure out what the hell this is:

edited: second picture added for full effect:

seriously, these are the only two extra large phallic protrubences (is that a word, it's the second time i've used it this week) on this tree. i know i said that the entire plant world is behaving in an overtly sexual manner, but this is simply carrying it a bit far.

* * *

and because it's a friday a mini grateful friday list, i always forget to do these, but i love that del remembers and she's the one who originally gave me the idea. it's good for the soul to stop and think about what you're grateful for right now at this very moment (in totally random order, if it was order of importance, 3 would be 1, followed by 5 and then 6 or perhaps 4 (if husband brings home asparagus, we get them both at once)).

1. someone from the middle of siberia visited my blog (or so site meter told me). for some reason, that just tickles me. maybe because i studied in kazan and although that's not siberia, i felt the pull of siberia from there, so it's always held some fascination. i'd like to go there and dig up a frozen wooly mammoth.
2. this whole zany week of the bestowing of BoN by the blogger illuminati (thanks suecae sounds for that apt word) and the influx of new friends--thank you all so much for stopping by! double thank you for following. and quadruple thank you for the comments. looking forward to getting to know you better.
3. all of my "old" blog friends, who've been here with me through all the rants and the laughter and that whole thing with sarah palin.  you guys totally rock.
4. that husband's coming home today after being away at a course all week. 
5. there's a lovely south african chenin blanc in the fridge (6 bottles of it, to be exact).
6. asparagus is in season.
7. the sun has shined all week.
8. the birch pollen counts are already on their way down (my eyes are grateful for this).
9. jon stewart and episodes of the daily show that are only a day old.
10. that i don't have to do anything special on sunday.

 i wish you all a most glorious weekend and i hope you have lots to be grateful for this friday. and if anyone knows why that tree produced two mutant pine-cone-agtig thingies when all the rest of its pinecones are totally normal and petite, please do let me know about that....botanists...anyone...bueller?

* GEC = global economic crisis (i get tired of typing it out)

on being thirty-twelve*

looking at the year ahead and the year behind. i always feel like doing that on my birthday. i made a list last year of the things i wanted to do. i didn't publish it here because it felt a bit like some of the items were too frivolous and some were too serious. but i've referred to it off and on, just for myself. in a way it's a bit like the new year's resolutions that i don't really make, it's just at the beginning of a new year of the calendar of ME. i did some of the things and others, i wonder why i even put them there. but as i wrote last year, it somehow seems like the act of putting things down on paper is what matters. it helps you to envision how you want things to be. and that's surely a healthy thing to do.

this year, in the face of daily news of global economic crisis (GEC), i feel much more ready to pare down and live more simply. we really have all that we need, so there are no big purchase needs on the horizon (let's face it, i don't really NEED an 8,000DKK espresso machine). i want to be better at using all of the veggies that come in my weekly organic box. i want to eat less meat. i want us to use the car less. i'm not really ready to say we shouldn't have one at all, but we should park it more and use our bikes and the trains. (it's a bit easier to say that as the weather gets warmer and more spring-like). i don't need any more additions to my stash. i could craft for an entire year without buying anything at all and still have something left over. so, these are the things i'm going to work on during the year ahead . using what we have and not acquiring anything new. i think i'm really ready to do that this time.

*i don't really mind turning 42, so the thirty-twelve reference is just to be funny.

happy monday!

a repairman just came to fix my washing machine. i've been without for nearly a week. i had a different repairman out last week and he said fixing it was beyond him (imagine that), so i had to wait for this guy from the manufacturer to show up. and show up he did--he was punctual and smelled strongly of fabric softener, which i suppose is comforting when one is fixing your washing machine. he was in and out in about 12 minutes and it's working perfectly now. i am amazed. but let me tell you, three people can create an awful lot of laundry in one week, so i'll be busy for the rest of the day and into tomorrow. (our washing machines here take a lot longer than north american ones--because they heat the water themselves, rather than taking hot water from the boiler.)

* * *

my list for this week looks like this:

1. photograph eyeball pillows (if sun ever shines).
2. make 3rd eyeball pillow.
3. list the damn pillows on etsy at last, girl.
4. teach self to crochet using youtube videos (already started this one and it looks promising--easier than knitting, far less retarded monkey stance).
5. locate and remove child's candy stash from her bedroom.
6. learn to use D300 in order to stop feeling unworthy of it.
7. laundry.
8. actually put away laundry rather than being tempted to just buy new laundry baskets.
   
9. go to swimming pool at least once.
10. finish sabin's fairy costume.
11. finish dress i started for sabin, but got stuck on some pleats around the neck and didn't finish.
12. pick up some of those great pressed firewood thingies to reduce risk of chopping off limbs in firewood splitting incident (husband is away this week, attending a course).
13. go for a photo walk every day (related to 6).
14. play with fabulous wide angle lens that came with D300.
15. locate and make sure work clothes are ready for official start next week.
16. finish started paintings.
17. finish mom's birthday present (and send).
18. make tote(s) for trips to the swimming pool.
19. eat vegetarian all week.
20. make a plan for what to create for the october artfreak show.

