Resolutions

In case you haven't noticed by now, I'm notorious for making resolutions.  And not just on New Year's Eve.  I make them all year long -- my goals, plans, decisions, etc. etc. etc.  They're all resolutions in one form or another.  So it should come as no surprise that I'm making more of them at the traditional time as well.

After much thought and debate, here are my 2011 resolutions:

• Stick to my budget plan: While I had a budget plan last year and things started off well, I don't know that I thought that plan through.  So when things changed on me, or expenses came up that I didn't expect which altered my budget that month, I got so frustrated that I just gave up.  This year, I have a more carefully thought out plan, and a more carefully thought out mindset.  I think I'm beginning to understand money a little more, and my relationship to it.  So while I have an overall budget plan for the entire year, I also recognize that I'll probably have to replan a few times.  And while a majority of my money is funneled into paying off credit cards, I've built in pockets of spending money and emergency money as well.
• Be more mindful of myself: I need to stop and listen to myself more.  I think I've been in this rut with this job for so long because for months I told myself to suck it up, or I worried about disappointing my boss or something.  Instead, I should have been worried about the fact that this job makes me unhappy and it began to get unhealthy for me.  So this year, I'm trying to be a little more aware of my thoughts and feelings and will hopefully find myself in a better place when 2012 rolls around.
• Take steps to get where I'm going: I began doing this earlier in December and I can already see how good the changes are making me feel.  I started 2010 with all of these plans to get started with and all I ended up doing was putting them on the backburner to deal with in 2011.  Well, 2011 is here...let's get going.
• Travel: Even if it's within the country.  Hawaii and traveling to weddings for a weekend does not count.

There are few smaller resolutions, which are more hopes than actual goals (i.e. build a better wardrobe, get back into my work out routine, write more, see more live music, get outdoors more, take a western national parks road trip, get my dog into a training class), but those are all sort of contingent on something or other.  That's not to say I won't work on accomplishing them, but the resolutions are the real focus here.

I hope you all had a very happy New Year!

new moon review!

overall? better.

i've been waiting to give my new moon movie review until i've seen the movie twice, since that's how long it took for the first one to really settle in with me.  i guess i'll just begin this review by saying first that i was really, really excited to see it on opening day.  i'd somehow managed to refrain from looking up every single iota of information and movie stills that leaked prior to the movie, and the lack of it all had me primed and ready to go.  unfortunately, as eager as i was to see the movie, with the first one being what it was i was also mentally preparing myself for a huge let down.

thankfully, for me, it didn't come.  here are my thoughts:

• the amount of beautiful boys in this movie is astounding.  that's all i have to say about that.
  
• who knew that kstew was that pretty?!  those scenes with her running through voltera?  i mean, she's really naturally beautiful, and i know i said this before, but she's completely started to embody who i picture bella to be in my mind.  my one complaint about her, or the way she portrays our heroine, however, is that she tends to blink and huff a lot throughout the film.  while i like it at times because it sort of reinforces whatever feeling she's going through, it got kinda irritating after a while.
• people who say money doesn't matter have never seen a low budget movie.  because twilight was low budget, my friends.  new moon, on the other hand, was not.  and it was either that or the change of director that made all the difference in the world.  i no longer felt that the movie rushed through the book, or that a pivotal scene was just not what it should have been.  the filming was a higher quality, the make-up and costuming was better, i could go on and on but one of the better shots had to be of the pack chasing victoria through the woods while bella was preparing to cliff dive.
  
