Bored on a Saturday Night

My companion fell asleep after about 2.5 episodes of The West Wing. I remembered I had this blog and decided to mess with it. Don't judge it is a)not done & b)will probably look completely different tomorrow if I choose to once again undertake this endeavor that is the blogging world.

Here is some cuteness to tide you over:

Just to let you know

I'm not dead.
I've spent my days saving Hyrule, cursing the internet, daydreaming of working in an art gallery, watching Paul Giamatti don a wig and tights, eating fabulous but horrible for me holiday food, planning out my final college years, watching four New York women act stupid when it comes to sex (and loving every minute of it), and reading of a trip to sites that surround famous assassinations.

Winter break has been nice.





PS: Alexander Hamilton was a douche.

Two Of My Favorites

Two of my favorite things, Macs & Cupcakes, have joined together to make me smile:




/end dork post

Lets Take One Step Back

I was sent a link by a friend of a interesting show that is in the works. It's about modern people wanting to be part of an arranged marriage. (Arranged Marriage TV)At first I was taken aback, it seemed ridiculous. Why would someone want to give up their chance at "true love"? But honestly, who the frak knows what love is?

We have been programmed through novels and movies to believe that we have "soul mates", a person that loves us no matter what, and love is this wonderful magical thing that we should all yearn to acquire. How many people do you know that have been able to obtain their perfect mate? We all just rush into one another's arms hoping this will be the one, if not we'll try our damndest to make him/her it. Of course we know, you can't change people. I've tried and failed....twice.

Honestly the idea of modern day arranged marriage has grown on me. It's completely voluntery. No worries of family alliances or money, just having the people that know you best pick out your future wife or husband. It takes away all that complication and lost feelings that go along with dating. You know this person wants to get married, if they want a family, and if they hold all the traits and interests (or at least a majority) that you want in a person, why not?

There are no soul mates, we're silly to believe that. There are people that are compatible and they work on their relationship. The relationship grows, the love grows, the people grow. I have over the past 2 1/2 years grown with a person, and its very clear, to at least me, that when you inspire and motivate the other person, when you laugh every day with them, sing with them, and want to take care of them that is love. But when you don't want the same future, that is heartbreak. You can grow to love a person, you can't change what they want out of life, so its best if you just get that out the way in the beginning.

It's scary, but if you think about it, it makes sense.

*please note that the author may be a bit bias, as she is a recently single 20 something that has no desire to take part in the ritual of dating again. She would like to get married to a mature devoted male with good music taste, have babies, make cupcakes, and pursue a career in graphic design.

Fabulous Fall

Starbucks has started serving their Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and I am overjoyed. They are hands down my favorite specialty drink from there. Nothing makes me happier than when I start seeing those orange, red, and brown colors entering retail shops. Ok well Im sure there are things that do make me happier, but just go with it. My favorite time of year is just around the corner, fabulous Fall! Unfortunately where I live, It takes a little longer for the leaves to start changing color and for the air to turn cooler. We're lucky if we get some cool days before November.

There is something about this time of year that changes people. The holidays are about to begin, the ovens are warming up, and the fireplaces are getting ready to be used again. I always find myself in a better mood when Im decorating the house with pumpkins and various spooky things for Halloween, and dreaming up what to cook up for Thanksgiving.
Baking is probably one of my favorite things during the season. The smell of apple crisps and pumpkin spice muffins fill my house up, and of course we always seem to gain about 10 pounds.
Im excited for this year. We are settled in our house,(last year we closed on our house on October 31st!), we're planning for hosting some get-togethers and I finally just feel at home.

As much as I do love Fall I don't think I will ever get the same feeling I got as a child during the season until maybe I have children of my own. I only hope to fill their childhoods up with all those pumpkin picking, cupcake decorating, Halloween parties, and Thanksgiving dinners I still find dear.
Oh yea, I also just bought my first bag of candy corn of the season:

My Hate Letter to Warner Brothers

Dear Warner Brothers,

You guys are nothing but a tease. As a representative of the many many nerdy Harry Potter fans in the Myrtle Beach area, I would like to say we hate you. We were all geared up, had our countdowns,our talks of Potter Parties, even today I looked and said "wow only 98 more days!" Then right before I was settling in to have a long night of reading, I decided to check some of my friend's blogs. There it was the information that you had pushed back the already very done, nothing more needs to be added/cut, highly anticipated 6th installment of the Harry Potter movies' opening date from November 21st 2008 to July 17th 2009. Are you bloody kidding me?! The movie is done.

