Music is my escape

Music really is my escape. It's my therapy. Better than any stiff stranger in a chair in a stuffy office. Better than junk food. Better than a long drive to nowhere. Better than your advice.

I can get lost in it, I can fall into it, I can forget myself, I can remember myself. I can go somewhere new, I can return somewhere old. I can experience anew, I can revisit the past.

I link music to my mood. I attach it to memories, to times, to people, to places. I can conjur up feelings of a specific moment with the notes of a specific song. It's like nothing else.

Right now I'm listening to Paramore. I'm loving it. It's more powerful than a drug.

Christmas lessons learned

I still love Christmas with all my heart, nearly as much as when I was a kid.

I can do Christmas affordably after all. Not everybody needs a present.

Baking is quickly becoming one of my favorite pasttimes. And I can make a mean pound cake.

Presents with meaning can be so much better than big presents or expensive presents. A new journal is one of my favorites.

The feeling of giving, as cliched as I know it sounds, truly surmounts that of getting. Knowing you gave a gift someone appreciates is priceless.

Shopping at the last minute is a bad idea.

The only place open on Christmas Day is CVS. If you need more than a half gallon of milk, some aspirin and a gift bag, don't count on it.

Despite my persistant fear of seafood, I can be brave and try crab dip. Go me.

I LOVE newly discovered sweet potato casserole. Like, really really love it. A lot.

The life

This week I had my first ever massage, facial and mani-pedi combo. And let me just say, wow... UNbelievable. Best experience ever. Seriously. It was wonderful. And now my toes are a festive shade of red!

I can't believe it's the Christmas weekend. I can't believe the year is drawing to a close. I can't believe 2007 has come and gone and passed us by. It really seems like just yesterday that Patrick and friends and I were standing with glasses of champagne in hand downtown ringing in the new year. I hope I took in the year like I should have. I hope I accomplished all I should have. I think it was a good year. It wasn't one of those pivotal, earth-shattering, life-altering years like 2005 was for me. But it had its fair share of goings on. I joined my church and became more active. I held a part-time job for about half the year. I got to see my best friend since childhood marry a wonderful man. I got to see another terrific friend get engaged. I had many, many great days, nights, weekends, trips, get-togethers with friends throughout the year. I went on job interviews. All in all, not too shabby.

As for Christmas, it's already been wonderful. I can't wait to spend the next few days with Patrick and family and friends. Feliz navidad!

Stuff

Four performances of the Passion Play down over the span of the weekend. Very exciting. Exciting to have participated. Exciting to sing beautiful songs. Exciting so many people attended. Exciting it went well. Exciting to be DONE.

I fall in love with Drew's Blues cafe every time I eat there. The ambience is just so cool, so casual, so nifty. And the food? Delectable.

This weekend was great. It doesn't get much better than spending time with the ones you love. Cheesy, I know, but whatever.

I'm so excited about my new project at work I can hardly stand it. Pressure is on. I hope I can deliver.

I could seriously sit in my living room with the Christmas tree lights on and Christmas carols playing for hours and be happy. Or driving around looking at lights. Or basically doing anything Christmas-y.

I can make a yummy chicken, cheesy, nacho dish. Seriously. You should try it.

Also, why does it not feel like winter right now? I mean, come on, I walk outside in short sleeves and I'm WARM. What gives? It's December. Feel like December already.

I'm reading a great book right now. Not much beats the satisfaction of good reading.

Love/hate

Things I love about this weekend:
-Mel's sister Kate coming into town.
-Attending the Singing Christmas Tree at First Baptist. Seriously, it doesn't get much better than an hour and a half of beautiful songs and a message of grace.
-Putting up the Christmas tree.
-Purchasing blueberry cobbler-flavored coffee creamer. Mmm...
-Getting my silver bracelet cleaned and fixed...FOR FREE.
-And last but certainly not least, hearing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer for the first time this season. Ha!


Things I do NOT love about this weekend:
-Crappy service at one of my favorite restaurants in town. Dude, I waited tables for years; it's not that hard to put a smile on your face and TRY to act like you give a damn about your tables' needs.
-Paying bills.
-Missing Samuel's first birthday. He's basically like a nephew to me. What a crappy almost-aunt I am.
-Washing sweaters by hand. Yuck.
-Not seeing the significant other as much as I'd like.
-And did I mention paying bills? Bills suck.