• i like how, all of a sudden, edward's shiny silver volvo has turned into a shiny black volvo suv.
• dear jacob (and the rest of the pack): please keep your shirts off.  love, every girl in america.
• there are still some cheesy lines in there.  it wouldn't be twilight without them.  but there were fewer, or maybe they were just better camouflaged.  and unlike the first movie, there were actually really good lines in this one too.  my favorite has got to be bella's heartfelt plea with jacob to not make her choose between  him and edward because, "it'll be him.  it's always been him."
• my pet peeve of the movie: the fact that everyone kept referring to the quileute boys as werewolves.  i realize it's a small thing, but am i insane or did the books not make the distinction between wolves and werewolves?
• the chemistry between bella/kstew and jacob/taylor lautner is undeniable.  and while i'm a firmly entrenched team edward gal, i appreciated that this movie made me almost wish i was team jacob.  because that's what new moon is supposed to do, you know?  you're supposed to fall for jake and become just as conflicted as bella is.  this movie sets up eclipse quite nicely in that sense.
• once again, the music was great.  not as great as K.'s new moon playlist, but nearly there.  nearly.
• jessica is such a great portrayal of your classic frienemy.  and she's just so funny.  i missed the supporting cast in this movie a little, but since they weren't really in the book very much, that's understandable.  the scene with jessica, and the other with mike, were great though.  added just enough comic relief without making the movie stupid.
  
• i sort of liked the addition of the letters to alice.  i realize that they're a vehicle for moving the story along, and making sense of bella's voice over's, but i liked that they were letters to alice and not edward, and that it helps you to believe the closeness of bella's friendship with her.
• finally, i have to commend chris weitz on keeping so true to the book and on really making some very smart choices with both lines and direction.  there was so much less of those "wait, this wasn't in the book," or "that wasn't supposed to happen like that!" moments in new moon than there was in twilight, and i loved that about it.  i have to say i'm a little worried about eclipse, now that we've seen both a not-so-great twilight movie, and a great twilight movie.  with yet another new director, who knows how it'll turn out?  particularly since this director once said he'd rather be shot than even watch twilight (which he later apologized for and recanted, obviously.  and no, i don't care if that's understandable.).  he's just such an...edgy?...sort of filmmaker that i worry he really won't care about staying close to the books.  that being said, i'm all for giving him the benefit of the doubt.  and who knows, maybe i'll like it even if he doesn't stay close to the books...eclipse wasn't my favorite anyway.  :)
  

gobble gobble

first of all, happy thanksgiving blogging buddies!  i hope you're all eating lots and lots of yummy foods and spending some quality time with you families.

i thought today of all days would be an appropriate time to reflect on all the things i'm thankful for, and all the reasons i have to celebrate this season!

• i'm extremely thankful for the health of my family this year.  this time last year was a really difficult time for me, mostly because my grandfather had been in and out of the hospital with different illnesses and just the general aging of his body.  while his health isn't what it used to be, he's currently at home with my grandmother, mother, aunt, and family friends enjoying a relaxing day of food.  so i'm thankful.
• i'm thankful for my job.  i think anyone with a job in this economy, no matter what the job may be, should be thankful for it.  i can't even begin to express how much...safer?...i feel now that i have a job.  just overall security, i guess.  i can pay rent, i can pay my credit card bills.  i could even theoretically go shopping if i wanted (though i think i'll be passing up on all the Black Friday hullabaloo this year).
• i'm thankful for the people in my life.  my family, with whom i've had some really fun conversations with lately.  N., who has shown me an incredible amount of support lately.  and my friends, who have also shown me such support, and have kept me light-hearted when things were difficult.
• i have to say that i'm thankful for my growing level of patience.  or, at least, my ability to not show my lack of patience as easily as i used to.  it has saved me a lot of grief lately.
  
• i'm thankful for tradition, and how it makes me feel close to home when home is so far away.  i think i'm a fairly traditional girl, all around, and not all of my family traditions are, well, traditional.  but i still need them, and doing them still makes me feel better, less homesick.  so while having several odd dishes around this years thanksgiving table may not seem like a big deal to some, those dishes are a very big deal to me.  and i'm thankful for them.
• i'm thankful for the fall and the coming winter.  because they are wonderful seasons, and contrary to what the thermometer may read, they make me feel very warm.  N. and i are buying our first christmas tree together this weekend, even though we'll be in hawaii for the actual day, and i am so excited to decorate it.
• and i'm thankful for my life, and all the possibilities it affords me.  i really did believe my parents when they used to tell me as a little girl that i can be and do whatever i want in life.  and they were telling the truth.  so even though i may complain sometimes about feeling stuck and being unsure of my direction, the fact that i even have the luxury of choosing a direction is reason enough to be thankful

here's hoping your day is filled with love, laughter, and food!

