Links are Good for your Bones

I loved this response to an article in the Guardian written by a woman who cried for three days after her son got a tattoo.

The president of Ireland gives an epic tongue-lashing to a Tea Party talk radio host.

Mitt Romney's Wonder Dong Should be Chieftain of America.

35 Reasons why Aaron Paul (Jesse from "Breaking Bad") Should Be Your Favorite Actor on Television.

15 Examples of Why Mugshots Were Way Cooler in the 1800s.  At the bottom is an app where you can make your own 19th century mugshot!

A widower makes a giant 6-acre heart-shaped meadow in honor of his late wife.

AWESOME SKULLS (via Nova)

The Secret Life of Toys (via Nova)

Hilarious Celebrity Portraits.

23 Small Changes that Make Adorable Things Terrifying.

Dad Protects Son from Bullies by Wearing a Skirt. Love this so hard.

Breaking Bad's Mike in a 1970s Menstruation PSA (JEEZ NOVA STOP BEING SO AWESOME).

Hipster Wizard of Oz (NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF NOVA).

Dissected Artists.

Painting with shadows and light.

Eerie Abandoned Island Mansions of Former Colombian Drug Lords.

Leaf Art.

Book Portraits.

Pictures from the insides of instruments. (thanks Suzy!)

Of course make sure to check out Alycia of The Curious Pug's new venture, the Happy Sprout Pet Boutique!

Keep on Trucking

I never really thought it was possible to say this, but I have had a really awesome couple of days despite the fact that Rob has not only been gone but also completely out of contact since Tuesday.

Wednesday was a really busy day for me work-wise; specifically I had to do some internal training for two coworkers on this software my company uses to create interactive tutorials on PeopleSoft. I started teaching myself the software about 3 years ago--with some help of course--so I've gotten pretty good at finding little tips and tricks to make the whole process easier.  Maybe this is just me, but it's really nice to be able to teach someone something that you know a lot about.  It just feels good to be able to answer questions and provide guidance based on my experience with different clients. I also got to Skype with my good friend Jessica, who I met through blogs but who I consider to be one of my really good friends, in real life or blog life. I hope she feels the same way because otherwise DAMN I'M AWKWARD WRITING ABOUT IT PUBLICLY!1!1!!

After work and a doctor's appointment I visited my good fire-wife friend Natalie, who is moving back to her native California this weekend.  We relaxed, had a few drinks, listened to music and laughed, which is exactly what I need on these days when Robbie is gone (or really any day, let's be serious).  We rode bikes downtown to meet up with Lindsey, another fire-wife friend, at the Coyote Cantina, which is probably my favorite restaurant here. They have this martini called a Rockstar, a strawberry lemon drop with Pop Rocks around the rim.  It's delectable.

Unfortunately, I hadn't ridden a bike in years (literally can't even remember the last time) and I was doing it with 3 or 4 drinks in my system.  I did fine until I had to stop (go figure), at which point I awkwardly stopped the bike and then just fell the fuck over. Hard.  I managed to scrape a nice chunk of skin off of my elbow and get a massive bruise on my hip.  Despite the pain I still chalk this night up to a success because we laughed the whole time and when you're as awkward as I am, you have to take your own clumsiness in stride.

Thursday was a bit more melancholy at first.  I had a lot of work to do but I was having trouble drumming up motivation and that Avril Lavigne song "When You're Gone" came on when I was at Smith's; the song came out when Rob was in Iraq and when I'm in the right mood it just pulls up all these memories and emotions and all I want is to see my husband again and press my forehead against his. I was feeling all sorry for myself while driving and almost hit a beastie running around on the road. I managed to corral her into my car and got her back to her family (the second time I've done that this week!) which really turned my day around.  I also sort of think it's the universe telling me to get another dog, because I was hoping by some weird twist of fate the owners wouldn't want her back and I could keep her for my very own.

This isn't the dog I rescued, it's Natalie's beast (and Cypress's best friend) Treya.

Sorry for this random post, but I'm really happy to finally be happy and I wanted to share it with you guys.

Tomorrow my friend Amie flies in to stay with us for awhile and it's also my technological detox day.  If you see a post from me tomorrow, I promise it was scheduled. Have a great long weekend, friends!

It's That Time Again...

It's "Ask Caitlin Questions" time!