A new favorite song of the moment

Fall Out Boy's "I'm Like a Lawyer With the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" is really one I'm listening to a lot and liking a lot right now.

I love loving a song. I love loving a new song. I love when songs inspire. I love when songs make me thoughtful.

Last year's wishes
Are this year's apologies
Every last time I come home
I take my last chance
To burn a bridge or two
I only keep myself this sick in the head
Cause I know how the words get you {off}

We're the new face of failure
Prettier and younger but not any better off
Bullet proof loneliness
At best, at best

Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you
Me and you
Setting in a honeymoon
If I woke up next to you
If I woke up next to you

Collect the bad habits
That you couldn't bare to keep
Out of the woods but I love
A tree I used to lay beneath
Kissed teeth stained red
From a sour bottle baby girl
With eyes the size of baby worlds

We're the new face of failure
Prettier and younger but not any better off
Bullet proof loneliness
At best, at best

Musings

Drizzly, grayish, cloudy-but-not-quite-rainy whether is just crap.

I feel like my to-do list for this week, next week, next month is growing by the minute.

I made sweet potato casserole for the first time ever for Thanksgiving, and it rocked. Go me.

I’m trying to eat mucho, mucho less to make up for the three Thanksgiving meals I ate over the course of a week’s time.

White fudge covered Oreos are making that difficult.

Stuff coming up to be excited about

It's my absolute favorite time of year, and there are SO many things coming up to put on the calendar:

Samantha and Casey's son Samuel's first birthday
Dad's birthday
James' birthday
The Singing Christmas Tree!
The Passion Play
Lee's engagement partayyy
Mary and Mel's annual driving through decorated neighborhoods to see pretty lights with hot chocolate or flavored cappuccino in hand

Hark how the bells...

I love this time of year. Love it. It's simply the best, and I'll argue the point to anyone who'll listen. For a two-ish month period of time, all seems right with the world. I can't start listening to Christmas carols soon enough. I know if I dust off the holiday albums too soon, people will think I'm crazy, but I couldn't even hold off 'til Thanksgiving this year. This week I gave into temptation. The sounds of Jewel and Mariah Carey (yes, Mariah Carey) and Trans Siberian Orchestra doing the songs I love most have begun to fill my car, and I couldn't be happier.

The music this time of year just makes me giddy. And I love the chill in the air, the bite that makes you bundle in coats and scarves and gloves. I love fireplaces. I love snow -- even if in sunny South Carolina I'm left only with pictures and fantasies of it. I love poinsettias, blankets, berries, wreaths, bows, pies. The meals, the desserts, the time with family, the green, the red, the gold and the silver all fill me to the brim.

When it does snow, is there anything better than lying down in the bed of white, arms and legs outstretched, making snow angels? Building snowmen? Hands and noses red and raw and so cold and numb they burn?

I love stockings and candy canes and, for a short while, the sensation that everything, the big, the small, the important, the miniscule, everything will work out. Everything will be ok.

Amore

I love...
the way a song can take you back
the power of words
embracing
knowing everything's going to be ok
letters
hidden beauty
the way hot coffee warms your hands
the colors of fall
keeping a journal
eating chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven when they're warm and gooey
Scrabble
time with family
surprise phone calls
finding the perfect dress
feeling refreshed after a run
daisies
reading a good book
the feeling of accomplishment
giving praise to God
satisfying conversations with friends
photographs
being in love
getting lost in the moment
stability
understanding
how purple makes me happy
satin and lace and pearls and all things frilly
dreaming...

What is "inquiry" for $300 Alex?

Will I ever be all I hope to be?
Will I ever accomplish all the things I hope to?
Will I make a difference somehow?
Do I want too much out of life? Do I dream too much? Dare I dream for everything, for it all?
Why are life decisions so difficult? Why does pain accompany joy and the pang of fear go hand in hand with hope?
Is it crazy to be happy, uncertain, amazed, crestfallen all at once?
What is normal? What if what was, what is and what will be are far cries from one another?
What if there are no answers?