courage, the turkey president obama pardoned today.  he will now live the rest of his life in walt disney world.

project central

i've been in a very artsy mood lately. i want to redecorate every room in my house. i want to paint. i want to go to thrift stores, buy up the world, and refurbish to my delight. i have some projects lined up that i'm looking forward to (though nothing is for sure yet...must run it by the pack mule
boyfriend). i guess i need to fill my time somehow, right?

but in my search for diy project ideas online (particularly while visiting the extremely awesome creature comforts), i came across this:

which, considering the photographer is only 14 years old (14!), made me feel unartistic and completely untalented. lol. more of her stuff can be found here. it really is beautiful.

anyhow, some of the things i want to get to over the next couple of...days? weeks?...however long i'm going to be unemployed (urgh, so frustrating!):

• create my own one of these, so i don't have to pay $40 for it at the moment.  i do, however, plan to buy one of the originals from madebygirl as soon as i can afford it.  i suggest everyone check out both her blog and her etsy shop!
  
• somehow redecorate our home office/guest room. right now there's a colossal and ugly futon couch in it that we bought off of craigslist when we moved in a few months ago. i hate it. the space it takes up makes it impossible to rearrange the office EVER. i'm secretly plotting it's untimely demise. N. has no idea and will probably be unhappy about it. but it needs to be done. i want to replace it with a cushy overstuffed chair and table (which is fantasy at this point since i have no income), and move some of the furniture around. it's just too cluttered. papers everywhere. N.'s crap in crates and overflowing from his file cabinet. a broken shelf. case in point: right this second, i am sitting at my desk on my laptop and can see about a square inch of the desk surface. it's disgusting.
• create my own one of these too, except i want to put a quote from "wuthering heights" in it. you know the one: "What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning; my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger." i have the canvas and paint (all free!), and just need to start.
• fix up our wall art around the house. it's all sort of mish-mashed right now, sort of off-center of things. i mean, i love the pieces we have -- lots of asian script (compliments of N. being chinese, as well as our trip to hong kong a couple summers ago), northwest tribal art we bought on the s'klallam rez over our last couple of trips up to washington, some framed cards, a wall hanging friends got us from israel, etc. -- but i'd luuuuuurve to do something like this with it all. (yes, at this point i may as well just move into this ladies house, i love it so much)
• do some very necessary yard work. we have a huge back yard, dominated by an equally huge oak tree. because of this oak tree and the shade it creates, we have no grass. that being said, i have to find a replacement ground cover (because both finn the dog and i hate the wood chips currently strewn around) suitable for shady areas and a dog running around. i want to do large pavers and then buckets and boxes of ferns, shade-appropriate flowers, and an herb garden. i also want to hang some bird feeders, build a bat house to help with the mosquito's (we live near a creek), and string white lights or lanterns from our porch and the oak tree. this, as you may have guessed, will cost MONEY. so it will be the last project i tackle.
• finally: two weekends ago, N. and i went to check out some thrift and goodwill stores and i hit the motherload: a pair of 7's in my size for only $4!!! this is my very first pair, and i won't deny that i've got some serious back-patting going on over the fact that i got it that cheap. yay me! but i want to change them into skinny jeans, so that's on my to-do list.

i'm taking more diy suggestions/ideas, or blogs to refer to if you've got them. or i'd just love to hear what you've been up to!

changes and renewals

after writing yesterday's post, i was left thinking about my new year's resolutions. i don't think there's been a year in my life where i've gone back and checked in to see how i was doing with my resolutions, and i definitely have never "renewed" a resolution. i'm going to try it this year though, because most things that are worth it require management and maintenance. here goes nothing.

