Best Mixed C.D. EVER!

So over the weekend I was attempting to organize and clean our room in preparation for our upcoming move (more on that later). Just as I was about to literally rip out my hair in frustration, I cam across a C.D. case. Opening it was like opening a time capsule. I found a wonderful collection of CMA music (Rebecca St. James, anyone?), some random bands I don’t remember and a fair share of mixed C.D.s burned by myself and friends. One in particular caught my eye. It was labeled “Best Mixed C.D. Ever!” I wonder what music past Brianna thought was the best ever…

Song #1 is “California” by Phantom Planet, which is pretty crazy because I JUST burned a roadtrip C.D. with that song on it. Clearly my fanatic love for all songs about California has not phased over the years.

Song #2 is “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles. That song always reminds me of my trip to Maui right after graduation. Naphtali and I sang that whenever the clouds covered the sun.

Song #3 comes on and I laugh to myself. “You’re just to good to be true/Can’t take my eyes off of you/You’d be like heaven to touch/ I want to hold you so much.” I tried for MONTHS to make this me and Joe’s special song. See, for some reason it always bothered me that we never had a song, especially since Joe loves music so much. I wanted him so badly to tell me one night “This song reminds me of you.” Or for us to go to dinner, hear song, look deeply into eachothers eyes and know that we would be together forever. At the very least he could send me a singing telegram! But he never dedicated any songs to me, no romantic songs ever revealed themselves organically, so I tried to force one. But Joe, the hopeless practical, refused to particpate so this day, we are still songless.

Tracks 4,5, and 6 confuse me a bit. “Forever Young,” “Hey Jude,” and “Rock the House” are all great sounds, but I would never put them on something dubbed “the best mixed c.d. ever.” That’s an honor I usually reserve for trashy pop music and Ludacris. Then I realize that these are all songs that Joe really likes and I must have still been in that stage where I was trying to impress him with my good taste in music. Which, of course, I don’t have. My taste is bad, like i-voted-for-clay-aiken bad.

Track #7…YOU’S A HOE! There’s the Luda! Glad I didn’t completely sell out to impress my future husband. This song always reminds me of my good friend, Holly. For some reason we got the biggest kick out of this song in college and would sing it regularly. I think at one point we could actually sing every word. Such a classy bunch, those Vanguard ladies

Layla by Bruce Springsteen is track #8. Now, this is a song that Joe introduced me too and that I actually really do like and would but on a “best mixed c.d.” again today. I love this song so much that I named our dog Layla. One day I’ll teach her how to dance to it and we’ll be a one hit wonder YouTube sensation.

Champagne Supernova by Oasis comes up next. Okay, maybe I do have some good taste in music. Did you know that the two guys that made up this band are brothers? But one walked out right before a performance one night and they haven’t talked since. Sad.

Song #10 is “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” Suddenly I know what year this C.D. was made in, 2007, the year I graduated and was sure my world was going to end because I was so ill prepared for life outside of college. Five years later, I still feel ill prepared. Maybe that will change one day. Or maybe I’ll just die.

“Chocolate” by Snow Patrol. Not sure if my love for ALL Snow Patrol albums confirms or denies my terrible taste in music. I’ll let you be the judge while I rock out to “Chasing Cars.”

Stairway to Heaven? What the heck? That was DEFINITELY put on there to impress Joseph. That song is sooo boring.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers win the 13th spot on my C.D. with “Free Fallin.” Honestly, I don’t really have much to say about that so…ya…

“Bad Moon Rising” is number #14 and I immediatly start bouncing and dancing, which is probably why it made it on the C.D. in the first place. I’m a sucker for songs that make me dance.

Not sure what song #15 is, and I’m too lazy to look it up. I’m afraid this post is getting long and boring and that most of you have tuned out. COME BACK! There’s just one more left.

OUT HERE IN THE FIELDS, I FIGHT FOR MY MEALS! Even though I wouldn’t but “Baba O’Riley” in my top ten today, I remember being in love with this song in college. One of my favorite managers and I used to sing this song alot when I worked at In N Out, and by sing I mean yell the first line really loud and mumble the rest while we played air drums. Good times.

And there you have it, a list of 16 songs that 20 year old Brianna thought were “the best.” What  about you? What was on your best songs list when you were 20? How about now?

 

January’s Pinterest Challenge

So at the beginning of the year, I set some goals for 2012. One of them was to do at least one thing from Pinterest every month. The purpose of this was 1) for me to try new things and 2) for me to justify the massive amount hours spent pinning crap.

For January, I choose to do one of the many exercise routines floating from pin board to pin board.

*originally taken from http://prettyfitbody.tumblr.com/

I choose this work out plan mostly because it allows me to use the spiffy green jump rope my sister got me for Christmas. Plus, its a great cardio work out and since I hate running but have the cholesterol of a 65 year old who has eaten bacon every day of her life, I really needed to find a creative way to pump up my heart.

