Category Archives: Life

green

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You know we love our kitties, and they are our furry kids, and I worry about them way too much, so I got the brilliant idea to cook our green parsley topped pot roast in the crockpot overnight while we slept so that we didn’t have to cook it while we were away from home for 12 hours today. That way if the apartment burned down we either rescued everyone or all went together. Morbid, but it makes me feel better to be around just in case. The bonus: We woke up to an amazing roast aroma. Extra bonus: Because I needed to hurry up and reheat it, I sliced the roast into pieces, then “boiled” them in their own gravy. Amaaaaaaaazing. We had Yukon mashed potatoes (from a box) and Pillsbury garlic butter crescent rolls (totally worth the garlic breath) with it.

Oh my goodness. To stop the rumor mill ahead of the rumor, I’m not preggers, with child, cooking a bun in my oven. I am lactose intolerant. I tend to eat a lot of fat free dairy and super aged cheese so that the lactose is lessened or completely void. Yesterday I had half and half, cottage cheese, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and ice cream. All in the same day. I spent all morning wishing I was knocked unconscious while the bad stuff oozed out of me and a nursemaid cleaned my bum.

Yup. I said it.

The best part was that I had to go to work today. And not only did I have to work my job, but I actually had to be the star of a video. Yes, my job lends itself to the occasional creative moment. I get to write fun content, I get to be in videos. I get to stand up in front of entire audiences and make bold but friendly statements. So, I was feeling extremely green but had to smile for the camera, so I had some crackers for lunch and then didn’t eat anything more all day. And I wore a headband. Can’t wait to see that video when it’s edited. (I’m not the one editing it. wah.)

I took the step to text my friend from my last job to ask what our St. Patrick’s Day plans are going to be. (Suggestion: Don’t go drinking with your new work buddies while you’re still on probation at your job. Another suggestion: Don’t call it probation like I’m a fucking criminal. One of those two things is in my control, the other isn’t.) She told me to come show up to their neck of the woods and she’d make sure something happened. This Thursday I fully expect to have my first green beer ever. And since Dawg will be on the isle of Man with me, working an event, I’ve asked him to drive me home if I don’t think I should go there myself. I’m old, I can handle approximately 3 beers and then it’s seriously bedtime, so I’m hoping not to be slipped secret vodka in my beers when I visit the ladies’ room.

I have no ending. I just like green.

in kind

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Whenever I can I perform acts of kindness for strangers. A period of unemployment certainly helped to remind me of my love for this action, and I am grateful that my new job location allows me to have almost daily opportunities to help people I will probably never see again.

If I helped you today, even just through my words, please pay it forward to someone else in need. Thanks. :)

It’s full steam ahead again for the old noggin. (Wow, that’s a lame title.)

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If you haven’t noticed by my barely around existence mixed with “zomg I’m tired / I’m on a spaceship!” tweets, I’ve returned to the working world.

I’ve been there two weeks now and I know that I deserve this job but I wonder every single day how the stars quite aligned this time around. I love my new job. It’s a *dream* job to me.

Twitter is not taking it well. (Just to clarify: I mean the cat.) She doesn’t understand why Mommy now gets up before the heat turns on instead of letting her wake me up when she hears it turn on. She doesn’t understand why I leave every morning with Dawg now. She doesn’t understand why I am gone for 12 hours every weekday. She doesn’t understand why I’m in a rush to give the girls their treat but then I’m ready to collapse and zonk out.

It broke my heart the first few days, but I’m mostly over it now. She is bonding better to Dawg than ever before, so there’s good to come out of this. Also, we have a new game that we play where she goes under the bed covers and I race my hand over them so she can attack my hand from underneath. I <3 that game.

I won’t be speaking about my employer because you will all know who it is. There are people in the desert of third world countries who know my employer. So, I’m keeping it hushy in this space. If you know me on LinkedIn or if I gushed at you about my good news in email or text, well, then, you know already.

I love everyone at my new job. And everyone at my new job thinks I’m a nice person because they encourage me with their niceness to be the nice person I am when I’m not backed into a corner like a caged animal.

But I continue to love all of you too. I think about you a lot despite my quietness. Doing my best to maintain the fun sites, doing my best to keep my Buy-Her commitment to write tech tips every other week now that I have a job, plus write one review a month. Doing my best to have quality family time despite getting home at 7pm and going to bed at midnight then waking up again at 5:30am.

Doing my best, period.

The end, bye.

Forever more

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Today marks the third anniversary of the day that Dawg drove through the night to see me in Vermont for our first date. It’s the day my cell phone, which never worked in my basement apartment, actually rang at around 6am on a Saturday. It’s the day I somehow fell asleep without earplugs the night before so I heard the unexpected call. And when I answered it I was told by the man I had slowly fallen from friendship like to a very healthy lust that he was sitting in a parking lot down the street and could be at my home in 10 minutes. It was the day I took the fastest shower possible, dressed the fastest I could in jeans and a t-shirt, and hastily dragged a comb through my then short hair.

