What do YOU want?

I read more than 100 different blogs every day. I don't usually comment, but I read.

I have gleaned some incredible things from these blogs.

Something I have been excited to impliment is a weekly dose of some of my favourite things.

I want to know what you want to hear about.

Do you want more pictures? (Grandma, I'm putting you down on this one as a yes?!)

Some recipes?

Art Techniques?

Creative writing examples and encouragements?

Guest bloggers?

Cartoons?

Money/time saving tips?

Funny crap that happens to me?

Books I read/shoes I love?

I suppose, I am leaning the blog away from me and more into things I am passionate about.

I have said 'I' a lot in this post and I want YOU to leave a comment stating "I want you to have..." And give some feedback...

The Journey of the Giraffe which is probably the least eventful story in the world. But is complete with pictures.

Of course, I have many giraffe stories. However, I have yet to have a giraffe story with a CAMERA on hand. Lucky for me, while on a walk through our chalet park, we stumbled across this:




I know. Adorable.

I had a camera this time. No make up on my face mind you, but a camera. Proof:



Make-up aint nothing when you are staying in a chalet with a private pool.

We walked 20 metres up to the guy on our side of the fence and he decided to step forward to greet us.

He halved the distance in one step.

I chickened out. Ran away and used the zoom.



Magnificent.

The End.

Things I am not a stranger to...

It's been officially three months since Hubs and I returned from honeymoon. Boy, has it been an adventure. Which is fabulous because, as you know, I am no stranger to adventure.



Or Danger...



or beauty





And definitely not hugs.

I like my husband.

Hubs is a great guy. He took me to the art store when I told him that everything was 50% off. (In SA the best sales are 35% off at best. This is a BIG sale) I was so excited. We waltz through the steel gate into paradise.

And I saw them.

Inkadinkado Rubber Stamps.

They are gorgeous.

Hubs looked at me when I pulled them off the shelf. I begged he conceded. As I pranced with the joy of holding beautiful objects, he casually mentions "Babe, I have wooden blocks at home for you to decorate." Oh how sweet! I giggled and thanked him and we paid.

Utterly confused, Hubs says, "I'm sorry. How in the hell are you going to fit a BLOCK OF WOOD into a book."

A block of wood?




A block of rubber stamping wood.

And then everything made sense.

Poor supportive Hubs. He did everything to make sure I found joy even if it meant gluing blocks of wood into a book.

Doesn't he win?

Sometimes we all need a little giggle.

Third week of surpressed joy.

But this cartoon unleashed it! :)

**image via whiteninja.com

I eat toast in bed for revenge.

Oh crumbs. I ate my toast in bed last night.

Oh crumbs Hubbles. Did you really think I'd forget?

Oh crumbs. Crumbs. Crumbs.

Crumbles.


Take that, Mr Hubs.

Take those crumbs.

I got my reveng-umbles.

Blog Crush Monday

I am hereby admitting to my one terminal downfall. I fall in love easy. And there are just so many writers that make my heart ooze joy.

So even though frequently my posts have been lamer than lame, and more noob than N00b, I am going to point you in the fabulous directions of some of my favourite Blog Crushes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Megan at Somewhat Voluble. She probably thinks I am stalking her now. Poor thing. But She is also one of those crazy girls who got married before 21 and her blog is utterly heartwarming.

ScoMan at A Name in your Recollection He recently joined Twitter, and we've become great friends. He posts once a week now a days, and even though I protest daily, he will contiue to do so. Sad Day.

Ron at Ronzworld has taken the blog world by storm. He is witty and fresh and inspiring.

Brandy at It's like I'm...mmmagic Its like reading my alterego at times. Utterly fabulous!

Kerri at Your Wishcake. Another ridiculously heartwarming blogger. *sigh* She's like the nice girl in all of us.

So there you have it. My newest blog crushes. I seriously have a reader of a gazzillion blogs and love them all. *double sigh*


Have a fabulous Monday dear ones! :)

It's about you.

Today is about you:

What do you wish there was more hype about?

Or

What do you wish there was less hype about?


Less hype about: Winter

I am so over winter. Let's not talk about it any longer. Maybe if we ignore it it will go away.

More hype about: Sleep.

Sleep. There should be more of it.


Your turn

My best friend is getting married. Wait. What?!

Meeka is getting married. She's getting married! While my joy is indescribable and my anticipation to save enough cash to be in the States for her wedding is reeking havoc in my mind, my nostalgia is even stronger!



Here is a picture I found of her and her sister and my brother and I. We've been BFFs since we were five. She's come to South Africa twice and I am so excited to join up again.

Rare is the friend that puts up with me for 16 years!

