so, i have this problem.  i have way too many supplies.  it sounds great!  until you’re trying to sort through twelve rubbermaids to find the one thing you need to finish a project.  or, in my case, when you’ve finally got things a little bit under control and are hoping to get a few projects going. 

you see, right now, i’m feeling the artsy itch.  but i have so many potential projects to start that i can’t narrow it down to one.  i did manage to paint my herb pots (pictures when the weather evens out enough for me to get a nice, even coat of finish on them!)  but looking for the next project to start is driving me crazy.  i don’t feel like painting again, because i just did that.  which means that i have to sort through some stuff before i can get to whatever i decide i’d like to do next.  the fact that it all lives in storage boxes doesn’t help much…but somehow it’s comforting that i don’t have to find space to otherwise organize this massive haul of stuff.

i have all sorts of interesting ideas and things that would be fun.  i just can’t pinpoint which one i’m feeling at the moment.  uuugggghhhhh.

oh well.  maybe tomorrow.

i love when colin firth talks.  really.  i didn’t watch the awards the other night (in fact, i have to say “awards” because i’m not entirely certain which awards i’m referring to.  gun to my head?  i’d say the oscars.)  anyway, while i didn’t watch the show, i did scope out firth’s acceptance speech when i saw a link posted in my morning news.  i would have tended to believe that the fabulously witty and gracious comments were the result of a good writer or a whole lot of prep.  but i also saw his interview with jon stewart back in january, and found him to be just as fun and quick then.

it’s really difficult for me to watch interviews.  pretty much any interview, but especially interviews with celebrities.  first of all, with my theatre and speech background, i have a tough time not judging every intonation.  then there’s my constant fear that someone i like will disappoint me, forcing me to dislike and disrespect their work forever onward.  for example:  have you ever seen an interview with rachel mcadams?  oh.  my.  she’s down right tragically painful to watch.  and until i saw her talk, i could actually stand her.  now?  every time i see that she’s in a movie, i automatically decide to pass on it.  no huge loss, but unfortunate nonetheless.

but colin firth?  so far, he has passed the test.

i know i’m a grown-arse woman, but sometimes i still like to play pretend.  like around here, at the village star studios?  well, i’m the only employee.  but there are times when i still like to imagine that i work with several people, and it doesn’t have anything to do with being lonely.  it’s much more due to my theatre background—i just like to have a full cast of characters.  so there are days when i will just kind of let my head wander while i’m working on whatever project (serious or random).  and that’s when this sort of thing happens.

this morning, i was just finished putting out feelers for new job opps when i skipped over to a few news sites, and was shocked to discover that the musical mishaps of super bowl sunday are still in the news.  first of all, the fact that they were news to begin with?  well, that just tickles every cynical inch of me in a most unpleasant way.  but, i have to admit, i spent two hours of my sunday night camped out on my parents’ sofa to check out commercials in a life-long tradition that i’ve kept with my mom.  these days, i occupy my time with crafting while the tv’s on, since tv in and of itself has become a bizarre foreign presence in my life.  anyway, my point is that i was present when christina aguilera botched the national anthem.  and i sat through the black eyed peas’ uncomfortable halftime performance.

so freakin’ what?

we should all be honest here, folks.  raise your hand if you were watching the super bowl and got confused when christina aguilera started singing, because you thought that (surprisingly fully-clothed for freaking once in her life!) girl from glee had already done the national anthem.  go ahead.  no one can see you put that little paw right up in the air.  because a heap of reports and recollections i’ve read since sunday have said just that.  some large percentage of the nation wasn’t even aware that there was a difference between “america the beautiful” and “the star-spangled banner”.  (go ahead, again.  raise your hand if you were also unaware that the name of our national anthem was something more involved than, “the national anthem”.

did christina aguilera screw up some lyrics?  yep.  did half the country go, “huh?” when she started singing because they thought that other girl had already done it?  yep.  using that principle–and a little george carlin “ten commandments” revision action here–i’m going to go ahead and officially make that story NOT NEWS.

