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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Oh man you guys....my mingle this week is a little delirious lol.  Sorry about that.  But as always Monday Mingle is hosted by the wonderful Jen @ EightyMPHmom.  Go visit and have a look-see at all the awesome vlogs!
Password as always, is: misadventure.  :)


Monday Mingle Nov. 30th from Lauren on Vimeo.

Friday, November 27, 2009

A Memo

Dear People with Whom I Share the Road:

I understand we all have crazy days.  I know I do sometimes.  I know that everyone does sometimes.  What I ask though, is that we try our best not to drive like complete idiots.

When I have just passed someone and have not yet slowed (i.e. am speeding) and you pass me in a flurry, I KNOW you are speeding.  And going much too fast.  I am not a slow driver.  When you pass me like I'm standing still and barely make into your lane before you head-on with the car driving in it's own, you make me nervous.  You don't have to drive like a bat out of hell to get where you are going.  I'm sorry if you're running late.  I know what that's like, I get it, I understand.  Please don't be in that much of a hurry.  You'll wind up making all of us VERY late.

For those that do the opposite.  I appreciate that you are a cautious driver.  In fact, I thank you for not driving with such reckless abandon.  However, when you are driving 20 mph slower than the speed limit, I tend to get antsy.  And please, when there are two lanes, the right lane is for you.  You know that sign that says "Slower Traffic Keep Right?"  You are a slower traffic.  Please keep right.  I would like to not feel rude when I have to pass you on the right because you are in the left lane going very slow.  Also, you speedy folks that can't wait two seconds until I get a decent distance away from the car I just passed and go ahead and pass me on the right....SLOW THE CRAP DOWN.  It will not hurt you to wait two seconds for me to pull into the right hand lane.

For people who decide to walk along the highway at night, when it's raining, and wear dark clothes.  I'm sorry, I do not wish to hit you, but you are harder than a polar bear in a snowstorm to see and I really don't want to have vehicular manslaughter on my record thanks.  I especially do not like it when you step INTO THE ROAD to try and hitchhike.  You make me swerve to avoid you and then I look crazy to the on-coming traffic, whom I would also like to avoid hitting.  If you plan to walk along the road at night, please at least wear something white or shiny so I can tell you are there.

Again, I know that sometimes I do not have the best road manners, but I would really appreciate if we could all try to be a little nicer on the road.  Plzkthnx.

Love,
Lauren

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving...in words and pictures

Today, if you're in the ol' USA, was Thanksgiving.  Turkey Day.  The Day the Pants Don't Button.  A homage to food, friends, and family.  And a very large relative of the chicken.  I cooked a large portion of the dinner this year, and I'm happy to report we have had an all round Thanksgiving WIN.  Even the kids liked what we made, so score!  I will now bore/tempt/torture you with pictures of food from our little feast.  :)






Our turkey.  Yeah, I know, it's a little fuzzy, but you can still see how awesome and golden it is.  We brined it this year, and let me tell ya...they aren't kidding.  This was one juicy bird.



In true pirate fashion, I made crossbones out of the drumsticks on the serving platter.  ARG!  Pass me leg!




This was an apple and sage sausage stuffing that I tried this year.  AWE-some.  Yeah.  You can't really tell, but theres all sorts of goodness in there.  Apples, sausage, pecans, onions....MMM.



Yummy sweet potato bake with fresh cranberries.  I got this recipe from a friend last year, and it is stellar.  And so easy!



Brussels sprouts.  I love this things.  I think I say that every time I post a picture, and I've probably posted two already, lol.  For those of you that cringe, I say more for me!  ;)



And our Seussian pile of mashed potatoes.  It was GIANORMOUS.  And so good.  And totally almost gone by the end of the meal.  We apparently are potato kind of people.  :)

I can't even believe I didn't get a picture of my green bean casserole!  It was my pride and joy.  Made from scratch, as I mentioned in my mingle, and I am happy to report it turned out MUCH better than last year and I don't think I'll ever go back to cans again.

