Diana Unplugged

Dear Internet,

Remember when I started using you? Remember when I set up my very first Hotmail account at my friend's house, and was pretty sure it was the coolest thing in the world? Remember when I was totally impressed that I could use Ask Jeeves to learn anything I wanted? Those were the good old days. Endless hours of looking up pictures of dreamy teenage celebrities and exploring MySpace.

But now, things have changed. I feel like we're getting too close. I wake up in the morning and compulsively check Facebook, Twitter, and the front page of Reddit. It's like I can't stop myself, I have this sick compulsive need to know what happened in the world while I was asleep. Sometimes I'll check CNN, too, just to make sure the world didn't fall apart immediately after I drifted off. Did one of the bloggers I follow post something new? A post about different kinds of French bread pizza? Time to read that, too....

It's gotten to be too much, Internet. In the evening, scrolling through interesting posts on Apartment Therapy, or checking out a new recipe over on NomNomPaleo. Scanning through mostly redundant images on Pinterest, or getting sucked into some mostly useless collection of photos on BuzzFeed featuring 25 huge dogs that are acting like they're the size of a chihuahua. It needs to stop.

Honestly, Internet, it's not all your fault. My iPhone is definitely my enabler. Waiting for a table at a restaurant with Kevin? Time to pull out my phone and check the weather for the next 6 days. Sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be called back to the tiny room? Time to refresh Twitter to see if Wil Wheaton has posted another Vine video featuring his adorable dogs.

Internet, I feel like you're killing my creativity. Sometimes I feel like I'm yoked to my phone. Granted, Kevin and I don't have a home phone, so my constant obsession over making sure my phone is within earshot is not totally unjustified. But this constant checking all the time? Unhealthy.

I think it's time for a break, Internet. I think I need to unplug from social media for the rest of the week. I think I can skip the frothy articles peddled on HelloGiggles for the next few days, and focus on more wholesome things like picking up where I left off in Jane Austen's Persuasion. Time to work on some more of the paper art I've been experimenting with. Time to listen to more music. Time to bake a batch of cookies, and sit outside in the backyard without reaching for my phone for entertainment. Time to finally sort through my clothes and figure out what I don't wear anymore. Time to stop making to-do lists, and actually DO stuff.

So, Internet, it's been real. Maybe I'll be back this weekend, or maybe next week. Don't take it personally, it's not you - it's me.

Diana

ps: Yeah, I totally get the irony that this blog post is posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Gender Roles

Gender roles. Yeah. This is not the lightest topic to write about, but I found myself in my office last week talking to two coworkers about gender roles. I work in the field of Student Affairs, so this stuff is bound to come up once in a while, and since my background is decidedly not in student affairs (I sold lightbulbs before I started this job) I rarely feel like I have much to contribute in these situations. 

Nonetheless, I have been finding myself thinking about the gender roles conversation this past week or so. I even consulted Wikipedia in preparation for this blog post so I wouldn't sound like a total idiot: 

A gender role is a set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship. There are differences of opinion as to which observed differences in behavior and personality between genders are entirely due to innate personality of the person and which are due to cultural or social factors, and are therefore the product of socialization, or to what extent gender differences are due to biological and physiological differences.

Thanks, Wikipedia! I would cite my source, but the last time I did that on a paper was when I was in high school, and it was called a bibliography back then. Bibliography. I'm pretty sure nobody uses that word anymore. I guess I could put "Bibliography" into Wikipedia, but then would I need to cite that? This is making me tired. 

So I've found myself wondering: am I living my life according to what I feel like is my role as a woman? Do I feel like I should be channeling Donna Reed every minute? Well, I'm not sure if I feel like I'm being pressured to feel that way, but I actually do really like pearls, I sort of wish my closet were full of circle skirts and crinolines, and I actually really enjoy cooking and housekeeping. 

