Moving!

Hello, beloved handful of followers that probably don't look here anymore!  I'm moving to a new blog at tylerfeder.com.  Please come join me!

Things I Love Thursday

The vase is a family heirloom and the tiny teddy bear was handmade by my friend Kat.  Note the very well-worn guide to Disney World and the beloved Bossypants.  Concerns about the Twilight books can be directed to this post.

I love: black tights; watercolor and ink; large cloth flower brooches; epaulettes; "the charmed life"; brown paper bag filled with a fat bouquet and a baguette; silhouette artwork; ballet flats; multicolored macarons; Kate Spade; peacoat and scarf; wallpaper; glossy nail polish; pitcher as a vase; horizontal stripes; topiaries; playing in the snow; champagne; rainbow order; poise; Ladurée; phrenology diagrams; seafoam green; quilted cushioned headboards; The Girls with Glasses Show; cigarette pants; lilac scented candles; warm apple crisp; diners; button-down blouses; bows; Brussels sprouts; fisherman sweaters; Jonathan Adler; calm; vanilla bean; salt air; français; nicely organized bookshelves (see above!); red lipstick; a dozen assorted donuts; cats; a glass of wine at the end of the day; salted caramel; classic Disney movies; outdoor concerts; takeout; messy hair; Disney World queues; correct punctuation; water with lemon; white porcelain; rainy afternoons; cookie cutters; Sculpy Clay; colorful rhinestones; assorted anything; ruffles; apothecary-style packaging on beauty products; dimples; ballet-inspired clothing; bunches of balloons; cashmere; fancy dinner parties; rain boots; a bowl of cold cereal as a midnight snack; pears in interior design; tiny tree lights; bubble tea; candlelight; sprinkles of all sorts; popovers and strawberry butter; rosemary; high heels; paper lanterns; really early in the morning; the first snow of the season; rooms with a view; peppermint; Ferris wheels; owls; patterns with flamingoes; feeling lighter after a haircut; farmers markets; Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; pumpkin patches; cinnamon; sweater weather; origami.

Sometimes I go crazy and forget that I have friends.

But I do.

And they are pretty great.

#9 Learn to Curl My Hair

Ever since the eighth grade, I have had a complicated love-hate relationship with my hair.  It dries differently every time I get it wet.  Sometimes, my hair dries into neat little unfrizzy waves.  Other times, I blow-dry it and it turns out like this:

Note the black-and-white frowny face.  I was pretending to be in an infomercial.

Yes, friends.  I am a regular Mia Thermopolis.*  Except her hair looks a bit more manageable than mine.  (Can I just take this opportunity to say that I adore Anne Hathaway and would choose her to play me in the future movie based on my life?)

* From The Princess Diaries, of course.  If you've only seen the movie (which is one of my favorites, obviously), I highly, highly recommend the book series.  Mia is totally whip-smart and neurotic and multidimensional.  I wish she were my best friend in real life.  We would eat vegetarian dumplings and watch Lifetime movies and share funny stories about our grumpy-lovable cats.  But I digress.

Suffice it to say, my straightening iron and I go way back.  And while I'm still working toward turning my love-hate relationship with my hair into a love-love one (see #23 Get a Low Maintenance Haircut), I'm not quite there yet, so I thought it was time to start branching out from my usual flattened 'do.

I borrowed my sister's curling iron and figured it out as I went.  Twenty-five minutes, a few minor burns, and a lot of elbow grease later, I found myself looking like this:

Super-dark hair makes it hard to see the curls well on camera, but, trust me, I looked adorable.

Smiling and in color!  Something must be good!  But, really, hair-curling is not as hard as I thought it would be.  Mostly just time-consuming.  I'm on board.

Have you ever tried a daunting hairstyle?

40 things to do this year

[image source]

Just a little update on my life right now: taking a little "gap year" before venturing to L.A., doing boatloads of therapy for my ever-lingering social anxiety and working in data entry like it's my job (which it is). I thought I'd make this little list to keep the relaxation exercises and spreadsheets and diaphramatic breathing and alphabetizing from driving me bonkers. It's in no particular order. (Actually, it's in order by sentence length because I thought it'd look prettier that way.) Stay tuned for updates...

Also, please, please consider donating here. It would mean a lot to me.

01. Run a race.

02. Write a poem.

03. Forgive myself.

04. Enter a contest.

05. Learn to crochet.

06. Start a web comic.

07. Make Shrinky Dinks.

08. Order a pizza by self.

09. Learn to curl my hair.

10. Master the smoky eye.

11. Make French macarons.

12. Bake a pie from scratch.

13. Fill in gaps in wardrobe.

14. Organize iTunes library.

15. Revise feature film script.

16. Go to the beach in a bikini.

17. Send a secret to Postsecret.

18. Mail a package to a pen pal.
19. Make a serious piece of art.

20. Do a random act of kindness.

21. Learn some basic photoshop.

22. Celebrate an obscure holiday.

23. Get a low-maintenance haircut.

24. Complete an exercise challenge.

25. Paint bathroom walls a pretty color.

26. Blow bubbles in public for no reason.

27. Spend a day in heels without slouching.

28. Have a fancypants wine tasting at home.

29. Make a quilt out of old nostalgic t-shirts.

30. Spend a day writing at a coffee shop, alone.

31. Order a silly alcoholic drink at a restaurant.

32. Replace granny panties with cute underwear.

33. Write a fan letter to someone not super famous.

34. Drive somewhere far away without freaking out.

35. Write a draft of a graphic memoir for NaNoWriMo.

36. Complete the Dr. Richards social anxiety audio series.

37. Watch all best picture nominees before the Oscars air.

38. Watch the 50 Matchbook Girl films (or some of them).

39. Reread a book I was too stressed to enjoy in high school.

40. Make a recipe from a cookbook that's been gathering dust.

Here goes nothing!