Category: etcetera

31Jan

A Modest Resolution for 2021

I wrote back in December about meeting (and exceeding!) my reading goals for 2020, but I never told you what my resolution for 2021 was going to be. So here I find myself, almost in February, reflecting upon my choice of goal.

I believe in resolutions that are small and achievable. I don’t need another reason to feel like a failure–depression does a bang up job of nagging me about that. I actually became a HUGE proponent of resolutions after my divorce. I engaged in them as a sort of finding-myself escape, choosing behaviors I wanted to incorporate back into my life.

In 2017, I vowed to drink more. Don’t judge me before you hear me out. I always joked about wanting to drink more, because I literally never drank. I wanted to relax and have a glass of wine every now and then. I wanted to go out with friends. And so I started to have some more drinks. I fell in love with Sauvignon Blanc and whiskey. I had a wonderful year and considered it a success. After a few years, however, I find myself back to nearly zero in the alcohol department. I think it’s quarantine…

Back when I was a brunette, on my way to work in my lipstick. Can you say parking garage selfie?

Wear more lipstick was my challenge for 2018 and whoop, did I succeed! I tried crazy colors and normal colors. I took tons of selfies. I fell in love with my lips. I’m still obsessed with lipstick, and until quarantine, you could still see me with lipstick on at work–the tube in my scrub’s pocket for touchups. Now I’m obsessed with lip balm and non-sticky gloss since I wear a mask all the time.

In 2019, I vowed to see more live music. And basically 2 concerts would have been enough to blow away my previous year’s record. Live music was a hallmark of my college years, as big music festivals started with Lallapalooza while I was in college. Violent Femmes were my hometown band (from Milwaukee) and I saw them many times. I also saw They Might Be Giants multiple times in college just because they were so fun. But in 2019, I started with Vance Joy for my birthday, Jason Isbell for the 4th of July, at least 2 bands I can’t remember the names of, and unfortunately had to cancel on First Aid Kit. I was all set to continue this live music resolution into 2020 but by February, we already knew something was wrong.

For 2020, I chose a goal related to reading. I had begun to feel like I wasn’t reading anymore. I wasn’t using my Kindle, but I wasn’t buying paper books either. My eyes were tired after working 12 hour shifts plus commuting. So I signed up for Audible. And I decided to keep track of the books I was reading on GoodReads. I signed up for their yearly personal reading challenge with a goal of 30 books–just over 2 per month. A reasonable goal, I thought, for my first challenge. Well, I exceeded that by 16 books, coming in at 46 total! So, this year my reading goal is 42 books, but I also have a separate resolution.

Lots of people make weight loss resolutions. I will never make one of those. I am, however, trying to move more. I recently came out of a multi-decade depression, so I feel particularly motivated to get a little healthier. I want to feel better when running around at work, walking up hills in San Francisco, etcetera. And the people that say things say that activity helps with depression, which I’ve recently discovered was my terrible and debilitating companion for the past 20 years.

So, how does a person make a resolution related to getting healthier or moving more that they won’t fail? That won’t make them feel like a failure? Something that is achievable? 

My apple watch challenges me to meet or beat my “active calorie” goal each day, as well as a stand and exercise goal. I pay the most attention to the calorie goal. When you beat your goal enough times in a row by a large enough margin, the watch will automatically suggest you adjust your goal upwards. I love meeting my goal.

So what, you might be asking yourself? My goal for 2021 is to wear my watch everyday. Even on my days off when I’m just bumming around the house. My resolution is not to beat “the rings,” as the watch’s goals are called. I’m still allowed to fail. I just have to try by wearing the watch. Simple.

So far, I’m succeeding. I’ve worn my watch every day since I decided on this resolution, which is 41 days as of January 30, 2021. And guess what? I’ve beaten my “active calorie” goal every day since then as well, and had my goal increased once–by 40 calories, we are not talking leaps and bounds here. Baby steps. Achievable and measurable. As I just typed that, I realized that what I’ve been doing unconsciously is using the principles of SMART goals from business in order to frame my new year’s resolutions.

