Casual Fancy

Duh

2009-12-03T22:37:00.002-06:00

So if you encountered the wrong link in my last post, it's because I stupidly waited to change the title and URL of my blog. Try this one.

Forget you, Blogspot!

2009-12-01T20:54:00.004-06:00

The last couple years I've thought about summing up my year "formally," and by formally I mean in a blog that almost no one will read but that feels more official than making myself a list I will eventually throw away. So! I'm going to do this challenge. Seems fun. And I'm going to do it here, because I think Tumblr is easier to administer than Blogspot. Also, shiny new thing!

my friend is a famous photographer

2008-06-26T21:52:00.003-05:00

... or on her way, at least.

Our friend Peggy Gentleman has a show coming up at the Arc Gallery in Chicago. In an act of our usual awesome timing, we will be out of town for the opening reception on July 11, but the exhibition runs until the 26th so we'll be going to see it while it's there. I've never seen either of our portraits in super-size.

This one touched off her "Lady" series:

And this was literally my first introduction to Jed, who I thought was probably the coolest and cutest guy ever: It was on the postcard and promotional posters for the original show--Jed was being pimped all over town. That's how I learned his name--it was all downhill for him from there...

tiny cuteness

2008-06-25T18:21:00.004-05:00

I was lazily scrolling through my Google Reader, imprinting the pattern of my wedding rings into the side of my face, when I came across these little cuties on Design Sponge:

Holy crap, I want to squeeze them and love them.

complaining and distraction

2008-06-23T15:46:00.004-05:00

I broke my left foot 9 days ago, and I'm still sad and disappointed. The above picture is NOT my foot, but the fracture is almost identical to mine. The pain, swelling and bruising, the impossibility of sleeping in my own bed until a week after it happened, the exhaustion of getting around on crutches, the inability to carry anything in my hands from one place to another--it's all just a huge bummer. It's the beginning of summer, I was looking forward to riding my bike to work every day, we're going on vacation to the mountains in less than two weeks, my car has a manual transmission and therefore I can't drive it--and I have a long 8 weeks of healing ahead of me. Jed is being great about it all but I'm sure he's going to reach his threshold of how many times he can refill my water glass. I seem to have lost my appetite for food and gained a touch of insomnia. This is my life now and it both sucks and blows.

However:

I have gotten really good at carrying items: with two fingers, in a tote bag, on my head, and under my chin
Crutches are an amazing upper body workout. My arms are rockin.
At some point I will be able to put some weight on it and walk around.
I only broke one bone in my foot--not my leg, or my head.
I was able to borrow my mother-in-law's sweet Subaru Forester (which she can't drive because she has a broken wrist) and now Jed and I have His-n-Hers Foresters.
The bruises are lots of crazy colors.
When I look back on this it won't seem as endless as it feels now.
I can't think of anything else.

I think it helps to get it out, but I'm also tired of hearing myself complain about it. It's impossible to forget about because it affects every move I make. So now I'm just trying to distract myself with good books, knitting projects, music, TV on DVD, etc.--trying to make my fun leisure activities feel more productive. Remind myself that there's stuff I like to do, and stuff I like about life, that doesn't involve the use of both my feet.

So I give you, in no particular order, my two favorite Beatles songs:
I've Just Seen a Face and Only a Northern Song.

those are my boys (and girl)

2008-05-08T23:33:00.007-05:00

Phish won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jammys--which are what you might guess: the awards ceremony for the jamband world. Here they are, in what might be their first time on a stage together since 2003:

My favorite local band Cornmeal was honored with New Groove of the Year, as a band that is gaining national recognition on the scene. Gone are the days when I could go see them for free in a tiny bar and have plenty of room to rock out right up front. I met my husband in that tiny room with that band. I'm happy for them, but I miss those days because hey, that's *my* band. They're my buddies, not jamband rock stars. At any rate, they have earned every ounce of recognition they get, and happen to be very kind people that make great music. I have played them for people with zero interest in bluegrass or jambands and made fans of them. I took this two years ago at Summercamp:

Have a listen. One of their best songs, River Gap, has a friendly little mention of yours truly :)

there are no words

2008-04-30T22:58:00.002-05:00

eternal poppety pop? i'm in!

