One day

 There are 32 pictures in this post. They're mostly cutesy ones. I can get away with this today only.

I wonder how not being in a relationship would have changed my experience living here in New York. I can't really imagine it. I can't think of a single way that my relationship has negatively affected the experience. I can't think of a single way my relationship has negatively affected anything about me or my life. Which is the way it should be. This person is supposed to make your life better-- make the good things better, and the bad things easier. And I have someone who actually thinks my rambling is pleasant. And is pretty strict with me, actually, when I'm complaining, or being a wimp, or not doing what needs to be done. Or worrying. He even tells me what to do about this terrible grad-student insomnia.

He's got a natural togetherness that I love. I LOVE that he FOLDS ALL HIS LAUNDRY. (Seriously, I can't even believe that shit. ...and I love his response to my amazement at that: "What do you want me to do, throw everything in a pile?" Like it's no big deal that he folds everything so neatly. Seriously people, even like undershirts.) Anyway: Happy Valentine's Day!

He drinks margaritas with me

One of the best times we've spent together was this trip to Bakersfield for a conference I was speaking at last year.

Our trip to visit Tucson, before he moved there. 

because his nickname is hippo ...don't ask me, I didn't give it to him. 

BEARD!

My sister's wedding

ROW!

Ahh, this face.

I love how he braves crowds to see floats being blown up.

Central Park + a prime example of how having braces made me look less exuberant and more snooty in pictures. I mean who does she think she is??!

This is always how the ones I take come out.

Patagonia, AZ

Outside Patagonia

Oakland, CA

I just like this one of our feet.

Because this is my blog: My mom and my aunt Jean with baby Gus.

Summer of 2009. 

Valentine's Day, 2010. 

Okay. Now I'm going to a friend's house to watch The Notebook and drink gin.

Who has time?

Not me.

But I wanted to give you an update. I miss giving you updates. Unsolicited Sharing!

I had my dental implant surgery last Friday. I was asleep for more than an hour, groggy for about a day, and just today am able to eat pasta. Good thing too- That's one of my main food groups.

I was selected to be Manager of 12 of my peers in our Workshop this semester. This is the capstone project of this program, and each team performs actual policy analysis work for an actual client. Hello opportunity, I'm Maria!! Our client is an organization called Patagonia Sur, and they want us to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether they should begin a REDD (a UN program, stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation of Land) project in their lands in Patagonia, Chile. Here's a picture of Patagonia.

So I'm in charge of coordinating...everything. And it's so exciting and challenging. Surprisingly, especially based on last semester, I've been sleeping anyways!

Otherwise this semester hasn't really picked up yet. Still doing the internship...not doing enough job searching...ha! Job searching. Who has time for that? Not me!

Focus on the time you are in right now and don't try to be anywhere else. You will never be in the exact same place again, so learn as much as you can. If you have problems being strategic sometimes, like me, think about things you've done in the past that you don't want to repeat. And just make very small steps towards an idea, no matter how hazy, that will get you somewhere else. That is what I did to get here. I didn't ever say out loud, I can't do this. That part matters too.

I am rusty, as you can see. Too little razzmatazz in this post, and the insights are lite too. My creative energies are going elsewhere, such as to creating a Project Control Plan with 12 separate responsibilities and a calendar and ....a project that could help make the world a little bit better.

This is me today on the way to the post-op appointment. It's snowy and I can't smile because my lip got so swollen...it doesn't look swollen, but it's the gums, or something. They opened everything up!! Ick. Anyway I look more angsty than I am.

<3

It's that time again

This I believe

Read to me today by a yoga teacher:

I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing, or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated, precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which come shape of achievement, the sense of one’s being, the satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. Practice means to perform over and over again, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

Family!

I will miss them this Thanksgiving.

Especially the chance to get another installment in this series:

Me and Gussy at June '09 reunion; this September at Other Red-Haired Cousin's wedding! <3

BEAUTY

There are no losers. There are only children.


Losers from Everynone on Vimeo.

From that first kid spearing broccoli, I saw nothing other than an adorable, sweet-seeming person. Show me a child that is a loser and...I'll show you a person who needs a character lesson from Dolly.

Because-



I should never complain. You should never complain. Not everyone is my mom, so maybe this will help inspire you, like it did me. The day we're born we start to die, don't waste one minute of this life! Quit whining. You will always have something negative going on, so you're wasting your life if you focus on it.

Dolly is like a pre-Lady Gaga Lady Gaga. Don't tell me her exuberantly re-engineered body isn't just as unsettling and provocative as this (if not more so- her artistic realization of what she's called "just a backwoods girl's idea of glam" is permanent. That kind of commitment is impressive.) :




Did you watch it? You should. As rock-pop songs go it's rich. Gaga and Dolly have a lot in common- song writing talent not the least.

We don't have to be rich and famous to be an example to ourselves and others.

Am I procrastinating by posting videos that inspire me, while also trying to write about fuel efficiency? NO- I'm just trying to do a little more.

Fuel efficiency is really interesting. Did you know that 14-25% of the gas you put in your car actually ends up moving your car down the road? The spark plug ignition internal combustion engine is one of the least efficient engines ever. Why is it dominant? Because energy used to be cheap. Well, it's not anymore. But the interests in power want to trick us into thinking that gas should continue to be cheap.

I used to think we were running out of oil. We're not- we've got plenty of oil and gas and especially coal. But it will be hard to extract, and expensive, and we can't afford to increase our greenhouse gas emissions by as much as using them would. Making things more efficient is the way to go.

Anyway, in other news, my parents are coming to visit in December! Family and friends in New York for the holidays? I have nothing to complain about.

Pictures

Of gin and juice at my favorite local restaurant, Community 

Of birthday dinner at home- early for me, late for my mom

Inside the beautiful new terminal at the Sacramento airport