"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..."

Dilemma!

2009-08-10T09:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, I need your help! Please disregard the annoying ads. I may be moving to a new blog site soon.

Anyway, I just got a new pair of Converse/Chuck Taylors/Chuckie-Ts (my latest favorite name for them, as heard on the show Castle :P). They are grey (gray) and lovely. I got them for my trip to the UK. See the thing is I love chucks, I've only owned 3 pairs but I wear them till they are falling to bits and I form quite an attachment to them and, as with most things I form an attachment to (car, camera, computer, future pets, hiking boots) I like to name them (respectively, Action, Benjamin, Ty Cobb, Rumples McTavish, Brad and Roger). My first pair--bright green low tops were named Nick and Lindsey after 2 characters from the awesome-but-short-lived show Freaks and Geeks. My second pair were black hightops with blue interior/stitching named Dan and Casey after 2 characters from the also-awesome-but-short-lived show Sports Night. So now you have a little background into how much thought I put into these names..so here are some ideas I have on what I should christen this new pair. I think it should be something British in honor of my trip. Specifically something Doctor Who-ish, especially because The 10th Doctor is pretty iconic in his wearing of chucks. But I don't know if I can, in all good faith, name my shoe The Doctor... So here are some choices:

Doctor Who:
Rose and Donna (my favorite companions)
David and Christopher (my favorite actors to play the Doctor)
Nine and Ten (my favorite, okay let's be truthful, my only Doctors)

any other ideas?

Edit:
Becky- Captain Jack and Rose
Nicola- Algernon and Bunbury (or something else fussy and very english) St. John?

Brief tribute to John Hughes

2009-08-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. John Hughes

Here is one of my favorite scenes from my favorite John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful (which ended the way he wanted Pretty in Pink to end-- the best friend gets the girl, er guy in this case). In our (Holly and my) list of the best on screen kisses, this is pretty high up there.

So sad.

Things I love Thursday

2009-08-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm getting in right under the wire here so here goes:

My mom being back home: She's been traveling with/visiting a lot of her family since the first week of July and I've really missed her. And with Becky's week in the hospital with her mom, I'm very grateful to have my own back home and healthy. :) Okay schmaltz over.

Weekend celebrations to come: This weekend I am seeing one of my best friends perform as Ulla in The Producers, seeing another best friends get married, and celebrating another's birthday at an Astros baseball game. So there is much celebrating to be had!

Talking to Jen/getting even more pumped up about the trip: Talked to Jen today and we discussed important things like, what to pack, and what books each of us are going to bring. Vital stuff.

Shopping for Robin's dorm: My baby sister is leaving for college and we're running around trying to get everything she'll need for her first year. It's so weird! :)

Rereading favorite parts of my favorite books: While we're on our trip, Jen and I have decided to make up alter-egos (elegant ladies) so we can doubly enjoy our trip, and we're going to journal as both ourselves and our alter-egos. When she asked me what my name was going to be I was reminded of Betsy and Tacy's imaginary lady's maids from the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. So of course I had to pull out Betsy and the Great World and read my favorite parts, and then I had to drag myself away. So good. So good.

Drawing Basset Hounds: Well just one really. His name is David and he belongs to Holly, my college roommate, and her husband Alex. For one of her classes last semester she wrote a children's book about David and she wants me to illustrate it. Now, I am no where near talented enough for this endeavor but I'm looking forward to the challenge and I've already started sketching him from pictures I took the last time I saw him. The task will be made more difficult since they live in Missouri...

Packing for cold weather: So I've been planning in my head what clothes I'll take to UK and today when I talked to Jen she made it clear to me that it's not going to be hot there. So now I'm reevaluating my clothing choices. Less sundresses, more cardigans etc. It's hard to think that way since it was 101 outside today at 5pm..I believe the high today was 106?So 70 degree weather will be fantastic. I almost don't care if it rains the entire time :P Almost..

Things I don't love this Thursday: Something is UP on my blog. I now have ads? I'm sorry about that, wish they weren't there. I can't find the script for them in the code or I would delete them and can't find away to turn it off. As Holly (or Zaphod Beeblebrox) would say, Huma Kavula!

Good night all!
Sti

Things I Love Thursday

2009-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Starting this early so I don't get swept up in the day and forget, or rush myself.

This week started off with a funeral for the priest who baptized me and both sisters, Monsignor Braden. He was 93 and had had a lot of health problems but it was still a blow to realize he was gone. The Rosary/Vigil was Monday night and I held it together, only sobbing quietly twice when a few people talked about him. Tuesday morning at the Funeral I was much more at peace. I don't know if you've ever been to a Catholic funeral but I find them very comforting. There were more than 30 priests there and the church (which is fairly gigantic) was practically full. It was beautiful and that's one of the things I love today, people gathering together to celebrate a life well lived, and comforting each other in difficult times. During the Homily, the priest (Father T) was talking about living each day full etc. usual carpe diem stuff and he said "Life is today. Love is today." I love that and I think it's now at the top of list for Things I Might Get a Tattoo Of.

Then there was a disturbing little episode at work on Tuesday evening that I won't go into because it upsets me.

Let's see, things I love Thursday.

Storytime! During the school year I visit about 5 area daycares once a month for Outreach Storytimes. It's one of the only times I get to work with groups of really little kids, since I usually work with the tweens and teens. I love it! During the summer we only go once, since we're so busy here at the library and I really miss my little kiddos. I get a big rush when the kids remember me and the song I sing with them to start and end storytime. :) They are so sweet.

