Enter the Fog God Neptune:

Behold.

The majesty of a foggy day. Everything is elusive, unclear and soft. I can always rely on the enjoyment I derive from such days, a happy byproduct of severe fluctuations in temperature. Or whatever reason the scientists have come up with to explain fog; its presence is as mysterious as its effects.

Since I’m currently battling the negative externalities of nesting season, choosing to capture the beauty of the world around me proved an effective emotional pacifier. And yes, I know it’s the holidays. People who date each other want to do things like nap and other indoor activities. People who don’t date anyone also want to stay in and nap. And watch movies.

Or whatever.

And it’s not like I hate inside time, I just mostly dislike it because it’s usually not as awesome as outside time.

Spending too much time indoors makes me feel like a wild animal. I already spend tons of time indoors at work all day. I have a need to be expressive. Outside. Also, I got snow boots this year, which has really revolutionized my outdoor winter experience. Maybe the people of Boston need to prioritize getting winter boots and an appropriate winter puffy jacket?

Anyway look at more photos of cool buildings. I’ve been taking lots of pictures of my environment lately. How can you not when the world is so beautiful? Plus taking pictures and walking around aimlessly is a great distraction from…

NESTING SEASON.

I’ll get over it eventually.

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Yule RULEZ

Oh boy.

Am I excited for the holiday season this year. In many respects, this is a recessionary time for me, and probably many others.

A time when we zero in on the important, intimate, beautiful parts of life and enjoy them in exquisite solitude.

The way I’ve chosen to express this phenomenon is in photographic form. With photos of snowflakes!

I didn’t actually know snowflakes were visible with the naked eye. I thought you needed some sort of microscopic lens. My whole life. Until now.

Together, with regular sight and the magic of iSight, I was able to use technological advancement to capture these elusive yet plentiful gems. Observe:

Halloweenie

I love Halloween.

This year I dressed up as a deer because my team at work dressed up like Buckhunter and we all had to match. Luckily this year it was pretty nice outside. Unlike that one Halloween where we had a snowstorm, which was cool.

But not conducive to Halloweening.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a batman onesie so I’ll probably wear that if anyone invites me to any halloween parties.

(In addition to wearing it every day for the rest of my life).

We so rarely get opportunities to let our creative side come through-plus it’s always nice to see what people come up with. I so admired the people around me for their fearlessness, their excitement and zeal! Not to mention the dedication that comes with coming to work hung over (probably)  after a Red Sox world series win (even I went out for that) and still, eveyone found time to put into their personalized, beatific creations.

We had to vote for best costume. (Obviously, since I work in a corporate office and everything is made into a championship)

I voted for myself.

a deer lolz

Plus I mean.

I brought fancy hair spray with golden glitter to make my hair more deer-like, I followed an elaborate Pinterest tutorial, and bought tights and a little girls angel costume which I dismantled to create a polka dotted skirt which I embellished with dots I cut out of white paper and super glued. I also got a lot of superglue on my fingers.

On my flesh.

And bedroom floor.

It’s totally fine if I vote for myself.

I’m having a few hang ups about voting for myself, but it will pass.

Death is all around us.

The garden is dying.

Have you ever had a salad made up, primarily, of tomatoes grown in your very own private garden? What about grapes, peppers, cucumbers (which actually didn’t fare well this year), spring unions, UNICORNS (that was just a little joke)

???

It’s taken me some time to really prepare emotionally for the coming of winter. And seeing the death and decay around me really brings it home.

Check it out!

Also, this has a lot to do with the 2014 Farmer’s Almanac which has an unsavory expectation for our impending DOOM winter.

Extra snow. Extra cold.

SIGH.

The only thing there is to do is get excited about Winter. And snow suits. Which I don’t think I can wear to work.

I mean I probably can…

It’s like they say, you know, don’t be sad it’s ending but be glad it happened.

#Notoverityet

One thing fall will bring which is extra awesome is a new phone that doesn’t whitewash breathtakingly beautiful pictures of things the second there’s natural light.  Apple thinks it’s cool to tell me I’ll get the thing I paid a lot of money for “sometime in October”, which means I’m taking it and patiently waiting because there’s no winning in the world of cell phones, service and features that are supposed to make your life easier.

