Sara Ivanhoe
I was browsing through my journal the other day, and I found an entry written several months ago. Essentially, I made a list of all the things I would do with my time if I weren’t spending 40 hours a week at an unfulfilling job. In honor of this being my last week at work, I thought I would share the list from my journal, as well as a few others I’ve thought of since then:
- Work out more
- Get my yoga instructor certification
- Paint more and experiment with different media
- Get better at my guitar
- Improve my photography skills
- Learn to cook (and eat!)
- Learn Portuguese
- Become a jewelry designer/maker
- Join a book club
- Join a writers group
The first thing that pops out at me from this list is the creative nature of all of these items. Clearly I’ve been feeling artistically stifled for the past few years. Now that I have the free time, I probably will look into some of these, though not all. I doubt that I’ll really ever play the guitar proficiently, and as much as I’d like to learn Portuguese, there aren’t really any classes in my area. I’d love to become a yoga instructor, but the certification is expensive, and I am currently without an income. However, I will definitely be working out more, and I’m planning to take a short photography course in November. I found a writers group near my house, and I have an art table set up in my house, so I can paint and make jewelry whenever inspiration strikes. Hopefully, by engaging my artsy side, I can get out of the funk that has settled over me lately and get back to the fun person I really am!
As someone who’s worked in a library for the past 4 years, I’m more familiar with books than anyone really needs to be. I know what’s popular without even trying; after you’ve shelved the same book a hundred times, it’s pretty obvious that a lot of people are reading it. So I really wasn’t all that surprised when the Gossip Girl books got turned into a TV show, it seemed everyone from 15 to 30 was reading the series. It never held any appeal for me, though. There are just too many books out there about rich, bitchy kids. I like my books to be a fun escape from reality, so it’s no fun for me to read about unpleasant people. I deal with that all the time in real life!
But, despite my reservations about the books, the show has been getting a lot of hype. And since season 2 debuted this week, I felt that this was my chance to watch the first season on DVD and give the show a fair shot. And I’ll admit, it’s pretty fun. The actors are pretty, the clothes are great, and the storylines are just compelling enough to keep you interested, without being overly complicated. The entire show is based on gossip, so each episode (which is about a group of privileged teens at a Manhattan prep school) is basically about who is sleeping with whom, who got caught doing drugs, etc.
The cast consists of reformed bad-girl Serena; her Brooklyn-based, scholarship-holding boyfriend Dan; his little sister Jenny; Serena’s best friend, uber-bitch Blair; Blair’s good-looking, unambitious boyfriend Nate; and Nate’s best friend, the scandalous Chuck, played with delicious aplomb by Ed Westwick. Chuck is by far the most interesting character; he runs the gamut from potential date-rapist to heart-of-gold best friend, all the while using his money and charm to break every taboo in the book.
This show will never win any awards, but it’s funny and sassy, and a pretty good way to waste a Monday night. It’s worth checking out.
One really cold evening last winter, I snuggled up with a blanket and a space heater and dove into the debut novel by an author I’d never heard of: Sarah Addison Allen. I devoured the book, Garden Spells, in a matter of hours; it captivated me from page one. Allen’s writing is somewhat similar to that of Alice Hoffman; her characters and settings are real, but her novels contain just the slightest touch of magic. In Garden Spells, two sisters reunite at their childhood home, and find both their gifts and their paths in life. Allen’s second novel, The Sugar Queen, is the story of Josey, a young woman who has lived her entire life under her mother’s thumb. With the help of the mysterious Della Lee, Josey finally begins to blossom into her own woman, finding love and friendship along the way.
These books are great; everyone who reads them ends up loving them. I highly recommend that you pick one up today!
After having blond hair all summer (and hair above my shoulders for nearly 3 years), I’m ready for a change. My hair is naturally wavy, so I want to let it grow long and just curl a little bit. It’s all part of my new hippie aesthetic. As for color, I want something pretty low maintenance, so I’m thinking a nice, rich brown. Kate Beckinsale and Rachel Bilson both have shiny brown locks with a little bit of wave, so this is what I’m aiming for.
I really think that nose studs are cute. They’re not as out there as lip piercing, but they’re just a little bit rebellious. My yoga teacher has one, my cousin has one, and my friend Lauren has a cute silver ring (normally I prefer studs over rings, but hers is adorable). I really, really wanted to get one, but research on the internet made me hesitate. Half of the people out there said that it’s not that painful, heals in a month, and is great. The other half describe it as excruciating, prone to infection, and can even lead to getting staph in your brain.
So, I did the smart thing: I went and talked to a piercer. After getting the reassurance that I needed, I went for it! And here’s the deal: basically, the piercer pulls the nostril taut with forceps, then puts the needle through (it’s a corkscrew-ish piercing needle, and because it’s your nose, you can see it go in) and then pops in the stud. I have a decent pain threshold, so it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t painless either. It’s more of a burning sensation, and you’ll definitely bleed. For me, the pain dulled to an ache, and the area around the stud swelled a little. My friend Lindsay thought it was cute, and her husband Brian agreed that it suited my “spunky” personality. My husband hates body piercing (“why pay someone to hurt and mutilate you?” is his theory), but he was resigned to the fact that I was going for it. It was totally exciting…
AND THEN
The excitement wore off. The frustration of having to sleep with a band-aid on my nose and stay off my left side kicked in. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to swim on my beach vacation next month. Make-up becomes an issue. You have to be really careful anytime you wipe or dry your face. Was it possible? Had I made a mistake? Was my husband, gasp!, actually right?
In a word, yes. The stud ended up being bigger than I wanted. It sat funny on my nose (although I think this was more a result of the swelling than any sort of piercing error). It hurt. It bled. It was too much work. But most of all, it set off a compelling inner voice I didn’t even know I had. Something inside of me was insisting that I had made a mistake, had ruined my face, that I looked wrong, that I needed to take it out RIGHT NOW! So I did. I had a nose stud for about 12 hours. In the end, I basically paid for a bloody nose, and now I’m left with a healing scab. But at least I went for it, and now I know for sure that it’s not for me.