Identity Crisis

Once again I'm thinking of redesigning my blog. I so want it to be easy on the eyes, minimal, and cohesive but I just can't seem to find something I like.

I have an entirely new appreciation for designers. From taking nothing and making it visually interesting while simultaneously explaining what the company is about in a few logo design strokes...that is crazy impressive.

And then of course there's the name. I like being The Seven Year Bitch and yet I can't seem to meld my love of bright colors, owls, and Wordgirl to what Google images thinks "bitch" is.

Now don't get me wrong I can definitely be a bitch but my overall visual personality does not scream it. Hence the many incarnations over the past month of the blog and the logo.

I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to things like this. Does it matter if I only have one reader? Nope. I want that one reader to think my blog is the best it can possibly be. I want them to know that I put time, effort, and thought into it.

It doesn't help that I am also constantly comparing my blog to other more famous blogs that generate enough income for them to hire real designers and webmasters and whatever else is needed. Here I am trying to do it all on my own having virtually no knowledge of any of it and then going and comparing my blog to theirs.

Look at her blog! It's so bright and cute and her name fits! --His blog completely compliments his posts and his entries! Why can't I do that?

It's really not fair and yet I don't care. I still want my blog to be awesome.

So, just a heads up on all the changes going on. I'm sure one day I'll figure out something I like.

Then again knowing me, my blog might constantly be in the midst of an ever-changing template.



Of course, rebranding and reimagining isn't all bad. Here are some logos that have been redone over the years.

*All images came from this website.

Living with an Artist

John is an artist. A crazy good one. I can barely draw stick figures while he on the other hand can some how make them look as if they have their own characteristics. (They're stick figures!) In high school he would make me pictures that I'd nonchalantly accept but then giggle like a little girl when I brought them home. I love looking at his stuff.

I knew that because I am a sad, pathetic, immature person that his drawing would never make me jealous because I've never been able to draw. I knew that our relationship was safe from the green monster of jealous rearing its ugly Valerie-shaped head.

I've never wanted to date a guy who did the same things as me. When I was an English major, I could never have dated another guy who liked to write. Now, I could never seriously date someone who was into film...and was better than me. Because I am just not that big of a person. I would compare all our projects, jobs, gigs. And god forbid he was actually crazy good and won awards and made tons of money. I'd try to be happy for him. I'd put on a fake customer-service smile and tell him how great it is that he's won his second Oscar and then I'd cry in the closet or something.

And it'd be the ugly kind of crying.

Because really I'm a small, shallow person. I'd be miserable and I'd go back through all of my stuff and critique it to within an inch of its digital life. I'd tear apart any good thing that came out of it.

I know that says  a TON more about me than I would ever care to admit in person but it's definitely true. I have always wanted to be the best when it comes to things I like and I know that when it comes to video I'm nowhere close. I have tons of friends who are amazing and for them I can truly be happy in their accomplishments but it's different when it's your significant other. Isn't it?

So I was okay with the fact that I would never be on John's level when it came to drawing. I could totally live with that.

But then a funny thing started happening. John wasn't just a good artist. He was good at everything creative and Bob the Builder-y, and driving (but those are their own posts).

He'd grab my camera and take twenty pictures all better than mine having never touched it before.

This is him being all professional and looking through the viewfinder.

And then I'm over here like...why is everything black!?

Or I'd be sitting at my computer having spent an hour and an eternity trying to Photoshop my mediocre pictures into something better and he'd come by telling me what to do to make it into a work of art...In two seconds he'd accomplish what I had set out to do in half an hour.

Can be found in the Museum of Bad Art.

What it looks like after he's helped me. 

And both fortunately and unfortunately for me, his skill doesn't stop there. He can make my clothes match when it seems that nothing will go together. He can tell just by looking at the ugly color swatches at the makeup counter which will look best for my skin tone.

He'd never let this happen to me. 

His ability transcends just paper and pencil. His talent can be seen everywhere.

I love him so it wasn't like this whole thing was a deal breaker but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit annoying. Still is actually.

The things he can see in his head and the make sense in real life is a trait I envy greatly.