Follow all that up with pumpkin rum pie, and that was pretty much the day.  We played a bunch of board games afterward, and watched "Up" (which, if you haven't GO NOW.  I'll be here when you get back.) and generally had a good ol' time.  I'm very thankful for all of my wonderful online friends!  Love you guys!  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Hey hey hey!  It's that time of the week again!  Go visit Jen @ EightyMPHmom to share in the fun!

This was all relationship based....so I had to get a little creative.  It's a little lame, lol.  I'll try to be more on my game next week. ;)  Until then, password is: misadventure.  Enjoy!


Monday Mingle for Nov. 23 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

WTF Friday....late

Geez!  Where have I been?!?  Well, where haven't I been, lol.  I totally forgot about WTF Friday until right this second.  So it's just reeeeaaaaallllly late.  Sorry about that!



So since it was apparently "green week" (at least on NBC...or so the Biggest Loser told me) I present to you this:



....k?  This, again, as an ad I found while I was scouring the interwebs.  All I can picture in my mind is about 100 hamsters on 100 wheels generating a lot of static electricity.  Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I just dumb?  I mean, in all likely hood I'm probably dumb anyway, but seriously.  How does one simply and cheaply make their own electricity?  I kinda wish I'd have clicked the link, just to satiate my curiosity.  Hamsters aside, I also get images of the giant Tesla machine from "The Prestige."  And quite honestly I don't see that as being simple OR cheap.  Clearly I'm lacking in creativity here.  So I ask you, how would YOU make your own electricity?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

When it rains...

I've been really lax this week about making my blog rounds...and posting....and I apologize for that.  I'll be making the rounds this weekend and getting caught up.  But I have good reason!
So, as many of you know by now, I have been jobless for a bit.  This has been a point of contention for me, if for no other reason that I hate not having any money.  Everyone wants money from me, and I have none to give them.  BOO.  I figured, this would give me ample time to work on my crafts.  However, if I want new supplies....nothing to buy them with.  It's totally a catch 22.  Anyjob, I have FINALLY gotten out of that rut!  It's about time too.  Man.  What's funny is that one day I had no work, and over the next two days I now have THREE jobs.  Three!  Well, two and half.  One is still pending, but is very likely.  :)  One is one day a week and the other two are part time, so in theory I should have a full-time between all that jazz.  Oh, AND I'm going up to paint for the children's theatre the weekend after Thanksgiving, which I'll also be paid for.  Craziness!  Just crazy I tell you!  To be honest, I'll tell you what I think is responsible for all this sudden work.  These babies:




That's right.  Those are my cowboy boots.  Legit ones.  I got these beauties on sale in a second hand shop and I *heart* them.  I haven't worn them much though, and when I wore them the last two days, suddenly all this good news comes my way!  Makes me never want to take them off!  lol.

So yeah, things are lookin up for me!  I'm really excited about this.  You can look forward to posts complaining that I work too much now, instead of posts complaining that I don't work at all.  And won't that just be grand?  ;)

Oh...and I have a secret.  But I'm not going to tell you about it yet.  It's gonna be awesome.  You won't want to miss it.  Trust me.  :D

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Ok folks, it's time again for this week's Monday Mingle!  Stop over at Eighty MPH Mom and say hi to Jen and all the mingle folks!  Or to post one of your own.  :)

So, I was all up on it and recorded my mingle early this week.  And didn't notice that there was an extra question!  URG!  Sorry Shannon!  I'll answer it next week.  Promise.  :)

Password as always, is: misadventure.  I'll also say, this is probably the worst still pic to date.  Go Vimeo!


Monday Mingle Nov. 16 from Lauren on Vimeo.

YES!

OMG you guys!  I totally just SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT.  This is usually an achievement saved for newborns, but I could not be happier or more pleased with myself.  Really truly.  I finally got my sleeping pattern back under control it seems.  FINALLY.  Jeez.  After waking up at 11 pm one day, 2:30 am the next, and 5 am the next.... 8:30 has never looked so good to me.  And I went to bed at 11 the night before.  Heck yeah!

Sorry for the lame post, but I'm really excited.  Stay tuned for later this evening when I post my Monday Mingle.  It's much more entertaining, I promise.  :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

My Talents Have Been Recognized!



