Newly Bespectacled

I went to the eye doctor yesterday, and even though my prescription hasn't changed I got a new pair of glasses anyway. My sister and I had fun trying on big old lady (and old man!) glasses, but in the end I got a nice brown pair.

So cute! Also I wore these shoes I got a couple weeks ago for only $10. I love them!

Here's What's Going to Happen

I'm going to get off my lazy bum and start photographing my days to share with you. This morning, I made some delicious and gorgeous cheesy beer bread to bring to a cookout at my boyfriend's friend's house, and you know what would have been awesome? If I had a picture of it you could see. I always mentally kick myself when I'm writing these blog entries and I don't have pictures to post, and yet throughout the day I make absolutely no effort to take pictures. Argh.

But. Something else I did today: exercise! I've decided this is going to be a regular thing for me. I'm in the middle of reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami and it makes me want to run really badly! So this morning I hopped on the elliptical and did one of the 20-minute aerobic program-thingys. It got a bit ugly there for a minute, but I'm really glad I stuck through and finished valiantly!

Yesterday, I was tagged in a surveything by Sonya of Fishnets & Hip Checks (awesome blog name, bee the dubs) so here goes.

1. What items do you always carry with you, either in your purse or in your pocket?

Gosh, my purse is giant so it holds so much stuff! Here's what stays in it all the time:

The phone goes in my pocket, unless I don't have pockets, in which case it goes in my purse. Then we have (from roughly top to bottom) a tiny pocahontas notebook I made out of some trading cards that I jot down quick thoughts (books to read, etc.) in, sunglasses, glasses case, pencil case (that my dear friend Alex got for me in France!), tissues, two different hand sanitizers, a Jesus Loves You pocket mirror, a coupon for a free coffee at the coffee shop at school, wallet, lotion, my McDaniel pouch with the house key attached, a hairtie, gum, and checks. I don't use all of these on a regular basis, but they all stay in my purse always.

Side note: when I'm at school, I carry around everything I need in my McDaniel pouch. ID, chapstick, smoothie punch card, stuff like that.

2. If you could live anywhere, where would you choose?

I'm not sure I'd want to move anywhere glamorous to live permanently. I would, however, happily move to the beach. Any beach, really, as long as my house is on the water and I get to play in the sand. I was also talking to my mom the other day about how fun it would be to live in the Pacific Northwest. Like, Portland or thereabouts. In a granola hippie commune.

3. Who is your favorite person in your life right now and why?

Definitely my boyfriend. I'm sure you don't want to hear sappy, lovey, gushy mush about how we're soulmates and he just gets me and he completes me. I'm not really inclined to write anything of the sort, at any rate. Suffice it to say that he's by far the person I hang out with most and my days are always nicer because he's in them. And I'm watching so many wonderful movies under his influence!

4. What is something ridiculous that you have done that most people don't know about?

Hahaha, most ridiculous things I do involve my sister in some fashion. For instance, a couple years ago we had this running joke about "the oo." It started in Home Depot or something when we decided that the "oo" in Tools was a pair of eyes watching us. So we never pronounced the oo. Food Lion became Fod Lion, etc.

Also, when I was really little (4 or 5, maybe?) I would take my grandmother's makeup mirror and hold it under my face and look down into it and pretend I was walking on the ceiling. I'd have to avoid fans and step over doorways and stuff like that.

5. What was your first pet?

A kitty cat named Fellini. He was actually already part of the family when I was born, so he was older than me.

6. Who was your best childhood friend?

I had two best friends, Eve and Sydney, and for the most part our friendships didn't really overlap. I don't really think I have any pictures of me and Sydney, but I have quite a few fun ones of me and Eve. This one was taken after we formed a business agreement to make friendship bracelets and sell them. We did make quite a few bracelets, but never sold any. I'm not sure we even ever tried to sell any. I'm on the left and she's on the right.

7. If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?

The ability to perfectly paint my nails and not mess them up afterwards. (ok, maybe this isn't my number one top superpower, but I wanted to pick something fun. And i do royally suck at painting my nails.)

