Terrific Trio - Job Search, Salsa & Beerjitos

Lately, my time can be measured in job applications. I have 6 resumes and cover letters floating around in cyberspace right now. There was a promising position for which I had several interviews but I haven't heard from them in some time so I'm assuming the worst. Basically, life is in flux for me right now. I am ready to find a job that can fund my life but gives me flexible evenings for the things I love: food, friends, family, music and crafts. There are boxes that have been gathering dust in my parent's garage for almost 2 years now. I am simply ready to unpack my life.

Beginning that process is hard. There aren't a million me-shaped jobs out there and there are so many people applying to each of the jobs I am. It's easy to feel down, but I'm pressing forward.

Today, feeling a little bummed about job things and a little tired from a busy weekend, I only finished one job application. BUT I took some steps to inject a little sunshine into my day. The past few days have been much like a Minnesota August: 70's and sunny, blue skies. Hard not to love. I took a few "screen breaks" today to sit on the porch swing and play the piano.

I also made a batch of my famous (ha!) salsa which is really kinda more like a relish. I like to include as many fresh veggies in my salsa as possible, so it tends to be different everytime I make it. Today, the veggie line up was:

• Roma Tomatoes (5 diced) from my yarden
• Green Pepper (1/4 cup diced) from my yarden
• Cucumber (1 cup diced) from a friend's garden
• Corn off the Cob (1/2 cob) local leftovers
• Yellow Onion (1/4 cup finely diced)
• Garlic (1 tsp chopped)
• Lime Juice (1 tbsp)
• Red Pepper Flakes (2 dashes?)
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)
• Basil (3 dashes?)  My basil plant's still recovering from a recent Italian meal.

 

And what could go better with homemade salsa than a tasty fresh yarden mint mojito? I got a bottle of cheap rum at the grocery a while back with this exact moment in mind, but I kept forgetting to get club soda for the finishing touches. But I didn't let that stop me. My solution? A beerjito. (Alas, I am not the first to coin this term or this drink, but I did THINK it up on my own THIS afternoon- so, whatever.) Basically it's a traditional mojito:

1) Muddle fresh mint in the bottom of the glass with sugar and lime juice

2) Add some rum and then

3) Instead of a splash of soda add beer (cheap and light is my beer of choice for this recipe)

I've been told by a bartender friend of mine (who, coincidentally, HATES when people order mojitos at his bar because it's time consuming and creates a domino effect of more mojito orders) that the trick to a good mojito is to not muddle too much because then you get those nasty lil' green bits. I, personally, like to chew on the mint leaves as I drink and they're nummier when whole and not gooey.

I will definitely have one of these again. A great summer drink with a sweet, but not too sweet, flavor and a pretty adorable look. Don't you love how the mint leaves look in the beer head? 

I'd be remiss not to mention these awesome glasses. These were favors from the homebrew toast at Sinda and Niko's wedding in July. Pretty much the cutest thing ever. Here's a close up of the story of the Tichols-Bonks moniker.

Don't start your worry engines. I'm not saying a drink is the solution to a down day, but this one was a pretty fun bandaid.

You Can't Inherit an E-book

I watched this new kindle commercial the other day. The e-book ad tactics are now edging for a different corner of the market: paper book "hold outs" like me. Die hard book readers (even those, like me, who don't pick up a book as often as she should) who love the heft of the spine, the flutter of the pages, the dusty, musty, sweet breath of a book. We're fighting the good fight, trying to keep publishing and book arts alive. Even without the kindle the publishing world is struggling. Newspapers are barely breathing, let alone poetry chapbooks.

I was struck with the way in which the girl in the commercial was so easily swayed by the sheen of the screen. She seemed like such a push over. But I'll admit, I might consider an e-book. They're easy and little and, I have to admit, shiny in a new toy kind of way. And I could deal with not dog-earing pages. I could manage without the wrist strain from reading War and Peace or Goblet of Fire in bed. There are aesthetics of books that, though I'd be sad to lose, I wouldn't DIE without.

But, there is one convincing argument I haven't been hearing amongst the hold-outs: you can't inherit a e-book. In 20 years who, besides the same geeks who keep a drawer full of floppy disks for prosperity's sake, is going to pick up a 2011 kindle at an antique store? Electronics don't have staying power. They upgrade every month, constantly changing and improving on the last version. An old ipod is just landfill fodder, but my record collection is something I can pass on.

E-readers ruin the community experience of a book. Used to be, the natural course of reading went something like this. A person would:

1) read a book,

2) feel moved or especially entertained by it and either

3a) add it to their library as a trophy or to revisit at another date, or

3b) pass it on to someone else who they were reminded of while reading the book.

All you can pass on to a friend after reading an e-book is a recommendation or a gift card for a free upload. You can't pass on the underlined sections, the tear-stained page, and you can't write a note inside the cover. You won't bequeath a first edition e-book in a will. What charm is there in inheriting a library of books you can't hold in your hands? No list of names on an old checkout card. No makeshift bookmarks that fall out of the pages like secrets: a polaroid, a grocery list, a fiction-pressed flower.

