Hip House Girl

That durn mutt!

Time lapse video of Misty while I’m out running errands. It gets particularly interesting around :20. Enjoy.

Yeesh- seriously who wants to read this crap? Oh well, I have a spare sec, so I suppose I’ll do the ol’ 100 things about me post for my 100th post. Here goes!

1. I’m the youngest of 4.
2. I’ve eaten a llama sandwich.
3. I used to think I wanted a bazillion kids.
4. I still want some, but not a bazillion.
5. I hate dirty gross bathrooms.
6. I’m afraid to start watching certain shows, because I’ll get sucked in.
7. Like I did with LOST and 30 Rock.
8. I guess you could say I’m a runner.
9. I may never do another marathon after this one coming up (my first). Too time-consuming.
10. However, I think everyone should try it if they are physically able- or at least a half-marathon.
11. I liked Modest Mouse before they got big, but that’s the only band I can say that about.
12. My favorite band is Daft Punk.
13. I like to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
14. I thought I was going to be a singer when I grew up.
15. I even recorded some original songs in a studio. I think the guy felt bad for me because if I remember correctly, he didn’t charge me for the session. (This is really cracking me up right now!)
16. My dad used to play that tape in the car, either to make me mad or because fathers love their daughters so much that they can’t hear the awfulness. Oh, the angst.
17. I got piano performance scholarships to a couple schools, but didn’t end up majoring in music.
18. My good friend Allison is on an LDS mission in Uruguay right now, and when she gets back we are going to start a band called “Grandma”.
19. I like putting on temporary tattoos.
20. The trunk of my car is held shut by a shed latch and a padlock.
21. I want to get a “University of Utah Alumni” sticker for my POS car, because I think it would be funny. Like saying, “You too can have a sweet ride like this if you eat your vegetables and get a good education!”
22. My nickname for a very long time was “Patrick”. Long story.
23. The next nickname I had was “Tink”, because I had a short pixie haircut. This one was so prevalent that there were a few people who didn’t know who Amanda was. Honest.
24. Then I had a short-lived, but hilarious, nickname of “Skort”, because yes, I wore a skort.
25. Also, “Hat”. aaahahahaha!
26. I despise magazines like Seventeen, Glamour, and Cosmo (sorry Kristin!)
27. But if there is a Cosmo laying around at Kristin’s house, I will pick it up and devour it with transfixed repulsion, unable to tear myself away or participate in what’s going on around me. Those people are disgustingly good at what they do.
28. My favorite books are: The Catcher in the Rye
29. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
30. Into the Wild
31. Ishmael (Watch it, this one may shake your world. It’s a little boring at first though.)
32. A Clockwork Orange
33. The Kite Runner
34. My favorite movies are: Dr. Strangelove
35. Tommy Boy
36. The Princess Bride
37. The Emperor’s New Groove
38. I had to check my facebook profile to remind myself what my favorite books and movies are. I realized it’s pretty outdated!
39. I watched Blood Diamond and was so disturbed that I will never own a diamond. Unless maybe, I know for a fact that it was mined in Canada or something (which is pretty much impossible to tell so yeah, probably not) or if it’s manmade.
40. I call myself a vegetarian but I still eat meat sometimes, like if it feels culturally awkward to say no, or if it’s a special occasion.
41. If I don’t call myself the V-word, I’ll end up with a turkey sandwich at work and other functions every time.
42. I (mostly) abstain from meat not because I think it’s wrong to kill animals, but because I don’t like how meat is manufactured, not grown, nowadays. It’s gross and it ain’t right. And I’m too cheap for farm-raised grass-eating organic hot-tub-sitting meat, so yeah. Just say no. (Most of the time.)
43. I think I have a weird thing where I like things to be a little messy. If I clean my room, I’ll admire how clean and organized it is and how I can see every inch of carpet, but then I’ll leave my clothes on the floor. It’s like my subconscious is afraid of being tidy.
44. I was Valedictorian of my high school. Okay, so there were 7 of us, out of 35 kids. Ha! (Don’t ask me how that works.) But yah you betcha I still put it on my resume.
45. I grew up in a cabin on the Colorado River.
46. We only had a wood-burning stove for heat.
47. I learned valuable lessons from hauling wood. If we didn’t take the time to haul the wood from way out in the wood shed up to the back porch, then on a particularly cold and snowy night we’d have to go trudging out through the snow all the way out to the shed. Folks, when it comes to wood and to life, don’t wait to do the hard parts until it’s dark and snowy- do it while it’s warm and sunny out. Just call me Aesop.
48. My family members are all pretty much renovationholics too. My parents are still buying junkers and fixing them up. Where they live, it’s common to find houses (fixer-uppers) in the $25-30k range- no lie.
49. Sometimes I still sleep with a stuffed dog named Otis.
50. The only reason is because he fits perfectly under my arm when I lay on my side.
51. My brother Jonny and I think it’s hilarious when people punctuate a question with a period. We’ll frequently send each other texts such as “What are you doing tonight.” and “Are you going to Grandpa’s for dinner.”
52. My grandma is a published author- she wrote “Bones in the Well- The Haun’s Mill Massacre” and some other nonfiction books.