Resolution 1):

join a gym. notice that for once it doesn't say, "lose weight." i never keep that resolution. this one is a bit more baby-step-ish, so i feel better about it. there's a gym i have in mind that i'm going to check out next week. and yes, the joining does entail actually going to the gym. i purposefully set up my class schedule so that it allows for more "me time" this semester, which includes exercising, so i think i'm headed in the right direction.

well, i'm technically still a member of the gym. and i love the gym itself. it's nice and clean and there are tons of classes to take. i never have to wait for a machine, the locker rooms are fantastic, and it's pretty close by. but if i'm totally honest, i have definitely not been sticking with this resolution. i don't think i've gone to the gym in a month (a month!). it's disgusting. my butt and thighs hate me, and my abs are officially AWOL. the really sad thing is that i think i'm going to have to cancel my membership from dream-gym. N. and i are going to be moving before june, and with the increase in rent and the decrease in budget (because the government doesn't give you financial aid for being a loafer), i can't afford what has essentially become a flab tax.

but who knows, maybe i'll find a cheaper gym that i'll like. (*looks around, skeptical and depressed*). if not, i can always just get a dog and run around the block.

Resolution 2):

write. this one excites me. it's purely meant to be writing for pleasure. not publication, not academia, just for fun. whether anyone will ever read it doesn't really matter. i need to write again.

well, according to my last post, i've failed at this resolution too. i don't write regularly, and it's mainly because of the same old reason: i claim i have no time. i mean, i've written for publication, and i'm currently writing for academia, but as we see by the resolution i wasn't about to take my own bulls**t excuses, so those don't count.

i am completely willing and ready to renew this resolution though.

Resolution 3):

get out of credit card debt. for more on this, see "confessions of a shopaholic" post.

let me just say that i've officially paid of not one, but TWO of my three credit cards! of course, the one that isn't paid off yet is the biggest (with the highest interest), but i had to start somewhere. i'm still dealing with the mental block that is me not being able to give up that credit card because it's my miles card (i've already earned a round trip to europe or south america!), but i'm trying!

again though, because of the move (which wasn't supposed to happen until the fall, but is now happening WAY ahead of schedule), my monthly payments on the card will be a bit smaller than they have been. and once we're in the process of the actual move and we have to buy stuff to furnish the new pad, i'm worried that the credit card will be back in high demand. particularly since my budget at this point is pretty frozen. without a job lined up after graduation, and with a post-bar trip to pay for, everything's really, really cramped.

but i'll renew this resolution anyway. where there's a will, right?

Resolution 4):

not make myself sick over what may happen after graduation. my problem has always been that i need a plan to the point where i make myself suffer if i don't. this is the first time in my life that a huge life change is coming up (graduation in may), and i have absolutely no idea where i'm going to be after it. currently, i have the possibility of a job i may want lined up, and the ability to apply for other jobs i probably don't want at my fingertips. it's the first time i don't know what i really want though, and normally, this would make me sick to the point where i wouldn't be able to function. but i'm working on not letting my ocd tendencies get the better of me. things will work out. things will work out. things will work out.

haha. hahahahahaha.

huh? oh, sorry, this isn't a laughing matter i guess. okay, in all seriousness, i haven't completely failed at this resolution and i'm of course going to renew it. N. and i have talked about it, and if we have to do long-distance again for a while because i can't get a job in our neck of the woods (the bay area is terrible right now for lawyers), then that's what we'll have to do. it's nice to have the support system.

i've also been told by the firm that, though they can't hire me on as a fellow this year, if i were to apply next year i've got a better-than-most shot at the position. SO, i'm applying for several other fellowships (one taking place in both hawaii and new zealand, which seems ideal and frighteningly too good to be true. fingers crossed!), and i'm not above getting some random job to pay the bills. in a perfect world, i'd either get the fellowship from God, or i'd find a great ngo to work for that would stimulate both my mind and my bank account. we'll see.

resolution renewed.

