I love many things.
I saw The Odd Couple on stage. It’s one of my favorite movies and the show did not disappoint.
I laughed really hard.
Really hard.
I thought it was going to be the highlight of my day.
It wasn’t.
My baby brother, little brobro, asked his spectacular girlfriend Megan to marry him today.
So I’m going to have a sister-in-law!
And he has good taste.
I’m excited.
Today, I love Pike Place Market.
Last summer, I had a tourist day in Seattle with Mom and Padre.
We did Pike Place, Ride the Ducks, dinner.
It was a lot of fun.
When I was at the market, I came across some artsy shots.
I fawned over them, picked them up and set them down half a dozen times.
I adored them but ultimately decided that I didn’t need them, they were an expense I could live without.
I walked away.
But then, Mom and Padre did something great.
Padre revisited the market not once but TWICE to find the same vendor.
He finally found the same prints.
And they got them for me for my birthday!
I adore them!
A lot!
In fact, they are something I LOVE today!
Woo, almost forgot today.
Which would have been too bad because I discovered on my favorite things that has ever happened.
I love Tom H. He’s so funny!
Him playing himself on celebrity jeopardy on snl had me adoring for air.
This is pretty freaking great too.
it’s him doing a toddlers and tiaras bit.
You’re welcome.
I have often talked about how much I love Ron Swanson.
This fictional character from the stunningly brilliant Parks and Recreation is played by Nick Offerman.
Offerman is actually pretty similar to his character. He already played the saxophone and runs a woodworking shop.
And Ron’s evil ex-wife Tammy 2 is played by Offerman’s real-life wife Megan Mullally.
Mullally, who’ve I actually seen in real life during a performance of Young Frankenstein, is another comic genius.
I thought I couldn’t love them any more than I already did.
I was wrong.
They recorded this delightful little ditty, Wings of a Dragon.
It’s pretty damn fantastic.
Another thing I love today is bells.
Bells, you ask?
Yes, bells.
Last week, roomie and I went to a handbell concert in town.
I took this artsy picture, impressed?
Anyways, the concert was pretty fun and afterward we got to go up and try out the handbells.
Also pretty fun.
So we may join the choir.
We’re going to our first rehearsal tonight.
Pretty awesome.
ALSO (I’m making up for being such a crankypants yesterday), I just finished listening to Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up.
It was a great look at how he made his way from working at Disneyland up through magician, banjo player, comedian, movie star.
I absolutely adored it.
Well, this post is pretty late and, truthfully, almost didn’t happen.
I don’t love a lot of things today. Things were crazy at work, I was there for 12 hours and my only break was when I drove with Janel to the coffee stand and back (she stopped by for a minute on her way home from Pullman). Things kept going wrong.
It just wasn’t good.
Then, after a full day, I had a two-hour rehearsal.
Rehearsals used to be something I would look forward to. As I’m sure you wonderful people have noticed, I have a tendency to crave the spotlight. In high school I was really a drama queen. The drama department was somewhere I felt truly accepted and home. People adored me, and told me so, and there were always plenty of hugs to go around. I was a success, I made people laugh and I never wanted to leave.
Now, I feel stress because I seem to be an inadequate singer. They expect us to know so much so fast.
It takes me a while, I have no singing training.
Plus, while I know I’ll make friends as the months go by, for the most part I get pushed to the side. A huge percentage of the cast is in high school and when I try to talk to them, they often look at me like I’m an alien.
It doesn’t help that by Tuesday nights I have, on average, already put in 25-30 hour that week and want to do nothing.
Instead, I has rehearsal.
It’s the only night of the week I have rehearsal right now because Thursdays are for soloists (something I definitely do not want to be) and Saturdays are for the dance numbers, which star (and I quote the director) the “younger members of the cast.” Not me.
But, only two rehearsals in, I can hear an improvement in the songs and I feel good up be back in this sort of environment.
Even if I am old now.
But rehearsal right now is only a Thing I LIKE Today, not love.
Hence me not wanting to write a post today.
But I know if I don’t, I’ll make excuses another day and my posts will just drop off again.
Plus, the whole point of this was to make me TILT my views positive.
So here you go:
Today, I love 1950s fashion. I saw a dress today I absolutely fell in love with. Love love love.
I also love Ed Helms. I love him every day but today is his birthday so especially today! I hope he wears a sweater vest and sings show tunes today. A girl can dream!
Today, I love writing.
Ok, you caught me, I love writing every day.
I sure do it enough.
Today I love it especially though. I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest with my most recent novel, Just Another Day.
Last year I entered with my first novel, New Roots, and made it to the top 250.
While I loved that one because it was basically just a conglomeration of all things I love into one sappy clump, I like my new novel better.
It has a better plot and development.
At least I think so.
My mom, Jenny and Rachelle like it, too, even if Nhan doesn’t. = )
So I am going to have to patiently wait.
And wait.
And wait.
I know the adult fiction category (what I entered this year) is more competitive than the young adult category (what I entered last year) but I think I have a shot of making it at least to round two.
That way, I get a professional analysis of the first 5,000 words.
It would be even better to make it to the next round and get a professional review of the whole thing.
Even though that one last year made me cry, as most things do.
As I was entering it made me a little sad to realize I hadn’t been as excited to write at work recently.
I think with taking on the extra responsibilities of the editorial role, the quality of my stories has slipped.
I just get so tired and frustrated.
I can’t do everything.
I just need a few more hours a week, pretty please?
Until then, I’ll continue taking immense amounts of pleasure in writing jokes and fiction.
Today, I love Janel.
On her way to Pullman for a vet interview (good luck!), she stopped in for a visit.
We ate tacos and brownies, I introduced her to Bridesmaids (and my future husband Nathan Rhodes) and I kicked her butt at Jeopardy.
Good day.
Good friend.
Love.
You know I have to make these lists every once in a while, of things I desire most.
Right now:
* something in a cobalt blue. I’m going to go with a handbag.
* zebra print pumps. I’m not really an animal print person, but I think just a touch on the shoe looks super hot with a solid color dress.
* a vintage cocktail dress.
Think about how cute I would look if these things were combined!!
Today, I love old movies.
I watched Rear Window starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
I adored it.
I adore them.
And Cary Grant.
And Jack Lemmon.
And Humphrey Bogart.
All of them.
And don’t forget my dream man, 1967 Robert Redford.
Mmm.
Today, I like people.
They give you plenty of reason to lose faith in them. They are, at times, lazy, rude, thoughtless, hateful and generally terrible as a whole.
But, sometimes, they are pretty all right.
Today, I got stuck in the snow. Twice.
And within seconds of stepping out of my car each time, there were people stopping to help out. My neighbor came out and lent me his snow shovel.
Another saw me digging away in my skirt (Yep, knee-deep snow didn’t stop Just-Dress January) and came over to help.
Another couple stopped to help push.
And not in the “I have a penis so clearly I can push so much better than you can” way that most guys in Pullman ‘helped’ out.
Just in a genuine “You need assistance? I can help with that!” neighborly way.
It was pretty awesome.
