I’ve decided I enjoy life more when I blog more consistently.  So my pre-New Year’s Resolution is to start today and blog!  No more facebooking around.  It’s time to get back to blogging business.  Let’s catch up a bit through pictures.  Here we go…

I decided to leave the xanga world and traipse out on my own.  I’m in need of something different–  A new start.  Feel free to join me here!

Sometimes with a blog, you wonder if there is anyone out there…then someone asks why you haven’t updated in a while (my ‘little’ brother!?!?!?) and you realize that maybe there are a few people in cyberworld who read it. Thanks, Griffin.

A few things I’ve been learning lately about life & myself…

• I recently bought several Pinata apples to try.  Granted, they were good, but the sign promised a crisp and juicy apple with classic flavors and a pineapple twist.  After tasting the apple and waiting 30 seconds for the ‘pineapple’ flavor to hit, I’ve become convinced that it’s yet another apple.  An apple is an apple.  Pineapple or tropical tastes within them simply don’t exist.  It’s the same thing for companies that claim that a certain cheese has a ‘nutty’ flavor…it’s cheese, people!…Or a coffee, ‘citrus’ (All coffee tastes like dirt).  Whoever comes up with flavor-infused foods needs their taste buds purified.
• Yesterday, I came to work.  An hour into work, I got an instant message from my husband, who couldn’t find his phone.  I love it when he loses things because it puts him on a level playing field with me!  You see, he’s Mr. Organized With-it Man–meanwhile, he’s married to Mrs. Scatterbrained Goofball.  So, for him to lose something thrills me because it makes me feel more normal.  He couldn’t find his phone.  I used my work phone to call his.  My pocket rang.  Ooops.  I had taken his phone to work with me–so much for the level playing field.  Well, then I figured he could just use my phone for the day.  I called my phone so he could find it.  My other pocket rang.  So much for the level playing field…I was kicked off the team.

• One of my biggest pet peeves in life is the “How are you” question that follows a passing greeting.  People don’t care.  Yesterday, I ran into a high-up guy in my company.  I greeted him with a “HELLO!”  Then, instead of the typical “How are you?,” I opted for an enthusiastic, “Good Morning.”  It was obviously not expected because before I hadn’t even finished the word “morning,” I received…”Fine, thanks!”  Hmm…I guess there was no confusion that he was fine that morning…You don’t even have to ask these days.

• And another “way up there” pet peeve is a restaurant that punishes you for drinking water.  You know the places that give you dixie size cups with your meal (i.e. Panera) or charge you a quarter for a cup of water (i.e. Skyline)?  I hate it when you are punished for going the water route!  While at a normal sit down meal, I drink enough water to satisfy 10 camels on a trek through the dessert.  Why on earth would I want to drink anything else???  Restaurants, please don’t punish me for doing so…I’m patronizing your store!

• And a final lesson I’ve been learning: For any pregnant woman out there, when you go in for your first, one hour gestational diabetes test, I can tell you what NOT to do.  It’s NOT a good idea to eat 4 girl scout cookies and a drinkable yogurt the morning before the test.  You will fail.  Been there done that.

Okay, enough randomness!
Happy Wednesday!
🙂 maren

Recently, I made it to the Kosair Circus… Here are 3 observations…

Observation #1: The elephant trainers are good.  And, though the elephants were talented and very impressive, they made me sad.  Some of them giving rides to children looked like they were about to fall over from old age.  I wanted to rescue one in particular, who stood in the middle of the rink and could barely keep its eyes open.  I thought about taking one home with me, but then decided I couldn’t fit him in my purse.

Observation #2: Cotton candy solves the world’s problems.

Observation#3: Circus workers are scary.  First, they know exactly how to market their knick-knacks to the poor, unassuming kids.  This makes me irritated.  Secondly, the guy pictured below purposely stopped for me to take his picture.  I told him I was going to post it on the world wide web. 🙂  When he turned his head, he had one of those ponytails with braids in it.  Whenever I see one of those (is there a name for those???), I am reminded of a movie we watched during English class in junior high.  It was the Young Sherlock Holmes, and it scarred me for life. In the movie, there were members of an Egyptian cult who would use blow darts to hypnotize people.  Then, they would try to mummify their victims (still in a trance) by pouring hot wax on them…. ANYWAY, the cult members had the same type of ponytail that this man had.  I still get the same creeped out feelings today whenever I see one of those ponytails.

Here’s a pic from the movie…

and a clip of the movie can be found here, if you also want to be scarred. 

So, after much no deliberation, I decided that my life is enough of a circus.  I don’t need elephant trainers, cotton candy and men with ponytail braids to make it one.  Happy Wednesday!

You’re never too old to give and receive Valentine’s.  Make sure to let your loved ones know they are loved!

If you send a card like this one to a grandparent, though, you may want to give them instructions!  Last year, I sent a giant card to my grandma that I had made on posterboard.  It sat on my her mantle for weeks before she realized she could open it!  HAHAHHA!  Happy Wednesday!