Ugh, Pinterest.

Posted on March 11, 2012 by

Listen, y’all. I love Pinterest just as much as the next girl. It lets me keep track of pretty dresses and fun artwork and ridiculous cat-related things Anna sends my way. However, as the months have gone by, I’ve learned that the key to successful Pinterest-usage involves limiting your time with the site to:

  1. Pinning things yourself; and
  2. Looking at pins from your existing friends.

Things start breaking down when you click on “everything” and suddenly become aware of the general inanity plaguing our population. For example:

Pinterest Fact

This was pinned multiple times today. Multiple. Now, I’m the first to admit that science is not my strong suit, but anyone who had to sit through sixth grade health class should be able to identify the blatant disregard for basic human anatomy on display above. Throw in the inherent cultural imperialism, and things get even dicier. Which is why I prefer to stick to gems like this:

That, ladies and gentleman, is a Transformers-themed engagement ring. Pinned by Anna. I rest my case.

UPDATE: What the hell, world?

Great. Now I’m going to have nightmares.

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Where have all the boy bands gone?

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

This evening, Anna turned on a Backstreet Boys Pandora station in the hopes that it would inspire us to get some housework done. After a few minutes of listening to Savage Garden and burning the frittata I’d previously been so excited to make, we had the following exchange.

Me: “Duuude. Why doesn’t anyone sing us love songs?”

Anna (judgmental face included, natch): “Because they know better.”

And with that … we’re ba-ack!

Posted in Cleaning House, Music and Lyrics, Roomie Love | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Get Pinspired

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

I know, I know. It has been over 50 days since I posted anything of substance on this here blog. For shame.

I wish I had some kind of legitimate excuse for my absence, but all that comes to mind is the same thing I’ve been harping on since we first carved out this little corner of the Internet: we’re trainwrecks! We got distracted with school and work and football and candy and totally dropped the ball. I’d like to promise that it will never happen again, but I’m going on vacation in 10 days and have no intention of interrupting my pasta-eating adventures for this. Have you guys ever tasted authentic tortelli? It beats blog updating every time.

Anyway, I haven’t been completely neglectful on the home front. Thanks to the Pinterest Challenge,  which was started by Young House Love and Bower Power, I recently joined the Pinterest-obsessed denizens of the world in an effort to actually pull myself together and make one of the 3.8 bajillion things I’ve pinned.

In my case, it was a Christmas stocking for Boone. Yes, I know it’s barely November. Indeed, I am aware that we are talking about a D-O-G. But seriously, y’all – Booner will need a stocking come Christmastime (it’d be rude to leave him out), and the cheapest ones online were way too expensive for my taste. Enter: crafting!

I’m not going to say this was easy. It took about seven hours from start to finish (including material sourcing and pizza eating breaks), and it’d be silly to pretend there were no curse words or tears strewn about throughout the process. In the end, though, the magical Martha skills of my dear friend Erin and my shameless obsession with all things Boone pulled together to result in what I think is a pretty impressive Christmas Miracle. Behold:

I know it looks good, but don’t get any ideas. What with the fabric shopping and the hours of manual labor, I’m not super convinced this was cheaper than picking one up at Crate & Barrel. That said, it’s definitely got a lock-down on the cuteness scale. Take that, seasonal catalog!

Oh, and for those of you who thought our trainwreckitude was limited to falling behind on blogging and getting overly excited about trick-or-treaters dressed as Pocahontas, here’s a picture of the “costume” we forced the Boonedog into for Halloween. See that look in his eyes? I’m scared.

Edit: Bad blogger! I found my original inspiration picture here, and Erin sourced a super-handy tutorial here. There’s no way I could have figured this one out on my own.

Posted in Boonedog, DIYikes | 5 Comments

Get in my bookshelf

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

Last week, I took myself down to to the local bookstore and made three fantastically exciting purchases:

  1. A collection of Icelandic sagas;
  2. Clash of Kings, the second book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series (commonly known as “those Game of Thrones books” by you neophytes); and
  3. Surprised by Joy, a memoir by the always fabulous – if slightly contentious – C. S. Lewis.

As if you needed any further evidence of my truly incredible nerdiness, please note: I actually called ahead and put the first of these on hold. Wow.