* * *

don't you just love the themes you can apply in gmail these days? they're what's made me think google is controlling the weather--because they show snow if it's snowing and sunshine when the sun is shining. right now, i'm using the "desk" theme. it has an ever-changing array of objects on the desk and i love what's there this morning:

so funny with an apple and a planet ticket. but it does worry me a little bit that google knows me a bit too well. tho' they should know that i'm rarely back as far as row 23 in the plane, they're spot on with the aisle seat. :-)

* * *

i'm so excited about the positive responses to The Julie Project. keep checking over there this week, as we'll be getting started on all of the fun things we've got planned! i find myself feeling just a tad impatient with the 9 hour time difference (tho' i think it went to 8 this weekend, as we haven't switched to daylight savings time yet). but that's mostly because it's all fresh and new and exciting, i hope i calm down about it a bit!

p.s. i must apologize for the mundaneness of this post. it's apparently mundane monday in my world.

i can feel it

this is gonna be a great week, i can just feel it.

the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the sky is blue, the garden is filled with strawberries and my cup of tea this morning is just right--the sugar and the milk somehow combined exactly perfectly with the temperature and it started me off exactly the right foot.

these are the things i have to do this week:

1. find location in haunted castle for a brainstorming session with some creative people in late july/early august.
2. play with Print Shop and try to put together a work-related newsletter.
3. send a sympathy card to my aunt.
4. go wander about with my diana+ and use some of that expired film.
5. paint the købmandsdisk.
6. go out for a very nice dinner with my husband.
7. empty the neighbor's mailbox while she's on vacation in ireland.
8. weed in my upper garden beds.
9. tie the climbing roses to their new trellis.
10. assemble new garden bench.
11. cook something fabulous.
12. get some exercise every day.
13. get new kettle to replace old kettle which is starting to be dangerous (oh, let's face it, due to poor design, it's always been dangerous--steam burns, leaking onto the electrical bit at the bottom).
14. do something creative every single day.
15. photograph and LIST those etsy items!
16. do the monthly blog printout.
17. laundry (why does this never, ever end?)
18. dishes (these too?)
19. call the dentist.
20. call the doctor about my strangely numb left pinky (which i fear is caused by the fabulous paper thin iMac keyboard).
21. get me some new fonts here at the coolest (and free) font site i've ever seen!
22. discover at least 5 new and interesting blogs. (i may already be done with this one.)
    

on this bright, sunny monday morning, anything and everything feels possible! part of what started my week so well, was this lovely posting over on rhayne.

it's a london monday

every morning when i make my tea, i try to decide what kind of a day it will be and i choose my mug accordingly.  is it a manila morning?  a singapore morning?  perhaps seattle?  or vancouver?  often it's a chicago morning, since i lived there for a couple of years, i have a soft spot for that mug.  this morning, it felt like a london monday.

or at least i want it to be a london monday.  london is bustling with people who appear to have somewhere to be.  it's extremely multicultural.  it seems creative and vibrant if you look around you at the diversity of architecture.  it's fairly humming with activity.  people are getting things done, that's clear.  on top of it, you can get an excellent curry.  

this is how i want my day (and my week for that matter) to go...i want to move with purpose from one task to the next, really getting things done, fairly plowing through my to do list:

1. questionnaire for LNG World Shipping
2. finish up workshop article
3. human element forum plans
4. human element forum timeline
5. emails
6. invoicing
7. run errands
8. presents for Owen & Finn
9. start packing Sabin's suitcase
10. dishes
11. finish laundry
12. hang shelves
13. tidy up bedroom
14. invitations to summer party
15. post office
16. rental car
17. photograph earrings
18. post earrings on etsy
19. plane tickets to oslo for next week
20. business lunches (wednesday & thursday)

so you can see, i need it to be not only a london monday, but a london week.  i'd better start with a shower...

to do list update

stuff that's done is marked in red...partially done is marked in blue...stuff there's excuses for is marked in purple

1. figure out how to personalize my blog template.
2. make a zillion cupcakes to take to school for sabin's birthday.
3. shop for sabin's birthday.
4. take husband's bike to be fixed.
5. bead shop.
6. learn to knit.
7. put some paint on that big canvas.
8. make progress in the upstairs bedroom.
9. cook something delicious.
10. create. create. create.
11. go swimming.
12. go running at least 3x.
13. discover some new music.
14. finish the little corner at the top of the stairs.
15. make a hair appointment

as you can see, pretty good progress and there's still a couple of days left to this week. haven't been running or swimming because i'm battling a head cold and didn't think that it would be done any favors by a.) sweating out in the cold or b.) running around with a wet head. plus, i was afraid of running into the swimming pool nazi at the pool. a sauna would have been nice tho'. there's still time for me make a hair appointment. and put some paint on that canvas, even tho' i have to miss my lesson tomorrow because i'm taking cupcakes to sabin's school.

what's interesting (to me) about this list is that i didn't put anything on it that i'd already done so that i could check it off right away. i used to always do that, back in my old, hectic life, so that i didn't feel that i was already behind before i even started. i must no longer feel a need for that, which must mean that i'm healing. and becoming a normal person again. what a relief!!!

to do this week

1. figure out how to personalize my blog template.
2. make a zillion cupcakes to take to school for sabin's birthday.
3. shop for sabin's birthday.
4. take husband's bike to be fixed.
5. bead shop.
6. learn to knit.
7. put some paint on that big canvas.
8. make progress in the upstairs bedroom.
9. cook something delicious.
10. create. create. create.
11. go swimming.
12. go running at least 3x.
13. discover some new music.
14. finish the little corner at the top of the stairs.
15. make a hair appointment.