Check that out!  The hilariously awesome Travis @ I Like to Fish gave me this award!  Just as a side note, I loved his post title, which was "I Scribble with My Brain!" and I'm totally jealous that I didn't think of that first.  But he's the one that got it and gave it to me, so I'm really not that jealous.  I always thought this was an awesome award when it saw it on other folks' blogs, and now I have one of my very own.  Whoo!  *looks at it lovingly*  So anyscribble, I'm going to copy and paste the rules from Travis' site verbatim (with just a couple alterations):


I've gotta give it to five of you glorious bastards lovely folks.



I've gotta link the wonderful lady fella that gave it to me!



I've gotta display it on my blog.



I've gotta post the rules on my blog.



and, I've gotta post a naked picture of myself on here as well.



I'm sorry folks. I don't make these rules up.



Actually, I kinda made one of them up. The one about giving it to five people. The rest are true. Scouts honor. 


Alrighty.  Well, even though the "made up" rule is giving it to five folks, I'm still going to, cause hey, why should I hog all the awesome?  I shouldn't.  Exactly.  So I am going to pass it along to:


Yes I realize that's six.  I can count.  Swearz.  I don't think these folks have gotten it yet, and they totally derserve it!  


Well, the rules are up, the award is posted, I linked to Travis (twice, now), I passed it along... guess that only leaves one thing.





Naked picture time!  Yeah.  Enjoy that one.  I think it really shows my inner Leo.


Thanks again Travis!

Friday, November 13, 2009

WTF Friday



Well folks, it's that time again!  Time for something else to make you wonder about the world we live in.  I have a doozy this week.


Umm....WHAT?!?  I was looking up jokes a few days ago and you know how sometimes certain words will turn green and give you info when you hover over it?  Yeah.  The word "wife" was green, and I hovered.  I think the thing that is really extra special is the "shop and compare online" bit.  WTF?  I really...I have no words.  I'm just going to let you take that in.  *shakes head*

Tune in next week for another exciting edition!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I'm a Big, Fat, Slacker (aka My Sleep Pattern is FUBAR)

Sorry I haven't been around the interwebs as much as I usually am the last couple days.  You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't posted in the past couple days as well.  That would be the slacker part.  I realize that for NaBloPoMo that made me three posts behind, so tada! you get three in one day.  Or night.  Or very early morning.  That would be the FUBAR sleep pattern part.  For anyone who doesn't know what that means, I will send you here to the Wiki page.
I've been struggling with my sleeping for a while now, and part of it isn't having a set routine.  Mind you, I *could* have a set routine, that is also part of the slacker bit.  It would help immensely if I had a regular job.  I am much more likely to keep a schedule when I'm being held accountable for something.  When it's just me I'm going, "Well SURE I could get up at 8...but why?  I can do what I need to do later...zzzzzz *drool*..."  Which leads me to being here, now, at 2:35 in the morning WIDE AWAKE.  Usually I would have been up all day (well, since say 10:30...I KNOW...I'm lazy.  Whatever.  :p ) and would just be heading to bed around now, or maybe even an hour from now.  But no.  Today my friends, I have officially reached FUBAR.  I worked on Tuesday.  Which is totally awesome and I'm really glad I had the opportunity.  For that job though, I have to get up at about 5 a.m. which means I should go to bed much earlier.  So I went to bed at 11, finally fell asleep around midnight, and woke up at 2:30.  I could not get back to sleep.  At all.  So I was just up for the day at 2:30 in the morning and wound up passing out at 10:30 p.m. last night.  Great right?  Finally!  A normal time to go to bed.  This will fix all my problems.  Wrong.  I slept until 11 this morning (!!!) and it was a physical battle to get myself out of bed.  I was more tired today that I have been in a really, really long time.  I mean, I'm not talking kinda tired, I'm talking someone gave me an elephant tranquilizer tired.  So I drug myself around today, cleaned a bunch of my crap out of the spare room, and.... fell asleep at 5.  5!?!?  UGH.  And woke up at 11 p.m., which if you do the math is 6 hours.  JEEZ.  That's a full night's sleep for me.  So now, here I am 2:45, having been up since 11 and with no sign of sleep in sight for a good long time.  *sigh*  Well, I think I'm just gonna take one for the team (i.e. my sanity) and stay up all day again and try to straighten this mess out.  Crap.  Well, I might as well go make some coffee...

