Happy Late Anniversary to Myself

What! I apparently missed my one year anniversary of blogging on June 14. Happy late anniversary to myself. In celebration I thought I would revisit some of the past year, but after starting to do so I realized it was only making me sad and I'd rather focus on 12 things I want to accomplish/do in this next year. Here's the list I came up with:

1. Start a real career. Not a lame job to pay the bills, but an honest to goodness real job.


2. Focus on positive things. I know this sounds very general, but it's not really. Lately I've been falling into a bit of a thought trap. Too many critical, unhappy thoughts. I've decided that I will think the absolute best of people no matter what. It'll be hard, but I'll be happier and people will enjoy my company more. This also includes not dwelling on past things and thinking about what I can do to move on or make the situation better.


3. Write thank you notes to share my gratitude. I feel like I have a good start on this one. I try to get thank you notes out and always show gratitude, but sometimes I get lazy about it and I can do a better job.


4. Write 2 songs that I'm really proud of. Guitar, piano, harmonica... Doesn't matter, but I think it'd be nice to be able to say "I wrote that" when people fall in love with my wonderful future songs.


5. Make and keep a budget. We're talking a serious financial system that would even make Banker Chic proud. Not just checking online every other day.

6. Sort out my religious thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. This one is sure to take a long time and hard work, but I've been treading water for far too long in my beliefs.

7. Enhance my relationships with family members. Not that they're that terrible right now, but I've always been closer to the female members and I should put more effort into all of them.

8. Bike a century (100 miles), run a 10k (this is far for a wussy runner like myself), and do several triathlons.




9. Give up refined sugar and caffeine permanently. Let the withdrawals begin.





10. Become more honest. I had an interesting conversation with Scrabble Boy tonight that really made me think about the whole concept of honesty in general. I've been unknowingly operating under the philosophy that sometimes lying is necessary when feelings are involved. And I still think that is sometimes it is necessary, but that those times are far and few between. I'm going to try to be brutally honest with myself and just plain honest with others.



11. Read one new classic a month. I tend towards contemporary literature although I have typically enjoyed classics in the past. Here's me broadening my horizons.





12. Develop my artistic talents. I used to be a photography major, but after I switched I stopped taking my "real" camera with me everywhere looking for good photo ops. I'd also like to learn how to draw more accurately and quickly, especially faces.




They're not easy goals and I won't be able to tackle them all at once, but I think with some hard work and determination I can succeed. woohoo! here's to year #2!

jeepers!

I don't know what my problem is lately, but i've been feeling large amounts of anti-boy frustration lately. it's not breaking news, but jeepers (my new favorite word) they sure can be infuriating. at least half of my close friends are having boy trauma at the moment and i just don't understand so many guys of my generation can be so... not with it. get it together guys. on a lighter note, you should visit the fabulous Vermillion Vixon's site and read her response to an article about what guys/gals should have accomplished by the age of 21.

Boys-Are-Stinky Pie

Today, my little sis and I watched "Waitress," which is an independent movie starring Keri Russell as a pregnant waitress with an abusive husband who falls in love with her ob/gyn doctor. It's pretty much the stuff that country songs are made of. Although the movie itself was only so-so, the pies she makes throughout it are fabulous. She's constantly inventing yummy pies with names like I-don't-want-Earl's-baby-pie and Falling-in-love-chocolate-mousse-pie. We came home inspired to make our own inventive pie and settled on a Boys-Are-Stinky-Pie. The first round was graham cracker crust, mashed up blackberries, cheesecake pudding pie filling, and crunched heath bar on top. While the outcome was yummy, we've decided that next time it'll be lemon pudding filling and more blackberries on top. Yumm.... Stinky boys have never been so palatable :)

Want Some Gum?

Okay, it' s kind of blurry because we were driving while taking this picture, but what you're seeing is a giant gumball machine attached to a trailer being pulled by a truck. My sister and I thought it was too random to not document.

Brevity is Not my Forte

This past week has flown by with visiting friends, a John Mayer concert (awesome), hanging with my little sis, getting sun burned, and getting over bronchitis, but I can't seem to think of anything to blog about lately. So I've taken Lynette's tag for the meme on one word answers.

