"My Muffin Tastes Like Bacon" & Other Random Observations From The Week

This week was a good week! This week was grand!

This week I searched for adventure across this great big land.

Monday:

It's only Friday and I am already having a difficult time remembering what I did... I went to work (I know that because I filled in hours for the day on my time sheet) but what followed work is a blur to me. Ah! I watched Definitely, Maybe with my mom and ate a delicious chicken wrap.

Observation(s) from the day: I am in the (looooong) process of painting my room and I still can't decide on the final color scheme. I have noticed that I no longer just watch movies for their plot. I now watch movies in hopes to getting inspired by the wall colors in each scene. Definitely, Maybe had a few walls that greatly appealed to me. I am definitely going to be painting my walls yellow...maybe (homage to the movie title. I hope someone got that.)

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a lot of fun! I went to work again (as I did every day this week) and got to "do lunch" with the wonderful people in my department. I also got offered a job after my internship ends! (I'm interning for the summer in the creative department of a company and I get to use a Mac all day which could be dangerous because there are so many fun things to do on it...) After work went to a FREE comedy show in a park. I was accompanied by some great friends and some really outstanding food made by them. Here's an example of one of the very distracting and amusing tools that the Mac offers:

Observation(s) from the day: I like Australian accents. One of the comedians had one and hearing him speak was a great pleasure to my ears.

Wednesday:

In keeping with the hopes of saving money by attending free events in the area, I spent Wednesday evening taking in the sounds of the local pops concert. I saw someone dressed liked Princess Leia at the beginning of the show and spent the rest of the show trying to understand why she was there. I also uploaded pictures at work today for an Olympics event that we had. I found one picture particularly humorous and I actually laughed out loud when I saw it. It's of my team playing Nintendo Wii. Everyone is smiling and watching the game in a normal manner and then there is me...I have my head tilted back and look like someone has just told me the most hilarious story that I have ever heard. It was bizarre to me. I wish that I could go back to that moment and understand what I was doing. See if you can pick me out:

Observation(s) from the day: It's wonderful to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. I went to the concert with a girl named Lily whom I went to high school with. We were never very close during high school, but hanging out with her now was so much fun. I have noticed that it is so much easier to talk to people from high school now than it was when we were actually still in high school. Maybe the lines between clicks have blurred or don't exist at all anymore. Whatever it is, I like it.

Thursday:

Free event! Free event! I got to see Eve6 (Ah!) in concert for free on Thursday night! Such a great time! I also ran into a few people from high school, which is always equal parts exciting and awkward. Afterwards, my friend Hayley and I headed over to this awesome restaurant/jazz lounge in town and listened to some more FREE music. We also saw a free example of Brazilian dance-fighting called Capoeira. There is just nothing like free stuff.

Observation(s) from the day: I love free events! I also noticed that the city that these free events were in is beginning to flourish culturally and artistically. I am extremely excited by this because it makes being home from college (where there were free events pretty much all of the time) that much easier on my wallet. The dance-fighting that we saw was also pretty hardcore/amazing.

Friday:

Well, today is Friday and the evening's events are yet to be written. I accepted the job offer :-)

Observation(s) from the day (thus far): Everyone at work is really great!

Radio In My Head...

A few songs that have caught my ear in the past few weeks:

"The Underdog" by
by Five Iron Frenzy

...okay, those are all of the single word song titles or band names that can be translated into picture that I can think of at the moment...

"New Soul" by Yael Naim

"Rock Upon a Porch With You" by The Boy Least Likely To

"July, July!" by The Decemberists

"Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Roots

"All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar

"Hotel Song" by Regina Spektor (please note...the kid in this video is NOT Regina Spektor...as much as he might want us to call him that-check out 2:20)

"Birdhouse In Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants

"See You Again" by Miley Cyrus (...a guilty pleasure...)

"She Moves In Her Own Way" by The Kooks

I'm aware that not all of these songs can be considered "new", but on the radio in my head, they are always funky fresh. That's all for now, but rest assured that there are many more....playlists full of music that I am currently enjoying. If you have time, check out these songs!

