What a Month!

It's been a month since I've blogged, but what a busy month it's been!  I have had some great opportunities in the church, work and personal arenas of my life, but those opportunities have also added a lot of stress and definitely taken up my time.  November has been THE busiest month of my life, hands down.  Ever.  No exaggeration.  But I have my life back, at least for now, just in time for the Christmas season, and how wonderful is that!  This week has been no cake walk - it is what I normally would have considered a busy week in the past.  But I am stronger now!  I'm not trying to make some cutesy cliche of an analysis of my life - I really am!  This week was so easy!  Had I had kids, a boyfriend/husband, a second job, or a pet, I don't know how I would have gotten through.  As it is, I haven't been the best teacher I could be.  The thing is, I have coworkers who have times in their lives like this very frequently, and they somehow do it all.  How, I don't know, but I am blessed and grateful for the people, opportunities, and help Heavenly Father has blessed me with during this time - for everything I did, He did more to get me there.  Knowing how Heavenly Father works, this probably means that this was a training for things to come, but for right now I am grateful and better for it.  It's funny what a little hindsight can do for ya!

European Reflection

Two weeks from today I will be finishing the first day of my first international solo trip.  I'm starting to get nervous, in large part because I have a lot to get done for work and church before I go.  But I was going through a box looking for odds and ends, and I came across the notebook I brought with me on my first trip to Europe almost a year and a half ago.  I wrote notes of each day's events, and this is what I wrote from the airplane a few hours before I landed in Paris, and reading it has renewed my excitement for my next adventure:

June 2, 2009

The final destination does not make the flight more enjoyable.  My back still hurts, the French man-boy sitting next to me who is definitely no boy has a girlfriend, and sitting close to the bathroom just means people are always walking by, bumping into me.  In my space because the bathroom is my space.  I still only slept an hour here and another there, but I feel more rested than before.  And while I can't see the window views at all, the knowledge that the rising sun is shining over the Atlantic is as charmed as my French not-boyfriend's sound, unbroken sleep is...I think I'm going to like this.

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Bridge

The challenge: "All around the world there are bridges, in all shapes and sizes, ages and colors. Bridges connect two places, enabling something to pass safely over something else; but the details vary wildly. It can be a little wooden foot bridge over a three foot-wide babbling brook, a drawbridge, a railroad bridge, a stone bridge carved out by the forces of nature, or even that big Golden one over the Bay that our friend Carly loves to capture with her camera. Wherever you live, I can almost guarantee there's an interesting bridge somewhere nearby to photograph.  But just in case there's not, feel free to explore alternative meanings of the word. Photograph the bridge of a nose, a game of bridge, or even something metaphorical, such as a bridge between two cultures."


There really aren't any interesting bridges - in the obvious sense of the word - where I live.  There are a few overpasses, but not much else.   I've actually taken a few pictures of bridges in my travels,  but, I'm almost ashamed to admit, I can't actually remember the last time I took pictures specifically for a RR challenge; I usually just pull something out of the arsenal.  So in an effort to actually take new pictures for a challenge,  I have taken a few of the bridges I find the most beautiful that I have access to right at home - the ones on my mandolin and a friend's violin:

  This is a bridge that I love, painted by Dutch artist Johannes Huibert Prins at the Louvre Museum (I love Dutch, Flemish, and German paintings from the 17-19th centuries because they show day-in-the-life type scenes) :

Now don't forget to check out the Round Robin Photo Challenge blog to check out what other people have done!

Round Robin Photo Challenge: For a Song

The challenge:  "Pick a song you like, and give us your photographic interpretation of all or part of that song's lyrics."


Well, these pictures are far from the peak of photographic genius, but they do go well with the lyrics of my favorite song of all time, "Let You Down," by the Dave Matthews Band, and they are of my nieces and nephew, who I adore.  


"I let you down.  Let me pick you up.  

                    

I let you down.  Let me climb up you to the top so I can see the view from up there, tangled in your hair. 

I have no lid upon my head but if I did you could look inside and see what's on my mind.

Oh, it's you. " 

 



Don't forget to check out what other participants have done by looking at the links on the Round Robin Photo Challenge website here!

Why I will never be invited to a party thrown by Lindsay, Brittney, Paris, or Snooky -

Last week I went to a teacher workshop about public speaking in the classroom.  Our presenter, Karen De Mauro (who was fantastic, by the way), who lives in NYC, commented that everyone in Utah was talking about how they never have enough time and never enough money.  One of the participants asked her what people talk about where she lives.

