A survey from Jori...

Apparently I've been "tagged"...not exactly sure what that means (it's some sort of blogosphere term), but I'll do the survey anyway! :)

7 things I can do:
1. Remember children's book titles/authors like no one's business (which is truly amazing, considering the fact that my memory is generally TERRIBLE!)
2. Do a wicked-awesome read-aloud/storytime
3. Identify most John Mayer songs in 3 notes :)

4. Get along with kids
5. Eat sushi with chopsticks
6. Write a witty text message
7. Run in flip-flops!

7 things I cannot do:
1. Remember anything but children's book titles/authors
2. Get myself to stop texting while driving
3. Enjoy "Twilight"...I've tried twice

4. Dance!
5. Get to work on time :)
6. Live in cold weather (I'm a certified desert rat!)
7. Think of another thing to put here!

7 Favorite Foods:
1. Ice cream
2. French fries
3. Popcorn

4. Good nachos
5. "I Love Salmon" rolls from Yama Sushi
6. Candy
7. Chips and Salsa

(It's short because I took out some of the categories...such a cheater!) :)

Indulgence...

I'm sleeping in tomorrow! I should be getting up early and going to the gym, but I'm going to allow myself the luxurious treat of waking up "late," which will probably still be too early for a Saturday. Should I feel guilty about not going to the gym?? Maybe...especially considering the way I've been eating lately. But I'm not going to allow the guilt to ruin the treat of sleeping in...I'm just going to enjoy sleeping in, and get back to the gym on Monday!

Oh Jori....

This is my friend Jori with her fantastic family. Jori and I have been friends for a LONG time...about 13 years...since we were magically assigned to the same apartment in college. I love Jori...A LOT! I think she knows that, but this posting will guarantee that she's well-aware of my admiration. 'Cause we're not the kind of friends who see each other and rush in for a giant, squealing, middle school hug. I guess you would say we are past that...more in the completely comfortable, compatible phase the means we don't have to hug/squeal to know how much we adore each other...it's just understood.

I love Jori for a lot of reasons...let me just share a few of those reasons with you:
1) She knows about my stupid past boyfriends/crushes, and loves me anyway!
2) She knows about my stupid past mistakes, and loves me anyway.
3) I could show up at her house completely unannounced, and she would welcome me in, to stay for however long I wanted.
4) She thinks I'm funny!
5) She would give me the shirt off her back and the last penny in her bank account if I really needed it.
6) She can win prizes on the radio like no one's business!
7) She has made me a part of her family...her kids may have been surprised at some point to find out that I'm not ACTUALLY related to them.
8) She threw me the BEST surprise birthday party I've ever had!

That's just a short list of the reasons that I love Jori! I hope that you all have one of these life-long, no questions asked friends...it is a blessing, for sure!

My birthday play list...

For your listening pleasure, here are 2 of the songs that rocked my first drive to work as a 34 year-old!


(My sister, Lizzy, is taking me to see NKOTB for my birthday!)


(John Mayer accoustic...dreamy! And I was at this show!)

It was a good music morning, and a good morning in general! Hope the rest of my 34th year lives up to the hype!

Why?

Why do dogs chase their tails? Seriously! Last night I watched as Kayla, the pug that I'm dog-sitting, enthusiastically went after her tail. It was really as if she didn't register the fact that her tail is part of her body...like it was independently bugging her. What an interesting and quite entertaining phenomenon...perhaps that is exactly why dogs were "programmed" to chase their own tails...for our entertainment! (P.S...the picture above is not actually a picture of Kayla, just a close facsimile!) :)

Got relaxation?

It seems appropriate to blog about my free time since it is really the reason that I'm here again. I've been done with my class and my grading for over a week, but I've kept pretty busy since then. It doesn't seem like I've had a lot of plain, old-fashioned, do nothing down time. So tonight I found myself with that kind of time, and also some nervous energy. The combination was...well...interesting, and pretty productive! I picked up a prescription, folded some laundry, tidied my room, tidied the kitchen, cleaned my toilet, put soap in the hand soap dispensers, took the recycles out to the garage, etc. Then I sat down with my computer. I don't think that I'm very good at surfing the web...maybe it's that I don't know where to look for good/interesting content, but I just end up going to all of my usual haunts, maybe checking out some places I don't go very often, and then I'm done. If none of my blog buddies have posted anything new, if I don't have new/interesting e-mail, etc. then there's not much to spend time on! Anyway, I just think that I need to almost take a class or read a book on relaxation and/or meditation. I don't seem to be very good at being still and quiet. I like noise around me (except when I sleep...then I wear earplugs to keep the noise out!), and I think that maybe there's a sort of guilt that comes with doing nothing...that nagging feeling that you should be doing SOMETHING instead...washing your car, paying a bill, cleaning the bathroom, writing a birthday card, feeding the homeless, etc. Hopefully I can find some balance in my life...that I can be really focused and productive when I need to be, and then allow myself to really relax and enjoy the free time that comes along! We'll see.....

Maybe I'm really ready now...maybe!

So, obviously I gave the blog thing a try more than 2 months ago, and never kept up with it (obviously!). But I think that I'm ready to give it another shot...to really commit myself to blogging on a regular basis and keeping this thing current. It would certainly help if I had the accountability of people knowing about/reading my blog to keep me motivated, but give me just a little bit of time to put some more posts on here...a little time to build this baby up before I reveal it to the world! I already have something to blog about...I'm going to post it in another entry of its very own! Wow...that'll take me up to 3!! :)