Author Archive
 1.This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we discuss our favorite candy. Youtube Link I confessed candy crimes and recruited a guest vlogger. 2. This lovely lady taught me how to skip rocks right in that river. Skipping rocks is a life skill I’ve been coveting for years. 3.Some recipes I make once a month:
4. As an Android user, I’m late to the Instagram party but I’m really loving it so far. I’m kind of a voyeur when it comes to people and their lives. This is why I read blogs, peruse Facebook photos, and enjoy it when people leave their blinds open when I walk my dog. (What?) Instagram is another glimpse inside personal lives. My nosy self digs it. You can follow me at “curiousnotions.” 5.I’m often late to cultural parties.
6.One of resolutions this year is to volunteer 10 hours in addition to what I do with my little from Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America. I will be planting trees at the Wildflower Center tomorrow morning! I think I’ll be doing this on my own since pulling Alan out of bed in the morning is impossible and my friends like sleeping in on weekends. I’m oddly excited. I’ve never planted trees before! 7.This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ skipping rocks ♥ introducing my little from Big Brothers & Big Sisters to Mediterranean food ♥ getting my dad to read Hunger Games ♥ surprise gift from my sister in the mail ♥ feeling accomplished ♥ Gong Karaoke ♥ having the apartment to myself and dancing alone ♥ first bathing suit hangout of the year ♥ credit card cycle starts over today ♥ impromptu date night ♥ journaling ♥ getting things done ♥ realizing I’ve been too hard on myself Question: How much time do you spend on your hobbies? |
1.This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we discuss our favorite beauty products. Youtube Link I don’t really have favorite beauty products so instead I just did my makeup for you. Now you get to see that I’m a makeup bum. 2.This morning is an off morning. I had to do the vlog twice since I accidentally deleted the first one. Then I left my phone at home. How am I suppose to become mayor of my work place if I leave my phone at home?! Also, I use the Evernote app for my grocery list and I’m grocery shopping right after work today. I like to have my list (organized my aisle) on my phone with links to the recipes to reference in case I need to fact check my list. I’ve been spoiled by technology. It’s going to make me a little twitchy this afternoon when I break out the pen and paper. 3.Countdowns! 15 days til road tripping to Arkansas with Treavor! 4.I’ve fallen off the Draw Something bandwagon but have boarded the Instragram for Android bandwagon. I haven’t posted yet but you can follow me at “curiousnotions”. 5.Alan and I didn’t win the lottery. No six month vacation for us. We planned on taking care of the folks and then getting on a plane and flying to random places. Hong Kong for a bit. Amsterdam for another bit. Alas, the odds were not in our favor. 6.I’m inching closer to the last year of my twenties. 7.This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ writing morning pages ♥ an exciting conversation ♥ everything about the previous weekend ♥ giving Bob doggy ice cream to abate the guilt I had for clipping one of his nails too bloody short ♥ being conscious that life is really good ♥ mom sending me to Austin with her pho ♥ starting morning 3 emails with Suki ♥ scheming with Treavor ♥ Fancy Dress Night and Alan being my date ♥ miscommunication at work and three people bringing donuts instead of one ♥ finishing American Gods ♥ Starting Bossypants ♥ Cindy motivating to get off my arse and get something done Question: What is something you keep putting off? |
Henry David Thoreau
I’m still basking in the afterglow of my weekend.
Friday night, I cackled at Kevin James’ stand up comedy with Alan and then enjoyed a few drinks downtown with friends and an out of town visitor. I ended the night eating this with a side of this. Glorious late night eats.
Saturday, I woke up after too little sleep and packed for and drove to Houston. Once there I shared a very quick coffee date with Cindy.
I spent the bulk of my time in Houston with Kim. She had a whole bag of paper cranes we helped her make in November for her Christmas tree. Not wanting to just throw out the cranes, we took inspiration from Cindy, who crochets critters and drops them off in random places around Houston to be adopted by strangers, and dropped off paper cranes throughout Houston’s Historic Heights.
Then we went home to build forts. We kind of failed but what we lacked in sturdy shelter we made up with belly laughs.
We had reservations at Stella Sola to eat bone marrow. Kim tweeted at the restaurant and sweet Stella Sola offered to design us a customized tasting centered around bone marrow. How amazing is that? We have tweets to prove it happened!
Our first course of beef tartar served in marrow bone with pickled eggs, jalapeno crema, and a sprinkling of fairy dust, I mean bone marrow powder
We finished our 5 course dinner at 9 and I picked up my second dinner for my dad’s birthday at 10. My belly hurt so good.
Sunday, I had lunch with my mom and she taught me a few more sewing lessons before I drove back up to Austin. To end on a sweet note, I squeezed in a pistachio and chocolate gelato date with Naz.
Seriously, what a perfect weekend!
Question: How do you suck the marrow out of life?