Before I say what her response was, let me skip to a lot of cable reality television shows from channels like MTV, VH1, and Bravo.  I've watched an episode here and there of some of these shows:  Real Housewives of (fill in major city here),  Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Hills, Cut Off, America's Next Top Model (to some extent), and  Jersey Shores, among others.   These shows all seem to be the same, and I wonder why people care so much about Snookie (whoever she is), the Kardashians, or the various plasticized wives of the rich and obscure.  The plot lines involve the same elements - shallow conversations always, at least one loud fight with a lot of words bleeped out, fancy restaurants for lunch and/or dinner, going to parties and clubs, and a breakup OR the exchange of meaningful looks as one of the lead stars gets her feelings hurt and questions if she should break up with the receiver of the meaningful look.  Throw in fancy clothes, scripted conversations, and women gathered in front of the bathroom mirror putting on mascara, and you've got yourself an hour's worth of mindless fluff.  Again, why do so many viewers care, and more importantly, why do there seem to be so many of these shows?  These casts may have money, but they their relationships have no depth and are plagued with betrayal.  If they are educated, they do their very best to keep it a secret.  Do most people watch these shows for the same reason I've made it through a few episodes myself - because the lives of these "celebrities" are a train wreck? 

To answer these questions, I turn back to Ms. De Mauro, our New York actress/public speaking trainer.  What do people in the most populated city in this great nation talk about?  Fame.  Celebrity.  Fashion.  And how fashion is attached to celebrity.  How to achieve celebrity.  I have wondered what the draw to these reality television shows has been.  How they even got started, where they came from, and why viewers turn in religiously.  The answers aren't far from the beaches on either coast.  In fact, the reasons might be having a beach party  this very moment that we are all missing as I am writing this.  These shows are, in essence, a Cliff's Notes on how to live the party life, and the youth of America are taking notes.

So is life imitating art, or art imitating life?  There is a crisis in the American public education system, but these kinds of students are the material teachers are increasingly getting to work with.  I am reminded of the Scott Westerfield Uglies series about a futuristic society where, when the inhabitants turn 16, they can become beautiful by getting surgery.  Before then, they must live on the outside in compounds with other young people who are still "ugly", merely looking on from a distance at the parties and glamorous lifestyles of the Pretties, and anticipating the day when they no longer have to be ugly.  The catch?  Not only does the surgery make a person physically beautiful, but it also makes them stupid and easy to control.  Most of the kids don't realize or care what the trade off is because the party-filled life of no responsibility is so intoxicatingly appealing to them.  They have the choice, but if  they choose to remain "ugly," they are shunned from society altogether.  And who in their right mind would want to choose that?

In our reality-based society that is increasingly focused on looks, fame, money, lack-of-personal-disciplined-induced debt, fun culture, and school sports taking precedence over academics, is this where we are headed?   I hope not because I sure can't afford a boob-job, and the last party I was invited to was only so I could be a chaperon at a school dance  where I watched everyone else getting their groove on while I sat alone by the door.  I would be voted off the island after round one if the fullness of my social calendar was the factor in my standing in society!  How pathetic.  ;)

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Togetherness

Well, I forgot to post yesterday, which in the RRPC world is a death sentence.  But I did have some photos in mind.  So to the two people who regularly check my blog, I guess these are for you!

Here is the challenge:  Show us anything or anyone who is exhibiting togetherness, whether it's a loving couple, siblings who get along, or cats curled up together. Or perhaps you have a more literal or more metaphorical interpretation in mind. 

There is nothing better than being able to fit into your mother's arms and have her cuddle you until you again believe everything will be OK. 

 I love these two, especially how much they love each other.  What one does, the other will do!

It's funny that the challenge mentions cats curled up, because the picture of two kittens who claimed me as their new BFF that I took on the 4th of July weekend up in Orderville was the first picture that came to mind!  If I would have been allowed to take them home I would have.  They were not welcome where they were hanging out, but I found them absolutely delightful.  They would run up to me when I would walk out the door and follow me around, pouncing on each other along the way.  One had yellow eyes, the other green.  

The DIY List

When you are single and 30, there are a lot of things people tell you you should do on your own.  The one I hear most often is buy a house.  "Now is the best time" so many say (Of course, people were saying this three and four years ago before the bottom fell out).  Going to movies by myself, living alone, online dating (which NO ONE should have to do alone!) and going to grad school are others that come up frequently (still trying to find the right fit of a program).  In the last week, adopting my own child has been suggested by two people, and a third had a dream about me having a baby by artificial insemination - "She was really beautiful" - so having kids by myself has wiggled it's way onto my DIY list.