Interpretive Dance-A New Life Goal

Yesterday I listened to a sermon on life goals and it got me thinking about what goals I have for my own life.  I have a list on 43 Things, a place where you can create a list of 43 goals and talk to other people with similar goals and  get encouragement and advice from people who have completed their goals.  I am always looking for things to add to my list of life goals and today I found something:  I would like to perform the interpretive dance performed in the music video for Fatboy Slim's song "Praise You".  Check it out...

If you'd like to be a part of making this goal a reality please let me know.  I'm waiting.

The Unspoken Rules of the Women's Bathroom

I know it seems strange, but I have compiled a list of unspoken rules that exist within the walls of womens' bathrooms. This list is based on my own personal experience as a user and visitor of womens' bathrooms as well as a general consensus I have come to on the matter through various conversations with other women like myself. For all the women who may read this list, please feel free to comment with additional rules you may think should be on the list or let me know if you think one or all of the rules are total bologna. For those men who may be reading this, I hope that you find this list somewhat informative and interesting. Here's how the whole idea for the list came to be...

The other day while minding my own business in the women's bathroom a women...we'll call her Betsy...loudly entered the bathroom on her cell phone. She proceeded to enter a stall while STILL ON THE PHONE and take a seat. While washing my hands I overheard her say something along the lines of, "I was holding that forever". I had to quickly leave the bathroom for fear of breaking the otherwise silent bathroom's serenity with my laughter.

After leaving I was fortunate enough to have plans to play ping pong with my good friend Carl. I say "fortunate" because Carl is usually one of the people that I am the most excited to tell a story like this to so the fact that I would get to tell him it while it was still very, very, very fresh in my mind was exciting. Anyway, my telling him lead to an entire conversation on the unspoken rules of the women's bathroom. I was sad and a bit relieved to hear that the rules for the men's bathroom were much shorter than the rules for the women's bathroom seeing as none really even existed according to Carl. So, without further ado, here is the list of women's bathroom rules that I complied...Enjoy!

THE UNSPOKEN RULES OF THE WOMEN'S BATHROOM:

1.) If a bathroom is empty you may enter any stall at your own discretion.

2.) If you enter a bathroom and one stall is full do not, if bathroom size and stall count allows, enter the stall directly next to the stall in use on either side.

3.) If you enter a bathroom and two stalls are occupied you may choose to enter a stall next to either occupied stall, but if bathroom size and stall count allows it is still best to pick a stall that is not directly next to either stall in use.

4.) It is okay to remain completely silent while washing your hands and/or standing in line for the bathroom, but small talk is also acceptable in both situations.

5.) If you enter a stall around the same time as another person and you are the only two women in the bathroom it is acceptable to cough lightly or make some sound with the toilet paper roll holder. I do not recommend humming...I know this from personal experience.

6.) If there are no paper towels or hand dryers available for drying your hands it is acceptable to shake your hands over the trash or sink or general floor area and let out a small sigh.

7.) If the only means of drying your hands is a hand dryer it is best to limit your hand drying time to under thirty seconds if someone else is waiting to use the hand dryer. If no one else is waiting this is probably as long as you will want to wait too since those things never really seem to work. Pants are usually your best means of drying in this circumstance.
NOTE: By all means DO NOT use toilet paper. The results are less than enjoyable.

8.) If you in a busy bathroom and need to use the mirror for personal grooming it is best to stand between two sinks. This will help prevent glares from other women in your direction which you will most likely catch in the mirror and the occasional mumbled expletive.

9.) If you have traveled to the women's bathroom with a group of friends (a frequent occurrence) you should wait for all of your friends before heading back to whichever location you may have come from. It is acceptable to either wait in the bathroom for all of your friends or outside the bathroom.

10.) Finally, do not make small talk with people in the stalls next to or close to you unless they are someone you know who is comfortable with doing so or your small talk is in regards to toilet paper.