End of Summer!: This is our last week of summer programming here at the library. My last thigns are my end of summer parties on Friday and Saturday evening, which I'm looking forward to. Then I've got the first 2 weeks of August to get all of my fall programs planned and printed out before I leave for the UK!

Getting off work early, again: Yup. :)

Seeing Katie again so soon: My middle sister Katie lives in New Braunfels but she came into town last week to have her wisdom teeth removed (ouch :/) and she came back yesterday for a follow up appointment, and the four of us (dad, Katie, Robin, and I) went to dinner at Ellie's a local family-run Greek restaraunt that has the most amazing food. It was a good night, then we watched tv all night. Love.

Jonathan Coulton: This is not a new thing. But I just love this guy. Especially this song:

I think it is so beautiful.

DFTBA you guys,
Sti

Things I love Thursday quick list

2009-07-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a quick one because after the longest day ever of complaining about it being the Longest Day Ever I realized I could've been spending my downtime writing today's blog. But of course I spent it complaining and now it's almost time to go. So, I'm going to just write a quick list of things I love today. If you have any interest in any of those topics I could possibly write a longer post at some indeterminate point in the future to talk about said topic in more detail. Okay, here we go:

BEDA Buddies
ARCs of good- scratch that GREAT- books
reading instead of watching tv
baking cakes at 10pm
Philadelphia
having my honor defended
people complimenting my shoes
having 'fans'
cake decorating class
hanging out with Eileen and Mike (aka M & E)
seeing my sister even though she's in lots of pain (wisdom teeth :/)
the finale of Here Come the Newlyweds
a good though bit unnerving dream
finally having a conversation on the phone with my mom
the best hamburger ever
the Onion
and leaving work early :D

Which I'm about to do, leave early that is, so it's off to Cake Decorating class for me. We're going to create some creepy clowns I think. And Autumn I will try to finish Fire and get it in the mail to you tomorrow!

DFTBA,
Sti

Things I love Thursday

2009-07-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Let's see, gotta make this quick since things are about to get crazy in here. Nothing too spectacular this week but some nice, fun things

Not waiting in lines at Harry Potter premieres: So we have this theater called Star Cinema Grill, I think they're a chain, you know the kind that sells drinks and food with a goofy pun-tastic names like Nachos Libre and Hawaii Five-o Pizza. When we showed up at 10:30 expecting to get in a line, they took our tickets and told us to go on in and pick a theater, we sat right down, ordered junk food (fried pickles! wings! pizza!) and settled in till the movie. Which was awesome! Probably my favorite of the series so far, though now I want to rewatch them all.

Throwing parties for my kiddos at the library: Last night, with the help of my lovely Teen Advisory Group, I threw a Harry Potter party to celebrate the movie coming out. I'm calling it a hit, we had 50 people total. We ate snacks (the potion Dumbledore has to drink in Half Blood Prince, cockroach clusters, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, brownies etc.), hung out in a few classes and did some crafts. The classes represented were Charms-(we made lucky charms), Care of Magical Creatures (made funny little animals), Transfiguration (masks) and the most popular Defense Against the Dark Arts (flinging rubber bands at a Death Eater, played good-naturedly by Taylor). Judging from the volume of the kids, they had a good time.

*Update* it's now Friday and I'm grateful that I get to leave soon! And tomorrow I jet off for Philly, but tonight I have to pack and clean the kitchen because it's gross.

Did I tell you about my cake decorating class? I'm taking one with my sister, yesterday after several epic fails we made it to class and together iced a guitar shaped cake. It was awesome, and tasty. Also our hands hurt afterward.

Sorry I keep walking away from this blog spending time looking at other tabs...I just took a little thing to see what celebrities I look most like. Just not satisfied. First I got Jodie Sweeten aka Stephanie from Full House. What? Now the best one I'm getting is Lucille Ball. And now I got boys! BOYS! Unacceptable. I am glad it is not Thursday because I did not love that. :P

Okay, we're about to close then Chinese food with dad and Robin and packing for Philly. Did I mention I'm going to Philly this weekend? I am. Just for a party, because that's how I roll. Have a great weekend all!

In which I follow trends and plan things

2009-07-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Becky and Nicola posted today so of course I had to follow suit. This weekend my good friend Jen came to visit and we (mostly her) laid out our itinerary for our UK trip next month! We decided to drop the Wales portion so we could spend more time in Dublin and Scotland (planning on Glasgow, Nicola!) Here it is so far:

August 17, leave Houston
Aug. 18 arrive London
August 19-22 In London
Aug. 23 day trip to Winchester/Chawton area to see JaneAusten's house
Aug. 24 fly to Dublin
Aug. 24-26 in Dubln
Aug. 26 fly to Edinburgh
Aug. 27-29 Edinburgh and probably Glasgow for a day
Aug. 30 fly back to London by way of Dublin
Aug. 31 fly back to Houston

We are so excited!!!! Among our plans are at least 3 pub crawls, and lots of walking, some Doctor Who nerdiness, and seeing lovely friends! And the Sherlock Holmes museum. Any more ideas for cheap/fun things to do?

Look! I'm on time!

2009-07-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Things I Love Thursday!

