Trying New Things: Air Curler

So you may or may not know this about me...

I LOVE INFORMERCIALS!

LOVE THEM!

I also love "As Seen On TV" sections of stores. With this extreme love for infomercials and "As Seen On TV" items I have tried many things. Some have been wonderful and some have sucked. I could give you a list of about 10-15 items I've purchased personally or have been purchased for me and review each one, but that's not what I'm going to do today.

Today I'm just going to tell you about the pleasant surprise I received after trying my newest "As Seen On TV" gadget the Air Curler!

This week I'm on vacation from work and I happened to find myself at Meijer browsing while waiting for a prescription and I happened upon the ASOT aisle and after happily browsing I saw the Air Curler and decided I just needed to try it. I was ridiculously skeptical, but my curiosity got the best of me and I spent the $15.

I've been staring at it for 3 days and today was the day I decided to try it and I LOVE IT!

(Side note: My hair is getting ridiculously long...)

I don't know what I was expecting, but I was definetly NOT expecting this. And this is just the first run! No product, no curling iron. Just this weird looking hair dryer attachment.

The tool is a bit awkward to work with althought that may have just been my first-timer lack of ability. I will do some things differently next time, most importantly I'll dry my hair a bit more before I start the twirling.

Overall though... I'm pretty happy with the outcome. YAY for not wasting $15! XD

Much love.

E

NaNo Freak Out!

And the nervousness sets in...

In approximately 2 weeks I will start writing my novel for National Novel Writing Month, or as it's more commonly known, NaNoWriMo. This will be my second attempt, my first attempt was last year and while I wrote a ridiculous amount of words, 16,250 to be exact. I was quite a bit short of the 50,000 words it takes to win.

I've taken a week of vacation in November for the express purpose of writing my novel.

This year I will win.

I am determined. I am driven. I am adamant. I am saying the same thing in different ways because I am also not sure what I'm going to do.

I have no plot. I have no main character. I have no conflict. I have nothing. Well I suppose that's not completely true... I have panic. I have nerves. I have apprehension. I have cold feet... And I have fear that the entire endeavor will end up an entire flop... like last year...

Darn you over thinking brain!

50,000 words. 1,667 words per day. 

When you break it down it doesn't seem that scary. It truly doesn't... at least to me it doesn't... until I start thinking about my lack of plot, character, crisis, etc.

Where is my inspiration dammit! 

Last year I jumped in, started a story, got stuck, hated it, started a new one, didn't totally feel the new story, get stuck, and finally quit writing when not even half way completed. This year I really wanted to be prepared. Ready. 

So... 2 weeks... I can come up with an outline by then right? A plot? At least a character? Right?

Right?

Oh dear...

Much love.

E

Homemade Soup, ArtPrize, & The Doctor

I have not introduction so lets just dive in.

Three day weekend = SUCCESS!

My "Friday Fun-Day" was more of a "Friday Sleep-Day". I didn't plan on sleeping the day away, and yet after turning my alarm off at 7 AM, the next time thing I remember is looking at my phone at 2:30 PM. So much for a productive day off work. 

Now don't start feeling bad about my "wasted" day. I made homemade tomato soup, unintentionally, that was quite delicious. I watched 3 episodes of Dexter, and I made significant progress on a baby blanket I started well before the intended recipient, who is not almost 5 months old, was born. All in all, a good day!

My soup:

Saturday brought a trip downtown to ArtPrize. We spent about 2 hours navigating crowds and walking around the various sculptures, paintings, and other such things. It was wonderful, though I did not see as much as I wanted to. There is literally something for anyone down there and it's absolutely insane how many people were out to enjoy the art. I'm hoping to go again this week, but later in the evening. I've heard there are quite a few things that are even more wonderful at night.

One of my favorite photos from Saturday:

The evening ended with a mini-marathon of Doctor Who, which is really how every day should end. In our re-watch, we're currently in the Donna Noble era. I forget how much I like Donna. She is absolutely fantastic. Silence in the Library is one of my favorites or hers though it's hard for me to pick a favorite from Tenant's last season, they are all so brilliant. The 50th is going to be epic. 

My three day weekend ended with a lazy Sunday filled with movies, laundry, and crochet. (Yea, that's right. I'm wild!) I actually completed the baby blanket which I couldn't be more excited about, and completed all of my laundry. Day full of win right here!

OH! Oh my! How could I have forgotten! iOS7! Yes, technically that was not this weekend, but I got to play around with it throughout much of my weekend so... yea... 

First thoughts. I like it. No complaints from me, and I'm not just saying that because I'm an Apple Fan-Girl. I am truly enjoying the updated look and feel as well as some of the new features.

Tell you what, I'll do a proper review this week... Sound good? (I hope so because I'm off to sleep.)

Much love

E

Do What You Love!

I don't think I say this often enough but I have really amazing and inspiring friends. I have friends that unabashedly love the things they love. I have friends that are geeks and proud. I have friends that are not geeks and are proud of that. I have friends who are sports nuts and friends who are book freaks. And I love it. I just love it.

So today I want to share with you some of the things my amazing friends are doing.

Let's start with Jason. He has a website and has started blogging again. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. Jason's blog used to be one of my favorite things to read back in the day (back in the Myspace Days... yep... it was forever ago...) Anywho he's started a new one and it's phenomenal! You should probably check it out.

Fluxtaposed

Next I'll move to Lucas. Now I've plugged Lucas' site before. He has started a production company with his business partner. First of all I'm so proud of Luke for pursuing something he's passionate about, it's unbelievable inspring.