Writer's Workshop

Ok, so this week for Writer's Workshop (brought to you by Mama Kat) I'm totally recycling from an old post.  *cringes*  Sorry!  It was from last year though, when I had barely anyone reading, so it will be all shiny and new to most of you.  And hey, in these times it's good to recycle!  Right?  Right.  So here goes my being thrifty.

The prompt I chose this week was:
Show us something you did yourself!

For those of you that don't know, I am a crafter.  I love to make things, and I'm a part of a couple mail-art websites and make things to trade with folks from all over.  It pretty much rocks my socks.
For one particular swap I was doing a treasure hunt (which is SO much fun, I can't even tell you), and one of the words was "fairy."  So what do I do?  I make one.  Of course.  I don't really "sew," that is one skill I lack.  Give me a table saw and a piece of plywood anyday, but fabric....I just don't know what to do with it.  So I used felt, because it's cheap, soft, and hey, if I mess up I'm not out a bunch of money.  I made up the pattern myself, and stitched her up with embroidery floss.  Her skirt is tule, her eyes are seed beads, and her hair is yarn.  And without further ado, photos for you:


The front.


The back.


And a closeup.

So there you have it!  Something I did myself, a fairy doll.  :)

Thank you!

This evening I got an award from the lovely Redhead Riter!  Thank you!



"This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award." I'm going to give this award to:
1) Alexis @ Running Away? I'll Help You Pack
2) Karie @ The Five Fish
3) Daffy @ Batcrap Crazy
4) Hillbilly Duhn 
5) Jess @ This Theatre Life
6) Sassy Girl @ Hot Piece of Sass

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Monday Mingle!




It's that time again! Back for the Monday Mingle. :) If YOU want to join in the fun, go visit Jen @ EightyMPHmom. Or if you just like to pop over and visit all of the other lovely Mingle ladies and gents, that's ok too. :D Password for my video, as always, is: misadventure. Enjoy!

**Edit: Gross. My video and audio is out of sync. I'll try to fix that. It wasn't like that before! Grrr.... I apologize for the annoyingness and will try to get it back N'sync soon. (sorry, couldn't resist that...in sync....heh).

**Update: I have re-uploaded my video twice now, to no avail because Vimeo hates me. Funny, I have had kind of an "off" week this week, I guess it's just reflecting literally in my video. I'm sorry. You just get to watch me like a badly dubbed Japanese film. Kudos for your patience. I will make cookies to make it up to you. :)



Monday Mingle Nov 8 from Lauren on Vimeo.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Learn to Appreciate Technology

OMG you guys.  I laughed so hard at this video of Louis CK and Conan I saw over at AnnOnandOn.  It's so true, and is actually a little sad in that truth, but the way he expresses it just makes me roll with laughter.  I would also like to think that I am in between the old, tough generation and the new generation of spoiled idiots, as he so nicely puts it.  I remember a lot of what he's talking about actually, even though I was young.  Point aside, it is hilarious.  Just watch it.  :)


Thursday, November 5, 2009

WTF Friday






I have decided I'm going to start a little thing called WTF Friday.  And pancake bunny is going to be my mascot.  If this is already in existence on someone's blog or has a website, sorry, I don't know about it.  All I can say is great minds think alike.  Speaking of, why does no one ever finish that phrase?  I mean, myself included.  Everyone always says, "You know what they say, great minds...." and then leave it at that.  That's not what they say.  That's what everyone else says.  If the saying is "Great minds think alike," then we should say it.  The saying isn't just the first half.  Of course if you don't know the second half, maybe you aren't a great mind.  Perhaps it's like intellectual natural selection.  Does that even make sense?  Oh well.  I digress.

