If I had the Choice

I remembered the post I wanted to write!

I don't have TV.  Let me rephrase that.  I don't have TV service.  I don't have cable, I don't have local channels, I don't have rabbit ears.  What I do have is Apple TV, Netflix, and an XBox (for games and movies, duh).  And for the most part I'm a very happy person.  Sure sometimes I miss watching TV shows when they're actually on (I can't remember the last time I watched NCIS!  I miss Gibbs), and I miss some awards shows, but for the most part if there's something I want to watch, I hightail it to a family member's house and hijack their TV.  Luckily they're all very understanding.   My reasons for not having an TV service is strictly financial and laziness.  Cable is just out of my budget, and I would spend way too much time watching pointless shows.  And I'm too lazy to figure out what I need to do to get local channels.

BUT if I had the choice, and I could get cable, I would first splurge on DVR, and one channel, and one channel only.  BBCAmerica.  The American version of the British Broadcasting Corporation.  I could watch Sherlock whenever I wanted.  I could actually watch Doctor Who when it's on, rather than having to wait for the series to come on Netflix (COME ON SERIES 7!!!).  And, AND, oh AND.  I could watch Graham Norton. Have you ever seen The Graham Norton Show?  It's basically a late night talk show, but it's HILARIOUS and fantastic.  All the guests come out at once and they sit on a big red couch and they chat with Graham.  I have never seen an episode that didn't make me HOWL with laughter.  It's just amazing.  So yeah.  If I could, that's what I would get.  And it would be amazing.  Until then, I guess I'll just stick to hijacking others' TV to watch what I want.

Fleeting Thoughts

I had an awesome idea for a blog post yesterday.  I came up with it, I even talked it out in my head.  I made a mental note to sit down and write it when I got home last night.  But of course life got in the way, with grocery shopping, yoga, making dinner, finishing up my final class, and then getting immersed in reading.  So when I thought about it this morning, I have NO idea what the idea was.  I remember thinking of it, and planning it out, and making a note to write it, but I have no idea what the actual idea was.  SO instead of a great thought out post, I give you a list of nonsense.

• I cut my finger on a falling box of aluminum foil last night when putting away groceries.  Only me.
•  I've become the librarian for now three different people in my life.  I probably should read new books so I have stuff to recommend.
• Speaking of reading, I'm rereading the Harry Potter series and I stayed up til 12:30 last night finishing Order of the Phoenix.  The end, as always, made me cry.
• That being said, Gary Oldman was NOT who I had in my head when I read about Sirius Black.  Don't get me wrong, I love Gary Oldman, but he just isn't as handsome as I always thought Sirius was.  But that's my only casting complaint.  Oh and Michael Gambon's Dumbledore was a little too harsh for my liking.
• I have to make a cake shaped like a stack of books tomorrow for my sister's baby shower on Saturday.  It makes me a little nervous, but I think I can do it.
• I think I'm going to join Weight Watchers and do the meetings.  As I stated here, I'm happy with my body, but I think I need to get on top of things for health reasons in the future.  Lots of not good stuff lurking around my family tree.
• I've learned a lot from this class. I just hope it shows.
• There are a lot of movies out right now that I really want to see. I should probably stop spending my fun money before I actually get it so I can actually go see them.
• I get to see one of my bestest friends in the whole world next weekend, AND I get to go to a baseball game.  Pretty sure that's the best weekend EVER!
• Speaking of that, I need to get an Astros shirt.  They are my home team, and I can't shirk them just because they're American League now!
• I'm going shopping for a bridesmaid's dress on Sunday.  Woohoo.
• I got to talk to one of my brides yesterday.  Holy cow I love that girl.
• Random trips to Starbucks make me really happy.
• Josh Groban is flipping adorable.  If you don't believe me, go read his Twitter feed from last night.  It made me laugh out loud every time he posted something new.  So much more than a four.  A solid 8 or 9 at least!

Speaking of that, my tummy is rumbling.  I should go scout out some food.

Body Shaming

Note: this could end up being a serious post, since this is a serious problem that I think affects pretty much every person in the world, whether they know it or not.