True Myth Media

New to the blogging world with brand new blog pages are Jess and Dannette. Dannette and I worked together to set her page up and I'm looking forward to reading some great things about her teaching adventures. Jess posted her first post the other night and I can already tell I'm going to love it. Jess has a unique perspective on everything and oh yes, she can tell a story!!

Jess - And P.S.

Dannette - This Super Life

Amanda! Oh Amanda. She has one of the most unique outlooks on life and her passion for her art is insane. I am forever inspired by her. She recently created a website that you should absolutely check out... like now!

Amanda's Site

On the subject of photography Chris! My good friend and former roommate Kendra married Chris last year (the wedding was adorable) and recently I have had the pleasure of being his student while learning the fine art of photography. Chris' pictures are absolutely stunning! I bet you can guess what I'm going to say next, eh? YES!! Check it out!
Chris Vanderlip Fine Art Photography

Okay I could probably go on and on and on with more and more people who do amazing things, but for now it's sleepy time.

Much love

E

OMG! This is my 30th post. YAY! Good times. Thanks for reading :)

Photo Adventuring!

It's September.

The time of PSLs, sweatshirts, turning leaves, and crisp air.

So please explain to me why I'm sitting in a tank and cotton pants with my air conditioner going sweating balls...

Now I know that summer doesn't "officially" end until the 21st or whatever, but this sudden heat wave with added humidity is disgusting.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Not too hot. Not too cold. Nice breeze. Perfection! I don't think I could have asked for a better day for my photo adventure.

Oh let me tell you about my adventure! 

Early last week I decided I wanted to go out and take pictures, but I wanted a partner. I called up my good friend Amanda and we made plans to take an adventure on Sunday. We started off with one place I wanted to go, a church in a field. That's pretty much all I knew about it, I had been there earlier this year for a service and I just thought it looked so amazing inside and through the windows into the farm and fields next door.

On the way to said church we ended up lost more than once because even though I thought I knew where I was going, I was clearly wrong. (Worst navigator ever.) But we finally made it and the church was closed... worst news ever. But we were still able to take a few really great pictures of the farms and fields and even a few through the giant windows on the side of the church... why yes, yes we were being creepers.

Our next stop ended up being GUERRILLA PHOTOGRAPHY! What is "guerrilla photography" you ask? Well I don't actually know if it's a real thing or something I made up in my head... to me "guerrilla photography" is driving along, seeing something amazing, pulling over, and then BAM! Photos! We ended up in a weird parking lot with some pretty sweet typography on a building. There were also some trees so I took some creeper photos of Amanda. (Yes I'm a weirdo.) It was a good time.

We tried a couple other places, got lost again (Worst navigator ever.) and finally ended up at Palmer Park on one of their nature trails. If you've ever been there you know there are many, many, many nature trails in Palmer, we ended up on the boardwalk through the woods and by the creek. There were so many amazing photo opportunities throughout nature walk we ended up on. I also found my love of dead trees. Is that weird?

Let me try to explain. I'm not sure WHY I think this dynamic is amazing, but I love when everything around is green and alive and wonderful and in the midst is the forgotten tree, the dead tree, the broken tree. The amount of photos I took of random dead, broken, fallen trees was insane. It's just beautiful to me.

Me and my favorite dead tree by the path (Taken with iPhone):

We decided to head out to another park to get some sunset pictures and on the way I made Amanda pull over to watch this and we ended up in another church parking lot and there were SO MANY DEAD TREES!

My dead tree forest (Taken with iPhone):

After I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of this wooded area we ended up at Millennium Park for the sunset. It was gorgeous and amazing and I think I got some great photos for sure!

Sunset (taken with iPhone):

I can't explain how excited I am about photography. It's such a creative outlet and with digital photography "film" is unlimited. How can you go wrong?

The ride home was another adventure because I got us lost another 2 or 3 times (Worst navigator ever.) but Amanda was a great sport about it.

This is why I like hanging out with Amanda. She's so easy going and she just goes with the flow. It's good stuff and with so many people in my life having schedules and making plans it's refreshing to have a day where you just go where you end up.

Thank you 100 times over for adventuring with me Amanda!

I can't wait for Thursday night dinner and photo review with friends. (I love getting feedback on my photos and Kendra's husband Chris is kind enough to give it!)

Much love

E

And Sometimes the Best of Intentions...

So BEDA was quite the epic fail for me.

I say that, but I don't think I actually mean that.

I'm still on the fence to be honest.

My goal was to write more. To get in the habit. To really get this thing going. So on one hand I totally NAILED it. On the other hand... BEDA = Blogging EVERY Day in August... So yea... fail...

Overall though I think I'm happy with what I did accomplish. Okay let's make that a more direct statement. I AM happy with what I accomplished. I do feel better about writing.

I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo coming up in just two short months! I'm taking a new approach this year, I'm working on outlining my story. So far I have nothing... But there's still time.

UPDATES!

My birthday was last Friday (the 30th), I had a ridiculously fantastic party on Saturday (31st). I have some really fabulous people in my life. I had a plan to name them all and thank them individually, but there's just no way... I'm too afraid I'll miss someone. (... Brag-town much?)

Sunday brought another surprise in Ronni cleaning up the backyard. I can't even tell you how appreciated that was.

Monday was just a chill day. Breakfast, movie, visiting the fam, RAW... OH! and I started a new book. I love starting new books.