Resolution 5):

be happy. this one ties in to the last one and is probably the biggest and most important of my resolutions. while i didn't have control over a lot of what happened in 2008, i did have control over my reactions to those things, and in the end, it's those reactions that paved the way for how the year would proceed. so my only conclusions can be that i made myself unhappy this year. i made 2008 difficult for myself. and i refuse to do that in 2009. whatever else happens, i want to approach my decisions, big or small, with the goal of being happy. should i take the bar? well, would it make me happy to do so? should i apply for this job? well, would i be happy if i was offered the job and accepted? it may sound selfish, and i'll try not to be, but i just feel like this is a much better approach, and a sort of middle ground, to how i usually go about doing things. we'll see how it turned out, i guess, on december 31st, 2009.

resolution success in full swing! i can't even explain how much things have changed between last semester and this one. i don't know if it's just the fact that i can see my graduation just ahead of me shining like a lighthouse in a really bad storm, or if i've just changed. maybe it's both?

i just notice that i'm happier now than i was six months ago. i no longer have that constant feeling of discontent. not everything feels out of control. and i know that most of it has to do with the fact that my grandfather's health has improved, and if i let myself think about it i realize that it won't always stay that way, but for now i'm just excited to be excited again. i don't think i'm usually such a difficult or depressing person, and being that way 24/7 was making me feel like a stranger in my own skin.

so i'm a success story here, and i'm definitely renewing this resolution!

20sw: care packages

another writing prompt from the creative bloggers over at 20sw! this was actually a lot more difficult than i thought it would be!

The Prompt:

For each of the following people, choose 1 book, 1 song, and a brief piece of advice to leave them. Explain why you chose the pieces that you did.

• 2 close friends
• 2 family members
• 2 fellow bloggers
• 2 ex-friends/significant others
• 2 younger people in your life (10 or more years younger than you)

close friends:

• N: you're in this category because you are my closest friend. you are my best friend. the song i'm including in your care package is the fray's "look after you", because this will be our first dance on our wedding night. i hear it, and i think of you. the book i'd like to give you is my "lord of the rings" trilogy, because you understand my need to re-read and re-watch things over and over, and you don't seem to mind sitting there while i do it. the one piece of advice i'd give you is this: you will never fully understand women. but that doesn't mean you should stop trying.
  
• L. over in colorado: because i miss you so much sometimes, i'm sending you israel kamakawiwa'ole's "white sandy beach of hawaii".  it makes me think of home, and when i think of hawaii, i think of you too.  hope you always know that a part of you always stays in hawaii with a part of the quints.  i'm not sure what sort of books you're reading these days, but i'm re-reading dan brown's "angels and demons" and am really enjoying it. since you're meandering your way through faith, i thought it would be a fun read for you too. and i think your fortune cookie will say: the physical distance between friends is really no distance at all.
  

family members:

• my younger sister: for you, i'll send the divinyls' "i touch myself". strange, i know. but i'm sending it because i'm worried that, with all of the difficult changes you're facing in your life right now, you're not remembering to have enough fun. and if nothing else, this song is fun! i'll also send you elizabeth gilbert's "eat, pray, love". i can't honestly say that i think you'll enjoy it, but i do think you can get something out of it. and my advice to you is this, little sister: we are only as happy as we make ourselves. if you're not happy in your own skin, don't be afraid to make the necessary changes until you are. take chances. that's what life is about.
  
• my oldest step sister: in your care package would go carrie underwood's "so small", because the message is something i think you could relate to better than most. in terms of a book, i would most likely include haunani-kay trasks "from a native daughter". this book changed the course of my life. it taught me how important the work i could do may be, and it also showed me that i can disagree with theories but still agree with principles. hopefully, it can do the same for you. the piece of advice i'd put in your fortune cookie would be this: the battles you've faced so far have only made you stronger. don't be afraid to be yourself in the future.
  

blogging friends: (okay, i'm kind of cheating here, since some of my closest friends also blog)

• B. over at isn't she pretty in pink: for you, i'd send bonnie tyler's "total eclipse of the heart", along with a little note requesting that you listen to it (loudly) while in your car at an intersection, and lip-sync it desperately to the person in next car over. in terms of a book (you know it's coming), i would give you my copy of "twilight", and make you sit down and actually read it! it'll take you like, 2 hours! and though you're usually the one giving me advice, let me just say: you do not have to stay on the path you chose 3 years ago. do what makes you happy.
  