If you’re considering going windows on all your technology like I did in one fell swoop, I would suggest reconsidering. That’s a strange phrase, “one fell swoop”–stranger than windows creating a phone that doesn’t take screen shots and DOES ruin all your pictures for no reason.

These ones didn’t come out too bad though.

High quality pictures of things to come!

Also you should really consider getting the Farmers Almanac. You know: get back to nature.  “Unplug and Tune In”. I’m pretty sure that’s something people are starting to say these days. Also, they didn’t pay me to say this. They don’t even know who I am. But I know who they are, and I fully endorse their excellent, witty, endlessly entertaining and informative publication, which you can get a taste of by going on their website.

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/

 “A WHOLE YEAR of forecasts?!”

Lolz.

You are what you kill. I mean eat. I mean kill.

I’m trying to launch a campaign to get fit.

I know, I’ve just lost by utilizing the word “trying”, but it’s true.  I don’t know if it’s going to work out because I’ve already associated bad things with all things healthily aerobic. I don’t know if I can “pick things up and put them down”. I don’t know if I can handle selling myself out and saddle up with the runners I despise. They take over beautiful parks, pulsing their need to be enjoyed. Quietly. Serenely. And with less ugly footwear.

I can’t pinpoint when this started happening either, but I’ve almost hit runners with my car enough times to think they’re just stupid. Because really, what am I supposed to say to their loved ones when their entrails are spilling out into the street and the ambulance has come to scrape their bodily remains off my car? “I’m sorry that your daughter is an idiot. Apparently having headphones in also makes you temporarily blind”. At this point, my driving skills have become a public service. Thank god I’m agile.

Ironic, how many runners must die every year while being incredibly careless, disregarding the rules of the road and finding the moment of their perish during their quest for healthy living. I’m sure the statistic is staggeringly high.

Fitting, the boston marathon is tomorrow. Making it impossible for cars to get anywhere near the runners for one whole day. I’d love nothing more than to  designate the day to getting a chair and watching them all go by while enjoying runner unfriendly activities.

I’ve decided to take up circuit training. Writing this instead of doing my taxes has helped make up my mind about runners. But I will do this:

Circuit Training at Home

If driving to the gym (much less working out in front of God and everybody) is a deterrent, Westcott recommends setting up a modified circuit at home. This way, you can also tailor your circuit to your fitness level. Beginners, for example, might use 5-pound weights and move up as their strength improves.

Your home circuit could go like this:

• 30 seconds of squats
• 30 seconds on a stationary bike, or jogging in place or on a treadmill

• 30 seconds of lunges (watch those knees!)
• 30 seconds of cycling or jogging

• 30 seconds of chest presses on a weight bench or sturdy table
• 30 seconds of cycling or jogging

• 30 seconds of bent-over rows on a weight bench or sturdy table
• 30 seconds of cycling or jogging
• 30 seconds of shoulder presses (push your arms straight overhead with palms facing out)
• 30 seconds of cycling or jogging
• 30 seconds of biceps curls
• 30 seconds of cycling or jogging
• Repeat the whole cycle at least three times.

Thanks Web MD!

Happy Marathon Monday! Do your taxes! I’m doing mine now! Or tomorrow.

Pockets Full of Posey

I’ve been thinking a lot about this dichotomy between the life force and the destructive force. Eros and thanatos, if you will. Although that’s a little different but I don’t think it has to be. Basic principles. Fitting, on Valentine’s day to be talking about eros really, on a day where people are having anti-valentine’s day squirrel burning ceremonies. Or whatever FREAKS do.

I think Whitney Houston is also affecting me. The whole “so much vitality” thing. Generally, I think it takes a lot of work to instill this need to create within oneself. “Creating” might even just be as easy as getting out of bed in the morning and deciding you’re going to be productive, you’re going to do things that will cast a sheet of sunlight into your life, whatever that means.

