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test-sprimenting

Originally uploaded by karinajean.

I’ve been meaning to return to karinajean for a wicked long time, and have even got lots of posts halfway crafted in my head! but I have been so slow to do it. Partly I am just really busy: a new and longer commute, someone with which I want badly to spend my evenings, books to read, boxes to unpack, and also, my ever-continuing side project. But I’ve been thinking thinking thinking of what to write here, and how I don’t want to leave karinajean behind. I don’t want you to think that it’s this NYTimes article about abandoned blogs that is spurring me! it’s not that at all. I just plain miss it here at karinajean, ergo, hopefully, I’m back. (and not just because we got our first CSA shipment yesterday, no no, there’s more to it than that.)

OH HAI. Yesterday was my birthday. It was pretty super. Yes, I did go to work, and yes, I did poop out and not go to the concert I’d meant to attend. but I still had an awfully great day, including so many birthday shout-outs and phone calls and lovely emails. It culminated in dinner with michelle and jenn at a mexican place, where I think we were all surprised by a sombrero and birthday flan. What more could a girl ask for?

This birthday princess says: nothin’. that’s for sure.

This weekend I went to Albany for Easter, and also, for a 4-mile run with Meredith. It went REALLY well – I finished in 42 min. which is 10:30 miles, and way better than I expected considering how i only ran 3x before this run. Man. think of what a great runner I’d be if I really practiced!

A couple of weeks ago a work buddy from Philly asked if I was still interested in the Broad St. Run. and I said “oh, of course I am!” without really considering that it’s going to be on MAY 4th which is a short FIVE WEEKS AWAY and oh also this is a TEN MILE RACE. I am a little more heartened today than I was yesterday, considering that I just ran 4 miles and finished in good form, but still, this is really soon. I hope it works out for me. of course it’s a really good start to the running season, and I really do want to do a bunch of 5 and 10Ks this year – so it will hopefully get me in form Fast and even more hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up.

Of course, if I continue at the same pace I have been (which I should, I think) this means I’ll be running for over 1 1/2 hours. HOLY COW. I will have to add more songs to my running mix. and also get better at drinking water as I run. so much to do before May 4th!

Big Ass Fans (TM) at Ikea:

A delicious fish sandwich at a dump diner in Edison NJ

and some seriously risque fabric in the garment district:

Last week has been pretty darn good!

this weekend I had a Big Bunch of Travel. It was excellent.

Saturday went out for the express purpose of buying a Very Expensive Sewing Machine. I can’t wait until it arrives. and then I went to Queens, for a Tol celebration. viva la korean food! viva la friends from college!

then came the trains. are you ready?

• LIRR to Penn Station, Amtrack to Albany.
• first leg completed by my sweet brother picking me up at 12:20 AM.
• Then was the excitement of my hilarious nephew being shocked and thrilled to see me sleeping on the couch in the morning!
• And then came a lovely birthday breakfast for Meredith!
• and then came my first exposure to the Wii! According to Wii fitness, I am SEVENTY YEARS OLD. just sayin’.
• Then came more trains:

• Albany to NYPenn station, wherein we stopped 20 min. in to the trip in order to sit, dead on the tracks, while a mechanic was summoned because our brakes didn’t work. That’s right – OUR BRAKES. (the guy sitting behind me kept saying: how did we stop then?).
• oh, and right after we started moving again and I tried to get some tea in my mug [failure due to amtrak’s reluctance to use my reuseable mug], I had to listen to an awfully annoying conversation wherein gentlefolk were discussing how dirty mexico irrigates with sewage even though california was trying to help them out. Wow. I’d hate to see how california helps their RICH ENEMIES.
• Anyway. I was only 45 min. late to Penn Station.
• And then I took a subway that didn’t stop where I wanted it to and I had to walk through times square on a sunday afternoon.

Here is my bouffant. you know, it just does this all by itself. I was definately born in the wrong era.

Dear KarinaJean Dot Com,

I realize you might think that I don’t love you any more. it’s not true! I *have* been super busy with my other project. And I have been very busy at work, because one of my coworkers has been out on maternity leave for 3 months leaving me working at 150% instead of just 125 or 110% (luckily my other project work dropped off a little just after she went out). But these are just ugly excuses, and what you want is actual content.
So in the last two months there have been hijinks and 25 books read. I’ve shopped for sewing machines and I’ve avoided doing my dishes with embarassing and slightly gruesome results. I’ve tried to trick myself into being clean by having a cocktail party, but I’ve only just finished cleaning up after the cocktail party. I’ve avoided running very successfully. I’ve been to montreal on business, but not actually To Montreal, but to a suburb which is surprisingly like the French Seacaucus. I’ve bouffanted my hair while wearing a bridesmaid dress in a dive bar. I made a pineapple ring cake in the swashbuckling style of my ancestors the german bakers (not like that) and I’ve won best costume at a mardi gras party. I’ve had dim sum two times. I have eaten too many cheese and cracker dinners. It’s been a pretty good couple of months.