I did a question-answering series last year at some point and I had a lot of fun with it, plus I have some new readers, so I'm back again.

Here's your chance (that I know you've been dying for, obviously) to ask me any question you'd like.  For reals, any question.  I'm a pretty open book and I'm fine with answering just about anything.

I'm debating whether to do this in blog or vlog form, so if you post a question please provide me with your preference.  I'm leaning toward a vlog or a series of vlogs.

Get to it, pretty ladies (and maybe a few gentlemen)!

Go ahead and ask, bitches.

On Being in a Technology Loop

The other day I read this post on xoJane about shutting off all the technology every now and then and just letting your eyes (and brain) rest after staring at screens constantly.  I've read a lot of posts about "digital detoxes" and I've always read but largely ignored them because WHATEVER YOU GUYS, I DON'T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON THE INTERNET.

This time, though, I stopped to think about how much time I spend on an electronic device throughout the day.  A normal daily schedule looks like this:

7:00am: Wake up, instantly grab phone and scan Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
7:15am: Wander into the living room, turn the computer on and check blogs and Facebook again
7:30am: Walk Cypress
8:00am-12:00pm: Work, eat, have X-Files or some other television show on, take intermittent breaks from productivity on Facebook, Twitter, and Bloglovin', text and IM various friends
12:00pm: Walk Cypress
12:30pm: Maybe eat lunch, if I remember
1:00pm-3:30pm: Work/X-Files/Internet Breaks
3:30pm: Walk Cypress.
4:00pm-6:00pm: Finish up work
6:00pm: Dinner (while watching TV)
6:30pm: Walk Cypress
7:00pm-10 or 11:00pm: Watch TV, read blogs, Facebook and Twitter
Bedtime: Play on iPad in bed while watching MST3K

Basically, minus walking Cypress (which I admittedly hurry through) I'm staring at a screen the entire day.  Part of this is due to the fact that I work from home and that my job is firmly entrenched in the world of computers and databases, but the other part is that being online and watching TV makes me feel a little less alone all day and keeps me from worrying or being anxious when Rob's gone, and is kept up more as a habit when he's actually around.

Rob and I have talked a lot about complete abstinence from vices and how it can often cement that vice's power over you. If something appears to actually be interfering with your life but not actually causing physical harm, it needs to be moderated, not obviated entirely. That said, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to devote one day to a technological detox and get back to the forms of entertainment I would've had access to before the proliferation of advanced technology--books, baths, walks, photography (I'm not counting the camera in the advanced technology since it involves a lot more engagement than staring at a screen), etc.  I can't do this during the work week for obvious reasons, but I think this weekend would be a perfect time to try it out and in the meantime make little tweaks here and there to my daily routine (last night I read a book instead of the iPad/MST3K combination) to avoid ending up like Fred Armisen up there.

The only device I will not give up in its most basic form is my phone.  With Rob gone for 3 weeks, not talking to him would be difficult and would cause too much anxiety to make the whole thing worth it, if that makes sense. Plus my friend Amie is flying in on Saturday and I need to have a general idea what happens with her travel day. I do plan, however, on temporarily deleting my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram apps to keep me from staring mindlessly at my phone all day instead of a computer screen.

I write this here to keep myself accountable and to also get feedback from you guys on your thoughts.  Have you ever done a detox from technology, or any other "vice"? Do you think such temporary detoxes are valuable or pointless?

In Which I Rant About Writing and Other Nonsense

I have had this fucking nagging urge to write lately.  It has been driving me totally insane, like an itch I can't scratch or a vague memory of something I forgot to grab before leaving the house.  The problem is I simply don't have anything I can just write, write, write about.  It's all been written, and that's part of the reason that I've basically just been writing variations on the same theme over and over for the last few weeks; that theme, of course, is "here's what I did today, with a smattering of swear words and self-deprecating humor and maybe a photo of my dog's eyebrows."

I've been perusing various blog posts that have whole lists of things to write about, but I wasn't sure how I could sneak in a post about "my most embarrassing moment" or "the hardest decision I ever had to make" and still sound like me and have it be something that anyone would actually want to read.