I'm a full figured woman.  Isn't that a nice way to put it?  I could benefit from a proper healthy diet and exercise regime, if just for health reasons, but for the most part, I like my body.  But as a full figured woman who is tall, I have a huge rack.  I was going to be coy and PC about it, but let's be honest here.  My boobs are magnificent and they're here to stay.  Because of this, normal clothes don't fit me the way they fit others.  I am constantly aware of cleavage and in some cases, I'm flaunting it with the best of them.  But there are some cases where I can't help it.  I wish the outfit I'm wearing covered up more, but really it doesn't.  I'm aware and I'm conscious of it.  So you pointing it out loudly in front of a bunch of people? That just makes EVERYONE uncomfortable.  ESPECIALLY if most of the people there are related to us.  But I've noticed recently that it happens a lot with women, and men to some degree.  There is always some sort of body shaming going on.  Either you're too fat or you're too skinny, or you're shaped funny or your boobs are too big or too small.  Your nose is off-center, your eyes are a weird shape, your calves are skinny, your stomach is too big.  These all sound familiar don't they?  We're all shaped differently.  There are no two people shaped exactly the same.  Someone who is taller could weigh the same as someone who is shorter but they don't show it as much.  Another person could carry all their weight in their booty or their thighs or whatever. That doesn't mean that they should be ridiculed and shamed for the way their body is shaped.  Pointing out people's physical differences in a rude way or in a ridiculing fashion isn't only mean, it's hypocritical.  There is no such thing as a perfect body.  And until we realize that, I don't see how life is going to change at all.  Love each other and love yourself.  You're beautiful in your differences.

Time is Ticking

Have you ever seen Practical Magic?  It's a movie starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman about two sisters who happen to be witches, and who happen to be cursed.  The men they love are always doomed to die.  And the symbol of this death is a big, black, ticking beetle.  Like the one I saw this morning crawling across my floor.  Oh don't worry, after freaking out a bit, I smashed it with a shoe, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with any man I love dying (mainly because I'm not in love with anyone).  I'm pretty sure it has more to do with my crappy apartment and the weather.  But that's all besides the point.  The point is that Time keeps ticking away.  I mean it's the middle of June already!  It seems like last week was March and the week before that was October.  I think as we get older, time begins going faster until it's just a blur of snapshots of moments.  There's no way to stop it.  If there was, we'd be breaking so many laws of science, plus I don't want to time travel unless there's a 1200 year old alien with two hearts and a blue box that's bigger on the inside involved.  So I guess all we can really do is focus on the moments.  Make as many moments as possible memorable, and spend our time wisely.  Pictures are good too.

Another (Awesome, Exciting, Exhausting) Weekend

Oh this weekend.  This weekend was super fun.  However, it was also super exhausting.  But I think the fun outweighed the side effects.

Saturday, I got my hair cut.  It was phenomenal.  I hadn't gotten my hair cut since August 2012.  That is almost a YEAR.  And I don't know if you know this, but my hair is very heavy.  It's very thick and I have a lot of it.  Granted I got it cut pretty short in August, so by Saturday, it was grown out to below my shoulders and heavy as a brick.  Not to mention it was CRAZY uneven because it grew out of an asymmetrical bob.  So the right side was longer than the left and the front was longer than the back.  Not fun.  I went to a new place (to me) and my stylist was awesome.  She really took the time to sit down and listen to what I was looking for and to examine my hair when it was dry, so she could see and get a handle on its natural quirks.  THEN she cut it so it'll grow out nicely AND she thinned it.  When she mentioned it, I could have hugged her on the spot.  My previous hairdresser didn't like to thin hair for some reason, so she just textured it, which gives the layers and volume but doesn't do a lot for the thickness issue.  Walking out, I felt a million times lighter.

I putted around most of the rest of the day Saturday, running errands, going to Mass at four, resting up some before I went to my friend Corley's housewarming party!  She and her new roommate Kayla  just moved into a precious little house and this was their first party.  It was a hit!  The house looked awesome, the food was great and we just had an awesome time.  I made jello shots in honor of the occasion and they were a hit.   Because of the awesome time everyone had, we didn't go to bed until super late.  And I woke up early, because that's what my body does.  So all in all, I had probably four hours of sleep?  Not super fun, but worth it.

Sunday I went over to Fort Worth to spend the day with my niece and nephews, and also to help plan my other sister's baby shower and for Father's Day.  It was great fun, but I forgot that I was picking up my lovely friend at the airport at ten.  Luckily she texted me beforehand, so I remembered in time to go get her, which ended up being around 10:30.  So I didn't go to bed until around 11:30, just cause of putzing around and things.  Needless to say, I am super tired today.  I hope that my board meeting at seven tonight is only an hour so I can be home by 9 and in bed by 9:30.  Catch up time!