This week has been one of those weeks that are hard to get a grasp on, you know what I mean. Like, you look down and hey, it's Thursday! Well, here we go:

Solitude: My family went to Florida to visit family, as I'm saving up my vacation time for my trip to UK I elected to stay home. This means I have the house to myself, which I really love for short periods of time anyway. Have you ever take the Myers-Briggs personality test? I really like them, one part of your personality it takes into account is whether you're an introvert or an extrovert (the definition I like best for these terms is that introverts tire easily around lots of people and need alone time to recharge while extroverts get more energy being around people-it's not about liking people or not) And, it doesn't just tell you whether you're one or another it sort of gives you a ratio. It turns out I'm 50% introvert 50% extrovert so I get energized around people but tired really quick and need to be alone to charge back up, but after a while I need to be around people again. So very complicated but it sorta explains my delight/trepidation about being all by myself. I love it for a while, but I'll be happy when my friend Jen comes to stay on Friday (tomorrow!)

Jen Coming to Stay: Jen is my lovely lovely friend from TCU, she's a NICU nurse which means she's absolutely amazing, working with premie babies in the ICU something I could never ever do. She's also an adventuress, and has the worst luck with first dates (through NO fault of her own, but I want her to write a book about her experiences) and she convinced me to raise $4,000+ to go to Australia for a month, something I will always be grateful to her for. This August we're travelling to the UK together to visit some friends we met while in Oz and to see what there is to see (I've heard there's a lot :P). Anyway, she's driving down from Fort Worth for the weekend so we can finalize a lot of our plans, short flights, train tickets, places to stay etc. I cannot wait. I love her. :)

The Tardis: Well, I always love the Tardis (the Doctor's time machine) but this week, I especially love it. My sister gave me a model making kit to build the interior to the Tardis, only it's crazy complicated and time consuming. I'm about half through and that's only because Nick and Jessica were over and they helped/did all the work. Now I'm on my own with it, it may never get finished...Speaking of Nick and Jessica, he ordered a tshirt that shows the Delorean crashing into the Tardis (I was very jealous) and when he complained to the company that is was taking forever to arrive they sent him an extra which he sent to me! Yay good friends! It needs to be altered a bit to fit right, but I'm so excited about it! Here's what it looks like:

Let's see..what else to love? Nutella, pancakes and beer for dinner, not hating the 10things I hate about you show on ABCfamily, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, being asked to illustrate a children's books (Whhhhhat??), plans to go to Philly next weekend, happy children, new music (Paolo Nutini's album These Streets, listen to Jenny Don't Be Hasty, and New Shoes especially) and much more, but I'm hungry now and will hopefully be leaving soon to go home. So more next week!

DFTBA!
Sti

Hello there Tuesday, I need your opinion.

2009-06-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

Hi!
Found this t-shirt today- it seems to be the epitome of me:

Should I buy it?

Another Things I Loved Thursday

2009-06-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Once again, I did not blog on Thursday though I had many things to love on. So sorry! I can't decide what order I want to put them in so I'll embrace my inner librarian and go alphabetically. :)

Good Books: Right now I'm enjoying the latest in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King Language of Bees. I should finish tonight and then I'll start Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society which I'm excited about and I'll talk more about later.

Jenny Lewis: This is possibly one of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me. And if you follow me on twitter/facebook you already know about it. Wednesday night my friends Zharleen, Lisa and I went to see Jenny Lewis perform. If you're not a huge fan of Indie music and have never heard of Jenny Lewis and Rilo Kiley let me just tell that she and they are awesome. She's usually the lead singer of Rilo Kiley but she also has 2 solo albums Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue. She's touring for the latter right now and I was so excited to see her. She sounds even better live than she does on her cds! And the most exciting thing that happened was that for one of her encores she and her band came out into the crowd and sang the title song from the album! And that's not the best part, she ended standing RIGHT NEXT TO US!!!! It was sooooooooooooooooo amazing and surreal and beautiful. And the guy standing next to me put it on youtube. :)

Planetariums and Telling Stories: For my program Wednesday I borrowed an indoor planetarium from the Lunar & Planetary Institute (totally free!). It's so cool, it looks like an inflatable duct tape igloo. Inside you set up a projector type thing that projects stars/constellations onto the dome. I was really nervous because I'm not exactly a science-y person , so I decided to go at it from the mythology angle, telling stories different cultures (mostly Greek) had about the contellations. It was a hit and soooo much fun!

Seeing Kat and Clay: Tomorrow I'm driving to Katy (about an hour-ish away) to see my good friends Kat and Clay. They were my first friends to get married. Kat was our unofficial then official roommate in college. Freshman and sophomore years she would periodically crash in our dorm room when she got locked out of her own or scared of her little apartment and we moved into a house together during our last 2 years in Fort Worth. She and Clay tied the knot a week after graduation, I was a bridesmaid. I love Kat, she's tiny and spunky and crafty and so loving. I call her my Squishy Bunny and I call Clay Guido. They are almost 7 months pregnant (well, mostly Kat is :P) and I haven't seen her since she was 2 months along. This had to be remedied so I shall be seeing their new house checking out the nursery for the right color scheme for the painting I'm doing for baby Jemma and touching some preggo belly! So excited!

Okay, there are many more things I love, but I forgot my glasses today and my head is starting to ache from looking at the computer screen without them, so here's a quick list:

My mom coming home
being invited to join a book club
going to an advanced screening of 500 days of Summer next week (Joseph Gordon Levitt! Zooey Deschanel!!)
Making candy sushi today
Watching Gilmore Girls at lunch
Finally eating at the Dot Diner at midnight
making banana pudding from scratch

Things I Love Thursday!