The problem is, though, the more I analyze whether I'm being influenced by gender roles, the less I care. I know that's totally not the right answer. Don't get me wrong, it's important that people don't feel forced into traditional gender roles, but at the end of the day, I am actually okay with being the kind of wife that legitimately enjoys taking care of my husband, and cooking, and making the house pretty and comfortable. I generally like dresses better than pants, not because I am a crazy person who thinks that it's wrong for a woman to wear pants, it's just that dresses are more comfortable than pants. Seriously. It's the best kept secret of women and cross-dressing men the world around. If I lived in a world where the world was trying to convince me that women should only wear Nike shoes, and that wearing them would make me a real woman, would it be wrong for me to wear Nike shoes if I actually tried them on, walked around in them, and preferred them to other shoes?

I know there is the argument that generations of women fought for the right to vote, and the right for equal work opportunities, and the opportunity for equal rights. I applaud them for this, and I thank them. But I also like to think that those same women would have fought for the right for women to make a choice about the kind of woman they want to be. And for me, I like to be the kind of woman that comes home at the end of a long day at work, make the house nice for my husband, pour him a cold beer when he walks through the door, and serve him a delicious dinner. That's my gender role, and I love every single day of it. 

Jane Eyre and Thoughts on Parenthood

Sometimes I worry about silly things.

We were sitting at home last week, relaxing after a delicious meal of baked salmon and seared scallops. I curled up under a blanket (it's been unseasonably cold here in Atlanta lately) and opened Jane Eyre to lose myself in the story for a while. I love Charlotte Bronte to begin with, but I love this story in particular. It got me thinking about how I've always loved classic stories. Pride & Prejudice (I read it at least twice a year), Sense & Sensibility, Little Women, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Picture of Dorian Gray....I even still love some of my favorite books from elementary school, and sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic/lazy, there's nothing I like better than grabbing my worn out copy of Anne of Green Gables or breezing through Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Wooden Lady, because apparently I never stopped being 9 years old. 

Then I started to wonder what would happen if our future kids don't like to read the way I do. What if he/she/they are not shy like I was, and what if they don't get the same thrill out of the smell of old books as I do? What if they're the 'cool kids' at school? How will I relate to that?

I just love these stories, and can't imagine not being able to share them with my future progeny. Maybe we'll have a little girl of our own someday. If we do, I hope she comes to regard the Bennett sisters (particularly Jane and Elizabeth), Edmond Dantes, the March sisters (all of them...Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy), and Nancy (and Bess and George) as dear friends that she can visit whenever her heart desires. 

Not Enough Day

I've been struggling lately. Struggling with the feeling that there's just too much to do, and not enough 'day' in which to cram it.

I know everybody over the age of 13 has probably had this thought at some point in their lives. Seriously. I know I'm not alone in this. My days, at the onset, just feel so long. I lay there in bed fantasizing about how much I can accomplish in the next 15-ish hours, and then the day starts, and it's over in a flash and I just lay in bed thinking "what just happened?".

Maybe I'm too ambitious. I just get these grandiose ideas in my head of the things I will do, and the things I will tackle in my day. I fantasize about baking fresh bread every week like my Aunt does (I know, we're eating low-carb, but there's just something so wife-y about baking fresh bread that I can't get out of my head). I imagine my house perfectly clean and entirely organized, with labels on everything. I imagine having meals planned out for the whole month so I don't have to think about it. I imagine having a whole category in the photo section of my phone that's just dedicated to pictures of me in my best outfits, so I can figure out what to wear for the day without changing four times before 7:30 in the morning. In my fantasy I have endless hours after work to do super-awesome wife things like bring my husband a cold beer, and listen attentively to how his day was, and what's going on in his world, and bring him his warm slippers, and have awesome and interesting topics of conversation to enthrall him. In this perfect world, our dog would be trained to not lose her mind whenever anybody comes over. In this perfect world, she would also learn to stop pooping in the house out of nervousness sometimes while we're gone during the day.

I started the year with 12 books that I was going to read over the course of 12 months. It's almost all the way through March and I've only finished one and a half. I have a nasty habit of throwing laundry in the washer and forgetting to switch it over to dry, which usually results in washing it again a few days later before finally drying it. I have a serving dish in the dishwasher that I've run through three four separate dish-washing cycles, for the only reason that the dish belongs in the cabinet over the fridge, and I haven't felt like crawling up there to put it away. The cute basket on the back of our toilet is supposed to hold new rolls of toilet paper is now just empty, with the exception of two empty cardboard rolls just sitting there. Don't even ask me about our closet. It used to be one side for my clothes, one side for Kevin's clothes, but it's turned into more of a 70/30 ratio, and my clothes seem to be constantly on the verge of a hostile takeover. Our backyard garden is full of sticks and leaves, and the almanac said we were supposed to plant our veggie plants last weekend. Yesterday wasn't a proud day for my low-carb lifestyle when I scarfed down a thick piece of vanilla-y pound cake that I swiped from the conference room at work.

