One headband with sparkly clovers on springs...
+ One reluctant subject...
+One persistent photographer...
+One near paw-punch to the face...
= Scruffy finally succumbs to the St. Patrick's Day Festivities
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
We Gave It the Old College Try
Tonight Belmont University, my dear alma mater, nearly pulled off an incredible upset of Duke in their first round tourney game. We lost in the final few seconds by one measely point. It was a really exciting game to watch and I was so proud of the way they played and the recognition they'll get because of it! Great job boys!
PS. My bracket has veered a little off course... but I am still confident in the mascot method. It will prevail in the end, I'm (kinda) certain!
PS. My bracket has veered a little off course... but I am still confident in the mascot method. It will prevail in the end, I'm (kinda) certain!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Putting in a good word for...
Three things I found/stumbled across/was shown that I wanted to share with the world! In no particular order they are:
1. the music of NEEDTOBREATHE - I'm not entirely sure why this band's name is all one word and in all caps, and I don't particularly care so long as none of them come and try to remove their latest cd "The Heat" from my car stereo, where it has been on almost exclusive rotation for about a month now. I love it. A lot. Rocky, melodic, a little bluesy, incredible vocals, lyrics and harmonies that won't get outta my head. Plus the lead singer's name is Bear. Bear! I'm kicking myself in the shins because I had a chance to go see them last year during GMA Music Week and I didn't because I had no idea who they were. Well I know now! And you should too! www.myspace.com/needtobreathe... and my favorite song is "Washed By the Water." And my second favorite song is "Return to Me." And my other favorite songs are all the other ones.
2. the movie "Be Kind Rewind" - Ben took me out for dinner and a movie on the eve of our third anniversary of being married last week and after some de-lish J. Alexander's this is the movie we saw. It was so delightful and whimsical... if you know my movie tastes you know I am especially partial to whimsy and anything that has to do with storytelling and reality blending with fantasy. The last Michael Gondry movie we saw, "Science of Sleep," was a little too kooky for even me. This one was just right! The basic and adorable plot to this movie is that two guys played by Mos Def and Jack Black end up with a store full of erased VHS tapes, and when their angry customers demand to rent movies, they end up reshooting them in their own versions starring themselves. Anyway, I thought it was so wonderful and charming and feel-good, but in a way that you didn't feel ashamed for liking it so much. Which is how I feel about the fact that I own the movie "The Prince and Me" starring Julia Stiles. Don't judge!
3. the blog "Stuff White People Like" - This is a very well-written and pretty darn funny running list of, as the title suggests, things the stereotypical young white American person loves. At first it is a little like, "hey... I like that.... hey, I like that too!" But I'm all for a little snark now and then, so don't take it personally and have a good laugh at your self. Heck, I managed to reference numbers 68 and 69 on the list in the second paragraph of this post alone! Thanks Danielle for sending me this one and brightening my whole afternoon.
1. the music of NEEDTOBREATHE - I'm not entirely sure why this band's name is all one word and in all caps, and I don't particularly care so long as none of them come and try to remove their latest cd "The Heat" from my car stereo, where it has been on almost exclusive rotation for about a month now. I love it. A lot. Rocky, melodic, a little bluesy, incredible vocals, lyrics and harmonies that won't get outta my head. Plus the lead singer's name is Bear. Bear! I'm kicking myself in the shins because I had a chance to go see them last year during GMA Music Week and I didn't because I had no idea who they were. Well I know now! And you should too! www.myspace.com/needtobreathe... and my favorite song is "Washed By the Water." And my second favorite song is "Return to Me." And my other favorite songs are all the other ones.
2. the movie "Be Kind Rewind" - Ben took me out for dinner and a movie on the eve of our third anniversary of being married last week and after some de-lish J. Alexander's this is the movie we saw. It was so delightful and whimsical... if you know my movie tastes you know I am especially partial to whimsy and anything that has to do with storytelling and reality blending with fantasy. The last Michael Gondry movie we saw, "Science of Sleep," was a little too kooky for even me. This one was just right! The basic and adorable plot to this movie is that two guys played by Mos Def and Jack Black end up with a store full of erased VHS tapes, and when their angry customers demand to rent movies, they end up reshooting them in their own versions starring themselves. Anyway, I thought it was so wonderful and charming and feel-good, but in a way that you didn't feel ashamed for liking it so much. Which is how I feel about the fact that I own the movie "The Prince and Me" starring Julia Stiles. Don't judge!
3. the blog "Stuff White People Like" - This is a very well-written and pretty darn funny running list of, as the title suggests, things the stereotypical young white American person loves. At first it is a little like, "hey... I like that.... hey, I like that too!" But I'm all for a little snark now and then, so don't take it personally and have a good laugh at your self. Heck, I managed to reference numbers 68 and 69 on the list in the second paragraph of this post alone! Thanks Danielle for sending me this one and brightening my whole afternoon.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Seriously.