53. The other night I honked at a bunch of dolled-up frat-looking guys going to a club, because they saw me coming and decided it would be a good idea to cross the street anyway. I was going home to go to bed, and my crotchetiness at these youngsters made me feel really, really old.
54. I would never be attracted to a guy who spent more time/money on his personal appearance than I do (not that that would be terribly difficult!).
55. I’ve always been thrifty bordering on cheap. In high school we’d go to the gas station (because it was cool, duh) and I’d never get any snacks but my friends would. My friend Georgia would always buy me something. One time she went in alone, and the cashier said “It’s a lot cheaper without your little blonde friend, huh?” Oops.
56. One time I rappelled down a waterfall. Then I climbed up a waterfall, in a cave. How hardcore is THAT.
57. Another time, I was rappelling and my ponytail got stuck in the rope just as I’d kicked off. My hair stopped me and I dangled for a while, slowly lowering. My hair was ropeburned.
58. I like to cook.
59. I was in the “gifted and talented” program in school. My life sure turned out pretty average for someone who is “gifted and talented”.
60. Average/normal is okay for me now though, because it’s the people in my life that make it extraordinary. Cheezball, but true.
61. However, I would still like to travel and do other awesome things.
62. I was a Resident Advisor for two years at the University of Utah.
63. My first kitten’s name was Billy.
64. My sister’s was named Cuddles.
65. That said a lot about our personalities back then.
66. I used to love dogs- as in, I wanted to be one- and I would chew on chicken bones the way cartoon dogs do.
67. I used to wish that I could fly every chance I got- birthday candles, wish bone, you name it. “I wish I could fly.”
68. I laugh a lot, I think a little more than normal.
69. I probably cry a little more than normal too.
70. I want to get a Master of Nutrition. With this I will either:
71. Help people lose weight or:
72. Help people in the developing world get access to adequate nutrition.
73. I always thought I would do something like join the Peace Corps and I’m scared that one day I’ll wake up when I’m 47 and cry because I never did it.
74. My undergrad is in International Studies, with minors in Business and Spanish.
75. I did a study abroad in Argentina (language intensive for one month) then traveled for five more weeks after that all around the continent with my friend Paul. It was a riot.
76. My siblings and I are pretty close. As in, I still get farted on sometimes. Gross.
77. As in, they’ll fly/drive long distances to my home and stay for a while to help me remodel my kitchen.
78. My nieces and nephews are some of my favorite peeps in the world.
79. Golly, my parents are too!
80. My new driver’s license photo looks like a mom of four just barely rolled out of bed in time to mat her hair to her head, draw on a pimple, and make a godawful scowl at the camera. And I did my hair that day!
81. I don’t believe that being slightly different around different groups of people makes someone less genuine. I think it makes them adaptable. 🙂
82. I like doing sideways smilies 🙂 except on the blog they turn into right-side-up yellow smilies. I’ve noticed lately that the cool thing to do seems to be to do them the opposite way (-:
83. Circus peanuts are gross, dad. And so are Nibs or whatever they’re called.
84. My family makes fun of me for doing yuppie things like drinking Pellegrino and buying hippie environmentally friendly household cleaners. Whatev, they smell good.
85. I enjoy trying to do my part to save the earth, but I despise “greenwashing”. Wolves in sheep’s clothing, I tell ya!
86. I find politics fascinating but I can’t bring myself to commit to a party because they are all ridiculous in one way or another.
87. I believe in tough love, but I try to remind myself that unconditional love is more important. Try.
88. I worry a lot about what other people think of me. Am I too shy? Am I annoying because I’m trying to compensate for being shy? Am I nice enough? Does it seem fake? Am I too grumpy? If I don’t complain about something, will I fit in? Can people tell I’m worrying about all these things? (I guess they can now)
89. I’m pretty sure I fell in love for the first time in first grade. I drew a picture of us getting married. I found him on facebook and yeah… not as attractive as I remember.
90. My mom can tell when I’m having a rough go, all the way from Oklahoma. Sometimes I’ll call her when I’ve been depressed, and she’ll already know. True story.
91. I’ve gained weight during marathon training. Not cool.
92. My boyfriend is a super smart hydrogeologist named Stan. He likes good music and going hiking. He’s a year into his master’s program- woot! He also really enjoys doing projects around my house. 🙂
93. I went to prom four times. I’m not bragging, there just aren’t that many people to ask when the average class size is 35. In fact you could say it’s the opposite of bragging.
94. My day job is doing Marketing & Communications at a state-funded economic development agency called USTAR- Utah Science, Technology and Research.
95. I get Fridays off because I work 4 ten-hour days. I love it!
96. One time I didn’t do my taxes for three years. Oops.
97. Am I done yet?
98. I like to go skiing but I’m not that good at it.
99. I have a nice bike (I think it’s worth more than my car, which technically makes me a granola).
100. I like sushi but only when it’s half price!

