NaBloPoMo 11.16 - 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes

This is absolutely fabulous! I've already noted my favorites (the Bunny Ear, Double Rainbow, the Braid, the Magic Knot) and plan to try them out this fall/winter season.

BTW ~ I want that McQueen skull scarf!

Which ones strike your scarf fancy?

NaBloPoMo 11.15 - Mentoring 11/12

Saturday's 1-on-1 mentoring session was fun! Neither one of us can make a decision to save our lives, so we sat in my car for several minutes, giggling. With no lightbulbs going off, I asked her to show me where she goes to school. As we drove through the parking lot, she gave me the run-down of her day - where her classes are, how far those classrooms are from her locker, how having Zero Period PE is great because you put your gym clothes over your street clothes and you get to toss a ball against the wall ("That's what you do for PE?!" "Yeah! Sometimes I walk." Good grief!). She likes the school and is bummed she missed her first dance.

Waiting for the light to turn, I asked if there was a mall around or a Chuck E. Cheese or something. She tells me there's a place called Power Station that has games and videos and stuff. Sounds cool as she describes a game akin to the Claw thing but it uses a key and the prizes are iPods, iPhones and iPads! Sweet! Then, she says they have Skee Ball. Aww yeah! I am in! Skee Ball is my absolute favorite, I tell her. I'd spend all my quarters on it. She laughed - 'they don't use quarters'. Pfft! Whatever they use, all of 'em are being used on Skee Ball. Until I saw Dance Dance Revolution. Holla! I love me some DDR. I suck at it, but I still love it.

We spent some time playing Skee Ball, DDR, Deal or No Deal and a couple of games that give you tickets for spinning wheels. We collected over 1,200 points (11,000 shy of the Easy Bake Oven I really wanted. And, in her infinite wisdom, she asks me "Don't you have a real oven in your house?" Pfft. Not. The. Point.). I'm pretty sure we spent more time hemming and hawing over the prizes than we did playing the games to get the points. We got Friendship Bracelets, birthstone rings, pencils and more Tootsie Rolls than I've ever collected trick or treating. What a great time.

Then, we headed to the food court for lunch. Now, let me rewind to a couple of weeks ago...we're in a group session, playing Pictionary and eating pizza. She answers her sister's question with "No, I'm fat." My head whipped around so fast! I was stunned. She's thin as a rail and those words coming from her were so surprising. And, it made me sad. When I dropped her off at home, I told her we are going to talk about her statement. I really wasn't sure how to handle that. I'm not her mom. I'm her friend. Her friend that has her own body image struggles. The only thing I could do would be to start a conversation, a dialogue and hope my message gets across.

So, back to lunch at Panda Express in the food court. I asked if she remembered her comment and my reaction - "Yeah, you were MAD!" I told her the comment made me mad. I couldn't believe she thought she was fat. I was honest - the comment made me mad because she boiled everything she is down to one thing - being fat. I told her she is so much more than that! She's smart and a good friend and a good sister and she's helpful and friendly. I gave her examples of each trait I listed. I told her of my own issues with body image. She told me I was beautiful and nice and she liked that I showed up for mentoring. That was the sweetest moment ever. I stressed how the comment made me angry, not her. She said she understood; and I truly hope she does.

We'll have a group session on Saturday and I'll follow-up with her. I'm so glad we were able to talk about body image and what we think of ourselves. And each other.

NaBloPoMo 11.14 - 3 Wishes

1 ~ I wish for discipline.

Setting aside time to write is not easy. And I don't even have kids! I need to be able to sit and write without feeling guilty. Once I do sit down to write, my thoughts scamper to all things undone - laundry, house clearing, dishes, whatever. You should really get that done first, then write. What if I don't feel like doing the dishes? I typically won't do 'em; but I won't write either. I'm weird. I know. And, geez, let's not even talk about Something Shiny Syndrome. Those little things that distract me ~ Twitter, G+, Words with Friends, BlogHer, etc. What if I'm missing something? What if John Taylor tweets he's broken down in the Valley and needs a lift? What if the 37th retweet wins an awesome meet n greet with Nikki Sixx or Kurt Sutter or Donna Brazile or Matthew Perry or even Matthew Lewis?! I could miss it!

2 ~ I wish to be open.

Open to love, specifically. I believe myself to be. Somehow, though, I'm wrong. And, that's distressing enough as it is.

3 ~ I wish to believe.

Believe in myself. I am confident, but I don't believe in myself much. I recently found myself in a group which included one of my most favorite people on the planet. This person is intuitive and forthright and brilliant and funny and an immense pleasure to be around. As talk turned to politics and such, I walked away from the discussion because I didn't think I was smart enough to understand the conversation. I denied myself the joy of people and lively debate because I did not believe myself to be able to contribute to a conversation. How sad for me.

NaBloPoMo 11.13 - Melissa McCarthy and her Spanx!

THIS is *hilarious*! OMG! Melissa is a brilliant storyteller :)

Melissa McCarthy and Her Spanx - The Ellen DeGeneres Show

NaBloPoMo 11.12 - 11/12

He was born in 1933 to Hugo and Sarah, the fourth of their 5 children. They lived at 1644 in Baltimore MD. He was a very smart kid, excelled in school; he loved music, especially jazz. He had this knack for playing piano without formal training - he'd hear a song, then play it. He looked up to his older brother and stuck close to his side. His close friends were a boisterous group who took care of him. He graduated high school at 16. He entered medical school. After a year, he left medical school. After he married, he attended Howard University School of Law. Once he graduated, he moved his wife and daughter to California. The young family bought a house in the city of Riverside for about $38,000. He raised 2 more kids in that house and has welcomed six grandchildren to the house. He is smart and funny and a loud-talker. That one year of medical school makes him a dangerous patient. He took me to my first musical theater show. He is stubborn and makes it tough to say 'no', but he welcomes a healthy debate. He plays tennis every single day. He loves trains, white zinfandel and UCLA. He is my Dad and today is his birthday :)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Also celebrating a birthday today is my cousin, Donna and my niece, Meen

NaBloPoMo 11.11 - The One Where I Have Nothing To Say

I am...

sad

angry

grateful

scared

inspired

disappointed

overwhelmed

lost

hopeful

I've been writing this post all day. And by writing, I mean type-type-type-delete. I just can't seem to delve into one. I'm not really allowing myself to do so, let's be honest.

