Wunder What?

So, uh, hey guys. I'm starting to feel like I've abandoned this blog. Two big updates: I bought a house and got engaged. The house thing took some time and effort, which I might have used to blog, but let's be real. I probably wouldn't have anyway. And the engagement thing didn't take any time at all on my part, so that isn't it.

The real world is interesting. Graduating is kind of like having a baby. You know you're going to be busy, but you think you'll still have tons of time to do stuff when the little monkey's sleeping. I had no idea I'd feel so busy after I graduated, but sure as shit, I am. It's weird.

So what am I trying to say? Well, I'm probably not going to blog for a while, at least not here, in this format. I'm not inspired enough, not witty enough, not regular enough. I don't have anything really cute to share. It's turning into an online journal where I constantly talk about how busy I am, which is boring, even to me. And now that I'm engaged, I'm going to be obsessed with wedding planning (in a good way), so that'll take even more of my time, and I'll have to post these annoying apologize-y blogs, so screw it.

But if you just can't get enough of me, I have started a Tumblr for wedding planning and inspiration, but I imagine that will appeal to a really small fraction of those of you who accidentally stumble on here somehow. And that's cool. If you're the .05% who does happen to be interested, you can read all about it at shannarows.tumblr.com.

For this last blog until who-knows-when, I'd like to tell you, beautiful reader, about how I named my blog - Wunderkammer. Wunderkammer is the German word for Cabinet of Curiosities, which is a cabinet of interesting items a person has collected in his or her travels. These were popular after humans had just discovered world travel and before we could travel anywhere, anytime and, therefore, see all of these things whenever we wanted. I actually have a curiosity shelf in my house with all of the bibelo my fiancée and I have collected in our travels, things like a piece of the Berlin Wall that Brian got in Germany, prayer cards my grandmother sends me, an antique vice, and a brick we found from the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 (or so we're told). I also like wunderkammer because I think it's an apt description of my personality. I have really broad interests that don't really go together. Brian is the total opposite. He generally has one major thing he's into, and he basically devotes his life to it. When he was in college it was debate. Now it's politics. But I can't stay focused on one thing for more than a week. One week I'm obsessed with crocheting, the next I've moved on to building and fixing computers or making websites. It's actually amazing to me that I've had this blog for as long as I have even though the topics have themselves become a wunderkammer, and I'm not surprised that I'm ditching it for a new (ergo infinitely more interesting) type of thoughts-sharing media. So with that, I say goodnight.

Thanks for reading!!

Top 10

I never get tired of Top 10 lists, and since they’re so abundant right now (what with the turn of the decade and all), I thought I’d throw one together for myself, especially since I haven’t been able to find time to blog lately - the real world is a busy place, my friends. So in only a roughly approximate order based on my perceived importance at this moment, here are the top 10 accomplishments that I can remember off the top of my head:

1. I discovered my intense love for coffee. I really never drank the stuff until I started hanging out with Brian (who is hopelessly addicted). This is interesting because I grew up with coffee-drinking parents, but it never really occurred to me that I could drink it. Maybe because I thought of it as a “grownup” beverage, and since I am obviously not a grownup, it would be ridiculous for me to drink it. Anyway, I do now, and it’s awesome.
2. I moved 12 times, starting in 2000 when I moved out of my parents’ house. I know, I know. That’s more than once a year, but I’m hoping I can finally grow some roots now that I graduated and don’t have to live like a student (wherever I can afford with whoever will have me).
3. Patrick Stewart got knighted! I know this has nothing to do with me (except for the fact that I’m a huge fan – Way to go! You’re awesome!), but I could only come up with 9 things, and a top 9 list wouldn’t make any sense. So this one is dedicated to me still being a nerd after 10 years.
4. I voted in my first 3 presidential elections, not once for the person who ended up becoming president, but that’s OK.
5. I testified in the Maryland House of Delegates in support of the first same-sex marriage bill ever introduced in the state. That’s kinda cool (if I may say so myself).
6. While in grad school, I wrote a grant proposal that got funding for a mentor-based afterschool program run by the University of Maryland, so that elementary and middle school students in West Baltimore will have mentors who are doctors, lawyers, dentists, social workers, nurses, or pharmacists (or graduate students learning to become those things). Not too shabby.
7. I got a permanent full-time job in 2009. Now, I’ve had a lot of jobs. I’ve consistently held one job or another since I was 16, but this is my first “real” job. I’m kind of (not at all) a big deal.
8. I became an aunt. Both of my younger sisters started families. It’s really interesting to watch a family dynamic change as everyone gets older and moves into new life stages.
9. I met Brian in 2005 at Towson. I met a lot of great people in this decade who influenced my life, but none quite like him.
10. I graduated! Four times. I got my high school diploma in 2000, my associate’s degree in 2005, my bachelor’s degree in 2007, and my master’s degree in 2009. It might be controversial that I listed this as my most important achievement of this decade, but it’s sort of the only goal I’ve had since I can remember. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been in school since I was 5 years old, so the fact that I’m finally finished is sort of significant to me. Besides, it’s my list so I’ll do what I want!

That’s one good decade! Here’s to the next one being even better!!

Take it easy everyone!