Much love

E

A Bicycle Built for 15

Who would have thought when I walked out of work on Thursday that I would end up on a giant pedal powered vehicle, pedaling through downtown GR on a pub crawl?

Definitely not this girl.

A few weeks ago I was driving downtown and I saw this weird looking contraption.

There were people sitting on either side pedaling away, waving at passing cars, and generally having a fantastic time. I thought to myself, "These people are insane! Who actually does something like this?" Little did I know there were already wheels that had been set into motion and I would be on this same contraption having one of the most unique and entertaining afternoon/evenings of my life.

So the basics. There are 10 pedaling spots, 5 on each side. There are also 2 seats (1 on each side) over a wheel that do not have to pedal. Then there is a bench on the back that at least 3 people can sit on, these are also non-pedaling seats. As you can see there is a driver/steerer that navigates us through the street as you pedal like a maniac. The fastest this guy can go is 5 miles an hour, and if you think that's slow... well... you try pedaling faster! HA!

I had the privilege of pedaling the entire route... which was about 3 miles. Now that might not seem like a lot to you lot, but just think about it. That's a big vehicle. There were 16 people on it, 2 coolers, and snacks. Also hills... lots of hills... even those little guys... they were difficult.

But even with all of that craziness, it truly was a unique and amazing time and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to partake.

I'm going to turn into Braggy McBraggerson for a minute. There's a really short traffic light we were stopped at and the woman who ran the tour told us we were going to have to pedal like crazy to get through the light so we all got ready. When the light turned green we pedaled like the dickens and made it through while it was still green... I know that may not seem like a big accomplishment to you but I'm going to tell you two reasons why it is impressive. 1 - This was the last leg of the journey after visiting 3 bars. 2 - We were only the second group all summer to make it through that light without it turning red.

Yea!

What do you think about that.

Impressed yet?

Much Love 

E

OH! Here's the website if I've sparked your interest!!

Great Lakes Pub Cruiser

Surprise!

I'll say I hate surprises, but that's not actually true. I want a surprise. Surprise run in with an old friend. Surprise party thrown in my honor. Surprise present "just because". Surprise me!

But make it a true surprise. Make it something that I have not even the slightest of inklings about.

Don't tempt me with little details here and there.

That kind of surprise drives me crazy!

For example, let's pretend it's my birthday month (I'm really digging deep into the depths of my imagination for this scenario) and you know what a friend of mine is getting for my birthday. Don't tell me I'm going to love it. Don't tell me it's the greatest ever. Don't tell me it's perfect for me. I don't want to know.

Anything.

At all.

I don't even want to know that someone got me a present until it's literally being put in my possession.

Then you can tell me all about how you knew I would love it. 

Just leave the suspense out of it.

This might be why I hate suspenseful movies... I don't want to anticipate. I don't want to wonder what it could possibly be. I just want to know... and I want to know NOW!

Yes this might make me the slightest bit of a brat... 

I'm okay with that because it's just a tiny flaw and it's one of the more lovable ones, right?

Oh also... You can take your horrible surprise that will make me hate everything about everything and shove it. I don't even want that in my life in any way.

This has been your daily uplifting message about hope and love brought to you by Ericka...

Okay really I'm not even crabby today. Today was a good day. I just really wanted to share my aversion to surprises and I thought today was the day to do it.

The real kicker?

I absolutely, positively love love love to surprise other people! HA! Isn't that just the most ridiculous thing even. It's probably because when I'm surprising others I am "in the know". And by golly I just love being "in the know". Overload me with information. It's good. I can handle it. In fact, the more info you have on something, the more I want!

Much love

E

To be clear, this is not based on real or true events that are currently taking place in my life. Just a rant that needed to happen.

Writer's Block is a Bee

Writer's block is like insomnia for authors...

I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, but it's how I feel.

I want to imagine. I want to create. I want to write.

My brain however has other plans.

So I sit and I stare at the screen... for seconds... minutes... hours... days... 

I read inspriation pages in hopes of gleaning just a sliver of the promised stimulation to start turning the wheels. And nothing.

Maybe it's because my house is like a sauna tonight and I just can't use brain power to create when it's all used being miserable? Maybe it's because of the mindless reality television that's currently playing in the background? Maybe it's because I've already used all my creativity for the night on my vlog and my photo-a-day challenge? 

Can you use up your creativity? Is there a limit to how much someone has for their life?

I'm a firm believer that some people squander their creativity in exchange for a boring, safe existence.

What if the wasted creativity of the safe floats around in the world until it senses creativity and it latches on... Maybe that's how some poeple continue on...

Sometimes I wonder where my brain goes.

Much love

E

Sick Days

Sick days are the worst. I hate them almost as much as I hate being sick.

Today I woke up with a wicked headache. PAIN!

I thought taking some pain meds and getting a bit more sleep would help out so I made the call to my boss and told her I'd be in for the afternoon. And I meant it. That was the plan. So much so that I was determined to carry it out. So after sleeping a few more hours, taking a shower, and getting ready I headed to work. As I was driving in I started to feel nauseous but I figured it would pass, but then as I walked in the door I realized this was not going to be the case. I walked straight to my bosses desk and she was unfortunately in a meeting so I went to find Jamie and Cassie let them know I was out of there and I hightailed it out of the building and to my car in an effort not to blow chunks all over the office. I even made it a couple miles down the road before having to pull over...

After I made it home I changed back in the ol' pjs and laid on the couch for about 2 hours.

I finally started feeling better around 5pm which was great! My headache had finally abated and I felt like anything I put in my body would actually nourish me instead of make me miserable.

