Everyone got married. (Including me!)

Well, SO MUCH has happened since my last update that it seems a bit intimidating to catalogue it all. So I’m not gonna. Instead, you get a bunch of Instagram posts.

CUPCAKES, Y’ALL

So, I don’t wanna brag [that’s a lie], but I’m a pretty good cook.  I’m not sophisticated – my idea of a perfect meal tends to be along the lines of a roast chicken, some potatoes, and a huge pile of roast asparagus, or a mound of pasta with a creamy, meaty tomato sauce.

And something what I am awesome at, if I do say so myself, is baking.  Again, not exceptional, which I leave to the Sara-Janes of the world, but pretty fucking good.  My mother is a truly gifted baker, which I’m sure will embarrass her to read [she’s very modest].  Some of my fondest memories are waking up on Sunday morning to see she’d baked bread for church [you Episcopalians in the audience know what I’m talking about] and set aside some tiny rolls for us, or helping to measure out flour for the best brownies ever.

The most requested birthday cake in our family is, hands down, the Madam X chocolate cake.  Anyone who has come to any of my birthday parties for the last … ever, has had the good fortune of trying this simply outstanding cake.

All of this build-up is to say that I made some goddamn delicious cupcakes last night.  Check it:  My coworker is suuuuuuper pregnant and we’re throwing her a shower.  I volunteered to make cake because, obviously, and another coworker immediately said, “MAKE THAT CAKE YOU BROUGHT IN FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY.”  So I was like, “No doubt.”  Then I decided, hey, why not cupcakes.  Because, why not cupcakes?!

Cut to last night: I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work to stock up on cupcake wrappers and sprinkles and like, sugar and stuff. When I got back out to my car, there was a woman standing next to it, talking to someone who was idling in the middle of the lane, blocking my car in.  I grumbled to myself, and put my groceries in the car before resolving to ask the driver to move their car instead of my usual MO, which would be to glare at them silently until they noticed my rage and move.  It’s super effective! [Not.]

As I got closer, it became apparent that there was some sort of emergency going on.  I asked the woman who was standing near my car if everything was alright.

Nope, definitely not; the poor thing had accidentally locked her keys in the car – along with her three year old son.

OH GOD.  I handed over my phone so she could call her husband [while silently vowing to memorize my boyfriend’s phone number in case I’m ever in a similar, phoneless situation] and made faces at the kid, who was freaking out.  Then I called AAA to see if I could get a locksmith out ASAP just in case.

But it was all good – her husband arrived SUPER fast, maybe 5 minutes after she called him, and everything was fine.  I got a high-five from the kid who had calmed down, and everything was okay.  VICTORY.

So after that excitement, the rest of my evening went like this:

• Get home, cook chicken nuggets, make cake batter.
• Settle down to watch Adventure Time while eating said nuggets.
• Idly wonder if recipe should have been changed due to cupcake changeup.
• Decide to google, just in case.
• Discover baking time should be cut in half.
• Realize half of baking time had already elapsed.
• Race upstairs to check cupcakes.
• Cupcakes fine, remove from oven.
• Watch boyfriend play Uncharted 3 while letting cupcakes cool.
• Get absorbed in story and realize an hour has passed.
• Make icing and frost cupcakes.
• Take a bunch of Instagram pictures of frosted cupcakes.
• Get to bed super late.

Blah blah, get to the recipe, Molly.  FINE, HERE.  GAWD.

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Ways to help after a disaster.

If you want to help after today’s tragic events in Boston, but are unsure how, here are a few options:

Donate Blood. If you give locally, it helps replenish the entire nation’s supply. [As of 4/15/13 5:15pm the Red Cross site is down, probably due to sudden traffic. Give it some time, make an appointment later this week or weekend. The need for blood everywhere is constant.]

Reach out through e-mail, twitter, facebook, and tumblr to your family and friends in the Boston area. Phone lines may be jammed or intentionally down, but e-mail and social networking will likely still get through.  The Red Cross has a Safe and Well tool, and Google has set up a Person Finder, too.

And for ways to help yourself in the days and weeks to come:

Seek counseling if you need it. Violent events are potentially triggering for many people for many reasons. If you have a mental health professional, reach out to them and check-in. If you have a friend or family member you confide in, reach out to them. You can visit http://www.211.org, or dial 211 on your phone to be connected to counseling services in your area.

There’s no reason you have to deal with any of this on your own.

Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional, emergency personnel, or expert on any of these topics. I am a healthcare professional with a lot of experience in gathering resources for people in need [it’s kind of my job]. I’m always willing to talk to anyone about anything, my inbox is open.

Thanks for all the lols, 2012

Holy cow, y’all. What a year. I mean really. Just a stupendous amount happened.

I started the year off in a beautiful new house, full of happiness and relief to be leaving the shittiest shithole that was ever shat in. Turns out I’ll be leaving the beautiful new house again much sooner than anticipated, but I’ll get into that later because it PERTAINS TO THE REST OF THE YEAR.

Next, I met the best person in the entire world, only I didn’t understand it right then and we wasted a bit of time “getting to know each other” and “being friends.” Pff, whatever. We’re totally shacking up together starting in February, so that’s what “taking things slow” gets you.