2009-06-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I can say that I don't love sore throats. It's either from breathing filtered air all day or allergies, either way no biggie. I also do not love my mom being gone. *pouts*

Ohhhkay, things I love:

Cooking a Nice Dinner: Last night I cooked a full meal for what turned out to be just me and my dad. My mom left yesterday morning to drive my grandmother back to TN and my sister went to hang out with friends. So it was just my dad and me. I made a Rachel Ray recipe Cuban pork tenderloins and Soffrito rice and it was hella tasty if I do say so myself. I even made an actual salad and we had wine. Afterward we did our normal bonding ritual, watching a vampire movie (Underworld, I can't believe it took me so long to actually watch it!).

Looking forward to starting a new painting: Tonight I'm planning on starting a new painting for 2 of my best friends who are getting married (to each other) in September. I've thinking about it for a while but now I have an actual canvas so I can start!

Octopi: I love myself a cute octopus or twelve, so when I saw a cute pattern in a knitting book one of my kids was working from I told her I would pay her $30 if she made it for me. The next day (today) she presented me with my very own androgynous octopus who she named Sam. Here's a picture that doesn't do him/her justice:

Questionable Content: Probably my favorite webcomic. This week there have been 3 comics in a row that are priceless. The last frames specifically are lol-able. Here they are: "With Maximum Ridiculosity" "Reverse Bechdel Test" "Bearsball" Hope they make you laugh as much as they make me. I think you can understand them without all the comic's backstory.

Movies with friends: Okay, this one is a little premature as I'm not going to the movies with friends till tomorrow. But I can tell now it'll be fantastic. Eileen is getting a group of people together to have cocktails at her place and then go see The Hangover, I am very excited, especially since I haven't seen some of the people who will be there since New Year's (after which I had a hangover) when I must have made a favorable impression because they now love me. :) Also I just love being with Eileen and her fiance Mike.

Well, I should go back to pretending to do some sort of work so I will sign off now.
DFTBA my BEDA Buddies and all others,
Sti

Things I forgot to love Thursday part 1

2009-06-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

I really meant to blog, but Thursday was my day off and I spent it away from the desk and since then I've still meant to blog but it's been so busy!

This isn't the whole blog post about things I love, hopefully I'll do an extra long one this Thursday. This entry is mostly so I can post this trailer, which I'm really excited about in a totally nerdy, liberal sort of way. I wonder if I can make my dad see it with me for Father's Day or if it would just make his Republican head explode...it probably would. Sigh.

Okay, the video won't embed! Here's the actual link: www.foodincmovie.com

Things I Love Thursdays

2009-06-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Nicola's lovely update, I thought I'd get back in the saddle and write a blog entry!

Everything's been really lovely lately, even the annoying little things that go wrong (my car battery dying, shortening my lunch break by taking wrong turns etc.) haven't upset me lately. It's so Zen.

Things I love:

Summer at the Library: We just kicked off our Summer programs at the library. This is our busiest part of the year. I have programs for my Tweens (8-10 year olds) and Young Adults (11-14 year olds) every Wednesday and Friday at 1:30 and 3:30. We do crafts, play games, watch movies, talk about books and basically have a ball. I meet with my Teen Advisory Group Tuesday nights, and we've decided to throw a party for 8-18 year olds to celebrate the new Harry Potter release in July. The rest of the week days Pat and Brenda have storytimes, crafts and other programs. And during all of this we're signing kids up for the Reading Club and awarding them prizes for reading. It's non-stop and being around so many people for really exhaust my introverted self but it's totally worth it and I don't crash till I get home. So many smiles for adorable children. And today I bought 40 lbs of bananas for Banana Jousting tomorrow!

Laughing till I can't breathe: Mike was Confirmed last week and I spent the day with him and Eileen. Mass, lunch with their parents and Eileen's brother Simon, then watching Deadliest Warrior, hanging out at a wine bar, and playing Taboo. At one point I thought I was going to pass out because I couldn't breathe for the laughing. I think when I move out, I'll have to move to Houston so I'm closer to them and the good times.

Beautiful Weather: It stormed for a while yesterday (not an uncommon thing since Hurricane Season started Monday) because a cold front was pushing in. Today it's still warm but not too bad, and there is very little humidity which is great for this weekend.

Aaron Sorkin: You might already know of my deep and abiding love for Aaron Sorkin's genius. Well Saturday I get to see his newest play The Farnsworth Invention at the Alley Theatre here in Houston. I bought the tickets along with Jana about a year ago and I've had a countdown going since then, so I'm a little excited. Getting to go with both of my sisters, my mom, and my grandma Cookie makes it even better.

Back Porches: We've been grabbing every moment of the still nice weather before it gets suffocatingly hot by sitting out on our back porch, reading, having dinner, drinking cold beers, reading. It's been wonderful.

Okay, there are so many other things I love, including all the nice people who humored me today at the store, buying all those bananas. And my new shoes which are black and gold/yellow. And Heifer International who sent me honey. And the smell of popcorn popping. And the movie It Happened One Night. And the book I Am the Messenger. And Australian accents. And deciding not to take a summer class. And planning for the future but living in the now. And and. And and. Everything. Except maybe being hungry. I don't really love that..but I shall endeavor to fix that right now by going home and then hopefully off to see some friends graduate from high school!