It was the day I threw my arms around him to hug him when he walked through my door, but soon ended up kissing him. The day we went to Denny’s for breakfast. The day we came back to my apartment and hung out on my bed because I literally didn’t have furniture for guests. The day I watched him snooze like a puppy dog on my bed since he’d had no sleep the night before. The day we went to opening weekend of Cloverfield and, despite not being early, getting great seats anyway. The day we held hands while we watched on the stadium screen as the story of two lovers spending the day at Coney Island is taped over by a guy who thinks that NYC being destroyed by the hands of a monster with a venereal disease is way more important. The day we went back to my apartment so he could nap again before the long drive home because he had obligations in the city the next day. The day I knew I loved him and showed him with my eyes but was too scared to say it out loud to him.

And each day since then I have loved him even more. Through good and bad, he remains my best friend. He is still the one person who can bring me from the darkest corner of sadness to the sunshine of happiness with just a smile and a hug. The man I am happy to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every workday, at 6am if I forget them the night before. The man I allow to fulfill the role as Dawggy to my furry kids, our furry kids.

The man I am excited to spend the rest of my days with.

Hi. :)

Oh, look! My blog is working!

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I didn’t get a haircut. I called, no one answered, I decided it was a sign to not go that day. I’m quirky that way. But when(!) I do go to get that haircut there I will tell you all about it.

I’d also like to state for the record that I am choosing to honor my Leo zodiac sign despite The New Astrology (a correction, supposedly, back to the way things used to be with 13 signs instead of 12… or a correction of the earth’s tilt… whichever). But I will accept that I do possess some of the characteristics of my new sign, which is Cancer. Growing up I was always so relieved to not be Cancer because it’s a disease that kills people. I was also happy to be a Leo because it has many significances to me to identify with a lion. So, I’m still a Leo.

Lastly, I’m moving my food talk to Poppy’s Food Coma (hence the multi-site). That might leave me with nothing to say here, since I talk about a lot of things at a lot of other places, but so be it. I guess I’ll get my hair cut more often than once every 3 years.

Hoppy New Year!

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Happy almost half way between New Year and Chinese New Year! It’s the year of the rabbit! Rabbits are cute.

Speaking of hares, I am quite possibly getting my hairs cut Thursday at a place I found on Yelp. They give massages at the end, some I’m going to have to tell this nice complete stranger that it’s ok for him or her to touch my hair but please pretty pretty please do not touch my shoulders. If they do a good job on my hair I’ll share the secret so you know where to get a good haircut and legal massage when you’re visiting Manhattan. :)

ok, bye.

Evolution of a blogger

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Earlier today I was standing at the kitchen sink realizing how many things have happened to me or closely around me this year that I didn’t mention here.

I think that means I’m now a seasoned private personal blogger. I’ll tell you what I know it’s ok to share, and I won’t tell you the other stuff.

If I told you about it I’m not sure you’d believe me anyway, but living in NYC sure does provide a lot more stories to just accept as part of daily life than back in Vermont where any little thing that happened to me was OMG I GOTTA TELL THE BLOG ABOUT IT SO EVERYONE KNOWS MY BUSINESS CUZ IF I DON’T THEN I’M NOT SHOWING THE WORLD ALL OF ME.

I’d rather focus on other stuff than making sure you know I am a complete human being. If you don’t know by now that I am a complex, complicated, stratified bag of water just like you then I suggest you meet me at an event and have a conversation with me.

If you’re new here: Hi, I’m Poppy. I blog when I feel like it, about what I feel like blogging about. And you look pretty today.

Lady parts

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Squeamish men and women may want to skip this post. I had my yearly physical exam today and I learned a few things:

1. I am a delicate flower. Even when I warned the nurse practitioner that last year it felt like a linebacker rammed his nail-studded shoulder into my cervix so that she’d be extra gentle this year I still felt a ton of pain and uncomfortableness from my exam. Now I know why I’ve been smart and always taken the rest of the day off work after my exam.
2. The office only calls you if something’s wrong with you, no letter is supposed to arrive in the mail if you’re fine. This is slightly unsettling, since… uh, what if they just lost your results and didn’t realize it? That’s a lot of trust placed with strangers.
3. After you turn 30 (which I’ve been for many years at this point) they only do an HPV and PAP test every 3 years if you have a history of normal PAPs and your last HPV test was negative. I am all for less pain from testing, but … I think I’d rather know each year that my PAP was normal. They still go up there to make sure you don’t have other diseases, so why not swab for those? Annoying.
4. A yearly HIV test is covered under my insurance! I actually said “cool!” to the intake person who told me that.

Just happy I’m keeping up to date with my health. I hope you are too.

I have half a mind to tell you what I think!

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That sounds so… confrontational. That was just to tie in the fact that:

1. in today’s Cereal Wednesday I literally set up the shot incorrectly and for much of the video you only see from the bottom of my glasses DOWN to the cereal. But, we do this in one take and that was my one take! So, enjoy.