Admittedly, I have only tried this three times so far and I have yet to make it through the entire routine. In my defense, I just started it last week and I’ve been sick this entire week, so I’ve had to stick to yoga and intense ice cream eating routines. (I put a little weight on my spoon to give my muscles a workout…just kidding I didn’t, but thats a good idea. PATENT PENDING! Don’t steal it).  But even though I’ve only done this routine thrice, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s really hard, and my calves hurt like hell afterwards, but it got me to work up a sweat and get my heart rate up without having to leave my house. For all you “to do” list lovers out there, this routine is awesome because during your 30 second break you can mark off the activity you just did. Fun times!

A few tips:

• Get as far as you can the first time and make a note of how many activities you did. The next time, try to to do one or two more activities. Keep it up till you can get through the whole routine.
• Create an LMFAO station on Pandora. Although these guys are arguably the most immature, vile, disgusting bands in current existence, their music, and music like theirs, has a beat thats perfect for cardio workouts. Plus, what better motivation to exercise than to to be sexy and know it?
• If you don’t know what an activity is, just look it up on YouTube. There were quite a few that I hadn’t heard of before, so I just typed their name into YouTube and up popped tons of videos from exercise instructors.
• Do as many of the exercises as you can, but if there is one you really don’t like (for me that would be Burpees) substitute it with an exercise you do like (for me that would be skaters).

Let me know if you try this routine and how you like it. Or tell me about any other things you’ve tried from Pinterest!

Book Review: Wuthering Heights

Alright readers, lets have a little discussion, shall we? I just finished watching the movie Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I was supposed to read it for book club, but since 1800s English Lit isn’t my thing, I took the easy way out and watched the movie. The question I’d like to discuss is this: Were Heathcliff and Catharine in love or lust?

I would argue that they were in lust. For Heathcliff, it was always lust. Not just sexual lust, but emotional lust as well. He loved Cathy because she loved him. She made him feel good and she was the only person who truly cared for him. That is the only reason why he wanted to be with her. The second he saw her slightly more “civilized” he assumed she wouldn’t treat him the same way and so he started acting like a jerk. For the rest of the story he manipulates her and makes decisions based solely on raw emotion.

For example, I’m pretty sure he planned his return to occur right after Cathy’s marriage to Edgar. He didn’t want to stop the wedding, he wanted it to happen so he could come back and make Cathy miserable. That’s not love, that’s crazy.

Heathcliff all but admits his twisted ideas of love when he tells Isabelle that the fact that she sees good in him is almost enough for him to try to love her. He only loves those who love him. You may argue that this is admissible given his upbringing and that, though its twisted, its the only love he knows. On the contrary, he was shown the greatest and most sacrificial love when Mr. Earnshaw brings him in from the street. Mr. Earnshaw loved Heathcliff unconditionally and for no reason, yet Heathcliff never learned to do the same. Actually, scratch that. He eventually does learn to do the same when he commits suicide so that young Catharine and Hareton can be happy together and not deal with his crazy.

As for Cathy, I think her feelings started out as love. Like her father, she really did love Heathcliff unconditionally for who he was. But again, she wasn’t willing to make sacrifices to keep that love going. His brooding depression made her uncomfortable so she started hanging out with Edgar. Yet she wouldn’t release Heathcliff from her charm, not even after she was married. She would still flirt and kiss and give him a reason to return time after time. That’s not love, that’s selfish lust.

So, who does demonstrate love in this story? I think Nelly is the best example. She is mistreated and talked down to by everyone at least once in the story, and yet she continues to faithfully serve the Earnshaws and take care of Cathy and young Catherine. Another example is Edgar. Although he’s a pushover and sometimes stupid, he does honestly try to put Cathy’s feelings first and makes sacrifices in attempts to make the marriage work.

And then, of course, there is Young Catherine and Hareton. My sister told me that the its worth it to read the book simply because of the ending. She was right, its definitely my favorite part. Those two young people learned the power of humility, of saying “I’m sorry” and of learning from the mistakes of those around them. Young Catherine, though she was attracted to Hareton from the beginning, chose Linton and stayed faithful to him until his death. Only then did she turn her affections to Hareton, so as not to mislead him or break the heart of her dying husband. And when they were together, they did insult each other. But they also apologized and administered forgiveness. In the end, they are rid of all the crazy that proceeded them and someone learn what it means to truly love someone.

Now it’s your turn. Have you read Wuthering Heights and, if so, do you think Cathy and Heathcliff were in love or lust?

Cannibals, Math and Seven Precious Babies

The first of the 2012 babies, my little niece Carolyn. Freaking adorable, right?

As of right now, I know 7 new babies that will enter (or just entered) the world in 2012. SEVEN! And that’s only close friends and family. If we start adding acquaintances and people that I’m guessing will get pregnant in the next three months, that number jumps to about 9-10. This tells me two things. One, I better just go ahead and get that Target credit card because I’m going to need 10% off the bajillion baby things I will buy in 2012. Second, it tells me that the questions of “when are YOU going to have a baby” will not only continue, but probably intensify. I’m already sick of telling people that we are waiting until Joe finishes school and establishes himself in a career. That’s true, but its so boring. So, I’ve come up with some new ones, all very legitimate and well thought out. So the next time you ask “are you having kids soon?” I’ll say “no, because…”