A final thing to remember: If you are at a sink washing your hands and have recently left a stall in the women's bathroom open and ready to be used and there is a line of women waiting for the bathroom, do not be offended if the next women in line goes to another stall than the one you have recently left open. This woman may just be following rules 2 or 3 of the list.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that it has been informative and amusing...and hopefully truthful. Let me know what you think. I love comments eventhough I don't usually get them. Want to change that? Leave me one!!

Dream On!

It's not everyday that I am inspired to blog. It takes something striking that I experience or see to make me want to blog. It also takes something that I think is worth sharing with the masses (okay, maybe not the masses...). Today I would like to discuss dreams... No, not the ones Freud analyzed... I'm talking the fourth definition of the noun dream in Webster's Dictionary: a strongly desired goal or purpose dream of becoming president> b: something that fully satisfies a wish dream>.


My thoughts about dreams have been more frequent over the past year or so. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the "real world" is at a closer reach than ever before with graduation just months away. Whatever the reason, I have been thinking a lot about my own dreams lately. What made me take the step over the edge into blogging about dreams was watching "Working Girl", a 80's movie about a young secretary who has a dream of becoming something greater and finds her way up to the top in the business world complete with teased hair and shoulder pads and then watching "The Pursuit of Happiness" tonight. Some time last year when all this "dreamy thinking" began I started a 43 Things online. 43 Things is this great website where you can create an account and list 43 Things that you want to accomplish. You can check off what you have done and write about it, share stories with other people who share you goals, and cheer others goals and have your goals cheered. I highly recommend making a 43 Things to all those in need of tangibly seeing their goals and being able to keep track of them. I know that I am a visual person, so having my goals/dreams in a place where I can read them keeps me motivated to pursue them.

I think that it's so awesome that God gives us the ability to dream and gives us many of the dreams we have. As human beings, we're so unique in this world because of our dreams. They help to make us who we are and make us so unique. Because of this I think that the best way to work out our dreams is to acknowledge that we are created to dream and discuss our dreams with the one who created us. With dreaming in mind, here are a few dreams I have for my final semester of college...some of them are serious...most of them, not so much:

1.) Today I found one of my mom's old dresses in the attic. It's black with rhinestone straps. I really like it and I want to wear it somewhere before the end of next semester.
2.) I am trying to learn guitar. I have mastered one song so far, "Smelly Cat" from Friends. I would like to learn a song that is a little more challenging and perform it in a public place before I graduate.
3.) Knit ten caps for ten people. Today my friend Sarah W. sent me a website about how to knit caps. I started my first one tonight and if it goes well I would like to knit nine more (or more) before the end of the semester. I might even try my hand at selling a few!
4.) For my final project in cartooning class this semester (yes, I really took a class in cartooning...) I decided to make a line of greeting cards. Over the summer I met a woman who owns a gift shop in my town and talked with her about selling greeting cards at her shop. She said she'd love to see my work. At the time I didn't really have any, but now I do and I would love to sell what I have created at her shop and someday start up my own greeting card line...but for now, I'll stick with selling the greeting cards that I have made so far at her shop before the end of the school year.
5.) Read my Bible every day. I just don't read it as much as I'd like, so I want to challenge myself to do so every day. I know that when I do I feel a lot better and understand what exactly I'm doing here so much more.
6.) Go dancing because I now know how (somewhat) thanks to my ballroom dancing class!
7.) Make a music video. I've always wanted to, so why not now?
8.) I want to find a job...because I have to. I want to find a job that I'm passionate about and that gets me excited to go to every day. I'd love for it to have something to do with my major, because that's probably a good idea seeing as I've spent the last four years learning about graphic design related things, but I'd also like for it to be fun and for it to challenge me creatively.
9.) Since I have become more interested in music during my time in college, especially during my senior year, I would like to create a CD with my favorite songs from the year. I think this will be something that I'll play when I'm 40 and think, "Wow... wow." or something along those lines.
10.) Take a picture every day in 2008, put it on a blog, and write about why, where, and when I took it.

