Me: Hey!

Friend in Obvious Emotional Pain: Hey.

Me: Are you okay?

FiOEP: No.

Me. What’s wrong?

FiOEP: Nothing.

…well obviously that’s not true.

I mean, how dare you resist my kindness?! I’m a freaking ray of sunshine!!!  Eventually, I calmed down and realized that sometimes, people just need to be left alone, but I was still a little upset about it.

Then I saw this flashmob to Tchaikovsky and now I feel tons better. Love it!

Happy Monday!

1) My grandmother is cooler than your grandmother

2) My grandmother can use a computer with style. Can yours?

3) See #1

However, for this very reason, today’s story is going to be a little, hmm…euphemistic.

There is a certain local band for whom my boss asked me to track down some artwork today.  He said that I could find the artwork on the band’s Facebook page.  Okay, cool.

So I went to Facebook at typed the name of the band into the search window.

Apparently the name of this band is also the name of an…um…intimate position?  This must be a popular, uh, style because there are Facebook groups dedicated to it. With photos.

You see where this is going, don’t you?  Let’s just say that the band was not the first page that showed up in the results and I was left sitting in my office screaming, “Oh! No no no no no!”

So, yeah.  That’s how my day went.  How about you? Leave a comment below!

Have you ever heard such a glorious thing?  After the week I’ve had, the thought that kept me going was that for the first time in months (and the last time for a while because I have a class that starts next week) I didn’t have anything I had to do on Saturday morning, so I got to sleep.  Oh, blessed sleep. You just don’t realize how much you miss it until it’s gone.

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend.  Here are some of my favorite things from around the web!

Trying to give up the soda habit? Try Naturally Flavored Water from The Yummy Life

I’m recently renewed in my obsession of Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which makes these two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and makes them the center of the action.  My favorite line? “There must have been a moment, at the beginning, when we could have said no — but somehow we missed it.” Don’t you feel like that sometimes? I know I do!

Have you seen the Benjamin Moore Color Gallery?  How did I not know about this?  Whether you are planning a remodel or just love to play with color, the site is filled with inspirational rooms and ideas.

This important reminder from Melissa’s Projects reminds us all to do our best.  I want to hang this in my classroom for sure!

^^^^^Check out this photo I found on Pinterest!  I love the idea of blowing up an image and framing it as art.  I may have to add this to the ever-growing list of projects I want to try.

Have a lovely weekend!

Two girls walk into a Mexican restaurant.  They are each wearing workout clothes and carrying designer handbags.  Neither appears to have sweat recently, but both look extremely tired.

Can you figure it out?

It was a rough day.

So I was on my way to pick up Emily so we could go to Jazzercise (btw: I LOVE Jazzercise!!!).  When I arrived at her home, I heard the following sound coming from my car:

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Which of the following is the source of the sound?

A) There was a snake that had slithered up and was nesting on top of the spare tire in order to get away from the cold.

B) My back left tire was impaled and was leaking air at an alarming rate.

C) Someone lit a fuse and my car was about to blow up.

If you guessed B) Flat tire, you win!

The tire was changed, Jazzercise was missed, and we ended up going for Mexican food instead.  This came at the end of an incredibly long day that was just a blip in the life of a ridiculously long week.  It would be easy to sit in a corner and do my best impression of Eeyore, but I’ve decided to adopt an attitude of gratefulness.  Otherwise, I might lose my mind.

I’m thankful:

… for Jack, Emily’s dad, who changed my tire

…that I was in the driveway of a friend, and not on some back road or someplace dangerous

…that my tire started deflating while there was still daylight

…that my dad took my car to get the tire plugged for me while I was at work

…that the tire could be plugged and didn’t have to be replaced

…for Mexican food, which was a single bright spot in an otherwise horrible day

…that I have a job that allows me to even own a car, in a pretty ugly economic climate

…that it didn’t rain, or sleet, or snow during my time of crisis

There is so much in my life for which to give thanks, and I’m sure in yours too.  Leave a comment about a time you chose thankfulness over bitterness!

Have a lovely Thursday!

So far I’ve gotten through half of the day without being “fooled” but there is still plenty of time. We’ll see how it goes. (by the way, if you haven’t checked out Google’s joke, head over to their website and follow your nose)

The weather is finally starting to warm up and with it comes new growth, new life, and my renewed dedication to being fully present in everything I do.  When I’m at work, I work.  When I’m studying, I study. Etc. etc. etc. In that spirit, I submit to you 15 Assumptions That Might be Useful to Make.  This list was originally posted on The Belle Jar, which is a lovely blog and you should check it out.  But here it goes!

1. Assume that you are loved.

2. Assume that those who love you find some kind of value in you and the things you do.

3. Assume, however, that you don’t need to be valuable in order to be worthy of love.

4. Assume that there is no one out there keeping a tally of all of your failings, ready to throw it in your face when you’re either feeling too good or too awful about yourself.

5. Assume that if anyone actually is keeping a tally of all your failings, that act says more about them than it does about you.

6. Assume that you can’t make all of the people happy all of the time; maybe not even some of the people some of the time.

7. Assume that you will, over the course of your life, sometimes anger or disappoint the people you love.

8. Assume that when this happens, it isn’t the end of the world, even if that’s what it feels like.

For the last 7, head on over to The Belle Jar.

Have a lovely Monday!

Related articles

• Fifteen Assumptions That Might Be Useful to Make (bellejarblog.wordpress.com)

I hope you’ve had a lovely week.  This one was pretty strange and strangely wonderful for me.  We started the week with snow and now it’s above 50 degrees and sunny.  Go figure, you know?  I had an amazing opportunity to catch up with my sweet friend Sarah as well as spend some time with Emily.  It’s funny that now that she’s moved back to the area, I almost never see her.