But no matter how much I wish I could do what he does without even the slightest thought, I love being with someone like that even if I thought I never would.

Besides the obvious clothing and make up upsides - his eye for design has helped me. Unlike me, he is not easily annoyed and his patience is at least five times mine so when I pick his brain apart about why that color works with that or I ask him why is that one thing on that side and not the other, he answers them and tries to help me see exactly what he does.

He shares what I can understand of his talents happily, never getting angry at me for being the shallow bitch that I am or asking for anything in return. Which is great because the only thing I can do without thinking is sleeping and I'm pretty sure he already has that down.

When I Grow Up

There is always an age-appropriate question that everyone and their mother seems to ask you. There's

"What college are you going to?"

"When are you majoring in?"

"When are you going to get married?"

"When are you going to have kids?"

"Did you gain weight?" Oh wait, I don't think that one's usually said aloud.

Anyway, as lovely as these questions may be, to me they were always a little bit too invasive. But I'm a pretty private person (says the girl who blogs her life). At least about some things.

But when I was younger there was a question that teachers would ask and I had no problem answering it.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

At first the question is easy because words like college, training, and years of experience mean nothing to your little eight-year-old brain. You answer truthfully about things you are passionate about. Jobs that are so cool and interesting to you that you can imagine doing them when you're ancient and 20. You think of the fun and the fame the job will bring you.

I love hearing what little kids want to be. Their hopes and dreams haven't been dashed yet by us cynical adults yet. Their little heads are still full of things like creativity and passion.

When I was younger I was A LOT different than I am now. I loved science. I'd actually read science books. I mean, I still love science. I catch myself actively watching Nova when I should be working but now it just kind of fascinates me; it doesn't completely leave me wanting to know WHY.

Anyway, back then I would read science books and watch Bill Nye at my grandma's house. (I didn't understand the whole video thing yet. I wouldn't get into film/video until late in high school.)

So what to book-nerd Valerie was the coolest job on the planet? Well, I wanted to either an astronaut

or a paleontologist.

Seriously guys. Don't need to laugh that hard.

Could you imagine me right now in...somewhere sandy? With khaki shorts, and brown boots with long socks sticking out the top? An Indiana Jones hat on my super-frizzy hair while I brandished soft bristle brushes and dusted layers of dirt? Me neither.

These careers no longer interested me when I realized you need a lot of math and science and other brainy things to become an astronaut. Not to mention crazy guts to hurl yourself out of our atmosphere and into the great scary blackness that is space.

Digging for dinosaurs sounded crazy to me when I realized that I could spend hours and hours of my life digging in places only to find nothing more than a seashell. Or not even that much.

Pst. I got better things to do.

Only...you know. Not really.


Still it is weird to think back on that. To imagine myself in the third person as some weird little kid who really liked space and dinosaurs enough to want to do that for the rest of their adult life.

So if I was to be asked this question now, what would my answer be? Well, I'd set my sights lower. I'd be the inventor of the Snuggie. Or the person who thought up Netflix.

Ahhh yeah. Then I'd be set.

I Love Wordgirl

Have you ever heard of the cutest vocabulary teaching superhero?

Her name is Becky Botsford but when she goes undercover she dons her salmon suit and yellow cape to become WORDGIRL.

Wordgirl has super abilities. Saving the town from super villains while simultaneously teaching them the proper way to use words.


Wordgirl is my hero.

If I had been younger when this show first came out, I'd have been watching 30 minutes of entertaining educational TV. As it is, I've found it now in my 20s and I'm completely obsessed.

Wordgirl is the cutest, smartest, funniest, childhood superhero ever. The villains are hilarious and hilariously named. Like Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy (voiced by Fred Stoller) who, you guessed it, always has a sandwich in his evil plot.

Or Whammer (voiced by John C McGinley) who is bested in one episode by a Chinese finger trap.

The educational part comes in the vocabulary of each episode. They focus on two words for you to learn the meaning and the proper use of. These words aren't "dog" and "cat" though. They are words like "doppelganger" and "vegetarian".

