what the dooce?!

i admit it, i am a daily blog reader. besides the few friend blogs i read (shameless plug here for becky, sara and steph), , i also read industry blogs (like this one for movie marketing), celebrity blogs (hello zach braff) and blogs of people i do not know at all. however, the blog that actually started it all, and the one i check almost every day is dooce. you can see that i first talk about this blog here (are you getting sick of the links yet?).

for most of you who won't follow that link and see what i already wrote about dooce, basically it is written by a woman named heather from utah who is a suburban-living stay at home mom (SAHM) or, as she says, a slutty ass ho motherfucker. just from that you can tell she's a housemom with an edge, and that's the reason why even as a young, non-married, non-mother i have still managed to get sucked into her life. it also helps that her husband is geeky-cute, her daughter is precious and her dog is adorable. but that's where the sweetness ends. the rest of the blog is real life. it's about being depressed, or constipated, it's about disappointing parents with your religious and political affiliations, and it's sometimes about being sick of your family and even your own kid. what it almost always is, is funny. it's the humor found in everyday life and crises that keeps me coming back and what, most likely, has made dooce an extremely popular and profitable blog.

i find myself looking up to this woman and thinking i'd kinda want to be her someday. she might be considered a strange role-model to have because she did get fired for writing inappropriate stuff about co-workers on her blog. but since you need to have a job to be fired from one, i think i'll be okay. plus, i'm not much for writing insulting remarks about people; i much rather bitch to a live audience (it's more interactive and there's no paper trail). anyway, what does make me admire her is that she has made her mistakes and not only learned but profited from them. she is a full time blogger who is able to support her family by writing about and taking pictures of her everyday life. that is amazing.

i've always said i want to do freelance work from home once i have kids (i don't imagine my income will come from blogging), but some people look down on this and think that it means giving up a part of your life and who you are, and rolling back years of women's lib. work. however, what i think the best thing that women's lib. has given us is the right to choose what's best for us. if that means climbing the corporate ladder for some, great. if it also means i get to someday work in my pajamas, watch sesame street and smell like peanut butter and jelly every day, that's perfect too, because i know there are people like heather out there who have proven that you can be a stay at home mom (or a slutty ass ho motherfucker), and still be funny, sarcastic, potty-mouthed, a kick-ass graphic designer, and lead an interesting, crazy, fun, fulfilling life.

and speaking of crazy, check out her latest post . HIlarious. behold, the power of photoshop to corrupt even the most innocent of things. =)

why i love heather gould

because she IMs me things that make me cry, like what i got today:

Heather0735: This is for you, I cut the original out of the paper on the day it was printed 5.29.04
Heather0735: I've been meaning to send it to you ever since
Heather0735: but I suck
Heather0735: so here it is


Heather0735: hugs and love to you always!

hugs and love to you too, and all my north stars.

*

it's a beautiful day

today i would like to mark an accomplishment for myself. spring is just around the corner and i am proud to announce that i made it through winter with hardly ANY problems (if you are unsure about what problems i'm referencing and why this is a big deal you should see my first post on this blog). i think this is an even bigger deal because i did it while being mainly unemployed and practically confined to my apartment AND i went to the gym. what's up now bitches?! haha.

i don't think weather-wise this winter was as bad as last year's in the fact that it didn't snow that much and it wasn't quite as bitter cold. however, it was still fucking gray and that is usually what does me in. not anymore. everything is mind over matter and what i've realized is that some situations can become better just by looking at them differently. and although she doesn't realize it, one of those attitude changes came about after a visit with my friend jess. she put something into perspective for me that helped me to get over the emotional roadblock i was stuck at regarding a part of my life and the people in it. i am grateful to her and to everyone else whose caring actions or words have inadvertently made me step back, take a look around and remember how lucky i am.

the sun is shining today and the temperature is getting warmer and the change of seasons has me so excited for all the things happening in the upcoming months. some things i am looking forward to that will most likely end up on this blog in some form or another are:

Coldplay concert
Wicked
Becky's wedding shower
Alicia's wedding shower
EC graduation
Becky's wedding
Imagine Tap (Kelly's tap show in Chicago)
Alicia's wedding

Also in the works, a new job, a new apartment and trips to Portland to see various peeps.

