snOHw JOY!

I like the snow. It's pretty & quiet & looks lovely on the top of the Rotunda & the grass of the lawn. Basically, I love everything about it....except that I had to shovel today. Stephen (my Saab) needed his space back in the driveway after spending the snow storm living on the street. So, with no brother or dad around to give the responsibility to, I had to do it myself.

I realize that this makes me sound like a spoiled brat, but I don't think I have shoveled more than about twice in my whole life. Seems like I haven't been missing a whole lot - it really wasn't too much fun for me. Plus, the whole time I was out there, my neighbor's (we affectionately call her Mrs. Cat Lady - apparently I am the only one from our house who she likes. My housemates think it is because she sees a younger version of herself in me. Awesome) two cats sat in the window glaring at me. Seriously, they would not stop staring. They were probably having some hilarious conversation about how stupid I looked or how I wasn't lifting with my knees or something. Either way, it kind of creeped me out.

So, other than my shoveling adventure, playing & enjoying the beauty of the snow made for a fun weekend. Snow days mean sleeping in & snuggling in sweatpants to read/write/drink hot chocolate & not do much else....pretty great stuff. I hope your weekend was equally as cozy & delightful :)

P.S. Kendall Hancock took some fabulous pictures of the winter wonderland that C-ville was transformed into. They are posted below...enjoy!

littlebittlepreciousweciousbabies!!!

AHH I FREAKING LOVE BABIES!!

a few things I adore in no particular order of importance

1) surprises
2) racquetball
3) cruise-control
4) covers (like Jamie Cullum's version of Please Don't Stop the Music)
5) following a horizon of mountains on the drive back into Cville
6) Shenjoes
7) early morning bagel with plum jam
8) naps
9) finding out the Word of the Day from AskOxford.com every morning
10) Fridays

be spontaneous

I am really bad at being spontaneous, and I hate that. I love people who can just do whatever at the drop of a dime, who are up for anything or going anywhere or taking part of any activity without second guessing it - life seems more fun that way. After discussing this with my friend Eric, we came up with a plan to have a greater degree of adventure in our lives: we created Days of Spontaneity. Each month, we are going to dedicate one day to not having a plan, whatever that looks like. Our first Day of Spontaneity happened a few days ago and it was a blast. It consisted of a bunch of random adventures around cville, starting with Eric surprising me (spontaneously!) by crawling through my window, which was a pretty fun/scary way to start the journey.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with things like visiting a pet store, playing Love Story on the piano in a furniture store where we tried to auction on something but got scared, going to K-mart instead of Wal-mart (CRAZY, I know), singing "Don't Stop Believing" at the bottom floor of Alderman Stacks, etc. We tried to document the day, but it was hard because we only had a dying camera and my phone, which I still haven't fully figured out. Even though it was just a chill day, everything we did was on impulse and there was such freedom in that. It was a good lesson in being.....well, spontaneous.

My favorite thing that happened was when we were in Dover Saddlery (applying for a job as a joke. This was another random idea we had and just went for it. The manager asked us if we were horse people. We replied "kinda" and then she told us that Eddie Bauer was hiring). Anyway, a homeless man named Tom came in and told us he was Deaf. I asked him if he could sign and we had a conversation in ASL - it was incredible. I have never had a spontaneous sign conversation before, and it was so cool to have that finally happen.

Some other random things we did are pictured below. If anything, it made me think about the joy of letting go and being open to the unexpected. Here's to hoping you are out having your own adventure:

a dramatic reenactment of Eric's window break in.

Eric decided to spontaneously parallel park!

Buying flannel pants for no reason

We made an employee's day by asking her to take our pic in K-mart

The place we found a snazzy piano to play on.

We found an Iron Claw somewhere.

Spontaneously parking on Thomson! It should have a "p".

We serenaded first years with Glee songs.

we made it down the creepy green stairs all the way to the pits of Alderman, where we gave the one girl studying there quite a show with our singing.

One of the coolest things we did was get a balloon at the party store, fill it with helium and release it from the steps of the Rotunda. We attached a note to it encouraging the person who (maybe?) will find it to be super spontaneous like us :)

Happy Sundae

(snagged from here while flickr-stalking)

I hope your today is beautiful-refreshing-joyful-&-sugary-sweet.

One Time

we're the coolest. and so is Justin Bieber.

the three words you should never say to a cashier

I think (or at least would like to think) that I'm a fairly affectionate person. I like for the people in my life to know that I care about them, and so I tell them. I grew up in a family where we'd never leave the house, go to bed, or hang up the phone without saying "I love you". Those are three words I use pretty regularly because there are so many people in my life that I deeply, truly love. I never thought it was a phrase you could use too much, until yesterday.

I was in the bookstore, quickly picking up some things that I forgot to buy earlier that day. As I was checking out, I got a phone call from a friend. I answered and asked if I could call them back later because I was about to finish paying for my books, and gave my standard farewell of "OK bye! Love you!" Immediately after hanging up, the cashier, a smiling middle-aged woman, handed me my bag and told me to have a good day. My response was "OK bye! Love you!"

It took me about one second to realize that what had slipped out of my mouth was not something you should say to a person whose only role in your life is handing you your receipt. I looked at her and just started laughing and apologizing. It truly is hilarious to me that I manage to orchestrate so many strange, embarrassing situations for myself.

The whole thing had me thinking about those three words. Our society is so goofy about them. I've seen countless romantic comedies/TV shows where the main couple has been together for a really long time - they live together, sleep together, share their lives, act like they are married - but they are terrified of actually saying that they love each other. Typically, one of the main characters will say it and then the other character will be like "whoa whoa whoa! I don't know if I love you, exactly." And then there is some dramatic scene where it's raining and they are left to question their very existence and some sad orchestra music plays. Maybe I'm naive, but is it really that hard? Is it really such a terrifying thing to tell someone?

Then there is a whole other side of it. I've already confessed in a previous post that (against my will, I swear!) I started watching the Bachelor. It cracks me up that these women meet the bachelor and then in their interviews like 20 seconds later are like "Oh my gosh, he is definitely the one. I can't wait until we are married!!" They seem ready to say "I love you" before they've even gotten to know who this guy really is.

So maybe there is a balance to walk in terms of expressing affection. I guess if people over-used the term "I love you", those words wouldn't really matter very much. But then again, holding back from saying it seems pretty tragic, too.

I think of yesterday when I was flustered after my awkward interaction with the cashier. When I was trying to apologize, she just threw her head back laughing and said "Honey, that's something you can never hear too much!" And maybe that's true. Nothing feels better than being told that you are loved. So I don't think I'll try to hold back from using those three words after all. And maybe you shouldn't either. Just say it - someone can't wait to hear it.