• I hate math. Have you ever noticed how much counting goes into a pregnancy? When you’re trying to get pregnant you have to do period math, then when you see that plus sign you have to count to find the date of conception, then your counting weeks and weight, then days, then minutes in between contractions…baaaaaahhhhh!!!! I’ve such limited space in the left side of my brain, and right now its busy counting down the days until The Voice comes back and baseball season starts. There is no room for baby math right now.
• I’m afraid of cannibals. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my thighs are pretty hefty and I’ve got a bit of a ghetto booty (and no, I’m not just saying that to be cool, people from the actual ghetto have confirmed this). With pregnancy, those areas expand. What if I meet a cannibal on the street one day, and he follows me home and kills me, knowing that my thighs alone will feed his family for a whole week? No thank you! I’m not getting pregnant until I’m 100% sure not a single cannibal lives within a 100 mile radius of me.
• I haven’t finished my book bucket list. At the end of 2009 I made a list of 50 books I wanted to read before I had kids. As of January 2012, I have ready exactly 13. That’s not even half. At this rate, I can’t start having kids until 2018. Don’t blame me, blame 2009 Brianna. That chick was way to ambitious.
• I routinely forget to feed my dog. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Clearly I need a few more years in the practice of caring for other living things. I know what your thinking “What about Sydney? You take care of her so well!” Ya well, I taught that child how to feed herself a long time ago to avoid this very issue. If I forget, she just feeds herself. Problem solved.
• I need a chauffeur. Just today we were discussing the logistics of pregnant women driving. How do they fit that stomach behind the wheel? I personally, drive like a granny and practically hug the steering wheel at all times. By the time I get to my second trimester I won’t be able to fit and, therefore, will need a to me and put “chauffeur” in the memo.
•  I’m too busy being an aunt. How can I continue to dote on and spoil my biological and honorary nieces and nephews if I have kids of my own? They are so precious and I’m so looking forward to meeting more of them throughout the year. Yes yes, it would be super fun for us all to be pregnant together but don’t worry, I’ll catch you all on round 2 or 3 or 5. But for right now, I’m perfectly happy holding your little ones while you worry about baby numbers and cannibal attacks

Of course, if the good Lord/ the dummies working at the condom factory decide to bless us with a child before we think we are ready, we’ll still be super excited and throw all the excuses out the window. But until then, I stand firm in my belief that I NEED a chauffeur!

P.S. A HUGE GIANT Congrats to all the new and repeat mommas of 2012. I’m so excited for all you ladies and so blessed to be part of your journey. I hope my cynicism and ridiculously random sense of humor brings laughter and not offense. You know that’s just how I roll.

The Great “Eat-Through-The-Cupboard” Experiment

We've made Jello about two times since we've been married. Why do we keep buying it?

On January 12th Joe and I went grocery shopping. Before going, we looked at what we had in the cupboard and planned meals that used those ingredients. We were looking forward to a smaller than usual grocery bill since we already had a lot of ingredients. Instead, we ended up paying $100. For just us. Ridiculous.

So we decided to experiment. For the next three weeks, we wouldn’t eat out and we would only go grocery shopping for perishables (fruits, veggies, lunch meat). The goal was to 1) get rid of things in our pantry and 2) save money. The experiment isn’t over yet, but so far we are doing pretty good.

Week one was easy. Since we had just gone grocery shopping we had tons of yummy things to eat. We made the meals we planned and had didn’t have to sacrifice on snacks. There was a team conflict when we got a  coupon for LoneStar that would let us get an appetizer, two entrees and a dessert for $20. The coupon expired before our experiment was up and I wanted to cheat and go. Joe wouldn’t budge. So I tore the coupon up to make a dramatic statement and that was that.

Week two was a little more difficult. We ate at a friends house one night and my parent’s house the next, which means we didn’t have any leftovers for lunch. We had also run out of lunch meat and bread. One day I was super desperate and was frantically searching through the pantry for anything I could bring to work for lunch. I found a can of Campbell’s chicken noodle-o’s. I added some the canned vegetables from the night before and a CRAP TON of lemon pepper and voila, a barely edible lunch.

Other victorious moments for us include the times we went out to a restaurant with friends and didn’t order anything. Joe went to Denny’s with coworkers after closing and completely forgot about our “no eating out rule” until he was sitting in the booth. So he just had water and someone’s toast. I got invited to dinner with some girlfriends and made sure I stuffed my face at home before I went so I wouldn’t be tempted to order anything, not even an appetizer.

Other highlights include force feeding myself a bowl of cornflakes and completely bypassing the candy and snacks aisle when I went shopping at Sprouts last week. But, the experiment hasn’t been all about sacrifices. We’ve benefitted a lot from it. Joe has gotten really good at making homemade bread. I think that even when the experiment is over, we’ll eat more homemade bread than store bought. Also, money that we would have usually spent on eating out has gone towards saving for vacation and paying off our credit card debt. Plus, we’ve discovered some delicious things that we didn’t know we had. Here’s a tip for you: white chocolate Jello = amazing! And of course, we have A LOT more room in our fridge and cupboard.

