Thursday, April 30, 2009

love your hair...let's do lunch.

on a totally unrelated note...i'm having a miraculously great hair day today. in honour of that feat which is so rarely witnessed upon my little noggin, i am 1. mercilessly tossing my tresses about as i talk to people in the store. 2. quoting dolly parton from steel magnolias nonstop. 3. wishing i had a cable for my frickin' camera so i can show you (millions of readers) the slideshow of pictures i took of myself in my car with my good hair today. of course, i don't think the pics do my do any justice, but hey. the moments are so few and far between that i simply cannot help myself! so here is a happy little pic for your enjoyment of one of my all-time favourite dos.

xoxo-lu


i got my typewriter! i got my typewriter! and immediately upon using it realized i hadn't used one in about 18 years. my left ring finger is so weak it can barely make the letters it is designated to type appear upon the page. kind of funny. i wrote for 15 minutes. corrected mistakes for about five more.
yesterday was my day off. i worked non-stop on my house while watching movies (something's gotta give, only you).
it was fantastic. despite the fact or perhaps because of it, i covet marisa tomei's hairdo in that film and the crazy sexy backless white outfit she wears on the boat. it is a wonderfully silly film that i am beyond stoked that i found on sale for $5.
i also bought two really cute side tables and table lamps from target. i prefer to shop locally but honestly, i couldn't find ANY that matched in my price range in my town.
this is actually, a great example of the wretchedness of my shopping. i look for exactly what i want for about a couple of months all the while neglecting spending money on myself. then one magical day i head to target or something like that and spend $500 on everything i need. then spend the next week or two reeling from the fact that i spent so much money.
ish kabibble.
unlike my gal pals, i dislike shopping with a passion. i like to buy things. i just prefer to do so when they jump out at me and say "buy me! i'll be perfect for you!".
i digress...
today i am at work and easily agitated. i just want to go home and hang out. i, once again, need to work on my patience.
enough for today.
xoxo
lu

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

feng shui health cures


as i am sadly reading about the swine flu and the worst case scenario article in the paper that projects the outcome if the u.s. were actually hit with a pandemic flu outbreak, my heart aches for all of the fearful people out there in the heart of things.
i know if it hit my little town, we'd be screwed. we have two hospitals that don't even have enough parking for the employees let alone beds for tens of thousands of sick people.

therefore, i want to send out some positive health energy for the world, especially those afflicted with this new flu virus.

so, tonight i am going to do some positive feng shui "cures" in the health gua of my home. i encourage anyone who may read this to do the same!
the health gua is in the center of the house, or room. it's element is earth which is symbolized by the colour yellow. wood uproots earth, so no wood in this area if possible please. columnar shapes, the same thing goes, it symbolizes trees, which are not so awesome here.

the creative element for earth is fire. therefore candles (even if not lit) are great here.
red, brown, and orange are also great here as are fresh flowers. healthy green plants on a table or bamboo are good here as well.

i needed to send that out into the world. just in case. every little bit helps, right?

my thoughts, energies, and prayers are with those who are ill or are affected by this illness.

xoxo
lu

ask and to thine own self be lu

i'm getting some alone time this week. at work, at home. thank goodness. not that i don't love having my wonderful friends and family around. i just need alone time sometimes. a lot actually. more than i ever needed but hey, it's where i am right now. bah. enough of that.

onto how happy i am with myself today.

*i'm drinking more water. in fact, due to the plague i suffered last week and still have a lasting cough from, i haven't had coffee in 7 days! which is insane because i usually drink coffee like there'll never be another cup offered to me ever again.

*i wrote for 7 minutes yesterday, but i wrote for about 24 minutes today to make up for it.

*as you know, i bought the typewriter yesterday. it's already shipped and i'm like a kid at a birthday party, hopped up on brownies and waiting to tear into my present.