So yes, I have decided I might try to do a little thing on Fridays about things that make you wonder, "What the...?"  One would think I would have plenty of fodder for this, but we shall see.  It might go over like a lead balloon.  I might get lazy.  Maybe both.  Who knows.  Only time will tell.  Mwaha.

I'm kinda in a dorky mood today, if that wasn't obvious, lol.  So I apologize if this doesn't make much sense.  But you want to know what really doesn't make sense?  This:



This was found at Goodwill in the floral section.  My friend found it.  I was stopped in my tracks.  Can anyone even explain to me what this IS?  And if so, what is it's purpose?  The best description I can possibly come up with is a doll topiary.  There are no arms, no legs...not really even a body.  Just a doll head and a *lot* of lace.  Stuck in a flower pot.  And there are not one, but TWO of them, clearly they were a set. Cause I know that if I'm going to have a doll topiary, I need at least two, otherwise the look will just feel totally unbalanced.  I'm also amused that it's hiding out in the floral section.  I mean, technically it is a kind of topiary, but those are usually out of, oh, I don't know....plants.  This has not a flower on it.  Though I applaud the worker that decided it belonged here and not in the "random crap no one knows what to do with" section.  Because clearly they have some knowledge of greenery or landscaping.  UNLIKE my very dear friends whom I love but cost me a game a Cranium.  I drew a perfect topiary.  Not a one of them knew what it was.  No one.  Yes, I am still a little bitter, lol.  Anywho, that's all I got for the first installment of WTF Friday.  Hope you enjoyed it!  If not, I'll be back to regularly scheduled ramblings tomorrow.  :)

**Addendum**
If you guys want a good laugh, you should go here and watch the video from Telling Dad.  Seriously, it's hilarious.

You have been approved

So today, I found out that I have indeed been accepted into the Animation program at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco.  Whoo!  I will be starting online classes in January and hopefully be moving down to finish the degree next fall.  I'm really excited, but at the same time I'm like...what?  What just happened?  lol.  The reason I say hopefully be moving is because I have no idea what I'll be up to between now and then.  Taking classes for sure!  I like the online class idea because I can be anywhere while I'm doing them.  It's like I'm excited and terrified.  I'm committed now.  I know that probably sounds like the dumbest thing ever, but I never said I make sense, lol.  Anywho, that's good news, so I'll at least have somewhere to direct my focus.  And Lord knows I need that!

Don't have a whole lot else for today.  I've been in bed most of the last couple days.  Alien is still present, though slightly less violent.  My suspicions are more on a tummy issue than the flu.  Regardless, I really feel pretty ok and I'm down 5 pounds.  Whoo!  I'm sure they'll find their way back to me as soon as whatever I have is over, they always do.

Hope everyone is having/had a great day!  See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Writer's Workshop

Alien status:  Mainly subdued.  Reared head this morning for a bit.  Think it's asleep now, am trying not to wake it.  Maybe it was gelato after all.  Would feel ridiculous, but at least not be infested with the swine.

Today I thought I would participate in the Writer's Workshop, hosted by the ever-lovely Mama Kat @ Mama's Losin' It.  Each week she makes a list of prompts to write about, and you can pick one (or more) to answer over at your blog.  Then go back and link up on her page, and go visit other folks!

This week I'm choosing to answer these two prompts:
10 reasons why you can't sleep at night
and
Write a love letter to the object of your affection

I thought they were good ones. :)  So.  Here we go.

10 Reasons Why Lauren Can't Sleep at Night
1) The vampires might eat her.  (This is one of my biggest fears...vampires.  Really.)
2) She is too busy solving the problems of the world.  (And then forgetting by the time she gets up.)
3) She went to the gym late and is wired from all those endorphins.
4) She had a nap too late in the day.
5) She is, by nature, a night owl.
6) All her friends are night owls too.  (Which happens when you're in the theatre profession.)
7) She waits for SITS to update so she isn't 543927th on roll call.  (sad...but true!)
8) She has a crop that needs harvesting/dish that needs serving on her FB games.
9) She doesn't have a job yet, so why not?
10) She is afraid she might miss Something Important in the 8 hours she would be asleep.