If you read all that, congratulations! And to thank you for reading 100 things about me and reading my blog, I am going to try my darndest to do the cool thing and do a giveaway sometime soon. Possibly even today, but I’m not promising anything.

In high school, I was one of those kids who was “really into music”. Well okay, I wasn’t one of the kids who knew first about when a band was coming, or who bought t-shirts of my favorite bands and knew trivia or anything like that, but I was a kid who blasted Radiohead in the car and laid in bed with my eyes closed while Brandon Boyd poured meaningful lyrics into my soul or Jim Morrison drunkenly read me poetry.

These days, my discovery of music usually consists of Stan force-feeding me bands he likes until I like them too (actually this is a pretty good system) or my brothers sending me links to youtube videos.

Well blogland, this is the equivalent of me sending you a link of a band that I really like, and that I found all by myself!

If you don’t have time to sit and watch the video, at least push play and listen to the song while you do something else. Yeah, I like it that much.

It gets even cooler though, especially for us house lovers. Here is the description of the album:

How freakin’ cool is that?

Wow. Two blog awards at once! Well, the same award but from two people. A huge thank you to Amanda at Little House on the Corner and Hillary at The Sweet Maple Life!

So I totally feel like a bratty beauty queen telling her people to “put all the extra roses over there” or something, but I realized that I am not necessarily notified when getting these awards… so if you give me one will you send me an email letting me know? Otherwise I may accidentally miss it and end up looking like an ungrateful bey-otch, and nobody wants that. Or, you could possibly  let me in on the secret to getting notified of such things?

Thanks!

Now for my blog love in no particular order  (I cannot guarantee that none of these are repeats).

1. Anything Pretty
2. Tearing Up Houses
3. five2eight
4. Pineapples & Parquet
5. The Brick Cottage
6. Little Red Roost

I’m not sure how many I was supposed to do, so I’ll just stop at 6. Happy browsing!

And right now mine wants food. It’s done with the kitchen renovating, the daunting thoughts of floor refinishing, the backsplash choosing…

Just to be clear- no, I am not actually done with those things, but my heart has moved on.

It’s moved on to things like beating egg whites until stiff peaks form…

folding in pecans and coconut…

taking pictures of myself licking the spatula…

Don't look too close- there is drool.

and eating- devouring– Italian Cream Cake with a 50/50 ratio of cake to frosting.

Now that my heart has been fed cake, maybe I can talk it into finishing up the kitchen project. You know, things like caulking the trim, painting, and tiling the backsplash. Things like that.

I have this giant table. I like the giant table. I can fit friends and food at it, so it’s pretty sweet. It’s especially sweet since I happen to have this giant dining room. (Giant compared to the other rooms in the house.)

This is how I’ve had the table arranged. I thought that since the room was long, I should put the table hot dog style. Er… lengthwise.

I wish I had a pic that showed the whole room, but basically with the table this way there was a big void.

Then the other night we tried it the other way, which I like a lot better. Why didn’t I think of it before?

I guess that now that there’s a bar in the kitchen, and the kitchen effectively extends about 2.5 feet into the dining room, there’s not really room for the table to go lengthwise anyway.

Here it is from the front door before- you can see the awkward space I was talking about, there to the left.

OK well if I knew the first thing about taking a good picture, then you would be able to see that the space is much less awkward now that it is pleasantly filled by the table. And you also might be able to see something, anything, in focus.

Or maybe I’m crazy. Anyhow, in real life I like it much better this way.