I often complain about nursing school, but one useful thing I learned–specifically in the section on how to either do nursing research or make process improvement in the workplace–is to make SMART goals. According to this Mind Tools summary, in order to make your goals “clear and reachable, each one should be:

  • Specific (simple, sensible, significant). 
  • Measurable (meaningful, motivating). 
  • Achievable (agreed, attainable). 
  • Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). 
  • Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).”

So how does my watch-wearing resolution fit into this?

  1. It is simple and specific. Put on my watch every day.
  2. It is measurable–as long as I wear it, it will gather health data. It is meaningful because the health data will allow me to “complete my rings.” And beating my own goals is motivating.
  3. Putting on the watch is achievable & attainable, as it is simple (see #1).
  4. It is relevant and results-oriented because it allows for increased activity and motivational benefits without “failing” a new diet or weight loss plan, like in more traditional resolutions.
  5. It is a daily goal, in the hopes that it becomes a daily habit. Once in the habit, it should become such an ingrained part of my daily ritual that it is no longer necessary to “resolve” to put the watch on. After one year, I feel confident that this will be the case!!!

Have you made any resolutions this year? How do you make them? Do you use SMART goals, or want to start trying?

24Jan

Colors Change

When I was younger, my favorite color could generally be called “blue.” In the crayon days of my childhood, it was blue-green (as opposed to green-blue if you’re old enough to remember the debate). Mostly blue with a little green; what an amazing color. Neither crayon exists now but I did find a picture of my favorite–thank you googs!

In my teens and twenties, my favorite paint color was Prussian Blue. Continuing the blue trend, but with less green undertone. I still like blue, but after years of wearing blue scrubs, I’m a little more partial to greenish blues like Teal or just straight greens–like my new favorite color, Hooker’s Green (named after a British painter). My color evolution…

Prussian Blue evolved to Hooker’s Green–a history of my favorite colors
03Jan

The Last List: List of Lists

A List of My Favorite End of Year Lists

Besides thinking back on my year, deciding on my favorites, I love the end of the year because I get to read other peoples’ end-of-year lists. It’s almost like a compulsion.  Sometimes, I read lists of lists, which is so meta that even Reddit laughs in my face as I fall down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. So here you have it then, the results of my insanity– a small annotated list of my favorite lists, in no particular order.

The first place I go for recommendations is always Maria Popova, the author of the long-running and quite popular site Brain Pickings. She is a supernatural brainiac whose writing I love and whose taste I trust implicitly. Here are her “Favorite Books of 2020,” which we could just as easily rename “Heather’s Reading List for 2021.”

Favorite Books of 2020

Can you guess another person whose taste I trust implicitly? You may be surprised, but it’s former President Barack Obama. He’s been putting out his “favorites” lists since his time in the Oval Office, and every year I enjoy seeing what he enjoyed and found necessary to read, see and listen to. His reading list is full of books I want to read, and any list of songs that starts off with “Savage Remix” is surely going to be a list I want to make a playlist from. How can you not love Megan Thee Stallion AND Beyoncé?

Pitchfork’s “35 Best Rock Albums of 2020” features 3 of my fave albums: Haim, “Women in Music Pt. III,”  Phoebe Bridgers, “Punisher,”  and Tame Impala, “The Slow Rush.” So you know someone has good taste… don’t know if it’s me or Pitchfork, but it’s one of us lol.

I am showing my age and my nerdiness here, but I love the NPR music peeps, and I regularly check out their best-of’s, whether it be in podcast or list form. Here is NPR’s 50 Best Albums for 2020 (also see 100 best songs if you’re in the mood)

While I’m repping NPR, let me mention Maureen Corrigan from the podcast Fresh Air and her list of “Books that Will Connect You in a Socially Distant Year.” Her list is an argument that the best books can pull you out of your own solitude and connect you to characters in books in a meaningful and fulfilling way.

