Bangs and Feathers

Tonight's Daily 5 is coming shortly, but I thought I'd show you my new hair cut.  I hadn't had my hair cut in probably 8 months, and was WAY overdue, and so I booked an appointment at a new salon, using a livingsocial deal I bought a while ago, and hoped for the best.  I have crazy thick hair, that can't decide if it wants to be curly or straight (the only reason it even tries for straight is because of the weight of all of it), and haven't always had great luck with stylists being able to manage it.  I'm really pleased with how the appointment went tonight, I'm loving the way my hair looks at the moment, and I'll definitely be going back to this stylist since she's about $60/visit cheaper than the only other stylist I've found in the city who can successfully manage my hair!

So, I have bangs for the first time in a decade:

And I totally splurged a little (like a $10 splurge) and had her put a purple feather in as well, to match my new purple specs:

My Feelings Exactly

When it comes to desserts, I'm totally a cookies and brownies and things I can eat with my fingers kind of girl.  And I'm totally with Garfield on the length of waiting in today's Garfield cartoon:

U2

I'm heading out today for a city three hours north, to catch U2 live in concert.

If you'll remember, I was supposed to see this concert a year ago, and it was unexpectedly postponed.

If you add in the time since when I bought the tickets, that means that I've been waiting more than a year and a half for this concert, which has been my dream concert for years.

I'm totally excited to be joining two good friends for the concert, roadtripping with one of them, and spending the next day or so enjoying great music and great company.

See you on the other side!

What sort of tree?

This one made me chuckle when I did it late last week.  The friend I was visiting insisted that my results (for reasons she found immesurably funny) really should have been a palm tree,  but the results I got did make me smile.  In this case, though I don't think all of the things are true of me, those that aren't true are certainly characteristics I find desireable, and ones I seek to have.

You Are an Autumn Tree

You are contemplative and deep. You enjoy observing the world around you. You know that change is inevitable, and you try to roll with whatever life brings. You can see the extraordinary in the ordinary. You are easily inspired. You try to remain balanced and steady in the face of upheaval.

What Season Tree Are You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Green

This one made me chuckle.  Partly because green is one of the colors I love best.

You Are Green

You are laid back and quite patient. You are naturally very calm. You are an understanding person, and you believe in forgiving easily. You prefer to keep the peace. You get annoyed by pushy or aggressive people. You don't like anyone trying to dominate you. You always have time for someone genuine and friendly. You see out similarly mild mannered folks.

What Color Is Your Personality?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Blessed

I took the "Poppy Test" this morning, and these were the results, which made me smile.  I'm not totally sure I am that person.  But in some ways (except maybe for being my own best teacher - I rather prefer feedback from others) this is the sort of person I'm aiming to be.  More happy, more thankful, more aware that I really am blessed.

You Are Blessed

You are a naturally grateful person. You believe it's important to be thankful for whatever you have. You've gained the most by traveling down your own path in life. You are a naturally spiritual person. You are your own best teacher. You try to figure out what you need and then give it to yourself. On a good day, you really shine. Luckily, most of your days are good days.

The Poppy Test

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

Be Sick, Be Loved

I mentioned last week that I'd finished listening to the audio book "Stuff Christians Like" by Jonathan Acuff, and that I'd loved it.

I came across this video of him speaking at his blog this morning and let it play while I was working on some mindless tasks at my desk.  Definitely worth the time for the laughter and the message.

Be Sick, Be Loved from Foundry LA on Vimeo.

My Canadian Name!

As an actual Canadian, this quiz was just too ridiculous to resist.

So, my Canadian name is:

Your Canadian Name is Amelie Anna Li

Ehh... whadya think eh?

What's Your Canadian Name?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Anyone else get anything fun on this one?

Kiwi Vocabulary

After living with two different Kiwi girls for the last 3 years, I've had a number of additions to my vocabulary.  Words that will no longer be particularly useful now that L. is leaving the country.

Before I reveal the meanings or usages, I'm curious to see how many of the following words you can guess.  They're some of the major ones that I got used to mentally translating over the course of the last three years:

• Flash
• Togs
• Jandals
• Plasters
• Busting
• Boot
• Mince
• Capsicum

Leave me a comment with your guesses, and I'll be back tomorrow with the meanings!

Haircut!

