I can't remember the last time I purchased a book. Maybe at an airport somewhere? Not because I don't read, but because, ladies and gentlemen, you can go to this great place and they will GIVE you books. GIVE them to you. For FREE. All they ask is that you return it in a timely fashion. And even if you don't get them back quite on time, you only have to pay a quarter, maybe a dollar or maybe five, if you really dropped the ball. Still less than the price of your book, folks. This magical place is the library.
I'm currently reading The Summer of Beer and Whiskey. It's about baseball, and it's great. Do you know how many books the Anchorage Library has about baseball? Just at my nearest branch, there are 1256. In theory, I could read them all. But I'm not going to, because there are so many other things to read about! For example, my tall-drink-of-water wants to build a cabin. So I checked out 5 books about cabin building. I also checked out a fluffy mystery (You know, fluffy: easy to read, doesn't take a lot of thought.) Because I like to be a well-rounded reader.
Okay, so maybe you don't like reading. I'm judging you, but alright. Do you watch movies? Because you can get DVDs there too. Are you an e-reader? Chances are you can get free e-books too.
The Library: Not just for homeless people and families with small children. (You're welcome, American Library Association, for that new slogan.)
This is a very exciting time in Alaska. Fur Rondy, the best time of the year just past, the Iditarod mushers are starting to reach the halfway point. (Fun fact: the halfway point is a stop called Cripple. Which is a totally accurate name this year, have you been following? It's been ca-razy.) And most importantly, the daylight is returning.
Good thing Simba lived near the equator.
Okay, here in Anchorage, we never have complete darkness in the winter. On the shortest day of the year we have about 5 1/2 hours of daylight. But lemme tell you, that doesn't feel like a lot. Enter: March. We now have more than 10 1/2 hours of daylight, and gaining almost 6 minutes everyday. And it is amazing. Tomorrow is our first 11 hour daylight day. We should celebrate.
I've been ignoring my blog. Oops. So in an effort to revive this beast, I'm trying something new!
This week I looked at my calendar and thought, "Crap. Lent starts this week."
Count down to lamb butter starts now. Did anyone have lamb butter at Easter? No? Just me?
Frankly, I think the deciding is way harder than the sacrificing. Then again, maybe I'm not sacrificing the right stuff...Where's Pope Francis when I need him?
Who wears it better? Pope Francis or Mini Pope?
Usually I give up coffee or beer, but I'm going on vacation at the end of the month, and I want both those things while I'm Hawaii (Awwwww yeahhhhh). I know, I know, that means I should definitely give up one of those. I'm not, sorry Jesus.
Instead I've decided to write about one thing I'm thankful for everyday. Because, it turns out, you can do something good instead of sacrificing something, and that counts. So here we go.
Day 1:
I'm thankful for Lent. Sure 40 days (actually more when you count the weekends.) of remembering if I can eat meat or going through caffeine withdraws sucks. But I do like the personal challenge of the whole thing. It's a time to better oneself and maybe even give up bad habits. (Like eating too many pizzadillas, *points to self*) It's somehow less pressure than a new year's resolution, I mean, it's only your eternal soul on the line, right?
Regardless of religious affiliations (or lack thereof), I encourage everyone to do some soul searching and maybe even some sacrificing around this time of year. It's almost spring, (in theory,) a time for renewal. How about renewing yourself into a better person? Or at least a person who eats fewer pizzadillas.
You can turn yourself in a beautiful, glittery, butterfly.
Tomorrow, Decemeber 6th, is St. Nicholas Day. When I was growing, up we would occasionally celebrate St. Nicholas Day. One celebrates by leaving their shoes or slippers out and when one wakes up the shoes are filled with candy or other small treats.
In honor of St. Nicholas Day, here is my favorite Christmas story: 6 to 8 Black Men by David Sedaris.
The Christmas/St. Nicholas portion of the story starts about 3 minutes in. But you should really listen to the whole thing.
Parents, this is a particularly good story if your kids are misbehaving around the holidays (or any time, really.) Or, if you are like my family, you can go with the story of the Belsnickel instead. Or, if your kids have been really terrible, go with the Krampus story. He is sure to frighten even the toughest children. (But apparently Krampus is becoming too commercialized. So use him sparingly?)
I just got home from the grocery store, and let me tell you, I was prepared to think some seriously zen thoughts. 6:00 pm, the day before Thanksgiving? That place was bound to be a zoo. But I was pleasantly surprised to find it humming along smoothly. I didn't even half to wait at the check out. Long story short, I'm thankful for an easy trip to the grocery store.
Here are some other things I'm thankful for this year:
Unexpected days off - In the past couple weeks, I've had days off due to a power outage and ice.There's nothing quite like realizing you don't have to do anything all day.
