Song Saturday!

A whimsical tune because that's what fits my current mood:


"The thing about coming home is that it settles around you like unset cement. The habits and the safety, the Things you accrue and the money. And the weeks or months you meant to stay grow unwieldy around you, into years and now I am thinking and thinking: There’s a finite amount of time for adventures. For actively choosing a life and rushing in to it. Not everyone gets free.

It’s snowing again like cherry blossoms hatching. Like it will never, ever stop. And I am considering wet shoes and grinning cheek bones in the coffee shop, eavesdropping and worrying about the hearts of the people I love. Worrying about the women, for whom you can have a world of respect and admiration and still not know well enough to comfort. Women who don’t need comfort. Times are hard all around. And still we all keep going toward so many better ends. We might be the luckiest people who ever lived."

"There’s only so much time left to waste. And you can make it anywhere."- from here.

Someday.

photo credit.

It's a beautiful, busy, crazy life and we all need to take a moment to remember to live it. Look at your city or town or country as you go to work or school or out for breakfast this morning. Breathe in the crisp winter air. Take a few moments to reflect on why you are so busy. Are you doing something you are passionate about? Because then, my friends, it is all worth it. Hang in there. Someday you will miss this.

Colleagues!

I was really involved in a nonprofit during college named Students Today Leaders Forever (STLF). It has had a big impact on my life, giving me a great group of friends and tons of volunteer and programming experience. It has even led me to my current full-time position!

Well, one of the founders of STLF wrote a blog post talking about how a few of us are now colleagues, working on bettering youth in the Twin Cities. Here's the post if you'd like to read it: Colleagues Today Leaders Forever

I think one of the best parts of this is that my friend Nick and I are featured. Nick was my neighbor in the dorms our sophomore year of college, and I never would have started my involvement with STLF if Nick hadn't yelled at me for many days in a row in order to get me to join. What a great friend!

Video time.

Hello everyone! Like I said, it's a snow day. Here is my friend Ashley and I and our basket full of questions for your viewing pleasure. If you are bundled up inside today, please feel free to take a little peak into our lives.

Extended weekend song?

I've been pretty awful at getting songs put up on Saturdays lately. This weekend I made it back to my hometown just in time for it to snow and to keep me stuck inside my house. It's still snowing and some of the interstates are actually still closed due to the ice and snow, so I'm not sure when I'll be brave enough to venture back to Minnesota, but it might not be until tomorrow.

So, if you are one of the people in the Midwest getting barraged by this storm, here's a little song for your snow day:


Listen to Adele's new album here.

Too hip.

 

Earlier today on Twitter, I mentioned that I was asked to dress "hip" tomorrow and that I really don't think I've ever done that in my life. 

Some really nice friends reassured my fears and told me that I am, indeed, hip.

They have no idea that this is what I'm wearing right now.

 It's a kind of hybrid between a sweatshirt, cape and Aztec print.

Did I mention it has a hood? 

Oh yeah, I'm definitely hip. 

For the record, I really like this top.

Solo celebration.

Today was my first-ever solo celebration! The celebration was for an email mentoring program my company runs, and that I'm a program associate for. I planned this celebration from the inception, including coordinating volunteers to mentor a classroom of students. I felt really positive about the interactions the students had with their mentors, and was really happy with my speeches at the event.

During the celebration, a wonderful man named Paul gave a speech and ended it with this video on how advanced technology is. I found it really interesting, so I'm sharing it with you!

What do you think?

The best valentine.

Photo credit.

My beautiful, darling friend Sarah came over Saturday morning and brought with her one of the most fantastic Valentine's gifts I've ever received. The Pioneer Woman's story of how she met and was wooed by her man, nicknamed Marlboro Man. I read the story through her blog last summer, and thought it was fantastic. She's a really witty, funny writer who keeps things real while also twirling a fantastic story. She added more to the story, including the entire first year of marriage and released this book in the beginning of February. I knew it was being made, but had no idea what day it was being released. Luckily, Sarah did, and got me my very own copy. I was shocked when she pulled it out of her bag and am so happy! I can't wait to read it!

Weekend song.

Tonight is the Grammy Awards and I not only was reminded of this earlier this evening, but just got cable set up in my ROOM so I can actually watch it! I'm not going to lie, the boys would probably not let me watch it had this not happened. The fact that I now have cable may have been influenced by this past Thursday night when I rushed home from the gym to watch the new Grey's Anatomy, only to find my roommate and his friend playing old school video games. In that moment I may have overreacted a little and yelled "YOU'RE KILLING ME, JOE! KILLING ME!"

It might have happened.

I'm definitely over it now...

Anyways, for your Sunday listening pleasure, here's a little song from John Legend whose group John Legend and the Roots are nominated for a Grammy in the best R&B category.

Jimbo.

Last night began with a little text from my sister K that read "What are you up to tonight?"

It led to Jimbo.

This is the story.

I climbed into my cold, salt-crusted car to go and pick her up from her college dorm. I took the quickest way I knew how, which is actually probably about the speed a turtle would go - people on bikes were passing me, and by the time I got there I was just happy that the other crazies on the road hadn't hit my dirty car yet.

She came clamoring out, hopping down the steps, her open red winter coat flailing to the sides. Once she hit my car it was like a football player hitting his opponent and she got the door open and was safe...like in baseball. Keeping up with these mixed sports metaphors?

Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow is playing on the radio and I'm zooming out of the minuscule parking lot in front of her residence hall as my phone rings. I talk on the phone to a friend who is going to an event called "The Awkward Dance" and is wearing two skirts to said event - one as a shirt, one as a skirt. It's supposed to be awkward, and KB on the phone asked why my sister wasn't going. Well, the very first thing K had told me as she was safely in the car was "I really don't want to go to the awkward dance." So I relayed the information.

We kept rolling on in the messy green Chevy, stopping to grab a RedBox, and then proceeded about 10 blocks out of the way in order to go to Wendy's.

I'd been craving a frosty. You know you like them.

So here we are, going through the practically deserted Wendy's, when the man who comes over the speaker to take our order starts legitimately SINGING to us. "WEEELLLLLCOMMMMMEE TOO WENDYYYYYYYYYYY'SSSSS! Can I take your ooorddddeeerrrrrr pleeeeeeease??

"Wow! Oh hello there, you are VERY happy!" I said back.

"Whenever you're readddddyyyyyyyyyy!" He sang.

"Okay well we would like two fries and two orders of your five piece chicken nuggets and two LARGE Frosty's."

"LARGE FROSTY'S? I don't want a large!" - K said. "That's way too big."

"Medium, then?" "Okay sir, sorry! Let's actually change the two large Frosty's to two medium Frosty's. The original chocolate ones."

"ALLL RIGHTY! That'll be $12.79, $12.79! $12.799999999!!!!" He sang.

K and I are doing that whole gut-wrenching laughter at this point, and as we turn around the corner of the drive through, this singing man opens the drive-through window and practically climbs out of it, with a beaming smile.

"Well hello ladies! $12.79!!!" His name tag reads 'Jimbo.'

"Hi there! How are you tonight?"

"Just dandy!" He hands back my card. "Now if you want to come back to see me I'm here every day but Wednesdays and Thursdays."

"Okay, that's good to know."

"AFTER 5!"

"Okay, we'll be sure not to come before 5!"

"HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"

And with a happy smile and wave, we drove to the second window to retrieve our tasty snacks.

Jimbo, we will be coming back to you, even if it is out of our way. Also, will you be our Valentine?

Reading for pleasure.

"I thought a lot about this tendency I had, towards language. How when I saw a tree I immediately began describing it in my head. I had talked about it with my boyfriend right before he'd left. He had countered that he never did that. That when he looked at the tree he saw only the tree. And if he started to break it down, it was into colors and shapes. Images, not words. I didn't understand. He never read for pleasure either."

Sometimes I feel like I have a separate life within my head. It's one of twisting reality into make-believe. I note the intricate details in everyday things and then create a head full of stories.

I've been reading a lot of articles lately on widely-ranging topics, so much so that when one thing I read two weeks ago all of a sudden links in with something I read two minutes ago, I kind of gasp and think, why didn't anyone tell me that before? Naturally, the reason no one has told me the information is because no one else is reading the exact same things I am, and while other people may be coming to similar conclusions, their path to that conclusion is entirely unique.

Today, I was reading an article my friend Colleen linked to on Twitter that is by a fantastic writer I've been reading for a little over a year now. Her name is Molly Lambert and she writes for an online magazine called This Recording. The article is airy and real and many passages resonated within me, but when I came across this particular one, I stopped and realized that I'm the exact same way. I'd never thought about it before, which makes sense because we all tend to believe that our minds work similarly until we encounter someone who can vocalize how different we are. I appreciate the way she writes about real emotions, especially those that hit you in the last semester of college, and how she scoffs at her ex-boyfriend in a simple sentence, as well. If you have a little time, I recommend reading the whole piece.

I'm starting to feel better!

Why is it that on the days that one wakes up and can't seem to get out of bed, so the whole morning is way off routine and simple things like choosing what to wear for the day gets thrown to the waste side so really, all one does is look in one's closet or drawers and comes up with something completely ridiculous or old or a combination of the two and then one puts that particular thing on (perhaps a red jumper from London circa 2008) and scrambles out the door in the morning and that happens to be the day that MULTIPLE people comment on how good that particular person looks?

How does that happen? And how do I replicate it for tomorrow?

Song Sunday!

Hello everyone! I hope you've been having a great weekend. I've literally been sleeping for most of it. There are times when I'm up to get some soup, medicine, or press play on the video I'm watching in order to fall back asleep. I'm hoping to cure this sickness in these two days by laying low.

Since I didn't put up a song yesterday, here's a song for your Sunday. This past week, this is what I'd put on to get myself moving in the morning; hope you like it, too!

That stuffed up stuff.

image credit

Why is it that whenever you're sick, you just want to call your mom? Am I the only one who feels like this? My mom is over 5 hours away; I logically know that there is absolutely nothing she could do to help me right this moment. Nevertheless, I just want to let her know that I am not feeling well. If she was here I know she'd get me some mashed potatoes or soup. She'd make me eat crackers. She used to always make me eat crackers when I was sick. I kind of hated it actually. So, what did I do when I came home from work today? I ate crackers. Naturally.

The point is I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so I'm going to lay in bed and watch movies all night. Here's to feeling better tomorrow.

It's February.

Do you know what that means? It means that I can officially cut my hair!

You see, I've been growing it out so I can donate it to Locks of Love.

So, what's the problem you ask? Well, I've actually been really enjoying the length lately. I like the ease with which it flows and the extra warmth it provides doesn't hurt during this cold Minnesota winter.

So here's to one more month of long hair! Happy February!