2008-04-12T13:02:00.002-05:00

We all know the joys of bubble wrap and the ways technology has advanced its enjoyment. Well, our innovative Japanese neighbors have outdone themselves on this one.

Fidgeters everywhere, behold: Eternal Poppety Pop

little, tiny, canadian

2008-04-04T17:07:00.002-05:00

This house might just take small-space living to a whole new level... at least in the Midwest. Apparently for residents of places like NYC and Hong Kong it looks pretty spacious.

don't forget the E!

2008-04-03T12:39:00.003-05:00

Anne of Green Gables turns 100 this month! This article by Margaret Atwood (another one of my favorites) brought back so many of the things I loved about Anne Shirley and her grand entry to Avonlea. I got into the PBS series from the moment it first aired--I'm sure due to my parents' encouragement. Any other Anne-with-an-e's out there know that gives you an automatic kinship--makes you kindred souls, if you will. Then of course I read the book, watch, read, repeat. Atwood is right--the adult Anne in the following books isn't the same, nor is Avonlea, but the original title is enough to satisfy.

fun in Minneapolis

2008-03-31T17:11:00.005-05:00

I spent 4 days last week in Minneapolis for the Public Library Association's national conference. There were so many things to appreciate about the city and the conference... in no particular order:

Being in one place with almost 10,000 other public librarians was inspiring in itself--we all, as Kevin pointed out, speak the same language, and we all (hopefully) have the same mission. This was my first library conference, so I can't speak from experience, but at the American Library Association conference you get all types--archivists, law librarians, librarians for McDonalds and other corporations, etc. They're great too, but I'm passionate about the public service side of things and it's nice to have the whole conference apply to that kind of work.
Seeing my beloved cousin Nathan and his lovely wife Anna. He's a Michigan transplant to Minnesota and has managed to pick up the accent in the last 14 years. It's cute.
Karen Hyman, director of the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, Joyce Saricks, Reader's Advisory guru, Greg Buss, director of the Richmond, BC Public Library, and many other less famous but no less talented librarians and presenters. Basically, being in the presence of greatness.
We ate really well: happy hour at McCormick & Schmick's, lunches at Hell's Kitchen and Keys Cafe, and dinners at Oceanaire and Cafe Lurcat.
Being a new librarian, I was especially enthusiastic to be able to participate (this came up in my first week of employment and I was fortunate to be chosen to go!), and I came home with lots of practical ideas, new contacts, and grandiose inspiration.
Minneapolis is clean; it has good architecture, lots of public art, and a building awesomely labeled FOSHAY; the Skyway is brilliant; and it's surprisingly cosmopolitan for the Upper Midwest.
Um, being there on the library's dime didn't hurt. :)

And now, drunk librarians:

Photo courtesy of Kevin Yezbick.

wedding dances

2007-12-02T13:59:00.000-06:00

So the best "first dance" I've ever seen at a wedding was my sister's:

But this other one I found might be the funniest:

unexpected from google

2007-11-29T17:19:00.000-06:00

This is definitely not what I was expecting when I clicked on the headline "Never a dull moment" on the Google blog. Really cool stories, and I love that they shared them with their "audience" in this way. It says a lot to me about a company or institution when they openly celebrate personal events and accomplishments in their employees' lives.

lifelong learning!

2007-11-27T23:42:00.000-06:00

Tagged by my dear sister oh so long ago!

"Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one course from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take."

Here goes...

1. I would take accounting with Susan, and hope that they cover municipal budgets.

2. Spanish. I really wish I knew how to speak/understand Spanish.

3. Pattern making and other complicated sewing methodology so I could design clothes and fabulous purses. It would be nice to confidently sew something that wasn't a straight line and be able to work with more challenging fabrics than calico.

4. Woodworking. This is something Jed and I have talked about doing together. I have always wanted to learn how to make my own furniture and work with power tools.

5. Yoga or Pilates. I would really like to get back in the kind of shape that yoga classes 3x a week gave me.

6. Business management. Always helpful.

7. Public speaking. Ditto.

8. Creative writing.

9. Being a librarian involves lots of continuing education, so workshops, conferences, seminars and webinars are a given.

10. Rock climbing. I'm not sure you could say that this would directly "fix" my life (didn't know it was broken), but it would definitely be an exercise in brute strength and overcoming my fear of heights.

