A White Girl Post

White girls take quite a beating about our love of all things pumpkin spice and fall. If you are on any form of social media, you'll see things like this:

I don't really get it. Don't people (both male and female) of other races like fall? Don't white men like fall? Should I be embarrassed to be writing a post about fall? Since I'm a white woman and stuff? Well, I don't care. I'm about to write a post about how much I love fall.  UNABASHEDLY!

I'm going to even go ALL out and make a word bubble about my favorite parts of fall:

I've been oohing and ahhing over the gradual changes in the leaves. Orange, yellow, and red are starting to take over the outer edges of the trees and it nearly makes me gasp to see it. I love the fall colors. But part of me mourns the leaves dying. There are so many trees around here, and I love their canopy.

But for now I'll enjoy their colors. After sending a snapchat to a friend out west of a tree changing colors, he wrote back, "you have a crush on fall." I totally do. It's just so gosh dang cozy.

I've expressed similar feelings probably every year on this blog so I won't write a full length love letter to fall in this post, but I might not be able to refrain in a future post so you've been warned!

Signed,
A white girl (am I allowed to stereotype myself? or is that racist?)

On Stress

I've been thinking a lot lately about living with stress. I have had some changes in my life that have left me feeling stressed out, all the time. It's not a "bad" stress, by which I mean, things are going well! My stress isn't due to things going badly. But it's stressful to take on more responsibilities and learn new things. Keeping track of all I have to do is a real juggling act.

I dropped one of the balls recently (a small one - not a big deal) and was accused of having a blonde moment. I guess if you're not a blonde you never forget anything? LUCKY!

ANYway, I digress. Living with stress. I talked to my doctor about it yesterday when I was in his office for a checkup. I asked him for tips on living with stress. He said that one of the things people who are very stressed neglect is self care - ie, getting enough sleep, spending time with friends and family, cultivating faith and spirituality, pursuing hobbies, and so on.

As he was saying this, I guiltily thought back to a lunch I had at work last week that consisted of a bag of Doritos and a diet Coke. I also thought about how I've been neglecting a lot of dear friends because I feel so drained when I get home from work that I let the Netflix wash over me. I thought about how I hardly slept at all last week then on the weekend, slept for 15 hours straight.

I don't mean to make it sound like I am any more stressed out than any of you. I know when someone talks about how stressed they are, it brings out people's competitive nature. You're stressed too, I'm sure. That's why I thought I'd write a little post about dealing with stress.

My dr. has a lot of elderly patients, including my grandma. He told me that when he saw her recently, she was lucid at first, but got confused after a few minutes. We talked about her for a bit, then dementia in general. I told him about a study I'd heard once that was done with a group of elderly people with Alzheimer's and dementia. One of the groups was shown a funny movie and the other was shown a sad movie. Later in afternoon, after they'd forgotten they'd seen a movie, they were asked how they felt. The group who'd seen the funny movie felt happy. The group who'd seen the sad movie felt sad. Neither group knew why they felt that way.  But the feelings generated by the movies they'd seen lingered.

My dr. mentioned that this study could apply to my situation as well. Expose myself to happy situations - doing the things I enjoy, spending time with friends and family, reading funny books, watching funny shows - and the happy feelings will stay with me.

It wasn't the first time I'd thought of this. When I heard the study, I thought the same thing. But it's so easy to forget, isn't it?

So last night, when I got home I worked on something that needed to be done, but I did it in a creative way, while watching a funny tv show (the Goldbergs on DVD - SO funny). And this morning, even though I had a busy, stressful day ahead of me, I felt happier.

How do you deal with stress?

Full disclosure: I had a bag of Doritos and a diet Coke while writing this post. It's a process.

Catching Up

Due to life pressures, and the exhaustion that's come with it, I haven't blogged in awhile. And because of that, I've really missed some good opportunities for blogging. Notice I said good, not great. I make you no promises. But I know that I would have been amused by these topics. Here's a little of what I missed blogging about:

1. Sharing the inappropriate pictures that could be leaked from my iCloud (does anyone even know what the cloud is!?!?! I don't!!!), such as:

Filthy. Just filthy. Oh my gosh, I want that so much right now.

2. The opportunity to share this picture with you and tell you how much I love the movie "Forrest Gump." But here's the thing about Forrest Gump - I only watch it alone. I can't have anyone elses emotions and reactions mingling with mine when I watch this movie. It has to be a pure experience - just me, alone, experiencing all the many things Forrest did. Running across the country with him, yelling, "JENNY!" at the National Mall, getting shot in the buttocks, having leg braces... I can't get into everything Forrest did. It would take me all day (Or at least 120 minutes).

Also, I don't like crying in front of people and how can you NOT cry during this movie!?!? I recently visited a traveling replica of the Vietnam Wall Memorial, and I thought about Forrest searching for Bubba and saving several soldiers and getting shot in the buttocks and I got all emotional.

In conclusion, I love Forrest Gump. And I now I present to you this image:

3. I went geocaching with some friends for the first time. Have you guys ever done this? I know some of you have (Brady and Emily! Hi!). It was very fun even though I ALMOST PUT MY FACE IN A SPIDER WEB. DIRECTLY INTO IT! It was dusk and I didn't see it until I was ALMOST IN IT! Gosh, I can't handle even the memory of it.

