The holidays are finally over. It was a busy time for us. Thanksgiving was in Virginia with my family, where there was less gunshot than expected. Christmas was with Sam’s family, where there was more movie going than expected. And New Year’s Eve was spent in our apartment, where there was more horrible sickness than expected. Last night everyone around here got their hair chopped off, and now I’m finally sitting down to sift through all the paperwall submissions the have been piling up in my inbox. Time to put our noses back to the grindstone.

2008 was pretty good to Sam and me. Over the summer alone we went to Canada with all of Sam’s extended family, went to Boston for his aunt’s wedding, got married ourselves, moved to Brooklyn, started new jobs, and basically began to figure out what exactly we’re going to do with ourselves (hopefully hanging out with Martha Stewart more). I imagine that some time before all that we got engaged and graduated and did all sorts of things, but I can’t seem to remember right now. Maybe I’m still a little sick.

I was hoping doing this would help me get moving on all the things I need to do today, but all I want to do now is listen to some podcasts and play some flash games. I have no self control.

I’ve been stuck in a rut lately when it comes to making things. I’ve got projects and ideas for projects piling up in my brain and on my computer and in my apartment. It’s pretty easy to do when you haven’t got a job still and you have all the time in the world so you put things off. But today I woke up with a mission. And so far things are going well. I sent off some SKINC related emails and now I’m getting the ball rolling on something new. But I’ve run into a few problems, and I was hoping I could get some tips from you wonderful people.

First of all, I love to-do lists. But making them on the computer or my iphone doesn’t do it for me. Because I also love notebooks. At the moment I have six active notebooks. One I carry in my bag in case I need it, one for sketching and jotting down ideas for physical works, one for SKINC related notes, one big spiral notebook I thought would help keep it all together, one for general to-do lists, and the one I just started for this new project. I used to be so good at keeping notebooks straight when I was in school, but now they all get mushed together when I just grab the one nearest to me before I forget what I want to write down. So should I keep trying to split up all my ideas into separate notebooks, or just use one at a time and lock the others up in a closet? These are the tough questions I deal with every day. I also think it would be a good idea to get a dry-erase or chalkboard and keep my to-do list there, where I can stare at it all day and not search for whatever notebook I wrote it down in.

The other revelation I made today was that if I’m going to get anything done, I have to stop listening to podcasts all day and switch to music. I usually listen to the same ones over and over all day long. Which is kinda sad, and also more distracting than encouraging. From now on they are for down time only, not “work” time. But the problem I have now is that I spend forever choosing what to listen to, because I know nothing about music. The itunes Genius thing is amazing once I find something I like for the day, but I need suggestions on where to start. Sam’s got all kinds of indie stuff I’ve never heard of before on his computer, and I’ve got all kinds of Elton John on mine. What do people listen to while they work? I need something upbeat that will get those creative juices flowing. Help!

My other problem is something that can’t be solved at the moment. I’m going to open up Photoshop after I post this, but all I have to use with it is the trackpad on my laptop. Trust me that it would be even worse to use the wireless mouse on Sam’s computer. But I guess we all need humble beginnings to write about in the memoirs someday. One day I’ll have a fancy new computer with a giant harddrive and one of those tablet things.

Now, back to work!

Thanks for the kind words on the last post.  It means a lot.

But on to happier things.  I almost forgot to post the link to the episode of Martha that I attended! If you’re interested, you can find it right here. You can see my arm and my hair at the end of the fifth segment.

I had what I’m sure is a Martha approved moment last week. I’ve been spotting a big brown mouse scampering across the floor since shortly after we moved in, and recently he was becoming bolder and coming out more often. I had a bit of a mouse problem (read: INFESTATION) in my apartment in Rochester, so I knew something had to be done fast. I didn’t want to deal with a dead mouse myself, and certainly didn’t want to sit with a mangled dead mouse in a trap all day until Sam got home.  But luckily I remembered Martha saying mice don’t like mint, so if you get some peppermint oil and put it on cotton balls near their hole, they will stay away. Now, I’m still kind of new here, so I have no idea where one would get peppermint oil. But we did have some mint tea bags, so I threw one behind the fridge.  I didn’t really expect it work, and wasn’t really sure that’s where the mouse was coming from, but I haven’t seen the little guy since! It’s a Martha Stewart Miracle!

Now I’m going to drink some of that tea and nurse this cold I’ve got coming on while I plan out some more Martha-esque activities and catch up on This American Life. Winter’s a-comin’! Do they make electric socks?

This morning my parents woke up and found my childhood dog, Pepper, had passed away.

I just wanted to share a few pictures of the best dog in the whole world.

We got Pepper when I was about eight, and she was always my best pal.

She will be sorely missed.