I thought of writing a how-to post,  but then I realized that I am completely unversed in every single one of the things within the repertoire of what most bloggers write how-tos about.  I don't paint my nails because I end up constantly splaying my fingers out and generally behaving like a dog in a restrictive sweater.  I rarely put forth the effort to put anything on my face minus far too much chapstick. I spontaneously shaved my head two weeks ago so I can't show you the secret to making that top knot that the kids all seem to like. My outfits are mostly comprised of the cleanest items I can most easily locate in my floordrobe within 5 seconds. I have no desire to thrift furniture and varnish it (is that a thing?) so that it looks older than it was to begin with, nor do I even know how you go about doing such a thing (minus haphazard pencil scrawlings and some well-placed chewed gum, maybe?).

FUCKING PICTURE OF CANDLES BECAUSE PICTURES BREAK UP THE TEXT AND MAKE YOU LIKE MY BLERG

I thought of writing about marriage, or anxiety, or depression, or how awkward I am and how my clothes don't fit me anymore because I'm losing weight from stress but this all just the same shit you guys read from me every single post and frankly, I just feel bad doing that to you and annoyed with myself for failing so handily at being creative.

This happens every few months or so, this futile struggle against my own brain and my own fears of inadequacy.  I know the words are in me, but at this point they're floating about uselessly like...I don't fucking know, cereal in milk I guess? DO YOU SEE WHERE MY BRAIN IS RIGHT NOW?!

I guess things have gotten so frustrating that I've resorted to writing about thoughts I have while dish washing or just writing about writing, and here we are, the center of the shrubbery maze that is my dysfunction.   Truly, though, I hope you take this post in the spirit it was intended, and, I don't know, give me some suggestions for content or vicious criticism or something.

I wish you all a magical Tuesday filled with love, light, and delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.

Thoughts I Had While Washing the Dishes

1. Do sunflower seeds count as a meal if they make my stomach so sick I don't feel like eating anything else?

2. "Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free."

3. "Millions of Cypress, Cypress for me, millions of Cypress, Cypress for free."

4. "Catherine Zeta-Joooooones, she dips beneath laserrrrrs, whooooaaaa."

5. Is there any conceivable way I can avoid making dinner tonight?

6. Maybe I shouldn't use the same glass all day, across multiple days.

7. How many glasses do Rob and I currently have in the bedroom? I think 3?

8. I haven't showered today, I bet my hair is greasy. Wait.

9. Cypress needs to walk soon.

10. Where the hell is her collar and leash? I haven't seen the nice ones in days.

11. "Bling bling, that is ghetto FABULOUS!" "This belong to Brooke Astor."

12. When will Scully just listen to Mulder the first time instead of being all lame and patronizing, especially when he's always fucking right.

13. My thought train would make a great blog post, convention and reader interest be damned!

Thoughts on Living in the Present, plus Photos and GIFs!

First off, hi, everyone!

This is Natalie, isn't she pretty?!

If you can't tell, I just discovered the iPhone app Cinemagram, which lets you make fun animated photos like the above.  Because the novelty has not worn off, here's another one I made of Cypress (pardon the crap quality):

SO MUCH WAVING.

Anyway, once you've finished staring at those for hours since they are positively hypnotic, let's get on to the post and other thoughts.

A week or so ago I read Nova's post about time passing too quickly and started thinking about how much I take for granted on a daily basis.  I've written about my difficulty with "living in the moment" ad nauseum on this blog, but it's something that is a constant struggle for me so I don't feel lame writing about it even more.

Within the last week or so I realized how quickly this summer has seemed to pass.  Because Rob has been gone so frequently I have spent most of my time wishing away the weeks until he's home again, and as a result of that the summer seems to have completely slipped through my fingers.  When he was home for this last "weekend" I decided to make more of a concerted effort to enjoy each second and minute for its own sake, and now that he's in Idaho for a million years 3 weeks I'm trying to do the same thing despite his absence.  It's tough, however, for alone time to compete with sitting on the patio with Robbie listening to music and watching the sun set.

In her post Nova suggested that carrying her camera helps keep her more "down to earth" and I decided to use my semi-latent camera skills to capture some moments here and there. I know in the last few months I've relied on iPhone photos for my blog posts for the sake of ease, so it felt pretty good to take my time and actually enjoy photography again. I've also been wanting to share a little bit of Santa Fe with you so why not kill two birds with one stone, am I right?

The following photos were taken on a date to the Coyote Cantina, our number one favorite place to eat and favorite lunch date location.

So there you have it, some "moments." I hope you all had a wonderful week and continue to do just that.