Slipping

There's this phenomenon happening in my life right now that I have begun to summarize as 'slipping'. It starts with not yet scheduling your 6-month teeth-cleaning almost a year from your last one, and morphs until you cannot frikkin believe you have been putting-off living your best life and merely wading through the days.

You might say that one pillar of my belief system is The Four Agreements. One of the agreements is to always do your best, rain or shine - just knowing that your best is multidimensional and fluctuates from time to time.

I have not been doing my best lately. I used to be more on top of things. Wasn't I? Why am I not doing yoga? Unbelievable! Why didn't I make myself lunches for work last night? Did I just stare at a wall for 30 minutes? Where did the time go! What have I been doing?

Not my best. Not my worst....

I've decided I need to reframe what doing my best means in various contexts. I will be breaking down big tasks, like performing the duties of my paying job, into things I can get behind doing - such as creative thinking, scientific thinking, effective communication, and education.

Onward to defining what I aim to do, and doing my best in each moment. One tiny moment at a time...

Recipe art

As my "kitchen" comes along, I daydream of having prominent recipe reminders. Why not remind myself that I like fritters and that I can jazz up carrots? Why not be reminded of what I can do with that jar of anchovies and the transformative power of roasting?

To this end, I'm collecting screenshots from my Instagram feed. Just imagine something like this blown up, printed (how? hmmm...), and framed:

If done right the recipes can be rotated when you're inspired by new things. Don't worry - it's most certainly fair use!

Featured chef-style Instagrammers:

Phyllis Grant, queen of anchovies and kindred CA curser

Amanda Waddell, cookbook editor, breakfast champion, Indian food integrator

Ashley Rodriguez, creator of these particular salted chocolate chunk cookies I kept reading about, and then made, and now, full trust

Deb Perelman, she who prances around NYC and cooks her famous food

Sarah Britton, my shining north star in Copenhagen

When in doubt, do the dishes

There's this saying I use when overwhelmed with the amount a cleaning it takes to live as an adult American human:

I want this cross-stitched onto a throw pillow somehow. My quick search for custom cross-stitch pillow cases turned up rather fruitless. Who's got an embroidery machine and wants to make some good Etsy money?

Does this mantra speak to you? Perhaps you're more of a "when in doubt, do the laundry" kinda person, or "when in doubt, make coffee". Or perhaps you'd rather have pictures of roadkill on your pillows before reminders of chores.

I get that.

Ode to Southwest

Photo taken on Mother's day. Not-so-subtle, see!

Recently I had the luxury of flying Southwest on both Mother's day and Memorial day. Weeks before Mother's day I was on another Southwest flight and saw this not-so-subtle advertisement for free drinks on these upcoming holidays. I was psyched!

I was also nervous. When the flight attendants did their spiel, they didn't change it for the holidays. They pretended drinks were still all $5. They reminded us that they don't take cash. I began to sweat.

Each time my flight attendant gets to me and asks for my drink order, I order a Bloody Mary with gin (also known as a Red Snapper, a Ruddy Mary, or as one bitchy male bartender once told me and I can't confirm, a British Mary). She/he silently nods, takes down my order, and carries on. No asking for my coupon or my credit card. Just... acceptance. And delivery.

I felt like shouting from the wingtips, DON'T BE FOOLED, EVERYONE - THE DRINKS ARE FREE!!!!

You can't fool me, Southwest.

As I flew on Delta recently and the flight attendants were snooty and disengaged, and as I wait for this flight on Frontier which charges extra for coffee, carry-on luggage, and cc's of oxygen, I miss you my sweet, sweet Southwest.

Fair finds - Part 2

Remember when I reported that I would diligently follow the amazing crafters I ogle at craft fairs by utilizing a folder in my bookmarks bar? Yeah. Well. That was like two whole laptops and fresh starts ago. Perhaps a better system will be to chat about them here and tag appropriately as "gifts". Yes. Let's try that.

And now, jewels to remember from Maker Faire, Bay Area, 2015:

"Be still my heart"-pottery. Such beautiful platters, mugs, and bowls, oh my.

Hand-painted laser-cut wooden jewelry. Kicking myself for not buying a constellation brooch.

One of a kind marbling effect from scraped-off graffiti. 

The tailored fashions of my Lois Lane alter ego. Dots to boot.

Free color consultations

I hereby offer the world my free color consulting services. If you present to me a problem in which you need to make a color-based decision and need a second opinion, you are free to email me (this was always true, of course). Tell me what's going on. Which way are you leaning? What other colors are at play and can't be changed?

I like thinking about colors and will happily ponder your dilemma. I especially like picking wall paint colors, but I'm up for anything. 

Recently I helped my sister pick a wall color for her newly renovated kitchen-dining room situation. Here's what I knew - she has cherry cabinets and stainless appliances. There is a white door in the dining room and white trim. The floors are on the light side of medium brown.

What she wanted - she was thinking warm. Very tan. A bit orange. Some brown. Very neutral and warm. She was leaning light in tone under the common assumption that it lessens the pain of regret.

What I suggested - I suggested she not go warm, and instead go cool to balance the cherry cabinets. If she was going to stay neutral, I was trying to get it as far from beige as possible. When I learned she really wanted a tan color for the adjacent living room, I was sure cool (or as white as possible) was best.

Light blue-green/sage was my first impulse because red and green are complements and blue would keep it more to this family's tastes. I stayed with Behr colors because that's where she started and it was easiest. When pressed for top choices for THIS situation, I suggested mainly light colors for the same reason as my sister. I later went back and told her that if she embraced the blue-green idea and thought she could go deeper, Recycled Glass was my new top choice.

She ended up going with my first top choice (for her), Whitened Sage. It's quite white, she reports. I'm told you can only really tell it's green when you look at it near the white trim. This doesn't please me, but total satisfaction and non-regret is reported. Go team!

Temp tat tizzy

Temporary tattoos have got me in a tizzy. Three months ago I purchased a Tattly subscription and sadly, those splendid deliveries have ended.

Here are a few of my favorites from the website:

One great thing about the subscription service is that they'll send you some that you can't buy solo - ones that only come in sets. I got "stop and smell the roses" from the floral set and love love loved it.

the floral set

I'd really like to buy the floral set and the lovely set and mix a bunch together for a "half sleeve" look. Then I'd waltz around town, go about my business (but not to work - not that brave) and see what it's like. When I have just one tat showing I feel different. A little badass, edgy. A little cooler (or wannabe cooler). And I wonder if I'm judged in any way. I'm wondering if I judge people this way. Kinda like donning a fat suit, I'll don a tat suit and see the world through that skin. Stay tuned!

Today I'm sporting a funny bunny on my forearm. I'm at a hotel in Utah and I found a bunch of Tattly's in their gift shop! I couldn't resist.

Funny bunny and my favorite scar

I'm sad my subscription is over and I'm seriously considering signing up again once my stash runs low. I don't love ALL the designs I get, but the majority speak to me or grow on me. And if something I get is super not my bag, I give it away. Non-problem, solved.

Last but not least, here's a bonus (related) link combining my love of fake tats and tasty food.