I’ve been pondering what to do with my spices. Quite the conundrum, eh? I have a lot of them due to an affinity for Indian cooking, and I love having them out in the open and accessible. Also, they look pretty. Okay, so this doesn’t look pretty…

Try to ignore the obvious to-dos in this picture- it's the only pic I could find of my jumbled mess of spice containers before. That's them in front of the brick chimney.

But spices in general look pretty. I considered tins, because they are adorable and keep out light, which can make your spices lose their freshness faster. But a lot of tins I found were a)expensive and/or b)not airtight. In my humble opinion I think being airtight trumps being opaque in matters of spice freshness, but then again I don’t really know anything so don’t quote me.

I found some cute matching jars at places like Ikea, but even they were a little pricey and the lids were cheap and not that airtight.

I didn’t really want a system like this,

because it doesn’t allow for growth and this spice family is always adopting new members. Aww.

I love this from organize.com, http://www.organize.com/stainless-steel-small-spice-board-13-piece-set-lipper-international.html , but I do not love its price tag. I have heard of DIY versions of it, which basically involve affixing your own magnets to the tins and buying a piece of sheet metal. Except I’m kinda running out of wall space… (it could be really cute on a fridge too though!).

Then Stanley the Manly came to the rescue with some half-pint Kerr jars- sweet! They do let light in, but they have an airtight seal and they just look oh so pretty like that. Aaaaaand they’re 12 for $8, versus $2-$3 each at other places. So, yeah.

The scrawled permanent marker is just temporary (ha ha) until I can get some cute labels. And I’ll probably want to get some sort of shelf so I don’t have to pick up a top one to get to a bottom one… or maybe not. We’ll see. It was a bonus that the newer Kerr jars have sleek silver lids instead of the brass ones, although I don’t mind those either. My kitchen was starting to feel a little too modern for the rest of the house, so I’ll have to try to bring back some of that cottage/bungalow charm with touches like this.

Oh and PS- the reason I need such large spice containers is because I shop for spices in bulk, the way everyone should. Really, here’s a well-kept secret- shop for your spices at an Asian or Indian store. A measly little container at the grocery store will cost you 4x as much as a very generously portioned amount at one of these stores. At least this is true in Salt Lake City, and I’m guessing it’s true in other places as well. They have exotic spices, but they also have fairly generic ones too, so it’s worth a lookie.

How do you guys store your spices? Any tips for mine?

Okay, so I know I was freaking out a while back about whether to get a standard 33″ sink or a smaller one in my tiny kitchen… and I got lots of really good advice. Then why, why, why didn’t I heed it?

Well, the more I looked at that side of the kitchen, the more I thought it would just look better, and more importantly work better, to go with a smaller one.

Here’s how it looks:

And I’ve laid down my level and a dowel so you can see how a standard sink would look:

Yeah, you can really tell huh? Ha.

It’s a 24-inch sink, and I made sure to get a deep one so it didn’t feel so small. And with my giant arching faucet (that I accidentally paid waaay too much for- more on that later) I can fit just about any huge pot or vat under it. The cabinet base was built for a standard 33″ sink, but all that really matters is how you cut out the counter top. And if someone ever wanted a standard one, it is entirely possible to just cut out a bigger hole in the counter top.

The counter to the left of the sink is much more functional this way, and I just think that overall the 24″ sink fits this kitchen much better. I like the single sink because now that I have a dishwasher I will rarely wash things by hand, except maybe a big pot, but that fits better in a single sink anyway in my humble opinion. But I really do appreciate all the input!

…to come home from work to this:

instead of this:

I totally lucked out and got a remote control gas log for 50% off at Lowe’s. I had had my eyes open for one, but I thought I had missed them all. I know, I know- a remote control fireplace? Come on. But it’s super cool- the remote has a built-in thermostat, so wherever the remote has been set down- that is how far the fireplace will heat to. Does that make sense? I know that my grammar is terrible in this post, but please forgive me as it’s very late…zzzz

Anyhow, the fireplace ended up costing more than I thought it would- the gas log itself was $180, but it was another $255 to have the plumbers run a gas line over there. Everything is completely accessible in the basement, but apparently for some reason they have to run it outside and come back in? I dunno, I wasn’t really listening. But since spring has been tricky this year and the Utah snow gods keep dumping snow even after my surprise tulips bloomed, I think it was money well spent. It sure is nice to sit by the fire with snow falling outside, and let’s get real- I would probably realistically build a real fire maybe… twice a year. Or zero, looking at historical trends.

Does anyone have an opinion on fireplaces? Real vs fake? Anyone have one of those TV screen fireplaces?

Oh and PS- yes that is my microwave, and not the TV. What can I say- I realllllly enjoy watching a good burrito once in a while.