I’ll try to tell you all about it in backdated posts. Check back, friends, to see what might be below this one as you scroll.

Love,

Me.

When Fiona turned one she was like freddy kruger. all her skin melted off. Gruesome.

and also she was severely cake drunk.

I love this ultra surreal photo of Daniel eating

And Murphy is a Very Very Good Dog.

angelic, even.

With my boys. Daniel won 13th place. It was V. Exciting.

I had a brilliant idea to have a cocktail party after New Years. You know, after the rush and the crazyness. The ultimate goal was because I wanted to start the New Year with a clean apartment, and if people were coming over I would HAVE TO have a clean house.

And it was really wonderful. I love my friends so I mention this only as a point of humor: people show up whenever they want and leave whenever they want these days, and don’t follow cocktail party protocol. I’m glad they stayed so late. But it was funny that some people who DID show up at 7 and left at 9 felt like they were doing something wrong. You were right, friends! entirely right!
I served dark and stormy’s and there were unicorn tattoos for the taking:

The party concept of Clean House worked, to a point. I did a lot of heavy duty cleaning and tossing beforehand. I packed up a full car-load-worth of stuff to donate, and I invited my friends to pick up a box of books and other sundries to take what they would. And people did! Which was great. I also asked people to bring recyclables with them for me to dispose of properly, and while I didn’t get a lot of stuff, I did get some weird things that I am happy to take care of.

But after the party, the concept of Clean House didn’t work at all. It took a couple of weeks before I finished cleaning up all the dishes. It took longer than that to put up all the dishes that were on the dining room table. And I haven’t been able to maintain the swept floors of my dreams. At least there’s always room for improvement in my life, I guess?

I tried so hard to make good, solid, achievable resolutions last year. I think I did, actually, but the problem lies in how I immediately forgot about said resolutions after making them. oops! let’s see how I did:
financial goals

1. read your money or your life and implement important $ strategies
2. keep track of all $ spent for month of january
3. catch up and keep checkbook balanced

achieved: none. well, I did buy quicken. that’s something.
crafty goals

1. finish corn baby stat
2. knit a sweater
3. use up skirt fabrics – I’ve got material for at least 6 more skirts, so get to it!
4. really commit to buy vs. make – repurpose clothes rather than buy new ones
5. use up CSA foods more efficiently

achieved: some, sort of. I did really good on my CSA for the first 2 months, and then a lot of veggies went to waste. In my defense, I will say that the CSA was HUGE and I was really busy at work and lacking time and motivation to cook when I got home. I sewed 2 skirts and a shirt, but that was basically it. on the other hand, the only thing I bought new this year was some underpants, a bathing suit, and some athletic apparel – so that’s something, at least! I haven’t finished the corn baby (BAD ME) and I haven’t knit a sweater.
other goals

1. read 100 books again
2. inventory and sell off MK stock

achieved: one.  I read over 100 books (final count  102). the MK stock, on the other hand, is living fruitlessly in my closet. I am going to give it all away.

I have been so awfully busy lately. If not with work, than with my other project. and if not with my other project, than with my social life. So I’ve been neglecting karinajean dot com, and I’m kind of bummed about it. I have plans for photo-taking and blog-posting in the new year, though, so I hope to keep it a little more up to date.

I’m working this week and though i’ve always said this is my favorite week to work because no one is around, I actually did a whole-lotta-work this time around. Of course, I took Monday off so it was a three-day work-week. but these have been some busy busy three days.

Here is my annual Year In Review!

January: kicked off the new years with the polar bear plunge. dan aaron, daniel, and meredith come down for an awesome weekend full of museums, walks across bridges, and plans for motorcycle gangs. michelle’s mother passes away after a long and hard-fought battle with the cancer. I sew a new skirt.

February: cousin john’s mom passes away after a long and hard-fought battle with the cancer. I start having more regular girl time dates, and it is wonderful. mardi gras party in pgh: the crystal ball, v. hard to get to b/c all major roads through pennsylvania were closed because of ice or flaming tractor trailer accidents. I work v. hard on picatinny. between business and pleasure I put 1200 miles on my car in 5 days. my niece fiona is born. I get the strep throat.