I may not be in L.A. this summer or out looking for America, but things will be great nonetheless.

lent update #2: minimize me

the other day i watched the anti-mcdonalds, pro-health documentary Supersize Me. i had added it to my netflicks list far before i decided to give up junk food for lent, but it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. it's not that i really eat mcdonald's or any similar fast food that much. however, watching the film has definitely reinforced the idea that i should NEVER be eating mcdonalds, and that processed foods in general are unhealthy. it has me thinking that the extra expense to shop for food at whole foods markets may be worth it. kelly bought some stuff from there recently and when i looked at the ingredients on the cereal i could read and spell everything. no artificial flavors, preservatives or multi-syllabic chemical additives to be found. there is no contesting the idea that this must be better for us to eat.

it is the 19th day of lent and i have not eaten junk food. i have twice turned down "taco bell sunday" (erin's favorite day), ordered steamed chicken and broccoli and white rice for chinese and refused kelly's offers of fruitsnacks. i constantly drink water and have tried to up my exercise regimen, which can be the most difficult for me. unfortunately, i have not lost any weight. none. i have also not gained any, which i suppose is good, but i hope that my body has just been readjusting and i will soon see the results in the drop of the needle. if anything, i can say for sure that i FEEL better, and that, of course, is the most important thing and what will hopefully keep me going.


p.s. if you rent Super Size Me you have to watch one of the bonus features called "The Smoking Fry", you will never want to put McDonald's french fries in your body again.

hey baby, what's your sign?

for shits and giggles i went to www.astrology.com to look up my horoscope for the day, week, year, whatever, and i ended up getting an astrology reading. of course you only get a partial reading for free, but there was enough there to surprise me about how accurate some if it was. very interesting. however, that being said, why am i going to pay $19.99 to get told stuff i already know about myself? hmmm. well, anyway. here is part of my reading. i think it pegged me pretty well. what do you think?


The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
Quiet, deep, emotionally complex and intensely private, you are not a person who is easy to get to know and understand. You are extremely sensitive but disinclined to show it, and you allow only a special few into your inner world. Like a wary animal, you are cautious and mistrustful of those you do not know until you "sniff them out". You are very, very instinctive and intuitive. You usually have a strong, immediate gut reaction to people, even though you may be unable to clearly articulate why you feel as you do. Your feelings and perceptions go deeper than words.

Lent update #1

it has been 6 days since i gave up junk food and i am happy to report that i am succeeding so far. i don't think i've even looked twice at the bucket (yes, bucket) of lindt truffles in the kitchen since friday. well, not twice in a row anyway. i realize that i do have this compulsion to reach for the junk and i find myself looking at it to eat, but now instead of just grabbing it without thinking, i glance at it once, the thought runs through my mind, but i stay away. i am an extremely determined person when it comes to setting my mind to accomplish something that i want, however, thus far that determination has never successfully been tapped into when it comes to food. there has always been too much temptation and not enough motivation. i want to hope that this new self-control i am experiencing through this goal i have set for myself will lead to a lifetime of better eating habits, not just 90 days. when i used to go to weight watchers, the people who were most successful always talked about how they had to see their "diet" as a life-long change and not just a period of time when they would stop eating bad foods. only then did things click into place for them and they were able to lead healthier lives, indefinitely. i want to believe that i am working towards making that change. i hope i am. i really do.

selective memory

last night i forgot how old i was. no, not in an "i did something really immature" kind of forgetting, i actually forgot. how. old. i. was. (the excessive punctuation is for emphasis of how. stupid. i. am.). someone on TV said how old they were or something about age and i could not remember whether i am 23 or 24. and since no one was around to ask, i literally had to think to myself "ok, i turned 21 during junior year, so i was 22 senior year, 23 last year, so now i'm 24." it seems like forgetting your age is something older people do, or like to do, but forgetting it in your 20s kind of scares me. well, not really. it's just the strangest feeling ever.

i guess all these years feel kind of the same. there's no more exciting birthdays like sweet 16, cigarettes and porn 18 and drunken 21. and if the next "milestone" birthday is 30, bring on the amnesia! cause you can shove that birthday right up your ass. have i mentioned i'm going to New Orleans for that one? nothing says "i'm not 30!" like drinking cheap beer from a plastic cup on the street. at the very least, by 9pm i won't even remember my name, never mind my age.