A Need for a Good Read

I have recently come to understand that I need books. I've always suspected it was so, but not so much as now. For as long as I can remember I have always had a book to read. Whether it was for college of for personal pleasure, I've always been involved in one story or another until recently.

A few weeks ago I finished the third book in the Twilight series which I loved. It really is a chick book with a silly little romance between a teenage girl and a vampire, but I couldn't put the dang thing down. Actually I am anxiously awaiting the 4th book in the series due to come out this Fall. I feel a little silly with this confession, but I can't seem to help it.

Meanwhile, I have been without a good book to sink my teeth into. My old standbys of World War II stories, journals, and other stuff have even failed me. I have looked at the volumes on my shelves and found no interest. It has been quite discouraging. It's worse when you go to the library because there are shelves and shelves of books and one hardly knows where to start! I'm sure we've all had the this-looked-good-on-the-shelf-but-now-that-I've-read-it-I-feel-I've-wasted-a-good-portion-of-my-life-on-something-stupid experience at some point in life. If you haven't consider yourself lucky. It's a drag. I really don't want to repeat it.

So, I've been on my third week of no good books and I just couldn't take it anymore. So, today I braved the vast amounts of shelving in the Logan Library (okay, that's vast compared to some libraries I've been acquainted with in my day, remember I come from Grace Idaho) and picked out a sure to be good book.

In all my days of reading I have yet to read a Jane Austen book. I've seen the movies and heard other people gasp many a time at my lack of "literary experience" so I have capitulated. I picked up a copy of "Persuasion" today. I'll let you know how it is. Just in case, I also picked up a copy of "Going Postal" as well as "Carpe Jugulum" by Terry Pratchett. At least somewhere in this I'm sure to get a good laugh.

Black Socks

Father Ted: That's right, Dougal. You see, ordinary shops sell what look like black socks, but if you look closely, you'll see that they're very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue.

Father Dougal: That's true. I thought my Uncle Tommy was wearing black socks, but when I looked at them closely, they were just very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue.

Father Ted: Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time!

This is a little episode from "Father Ted", a BBC comedy of sorts. This was particularly poignant to me because I recently bought a pair of black socks, well, until I wore them with black pants and low and behold, they were just very very very very dark blue. I thought it humorous enough to share.

I Love People!

I just want to take a moment and express how much I love people! Whether it is people to look at, watch, talk to, talk about, laugh with, cry with, sing with, walk with, breathe with, hang out with, watch movies with, play games with, or eat with. Really just people. Especially those of you who are my friends. I don't know what I would do without some of you. If I had pictures of you all I would photoshop your faces into this picture, since I don't, this will have to do. Or you can all meet at my house Thursday evening and we'll make a picture of our own... unless it snows at which time I have promised myself that I will put myself on the first plane to a sunfilled beach... Perhaps it should snow on Thursday... hmm...

New pics from former days, okay just from Easter.

Okay, so these were just too cute. This is my niece Nessa, she going to be 3 in June. She has decided to be a princess and she informed me that she was waiting for her prince to kiss her and marry her. She's pictured here dying Easter eggs and every time she took an egg out of the yellow dye she would say "What a beautiful lellow egg." It's really too cute. She's one of those you can't get too mad at, even when she is less than 'princess-like' because she's too cute. Just ask her.

This is Melissa, Nessa, Griffen, and Laurelyn. It was quite the party at Mom's house for Easter. We all had dyed fingers for the occasion.

New Shoes!!

Oh Happy Day! I have new shoes! Can you tell which ones they are? I just really got tired of the hole in my shoe... that tells you a bit of how long I have had them. Makes me excited to go running tomorrow.

Facing the "Beast"

There is something to be said about facing your personal beasts in whatever form they take. Today for instance, I was forced to face a beast of sorts. This one came in the form of a person in a neighboring department. I have worked with said person before and it was an experience that I did not care to repeat. It came with sleepless nights, work phone calls at home (and horribly early in the morning I might add), and an overall desire to wish death on said person. It was so bad that I would see the name pop up on caller ID and an immediate knot would pop up in my stomach. I avoided the "beast" like the plague.

However, life doesn't work that way and we are often put in situations where we are forced to face the beast... and thank goodness. I was quite worried about working with this person again and really had to 'steel' myself for the job. As it turned out, we have both come a long ways in our abilities to work with each other. It actually turned out to be a pleasant experience free from stomach pain! We actually joked around with each other! Truly a miracle.

So, face the beast and live to tell the tale.

What have I done!

I did something kind of stupid. You know how you get a little wild hair and think to yourself "hey, I need a change" and then you go and do something that you're not sure if you'll regret later. Well, that's what I did.

It's really silly and it just proves that I'm more vain than I ever thought I would be. I went to get my hair cut and decided to go shorter than ever before and then decided that I should be a redhead. Now, some of you will say, "hey, I thought you already were redheaded" but I beg to differ. I was brown with blond highlights that looked red in certain lights.... It goes back to high school where I was always considered a blond and well... I guess I never got over it. Of course in my mind I'm still 21, just slightly modified.

Long story short, my cousin who happens to be my hairdresser said "Hey, what do you think about going darker and redder?" I responded with a hurried, "what the hey, it's only hair". I promise it looked good in her mirror in her studio. Then I went home and thought, "what the devil have I done."

And there in lies the saga of the hair and the vanity that accompanies it.