I know it's just a phase. Sometimes, though, I feel like Liz Lemon at Airport Security stuffing her teamsters sandwich in her face while she wails "I can have it all!" through muffled mouthfuls.

Have an awesome Friday, everybody. I'm off to work on my Night Cheese. 

Currently...

Thinking about...

I always have a million things on my mind. Lately, though, I am finding myself thinking about my life with Kevin. Just being thankful for what we have together. Being thankful for a warm house to come home to, where we sit and laugh together. Thankful for our sweet Ruby, even if she is naughty and gets into the trash. Thankful for hitting the snooze button a couple times in the morning just to have a few more warm minutes in bed before getting up to face the day.

I've also been thinking a lot about how we've been eating healthier. Having a solid meal plan has been helping enormously, and I feel way better going through the day (particularly at work) when I have plenty of tea, water, snacks, and healthy food at hand for breakfast and lunch. I feel like my mentality with regards to food has changed a lot recently. I feel so much more determined to feel better and be better. There's a fridge at work that's almost constantly full of cold soda, leftover ice cream, cake from someone's birthday, candy from events. Lately, though, I haven't felt the desire to sneak in there and eat things that I know are bad for me.

Reading...

Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley. I've been trying to pay more attention to my heart lately, what I'm feeling, if I'm feeling angry or hurt or sad. Forgiveness is hard - it feels almost impossible at times - but I know it's something I need to do.

Listening to....

I've actually been listening to a lot of P!nk lately. We went to her concert with Kevin's company a few weeks back, and she was such a great performer. I wasn't a huge fan before, but I am now! I've also been listening to some of Justin Timberlake's newer stuff (he was on SNL last weekend, and I thought he sounded great). I'm still listening to a lot of Alabama Shakes, some Lumineers, and a little bit of The Shins thrown in for good measure. I have such weird eclectic musical taste....

Watching...

Kevin and I have been watching Archer lately on Netflix, which is pretty entertaining. Sometimes when I get home before Kevin, I'll get dinner started with an episode or two of 30 Rock in the background. I just love that show, I feel like Liz Lemon and I would be besties if she were a real person. I wish that show wasn't over....

Making me happy....

Simple things are making me happy lately. A big plate of delicious Asian Nachos at one of our favorite restaurants. A well timed song coming up on my Spotify while I'm working, my favorite cozy tshirt being fresh from the dryer right when I wanted to wear it. A cozy, quiet morning in the office catching up on emails, sipping a cup of vanilla Earl Gray tea with a little bowl of juicy blackberries.

Standing Up

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know about the crazy-insane back problems I have been having over the course of the last year or so. I'm super thankful to have met a great chiropractor who has really helped me get my spine back in alignment, and I hardly ever experience pain any more. I hit a bit of a plateau in my treatment lately, though, and after a while I realized that the reason was the amount of time I sit at my desk during the day at work. It's hard to keep good posture when you get to work at 8, leave around 6, and are sitting almost the entire time.

So I hit the internet, and read a lot of articles about the health drawbacks of being in a culture that spends so much time sitting. Here's one that I particularly liked, and I thought this was a pretty good info-graphic that explains some of the risks more concisely.

My next step? I knew I wanted to change my setup at work, but I didn't really have the option of replacing my desk at work (even if I did, though, those desks are like $1000...no thanks). I have a little office with a big huge desk that I'm confident is made from the same material as black holes. It's that heavy. So what's a girl to do? Time to hack something together.....I hit the internet again, knowing that someone somewhere had the same issue I did. I was hoping that person was also as cheap as I am. I lucked out.

