On a media blackout until I can watch the Tonys

So until I'm reunited with my DVR, if I catch word of any spoilers, I'll keel you. Don't test me, boys and girls.

Drawing a blank

Something tells me that I've used that subject line before, but it bears true tonight as much as it did then. I'm finding myself more than a little discouraged when I turn to this blog every day. I mean, who's reading it? And if folks are reading it, what in Heaven's name am I writing about that has any bearing at all?

Mreh.

Here it is

Your Friday moment of zen, brought to you by Huey Lewis and the News:

I could watch Bateman rock out to the Fore! album for hours. Just me? Okay.

David had to go and mention cupcakes

So now he just ran to Kroger in search of some. At 10:30 at night. I mean, he had to go get cereal for tomorrow morning, but still.

Just another day in the life.

Thankful

Instead of moping and letting my perpetually sour mood get to me today, I'm going to turn it upside down with some good old-fashioned gratitude:

I'm thankful for my husband. He's spirited, funny, sincere in his faith, and absolutely brilliant. He coaxes a smile out of me even on my droopiest days and gathers me up in the best hugs and kisses. He's heart-meltingly handsome. He's my dream come true, my Prince Charming. Projectile vomit all you want, but it's true. I'm even happier now than I've ever been, and it's thanks to him.

I'm thankful for my family (both in-laws and my blood-related "out-laws"). They embody what it means to be always able to come home, to come to them with any of my concerns. My parents are beautiful, life-enriching people that I adore (and miss) with all my heart. I have a sister who has grown up so beautifully and has become a best friend, and I'm so proud of her. My parents-in-law have welcomed me into their family with open arms and a loving heart.

I'm thankful for my friends. They take me as I am, love the stuffings out of me in spite of it, and they make my heart happy. I joke with them, gorge myself on junk food with them, adore the same movies and TV shows with them, and spend hours giggling about everything and nothing with them. They're quick to encourage, quick to provide a hug and a willing, ready-to-listen ear, and slow to judge. I adore them. Every single one of them. Especially the ones that have come to be like family. <3

I'm thankful for my faith. Following Christ as an American can come with a few stigmas, most (if not all) I hope I put to rest in the example I set. I'm called to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:37-39). I'm grateful for Christ's sacrifice and for the gravity of what it means. It's an honor and a privilege to serve God and to find ways to bless others. It makes my heart happy, complete. I know that when I'm fully immersed in God's presence, I'm doing what I'm designed to do. What I was born to do. It feels good.

I'm thankful for my job. Yes, it's not what I went to school to do. It's not even a passion of mine. In fact, I don't even find myself believing in the company very much at all, but it's a job, one that pays rather well, with hours that can't be beat, an understanding and human boss, and a rather fantastic group of co-workers. I'm valued there, and for right now, that's sufficient for me, professionally. It jives quite well with my work-to-live mentality.

I'm thankful for my home. Living in Dunwoody is fantastic -- I love being this close to Buckhead and that much closer to Midtown. Our apartment is small, but a cute sort of small. It's just enough of what we need, and it's downright cozy. It's warm, like a home should be. It overlooks what will eventually become a park, and on misty mornings it looks more akin to an English moor. I can walk to the grocery store (something I did today, as a matter of fact). I love living in Georgia, and I love being an honorary Southern Belle.

I'm thankful for my fur-babies. I'm not a natural mother yet (and won't be for some time), so it's kind of nice to practice parenting on Mia and Vega. Yes, they sleep 23 hours a day, and sometimes they puke on the carpet early in the morning and fight with each other, but I love them. They never resist a cuddle sesh when I'm sitting on my bed with my laptop (Mia's curled up at my feet right now, sleeping, and twitching too, if that wasn't adorable enough), and they always find a way to chat with me in their own, meandering, meow-y language. They make me smile, and I love them.

Guys, I'm blessed.

Quantity

Fine, I'll say it: I regret making this a new-year's resolution. This whole blogging-once-a-day business has cramped my style considerably. And my "my style," I mean my uncanny ability to spin a spirited yarn.

That being said, I'll wax prosaic on this:

The funny thing about Benadryl is that it makes me feel like I'm moving through Jell-O. I've had to take it for a few days now to curtail a histamine-ridden reaction that's been plaguing me for the past week, but boy howdy does it render me useless. It doesn't render me as useless as the giant red painkiller pills I had to take after my wisdom teeth extraction (that one had me dancing with the curtains, I kid you not), but I'm pretty ineffective with OTC antihistamines, too, as it would appear.

This, as well as many more reasons, is why I don't do drugs or imbibe in excessive alcohol, gang.

Monday

Not so rotten compared to what it could've been, and concluded by applesauce chicken and You Don't Know Dixie.

Verdict: could've been a lot worse for a Monday, and my daily blog entry could've been a lot better.

All alone in a faceless crowd

Oh, Hanson. How your 1997 lyrics still speak to me, long after my awkward 11-year-old inadequacy feelings:

When you live in a cookie-cutter world, being different is a sin
So you don't stand out, but you don't fit in
Weird

Listening to these lyrics, I'm shifting my perspective away from the mere feelings of social anxieties that every teenager went through, and more toward the present conundrums I'm facing as a twentysomething:

I'm too liberal to be taken seriously among my staunchly conservative friends. I have too conservative a mindset to be valued by my liberal friends.

I don't drink as much as most adults I know (by any stretch of the imagination), yet I have enough of an occasional drink to be tsk-tsked at by my tee-totalling acquaintances.

I've got tremendously introverted tendencies, but I long for the social interaction with folks I care about.

I care precious little about my role in Corporate America, but I like the value of bringing home my own bacon.

I have too much of a life to devote it solely to an online presence, but I still spend way too much time social media-ing.



Look, I'm aware that everyone goes through this stuff. I just wish I didn't feel so daggoned self-contradictory. Anyone else?

Absolutely Southern

Today, I got to see the town that was the setting for Tara in Gone With The Wind, visited the Whistle Stop Cafe (made famous by Fried Green Tomatoes), ate at a swanky Chick-fil-A, all in one gloriously temperate, blue-skied day with my husband.

I'd say I was pretty darn productive.

Here it is

Your Friday moment of zen, brought to you in crackly, bouncing, old-time-cartoony fashion: