Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Beautiful Mundane



I slept off and on all day.
Staying up until 4am is not okay with my body anymore.
It was worth it though. I love working at the bar.
One of my favorite parts of the night was when someone told me to stop smiling so much. I didn't realize I was.
That was a good feeling.
Another great moment was when an old boss of mine told me I look exactly the same. (I worked for him 15 years ago.) Riiight. I'm sure, but whatever. I'll take that!

And I love being able to cut up with good friends. Laughter. Lots of it. So many people came out. Good to see everyone. The bands weren't bad either!

Because of my little aches and pains (caused by 12 hours of non stop movement) and lack of sleep, pretty much everything I had planned for today ended up being canceled. Audrey had a bit of a bug, as well. So, we all camped out on the couch.
Such a lazy day.
We watched Puss and Boots. Slept a little. Watched Hugo. Slept a little. Snacked. Played outside for a spell. Grew some crystals. Watched Hugo, again. Went to bed.







Thursday, March 15, 2012

100 Things About Me (Orginal Post: May 3, 2005)

At the beginning of the year, I required my photo students to write 100 things about themselves to use as assignment prompts. They've since asked me for mine. I promised them I'd look for the one I did years ago. I found it. Honestly, it was surreal to read back over these, seven years later. Some of these numbers no longer apply, but for the sake of history, I'll leave them unedited.

Enjoy. I wonder how many of you will make it all the way to 100.

100 Things About Me

  1. My Dad wanted to name me Pi.
  2. I drank a cup of bleach when I was two. My parents never thought I would talk again.
  3. I can do your tarot card reading.
  4. Cheerios is the only cereal I eat.
  5. I hate the person who invented glitter.
  6. My favorite artist is Egon Schiele. I wish I could have met him.
  7. All of my life, I have secretly desired to see a ghost.
  8. Every cat I’ve ever owned I’ve named Kitty.
  9. I once stuck my finger in a light socket and was electrocuted.
  10. I won’t eat popcorn.
  11. I have been inside the engine of a freight train and shook hands with the conductor. His name was Ron. “R-O-N, Ron.” He took us across a bridge and back.
  12. My favorite retreat is the shower.
  13. I once took such a long shower that my Dad turned off the hot water heater to force me out.
  14. I met my future husband in middle school. I never thought I’d marry him.
  15. According to my husband, the phrase that most comes out of my mouth is, “I’m tired.”
  16. I wish the phrase that most came out of my mouth were something more interesting.
  17. Sweet tea is my addiction.
  18. I am attracted to spherical objects like globes, marbles and glass paperweights.
  19. I am equally attracted to boxes. Especially old ones and tin ones.
  20. I collect $2 bills.
  21. I also collect Thermos canisters, old fans, old radios and old phones, but not so much anymore.
  22. I have never thrown away a postcard or a letter I’ve gotten in the mail.
  23. Greeting cards I don’t keep unless they are extra special or sentimental.
  24. My favorite number is 15, but I couldn’t tell you why.
  25. I like to stay up late.
  26. I like to open the windows when it’s raining.
  27. I would rather have the windows rolled down in the car than have the AC on.
  28. All of my life, I’ve fought with my younger sister. I wonder if we will ever stop competing.
  29. Some of my most treasured items are old photos of my parents.
  30. My handwriting always changes, depending on my mood.
  31. Churches make me uncomfortable and nauseous.
  32. Halloween is my favorite holiday.
  33. Once, while living in Athens, a trick-or-treater fell through our front porch. She wasn’t even wearing a costume.
  34. I like to pick zits and pluck hairs.
  35. One time I pulled/ plucked out all of my eyelashes. I looked like a lizard. They grew back.
  36. I still regularly pluck out my gray hairs.
  37. I beg Tim to tickle my back almost every night before we go to bed.
  38. I love to garden.
  39. I used to hate dogs, but now I love them.
  40. Pineapple is my favorite fruit. Then strawberries, then raspberries, then apples.
  41. I love the beach, but I am too scared to swim in the ocean.
  42. The farthest place I’ve traveled is to Paris.
  43. I hate that we have a TV in our bedroom.
  44. I fall asleep best when it’s silent- no fan, no TV, no humming of a computer.
  45. Knitting has become a favorite hobby.
  46. I used to paint a lot. I hate it that I don’t paint anymore.
  47. I am terrified of spiders.
  48. Elvis married us in Las Vegas.
  49. Our limo got a flat tire on the way to the chapel. And our photographer was drunk.
  50. I was the skinniest I’ve ever been right before I got pregnant.
  51. I have always envisioned myself living in an old farmhouse with high ceilings and a wrap-around porch.
  52. The only person I’ve ever punched is my little sister. I drew blood.
  53. I love bloopers shows.
  54. I cry a lot.
  55. When I was in the 4th grade, I asked for a Webster’s Un-Abridged Dictionary as a birthday present.
  56. I bought a motorcycle, rode it twice and then sold it. It was too scary.
  57. I have never in my life had a birthday party.
  58. I am horrific with directions. Thank God for Mapquest.
  59. I would not consider myself a religious person, but I would consider myself a spiritual person. (But not in that hippy weird kind of way)
  60. I think food tastes better when someone else makes it for you.
  61. I like to throw parties.
  62. I could live off of bread, cheese and chocolate.
  63. My favorite song of all times is “The Twelfth of Never” by Nina Simone.
  64. There are only 2 songs I sing in the shower: “The Twelfth of Never” and “Black Boys on Mopeds” by Sinead O’Conner.
  65. I have already written out what I am going to say at my father’s funeral and have given it to him
  66. My all-time favorite movie is “Wings of Desire” by Wim Wenders.
  67. I have a guitar, and know how to play a little, but would like to take lessons so that I could be really good some day.
  68. I love to play board games, cards, and sports but never get to because Tim HATES all of those things!
  69. I’d like to go to the west coast some day.
  70. Tim says that I, without fail, manage to pick out the most expensive things in stores. He says the price goes up as soon as I reach for it.
  71. Butterflies make me smile.
  72. My grandfather told me once that if a butterfly lands on you, it’s an old friend that’s come to say, “Hi.”
  73. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done is sneak out onto the roof of an Atlanta skyscraper and lean out over the edge. It was amazing and exhilarating.
  74. I’m not a pajama wearing person. I sleep in t-shirts.
  75. I’m the only person I know that doesn’t have their ears pierced.
  76. It feels funny to go to sleep without a dog lying up against me.
  77. I would rather sleep in my own bed than anywhere else.
  78. I hate taking any kind of medicine. Tim has to force me to take it when I’m sick.
  79. I would try acupuncture in a second.
  80. I was an All-State softball third-baseman. (Not many people know that due to the butch comments that inevitably follow.)
  81. I’m tired of living in a neighborhood where I hear gunshots in the middle of the night.
  82. If I didn’t love my family so much I would convince Tim to move to another country.
  83. My very first memory is of me standing on a chair near the stove watching my father make pancakes in the shapes of animals.
  84. I asked my father recently if he knew what my very first memory was, and amazingly, he did.
  85. I think my mother is the best cook EVER.
  86. I talk to my mother almost every other day and have ever since I left her house.
  87. I’ve never met anyone that has the same birthday as me.
  88. I used to do the crossword puzzle religiously, but now I don’t because we don’t get the paper.
  89. I think cookies should be chewy, not crunchy.
  90. The Fox Theater is one of my favorite places to go. I love to look at the ceiling.
  91. I love to sit around a bon-fire.
  92. I think one of the most attractive things about Tim is his veiny hands and arms.
  93. The first night that Tim and I shared the same bed, we woke up holding hands.
  94. I have a double-jointed pinky finger
  95. It’s much harder for me to be friends with women than men.
  96. I bruise very easily. Touch me and I bruise.
  97. I have very good yard ethic and enjoy landscaping.
  98. When Tim and I started dating, we made a list of all of the things we want to do together.
  99. I hope that we will be able to mark every single item off of that very long list. That would be cool.
  100. It was much harder than I thought it would be to come up with 100 things about myself.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mad as a Hatter, Methinks.

