While driving home this afternoon, that song came on again.
Ya know, the song. The Christmas song that drives me crazy? Until the day I had a change of heart about it, a few years back? And then I blogged about it and got all serious and cheesy and it was pretty bad but pretty true anyway. Feel free to refresh your memory if you're feeling lost right about now: Meditations on a Song that Drives me Crazy (December, 2009)
For the record, every OTHER version of that song (except the Mercy Me version I was talking about in the blog) still drives me crazy. But I really do like that one version. Still. Funny how you can not be a fan of something your whole life and then one minute later, feel completely differently. That's not the only thing I've (we've) had a change of heart about lately.
Nothing I really wanna get into just yet...but the ol' rusty hearts are a-changin'. Towards things that have previously been a "no way, not me, not now..."and are now more like a "why not me, why not now?" or even maybe "I kinda really want this...finally."
Could I be any more intentionally cryptic (and yet not)? I doubt it. I'm just not really ready to throw it all out there yet. But we're talking...and praying...and thinking...and researching. And maybe making a new plan.
And wait-- could it be??
Yes! I do! I have another really cheesy Christmas song that previously drove me crazy and now makes me cry! And it goes right along with our newest change of heart. And I tried to find the cheesiest video of it ever, for your supreme enjoyment. You are so welcome.
(Note: I do not think the kids are cheesy. It's the playing-guitar-in-the-gently-falling-snow.)
So...that's that, I guess. Happy almost-Friday (and last Thursday of me being 28)!
In honor of the season, I thought I'd share some very meaningful pictures from Baby's First Christmas. And since I do not actually have a baby of my own (did you even realize that??)...naturally, the baby will be myself. Since my birthday is next week (December 12!!!)...if you're any sort of mathematician like myself, you can probably calculate that my first Christmas was approximately 2 weeks (okay, 1 week and 6 days) after my birth. Naturally, this made me a very eager and excited Christmas participant. Luckily my parents thought to grab the ol' Polaroid and snap a few. Two, to be exact. That's how awesome I made their day. Two pictures.
At least they were good ones.
Yup, that's me...the sweet little cherub under the tree, screaming her ever-loving head off! Possibly it was because EW, THE CARPET!!!! Could it look any more dirt-like??! Who would want to be laid on that stuff??! Get me out of here! That carpet obviously did not put me in the mood for Christmas cheer. Mom, in charge of writing the '2 weeks' caption, obviously had nothing more to say about the day other than my age. I guess she thought the picture spoke for itself.
Almost the same picture, but wait!! After Mom put her requisite '2 weeks' caption on this one, DAD took matters into his own hands. Afraid that later in life he might not remember what was happening here, he decided to jot down the facts. Christmas Day. THE WAILER.
Thanks, Dad. Because it wasn't perfectly clear how I felt that day. Anyway, that's WBW for ya today. Hope you have more Christmas cheer today than I did back in '82!
Indulge me for a sec as I walk you through some of the many great components of this great day.
1) Started the day out with a Truly Awesome Email of the Highest Order. Let me share it copy-and-paste style so that you can enjoy it, too: I have to share the best scrabble word/move ever. See attached.
Win 1 - it's the word penises. Win 2 - I used all seven tiles. Win 3 - I got 60 points. Win 4 - It posted the word penises to my facebook wall.
Haha, yes, I just shared that with you. For some reason, I just feel like you would enjoy this as much as I did.
Attached was a screenshot of the aforementioned amazing play. This was from my friend Jessie and yes, I did enjoy it as much as she apparently did.
Friends, emails like this are accepted and encouraged at any time. This was the best way to start my 5:45 am morning.
2) Great hair and pants. I've discovered a new way of curling my hair and it is SO fast and easy and it lasts all day and looks great (in my humble opinion) all day. Love it! A nice alternative to my daily ponytail, for sure. Also, I bought the Best Pants Ever on Black Friday and they have changed my life, or at least my expectations for work pants. These things, I am confident, contributed to a great day at work. They even made up for the fact that I FORGOT EARRINGS, which is normally a day-ruiner.
3. Christmas music. I'm gonna brag on myself for a minute here-- I do a mean 'O Holy Night' duet with Josh Groban. It nearly brings me to tears every time we perform it. I thought it couldn't be beat...until the drive home today, when I sang the same song with Martina McBride. My duet with Martina is giving my duet with Josh a run for its money...luckily there are still three solid weeks left of Christmas music for me to decide a definitive winner.
4. Great weather. Normally the literal bipolar-ness of this Georgia 'fall' would have me a little agitated...but today I decided to take advantage of an afternoon in the mid 60s to take some pictures outside! Then the 9 and 11-year-old neighbor kids from across the street came over to hang out and play with my cat (who was serving as my unwilling photography model). I enjoyed talking with them for 45 minutes or so, and as we chatted and followed the cat around the yard, lo and behold, we happened upon what can arguably be called my First Thing Worth Actually Photographing. I know!!! After taking 200 pictures, I finally found something worth taking a picture of! May I present to you: this animal skeleton.
I know, right?? Are you on Erika's blog, or the National Geographic page? Hard to say.
