short pants romance

herb alpert

shortpantsromance — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:46:32 +0000

what’s the secret to this?

shortpantsromance — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:44:43 +0000

I’m not sure what my deal is, but I can’t seem to focus on positivity. It’s like a chronic problem for me. Yesterday while driving home from spending Christmas at my brother’s, I spent a good hour or so complaining about my family until I stopped to take a breath and realized I had literally made myself ill. I feel like it’s a sickness with me, this need to constantly bitch about everything and everyone, and I hate myself for it. But sometimes if I try really hard not to be Negative Nancy, I wind up just sitting there searching for something to say. I do think it has a lot to do with my upbringing, because my family in general is incredibly negative and snarky, and no one can resist the urge to get their digs in here and there about every little thing. So I find myself saying things like, “It was good” and then immediately following it up with, “but…”.

So what sort of positive thoughts and statements can I replace this with? How does one go about not being a miserable bitch all the time? Because lord knows it’s not helping my life being this way. But honestly, sometimes I just cannot come up with something nice to say. It’s like I’m having this battle with my nasty id all the time and for the most part my id wins out.

Maybe I’m being a little hard on myself. The holidays are stressful. Even though I always think that I adore Christmas, ultimately it means more dealings with everyone in my family, under high stress situations, and more dealings with people who are Scrooges, which gets me down even more.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

That having been said, I will say one positive thing:

Christmas Eve with Greg’s family was really enjoyable. It’s become a little tradition for them to come over on Christmas eve, and generally they are much more positive than my own family, which is conducive to merrimaking. They come over ready for cider and egg nog and holiday music and gift-giving and general holiday cheer, so it’s easy to have a lot of fun with them.

See more progress on: be more positive

Monthly Goals: January

shortpantsromance — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:13:45 +0000

My mini goals for January are:

1. open my Etsy shop
2. keep to my weekday evening schedule
3. post holiday detox – no fried foods, alcohol only once (okay, maybe twice) per week
4. open myself up to inspiration
5. officially start The Artist’s Way program

See more progress on: Complete my goals for January

2010: The Year of the Kate

shortpantsromance — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:23:17 +0000

2010 is where it’s at. Yes, I say that at the end of every year about the upcoming year. But for realz, I want to get some shit done before I decide to have a baby and can’t get any shit done ever. Of course, as soon as I start to make resolutions, I immediately get depressed over those resolutions, because every year I make resolutions that I don’t ever keep, so it all just becomes this meaningless hackneyed process that doesn’t actually improve my life.

BUT THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT!!!!!#$@#$^@#*$&^ (maybe, I hope, probably not)

As it stands, here is my list of goals on 43things:

1. do at least one thing each day to help reach my 43 goals
2. get my shit together
3. re-gain my self-confidence
4. reach my goal weight
5. be more creative
6. learn to ride a bicycle
7. learn to drive a manual
8. take more photographs
9. Dress better
10. be a tourist in my own town
11. go to New York
12. Try new restaurants
13. go to more farmer’s markets
14. Go to flea markets
15. stop procrastinating
16. have more friends
17. finish fixing up my house
18. have my parents visit more
19. Host a game night
20. decide what the hell I would like to do with the rest of my life
21. sell something on etsy
22. stop worrying about what other people think of me
23. learn about my family history
24. train my dog
25. learn to speak french
26. live somewhere outside the Philadelphia area
27. learn to screenprint
28. actually do what’s on my to-do list
29. wake up when my alarm clock goes off
30. have everything ready early for Christmas next year
31. toughen myself against the cold
32. send more cards
33. take better care of my body
34. be more positive
35. go camping
36. make bread from scratch
37. have a garage sale
38. have sunday dinner every week
39. Complement others
40. keep my house tidy
41. be a buff in something

LET’S DO IT!!!

the times they are a-changin’.

shortpantsromance — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:56:24 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m going through this phase of panicked ambivalence towards having kids. On the one hand, I know I want to have kids, that’s not really the question. But on the other hand, I’m petrified about how it will change my life, and all the freedom I’ll have to give up. I’m just not ready yet, which would be fine if my clock weren’t tick-tocking over here. I don’t have to have them now, but it’s right around the corner. And this is causing no small amount of stress for me.

This weekend we went to visit some friends, and we were only one of two couples who don’t have kids. Normally I’m a little cranky when it comes to kids. I also tend to feel like every time we all hang out, it will be the last time, because at any moment everyone is officially going to become too busy to make time for friendship, and Greg and I are going to be left out in the cold. But actually this time I felt pretty optimistic. I just thought I’d share a little excerpt from my personal journal, because writing this just made me feel really good…

“I had this moment when I was watching Erik with his little guy Jakob, and everyone was hanging out and laughing, and the kids were enjoying themselves, and I thought, ‘Maybe this will work. Maybe we will stay together as friends after all, through all the family stuff, and still have fun. Maybe kids add to the fun instead of detracting.’ For a minute it felt like being in Montauk at Tony & Eileen’s house when I was little, where everyone would hang out and enjoy themselves, and it was a good combination of family time and adult time in one. And for that moment I was really hopeful for the future, and I felt like we were all together as one big family and it was a sort of amazing warm & fuzzy feeling. “

it’s like riding a bicycle

shortpantsromance — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:55:36 +0000

Although I don’t think I’ve gotten on a bike in probably two years, I did ok tonight. It was probably the fourth time I’ve ever practiced, and I was surprised at how quickly I was able to pick up where I left off. I still have a long way to go as far as feeling comfortable, but I’m able to start much more easily, and go for a considerable amount of time without getting nervous and skidding to a stop. I’m also getting a little better at steering.

The issue is that I feel more comfortable when my feet have better contact with the ground, but that means the seat needs to be down so low that my knees have to come up super high, which makes for a wobbly ride, and the tight jeans I was wearing didn’t help my leg mobility at all. At some point I need to make the switch to a bike that fits me better (I’ve been riding Greg’s BMX). But I have a feeling that I might take a couple of spills if I can’t touch the ground that well.

Still, making great progress toward a goal that I was beginning to think I’d never be able to reach!

See more progress on: learn to ride a bicycle

beach

shortpantsromance — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:43:19 +0000

beach, originally uploaded by complicatedshoes.

steely

shortpantsromance — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:17:10 +0000

IMG_2065, originally uploaded by complicatedshoes.

the coolest

shortpantsromance — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:11:47 +0000

EEEyyyyyyyyy!!, originally uploaded by complicatedshoes.

EEEyyyyyyyyy!!

i love you

shortpantsromance — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:08:49 +0000

IMG_2066, originally uploaded by complicatedshoes.