For some people, that means waking up at 5 in the morning to put metal planks on their feet and hurl themselves down the side of a mountain. For me, it means walking around aimlessly for hours, letting the wind and the sounds of a crowded city block serve as my invisible hand. To each their own. Sometimes I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to see people that I know will make me feel happy, I don’t want to embody the life force. It’s hard and it takes effort and sometimes I just want to destroy.

And this idea of destruction can also inherently beautiful too. It makes way for the new, does away with the old things in your life that no longer serve you. It gives you the power and energy to execute something. Even when bringing something to completion, you’re destroying something. If it’s complete it loses its former life as a work in progress and it becomes a new entity that takes on a life of its own. And sometimes that life is more lonely than the “work in progress” part.

This might be why I hardly ever finish paintings. Maybe I can find somewhere to hang them once they’re done. Or get over the idea that the painting might feel “sad”…

Anyway I guess the life force could be synonymous with the divine spark. The rush of activity that goes in to make something happen. A new relationship, a new job, a new project, those moments when you really want to just do something and you do and it happens perfectly. Any time you’re in “the zone”. I love being in the zone. It’s so much fun, but again, it’s exhausting. And then you want to let it all go.

What a weight the life force brings with it.

How freeing and satisfying it feels to destroy.

It’s such a balancing act. Too much destruction turns you into Whitney Houston. Too much divine spark makes you, I don’t know, schizophrenic… Unless Whitney Houston was schizophrenic… though that might have been Diana Ross.  Embracing the light rears Katy Perry post-divorce results. Have you listened to “Part of me”? My gosh!

I don’t even want to go into Katy Perry because I know that’s boring but I have to say that I love her, as I always have, and I am so proud of my girl!!

I felt so sad for her when I saw her at that awards show where she was dressed up as a Japanese doll with purple hair and a parasol. She looked sad, but you know, she was trying.

I wish I could end this post with a video of “Part of me”… but I can’t because it doesn’t exist yet.

Someone should channel some life force into making that happen, methinks.

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

Thanksomuchgiving

Well!

I’ve made a few Thanksgiving contributions for good measure. With as many invisible layers of love as I could fit. Roasted acorn squash, chocolate/peanut butter chip cookies, and cake! Strawberry, with sprinkles and multiple layers. Two.

Also this is an appropriate time to thank people who read this blog. Out of the trillions of pieces of information available readily to us on the web, some of you read this! Which is so very nice. This is also a good time to let those of you that are local know that there’s going to be a theatre production at Boston Center for the Arts on Tremont St. during April 1-8, 2012 called Boston BlogoLogues. Featuring Formula 457! It’ll be a series of vignettes (8-12) and one of them is going to be one of my posts!

What started as a hobby, an escape from drudgery and a need to celebrate all things pretty and nice (and sometimes vile and unpleasant); has blossomed into something that now has a life of its own. Our one year was actually at the end of October, but I think Thanksgiving will be my official year-end mark. I hope there will be many more eventful years to come! I’m very thankful for the attention that this Blog has gotten.

I’m also thankful for my friends and family, who are so very reliable, nurturing and exciting people–all of them. Their vitality and enthusiasm help shape me everyday and I’m lucky to have you, new and old. Please know I review this sentiment often and I’m grateful for every memory. Every person I may call a friend embodies what I perceive to be most beautiful about human nature. Thanks for a very funny, entertaining, loving, exciting, adventurous and fruitful year!

You may dry your tears now.

The results:

Cookies. I’m essentially an expert at making them now.

Cake.
I got these rubber cake holders from Ikea. Scary when you hold them in your hands and behold how …rubbery they are. But they do hold their own in 350 degree temperatures.

Before.

After!

In case you want to make them too: Cut the acorn squash into quarters, put butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, black pepper, nutmeg and a single clove on each quarter. Put in oven for 40 minutes or until your fork sinks into the flesh with minimal trying. I loaded the butter on these a bit too much methinks…

If you’ll notice the pools of butter that have collected in the valleys of each quarter…

Happy Thanksgiving!!