The experiment ends this Thursday, February 2nd. People have warned us that our next grocery bill will probably be giant because we’ll want to restock everything. But I don’t think so. For one thing, we’ll still have some stuff in our cupboard that we’re gonna use up ASAP. Plus, our shopping mentality has changed. Before, we would get new things before we finished off the old ones. For example, we’d get a new box of cereal before the old was gone. Then we (or more accurately, I) would be so excited about the new cereal I would eat that and forget the old box until it went stale. No more! I vow to always (or at least a majority of the time) finish my old stuff before I break into the new.

The overall lesson in this whole thing is that we can live happily on way less than we thought we could. Joe and I already live pretty minimalist lives but this experiment taught us there is still so much room for improvement. And its not about giving everything up and living in complete destitution. Its about really prioritizing and sacrificing today’s happiness for an even greater adventure tomorrow. Which, hopefully, will include a dinner at LoneStar

 

Brianna Alexander Went From “In A Relationship” to “In The Same Relationship”

As long as I’ve had a Facebook profile, it has said “in a relationship with Joe Alexander.” Of course, a few years ago it changed to engaged and then married, but its always been with the same guy. Its very “Marshall and Lily.” Today, I randomly started thinking about things I’ve missed out on by only ever displaying one relationship on FB…

1. Instant sympathy when you change your status to “single.” Have you ever noticed that when someone says they’re single, they get a flood of sympathy responses? Girl friends offering to take you out, guy friends assuring you that your super sexy and didn’t need that jerk anyways, cousins reassuring you that they will always be there for you. It’s like a giant  group cyber hug. No other Facebook posting gets that much sympathy, except for your dog dying. So, I guess I can still experience that one day…
2. Sadistic joy in deleting old boyfriend pictures. I’ve never had a bad break up. That’s one of the perks of marrying the only person you ever fell in love with. Most of the time I’m very happy about this, but every time I listen to Kelly Clarkson I can’t help but think that I missed out on a quintessential growing up experience, which includes untagging and deleting photos of ones ex while eating icecream with your roommate and swearing that you’ll both become nuns so you don’t have to deal with this y choromosone crap any more.
3. The chance to screw with people’s minds by saying my relationship is “complicated.” This relationship status is ridiculous. If you’re relationship is so unstable that you cannot even name it, its not a relationship and you shouldn’t be broadcasting it on Facebook. (o if only i could go back in time and tell high school Brianna this..but I digress) But as silly as it is, I’ve always wanted to post it just to mess with people. To just put “its complicated” and make everyone guess who it is and why its complicated. Or say I’m in domestic relationship and make all my old high school friends wonder if I really am in one or if I’m just being ironic. Alhtough, now that I think about it, I guess I could still mess with people. Imagine going out with Joe and I one night, and we are all happy and married and crap, and then the next day I change my status to “complicated/open relationship or domestic partnership.” You’d be like “what the heck? That must have been one hell of a ride home in the Alexanders car last night.” Hahaha.

Yes, these things are fun in theory, but I’m sure the reality is annoying. People asking about every detail of your break up, old flames keeping you as a friend and then plastering sickening pictures of their new fling (who is way uglier than you, btw) all over your wall, and having actual sadness associated with a Kelly Clarkson song. Yuck. I’ll stick with my monogamy and continue to find other ways to get that big cyber hug *coughbecausei’mdesperateandconstantlylneedreassurancefromfriends*

Bri Is Back!

Yay! I missed you, readers! A month and a half without blogging is way too long. But the craziness of the holidays has finally settled down, and I finally have a new computer that doesn’t take 5 minutes for every action, so I’m back to blogging.

Today, I’m taking some time to recap on 2011. Honestly, most of you may find this incredibly boring and I don’t blame you if you just skip it. Although at the end I tell you about a cool new photo app I found, so you may want to check that out. No, this won’t be interesting to most of you, but I’m breaking the cardinal rule of blogging today and blogging for myself. I want to remember what happened in 2011. It wasn’t an overly exciting or eventful year, but it was a good year, and maybe one day when I have dementia Joe can read this post back to me to help me remember, just like that adorable couple in The Notebook.

And so, without further ado, here is how the Alexanders lived life in 2011.

January- My dad celebrated his 50th birthday at Farrell’s and Joe started his first semester at OCC. He is studying to get his HVAC certificate so he can transfer to the maintenance department at In N Out.

Happy 50th Birthday!

February- Celebrated my dear friends birthday at the Los Rios Tea House in San Juan Capistrano. Also, my job starts to pick up pace as more clients ask me to manage their blogs and social media for them.

March- Mom and sister’s birthday is this month. Alyssa and I had Disneyland passes and we bought mom a two day pass so we could all three go together. It rained the whole day…which was amazing.

April- Attending opening game of the Angel’s 50th season…woot woot! Easter was celebrated with me and Joe’s family at my parents house, and the little Imp’s spring break gave us time to roller blade and go to Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Opening Day! I think that's Ambers drunk hand behind me, haha.

May- We adoped our dog, Layla, this month! She’s been a giant pain in the butt, however we adore her and are so glad we made the decision to rescue her from the shelter. Also in this month I got to spend some quality time with my friends from small group at our church’s Women’s Retreat. We celebrated Mother’s Day at Disneyland and Memorial Day by riding bikes up and down the boardwalk on Balboa Island.