Sunny summer - This summer was unusually sunny and it was especially welcome after a few summers of rain. I didn't even have to pack my rain jacket sometimes. Whaaaat??
Adventures - Like flight seeing! (Thanks Mom and Dad)
Ice skating - Early this year I went ice skating, and now I have a nice boy in my life who buys me coffee, puts up with my ghost obsession, AND shares my interest in fudge stripe cookies and word puzzles (except word searches.)
I think we also share a leg to jort ratio
Not Black Friday (or Thursday??) shopping
AMERICA. SERIOUSLY.
ITA matrix - The easiest way for me to play "How much does it cost to get to______" is with the ITA matrix. You are search a million airports at once! For example, all airports within 1000 miles of Caracas. Thanks, Google.
Going home for Christmas - Last year I was home the week before Christmas, so I'm super excited to be home for actual Christmas this year. Bonus, all my immediate family is in the same state now!
Friends, family, etc - Obvi.
I'm thankful for the rest of the family too. He's just the cutest.
Fact: I am a TERRIBLE sick person. Some people are good at functioning while under-the-weather. I am not one of those people. Not only that, but I feel guilty about being sick. It's a double whammy on my soul. So, friends, just know if I ask you to get me a ginger ale, I feel really bad about it.
Anyway, last week I had strep throat. I haven't had strep in a really long time, (but it was just as miserable as I remembered.) Thank goodness for antibiotics, amirite? By day 3 I had watched more PBS specials than I care to admit, in addition to a whole host of shows and movies on Netflix and Hulu. So I was going a little stir crazy and was thisclose to starting the telenovelas on Hulu. (Did you know Hulu has a Spanish channel?)
For example:
La Tempestad is about who cares? Look at those guys.
Hand to face contact in novelas is unmatched.
Novelas are great because I only understand about every 5th word (Thanks a lot, high school Spanish) but I can still generally figure out what is going on. Also there is a lot of stage slapping and that is fantastic.
When I was in college Days of Our Lives was my go to soap opera (of the English-language variety).
I scheduled my classes around DoOL. You better believe I didn't have class from 2 to 3. (Sorry, calculus, I'm busy.) I love that they so frequently change the actors, like no one will notice.
Phillip 1: Brandon Tyler
Phillip 2: Jay Kenneth Johnson
Phillip 3: Kyle Brandt (of Real World fame!)
Phillip 4: Jay Kenneth Johnson (Yes, the same one.)
They didn't even look the same!
Any time you are feeling overwhelmed, you should stop whatever you are going and watch some soap operas. Your life could be so much worse. You could be in a coma while your evil twin is seducing your husband and simultaneously running your dead-but-actually-just-in-hiding dad's business into the ground. It's all about perspective, people.
First of all, can we talk about Luke Bryan's teeth? They are very white. Second, I'm only moderately ashamed of my love for pop-country. It's just so catchy! And Crash My Party is no exception. So sorry if you are a "I like all music. Except country." person.
Girls who say they don't worry about whether it's okay to call a boy they are newly dating are lying. We all worry about that, (and you can't convince me otherwise.) So boys, if you want to win a girl over, just tell her it's okay to call you call you call you.
Yesterday I made a categorized to-do list. And I loved it. I'm a planner. I'd even say that planning things might a hobby. Now, before you go jumping to conclusions, I do NOT have a pinterest page that looks like this.
In fact, I don't even use pinterest at all. ("Gasp!" say my sorority sisters)
I like planning things like moves to places I don't intend to live and vacations I can't afford to take. Down to very specific details. Like whether I'll have to switch insurance companies because this-or-that city doesn't have a State Farm office. Or what bank I'll use. Or what tropical cocktail I'll order from the comfort of the beach chair. Or what I'll do during a 5 hour layover in Houston. (People watch and avoid eating at Chili's Too.)
I like to play a game where I search for the cheapest international flights from Anchorage. Once I decide on a place, I see how fast I can get there. Less than 30 hours, preferably. If you remember, Anchorage is really far from a lot of places.
Then I look at my calendar to see how I can best optimize my time off from work. Then I start looking for places to stay and things to do around those places. Bam! Many hours later, vacation planned.
Some people knit. I peruse AirBnB for the best places to stay in Cambodia. Everyone needs a hobby.
This week's hot jam is Nobody's Fault by Dixie Hummingbirds. Dixie Hummingbirds have been around since 1928. Seriously. It's on Wikipedia, you can look it up. I've heard their musical style referred to as Gospsoul, which is fun to say and an accurate description. Nobody's Fault has foot stomping AND hand clapping. Wins all around.
This is a weird video, but it's about the music, man, so deal with it?