Much love,
Christina

sad face

2009-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

You know when one of those things happens that makes you see just how lucky you are and that all your little dramas you've been freaking out about are so small? Yeah, that happened to me today. Pat's granddaughter Ella, who I talked about in my last entry, died early this morning. She was only a little over a week old, and because she had chromosomal thing called Trisomy 18, they didn't expect her to live long. It's been so hard on Pat losing a grandbaby, but also having to see her daughter go through this. And it's been hard on us here at work, since we can't do anything to take that burden and pain from her except pray for her. I've been doing her storytimes when she needs but I wish I could do more.

It feels unfair that such a little one should have to die, but I feel she did a lot of good while she was here. Pat talked about the incredible peace that washed over her whenever she held Ella, and called it 'Ella Time' because everything else would fade away while she was in her arms. I'm not going to wax anymore philosophical, but it's really made me appreciate all the healthy little ones I get to interact with on a daily basis.

I got on here to write something,

2009-02-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

and then I started reading the best thread ever on Jezebel.com and got distracted. But it's kinda on topic. Or maybe not. Totally random, the other day I was in my office cleaning my desk and I was struck by the thought/compulsion that I never want to get married. Or even fall in love. I've done that before, or as close as I'll probably get. This is, of course just a passing fancy I'm sure of it. But still. What an interesting thought to have while cleaning my desk.

In other news, Pat's daughter had her baby yesterday, which is lovely, but it was an emergency C-section and she was only a little over 3 lbs. But she's breathing on her own, which has to be a good thing right?

And because Pat has been understandably gone, I came in early this morning to do her storytime. It was a lot of fun, as usual and at the end a little boy came up to me and said: "I have to tell you something" "What's that?" "I'm going to miss you." "Aw, I'm going to miss you too!" "But don't worry, because I'll be back to see you." Awwwwwwwwwwwww

And can I also say this past weekend was probably one the most chill and wonderful in recent memory. :)

Ummm, I walked away from this post for a bit, so I'll just publish it out now...

In which I talk about random things..

2009-01-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Let's make this a list of things to catch you up with my life! :)

Classes start up again on Tuesday, so woot. I'm almost done though so that's wonderful.
Got to visit Holly and Family last weekend in St. Louis which was loads of fun, I miss them! Got to take pictures of the happy couple and also some with Amber's babies
Tomorrow we're throwing a bridal shower for my childhood friend Jessica...oh crap I don't have a gift for them! Ughhh
I'm working today, so please excuse the grouchiness
I am hideously boreddddddd
It's Nick's birthday so I may *fingers crossed* be going to eat dinner with him, Jessica, Justin, Emily, and Jeremy
On the downside, I'm getting that weird feeling you have right before getting a cold..awesome.

Joanie loves Chachi it's snowing!!!

2008-12-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

So how happy was I to wear my new blue coat today? And right now it is snowing!!! Okay, not a lot, and some people are doubting the validity of said snow (sleet, pshhh). But I believe it is snow and therefore it is. That is the power of the indomitable human spirit! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snowwww! :D

You can just barely see it in my hairs!

Most amazing documentary ever.

2008-12-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Gah, I had been wanting to see this for a while and Katie bought it for me for my birthday and there were lots of tears. I looooooooove it.

So it's about this seniors chorus called Young @ Heart who sing rock songs. This video is from the concert they are preparing for during the movie. It was supposed to be a duet, but the other man who was to sing passed away during the filming. I don't normally care for Coldplay, but I'm always going to love this song from now on. All of the songs take on a different meaning when they sing them. So good.

Watch it.

I'm hungry

2008-11-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

There were days once, when I would think long and carefully about what I wrote in the title portion of my blog. Usually a lyric or quote that described my mood for the day or something cryptic no one would understand. Now, I've been reduced to complaining about the empty state of my stomach. :) Ah, how the eloquent have fallen.

It's almost my birthday! Which means it's time for lots of annoying talk about me!! Except I have only a vague notion of what I'd like to do to celebrate..I think we'll go to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday which means I need to make an evite..and I'm having a Twilight Ball to celebrate the movie coming out, but now I don't really want to see it at midnight on Thursday..we shall see.

Did 2 story-times back to back today, and I have another in a few minutes. Love. The kids at one of the daycare's are usually pretty bad, and by bad I mean enthusiastic and want to talk your ear off instead of listening to the story, but today they were really good. And everyone at both of them gave me hugs. Awwww.

I have a research project I need to start on. So if anyone has any folktales about women from Central America and/or Spain send them my way so I can analyze the bejeezus out of them!

Much love.

Yay Halloween!

2008-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

This Friday, aside from it being Halloween, I have 2 papers due for one of my classes. Since I also have Halloween in the Park on Thursday and a TAG meeting yesterday I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time this week to work on them. So I vowed to get them done this weekend. On Saturday I estimate I did homework for 10 hours! I don't think I've ever focused on homework that long. It was insane. I finished all the homework do for one class (which was much more than normal), and one of the papers for the other. I took Sunday off, since Monday was my day off. I spent Monday (after I voted, of course!) working on the second paper which I finished around 4. Then I was free to paint!

I painted a hubcap I started working on a few weeks ago and it totally made my day. I hadn't felt that sort of satisfaction in a looong time. It was wonderful.I can't wait till I have more time to paint and do other creative things without feeling guilty for avoiding homework. :)

It's turned cold here which also makes me so happy. I love walking in the morning with Queenie in my TCU hoodie while my breath comes out in white puffs. Beautiful.

Best Job EVER!