One thing that never has come up though is to travel alone.  Ever.  Not once.  Of all the grand and scary and expensive things to be suggested by others to fill my time, no one has ever said, "Erin, I think you should go on an exotic/tropical/foreign/European vacation on the solo."  Or at least, not unless I brought it up first as a side note, and then not with confidence.  More of an exasperated "I should just go on a trip by myself" while trailing off and all of those within earshot interpret it as a "But we all know I never will," including myself.  I know what they're all thinking as they're agreeing with me because it's something I've dangled in front of my own nose a few times while sitting alone on my bed, laptop in lap, scanning trip deals and last-minute getaway packages. But then I would get really nervous and change my own subject.  I assume no one suggests it because I don't know anyone who's done it.  I went to San Diego by myself about seven years ago for a quick overnighter.  I was short on cash and time, but in desperate need of a beach.  It went mostly fine, and all hang-ups were averted with a little divine intervention (really), but I have never again ventured farther than 200 miles to do anything completely alone for more than an afternoon since.  I have thought about it a lot, but never acted.

That is not the case this week though.  I have done something daring.  Something semi-impulsive.  Something that could be a complete disaster.  I have purchased a ticket. I am going alone.  I am scared out of my mind and excited too.  I am chasing a long-shot of a professional ambition to get a job overseas and hope that what I think will be networking (with a bit of sightseeing mixed in at the end) will lead me somewhere.  I have prayed and pondered a lot over the last year about this and have felt prompted to act.  This job is the scariest thing I have ever desired to do, but also one of the few things I haven't talked myself out of - and trust me, I talk myself out of a lot of things.  I feel that my Father in Heaven has been leading me to this point over the last few months, though mentioning all of the little things that have seemed like confirming answers from above might sound stupid to a lot of people.  Even to me when I say them out loud.  I emailed some school principals.  I got my first response within a few hours.  I instantly felt sick and tried to talk myself out of it.  But then I told my mom the next morning and she was actually excited for me and said she didn't believe in coincidences.  I did not expect that, and because of it I felt at peace.  I didn't hear much of what was said at church yesterday because my two year old niece was all over me, but remember exactly one sentence said by a young man in uniform as he shared his testimony: "If Heavenly Father wants us somewhere, He will make it happen."  I really hope He wants me to be in Germany, because that's where I will be the week of November 21st.

(Anyone want to go with me?)

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Weather

The challenge:  "Basically, we're looking for anything to do with the weather. You can go for something subtle: colors of sky and qualities of light that we associate with hot or cool days. Or show us the most extreme weather your camera can find, or has ever found: blizzards, ice storms, hail, lightning storms, floods, serious fog, or the opposite: sandstorms, dust storms, or a day so hot that the air shimmers and mirages appear. Show us what you've got!"


I love stormy weather, but surprisingly enough I don't really have pictures of the rain or lightening.  I have a few of fog and many more of stormy skies and clouds - the kind of days you want to be curled up with a good book and a warm blanket and fuzzy pair of socks.  This weather will be here soon enough I suppose.  Don't forget to click on the link to check out what other people have submitted to the Round Robin Photo Challenge!

Erin the Spy

from blindgossip.com

When I was in fifth grade I read Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.  I loved that book.  Harriet carried a notebook and wrote her observations of people, sometimes looking through windows, hiding in dumbwaiters, lurking outside of doorways...I carried a notebook around with me for DAYS, hoping I would find interesting things to write down.  Unfortunately, Harriet's intuition for finding interesting subjects to study and her snarky comments and ability to get out of hairy situations did not rub off on me like the book's concept did.  What I did pick up, though, was my love of observing people.  In recent years, the world's love of social networking sites, more specifically Facebook, has only fueled my passion.  Some may say they like to participate too, while others may call it stalking or spying.  However you look at it, I like to do it.

In the microcosm of my Facebook friendships, I have had an abundant opportunity to do some people watching - getting into their photos, seeing what things they 'like', and more importantly,  getting to read their status updates - one-line public journal entries, as I like to think of them.  In my roughly three years as a Facebooker, I have recently begun to categorize people based on what they choose to write in their status updates.  You may see yourself in my observations.  You may not.  I myself have participated in many of the status-update categories at least once (asterisked).  But in the social experiment that is Facebook, people's compulsive tendencies start to become apparent and as a spy and amateur social scientist, I must share what I have observed.  I do not claim that all or any of these categories are negative or positive, but I do claim that all of them have been observed at least a dozen times each.

