Green

I love the color green.  Good old crayola crayon green.  My favorite color was always baby blue or pink and I think I had a stretch where my favorite color was orange... we don't ask.  But I remember exactly when green became my favorite color.  Now, let's not pretend I'm an outdoorsy kinda girl but... it did happen outside.  So my boyfriend at the time (my husband now) treated me to an anniversary picnic.  He went from Mebane to Graham to get my favorite fast food meal- Arby's number one in case you were wondering- and came back to Mebane to pick me up.  He put the food in the trunk so I couldn't smell it and he blindfolded me so I had no idea where I was going.  I don't remember if he blindfolded me or if I wasn't allowed to look- I'm pretty sure it was the latter.  Anyways, when we got there he let me open my eyes and we were at the Burlington park and it was a beautiful day.  We had our roast beef sandwiches and then we went for a walk and we were sitting on a blanket afterwards and I was just so happy and I was looking around and the grass and the trees were just beautiful on this May 13th and I just had never looked at the outside world the way I did that day because I'm always staying outside as little as possible.  From there, my wedding colors were pink and green and our apartment was decorated with green, blue and brown.  Oh and the room I'm sitting in right now- when my parents had it painted we didn't know yet that I would be moving to Florida right after graduation so I got to pick the color- it's green.

Fabric Softener Crystals

OMGOMGOMG I love this stuff.  So you have to be careful not the throw the cap away.  The top closes so at first you may think, "Why do I need this cap."  The answer is- it tells you how much you need for your laundry!  I really like that this is so much cleaner than the liquid fabric softener... when I use the liquid stuff, I forget to rinse the cap out and when I put it on, the part that didn't come out when I attempted to pour it into the washing machine does come out all over the bottle.  But more than that it makes your clothes smell ridiculously good. 

The Virgin Suicides

A language arts teacher I worked with at Global Outreach writes a blog about books that she's read and what she's learned from them- The Virgin Suicides was one book she wrote about.  I got it at Barnes and Noble and read it in two sittings.

If you might read this book, don't read any further.  Well you kinda know what happens with the first line: "On the morning that the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide..."  There are five girls and they all commit suicide.  It tells you up front the youngest one goes first by slitting her wrists in a bathtub (that ends up being a failed attempt but, no fear, she succeeds soon enough).  This is a strange family.  The father is a teacher and the mother is a homemaker and the girls are severely restricted as to where they can go especially after Cecilia (the first to go) dies.  The story is told by a male peer of the girls who watches the family fall apart from across the street.  The skanky sister, Lux, starts "dating" a guy even though she's forbidden to do so and he talks Mr. Lisbon into letting him and his friends take Lux and her three surviving sisters to the homecoming dance.  After having curfew and other rules drilled in his brain, he surprisingly gains Mr. Lisbon's permission.  With this new development, there's hope that the girls may get to live a real life but Lux misses her curfew and all hope vanishes.

The narrator and his friends can't just sit back and watch the deterioration of the house and those inside of it and so they decide to call their house.  They get to talk to them and through several secret conversations, the girls convince the boys to come help them escape.  One night, after the signal is given, the boys travel across the street in their car that will soon be filled with them and the sisters.  They wait outside but then, after waiting for what seems an eternity, they go inside.  Lux tells them the rest of the girls are finishing packing and she's going to go wait in the car.  They walk around the house and find Bonnie hanging from the rafters, Therese with an empty bottle of sleeping pills beside her and Mary with her head in the oven.  They rush out to find Lux but she has already died from the fumes of the car in the closed garage.

So yeah.  I liked this book.  What a downer.  But the whole time I was reading, I wanted to know what happened to each one.  As I was getting to the end I was concerned that there wasn't enough room for Eugenides to give enough space for each sister so I was surprised with the mass suicide.  I liked it because it was interesting to read about four sisters from the point of view of a boy who was just discovering his feelings towards females.  Also, it was a quick read and so I got to feel the satisfaction of finishing a book without putting in a lot of time!

Candles

 

I love candles.  My favorite candle is the Woodwick mistletoe one.  It makes a neat sound like you're sitting at a fireplace and it smells amazing.  However, since it's June (almost July!) now I try to avoid burning Christmas candles.  I really like Yankee Candle's Fluffy Towels.

The Hangover

I love the movie the hangover.  Having watched it last night with four of my absolute favorite people in the world- I'm a little more familiar with my favorite parts of it.

