Humanity is A-OK

Ever have one of those days when you feel like people just suck? Well, good news! Many of them don't! Quite the opposite actually. Seriously, I am constantly blown away by how amazing, creative, talented, and weird people can be. And the best place to see it all is pinterest.com (and svpply.com). Check it:

Totally right on.  

Totally rad.  

Totally fun.

Totally yummy. (Corona popsicles).

Totally awesome.

Totally cute.

Totally brilliant.

Also photos via pinterest.com. Another fun site: svpply.com.

Yay Japan!

The F.I.G. has decided to KEEP the Worlds in Japan. Yay. This will be so good for the morale and the economy in Japan. Early prediction from Jackie: 1. USA 2. Romania 3. China. However, this WILL NOT hold until the 2012 Olympics, where Russia will dominate (sans injuries).

Desperation

I am indifferent to the daylight savings controversy, except when it comes to putting your child to bed. When it's light out until 9:30+, it's just about impossible to get your child in bed by 8pm. But I decided I would not be conquered. I borrowed some black-out curtains from my sis and put the regular curtains on top. You'd think that would do it, but noooooo. The little bit of light that peeps out on the sides makes Audrey think it's recess time. Well, there's nothing duck tape can't fix, right?

Perfect Start to Summer Weekends

Friday: Lovely evening walking around campus and seeing flowers, followed by fairly gross curry at Siam House (but outdoor patio and wine made up for that).

Saturday: Girls' night. Saw "Bridesmaids." Definitely worth the hype. Followed by Mexican on the patio with my girls. Then Alex (former gymnast of mine), Audrey and I had a sleepover.

Sunday: First summer porch party at Mike and Sarah's. I LOVE their porch parties. We had ribs, corn of the cob, cole slaw, fresh strawberries, homemade lemon pound cake and brownies. Perfecto. Oh, Happy Birthday Mikers!

Oh, and I almost forgot, I bought a house on Thursday and promptly cancelled my apartment lease. Stoked!

Dan! I Told You They'd Make a Sitcom About Us!

"Happily Divorced" 

TV Land

Click here to see the trailer.

Actually, I think our story is an even better sitcom.

Story: girl likes boy, boy not interested, boy sees girl three years later and is interested, date happily for five years, happily married for another five years, girl pregnant with first child, boy comes out, baby is born, girl attends lots of therapy sessions, baby daddy moves 10 blocks away, lots of ups and downs, now lives 10 hours away, more ups and downs, but will be home for the summer next week!  

Happily divorced and happy parents for three years. 

Thanks Sarah T for telling me about this!

Slow Down and Simplify

I rented my house for the fall. I've been wavering for a couple of years about doing this and moving to an easier place to live (smaller yard, less space, etc). It's all a part of my "Slow Down and Simplify" life plan. I will miss my house - I've been here for eleven years! I was "this close" to purchasing a new house this week, but it fell through (suspicious smoke stains w/o reasonable explanation). So, I am moving to an apartment! I am moving to one of IU's apartment complexes, which is about 99% international. I'm really excited to meet new friends from all over the world (especially for Audrey)! Another thing I love is that the rent includes everything, so no surprises when it comes to utilities... and no home repairs to do! I hope we'll have many wonderful experiences that I can blog about. Stay tuned...

I'm Always Surprised When People are Surprised by This

Photo via Huffington Post.

Just Awesome

10th Grader Challenges Michele Bachmann To A Debate

From Buzzfeed (click link for large version of letter)

My Future Baby Shower Gift to All Expecting Parents

"I WANT FOOD! I WANT MILK! I WANT SHOW! I WANT BOOK! I WANT WATER! I WANT JUICE!" Audrey tries every one of these every night before bed. The good news: I rarely give in (and when I do, it's the water request). The bad news: I allow her to vocalize these demands for way too long before just putting her in bed. We have a routine....bath, jammies, 5 books, rock, bed. It NEVER changes...YET I still have to deal with the requests (I guess they are a part of the routine). Oh, I should mention the requests are accompanied by flailing and crying and sad/cute faces. Half of the time I am laughing.

So...in case you live under a rock and never surf the net, I thought I'd post this new book that's all the rage. It doesn't even come out until October and it's already been to the top of the bestseller lists. Jen, I think you will appreciate this more than anyone...since we have such similar ways of parenting (including admitting walking in front of a mack truck sometimes sounds like a good idea).

Also, here is an excerpt from a Macy Halford post / review on the newyorker.com:

The book is super funny, and the art, by Ricardo Cortés, is perversely sweet, so sweet and genuine that it made me cringe. Nothing has driven home a certain truth about my generation, which is approaching the apex of its childbearing years (I’m thirty-one), quite like this deranged book: we are not really adults. Maybe it’s the Wes Andersonification that happened to us in our early twenties (plus also of course the coddling by our own parents, which is still going on, even among my friends who do have children). Whatever the cause, it is definitely the case that, when faced with a kid who refuses to go to sleep, we get annoyed, like all parents before us, but, rather than just abandoning the child to the dark and telling it that it can go to sleep or stay awake as it likes but it is staying in the bed until morning (remember Proust at the opening of “Swann’s Way”?), we sit there with it, reading to it and singing to it and distracting it with swirling night lights until it decides it feels like going to sleep, all the while thinking to ourselves, Go the fuck to sleep, kid.