Our dog, Layla. And yes, we did name her after the Eric Clapton song

June- We took our annual anniversary trip, this year to Palm Springs. We rented a convertible, played mini golf, ate at a delicious hole in the wall BBQ joint and went shopping at the outlet malls.

July- Joe had the 4th of July off, which is rare, and we celebrated it down in San Diego at my cousins house. We had some friends of ours from Lake Hills get married, we went to more Angel’s games, we found out our sister-in-law and our good friend were pregnant and I went to another friend’s baby shower. This trend of babies continues for the rest of year!

August- At the very beginning of the month we went camping in Yosemite. I know I’ve blogged about this several times, but seriously, such a great vacation. For my 25th birthday we learned how to do Stand Up Paddle boarding, which was super fun and I want to do more of in 2012. Joe’s brother and his wife and kids visited from Maryland and we went to Disneyland, the beach and an Angels vs. Orioles game (btw, that was the most intense game I’ve ever been too. 13 innings!) A couple in our small group got married and Joe was privileged to be a groomsman. We also went to the OC Fair where I ate a doughnut the size of a plate. Phew, busy month!

Just a few of the amazing photos we took on our Yosemite trip

September- Work gets even busier and joe returns for a second semester at OCC. One of my best friends from college announces her engagement and asks me to be in the wedding. Remember that baby shower I went to in July? Well that sweet baby was born this month and she is simply adorable. We celebrated Labor Day with AMAZING seats at an Angel game, which my boss gave to us as a birthday present. Seriously, we were about 10 rows back from the Angel’s batter’s box. It was so cool! Also, I went to my first Civil War Reenactment.

October- Joe went up to Forest Home for our church’s men’s retreat. While all the guys were up there, the small group ladies enjoyed a day at Glen Ivy Day Spa, where we found out that two more girls in the group were pregnant (bringing the total to 3!) We celebrated Halloween by taking a haunted tour at the Heritage Museum of Orange County, then we went to a house party. I dressed up as a broccoli!

November- The highlight of this month was definitely the new car we got on Thanksgiving weekend! A blue Honda CRV (which I just got tinted today). We spent Thanksgiving day with Joe’s family and we all went Black Friday Shopping, which was super fun. We spent the day after with my family. Also that weekend, one of my best friends from high school got engaged! So excited for her.

My new car! Its a 2007, but it looks brand new and is in such good shape. I absolutely love it.

December- We celebrated Joe’s birthday with lunch at Fuddruckers. We spent a ton of time with friends and family. We went to a few different Christmas parties, and spent the day with Joe’s family in Temecula making gingerbread houses. My grandparents from Washington came down to visit and me and the siblings went out to Arizona to visit our cousins (Joe had to work). We spent Christmas Eve at my cousins house in San Diego and Christmas day at my parents house. Joe was able to get off at a decent time on New Years and we rang in the New Year together with our good friends from college at a 90′s themed party.

WOW! Crazy year. It was definitely a spectator year…a year we watched as friends got engaged, got married and had babies! But even though those things weren’t happening to us, it was so much fun to be a part of other people’s life changing experiences. So many people were there supporting us when I graduated, when we got married, when we moved in together, and I love being able to support others through their big life adventures. And of course, we did have some pretty awesome adventures of our own in 2011 and can’t wait for more in 2012 (I’m already planning some camping adventures…)

And now for the photo app I promised you. I have a bad memory, and when I was trying to remember everything that happened in 2011 I used the pictures on my iPhone (which I only delete once a year) to help jog my memory. This year, I found a photo app called My365. You take one photo everyday and put it on a calendar and at the end of every month you can look back on a pictorial story of what you did that month. You can share your calendar and look at other people’s, although I don’t do that. My everyday stuff is pretty boring, and I’m sure everyone else’s is too, so I don’t think its necessary to share. Its just a fun app to have for yourself and your family.

 

My 2011 Thankful List

Last year I came up with an idea to post, on Facebook, something I was thankful for every hour for the full 24 hours of Thanksgiving. Thanks to Hootsuite I was able to schedule all my posts and not get up every hour or take a break from my 12 hour  eating bing. This year I’m doing the same thing, but decided to compile all my posts in a blog article as well. This is mostly so that I can look back in a year and see what I was thankful for in 2011, it is NOT because I want to shove my awesome thankfullness in your face. I would, however, love to hear what your thankful for so feel free to tell me in the comments below!