now.  the black eyed peas.  anyone who knows me knows that, despite my otherwise exceptional and completely flawless taste in all manner of actual music, i have a passionate and completely bizarre hero-crush on fergie.  i don’t want to dress like her, sound like her, look like her, smell like her, date her, climb a mountain with her, or even freaking meet her.  there is no suitable explanation for the fact that i can even stand her existence.  but for some reason, i just can’t hate her.  but even if i absolutely loathed the woman, i’d still have to shrug at the people who are making such a big deal over how much the half-time show sucked.

really?

when hasn’t it sucked?  remember last year?  when the who played?  remember how people complained the next day?  the who played and people whined all week.  and the year before that?  bruce springsteen.  and before that?  tom petty & the heartbreakers.  and before that?  prince.  and every single year the halftime show has sucked.  the next morning, all the cable news shows are like, “wow.  that aerosmith is really getting up in years.  did you see their halftime show?  really unfortunate.”

how are we not used to the fact that every time the super bowl comes around, all the sound techs are shrugging and throwing their hands up in the air saying, “wow!  it just snuck up on us!  should we think of a way to mix this so it sounds good in the stadium and on tv?”  then the janitor walks by and he’s like, “nah.  the people at home get up for refills on snacks at halftime.  plus they’re drunk by then, so they won’t care.  you guys chill out and just do your thing.”  and all the sound techs are like, “sweet.  thanks, man.”  and then the janitor gives them this crazy deep all-knowing look and pushes his little janitor cart around the corner.  and then the sound techs see that he dropped his hat or broom or something, so one of them runs to catch him, but when they get around that same corner, he’s gone.  like he just disappeared in a mist, or something.  at least that’s how it goes in the movie.

let’s go back to the drawing board for another revision:  if the super bowl halftime show always sucks, and this year it sucked, then no one can be surprised.  so, we’ve effectively made this year’s sucky halftime show NOT NEWS.

holy crap.  in less than ten minutes, i’ve eliminated two of today’s top news stories.  give me egypt; i’m getting scheisse done!

anyway, to get back to the point:  when i pretend that there are more people than just me wandering around this place, i like to think that we’re an important enough organization that tabloids would report on even the most obscure events of our days.  and today, the tabloid would say something like this:

“confused lols were overheard at village star headquarters early wednesday morning, when it was discovered that the unfortunate events of super bowl sunday were still in the news.  one editor quipped, ‘when you get paid over 100 zillions of dollars to do it next year and you pull it off without a hitch, then you can come back and complain.’”

so, it’s been a while since i posted last.  i know, i know.  it’s been busy around here!  lex took me to nyc for our two year anniversary (it.  was.  awesome!)  i’ve started working with the college again, this time assistant directing little shop of horrors.  i also inherited the leadership role for the local improv troupe.  and then there’s testing for job stuff and on and on and on.

needless to say, things were starting to feel a little hectic and yet…somehow…mundane.  i’d run like hell all day long, only to crash with lex in a heap of exhausted nothingness to watch random bits of movies and shows on the schmancy new tube.

last weekend, i finally decided that enough was enough.  i’ve been going through my vast mountain of craft stuff, trying to weed out various bits that i want to keep versus things that i can send someone else’s way without too much separation anxiety.  i kept coming across things that i had no use for…but was unprepared to part with—especially recyclables.  i have a habit of saving everything that would otherwise end up in the trash, if i think that i might be able to find some use for it.  this has led to a wild collection of cereal boxes, fabric scraps, and other random junk just waiting to be repurposed.  i started doing some web searches and came up with a few tutorial/inspiration sites that were packed with fascinating projects from all over the place.  doing that search was like taking the first breath of fresh air outside on a frigid winter morning.  it shocked my senses and made thrilled me in a dangerous, invigorating way!

already, i have made on full project, plus i’m about halfway through my second.  and i’ve managed to keep up regular fresh cooking and job stuff in the midst of the crafty renaissance

on a related note, it’s always nice to know that you’re not alone in the world.  so it was actually somewhat comforting for me to read that my good buddy, amanda, was stuck in a similar rut all the way out in texas.  i hate that we were both in such a pit of creative stagnation, but that makes it all the nicer that we’ve both managed to start creeping back out into artistic territory!