Today's post is done.

#itssomething

#couldatriedharder

#dontjudge (ha - that's quite telling) #howmanymoredaysofthis

#thanksforstoppingby

#dontgiveuponme

#iwilldobetternexttime

#ipromise

NaBloPoMo 11.10 - Girl Panic!

FINALLY!

Duran Duran shot a video for their song Girl Panic! in June at the Savoy Hotel in London. There's been so much talk on Twitter ~ every fan thinking she's so clever using the title to describe how they're feeling about the debut of the video.

The video premiered last night to a select few at the Harper's Bazaar event. And, this morning, it was made available to the fans!

Without further ado, please enjoy the musical stylings of the 5 Supers and Duran Duran!

note: the 4 Durans look absolutely gorgeous. I mean stunning. Be still my heart.

NaBloPoMo 11.9 - RIP Heavy D

just learned that Heavy D died today (11/8)...this scares the shit out of me.

He was 44.

I am 44.

He was overweight.

I am overweight.

This is fucking scary. And it's one of my greatest fears - to die in my sleep, unexpectedly. This is why I'm an insomniac. I don't want to go to sleep. When I was taken to the ER last year with chest pains, I set my alarm to go off every 45 minutes to ensure I'd get up...I know it doesn't work like that. It helped me at the time. But I know it's just not how it works.

Heavy D had lost a lot of weight. I don't know how he did it; just know that he did slim down a lot. According to news reports of his death, he had apparently/allegedly gained back 'some' weight. Did he have a stroke? Did he have high blood pressure? Did he lose weight too fast? Did he regain too much weight? Could his heart not take it? My mind is spinning and imagining all sorts of ridiculousness. This is fucking scary! If this isn't motivation to get my fat ass off the sidelines and join the game, then I am already dead.

I'm a fucking mess.

NaBloPoMo 11.8 - Writing...

I’ve written seven consecutive days! I’m pretty impressed with myself. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the guts to write. Although a lot of this isn’t deep or moving or inspirational, it’s writing. And, I am doing the writing. I like getting back into the groove.

For three years, I had been involved in an all-girls writing class. It was creative and uplifting and freeing. I was able to share so many things with these women; and developed close relationships with a few. The experience was so wonderful! My creative muse was released. My writing took strange and satisfying turns with each class, with each 8-week session. I was growing and finding my writing strengths. At some point, I felt comfortable enough to try writing for an audience outside of my class and Facebook friends. I started entering contests. I did fairly well, pleased that stories I made up were being read and critiqued by others.

I didn’t expect the critiques to be quite so harsh. As I read and re-read, I understood most feedback was really personal preferences – you should have used ‘cerulean’ instead of ‘turquoise’ or this would have been better told in first-person narrative. Not much of the criticism offered was helpful. I still entered contests and submitted my stories for review.

A few months ago, I entered another contest. This time, peer review AND judge review critiques were brutal. Brutal. Thisclose to saying I should never put pen to paper ever. I was devastated! Tears sprang to my eyes as I read the short sentences from the judges. So, I put my pen and paper away.

Last month, I found an interesting class offered by the Writing Pad. It’s a class that appeals to me and my writing style. It’s a five-week course, small group and I’m scared to death to write! First, it’s going to be a personal, revealing piece. (I guess it’s like writing a blog…but I don’t see your face when you read it…and if you have something not nice to say, it’s typically not commented…so, there’s some separation, some distance). Second,

:::2 hours later:::

Crap! I got distracted and lost my train of thought. Sigh

NaBloPoMo 11.7 - Do You Hear What I Hear?

Inspired by Kelly's post "Misunderstood" over at Southern Fried Children, today's post celebrates misheard lyrics!

Kelly's daughter misheard the chorus of the Joni Mitchell/Counting Crows song "Big Yellow Taxi" - fucking lot...parking lot. I get it.

I heard honest I see you instead of 'our lips are sealed.' My friend, Karen, thought Van Halen sang pray to god instead of 'Panama' - seriously. My sister firmly believed Janet Jackson exclaimed Lady Accolade! in the middle of 'Escapade'. She wouldn't accept that Miss Jackson said Minneapolis! - "Ew, no. Why would she say that?!" Uh...maybe because she recorded the album IN Minneapolis.

Do you know the song 'Summer Breeze' by Seals and Crofts? No, of course not. You're too young. Whatever. Anywhoo...

That song irritates the hell outta me! Because, this is what *I* hear:

Summer breeze makes me feel fine. Don't let me hear the jazz man in my mind.

However, this is what I'm told is correct:

Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind.

Huh? Whaaa? Jasmine. Blowing through your mind. Psh. As if. When does THAT happen? Huh? When? Why would a summer breeze blow jasmine through your mind AND make you feel fine?Pfft. I reject that totally.

On the other hand (read: correct), summer breeze...blowing...la la la...feeling fine...la la la...don't let that jazz man start playing - I don't wanna hear it! I just want to sit...feeling fine...la la la. Am I right? Are you with me?!

Share your misheard lyrics in the comments.