So again feeling much better... worried about how behind I'm going to be when I go into work tomorrow, but everything should be fine... I'm just hoping this headache stays away and I'm not developing another illness.

Only tomorrow can tell.

Much love

E

Another One Bites the Dust...

I've missed another day... Maybe two days actually... I don't think I posted Friday or Saturday...

Damn...

This weekend was quite the busy one.

Movie in the park on Friday. Surprise birthday party on Saturday. Yard work on Sunday. Phew! I'm getting tired just thinking about it... And these are just the highlights!

The movie in the park was super fun! They blocked off the giant hill in Ah-Nab-Awen Park and people brought chairs, beer, and food. Ronni and I met up with Jason, Jess, Dannette, and Lucas. Quality people if you ask me. The movie was Back to the Future which is always a good choice. It was funny because the whole night we all knew we were going to see each other on Saturday with the exception of Jason... it was his surprise party I attended, and we had more than a couple close calls when chatting about the next time we would see each other. 

But the surprise WAS a surprise so YAY!

The party was at Jessica's parent's house right on a lake. It was gorgeous! I decided I wanted to just move in... I'm sure Jess' parents wouldn't mind, right? I adore Jess' mom, she is like my sole mate and she's just the most lovely of people to know. It makes total sense how Jess turned out so amazing.

I did get to chat with Luke a bit about my "brand". I've decided I want to stand out more online... I want something that screams ERICKA with reckless abandon. Luke is going to help me with that. And in exchange I will shamelessly promote all the amazing things he does.

This is his website: True Myth Media

You should go there.

Because of reasons.

I hate to cut this short but because of this thing:

My hands are bruised so typing is painful.

Much love

E

Distractions

OMG! Not again!

Okay.

But really!?

I made a commitment today. I was going to write up my post early and post it with no problems. It was going to be well thought out... not written by the seat of my pants... or something like that. Yet here I am after midnight furiously typing away in order to not miss ANOTHER day this month. 

*CLEARLY* That did not work... 

Damn you social media and the pull you have on me.

Just as I was settling in to start this post I first posted my video link onto Facebook... that was the mistake... I ended up scrolling through the never ending feed and found a link to the Ashton speech the internet was all a buzz with so I clearly had to watch that.

THEN I remembered I needed to post my link to Tumblr because how can you not, and Tumblr is the devil... It sucks you in... You're lucky to get out with your life! I ended up on the Women of YouTube/Female Vlogger tag and there are just some really talented women out in the world. 

Much love

E

Brain... Not... Braining...

Exhaustion has taken over my life. The lack of sleep and insomniatic tendencies I have been experiencing are making for incoherent thoughts and a complete lack of anything worth while to say.

This is has been my day.

Tomorrow marks the half way point for this month.

Holy moly.

Also that means it's almost my birthday.

This makes me happy.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Much love

E

Expectant Expectations

Sometimes I just want to lay in bed, eat truffles all day, and play on the internet.

This is not a thing that I can do on the regular.

This is not even a thing I can do on the random.

But... it's something I would like to do.

Sometimes we have to make choices that are not necesarily the most fun... but they are the choices that make you a functional member of society.

Sometimes I don't want to be a functional member of society.

Sometimes I would like to just be mediocre.

The mediocre don't have expectations thrust upon them.

Oh expectations.

There are the expectations that are thrust upon by ourselves and outside sources. The battle is finding the balance between the two. I've heard many times, and I've even said before that I don't care what others think of me. And to a degree that is absolutely true. But on the other hand what other people think of you and what their perception is of who you are dictates different aspects of your life.

It's quite the tight rope walk.

Much love

E

5 Things I Like About Wisconsin

Why, you might ask yourself, is Ericka writing about Wisconsin?

Well, there are a multitude of reasons truly and I've decided to share 5 of them with you. 

1. I lived in Marinette, WI for 3 years when I was just a young lass. Marinette is right next to the border of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and my mother actually worked in Menominee, MI at the YMCA as a swim instructor and life guard.

2. Leinenkugel Brewing Company. I love me some Berry Weiss. Oh and the Lemon Berry Shandy is just delightful.

3. Wisconsin's state bird is the Robin which was voted on by school children. How cute is that!?

4. Green Bay is the toilet paper capital of the world. This is fact. This is funny. How can you NOT love this?!

5. CHEESE!l Like seriously. Cheese. DAIRY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! I just really love me some cheese. 

My love for cheese is the reason I'm not a vegan. It's the line in the sand.

I just really thought you all should know how much I like cheese and what better way to tell you then through a list of other things I enjoy about the dairy capital of the world?

Much Love

E

Sunburn, Sore Muscles, and Sleepiness

I could come up with a myriad of excuses as to why there was no post last night. But alas, I will not.

Do I feel bad?

Kind of.

Do I see myself as a giant failure frog?

Maybe a little.

Will I be posting an extra blog post at some random point during the remaining days of this month in hopes of keeping the integrity of BEDA by making sure I have 31 posts by the end of the year.

Most definitely!

Well, now that you're done giving me the guilt trip. Let me tell you about my weirdly surprising and happy weekend!

Friday night I left work thinking I would just pick up some food for Ronni and I and go home, watch some tele, and go to bed early. One of those things happened... Ronni met me for dinner and then we met my parents at Menard's to pick up bricks for the retaining wall my parents purchased and assembled in my backyard for my birthday. Then after unloading the bricks Ronni and I did watch some TV and then it was off to bed... but super late!

