Ricky Martin = Still Hot

Last week, my mom made me dump this out:




I told her it'd give me a disease.

She told me it'd give me character.

Whatever the case, it gave me something to blog about.


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I've been listening to Spanish music a lot lately. A LOT.

This is my favorite tune:



I still have a mad-hot crush on His Puerto Rican Hotness--and don't even act like YOU don't.

This song is like chocolate to my ears. The kind of chocolate with chili in it.

Come to think of it, so is he.

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This was once my apartment:



We really knew how to throw a party.

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A couple of years ago, I was at Barnes and Noble picking up a book for a friend's birthday and I happened across Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel. Our birthdays are only a day apart, so I picked up myself a gift, too.

Quotes about travel are scattered throughout the book and there are several good ones, but this has always been my favorite:

Don't wait around. Don't get old and make excuses. Save a couple thousand dollars. Sell your car. Get a world atlas. Start looking at every page and tell yourself that you can go there. You *can* live there. Are there sacrifices to be made? Of course. Are they worth it? Absolutely. The only way you'll find out is to get on the plane and go.

And let me tell you something. That first morning, when you are in your country of choice, when you are away from all of the conventions of a typical, everyday lifestyle, looking around at your totally new surroundings, hearing strange languages, smelling strange, new smells, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

You'll feel like the luckiest person in the world.

--Jason Gaspero

I don't know who Jason Gaspero is, but clearly he is very wise.

I think I'd like to meet him someday.

Quote of the Day

Brought to you by: Nothing But Bonfires

I am nostalgic to a fault, perhaps because of the way I grew up---always moving, always leaving, always idealizing the place I used to be before I left it---or perhaps because of something else entirely, a rogue strand of DNA that got mixed in at the last minute. I miss people before I've left them. I reminisce about things ten minutes after they've happened. I look back on times that were happy and they make me happy but they make me sad too, and sometimes there is just no way to separate the happy from the sad, and it's because you can't go backwards, I think, because there's no way to press the repeat button. Things happen and then they're over. People are here and then they're gone. We keep going forward because we have to, and the past recedes in the rearview mirror behind us, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

You can't go home again, they say, and it's true, you can't: you can't go back in time to a dusky summer evening in 1994 when all the world seemed alive and new. You can't go back with hard-won knowledge and hard-earned skills, and you can't do it over, even if you swear you wouldn't do it any differently at all. You can't go backwards, and so you have to go forwards. But there's nothing wrong with looking over your shoulder every once in a while.

Nothing But Bonfires is one of my very favorite blogs. Holly Burns, the author, is both British and witty, so really how could it not be a favorite? And while most of her posts do crack me up (like this one about her French cat [be sure to read past the first picture]), she is also talented in the Sentimental Sans Sap category (like this one and, of course, the one quoted above).

Anyone else nostalgic to a fault?

O Frabjous Day!

It is after midnight and I must get myself to bed. This morning I was supposed to be up at 6 to work out but didn't even gain consciousness till 10 to 8! Ups.

So, I will make this quick. Today was great. I feel great. Why?

Because it was raining when I woke up this morning.

I love rain.

Finally got stuff accomplished at work.

Productivity makes me :)

Lunched with Khabeans and got some great photos.

While taking pictures, the 5-yr old I used to babysit came out of a building with his mom. This kid has *lovely* curly blonde hair. His mom was wearing a bright red coat and carrying a bright yellow flower print umbrella on her shoulder. Her son took it and ran down the hallway yelling, I'm flying!!

When he came flew back our way, Khalisah says, I don't know which is yellower: that umbrella or your hair!

He immediately looks angry and with a FROWN goes, My hair is not yellow! It's golden!

Ah, I love a good laugh.

I left work early (only 20 minutes!) in hopes that I could go home and cozy up with a blanket and a book. I walked outside and was greeted by lovely golden sunshine and a bright blue, nearly cloudless sky. I was sad I couldn't take advantage of the rainstorm, but thrilled to walk home in the bright sunshine.

I love bright sunshine.

Dad made BLTs for dinner.

I love bacon.

I went to my Mexican neighbour's to study Arabic and watch The Closer. When I got there, she was sautéing pumpkin leaves fresh from her garden. We took a health break to run to the mini mart where we purchased chocolate--she, toffifee and I, Lindt Mint Intense Dark :D--and then ate it in the kitchen as she sautéed more pumpkin leaves.

I love good food.

On our way home, we caught a glimpse of a full, glowing moon peaking out from between a break in two clouds. We pulled to the side of the road and watched as it emerged completely and lit up the dark-blue clouds around it.

Spectacular.

Then we watched an episode of The Closer. I love this show. Afterwards, she French-braided my hair.

Beautifully.

Then, my gold shoes and I came home to 11 tagged photos on Faceboook--11 photos preserving memories of an extraordinary day.

I love an extraordinary day.

Good Thoughts For A Monday Morning

Monday morning YOUR time, that is. For me, it is Monday night, and I am taking this opportunity to watch Chuck (I love Chuck) and write about the wonderful past few days. I'm two days into my week, but you: you are just beginning. And that is hard. May these thoughts warm your cold hatred for the start of the week.

On Friday, I had to stay after church for a bit because my mom got roped into an octet (haha). I passed the time by "playing" the piano. I would have passed more time that way, but a girl cam up to me and asked my name. Uh, [Ray]. What's yours?

Maddie. Did you know that 3 hours in human time is a week and a half for a dog?

Guys, you couldn't write this stuff. I couldn't either.

Evidently, however, the writers of Friends could, and did. Friends, by the way, is off limits in her house and she and her older brother--who, in brave defiance of the ban--downloaded all ten season and burned them to DVD. When I asked what would happen if their parents found out about his DVD collection, she shrugged. Eh, probably get kicked off the computer for a month.

Oh, does he get in trouble often?

Half shrug. Probably thrice a year.

Guys, I am not even kidding! She actually said Thrice a year! Oh, I love this kid.

Then she ratted out her brother on a number of other serious no-nos, before imparting to me more great wisdom.

Did you know...

A blue whale's tongue is bigger than an African elephant?

Snails are so slow, it takes a whole month for it to go 1 kilometer!

Smokers lungs are really gross. (She saw them once at school.)

Pluto isn't actually a planet. It's too small, and anyway, it's just a bunch of ice, which real planets aren't.

But my favorite part of the whole conversation came at the very end, accompanied by a factoid about siberian tigers.

Male Siberian tigers can be as long as a compact car. I hope they're not jerks. We have enough of that in human boys (that's my girl!): attention span of a spider empathy of a python.

I don't know what that last part means exactly, but I LOVE IT.

On Saturday I went shopping and got some shirts. yay.

That night it rained. downpoured. flooded from the sky? I mean, I have never seen anything like it--and I know rain! Rain, thunder, lightning--for more than an hour! HEAVY rain, and near-constant thunder and lightning. I took video, but don't have the harddrive space to upload it right now. (Here's to my March paycheck! That will buy me a new computer!! A MAC !!!)

It's seriously cool. Y'all should be on the edge of your seats with anticipation. I'll get it up soon so you don't damage your gluts and quads :D

Last night we went shopping again and, because my mother made me, I tried on a pair of pants. I had tried on 4 other pairs that night and was soo tiiired of trying on pants! Plus, these were not my size AND they're petite. I'm short, but I have never successfully worn Petite-sized pants.

But she made me!

And do you know what? They are *perfect*

So perfect.

They are exactly the right length (UNPRECEDENTED!) . They flare below the knee. The fit in the thighs without being too tight. And they fit perfectly on my waist--no stretching out and falling to my hips. No awkward gappiness. Just: Perfection.

Do you know what that's like?

It's like those two perfect pairs of $70 Express Jeans I own. Only this pair of pants was only $40 and I can wear them to work.

You know, the Real World really isn't so bad.

And now it is time for me to go make and eat pancakes, then join Halina in several episodes of The Closer.

Hope your week is off to as great a start as mine :)