Tough Tuesdays

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life

***Winston Churchill ***

Standing up

Personally I don't consider my self either conservative nor liberal. The closest political word for my beliefs is Right-Libertarianism. I believe in freedom. I believe in small government. I believe, like Ronald Reagan, that government is the problem not the solution.

I don't want Gay-rights limiting my opinion. If homosexuals want to have the same rights as heterosexuals- fine. Just don't make me have the same opinion as you do. Give me the freedom to disagree and protest without labelling me a bigot.

I don't want the NRA limiting my opinions either. I don't support the gun laws. I want the right to say so. I also don't support the anti-gun movement. I want the right to say they are both ridiculous.

I don't support abortion. I believe that babies have rights. But I believe that if it's legal, I want the right to say I think it's wrong, just as if it's illegal you want the right to protest about the woman's choice.

I don't like President Obama and the socialist practices he is implementing. I don't approve of President Zuma and the communist policies he is shoving down our throats.

I wish to reserve the right to disagree. And this right is so slowly dissolving under the word "tolerance" and the dogma of being narrow minded.. What is narrow-mindedness? According to Merriam- Webster narrow-mindedness is lacking in tolerance or breadth of vision. According to many, I am narrow minded because I don't agree with popular opinion.

But real narrow mindedness is placing your opinions above others. Being narrow minded is the lack of width in your vision, that you can't see that all this mumbo jumbo is truly just that. Mumbo Jumbo.

Isn't that what tolerance really is? It's not supporting gay rights. Nor is it supporting liberal ideals. True tolerance is respecting opinions, both those that support your view and those in disagreement.

Free Speech as a constitutional right is slowly disappearing. God forbid that Facebook refuses to shut down Aryan Supremacist groups! Where has the freedom to state unpopular opinions gone?

I support a new kind of tolerance. Not of the popular Obama catch phrases but of the respect of differences.

Martin Niemoller said: "In Germany, the Nazis came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me."

The same can be said for our constitutional rights. First they came for Gun rights and I didn't stand up because I didn't own a gun...

The 'tolerants' are coming for Free Speech and I am standing up.

What are your thoughts?

I quit.

I am hereby handing in my resignation to today. I quit today. I quit this week. How do you feel now week?! How do you feel now today?!

I win.

My week. White Ninja Style

**click on image for enlargement**

Love Letters

Dear Nissan,

Why oh why do you install tape decks into post 2000 Almera's. It's uncool. The radio and obscure tapes I happen to have from when I was 8 are really old now.

Please take note. The next car we get will either be silent or equipped with the top of the line Ipod dock. Thank you.

Regards,

Girl who can no longer tolerate Jeremy Mansfield or Garreth Cliff. Nor the Backstreet boys.
*************************************************************************************

Dear Blogger,

Why do you do your maintenance at 2:00 PDT? This happens to correspond perfectly with my lunch break. The globe just don't run on one timezone.

Sincerely,

South African who likes to eat at 12:00 exactly and type up a post.

*************************************************************************************

Dear really big coffee cup,

I love you. And I love the copious amounts of coffee inside you.

Love,

Girl who feels overworked today.

*************************************************************************************

Dear Hubs,

Thanks for staying up late with me last night. It helped me feel more like I am 21 and not 81. Plus you talked me through all my internal issues. Who gets a husband like that?! You are the bomb.

Kisses,

Your 21 year old wife

*************************************************************************************

Dear Co-worker

If you seriously don't stop talking about food, while I am trying to diet.... i will kill you.

Thanks,

Girl who already has shed 2 kgs and only has fifty million more to go

*************************************************************************************

Happy hump day you all you out there! Have a better day than I! :)

Letting go Version II

**Don't forget to vote for your favourites!**

Sometimes I envy Hubs.

Not in the I-wish-I-had-a-penis-so-that-I-could-sit-on-the-couch-and-play-xbox-or-computer-games-until-4:30 in the morning-belch-when-I-feel-like-it-and-leave-stink-bombs-in-the-car-for-my-wife kind of way.

Obviously. Ew.

No, what I envy about Hubs is his amazing ability to let go. He no longer feels bitter over his despicable Exes. He doesn't secretly wish that his grade four crush would find him on Facebook to notice how sexy he has become. No longer does he feel the pangs of teenager regret.

Oh to have this skill! I have a hard time letting go!

Remembering kills me sometimes. Nostalgia leads to aching.

I am gearing up to my Facebook clean out. Why am I friends with my fourth grade crush?! Why do I constantly double check my profile picture to make sure I look as thin and beautiful as possible? It is ridiculous! I need to clean them out. I need to be able to let go. I need the courage to know that once I release them, I won't ever need them.




I have everything I have ever needed. So cest la vie

Participation Required

Weirdest thing happened.

I wrote a post.

I posted it.

I got doubled my hit count.