The rage! So repressed it has to be sublimated into a children’s book! The contours of the precise ways in which we will fuck up the next generation begin to emerge…

Purchase at Amazon.com.

Have You Ever?

Skinny-dipped? I have not. I'm less than one month away from my 35th bday. I think I may have missed my window of opportunity. My mac-n-cheese agrees. Cute skinny dip tea cup (via Buzzfeed).

Lunch (via Jack's phone):

Wish I Was There

Space Shuttle Endeavour. Seriously, how cool would it be to be there in person? Crazy cool- that's how cool. Check it:

Photo credit: Getty Images via npr.org.

As seen from a plane (photog Stefani Gordon). Via Buzz Feed.

Live Here!

Have you ever lived in a city with amazing attractions, but not gone to them while you lived there? EX: Living in NYC and never seeing the Statue of Liberty or going to The Met. When I lived in Chicago I did pretty well, but I definitely missed some major stuff: I've never been to the Sear's Tower, the first architecture tour I went on was with my sister during a touristy visit AFTER I had already moved away, and there are still several awesome museums that I have not visited. I've decided this can't be the case with Bloomington. If I'm going to consistently try to get my friends to move here (which I do- annoyingly, I'm sure), I better know every awesome inch of this town. This weekend I visited the IU Greenhouse for the first time. It's huge.

Cool plant (no idea what it is, I forgot to look):

Audrey and green plants.

This one's for Amy: A Hoya plant. She once drove 40 minutes to buy me one for my birthday. I kept this plant alive longer than any other plant I've ever owned. I've only owned two, so that's not saying much. Sorry Ame!

Looking at IU's beautiful landscaping while walking to the Greenhouse.

Another amazing IU place I recently visited: the brand new, state-of-the-art IU Cinema. Come on, Jon and Margaret, what else do you need? http://www.indiana.edu/~iucinema/

May 21

I want to officially predict that the world won't end on May 21. So when the world does not end, remember...I predicted it. I've also predicted this successfully three other times. I don't know why I don't get any publicity for it.

The Key to Success: Don't Try to Do What Everyone Else is Trying to Do.

Well, Audrey is finally better (yay!) and back at school. It is so good to see her spunk back!

Today I've been getting caught up on work and I just took a break to get caught up on some blogs. I just read this career advice from Stephen Levitt from http://www.freakonomics.com/ and I find it to be awesome:

Regarding having a career you love:

Make sure that whatever you love doing is something other people don’t love to do. The worst thing in the world is to find some kind of job that everybody wants to do – like being a rock star. Stephen, you’ve tried to be a rock star, it’s hard work. Or a movie star. You have to find something that is idiosyncratically something you love but everyone else despises. So if your dream is to be a garbage man, for instance, you’re guaranteed to have success in life.

Yummy Candy / Sad Mommy

I received the YUMMIEST Mother's Day gift. I love chocolate-covered marshmallows. They are my absolute favorite. And the best in the world are Schwartz from NYC:

I am home again with Audrey today, who is under the weather. The most difficult thing about being a single mom is when one of us gets sick. It's also difficult knowing that taking a vacation is going to be a rare event because I use up all of my paid time off when Audrey or I are sick. Booo.

Welbutrin Just Isn't Enough to Emotionally Deal with Mitch Daniels

Have you noticed that cake balls and cake pops are all the rage now? For good reason too. The few I have devoured tasted like almost-cooked cake batter covered in frosting. Yum! And they are sooooo cute!

Sooo...if you are frustrated and depressed because your state governor is Mitch Daniels, who just de-funded healthcare for thousands and thousands of low income families in order to not support an organization that performs abortions and has thus INCREASED the number of future abortions since low-income families will not have proper reproductive health care and family planning services....a cake pop can help brighten your spirits- at least for a few minutes.

Yay Cake Pops! Boo Mitch Daniels!

Via Bakerella, Babble, Cake Central, and Paper Plate and Plane

Absolute Perfection

I love, love, love this gymnast. She never quite made it, but she will always be loved by gymnastics aficionados. Everything about this routine is perfect....the music, the leotard (my fav), the yarn in her hair (classic 80s Soviet), the choreography, and the tumbling. The first pass is a double-twisting double back. This means the first flip also has two twists. This is NOT the same as a double-double (a la Shawn Johnson), which is one twist in each flip. This is the only female gymnast I've ever seen do this. I don't know if gymnastics will ever be like this again. Thank god for youtube.