2008-10-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today after one of my Outreach Storytimes, I heard one of the little girls say to another as they were walking back to their classroom: "I love her, she's so pretty." No joke. :D

Post Ike-alypse

2008-09-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

It's pretty surreal here after Ike, when I'm at work or at Eileen's house (where I've been staying the past few days) it feels like things are completely normal and then I leave the library or the house and see all the downed trees and power lines and Point of Distributions and lines at gas stations and it hits me again.

We stayed in and weathered the storm though it was hard to get to sleep during all that wind! The house came away unscathed, though the roof and top story of the dad's barn got torn off and the corner of the back porch roof got peeled back. Other than that we were extremely lucky. On the downside, we don't have power and probably won't for some time. But there are so many people without power who need it more than me that it's not as annoying as you'd think. And of course, dad rigged up a crazy powerful generator the other day that powers pretty much the whole house.

Since the library had power (and internet) we opened on Monday with just a few of us working, and we've been open all week. And it has been crazy! What's impressed me the most is how patient and understanding everyone has been. I mean, 1/2 of the city was without power and we had all of our computers online for people to get to the FEMA site and to email their friends and family, but people waited nicely and got off the computer when their hour was up.

Keith and I have been helping out at the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) during lunch which would have been overwhelming earlier in the week but now it's just people calling in about when they're power will be back on (Answer: we don't know). While we were there today we got special badges to scan to get in the back with the mayor and all of the Emergency staff. Pretty VIP stuff, especially when the Library Director herself doesn't have one. :)

In non-hurricane related news. My grandmother is going into hospital to get the battery replaced on her pace-maker and the doctors are concerned because her blood is a little thin. Also, my Uncle Kevin is sick, and this is a man who would never admit to being sick voluntarily so it must be serious. So my mom left San Marcos this morning to drive to Jackson, TN leaving Robin in San Marcos with Katie and her roommate Christina. This, in turn, means that I'll be driving up to have a sister's weekend and bring Robin home at the end of it.

So things are not too bad for me and mine. For which I'm thankful. I only wish it was the same for everyone! :(

Action would not be cool.

2008-09-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

I actually got a chance to quote West Side Story to my car on Saturday. Exciting, right? Not so much, he broke! Very scary at 11:00 in some numbered ward in Houston near U of H. But I was rescued, so it had a happy ending. And I guess it wasn't really all that scary. Just none fun.

But now he is fixed! Yay for awesome dads!

Got to see Kerrick on his birthday before he gets shipped out the Persian Gulf on Friday. Boooo.

Umm, there doesn't seem to be much else exciting to post. Except maybe that I've now seen Mamma Mia 4 times...

Yay videos! Also, I should've eaten lunch before I got here.....

Quick post

2008-08-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Don't know why I didn't think of writing here during this hella long week...stupid me perusing flair on facebook instead of sharing my thoughts here. And stuff has been a-happening, let me tell you. Here's a few bullet points:

Anna from England and Troy from Canada came to Fort Worth and Jen and I treated them to a very Texan time so we could relive our Australian awesomeness
Eileen and Mike got engaged (about time!), there was a big party to celebrate and Eileen's Tia Sheila got the 2 of us verrry drunk
Jana and Eric (aka Bob and Bagel) tied the knot in a legendary ceremony (lots of polka dots and zombie dancing)
the summer finished up, a pretty nice success for my first summer programming
I played Bingo last night (won nothing but had a cheap, tasty, unhealthy dinner)
Michael Phelps has won a bacowzillion gold medals and you know, my heart :)

Now some pictures!

Another Update!

2008-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

The summer is going incredibly fast! Freaky Friday (my end of summer party) is right around the corner and I'm already planning my fall schedule/designing promotional material for it. This also means that Jana and Bagel's Wedding is right around the corner (08/08/08)!!!!

We had the Bridal Shower on Saturday, and I think it was really successful. Some friends of Jana's mom made all of the food and it was really delicious, and I think they'll have the leftovers for a couple weeks. No wait, not with Jana's brothers around... Also, we played Bridal Movie Pictionary, which would've gone over better if it had been a younger crowd, and Bridal Gift Bingo- which was more popular I think. She got a TON of stuff, it took us a whole hour to open it all! After everyone left, a few of us stayed and played Cranium and Jana and I showed off our freakish mind link, and yet still didn't win the game...it's all in the luck of the roll, really.

Last night Bob, Bagel and I went to see When You Wish, a Disney song Revue at Miller Outdoor Theatre, for free. Singing along to Disney songs as the sun sets on a beautiful summer evening? Fantastic in my book!

This weekend I get to go to Fort Worth! To see Jen! And to reunite with Anna and Troy and relive our glory days in Oz. Actually it was exactly a year ago today that I returned home from Australia, I can't believe it's been that long. And I reeeally want to go back.

Last Thursday we went to the big opening night of the new movie everyone is talking about...that's right Mamma Mia! And it was soooo good! I loved every moment, even the strange man sitting next to me muttering random words: "Donna!" "ABBA" etc. I think he was drunk. Anyway, go see it. Amanda Seyfried was waaay better than I thought she'd be, and Meryl Streep is awesome.

Dancing Queens
Disco Awesomeness
Colin Firth!
And Weddings! Wait, still not convinced?
I've got your attention now, don't I? :)

Should be working right now....

