Writing

Right now I'm trying to motivate myself to seriously work more on my writing. I printed off about 40 pages of a story I'm working on and I trying to edit what I have at this point. I have to write everything by hand for the most part. I just feel much more connected to what I'm doing if I have the pen in my hand. Then I can type it. And then I print it out and write all over the printed copy, which makes me feel like I'm working in the writing center at school again.

Back to it!

goals

I've been reading a lot of blogs about people in different industries who are extremely passionate about what they are doing. I want that for myself. I was digging through some of my writing files and stumbled across a few pieces where I have no idea what my overarching goal was but I liked what I read. I'm going to try to make time to write every day. I feel so much better and more at peace with myself when I'm writing and I could use some good feelings. :) I'm going to continue to read about others who do their best and are committed to their goals to inspire myself to do the same.

Birthday Highlights

My best friend came to see me. She stayed all weekend and we had a great time. Here are some sweet highlights!

• Girl's night: four of us sat around eating everything in sight and drank a few bottles of wine. We then watched Pride and Prejudice; there was much swooning.
• Liz and I went to the gym for about three hours on Saturday. We worked out then went swimming. Hot tub and steam room. mmmmm.
• We then ate half a thing of french onion dip and chips.
• Another high school friend came to see me! I like her!
• Lots of friends came out to diner with me.
• We went to my fave bar and I went from 0 to drunk in about 3 min.
• Some guys tried to pick us up over a shared love of Poweraide.
• I laid down on my neighbors yard.
• Awesome Sunday breakfast followed by Sunday shopping.

One bad thing about diner was that the wait staff was horrible. I called a week prior for a table of 14. They said no problem. I talked to them that day to confirm that everything was fine. They said no problem. We get there and they had two tables of six. We had to sit seperately and squish. The waitress poured water in my soda and was so flightly and weird that it was hard to enjoy the meal. Luckily there was booze and good people.

I spent my acutal birthday at my mom's. Rachel was adorable; she kept saying happy birthday and telling me that we were going to have cake. Mom and I went shopping, then dad took Mikey and I to go buy some books. We had my fav pot roast for diner. Rachel gave me a picture she drew that I love. And my mom got me some cute jeans and Twilight on dvd. I made her watch half of it and I about died giggling. When I went to leave it was raining so hard that I got drenched just bringing my laundry to the car. But I made it home safe!

hey brother

Ok so I just now realized that yesterday, when I was talking to my oldest younger brother, he willinging and without provocation started telling me about a girl he was going to go see this weekend. One that he's dated before. And my response was pretty much "oh, cool." Now I wonder if I should have asked him anything more about it or said anything. I mean, he never talks about girls. We all are just waiting for him to walk in someday with a wife and kids. We're not big on talking about relationships in my family. I mean, when my wedding got called off I think Jeffy and my mom were the only ones to talk to me about it (too be fair I wasn't really looking to talk about it).

I'm sure I'm over-thinking this whole thing with my brother. I liked that he mentioned it though. I never got to meet the girl but I hear good things about her.

2 topics for the price of one!

couple things going on right now

First of all the Office last night - WTF? I am so concerned for Jim right now it is not even funny. And thank the lord we had dvr because we all missed what Micheal said at the end. I don't even know if I can think about it without getting all flustered. This episode was on par with "The Dinner Party" as one of the more awkward Office episodes.

The opening though was AMAZING. And of course it was classy.

Ok now that that is off my chest I am tweaking out with excitement because my BFF is coming to visit me this weekend! She's going to meet almost all of my new friends so I can prove they really exist. And we're all going out tomorrow night for my birthday at one of my fave restaurants. Liz and I plan on spending a whole lot of time tomorrow at my gym because it is pretty much the bomb. We're going to work out, swim, sit in the hot tub and then chill in the sauna. And she just told me that she gets to leave work early now!

zombies

Last night I had a terrible dream. After seeing 28 Days Later a few years ago zombies have creeped me out to no end. Anyway, in my dream there was a zombie outbreak. Some friends (I don't remember who) and I ran to the closests shelter - the mall. In an effort to protect everyone, some mall offical locked down the place to ensure no zombies got in and ate our brains. However, one was already inside. I was absolutely terriffied even though I'm not sure if I actually saw any zombies. I woke up with a pounding headache and a cold sweat. Not the best way to start the day! And now it's all dreary outside and I keep thinking I see something out of the corner of my eye....

Random Idea!

One of the guys I work with and I were talking about books the other day (we're cool - don't be jealous) and came up with the sweetest idea. There should be one day a year where everyone celebrates reading. Gutenberg Day, if you will. Everyone gets the day off work and you go home and read a book, curled up in a comfy chair, preferable with a cup of tea and a cat on your lap. If you have a family, use the day to read to your kids or spouse. Just something to make the world a little nicer.

the smell of my soul

I was checking out Rainn Wilson's new website: http://www.soulpancake.com/ and I came across an interesting question, What does your soul smell like? I thought for awhile about my answer and jotted down a few things. I couldn't really stop at smell; I just went along with it.

My soul is the smell of tobacco on my fingertips, the cool smell of grass at night and the tingling of the air before a thunder storm. It smells like thrift-store t-shirts and dirty sneakers. And the gentle smell of old books.

My soul is a white stray cat walking along a field. It is the sparkle of broken glass, the scrap of a knee, the chip of a tooth. It tastes like sweat and secrets and salt on the rim of my glass.

My soul is ornery, hair standing on end, claws bared, goose-bumps everywhere. It gives a screech and a wail, and purrs in my ear. Guitar rifts, cumming's poems and the tinkle of an ice cream truck's bell.

My soul is the rip of a scab, the depth of a sigh. The waxy feel of chapstick, the fizz of soda, the stain of red wine on my lips. The blood on skin after a new razor. The tingle of a sleeping limb. My soul is the cracking of joints and the brush of nail polish. The press of ink onto paper, pencil shavings, and record grooves. The bite of stomach bile, the burn of gin, and the bittersweet of chocolate.

That's what came to mind. I like it. The website is really interesting and thought provoking.