Something New

Last night I was laying in bed reading a book that was written about 60 years ago. In this section of the book, the main characters were in Arizona, and were talking about having guacamole with their dinner. One of the characters asked what that was, and another said, "Oh you know - it's mashed alligator pears, onions, spices, and tomatoes."

I lay there wondering what I have been eating and calling guacamole this whole time since I most certainly have never eaten anything called an alligator pear. So I looked it up and found out it's an alternative name for avocados. WHO KNEW!? Not me. Not even this guy:

I guess it makes sense - I mean, avocado skin is pretty scaly, and it's shaped somewhat like a pear. Have any of you ever heard that expression?

Next time you're out to dinner with your friends, ask the server if you can have alligator pears on your sandwich. When everyone looks at you with baffled expressions, look at them very condescendingly and say, "Or as some people call them, 'avocados.'" But say it like you were using the more correct term and it's exhausting having to dumb down your vocabulary. Then report back to me.

Wednesday Thoughts

First things first, my candy cane pen is missing. I've had it since Christmas 2011 and if I can't find it, heads are going to roll*. It's my "happy pen" that I use at work whenever I'm in need of cheering up (aka I use it all the time).

I've searched my whole desk, and the floor around my desk, but to no avail. This is what it looks like:

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If you see it anywhere, please contact me. In the meantime, I'll be making a list of suspects. And maybe a montage video of my pen and me, working together. Oh, why didn't I take more pictures!?

In other thoughts, it's already Wednesday. Four day work weeks are the best. Here are some random thoughts for today:

* I've been reading a lot lately - what is one of the best books you've read in the past few years? What's your favorite "summer read"? I'll be back with my own recommendations soon.

* Amanda Bynes. That girl needs to get it together. She has lost it.

* I watched the first episode of the new season of Arrested Development last night and loved it. George Michael is awesome. I won't say anything else in case you haven't seen it! I was originally planning on devouring the whole new season in one sitting, but now I'm thinking about stretching it out. What about you? All at once or stretched out?

* No but seriously, where's my pen!?

Happy Wednesday!

* I mean, not really of course. Jeez.

Memorial Day Weekend

Some of you may have already seen these pictures if you're friends with me on the various social networking sites (myspace, friendster, aol, etc). But I couldn't resist posting them on my blog as well because it was such a fun weekend.

The weekend started with a stop at the Alma Scottish Festival - a yearly tradition for my family. There, I purchased the COOLEST wig/hat combo ever:

I look horrible in it. I mean, really bad. And I love it. It's amazing (as long as I don't catch my reflection). I just love the looks on other peoples faces when they see me in it. It's like they just smelled a fart. Best $7 I ever spent.

My dad bought a bag of these. I tried one, and I think I am now set for life. I definitely don't need to eat any more.

We also saw many many bagpipers and drummers, who formed a huge massed band. A smaller group is seen playing here:

From what I understand, the traditional way to wear a kilt is with a backwards cap.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Ludington with family. We took a boat ride to some sand dunes, hiked the beautiful trails of the state park, ate at the best ice cream place ever (House of Flavors), we had a ladder ball tournement, walked out to the lighthouse and so on and so forth. It was super fun.

 

 

And this is what the stop and go traffic looked like on the way home. Looks like we weren't the only ones having a great time "up north!"

What did you do this weekend?

Who Wore It Better?

After seeing the story about Amanda Bynes in the news this afternoon, I was first struck by her wig. It almost stole the show:

But then I noticed something else - her pants. And I was reminded of a picture I saw earlier this week of someone who shares Amanda's fashion sense in regard to this one article of clothing (and I'm assuming ONLY this item). So here's my question for you:

Who wore it better?

Leave your answer in the comments or on the poll on the side! It's a really tough call, I know, so give it some time.

Wednesday Thoughts

Whew! Getting Wednesday Thoughts in in the nick of time! I've been pretty busy lately - doing all fun things. I mean, except the old 9-5 of course. But in my non-work hours, I've been really busy.

Over the weekend I rode in the Cycle into Spring - a 20 mile bike ride through Detroit. It was a lot of fun. The only downside was the route, which was really boring. In the Tour de Troit, which I rode in in the fall, we rode through all the beautiful and interesting parts of Detroit. This one took us through sections of Detroit I have no interest in re-visiting. We did have a nice half-way stop though:

I saw some really interesting bike items that day - like this seat, called the manta seat:

We also saw something called the Eliptigo, which I want really bad. (Link)

Over the weekend, I also had an aunt date with one of my nieces. We had a sleepover, and it was her first ever sleepover. We had a blast. We planted flowers, rode our bikes to get ice cream, watched The Parent Trap, and a lot more. It was very fun.

Since then, the only notable thing that happened was that I made a dinosaur cake for my cousin's birthday. She's an archaeologist  and she doesn't really dig for dinosaurs  but since it's not Halloween-time, I couldn't find any skeletons. So, dinosaurs are close enough. Here are a couple pictures. I put some (cleaned) plastic dinosaurs in the layers - the kids loved them!

Anyway, I think we're up to speed now! How have you been?

Happy Wednesday!

Because it's that time of year

... and because I'm an old maid... this is how I feel about all the love in the air right now.

But really, I'm happy you guys found love. Good for you! YAY! I'll be over here with the grumpy cat, eating cake instead of dancing the chicken dance. That's cool, right?

 Oh and that gift with no gift tag on it? That one's from me.