2. I am now an author on Buy Her and have a review up today. Please go read it, I wrote it for you! :) Britt has a ton of new authors over there, so I highly recommend that you add the site to your feed reader if you haven’t already. I love it over there, an awesome collaboration of awesomer than awesome women telling you about products and services you might know about but haven’t tried or things you’ve never heard of… or things you have heard of and want to chime in about. It’s ok if you’re a guy, go chime in. We love guys. :)

3. my back has been doing much better thanks to something I can’t tell you about because I’m writing a review of it! :p You’ll have to wait a while for that. But, point being: My back is no longer SCREAMING at me on a minutely basis, and it is bliss… Did you know 80% of us will experience back pain at some point in our lives? I already had it for 2 solid years before, I think someone else gave me their turn. (Honestly, really, it’s because I’ve gained so much weight, and I know that, and I need to take care of that, but I adore food and haven’t quite yet gotten to my “hitting bottom” point.)

4. I had a group job interview last week and will know this Friday if I get to have an individual interview. I am SO excited to find out. I wrote my little heart out in the cover letter for it. Whether I get the job or not, I think I’ll post an image of the cover letter so you can see me in a nutshell. I’ve never written this kind of cover letter, so I’m hoping I stand out because I wrote from the heart.

5. some very important to me people are visiting soon (one this month and some next month). I’ll fill you in later. I cannot WAIT to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. TiMER was available as a recommendation to me via Netflix Watch Instantly so I watched it at bedtime on Monday night. It was a really great movie that forces you to think through if you’d really like to be told exactly who your soulmate is, thus discounting anyone else you might have a relationship with. The ending leaves me sad for the main character who spent a lot of time trying to find her one and just dropping people who she realized from the timer on her arm weren’t her one. If I am not currently with the person I’m “supposed to be with” I assure you that I don’t wanna know about it, cuz I love the guy I’m with to little teeny tiny pieces, reconstituted to a sheet of paper, then torn back up into even more pieces.

7. you look beautiful today. (Guys, it’s ok for you to look beautiful, I promise.)

Burned out cars, one each, for all

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I really need to get a job. I’m a very much homebody who will go weeks without leaving my apartment if given the opportunity. Yesterday I admitted to Dawg that I had intended to mail a letter since last week but haven’t felt like leaving our home and his response was to smile and say “ya gotta go out.” So I drank all my milk last night to force myself to have to leave the apartment to go to the grocery store to get milk the next day so that I would have some for filming Cereal Wednesday, and presumably allow me to mail my letter. That worked — I went out today.

Some of you know that during the outing I had an incident with a bottle of malt vinegar. It didn’t survive, but I didn’t cut myself cleaning up the shards that spilled all over the driveway of the next door neighbor. I started getting really, really angry. Angry that it was hot. Angry that I had intended to get that malt vinegar many times before and finally got it only to smash it on the ground. Angry that my groceries were so heavy. Angry that I hate leaving my home and this is EXACTLY WHY.

And then I finally got inside and violently shrugged all the grocery bags out of my hands and started putting groceries away, angrily, furious with myself that I STILL hadn’t mailed my letter yet and now THIS happens, and then the Dove ice cream bars wouldn’t sit correctly on top of the Mystic pizza boxes in the freezer and I started getting PISSED and ramming the boxes in… and then the rational part of me showed up and yelled at me, out loud: “Stef, you need to CALM DOWN, this is NOT worth being angry over, and none of this even MATTERS.”

And then I really had to go mail the letter because it’s actually due to be in Connecticut by tomorrow, not that this will even happen, but keeping it in my possession wasn’t going to get it there any faster. So I went back downstairs to mail the letter. And I walked by a burnt out car parked the wrong way on the one way street where our police precinct resides. And I thought that through. This car burned out. Perhaps starting while people were in it. Hopefully not finishing with people in it. The wheels were still fine but the car had fallen down on itself, perhaps because the axle broke or melted or, I dunno, but it wasn’t good, and all the glass was broken, and I could smell the char as I walked by, and I thought, “hmm, I wonder how that car got parked the wrong way and then burned down” and then I mailed my letter. As I walked back through I let my grown-up mind take over and realized the car burned somewhere else, probably in a parking lot or on the side of a road or on a bridge (why do SO MANY cars here catch fire while they’re on a bridge? I don’t know, but it’s true) and then it was extinguished and the car was brought to my neighborhood because someone in my neighborhood owns that car so a tow truck parked it in the one spot it found, and since the tow truck would be travelling with the one-way traffic it put the burned out car, which was loaded onto the tow truck backwards in the first place, right?, onto the street so that an insurance adjuster and a police officer and the owner could evaluate it and the rest of us could wonder under what circumstances that car caught fire.

And suddenly my bad day just doesn’t seem so bad.

Please go read this post, it helps us put our bad stuff into perspective. My favorite line: “Everything is actually only around 8% as terrible as you think it is. Quote me.”