Inventory: October 2018

Before I hop in, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Papa Bear!! Check out a quick little love letter to him from years past here…can’t wait to call him and serenade him (badly) with my froggy/phlegmy cold voice!

Making: time this weekend to write in earnest, per yesterday’s personal call to arms.

Cooking: soups and chicken in the Crockpot – hopping back on the meal prep train with a vengeance. 

Drinking: green tea with honey and lemon by the quart trying to kick/ameliorate this heinous cold.  

Reading: “Everyone Brave is Forgiven” by Chris Cleave, and it’s luminous. (I’m on a serious World War II fiction kick right now…why has all my reading lately felt so thematically driven?)

Wanting: more hours in the day, or fewer lines on my to-do list. Either’s fine with me.

Looking: forward to catching “Waitress” and maybe “Tosca” this weekend – I caught the performance bug again after Tuesday’s spontaneous trip to “Miss Saigon” with Dave!

Playing: catch-up on life in general after the frenetic September and October I’ve had so far.

Listening: lately, to a playlist I call “morning music” that’s heavy on Norah Jones, Lake Street Dive, The Lumineers, The National, Josh Ritter, Okkervil River, Bon Iver, and The Oh Hellos, among others.

Wishing: that I was a morning person.

Enjoying: NorCal’s temperate fall weather.

Waiting: for the chesterfield of my dreams to be delivered sometime this week – hurry up, Pottery Barn!

Liking: the quiet of a blissfully empty, cool, clean, unpacked and (mostly) settled apartment.

Wondering: why I perpetually put off the un-fun tasks – I have a bunch of random shit I planned to do yesterday, didn’t do, and that I now have to deal with on Monday…oops.

Hoping: that my “Dear Evan Hansen” novel (they made it into a novel!!) comes on time YAY Amazon same-day ordering!

Marveling: at Amazon same-day ordering, duh. How lucky we are to be alive right now.

Needing: to get my ass in gear and hang my gallery wall as soon as it’s socially acceptable to wield a hammer.   

Smelling: Target’s Pumpkin Bourbon candle – I’ve already burned through a whole big jar and we’re well into our second. It’s insanely scented olfactory crack and SO cheap and festive, pick one up!!

Wearing: hilariously oversized pajama pants, thick cozy socks, and my grandpa cardigan. Very sexy Saturday morning over here.

Following: #frenchiepuppy and #dogsonswings on Instagram – the happiest inundation of preciousness, several times a day.

Noticing: silver linings everywhere.

Knowing: that I need to stop having cheese and crackers for every meal…thank god we finally have pots, pans, and a Crockpot to break the endless cycle of Brie.

Thinking: about packing for Italy – less than a month, less than a month!!

Bookmarking: Christmas gift ideas – how is it already late October?

Giggling: at what an absolute idiot I am over certain things.

Feeling: better about a lot of the stress/angst/frustration I’ve dealt with lately.

Skills I have that you can't put on a resume...

I was thinking just now about how carefully wordsmithed resumes are, and how really, when it comes down to it, they do very little to capture the essence of a person. Like, sure, mine tells you where I went to school and what my work/philanthropic history has been so far, but I think such a big part of why a person succeeds or even is who he/she is can’t be put on paper.

If I could write a real Lizzie resume, these things would definitely be on it:

• excellent at getting neutral/antipathetic bystanders hooked on the “Bachelor” franchise shows

• crafter of the perfect grilled cheese

• has seen “Hamilton” four times and knows it word-perfect from front to back (fluent in various other shows including but not limited to “Les Mis,” “In The Heights,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Spring Awakening,” “Waitress”…)

• actually loves doing laundry; hates anything pertaining to cleaning a floor

• skilled baby-amuser; core competency in playing peekaboo across multiple tables in a restaurant with strangers’ offspring and gifted at the “mom-bounce” despite not actually being a mother

• will laugh at just about anything

• believes that most celebratory occasions call for a card and champagne

• internalizes and sublimates all negative feelings; will persist in insisting that “we’ll get there” or “there’s never a dull moment” or “I’m fine, this is great!” in the face of most woes, issues, and personal problems

• excellent “interested listening face,” equally excellent resting bitchface

• highly esoteric/rarefied vocabulary

• master procrastinator - once wrote a term paper four hours before it was due and got a professor’s first A+ in a thirty-year teaching career

• afraid of the sensation of falling; exercises caution in all circumstances with such potential including but not limited to cliff edges, skydecks, and relationships

• almost always willing to forgive, but when pushed too far will never look back

• sees the best in people to a fault - currently working on a performance improvement plan to remove those rose-colored glasses

• has a “candles” line in monthly budget

• basic bitch who enjoys pumpkin spice lattes unashamedly

• collector of books, wine corks, and Christmas ornaments

• cares way too much about what other people think; marshmallow in a suit of armor

• faking having it figured out every day - but really, who isn’t?

Inventory: April 2018

Making: time to write! Hooray! 

Cooking: nothing - I've been eating out shamefully too much and there's no end in sight at least until the weekend. 

Drinking: last night, the most hilarious "flight" of champagne that just consisted of three splits brought to my table in a giant ice bucket. We couldn't stop laughing.