You're breaking our hearts here, breaking our poor poor Potter hearts.

-Steffy

PS- I hope someone leaks the movie on the internet!


Poof! ‘Harry Potter’ flick bumped to summer

Neato Speedo

106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions

Joss Whedon Steals My Heart Once Again

I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I loved Serenity, Im eagerly awaiting Dollhouse, and though I never watched Firefly I'm sure I would love it too.
It's no surprise the Buffy the Vampire Slayer's musical episode Once More With Feeling is my favorite. When I heard Joss Whedon was doing another musical I got excited. So tonight I finally got around to watching it. And I want more. Lots more.


Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Its so worth 42 minutes of your day.
www.drhorrible.com

Little Note

I was just at the mailboxes, and there was a sign posted that said the following:

PLEASE HELP LOST TURTLE
He does not bite if found please put into a box and return

Now really, how does one go about losing a turtle?
It does break my heart a little thinking about the poor guy all alone and lost, slowly roaming around our neighborhood.

Tales Of An 8th Grade Summer

I guess the reason I love music so much, is because it moves people. Well, most people. There are plenty of people that just listen to music passively, though I really can't fathom how.

One of my favorite feelings I experience when listening to music is nostalgia. There is always that one song or album that just tugs on your heartstrings and takes you back. I never get this feeling so strongly as when I listen to The Smashing Pumpkins.
I know, I know, If you knew me in high school I was "the crazy Pumpkin Head girl". Though my obsession has subsided a bit, they are still my ultimate favorite band. And no i don't know how anyone could rate Billy Corgan in the top worst singers category. Assholes.

My favorite Pumpkins' album is one that I guess many think of as "the beginning of the end" In Adore It seemed the band had washed away their grunge and were moving forward, and what critic likes that!? I guess most had their finger on the disappointment button well before the album was released do to the huge success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Lighting isn't allowed to strike twice in a row in the music world.

In 8th grade I was pulled out of my teeny bopper Hanson poster lined world by cute dark haired boy that sat next to me on the bus. I think he was sent to convert me, and though very hesitant at first, I gave into those bass lines and guitar riffs. I was a little late to Alternative rock, as it was in its decline by 1998, but I had this new world to explore and so many options. I could of gone the way of praising the all mighty Cobain, but he was (lets really admit it) not that good of a writer. And Alice in Chains was a little to rough for my taste. I needed something that was able to express my anger, but also bring a little tear to my eye. Something I could sing to my sweetie, and then put on my mix tape when we broke up. With the Pumpkins, no song sounded the same, and they had a song for every feeling my little teenage heart could express. And when you're a teenager, you have more feelings (and hormones) running through you than at any other time in your life it seems.

However, Adore was the album that stole my heart. Probably because I picked it up after that cute little dark haired boy on the bus broke it for the first time. At the sound of Billy Corgan's weeping piano, I was gone. I first got it on cassette (yea it was also around the time they were getting rid of those) because I had been grounded for God knows what, and my Cd player had been taken away. But the parents forgot I had a Walkman. So I would lay awake at night that summer with my headphones on and listen. There is something about listening to music at night with headphones that makes you hear it in a different way. It makes it sink in deeper. I guess as you get older and start to share your bed you can't really have that experience anymore. The only time I listen to music with headphones now is when I'm at the gym, and then Im worried about getting a good workout in before I have to get to the office or start working on another project.

Now when I listen to Adore I think of that little dark haired boy, my first broken heart, my last "childhood" summer with my two best friends, planning our great escapes from our parents, dreaming of our perfect guys, romping around the woods, riding bikes, sleepovers, starting first bands, and impatiently waiting and dreading for my first year of high school.

Its so hard to believe it was almost 10 years ago.

Steffy's Science Friday

News you should know? Maybe?