This year I’m thankful for…

1. Blogging. I love having an outlet, a place where I can get out all my weird thoughts, funny jokes and creative energy. And I’m super thankful that there are a handful of people who actually read and enjoy the blog. Thanks readers!
2. My husband. Its cliche, I know, and I’m sure it will pop up on my list every year, but I really am so thankful that he is in my life. This year I am especially thankful that he has decided to go to school so he can get a good job and support our future family. He works so so hard and I hardly ever get to see him, but we both know its a temporary sacrifice for a long term benefit. Thanks for your hard work honey.
3. Hot Chocolate. Its so delicious and so easy to make. A boring winter night instantly becomes cozy and magical when your drinking hot chocolate. Yum!
4. Camping. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know why I love camping. Its a cheap way to travel and see some amazing places. This year we went to Yosemite and it was mind blowing. I can’t wait for our 2012 camping adventure.
5. Babies. So very many of my friends are having babies this year. And while it is overwhelming (so many baby showers and onesies) and foreign to me at some times, I am so grateful that I get to walk with my friends through this exciting stage in their lives. I’m especially thankful for my friends who had trouble getting pregnant, that they are finally getting to experience what is the greatest thing ever (or so I’ve been told).
6. Our dog. If you had told me last year that this year I would be putting a dog on my thankful list, I would have laughed at you. But life is full of surprises and me actually loving a canine is one of them. We got Layla in May and even though she is a giant pain the butt sometimes, she is generally well behaved, always adorable and always loveable.
7. Friends. Again with the cliche, I know, but the older I get the more I appreciate my friends. They are harder to come by the older you get.
8. Toilet paper. Could you imagine wiping with leaves or catalog pages everyday? No thank you.
9. Hulu. It has saved me a couple hundred bucks by making it so that I don’t have to pay for cable.
10. The re-release of all my favorite Disney movies. Little Mermaid in 06, Beauty in the Beast last year and this year Lion King. My only regret is not buying Mulan on DVD a couple years ago.
11. Orange County. Despite its many faults, I really do love my home town. I love that the beach, Disneyland, and Angel Stadium are only 20 minutes away. There is always somewhere to go, something to do and delicious food to eat.
12. The comedy stations on Pandora. If you’ve listened, you know why they are on the list. If you haven’t, you are seriously missing out.
13. Working street lights.  The major power outage that took place in south Orange County and San Diego over the summer really opened my eyes to the necessity of working street lights, especially in California where people think “4 way stop” means “enter the intersection whenever the hell you want, glare at anyone who tries to enter at the same time and pray that nothing hits you.” I never want to spend 2 hours driving a quarter of a mile again.
14. Just Dance. Hands down the best video game ever. A plethora of fantastic pop music from all decades, competition, cardio workout, and awesome dance moves you can totally bust out in da club…what more could you want?
15. My hair. There is nothing particularly special about my hair, in fact, most days I think its pretty ugly. However, I would rather have ugly hair than be bald. Not that I have anything against bald people, its just a personal preference for myself.
16. Health. This year me and my entire family have been blessed with good health, which is awesome, since none of us have been blessed with extra money to pay for bad health. Its also awesome for the obvious reason that bad health just flat out sucks.
17. My new car. This is a bit premature since I don’t actually have the car yet, but I’m pretty sure we will get it before the year is over and I am SO EXCITED! If we get the one we are planning on getting, its a blue 2007  Honda CR-V. We’re going to look at it on Sunday…pray we’re able to get it!
18. Sunglasses. I only ever get the cheap kind (because I loose them every few months) but having them makes a world of difference. If sunglasses had not been invented, I would be sentenced to a life of constant headaches and tired eyes. Honestly, I don’t know how the pioneers crossed the country without sunglasses. I can’t even make the 20 minute trek to work everyday without some shady eye protection.
19.  Books. As much as I love audio books, ebooks, ibooks, Kindle books, etc, nothing beats a physical book you can hold in your hands while you’re curled up on the couch. The demise of Borders has made me very sad because I think its a precursor to the demise of the physical book. So I will give into my hoarder tendencies and keep every physical book I own, make good use of my public library and frequently visit the dollar bookstore in the Laguna Hills mall.
20. YouTube. A friend and I were recently talking about the days when people had to watch MTV for hours to catch their favorite music video, or patiently listen to the radio until your favorite song came on so you could hit the record button on the tape player. Now, anytime you want to hear a song or watch a music video, just find it, and a million different versions of it, on YouTube. It’s a beautiful thing.
21. Rainboots. I used to think that I hated the rain, until I discovered rainboots and realized that as long as my socks and pant legs were protected, the rain was actually kind of nice.
22. Everyone who has a job that has been featured on Dirty Jobs. Thank you for dealing with nastiness every day so society can function and have nice things.  
23. Jesus death on the cross. I’m sure I put this last year and I’ll probably put it on every year, but that just shows how important it is. I wouldn’t be where I am, who I am or doing what I’m doing if it weren’t the salvation that comes from believing in Jesus Christ and accepting his death as atonement for my millions of sins. I’m humbled by His love, grace and sacrifice.
24. My bed. Thankful that its warm, big, comfortable and located under a roof.

My Musical Timeline

It all started with this song.

I heard it played randomly when I went with my boss to guest speak at an office meeting. I recognized the song as soon as it came on. I frantically looked around to find anyone my age who would appreciate this song, but there was no one. So when I got back to my office I pulled it up on YouTube and said to the girls “Please tell me you know this song.” Turns out love for this song is VERY specific to people who were 8 years old when A Goofy Movie came out, because anyone who was younger or older than me by more than three years didn’t get it.

