Coffee musings...

Good morning!

Have you ever noticed that you like the idea of certain things better than the things themselves?

I woke up this morning at around 9:10. Katie had already had her coffee, eaten breakfast, watered all the plants, written in her journal, gotten dressed, etc. before I moved an inch. And as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom holding her coffee mug, she said, "I always like the idea of a second cup more than I actually like drinking it." Which I think is so true about a lot of things. But for me, coffee itself has always been that way. So I'll focus on that.

I LOVE the idea of coffee. It floats nebulously around all of my cozy, creatively-driven fantasies. It's comforting, it's sophisticated, it's even kinda sexy... it comes to symbolize the beginning of every day, pajamas, reading in a coffee shop, working hard on something you actually care about... for me, anyway. But when it comes down to it, I really don't like drinking coffee as much as I like thinking about drinking coffee. You know what I mean? It's almost always a little disappointing.

There were a couple times in my life where coffee really lived up to my unfair expectations. In high school, my group of friends had kind of taken over the Caribou Coffee on Randall. We swarmed there in our under-21 boredom, using the "lodge" for homework, playing cards, sifting through our teenage drama... it was expensive, going there every day, but we had meager bills to pay so it didn't seem to matter. My social existence revolved around coffee. And I loved it.

In the last year of college, I met Alex in Creative Writing. Right before something was due, we'd head over to Merry Ann's at like 11 o'clock at night and sit there til 4 in the morning, chain-drinking bad coffees, writing on our laptops, and ignoring the drunken conversations behind us. I loved those nights.

Also... I have come to appreciate iced coffees in the summer in this house. There's something grad-student chic about making your own iced coffee and sitting down in the shade with a difficult book...feels like you're cheating the system somehow. Although Starbucks does have a leg up where liquid sweetener is concerned.

Anyway, moving past my coffee philosophizing...

Last night Katie and I went out for a change. We went to this little restaurant on the corner of Griegos and Rio Grande where the walls were made of old doors and there was a fire hydrant embedded in the concrete by our outdoor table. SO New Mexico.













It was sweet. Plus, I hadn't eaten barbeque in a while.

Now, if you were under the impression that I was--that Microsoft Paint is incapable of doing anything cool with pictures--think again. Granted, this is pretty basic shit, but it's still cool:









Pretty cool, right?? Ah, color inversion...

Weird. Just heard a cat scream. SERIOUSLY pissed off. Hope it's ok.

Today I'm going to meet up with Nic and do some research for my writing business. Might take some entrepreneur/marketing classes in the fall--they're free for some reason at the community college here. Who knows. I'm feeling pretty excited about the prospect of making a go of it on my own... anybody who's willing, link me up! :)

Have a lovely day! Oh, Crystal, Nic, and Katie: you were in my dream. Ha!

It's storming hardcore...

...thus the title of my new blog. So I realize that my new blogging obsession may be... a bit excessive, but I don't care. For the first time in a long time, I have both time and energy to focus on creativity--which for me means writing and taking pictures. It's going nuts outside: I love these afternoon summer storms in Albuquerque. The mountains turn dark and the trees start whining from all the wind. Most importantly, there is a cool: read, COOL breeze. Rare in July.


Here's what it looks like right now:






Very cool. Considering having either an iced coffee or a beer, as it were.

My whole summer hasn't been like this. No, no. I slung blades and sold knives in people's homes for a flabbergasting three months. During that time, I accumulated enough little antidotes to fill up ANOTHER blog... but I won't go there. Needless to say, that job got old real fast. So I decided to give other stuff a shot--namely, finding another job that didn't eat my soul and work on my potential writing business. Also on the list: finish the house, read more fiction and do more art.

Since I quit my nasty Cutco habit, I've had lots of time to do these things and also whatever the hell I want. First things first: I got a part-time job as a food runner at Slate Street Cafe, where Katie C. and I cater occasionally. Easy, fun, and at least a trickle of dependable income. And yesterday I came up with a business name and wrote the copy for my new copywriting website: cbwordsmith.com. George helped me out with his brilliant knowledge of search engine optimization, and Katie C. helped me finetune the writing. So now I, the technophobe, have realized the fine (and yes, easy) art of linking. Get ready for lots of that. :)

But more importantly for my soul, I've had time to write. And energy to WANT to write. As most of you know, I've started another blog revisiting my old journal, which has been interesting. It's made me want to write a lot more, but as Nic SO frequently reminds me, I should probably take it slow to ensure the blog's longevity. Apparently I have been known to get really excited about something right off the bat then soon lose interest. Who knew. And, since my old journal keeps getting more and more interesting (to me, anyway), I don't want to fall into that old pattern. So slow and steady and all of that. Which is why I'm turning my energies here.

Eery light outside. Thunder and crazy shadows.

I have Scrubs on in the background. I drank a smoothie earlier. I'm gonna work out after this, then shower and try to resist the urge to wash my hair. (Can't do it every day; dye comes out too fast. Just re-dyed it dark again, and trying to grow it out. I know some of you are excited to hear this--you know who you are.) I list these few simple things to give you an idea of what my week has looked like: it's ROCKED! I've slept well, started working out, gotten regular (had to say it: HELLO, berry smoothies!), and spent hours focusing on my career and creative goals. I've talked to friends, made drinking plans, worked on making the house AWESOME with Katie, and read through almost a whole novel. Some of my favorite people and I are getting ready for a cool photo project next week... I need to get on that! And tonight we're going to salsa lessons (the dance, not the delicious snack). How exciting! :)

Ok... should probably get to those pushups, etc. It's been real. Looking forward to it!