Well, I hope this blog post got you dreaming... or at least thinking about dreams. As Hall & Oates says..."I'm down on the daydream"... I hope that after reading this, you are a little bit more down on the daydream too.

Crazy Kids.

Today: A day that will live in infamy....
...at least for me.

Although I'm not normally one to admit it, I am a legal, no holds barred adult. In a few weeks it will be a full year that I have been this way. While most of young America cannot wait for the big 2-1, my 21st was not much different than any other birthday...except that I spent most of it on a plane home from Spain, but that's a different story... Anyway, the reason why today is a day that I feel is noteworthy and worth blogging about for my own records is because today is the day that I realized that I'm no longer a kid.
I started thinking about this on my way to babysitting this afternoon. I had just come from a class that always makes me think, so still being in that state of mind, I was thinking a lot...about my car, about winter break, and then I saw a skateboarding kid in the middle of the road...a very busy road, might I add. This got me to thinking about how kids always seem to do what they want, even if it's dangerous or not very thought out. This thought started me thinking about the things like this that I used to do when I was (according to my age) a kid. I can remember being told not to do things by adults and in return thinking that adults were not very fun at times and overall pretty boring. Like jumping on pillows...who didn't/doesn't love doing that??? But adults always seemed to think that jumping on a pillow in the living room would break the china in the kitchen or something... THEN I realized that the fact that I was thinking about my childhood had to mean something... that something being that because I was reflecting on my childhood and what I used to do, I must no longer be a child. In that moment I stood at a crossroad... childhood down one way and adulthood down the other. Now, if I saw adults as being no fun and kind of boring as a kid, what was that saying about me as an adult? Am I no fun? Am I boring? In order to answer this question I started making mental notes about what it was that I saw adults doing as a kid that I really didn't like. Here are a few of them:

1.) Pretending to laugh. Who does this? I have...I try not too that much, but I have and I'm not proud of it! The only adults who I can really remember being able to pin as fake laughers were my mom and dad because I was around them the most as a kid and heard all their various forms of laughter over many holiday gatherings and time spent at the playground with them. I vow here and now to not be a fake laugher... because kids never are. If it's funny, they laugh... if it's not, they don't. Simple as pie. Forget what's polite... Forget whats socially acceptable... Kids are real.
2.) Worrying too much. My roommate Sarah pointed this out to me when I was talking to her tonight. It's so true though... I can remember hearing my mom tell me about the things that she was worried about and feeling so helpless because all I could do was tell her that it was going to be alright. This worrying was over big things, but also little things... like cleaning up for company. Who cares if the corner hutch is dusted?? We're about to eat meatballs and pasta... no one will be looking up there anyway... I'm not saying that I have something against dusting (although my room doesn't always reflect this), but I am saying that worrying doesn't help anything. Kids are so good at just accepting things the way that they are and finding a way to work with them... or crying about it and then accepting it. Kids are also so great at always seeing things positively. I can't ever remember telling a worried adult that things wouldn't work out... I just never knew that side of things... except when it came to possibly not getting that Baby Born I wanted for Christmas.
3.) Forgetting to have fun. Maybe it's due to changing so many diapers or migraines or hot flashes, but for whatever reason I can recall being somewhere, most likely twirling, skipping or dancing, and wanting an adult to join in only to have my offer turned down. In my opinion there are no wrong places to twirl, skip or dance. In fact, I think there isn't enough twirling, skipping and dancing in the world. In fact, I'm dancing now! Okay... okay... I'm not... I'm an adult, remember? (But that won't stopping from dancing in front of the mirror later)... I'm not saying that adults never have fun. My dad is one of the biggest kids I know and he's always making things fun whether it's putting a bed pan on his head when my mom was in the hospital or dancing around the kitchen... but, I'm just saying that there are a lot of adults that I can remember seeing and who I still see who refuse to play along with their kids or be silly. I don't want to be this way.
4.) Losing sight of the adventure. I'm a strong believer in adventure. Whether it's a trip to a place I have never been before or an adventurous journey to the frozen foods aisle in the grocery store, I'm all about the adventure. I love making things fun and memorable, even when they are stupid or seem bad... Although I prefer not to, I like getting lost and finding my way with friends. I can remember taking a trip to White Plains, NY with my friend Lou and getting totally lost. This had to be at least five years ago now and we still talk about it. The thing I used to really dislike about some adults was the way that little calamities, such as getting lost, were always blown up into these big catastrophes that were yelled about and angrily handled as if they had no solution. Something that makes me laugh is remembering a phrase the my mom uses so well. Whenever one of these adventures would come up she would always tastefully say "f***ing shit" in a voice that I have never heard duplicated until this day. She still uses this phrase and it always makes me smile even though I know she is sometimes really upset... She always finds a way to laugh at herself about the way she reacts to things like this later, which makes her an adult that I look up to for finding the adventure in things that may seem sort of terrible at the time. The adults who I am referring to who have lost sight of the adventure are the ones who get so worked up about little things that they themselves feel that the world itself will end and as a result make everyone around them uneasy. I would much rather act like a kid in these sorts of situations and take the situation seriously, but make the situation fun at the same time... and maybe even take a few pictures along the way...
5.) Having such little faith. Maybe it was the whole Santa Claus thing that did them in, but for whatever reason adults seem to lack the faith that children have. I'm not saying that there aren't any faithful adults out there, but for the most part from what I know and now being on the other side of things (I gave up on the Santa thing when I was 14... I had some attachment issues...) adults are pretty skeptical about things. Now, there is nothing wrong with asking questions... I think the right to ask questions is one of the greatest rights that we have as human beings... but what I'm talking about is the way that adults have such a hard time believing things even when the evidence is there right in front of them. There is always that second notion of whatever the something is that you are trying to believe in being a scam or something. I am guilty of being suspicious of things in my life. Maybe adults have just been burned one too many times... or maybe kids are just sheltered from all the hurt that comes from being burned... But still, I think that there is a lot of good in the world... as much as there is bad...or more, but so much focus gets put on the bad (news anyone?). I say, take a step out on a limb... Take that leap of faith and believe in something that you haven't dared to before. I have and I couldn't be happier.