Call me crazy. I believe in chance and happenstance. I believe complete strangers can double as fortune cookies and friends check up on you, seemingly out of the blue, at the exact moment you need them.

These types of things have been happening to me for the past two months.

Call me crazy. These serendipitous situations, they are keeping me from coming undone.


Monday, March 05, 2012

Snippet of Insanity

Right now, for me, it's all about finding distractions.

Instead of playing online Scrabble or having facebook pity parties with pals miles away, I decided to take some pictures tonight. (My dad will enjoy that childhood reference.) Anyway, I guess I'm trying to slowly get back into the blog thing because, well, I miss it. Besides, Harper will be mad if Audrey is the only one with funny stories.

Tonight, while watching Shrek for the thousandth time, Harper waltzes out into the living room in her prettiest princess dress. It was a sight, but only because she had strategically pulled down the front of the dress to reveal her baby boobies (as we like to call them). She asked, very royally, "Muhthuh, How do I look?" I took her in for a moment and said smugly, "Pull up your dress."
She didn't even look at me, but held her gaze straight forward and repeated, "I asked you: Muthuh, How do I look?"
I buckled and softly said, "You look very pretty."
"Well, then. I look pretty. So, I don't have to pull up my dress." She turned and walked away demonstrating just as much attitude with her tiny staccato steps.

Shortly after the movie, we took a bath:



Yes, they ate bananas in the bathtub.


Why not?

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Almost as captivating as a shooting star

I wonder if you can make some characterizing correlation between people that prefer rainbows over people that prefer shooting stars.
I love a good rainbow, but for me, a shooting star is a much more profound occurrence.

Either way, I should look to the skies more often.

for a minute, then it was gone.