#49: Read 6 copies of my organization's monthly magazine, then they are current. COMPLETED

Surely, I'm not the only one who struggles with keeping up with their industry's "required reading" so to speak.

We know that it's better to read the news when it's current and not one or two months past. Yet, somehow that pretty magazine in the paper in-box fails to capture the urgency of the electronic in-box. Bloody technology, right?

Which is why this item popped up on the revised 101 list.

And, I did it. I read each issue within the week it arrived; sometimes at my desk over lunch, sometimes at home while cooking dinner. It's a good goal to keep in mind for the future, too.

#61: Walk around Town Lake COMPLETED

Completed: 10-17-10

Yesterday, after working my organization's conference, I told The Husband that I wanted to take him on a date. A surprise date. Which, historically, involves one of us sneakily getting the other to do something that the other would not typically be interesting in doing.

Like, eating ice cream at Amy's... or... well, getting out of the house early on a Sunday morning.

So, on Sunday, The Husband and I drove downtown, made a pit stop at Austin Java and went for a little walk around Town Lake. Oh, pardon me. Lady Bird Lake.

Does anyone actually call it Lady Bird Lake? Not meaning any disrespect to Ms. Lady Bird Johnson herself, rest her soul, but I think most people (Yelp included) still consider and may always consider it Town Lake.

Anyway. Walking around Town Lake was a nice thing for The Husband and I to do this morning. We walked and talked. Chatting about the last week and the upcoming week. Appreciating the good company and lovely scenery.

And, it gave me a new way to see our city-- one that I, honestly, never have the opportunity to view. Out of my car, away from the traffic. Out of my office, on the ground instead of above it.

Nothing like a change in perspective to make you ready for the week ahead.

Intertubez, meet Fitzherbert

aka: #33-- get an indoor plant and keep it alive for 6 months.

Fitzherbert has bravely volunteered for this effort with nary a peep. Actually, I think his odds of making it 6 months or more are pretty darn good.

You see, once upon a time, in a land far far away, I had another plant named Bob. And he survived more than 3 years. If you know of my ::ahem:: record with outdoor plants, I could see how you would find this hard to believe.

Alas, it's the truth. And now Fitzherbert will enjoy that long a life (maybe even more!) with me and The Husband.

The first goal: February 26th, 2011.

The second goal: to infinity and beyond!

(Also? It's surprisingly challenging to wrangle Fitzherbert for a snapshot. I guess he's just camera shy...)

Sharing...

http://www.thingsweforget.blogspot.com

So you wanna go to the DPS?

First, I assume it's more due to a *need* to go to the DPS and less a *want* to go to the DPS.

Sure, the DPS (oh, that's Department of Public Safety, bee tee dubs) is a very good place for great people watching, true, but beyond that, it's just teeming with feelings of frustration and anger. Yes, anger, and I'll get to that in a moment.

In the interest of providing something useful, here are my tips for navigating the DPS.

1) Bring a cooler stocked with refreshing beverages, snacks and maybe even a hearty meal. Better to be over-prepared than under, in this circumstance.

2) Think of every single official governmental piece of documentation you have ever received in your life. That's right, every single one. Your birth certificate? Grab it. Your marriage certificate? Yup. That state ID you picked up that time someone stole your driver's license on Bourbon? That, too. If you have some recent blood tests proving you're O+, better add them to the pile. Surely, the Social Security card goes without saying.

3) Don't forget your insurance card and car registration. May as well toss your emission's test into the mix.

4) A camera or, better yet, a camera phone with a direct link to your twitter account. How else are you going to capture the super-snazzy harem pants of your co-DPS-line-waiter? Or the uber-cute 80-year-old-married couple dragging along matching lawn chairs?

5) Speaking of co-DPS-line-waiters, here's a fun tip to pass the time: count the number of disgruntled masses. Make a game of it... one point for someone who's simply seething. Two points for someone verbalizing their complaints. Three points everytime storms out of the building angrily. 500 bonus points for the physical removal of disgruntled person by the Sheriff's Department!

In short, folks, the 5 hours you're about to spend applying for your Texas driver's license or state ID or renewing your driver's license are hours you'll never forget.

Especially not if you wait 2 hours in line, only to make it up to the front and be told that you're missing 1 of the 25 pieces of proof of citizenship required, "... so, please come back again tomorrow."

Oh. What. Joy.

Do you like giveaways?

I don't typically do the giveaway thing-- hosting, entering, promoting, etc... not for any particular reason, but it boils down to lack of focus and love of other shiny objects, if you know what I mean.

However. Except.

Y'all. Capitol Hill Style is doing a little giveaway of the Goody Spin Pin.

There must have been something in the air yesterday because I picked up my second set at the drugstore last afternoon on the way home. Sure, I forgot to pick up the one thing I went in for, but I came out with these wee twisty miracle workers and in blonde this time, not brunette. And not a moment too soon, as I've misplaced one half of my original set.

So. If you haven't given these pins a go, and you're stuck wearing your hair in a low-pony for work *again*, then either enter Capitol Hill Style's giveaway or sneak out on your lunchbreak and pick up your own set. Your hairs will thank you.

(No, seriously, they will. Just like mine did right after I ripped open my new box and shoved twisted in those new pins for the quickest two-second-bun ever.)

"Should have" and "Instead"

Yesterday, I should have caught up on the massive pile of laundry...
I should have mopped the floors...
I should have dusted the blinds...
I should have cleaned the kitchen...
I should have gone to the gym...

Instead, I played around with pastry dough and tested my way towards the perfect blueberry filling.

I think that was the better choice ;-)

(And, hey, at least I made the groceries!)