Can I just say that I LOVE my hairdresser?  And that I love that I have good hair again right before Christmas.  (Though it'll never be this straight again until the next time I get it cut!)  Six months is definitely too long to go between cuts with my super thick wavy hair.  I've got to stop doing that!

What Room are You Most at Home In?

One more fun quiz, before I get home from vacation, and return to "normal" life.

This one is also very true of me. I do spend quite a bit of time in my bedroom. It's my refuge, and I try to maintain a relatively tidy state in it, to protect my own peace of mind. It's where I escape to think and write and pray when the weather makes it impossible for me to get out to the zoo or my favorite parks.

You Are Most at Home in the Bedroom

You're the type of person who finds sanctuary in your home. Your home is your private space. While you may be a social person outside the home, it's very rare that you invite people into your home. There's nothing like spending time alone in your bedroom - relaxing and reflecting about your day. You truly treasure your time by yourself. You need to be able to recharge every so often in order to thrive.

What Room Are You Most At Home In?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

In my purse...

I'm feeling decidely uninspired just at this moment for topics to write about.

So, I'm going to tell you about what kinds of things are residing in my purse these days, just because the list is a bit more unique than usual:

• a stash of vitamins, generally covering whatever meals I'm away from home in a given day
• a nail file that was a promotional gift from the company that installed our office filing system (a file from the filing company! cute or lame, depending on your perspective!)
• a temporary drivers' license - basically a slip of paper that says I can legally drive, while I wait for the new card to come in the mail
• my passport, which makes me nervous to carry around. But, since I am sans a permanent drivers' licence just presently, I'm needing some form of photo ID, so, my passport is living in my purse.
• a daytimer and variety of other papers
• my ipod (and the cable that attaches it to a computer)
• headphones (in case I get the urge to go for a walk in the park after work)
• a paystub
• a checkbook
• a rosary that I purchased at the Vatican
• several pens
• and my prescription sunglasses

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I can safely bet that almost no one else I know will have this combination of items residing in their purses right now!

How Do You Paint the World?

You Paint the World with Calming Colors

You are a true friend. You are very dependable. Your friends can always count on you to be competent. You are good at anything you do. You are a truly successful person ... though sometimes it's hard for you to appreciate your success. You are quite cautious and conservative. You like to weigh risks carefully.

How Do You Paint the World?

Superpower

Your Superpower Should Be Mind Reading

You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive. You understand people better than they would like to be understood. Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details. You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on! Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now

What Should Your Superpower Be?

Beaten with a Stick

(perhaps, just in case you're all new here, I should mention that my sense of humor is, shall we say, sarcastic).

Okay, with that disclaimer aside, let me share the verse of scripture that has provided much amusement to me today. But first the story that goes with it.

When we were teenagers, my middle brother (who also has a wicked sense of humor) used to go around informing us that "stupid people should be beaten with a stick." If we questioned him, he would tell us, "It says so in the Bible."

I was thinking about that verse the other day, in the midst of a rather trying encounter with another person, and it made me smile. So last night I emailed him, hoping that he still knew the reference for what had, at one point, been his favorite verse. He came through this morning, sending me an email with the reference, and the appropriate version to find his favorite translation of the verse.

It's making me laugh as I again deal with some rather trying people today. (I think I'm developing an affinity for the practical wisdom of Proverbs. It's been speaking to me on far deeper levels than this amusement lately as well.)

Proverbs 10:13 (Contemporary English Version)
If you have good sense,
it will show when you speak.
But if you are stupid,
you will be beaten
with a stick.

Bed Complete

After four hours, much laughter, a few curse words, an emergency phone call to my dad, breaks for food and to catch bits and pieces of TLC programs on television, I have a bed. Tomorrow will bring a humorous recounting of the evening, and a complete rearranging of my furniture.

Good night!

Menu Planning

So, I'm going through menu options for a conference my company is hosting in the spring, and I've had to laugh.

We want to feed approximatly 200 down home, mostly farmers and ranchers, mennonites.

The hotel we're working with (very classy by the way) has menu options like "white bean and sweet garlic soup with wild boar bacon" and "celery root, candied pear, and cured salmon salad, citrus vinaigrette".

It's providing my colleagues and I with some very good laughs as we consider the reactions we would get if we served dishes such as these to our target demographic!

Of Whimsical Depth

I’m taking a new route home for my commute tonight. I think it will take 20-30 minutes longer than my normal route. Those of you who know me well are howling just at the moment. “She complains about the normal length of her commute, and now she’s making it longer?” Yes. I’m making it longer. Not permanently, just occasionally. I’m going to take a bus instead of the walk and two trains I’ve been previously taking.