Ok, ok, just one more NPR list here. I’ve sort of fallen off my podcast listening this year. So, I haven’t been following “Pop Culture Happy Hour” as closely as I used to. But I still love the gang, led by Linda Holmes. She’s made a list of “50 Wonderful Things from 2020” at her blog.

About half way through this miserable pandemic, we were gifted with a meme. I’ve made a sample for us above with 2 images I’d saved in my phone from NYE last year and NYE this year. Does it elucidate anything about my journey in 2020? I’m not sure–but for certain I wasn’t at work in 2019 NYE and I was in 2020. But both are festive in some ways? This list from Fast Company discusses the varied uses of the meme, one of my favorites of 2020: how it started vs. how it’s going (or how it ended)..

Now let’s talk poetry. I’m going to give you more links for poetry than for other topics individually–for a few reasons. First, lists of best poetry are often short. What can you do with a list of two books? Oh wait, that was MY list that had two poetry books… Oops, moving on. Second, the judgement of poetry can be highly subjective–so a lot of variety is your best bet if you want some recommendations for books to try. And three, poetry books are short, for the most part well under a hundred pages, so you can read more of them! 

This first list is from a list I found from a list of lists (ha!) for Hyperallergenic’s “Best Poetry Books of 2020” (see link below). Next, we have the revered New York Times (see link below), who does tend toward the more academic side with it’s poetry judgement, and the Guardian who has high standards and always recommends both some established and new poets. The last list for poetry come from GoodReads Readers Choice, where thousands upon thousands voted and the poetry nominees and winner represent an interesting mix of old school, with Margaret Atwood ultimately taking the prize, and long-established authors such as Naomi Shihab Nye Barbara Kingsolver among the nominees. But there are also those I’d call the Instagram (or is it Tumblr?) poets–Nikita Gill, Rupi Kaur, Amanda Lovelace. They are absolutely adored for the simple emotional punches of their poems and how well they connect with readers. The list also has a ton of black and brown authors representing their cultural perspectives, such as Natalie Diaz and Danez Smith. These are some great books!

This Be the Verse: Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2020
New York Times Best Poetry 2020

The luxury beauty brand Lord Jones gifted our ICU nurses with samples from their CBD skincare line–and their wonderful balm has converted me into a believer of the power of CBD to relieve the aches and pains of nursing’s 12 hour shift strain & exhaust. Allure’s Best of Beauty 2020 contains another CBD balm, this time from coconut oil beauty product maven Kopari. If I can ever find it in stock, I’ll try it and compare to Lord Jones! In the meantime, I just put on some CBD balm to my knees and left shoulder because I’m about to head in for my third shift in a row and I’m sore just thinking about it… Check out the rest of Allure’s Best of 2020 for always great recommendations on beauty, skin and hair care.

For those of you who might have lost track of time during this year that seems to have both lasted forever AND flown by, here’s a list from Mashable of “58 things you probably forgot happened in 2020,” like the J.Lo & Shakira Superbowl Halftime or our practically biblical insect activity–murder hornets & actual locust plagues.

And now we come to the end. Let’s end on a high note with a list of “All the good things that have happened in 2020 from Shondaland.” There are some repeats but also the gems like the viral video that sent Fleetwood Mac to the top of the charts (again)… We have to pinky swear to always remember that Fleetwood Mac was defining music in 2020! 

What a weird year. And now it’s over… Phew.

29Dec

Breaking Last Year’s Reading Goals

I wasn’t very big on New Year’s resolutions last year, which in hindsight seems just fine, but I did set one goal for myself. To read 30 books. I tracked it using my GoodReads app, since they have a convenient feature for this. And I am shocked to find myself, just a few days before NYE about to finish book number 46! Over 150 percent of my goal. Honestly, this feels really good. 