anyway, here’s some of what i’ve been working on lately:

made from an old t-shirt.  it’s very funky and light—it’ll be a great one to wear all the way through the summer!

this scarf was super simple and quick to make.  plus, it used up one of my favorite old t-shirts that had grown entirely too large for me, while allowing me to keep it close to my heart!

here’s another view of it—lex took the picture

i made a spider toy for the cats out of the scraps from my scarf project.  they loved it!

roasted chickpeas = awesome!

indian lentil soup.  amazing on a winter day!

both of these recipes were concocted in the kitchen on the same day.  the result?  a house that smelled so good you’d want to eat the paint right off the walls!

this week is bound to be busy, again, but i’m hoping that i can stay active with my crafting and posting on here again.  one of these days, i swear i’ll get it all straight!

so, i have to many clothes.  like…waaaaaaaay too many.  and yes, true, i have a ton of really unique and awesome pieces.  but that ton is literally everywhere.  i have a closet full.  plus two industrial clothes racks.  and don’t even get me started on the number of shoes.  purses i have actually pared down very nicely.  i have a few random colors and two really amazing giant black bags that lex gave me, which serve as my go-tos.

a few months ago, i decided to attempt to get my clothes collection tapered down to 100 pieces.  LOL.  that didn’t work.  i figured that i wouldn’t have any problem coming up with 25 items per season.  LOL.  it was unfortunate.

but i’m serious now.  i have to make it happen, because i just visited ikea.  again.  and the closets?  like everything at ikea, they were so amazingly organized!  and in each of them?  a capsule wardrobe.  ahhhhh.

therefore, over the next few weeks, i totally intend to get my things squared away.  i have looked up so many articles and pictures and concepts that my brain is just overflowing with incredible ideas!

in fact, right now, pretty much everything has me super-pumped.  i’m just in one of those good, productive sort of moods.

tomorrow, at some point, i’ll try my best to get an update about the trip lex surprised me with to nyc (OMG!!!!) and if i get anything done with that whole capsule wardrobe thing, i’ll let you know about that, too.

wish me luck!

so, right now we’ve got about 7″ of snow on the ground here.  this makes two snowfalls already this winter, which is practically unheard of for us.  the last snow we had didn’t stick and make the town pretty, it just got sludgy and gross.  but this morning?  a gorgeous, pristine blanket of snow covered everything, just begging to be explored!  i headed over to my folks house with my camera and the first thing i heard from my mom was that my dad was in the garage, waxing the runners on my old flexi flyer sled.  how many 63-year-old dads do you know who are out there waxing the runners on a sled in preparation for their own sledding adventures?  i’m glad my dad is among them  

anyway, since i’ve been sick, i made a regretful remark about the fact that i would have to limit my snow day fun.  my mom responded, “well, you probably shouldn’t go out at all.”

to which i replied, “pffft.”

there was a definite pause, during which we both considered our next replies.  mom said, “i know.  but it seemed like something a mom should say.”

and i asked, “okay.  feel better?”

she smiled, “yep.  good to go.”

i’m glad we came to that understanding.

so, not to turn this into a solely vegan foodie blog, i’m here to interject an actual post!

this week has been crazy in a very meh sort of way.  i’m trying my best to recover from whatever crud has hold of me.  between doses of allergy meds, cold meds, and mucus meds, i’ve been loopy for about two weeks now.  awesome.  it’s tough to get a lot done when you’re walking around in a constant fog, but i’ve still managed to put in a bunch of applications, which is a good move.  i’ve also had plenty of fun cooking the fresh vegan foods i’ve been showcasing on here.  and time to bond with our newest kitty friend, bijoux.  she has a particular penchant for the blankets i’ve been wrapped up in, so she’s spent most of my sickly relaxation time with me.  she’s sweet!

got to watch a crazy matching of political wits between one of my former college professors and my uncle.  it kept my phone buzzing with updates to the point that i had to leave it in the office while lex, kyle, and i enjoyed the sounds of the new home theatre system.  woo!