I came across Colin Nederkoorn's blog after a laughably quick Google search, and was immediately grabbed by the title. A standing desk for $22? And it's a modification for an existing desk? Sounds too good to be true. I read on and found out he had purchased all the materials from Ikea! Perfect! Needless to say, I made a list of what I needed, and made an insane Saturday trip to Ikea to get the things I needed. I should stop here and state that anybody who goes to Ikea voluntarily on a Saturday hates themselves at least a little. It was a total mad-house. I was on a mission, though, and was in and out in less than an hour. After some super-basic assembly and some measurements (my husband was a huge help, especially after I dropped the fully assembled LACK side-table squarely on the top of my foot and thought for sure I had broken bones) my new standing desk was complete! I brought it to work this morning, and it took me about 10 minutes to get my monitors situated along with my keyboard and mouse, but I'm pretty darn impressed with the result! I still have plenty of work space on top of the LACK table, and I already feel less pain in my neck and shoulders. I think a fatigue mat will be the next purchase, because I can see my legs getting tired after standing all day, but I think it's also a matter of adjusting. After spending that much time sitting, I'm sure it'll take time for my body to get used to standing more.

So there you have it! My fancy new standing desk! Want to make one yourself? Check out Colin's blog for the materials you'll need as well as the instructions. 

Monday Night Shrimp Pad Thai - Low Carb Style

Okay. Real talk. I love asian food. There's a fantastic restaurant near our house that does Asian/Mexican cuisine. They do wonton chip nachos with Korean barbecued beef. I could eat it forever. Squirt a little Sriracha on there and it's game over.

Anyway, back to Asian cuisine. Last night I attempted (quite successfully I might say...just a little humble-brag) Chinese fried rice and Korean short ribs, but for a low-carb option, I subbed out the rice for chopped up cauliflower. I decided to keep the Asian cuisine train going tonight, partially because it was so good last night, and partially because I've been up since 5am and I couldn't fathom cooking anything complicated. This dish came out SO TASTY that I super-highly recommend it. Ready? Okay let's do this....

You will need:

- 3-4 medium sized green zucchini, washed and "noodled" (I'll explain later)
- Store-bought Pad Thai sauce (don't judge me, I've been up since 5am, remember?)
- a small handfull of salted peanuts
- 1/2 pound of shrimp, de-veined
- small bunch of scallions (green onions) chopped
- olive oil (or oil of your choice)

Step 1: Use your fancy Kuhn Rikon veggie peeler to turn your zucchini into pretty little noodles. If you don't have a Kuhn Rikon peeler, I don't care. I'm not the Barefoot Contessa, I'm not going to give you a guilt trip about not hiking to the dark side of the Himilayas to harvest exotic vanilla. You could use a cheese grater, or use a kitchen knife to make long thin pappardelle like noodles. Go for it. I will say, though, the Kuhn Rikon is pretty fun to use. This gadget is awesome! I might need to try carrot noodles at some point. I can see it working with some kind of balsamic glaze, maybe some toasted sesame seeds and chopped red onions...hmmmm

Step 2: chop up those peanuts. I used one of those handy little slap-choppers. You don't want them too small, just small enough to sprinkle over your noodles before you devour them. 

Pretty ingredients on my pretty bamboo cutting board. This is art, my friends. 

Step 3 & 4: Toss those lovely little zucchini noodles, which I like to call Zoodles, into a frying pan and toss them on high heat for a couple of minutes, ONLY until they're slightly softer than raw. These will over-cook really fast, I pinky-swear. Once they're soft, take them out and throw them in a collander to drain the extra liquid. While those are draining, throw your peeled de-veined shrimp and a little drizzle of olive oil into the hot frying pan and make sure they're cooked on both sides. Once they're mostly cooked, throw in about 1/2 cup of your pre-made store-bought non-judgmental Pad Thai sauce. Once the noodles have drained, turn off the heat cooking the shrimp and toss the zucchini noodles back in to the pan and toss together. 

Step 5: throw a bunch of zucchini noodles and shrimp into a shallow bowl. Top with some peanuts, and a nice handful of scallions. Grab a fork (or a nice pair of lacquered chopsticks) and go to town on that bowl of zucchini noodle goodness. 

After all, it's Monday, and you've been up since 5am. And it was cold outside. Pour yourself a little glass of Pinot Noir to wash it down if you feel like you need it. No judgment.