• K. over at the artist in the ambulance: i can't send you many songs you don't already have and listen to regularly (particularly since you're the one usually sending me the songs that i listen to!), so i'm pulling something out from our hazy hana-bata days, and sending you nsync's "tearin' up my heart". while our music taste may not have been as undeniably awesome as it is now, i'm not sure i've ever had as much fun as i had with you and the girls during those days. instead of a book, i would send you an I.O.U. for the one i hope to write one day. you will get one of the first five copies, hands down. i'll even autograph it. and my sparkling words of wisdom: there is no rule saying where one should be in their life "by now". continue to live the way you choose, with happiness as your goal and friends by your side. things will happen when they should.
  

ex's:

• J. (the bff from the sixth grade): though i would never actually send you a care package, if i had to, i'd include mariah carey's "always be my baby", because it was part of the last good memory i think you and i had. i have no idea who you are now, and no idea what happened to cause that. but i no longer care either. we were kids, we're not anymore. the book i'd send you would probably be our slam books (which are in storage somewhere), because i definitely don't need them. and my advice is this: burning your bridges leaves you with less places to go.
  
• K. (although you don't really qualify as an ex, since we never really went out): i'm not sending you a song i think you'd like. i'm sending you back a song you thought i'd like, along with my memories of random nights listening to music in your car, being sympathetic as you bitched to me about the girlfriend you'd never leave (though you told me you would), and waiting for your phone call the next morning after i knew you went to see her. so you can have beyonce's "that's how you like it" back. it wasn't that good anyway. as for a book, i'd send you tucker max's "i hope they serve beer in hell", because though i may be mad on some level, we left each other on good terms, and i think you'd find it funny. my advice? don't marry her. you don't really want to.
  

young'ns:

• my 4 year-old nephew: in your care package, i would include brooke fraser's "seeds" as my song to you, because i love you, and i worry. the book i would send to you would be a book of hawaiian legends. though i know you'll get your fill of it one day, it's never too early to start. and my advice would be this: don't grow up too fast. you'll have your whole life to be mature and adult...live freely and have fun.
  
• my 10 month-old niece: for you, i'd send a fine frenzy's "lifesize", because for such a tiny girl, you are larger than life. this song is positive and sweet, and so many more of the things i hope your life will be one day. in your care package, i'd also put sophie kinsella's "confessions of a shopaholic", because i want you to know, early on, that books (and life) can be fun and silly, and it's completely okay to want that. just don't go into credit card debt! my advice (aside from the credit card debt thing) is this: don't follow in anyone's footsteps. make your own, regardless of what your well-meaning family may say.
  

because i haven't done a twilight post in a while

here are some bullets for ya:

• got the dvd last week. special features are all right, and seem better when you can kill flight time by watching them on the plane. i've also decided that the best scene in the movie is when they're playing iron & wine at the prom.
• watching the dvd made me want to read the book again. it was strange though, because it wasn't the same as the first or second time, you know? i guess i'm reading it for details now, rather than the story. and i can put it down this time, which is actually refreshing.
• i found a really fun new blog over at free and flawed. that in and of itself doesn't have anything to do with twilight, but she did write this really funny piece for guidespot.com on the books, entitled "why your girlfriend shouldn't read/see twilight" which you can find here.
• i was in washington this past weekend for M. and J.'s beautiful wedding in sequim. we drove to forks and la push for the hell of it. it rained, snowed, hailed, and cleared up in the hour and a half drive there, which is typical of washington and almost endearing at this point. forks, as we all know, is just your average, small logging town on the peninsula, though it does now have a very busy, thriving "dazzled by twilight" shop kept afloat by a constant influx of teenage girls in "team edward" shirts. there's also a tour you can take, complete in a black twilight tour bus, to see all the sites mentioned in the book. i did not take the tour, for those who are worried/wondering. but because i'm constantly looking for new ways of torturing N., i did consider it. what else is a girlfriend to do, after all?
  
