look, I made a word cloud

For a few years now I have been making New Year's resolutions and checking them twice (as in checking them out, like Santa does with his list). Sometimes I keep them, most of the times I don't, but I'm ok with that because even having the intention matters to me. And reading at least a few extra pages per month or exercising a few extra minutes per week adds up to something and in the end it's better than nothing.

This year I'll be trying a new approach, more fragmented, on a month-to-month basis. So on February 1st I opened a crisp new Word document and started typing in things that I want to be focusing on this month, my "what to do in February" list. I then looked for a nice format to use for printing it out and stumbled upon Wordle. This is a website that allows you to make your own word cloud. You can customize colors, fonts and orientation and I love the fact that they have a nice selection of fonts (here I am again, talking about fonts as if they were wine). So I pasted in my list and messed around with some settings and this is the final result:

I liked the way it looked so I printed it out on yellow paper and framed it in a wooden frame. It now sits on my desk to remind me of things that are important.

I was thinking of doing one every month but I think I'll stick with this one and find a different way of expressing things in March. Yes, liking this challenge!

the pinterest obsession

My new online obsession is called Pinterest, which I usually misspell as Pintrest but which should more appropriately be named PinImadeyouwaste5hourshahahabitch. The purpose of Pinterest is to be a space for gathering up all your online inspiration and organizing it on virtual boards. I only have 3 boards but I swear I found people who have 50. That is a whole level of organization that I will never desire to achieve.

One of my boards is an invitation to action akin to "come on, self, if others could do this so can you". It's basically a collection of fun and/or practical DIY which I shrewdly named Let's Make This. Notice the use of the pronoun in the first person plural form, thus implying some external help or the presence of multiple personalities. It used to be called I Can Make this but I changed the title when I realized that A) haha, riiiiiight B) Dimples joined Pinterest and he's a nosy diy-er himself. The man thinks he joined so he can stalk me online on yet another social network, but what he doesn't know is that the moment he clicked on 'I accept the terms and conditions' he became the execution to my planning, the ying to my yang, the glue to my piece of paper, the www. to my .com. So far we only completed a paper decoration project inspired by something found on Pinterest. By completed I mean I found it, got super excited about it, proceeded to jump up and down on the bed and gather the supplies (not at the same time, mind you), worked about 5 minutes on it together with Dimples and then delegated the entire process to him because I was too busy being in awe of his very focused face, admiring his dimples and stuffing my face with chocolate. When everything was finished (90% by him) I resumed my jumping up and down on the bed and hung the paper decoration in the Christmas tree.

Another board is called Future Home because, let's face it, I am a house (not apartment) kind of girl, despite living in this matchbox for a few years now. The board is full of green and white kitchens, green living rooms and green bathrooms because I have a 'my house my rules' type of attitude towards this.

Pinterest is basically an enabler for my obsessions but it also made me realize that there are so many things that I'm not particularly fond of when it comes to decorating and crafts. More on that to come.Yes, I am making a list of diy things that I hate, despise and loathe. I am also acquiring new loves (maps, oh how I love maps now).

boy talk or how to choose a pseudonym for the new boyfriend

Half, my long term boyfriend, has been out of the picture and out of my life for over a year now.

Luckily for charming ol' me another man decided that I was worth his time and energy. Don't ask me why, I still haven't figured out what side effects he was suffering from that prompted him to do that (I'm kidding. I do. He was under the influence of my fabulousness).

One of the reasons that made me decide to revive the blog was that my life is back on track. Wait, I take that back (from that track). Please, can I? Actually my life is on a different track, which may prove to be a better fit for me.

Since I anticipate that this new boyfriend will be a constant presence around here (who am I kidding now? I pray for that every day), I figured he's worthy of a blog pseudonym. A bleudonym if you may.

As you can see I have serious stuff that keeps me up at night. This and howling dogs.

So I consider the options:

New Boyfriend just doesn't do. It's not creative, too general and I'm actually hoping (did I mention praying?) that at one point it might become outdated. 

I could name him Troubadour because he's a good musician and he sings me love songs at my every whimy request. But that is too long a word and I have days when I have to run words like 'water' through a spell checker. Not really, but troubadour has a fleeting image to it in my mind and the wikipedia picture doesn't really help either.

There is also the option of naming him after a part of his body that I really like, but then I imagine I'd get a lot of unwanted traffic here, and not from the kind of people that I'd befriend in real life. Plus, I'm thinking that if he doesn't like to be called J.Lo (he doesn't, I've tried), he wouldn't appreciate this descriptive nickname either.

One of my friends calls him The Man, but I think that's not as descriptive as I want it to be.

I myself have been calling him Perfection ever since the day I met him, but isn't that too much pressure?

So what I'm left with is Dimples. Because they're huuuuuuuuuuuuuge. (I really hope this last sentence doesn't get me that unwanted traffic I was mentioning before.Oh, well.)

Dimples it is.

i told you i'd bring it back

I'm back! I made it to the other side of the storm and I'm happier than I've been in a very long time.

I am very grateful for having great friends, a supportive family and an awesome man who refers to me as "my pretty girl".

Life's good!

I'm bringing Geeky back

- soon -

So many things have changed, but mostly for the better.

I lost some weight.

I got out of a long term relationship. I've had my heart broken.

I'm close to getting into another relationship.

I'm doing things that I like for money that I get to keep.

I realized that I have the best friends ever.

I found my joy to live.

I started glowing.

I moved back and forth.

I planned for grad school and then ditched those plans.

I'm eating healthier and drinking more water.

I don't have a big cloud over my head all the time anymore.

I'm actively trying to make and keep myself happy.

I'm getting better at not sweating the small stuff.

I started painting my nails in all kinds of colors.

I started wearing dresses and found out that I love being all girly.

I've met new people and I've been quite outgoing.

I went to all sorts of places: theaters, museums, clubs, pubs, bars, coffee shops, shooting pool, movies.

I read funny books that I liked.

I wrote poems.

I took pictures.

I felt inspired.

I laughed so much.

I smiled even more.

I'm ready for the good times.

I know that they are coming.

vintage from dover ... again

Do you remember how I keep telling you about how fantastically wonderful Dover Publications is? Well, it IS. What, do you mean to tell me you don't remember these posts from 2009, about vintage illustrations of Transatlantic passenger ships and silhouettes and this one with summer posters? By shame, you.

Anyways, this week they sent a me a mail of goodiness. Their stock is really diverse and some of their emails don't arise my interest but when something really cool comes along I pull a Cheshire smile and start saving.


How good would this vintage auto poster look framed on my green walls?

Don't answer that, please. I already know. Perfection!