Anyway, we geo-ed our way to the cache (that's the correct way of saying it, right?). Here are a couple pics:

4. Have you guys seen this current picture of Anya and Xander from Buffy, The Vampire Slayer? Humina humina, Xander, am I right?

Before (cute):

Now (even cuter):

They both look great! Sidenote: Remember when Xander dated Cordelia? What was that all about? Dumbest couple ever but NOT as dumb as when Buffy dated Riley. I just can't get into all of that right now but I have a lot more to say.

5. Lastly I wanted to reminisce about time spent up north this summer and how beautiful northern Michigan is. Luckily I'll be spending a little more time up north this fall and possibly winter, so I don't have to wait till next summer. Here are just two pictures from Labor Day weekend in northern Michigan:

And now I guess I'm caught up! Well, caught up enough. What's new with you?

The Faces of Jessica

The final scene of almost every episode of "Murder, She Wrote," includes a frozen shot of Jessica smiling or laughing. It's THE BEST. It amuses me to no end to see which shot they choose to end on. On rare occasions, the episode will end on the face of someone else, and sometimes when Jessica is especially disappointed in the murderer, it will end on her "tsk tsk, what a shame" face.

Last night while watching the show on my ipad, I decided to take a few screen shots and share them with you to show you a taste of the faces of Jessica.

"Funniest thing I've heard all day" Jessica

"You did a bad, bad thing by committing murder and I'm very disappointed in you" Jessica

Romantic Jessica

In this scene, Jessica is walking out of the court house with a man who has taken a fancy to her.

BUT WAIT! They walk out together and...

I'm sorry, but I just don't think that outdoor scene is Jessica. It's a stand-in and I want answers.

"Till we meet again" Jessica

"Turn this way and laugh" Jessica

 

"Did you seriously have to freeze on this face" Jessica

Here is the point where I am out of pictures, but I find myself thinking, "I should take like ten more pictures tonight for this post" and another part of me is thinking, "this is probably enough (for now)."

It's hard when you love Murder, She Wrote as much as I do, you know? Just don't be surprised when you see a "The Faces of Jessica II" post coming soon.

My ice bucket challenge attempt

Facebook should be renamed "Videos of the ALS ice bucket challenge" at this point. It's great for ALS - which has earned over 10 million dollars. I'd wager that it's also been great for American Sign Language, which has probably benefited from people mixing up the letters.

It's also been really good for people with great abs who finally get the chance to show them off for a good cause.

I have been challenged to do it twice but have done it zero times. Here's why:

1. I don't want to make a video of myself.
2. I don't want to pour ice and cold water over my head.
3. People can donate to ALS or ASL or whatever cause they want to whether or not I make a video.
4. I have an attitude problem?
5. I'm no fun?
6. I don't like wasting water because I'm a bleeding heart liberal tree hugger?

(I tried to be balanced in that list.)

But because I didn't want to be a TOTAL spoilsport, I made an amazing drawing of what me doing the ice bucket challenge would look like. Except this looks a lot better than what I would actually look like because this has a disembodied torso and arm doing the dumping.

I now tag all of you to do whatever you want.

Wednesday Thoughts

My hair looks completely idiotic today. I'm not being humble either. Like for real, if you saw me today you would wonder how I could let this happen.

One word:

My hair was in a straight ponytail this morning when I left for work. NOW?

(neck is to scale)

It's bad. My cheeks are flushed, my shorter hairs are curling around my head, and my ponytail is a fiasco.

One of my coworkers tells me we should be glad that we've had a relatively easy summer, but does that make my hair look any better today? No.

I called my mom on my break earlier, and went for a short walk outside while we chatted. After about ten minutes, I had to say, "I have to go, I'm getting really angry about the humidity."

Is it possible I adapted to winter???* Terrifying thought. I guess we'll see soon enough.

Happy Wednesday.

*unlikely. But fall? Fall is perfect.

Michigan Love

Last week, I went up to the Michigan's Upper Peninsula with the young women ages14-18 from church. I fell in love with Michigan all over again. Michigan's natural beauty just amazes me. Here are some pictures from the trip, starting with Mackinac Island (Mackinac is pronounced Mackinaw).

View from the Fort - note the Mackinac Bridge in the distance!

Another view from the Fort - gorgeous.

We biked around the perimeter of the island (8 miles)

We stayed at a cabin in the Upper Peninsula owned by a family from our church. They are so generous with letting the youth use their cabin for trips like this! The cabin is gorgeous with a beautiful view of Lake Huron in their backyard.

 

Smores and stories

We swam, fished, kayaked, and canoed at a serene lake formed by a natural spring near the cabin.

We also drove up to the Pictured Rocks, at the top of the Upper Peninsula, where we did a 10 mile hike. Though I have traveled through the Upper Peninsula a bit in the past, this is one spot I have never been to but have always wanted to see! It was just gorgeous. One of the girls said, "I wish pictures could show how beautiful this place is but pictures are just never the same."

A portion of our ten mile hike

A few of the girls scaring me to death.

Lake Superior and the beautiful pictured rocks

Stunning ridges on some low ledges

Welp, you've reached the end of my travelogue blog post. There's really no way to end this post except to say again: Michigan is a beautiful state. I hope you get a chance to explore it too!