8. Where is the last place you went, other than your own home?

That's easy! I went over to Matt's house around 3:30 today, then around dinnertime we went to his friend's house for grilling. And then we went back to his house and cuddled a bit while watching True Life: I'm Peer Pressured. And then I came home.

Whew, ok. All finished! Now you know some truly eclectic facts about me! And so I'm supposed to think of 8 questions of my own now and pass them on to three more people. Here goes:

1. What are the top three books you'd bring to a desert island?
2. What's your biggest guilty pleasure?
3. What was the last dream you had that you remembered?
4. What was your favorite game as a little kid?
5. How sad were you when Lost ended?
6. What's one skill you really wish you had?
7. How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
8. How do you feel about your hands? (for example: size, finger length, ability to maintain fingernails, freckles/scars/blemishes, etc.)

Aaaaand I tag Kristin, Alex and Jillie the Great!

Things that make me giggle today, Plus the greatest giveaway this world has ever seen!

This giveaway first: Over at Lifesize Paperdoll, Maggie is giving away FIVE WHOLE DRESSES! And they're all super-adorable! So hop over to her blog and enter the giveaway posthaste!

So there's that. Awesome, right? I know. And here are some things that make me happy.

1. Helmet-chinstrap tan lines on the Tour de France riders.

2. Lauren and Mark's Tahitian Dance on So You Think You Can Dance last night.



3. Cat Versus Human: the most adorable (and true!) comics about cats.

4. I get to see Matt tomorrow! He went to a music festival on Friday, and then I went out of town, but tomorrow I'll be back home with my baby! :D

5. This picture.

And so this is my sister.

Remember that swap party I told you about last week? Well, my sister shares her weirdness with the world via youtube rather than in a blog like me, and she made a video about her scores from that night. Most of her videos are suitable for viewing only if you're a screaming Green Day fangirl, but some of her videos (like this one) are quite brilliant. Check her out!

Love is a Mix Tape

I just finished this book, Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield. I'm in that dangerous position, you know the one, where you've just finished a terrific book and you really want to immediately jump into another one, but you have to pick just the right book, the perfect book, because anything less than perfection will be a disappointment compared to the book you just finished. Yeah, that's where I am. My next read is Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris, which I have mixed feelings about. I love Mr. Sedaris immensely, but I've heard Holidays isn't as rip-roaring as, say, Me Talk Pretty One Day.

But. Let's get down to love and mix tapes. First off, it's a memoir. I really need to read more memoirs, I think. A fiction book with the most fabulous plot just doesn't hit as close as when it's a true story, when it really happened. And Love is a Mix Tape is a beautiful story. It's your good old-fashioned guy meets girl, girl tragically dies kinda story, with the added bonus of being chock-full of music.

Seriously, if you like music at all, indie/pop/rock/whatever, this book is great. Each chapter starts with a mix tape full of songs that were important to his life at the time. Reading it made me want to make playlists upon playlists of songs for every occasion! I'm toying with the idea of buying a copy of this book for my boyfriend and giving it to him along with an I-Lurve-You! mix tape.

And so here for you, dear readers, is a playlist. I started making it with a blogging/writing/creativity theme in mind, but all my playlists quickly turn into random songs I think are rad. So here you go. Listen to it.

Super-Awesome Giveway of Awesomeness!

This giveaway over at Biscuit is an absolutely brilliant idea! Really, nothing is better than winning free stuff, and now you have 20 whole chances to win a prize!

And all the prizes are absolutely gorgeous!

So go forth, my friends, and win prizes! :)

Cidade de Deus

So I just finished watching this movie, City of God.

You have got to watch it. Start it right now.

It's about a slum in Rio de Janeiro and two boys that grow up there. One (Li'l Dice, who later changes his name to Li'l Ze) becomes the leader of a gang that controls almost the entire city. The other, Rocket, is an aspiring photographer.

It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. Seriously, watch it now.