Well, that's all I have for now. I don't know who actually reads this blog, but if there are people out there who do, I would love to hear your feedback and see what you think about all this... and please no that regardless of what my age may say, I will always be a kid at heart and I hope that you will too :-D

Things We Lost in the Dryer

So, it's been a long time since my last post...and as long times usually go...a lot has happened since then! In an effort to keep this post short, yet insightful, I have decided to highlight the top five happenings since last I posted on Pass the Mustard Seed.

Here goes nothing...

5.) I have learned that if you're going to get a flat tire, you should get one while in the presence of my friend Christine. Not only is Christine encouraging in any situation, she is also a Physical Therapy student. My tire went flat on Mt. Carmel Avenue, a scenic road which always seems to bug just narrow enough to keep me driving under 45 mph (probably a good thing) and just wide enough that on early mornings I can pretend that I'm driving in the countryside (this in on days that I see geese and/or the horse that resides in the back of one of the houses on the street). Anyway...my tire went flat and I could have called AAA, but Christine and I like an adventure so we wanted to do it ourselves...AND Christine was so encouraging the whole time! She didn't complain once, even though it was raining and windy...and she reminded me to keep my back straight.

4.) I have become a Venti-sized Office fan. The show is just so good!

3.) I cut my hair...at a barber shop...and now have bangs.

2.) I learned to pearl and am now making a ribbed scarf!

1.) I have developed an eclectic taste in music! I know, I know...don't people normally do that before their senior year of college? Well, yes...yes they do, but up until this year I never really had as burning an interest in music as I do now. My cousin told me about a website called The Hype Machine where I find out about a lot of new music...I highly recommend it. Some of my latest favorites are: Ingrid Michaelson, Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, MIKA, Nellie McKay, Iron & Wine, Travis, and Feist...to name a few. Heard of them? Let's talk! Haven't heard of them, check them out! They're goooood!