And now, a letter to the object of my affection.  (aka Totally Cheesy, Mushy, Wishful Thinking by Yours Truly):

Dear Charming-Man-I-Have-Not-Yet-Met,
I love you.  I know it might be a little soon to say, considering we don't know each other yet, but I just thought I'd put that out there.  I love your quirky sense of humor.  I love your expressive eyes.  I love that you try your hardest to make me laugh, even when I'm being a total biz-natch.  I love that you love me even when I'm acting like said biz-natch.  I love how even though I am totally self-conscious, you make me feel beautiful when you look at me.  I love how you laugh at my completely cheesy jokes so I don't feel like a moron.  I love how you pay attention to little things I say, and use those details to surprise me later.  I love how considerate you are, of you, me, and everyone else.  I love that you are a total dork.  I love that you have no problem being a total dork with me.  I love that even though you could probably care less, you let me talk on and on about something that matters to me.  I love you for letting me be me.  But most, I love you just for being you.

With much love,
Your Future Girlfriend

Whew...that's enough sentiment for one day.  If you'd like to participate in Writer's Workshop, pop on over to Mama Kat's for a complete list of prompts, and Thursday is link-up day, so have all day to put a post together.  :)  See you guys tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Lazy with a Purpose

So when I went to bed last night I had a stomach cramp.  I assumed that it was because I ate an ENTIRE PINT OF MAPLE GINGERSNAP GELATO in one sitting.  I mean, that makes sense, right?  I would even say I deserve that one.  "Wanna be a glutton, ok, here's some stomach cramps for ya!"  I figured I'd go to bed, wake up in the morning, and feel totally fine.  That's what usually happens.  Well, not today.  Today I woke up and it was worse.  Like, there's an alien in my belly and it wants to get out, worse.  To my knowledge I ingested no aliens.  They certainly weren't in my gelato.  Perhaps they were hiding my pesto tortellini.  Maybe they should put a warning on the box, you know, like under the "WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS."  Put one right below that that says, "WARNING: MAY CONTAIN ALIENS."  Then at least I'd know, ya know?  But no, here I am, tummy cramps and all, being slightly but not quite miserable.  I told my mother about this, and apparently stomach pain has been a common flu symptom.  No nausea, just pain.  Check.  I will just put this out there, that I haven't gotten the flu in years, nor have I gotten a flu shot in years.  Mom said, "Well, people who never get the flu are catching the swine flu this time."  Great.  My mother is nurse, just FYI, so she's not just feeding me stories.  My temperature is also below normal....weird...I'm sitting at a cool 97 degrees.  Other than the alien in my belly though, I feel alright.  I was told it could "possibly" be the flu, and just to chill in bed today.  Stay in bed and be lazy?  Check.  I'm all over that one.  So I here I sit, with the possibility of having the flu, being lazy in bed.  Hey, at least it gives me time to work on NaNoWriMo.

Oh!  And I'm featured over at Hillbilly Duhn's today!  Whoo!  So go stop by and check it out!  Also, she's pretty freaking hilarious, so you should read up anyway.  :)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Officially Unofficial

I am declaring myself officially unofficial.  For what, you ask?  Well I have been inspired by both my friend Jess and also Travis, to participate in NaNoWriMo.  (You hear that Travis?  You were inspirational. I'm sure it was by accident.)  Jess has participated in years past, and has done really well.  I believe this is Travis' first year doing NaNoWriMo.  This will be my first time as well.  For those of you that don't know what that is or means, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000 word) novel in a month's time.  Pretty wild eh?  You can go check out the official site here and get all the info and even sign up if you'd like.  :)  I do not consider myself a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy it from time to time.  I realized as I was writing my first page and half last night that it's been ages since I've written anything for fun.  Besides my blog.  Obviously.  Something like a story.  Even for school, all I was writing were essays on historical importance of playwrights or ideological meanings behind the actions of some play.  That requires thought.  Like, a LOT of thought.  I don't want to think that hard when I write.  That just makes me sound lazy, I realize that.  But I don't.  I don't want to have to dig so deep for something that I've completely lost what I was digging for in the first place.  It was really nice to just sit down and start typing.  I don't have to constantly think, "Well WHY this and WHY that..."  It happens because I want it to.  Plain and simple.  Yeah.  Oh, and in my first 750 words, I had like 3 Life Epiphanies.  Like for myself.  Whoa.  It was a little mind-boggling, lol.  I can't wait to see what other Important Life Discoveries await me in this journey.

