hopefully something rhetorical

Just thought that I would show off my new hair! It is still growing on me, literally! Sorry, that one never gets old.

As I always tell the boy, belly laughs are good for you!  Love this!

As I stated here, I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the constant suggestion that we all must give up our tvs in order to be creative, complete human beings.  So as I mentioned in that previous post, I have been paying attention to my tv time habits to see if I can determine what I am watching at particular times and what it is doing for me.  This is what I figured out about my tv time:

1. It isn’t the first thing I turn on in the morning.  In fact, I usually don’t watch in the morning at all.
2. I watch a lot of reality tv, but not the type you might be thinking.  I love the Dog Whisperer and Dirty Jobs, and I am digging Renovation Nation on the new channel, Planet Green.
3. My major tv time is at night.
4. We have become firm DVR lovers.  We hate commercials, so we don’t watch them and have even started muting them when we watch something real time.
5. Since the BGF moved out, my tv habits have changed. What happened all last semester was that I would tape a bunch during the week, and then we would sit down and watch a bunch at the same time.  We also liked to collect a few of the same type of show, and then watch them together.  I am not sure what will happen this upcoming year, but it is not something that I am going to worry about.

The last two weeks have justified tv more than anything for me, though.  I don’t know how to explain it, but I have been glued to the Olympics this time around.  In the last week, I have seen some amazing feats of athletes from around the world:

• Obviously, at the top of most lists is going to be Michael Phelps’s amazing eight gold medal streak.  The boy and I both found ourselves cheering at the screen.  And, I am amazed by not only Phelps, but the teammates that helped him succeed.  I found his attitude about the whole thing very gracious and heart-warming.  And, I LOVE his mom!
• I got to see Nastia Lukin become the third US woman in history to take the gold in the all around for gymnastics.
• I watched two Jamaicans, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser, mark themselves as the fastest man and woman in the world.  And, I am excited to watch Bolt’s career because I know that he could have gone faster!
• The Chinese gymnasts and diving teams deserve a huge amount of admiration for the dedication it must take to be as good as they are.

These are just a few of the things I have witnessed in the last 10 days.  I have watched a few hours of the things I probably didn’t need to see, such as, I probably didn’t need to watch the entire two and a half hour marathon run the other night, but damn the woman who won was impressive.  Overall, I am happy with the time that I have spent with my television over the last week.  However cliche it might be, these athletes inspire me to be better than I am.  And, I was able to gain that inspiration from my television.

I am finding that this happens when I use TV for knowledge, like the Dog Whisperer, or comedy, like Dirty Jobs.  Maybe this is what everyone that talks about tv being a creativity drain.  What I would like to do is seek out more of those experiences that do something for me and ditch the mindless stuff.

I am glad I took the time to consider the suggestions rather than just believe them wholeheartedly or blow them off.

I am so excited to finally get something crossed off my creative to-do list.  The other day I played with the mod-podge for furniture, called Hard Coat, that I first read about here.  It was fun to be able to spice up what might otherwise be…less spicy.

I found this old table at one of my favorite junk stores in Abilene.  I love this store because there is so much stuff to rummage through, and you find a new treasure every time you go.  I think she charged me $25 for it.  It was a steal, and it didn’t end up need as much work as I thought that it would because I love the way the paint ended up after the sanding, so I didn’t have to repaint it.  The boy helped me sand everything down, and he also glued some things back together to make the whole thing a little sturdier.

I am planning on using it for a sewing table, and the thing that makes it the most perfect, I think, is it has a little drawer in the front where I can keep all my sewing necessities that I like to have within arm’s reach.  The inside of the drawer had seen better days (I am sorry that I wasn’t really good about photographing my progress here, but I will get better!).  So, I decided to cover the inside with some of my favorite Heather Bailey fabric.

This has a duel benefit for me.  First, it helped reinforce the drawer a little, but most important, it gave me an opportunity to use some of my favorites for me, something that I am admittedly very bad at doing.    I am actually not very good at making things for myself at all, but I am working on fixing that too.  The next quilt I make is going to be for me - mark my words!

This whole process was very much like decoupaging with paper.  I didn’t read the directions as carefully as I should have before I started.  Sanding between each layer would have probably made the whole thing smoother.  I may go back and sand it just a little to smooth things out; the finish is a little rough in parts.  I also probably should have painted the drawer first, so that the wood underneath wouldn’t have darkened the fabric.

Overall, I love it though.  It is glorious in its imperfection. See how much I am growing!

Every season, I start a playlist of all the new music that the boy and I have been listening to.  I am a lucky woman that I really don’t get many complaints about the music that I like, which I understand is vastly different than what he would normally gravitate towards.

At the end of the season, I go through and weed out the duds, and I create one playlist for the year.  I know they are right for the overall list if I turn them on and start singing immediately.  Once in a while, I will hear a song that I know will end up on that list immediately.  And, as I have said before, lots of those songs have recently come from TV: Grey’s Anatomy and commercials specifically.

Well, one such artist, named Meiko, found her way on our 2007 Year in Review.   The song was “Reasons to Love You.”  It was on Grey’s at the beginning of last season.  And, I immediately knew it was going to be a favorite.  So, when her whole cd showed up in my iTunes recommendations, I threw it in my shopping cart to remind myself to check it out.

Well, my fabulous brothers gave us iTunes money for our birthdays, one of my favorite gifts because it really does keep on giving.  So, I had a chance to listen to some of her album.  I love it!  And, there is one song in particular that I know will end up as part of the 2008 list!  I knew it after I listened to the 30 second iTunes preview!  It is called “How Lucky We Are.”