This is from one of my favorite sites, toothpastefordinner.com, where this guy posts a little stick-figure comic every day. You will find this especially funny if:
a. you live in Ohio (which he does and references often)
b. you like to make fun of emo people
c. you have a sense of humor
Everyonce in a while he uses some unsavory language, so just a heads up!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Scruffy
In case you haven't been properly introduced, this is my dog, Scruffy:
I know I might be biased, but he is probably one of the best dogs ever in the history of dogs. I took this picture of him at the park a few weeks ago and every time I look at it it makes me smile. Scruffy is hilarious, loyal, quiet, pouncy, cuddly, relaxed, happy. His eyes are the color of caramel, his fur is fluffy and curly, and he has this extra skin around his neck - we call it, appropriately, his "scruff." We think he's about 5 and a half or 6 years old.
He is a mutt in the truest sense of the word... some poodle, perhaps black lab, some kind of terrier, etc. We don't know where he came from, or what his doggy life was like before we picked him up from the Nashville Humane Society. I sometimes think of how adorable he must have been as a little fluffy puppy, and feel sad that I missed that part of his life. I hope that he was loved and happy but the truth of it is probably that he was homeless or abandoned.
While in a sense I am grateful that Scruffy's doggy parents weren't fixed (because otherwise he wouldn't exist), the truth is that there is an extreme dog and cat overpopulation in this country because people do not get their pets spayed and neutered. I didn't know this until doing some research a few weeks ago, but 3-4 MILLION cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters every year because there are simply too many of them. According to the organization SPAY-USA (http://www.spayusa.org/) there are 15 dogs to every one person in America... obviously we're talking about a seriously unfavorable ratio. So please, please, please take your cats and dogs to be fixed. You can find out lots more about why and how through the Humane Society:
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/why_you_should_spay_or_neuter_your_pet.html
Well, I really just intended to write a post about how awesome the Scruff-ster is, but I guess this was a good tangent to get on!
I know I might be biased, but he is probably one of the best dogs ever in the history of dogs. I took this picture of him at the park a few weeks ago and every time I look at it it makes me smile. Scruffy is hilarious, loyal, quiet, pouncy, cuddly, relaxed, happy. His eyes are the color of caramel, his fur is fluffy and curly, and he has this extra skin around his neck - we call it, appropriately, his "scruff." We think he's about 5 and a half or 6 years old.
He is a mutt in the truest sense of the word... some poodle, perhaps black lab, some kind of terrier, etc. We don't know where he came from, or what his doggy life was like before we picked him up from the Nashville Humane Society. I sometimes think of how adorable he must have been as a little fluffy puppy, and feel sad that I missed that part of his life. I hope that he was loved and happy but the truth of it is probably that he was homeless or abandoned.
While in a sense I am grateful that Scruffy's doggy parents weren't fixed (because otherwise he wouldn't exist), the truth is that there is an extreme dog and cat overpopulation in this country because people do not get their pets spayed and neutered. I didn't know this until doing some research a few weeks ago, but 3-4 MILLION cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters every year because there are simply too many of them. According to the organization SPAY-USA (http://www.spayusa.org/) there are 15 dogs to every one person in America... obviously we're talking about a seriously unfavorable ratio. So please, please, please take your cats and dogs to be fixed. You can find out lots more about why and how through the Humane Society:
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/why_you_should_spay_or_neuter_your_pet.html
Well, I really just intended to write a post about how awesome the Scruff-ster is, but I guess this was a good tangent to get on!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Best Thing About Last Weekend
My 80-year-old grandma receiving and taking her first picture with her brand new digital camera:
I spent a few days in Kansas City with her, my mom, and my two aunts... it was really a blessing to be with them and hear all these amazing stories from these amazing women. Here are some of the fascinating things I found out:
My great-grandmother was always called "Babe." She died when my Grandma was just 15, leaving her to raise her three younger siblings.
My aunt Judy was engaged to a man before she married my uncle Phil. She found out just in the nick of time that this man was already married with five children. They confirmed this by calling his house and pretending to take a survey of household detergent users. Seriously!
My aunt Sandy, like me, loves horses. One of her happiest moments was when my Uncle Bob gave her one on Christmas morning - his name was Buddy, and he was tied up in the back yard with a red ribbon on his head.
When they were growing up, Judy had her own room since she was the oldest and my mom, Sally, had to share a room with Sandy. Even so, they all usually ended up sleeping together in one double bed. That made me smile because until I was about 14, Ashley and I did the same thing.
Anyway, there were more stories shared than I could recount here and several lifetimes' worth of memories and all of it reminded me of how very much I love my family.