I am also declaring myself officially unofficial for NaBloPoMo, which I saw over at Hillbilly Duhn's and again over at Super Fat Super Chick.  Clearly it's a play off of NaNoWriMo, and I'm all about it.  That stands for National Blog Posting Month, and the goal there is to write a post every day.  30 posts in 30 days.  That's a lot of blog love.  I almost made it last month unintentionally (I was 11 short), so I figured I'd give it a go this month.

The reason I say officially unofficial for both of these is that I would like to participate in both, but I'm not going to sign up.  I will keep track of my own progress, and if I follow through I will even be extra-proud because I did it without all the added pressure.  I know neither one of these programs is meant to put negative pressure on it's participants, but knowing me, I'll forget a day (or two) and then I'll feel like I let everyone down.  I don't want to let anyone down.  So I'm going to do it just for my own sake and see just how far I get.  I might even secretly sign up in a couple days and not tell you, lol.  I'm so weird.  :D

I am also going to do the assignment for OperationNICE this week!  Yeah I'm on a roll.  For those of you that haven't gone to visit Melissa at OperationNICE, you need to.  This gal has the biggest heart and runs her website on the premise that we could all be a little nicer to each other.  Which is SO true.  I'm trying.  Really.  Sometimes it's a lot harder than it needs to be.  BUT, definitely go give her a look-see.  :)

Anywho, the assignment this week was to make a list of your favorite places.  So here we go:
The General Mercantile, where I am sitting right now, sipping tea by a koi pond and writing my blog.
Missoula.  Man I *heart* Missoula.
My Friends' Homes.  It doesn't matter where they live, where they are is where the fun is!  And love.  :)
Seattle.  LOVE this place.  Seriously considering moving there sometime.  Don't know what I'd do...
Bigfork, Whitefish, and the Flathead Valley in general.  My chi is always good when I'm here.  There's really something healing in that valley.
Memphis.  I had a BALL in Memphis.  Beale Street rocks my socks off.
Vegas.  Even though Vegas gave me a serious butt-kicking, I still love the city.  It's definitely not like anywhere else.
In My Car.  I adore driving.  Driving means an adventure.  I'm always up for adventure.
In My Bed.  I love to sleep too, lol.  I have *such* a hard time getting out of bed some days...soooo cozy....
Craft Stores.  Good heavens.  I can spend hours (and a lot of cash) in craft stores.
Libraries/Bookstores.  Reading rocks my socks.  I love browsing past rows and rows of books, reading titles, seeing what jumps out at me, and what treasures I can find.
My Kitchen.  Baking is one of my favorite things.  And I've found over the last couple years that I'm actually not a bad cook either.  I get so proud when I make things from scratch.

Well, that's a start anyway.  There are so many places I love to be that make me happy.  What are yours?

Oh, and cause I didn't post them yet, here are some pics from Halloween.  :)



Me as Flo.  "How can I help you save today?"  :)



Showing off the little box of "Insurance" that I made to take with me.



Getting my "palm read" by my friend who dressed as a fortune teller, lol.  Don't I look intrigued?

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Monday Mingle!



Check it out.  I even remembered to grab the button this time!  Third time's a charm eh?  ;)  For those of you that don't know, Monday Mingle is brought to you by Jen @ Eighty MPH Mom.

Without further ado, I bring you my post-Halloween mingle!  (I even did a little editing in this one...which is rough...bare with me.  I'm still getting used to the computer that is smarter than I am.  They will improve.  Promise.)  Password, as always, is: misadventure.


Monday Mingle for Nov. 2, 2009 from Lauren on Vimeo.


I also got my friend Jess over at This Theatre Life to do a mingle this week!  Check her out!  :D