Pieces of Me Mosaic

Pieces of Me Mosaic
Originally uploaded by CalamityJane78

Found this meme on PilgrimGirl's blog, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. If you want to play too, type your answer to each of the questions below into a Flickr search. Using only the first page, choose your favorite image, then copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows, located at bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php). Leave a comment if you play, so I can have a peek.

1. What is your first name? (Marissa - it means "star of the sea")
2. What is your favorite food? (sushi)
3. What high school did you attend? (Redwood)
4. What is your favorite color? (blue)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)
6. Favorite drink? (gin and tonic)
7. Dream vacation? (New Zealand)
8. Favorite dessert? (chocolate ice cream)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (author)
10. What do you love most in life? (love - bonus that this is shown on a beach)
11. One word to describe you. (compassionate)
12. Your Flickr name. (CalamityJane78)

This is a great list.

As a young woman (ahem, nearly 29...) who is relatively actively looking for a future husband, I get a kick out of other young single women's blogs. One that I have bookmarked is Charming, But Single.

She's a sassy southern woman with a lot of the same experiences with men/girlfriends/bars, etc that I do, so I really relate to her daily posts. I wish I could remember where I discovered her. She's great!

Every so often, I come across a post that I have to share with friends.

One of my favorites was "Professionalism is the key to attracting decent suitors", where she writes a thank you note to a date based on the fact that first dates always feel like job interviews. I loved it, because how often have I felt the same way? A lot.

My most recent favorite was today's: "The Five Things I Should Know By the End of Our Date".

After having been on two really boring dates with someone who was SO wrong for me, I really related to this one.

Thanks Charming, But Single!

(I hope she doesn't think I'm plagiarizing...I just love her!)

Anyway, go read her blog. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll want to go open a bottle of wine with her.

Buy My Yarn!!

I have several skeins of the FABULOUS Cascade 220 yarn. Check 'em out on eBay!

It's Friday!

...and the dam has broken...

Months and months of hard work in the commercial real estate industry have finally paid off with not one, but two, fat commission checks! Yippee!! It's really amazing how money can cause so much distraction and stress. It will feel amazing to actually cut checks and pay bills. In full.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

The Purl Girl in a vintage (1960) silk dress with white glass beads custom made in Hong Kong.
Photo circa 2001, taken in Oregon with a lovely Marine I met in Hawaii while partying in Waikiki one Spring.
(There is half a chance that I'm sucking my gut in and wearing some kind of armored girdle. )

I was going through some photo albums last night to see how I've changed in the past few years. As I'm nearing 29 this year (in October, send gifts), I'm feeling and looking much different than when I was a sweet innocent 22 year old. (actually, I think I'm more innocent now than when I was 22 - I was pretty much a party girl!)

I've been fighting some personal battles lately, and one of them has been my weight. I've gained about 25 lbs since this photo was taken and although I don't feel like I look TERRIBLE, I don't feel like I look great. I live in a pretty image and health conscious part of California, where the majority of the population is extremely active (I live on one of the most popular road cycling routes in the Bay Area), and while I actively sail, I don't actively do much else.

Plenty of excuses why I don't - I'm too busy with work, I'm too tired from work, I need to buy a helmet for my bike (my friend's dog ate mine), I don't feel like it, It's too early, It's too late, I don't have air in my tires, I don't have time, etc etc etc. You name it, I've thought of it, and excused myself from doing any kind of exercise or care for myself.

I've been seeing a therapist weekly for about 2 months now, and it's been great. One of the most important things I learned last week was that if I sit around and wait for someone to come and take care of me, he's never going to show up. I need to take care of myself and then if I meet someone, I'm in a better place to love him.

"I need you because I love you" not "I love you because I need you."

So, knowing that I had these nice commission checks coming, I joined a gym near my office. Today was my first spin class. It was AWESOME! I rocked out to the music, zoned out to the beat, and kicked my own ass. It felt AMAZING. I grinned like an idiot the whole time. I tried not to compare myself to the beautiful girl next to me with the long legs, tanned skin, and such a tiny figure that her bike shorts gapped at the waist. There's no way I can compare myself to her - genetics play a huge part, age, and the fact that this was my first class, and this is probably her one hundred and first class.

I showered at the gym, smiling, so proud of myself for taking the first step in taking good care of myself. I deserve it, dammit, and there's no reason why I can't wear that beautiful green dress to my best friend's rehearsal dinner in September.

After the gym, I stopped at the local market and picked up some sushi and seaweed salad. While perusing the drink aisle, I didn't even want the Diet Coke I usually reach for - I reached for a nice rosey green tea. After spending all that energy (8 activity points from Weight Watchers, thankyouverymuch), there was no way I was going to put any crap in my body. I treated myself to a small dark chocolate square (3 points), and didn't eat the second one that I bought.

I feel wonderful.

In other news, I have sworn off dating until I get a better handle on my body and on my emotions. I need to take really excellent care of myself right now, and that means hitting the gym, eating better, not drinking so much, and clean my house so that it's nice and clean for me - not because I am having someone over.