*and though i didn't clean or do laundry yesterday, i practiced patience with someone that has a tendency to push every single one of my buttons. i can't said i entirely succeeded. but it meant something to me to practice the aforementioned virtue.



on an unrelated note, i'm a little butt-hurt about some things a couple of people said to me recently. now, usually i'm used to this kind of under-the-breath comment by one and intense frankness by the other. but i'm getting to the point in my life where i may just explode if i hear these things one more time.

note to the world: just because i am a gregarious person and like to be silly and loud sometimes does not mean that the things people tell me about myself which are, to them, major character flaws as a human being don't hurt a little. they hurt a lot actually. a fault of mine is vulnerability. i'm too open with myself and sometimes i question why the friends in my life that are so uncomfortable about it that they come out with these comments on my person and what is "wrong" about me that they feel so compelled to tell me so. like always, i act like i don't care. but i do.

i try to be accepting of people's quirks. each one of my friends has a weirdness quotient that cannot be denied but i don't say things under my breath to them to make them feel bad about it. dear god, i hope i don't! i try to tell them how it makes them more lovable to me. because almost always, it does.

i don't know. today i have that on the back burner of my mind. perhaps i will belly up to the table and have the gumption to put someone in their place the way they always try with me (and have yet to fully succeed- adds the stubborn side of me). i'm usually so afraid to say anything to anyone about how they hurt me. i'd rather ask everyone else i know if i'm crazy to be hurt by that. but that, i have decided, is not the way to do things anymore. comes across as too immature or gossipy (which i despise!). perhaps because i love these people, it's the least i could do to say something honest.

so says the band cake and so say i: "perhaps, perhaps, perhaps".


til next time
xoxo
lu

Monday, April 27, 2009

clickety clack!

i couldn't wait. i've been wanting a typewriter for so long. i had seen one at urbanoutfitters.com and thought i could find one like it (cute and portable) for cheaper. all hail the glory of http://www.typewriters.com!! i found an olivetti ms 25 for fifty dollars cheaper than what they are selling it for on urbanoutfitters! so i got it!

i simply cannot wait to type away! i've always had a thing for typewriters over computers, print blocks etc. it's a big step for me to just make things happen (even little things) for myself. so yes, i am cabbage-patching right now.



xoxo
lu

solitude sister



dear lord was i sick last week. i missed my little teeny tiny place in the wide world of the interwebs...
my, how fond i am of ellipses! well, it's monday and it's back to the ole salt mines. surprisingly, we had a great week last week. even as the two people working felt like they were dying of the plague. i've got a cough that could shake the rafters, but lil miss optimistic will be just fine.
i'm glad to be at work, though i would love to have the day and the store to myself today and not have to work with anyone. sometimes a day like that is so nice. just to do with it what you will and not have any interference.
i'm craving major alone time this week in all facets of my life. after tuesday night family dinner, i'm going to try to spend the week alone. well, just me and seven.
i've heard a lot of things in the past couple of days that have seeped into my mind and need some reflection. on a separate yet slightly related note: as sweet as senor mas was during my plague week (he took excellent care of me) and as much fun as we had pulling double duty at dueling barbecues yesterday; i just really want some alone time to think and maybe read some sense & sensibility and write a little.

seems to be a reoccurring theme with me lately. constant yearning for creative alone time.
on to the pragmatic!
i have a couple of goals this week and they are as follows:
1. do laundry! ick. i won't tell you how long its been.
2. clean the house (this includes borrowing the vacuum cleaner from the store because i'm ridiculous and haven't purchased one for myself yet).
3. buy a typewriter (i have my eye on one and i'm getting ready to take the plunge! so exciting!)
4. write 15 minutes a day this week. period. blogs don't count either.
5. keep up with the healthies i've been making time for. i'm very proud of myself. the vagueness is intentional.
6. begin the listing and researching of absolutely needed investments. tires, brakes, teeth etc. i've been putting it all off and quite frankly, i'd rather not have my teeth fall out of my head.
7. be patient and try to find other ways to deal with someone in my life that is testing the wee bit of patience i possess. argh.