It got me thinking…why is that song so awesome? Why did I listen to it on repeat for an hour at work that day? The song itself isn’t that great but it conjures up specific memories and feelings associated with the magical age of eight. I started thinking about other things that have significant meaning and decided to create a musical time line of my life. Some of the music is good, some is awful, some you’ll recognize and a few are pretty obscure. But they all remind me of a certain time and/or event in my life. Honestly, there are so many more songs I could add to this, but I figured I was already asking a lot of you to go through 12 different songs. So here it is, my musical timeline. If you create one for yourself let me know, I’d love to see what songs represent important moments in your life.

Chantilly Lace by The Big Bopper
Life Stage- baby/toddler
The Story- My grandma and mom used to sing this song to me when they did my hair. I wore my hair in a ponytail A LOT and would always shake it when they sang “with a ponytail hanging down.”

Full House Theme Song
Life Stage- my whole first decade of life
The Story- I grew up watching Full House every Friday night (remember TGIF on ABC?) We were on vacation when the series finale aired and I told my mom I didn’t care where we were, we HAD to watch it. So we did, on the tiny t.v. in my great grandmother’s house. I cried.

California Girls by The Beach Boys
Life Stage- Elementary School
The Story- Obviously, this song was sung and became popular way before I was born. Nevertheless, I was a huge fan of the Beach Boys as a kid. I remember this one night me, my siblings and my cousins had a two hour beach boys dance party (there were six of us dancing in our teeny tiny condo…I have no idea how my parents survived that). I chose this particular song for the time line because I’m a California Girl and even as a kid, I took great pride in that.

Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid
Life Stage: Early Elementary School
The Story: I grew up in the Golden Age of Disney films. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King…I adored every single one and to this day I can still sing just about every song. When I was little I had a VHS of the Little Mermaid that my best friend copied for me when it played on the Disney channel. The video below shows my absolute favorite scene. Every time I would go to the living room window sill and squat down, and then when she pushes herself up on the rock I would push myself up on the window sill. Every. Single. Time.

Entertaining Angels by The Newsboys
Life Stage: Jr. High/High School
The Story: The late 90s early 2000s was the BEST time for Contemporary Christian Music. For the longest time that was all I listened to, not because my parents told me that secular music was devil music, but because I honestly enjoyed listening to CCM (thats what us cool church kids called it) and didn’t feel the need to listen to anything else. I liked a lot of different bands- DC Talk, Rebecca St. James, O.C. Supertones- but my favorite were the Newsboys and this song was the best. I remember when I got my first Discman, this was the first c.d. I played on it. Fun side note, I always hoped that I would learn to play the violin well enough to play this song. I never did, but this song holds fond memories nonetheless.

Star Wars theme song
Life Stage: Birth to present
The Story: I had a really hard time deciding where to put this in the timeline since its a song that runs through my entire life. Because Star Wars Episode I came out when I was in Jr. High, it put it in the Jr. High stage (although I love all the Star Wars movies, not just the new ones). Me and the sibs have been obsessed with Star Wars forever. I think its because my brother, who grew up in between two girls, would not let his life be ruled by princesses, Barbie and My Little Pony. So when he got to pick the game we played Star Wars and my sister and I grew to love it. I’ll never forget the day we reenacted episode I with our cousins, complete with homemade costumes that included socks for Jar Jar Binks’ ears and baby powder for Queen Amidala’s white face paint.

All Star by Smash Mouth
Life Stage: Early High School
The Story: There is plethora of “awesome” pop music I could have picked for this time frame- Britney Spears, N Sync, BackStreet Boys, etc. I chose this song because I have a very distinct memory of me at my cousins house, the summer before my sophomore year of high school, standing on the diving board rocking out to this song. That represents what that time period in my life was like…happy, carefree and super upbeat. Sure I had the normal high school angst involving boys, grades and best friends, but I was finally allowed to wear make up, I had super cute clothes, I was actually getting attention from boys and I was always super upbeat. It was that magic age where you are just old enough to start enjoying meaningful privileges but not so old that you have to start taking on meaningful responsibility. Oh to be 15 again…

Every song Clay Aiken ever sang
Life Stage: Late high school
The Story: Everyone has their embarrassing crushes, and this one is mine. Although at the time, I was not embarrassed at all. Everyone knew I was obsessed. My best friend and I (she was equally obsessed) voted for him every night on American Idol, bought his c.d.s and bought every magazine with his picture, cut his picture out and kept it in a scrapbook (okay okay, the picture thing was just me). We went nuts when we got tickets to his concert and made signs AND t-shirts. We honestly thought we were super cool. Until we got the concerts and realized that all his fans were our mom’s age. That realization drastically curbed our passion for Clay. And when we found out he was gay a few years later (yes, we were really so clueless as to have not figured it out sooner) that put the nail in the coffin of our crush on him. However, we still had a ton of fun at that concert and we bust out the Clay Aiken Christmas C.D every year.

Friends theme song
Life Stage: College
The Story: Even though the Friends series ended my senior year of high school, I didn’t start watching until I got to college. My senior year of college me and the best roommate ever had all 10 seasons between the two of us and honestly, its a wonder either one of us passed any classes. Its not an exaggeration to say at least one of us watched at least one episode every single day. We’ve watched it so much we will actually reference episodes and compare them to real life situations. Example- “O my gosh this is just like that time Ross ate all the maple candy and was super hyper!” O, and my husband and I are totally Monica and Chandler, and The Best Roommate Ever is the girl version of Joey.