Why, you ask? Well, because I find myself in desperate need of space to simply sit and read, simply sit and think, to simply be, without dozens of things staring me in the face and muttering under their breath about how I should really be doing that laundry, or washing those dishes, or reading something constructive. And I’ve always found the bus a brilliant place to create space. You pop your headphones in (whether you turn them on is up to you!) and avoid making too much eye contact with those nearby, and people pretty much leave you alone. You can people watch, eavesdrop, read, stare out a window and think, write in a journal, or simply be.

I feel like many things in my life have been swirling around me at breakneck speeds, and it’s affecting my mental clarity. So tonight, I’m going to take an hour and a half or thereabouts on the bus and simply sit. I’m going to slow down all those other things clamoring to be done because I can’t do them from the seat of the bus anyway, and I’m going to read a novel, and I’m going to breathe, and I’m going to reflect on the things that have been swirling at the edges of my consciousness that I wrote about this morning. I’m going to watch people, and let my mind wander in a restful sort of way. (See, when I put it like that, you all want to spend an hour and a half on the bus too, don’t you?)

When I get home, I’m going to make myself dinner – either soup, or nachos – depends on what my stomach thinks – I’ll ask it when we’re getting close to home. The conversation will go something like this. I’ll say “What would you like for dinner tonight?” And my stomach, which has been debating the two options all day today will say either, “I’d really like some more of that soup you made last night, with the green beans and carrots in it, and maybe you could add some peas tonight.” Or it will say, “You know, I think a plate of nachos sounds great – with maybe some green onion and red and yellow peppers if there are still some in the fridge.” And then my very talkative stomach will probably suggest (I’m guessing here, but it’s a guess based in experience) that I might like to round the meal out with either an oatmeal raisin cookie, baked by my grandma, and stored in my freezer, or with something containing copious amounts of chocolate (of which I have a few different options stashed away.)

After dinner, I have plans that include lighting some candles, folding laundry while watching some tv on dvd, possibly hanging some art in my bedroom (finally!), calling a good friend in another city for a catching up and praying together sort of chat, and paging through either some scrapbooking magazines or a cookbook that I got at the library, to find ideas for future evenings.

Have I mentioned that I find great beauty, joy and peace in the most mundane and whimsical things of life? In the errands, the quiet evenings at home, the little moments of accomplishment, the conversations with my stomach, the extended commute designed to create space to breathe?

The Secret to Blog Hits

I've discovered the secret to blogging success (assuming of course that success is measured purely in numbers!) Just mention Patrick Dempsey's name on your blog, and your hits will go up overnight!

Seriously, that's what happened! I mentioned that Megs and I didn't like Patrick Dempsey's character in "Freedom Writers" which we watched last night, and my hit meter jumped overnight. Crazy.

This has now become a goal of mine... perhaps I'll try and work Patrick Dempsey into every blog post I write for the next while, even the deep spiritual ones. It could be a fun game!

One Word Quiz

Thought this was fun, so I did it and am passing it along.

1 Word quiz
You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
Not as easy as you might think.
1. Where is your cell phone?: purse
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend?: nope
3. Your hair?: ponytail
4. Work?: boring
5. Your father?: pastor
6. Your favorite thing?: books
7. Your dream last night?: didn’t
8. Your favorite drink?: tea
9. Your dream car?: anything
10. The room you're in?: office
11. Your pet?: dog
12. Your fears?: lots
13. What do you want to be in 10 years?: counselor
14. Where did you hang out last night?: Narnia
15. What you're not good at?: math
16. Eyebrow rings on the opposite sex?: unsure
17. One of your wish list items?: apartment
18. Where you grew up?: Calgary
19. The last thing you did?: lunch
20. What are you wearing?: clothes
21. what aren't you wearing?: socks
22. The website GoofyAuctions.com (filled with eBay spoofs)?: huh?
23. Your computer?: MAC
24. Your life?: good
25. Your mood? bored
26. Missing?: Kari
27. What are you thinking about right now?: speech
28. Your car?: non-existent
29. Your work?: boring
30. Your summer?: unplanned
31. Your relationship status?: looking...
32. Your favorite color?: green
33. When is the last time you laughed?: lunch
34. Last time you cried?: home
35. School?: yes