I'll stick to the real thing for now, even if it does mean packing one less pair of shoes in my vacation luggage. It's worth it in the end.

10 Things I'd Rather Do (than write a cover letter)

Xs indicate those tasks which I was unable to persuade myself to put off until later.

1. Take photos of a little pillow I made out of my first attempt at embroidery. (an unfinished project sent to my mother as a birthday present several years ago)  X

 2. Walk to the bank and deposit my paycheck.  X

3. Stop in at the Farmersville antique shop. It has no name but it does seem to get frequent new additions. Learn the proprietor's name is Dave and his grandparents were from Hazard, KY. Small world. Purchase a fancy new 5 ft long necklace and some other things.  X

4. Take glamour shots of my teeny tiny town.  X

5. Take pictures of a necklace I made out of some antique shoe clips my mother gave me early this year. (She is not sure if they were my grandmother's or my great grandmother's.)  X

6. Blog about my procrastination problems.  X

7. Mail a care package to a friend with gifts from the antique shop. (I would have done this today, too but the postman had already made his rounds.)

8. Make salsa from the fresh romas and green pepper I just picked from my "yarden" (yard garden!). **EDIT- as of 7pm I did this instead of working on those dumb applications as well. X**

9. Try my hand at recreating a ruffly front shirt I saw the other day. (I made a quick sketch so I wouldn't forget how it was put together.)

10. Pretty much anything else in the world short of maiming myself.

Start Seeing Sea Glass (or) Camp Sue-Dan

My Aunt Susan began crafting more seriously after retiring (quite luckily very early) with her husband, Dan. Dan began making wooden bowls on a lathe in the basement and Sue started collecting craft abilities. She began in the quilting arena with small throws and samplers and has now made blankets and purses and clutches for all her lucky relatives and friends.

I love to craft with her whenever I have a chance. She's always excited to learn a new method or a new hobby, and she enjoys the challenge of learning to do it well. This trip she brought along a book of embroidery techniques and some felt pieces and we spent several hours trying stitches together. (I found out that the stitch I use most frequently is NOT the chain stitch but the split stitch. Who knew? I just make stuff, I don't think about how I'm making it.) Sue gifted me some pretty variegated flosses and a cute vintage-y flower basket needle envelope. I've also got a new stack of pretty vintage reprint quarters ready to be cut and pieced for a little table runner.

Christmas 2009, our family spent at Sue and Dan's place in Cleveland. They had so many crafts and activities on the docket we dubbed their home "Camp Sue-Dan". (Puzzles, bowls, place mats, movies, games, walks, oh my!) One of our favorite activities was sea glass hunting in Lake Erie and then making pendants and earrings from our findings.

Sue brought her sea glass kits with her this visit as well. I made a couple cousin pendants to my -now worn and coppered- green glass pendant from our last jewelry making session. The toffee-colored one turned out very sweet. I love the way the glass looks with light in it. (The image to the right is a bracelet with a sea glass charm that I made for my mother for her birthday in 2010.)

I love when art reuses the discarded. Before hanging about my neck, this sliver of glass had a life as a bottle or a jar. Who's lips did it pass? How long ago? How many rocks did it rub against to become so smooth?

United States of Matrimony

This weekend was the payoff for a couple months of happy anxiety for the wedding of two of my favorite people in the world: Sinda Nichols and Niko Tonks. I wasn't around for the big reveal of their wedding gift, but I think it's probably safe to post about it now. If they've still not opened it- tough cookies. SPOILER ALERT and all that.

The idea of the design was to take the shapes of the (most important) states that they've lived in - both as a couple and throughout their youth- and fit them together like puzzle pieces to create their own unique country. The United States of Sinda and Niko feature: Michigan, Maine, Texas, Rhode Island & Minnesota. Hopefully they won't also include a state of confusion as to where to hang their new art. I'd be happy even if it hung in the bathroom. As, in fact, that is a place where a person's attention is arrested for a considerable amount of time.

The wedding was beautiful, the couple was wonderful and gracious, as always. At one point in the ceremony the officiant said "The couple recognizes that this does not make them BETTER than anyone else." As a frequent bridesmaid and wedding attender as well as a single lady, I appreciated this sentiment. What a weekend! I spent time with old friends and spurred some new ones as well. I nearly danced all the moisture out of my body and I'm still tired from how little I slept. I also want to relive the whole shebang, right here and now.

Being among people with artistic and loving minds this weekend made me long for the city life I used to lead. Summers in the twin cities were magical: full of concerts and picnics and bike rides to the beach. A few days surrounded by my old city friends (all of whom are now relocated to new cities across the country) has left my own internal compass spinning for a new location. It is inching up on a year that I've been outside Dayton, Ohio. My plan in moving here was to be closer to family. That has been a successful venture. I've seen my sister and the kids so much more, I've gotten to chill with my 5 (I'm so blessed!) grandparents and I've become closer to the cousins on my mother's side. Not to mention I've spent 10 months re-learning my parents and the great people they are.