I feel like a huge burden was lifted from my shoulders two nights ago. It was amazing to be able to walk around the corner from our first apartment as a young married couple and do our part in taking the first step to fixing things in this country. I believe in our new president, and I hope he doesn’t let me down, because I am really looking forward to not knowing anything about politics again. I’ve got other things to worry about, people!

As usual, though, I think my dad sums it up best in this series of text messages:

ME: Seems like everyone is calling an Obama win!!!

DAD: I think that’s right. It’s time for the baby boomers to step aside and hand things over to you guys.

ME: I feel like crying.  I hope our generation serves you well.  I have never felt hope like this before.

DAD: I am very confident about your generation. The country is in good hands. Then again, it did take you 3 months to get gas for the apartment.

ME: Good point. We may not be out of the woods quite yet.

(PS- We finally got cooking gas in the apartment. Best week ever.)

I just got back from the live taping of Martha Stewart’s tv show, Martha. It was the second time I’ve seen my hero in person, and way more exciting than the first. Please excuse me while I gush and ramble like the huge fangirl I am.

I had a ticket for the 10am show, which aired at 11am, but I can’t see it until next week because we don’t have tv and I have to wait until it goes online at marthastewart.com. But my mom said she’ll catch the rebroadcast tonight, and confirm that what I think I saw actually did happen.  So anyhow, the subway line right by our apartment has a stop about a block from the studio, so I hopped on and arrived twenty minutes early. There was already a line of about thirty people waiting; mostly, as you would imagine, older ladies chattering all giddy and excited. This was definitely the place I wanted to be. Here’s what it looks like from the outside:

At 8:30, we were let in by small groups (I had to tell people I was there alone about a hundred times, and it seemed like I was the only one, but don’t worry, it paid off), showed our IDs, were given tickets, had our bags searched, went through a metal detector, checked our coats, signed waivers, and sat in a big room to watch clips of the show and wait.

Our tickets were, of course, marked in various ways to keep everyone highly organized. I was in the blue highlighter stripe group, but since I was a loner, I got bumped from whatever section would have sat in up in the bleacher-type sections to the floor right in front of the set. So I hope you had a good time with your friends and husbands who didn’t want to be there, blue stripe group. I was down in front, breathing the same air as Martha Stewart herself.

Now, I’ve read all over the place that they play some rap music before the show and during the commercials. But I didn’t realize that they only play rap music. I’m pretty sure we listened to about half of Kanye’s Graduation album straight through while people ran around straightening things (Literally. There were about twenty people who would run around, move something a fraction of an inch, stand back to look at it and move on. Then someone else would move that same object another fraction of an inch. I saw three separate people spend ten minutes each adjusting a line of paper bats taped to the edge of a cabinet. It seemed a bit excessive, but I would do anything to be one of those people.). When the warmup artist, Joey Kola, said we had about two minutes until show time, it was accentuated by the Usher song “Yeah” played so loud I could feel it in the floor and my ribcage (You now the song, the one that goes “we want a lady in the street but a freak in the bed”?). I can’t believe that’s really Martha’s jam, but… yeah, I can.

So without getting into really boring detail (you can watch it yourself if you are really that interested, I’ll put a link up here when it goes online), Martha came out looking all kinds of fabulous and amazing and beautiful and inspiring, and the show began. During commercial breaks, Martha just kind of stood there, subtlety dancing and sometimes even singing along to the Black Eyed Peas and Ludacris, while her minions rushed around like crazy setting things up for the next segment. And if she wanted anyone to tell her something or bring her something, she simply stopped her cheerful head bopping and scowled in any direction, and someone would scramble over at top speed. It was amazing. I hope to have that kind of power some day.

My favorite part of the show was the cooking segment, where Sarah Carrey from Everyday Food (another branch of the Martha empire) was showing how to cut up a whole chicken. Right at the start, Martha said something along the lines of “Well, she’s going to show you one way, but I’m just going to cut up mine the way I would at home,” to which Sarah, who has been on the show many times and always gets annoyed when Martha does something like that, tried really hard not to roll her eyes.

So Sarah is explaining how to carefully cut the chicken legs off with a big knife, and Martha picks up a pair of kitchen sheers and loudly cuts the spine right out of her chicken and then tears apart the ribcage with her bare hands and chops the legs off, finishing way before Sarah, who is obviously trying not to lose it and lunge at Martha with her boning knife. These are always my favorite kinds of moments on the show, and I am so glad I got to see one in real life.

The best off-air moment was when Martha was getting ready to make paper wigs. It was as weird as it sounds. For some reason they used red cabbages as molds to make them on. Martha pulled out a measuring tape and measured the diameter of a cabbage and then laughed and said “I have a huge head!” and then kept sort of holding out the cabbage to various crew members and saying “Big head! Big head!” which they weren’t really sure how to respond to.

