The Packing Chronicles, Part 1

Packing Chronicles, Part 1

So I'm moving! In case you didn't already know that. Where to, you ask? I'll let you know when I know. That's right, I've been packing up my apartment (read: my life) and am getting ready to move to a place to be determined. As you know it is potentially Alaska or Hawaii (still awaiting their calls). If that doesn't work out, then I'm likely staying in the Pensacola area, living with friends, and working at Panera Bread. Sounds like a not so ideal plan, but some days it's the plan I'm most excited about. Everyone keeps asking me which job I'd prefer. Some days it is Hawaii, some it's Alaska, and others it's neither. It's complicated and my emotions are a roller coaster basically (Army Wives isn't helping!)

I hate packing. I like the actual idea of moving, but hate the actual process of moving (except for the awesome road trips involved sometimes). Knowing this about myself, I start packing nearly a month ago, meaning I started gathering packing supplies, getting rid of stuff I don't need, and "organizing" (read: destroying) my apartment. The real packing has been occuring in the past week or so. Really I only have two and a half boxes packed. Not much I know. I am however proud at the amount of stuff I'm getting rid of, but still amazed at how much stuff I have. I'm making progress, but it's slow. I gave myself a move out date... June 18. We'll see if I stick to that, and we'll see where I'm going.

2 full boxes. Not a  lot accomplished.

The start to my list of packing/moving advice:

1. If planning (or potentially planning in my case) to ship boxes to your destination keep an inventory of what you put in each box, and instead of labeling the box with what's in it label it with a number that corresponds to the inventory list. This makes your boxes less vulnerable to theft.
2. Don't get really distracted by something. In my case, it's Army Wives. I watched the first three episodes last Wednesday night and am now about halfway through season 6. Yeah. Packing gets a little distracting from watching Army Wives. haha
3. To be continued... (Apparently I'm not full of advice right now.)

So with all this packing, I'm trying to get rid of all the food in my fridge, freezer, and cabinets. So the next couple of weeks will consist of whatever concoctions I come up with. A couple nights ago I made brownies from scratch. I tossed in some walnuts and some sprinkles. I got a little bit distracted and cooked them a bit too long (see #2 above). So they tasted good, but they were dry. So what could I do with them? Realized I had some whipped cream and cherries that would go well with them. Then I realized I also had chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and more sprinkles. So really all I needed was some ice cream. Bought ice cream and brought it all over to a friend's where a group of us had an impromptu sundae party. Worked out well.

Tonight's dinner was an interesting concoction. Made a tuna and green bean casserole. I used ziti, tuna, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, paprika (of course), and panko bread crumbs. Probably not the combination of ingredients you'd immediately think of, but it turned out to be delicious. So this one is a success. Hopefully I'll have other successes as well.

Doesn't look or sound like much, but it tasted great!

Expression through Music.

30-Day Challenge #1: TED Talks
Day 10

A third of the way through the challenge!! Luckily there are plenty of TED talks to choose from so that hasn't been too hard, but it is difficult to try to find ones that are relevant to what I'm feeling. Today, I set out to find a talk about music. I knew there had to be some. There certainly were. The reason why I was looking for one about music is because music is an important part of my life. I love listening to music. I express my emotions through the music I listen to. I have all different playlists for my different moods... the emo mix for those days when I'm feeling down, the feel good mix for those days when I'm in a really good mood, the anger mix for when I'm, well, angry, etc. Sometimes I feel like expressing my emotions through a certain band. I have a wide range of music interests so on any given day it could really be anything. Currently it's Hot Chelle Rae. Their song 'I Like It Like That' is really upbeat and always makes me smile. So it's definitely a song for the feel good mix. The video for it makes me smile a little extra too. Their song 'Bleed' definitely finds a spot on my emo mix. It's just so full of emotion. Seriously, go listen to these songs.

So anyway back to the TED Talk. I also love the band OK Go. I love their music and I love when they have some very kickass music videos. Have you seen the one where they dance on treadmills? (Here It Goes Again) Or the one with the crazy Rube Goldberg machine? Speaking of that one (This Too Shall Pass), that is what this TED talk is about. Adam Sadowsky is one of the people who worked on designing and building the machine in that video. It's really neat to listen to him talk about what went into having to build that machine, and then at the end he shows the music video. It's pretty awesome.





Hope you enjoyed that. Music is a good thing in our lives. Whether you listen to it, play it (I play a tiny bit of guitar), sing it, produce it, or whatever, it brings a lot to our lives. So keep on listening, playing, and whatever else and share your love of music with those around you.

Here's a little bit more about the importance of music in my life. Feel free to not read on if you don't want to. Music has definitely been a huge part of my life. I was definitely one of those kids in high school who was at a different local show every weekend night. I went broke going to shows. I lived in CT then so the venues I frequented were The Space, Empress Ballroom, Toad's Place, Wesbter Theater, Webster Underground, and some random local places that occasionally had bands (i.e. The Maxx, that coffee shop in Greenwich, and whatever that place in downtown Westport was called...). I saw a lot of awesome bands. Some of them aren't bands anymore (well, a lot of them aren't bands anymore). Some of them are still going strong. Some of them have actually made it big (All Time Low, Akon, The Audition, and a few others). I lived through music. It's always been how I express myself. It's how I continue to express myself.

I miss those days of going to shows every week. Once I'm in a financially stable position I hope to be able to do that again. I did make it to a few concerts this summer and I really loved it. Maybe whenever I am able to fully immerse myself back into the music scene, I'll blog about it. haha this is turning into the ever changing blog. Oh well. Stagnation is bad.

Thanks for reading. Okay bye.