I spent a few days in Kansas City with her, my mom, and my two aunts... it was really a blessing to be with them and hear all these amazing stories from these amazing women. Here are some of the fascinating things I found out:
My great-grandmother was always called "Babe." She died when my Grandma was just 15, leaving her to raise her three younger siblings.
My aunt Judy was engaged to a man before she married my uncle Phil. She found out just in the nick of time that this man was already married with five children. They confirmed this by calling his house and pretending to take a survey of household detergent users. Seriously!
My aunt Sandy, like me, loves horses. One of her happiest moments was when my Uncle Bob gave her one on Christmas morning - his name was Buddy, and he was tied up in the back yard with a red ribbon on his head.
When they were growing up, Judy had her own room since she was the oldest and my mom, Sally, had to share a room with Sandy. Even so, they all usually ended up sleeping together in one double bed. That made me smile because until I was about 14, Ashley and I did the same thing.
Anyway, there were more stories shared than I could recount here and several lifetimes' worth of memories and all of it reminded me of how very much I love my family.
Friday, February 15, 2008
A Little Down Time
I've been a little down for the past couple days... just thinking about lots of things, but especially my direction/future plans. I'm having trouble even putting a finger on what exactly is wrong, and so maybe it isn't one specific thing. But generally, I don't know what is in store for me and I am afraid of missing something important, or not taking a risk, or waking up one morning five years from now and wondering why I'm going to the job I am or doing the things I'm doing and realizing I'm thirty, not eighteen or twenty or twenty five anymore, and I don't have all the time in the world to decide what I want to "be" when I grow up.
I want to travel the world, I want to have children and be a mother, I want to write and create and who knows what else. What if those things are never in God's plan for me? Sometimes it is so hard to tell the difference between when the desires of our heart are supposed to be laid down in submission to God's greater plan and when those same desires are supposed to be pursued BECAUSE God has laid them on our heart in the first place!
I get frustrated sometimes because I think I trained myself too well growing up to achieve academically as the best way to get to the next step or stage in my life. I feel like I am betraying my education and intelligence by wandering around in this "limbo" period, without a career-oriented goal to work toward. I remember not too long ago talking with Ben about all this and suddenly bursting into tears saying "I'm smart too!" He was probably confused, but what I meant was that all around me are people pursuing - or practicing - just the thing that their education prepared them for. I feel left behind, I suppose, doodling around in a job that I like but have no desire to pursue as a career. I admire (and am jealous of?) how my friends confidentally saw God's calling for them, took the steps necessary to puruse it, and are now or will soon be DOING it! Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Science Professor... clearly my first misstep was with my English degreee... I suppose I thought I could just read books forever! :) But in seriousness, I want to use whatever God has given me to the fullest impact for His kingdom. If intelligence is one of those gifts, how am I to best use that? I don't want to waste it! If all I ever want to do is be a mom and wife, have I wasted it? (This is the part where I need a specific answer...)
I want to be a lover of Jesus, completely and only satisfied by devoting myself to God and to boldly, passionately run in pursuit of his plans and purposes for my life. I think right now I'm just stalling out on which direction I'm supposed to be running! If you read this and think to do so, I'd be grateful for your prayers that God would help reveal this to me, or at least confirm to me that this waiting period is in fact part of his plan, and not my way of stalling in fear.
I want to travel the world, I want to have children and be a mother, I want to write and create and who knows what else. What if those things are never in God's plan for me? Sometimes it is so hard to tell the difference between when the desires of our heart are supposed to be laid down in submission to God's greater plan and when those same desires are supposed to be pursued BECAUSE God has laid them on our heart in the first place!
I get frustrated sometimes because I think I trained myself too well growing up to achieve academically as the best way to get to the next step or stage in my life. I feel like I am betraying my education and intelligence by wandering around in this "limbo" period, without a career-oriented goal to work toward. I remember not too long ago talking with Ben about all this and suddenly bursting into tears saying "I'm smart too!" He was probably confused, but what I meant was that all around me are people pursuing - or practicing - just the thing that their education prepared them for. I feel left behind, I suppose, doodling around in a job that I like but have no desire to pursue as a career. I admire (and am jealous of?) how my friends confidentally saw God's calling for them, took the steps necessary to puruse it, and are now or will soon be DOING it! Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Science Professor... clearly my first misstep was with my English degreee... I suppose I thought I could just read books forever! :) But in seriousness, I want to use whatever God has given me to the fullest impact for His kingdom. If intelligence is one of those gifts, how am I to best use that? I don't want to waste it! If all I ever want to do is be a mom and wife, have I wasted it? (This is the part where I need a specific answer...)
I want to be a lover of Jesus, completely and only satisfied by devoting myself to God and to boldly, passionately run in pursuit of his plans and purposes for my life. I think right now I'm just stalling out on which direction I'm supposed to be running! If you read this and think to do so, I'd be grateful for your prayers that God would help reveal this to me, or at least confirm to me that this waiting period is in fact part of his plan, and not my way of stalling in fear.
