i just rediscovered a comment of mine from an old blog entry. and, boy, does it make me feel like eating! late-night-snacking… a favorite since childhood.

from June 8th: “edy’s mint chocolate chip ice cream, reese’s peanut butter cups, bags and bags of bob’s sugar sticks from cracker barrel, chips and dip for breakfast-lunch-and-dinner, gallons of chocolate milk and several hamburger valentino’s pizzas.”

my cravings are so pathetic. actually, i know i’m really sick to my stomach when i want NOTHING. i joke that if i become pregnant i’ll know because i’ll have no food cravings at all. overall my food desires are extremely particular and my thought processes run something like this:

i could have vanilla bean ice cream, but it’s cold outside and inside and i’ve never been a fan of vanilla — so that’s out. pretzels? nope… too little and too bland (though FAT FREE, says my conscious. shut up, says my stomach). banana? too ripe and too healthy. mixed nuts? not satisfying enough. spice cake with buttercream frosting? nah, i made that sunday and it’s getting kind of old now. besides, if i ate it now i wouldn’t want it for breakfast tomorrow (i’ve eaten it and a glass of milk the past three mornings).

ah, the thoughts of a hungry, lazy woman. very sad.

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Thanks to the Traveling Lawtons, I’ve seen about 2/3 of this nation! We road-tripped all over the place when I was a kid… Lots of camping, lots of relatives, lots of inexpensive sight-seeing. I loved hitting the open road and still feel the call of it today. I credit my joy of traveling to my parents who made the experiences fun. Mom would fill bags with activities for each day — something new and interesting to keep us from getting too antsy and frustrated. And Dad just loved the exploration aspect, seeing new places and experiencing new things. (My dad’s idea of a fun weekend is driving Andrew down to Covenant College and back. He loves to drive.) Aside from various road trips, we’ve moved all over this great country… I was born in Jacksonville, Florida and since then I’ve lived in Augusta, Georgia; Fresno, California; Klamath Falls, Oregon; Lincoln, Nebraska; Lookout Mountain, Georgia; and St. Louis, Missouri. A few trips by plane — to New York City and Washington DC — round out my state hopping. Jeremy and I have two plane tickets to burn this next year… Maybe I’ll get one or two more states under my belt before the end of 2004.

As if yellow dog pee on snow isn’t enough…

Let’s get this straight. I only watch Super Bowls for commericals and the half-time show (and the yummy snacks SB parties will inevitably produce). Right off the bat I NOT impressed by the half-time show headlined by Janet Jackson; truthfully, I think she’s kind of old and not appealing to most Americans. But after young ‘un Justin Timberlake popped her bra cup off? Well, call me shocked and grossed out.

See this CNN article if you have no idea what I’m talking about…

What cracks me up is that I totally don’t buy the line that the “wardrobe malfunction” was “unintentional”, as Timberlake’s press release states. Also bizarre is the following quote apparently taken from an MTV site: “Jaws across the country hit the carpet at exactly the same time. You know what we’re talking about … Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and a kinky finale that rocked the Super Bowl to its core.” Rocked to it’s core by the exposure of one breast? Whatever. What are we coming to with such tackiness?

First thought: Around 3pm today, upon our first venture outside, Jeremy noted, “It’s not that cold out.” And I thought he was kind of silly. But he was right. 18 degrees — a heatwave!

Second thought: Snow stained yellow by dog pee disgusts me. I know dogs have to urinate. I know it must color the snow yellow. Nonetheless, ew.

Is anyone else looking forward to seeing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”? It looks very odd, but potentially very good.

I’d call her from my room at my parents’ house: “Charity! How are you???”

“Hi Rebecca! Wait a minute… Shhhh, guys! I’m on the phone.” (Laughter, excited girly voices yelling in the background.) She’d either quiet them down, or move away from the noise, and then we’d catch up.

I was in Nebraska for my freshman year at the university and Charity was in Georgia, at Covenant College — the school I always thought I’d attend. Turns out, the Lord had different plans! It was those phone conversations with my good friend, and countless newsy letters, that persuaded me to head down to Covenant for my sophomore year. She had something I was definitely missing at that time… a sense of community, and strong female friendships.

Friends are profoundly important.

