"You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations. Because the expected is just what keeps us steady, standing, still. The expected is just the beginning. The unexpected is what changes our lives."From Grey's Anatomy "Great Expectations"
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Don't Quote Me
I haven't posted a quote in awhile... here is a good one.
New Blog on the Block
I'm really loving this new blog...
3191: a year of mornings
This "collaborative photo blog" was started by two friends - Mav of port2port and Stephanie of little birds handmade - who live 3191 miles apart. Everyday (well, almost everyday), they each post a picture taken sometime during their morning. These are my favorite kinds of photographs... random glimpses into the ordinary.
I used to take pictures all the time... I'd say I have about five cameras and hundreds of photos laying around somewhere. I'd take pictures of anything but mostly I just took pictures of my friends - at the bar, at a game, on a roadtrip, etc. Looking at them now, I notice that my favorite ones are the ones where no one is looking... no real pose or no idea I was lurking around them. Those types are usually my favorite pictures of me, too. No time to make my tense "I hate getting my picture taken" face. I think it captures more of the real person or object, if that makes sense.
At some point I just stopped taking pictures, I think around the time I first moved... I'm sure most of my cameras are still at my mom's house. I started to feel that my camera was becoming a burden to my friends... like they were becoming less and less enthused by the sight of it. It was probably all in my imagination. I notice that almost all my family & friends have pictures that I took up around their houses. So, they must have liked it a little.
At the beginning of the digital camera revolution, I wouldn't even consider one. I don't know why, just a stubborn loyalty to film. "If you want instant, take a polaroid," would have probably been one of my comments at the time. I slowly entered the digital age last year with my dinky camera phone... and while I still love film (and polaroids still rock my world) now I can see the benefits of some nice digital photography, too. So, I've been finding myself drawn towards the camera section of Target quite often lately. I know it's only a matter of time before I cave... especially with my spending habits.
Maybe soon I'll be posting glimpses into my ordinary life, too.
3191: a year of mornings
This "collaborative photo blog" was started by two friends - Mav of port2port and Stephanie of little birds handmade - who live 3191 miles apart. Everyday (well, almost everyday), they each post a picture taken sometime during their morning. These are my favorite kinds of photographs... random glimpses into the ordinary.
I used to take pictures all the time... I'd say I have about five cameras and hundreds of photos laying around somewhere. I'd take pictures of anything but mostly I just took pictures of my friends - at the bar, at a game, on a roadtrip, etc. Looking at them now, I notice that my favorite ones are the ones where no one is looking... no real pose or no idea I was lurking around them. Those types are usually my favorite pictures of me, too. No time to make my tense "I hate getting my picture taken" face. I think it captures more of the real person or object, if that makes sense.
At some point I just stopped taking pictures, I think around the time I first moved... I'm sure most of my cameras are still at my mom's house. I started to feel that my camera was becoming a burden to my friends... like they were becoming less and less enthused by the sight of it. It was probably all in my imagination. I notice that almost all my family & friends have pictures that I took up around their houses. So, they must have liked it a little.
At the beginning of the digital camera revolution, I wouldn't even consider one. I don't know why, just a stubborn loyalty to film. "If you want instant, take a polaroid," would have probably been one of my comments at the time. I slowly entered the digital age last year with my dinky camera phone... and while I still love film (and polaroids still rock my world) now I can see the benefits of some nice digital photography, too. So, I've been finding myself drawn towards the camera section of Target quite often lately. I know it's only a matter of time before I cave... especially with my spending habits.
Maybe soon I'll be posting glimpses into my ordinary life, too.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
This is Who I Am
I like to say this quite a bit:
I'm pretty unapologetic about who I am. I always have been and suspect I always will be... this is not to say that I believe I'm perfect or better than anyone else. I'm pretty aware of the majority of my issues and it's a long list to be sure. While I have been aware for a long time, I haven't been overly happy or comfortable with myself. Like everyone else, I have had many moments where I feel there's something wrong with me, that I should change, that I really don't deserve much love or respect, and all the rest of that crap. I tend to be very internal… with these kinds of thoughts especially. I think this tends to give the impression that nothing ever bothers me or that I am overly critical of others. Whatever, eh?
You cannot control what people think of you, only what you think of yourself. Plus, if you’re not careful and dwell on it too much, you can let what other people think of you control you. People will always want to put you in a box or explain you with a few sweeping generalizations. It makes them feel better. But, you're usually your own worst critic so why let even more crap in? Just a thought.