This weekend my brother and his girlfriend are coming into town and have bell choir rehearsal and then Easter with all of its musical stylings (did I mention that I sing and play bells?  Hmm.  Well there you go.  I also play the piano, but not, you know, in front of people.)  There will be much cooking and a little baking and a LOT of decorating, so hopefully I’ll have the brain power to remember to take photos of my projects. We shall see.

I’ve decided that I’m going to will Spring into existence.  In that spirit, here are some of my favorite spring-time things from around the web.

5. For the Spring Cleaning enthusiasts, this list of all-natural homemade cleaning products from He and She Eat Clean

4. For Easter Dinner, I’ll be trying these homemade crescent rolls from Nomemade. I’ll let you know how it goes!

3. To prepare for the warm-weather entertaining to come, these tin can lanterns from Grow Creative

2. These ridiculously cute Strawberry Pillows from The Purl Bee

1. Getting itchy to travel? Check out this completely amazing Passport Wallet by Maia Low

What are you favorite things right now?  Leave a comment below to share your thoughts!

Have a lovely Easter weekend!

Related articles

• Easter Favorites (popcornandpandas.wordpress.com)

Now, that kind of sounds like a good thing, right?  I don’t make impulse buys, I don’t over-shop, but I also don’t buy the things that I really want/need because I’m afraid that someday I’ll regret it or that I’ll wish I had spent that money on something else.  I think it all stems from a deep-seeded guilt complex.

It’s a sickness. I know.  I’m working on it. More on that later.

So what I tend to do when I really want something, but don’t have the chutzpah to make a purchase, is mention to a family member that I really want this thing, and then wait for a gift-giving holiday to come around.  Fortuitously, the following things are true:

1) My birthday and Christmas are about 6 month apart, so we’re never too far from such a holiday (end of May!)

2) My family, with a couple of exceptions, seems pretty terrified of shopping for me, so they stick to the list. Love it!

All of these things culminated in a perfect storm that ended with getting a Nook for Christmas.  AND I LOVE IT!!!

*Note* I know it’s not a “cool” as an iPad, but I didn’t want a tablet, I wanted a reader.  I did my research and this is the one I wanted and we’re very happy together, okay?  So back off. *End rant*

Now, instead of carrying around a bunch of books (which I’ve done) I have a slim format to indulge one of my greatest passions.  Consequently, I’ve ready about 25 books since the beginning of the year, so there’s that.

Most recently, I finished The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, a 2005 novel by Kim Edwards.  The plot is basically this: Set in mid-century Kentucky, a man is forced to deliver his wife’s twins because of a freak snowstorm and realizes that one, a girl named Phoebe, has Down Syndrome. He tells his nurse to take the baby to an institution for the mentally retarded, but she is unable to do so and takes the girl to a new city and raises her.  The story is a heartbreaking one of loss and regret and the kind of walls that tear down families, but also the amazing healing power of love.  It isn’t brilliantly written, but it is very good.

As part of my graduate coursework, I had to take a class about special education.  There are so many protections for the intellectually disabled (and other people with disabilities  that it’s so hard to fathom that just 50 years ago, parents would have had to fight to provide their children with disabilities with an education of any kind.  This book is chilling, sad, a hopeful all at the same time.  It really touched my heart and left me feeling a little different then when I started.

And it’s snowing.

Because sure, why not?

I really don’t mind the snow.  In general I like it and since my car has four-wheel drive (thanks Subaru!) it’s not so bad, but seriously? March?

Apparently so.

In honor of this glorious occasion, I’d like to take the opportunity to speak about something really important: Snow day movies.  Now, let me be clear about this, not films about snow (necessarily!) but film that are perfect ways to spend a snow day (or, incidentally, a sick day).  Don’t judge me or send me hate mail if you don’t like my picks, but feel free to leave your favorites in the comments!

Number 5 – The Last Action Hero

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an actor, playing an action hero.  A kid crosses over from the real world to movie world.  Things get real.  It’s a perfectly silly box-office flop about the difference between fantasy and reality.

Number 4 – The Breakfast Club

I love John Hughes (RIP) and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Number 3 – The Sound of Music

This is one of my favorite movies, like, ever, but I usually have to wait until a snow day to not feel guilty about watching it because the film is quite…lengthy.  There’s even an intermission.  Singing children, Nazis, and the very attractive young Christopher Plummer make this a gem.

Number 2 – Ferris Beuller’s Day Off

Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.  Plus! Gratuitous musical number.  (Did you know that Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey dated for a while after this film?  Truth)

Number 1 – The Princess Bride

Pirates, sword fights, and mostly dead guys.  There’s nothing better than this film, especially if you’re home all day.  Nothing, except maybe a MLT sandwich – mutton, lettuce, and tomato – where the mutton is sliced really thin…

So that’s my list.  Leave comments with your favorite stay home movie!

Happy Monday!

As some of you who have been reading along for a while may have noticed, I used to do a feature called “Weekend Warriors” on Fridays, highlighting people or organizations whose body of work was admirable.  Sometimes though, I just want to show you specific things that I’ve found on the interwebs that made me smile, made me think, or inspired me.  In that spirit, I’d like to share some of my favorite things from around the web.  Feel free to leave a comment and share something you’ve discovered this week!

5 things I’m loving this week:

Safety First:  How to Escape from Zip Ties – ITS Tactical

These Fossil Cookies from Martha Stewart are adorable and educational!

This reminder to be Kind,  from Life is Beautiful.

This repurposed type tray from Cloud9Jewels gives me the push I need to do my own type tray project!

This Avocado Basil Pasta that makes me excited for summer produce.

Have a lovely weekend!