Exhibit A - The Game Player:  We know them and sometimes hate them for clogging up our feed updates with their requests for help building a Farmville barn or invites to the party in Sorority Life.   And there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who chooses to play at being a boss in Mob Wars or an undead in Vampire Wars.  Now help me earn a lead stake or you're dead.

Exhibit B* - The Mysteriously Vague:  These status updates are often only one word long, but rarely exceed three to keep the questions flying.  "Yipee," "Sad","Unleashed", "People suck" and "I dare you" are some examples that drive many people so deep into curiosity that they just have to ask about it.  Of course, while many of us have updated our status's like this, to be a member of Mysteriously Vague, you may NEVER respond with an explanation.  E-V-E-R.  "Hhmmmmm".

Exhibit C - The Lush:  This is the person who talks about wine or parties a lot and does so frequently enough in his/her updates that even though he/she may just really like wine or parties like I like a cold glass of milk, the frequency of her status updates containing something about wine or how often he has a hangover seems a little, well, tipsy toward a needed intervention.

Exhibit D* - The Vacationer:  The person who counts down daily  (or semi-weekly) to the estimated day of departure of the big trip.  Most of the people in this category don't take trips very often, so their excitement is understandable.  Others always seem to be going on a trip.  Then we just hate them.  And they don't let us forget that they always go on trips because they tell us what they are doing from their Blackberry or iPhone every day of the trip.  At least it save us all from having to ask how the trip actually was after the fact.

Exhibit E - The Self Promoter:  These are the graphic designers/musicians/comedians/home-based salespersons that take every chance they get to use our electronic friendship to sell their merch, which might just be themselves.

Exhibit F* - The Song Lyricist/Movie One-Liner:  These people consistently update status with a line from a song or movie. Quite a few rarely if ever tell us their own thoughts in their own words.  Similar to the Mysteriously Vague, as readers we are never sure whether the lyric reflects the mood of the writer or if those lyrics just spoke to the person and they felt the need to share.  Sometimes the lyrics or quote are so obscure or random that we're not sure how they could either speak to or reflect a person in any way - or leave you wondering if it's even a quote because these people rarely if ever use quotation marks.  But quote away, my "friend".  Quote away.

Exhibit G* - The Mother:  I know and love many of them.  They write about their kids.  Just don't ask me to change yet another dirty diaper by writing it online.  I will never say yes. (I participate by either writing about things my nephew and nieces say or do and by writing things my students do.  They're kind of like my children, right?)

Exhibit H - The Fitness Buff:  These people tell you how far and/or how long they worked out and what they did while doing it.  Unfortunately, we're all sitting down staring at a computer screen when these updaters are telling us about it.  Some of us* may have been sitting all day.

Exhibit I -  The Betrayed Friend:  By far my favorite updaters, these people are consistently updating their profiles (sometimes using song lyrics or quotes that have reached the point of cliche or pinnacle of cheesiness) about friends who are unloyal, aren't there to catch them when they fall, and not needing people like them who constantly bring them down.  What I want to know is how these people are such bad judges of character that they are repeatedly choosing such crappy friends?  And why do they never tell us the names of these crappy friends so we can look them up so we will be sure to not accept their friend request in the event that we get them?

Exhibit J - The Gourmet:  Today's menu?  Two English muffins, both with a lot of butter and a smear of strawberry preserves, two glasses of milk, a banana, a white peach, asparagus, a crappy leftover steak (that was also crappy when I made it), and some buttered garlic noodles.  Oh, and some buttered movie theater popcorn.  Will you be over with your family and hope I made enough?

Exhibit K* - The Quizer:  This type of behavior runs the risk of extinction.  It's habitat is being systematically destroyed by Gamers and, more recently, The Liker's, a new trend on the rise but until now little studied.  Closely related to the extremely endangered Pokers,  Superpokers, and Gifters.

Exhibit L - The You Will Be My Friend - These dangerous people don't get it when you don't accept their friend request.  Four times.  And they just keep asking.  Hope you never have a face to face confrontation with this person, because if you won't be friends with them on Facebook of all places, that is one reality-based conversation that may be awkward when they ask you why.  And they will ask you why.