Reading: Celeste Ng's "Little Fires Everywhere," just like everyone else in the world (at least those who aren't reading Meg Wolitzer's "The Female Persuasion.")

Wanting: just about everything in the Anthropologie new releases. 

Looking: for flights to Portland for Theresa's dissertation in May!

Playing: a lot of Cards Against Humanity with the roomskis lately - Laura bought an expansion pack and the freshness is hilarious. 

Listening: to Youngblood Brass Band, after Dave turned them on en route home from Monterey on Sunday. 

Wishing: for a perfect tiny French bulldog puppy to love, cherish, and spoil rotten. 

Enjoying: Bay Area "spring," which is basically the same thing as Bay Area "summer," "fall," and "winter."

Waiting: for Royal Baby #3's name! 

Liking: duh, every single Tweet and Instagram post in the entire internet about the #RoyalBaby. It's me. Who's surprised? 

Wondering: what to wear to the ballet tomorrow. (I just typed "baller" instead of "ballet," which I think disqualifies me from being anything remotely resembling functional this morning.)

Hoping: that Dave gets his schedule for next year soon so we can figure out a summer and fall full of concerts and entertainment. 

Marveling: at upcoming travel I'm planning!

Needing: to pick out a car - my Civic's lease is up in July and I've done shamefully minimal research on what I even want to do next. (Someone talk me off the Tesla cliff!!!!!!)

Smelling: Anatomy of a Frangrance's Wildflower Bergamot - I bought the soap, lotion, hand sanitizer, hand cream, and perfume at Anthropologie because I am so in love with the scent. 

Wearing: a dress! It's 75 degrees in NorCal! Spring! Whee! 

Following: Gary Janetti's account and the #frenchiepuppy hashtag on Instagram, and if you're not, you're missing OUT. 

Noticing: abs and triceps fighting their way through just a little bit more after every gym session. 

Knowing: that I should wrap this up and actually get to work to head off a rampaging boss...

Thinking: a lot about my love life. 

Bookmarking: new black flats - the sole of mine legit just ripped away from the shoe and I'm more than mildly annoyed (and without a backup pair for the day, BLEH).  

Giggling: at the most absurd conversation I'm eavesdropping on down the hall - people are utterly ridiculous, campers. 

Feeling: Pretty good, all things considered. 

today:

- bought "Hamilton" tickets to see it in New York in three short weeks

- made a to-do list that is too long to feel even remotely humane 

- kicked ass in a meeting this morning, got my ass kicked in a meeting over lunch, and saved someone from feeling like his ass was getting kicked in a meeting this afternoon

- checked off three annoying little "adulting" tasks I've been putting off for weeks

- actually felt like writing it all down and popping in here to say hello

- briefly changed my desktop background to ^that picture up there, then decided I would just post it up here instead and call it a day

...and there you have it. Hi, campers. Bye, campers. Happy Monday, chins up, et cetera ad infinitum. 

Inventory: Fall 2017

Making: lists...books to read, things I need at Safeway, Christmas gifts to purchase, and general life to-do items.

Cooking: way more than usual lately - I think a roundup of recent recipe wins is long overdue.

Drinking: Kusmi Tea's almond green tea, which I picked up for the first time in Paris in 2015 and have restocked several times since then. 

Reading: "Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward (definitely going in the "Loved" category for November!).

Wanting: a pair of Rifle Paper Co's gorgeous embroidered Keds. 

Looking: forward to eight whole days at home for Thanksgiving - already counting down! 

Playing: Dots & Co/ Two Dots on my phone in between appointments lately - prettiest interface and a low-key distraction.

Listening: to the sound of actual real-life rain on our roof - it sounds uncannily like a snare drum, to the point where I woke up (super early) ready to chew out neighbors for thinking it was okay to play snare drum at the crack of dawn. 

Wishing: my roommates would wake up/get home from the gym so we can go out to breakfast (Stacks is calling my name...) 

Enjoying: the way my bed is at its coziest when I'm lingering in it after I've been awake for a bit...so decadent. 

Waiting: to figure out what we're doing today, hooray hooray!

Liking: so many of my recent book selections - it's been a superlative month of reading so far. 

Wondering: where on earth we're going to put all the wine in our apartment...we're seriously running out of space. 

Hoping: for all sorts of things, isn't everybody?

Marveling: that it actually RAINS in CALIFORNIA! My first California rain!

Needing: olive oil, triple-A batteries, dish detergent, and flour.

Smelling: lingering traces of last night's Jo Malone's Red Roses perfume, which I wear and get multiple compliments on legit daily.

Wearing: currently, my nightshirt...but later, Notre Dame gear to cheer on the Irish...beat Deacons!

Following: the news, of late, duh, who isn't?

Noticing: how nice freshly-washed and changed sheets feel. 

Knowing: way too much about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement speculation...and totally rooting for another royal wedding soon!

Thinking: about new ski gear before our post-Christmas Tahoe trip...

Bookmarking: chicken marinades, trench coats, and training resources on segregation of duties for work.

Giggling: at the screenshotted Snapchats from our recent roomie nights watching Disney movies.  

Feeling: insanely sore from yesterday's yoga/Pilates class...hi, triceps!