1.  When the water fountains go off at a really cool part in the music.  It's my favorite part of the movie.

2.  I love when Alan gives his speech on the roof- completely cutting off Phil... "I would like to say a few words..." and his laugh after he says "How about that ride in, I guess that's why they call it Sin City..." The laugh is so funny.

3.  I like Stu's song while they're waiting for the roofies to take its effect on the tiger

4.  Who's baby is that- I don't know, check the collar or something

5.  Alan wanting to know if the hotel was pager friendly... he wasn't getting a "sig on his beeper." And his outfit.

6.  Oh and Phil trying to get away from the school as quickly as possibly so the nerds couldn't ask him any more questions.

I have seen this movie so many times it's embarrassing because when Zachary and I were bored at home we would try to think of things to do and would ultimately decide the watching the Hangover again would be the best decision.

It Gets Better Project

So during lent, I decided instead of just giving something up, I would do something good too.  So I gave up shopping for stuff I don't need like clothes and books and... other things that I don't even notice the day after I buy it and donate it to organizations I had so much fun picking out.  The first few were just so coincidental it was creepy.  So the first Monday (I made all my donations on Monday...) I was downloading music and wanted to get some music from Adam Lambert on his season of American Idol.  I'm still a little bitter that Kris Allen won but it's fine.  Anyways, I was watching this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fizkZsAe3dU

because I thought this was such a neat idea.  He had to sing country so he did this crazy version of Ring of Fire (which I will never forget Katie Lorenz's Joan of Arc's rendition at our best concert ever).  Anyways, on the side, I saw his video for It Gets Better.  And I was like ooo what's that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_QVknV-M6U

I love Adam Lambert and I like that he took the time to make this video.  I like that he points out that people that bully others are ignorant and that he acknowledges that his situation is a little bit different because he has come into success but that he still gets harassed for being gay.  It infuriates me that people can be so mean to others over one aspect of their lives... that aspect being none of their business.  So then I went to itgetsbetter.org and this is what it says under the about section.

Growing up isn’t easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, leading them to feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens, who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted — even tortured — simply for being themselves.

Justin Aaberg. Billy Lucas. Cody Barker. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh. Raymond Chase. Tyler Clementi. They were tragic examples of youth who could not believe that it does actually get better.

While many of these teens couldn’t see a positive future for themselves, we can. The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The It Gets Better Project wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone — and it WILL get better.

I think this is such a great message because it is a tragedy that teens are taking their lives rather than face their peers on a daily basis.  So I decided to donate to this organization and they sent me a t-shirt that I love wearing around Mebane where ignorance and prejudice runs rampant.

Megan Meade

I love me some Megan Meade.  So she auditioned for Cadence my last semester and was drunk at the audition.  Both the audition and the call back or just the call back?  Can't recall.  Anyways, I had the joy of riding in the backseat of a car while she was in the back back of some vehicle- wow my memory is fading... Lisa's?  Anyway, we were on the way to Bski's (?) and she was so drunk and I was telling her I would take care of her and she was so sweet.  And that's when I knew our relationship would be just great.  So at retreat, we took tallies of how many shots we had taken and the fact that our tallies were in the same ballpark means I probably should have died but whatevs.  

Best. Retreat. Ever.

Uhmmm I love Megan because she is always so nice to me and always tells me I'm cute/pretty and she LOVES my voice and I just LOVE that.  I've noticed by facebook stalking her that she is really complimentary but not in a way that you can't take what she says about you seriously- she wouldn't say something if she didn't mean it- trust.  But she finds positive things in people and lets them know what she feels.  She also gets so excited when she sees me and that always makes me feel so so good.

About right.

And I have I mentioned she's HILARIOUS.  Like she seriously may be... yeah, the funniest person I know.  I laugh 90% of the time we're together which makes conversations hard to carry but she's probably speaking another language anyway so ... we just feel the love, and that's alright.  Speaking of love... she says no tears.  She says she can't handle tears, but she does just fine if forced to deal with them.  Example: My birthday dinner at La Cocina in Mebane.  I know this is a terrible picture but bear with me- You can see Kim and Megan reacting to my tears caused by seeing these wonderful Cadence loves surprising me- Megan looks blurry and horrified.

Love you doodle.  So glad you live in boom-town (we don't ask) and that I get to see you all the times!  Also thanks for your twitter lessons... I'll get it one day.