“a book that invites superlatives”

That’s on the back cover of Madame Bovary, which I have not read, declared by Frank O’Connor, who I do not know.

Wow.  I am intrigued by that phrase.  It almost, in my mind, says that this is so far beyond any superlative this man could come up with, he’s inviting the whole world to bring everything they can think of.

And now I’m worried that the book won’t live up to such hype.

instant spring

This is so fun, and I couldn’t wait to share it.

I just went through my photo archives and tagged all the photos I’ve taken of spring blooms.  (Warning: there are a lot.)

Since going to college in upstate New York, where winter lasted from September until May, I notice my energy level and mood drop with the temperature and sunlight, and deal with twinges of seasonal depression until I remind myself that I Live In Virginia Now, and that spring arrives here when the calendar says it should.

Sometimes before.

So, to remind myself during the winter that spring will still be coming…

Promise of things starting to bloom in February!

Things that start blooming in March!

Things that start blooming in April!

Things that bloom in May!

Isn’t that exciting?

advanced math

one glass of red wine

+ listening to an amazing podcast about our church’s vision for community

+ adorable e-mails from people who I admire

+ an excessively exciting week (what with my birthday last weekend and my best friend getting married this weekend)

+ taking tomorrow off (which means I get to sleep in!)

= silliness

mental second wind

Ugh.

My body is exhausted.

But I wear it proudly, as the sign of an epic weekend.  If I’m sore, it generally represents something awesome – miles hiked, waters paddled, thousands of photographs, dozens of moonbounce jumps…

But the paradox is that these events which wear down my body somehow invigorate my mind.  So, even though I had to fight to keep my eyes open while reading at 9:30pm, the moment my body was fully unwound, totally at rest in a dark room, my brain rallied.  I call it the mental second wind.

I also call it the reason I blog.

*

Hopefully a glass of red wine will slow down the hamster wheels in my head.

*

This could probably be blamed on the book I am within 50 pages of finishing.  This one. After so many horrifying and delightful pages of self-conscious rambling, my brain has definitely caught the pattern.  I love the rhythms of that book, and have followed every ridiculous tangent, feeling somewhat relieved that other people think that way, but also terrified by the idea that someone might be thinking that way ALL THE TIME!  HOW DO YOU SURVIVE?  It’s exhausting.  Writing that book would have been exhausting.

Though, I suspect writing any book is exhausting.

*

I have a drinking problem.

Namely, that every time I swallow a beverage that is not water, it somehow gets caught in the back of my throat.  Often it just burns a little, but sometimes I have a coughing fit.  And perhaps it doesn’t happen all the time, but more often lately than I’d prefer.  Drinking beverages is generally something one would like to do without pain…assuming one isn’t drinking hard liquor, in which case all bets are off.

No, I am not drinking hard liquor.

*

A few nights ago, I was reading in bed when a daddy longlegs spider stepped onto the book FROM MY CHIN!  Meaning, it had just crawled across my face, and I hadn’t any clue.  I was so shocked, and impressed, that I let it continue the journey all the way to the foot of the bed.

Though I watched it the whole way.

And then, when it came back, and tried to walk across my hand, I might have squealed a bit and tossed it across the room.

*

Raise your hand if you’ve spent hours on end following links in Wikipedia.

I do it regularly, mostly when I become intrigued by a book or a person and want to do some research.  But one of my friends, one of the geeky ones who is still in school but who doesn’t appear shocked when I say that I would NEVER get another degree, has taken it to a whole other level.

One night, for kicks, and for hours on end, we researched cats on Wikipedia.  Not house cats, but every species of the felidae family.  Go ahead.  It’s amazing. We discovered that leopards (or is it cougars?  This inability to retain any specific terminology is a big reason I’d never survive graduate school.) don’t really exist – that it’s just another name for a whole collection of other cats.

Amazing.

*

The wine and the blog seem to have done their work.

Good night.

Oh. Wow.

You guys, I really don’t know what to do with myself.  Now that I have two websites, and I want to focus on adding awesome content to the other one since it represents my fledgling photography business, but I rarely get bit with the blogging bug (except when it’s WAY past my bedtime, ahem), this blog over here?  The musings?  Aren’t happening.

But, alas, I really love to have a place to be utterly random, and not to feel like I need to polish myself at all.  Because even though I know that the New Social Media Marketing Machine  is telling me that “my brand” = “me exactly”, I am still a person who likes to compartmentalize her social medias, and I’m still a person who feels like “business” = “don’t show up in your sweatpants (even if you happen to think they’re quite flattering)”, and what I’m doing right here and now is essentially hanging out with you in my sweatpants.

Just chillin’.  Past my bedtime, and I’m saying whatever random thing comes to my head.  Or, at least, I say it to myself, and then I ask myself whether it’s appropriate for public consumption, edit for content, and then edit again for clarity.  You would be amazed with the level of editing.  Which is probably why it’s so difficult to add polishing on top.  Which is why the New Social Media Marketing Machine is probably right about being myself.