Santa get your shorts!
North Pole could be ice-free this summer, scientists say

Zero calories and twice the fun!
The Claim: Beware of Drink Mixers Based on Diet Soda

Well science-ish
President George Bush: 'Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter'

Modern Families

How do you define family? One of my friends left a piece of "flair" on my Facebook that stated: "Friends are God's way of apologizing for family" I found this very amusing because that is basically how my "family" formed. A few close friends that have always been there and helped no matter what. I won't get into the details about my parents, but I will say that my friends filled that void in my life where my parents had failed to be. And I'm very thankful for that, from one letting me live in his house instead of in my car for a while, to the other offering to co-sign on a loan for me to get my college education. (I declined this offer, but I was very touched). And then of course there is my boyfriend.

Over the weekend many members of my boyfriend's family were in town. Sunday afternoon we went out to brunch, and it was decided that we would draw names for Christmas presents there seeing how that many of us wouldn't be in the same room again until my boyfriend's brother's wedding. The rules: "All members of the family take a one name" Well there were three young women, including myself, wondering if we were considered members of the family. The only difference between me and the other two was that they had shiny rings on their left hands that promised future legal acceptance into the family. So the question:"What about the couples?"
"Engaged counts."
Then it seemed that everyone turned and looked right at me, so I felt the need to crack a joke: "What about domestic partners?" They laughed and I pulled a name out of the old lollipop tin.*

My boyfriend is part of my little family, we aren't silly kids just playing house that will break up in a couple months. We've only been together a little over two years but it feels like so much longer, and in a good way. We break out into song, think each others thoughts and encourage one another. He is the most positive thing thats ever happened to me. And I hope everyone gets to be as lucky as I am.
Now I'll stop being mushy.

My cousin also has an interesting family. She is legally married, and has two children, a daughter and a son. However their family is looking to marry in another "daddy". They all live together, two daddies, one mommy, and two kids. And it works very well for them. They're in the mist I'm told, of planning their wedding. The kids seem to be growing up with enough positive influence, encouragement, and support. And as long as my Catholic grandmother doesn't find out I think it will workout just fine.

So I wonder, how would you if you were 5 years old, draw your family? Would it be traditional? Or a little "different" than what society considers family?


*Luckily I got one of my favorites

All Those Lovely Bullet Points

Last Wednesday I had a meeting with my Broker to discuss my earning goals for the year. I like working with her, she is a strong, independent, devote Christian woman. Really someone to look up to and learn from. At some point in the meeting she started telling me about how she goes about micro-managing her time. She even sent me her Excel chart where she had every hour of her day planned. And I thought, "I really need to do that".

I'm the kinda of person that needs goals, while most of mine are big (finish school early, pay for it not have debt, get married, moved to Raleigh, work in graphic design, get Master's, have children, start company, get Doctorate, be financially comfortable, be able to support my husband so he can do the things that make him happy, make sure my kids get whatever they need and get to go to school wherever they want, etc.) and I do have long term plans to make them happen.
I need to start thinking short term. It seems that my days just slip away and by the end of it I don't feel like I've accomplished anything, even If I had.
So easy solution: lists.

They are wonderful and I feel they are going to start ruling my life. I feel like I will have a better grasp on everything and not feel so overwhelmed if I just have everything planned out for the day, hour by hour. I'm going to use my brokers chart and try it out for awhile. I mean I've always had lists, but I need to stay strict, and fit in the things I also like to do, like exercise and read things not related to real estate of graphic design.

I really do miss reading novels, I keep buying them, but they're not being read. I need to read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle. Members of my family and my boyfriend were shocked to learn I had never read it, so its been sitting on my nightstand staring at me for months. Right next to Al Gore's The Assault on Reason and Susan Wilson Solovie's The Girls' Guide to Power and Success( I know it sounds lame but as a business owner and a future design firm owner you have to read these kinds of things.)

blogger vs. livejournal

Which is better? I've been using LiveJournal for years (a good seven and then some) but should I use Blogger for my insightful, deep, grownup posts? I abandoned this blog because of lack of free time. Now that most of my insane schedule has calmed down, (and from a reminder that I actually still had this account) you may be able to read my random thoughts again. However I don't believe it will solely be a design blog as it was originally intended for. I think I shall delete old posts and start anew.

With that said, don't let Scooby dog you.