Saturday morning came WAY to early as I met Jamie, Cassie, Brooke, Mom, and Dad for breakfast at 9:30 (well I was a little late having misplaced my car keys the night before and not being able to find them for a good 15 minutes. Breakfast was wonderful and then we parted ways from Cassie and Brooke. The rest of us went back to my house where the "back yard project" began. Ronni helped out a bit before ditching us to go out to lunch with Alan, but who could blame her? HA!

Here is the list of things I wanted to do in the backyard:

Build retaining wall

Mow

Weed

Get rid of giant dirt piles along the fence so the dog doesn't jump OVER the fence

Redo the 16'x14' patio brinks

Plant a garden behind the retaining wall

Spread weed & feed through entire back yard

Hang lattice to cover below the deck so the dog stops going under the deck

Cut up the tree branches that had fallen in a storm

Here is the list of things we DID on Saturday:

Mowed the backyard

Built a retaining wall

Planted a garden behind the retaining wall

Removed the patio bricks from their uneven resting place

Spread weed & feed through entire back yard

Cut up NOT ONLY the tree branches that had fallen in a storm but also cut down two more dead branches and cut those as well

Carried giant rocks into my backyard to put into the garden

Killed bees and knocked down their nest

Weeded like a crazy person

Got rid of the dirt by the fence on half the yard.

Things left to do:

Hang lattice

Level patio and place bricks back into place

Get rid of dirt by the fence in the other half of the yard

Overall I would say Saturday was ridiculously productive!

Before on the left/After on the right:

OH! And Sunday morning my mother came over with a butterfly bush she planted in the new garden (with the 3 lilac bushes she planted Sunday) and like 6 or 7 bags of mulch which she spread in the garden for me.

So after all that work on Saturday my thoughts went to relax and sleep, but then the opportunity to go karaoke presented itself... and having not been out to karaoke in almost 2 months I just couldn't pass it up so out I went with my good friend Keri.

Keri and I had sushi for dinner which was absolutely fantastic and then we headed on down to good ol' gay bar to get our karaoke on! 

Here's Keri singing her heart out:

Luke was hosting which is always a delight and Pookie came down which was wonderful as well. THEN! Low and behold there was a secret guest! David showed up!

Me and David:

What an absolutely wonderful and welcome surprise! David moved to Minneapolis a little over a year ago which was the saddest of days because he's my duet partner at karaoke. He's also my friend, but you know... priorities and such. Anywho, David just got news that he is moving to Chicago (well right outside of Chicago) which is just the bees knees! Super excited to have him MUCH closer than he has been. Plus running into him Saturday night was just the best thing ever :) We got to sing our "signature" song... if you could call it that, and we tried out a new one. I don't know how he felt about the new one but I absolutely loved it, my part is all harmonies and as a soprano that's a rare thing for me!

So needless to say Saturday was a loooooong but fantastic day!

Then we open on Sunday... Sunday consisted of me sleeping until noon thirty which was just lovely after an an unexpected night out. But then the pain started. You know. The pain. The pain you get the day after you spend 8 hours working in the hot sun on your yard. That pain. The pain that hits every part of your body, every muscle you know you have and every muscle you never knew existed. And that is your reality for the rest of your day. Everything else takes second chair to that. Even now as I'm typing this I can feel my legs just burning! Then you start to realize exactly where you are sunburned. Your scalp. The tops of your ears. The back of your neck right where your hairline hits. Your nose. Your cheeks. Using a blow dryer is OUT OF THE QUESTION!

So I tried my hardest not to do anything all day. Ronni and I went to see Furious 6 which was quite delightful if you like movies with very little plot and SO MUCH STREET RACING. Which I do. So I was happy.

Then it was home for a lot of sitting around. One load of laundry (I really hate laundry) and the latest episode of True Blood.

All in all.

Good weekend.

Much Love

E

Another late night post...

I'm so glad it's Friday... 

This week has been super draining. Nothing particularly crazy or nutty happened. I wasn't overly stressed at work. I just felt like this week took forever. Like it was more than 5 days...

Okay, yes I know weeks are 7 days, but clearly I'm talking about the work week.

Anywho, we're 9 days into "Ericka does ALL THE THINGS August" and so far I've kept up on everything fairly well.

Sure the blog posts might be after midnight.

And maybe one or two videos have been uploaded a little late.

Okay, yes and I'm consistently a day behind in my photo a day...

Hm...

Alright. Maybe I don't have it quite together!

Good news is I still have plenty of time to rally. And I am good at the rally.

This weekend is going to consist of yard work. I am dreading this slightly. But I'm excited about having it done. Right now the yard is shambles. Maybe I'll take some pictures or a video tomorrow and you can see the transformation! Biggest projects are the patio and a retaining wall/garden bench. The wall/bench is a gift from my parents, so I'm pretty excited about that. :)

More on that tomorrow I'm sure!

Much love

E

Shopper's Remorse

As I sit here in my bed typing out yet another late night post, I'm reminded that a few weeks ago when visiting my friend Meredith in Novi that, while shopping at the ever popular IKEA, I wanted to purchase a lap desk.

I don't know why I let myself get talked out of purchasing said lap desk (by myself, no one talked me out of it but me... I'm my own worst enemy or something like that). We passed many different styles and colors. And yet when I walked out of that store I had bed slats and a salad spinner.

So I guess I don't have "buyer's" remorse so much as I have "wish I had bought it" remorse.