This list is not comprehensive.  Then again, lists rarely are.  If there are any categories of Facebook users you have noticed (such as The Debbie Downers, The Inspirational Quoters and The Friend Whores) and would like to add to this list with a description, please feel free to do so in the comments section of this study.

Thank you for your feedback.

A Long-winded Analysis of My Self-Loathing

I have a confession to make:  I hate my body.  I always have.  When I hit the glorious age of 12 and entered middle school I was skinny and had the curves of a box.  I wanted boobs.  What I had was bony elbows and washboard ribs.  I was also inches taller than everyone else, including every boy (which nails the coffin shut).  I couldn't keep the boys away from teasing me about what I didn't have, and though girls would say they wished to be as skinny as me, they actually got attention from boys for what they did have (the preferable attention of the two - or at least to a sprout like me).   Boys called them.  They didn't call me.  This led me to the one and only clear conclusion.  I wasn't pretty.

And thus began my dislike of myself.  Sure, I liked that I could eat whatever I wanted, but I would have traded it all in an instant for pants that came down to my shoes, actually needing a bra, and not always being heads above other people.  Wear a swimsuit with confidence?  Not a chance - it was just another reinforcement that I was not pretty.  I was not like everyone else and everyone would see it.  I mean, you can't stuff a swimsuit.

So I hid behind bulky clothes - not particularly hard in the 90's and the Midwest's propensity to gravitate especially to the baggy side of the decade's fashion, but I did so even more than most.  And I never got over my self-loathing.  "If only I was shorter I would be happier."  "If only you weighed more," I told myself and was told, "you would fill out and look better."  Imagine, a young woman ever saying that!  Well, I got part of what I wished, only 15 years later.  I have gained weight, but weight has a tricky way of never channeling to the places you want.  In fact, it congregates in ways that I do not like.  I am still heads taller than most, and was told more than once in college by guys that they would date me if I was shorter.  If my weight was right, my height was still wrong.  Needless to say, that didn't help with my self-loathing, and then loathing myself more because I was doing most of the damage to myself underneath my frizzy, curly hair.  During my short stint as a Catholic during my infancy,  I definitely learned how to feel Catholic guilt - that I was (and am) horribly selfish, prideful, and should feel overwhelmingly guilty because I haven't had the struggle with weight that others have, yet I'm still not happy.  This is my cycle:  Feel bad - feel guilty - try not to think about it for a while. Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

This spring I began the bane of many women's existence - finding a swimsuit.  I spent hours online trying to find something decent, affordable, attractive, and made for my long torso (I'm a bit limited around here).  Something that would magically make my cellulite disappear.  Something that would cover the love-handles and thighs that ripple like a water bed.  And then I would spend too long in the mirror, telling myself how those suits would never look like that on ugly, imperfect me.  I actually ended up finding two that were great, but when it came time to wear them a month ago the whole critical deconstruction thing started over again, all the while pretending that I felt fine so that another person with image issues would go to a swimming pool with me.  Pretending worked...a little.

I came across a few articles in some recent searches to find others like me, one of which that stated that people aren't sure what a real woman's body is really supposed to look like anymore because of the [fabricated] standards of beauty persistent today.  I believe this to be true because I don't even think that I do, and this led me to consider my own hate of myself.  I don't think less of other women's 'imperfections'.  In fact, there are many things friends and coworkers hate about themselves that I see as being perfectly normal and desirable.  I have always been impressed with women - young and old - who play on the beach or by a pool without seeming to care that their legs don't look like the latest celebrity or their belly isn't flat.  And then I promptly don't pay attention to them anymore because it doesn't matter to me what they look like because they are normal.  AND I know full well that media images are almost always doctored, but unfortunately  I am not that indifferent and forgiving about myself.  Why?  I have spent more time hating myself, worrying about what other people think about the way I look, when they probably don't even care.  I sometimes want to cry when I get complimented on the way I look because I instantly tell myself two bad things for every one I get.  I don't see in the mirror what other people seem to see.  In this way I am sad for myself.

