Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Marie. Buy the store. Keep yourself and your mind occupied. Don't think too much. I love you. When are we gonna watch Exit Through the Gift Shop?

Tyler and Nina. I saw the photos Nina posted on Facebook. My goodness... I wanted to throw up. haha But mostly cuz you just looked so stinking cute.

Ashley. You're awesome and I love you and I'm so glad we're friends.

Rachel. I found your blog post from last October, the photoshoot you and David did, and I followed the links... Oh. My. Goodness. Those photos are awesome. I mean, really. You look like models, and you look so happy and beautiful and, oh gosh. I loved 'em! It was good to see you guys for a quick minute on Saturday. I hope you'll come Taco Tuesday/Bookclub.

Andy. I'm a jerk and didn't go to your show. I was... well... excuses, excuses. Sorry. But I wanna get a copy of your tunes when you've got 'em ready, so let me know! You should join our book discussion on the 20th of July. We're reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Taco Tuesday!

Dad. Your blog is going to be awesome, I just know it. That last post made me laugh. Mom's stuffed mushrooms make her the sexiest woman in the world? Nice.

Heather. You're awesome. You take such great care of your family. I wanna be like you. Sorry you're having a rough week. We'll have fun on Friday!

Anyone who cares: I just got Daria in the mail yesterday.
I grinned all night long. No joke. As I watched the first episode, the one where Daria meets Jane in the self-esteem class, I just giggled and giggled. And as I watched the second epsiode, the one where Daria and Jane go to Brittany's party (to celebrate her parents being out of town, or so says Kevin), I laughed out loud when Kevin tells Brittney, "You're a great hostess, cupcake! Hey..." On a sad note, 99% of music had to be changed, since it would have been expensive and incredibly difficult to buy the rights to all of the songs originally used in the series. Sad sad sad. So instead of hearing random clips from '97 (such as the Foo Fighters or Beck or Hanson or the Spice Girls), we get stuff I have yet to recognize. Oh well. On a very high plus-side, the series includes the two movies (Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?) plus the Mystik Spiral music video. Am I a happy girl? Why, yes. Yes, I am. Anyone up for a marathon?

Everyone else: I didn't forget you.
I

love

you

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Happiness is...

Daria, the complete series on DVD.

I just ordered via Target (free shipping today) and I can't wait for it to arrive. The next few weeks of my life will be spent watching Daria in my free time...which is most of the time.

Trent. That's all I'm saying.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Siblings

I'm the unofficial DJ at work. I make playlists for us all to enjoy. Well, OK, it's all from my iPod so I enjoy every song, whereas some of my coworkers get a little annoyed with some of the music I choose. But, hey, they appointed me so they have to just deal, right? Right. Anyway....

In my lastest playlist, I included the demo CD my little Tyler brother made. Every time one of his songs comes on, I'm re-amazed at the quality. He's really quite talented, lyrically and musically. I have this little place in my heart that kinda gets bigger, cuz he's my little brother and I'm so proud of him.

This got me to thinking about my siblings. They're all so awesome. They inspire me in different ways. They're my friends and I love being with them. They make me laugh. They make me cry. They're always there. They look out for me, and I look out for them. We get on each other's nerves, but we love each other unconditionally. I don't know who I would be without them. They're five of the most important people in my life. And through them, I've met more important people: my brother- and sister- (soon to be sisterS) in-law, and my niece and nephews, and all of the friends we share.

Anyway, all of is coming out cuz I was thinking about Tyler's music while reading Marie's blog and comments left on my blog from Britney, and the ice cream and company provided by Marie, the crazy fun at Heather's last week sharing music with her, talking with Hunter and Courtney about the music they like, getting my hair "fixed" by Jacob, Travis's wonderful FHE lesson, a scary phone conversation with Jana on Saturday and feeling of relief, reading David's Spotlight on the family website... I just love all of you so much!

Friday, June 11, 2010

What English majors do:



http://www.nataliedee.com/

Samuel Clemens was funny

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.
If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.

I've never killed a man, but I've read many an obituary with a great deal of satisfaction.

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

A classic is something that everybody praises and nobody has read.

The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Stuck

Something is holding her back. Something has taken grip of her heart, twisted and wrung it out, left it to dry. Something always brings tears to her eyes--crying or laughing, doesn't really matter which. Something always makes her smile ingenuinely, passively, ironicly real.

She groans.

She watches old episodes of her favorite tv shows and waits for life to happen.


On the other hand:

  • I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity. (Albert Einstein)
  • I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. (Henry David Thoreau)
  • Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that's where you renew your springs that never dry up. (Pearl S. Buck)
  • Isolation is aloneness that feels forced upon you, like a punishment. Solitude is aloneness you choose and embrace. I think great things can come out of solitude, out of going to a place where all is quiet except the beating of your heart. (Jeanne Marie Laskas)
  • It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking... in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet. (Franz Kafka)
  • Talents are best nurtured in solitude: character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world. (Goethe)
  • There is a solitude which each and every one of us has always carried within. More inaccessible than the ice cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea: the solitude of self. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

I was able to spend Family Night with my sister's family this week. My brother-in-law Travis gave a message about gossip. He compared it to a fire. He asked the kids what would happen if you added wood to a fire. My very smart four-year-old nephew Jacob said, "It would get bigger!" Travis then asked what would happen if you added more wood. Jacob answered, "It would burn our house down." He then went into detail about how the house would fall down and the neighborhood would burn up and maybe even the whole city.

I think he got distracted by the fire.

The metaphor wasn't lost on the older kids. My almost-ten-year-old niece Courtney said that we could be the water and put out the fire by saying nice things about those being gossiped about. She's a smart one, too. Hunter (a notorious twelve-year-old) grunted and groaned, but I'm pretty sure he was listening.

I was listening, too. I need to be better about saying nice things about people instead of being ornery about people. Be the water, not the wood.