The only questions I’m left with are 1) do I set next year’s reading goal higher than last year’s goal or higher than last’s years’ actual books read, and 2) what were my favorites and least favorites from the past year??? I have been thinking about my faves, and I believe I’ve come to some conclusions. But if you have an opinion on my reading goal, let me know. Last year’s goal was 30 books and I actually read 46. So, should my goal be somewhere in between? I’m thinking 42? (I would say 40 but I just don’t like that number… can’t tell you why).

You can check out the full list of books I read over the past year here on my GoodReads’ Year In Books 2020 but my favorite and least fave books, broken down by categories appear below. There is no rhyme nor reason. These are just the books that really stuck with me, whittled down into a group small enough to be a manageable list.

Fiction

  • Absolutely Favorite Fiction
  • Favorite Fiction That Took Me Back to High School Feels

Non-Fiction

Favorite Series

Poetry

Least Favorite / Failed Attempt:

A note on my failure: I attempted to listen to the Audible version of this book. The voice was distracting at best, and absolutely soul-killing at worst. I tried to restart multiple times, maybe 3 or 4, but just couldn’t do it. There was going to be NO healing with that version, unfortunately.

Up next in my end-of-year musings, a list of other people’s end of year lists, including some of the topics I’ve covered like music or poetry but also branching out to cartoons and live music. Keep an eye over the next few days!

Also up in the new year: site redesign to get the blog posts to the top of the page! Less Scrolling! Yay!

26Dec

LISTS: End of Year Music Favorites

The end of the year is one of the most special times for me. Between Christmas and New Years, I find myself feeling pensive, maybe even nostalgic, about the previous year. And this year, whoa. There’s a lot to process. But I’m going to start with the easy stuff. Music.

I have continued working (and commuting about 30-50 minutes each way) throughout the year. The two things that have gotten me through this, as always, are music! and audiobooks!

For the last few months, however, I’ve been on an all music kick. Oddly enough, this is also how I started the year. The year began for me with upbeat & dance-worthy Dua Lipa while it is ending with a introspective folk/indie Taylor Swift double-header. But don’t worry, I’ve also got Miley Cyrus to lady-rage rock out in a way you just haven’t heard before, bringing back some classics from different decades (and sometimes the original artists too).

What follows are three separate lists. Favorite albums–meaning these are the albums, whole albums from track 1 to the end, that I listened to on repeat. Then there is a list of songs, usually things that were either 1) released by some of my already-fave artists, such as First Aid Kit & Billie Eilish, or 2) recommended by Amazon Music’s “your soundtrack” methodology, especially songs like “Air Forces” by Mustafa or “Control” by Zoe Wees. The third list includes albums that I’m surprised I didn’t listen to more. Maybe I really like a song from the album, such as with Sault, or have previously really liked the band (maybe even enough to see them in concert) as is the case with Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit or the Chicks. Maybe I’ll get to these albums?

Before you scroll to the lists, however, I interrupt you with this Spotify playlist. For each of my fave albums, you get two songs–plus all the other songs. And one song from each album I haven’t really dug into yet as a bonus. Over 2 hours of music to help you pass the time, provide a soundtrack to read the rest of this website, or just get inside my head, you know, whichever you prefer…

What are your favorite albums and/or songs? Should we talk about our least favorite or should I just not mention Harry Styles and Camilla Cabello? Leave any feelings or opinions in the comments! Next LIST in my 2020 list series will be BOOKS! Stay tuned in the coming days.

Fave Albums:

  • Dua Lipa, “Future Nostalgia”
  • Taylor Swift, “Folklore” & “Evermore”
  • Miley Cyrus, “Plastic Heart”
  • Haim, “Women in Music Pt. III”
  • Sylvan Esso, “Free Love”
  • Phoebe Bridger, “Punisher”
  • Fleet Foxes, “Shore”
  • Tame Impala, “The Slow Rush”
  • Adrienne Lenker, “Songs & Instrumentals”

Fave Indivual Songs (not on fave albums):