The bed slats are great, my box spring had been broken for years due to my brother jumping onto my bed to wake me up shortly after moving into my house (such a brat), and the salad spinner has come in very handy! But as I prop my iPad on two pillows and position it just right so the keyboard registers, I find myself in a very non-ergonomic position trying to keep everything balanced.

I think the stupid thing was only like $10, which makes it even more ridiculous that I didn't just "splurge".

I do really enjoy the bed slats though... that was such a good purchase.

Much love

E

Juicing is Still a Thing, Right?

Today I ended up at Cassie and Brooke's new house.

Brooke was out of town for work so Jamie and I decided to go keep Cassie and baby Cole company. What ended up happening was an epic night of epicness. I made a recipe that was posted on Doorganics blog (www.doorganicsgr.com) which consisted of baked zucchini and parmesan cheese, Jamie brought cookies, and then we broke out "The Juicer".

Now this wasn't just any juicer. This is the big daddy juicer! Jack freaking Lalanne's juicer! (That's a juicer that means business.)

I went a little overboard with the celery but overall we ended up with a pretty decent juice! Apples, a mango, and plums. Who knew?

I already told Cassie I was looking forward to the next juicing adventure!

It's late and I'm tired.

SO MUCH EXCITEMENT! 

Much Love

E

Damn You, Candy Crush!

Hello.

My name is Ericka.

And I'm addicted to Candy Crush.

PHEW!

That is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I mean like... I feel like I've been carrying that one around for awhile.

I'm sure no one noticed that I spend every spare moment (when I've replenished my lives by waiting precisely 2.5 hours from the first death...) trying to beat level after unending level. Like seriously it never ends... And every time you get closer to the end they just add more sadistic levels to taunt you with.

Alright, alright. I see you judging me through your Words with Friends loving eyes, but I bet you're a closet Crusher, aren't you?

I wasn't always this way. Once upon a time a person whom I thought was my friend that shall remain nameless to protect his - or her - innocence *cough* mattpete *cough* talked about this weird game called Candy Crush that was "totes all the rage" (that's totally how Matt talks too... I mean I'm not exaggerating or making any of this up) and he talked about it non-stop, like incessantly, until one day he downloaded it on my phone. (Now clearly I had to put in my game center password... but it's really his fault... don't take that away from me.) At any rate I went home without opening the game and told my roommate about it.

"Do NOT play it. Seriously, don't do it."

I did not heed her words of wisdom as one who had already been sucked in.

Alas,here I sit before you, 178 levels in, hating chocolate, especially self replicating chocolate... which should never be how someone feels about chocolate, especially self replicating chocolate. IT'S FREAKING CHOCOLATE! SELF REPLICATING CHOCOLATE! I cross my fingers for a move that results in a continuous barrage of points. I scream and growl at my phone when I just need ONE MORE MOVE! I cry out in rage and swear like a sailor (although swearing like a sailor is something I do even when I'm not playing CC so that might not be a good example).

I am completely sucked in.

It's also the reason why, yet again, I am writing a blog post at 11 PM when I should be sleeping.

This is my life.

Much love

E

Pretty sure some lives have replenished at this point... I might be able to beat it this time!

One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days where you are pretty sure no matter what you do or say it's going to be wrong.

You know... one of those days...

Today was that day for me.

It's left me feeling uninspired and more than a little underwhelmed.

So instead of droning on and on about how horrible everything went today, this post is going be super short and sweet... And I'm going to try to bring on some positivity.

Today I am grateful to good friends who will meet you for a drink because you had a crappy day and instead of judging you or trying to fix you they just listen. Even when a quick drink turns into hours of sitting and listening to venting on top of more venting that probably (ok definitely) sounded like whining at times they just listen.

Do you have someone like that in your life? I'm lucky to have quite a few good friends like that. So there's your positivity.

I'm going back to being grumpy now, but tomorrow will totes be better, right?

Much love 

E

A New Doctor

Today was a big day in the Whovian fandom.

Now I don't usually post about the fandoms I am a part of. I didn't particularly know why, it might have been because I hadn't quite found my voice in which I'm comfortable speaking about the things I love... Now I have posted videos here and there offering an opinion on the boy wizard, and I seem to remember posting a video about John Green and my absolute love for his books. But on the whole I'm not one to tout my feelings about something fandom related.

Today's announcement was something I was excited about and I didn't want it to go by without offering up my opinion. BUT! I look back at the first line of this post and feel the need to amend it. Today was a big day in the Whovian fandom... to me.

And there in lies the reason I tend to keep my opinions to myself. Let me explain.

I am generally late to the party. I was extremely late to the Harry Potter fandom, the only book not out at the time I found myself hopelessly devoted to Harry was Deathly Hallows (book 7 to those not in the know). I will probably continue to use HP as a way of illustrating my point... Anywho, being late to the party I felt that I wasn't allowed to have an opinion. The HP fandom is HUGE and it's PASSIONATE and it's more than a little intimidating to an outsider. So instead of diving in feet first I gently waded in. I stopped myself from branching out in fear of being judged for not being a "real fan". Now having gotten over that (for the most part) I have had the opportunity to attend LeakyCon twice, I started a YouTube channel in which I have embraced my geekiness, and I've supported various independent musicians and YouTubers professional endeavors. And with all that I'm still nervous about writing an opinion piece on Peter Capaldi and the new Doctor.

Because again... I'm late to the party.

I didn't start watching Doctor Who until last summer. I'm a "New Who" fan, meaning I haven't watched any of the original series and because of that it feels weird to have an opinion.