• la push is absolutely beautiful, and it gave me the opportunity to see the sign announcing that travelers are now on the quileute res, thereby putting them on notice that they're under tribal law (i understand that this is only interesting to me, since i work in indian law, so don't feel bad if you're like, "what?").
• for those of you living under a rock, you should definitely check out some of the highpoints in rpatz' GQ shoot.
  
• my bff is currently busy working on her eclipse playlist. if i haven't made this clear already, she makes AWESOME playlists, mainly because she has the best taste in music of anyone i've ever met. she's already made a twilight playlist, and a new moon playlist. she's amazing. i'm going to go ahead and say that hers were better than the actual soundtrack, but i may be biased because i love her, and i love a lot of the bands she used.

and just for fun, here are a few pics from my pilgrimage:

the sign that everyone by now knows and loves, and the infamous bus. for just $30 a head, you too can sit on this bus and drive around forks, instead of just taking your own car even though it's impossible to get lost in forks!



this is the sign i was talking about. (and yes, jacob is supposedly quileute).

the beautiful la push. the res school is down near the beach, and i couldn't help thinking that i would never get any work done with this in my backyard.

these are a few of my favorite things

so for a "congratulations, i reached 100 posts!" post, i was planning on doing a list of 100 of my favorite things. but do you have any idea how hard it is to think of 100 of your favorite things? i mean, the list of 101 things about me was fairly fun and simple because i could include things on there of any topic. this endeavor, however, has gone from being fun and simple, to be a massive pain in my butt. and i can't keep not posting regular posts because i want this one to be my list. i actually have things to say nowadays!



SO, despite the fact that this is a complete fail on my part, i'm posting what i have now. and i had an idea. for those of you who know me, if/when you comment, maybe you could help me out by listing some of what you think of as my favorite things. N. actually helped me come up with about 30 of the items of my list anyhow, and it would be interesting to see what you think i love, knowing me so well and all.



so without further delay, i present to you the failboat that is:



70 of my favorite things!

1. Changing seasons

2. Dark red nail polish

3. U2’s “Joshua Tree” and “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” albums

4. Procrastinating, apparently

5. Nora Roberts romance novels

6. Snickers ice cream bars

7. Anything and everything in Anthropologie

8. Writing of all sorts

9. Redecorating

10. Planning the wedding I’ll have one day, though I’m not even engaged yet!

11. Big Sur, CA

12. The bffs I’ve had since Kamehameha

13. My Thursday lunches with B.

14. Getting email on my cell phone

15. This funny expression my dad makes when I stress him out

16. Seattle

17. Dangly earrings (particularly if they’re handcrafted, and have some turquoise in them)

18. Free People (both the brand and the concept)

19. Constantly expanding my iTunes library

20. Teen soap operas like Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and The City

21. Getting my hair done (though I wish I didn’t have to pay so much for it)

22. Color-coding my daily planner

23. Going to baseball games for the beer and hot dogs

24. Seeing my young nephew develop his own distinct personality as he gets older

25. Guys with pets and trucks

26. Traveling

27. The cute purse my sister got me for my bday (from Anthropologie)

28. Van Morrison’s “I’ll Be Your Lover Too” and “Into the Mystic”

29. Friday date nights with N.

30. The fact that law school is almost over

31. Bumble & Bumble hairspray

32. Cedars, when it used to be the best Indian food in Seattle

33. All animals, except for snakes

34. Baz Lurhmann films

35. Iron & Wine

36. Books that come in series

37. Flea market shopping (and I hope to soon get into thrifting)

38. Ireland

39. The fact that my cat really does think she’s people

40. College sports events

41. Flying on Virgin America/Atlantic

42. The acoustic guitar and piano

43. Pacific Northwest Native American art

44. Paula Deen’s house

45. Accents (British, Southern, Irish, Australian)

46. “Expedition Alaska” (I made everyone I know watch it)