March: awesome trip to the mutter museum in philly with coworkers, followed by hanging out, dance party, and arm-wrestling. pre-birthday party with my family in albany. then I go to japan! it’s beautiful!

April: in japan still! then home, and big flirty 30 birthday party at the local american legion hall. I get in trouble for painting my apartment. crafty weekend with the girls in the catskills. founders day dinner “dance” with cooper alum, for which I sewed a whole new skirt and shirt combo.

May: ryan’s birthday party, featuring bonfires. maggie gets a chihuahua. I get my wonder wash. I got new worms and killed them almost immediately.

June: first 5K of the season. CSA starts. things get really stressful at work. I train for a 10K. dan aaron graduates from electrician school and I surprise him at the bar afterwards. I run a 5-mile run. I am put on warning on the big project I work on. eep.

July: 10K goes awesomely! I get new worms. CSA continues. lots of rock concerts. lots of birthday parties, including daniel’s in albany. I attend the funeral of a kid I knew in college. couples camping weekend in eastern PA with michelle, aurora, and jesse. I sing the national anthem for my friend’s dad’s retirement. we launch tiny choices!

August: I run another 5K in grafton. I go to the beach 2x. I work incredibly incredibly hard, but am still demoted on that BigProject. September: another 5K. michelle’s first 30th birthday party. 10K in pittsburgh. I totally rock that 10K, by the way. seriously. I finished in 1 hr 2 min.!

October: grasshopper tacos! I am awfully stressed at work. cooper union casino night. I testdrive wearing fabulous hats out in public. this is what I’m talking about re: hats and grasshoppers:

November: office move is a disaster and a time sink, as per expectations. crafty weekend in the catskills. michelle’s second 30th birthday party. work still stinks, thanksgiving in GA.

December: I am officially removed from that BigProject. three office holiday parties. Another holiday party where I reconnect with an old friend and potentially start a band. pittsburgh for holiday party, then we hit queens holiday party on the way home. I get a gocco! xmas in albany is kind of rock-awesome. here are some photos from xmas eve:

DIRTY SECRET #1:

the library has blocked my library card.

it’s because I have a couple of things out that are REALLY overdue, I think! I am such a jerk! and I can’t go in to return them until tomorrow night. sigh.

RESOLUTION #1: i went to the library and felt so embarassed. These are the librarians who know me by name! I turned in my half-read and severely overdue books and she renewed the other things that I had on my account. and then she said “you owe $14, and I’ll close it out for $10.” holy cow I love my library.

DIRTY SECRET #2 [NOT MY SECRET]:

sometimes when I go to the ladies room at work someone will have not flushed the seat cover and there will be protective toilet paper there as well. when i see a fully dressed toilet like that I think “man, that person must have some major butt-cooties to be so concerned about covering the seat.” and also, I am kind of ticked off that someone hasn’t taken care to make sure that when they flushed, EVERYTHING flushed. I’m thinking of putting up a sign in the bathroom to the effect of:

Note: if your toilet paper seat cover doesn’t flush some people will assume there is someone with butt-cooties on the 5th floor. Thank you for trying to protect the rest of us, but please make sure everything flushes as it ought to in order to prevent people from wondering which of us has butt-cooties.

but I don’t think it would be effective. thought the person who put up the sprinkle/tinkle sweetie/seatie rhyme did actually effect some wonderful non-butt-dampening change. Thank you, person with the rhymes.
SMALL RESOLUTION #2: um. does the fact that this only happens roughly twice a month count as resolution?

it turns out that my old host has gone missing. there is speculation that he may have absconded, or more sinister, that he is dead. So I moved my blog to acornhost.com, who hosts tinychoices.com and are also green and women owned – something y’all know I’m firmly behind. I switched the site over yesterday and today had to fiddle arond with the wp_config file to “unlock” the blog database. and! success!

we’re back up, and now, with 110% more vegetable posts!

ok, maybe not. if you’re lucky.

I was talking to Ranger last night about how this blog is all food, all the time right now. Now, it may not be as glamarous as you think, but the last week has been focused on catching up on my CSA share. What, now you’re telling me vegetables AREN’T sexy?
Would it seem more glam if I tell you I’ve been cooking in heels, frilly aprons, red lipstick, and with a cocktail to hand? because if it does I’m telling you right now: that is TOTALLY the truth.

also, my other blog project has been taking up a lot of my time. y’all should take a look if you haven’t (and I bet you have), it’s pretty fabulous, if I say so myself. and I’m really excited to be A Writer for something that I feel so passionate about.

and just to keep some food cotent: you should REALLY try the amazing carrot soup I made last night. It’s incredible. I’m just sayin’.