i was in the most despicable mood yesterday.  it was really terrible.  i was grumpy and whiny about everything, and i have no idea how anyone managed to put up with me.  bless them all for loving me enough to see past those flawed, annoying moments!

one thing i’m definitely ready for is to be back at the gym full-time.  i’m going back tomorrow, no matter how crappy i feel.  i’m tired of being so restless.  i need to run and stretch and work my muscles.  they’re very grumpy with me for keeping them still in an effort to recover.  i can only hope that getting them going will help me recover more quickly…as long as i don’t hack up both my lungs, i think i’ll be okay, lol.

had a meeting with the head of theatre at my alma mater–looks like i’ll be teaming up again.  working as the assistant director on little shop of horrors, with a primary focus on direction of the audrey II.  hooray!  i’m already so excited about getting involved with it.  auditions are this week, and i can’t wait to see what sort of talent comes out!

and other than that?  well, i’m still trying to pare down all my junk.  giving it to charities, toting it to goodwill, casting it off to friends in need, whatever.  i just have too much stuff, and it kills me to think of it.  i really need to tackle my clothes, but that’s a project that is completely beyond me at the moment.  i have so, so, so, so many clothes!  i’d really love to be one of those amazingly sleek new york women who has a core outfit of only a certain amount of items that all work together.  i’ve even actually been researching how on earth one puts something like that together.  and i keep coming back to the concept that i need all these random little pieces of stuff–all my scarves, forty-eight thousand clever t-shirts, a warm winter coat in every single color.  it’s really pitiful.  oh well, it’s one of my goals for this year, so i’ve got twelve months to work on it

well, that’s it, i guess.  gotta go get some other stuff done!  have a great week, everyone.  i’ll see you around again soon enough.

so, i got this amazing vegan cookbook from lex’s aunt for christmas.  seriously.  it’s the best vegan cookbook i’ve had yet.  all the recipes have ingredients that are fairly easy to locate (read:  available in town!), which is the first thing i inspect in a vegan cookbook.  we don’t all live in california, vegan cookbook writers!  anyway, one of my goals for 2011 is to become more familiar with the staples of vegan cooking (and, thereby, form my own pantry-worth of go-to noms).  i figured that a pretty easy way to do this would be to take on a handful of new recipes each week.  i didn’t really make any rules or anything about the challenge.  just some common sense guidelines like a focus on trying out new veggies and herbs and making smart lists so that a weekly trip to earth fare wouldn’t be required.

this being the first week of the year is also the first week of the experiment, or whatever you want to call it, and so far:  woohoo!!

here’s the menu i made for the week.  all of these recipes have come from robin robertson’s vegan planet.

ginger-scented pot stickers
thai-style leaf bites
chili taco salad
tofu and veggie lo mein
cheesy chili-topped pizza

on monday night, i spent some time actually making vegan wonton wrappers from a recipe i found online.  i couldn’t locate vegan wrappers at a store, but my internet search turned up a super-simple and ridiculously cheap recipe (seriously:  flour, salt, and water.  that’s it.)  i decided to give them a try with whole wheat flour, instead of regular unbleached, and we used them to make the potstickers.  the dense wheat texture actually made an incredible packaging for the yummy filling recipe!

this was only half the dough—i ended up just rolling it on top of the oven!

doughin’ it up right

once they were stuffed, they went into the wok to fry in a little peanut oil:

what did one dumpling say to the other?
i feel stuffed! 
(insert rimshot here)

in the last step, you add a little soy sauce and water and let it cook off—it ends up glazing the dumplings with this sticky, caramelized goo that tastes like heaven!
lex made up a quick batch of brown sugar and teriyaki dipping sauce that finished them off perfectly.

dumplings, your days are numbered.  soon, you’ll meet your fate—in my tummy!

we also made the tofu and veggie lo mein…but that all got devoured before i could think to take a picture, lol!  the only thing i’d do differently next time is to marinate the tofu in a little soy before cooking it.  it needed a little oomph (as tofu often does).