Still, the places in which I've lived make up a big part of my self: Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota (in various orders and numbers). I miss them all. I wish I could puzzle piece them all together literally, creating a nation in which the people I love can be within at least 6 hours of me. Of course, in order to do that I'd need to add a few more states. And Montana, Texas and Alaska sure add a lot of driving time to my trans-united-states-of-sarah trips. All else aside, I'm just wondering which direction the compass rose will snap to next.

Recent Attempts of A Crazed Crafter

My "roommates" (aka my parental units) are gone for five days on a journey to (to Minneapolis, of all places!). The empty house has prompted some crazy productivity - as well as some unnatural fears of dark rooms and empty windows. I've cleaned my desk and organized my files. More importantly, I've tackled and mastered my most recent wedding project. Look forward to seeing what is inside THIS package sometime after the 16th of June.

Yesterday evening, I also made my first emergency banana bread. You know the type. The bananas are brown past tastiness and you have two options: either toss the fruit in the garbage or channel June Cleaver and make banana bread out of that mushy pulp. I've always wanted to be the type of person who actually made the bread rather than wasting. In the past, I've generally been the gal with the good intentions who sticks the bananas into the freezer to "save" them for when she has time for such things as baking. Usually, that just lead to throwing out frozen, black bananas 6 months later.

Today, I hope to make some more figurative banana bread. I've been thinking about trying to cover and record a song on my computer. Today is the day. If (no, WHEN) I'm done, I'll be sure to share the results. And, on the note of sharing results of experiments. Here are some of my other more recent projects to keep you satiated until you get to see the innards of the next wedding present:

My brother-in-law's brother got married 2 weekends ago. (Sounds comically distant, but it's really not.) I hurriedly tossed together an embroidery for the two of them. The Bible verse mentions "making allowances for each other's faults". I hope they can make allowances for one of my faults: choosing to freehand the lettering in the sample. It sure is homey- if not ugly. Yikes! I bit the bullet and gave it to them anyway.

Also- I've done some more video fanangling. My dear dear friend Liz (of the famously rad Andrew and Liz) made another AMAZING gift for me when I was having some down-in-the-dumps time. It's a little hard to explain the context, but the gist is that the doll is a cross between Me, Ally McBeal, and a hotdog. Now Presenting: the intro segment to Sarah McDog the new TV sensation.

Also threw together a cute video of my lil' neice, Lily. She does the darndest things.

EDIT: as of 6:39pm, THIS MUSIC VIDEO was also posted on the youtube. Banner day.

Best Gift Ever (or) Good Salve for a Breakup

Recently, I recounted the story of the greatest (material) present anyone had ever given me. I think that the story, the thought that went into it, the personal care and love, and the general human good will of the effort has inspired much of my own gift-giving. I aspire to set off such a chain reaction of care with my own thoughtfulness.

Here's the tale:

Several years ago, I was embarking on a journey to visit my on-again-off-again boyfriend. We had been discussing and planning our most final break-up to date. It was a hard sever for me. We had spent much of our relationship long distance, but we decided to spend one last weekend together before finally throwing in the towel. We both knew it would be over when I drove home on Sunday evening.

A dear work friend, not even someone I saw on a regular basis, heard about my weekend plans and devised her own. The night before I left I stopped by her home, at her request, to pick up a mysterious cardboard box. She instructed me to open it only after I had finally said goodbye to the boy and was on the journey home, by myself.

That anticipation, itself, was the first part of the gift. The weekend should have been entirely horrible. It was bittersweet moments of temporary happiness butted up against trading back belongings and saying goodbye again and again. But every now and then, I would think of the box on my passenger seat, my mysterious driving companion, and feel anticipation rather than dread.

When I finally did pull out of the drive, my old lover waving in the rearview, I could hardly wait to pull over to read the card on top of the box. It contained instructions for the contents. Open, the box turned out to be full of many different gifts which were layered and labeled in chronological order. I was to open each gift a a different point at approximate 30 minute intervals during my 5 hour drive.

I do not recall all of the items she had packed, but here is a sampling: bar of chocolate, small geode, harmonica, postcard, mini vodka, silver owl earrings, cuticle cream, a seed pod, baubley green bracelet. And little notes and kind, pithy words to go with each. She suggested I play my own song with the harmonica- I laughed my way through Piano Man. A suggestion that I pull over for dinner and have a nipper- oh yes, I did. I wore the earrings immediately, and fell in love with sea salt chocolate.

Something magical occurred. As the miles ticked by, I stopped crying about what HAD happened and felt a desire for the immediate future.

In fact, on that long drive away from a bad relationship, I think I may have fallen in love with love again. I saw clearly for the first time that love is about freely giving of oneself, and -more importantly- it is not confined to romantic relationships. Sometimes, in fact, love is truest in the challenges of a friendship that perseveres despite no marriage of commitment.

To this day I keep waiting for just the perfect time to crack open that geode. And I think of my friend every time my nephews blow through the harmonica. Though the two of us are hardly in touch anymore, I will only ever think fondly of this friend and be grateful for the example she set for me. Man has such great capacity for kindness. If only more of us invested such time into creating love packages for near strangers.