2008-06-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yeah, of course I've got a ton of things to do:

finish choosing questions for Jeopardy on Friday
decide what the hell a Booknic actually is and how to execute one with 40-50 8-10 year olds
type up agenda for the TAG meeting
clean up my desk so it looks like...well, a desk
put in the newest names for the Summer Reading Club
check on the volunteer
read books for Battle of the Books and come up with questions on them (well I can't do that here, but still)

Instead I'm playing on facebook and writing in here. But I think it's long overdue (hee hee library joke). Let's see the summer has started and I think it's going well- though I missed a week for the wedding. Already we've cooked panninis, made sock bunnies, cd case picture frames, windchimes, planted seeds from outer space, banana jousted, and tomorrow Cecily will be doing some awesome chemistry experiments. It's been crazy busy and exhausting but so much fun.

Now onto wedding news. Holly has been married for a week now which is weird to me. So weird. I took the week off and flew up to St. Louis on the 9th and basically just did random wedding stuff all week. The end result was gorgeous and touching and I cried a lot. I know you're all shocked. Sti? Cry? No! But I did, especially when I had to make a toast at both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding reception. In front of a camera. Anyway, everything was beautiful, my dress stayed on, my hair was awesome, Holly was gorgeous and sooooo happy walking up the aisle, standing at the altar, looking at Alex, dancing in his arms and everything else. And the rest of us had a ball laughing and playing with the babies once our official duties were fulfilled. Other than that it was quite possibly the most stressful week of my life, but really only because I couldn't make things unstressful for Holly. But it all worked out and now Holly and I no longer have palindromic initials! :(

Bad Omens?

2008-05-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Normally I'm a very positive person, things don't get me down much and this week is really no different. Though the Universe does seem to be trying to keep me down.

Monday was....well a Monday. (Warning: I'm going to be cryptic here, sorry) I got some upsetting news yesterday morning, not bad news per se. But news I vehemently did not want to hear, of the put your fingers in your ears and say la la la as loudly as you can variety. So I was pouty for a while. This was cured by an evening with Eileen who totally proves herself worthy of the meritorious title of Best Friend. Especially with this quote: "Bad news should never come before lunch. No! Bad news should never come before cocktails!" Brilliance.

So everything nauseating about Monday was fixed by a margarita, dinner with the Romeros, and Guatemalan Coffee Shops. Tuesday looked good, spent the morning prepping Holly and Alex's wedding present and walking Queenie. But when I got off the desk at work to run some errands I ran into trouble. My car started making the most horrific squealing which turned out to be my fan belt. Luckily I have the most handy dad ever and he was able to meet me and figure out what was wrong and what part he needed to fix it. With some gruffness of course. :P So that's how I spent my lunch hour. Instead of eating Pad Thai and watching the Office I was sitting in a Conoco parking lot, sweating. Woot. But I had already gotten my errands run for the most part and I borrowed mom's car to get back to work and I got a fair amount of stuff done tonight. Though I am glad the night almost over. Speaking of which I better finish closing up.

Anyway, as for the omens. I just hope we got the none fun stuff out of the way early this to get ready for some awesomeness in the future.

Bring it on Universe.

Fort Worth!

2008-05-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

So my weekend in Fort Worth kicked ass!

Had a great time at Leah's party, though she doesn't remember it. :) On Saturday we hung out at Ol' South for several hours and then looked at scrapbooking stuff, saw the awesome movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Jen, Paul and I saw the Gin Blossoms at Mayfest which was such a great coincidence that I'm still psyched about. On Sunday we scrapbooked in the park with a picnic and went to the senior mass. *tears* And as usual I'm horrible at scheduling so Jess and I had to book it to the airport where the lovely people from Southwest kindly held the plane for me as I raced through the airport holding my shoes in my hand. All in all an unforgettable weekend!

In other news, I finished The Time Traveler's Wife today and it is soooo good and sad and beautiful and I don't think I want to see it made into a movie. There's just too much to it.

Fort Worth!

2008-05-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow! I'm going to Fort Worth tomorrow!

Just thought I'd let you know. :P

Mmmmm the men of Austen, could anything be better?

2008-04-23T12:40:00.001-07:00

What Jane Austen gentleman is for you?

Mr. Knightley. Emma's George Knightley is kind and thoughtful, but not above telling you something was "badly done" when you get a bit above yourself. He started off just being a compassionate friend, but in time you'll realize you're in love with him.
Take this quiz!

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This weekend

2008-03-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Some of you are enjoying Spring Break (teacher style) while others have returned from exotic locales (Jessica style). On the other hand, us librarians are still hard at work, and unfortunately don't even have kids to hang out with--so it's like we have real jobs for a change! :P Horrible, I know.

To keep you up to date, this past week we in the j(uvenile) department began figuring out what prizes we'll be giving out for the Summer Reading Club, which was really exciting, in the past, some of the gifts have been cool(AM/FM radio walkman) and others have been lame (dinosaur glider). But basically I'm just excited about helping choose the prizes themselves. Anyway among the prizes this year are cowboy rubber duckies, gel bracelets (i.e. "Live"strong/Awakening bracelets) that say READ in 8 languages, balloon powered race cars, and free Astros tickets. On Saturday I spent a large portion of the day creating the brochure for the YA and Tween summer programs. I came up with 3 different variations and I really like 2 of them.

Yesterday we got to go to mass as a whole family because Katie was home and then we (minus dad) went shopping because, if Nick (who's name is Captain Oblivious for a reason) notices that your clothes are falling off, you need to go shopping. Along with jeans that won't be falling off anytime soon, I also found some awesome sunglasses and a really cute hat that makes me feel like a flapper. Then we went to Javier's BBQ where the 3 of us sat around and attempted to understand all of the Spanish conversations going on around us, which we could..some of the time. :) But I had to leave early to lead rehearsal for live Stations of the Cross with a bunch of hyper high schoolers, some of whom didn't know who Simon of Cyrene and Pontius Pilate were..but overall it went well.