The great thing, for me anyway, is the fact that the show doesn't try to shove too many words down your brain. They give you two, repeat the word and the meaning a few times and that's it. You're left to enjoy the satirical hilarity of the episode.

As with any superhero, Wordgirl has a trusty sidekick in her pet monkey, Captain Huggyface. He always helps Wordgirl fight crime and in between the episodes he'll enact a word of the narrator's choosing.

I have seen quite a few episodes and I absolutely love them. With the myriad of voices it seems that adults in Hollywood love it as well. Weird Al, Kristen Schaal, Amy Sedaris, Jim Gaffigan, Jeffrey Tambor, and Patton Oswalt are just a few names that voice their talents in the show.


As for me, are you kidding? A cute, little brown vocab superhero? I want to BE her.

If you haven't seen Wordgirl yet you can check out some episodes online or watch it with your kids (or by yourself like I do) on PBS. You have to watch it though you'll love her.

I Love San Antonio

Now that I've explained why I hate Austinites I thought I could even it out by telling you what I like about San Antonio.

Firstly, San Antonio has both Sea World and Six Flags in the same city! I don't know how many other cities can make that claim.

I am a sucker for a good ride (even though I'm terrified of heights). I love the fast ones and the slow ones, the upside down ones, and the backwards ones. The only ones I don't particularly like are those that leave you at the top to enjoy the view. I hate the view. I hate the ascent to the top of the drop. I hate being aware of how high I am but I digress. Six Flags Fiesta Texas isn't that big but it does have some pretty great rides and the water park is inside the theme park and is included with your ticket.

I went to Sea World for the first time in forever last year. It's fun to check out some of the shows and see the sharks and feed the seals. I think of Sea World more for children though as they only have two rides and most of their attractions come from animals and the shows. I mean, how many times can you see a dolphin flip before it gets old? But they do change up their shows depending on the seasons. I went during Christmas time so I didn't get to check out their newly updated water park but it's supposed to be awesome.

Via

SA also has a great Zoo, Botanical and Japanese Tea Gardens.

Hippo at the zoo. 

We're also big into the arts with our SA ARTS program. We have galleries, film contests, plays, jazz in the park, outdoor film series, museums, etc. We have a lot of tourist places to visit that goes beyond our Riverwalk.

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Another thing I like about SA is the cultural mixture we have here. I don't know if the world is getting more racist or if they're just writing about it more but I appreciate the fact that I grew up in a very diverse cultural city. I don't know what race comes to mind when you think of San Antonio but we have more than just white and Hispanic. We do have a high Hispanic population what with being so close to Mexico and all but we are also a very big military city. Many people end up staying here after they're done with their military careers.

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The best way to experience all the cultures we have here is by going to the yearly Texas Folklife Festival. The festival takes place in the summer on the Institute of Texan Cultures grounds downtown. It celebrates all the different kinds of people who came to settle Texas. You can try native food from places such as: Scotland, England, Pakistan, Vietnam, Mexico, Lebanon, Japan and many others. While you're eating you can grab a patch of grass and watch the various cultural entertainment.

Via

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Another thing I like is that San Antonio is big enough to not run into an ex on every other corner but the sense of community is nonetheless pretty strong. Nicole Goodman wrote a great article about what a non-native thinks about our community love.

San Antonio is great. Even when I'm with friends and we're trying to find something to do because it may not be awake at all hours of the night, like New York, but hey - at least it smells better.

Portobello Stuffed Mushrooms

This weekend I Martha-ed it up and cooked food.

I made these Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms from A Food Centric Life blog that I found on Pinterest.

First you have to roast the tomatoes and garlic in a bit of olive oil and thyme.

You broil the mushrooms to make them juicy, take them out and add the tomatoes, goat cheese, parsley and onions. Then you put them in the oven for a bit.


I don't usually like mushrooms but I've been trying to eat healthier and whatnot. To my surprise I really liked this. The mushrooms are meaty and I had never had goat cheese before but it was a-maz-ing. Both me and John had two each and we had a cup of tomato soup that I made also. But that is for another post.