P.S. I spent a bunch of time putting together this map because I thought it would be fun to add pictures to my list (I’m kind of a visual person), but it ended up being weird and taking a lot of time, so I scratched the idea. But here’s a map of all the places I’ve lived in the past 10 years. You can’t really see all 12 because some are too close together to tell the difference this far away. Kinda neat.

Fresh pasta

I love thrift stores, not only because you're recycling and paying less, but also because it's like a treasure hunt. Today we went to the Goodwill, looking for a few things for our house. We got some records, a picture frame, a purse, 2 stools for our bar, a circular saw, and a championship wrestling belt. We also found a pasta maker for $5. It looks brand new. So we made spaghetti tonight, and it was pretty awesome. Here are some pictures:

Here are the pieces of dough we made with just eggs and flour.

And you feed the dough in here where it gets pressed through the front.

Here it is coming out.

The first few noodles.

And the whole bunch!

Cooking.

Draining.

And done!

Maturity

I would like to share an actual conversation I had with my boyfriend this past week. We had just gotten home from work.

Me (S): I’ll make dinner if you take [the dog] out.

Him (B): Ok.

S: And then I was going to take a quick shower.

B: But I wanted to take a shower.

S: But I just went to the gym, so I’m all sweaty and gross.

B: But I’m a boy, so I’m all sweaty and gross.

S: Were you really planning to take a shower because I have documentation* proving that I had planned to take a shower.
*I really did have documentation.

B: I’ll show you my documentation:

S: Oh yeah, well here’s a memo for you:

B: Oh yeah, well this is you eating a giant sausage*!
*He’s making fun of me for talking about how bad I wanted these sausages earlier.

S: Oh yeah, well I’m shooting you with my gun*. Oh no! Your brains are spilling out!
*I don’t actually have a gun.

B: Oh yeah, well here’s the 101st airborne dropping a million bombs on you!

S: I forgot to mention that there’s this rocket over here with your name on it!

B: Oh yeah, well that giant sausage you were eating? It was made of poop.

He got me there. Sometimes it's the little things. :)

So this is it.

So I've been working a real, full-time job for about a month and a half. And things are going as well as you might expect. I'm surprised at how busy I still feel, but it's nice to focus on one thing (rather than 3-4 classes, part-time internship, and part-time job). It's also nice to have a grown-up albeit modest income. And being slightly above desperately poor has made me realize a few things about the way poverty effects a person and why it's so difficult to get out of it - that's a blog post in the making.

I'm excited for the holidays. Last year Brian and I painted postcards to send to our families and we have an idea for this year, which I think will turn out nice. I'll probably try to blog about that. This is the first year holiday planning doesn't have to compete with final exams, which is nice. I'm hosting a vegetarian Thanksgiving for my mom and her girlfriend, which I'm looking forward too also. I've thought about posting pictures and recipes of yummy vegetarian food we cook since I'm always talking about how easy it is.

I wish I had more interesting things to blog about right now, but I've been busy doing stuff in real life, which I think is a good thing.

Take it easy y'all.

<3

Elation!

I just got my first grown-up (permanent) job! Finally! I'll be honest, I started to lose hope a little bit. I thought that I must actually be an unemployable loser. Turns out, I'm an employable loser! Sweet!

So I guess all those papers and exams and hectic schedules really do pay off. I was starting to question all of my career/educational choices as I sat around my house feeling sorry for myself all day every day for the past month.

Celebrations are in store! There's a sparkly alcoholic beverage I've been meaning to try. This might be the occasion!*

*I have been on exclamation mark overload ever since I got the call this afternoon! I'm! just! so! freaking! happy!

Wacky Misadventures

Quick update: I moved into a rowhouse in south Baltimore with my main squeeze - and no one else. We've been living together for two years, but during that time, we've always had roommates, so this is the first time we've lived together alone. Which is nice. We love our house. It was built in 1920 and has original hardwood floors and interesting reclaimed wood accents and vintage 1950's kitchen cabinets. We're renting right now, but there's an option to buy. We're not in a position to buy at the moment, nor do we feel particularly warm or fuzzy about the neighborhood, but you never know.

We decided we wanted to paint pretty early on, so we went to Home Depot to get a bunch of swatches, which we hung in every room and carefully considered the benefits of subtle differences in blues, greens, reds, and even greys. In they end of course, we went to the Loading Dock and picked up a 5 gallon bucket of reclaimed green paints. Volunteers go to landfills and find half empty (or half full?) cans of paint and mix them based on color and type. And we're avengers of the Earth, so this seemed like a good option. I'm also still unemployed, so the fact that a 5 gallon bucket of paint regularly costs $10, but was on sale for $7 was also a selling point.

And what could possibly go wrong? Well, actually, it went pretty well. Mixing this much paint is hard enough as it is, but there were clearly several different colors of green, so mixing it well was really important. We realized how important when the paint on the walls dried, showing just how many different shades of green (and yellow and blue) were in that one bucket. It took two second coats until we got a method of mixing/painting that left us with a nice even color, but you know what? It looks pretty damn good now. And the color doesn't exactly match the swatch we picked (I say it's bluer; Brian says yellower), but it's a nice color. We think we'll go this route again.

Wanna see?



Any discoloration you note is due to lighting rather than paint.

Overall playing house has been a lot of fun. It'll be more fun once I'm employed and can spend more than $7 on nonessentials, but all in due time.

Other than that, it's been same ol', same ol'. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good job and enjoying my time off.

Enjoy the fall y'all!