After/during all that, I adopted a cat, changed jobs, started actually dating previously stated love, had to give my cat away, was told our house was being sold, decided to move in with the fella, ate a lot of great food, met some great people, had some great parties, read some great books, saw a lot of movies [see “getting to know each other” and “being friends”], had some good naps.

After enjoying this year so much, I am enthusiastically looking forward to the next one, which I expect to be filled with much more of the same, only less of the “being friendly” and more of the “being in love.”

My friends had babies, got married, got engaged, got pregnant, got books published, broke up, lost family, lost friends, learned about themselves.

A million happy, sad, important little events occurred that make the time we spend here on Earth worth it. We re-elected our President! We landed a robot on Mars! We published books and learned more about our planet and inspired hundreds of thousands of people to do good things for each other simply because they should.

I love being human. I love my fellow humans. I wish all my planet-mates a safe, healthy, happy new year full of the very best ups and downs that life has to offer.

And hopefully a few more naps. One can never have too many, you know.

Happy Things – Holiday Edition

Well, I haven’t done one of these for a while.  Let’s just dive right in, shall we?

• Love. 
• chocolate cheerios
• Happy Endings on ABC.
• water
• chocolate chip oatmeal [do you see a pattern here.]
• space heaters
• little dogs who sleep on my side of the bed and keep me warm when my boyfriend SLEEPS WITH THE CEILING FAN ON IN DECEMBER WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT.
• New jobs [okay, that happened in June, but whatever, it’s still making me happy.]
• post-it notes
• YES
• music
• the holidays
• Portland
• Baltimore
• you.

There you have it.  I may or may not do a Year In Instagram in January, depending on how lazy I’m feeling at the beginning of 2013.

Pleasant company.

For those who might have missed it, our front door played host to a nesting mourning dove family for a few weeks. It was a delight and a pleasure. Here are the three photos I posted to instagram during that time.

Why yes, that IS a mourning dove living over our front door.

Birdy babies!!

And just like that, they’re off for life adventures. Be safe, little birds! You were most welcome.

“If you keep a thing seven years, you are sure to find a use for it.”

Sir Walter Scott said that.

Let’s set the scene, shall we?  The year was 2005, the day: June 1st.  I packed my clothes, books, and any other random crap I thought I would need into my 1994 Nissan Sentra [attack seatbelts, no airbags] and shuffled my way down to Baltimore City for a grand adventure.

Seven years have passed, and oh my goodness, what a marvelous time I’ve had.

I’ve lost people, pets, cars, apartments.  I have made a million friends, fallen in and out of love [way too] many times, and gotten a stupid amount of self discovery accomplished.

You may think it’s silly, to celebrate an anniversary with a city, but I think you should always honor your great loves.

And so I honor Baltimore.  I feel pretty confident when I say that she’s found a use for me.  <3

 

Why does she need two lights?

I was trying to find something this morning and ended up dumping out my bag to look for it.  Well, I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I decided to do one of those “This is what is in my bag” picture posts, because I know I am always deeply curious about the contents of everyone’s pockets.

So… here it is.

Going roughly clockwise from the upper left-hand corner:

-The bag in question, covered by:
– a wool knit cap
– a hairbrush
– my iphone case standing in for the iphone that was taking the photo [I have another one in LCARS. Gotta represent, y’all.]
– my kindle [in the green leather case, by Oberon Design.]
– some sweet shades
– two wallets [one for holding checks and other stuff I rarely use, and the other is a mens bi-fold for holding the good stuff that I can throw in my pocket (or let’s be real: my bra.) when I don’t want the whole bag.]
– a graphic novel
– 4 mascaras [it’s possible I have a problem.] [the clinique water-proof is my current day-to-day favorite, but I prefer the wand for the too faced lash injection and the organic wear is great for really dramatic eyes. The define-a-lash is my old day-to-day brown, that has been replaced by the clinique and I haven’t taken it out yet.] [what.]
– book light [the purple thing]
– pepper spray
– inhaler [better not get those two mixed up!]
– purell
– zantac
– re-wetting drops
– chapstick
– pocket knife
– flashlight
– keys
– reusable bag
– another graphic novel

And that’s all for the moment.  Normally there’s a notebook and a plethora of writing instruments, but I was using them at home the other day and I forgot to put them back.  Cool story, bro.

Desk!

So, I finally grew up and got my dream desk this weekend. It’s DELIGHTFUL. Also, enormous.

It’s from Ikea! It tilts! And it’s got a broad, clean surface so I can sew and tinker and build things and destroy things and it is easy to clean [SUPER important] and I am just so happy I could burst.

Who else here has their grown-up dream desks set up? Whats your favorite part? Show me pictures!

Word Press Migration!

How busy it looks like I’ve been!  In fact, I just imported all my posts from blogger to this here wordpress platform with the eventual plan to incorporate wordpress into my website… whenever I get that rolling.

So, welcome, have a seat.  Take a look around.  Don’t touch the wet paint, it will never come out of your clothes.