happiest of mondays to all!
xoxo
lu

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

three-day catch up. brace yourself for some ACTION!


i am delighted by the simple fact that i did NOTHING productive on sunday. i even slept late! that is unheard of in my neck of the woods. senor mas and i hung out all damn day, ate copious amounts of yummy foods, listened to great music. he worked on his origami (making chicks, a fox, a bunny and a nightingale) while i caught up with elinor dashwood back in merry ole england. what a delightful day. we fell asleep watching charade (starring carey grant & audrey hepburn- a classic).

monday i worked. we had a great day (thank goodness!). one of my bosses is on vacay while the other just got back from vacay. i want a vacay. screw it i want a vacay long enough to call it an actual "vacation". but where would i go? what would i do? how would i pay rent when i get back? that last question was an exaggeration. i'm rather OCD about my budget, so i would make sure i could pay my rent or wouldn't go at all (most likely...).

last night i cleaned. i made a list and i think i completed everything. i pointed all my shoes in the closet in the same direction so that my life path will become more clear because my "feet" are going the same way. i cleaned my bathroom (much needed), my kitchen (much more needed), seven got a good ole fashioned cleanin' as well. the first thing he did on our walk this morning? dig a hole in the darkest dirt he could find. i think he does it just to help me get over my OCD. that must be it...

today i work. i work as if it is a friday for i have off tomorrow. a day off in the middle of the week throws me for such a loop, but i'm rather enjoying it (having had a mid-week day off for two weeks now). i'm getting my hair did tomorrow and i need to find something interesting to do with it. if i were in better shape, i'd have a cute little pixie cut, but honestly, i feel it makes my head look too tiny as compared to the rest of my body. i look like a triangle or a barbie whose head has been switched with skipper's head by some ever-so-slightly sadistic child (i may or may not have attempted the same frankenstein-type experiment as a child. just sayin'...). but, i digress.

i simply want a new do. something light and springy. maybe i'll just shave it all off and start wearing hair pieces. that's not eccentric at all!

well, this is my interesting life. i love it. hope the billions of people keeping up with this blog have enjoyed it also.

xoxo
lu


p.s. just remembered that i had a dream about the singer rihanna. i dreamed she had gigantic boobies and a bunch of kids and was trying to be like aretha franklin. quite amusing. she was fond of velour track pants. why that was worth mentioning other than it makes me laugh, i know not.

Friday, April 17, 2009

it's not ennui, it's off-ui.


i'm not sure how accurate it is that we are transitioning from the age of aquarius to the age of pisces or not. i did, however, hear it on npr; therefore i believe it to be true. but i can't say that i'm not shocked every day now that everything around me is swirling, changing, growing, falling away. evolving, so to speak, into a new beast.

i think i'm coming into it a much better place. a year ago, i wouldn't have recognized the me i would hypothetically meet on the street if i were a time traveler.

i have been struggling to attain not only chemical stability, keeping my head above water in regard to the depression that seeps so steathily into my life at times; but also my personal issues.

i talk things out. i hash. and it comes off, in my opinion, as catty or inappropriate. i never know if this is normal or not. i'm an only child and find that i stumble across "appropriate human behaviour" from people that don't seem to actually perform the aforementioned appropriate human behaviour themselves.

anyway, i'm trying rather hard to be a solid, great friend to my friends, family, loved ones. not letting my odd neuroses kick me in the pants. learning new things, creating things, teaching myself to open my heart in actual joy for people's successes when i fall short of my own type of success in the meantime.

senor mas is an inspiration in regard to this phenomenon. he is reading books by osho, learning how to read music (which he has always wanted to do) and is being a very loving and attentive boyfriend. there is a peace about him that did not exist when we met last september. very cool. very very cool.