let me pause and say that working in the kitchen is so relaxing for me.  there’s something blissfully peaceful about chopping fresh veggies and creating something delicious from scratch.  as crummy as my body has been feeling lately, that therapy was much-welcomed last night, as i made the chili taco salad.  first, i made fresh tomato salsa, which is simple, fresh, and delicious on its own.  but then, i grabbed a bowl and layered vegan chili, the fresh salsa, some chopped avocado, chopped red pepper, and chopped olives.  here’s what it looked like then:

naked party dip!

then i added the vegan cheddar shreds we’d gotten at earth fare.  the packaging touted that it would melt and string like real cheese.  reviews i have read online say this kind is the most like the real thing you can get.  we’ll see…

wanted:  vegan cheese that behaves like real cheese.

i dressed it up like it was going to a party

the belle of the ball

and put it in the micro to see if it would actually melt…

i’m meeeeeeeelllllllttttttiiiiinnnnnggggggg!

the result?  a-freakin’-mazing!  i have to go ahead and tip my hat to the daiya brand for making an excellent vegan product.  the cheddar shreds used here are completely worth every cent.  the cheese melted like real cheese, actually tasted cheesy, and totally tempted poor rorschach, who was certain that i’d made the dish just for him.

i can haz?

in the end, i must have had throwing parties on my brain, because i got so carried away with all the layering and pretty presentation-ing that i totally forgot it was supposed to be chili taco *salad*.  i left the shredded lettuce concept out completely, in favor of making a giant bowl of fiesta flavor.  which is how we ate it.  yellow corn chips, cheesy chili dip, and a couple episodes of dexter.  it was a good night!

so, lex and i finally decided to do our christmas celebration yesterday afternoon, and it was awesome!  cat santa visited, wrapping paper flew, and hysterical laughter, hugs, and kisses were had all around   since we’ve decided to give each other the gift of travel for the big gift-giving occasions, this christmas was completely new territory.  it didn’t feel right to just let the holiday go by without exchanging anything, so we had a sweet, laid-back, and low-key exchange.

my stack of (mostly) eco-wrapped gifts from lex

from me to lex:  a ridiculous pooping duck, just for fun, a set of mirrors to hang up around the house, a crazy vintage lamp that was a heck of a thrift find, and a set of flameless candles (with timers!) like the ones he has envied at my aunt and uncle’s place in fl.

from lex to me:  a five-pair set of purple socks (hooray!), a jane austen action figure, a custom-printed fat unicorn shirt (LOL), and a gorgeous missoni scarf!

my scarf came in the original missoni folder, even.  it’s amazing.

and an equal exchange between the two of us:  as soon as we decide where we’d like to travel next, we’ll put in the money to book it right away

nari and rorschach knew cat santa had visited as soon as they heard the jingle bells in their stocking.  but bijoux?  she had no concept of the joys of christmas, lol.  it pretty much just freaked her out.  we did finally manage to introduce her to catnip, and it was priceless!

rorschach checking out his stocking

nari and rorschach, rolling in the catnip…

then playing with us

lex could hardly put the catnip out, because nari just wanted to love on the bag!

bijoux’s first nip-trip   

bijoux getting some love from dad 

nari and bijoux, playing with one of the jingly toys cat santa brought      

lex doles the cat-stocking goodies throughout the year to keep the toys fresh and exciting.

this is rorschach letting us know that he knows exactly where the stocking is kept.

alright gang, here’s the christmas debriefing   slept at the martin household christmas eve night in order to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for christmas round 1.  santa visited sometime in the night bringing all sorts of goodies for our stockings.  the very first things i opened came from lex—matching ugly christmas sweater t-shirts from woot, LOL!!  among a plethora of excellent surprises,  i received a new battery charger and batteries for my camera—just what i needed!  it’s been getting pretty unfortunate lately, digging through my old camera bag in search of some combination of ancient AAs, hoping that i might come up with a winning pair that would hold some sort of charge.  no more worries on that front—i’m all set!  also got a particularly awesome reusable water bottle (with my name on it!  i’m such a sucker for that kind of thing!) it even has a top that will accommodate a carabiner clip, so i can hook it right to my pack when we hike.  hooray!