I know there is something very wrong with that.  I want to change though, and have been giving myself pep-talks for months now.  This weekend I was in Las Vegas and decided I would get some pool time in at the hotel where I was staying.  I was scared though.  There were a lot of people, none of them family and only one of them a friend who wasn't in a swimsuit herself,  it's Vegas and there tends to be a lot of skin and plastic, and they all would certainly be staring at me and thinking how bad I looked.  But then I looked at them.  They weren't even looking at me.  They were talking with their friends.  They were playing with their kids or each other.  They were reading their papers and checking their text messages and sipping fruity drinks and sunning themselves with their eyes closed.  But so what if their eyes weren't closed - THEY were all shapes and sizes and textures.  And they were not ashamed.  So for a few hours (and after a few deep breaths) this weekend, I stopped being ashamed too - or at least pretended.  It kind of worked.  And I kind of can't wait until I can stop caring again.  It will still be scary though.  But if you want to ride a bike, the person behind you has to let go.  Afraid of dogs?  Get one.  Deep water?  Jump in.  Practice, practice, practice.

My height hasn't changed to my advantage.  I get fewer calls from guys now than I did in middle school.  Clothes are still not cut for women who are 6'2".  But I am determined that I will like myself someday.  Though I'm still using training wheels, I started the journey this summer.

**P.S.  I am not compliment fishing.  Just being honest in sharing my neurosis - isn't that part of blogging? ;) **

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Guess What This Is

The challenge:  "...it works best with macro photography, where you can zoom in close enough that we see shapes and textures, but not the whole thing. But if you have something so unusual that people would be hard pressed to identify it at all, by all means photograph it!" And, "Don't tell us what your mysterious something is when you first post your entry. Let people guess in comments, and then tell them when they guess right! Sound like fun? Good!" 

I always have so much fun with these assignments, I can never stop at just one photo!  

Road Trip: Weddings and National Parks

My former roommate Ida got married in May, and my friends Lisa, Laura, and I traveled to Blanding, UT to wish her well. As an added bonus, we were able to visit three National Parks in two days. Here's what I saw and did!

We started in Moab at Arches National Park. The wind was crazy - wind gusts up to 37 mph! But there were a lot of pretty flowers, and we got a free microderm-abrasion session with all of the sandy wind blowing around, so win-win!

Utah's state flower, the Seigo Lily

After dinner and a little cleanup at our gracious host's house, college acquaintances Haven and Colby, we continued on to Ida's wedding reception.

We headed for home the following morning, taking Highways 95 and 24 back to where we came from. This route first took us through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This is the home of Lake Powell (which, after 10 years of living in southern Utah I still have never visited) which we only saw from a distance, and took us across the Columbia River. Thanks to an obligingly empty highway, we were able to stop in the middle of the bridge and throw off rocks because, hey, you're never too old to throw things off of higher things that lead to water!

If you enlarge the picture above, you can see a tiny bit of Lake Powell. This is as close as I got...for now.

The Columbia River

Taking a photo and play break at the Hite City overlook (still in GCNRA). If you look closely on the picture above, you can see the bridge crossing the Columbia and some really cool rock formations in the distance.

Be careful - those rocks can be slippery!

The Highway 24 took us through Wayne County. If you live in southern Utah, people identify themselves as being from WC often, mostly because they are from towns so small that most people from Utah don't even know where they are. It's just easier to name the county they're from! There were some really pretty - and not so pretty - areas. Eventually, though, we came to Capitol Reef National Park. There was a short boardwalk along some rock faces with petroglyphs on them. Really cool!

People crossing? No. Deer? Not really. Cattle? Most definitely. Two words: Open range.

THE END

Here's Yer Sign

The glorious thing about cell phones is not the phone itself so much as the camera that you now always have on you in those random moments when you normally wouldn't have have one but would like to document a small corner of life. Here are a few ridiculous ones that needed sharing.

This little darling was on sale at Target. I guess now this company simply decided to name their off-brand version of Barbie Doll (and, by default, all others including the Matell staple) what she has become: a HO.

This was taken at Lupita's Mexican Restaurant just this evening. Hope, work and pray you are never so bad at your job that people try to warn the general public about you by creating their own blacklist.

This one is courtesy of Menard's, the Midwest's local version of Home Depot. Spelling does matter, folks. What is a 'peable' anyway?

One of my many guilty pleasures in life is a burger, fries, and Coke. A local Burger King drive-through window obligingly supplied me with some humorous reading material as I waited for the before-mentioned meal. They double check my order...why don't they double check their use of the English language? That is one thing I find VERY inconvience, King!

I hope to be able to continue with this series. Until next time, good evening.

It'll Be Ok, OK?

My Buddy Rori

Almost two years ago, I blogged about my nephew Mikey and his many facial expressions. Now his sister Rori, two years older and wiser, has her own set of a hundred faces that I just adore!