THE TONYS

Sunday night, I got to watch my most favorite awards show in the history of awards shows.  No really, it is the only show I try to catch every year.  And thanks to Neil Patrick Harris on Twitter, I was able to remember it was on in time to call my aunt to make plans to go over to her house and watch it!  I'm talking about the Tonys.  I love love love love the Tonys.  I love watching performances by the nominated shows, I love watching the people, and I love watching the actors accept their awards, especially when they are SO EXCITED TO WIN!  And of course, I LOVE watching Neil Patrick Harris host.  He's so funny and he's so talented and adorable.  So because I love it, I'm going to include the opening number, the middle number, the end number and my favorite acceptance speech!

OPENING

Oh Neil, you're amazing.


MIDDLE

This made me laugh so hard.  And I did not know that Laura Benanti was a Broadway girl!  She's awesome!!


CLOSING

All I can say is Audra.  Oh Audra.  I adore you.


AND the girl from Pippin won Best Actress in a Musical, and SHE WAS SO EXCITED!!! I love when that happens!

So that's the Tonys, and I CANNOT wait til next year!! I want to go to NYC and see shows.  So so so badly.  Maybe someday soon!!

The Consequences of a Fun Weekend

This weekend was such awesome fun.  It was relaxing and chill while still being awesome and exciting!  It was my first weekend at home (where I slept in my bed every night) in like a month, and it was great.  Saturday, I woke up and walked to Starbucks (about a mile and a half, which made it about three miles both ways), which caused blisters on my heels.  Stupid socks.  Then I came home and cleaned my house, and did laundry and got ready for my sister to spend the night.  Plus I cleaned my bookshelves, getting rid of any book that I would never read again or that I didn't like or that I would never read.  I took all those (plus some donated to me from a friend who was just going to toss them; sacrilege) to Half Price Books and got a nice tidy sum!  Then I went to Fort Worth for Mass and dinner with my mom, sisters, niece, nephews, aunt uncle and cousins.  THEN, oh and THEN! My sister and I ran to my house, got ready, and went to meet my lovely friend for a night at the House of Blues for a little Graceland Ninjaz, an awesome band that does a lot of covers, but the lead singer dresses up like Elvis. Oh it was so fun.  It was the first time my sister and I were out together since she's been legal (the downside of her being in AK for the last two years), and I discovered so much about her! One, we have the same scream/cheer.  No really, we yell at the same pitch.  Corley (my friend) said it felt like surround sound.  Two: she is fearless. She will walk up to anyone and start a conversation with them.  But she's not afraid to tell someone to back off.  Three: we enjoy music the same way, singing, dancing, totally jamming out.  and Four: girl's got MOVES!  We finished the night with late night McDonald's and sleep!  Sunday we woke up, had Sonic for breakfast, watched Doctor Who, and then headed over to my sister's for lunch and playing with the babies.  My BIL and I took the kids to the park after lunch and we played around for a bit in the hot hot sun.  We did put sunscreen on, but I think I missed my neck, because now it's slightly burned.  I also think I pulled a muscle rocking out Saturday night, because my neck is SUPER stiff.  Like it hurts to bend or even turn my head.  So I spend Sunday night at my aunt's, eating pizza and watching the Tonys, which deserve their own post.

In conclusion:
I had a fantastic weekend BUT!

- I got huge blisters on my heels which makes wearing shoes with backs SUPER painful.
- I sunburned my neck.
-I pulled a muscle which makes even holding my head up painful.

Ah, the consequences of fun!  Can't wait to do it again this weekend!!

Negativity

I am a positive person.  Sometimes that optimism/positivity can backfire because I can talk myself into seeing the bright side of bad situations that someone else might get out of.  And not BAD situations, but mediocre situations that could be passed over for something better.  But that's not what this is about.  This is about the negativity I seem to encounter on a daily basis.

I don't know if it's because I'm a good listener or because I am constantly positive, but I seem to attract negativity, like a moth to a flame.  And it might not be me.  It might be the people who bring the negativity.  Either way, it seems that I get brought a LOT of negativity by people.  And that's totally fine.  I am absolutely willing and able to sit and listen and work through problems.  I'm pretty good at it, I think.  What's completely frustrating to me though is when I work through a problem and I give advice with someone, and the next problem they bring to me IS THE EXACT SAME THING THAT COULD BE SOLVED BY THE ADVICE I'VE ALREADY GIVEN.  It's completely frustrating.  And I understand that my advice is novice at best, and you don't have to follow it at all.  It's completely up to you.  Just don't come back to me with a different version of the same problem.  You're harshing my completely natural high here.  And that bums me out.