One day we’ll get outta this shitty apartment
One day is all it takes for things to turn around now
All I know is I got you and you got me, babe

And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

One day we’ll get in the car and drive anywhere we wanna go
And then we’ll stay in a five star, mini-bar, luxury hotel room
Cuz all I know is I got you and you got me, babe

And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, are, are…

One day we’ll turn on the tv and we won’t see nothing ’bout war
And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are

So, anyone who knows us knows that the boy can be a little crazy from time to time.  And, he is always trying to make me laugh.  Yesterday, he got his birthday present from “my wife.”  It was Rock Band for the Wii and man had he been waiting for that package.  He thought it was just Guitar Hero, so when the UPS guy showed up and the box was bigger than he thought it was going to be, he was really, really excited.

The cool part was that it was gift wrapped, and the way they did it was wrap it in a big bag that will totally be reused a ton, I can tell already.

Well, this afternoon, I walked into the man room, and the following conversation took place.

Boy: I should get into the bag, and you can unwrap me!

Me: What?

Boy: It will be like a surprise!

Me: You are a loon!  You know if you do it, I am going to take a picture and put it on my blog, right?  Because this conversation is already going up there!

Well, he did do it, and he did let me document it for all posterity.  The funniest part was the reaction of the dog.  He was very interested in what was going on.  All in all, he did indeed cheer me up!  So, it was a nice surprise!

The last picture is my favorite of the series.  It was the “are you going to let me out now?” face.

I have been working with my word for this year, “fulfill,” for the last 8 months.  And, I am trying to get better at fulfilling all the aspects of my life.  It is a slow process for me, but it is working.  I am getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t fulfill me, and I am weeding out the people and situations that don’t leave me feeling better about myself.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the necklace I got from Lisa Leonard.  Then, I finished up my busy summer school class and went out to VA to see my mom and family.  When I got home, I knew that my necklace would be waiting for me, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out!  It will serve as that little silent reminder for me about this year.

Well, Christine Kane is up to it again. She has created a new website. She is working on a new cd; one that she says could be her last, which scares me. But, she had the idea to reveal the man behind the curtain of the music industry, so to speak. This resonated with me so clearly because it is what I try to do in my teaching. Her theory is that there doesn’t need to be any huge secret behind the way the music industry works, so she is telling us how she creates songs, and she is letting her fans have input.

The coolest part is that you can decide what type of interaction you want to have with this record. You get to decide how much money you want to spend, and there are different packages you can buy. I haven’t decided which one I want yet, but what I love about this so much is that her intention to create an album without a huge debt that she will have to work to pay off. Instead, we are all investing in her process, and she has created a revenue stream that allows her to do that, which I love. It goes along with my new ideas about money so clearly!

Well, today, she posted one of the new songs that will be on the album, called Virginia. And, I love it! It renewed my idea that I want to contribute to this process for so many reasons. Last week the boy and I found out that we might have the possibility to come back to Virginia to live for a few years. And, until I was told that it was a chance, I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to come home. I know that Christine’s song is about a girl coming into her own, but this song is about so much more than that for me. It always feels like her songs are speaking right to me, which makes this the most important kind of music for me.

Not to mention that if that is what she sounds like sitting at her kitchen table, then can you imagine how much the whole album is going to rock? If this is a hint to what is to come on this new album, I can’t wait until it is done. You should definitely go check it out!

Today is going to be a busy day.  I have a bunch of errands to do, final grades for my summer class to determine, and laundry to do.  Oh, and I should clean the house a little, so it doesn’t scare the BGF too much while she is staying here.  All before I get to go here tomorrow!

This is the view from my Mom’s back deck. They have done a lot more to the property lately, so I need to get a new picture while I am there this time.

I am so excited to see my family. I know that I will get to see my mom and my two “littlest” brothers.

I am not sure if my other brother is going to come up too, but I know that I will get to see my grandmother.

And, we are even going to be able to slip up to PA to see these guys! We always have so much fun together. They are one of the many reasons that we are so excited about the possibility to get to move back to the East Coast!

I am going to miss all these guys like crazy, but I will be back soon!

And, I would miss him more than I can handle, so I am takin’ him with me!  Well, that’s enough procrastinating from me.  I will post updates while I am gone the best I can!

In May of this year, my BGF and I drove to Athens, Georgia for a conference.  It was a cute little town, and we took the first afternoon we got there to explore.  After walking around in the heat, it actually wasn’t that bad, for a while, we decided to sit and hang out in this gorgeous little park on their campus until the evening event. The setting was perfect, I had great afternoon light, and I thought that I would take some pictures.

I love my BGF, but she is the hardest person to take pictures of ever! It involves a huge process starting with this.  “What?  Why do you want to take a picture of me?”

After that, I get the funny faces.  As if she is trying to discourage the picture taking.  She should know my now that I am far more persistent than that.

Then we move onto the laughing, which is usually brought on by the funny faces and my responses to them.  I am normally telling her what to do at this point.  “NO, don’t look at me.”  “Turn your head over there.”  I can get a little bossy.  And, she always responds to me just like you should when I get bossy.  She laughs at me.

But, the reason I get bossy is this is what I am going for.  One of those brief instances behind a camera that I can capture what I see everyday.  I love this picture of her because it so completely her.

Occasionally, we can even get one of the two of us together!