meanwhile i have friends that i have conflicting opinions on about this. like it's my place to have any opinion on it at all.

some are repeatedly kicking their own asses in regard to life choices and the cycle of: make mistake, dread mistake, kick own ass, make bigger mistake, beat the shit out of self, make original mistake again because its not as bad as bigger mistake.

now, i've been there. i am in no way saying that i have not. in fact, i have co-authored the book How to Screw Up Repeatedly & Have People Pity &/or Despise You. but it hurts to watch amazing, dynamic people, my chosen family, as it were, do this to themselves.

i guess i am frustrated because i want to help and the only way i got through the worst of my was with their help and the knowledge that i am human and humans make lots of mistakes but are capable of great change.

on that note, i wish to send out the most positive energy into the world today for all of us struggling with life's complicated niches.

me, my family, my friends, and my loved ones are strong, wise, and capable of great things. we will achieve. let us not destroy ourselves in our lack of perfection.

i'm metaphorically sending that up on a silver piece of paper tucked into a red balloon and off into the atmosphere it goes. *


happy friday all.
xoxo
lu


*silver and grey are significant colours for following through with things in the helpful people/travel gua of feng shui. red is a colour of protection.

Thursday, April 16, 2009


things that are on my mind today:
david sedaris. i get to see him tonight. i really hope he sings the billie holiday-oscar mayer hot dog song. i heart this crazy eccentric man to such a degree i cannot yet explain.
christina applegate. she needs to be my friend. she's funny, broadway-ey, has that attainable healthy/fit/flexi body thing going, and she's the reason i love the sweetest thing, anchorman, and don't tell mom the babysitter's dead. if i had cable and watched t.v., i'd watch her show too.
my artwork. i need to make more and make prints of some of my older pieces, figure out how to maneuver etsy.com and see if anyone in the universe would like to have them bringing my unique lulu energy into their homes.
secrets. i have been entrusted with one and i'm so proud of myself for not telling anyone. plus it's a really happy good secret and i've wanted to tell people as much as i've wanted cigarrettes and have managed to keep my piehole shut. i'm cabbage patching for myself right now.
money. what else is new. i need some and don't know how to make more so that i may acquaint myself with the life i so comfortably live in my mind. the store i work in had a great day yesterday. today...crickets and tumbleweeds baby. oh, and really snobby rich biotches who like to treat you like crap because you work in a store and worked hard for a proper education instead of marrying wealthy men. and scene.
seven. he's the best pup a gal could ask for. i can't imagine life without that sweet ray of sunshine. i'm thinking about getting him a microchip. i don't know if it will hurt him or not. think i need to do some research. all in all i just need to tell the world that i love my little behbeh!
senor mas. he is being a really wonderful bf and i am so appreciative of that. he's one smart cookie and i think he's a dreamboat!
happy thursday all!
xoxo
lu

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

list maker, soul shaker.

i need to make a list of all the lists i need to make.
number one: things i want to learn (metal working, photoshop, photography, CPR).
number two: the things i need to do when i get home today (clean bathroom, sweep floors, straighten bedroom, move the big chair to the living room).
number three: projects that need attention relatively soon: (emptying those GD boxes out and organizing them. i'm down to 5).
number four: skills i need to hone in order to make money in this unbelievably scary economy right now (CPR again pops up, web design, growing salad gardens, changing the oil in my car -yeah right- you catch the idea).
number five: issues i have to go to the doctor about that i'm too scared about because i'm always afraid i'm dying: lymph nodes, knot on neck, cavities etc.)
number six: the next feng shui projects: prosperity section in living room, what the hell to do about my kitchen!
number seven: things i really need to do but am to damn lazy to do: take long walks with the pup, do yoga, pay attention to my hair, make my finger and toenails look less like something belonging to a desert-wanderer yadda yadda yadda.
i can't actually write about or do anything until those lists are complete.
that is where my head is today. lists. ooooh, perez hilton will be blogging about my super-interesting life soon.
and so the cycle continues...
xoxo
lu