While my dear blogger friend (we hang out in real life, too) Mac was serenading a certain Gym Butter (that’s his official name, it’s no big deal), I alternated cleaning my apartment with reading fantasy fiction and laughing at Khal and Khaleesi jokes on Gawker.com. While the “trainwreck” portion of my life seems to be pretty obvious, I really need to work on that “twentysomething” part. Oy vey.

To be fair, I followed that up with a pretty epic Longhorns football game on Saturday, complete with some smuggled in Tito’s and a quality queso-fueled after party. But still, where did I find myself on Sunday afternoon?

Curled up on the couch with the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, wondering how many hundreds of pages I could devour before I had to start work again on Monday.

Ah, well. Maybe one day I’ll find my very own Gym Butter, and he’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when I tell him I’ve decided to measure any future men against a fictional warrior named Khal Drogo. Trainwreck averted. Right?

Posted in Reading Material | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

On parenthood (of the puppy variety)

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

Here’s the thing: I know this blog is supposed to be about the inherent trainwreck-itude associated with life as a twentysomething, but sometimes that madness spreads to other members of our household. Specifically: to Boone.

The puppy dog was in top form last night. He swiped a paper towel, jumped on a houseguest, and then – in a truly impressive coup de grâce – managed to ingest half a tube of cortisone cream. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: “le sigh.” Despite my immediate hysteria, he turned out fine. But dude … seriously?

It’s a good thing he’s cute.

Posted in Boonedog | 2 Comments

We speak Parselcat

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

Technically this is a team blog, but Anne keeps reminding me that I haven’t actually posted yet. I was waiting for the right moment, and – amazingly – that moment has now arrived. This conversation took place in our living room approximately five minutes ago:

Cooper: “Mrrooooooow.”

Anna: “Mrow!”

Anne: “Congrats, dude!”

Anna: “What?”

Anne: “You usually don’t sound like a cat when you do that, but this time you did it really well.”

Anna: “Oh … thanks!”

And with that, we send you off into the long weekend! Enjoy a picture of the always adorable Cooper. He may be a whiner, but he’s definitely cute.

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I have questionable taste in music

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

Anyone who knows me at all should be well aware of the fact that I’m a big ole’ fan of country music. I don’t really approve of all the CMT Top 40 business, though – if you look in my iTunes, you’ll find lots of Wade Bowen, Josh Abbott and Don Williams.* I know, I know. I’m sounding hipper and hipper by the second.

Given all that, I was sort of surprised to realize that one of my favorite songs as of late is a little ditty by none other than Darius Rucker, the former front man for Hootie and the Blowfish and current pop-country darling. Most of Rucker’s music isn’t my cup of tea, but his song “This” never fails to get me singing along.** It’s upbeat, it’s easy to dance to, and the message is right on the money. Here’s a taste of the lyrics:

For every stoplight I didn’t make
every chance I did or I didn’t take
all the nights I went too far
all the girls that broke my heart
all the doors that I had to close
everything I knew but I didn’t know -
thank God for all I missed,
because it led me here to this.

I’m sure we can all agree that this isn’t up there with John Lennon or the Eagles, but I like where Rucker’s going. It may be cheesy, but it’s true: so many of the terrible, weird or even “meh” things that happen in our lives lead to wonderful outcomes we never could have foreseen. If Lewis & Clark hadn’t stripped me of my single-person dorm room during my sophomore year, I wouldn’t have met Anna. If ballet hadn’t destroyed my left knee and given me a giant scar, I wouldn’t have started rowing – which gave me more than a few of my lifelong friends. There’s no shortage of these examples: if my dad hadn’t gotten sick when he did, I wouldn’t have taken a fellowship back home after college, which somehow turned into a pretty great career that I feel lucky to have. If I hadn’t had an out-of-town date with an ex-boyfriend a few years ago, I’d never have had to find a dogsitter, and that dogsitter would never have become a pseudo-sister with whom I spend all of the important (and not-so-important) holidays every year.

It’s not like any of this is particularly profound, but as today marks the end of a long, long week, I think it’s a good reminder. Maybe all of those crazy deadlines and failed home improvement projects and really annoying emails from people you’d rather avoid mean the universe has something truly excellent cooked up for this weekend. It’s a good thing we have an entire three days (thank you, vacation gods) to find out.

*You’ll also find quite a bit of Taylor Swift and Glee material, but that’s neither here nor there.

**I actually happen to find the music video hyperlinked in this sentence really cheesy, but 1) it’s a good way to listen to the song, and 2) part of it was filmed at the Ryman in Nashville. As my (N)ash(e)ville post demonstrated, I have a soft spot for that particular venue. Always will.