This announcement about The Doctor is the first announcement I've been around for and the first regeneration that I will be watching in real time, with the rest of the world. I'm loving the hype. I'm loving the reactions. I love everything about this.

Now... How to get more involved... Am I right?

Anywho, I am really excited about this casting choice. I've read a few articles and there are definitely mixed feelings, but I think it's going to be a whole new adventure (I am all about adventures this month) and I can't wait!

Since Eccleston (who was legit a fantastic choice for the reboot) The Doctor has gotten younger and and younger with each regen and going for an older actor is a great decision. I'm really eager to see the relationship with between him and Clara... Assuming Clara is staying... I didn't even THINK about that!!!

...

Hm...

...

This gives me something else to think about...

Much Love

E

The Color Run - Truly the Happiest of 5ks

Today I did The Color Run which is advertised as the "happiest 5k on the planet" and I've gotta tell you. It's totes true!

I didn't think you could have that much fun "running".

I didn't really run the race for a number of reasons.

1- I'm still not totally convinced I want to be a runner. (Although I feel like I want to be a runner which yes I know is completely contradictory...)

2- The Color Run is PACKED! Like legit PACKED! So to run at all you have to be extra good at navigating crowds, which I am not at fast speeds.

3- Bronchitis. Yes it's self diagnosed and I'm getting better, but trying to breathe and run at the same time is just not something that I can currently do.

4- My shoes. I was so excited about them. But they just don't fit. :( I couldn't even keep them on to finish the race.

But the important thing is I FINISHED!!

The color zones are insane, I was cracking up at the kids (and adults) scooping up color from the ground to put more on their friends and themselves. Some were even rolling around in it which even more fantastic.

I'm so glad I was able to participate and I'm grateful of Mindy, Lissa, and Jason for participating with me. It was the best!

Before:

After:

It didn't even take that long to get clean. I mean, I'm not completely clean, but cleaner... so I count that as a win.

The rest of my day consisted of editing video and photos, watching NCIS, and now wrapping up the evening with some good ol' Doctor Who.

Have I told you how much I love Doctor Who? We're on our second run through and currently in season 3 of the reboot. I love me some David Tenant... I was scanning through the episode list of season 3 tonight and I forgot how many good episodes are in this season! "The Shakespeare Code", "Daleks in Manhattan" & "Evolution of the Daleks", "Human Nature" & "The Family of Blood", oh and how can anyone forget "Blink"! "Blink" is legit one of the best 45 minutes of television I've ever seen. OH! I almost forgot The Master! What a great story arch with him, eh?

Much Love

E

Skittle Distribution

Have you ever stopped and thought about the color distribution in a bag of Skittles?

I don't usually dump the bag of Skittles out and separate by color but today my brain was fried and it was pretty much all I could handle. So because I was a little crazy I ended up realizing that there were less of some colors... and they ended up being my favorite... saddest of days... saddest. of. days.

Anywho! Tomorrow is The Color Run! I'm so excited and still trying to figure out how I'm going to not ruin my phone when going through the color zones. Because I can't... like... NOT take my phone... ... ... Oh technology...

So have I told you everything I've decided to do this month? Besides BEDA, I'm also participating in VEDA (August edition), and I'm doing a Photo-A-Day on Instagram. I don't know how I could pack more into my days, and yet I probably will... HA!

And now for something totally different!

A few weeks ago I started getting local produce delivered to me every Monday. It's been pushing me out of my comfort zone to try new recipes and eat different types of produce I normally would not buy and I LOVE IT!

It may not seem like much to others, but this was my dinner today:

The starting point:

The end result:

It's zucchini, summer squash, and heirloom potatoes in olive oil with garlic seasoning and cheddar cheese. It was SO good! (Also I wanted to post pictures in my blog today)

Looking forward to more experiments throughout the month!

YAY Adventure!

Much Love

E

The Subtle Difference Between Comfort and Anxiety?

The smell of the dentist office is both comforting and anxiety inducing.

It's a smell from childhood... it brings to mind Highlights magazine and picking a prize from the treasure chest. Who doesn't love picking a prize? Oh! Then you got to pick out a brand new toothbrush in whatever color you wanted which was always awesome. And floss. Your very own flavored floss. Woot! Those were the days, eh?

It's also the smell of cavities being filled, which brings to mind drills on teeth and that plaque scrapper and the taste of fluoride. Oh and having to bite down on that stupid X-ray card that cuts into your gums. 

And the numbing. 

I remember when I was younger getting my cavities filled and being numb for the rest of the day (I react quite strongly to Novocain).

It's a weird line between happy nostalgia and painful nostalgia. Even weirder when talking about the dentist.

Today was quite the day. Dentist in the morning. Race packets in the evening.

I'm so excited for the color run this Saturday! It's going to be fantastic. Absolutely fantastic! 

New Adventure!

One of my favorite things to do is write.

Writing is calming.

Writing is cathartic.

Writing is... well it's just wonderful.

This year I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo for the second year (and hoping to win this year) so I was looking for ways to get into the habit of writing every single day.

Then!

I remember BEDA! Really I remember Kristina Horner talking about BEDA in a video once upon a time, BINGO! I've got my answer.

What better way to get into the habit of writing than to Blog Every Day in August. It's literally perfect. Literally!

So tomorrow starts my latest adventure in blogging and I'm more than a little excited about it!

I'm a little nervous about this commitment... but so incredibly excited!!

Wish me luck!

Rainy Day Thoughts

Sometimes everything works out perfectly. You show up exactly on time to meet your friend. You are funny and good conversation and good times are had by all.

