Category: thoughts

This spring I got lost in NYC.

On the High Line, I learned how to feel in two worlds at once. A park in the clouds, a cityscape on all sides.

I got lost in the beautiful simplicity of a hot dog lunch.

In the courtyard at the MoMa, I got lost in a chair.

Gazing into this shimmering water, all bejeweled with copper coins, I pondered what wishes lived in this pool.

Looking up at the sky, I got lost in the colors and soft whisperings of flags flapping in the wind.

I got lost in it all, even when I knew just exactly where I was.

See more photos of the trip here.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Share a time that you got lost this year, whether you didn’t know where you were or you were working on a project or activity so fiercely that you lost all sense of time and place. Did you learn anything?”

A city looks different by bike.
I’ve traversed the length of Indy’s Monon Trail, from wooded tracts, surrounded by green on all sides, to unexpected skyline views, through neighborhoods and alleys way, industrial zones.

I’ve biked all the way to where the paved trail ends, and dusty gravel takes over. Far north, up to 169th street, and back down to SoBro where I live.

I’ve never done the full length all in one trip, but soon.

Soon, I will take that dream trip by bike, a two wheeling loop through this place I’ve come to love.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Plan out your dream trip! Is there somewhere you really want go in 2013? Pick a place in Indy, or anywhere in the world.”

Food is the perfect place to push comfort zones. If you don’t like something, there aren’t major long term implications. A bad taste in the mouth lasts a minute, a lifetime of missing out on something you’d maybe love? Well, that’s just sad.

I recently tried egg nog for the first time. My main question: what the hell was I waiting for? I thought it’d be too thick, too sweet, but the Traders Point Creamery version was fantastic.

After one cup, I got inspired to cook with it. Egg nog waffles, anyone? Or my favorite idea, which might also be a project for this weekend, egg nog custard pie.

Tonight I tried Taco Lassi’s white chocolate habanero cookie. I’d been warned of it’s heat. And here’s a lesser known fact about me: I love hot foods, but if the food has mega-intense, off-the-charts flaming, I mean “this one goes up to 11” heat, I can get a serious and lengthy case of hiccups.

With a little trepidation, I dug in. And it was good. And it maybe went up to 12. But guess what? No hiccups.

Pictured here with the cookie is a snack mix of unknown ingredients, also from Taco Lassi. My husband dove in first, and his reaction was sort of like when Buddy the Elf tries fruit spray in the department store. After his reaction I was better prepared for the palate shock, but it was, shall we say not my favorite. But hey, no big deal. A sip of tea and a bit of habanero cookie later, all was well again.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Try something totally different. Have something for lunch or dinner you don’t normally eat. Make up a new recipe. What did you come up with?”

 

2012 left plenty to be desired. Consider the ultimate pie chart as evidence.

Exhibit A: Days I Ate Pie

Obviously, there’s much room for improvement here. Not nearly enough pie. Considering the deep relaxation I find in making pie dough, I think it’s a clear do-more for 2013.

On a more serious note, in sketching out my year in graphs, I uncovered a connection worth noting.

Exhibit B: The Happiness/Song-Singing Correlation

Much to the dismay of my husband, I chronically make-up and sing songs. This is directly connected to a strong belief that life needs a sound track. In middle school, the year book noted: “Can you imagine Sara McGuyer not singing?”

Every year I set a goal to actually write and record songs with Louie. Maybe 2013 will be my year for music.

Here’s a balance I can really use to work on.

Exhibit C: Connected v. Free

For the purposes of this graph, “Connected” means near my phone or computer, being tuned into incoming email, tweets or other digital notifications. And “Not Connected” means totally unplugged, a.k.a. sleeping, or doing one of the few other activities I enjoy sans tech devices: running, dog-walking or yoga. And “The Fuzzy Betwixt” is that lowly state of checking the iPhone in the morning, half falling asleep while doing it and accidentally dropping phone on face. Raise your hand and admit along side me if you’ve been there.

I’m not sure what 2013 holds, but as my last graph shows, the outlook is good.

Exhibit D: Outlook for 2013

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Draw a pie chart or Venn diagram of your year, possible activities: eating, drinking, sleeping, working, playing.”

 

By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around this year, I was pretty desperate for a few extra days of rest and family time. After breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, I put on an apron, ready to tackle what for some might feel like a chore, but for me is something near therapy. I am referring to the important business of pie baking.

Part of baking is the exact science of grams and heat, leveling scoops of flour, measuring out hunks of butter. On the other hand, mixing it all together taps into that baker’s intuition of when the dough just feels right. It unlocks the same type of builder brain I once engaged rolling out slabs of clay to make ceramics. At some point the hands take over, and my mind can let go. Just give me a warm kitchen and a rolling pin, and I can get lost in the process.

That morning I rolled out five balls of dough for pumpkin, cherry and sweet potato pecan pies. With each lump of dough transformed, another layer of stress melted away.

