DIY: Spring Whimsy

Spring is one of my favorite seasons.  It's like the world is waking up after having been covered in the gray chill of winter for (in Flagstaff) six months.  It always makes me feel lighter and happier.  And what seems more spring-y than seeing dandelions growing everywhere you look?

My mom taught my sister and I to make daisy chains (or dandelion chains) when we were little and I think I've made them just about every spring since I was 4.  They're really easy and so whimsical but I don't think many people really know how to make them anymore so I thought I would post a little DIY on how to make your own.  They're perfect for making when you're on a picnic in the park or just basking in the new spring weather - and you'll be amazed how amazed people are when you produce a few of these little guys.

Step One:

Make sure that you leave a long stem on all of the dandelions you pick, then push your thumb nail through the stem.  Be careful not to rip the stem - it won't work if the hole in the stem isn't intact.

Step Two:

Feed the stem of the next dandelion through the hole that you've just made in the center of the last stem, then make a hole in the new stem again using your thumb nail.

 Step Three:

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until your chain reaches the length you want it - these chains can be made into anything you want, bracelets, necklaces, or crowns, etc.  When your chain gets the the length you want just tie the ends together (obviously being really careful- the flowers are super easy to rip)

 My favorite is a crown

Happy Spring!

Book Worm

I have always loved reading, but every now and again I find a book that I can't put down, think about constantly when I'm not reading it and get that lost feeling when I near the end because I can't imagine finding another book that will be able to take it's place or fill the craving I have for that particular book (luckily for me something always manages to pop up at the right time).  This book- induced mania has been caused by a handfull of books in my 20 year love affair with the written word and it has recently stuck again! 
The ironic thing about this book is that one of the reviews on the front cover says "You feel a compulsion to urge others to read it", and boy are they right.  My mom read this book first and I remember her talking about it endlessly.  She gave me the book almost 6 months ago and it had been sitting on my bookshelf until last week, when I needed a little break from my kindle and started Jonesing (I've always wondered the origin of that expression) for the feeling of a real book in my hands.  Since the day I picked up the book I have been in that book-love phase. 
The book is called Mary: Mrs A Lincoln, by Janis Cooke Newman.  I don't want to go too much into what the book is about because if you read it you'll just see.  I will tell you it's about Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's infamous wife.  As many of us have, I have always had a pretty low opinion of Mary Todd Lincoln (those of you who are not history nerds would benefit from knowing that Mary Todd Lincoln has long been written into the history books as being paranoid, manic depressive, and overall super hard to live with for poor old Honest Abe) but it's really interesting to think about what she may have actually been like and who she was besides a difficult presence in the life of one of America's most celebrated figures.  One thing that is important to note is that this book in historical fiction, but it's still so fun to think about what the history books could be leaving out about a really interesting woman in a really tough time-period.
Happy Reading!

On Saying Goodbye

In high school my favorite teacher, during a lecture on world religions, had the class perform an exercise in Buddhism.  That day in class we worked the entire hour on a painting - the painting could be anything we wanted, the only stipulation was that we had to give the painting our all, make it the best painting it could possibly be - something that we would be proud of and want to hang on to.  I love creating and making things, so naturally I worked on the painting intensely - almost feverishly - the entire hour and when I was finished I literally loved the painting.  Then, with 5 minutes left in the class, the teacher instructed us to rip, crumble and throw our paintings away. 

Naturally, after having worked so hard on something and putting so much of myself into it I did not want to throw it away - I wanted to keep it, forever possibly.  I guess it stands to reason that the same goes for relationships.  I've been dating since I was 16 and (obviously) it hasn't gotten much easier to say goodbye to any of my numerous (okay 4) relationships, and my most recent goodbye has been no different.

However, I am trying to treat this most recent and (by far) most mature break up as my own exercise in Buddhism.  I created something special, that will forever be a part of my life, with another person but sometimes it's necessary to let go of one thing to move on to another.  Change, in every capacity, can be uncomfortable and difficult but I truly believe that it's one of the most important aspects of life - you'll never discover the new if you don't let go of the old.

Blast From the Past

Sorry about the creepy picture -if you're not already- picture Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles

While looking over some pictures from my recent trip to the Grand Canyon, I came upon one in which the sun was shining in my face.  The shadows of my hat combined with the direct sunlight caught my right front tooth at a weird angle, making me look like a toothless creep.  This brought to my attention the fact that my teeth, which spent three painful years in braces - were moving- ahhh!  Thankfully, I am a sentimental freak and still have my 12 + year old retainer.  So the retainer has come out of retirement to get my teeth back into shape (just at night- thank god I live alone!).
It's amazing how fast you get taken back in time when you slip one of these babies on.  Within a few minutes  of wearing it I felt like I needed to study for an Algebra test, argue with my parents about my curfew and watch Titanic ten times.

Under the Big Top

A few pictures from this weekend to start the new week off with a little whimsy!

Sweet Disappointment

Well the high of my interview didn't last long.  Yesterday I got the dreaded "thanks but no thanks" e-mail for the Flight Attendant position.  A few deep breaths and a few tears of disappointment and I'm moving on. 
It's funny to think that this whole thing will one day be a little part in the story of my entire life- "I had interviewed to be a Flight Attendant, but..."
As corny as it sounds I can't help but feeling that my life is already all written in sort of a ghostly outline and laid out in front of me, all I have to do is live and the reality will fill it in - I can't stop it, my life simply is going toward whatever lies ahead.  That's not to say that I can just sit back and let life happen, but every job I apply for and don't get, every interview I bomb or do well at will push me further towards a future that will inevitably arrive.  That future may be marriage and kids, it may be the career of my dreams, or even never realizing my full potential.  Whatever the case, each and every thing I do now will lead to something down the road.

Dream Come (Partially) True!

Yesterday I had the most... interesting job interview that I have attended to date.  It was a six hour interview with 35 other people that really felt a little more like an audition.  I won't go into the whole six-hour story but I will give a hint- part of the interview was taking my shoes off and reaching into an overhead bin!  Yes, a full 4 months after applying to be a flight attendant, completely falling in love with the idea, and finally after hearing nothing for months- giving up on it, I got the coveted interview.  It was a draining process but it felt like it went great.  The decision should be made within the next two weeks so, in the meantime, I'll have visions of planes, new cities and hotel rooms every night.