10 things...

 via Acidstorm

Bear with me. I've been one big cranky lady lately. And in the spirit of my crankiness I thought I'd share 10 things that are driving me to the brink these days (this photograph is, of course, not one of them - his cranky face is divine!).

1. Baby boy clothes with lame writing on them like: "Mommy's New Man" or "Say Hello to Mr. Wonderful" or "Chicks Dig Me." Why are we now dressing our baby boys like ugly American tourists in brash slogan t-shirts?

2. Blog posts that are overtly paid for product placements and the bloggers of such posts who don't fess up to that fact outright.

3. The amount of talent/dance/performance shows on TV right now.

4. People who make that heart shape with their hands in pictures - especially when those people are full grown adults.

5. Cicadas (hearing them at night makes me think that this summer will never end).

6. The catchiness of Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night."

7. Strangers who tell me whether they think I'm carrying a boy or a girl based on how I look, stand, or what I eat (without being asked, of course).

8. People who are so tactless as to blow other people's news on facebook by declaring "congrats on the baby!," "sorry you guys are separating," or "my condolences to your family" on the walls of their supposed "friends" thus outing the friends who had yet to decide whether they even wanted to share that news with the world of facebook.

9. The fact that I can't reach my toes.

10. August.

Summer, I am so over you...

via Let Us Read and Let Us Dance

There is not a single part of me that wants to be outside anymore. Pull the curtains, crank up the air conditioning, bring me a hot tea - I want to stay indoors and pretend it's October.  I've never been a summer person, but this year I'm really over it. You could blame the multiple days of over 100 degree temperature or the fact that I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, but whatever it is I am seriously hating summer right now. And knowing I'm not the only one makes me feel so much better....

from EW's "Why We Hate Summer":

''I enjoy being indoors. I enjoy laying on couches, snacking, and reading (watching TV). Summer sucks because it is the only season when, if I want to do this in the middle of a gorgeous day, people (my children) look at me like I'm a disgusting person. Well, guess what? It's 90 degrees out there, it's 68 degrees in here, and this episode of The Bachelorette isn't going to watch itself.'' 

Adam Scott
Parks and Recreation

''The heat makes me lethargic, so goodbye gym, goodbye waking up before noon, goodbye enthusiasm for anything. But I'd have to say the worst part of summer is swampy Spanx.'' 

Whitney Cummings
Comedian

''The reason I think summer is terrible: I'm British. As a people, we cannot handle even the most moderate heat, either physically or emotionally. We were brought up believing that summer is for French people, with their outdoor lunches, sunglasses, and crunchy vegetables.'' John Oliver
The Daily Show

a favorite: required weeping

I watched a REALLY schmaltzy Hallmark sponsored tv movie last night. Why, you ask? There was nothing else on tv (which also means that I was too lazy to turn off the tv), but also because I needed a Hallmark commercial fix. They are just the BEST commercials to watch if you need an instant and easy weepy moment on the couch sandwiched between your eye-rolling husband and sweetly sleeping cats. Here is a favorite and I dare you not to tear up:

a cappella love

image via NewTimes

We've all got our secret television shames/pleasures, right? Well, my latest has been the a cappella show, Sing-Off. It's everything that "American Idol" is not - fun, incredibly earnest, and full of damn talented people who can actually sing (plus Nick Lachey is kinda amazing in his role as host who goes all out with his wall to wall punning). Anyway, the second season is now over (boo!), but watch on Hulu if you get a chance - it'll totally make your heart sing (was that a good one, Nick?)

P.S.

Since I am in confession mode and have already shared my love for the show in general...

This cover of Coldplay's "Fix You" brought tears to my eyes.

And this group's cover of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is everything awesome.

And, yeah, I know, I am a dork.

I'm not even going to fight this...

 

via Dainty Doll

year in a bottle

I have this bottle of perfume I keep on my dresser, but I never wear it. I actually got it just to smell it. My sister smelled it once and said it smelled like the 80s. It is funny how a scent can be so significant to one person and be something totally different (or even nothing at all) to another. 

The smell of dewberry reminds me of Friday night movies at the mall.

The overwhelming scent of dishwasher detergent is every restaurant job I ever had. 

Drakkar Noir is the hallways of high school.

Orange tea is graduate school seminars.

The original Febreeze is being in Paris (I know, so weird).

I saw this perfume I mentioned in a Marshall's and the bottle was immediately familiar to me even though I had not seen it in more than a decade. When I went to college, states away from life as I knew it, I had a number of things to adjust to- the first being my roommate. 

She was a bona fide Houston debutante, hitting the campus with a purse for every outfit, the finest bed linens to ever see the inside of a dorm and an astounding array of beauty products- the perfume was one of them.

It turned out that she was the perfect roommate for me and one of the best people I met in college. I started borrowing that perfume in the fall and wearing it off and on throughout that first year on my own. 

It is independence and fear.

It is first love and real heartache.

It is being homesick and feeling empowered.

It is 18....right there in a bottle. 

{Image courtesy of deviantart}

a confession

via weheartit

Are you ready to be shocked? Brace yourselves, faithful readers.

Alright, here it is... I adore Taylor Swift.

Now, I know that this news totally blows your mind because you think of me as so incredibly edgy with my many posts on poetry and cats, but you are just going to have to believe it.

This confession is also major because I don't want it to reflect upon and embarrass the two dear friends that I share this blog with and who are both the epitome of hip (what with Mae's concern about archiving her children's school work for the long hall and Lorelei's near mania for children's libraries - there is a real chance that these ladies are going to cut me loose!).

via weheartit

Alas, I kid. Those two are as dorky as I am (thus my love for them), but loving Taylor Swift is still a goofy thing to admit to since I am not 15 (I'm more like two 15 year olds and a first grader).

Other celebrities her age annoy me to no end (cough, Miley) so I'm as surprised as anyone as to how much I enjoy Ms Taylor. Sure, she has cute style and is up for anything (check her out on SNL), but I think the heart of her appeal is that there is a real sincerity to her songs about young love.

Her songs are, yes, simple and sweet, but in that way they are also able to capture an earnestness and vulnerability that reminds me how it felt to be in high school when every emotion was so new, so heightened, so raw - even when you were happy.

via weheartit

Anyway, I sent the acoustic version of Taylor Swift's Fifteen to my friend Ruby who, because she is such a beautiful writer, knew exactly how to express how this teenager singer taps into a thirtysomething's nostalgia:

"It makes me remember the first time I ever held hands with a boy. It makes me remember the first time I ever got caught kissing a boy. Joe Silvio. Italian hunkahunka, football player, Catholic, older brother to a new born baby sister. It makes me remember the poem I wrote in high school about all those people there. I memorized a bit of it...In a place of jagged edges, may our circle of light shine through. In a place where there are no benches, tell me where to sit, to read, to believe what I say I believe. It reminds me of my dramatic nature, my mother's dramatic nature:-), a smug teenage self rolling my eyes. I'm with you, friend. That kinda shit does all sorts of things to you. It's really nice to be all ages at once, as Madeleine L'Engle says we are."

Doesn't Ruby just nail it? Taylor Swift's songs totally speak to the inner geeky teenage girl and it is nice, every now and again, to feed her needs too.

P.S. Oh, and I am so outing Lorelei... she loves herself some Taylor too. So does her 1 1/2 year old daughter who is obviously already laying the groundwork for her future teenage soul...