Monday, April 13, 2009

easter whippits for all

today feels like the beginning of The Cat in the Hat when the kids are looking outside at the rain. it's rather grey out today (some of my favourite weather actually). we've got billie holiday on the stereo at work, one of my bosses is in an off mood, and i just want to watch movies like Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind today. that's the vibe fa sho.
however, i had a pretty great weekend, i'm happy to report. a nice chill friday at home singing into my hairbrush, ran errands most of the day saturday, had easter with mama and family yesterday.
talk about some deliciousness. having a southern mama to make amazing food for you is so awesome! ham, pork roast, squash casserole with those crispy fried onion thingies on top, bacon/green beans, rice and gravy, and to top it all off (and this is hilarious to me) challah bread.
mama wanted to acknowledge our recently suspected, very distant jewish ancestry by serving challah with our pork buffet. we had a good giggle over it once the irony kicked it.
nonetheless, it was a magnificent feast; and i found her earnest interest in acknowledging the aforementioned ancestry quite loving and endearing. that's my sweet mama.
this year was our (me & mama) first easter without my grandmother and uncle (they both died rather tragically within six months of each other). last year they were both at the house with us. it's so crazy how quickly things can change. very sad.
i think my mama held up extremely well. meanwhile, i drank myself through the holiday. 'atta girl.
proud moments were had by the dozen. for example, telling my family about the time i did whippits in my early twenties and how it felt like my brain was dying in snaps and pops while it seemed like someone was yelling through a tunnel into the inside of my brain "MWOW MWOW MWOW MWOW".
ahhh, memories being made. it's a beautiful thing. sufficed to say, my folks were less than impressed, but what're ya gonna do? senor mas said that i make it easier for people to let loose because i'm so full of life and always seem to be enjoying it. i think that's the nicest thing he could have said, first of all. second of all, i surely hope so because i felt like a show pony being led around by my master, cheap wine and young's double chocolate stout.
adieu for now.
xo
lu

Friday, April 10, 2009

karma bank

ish kabibble. i attempted to redeem myself for being such a cranky kermudgeon over the past few days (due to illness, a pulled back muscle, the perpetual existence of the grey tubs of life's accumulation in my living room and the very economically depressed state of my beloved job in retail right now) by dropping everything to help a friend last night.
yay- a coin in the karma bank!
then, upon my arrival to assist aforementioned friend, someone drops the heaviest glass tumbler of, what i assume is whiskey, on my big toe. this toe is now bigger than big, and a few lovely moody shades of purple and blue. obviously i hadn't quite earned that coin just yet.
as for mi casa. my bf, senor mas, says that it happened because i had the grey bins in my health section of the house. he has since moved them while i am at work, sending pictures throughout the process. quite amusing. hope it works. my toe stopped throbbing during the cell phone picture show, so perhaps the energies are paying closer attention than i expected.
yeehaw for feng shui, yet again! and a yeehaw to you, senor mas, because that was very sweet.
'til next time,
xoxo
lu

Thursday, April 9, 2009

porque el numero seite es mi numero favorito.

i love me a survey. even if no one is reading it but me (and yes i go back on here and delight in my own silly jokes with myself). for example, me to me: wasn't that funny what you said on blogspot the other day? my response to myself: yeah, that was really awesome. you're so funny!
aaaaaaaanyway...
seven things about myself for myself to read later and enjoy:
1. i'm not a hypochondriac. i just always think i'm dying of something.
2. i currently have a hole in my foot because i can be an idiot and ran barefoot through a parking lot during torrential downpour to save my new leather sandals. they are fine by the way, but i'm not speaking to them until my foot heals.
3. i gave myself a haircut this morning and think i look rather saucy, if i do say so myself. i even used that new-fangled thing called a hairdryer. ...i'm a big kid now!
4. i don't have patience for learning technological things though i'd like to learn them. partially because logic is an inherent characteristic of all things technological and well, reread my introduction paragraph today if you're confused about my stance on the subject. because of my inability to do techie things, i have yet to buy a new cable for the camera i got for christmas so that i can put up the 200 or so pictures just sitting on my pretty pink camera right now.
5. i believe that capitili-zation and Punctuation are necessary but i prefer a more guerilla approach to their usE*
6. i will reread that last sentence in a day or two and giggle with myself about how witty i am. sheeeesh.
7. i keep track of how many ounces of water i drink a day. i tally them up on my drinking glass with a marker and get a blue check if i drink eight 8 oz. cups, light blue if i drink 5-6, and red if i drink less than that.

