The Purge

I absolutely love getting rid of things. I don't know what it is about going through my seemingly endless piles and drawers and cubbies of stuff and weeding out the rejects that is thoroughly therapeutic. I have a (now not so) secret dream of starting a company where I help people get rid of the crap in their house they are holding on to for no reason.  I don't really get that much satisfaction from organizing compared to purging. I am toying with the idea of sinking my teeth into organizing but maybe I'll pay off my student loans in the field I studied for much too long. Tonight, I was feeling lazy yet restless. After folding the laundry I ignored for a couple of hours, I decided to go through my seldom opened drawer of craft crap.

It wasn't horrifyingly full so that was a bit of a letdown. (Did I mention I really enjoy getting rid of things??) I took everything out and placed it in one of three piles: keep, donate, trash. Wow, you couldn't have put that one together yourself. Thank God I'm here for you. This is what I was left with:

Sheesh, I really outdid myself on this one. Move over Martha Stewart. It looks a bit better and I did manage to throw away two things and make a small donate pile. This also sparked me to get rid of the plastic fedoras I won at the company's scavenger hunt a month ago. Now you see why I need such an obsession with purging- I allow a lot of stupid crap to come home with me.

Do you like to keep everything? I have a friend that keeps all of her clothes that aren't stained or ripped because it may come back in fashion. Oh hello there horizontally striped, hooded sweatshirt from Aeropostale! Would you hire someone to help you get rid of the material things that are bogging your life down? 

Backwards and Upside Down

Hello there. Let's glaze over the apologies for my absence. I can bog you down with excuses every time I take a hiatus or I can just get back into it. 

Hello my name is Rebecca and I'm an adict. I have been going through glue and needles like crazy. I can't concentrate on anything else. No, I'm not shooting up Krazy Glue, I've been starting craft projects left & right. I'm currently refinishing an antique army footlocker, sewing fabric headbands from various scraps, turning a picture frame (that previously held a funny/creepy painting of a monk drinking from a stein) into a mirror, and crocheting t-shirts into a rug. I spent the majority of my day off recently sewing and doing laundry. Let me tell you, it was satisfying. Yes I may have accidentally made a headband that fit around my ribcage but you take the bad with the good and learn from it. 

I've always done crafty things here and there but since the inception of Pinterest, it has taken a larger role in my life. The funny thing is, I'm not great at it. It's generally quite the comedy of errors.

My closest friend and I have put together various pieces of furniture for her home and business. We have put all of these pieces together several times. I seem to have this thing in my mind where I read the instructions to a point, think I've got it, and go for it. Then when I think I've gotten to the next step in the instructions, I go back to the little pamphlet written in broken English. I always discover at this point (or sometimes for fun I wait until the piece is totally together and some key element is backwards) that I've accidentally gone ahead a step and done it backwards or upside down. Now, whenever I set out to make or assemble something, I have to steel myself to the fact that I'm probably going to do some or all of the steps several times. 

Do you like to craft? Are you like me and make a lot of mistakes? Do these mistakes make you quit or do you power through? 

Resolution Revolution

Hello there. Have you thought of your New Year's Resolution yet? Me neither. In fact, I've never been much for new years resolutions. I've always believed if something in your life needs to be changed, do what you can to change it right now. Of course, I haven't been totally successful in this as I still eat much too much junk food and leave the laundry to be folded until it's a pile of pure wrinkles. All in all, I think I would be much worse off if I gave myself deadlines for starting a resolution. Deadlines can be pushed off indefinitely.

For example, I wanted to give exercise another go. It was right after summer, the busiest season for my job. I think I have done well in this endeavor so far because I didn't hype it up in my head too much. I just did it without giving my brain time to sabotage me with thoughts about all the other stuff (laying around eating ice cream) I could be doing with my time. I also haven't had such a gung-ho attitude about working out this time around. I make sure that I get some cardio in, stretch, and maybe some core exercises and call it a day. In the past, I have gone to the extreme and really hurt myself. This gives me an excuse to take a week off and that week turns into three or four months. It's all a mind game.