While we were waiting for the show to start, Joey Kola kept hinting that we were going to receive free swag not once, but three times during the show.  I was really hoping for Martha’s new cookbook, but I guess that will have to go on the Christmas wish list. Here’s what we actually got:

From the kind of awkward opening segment, this childrens’ book about bats and libraries. I’m not sure why we got it or why it was on the show, but my future children better love it.

From the cooking segment, this bag from Whole Foods that says “i love my home… planet earth” and then has Sheryl Crow’s name on it. It’s very proud to be 80% recycled.

And finally, two VIP tickets to Blaze, a super crazy over the top carved pumpkin display extravaganza on some farm that it might be physically impossible for Sam and I to get to, but I’ll have to look into that.

After the show was over, Martha took a few questions and then had to rush to catch a plane to Denver for a book signing. I got a few pictures before she took off.

It was awesome. I not only got to see my beloved Martha in person, I got to sit up front, where I could actually smell what she was cooking, and see how she acts between segments, and I got some free stuff to boot.  Can’t beat that. My next goal is to shake her hand.

Do you think she would hug me?

Never mind; I better not get too carried away.

Alright. I confess. I get a little too excited when I see a celebrity in real life. It hasn’t happened to me very many times, but I have always had the same reaction. I doesn’t matter what caliber of celebrity they are, or how big of a fan I am. About two years ago, I went to the Ad Council of Rochester’s award ceremony, because the guest speaker was Martha Stewart. I didn’t freak out too much when she was giving her speech, because I was expecting her to be there and totally prepared (I was also sitting next to two retired bus drivers who were basically Martha groupies and completely awesome). But afterwards, I was in some hallway waiting in the bathroom line and she walked right by me. My reaction was to audibly gasp, get all crazy eyed, and look around me to check if other people were seeing what I was seeing and it wasn’t all in my head. No one else seemed to be doing that. But this was my idol, my hero, a real driving force in my life. So I think that’s forgivable.  Now cut to a a year or so earlier, when Becky and I went to the 9:30 Club in DC to see OK Go. Now, I like OK Go, but I don’t really know their names, and probably wouldn’t recognize any of them on the street. But we were walking in from the parking lot, and they were getting stuff out of their bus and into the back door of the club. I had an identical reaction. I gasped, froze, looked around me, and freaked out. Becky proved she is infinitely cooler than me by nodding at them and saying “Sup”.

All of this is to say we had our first celebrity sighting in New York City. I have been dying to see a famous person since we got here, and have been feeling pretty ripped off. It turns out celebrities don’t hang out in our apartment in Bed Stuy very often.

On Saturday night, we went to see Sleepwalk With Me, a one man show by Mike Birbiglia. It was awesome and hilarious, and Nathan Lane produced, and everyone had a great time feeling very New York in the weirdly set up theater, while Sam tried to strangle me because apparently that is what he does when things get too funny for him to handle. But anyway, after the show, everyone moves out to the very crowed lobby area to exit, and as we walk out the door, I see Kristen Schaal. You may know her as Mel from Flight of the Conchords, or a special correspondent on the Daily Show, or one of the phone girls in Mad Men. I admit, I didn’t remember her name at the time. Then I figured out it was Kristen something and had to google around to get her last name. But I know she’s been on TV, has the hair I’ve always wanted, and has a cute voice. So we’re in the lobby, making our way out the door, there is one person between me and her, and I oh-so-subtly gasp, turn around to Sam all crazy eyed, and make a jerking motion with my thumb as if to say “OH MY GOD there is a mildly famous indie rock actor standing RIGHT BEHIND ME and I don’t want her to see that I am freaking out and pointing at her right now because her dress is really pretty and I want to be her best friend even though I can’t come up with her name right now”. Sam’s reaction to all this? “Yeah, I saw her in the theater, she was sitting across from us.” AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Sam says I shouldn’t freak out so much when I see a celebrity, because they’re “just people” and trying to hang out and be normal and whatever. But I disagree. These are people who entertain us just by going to work. No one’s getting any entertainment from watching me wash the dishes and listen to podcasts. I don’t know why, but seeing someone who has an IMDB page makes my heart leap out of my chest and into my throat.

I’m going to a taping of Martha Stewart’s TV show next Wednesday. So any prayers that I don’t totally lose it and pass out in my chair would be welcomed.

People!

New podcast!

New paperwall!

Go to thinkskinc.com to find it all!

I’ll be here waiting for a new gas line to be installed!

Okay, okay, okay. There’s a new episode of the podcast up. We have declared this to be season two, so just pretend that was the plan all along and we didn’t just drop off the face of the earth like that.

Now you all can just quit pestering me about it, alright?

When making my mental to-do list for the day, I quickly realized I’ve become way too obsessed with a certain video game…

-Sweep and mop floors

-Dust and tidy up

-Do the dishes

-Check for paperwall submissions

-Make new section of website as able

-Get more health potion and defeat Jack of Blades at the Hero’s Guild

-Meet Sam in SoHo for dinner?