This is going to be a great summer - filled with friends and sailing. I'm racing every Friday night on a small (24 ft) boat with my new friends, and racing every other Sunday on a tiny (14 ft) boat til the end of the sumer. My skin will be tanned, my laugh lines will increase, and my psyche will be healthy.

And, if I meet a lovely guy who wants to be a part of all of that - great! But he has to be worth it.

(Thank you French Toast Girl & O Magazine for the image.)

Weekend at the Hiltons

Is it just me, or does this look like a "Weekend at Bernies"-esque version of when Paris goes skiing?

Cuz damn, I didn't know she was dead!

A Heart Warming Story, or how I ended up in my panties at 3 am with cops in my backyard on Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day started like any other for a single girl. I was triumphant in my public pooh-poohing of the holiday as a commercial, Hallmark holiday designed to sell cards, chocolates, and flowers at a 40% markup over the usual 40% markup. I, of course, figured I'd feel differently about the holiday if I had a boyfriend, or even a date.

As it turned out, a good friend of mine (we'll call him MC Flatbread) whom I'd never really hung out with outside of the yacht club (we're both avid sailors) ended up coming over for dinner. I had a big question mark in my head about what this meant. Mostly it was a convenient night for both of us, so I wasn't too worried about the whole "Valentiney-ness" of the evening, and prepared a fabulous dinner of cracked crab and caesar salad. We opened (and drank) two bottles of fabulous wine from Goosecross Cellars (the Viognier is divine, as is the Chardonnay). It was wonderful to get to know Flatbread outside of the yacht club, and as it turned out he's quite a multi faceted individual and we had a great time.

He ended up leaving at 3:00 in the morning! Keep in mind, dear readers, that this wasn't really a date. There was no kissing, there were candles, and I did have my feet tucked under his leg at some point during the evening. It was just a nice way to spend Valentine's Day with a friend and neighbor.

So, I have a mild heat on (and the way I feel today as I write this, I have a feeling that it may have been more than just a mild heat), and it's 3:10 am, and he's just left. I am toasting a piece of the garlic bread that I made, and as it pops in the toaster, Tess (my dog) barks. I thought she was barking at the sound of the toaster, so I look down at her and shush her. Please picture in your minds, dear readers, me, standing in my studio apartment that is all windows (great view of Golden Gate) in my underwear eating toast. Got that lovely (scary) picture??

I look up, through the sliding glass door and there are two men with flashlights in my very private patio.

Thanks to the buzz I'm rockin', I'm not alarmed. Thanks to my motion sensor lights, I can clearly see that they are police officers.

Now I'm alarmed. And in my panties.

The thought actually crosses my mind that cops are used to seeing people in various states of dress (but keep in mind that we're not in a trailer park in Bumfuck, Arkansas, and this is not being filmed for Cops), so calmly, I put on the jeans I just shed and go outside.

I live in a garden apartment with two other units upstairs in a Quaint Seaside Town.

"Guys?" No response, and they're about 3 feet away from me.

"Hello? Officers??"

They turn to me, and I ask them politely if anything is wrong. Apparently, they mistook me for the woman that actually did place the 911 call and I clarified that there are two other women who live in the building.

"Yes, we received a 911 call reporting a prowler on the premises."

"A prowler?" I ask, bewildered. "I had a friend over for dinner and he just left. Did you receive this call about 10 minutes ago?"

Silence, punctuated by a very dramatic eye roll. A little too dramatic for the Quaint Seaside Town PD, if you ask me.

"Yes. We did." They march past me, clearly annoyed that they had been roused from their compelling game of dominoes or CHiPs reruns at 3:00 in the morning. They radioed in that it was a multi-family residence, and that one of the tenant's boyfriend had just left. BOYFRIEND? I considered correcting him, but then thought better of it.

I felt terrible that my poor neighbor had been awakened by my friend leaving at 3:00 in the morning. We're guessing that he used the wrong gate and found himself in her front yard, rather than on the way to his car. I'm just relieved that the Quaint Seaside Town PD did not run into him getting into his car with a bottle of wine in him!

So, that was my Valentine's Day - one of the more unique ones, for sure.

In other news, I cruised over to on Crazy Aunt Purl and Crochet Dude's recommendation and found this DEEE-FREAKING-LICIOUS handpainted Misti Alpaca.

Not that I need a good reason to buy Misti Alpaca, but the reason you'll find here will make your heart melt! Go! Shop!!

I can't wait to take it on my trip to Italy and knit myself a very cozy scarf to wear with my darling Roman Romeo when I see him on the 26th!!

Oh?

Have we not discussed my Roman Romeo?

Hm...I may have to fill you in on the deets to keep you with something while I'm gone til the 1st.

Stay tuned.

Much Love,
MJM

My dog would kill me in my sleep...

...if I made her wear something like this:

"Don't you love me anymore?"