Hello, people who want to pay me to take their pictures!  I am just as awkward as you are, which is why I will take pictures that display your awkwardness in pretty ways instead of attempting to cover up the awkward!

resolute (part 2)

This second resolution is more immediately painful than the last, though it probably won’t save as much money or require as much self-discipline over the course of the year.

I am canceling Netflix.

*sob*

It’s fairly obvious that I would get more accomplished if I didn’t spend every evening parked in front of the television.  With Netflix, I have this absurd urge to watch as many discs as humanly possible – which explains why I’ll watch two movies in one night…or an entire year of a television series.

I’m not going to give up television, but if I have less incentive to watch it, I’ll be more likely to read through one of the twenty business or photography books I have purchased over the past year.

resolute (part 1)

I was going to avoid making any resolutions this year, since I generally manage to break them within the first week of the new year.  Also, I was so overwhelmed with fun the last few days of 2008 that I couldn’t even catch my breath and review.

But now that I’m back to work (having quit vacation cold-turkey, which I do not recommend), I can see some areas which could benefit from a few changes.

The first came about when a friend sent me a few links to some JCrew sale items.  (How many other women do that, hoping that their friend can either help them justify the purchase or help talk them out of spending the money?)  I mentioned how, for the past few months, since I’ve been unsatisfied with my health/weight, JCrew has had absolutely no pull.  It’s like the worst form of self-control, but I am willing to see it as a blessing, because those impulse sale purchases have often done a number on my bank account.

And then I wondered what sort of damage I might do to my budget once I get in shape this year, even though the whole reason I want to lose weight is to that I can fit into all the clothes I already own. So, in honor of the extreme levels of optimism that exist in my head, I am wondering if I can get through 2009 without buying any new clothes.  Considering how much crap I already have in my closet, this shouldn’t really be difficult.  But considering how much I LOVE the act of shopping, it will be difficult.

YOU can help me out by considering me your very own personal shopper – I somehow love shopping so much that it doesn’t necessarily matter to me whether I’m the one buying things or not.

So, that’s my first absurd resolution.  There are very few things I suspect I’ll actually need this year (perhaps a new pair of running shoes, perhaps a new bra), and I will allow myself a bit of room for those things only.  If I can keep this resolution, I will have much more confidence in my self-discipline, something which I know needs to improve over the next few years.  For that alone, it will probably be worth it – saving money will only be an added bonus!

Stay tuned.  There are a few more bouncing in my head.  But I’m wordy, and want to spend some of my lunch break doing something other than staring at my computer screen.

acting strange since 1981

I had a debate with myself about this title, because I doubt I was able to act much different from every baby for at least the first year of my life, and I was going to add two years just to be safe.  But I didn’t want to alarm my internet big-sisters by making them think I’m even younger than I am.  So, without any eyewitness testimony (though I’m sure Gramma would gladly provide some), I’m going to claim strangeness from birth.

Now, on to the reason for this post.

I finally put up my Christmas tree.  Which isn’t strange, except that the process of putting it up in this corner of my living room included  placing the fake tree on the back porch.  Somehow, I had decided that would be awesome, when it was actually just “awesome” – one of those things that is fun to talk about, but fairly strange in reality.

Especially since my back porch faces an alley-way between sorority and fraternity houses, and I just noticed that the wheels have been stolen from my garbage can.

random thoughts

I just came back from the Messiah Sing-In, which is a whole auditorium full of Choir People.  (For those of you who have been in choir, or perhaps even theatre or band, you know how annoying that can be.)  I’m an alto – one of those people who will proudly, quietly, firmly sing her part…at least whenever she happens to know it…which I generally don’t.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Messiah sung in full, nor have I ever had to perform any of the pieces, so I don’t have any particular interest in singing it.  I’m only there for the choir director, who has been in charge of this event for 41 years, and who hums along to every song.  Even the instrumental pieces.  You’ll be listening to the THIRTY-TWO violins, and wondering what that odd-sounding instrument is, then you realize he’s just humming.  And then the sopranos will have a solo, and you can hear him humming along an octave lower.  He is precious.  If I wasn’t such an annoying Choir Person, I’d probably be happier sitting in the balcony, without a score, listening to him hum.

You know what stresses me out?  An empty blog.  Like this one. A perfect place for a post like yesterday’s, and about a dozen others representing the many many photo shoots I’ve done over the past few months for that exact purpose. I have such a fear of doing something wrong that I can’t even start.

Oh, wait, where is that paperweight I bought back in the fall?  The one that is supposed to be sitting in the middle of my desk for moments like this?

This one?

Crap.

All the rest of the random thoughts have left the building.

almost 8 months

Have you met Piggie-Pie yet?

That might not really be her name, but she was born into a family that understands the value of an absurd nickname.

She is also guaranteed to have a beautiful smile.  I’m looking forward to watching her teeth grow in!