the ABC's of me...

A- Age of my first kiss:
15?

B- Band I am listening to right now:
no band - just football

C- Crush:
yum- grape crush is YUMMY ;o)

D- Dads name:
Richard... and Michael (no, they're not gay - one's step, one's bio)

E- Easiest person to talk to:
myself

F- Favorite ice cream:
Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia

G- Gummy bears or gummy worms:
Bears

H- Hometown:
Spanaway

I- Instruments:
B-flat and bass clarinet

J- Junior High:
Frontier Jr. High

K- Kids:
NO WAY (well... does my husband count?)

L-Love:
God

M- Moms name:
Beverly

N- Nickname:
Jess

O- One wish:
unconditional acceptance

P- Phobia(s):
grates/manholes/other holes in the ground

Q- Quote:
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn

R- Reason to smile:
forgiveness

S- Song I sang last:
I will do anything for love... but i won't do that

T- Time I woke up today:
9am -ish

U- Unknown fact about me:
i don't know... if it's unknown, it's that way for a reason

V- Vegetable:
mmm.. greens are SO yummy!

W- Worst habit:
paranoia that everyone hates me

X- Xrays:
the only non-dental xrays i can remember was my soph. year of college when they thought I had pneumonia (it was only bronchitis)

Y- Years since ive been to church:
i was there a few days ago!

Z- Zodiac Sign:
capricorn

Let's take a moment

I have to wonder why silences are always so awkward. Why is it so hard for a group of people to stop talking for a few moments without someone saying something just to end the silence? It has occured to me that we are a society viod of silence - nearly void of thought. Think about your day? If you're not working, going to school, taking care of your home, then what are you doing? Going to the movies, or shopping or out to eat or watching TV or listening to the radio. How much time do you spending THINKING? About anything, really? There are so many things to keep our mind busy that I notice I rarely take time to be silent with my thoughts. Am I the only one? Who knows? It's just a thought....

Welll... that's it, I guess.

Ciao!

HOORAY!!!!!!

I FINALLY found the BEST BOOK EVER!!!! Okay...l let me explain. When I was younger, despite being an only child, I was not very spoiled. The only place I got really really spoiled was at my Great Grandma P's house. As soon as I would get there, she would start shoving candy in my face... usually it began with black licorice chewing gum, then some random sweets until dinner (usually her yummy spaghetti) followed by ice cream. Then we'd do some gardening before the sun set. As soon as it got dark enough we would sit out on the front porch and eat dreamcicles (spelling?) while looking at the stars and talking about anything and everything. Then we'd play a game or something and then got ready for bed. And then we'd crawl into bed and drink a can of 7-up with a bendy straw while she read to me. I had two favorite books - one was about a little cereal character that threw a b-day party for a kid (i'm so sad i have NO idea what the name of the book is), and the other was Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree. Well, I don't know where it went, but I wanted another copy of that book SO bad and I looked everywhere... for a long time. Finallly last night I found it! For $3.10 even!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! It's been seventeen years since Grandma P passed and I am just happier than happy to have that book again! Let me see if I can find a picture:
http://muppets.scarecroe.com/images/book_cookietree.jpg

So... what are your favorite childhood memories?

Ciao!

what is beautiful?

I was listening to the radio this morning and one of the hosts of a morning show said something about it being a beautiful Thursday morning when he was immediately interrupted and told that it was, in fact, NOT a beautiful day - "do you see any sun out there?" was her scold. My thought was this: what makes a day beautiful? Because to me, today - with all it's rain and clouds - has a calming, serene, cleansing quality about it. It makes me happy - and I think it's beautiful. So many people see this as gloom. I am the person who wakes up on a late June morning and wants to cry because instead of the cloudy rainy sky I see bright sunshine and know that I will spend the next three months fighting the relentless heat of the sun.
So, what makes a day beautiful? Well, you know the perfect little Sunday-school answer to that. But REALLY - what makes a day beautiful? Is it the weather? Perhaps a good friend? A bonus on your paycheck? A short work day? No homework? A relaxing day in the city? A refreshing adventure in nature?
For me, a nice crisp Autumn day...meeting a good friend for breakfast, then taking a trip downtown by myself. Roaming the expanse of Central library searching for some elusive knowledge, then relaxing with yummy coffee and maybe a bread bowl full of steaming deliciousness and of course a couple of good books. Watching people scurry by the window braced against the biting wind. Listening to the conversations at table nearby and imagining the lifes of others. Enjoying the art on the walls... Ah... just thinking about that makes me very.... content.
But what if I am never again able to experience that? Would there be any hope of a beautiful day then? Is there any way for me to make those horridly HOT summer days "beautiful?" Or for the normal person to make gloomy winter days beautiful? Perhaps it's not the weather we need to look to, but ourselves. Yeah, that's it. Am I going to make today a beautiful day? I think so.