Money Maker by Ludacris
Life Stage: College
The Story: I went through a hip hop stage in college which is best represented by Money Maker, a song I admit with embarrassment to knowing all the words too. Seriously it was hip hop all the time, in the car on our midnight runs to Jack in the Box, at our spontaneous dorm room dance parties, on the computer as I was writing my senior thesis, everywhere.

Blue Eyes by The Cary Brothers
Life Stage: Dating, being engaged and Marrying Joe
The Story: There is a lot of music that could represent various stages in our relationship, but this song best represents the whole story. Garden State, where we first heard this song, was one of the first movies we watched together. I’m all about pop culture, but Joe prefers entertainment thats a little more obscure. Garden State is a pretty obscure movie and The Cary Brothers are just one of the not so well known bands Joe has introduced me to over the years. So I felt it was only appropriate that this be the first song we danced to at our wedding.

Generous Mr. Lovewell by Mercy Me
Life Stage: Now
The Story: This song doesn’t remind me of any particular event, but rather a mentality I am trying very hard to live by. In a time when most people are poor, when everyone in the country is mad at every one else, when I’m super discouraged about where I am (or rather, where I’m not), when I’m missing my husband who works or goes to school every night of the week, when my dad who should be thinking about retirement is looking for a job, when people are dying here of fatal diseases and overseas of a war that just wont’ stop, this song says “hey, don’t get overwhelmed with everything negative and don’t feel like you have to solve every problem. Just lean on God’s love and give that love to one fellow human every day.”

Dendrophobia

So here’s something you didn’t know about me. I have Dendrophobia*. If you know what that is you are a genius and should be doing something better with your time than reading my ridiculous blog. If you don’t know what that means, you’re normal, unlike me who is crazy and afraid of trees. That’s right people, Dendrophobia is the fear of trees and yours truly is afflicted by it.

It all started about a year ago when I was dumb enough to watch the video about the tree man. I will not post the video here as looking at again will give me a panic attack, but if you look it up on YouTube I’m sure you’ll find it. Its this video about a guy who has these gnarly warts all over his body that make his limbs look like tree trunks. It is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in my life. Just thinking about it is making me queasy. After watching that video, I started to get a little uneasy around trees. Not all trees, just the ones that had tons of knots and warts on their trunks. Thankfully, those trees aren’t very common and if I happened to come across one, I just turned away and was fine.

About six months later, just as I was starting to forget about tree man, I had an incredibly strange dream. I dreamt that a palm tree was growing out of the top of my head. Its roots where literally growing all across my scalp and into my brain. At first I was happy with the tree growing there, but eventually it got really big and started causing some problems. So I had my mom pull it out. She grabbed the trunk and jostled it back and forth until the entire tree, roots and all, RIPPED out of my head. It was a bloody, leafy, rooty mess. I woke up the next morning all tensed up. I checked my head at least 20 times that day, hoping I wouldn’t feel roots underneath my scalp.

At first I just thought it was a freaky dream, but a few days later when I was walking my dog I realized I might actually have some sort of problem. We passed by a tree that had a lot of roots sticking up out of the ground. They were all gnarled and veiny and reminded me of the brain roots from my dream. My body clenched, my breathing quickened and I simultaneously felt the need to run away and the need to inspect the roots. It was really really really strange. For the next couple months I couldn’t walk past a single tree root without thinking about my dream, and then the tree man, and feeling all tense and weird.

Fast forward to Halloween 2011. I haven’t thought about my weird tree thing in a while and I’m super stoked about my broccoli costume. I head over to a Halloween party where we watch a bunch of corny Halloween movies, including one about trolls (I think it was called Troll Hunter but I’m not sure). Now, in this movie, poorly costumed troll people bite regular humans. Those humans start to spit up green liquid and then TREES GROW OUT OF THEIR FINGERS. Are you freaking kidding me? Somebody actually made a movie about my ridiculous dream and that poor warty tree man? This movie, as corny as it was, was literally my worst nightmare. I couldn’t even watch it. When I explained to my friends why the tree freaked me out, they “kindly” pointed out to me that my costume looked a lot like a tree coming out of my head. Fantastic, now not only do I have to scrub my eyeballs, I have to burn my Halloween costume.

So there you go. Its November and I’m still super uneasy around trees. To clarify, its not the trunks or the leaves that bother me, its the roots. I just can’t get the image of trees digging their roots into people and then growing out of them. That is so so so so so GROSS! *shiverstimesONEMILLION*

I'll never get this close to a tree AGAIN

* This is an actual disease that people really suffer from. I have not been formerly diagnosed with it, nor is it a phobia that has a significant impact on my life like it does for some people. I’m not on medication, but the site of tree roots bothers me more than it should which is why I’m going to make a bold claim here and say I have dendrophobia. If you have a debilitating case of Dendrophobia, please don’t think I’m making light of your situation. I can only imagine how sucky it would be to be even more afraid of trees than I already am.