Other times you find yourself sitting in a McDonald's using their free wifi because you don't think to check what time you're supposed to show up at your friends house and you get there an hour early and there's no one there. So you have nothing to do by drive around trying to find a Starbucks (because you have a gold card and a free beverage) only to realize that contrary to popular belief Starbucks is NOT on every corner of every block in the world.

And now it's pouring rain so this is perfect.

But the rain doesn't really make a bad day worse, it just adds to the weird and random nature of the day.

So you find a McDonald's and you seem to remember from years and years ago that they once upon a time had free wifi... You think to yourself 'Can I get by with just ordering an iced tea and not feel bad about borrowing the wifi?' and then you realize you're pretty hungry because the mix up in time means you didn't eat before you left and now you have an hour so a snack sound pretty good...

BUT!

You don't want to eat like a whole meal. Also this is McDonald's and you're a vegetarian. You could get a salad, but that doesn't really sound appetizing (and you have a salad you're bringing to your friends house in your car). So you end up with that iced tea you were really craving, french fries because it's McDonald's, and a flurry because why the hell not?

Now as luck would have it you find a prime (and I mean PRIME) people watching seat in which to perch yourself as you waste some time AND (THANK GOODNESS) the DO have free wifi here!

This is the best day.

And it's only 1:15 PM.

Yes... This is my life...

Wishful Thinking?

So... I'm a semi-Apple geek. 

(Knowing this will have little to do with the rest of this post, I just wanted to put that out into the world.)

What I mean by that is I love all things Apple, but I do not own all things Apple.

Sure I have my iPhone, and my iPad, and even my iPod Touch (which is not exactly like an iPhone contrary to popular belief among my *clearly* uneducated friends).

When I purchased my iPad one of the things I was excited about was the portability. I was going to take that thing everywhere and I was going to write! I was going to be able to document my life as it was happening and document for the world to see. That was two years ago. Clearly things did not go as planned!

Recently (as in two days ago) I found this fantastic little blue tooth keyboard that's solar (yes solar for the quasi eco-geek in me!) and it was on sale and it's an integrated case + keyboard so I thought "well hey... why the heck not!" and I bought it.

NOW! NOW IS MY TIME!

Now I'll be able to tote this bad boy around with the greatest of ease. I'll be able to take a minute and write and feel good after, because it's a proven fact that *I* feel better after writing. (Although even knowing this I fail to write as often as I should.)

So here's hoping I actually follow through on something I want to do. August is coming up and I am planning on participating in BEDA (Blogging Every Day in August) so I need to knock the ring rust off now, eh?

Wish me luck!

Some change will do you good...

I don’t even know where to begin. How to you start “fixing” yourself when you didn’t think you were that bad to begin with?

So… that statement is not necessarily the most fair.

But that’s me.

Very unfair.

At least when it comes to assessing my own strengths and weaknesses opportunities. This is probably why it’s so hard for me to accept that others see flaws in me that I did not see. Because I am SO in tune with what I believe and see as my flaws, the fact that someone, outside of me, could see ANOTHER flaw that I had not seen or even known was there is almost unfathomable.

This is going to be an insane journey… and I don’t know if I am ready for it.

Nostalgia... Or Something Like It

Again with the best of intentions I fall flat.

My plan had been to write like a mad woman last year. Write until my fingers fell off. Write until all of my thoughts were outside my brain so I could think of new thoughts and keep writing.

Alas.

It's now been over a year and while I have written quite a bit in the last 13 months, I did not write anything here.

So what did I write you ask?

I don't so much know what to call it. I participated in NaNoWriMo last year and wrote 16,250 words which I believe is the highest number of words I have written on my own in 30 days. And truly I only wrote for 20 days because then I got distracted and I ended up just letting the whole project fall to the wayside.

I'm not so much happy with the writing I did, I think looking back on it, it was sloppy and jumbled and not very well put together. However! I am VERY proud that I even attempted the project AND I'm pretty excited to try again this year. (With a week of vacation scheduled during the month of November I should have plenty of time to write!)

So while reflecting on the past year of non-writing I started thinking about the writing I used to do. Remember Myspace? Yea... me neither... Ok just kidding. But really I hadn't logged onto Myspace in AGES and I wondered if all my blogs had disappeared into the great abyss that is the interwebs. There's a good two years of my life documented there for all the world to see!

So I started looking... it took me awhile to find them but I'm happy (and slightly embarrassed by the content) to say I've found them! And I'm posting a link to them which seems like a good thing to do, just in case anyone has feelings of nostalgia like I did and just wants to remember a simpler time...

We've come to the part of the blog were I share with you my new commitments. (Although I'm tempted not to share them in hopes that keeping them secret will make me follow through with them more.)

• Starting now I am committed to updating this blog once a month with new content. 

• In August my plan is to participate in BEDA, however I'm not completely committed to this one... I'm about 94.3% sure it's happening.

• This April I will be participating in VEDA, and will be posting a new video each day to my YouTube Channel. I'm pretty excited about it because I've missed vlogging in my 3 month hiatus since my last video on January 31st.

• November as I've already said will mark my 2nd attempt at NaNoWriMo.

• June I will be traveling to Portland, OR for LeakyCon for the 2nd year in a row and vlogging the trip.

There's a few other things I'm pretty excited about this year, but they will have to wait until another day because I've got places to go and promises to keep.

Much love to you,**MUAH**

Oh yea... Here's the link to my Myspace Blog in case you truly do want to relive my life from 2006-2008.