So that was the weekend for the most part. It was enjoyable. Hope yours was good too!
Sti

2008-02-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Keith and I went to a day long workshop on 'selling your library in the real world' mostly about displaying items in the library more like a book store than an old fashioned library. I'm really excited to get started!

A parent of one of my kids emailed the library and gushed about how awesome I am, and that it is a "CRISIS" when her son can't come to a TAG meeting or YA program. :) She said she appreciates my "time, preparation, competency, and the kindness [I] continually display." Just thought I would brag on that for a minute. :P

Also, today is the birthday of W.H. Auden. I remembered when I heard his poem "Funeral Blues" in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

"Stop all of the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come."

I love it. Have a good, rainy evening everyone!

Zombies, Birthdays and Love

2008-02-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

I seriously need caffeine. I love my new hour-long lunch breaks but they tend to make me fall into an afternoon coma when I get back. No good.

So besides being that day of all love, yesterday was Simon Pegg's birthday! For those uninformed among us *cough*Keith*cough* Simon Pegg is one of the brilliant minds behind Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. And someone I wish I was best friends with. So last night after our requisite episode of the West Wing, I watched Shaun of the Dead while doing some homework.

It was as awesome as always. And then I popped into the wonderful Libba Bray's blog and she was talking about zombies too! http://libba-bray.livejournal.com/31805.html

In other news, it's my Mom's birthday!! Tomorrow we're going to get paella at Mi Luna to celebrate after we go to a Woman's Day of Prayer thing at church.

And I'm making my teens watch The Adventures of Pete and Pete today! It's going to be AWESOME.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Outer Space

2008-02-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I was thinking about astronauts, I don't know how I got on the subject. But I guess when an average news story is that the space shuttle is taking off tomorrow, thinking about being in space isn't all that strange. Anyway, I was struck by the horrible fear I would have if I were an astronaut and had to execute a space walk. Being tethered to a space ship in outer space, when--if you got disconnected, you'd just float off into the cold darkness with a claustrophobic suit? No thank you. I could handle walking on the lunar surface, but no shuttle repairs for me!

I know that was random and I apologize. I also hope I didn't give anyone new phobias!

Yay for positive responses!

2008-01-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

:)

Well, this weekend was lovely...except for the part where I had to work, but I got some homework finished and created a bulletin board/poster thing and a new display for my Young Adult section, so I think it was a productive day.

Yesterday I hung out with Jana & Co. to celebrate Jeffrey's birthday, there was strawberry pie (yum!) and game playing (which we totally ruled at!).

The countdown is 5 days till I'm officially a full time librarian! I'm super excited but getting a little nervous because there is a lot more stuff to remember than you would think. Speaking of which, I have to come up with a display for February in the display case....any ideas?

Jessica is also coming to visit this weekend and celebrate my new job! I'm so excited! Yayayay!

I finally ordered my text books, and I'm proud to say I got one for about $60 less than full price. :) Here's hoping it's not a complete mess when I get it!

Well, for a Monday I've been quite productive I think. Took Robin to a dentist appointment, read about 8 Caldecott books, ordered textbooks, put up Retirement banners for Monetta, registered me and Keith for a workshop in February....let's hope it continues to be productive.

Journal Keeping

2008-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

The other day I was talking to my grandmother on the phone and she was gushing about how impressed she was with the journal I kept while I was in Australia, and she told me to keep them every year because when I'm older I'll want to be able to remember exactly when all the wonderful things in my life happened. And since I know that in 50 years I will be as crazy and forgetful as she is, I've decided to heed her advice, so hopefully that means I'll be writing more in this blog as well as my journal at home. What better time for recording the year? I'll be full time in 8 days, Holly and Jana are getting married in June and August, Grad School is in full swing etc.

So here's a renewed effort at updating here.

I'm famous!

2008-01-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

I just had one of those moments that Amber mentioned a while back. A patron walked up to the Circulation desk and asked "Are you the one who likes Anne of Green Gables"? (I am). And we discussed whether or not The Road to Avonlea was worth viewing. Then her mom came up and she told her that I liked Anne, to which her mom responds "Oh I know Christina, she does storytime!" It was so nice to be doubly recognized. And now I will preen for the rest of the day.

Entering the October Country

2007-09-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is October 1st and for some reason I am sooo excited for Halloween this year. It could be because the TAG, Lisa and I are already planning Halloween activities. For Friendswood's annual Halloween in the Park our theme is going to be the Wizard of Oz! And Keith and I decided that everyone should be zombie librarians on the 31st.

Yesterday mom and I got out our measly amount of Halloween decorations and put them up and today after mass we stopped at the 99 cent store and got some more. I'm way more excited about this holiday than normal.

I'm getting less and less eager to do school work, not a good thing. I really wish I was already done, could we fast forward please? The slow state of our internet connection may be part of the reason for this. It's incredibly annoying.

Jen was supposed to be in town this weekend and we were going to hang out on saturday. I called her when I woke up, but she never returned my call. It hurt, but I'm sure something came up or she forgot her phone or something like that.

I also watched a ton of canadian television this weekend, at least 7 hours of Degrassi. Such a ridiculous show! Eileen, Mike and I watched 4 straight hours on Friday which resulted in much delerious well meaning mocking of Canadians.