that is all for today. maybe.
xo
lu

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

i heart feng shui amongst other things

so today i am working the shop by myself. well, technically not by myself. i brought seven with me. he's not quite sure what to make of it and he's being rather clingy. can't say i don't love it though. he's my little ray of sunshine.
i have a gigantic cup of coffee and alexi murdoch on the ipod instead of the regular jazz standard fare that i have to play. so scandalous am i, breaking all the rules.
anyhow, i've been truly enjoying this book i bought about two weeks ago. move your stuff- change your life by karen rauch carter. it's a (surprisingly funny) guide book to feng shui.
my apartment, as mentioned in my previous post, is chock full o' stuff. unfortunately, all of it is stacked in the prosperity section of my living room/health section of my apartment. guess who's low on funds and sick this week? argh.
i did a couple of things to manifest some changes in my life. what little i can do surrounded by 10 grey tubs of my life's accumulation of tchotchkes. the area i've paid the most attention to is my creativity section. fire is bad for that section and i have a fireplace smack-dab in the middle of it.
i moved my antique pie safe over to that area and covered the fireplace. i filled the pie safe with all of my books (organized by subject, of course. OCD) because words are my favourite creative expression.
i placed my mandolin and my unused snare drum on the top because they are both round which signifies the metal element associated with creativity. i placed my three huge art books up there (three is the number for the creativity section) as well topped off with a hand-done piece of art that my friend lizzie did for me years ago that says "follow yourself confidently".
i put a basket of the books from my childhood (partially for my friends' kids when they come over and partially because i would love to write children's books) next to the pie safe. all signs point to creativity; and who started suddenly blogging two days after working on this project (and three months after initially claiming to want to blog)? that's right. lil miss creativity section. this may not be enough to convince any of the people who may one day come across this delightful rant, but it sure feels good to this little lady.
xoxo
lu (& seven)

Monday, April 6, 2009

i am an odd little duck. i'm so freaked out about what to say on the amorpheous blog that i haven't written anything since january. upon visiting my blogspot site, i noticed NO ONE is following it. thank god. it's actually rather comforting to know that technically no one but yours truly is reading this thing anyway. that being said...
today i am at work. thank you nightly news crapcasters for the fear-mongering that has made the usually somewhat pleasant job of working in retail not-so. .
i sit. i greet browsers. sell a birthday card. talk to more browsers that want to be treated like A-list customers without actually, you know, ever...buying... stuff. blech.
all i really want to do these days is go home. be alone with my wonderful pup, seven; and organize my disheveled apartment. it's odd, for the first time in my life, having everything i own in one place. especially since it's all in my living room and i don't know where to put it all. i would say goodwill is grateful for the seven cases of really good stuff i've given away because there is no room for it. but goodwill is never grateful for anything. they are a rather jaded group, those goodwillians.
i digress.
the fact of the matter is, if i could have a week (month) full of nights where no one calls, or needs me to be anywhere or have me go someplace to do something. i would spend every night piddling around my house, listening to the new neko case record, or the yeah yeah yeahs or eef barzelay and shuffle around the joint, moving things from container to container to storage closet over and over again and be the happiest little clam in the sea.
...that is all i really want today...