Posted in Music and Lyrics, Thoughtful Things | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Adulthood schmamulthood

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

On the heels of last week’s post, I thought I’d throw you guys another little peek into the ridiculousness that is our apartment. We’re functioning adults, I swear, but sometimes that’s not always so obvious. For example, take this recent IM conversation between me and the roommate:

Anna: Oh my god.
Me: Yes?
Anna: I just realized I took my car to get serviced without taking my bra out of the glove compartment. Hopefully they didn’t look in there.

There are way too many levels of “Whaaat?” to even address here. I suppose we should be proud we weren’t in the same room when this conversation was taking place. Sadly, the same cannot be said for this little exchange:

Anna: (832): Breakfast tacos?
Anna: (1-832): YOU ARE A FOUNTAIN OF GREAT IDEAS.

That, my friends, may be the best text-from-last-night I’ve ever seen. It’s definitely the closest to home …

If you’ll excuse me, I need to hit up Taco Shack. Before I go, though, I’ll leave you with this little reminder of what happens when Anna and I are left to our own devices.

It’s times like this when adulthood seems so very far away. At least we’re enjoying the ride!

Posted in Roomie Love | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Hump Day

Posted on August 24, 2011 by

I know it’s Wednesday, but I thought I’d throw a bonus post in for your viewing pleasure. I know, I know. I’m too kind.

I just got off the phone with Anna, and our conversation went like this:

Anna: “Do you want to have a roommate date this Friday?”

Me: “Yes. Definitely.”

Anna: “OK, me too. Let’s do it.”

Me: “Great. I’m putting it on my calendar. Like, official.”

Anna: “You better, because I’m putting it on the official calendar in my head.”

Was she mocking me? I’m not sure, but at least I got a roommate date figured out. It’s up on my wall in bright green dry-erase marker as we speak.

Happy hump day, friends. That is all.

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Procrastination station

Posted on August 23, 2011 by

When you start a blog, there are lots of rules you’re supposed to follow. “Establish a regular posting schedule,” they say. “Don’t make your posts too long.” “Publish new entries during peak usage hours.” Believe it or not, I’m actually trying to follow these rules. We post on a semi-regular schedule, and I’m proud to say none of my posts have exceeded 500 words. That said, being a good blogger is hard! Which is why I find myself writing this particular entry at 10:30 on a Tuesday night. Peak usage hour? I think not.

I wish I could say this kind of procrastination is outside the norm, but we all know that’s not true. When it comes to non-essential activities (basically, those that don’t involve work or Boone-care), it frequently takes me a little while to pull myself together.

Take, for example, last Sunday. We’ve had an old table sitting in our living room for a few weeks waiting for me to figure out what to do with it, and I thought this weekend would be a good time to start. I’m sort of convinced the little bugger has a face, so I decided to begin its rehabilitation by removing the weirdly proportioned drop leaves and go from there.

Cooper wasn’t too happy about it – he appreciates the table’s wide top and proximity to exciting things like light-switches – but we try and pretend he’s not the boss in this house. With that in mind, I got to work. I spent a super productive twenty minutes unscrewing the left leaf’s support before running into a bit of a roadblock: one of the screws was so tiny and old that there seemed to be no way to get it out. Shoot!

Luckily, I had no intention of having my Sunday afternoon productivity streak foiled by a stupid drop leaf table and its googly eyes. So, until I could wrangle the good folks at Home Depot to walk me through that one, I decided to try my hand at updating another old piece of woodwork: this gigantic mirror, which I thought might make a good addition to the bare area over our couch.

I quickly spread out some drop-cloth and went to town with the same turquoise paint used on our now-infamous star, and the mirror makeover was underway. I’m pleased to say that it was without major incident, although Cooper did manage to break out of confinement and sprinkle some lovely blue pawprints in a trail from my paint site to Anna’s bathroom. I know you’re not supposed to use Windex to clean up these type of things, but you better believe I did! Look at the title of this blog, kids. Are you really surprised?

Anyway, I managed to complete the mirror before the day was through. We haven’t actually hung it above the couch yet, but it’s been a big hit so far. Just check out this picture of Boone’s first encounter with our living room’s newest accessory. Cute, right?

As a final note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that this post is actually clocking in at about 520 words. Bad blogger. Bad!

Posted in DIYikes | Tagged , , | 4 Comments