And I haven’t gotten even gotten to the pie-eating part yet.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “What did you do this year when things got hectic? How did you unwind?”

Time is a tricky thing. What else ticks on so infinitely on the one hand, yet on the other is preciously scarce. For the individual, there is but one fixed allotment.

I’ve hit that point in life when my reckoning with how I spend my share of the time comes more fiercely and frequently. Not that I’ve carelessly let life slip past to this point, but there’s a different sense of urgency. This shift is less about age than place. As I’ve taken progressively more responsibility at work, the room for extracurriculars shrinks.

I may always want to do more, but getting in the weeds of a new commitment means a sacrifice to the things I hold dear, namely health and family.

How I can get involved in community has shifted toward donor, convener and thinker. Doer must be reserved for the cases when it’s do or die, totally aligned with passion and personal purpose. And even then, I can only really only do one or two well.

Volunteering for specific tasks is a great way to get to know a new organization, and I don’t know many causes who couldn’t use more doers on their team. Connecting in on that higher level of strategic thinker or mentor is a trickier place to start.

So here I am with just a little time and a lot of thought to give. It’s like I’m in that awkward point where I don’t feel confident asking for a place at the adult table, but I’ve long outgrown sitting with the kids, knees knocking the table top.

I’m hovering around the edge of the big kid’s table, looking to match what I have to give with groups working to solve problems and build cool things in this city.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “How do you want get involved in your community this year?”

Image credit: Time On Line by victo_nuno via flickr

As I’ve traveled through the chapters of my life, I’ve crossed paths with some truly incredible people. To say I’ve been lucky in the friend department would be a vast understatement – it’s like I won the lottery AND got struck by lightning time and time again.

This morning as I mulled over today’s Think Kit challenge to interview three people about their favorite moment of the year, I figured this could go any number of ways.

I could have tweeted the question out to the world, and waited to see who would bite. That might have drummed up a response from a near stranger, presenting a kind of cool way to get to know someone new.

I could have gone the in-person route, interviewing those I chanced to meet throughout the day – coworkers, my husband, neighbors. This might have resulted in some pretty interesting conversation, diving deeper than the simple question.

But here’s what I decided to do: send a note to a handful of those wonderful friends I mentioned above from all across the county. These are people I don’t see often and wish I got to laugh with a lot more. As I started typing out my notes, a pretty natural thing happened: I started guessing what their responses would be.

I mean, some of them were low-hanging fruit guesses:
1. Chris got married to his long-time lovely lady.
2. Erin found out she was expecting.
3. April got super-involved in the presidential campaign.
4. Edwin – Now this one was a toss up, but I expected he say getting his new job or a detail by detail account of his favorite meal.

Here’s what they actually said.

Chris Mixson is a dear friend from my college days. By day he practices water law and Indian law in Reno, NV. And when not slogging through legal research he is likely to be brewing beer in his kitchen or making his way to Lake Tahoe. His favorite moment of the year?

“My favorite thing about 2012 was getting married to my best friend, and as a bonus I got to spend an entire weekend with over 100 of my favorite and most-loved people in the whole world!”

It was a gorgeous wedding in Annapolis, and I was glad to be among that group of 100.

Erin Becker and I worked together when I lived in Chicago in 2001-05. She now lives in Portland and is working toward a bachelor’s degree in psychology, in hopes of becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist. In addition to asking her about her moment, I also wanted to catch up on what was going on in her world these days. Her response:

“I love to sing in the shower and hope to one day enter a competition. And my favorite thing about 2012 will be finding out I’m going to have 2 babies next June.”

She’s having twins! I love that I get to call her Double Decker Becker, even from afar.

April Duncanson is my long-time bestie. She lives in Philadelphia, knits up a storm and thoroughly enjoys cooking vegan delights.

To my query she said:

“Favorite thing about 2012 was a day. A Tuesday. A Tuesday in November. I watched my newly American husband cast his first vote, opened a campaign office at 6 a.m. that I didn’t close until 20 hours later, drank champagne from the bottle, and reveled in success.”

So far I was 3 for 3! Pretty darn good.

Edwin Castillo really surprised me with his answer. I really thought he’d fire back with his favorite meal. I mean, random food pic texts from him are not out of the norm and he has a bigger appetite than anyone I know. He not only takes beautiful pictures of food, but he draws a cupcake on his credit card slips to leave behind for his server AND takes a picture of that. When my husband and I head back to Chicago for a visit we always get together to share a good meal. Edwin’s favorite moment?

“Out of all the things that happened in 2012 my favorite was the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s parade through LA. It was a great video to watch and it must have been amazing to see the shuttle in person.

It’s cool and sad at the same time knowing that the United States had once regularly explored space trying to find if other planets are habitable and it’s sad knowing that the funding for such notions aren’t as important as weapons of war or large salaries.”

It was pretty cool to be able to guess some of these, then to get totally surprised as well. It was good for the soul to check in with old friends too.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt:“Interview 3 people about their favorite moments of the year. Share what you heard.”