11. I'd like to join my 3 musician siblings in knowing how to play an instrument (unless egg shaker counts, in which case I too am an accomplished musician).

Well, sorry meme rule-maker, I want over. I could probably go on; I'm always finding new hobbies to pick up and things I want to learn about.

Why, hello there...

2007-11-13T13:43:00.001-06:00

More strangely cool pictures of weirdo insects here. Some are actually very pretty, some are familiar and yucky, but all are much more attractive than the million-legged villain plaguing our apartment on a semi-regular basis. Jed brutally killed one yesterday; score for the Slaughterhouse!

best telemarketer response ever

2007-11-10T15:26:00.000-06:00

So this conversation necessitates staying on the phone with the telemarketer in question and I can't see myself actually doing it, but I think it's hilariously brilliant.

fear of heights, anyone?

2007-11-08T12:28:00.000-06:00

You won't catch me going anywhere near this rock in Norway. I'll be the one hiding my eyes while my husband (who happens to be of Norwegian descent) clambers on happily. Yes, that's a 3000-foot drop.

From Deputy Dog via Neatorama

quirky and fun

2007-11-07T18:27:00.000-06:00

So far, the focus of this here blog seems to be: randomness. Is that legitimate? That is why it is so named, after all. Casual being somewhat of a euphemism meaning random (thank you, thesaurus!). Today the randomness that strikes my fancy is other blogs.

I give you: quirky blogs that I've discovered along the way.

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

BSC Headquarters (Baby Sitters Club nostalgia!)

Food Porn Watch

Facehunter

Tesla rocks!

2007-11-06T19:45:00.000-06:00

What I know about electricity could fit neatly into an outlet, so when I Wikipedi-ed Tesla coils I still didn't really understand a word I read.

What I do understand, though, is that THEY'RE AWESOME!

Also, so fun to hear them rocking out the original Super Mario Bros. theme!

got a spare $3M?

2007-11-02T12:07:00.000-05:00

You could buy a town in Texas! It reminds me of the slightly creepy but happy little town of Spectre from Big Fish.

friday happiness

2007-11-02T11:14:00.000-05:00

5 things I'm happy about this Friday:

1. Celebrating my brother-in-law's 40th birthday with him tomorrow

2. Sick time, so I can go home and hack up my lungs in peace

3. The crafty projects I have waiting in the wings

4. Squash season (as in butternut and spaghetti, not the sport, though I do love me some racket sports)

5. Beautiful fall weather

it's like crack

2007-10-31T18:59:00.000-05:00

Who wants some bubble wrap? You have to have sound enabled to get the full experience. And don't say I didn't warn you! Thanks to my hardworking father for the link!

oh, THAT'S why

2007-10-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

Overheard today:

"Yeah, they changed Daylight Savings Time so the trick-or-treaters would be out when it was still light."

seven things

2007-10-27T17:54:00.000-05:00

Wow, my little baby blog has been tagged, and I'm finally following up on it. Thanks Susan!

So, seven true things about me.

1. I am a lazy perfectionist with a short attention span and an eye for detail. (Like my dear sister, I have a bit of a contradictory nature.)

2. My favorite snack food of late is New York Style Roasted Garlic Bagel Crisps.

3. I am a voracious reader and will sometimes be taken in by books I'd rather not admit to enjoying. A recent example of this is the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. As I read the first book, I marked the pages that contained the ultra-cheesiest lines so I could go back and crow about them. It's wildly popular with the teens, but it reads like a paperback romance and it's terribly edited. So why am I now reading the second book, wishing the whole time that the writing and characters were living up to their potential? I want to know what happens with all the teenage vampire and werewolf drama! Definitely going to have to read some Philip Roth or something after I shake this off.

4. I daydream pretty regularly about vacationing in the Caribbean.

5. I worry about getting cancer, having a heart attack, diabetes, and losing my husband. Perhaps because all of the above have been visited on our families in 2007.

6. The Last Unicorn has been my favorite movie since I was 3 years old.

7. I have new glasses, a new haircut, a new computer, and a new job!!

tentacular

2007-10-26T11:50:00.000-05:00

EEEEE!!!
From Boing Boing.