Wednesday Thoughts

I'm terrible at playing air instruments. After seeing me play the air guitar for the millionth time, my sister, Katherine, asked me, "have you ever seen a guitar being played?" I like to strum mine all the way up the guitar instead of the confined area over the hole in the guitar (technical term). My air piano looks like I'm inputting information on a computer from the 1960's. It's multilevel. My air organ is the same. You should see me play the opening song from the Phantom of the Opera. It's a sight to behold, I am told!

I am to air instruments what the Bluths are to chickens.


And I never want to learn the correct way. I've tried it and it's way too restrictive. The majority of you will never see this since I openly acknowledge it's embarrassing. Not to those closest to me, of course (much to their dismay). But anyone else would have to pretend they never knew me after they saw me "rocking out."

In unrelated thoughts, have you guys seen the pictures that photographer took of her five year old for her birthday? She dressed her daughter to look like her historical heroines, and the pictures are awesome. Here is a link to her website where the pictures are. And here is one of the pictures from that website:

As Helen Keller, one of my favorites

In other thoughts, I'm still loving the spring weather. I can't help but take pictures of the beautiful flowers and buds. Here are a few:

 

I am so happy it's finally warm out. I sometimes can't help but lift my face up to the sun and close my eyes. Not the best idea when I'm out on a walk, but it can't be helped. It feels so good to feel the warmth of the sun again! It had been way too long.

Happy Wednesday!

Spring. Finally.

I don't even care that this post has 15 pictures.

 

Wednesday Thoughts

In the past several days THREE different men have told me that they think men are logical and women are irrational. (Only one of them was referring to me.) This is obviously something I've heard before but the mere frequency with which I heard it took me back. In all three cases, it seemed to me that the problem was simply that the two people weren't understanding each other. Plain and simple. Not that one was crazy and the other was sane.

Do men really think this? By which I mean, do they really think they're always logical and women are always illogical? Do they think that just because they can't always understand us (even when we think we made things crystal clear), we're the ones who are "crazy"? This image of men always being calm, cool, and logical, while we women are emotionally reacting all over the place just makes me laugh.

Like this is how (some) men see the world:

Ha! Again I say: ha!!

Women, have you heard this before? How do you deal with it?

Do we women have emotional reactions? Yes.
Do men have emotional reactions? Yes. Heck yes.

Anyway, enough about that. If I keep writing about it, I walk a dangerous line of seeming too emotional. So, on to logical things.

Math. Good stuff, am I right?

In other Wednesday Thoughts, the weather is absolutely perfect lately and I can't get enough of it. I want to be outside all. the. time. Biking, walking, jogging, hula hooping, whatever. Just soaking in the sunshine (I almost forgot the sun even existed). It is glorious! It's amazing how cheerful I feel when I'm leaving work and it's nice outside as opposed to the way I used to feel walking out to icy sidewalks and gray skies.

Let's never speak of that again. (Winter, that is.)

What is your favorite thing about warmer weather?

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Update

This weekend I went to a going away party for a close friend who is moving to Utah. I made cupcakes for the party and each cupcake represented something about her.

From top to bottom, left to right:

her hair, she loves snakes, she's from Palestine, she has to wax her mustache

she likes to "choose the right", her initials, Michigan, Utah

she served her mission in New Zealand, she loves poop, we love her, she went to BYU

Yesterday, I got to spend time with my family for a little Cinco de Mayo dinner. Here are some pictures of my nieces and nephew wearing a sombrero and showing off their mustaches. They spent most of the afternoon picking dandelions and giving bouquet after bouquet to their mom.

This weekend the weather was the definition of perfection. Sunny and in the 70's. I went on many bike rides and walks and basked in the perfect weather! How was your weekend?

Tree Hugging

When I was in high school, I wasn't in too many clubs. Between band, marching band (cough *nerd!* cough), church activities, and homework, I wasn't that keen on making my schedule even more busy than it was.

But there were two clubs I did join. The first was the Future Farmers of America. I joined this club because there was a cute boy in it who I had a huge crush on for about a month or so. Sitting in that club meeting, I stunk of fraud. Because of course, I was a fraud. I didn't own a carhart jacket, I'd never even ridden on a tractor, I wasn't that into country music, and having a best friend who lived on a farm just wasn't the same as living on one myself. And they all knew it. They were nice and welcoming,  but it was clear I wasn't one of them. I only went to one meeting of that club.

The other club I was a member of was called H.O.P.E., which stood for "Helping our planet's environment." This club was run by a super zany and passionate science teacher, who once confessed to vacuuming her lawn after accidentally spilling something toxic on it. I don't remember what all we did in the club, though I know we planted some trees and we all got t-shirts that had this poem on them:

I think that I shall never see
a poem lovely as a tree.

The rest of the poem can be found here, and is by Joyce Kilmer.

It's embarrassing but writing even just that short stanza made my eyes begin to well up because I love trees so much. My favorite tree is the weeping willow, because it is so enchanting. One time, as a missionary, my native-Spanish speaking companion asked me what the name of that tree was in English. When I told her "weeping willow," she repeated it slowly in Spanish and said, "What a beautiful name."

Under a willow tree: the most romantic place to "kees"

I also love apple blossom trees, and just a little fyi, the apple blossom is Michigan's state flower.

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Ok, enough about trees. The whole point in telling you all of that was to explain that I love nature. ESPECIALLY non-winter nature. And now that the earth here is going from gray and white and brown to green and all colors of the rainbow, I can't stop taking pictures of it. So please don't hate me for sharing some of them now. I can't help it.

I'll calm down soon. (Maybe.)