I'm sad -- I was entirely too diligent applying sunblock while at the beach this weekend and now have NOTHING to show for my hours of lying on the beach and sweating my butt off. Oh well, c'est la vie.

In other sad news, my pedicure from a few weeks ago is started to not look so great anymore. Ah, if only I had money in excess to get manis and pedis on a whim...

In less shallow news, I've been reading The Kite Runner and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm almost finished, and it's to the point now where I'm sneaking in a few pages here and there every chance I get. I can't wait to finish. I definitely recommend it.

Vices

I've been thinking a lot about my vices lately. Been trying to identify them all. A few are pretty blatant, but I feel sure there are others.
Obvious ones:
-my addition to coffee
-my propensity for cursing
-interrupting others (especially when I get excited)
-talking entirely too loudly
-laughing at inappropriate times
-having little to no willpower when it comes to junk food
-shopping when there's no money in the bank

The wedding weekend the first weekend in August was lots of fun. It started with me getting my first ever pedicure on Friday morning (thanks in part to Mel for a Christmas present gift card). Somehow I had managed to go 24 years without ever experiencing the wonder that is the pedicure. It was 45 minutes of pure bliss, and after it was all said and done, my toes were a pretty pink. ANYWAY, then P and I headed to Lexington for wedding festivities. The rehearsal dinner was at a farm in a quaint little barnhouse, and the menu was Southern favorites: bbq, fried chicken, rice, etc. It was quite the good time. Then Saturday the wedding was at 6 p.m. and was absolutely beautiful. The reception afterward was another good time of course.
Last week ended up being another short week for me because I got to be out of the office all day Friday to go to Columbia for a workshop where I got to see my Lee (another perk!). We met up beforehand at Mickey D's for breakfast, did the workshop thing for the bulk of the day and rounded out the day with ice cream at Marble Slab. Yum.
On Saturday, I went and visited my dear friend Rachel, whom I hadn't seen in FOREVER. Her kids are growing up so fast, it's just hard to believe. We had a great time catching up.
Then Sunday was a great day at church. Mel and I joined the choir. Yay!

Weekends

I've had two really great weekends back to back. Though the weeks lend themselves to work, work work, the weekends are my time to play. Weekend before last I got to help my roomate celebrate her birthday with dinner at Outback, bowling and some cupcakes and karaoke at home. The same weekend I got to be a part of my best friend in the entire world Samantha's wedding day, and it was truly amazing.
This past weekend my wonderful friend Lee came to visit, and we had a blast as always. It's a sure bet we're going to have fun anytime we get together.
Now, this week is going to be a short week, and I'm gearing up for a three-day weekend full of wedding fun for another friend's wedding. It's that time of year, isn't it?

Musings

I've been wanting a blog for months, and now that I've actually created one, I can't think of what to write. I suddenly feel as though I have nothing interesting/informative/relevant to say.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've successfully managed to ruin a cell phone, an iPod and have my car go haywire on me in a matter of days. Though July 4th was a blast, spent in Charleston with friends -- I, being the klutz I am, nudged my bag off of a fence post into the water outside of a restaurant at Shem Creek, ruining much of the contents within. Then, last Tuesday, my car broke down about a half hour out of Sumter, so I had to get it towed and put it in the shop for the remainder of the week until it could be repaired for a fun sum of $1,000. Many tears, meltdowns and pep talks later, I'm over the shock of it all.

This weekend was great. I spent all day Saturday being lazy. I ran some errands. I laid around and watched TV. I watched A LOT of TV. Specifically, I brushed up on all the latest and greatest TLC shows. Man, I love that channel. It's hard to beat a day filled with What Not To Wear, The Real Estate Pros and Flip That House. Then church on Sunday, as always, was delightful and left me singing praise songs at the house all day when I was by myself.

This weekend is Melanie's birthday and Samantha's wedding!!!

Jumping on the bandwagon

So, I'm new to this whole deal and am still figuring out. I'm getting into the whole blogging thing really late in the game, I realize. But better late than never, right?