Doing Once Done

Seems like everyone has some version of a summer to-do list but since I have this one thing that needs to get done this summer, I thought it made sense to write a Post-Dissertation To-Do List. And here it is. The items are in no particular order, just the order they popped into my head.

• Plan Japanese-esque garden for our yard 
• Minus the water features, otherwise known as mosquito breeding grounds.
• Relaunch the blog 
• Perhaps under a new name, how exciting.
• Get a quilt rack 
• It's the little things, I tell ya.
• Hold a garage sale in spring
• Oodles of stuff -- baby stuff, my stuff, random stuff, stuff-stuff -- piling up.
• See some great bands/hear some great music
• Ok, so I've already been doing some of this, this summer. I have to stay sane somehow.
• Take some time alone with Jay 
• It'll be great to be able take some time together where I'm not even the slightest bit distracted by the everlasting, looming project.
• Take an improv class 
• Bet that took you by surprise. Very much outta my comfort zone.
• Do some training activity with Ella Puggeroo
• She deserves some one-on-one attention from us -- at least that's what she's told us.
• Play soccer 
• Not as easy as it sounds. I need to learn more about the game first and all the lessons around here are for kiddos.
• Do a weekly cool craft or adventure with Grace
•  This is one of the most motivating items on this list.
• Write a kid's book
• Have had some ideas bouncing around for awhile. Just need the time to pin them down.
• Write my own book(s)
• Something I would love-love to do, or at least be able to focus on it. 

Ah, focus. That's what's been shifting so much over the last five years. So much of what has happened in the last half decade was never on a to-do list, but I'm so glad it was done.

Social Media Salon

I got a shorter haircut relatively recently (you know, a cut where people ask "I thought you were going to grow your hair out?") and now I'm rethinking what I want to do with my hair. It's one length (bangs too) that is right at chin level. I haven't colored it in three years, so it's a medium brown, very straight.

 

Here are my options:

• Keep it at the present length and color it 
• Cut it shorter
• Cut it shorter and color it

Keeping it as is, is not an option.

 

I tend to get stuck in ruts when it come to hairstyles and such (another blog topic entirely :  ), so I thought I'd toss this out here on the blog and Twitter (follow @kateered) to get a wider variety of perspectives.  This strategy was inspired by a co-worker and fellow blogger -- Molly at The Snyder 5 -- who sought feedback on formal dresswear.

 

Please vote for which cut and/or color look you like (A is the top photo and F is the bottom photo; I think you can figure out the rest).

 

A: COLOR = Bold, chunky blond, red highlights CUT = Similar length to mine right now, but she has bangs.
B: COLOR = Very Subtle, highlights CUT= The length of her hair is just a touch longer than mine.
C: COLOR = Even bolder, chunky blond, red highlights CUT= Shorter than mine, with bangs and layering
D: COLOR = Deep red, burgundy highlights CUT= Shorter than mine
E: COLOR = Blond, light highlights in the front CUT= Shorter than mine
F: COLOR = Full blond (not likely to go this route) CUT = Shorter than mine

 

 

 You can provide your feedback in these ways:

• Tweet on Twitter (follow @kateered)
• Comment on Facebook 
• Post a comment on EdenborgEdition.blogspot.com (right here!) 

I thank you in advance for your insights and will keep posting about the incoming votes and final results. (Don't let the faces in the photographs bias you. Just because a cut and color makes Jessica Simpson or Keira Knightley look good, doesn't mean it'll do the same for me.)

Music to My Ears

Even though I haven't yet written about it here, music is very important to me. I can't sing, I can't play an instrument (but for a few -- very few -- chords on the guitar), but I love music. (I even created an South Park-themed avatar with headphones to illustrate my liking of music.)  So, I'm thinking there will be many blog posts on this topic to come.

But as a starter, I hit shuffle on my iPod and took note of the first 10 random songs that came up. Here they are with some commentary. I've also put the links to the albums these songs are on on iTunes in case you're interested. I like to be handy like that. (This was also inspired by fellow blogger Marketing Mama's recent plea to hook her up with some new music.) And no, no one is paying me to recommend them.  And since these aren't my top 10 favorite songs, so I am not really even recommending them. They are mentioned because they happened to come up in the mix.

You are now entering Kate's iPod:

1. Noella Rae: Brenda Weiler  -- Singer-songwriter from the Midwest who played the 400 Bar in Minneapolis a lot. I went to quite a few of her shows when I lived in the Twin Cities and she's awesome live. Love, love all of her albums. She has such a powerful voice and reminds me of the girl/woman I see myself as -- in my mind : )

2. Something In the Way: Best Coast -- This is a new girl band I just started to listen to. We'll I guess that would mean they're a new band to me, not new in general. Their sound is 60s garage rocky with the girl group sound. The "oldies" music I listened to while growing up definitely has influenced my present musical tastes.

3. The Right Place: Monsters of Folk -- This group is a great mix of some of the top musicians in -- the realm of music known as indie-rock. I'm not sure yet exactly what indie-rock means to me except that these guys rock the folk world.

4. New Shoes: Paolo Nutini -- Jay and I share iPod music and this was one of his purchases. This guy has a dancy cool sound. It's creative and soulful. You'll like it.

5. Idumea: Anonymous 4 -- This group of women sing inspirational a capella -- very soothing. Great for dissertation work. I usually can't study while listening to music with lyrics. Still, I get sick of listening to Mozart and since these voices are not singing in English, it's a very welcome break.

6. I'll Cover You: Original Broadway Cast of Rent -- This album reminds me of when Jay and I first started dating. He had seen Rent and really wanted to share the show with me. I listened to the music before I saw the show. Our relationship and that show will always be connected in my mind and heart.

7. When I Drink: The Avett Brothers -- This has been my obsession band for the past eight months or so. They've been around for a number of years but I just found them toward the end of last year. I heart them.

8. The Sweet Part of the City: The Hold Steady -- Neat. This is the concert my husband is at this very moment. He hearts them.

9. Paranoia in B Major: The Avett Brothers -- Love this song. Not surprising that a second song from this band showed up. They have by far the most songs on my ipod. I'll count them ... 56. Told you I was obsessed.

10. Winter's Come & Gone: Elizabeth Mitchell -- This is from the first kid's album I got for Gracie. It's still by far the one I like the most.The best song on this album is her version of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. Much easier on the ears than Elmo's Song.

And we now I return to my dissertation soundtrack. Hello Mozart, my old friend.

Dissertation Haiku, For All of You = Part II

Only six more months

Until the final deadline

It needs to get done.

The sooner I get done, the sooner I get to
spend more time with this little face.

How's that for motivation?
** Yes, those are socks on her hands.

Dissertation Haiku, For All of You

Data entry done

Coding now begins -- how fun

Want to be in sun

** I know a haiku doesn't need to (and perhaps shouldn't) rhyme, but I lucked out.

Hello to Good Buys

So, I'm not really a shopper.

My parents, husband and best friends can attest to how not-fun it can be to shop with Kate. I'm frugal and I don't like crowds. Recently I've come across a shopping experience that helps address one of my shopping issues: the multitude of consignment sales that pop up this time of year. There was one near my hometown a few months ago so I decided to partake in full force as a consigner, volunteer and buyer.

I hadn't really gotten rid of very much of Grace's clothing and so we had two bins and two huge boxes of her clothes and two other boxes of miscellaneous items (this isn't including any of the big items like swings and bouncy seats). So I decided it was time to let some stuff go. If (if, if, if, if, if) we decide to have another child, I kept some favorites and some necessities, but I winnowed the "stuff" in half. That left me with over 150 items (mostly clothes) to sell. Those of you who've priced things for a garage sale know how tedious the task can be, even more so for a consignment sale where there are particular rules, good rules but ones that make the process slower than you'd like.

The volunteering part was motivated by my desire to get into the sale early. Volunteers get in a day before regular shoppers. This was great for a crowd-avoider like me. Or so I thought. As I was hanging up some items on the rows and rows of kiddo clothing I overheard some one say: "Then when they open at 5:30 everyone just runs." I inquired further and yes, they were indeed refering to the volunteer pre-sale, not the sale-sale. I started calculating how many volunteers were working my shift, times the number of shifts ... yikes. This was going to be over a hundred shoppers.

I showed up to the pre-sale 15 minutes early and had to park on the street and stand in an already parking lot-long line. I happened to stand next to someone who was in the same mindset as me. We both were not fixated on needing to get any one thing. No "Cabbage Patch Kid/Tickle Me Elmo/Toy Of The Moment" stampeding for me.

Once inside the pace was brisk, but no one was rude at all. Big ticket items where gone quickly but I did snag a few choice deals for Grace. And found some cute outfits that were higher-end brands that I'd never ever buy at full price but would spend 2 to 5 bucks on.

Then my bag and shoe obsession kicked in:

They were just too cute to pass up. Those that remember my True Colors post are likely shocked to see the pink theme in these items. And then there's this ... I bought her a play kitchen. But wait! I also got her a chair that looks like a tree stump with a lizard on it.

Domestic chore-themed toy + outdoorsy reptile-themed seating = my very own Little Miss Muffet. 

** Ok, I know a spider isn't a reptile and the little girl didn't likely make her own curds and whey ... but still : )

The Long and The Short

I REALLLLLLLY want to blog more -- I have lots to say. But here's why I'm not saying it right now. It starts with "diss" and ends in "ertation." It is what I need to get done-done before I can be the dedicated blogger that I'd like to be. This long paper/book/project/unwieldly weight-on-my-mind needs to be done in December 2010, no ifs, ands or buts. See the True Colors blog post for a reminder of the general gist of my research.

(As you'll notice, I have been "finishing" my dissertation since 2008 -- I haven't been in the right "mood" until this year : )

So, why am I blogging about this? Two reasons: a) As an FYI to those who check in regularly. And b) As a way to keep me honest. Keep me on track. Keep me accountable. If I have all of you aware of my task then I need to make and meet my goals. Accountablity to the masses (heee) will be good. Once a month I'll write a longer blog. But at other times I'll be doing a dissertation blurb or brief Edenborg update. These might, if you're lucky, turn up in the form of haikus.

Diss Lowdown: This weekend I must continue to tackle data entry (reading children's periodicals from the 1920s and 1930s).  Two more publications to go. By the end of May I should be done with this stage and on to data analysis by June.

Let the accountablity begin!