My friend and hero Emiko

Read her story here.

Ring!

This picture cracks me up.

 How happy I hope they are and will be in this lifetime together!

New

 Happy Easter.

Mu ha ha ha...har!!!

So excited to relive my childhood a bit tonight! I feel like a combination between bad scary movies, Goosebumps novels and, dare I say, my precocious nature as a wee one, were what got my imagination moving the most as a kid.

I still love horror. I love how it tricks us, and I love how it unifies us. Not in a "In the jungle, the mighty jungle..." kind of way. In a common fear of death, universal phobia of creaky doors and bad lighting kind of way.

When I wrote "my book" as a little kid - yes, I still have it on my bookshelf today, it was very eerie and dark in my 4th grade mind. I think if I ever write fiction again, I'm going to have to bring horror into it somehow. It's like refusing to acknowledge a part of life without it. And that's no fun.

So, what do you think? Do you like the Scream series? Do you feel horror cinema and fiction is a worthy contribution to the array  of stories out there?

Grown Up Pants

curiousmaria.wordpress.com

Ever have to put on your grown up pants and make a grown up decision at work even though you're under 30, it's not in your department, and you don't know the right answer?

It makes want to eat an entire bag of Cheetos.

              

Brazen

This may be the most inflammatory blog post I've written in a while. Maybe EVER. Dun duh duh!

Maybe it is because it is nearing wedding season, but I have read multiple times in the blogosphere recently how people are having anniversaries, and they are getting the reaction from others, "Oh, just wait until you've been married X amount of years, all of the magic will wear off."

Firstly, I am really saddened that any one would chose to react to another person's anniversary celebration like that. For one, it takes the focus off the bliss of the happy couple and puts it on the unhappy commentator who just had to impart her "wisdom." Why is this the choice response, among so many others, like, "Congratulations!" or "You guys really are a wonderful couple!" or "I admire how you two love and treat each other in your marriage"? Anything but negative words that reflect so poorly on the speaker and are SO self-centered.

Secondly, who says?! Who says that after you've been in a relationship for X amount of years and have been in some bad fights, have had some dull days together, or have stopped caring about morning breath, that the magic, the fun, the butterflies have to stop? Butterflies inevitably fly away, but it is up to you for the sake of your relationship to catch them!

I am not in a marriage, so I don't claim to know what one is like. I understand their are plenty of bad, or even abusive relationships out there, and I don't think anyone deserves that.

But in a "just okay" marriage where the sparks are gone, I believe it is up to the people in the marriage to change that, and not simply sit back and complain about one another, or wait for the other person to care more. Why get married if not to cultivate a beautiful, dynamic, working relationship where the ebb and flow of good and bad ties you closer together? Why get married if not to surprise your spouse with romance and flirtation when you are elderly, parenting, vacationing, sick, well, rich, poor...? Why get married if you don't plan on doing a lot of apologizing, a lot of forgiving, and if you don't believe in unconditional love that can renew your bond?

I think it's doing the covenant relationship of marriage such a disservice (and one another a disservice!) if you aren't selflessly committing to making what is just an okay marriage fantastic.

So I am really happy that the newly weds out there are unconvinced if not unphased by what others have said. I am glad they are defining their own relationships based on the supreme love they have for one another. They are such good examples, and to them I say cheers!

To the others, I have to admit I don't know you and I shouldn't speak ill of you at all without walking a 5k in your shoes. But I do hope that you'll work like a boyscout to light the fire again! And I do hope and pray I'll do the same when my time comes.

Ours

So don't you worry your pretty little mind,
People throw rocks at things that shine
and life makes love look hard.

The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours.

Home foodies

One of my favorite things about weekends is planning and preparing really simple, nourishing homecooked meals.

Yesterday S and I got to the grocery store (we always go together - this may be one of those tips we tell the youngsters when we're 90 and they ask how we did it) and found some buffalo wing sauce on sale. We also found lemons. That were also on sale. I know. So exciting.

When we got home, we were on a mission to transform our leftovers into new, tempting dishes with this sauce, these little lemons (that promised to be both "sweet & tart") and all the junk that would go bad in our fridge if it wasn't eaten soon.

Presto-chango, and after a little boiling and simmering, we had buffalo steak & potatoes, and cabbage soup with beans, broccoli and brown rice.

The ingredients may sound familiar, but they felt brand new to us, as we flavored everything with lemon and enjoyed our Saturday evening.

You know the food is good when the cat is curious. Or at least I take that as a complement to the chef.

Blushes and confessions

Do you ever want to save the world another day, and get all dressed up today instead?

Last night we treated ourselves to a few little indulgences, like dinner out, a new video game for S, and a trip to Sephora for me. I was so excited to find "Rosebud Salve" - produced in my awesome home state and apparently popular the nation over - and two little fancy products, a small palette and what I searched the store high and low for, some gel eyeliner. (I actually bought this for a practical reason - my eyes get really sensitive to makeup during springtime allergy season, so I needed a high quality liner that could be applied with as few sticking-myself-in-the-eye qualities as possible. Pencils require poking, and liquids are too risky - one false move, and there's liner in my itchy, red, pathetic allergy eye. Waterproof gel is the perfect solution, an I have been liking it a lot so far.)

After we got back home, I was so pleased to find my Glamour magazine, which I subscribe to for free with  my airline points - woot woot! - ready to inspire me with fluff and glitter and spice and everything nice, to go along with my make up and my need to relax this weekend. I took the magazine to the gym and poured over the glossy ads and silly stories on the eliptical, not caring that my super-serious gym rat buddy for the night probably thought I was a athletic light-weight. I admit, I used to think that about some of the people in college who would read a magazine on the eliptical for 20 minutes in the ahtletic center and call it a work out while the rest of us put in real time on the track/treadmill/with weights.

Well, I stayed on the eliptical for a whole 40 minutes, so I guess I deserve to be judged half as much? A quarter as much, for working out longer, but then going home and lying in bed to read the rest of the magazine in total veg mode?

Anywho, I learned that coral as a color is "in" this season, that new shiny things never cease to make me happy, and that sometimes it's okay to be judged, be lazy, and be happy about having a carefree weekend ahead!

The sky is closer here

This week was a mess. I had a bajillion things to do at work, a doctor's appointment at the end of the week, and an out of state presentation in the middle of it.

What made the week substantially better is that the out of state presentation was in Vermont, where I' never traveled previously, and where it is beau-uuu-ti-ful.

Just being on the road was such a relief - to be by myself, in the middle of the sunshine, cruising along with the radio. If there was ever a time that I needed a three hour drive, this was it.

I loved how the whole world just expanded up there. One of my favorite things about my work is getting to travel, and one of my favorite things about traveling is being shaken out of my element just enough to appreciate every aspect of the environment and my ongoing experience in it.

It was chilly, bright, and oh so blue. There were multiple "Moose Crossing" signs and a "Bear Crossing" or two. I envied the layer of snow on almost every surface - no wonder skiing is so big up there and they can still snowboard after our mountain has been shut down for the season. It was very, very vast and the emotion of the state, to me, felt very, very steady. I was getting out and getting some fresh air, so to speak, and it was just lovely.

Another nice perk of traveling is that the sense of self travels with you, but feels different in the new place than in the old. For instance, I found myself laughing with people I had just met, and it was refreshing to think that my quirky personality was easy to bring out among strangers. I've been working so much and trying to keep my old friendships strong, so that it was neat to just be me an know that I still could be around new people. That probably doesn't make any sense at all, but I am very thankful for the chance to get away once in awhile, to rejuvenate, and to get out of the rush. This helps me to remember who I am, anywhere and everywhere, no matter what.