  • “Wildfires” by Sault
  • “Come Give Me Love” by First Aid Kit
  • “Heather” by Conan Gray
  • “Lemon” (feat. Sharon van Etten) by Local Natives
  • “Underdog” by Alicia Keys
  • “Air Forces” by Mustafa
  • “Harmony Hall” by Vampire Weekend
  • “My Future” by Billie Eilish
  • “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish
  • “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish
  • “7 Seconds” by Porridge Radio
  • “Control” by Zoe Wees
  • “July” by Noah Cyrus & Leon Bridges

Albums I’m surprised I didn’t listen to more:

  • Fiona Apple, “Fetch the Boltcutters”
  • Lady Gaga, “Chromatica”
  • Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Reunions”
  • The Chicks, “Gaslighter”
  • Sault, “Untitled (Black Is)”
25Dec

Bibs and bobs

I just finished wrapping presents for Christmas morning. It isn’t ALL the presents I need to wrap, just all the presents for now… I don’t love wrapping because I start off with dreams of beautiful bows and perfect edges and end up not wanting to waste paper and taping together multiple used edges to make “leftovers” paper, jagged edges be damned. A package from me is either beautiful or hideous. There is no in between.

I also just finished an audiobook and reviewed it over at GoodReads:

The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #1)The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was included in my Audible membership, and I needed something light (but not without intrigue) and less than a billion hours long to get me over a recent reading/listening slump. This was the PERFECT book. Less than an 8 hour listen, a mystery with many layers, and even some political and historical lessons thrown in for good measure.

I liked it so much that I am going to start book #2 in the series right away. Hopefully I won’t burn though all 15 of the remaining installments too fast…

View all my reviews

How do you read series? All at once or spread out between other books, just one here and there to stretch your experience for as long as possible–assuming, that is, that the series is complete and you can read it all at once in much the same way you can binge a Netflix series these days???

I’m an all at once girl. If I’ve been fully invited into a world of characters and places that I enjoy, I don’t want it to end. It’s like when you get to the end of a book and realize that you’re going to miss the people you’ve come to know, but in the case of a series— you don’t have to! Just jump into the next adventure.

Speaking of adventures, I tried to find marshmallows today. Actually, I’ve been looking for marshmallows and hot chocolate for the past few months. Trader Joe’s hasn’t had its normal hot chocolate selection, and tbh I’m not sure if it’s because it’s sold out or just not available. But hot chocolate hasn’t really been in other stores much either. And marshmallows?!?!

What’s up everyone? I guess there’s a run on hot chocolate fixings a lá hallmark channel? Comfort is in big demand and short supply this year. I hope y’all have enough though. Happy holiday & merry Christmas Eve ❤️

10Dec

Pantone Perfect

I have followed the “color of the year” choices made by Pantone since its inception 20 years ago. Side note: at first I was going to wager that I’d followed Pantone since I first started working at a dotcom in 2000. Then I decided that I could just look up some of the colors and try to remember which one I recognize as being my “first.” Lo and behold, the reason the Pantone color of the year holds such a special place in my heart is because I probably covered it for the dot-com publication I worked for at the time–CNET. Funny world.

Anyways, now that we’ve established that I love colors, lets talk about this year’s colors… Yes I did type the plural correctly. We have two colors of the year, which is really just twice the fun! The last time 2 colors was chosen was in “2016, when the institute selected Rose Quartz and Serenity as a nod to the increasing fluidity around gender norms” (Time Magazine).

As Pantone explains

“The union of an enduring Ultimate Gray with the vibrant yellow Illuminating expresses a message of positivity supported by fortitude. Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, this is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted; this is essential to the human spirit.”

 –Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute
Pantone’s colors of the year for 2021

And yes, I couldn’t agree more. This is exactly what we need right now. Is it hyperbolic to think that announcing the choice of 2 colors of the year could give us these? Not when the colors themselves can help change our moods, soothe our souls or provide inspiration. Color has the infinite power to make us feel, on both a conscious and unconscious level. I think Pantone has done a great job of picking two colors for the next year that will help us heal from the ordeal that was 2020.