I am feeling pretty good about life right now. And, I’m becoming more and more comfortable with who I am. I’m not exactly sure when or how this shift in thinking took place but I welcome it. I look around at my life and I feel incredibly thankful for my family, my friends and my job. I have an especially awesome group of friends at this point in my life. Are they perfect? Hell. No. And they don’t pretend to be. But they are, for the most part, shockingly self-aware. I think this makes them better friends. I can be honest with them about my issues and vice versa. There are things that drive me crazy about each one of them and vice versa. But when it comes down to it, they have been there for me and I hope they can say the same about me. They make me laugh and let me cry (or not cry) and they help me not take it all so seriously and I love them (this is getting very touchy-feely… sorry).
You’re thinking, “What the hell is all of this about? This is very uncharacteristic of Miss Mia.” That’s totally what you’re thinking, right? Yeah, because it’s what I’ve been thinking the whole time I’ve been writing this. I’m not sure I had a point; it’s all just a lead up to some future posts.
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about myself. What does that mean? Well, there’s astrology, personology, psychology and so much more. And every one of them has an opinion about me. It’s always interesting just how much of myself I see in some of these descriptions. I thought maybe I’d share some of them (and my opinions of them, of course) with you in the near future. In the meantime, I will leave you with the words of two very wise people:
"That's the great thing about issues, everybody has them."A former friend of mine, who had a masters degree in psychology, hated when I said this. I think she truly wanted to believe she'd conquered all her demons and that it was everyone else who had problems. Really, I don't know what it was about but it was annoying.
I'm pretty unapologetic about who I am. I always have been and suspect I always will be... this is not to say that I believe I'm perfect or better than anyone else. I'm pretty aware of the majority of my issues and it's a long list to be sure. While I have been aware for a long time, I haven't been overly happy or comfortable with myself. Like everyone else, I have had many moments where I feel there's something wrong with me, that I should change, that I really don't deserve much love or respect, and all the rest of that crap. I tend to be very internal… with these kinds of thoughts especially. I think this tends to give the impression that nothing ever bothers me or that I am overly critical of others. Whatever, eh?
You cannot control what people think of you, only what you think of yourself. Plus, if you’re not careful and dwell on it too much, you can let what other people think of you control you. People will always want to put you in a box or explain you with a few sweeping generalizations. It makes them feel better. But, you're usually your own worst critic so why let even more crap in? Just a thought.
I am feeling pretty good about life right now. And, I’m becoming more and more comfortable with who I am. I’m not exactly sure when or how this shift in thinking took place but I welcome it. I look around at my life and I feel incredibly thankful for my family, my friends and my job. I have an especially awesome group of friends at this point in my life. Are they perfect? Hell. No. And they don’t pretend to be. But they are, for the most part, shockingly self-aware. I think this makes them better friends. I can be honest with them about my issues and vice versa. There are things that drive me crazy about each one of them and vice versa. But when it comes down to it, they have been there for me and I hope they can say the same about me. They make me laugh and let me cry (or not cry) and they help me not take it all so seriously and I love them (this is getting very touchy-feely… sorry).
You’re thinking, “What the hell is all of this about? This is very uncharacteristic of Miss Mia.” That’s totally what you’re thinking, right? Yeah, because it’s what I’ve been thinking the whole time I’ve been writing this. I’m not sure I had a point; it’s all just a lead up to some future posts.
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about myself. What does that mean? Well, there’s astrology, personology, psychology and so much more. And every one of them has an opinion about me. It’s always interesting just how much of myself I see in some of these descriptions. I thought maybe I’d share some of them (and my opinions of them, of course) with you in the near future. In the meantime, I will leave you with the words of two very wise people:
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind." – Dr. Suess
"This is who I am, you can like it or not. You can love me or leave me, cause I’m never gonna stop." - Madonna
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
I Feel Pretty
I got some new hair this weekend... highlights & a cute variation on the same haircut I always get. Since it never looks as good as it does straight out of the salon, I snapped a picture of myself on Saturday. It is not a bad picture, except for the light shining off my nose and the shadows making me look sleepy and my very ugly bathroom wall in the background. Still, it's better than any picture I saw of Britney Spears last week. Poor Britney... she clearly does not have a Brett to make her feel pretty. Anywho - here you go:
Friday, January 05, 2007
Books '06
(I remembered another book & added it on to the list)
In an effort to focus on (or ignore) one blog at a time, I will be joining my book blog with my main blog. It was really just so I could keep track of what I read and I can do that right here.