1 Where is your cell phone? somewhere
2 Relationship? hah!
3 Your hair? shorter
4 Work? frustrating
5 Your sister? sunburned
6 Your favorite things? friends
7 Your dream last night? forgotten
8 Your favorite drink? tea
9 Your dream car? audi
10 The room you're in? living
11 Your shoes? summery
12 Your fears? boys
13 What do you want to be in 10 years? awesome
14 Who did you hang out with this weekend? SLCers
15 What are you not good at? brevity
16 Muffins? Mimi's
17 Wish-list item? career
18 Where you grew up? minnesota
19 The last thing you did? bowling
20 What are you wearing? pajamas
21 What are you not wearing? girdle
22 Your pet? adorable
23 Your computer? sweet
24 Your life? breezy
25 Your mood? relaxed
26 Missing? gramma
27 What are you thinking about? geometry
28 Your car? dirty
29 Your kitchen? full
30 Your summer? fabulous
31 Your favorite color? green
32 Last time you laughed? now
33 Last time you cried? may
34 School? done
35 Love? you
36 Tag? whomever

Note to Self:

Do not do your laundry at 1:00 in the morning. When you go to pick up your dry clothing and sheets you will be drenched by the wayward sprinklers lining the path to the laundry facilities. Also, the door to the laundromat will be impossible to open in the darkness forcing you to fumble with the key and lock for a good 3 minutes while submitting you to the sprinkler aimed directly at you. Heaven only knows how the grass actually gets any water. On your way out you will try desperately to keep your laundry dry, but it won't work so you may as well not bother.

But Mom, I Don't Want to go to School Today

I don't get sick. Once a year in the fall I get a cold. And that's pretty much it.

But today I am sick. It started last night with a sore, scratchy throat. I started popping cough drops and knocked myself out with NyQuil but in the middle of the night I woke up and couldn't breathe. This morning I'm feeling putrid (love that word!) and have to get stuff done anyway. Lame.

Okay, I'm officially done whining to the blogosphere.

Mimi's Muffins For Free

How to get free muffins from Mimi's Cafe:

1. On a weekday, pull into the parking lot at 10:55 pm. 5 minutes before they close.

2. Walk in alone (it is very important that you not take a friend) at precisely 10:58 pm. Do this with full knowledge that you will be striking fear into the hearts of all the staff.

3. After giving the host a moment to consider his fear and loathing, give him winning smile and say something like, "Oh don't worry, I just want to get a few muffins to go."

4. Continue to flirt with the host.

5. Everyone will be so relieved that you are not there to eat that they will find you muffins and send you away with them on the house.

6. Take the most marvelous muffins on the planet home and enjoy!

Overheard While in the Old Navy Dressing Room:

Old Navy Girl (with disdain and pity in her voice): Did she ask you out?

Old Navy Boy: Uh.... no, not exactly

ONG: So wait, what happened then?

ONB: Well I got stuck back there and you know how she just got that tattoo?

ONG: Yeah...

ONB: She asked if I wanted to see it and I was trapped so I said yes. But then she just took her shirt off.

ONG: What! She couldn't just pull it up in the back?

ONB: You'd think so. And then she turned towards me.

ONG: I keep telling her she NEEDS to wear a bra.

Vanity, Oh Vanity...

Found this on a friends's myspace and I'm vain enough to post my own :)

http://www.myheritage.com

Maywood's Sanctuary

As I was reading Newsweek today I came across this quote from Heather MacDonald:

"The city of Maywood in Los Angeles County declared itself a sanctuary zone for illegal aliens this year. Then it got rid of its drunk-driving checkpoints, because they were nabbing too many illegal aliens. Next, this 96 percent Latino city, almost half of whose adult population lacks a ninth-grade education, disbanded its police traffic division entirely, so that illegals wouldn't need to worry about having their cars towed for being unlicensed."

Seriously? Out of control. I'm not necessarily taking issue with Maywood offering "sanctuary," but how can they possibly change so many policies/laws to make so many unreasonable concessions?