over at nit’s (christmas round 2), my brother and my future sister-in-law racked up a set of schmancy silverware from my grandmother—plus pretty much the rest of their table spread from me.  napkins, placemats, napkin rings, etc.  they seemed excited to get some stuff from their registry—i think that worked out well!  i got my irish import perfume—nit always stocks me up on it at christmas.  this year, i got an additional bottle, as the company just launched a new fragrance.  i’d been hoping to get a chance to sniff it out—i love it!!  gave my mom a certificate for her salon and a couple new headbands for the gym.  gave nit a receipt showing that i’d paid extra into her electric bill, since our christmas tradition looks like this:

3750 lights.  ornament count won’t be final until we take ‘em all off!

i also gave lex the requested “craziest thing you can find in a thrift store in florida” gift:  hanukkah sand art.  he laughed appropriately

over at mom and daddy’s place (christmas round 3!), the christmas haul was in great danger of causing the front of their house to erupt, as usual.

a brief, and therefore, not anywhere near complete list of items received there:  books, jewelry, hiking/camping gear (including spandy new sleeping bag and funky hat, woo!), makeup stash for the year (plus a whole heap of new nail polish in ridiculously awesome colors), purse stash for the year, a bunch of snacks from earthfare, gift cards and a bit of cash.  i know it sounds like i’m glossing over all the good parts, but if i listed every single item i got, we’d be here for days!!

awesome things that others received:

lex got a grow-your-own portobellos kit and a gigantic wok from my folks.  he just served lunch out of the wok for the first time today—that was an intelligent investment!  also, mom gave him a vertebra mug.  it’s pretty cool stuff.

my folks gave my brother some heirloom paintings of our family crests.  i think he liked them a lot.  i’m really glad they gave them to him, because i think that’s such a nice gesture for a guy getting ready to start his own branch of the family tree!

my dad gave my mom a pretty, sparkly ring

and james, erica, and i gave daddy a brand new bike—complete with a matching bell!

after all the gift-giving was done, james and erica headed out to do christmas round 4 with her family, while lex and i stayed to have lunch with my folks.  mmm, tofurkey, lol.  mom had a surprise for all of us—she’d used the handmade ornaments that nit’s been making for the past few christmases to decorate the shelves in their dining room:

here are some other shots of how their house was done up for the big day:

in the evening, lex and i headed back to see his family for christmas round 4.  vegan bbq, brownies, and cookies for dinner, yum!!  it was so good to see everyone—i hadn’t seen that side of his family for a while!  libby’s boyfriend, chris, even made it down and i know that made her so happy   lex and i got to show off our ugly christmas sweater shirts—they were a big hit, lol.

excellent gifties all around, including a heap of new (and much, much needed!! jeans for me), a really super black vest and shirt combo, some wicked cool scarves (including an infinity scarf, which i’d had in the back of my mind to purchase for myself soon), a booklight (finally!  one that works!!), and a vegan cookbook, which thrilled me to death.  i’ve already bookmarked the first five recipes that will be made from it, lol.  and one of the best parts of the evening?  as we were opening presents, it started to snow!  that’s right, all of my silly predictions of a white christmas actually came true!

and after all that, i still have christmas round 5 left!  lex and i save our christmas for a quieter, calmer time when we can really sit down, appreciate exchanging gifts, and enjoy just being together.  poor kitties—cat santa waits until these cat parents celebrate christmas

ahh.  that’s the rundown.  even for making each round as short as i could, it’s still a long post.  and the shortening i did doesn’t really let any of the excitement of the day shine.  i suppose, in summary, all i can do is assure you all that it was the most wonderful, happy, thrilling, surprising, exciting christmas i’ve had so far.  and after 26 years of wonderful, happy, thrilling, surprising, exciting christmases, you know that’s saying something.

so, to my immediate family, my family of friends, and my friends of family, thank you, far more than these few words could ever express, for making it the best one yet.