47. The playlists my bff K. makes

48. Casting the characters in my favorite books

49. Sushi boats

50. User-friendly airports

51. New Zealand

52. The University of Washington Huskies (go dawgs!)

53. Forbidden love stories

54. Twitter

55. Farmhouse sinks (I know, random right?)

56. Ikea

57. “John and Kate Plus 8” (Alexis is my favorite sextuplet)

58. Diet Coke

59. Macs, because they’re aesthetically pleasing

60. Long cardigans and skinny jeans

61. Blogging, both the writing and reading parts of it

62. Sarcastic humor

63. The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, in all its many forms

64. Long, scenic car drives

65. Fruit or custard-filled donuts

66. Indigenous cultures

67. Barclay’s, the neighborhood pub

68. Bowl-like coffee mugs

69. Visiting places written about in books I’ve read

70. Blueberry yogurt

hackers

so this week has been a little rough. not only was i coming back from hawaii, but i was also getting back to school after spring break, i've been trying to complete my moral character application for the bar exam, and i was a victim of identity theft.

this last one really pissed me off.

so on tuesday, i wake up and my phone is blinking as usual, signifying that i have new email. i don't check it right away because, again, as usual, i'm running late and have about 15 minutes before i have to head to the BART in order to get to my 9:30 class on time.

at some point, while i'm bored on MUNI, i remember the blinking light. i get my phone out and check my email. imagine my surprise when i have not one, not two, not three, but four emails from itunes giving me my receipts for the purchases i apparently made the day before. $200 worth of purchases.

i flip out.

this is the second time in 2 months i've had an account hacked into. last month it was my ebay account, where some idiot hacked in, bid on 2 video games from the UK, and won. thing was that ebay will email me to let me know that i won these items, and when i got those emails i quickly contacted the sellers and told them it was some sort of mistake (a word of advice: ebay sellers are not sympathetic to the fact that your account has been broken into), disconnected my paypal, and closed my ebay account altogether. after this happened, i changed the passwords for as many accounts as i could remember, but apparently forgot to do so for my itunes.

back to tuesday morning. i get to campus after reading these emails and am a mess. i'm a mess because i've been working really hard to save money lately. like, really hard. and the fact that someone could just come in and screw me out of $200 sucked. and THEN i realized that, if this person has my passwords, chances are he has all my other stuff too (i suspect that when i used limewire to download some music, i got a virus or someone put some spyware on my computer or something), including my social security number, etc. it just made me feel really...exposed and violated.

so i contacted itunes. (can we just pause for a second to discuss how hard it is to actually contact itunes? why don't they have a simple number you can call?) i ended up "chatting" with some customer service guy who was all in all really friendly and helpful. he told me to contact my bank and file and claim, and itunes would cooperate with the bank in any way they could. so i contacted my bank, filed my claim, got the $200 credited to my account, and closed the card that was used. then i called the credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on my credit reports. then i sat there for an hour and thought of every single vendor i used to buy things online (amazon, target, jcrew, gap, old navy, victoria's secret, audible, anthropologie, urban outfitters, t-mobile, you name it, i thought of it) and changed all of my passwords.

it's been such a colossal pain in the ass, i can't even tell you.

and now i'm freaking out over every tiny thing i do on the internet. so, as a parting thought, here are a few tips my computer savvy friends offered me:

1. close your email every single time you're done looking at your messages. don't just let you email stay open when you're on your computer.
2. get a good antivirus. go ahead and spend the money on it, it's worth it. and scan your computer regularly.
   
3. do not download music from limewire.
4. try as much as possible not to do online banking.
5. don't leave your web browsers on and/or open unless you're actively on the internet. like your email, this just widens the window high-tech jerks can use to "see" your stuff.
6. check your credit report regularly if you do a lot of buying/selling online.
7. don't save your credit/debit card information to any of your online accounts. it doesn't really take a whole lot of time to plug that information in each time you purchase something. and think about it, if my debit card info wasn't saved to my itunes account (though i think for itunes you actually need to have a card on file), it may not have been so easy for those thieving bastards to steal my money.