This is the way my brain works but maybe for some people, having a deadline for when to start a resolution gives them some time to mull over a strategy or simply brace themselves mentally for what they are forcing themselves to do. How does your brain work? Have you successfully kept a resolution? Do you wait until January 1st?

Rebecca

Santa is a Jerk?!

Christmas just keeps getting closer and closer, requiring me to get my stuff together! Friday evening I made great strides towards just that. I quickly pulled myself together after work and headed out to shop. I'm happy to report that I got most of my Christmas shopping done and the stores weren't completely unbearable. I Rachel Ray'd all the bags and boxes into the house and secreted them away in one trip. Sitting down amongst all of the naked presents and their future garments, I popped in my favorite Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I happily snipped and taped as I sang along to joyous songs and precious animations when a realization struck me. This beloved movie wasn't such a happy, positive tale. 

*Spoiler Alert!* (Seriously though, this movie came out in 1964 for Pete's sake!)

Poor Rudolph is born with a genetic mutation this particular herd hasn't seen before. Instead of embracing the fact that Rudolph's nose is unique and high-tech, his parents cover it up with embarrassment. In an unfortunate turn of events, Rudolph's faux nose falls off, revealing his "deformity" to his teacher and peers. They ostracize Rudolph and he decides to run away. Meanwhile, an elf in Santa's workshop wants to be a dentist and is ostracized by his peers much like Rudolph. When these two misfits meet up, they make their way to the "Land of Misfit Toys". This is an island where Santa sends all of the toys that aren't good enough to be gifted to boys and girls around the world. So far in the film, the underlying theme children can take away is if you're different or maybe have some sort of physical defect (or maybe you want to be a dentist), you should be shut away like a leper because you aren't fit to be a part of society.

All in all, Santa and all the other jerks in the film learn the folly of their ways and come together in peace and love. Of course I don't really take the underlying themes of bullying and exclusivity as seriously as earlier stated but it 

I'm a published poet!

It's the Christmas season yet again (it's like it happens on a regular basis or something)! I love this time of year the most. Being a baker, I can really show off to all of my friends and family. Being a whore for sweets, I can gorge myself on chocolates and sugar cookies and no-one will notice because they are doing the same. I also enjoy bringing out all of the decorations that have been in my family for quite some time. They all hold special memories and meanings. This year, I found a special gem crammed in with all of the Christmas trimmings.

When I was four and in pre-school, my class made a cookbook. I vividly remember sitting on the steps in the classroom with one of the teachers, working on my section for this book. I'm positive I broke a sweat working on this masterpiece of prose. If you are searching for something to write in a card for your mommy this year, by all means borrow my work. You might want to read it through first...

My Mom     By Rebecca W

My mommy helps me...clean my room and put my clothes on.

I know my mommy loves me because...she lets me help her.

A hug from mommy....makes me happy.

My mommy...works and cleans the house up and makes dinner...all day.

What I like best about my mommy is that...she's nice sometimes and she likes me.

My mom gets mad at me when...I mess my room up.

I know she's mad at me when she yells.

It's just not hard to be a mommy.

I've helped you out by underlining the questionable bits of this poem. You might want to remove them or replace them with things that won't make your mommy look at you in horror. What treasures have you happened upon that made you laugh or smile?

Rebecca

Getting to know you

Hello & welcome to Sugar & Sand! I am a twenty-something (a woman never reveals her age!) pastry chef living at the beach, hence the name of this blog. Unfortunately or fortunately for you, depending on why you stumbled here, this will not be entirely a cooking blog. While I love my chosen profession, it is not my only passion. I love a good book, long walks on the beach, and warm bubble baths. Wait! Sorry, I am getting this confused with my online dating profile. In summation, this blog will encompass all aspects of my life & things that strike me as noteworthy. Thank you for stopping by!

                                                                                                              Rebecca