I would love for someone to write a book (or even an article!) on How to Make Friends in the Post-College Years. In high school you don’t even realize how many hours are spent in community with others of similar interests. Yes, many of us couldn’t stand the classmates we were stuck with for weeks on end. But overall, high school is a good time for meeting people of similar interests. College can be both very lonely and very stimulating at the same time. Though UNL was not a nurturing environment for me, it forced me to make decisions that proved helpful in creating fantastic friendships. (In a somewhat related vein, I met my future husband during my solitary freshman year — so I count that as a year well spent!) Then, at Covenant College, I quickly met and bonded with the girls on my hall; two were bridesmaids in my wedding the following summer. And even at Missouri Baptist College, where I spent my last three years of undergraduate work, I met great women who I continue to count as friends today. Those were the easy days…

Now things are a bit tougher. Other than coworkers, it’s not simple to meet and become friends with people at all. Friendships develop over time… It’s a rare occasion to meet someone and bond with them instantly. (However, if you are Lou Karre, it just might work! I loved Lou from the get-go.) All this to say that I am profoundly grateful for the friendships, new and old, that I enjoy today. I love my friends. I live for my friends. They build me up, tear me down when necessary, support and encourage me. They bring amazing amounts of light into my days and I consider myself blessed by them. Praise the Lord for friends. (Cue cheesy Michael W. Smith song, And friends are friends forever…)

We have beautiful old stained-glass windows at Zion Church. As my flash is in disrepair, I snapped this picture from the inside of the building on a lovely summer day. I am dreaming of warm summer days…

The days seems to be moving by quickly this week, and I haven’t had much time to find creative inspiration. But I do want to drop a few of my Oscar thoughts onto the blog…

I have seen two, only two, films nominated for Best Picture and one is The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I was quite thrilled that ROTK receieved 11 nominations — very cool! As one who adores the behind-the-scenes dvd extras on the Lord of the Rings series, I have great respect for all hands that were involved in this phenomenal trilogy — and you can bet your socks I’ll be cheering for the entire cast and crew come Oscar night. Peter Jackson deserves Best Director for his monumental undertaking and terrific direction. However… After I’ve seen the other films, I may not be so sure about the Best Director category.

The other movie I’ve seen is Seabiscuit. It’s beautifully shot, and actually spurred me to watch the end of a horse race on ABC last Saturday, but overall I wasn’t hugely impressed. Sorry.

Other Oscar thoughts… Yay for Johnny Depp’s nomination! I’m thrilled that the Oscars are recognizing comedies this year. And though I did like Pirates of the Caribbean, I don’t think this was Johnny’s most amazing performance ever (even though it was a lot of fun). Perhap the Oscars are just finally awarding his fine acting abilities. I am extremely excited that Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for Whale Rider — I’d love it if she won. Blah to Diane Keaton… Haven’t seen the movie, but really, is she that impressive in it? I could go on and on with my opinions, but they aren’t worth much as I haven’t seen most of the films yet.

So, my goal is to get to the movie theaters and catch the following flicks:
House of Sand and Fog
Lost in Translation
Mystic River
21 Grams
The Last Samurai
In America
Master and Commander
Considering that many movies have already cycled through Lincoln’s Douglas Theatres, I have my work cut out for me. Boo to living in the middle of this country and not having great access to movies.

Leaving my front door, I discovered a surprise under all the snow by the porch…

…the last, concrete step.

Truly, this is the largest snowfall I’ve had to scoop yet in my days of homeownership. The bottom step wasn’t even noticeable under the 12-18″ covering my yard. I alternated between laughter and cursing on the front pathways of my lot, and between each enormous shovelful I discovered the reason why most adults don’t go for playful romps in the snow… They scoop it!

Scooping is actually kind of fun. I have the perfect yard size for enjoyable scooping — any larger and I would definitely have bad attitude issues. It’s the wind that makes things a little unpleasant and the blowing ice that tells me, “No, you really don’t want to lay down and create a snow angel. You’ve done enough. Now go inside and enjoy a hot drink.” Ah, the prairie winds. Winter just wouldn’t be winter without frigid, blowing snow.

You know how older people tend to talk about the weather a lot? Well, I guess I’m getting old…

Today was beautiful out — the sun was shining and the temp soared to 60 fantastic degrees. Granted, it was from within the confines of my office that I watched the afternoon sail by, but still! 60 degrees in January! tsk, tsk… Such a cruel trick.

The little girl and her dog across the street sit frozen in time and temperature. I feel kind of sorry for them… always stuck in the elements, as cruel or as beautiful as they can be. She sits in a sad place now; a bare bones park with knotty tree limbs and dead grass. Plus the Parks and Rec guys just installed an ugly-looking blue water fountain (why not green, boys?), so she now she has that to contend with as well. But worry not, Dorothy or whatever your name is, because we aren’t that far from spring. The days are already getting longer, the sun is setting later, and one more winter month is almost complete.

At Dorothy’s feet is the yellow brick road. Only, it’s not yellow and it’s really a little winding path. But it is the result of a wonderful neighborhood association project — and shows how Jeremy and I intend to put down roots in the South Salt Creek area. See there? That’s our brick. Pretty cool, huh?

(I am so NOT a web person! Let me just say that a simple blog entry turns quite ugly when a word-lover such as myself needs to figure out 3/4 of 450. Yes, this may be simple arithmetic for some of you. But for me, the biggest moron ever to take Discrete Math in high school, it burned many a brain cell. Not to mention my troubles with HTML’s vspaces and hspaces and border widths…)