I had a goal of reading 30 books last year but life intervened and I only got through 16.... I should know better than to make the goal: read 30 books (see previous post). This year, I kept the total goal 30 but split it into three separate: read 10 books.
I have a new Saturday morning habit of waking up early, staying in my nice warm bed and reading for a couple of hours. That should help me finish some of the 12 books I've started in the past 6 months.
Here is the list of books that I finished in 2006:
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Night by Elie Weisel
Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim by David Sedaris
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper
Conscious Eating by Body & Soul Magazine
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
Party of the Century by Deborah Davis
My Prescription for Anti-Depressing Living by Jonathan Adler
My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker
Blankets by Craig Thompson
In an effort to focus on (or ignore) one blog at a time, I will be joining my book blog with my main blog. It was really just so I could keep track of what I read and I can do that right here.
I had a goal of reading 30 books last year but life intervened and I only got through 16.... I should know better than to make the goal: read 30 books (see previous post). This year, I kept the total goal 30 but split it into three separate: read 10 books.
I have a new Saturday morning habit of waking up early, staying in my nice warm bed and reading for a couple of hours. That should help me finish some of the 12 books I've started in the past 6 months.
Here is the list of books that I finished in 2006:
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Night by Elie Weisel
Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim by David Sedaris
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper
Conscious Eating by Body & Soul Magazine
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
Party of the Century by Deborah Davis
My Prescription for Anti-Depressing Living by Jonathan Adler
My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker
Blankets by Craig Thompson
207 for 2007
A few years ago, I made a vow to never make grand new year's resolutions anymore. I did this because they are lame and suck the life out of me. About the same time, I stumbled on a random blog (I don't who's) and "borrowed" her idea. It's basically just a huge-ass to-do list for the upcoming year.
Instead of one or two big, nebulous things that you want to do and will most likely quit or fail at (like lose weight or get organized), you break everything up into small, specific actions (lose 10 lbs. or organize DVDs). This way, even if you don't do everything you wanted, you can see progress at the end of the year. That's the theory anyway. I mean, there aren't really any rules to it all.
The first year I did it, I completed exactly 25% of my list. Which kept my theory that I was only living up to 25% of my potential going strong. The next year, I skipped out on it completely. On the 206 for 2006, I had to disqualify 19 items for no longer being relavant to my life. Of the 187 that remained, I legitimately crossed 68 off the list. That's 36%... and I consider that a triumph indeed.
I have 8 different categories: family/friends, academic/career, house, financial, mental/physical, creative, materialistic & miscellaneous. And this year, I couldn't stop thinking of things to add so I have 234 items instead of 207. But don't worry, I'm not going to post the list here. I will be updating my blog with a few of the items as I complete them. I'm not shooting for any specific percentage to accomplish... but I do have a good feeling about this year.
Instead of one or two big, nebulous things that you want to do and will most likely quit or fail at (like lose weight or get organized), you break everything up into small, specific actions (lose 10 lbs. or organize DVDs). This way, even if you don't do everything you wanted, you can see progress at the end of the year. That's the theory anyway. I mean, there aren't really any rules to it all.
The first year I did it, I completed exactly 25% of my list. Which kept my theory that I was only living up to 25% of my potential going strong. The next year, I skipped out on it completely. On the 206 for 2006, I had to disqualify 19 items for no longer being relavant to my life. Of the 187 that remained, I legitimately crossed 68 off the list. That's 36%... and I consider that a triumph indeed.
I have 8 different categories: family/friends, academic/career, house, financial, mental/physical, creative, materialistic & miscellaneous. And this year, I couldn't stop thinking of things to add so I have 234 items instead of 207. But don't worry, I'm not going to post the list here. I will be updating my blog with a few of the items as I complete them. I'm not shooting for any specific percentage to accomplish... but I do have a good feeling about this year.
Well, hello there...
New year, same me. I still can't keep up with the blogging thing as much as I'd like. But it's never too late and so here I am, back again for another try. Maybe it's the "new blogger" that's inspiring me...
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