Monday, January 21, 2008
It Was Just Too Cold
...that is the only explanation as to why the power of Brett Favre's hotness was unable to carry the Packers to victory last night over the Giants. Only bone-chilling, sub-zero temperatures could stop this:
I'm sorry, did you say something? I wasn't paying attention.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
KAYTHXBAI
Is there anything better on the internet than the website I Can Has Cheezburger? I don't know, because after I died from laughing I never saw anything else. So you tell me.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Pictures of cats + text-message-style captions = hours of hilarity. Q.E.D.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Pictures of cats + text-message-style captions = hours of hilarity. Q.E.D.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Quit Yer Whinin'
I have this co-worker Bethany, who I love. She reminds me a lot of my dear friend from home, Cara. Both of them get these crazy ideas in which they somehow manage to convince others to participate. In high school, for example, Cara would get it in her head at 10:30 pm that we needed to do ______________ (fill in the blank with random craft project). Picture us 30 minutes later driving around to every Wal-Mart in West County until we found one that was open and had whatever supplies we needed.
So anyway, a couple weeks ago Bethany appeared, snapped a purple rubber bracelet on my wrist, and announced to me (and some others here in the office) that we were participating in a no-complaining campaign. The point, she explained, was to wear the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 straight days. The catch? You must change the bracelet to the other wrist any time you complain or speak in anger to another person.
I'm sure my first response was to roll my eyes. I'll admit I am sometimes quite skeptical about these grand plans of self-betterment that people have, and usually express them well wishes while in the back of my mind being certain of their inevitable failure.
And how awful is that? I'm ashamed that I think those things - what does it show but a disbelief in God's ability to work in other people's lives?
The more I thought about it, the more I was convicted that maybe it wasn't such a goofy idea after all. I took a trip over to my favorite Bible website, www.biblegateway.com, and looked up the word "complain." It pulled up several verses, including the following:
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life - in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." Philippians 2:14-16
Wow... does he really say to do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing?!! Like, everything everything? Like put my shoes away when my husband asks me for the 900th time? Like not shout tame profanities at the driver who cut me off? Like try not to rant to my friends about this or that going wrong in my life?
I don't think this means we have to be fake-happy when we aren't. As believers we should be able to mourn and weep with each other and discuss and disagree bring all our woes and troubles to lay down before Christ. But this verse indicates to me that there is a way to do that without all the negativity that we are all-to-quick to pour out on the nearest listening ear. I can tell my friends about a rough day at work without it turning into a pity party. I can serve my husband and build up our relationship by being gracious and kind as opposed to defensive or nagging.
Anyway, the point is, except for the days when I forget to put it on, I'm wearing the silly purple bracelet, and trying to be more aware of my complaining. And especially after reading that verse... I want to be one of those pure and blameless children of God in what is indeed a "crooked and depraved generation."
So anyway, a couple weeks ago Bethany appeared, snapped a purple rubber bracelet on my wrist, and announced to me (and some others here in the office) that we were participating in a no-complaining campaign. The point, she explained, was to wear the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 straight days. The catch? You must change the bracelet to the other wrist any time you complain or speak in anger to another person.
I'm sure my first response was to roll my eyes. I'll admit I am sometimes quite skeptical about these grand plans of self-betterment that people have, and usually express them well wishes while in the back of my mind being certain of their inevitable failure.
And how awful is that? I'm ashamed that I think those things - what does it show but a disbelief in God's ability to work in other people's lives?
The more I thought about it, the more I was convicted that maybe it wasn't such a goofy idea after all. I took a trip over to my favorite Bible website, www.biblegateway.com, and looked up the word "complain." It pulled up several verses, including the following:
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life - in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." Philippians 2:14-16
Wow... does he really say to do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing?!! Like, everything everything? Like put my shoes away when my husband asks me for the 900th time? Like not shout tame profanities at the driver who cut me off? Like try not to rant to my friends about this or that going wrong in my life?
I don't think this means we have to be fake-happy when we aren't. As believers we should be able to mourn and weep with each other and discuss and disagree bring all our woes and troubles to lay down before Christ. But this verse indicates to me that there is a way to do that without all the negativity that we are all-to-quick to pour out on the nearest listening ear. I can tell my friends about a rough day at work without it turning into a pity party. I can serve my husband and build up our relationship by being gracious and kind as opposed to defensive or nagging.
Anyway, the point is, except for the days when I forget to put it on, I'm wearing the silly purple bracelet, and trying to be more aware of my complaining. And especially after reading that verse... I want to be one of those pure and blameless children of God in what is indeed a "crooked and depraved generation."
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