Feeling Grateful for Tacos
For the second time in three weeks, I managed to biff making orzo pasta. I’m beginning to think my culinary abilities would not even be recognized as “cooking” in at least 16 states (and probably more like 19). It’s unclear as to when I lost my ability to boil water, add noodles, and drain appropriately, […]
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Book Club
I’m supposed to be writing something else right now, but my brain won’t stop circling back to the thought of authors who just get moments oh so right. The ones whose scenes reach out and touch your heartbrain all over, all at once submersing you into their fictional reality and your real memory. This may […]
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Just Give Me a Reason: Bridezilla Edition
For whatever reason, Aron and I were discussing bridezillas. You know, those wild-eyed women who take being Queen for a Day straight to hellions with tiaras, seemingly desperate to make everyone around them miserable? Yeah, I know. Weird date conversation. “Just…what’s the point?” he asked me, as if I had some magic key to unlocking […]
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Mix Tape for Loving Kindness
When my heart feels the way it did the other day? I eventually fade into either meditation, NPR or, as my brother introduced me to with a mix-cd called “Wave to the Koala,” music. What did he say in the liner notes? Something about how music calms, and heals. Here’s a quick smattering of encouraging/compassion-inspiring […]
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Dismissiveness in Dating Culture
This status update appeared in my Facebook Newsfeed recently. I say appeared as if the apparition was magic, but of course, there was no bibbity-bobbity-boo involved; just someone I vaguely used to know wanted to share something. My jaw dropped a little. Here’s a woman […]
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What Will You Find When You Look Inside Your Heart?
My heart hurt so God-damned much in that moment. Every other beat felt like it was knocking on my ribcage, begging to escape. I should have been so lucky. Alicia of seven months ago would have started texting, calling, emailing, writing, Instagramming, Facebooking, or drinking (or some to all of those -ings) as a means […]
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Ideas Grow and Magic Happens #WDS2014
So. A few weeks ago one my freelance bosses had an idea I’ll call Come to the World Domination Summit in Portland! The name pretty much says it all. Adventure-seeking Alicia thought, “Booyah!” while hermit-crab-who-fears-flying Alicia thought, “Oh dear.” The former won my internal battle, mostly due to something I wrote to my friend Richard: …I’m […]
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When You Accidentally Send Nude Photos to Your Ex…
One of my favorite coworkers is remarkably taciturn. His bark has (hilarious) bite, but he’s more likely to keep mum than not. He probably adheres to that “if you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at all” adage (that’s how it goes, right?) which I clearly far too often forget to subscribe to. […]
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Achievement (Almost) Unlocked: Redefining Dating Success
Caitlin and I were walking home. To one side of us, trees. The other, commuters desperate to return home and buses who vote liberal with their horns. “It’s amazing to me how when I wasn’t dating, I didn’t care about being single. I didn’t think about it.” Caitlin had spent the better part of a […]
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The Math of An Awkward “Hello”
Greeting Russell was awkward, mostly because upon reaching up to hug him, I managed to swipe the tip of his nose with my thumb. Thankfully, I didn’t make it into his nostril, but I definitely grazed from one exterior bulge to the other. Being a gentleman (and for all I know, a scholar), Russell didn’t […]
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