1.It’s the last week of the month, which means there’s no set topic on Totes Awesome Channel. Youtube Link I show off Bob’s new trick. 2.I requested a day off in April so I can meet Treavor up in Dallas and then drive over to Arkansas. Treavor wants to climb Mount Pinnacle to celebrate Earth Day and I want to scratch off Arkansas from my list and see Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library. I’m nervous, dudes. I am not an outdoorsy gal and I have weak lungs or something. I climbed Enchanted Rock and it was a growing experience, and now Treavor wants me to climb a mountain. I guess I should stop taking the elevators at work.  Me in front of the rock that kicked my bum. 3.I’m working on emotionally decluttering my life. I unsubscribe from blogs that don’t do much for me. I unfollow negative people on Twitter that only seem to tweet snarky things about strangers. (I do enjoy the occasional snark sessions with girlfriends in the privacy of Gchat so I’m not saying I’m a saint.) I’ve cut down on following people that waken the jealous sleeping beast inside of me. I am withdrawing from relationships that weigh me down more than uplift me. It feels good! There’s more room and time to breathe. 4.I’m having more fun which means money is tighter. Boo. 5.Don’t forget it’s April Fools’ Day on Sunday! Watch your back. I’ve never been good at pranking people but it has been one of my reoccuring fantasy talents. I will suggest that ladies don’t tell their significant others that they are pregnant if they’re not. Men, don’t fake a proposal unless there’s one very soon after your prank. Finally, it’s a bad day for a serious break-up. 6.I’m checking out Kevin James with Alan at the Paramount tonight. I love being inside the Paramount theater. So old worldly. Then tomorrow I’m heading to Houston for a day for dad’s birthday and have a fun girl date with Kim while dad’s working. There might be some hair braiding. There might be a fort. There’s definitely going to be some bone marrow. It’s going to be a blast. Enjoy your weekend, friends! 7.This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ drunk emails from Kim ♥ Alan reading American Gods to me ♥ teaching Bob “bang bang” ♥ fancy girl date with Brittany on a pretty deck accented with Christmas lights ♥ reading people’s 3 good things on yesterday’s blog post ♥ making my first enchiladas ♥ bone marrow in my immediate future ♥ momma’s food in my immediate future ♥ cooking myself breakfast ♥ scheming ♥ reading ♥ going to bed early one time ♥ pork belly Questions: How many states have you visited? Which one is your favorite? |
Back in October 2011, my friend Kim and I started emailing each other every morning at work enumerating three good things in our life. We haven’t missed a day since we started and it has definitely made me a happier person. I am a sunny person in general but there’s something really uplifting to start your day with mandatory gratitude. A couple of months ago we started to include another friend of ours so now it’s a daily routine involving three girls sharing three terrific things every day.
I was first to start the chain this morning and I thought I’d share the email with you too.
Linda (linda@curious-notions.net)
Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 8:34 AM
To: Kim, Natalie
Subject: THur3day
See what I did there?1. I used up food in the fridge for breakfast and it was so good! I made two sunny side up eggs, reheated the Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork (I made it on Sunday and we still have leftovers), and heated up some tortillas. Then I made runny egg pork tacos with a dollop of green salsa.
It was really tasty! Especially for just using up leftovers.
2. Tonight I will get some enchilada sauce to make my first enchiladas. I’m mostly excited because that means I can use up the leftover ground meat from yesterday’s dinner AND leftover tortillas from the tacos! It brings me SO much joy when I don’t throw out the scraps left from previous meals. It’s like a TETRIS GAME!!!!!!!!!! (I always end up throwing out a bunch of tortillas whenever I make tacos.)
3. I’ve never been read to before except for in school when teachers would read to the whole class. My parents supplied a lot of books but I don’t remember them ever reading to me like how I read to every single kid I ever babysat.
Anyway, Alan read to me from my book last night and it was pretty funny. I felt like I was five years old. Also, he would change the story without even stumbling and I’d be like, “Wait……………. Nuh uh!” The story is outlandish enough that once I accused him again of reading it wrong but turns out Neil Gaiman actually did author, “F**k. Jesus f**king Christ on a bicycle.”
I’m verbose today.
Question: What are three terrific things in your life today?
1.This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we are talking about distractions. Youtube Link I’m easily distracted while driving if I’m talking on the phone. I also purposefully distract myself with lower priority task items to avoid the higher priority stuff. 2.Yesterday morning I was a weepy mess about a lost necklace and blogged about it. Thank you for the sweet and encouraging comments! Alan searched and found it while I was at work. He’s basically my hero. 3.I updated Kim about the necklace and she assigned to me some new rules regarding the necklace. Her rules are great guidelines on how to treat your treasures with more respect. (Wish I could submit this to the Adulting Blog.) How Not to Lose Your Necklace of Sentimental Value
4.I had a full week off work. It was kind of an unplanned vacation so I used it as a very productive staycation. I took two naps, worked out for 30 minutes for 4 days, went to The Woodlands to see friends get married and party with them, finished my Defensive Driving course, got my oil changed, had my car inspected, patched a hole in my tire, had a lunch during work hours with an old coworker, updated my food blog twice, tried new recipes, took clothes to the tailor, stayed on top of chores, had date nights in the apartment with Alan, went to SXSW, wrote Morning Pages for 5 days, finished two books, worked on a mutual project still in development, renewed my City of Austin library card, planned a road trip in April, and flossed. Adulting! 5.Me in a nutshell:  (Thanks, Ashley!) 6.I’m really in love with the girls in my life. If I’ve Gchatted you this week, or emailed you, or share a collab channel with you, or shared a meal with you, chances are I’m very impressed by you and am so grateful to know you. 7.This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ Alan finding my necklace ♥ Alan finding my necklace ♥ Alan finding my necklace ♥ Hunger Games tonight! ♥ credit card rewards ♥ hilarious emails with Kim ♥ pho date with Michelle and Shelley ♥ surprise from Alan ♥ hilarious conversations that make me cackle ♥ buying prints from Thomas to decorate my walls ♥ comfortable maxi dresses ♥ warmer weather ♥ homemade sticky rice with coconut sauce and ripe mangoes Question: Who impresses you and why? |
About Linda
Texas native. Living and working in Austin, TX. Twenty something. In hot pursuit of good food, adventure, and laughter. Dreams of owning her own place with a big giant library.
Email me at: linda@curious-notions.net
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