The Lesser Known "Movies Turned to Broadway Shows" Phenomenon

At the end of April my mom (who just started reading this, Hi Mom!) and dad went to NYC with my Nana, my aunts and my uncle.  They were supposed to go in October, but that's when Sandy hit, thus postponing their trip.  So they went instead for my dad's birthday.  But I digress.  They went to NYC and they saw a bunch of shows.  One of the shows they saw was actually a musical based off a Disney movie musical of the same name, Newsies.  I LOVE that movie.  No seriously. It seems silly to say that I love a musical based on the 1899 Newsboys Strike (which is a real thing, BTW).  But I do.  The music is catchy, the dancing is awesome, the story makes you cry, and HELLO it's got a young Christian Bale in it, with a terribly awesome New York accent which sometimes slips into his original Welsh.  So I've introduced the movie to my family and everyone in my family knows it very well, if not loves it.  So of course my mom was very excited to see this show.  Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the movie.  They changed the story some and it lost some of the more important parts that take place.  But they brought me back the soundtrack and a newsboys cap (which I am looking forward to wearing sometime soon!).  The music is good, though different from what I know, which bothers me a wee bit. But overall it's pretty good!

What's my point?  Well my point is that this whole movie to musical thing has been happening a lot for quite sometime.  I mean mostly it's Disney, which started way back when with Beauty and the Beast (which btw, I ADORE the stage show.  Seriously I like it more than the movie), but it's started to grow more and more.  The Spiderman musical? I don't really know if it's based on the movies or the comics, but it didn't start getting talked about until after the Tobey Maguire Spidey movies started making it big. And there's been a Harry Potter musical (hilarious, FYI) and a Batman musical and I'm sure many many more.  Sometimes, the musicals work, like Lion King, or Beauty and the Beast.  Sometimes, not so much.  But even though I still prefer the movie over the musical, I recently watched a clip from backstage at opening night of Newsies, and the excitement and the talent of these actors and actresses could not be denied.  They're so lucky to do what they do, and even if the show sucks, they still got to be on Broadway and rock a show they loved.  That's awesome.  I want to do that.

Breakfast, or How Lazy I am in the Mornings

What is the most important meal of the day?  If you said breakfast, you'd be correct.  Breakfast jump starts your metabolism, it wakes you up, and it gets you ready for the day.  And I love breakfast.  Well I love breakfast food.  Really, I do.  I love eggs and bacon and sausage, toast and cinnamon rolls, biscuits, cereal, tea, scones, pancakes, waffles, french toast.  I love it all.  But you know what else I love?  I love sleep, and I love my bed.  And all that stuff?  Unless it is made the night before, it takes time to fix.  Even cereal, which you'd think would be super easy (pour in a bowl, add milk, eat), takes time!  Probably because I get bored so I have to read something and then I'm lost in the book, and all of the sudden it's 7:30 and I haven't brushed my teeth or made my lunch and if I don't hurry I'm gonna be later than I want.  So this time could be spent in bed.  Or I could get up earlier and spend the extra thirty, forty minutes I normally spend snoozing eating breakfast.  I could do that.  Or I could continue to do what I do now, which is snooze until 6:50 or 7, get up, get ready, make lunch, and leave, trusting that I will eat breakfast at the office sometime.  Usually around 8ish, so my mouthwash has the recommended thirty minutes to really clean my mouth.   And I do eat breakfast at the office.  It's probably not the BEST of breakfasts (yesterday I had peanut butter cookies and a banana, today I had peanut butter on graham crackers and a banana), but it still stops me from being hungry until about 12.  Maybe one day I'll actually get up early enough to make breakfast in the morning, but until then, I'll continue the grab-and-go.

Distracted

I had an idea for a blog post on Sunday, driving home from Mass with my family, but because when I got home, we rushed into a whirlwind of breakfast and birthdays and babies, I didn't write it down.  So when I sat down the other day to write a post, I remembered I had an idea, but I could not for the life of me remember what it was.  I guess that's what happens when your normal schedule gets overturned by different activities.

For the past three weekends, I have not been home.  Don't get me wrong, I had a BLAST all three weekends.  Spending time with family always is super fun.  But there's something to be said about having a day in which to do nothing but focus on the little things that need to get done around your house.  Like cleaning the kitchen more than just doing the dishes.  Or cleaning out the fridge.  Or putting away the mounds of clean clothes that are sitting in the laundry basket just getting wrinkled.  Luckily, despite more family being in town this weekend, I have most of Saturday to myself.  Which means I CAN do all the little chores that I despise but need to get done before my house becomes the utter pigsty it has been threatening to become for the last three weeks. I will do my best not to get distracted, but with me, who knows?