Our fearless hero.
So what is it?? The kids said a rat. If so...then I will put that skull on a stake and plant it square in the middle of the yard to let it be a warning to any other rats that are thinking about dropping by. Beware Ye Who Dare to Enter This Yard!!! And also I am going to give my cat about 8000 treats and pats and maybe even spring for shots this year...because I'm guessing he's the one responsible for making sure that animal is a dead skeleton in my flower bed and not a living beast in my yard/garage/house [shudder].
5. In about 30 minutes, I'm leaving to go to my first ZUMBA class ever!! I am SO excited!!! I've heard you lose like 10 pounds per class, so I have really realistic expectations for the evening. Actually, my goal is to Not Die. Any other benefits will be considered fringe.
Hope your day was a fraction as fun as my last Monday of being 28. Yes, that's how I think of everything the week before my birthday.
Relevant Christmas Card 2011 Stats: # of Cards Received: 5 # of Cards That Have Awesome Return Address Stamps: 2 B&W to Color Photograph Ratio: 2:3 Card Hailing from Furthest Away: I would have to consult Mapquest or something in order to determine whether Carroll, Iowa or Austin, Texas is further...but one of them.
I feel like the whole world was in on some Christmas-decorating conspiracy this year. I am all ABOUT some Christmas decorating. And I usually do it the week or weekend after Thanksgiving-- what I consider to be a totally normal, regular time to decorate. But what's with all the people this year who decided the be totally "Christmas-ed" by like...Thanksgiving afternoon? Therefore making me, who didn't have the first lick of Christmas up by the Sunday after T-day, look like a total slacker Grinch? Seriously, people. It wasn't even December yet!
With all that peer pressure, I made sure I started decorating ASAP on Monday after work. No gym for me, I have decorating to do!! But then what happened was I got home and MY CAMERA ARRIVED...so I had to spend lots of time getting THAT ball rolling first. But then it took an eternity for the battery to charge, so in my spare time I actually decorated. Which would prove to be a good choice later, when it meant that I actually had something to take a picture of.
Are you ready to see my FIRST PICTURE EVER on the new camera?? Can you handle the excitement?? Here we go!!
Awww...isn't Mattie so cute?? Don't worry, I didn't get to see that smiley face for long. Apparently he got tired of being my model pretty quickly. So did Lola, who mainly seemed interested in eating the camera slash was scared to death of it when it made its loud clicking noise.
Good thing I'd put the nativity up already. Here's one of my first attempts at doing that (sorry for the technical terms here, non-fellow-professional-photographers...) thing where you make one thing focused and the other things blurry!!
So the rest of the week was pretty much a repeat of Monday. Play with camera. Decorate. Take pictures of whatever you decorated. Or take pictures of the person doing the decorating. (Alternate schedule: take picture with PHONE camera (oooh, different and exciting!), post to Facebook and/or Twitter so that other people can share in the moment with you)
Matt practiced with the camera too, capturing such exciting life moments as this:
And I also practiced the delicate art of Taking Pictures Of Yourself in a Mirror. This will be an important skill to have one day if and when I ever a) start dressing fashionably and want to show off, or b) get pregnant and need to document the bump daily occasionally.
Look, more "artsy" pictures of Christmas decorations!
Wednesday was great because it finally quit raining so we could get a tree! Which was great because it gave us a whole new thing to take pictures of!
I know...you are SO GLAD you're seeing the boring details of our life documented. You are so lucky you read my blog!! I promise I won't over-share ALL my now-crappy-but-hopefully-getting-better pictures in the future...this was just our Honeymoon period with the Camera, so I'm sure you understand. Oh and also we decorated for Christmas...so that's at least semi-noteworthy.
Saturday (yesterday? Was it really yesterday? Seems so long ago.) was a super productive day. Too productive to write out in detail, but trust me: if you knew how productive we were (like Mollyanne, unfortunately for her, does...since I bored her with every single detail this morning) you would be jealous slash amazed. In the midst of our productiveness, we managed to cook a fantastic meal...which gave me a chance to be a FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER.
Nom nom nom. I miss you, food. You were so good. Better than my picture of you.
OK well...this has been one of my more pointless blogs. I just wanted to prove that I'm still alive and kicking and have actually been doing something...even if that "something" is actually just "nothing, only I'm taking pictures of it." I am having loads of fun decorating this year, since I am Way Craftier than ever before, which means I have more decorations and more creativity about how to display them. And also, since I managed to go drop another $20 at Michael's today...that means I need to go because CRAFTS AWAIT! And I have yet to document a good craft with the New Camera, so...now you can look forward to the future, too.
Goodnight!! And happy ONE WEEK UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY, also, just in case you needed a subtle reminder.
PS. Relevant Christmas Card 2011 Stats: -# of Christmas Cards Received to date: 4. -# of Cards sent by fellow bloggers: 4. (in order of receipt: Amanda J., Allison, Jessie, Amanda M.) -Black&White to Color Photograph ratio: 2:2 -Gold Star Award: Amanda M. for hand-writing a personal note on the back.
Stay tuned for the rest of this season's exciting Christmas Card Stats!