Wait, What?!

Ok, so hello to all those new readers out there. Introduce yourselves dammit!

I've been overly lame lately. So come on.. Please?

I am excited for the growth that has been evident over this blog. While I haven't posted many posts, it's been over two years that I have written here. I have posted a few of the most popular links and a poll.... Tell me which posts are your favourites and need to have a permalink. You can select as many as you wish.

I am also super excited for some additional fun things I am working on! (No Mom/Grandma/Aunties! No babies!)

So vote! And Delurk!

My calling is The Calling

I have really cool taste in music. I won't lie.

I can literally mosh with the metalheads (or Hubs whatevs.)

Or Swoon with the lovers...

Or dance like the hooker on the bar to Kanye West. If you catch me with one too many anythings, I'll be

Quick to the point to the point no faking
I'm cooking MC's like a pound of bacon
Burning them if you ain't quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi-hat with a souped up tempo
I'm on a roll and it's time to go solo

Ahem.

I have really cool taste in music.

And Rock is my passion. Maybe it's the three guitars that take residence in our home that gives Hubs and I away as rockers or the slammin' guitar solos screeching from my Hifi or perhaps its my pierced and tattooed body that make the sweet, nice kids run from us.

But behind this...ahem... rough and tough... music genre facade, I have a sweet spot for one of the girliest bands that has ever graced the rock scene.

The Calling.

Where did I meet them?

In my favourite chick flick. Coyote Ugly.

Sigh.

This is my favourite song by them. Go check it out and mock me later!

Have a fabulous friday everyone!

A break

This might just be because I am tired. I might just be tired because Hubs feels the need to be awake at four this morning. I might be overreacting.

However, I am feeling the unrequited need to take a break from life. A break, not from work, not from marriage but from life. From thinking too much. From being sad for no apparent reason. From drifting away.

It seems so weird that I can be so emotional for no reason. I am not usually this way.

I blame it on the upcoming exams. Exams stress me out in the weirdest way. *sigh*

Sometimes it's so rad to be who I am. Othertimes... I wish I could go back to sleep.

And ace exams without a worry.

*double sigh*

Top (Kinda) ten things that make today what it is.

1. The plumber arrived... before 8 am... to fix our yucky pipes. God bless him! As I write he is in there tinkering away in the kitchen with Hubs.

2. It sounds as if Hubs has made a new friend. Dinner with the plumber anybody?

3. I got a frantic sms from Pookie, which let to a drunken phone call which can all be rectified today once she wakes up and has less of a hangover.

4. I was able to lay in bed past 6 am... past 6:30 am and only got my lazy ass up once the plumber knocked on the front door at 7:30 am...

5. There is something in knowing that my daily quota of foul language is used up by 7:31am.

6. Tonight I will be able to wash dishes in my kitchen sink again! Oh joys!

7. I can no longer fend off Hub's moans about not having clean clothes... because now my pipes will be fixed. Sad day.

8. Thankfully I can only think of eight things right now. Cut me some slack, its only 28 minutes since I got up!

9. Wait I thought of one more, no wait. It's gone.

10. Skin and bones.

11. Johnny Depp.

Yep. I did conclude my list with Johnny Depp. because he s alive today enhances my chance meeting with him like 100%. SO here's to you Mr. Depp!

Custom Stationary? Yes Please!!

Mrs Newlywed posted a fabulous giveaway for custom stationary Go check it out!! http://misadventuresofanewlywed.blogspot.com/2009/05/basically-im-jealous-of-my-own-giveaway.html

Kids say Funny crap II

I checked my emails this morning only to receive an email from my 10 year old sister. She just got an email address to help her keep in contact with her friends that are moving away. She needed technical assistance, so she sent me this email.

subject: What is Dom's thing?

i have it but i has drafts what is wrong???????



I has drafts too. It's a lot like swine flu. Deadly.

Twirl in the mirror... Always twirl...

Saw this on my friend's facebook profile. I don't think she took the picture, but it made my day, so I thought I'd share it!



(can't see what thee fuss is about? Look closely at the lady's behind...)

Intimacy and lack thereof

I am a big abstinence supporter. I saved sex for marriage.

It was something that was very important to me.

I wrote this a while ago. It too held a place on my now dead blog.


Intimacy

Virtue, cast not away from me
Marriage let not my heart stray…
Chasteness hear my plea.
Long lashes tremble
Rock and roll ‘til the fever breaks
By and by as strength weakens
The quiet echoes
Patience and grace hold true…

My blood.

U2 frontman Bono once said: "My definition of art started with: you put your hands under your skin, you break your breastbone, you rip open your ribcage. If you really want to write, that’s what you ought to do. Are you ready to do that? Or is rock ‘n’ roll for you just a pair of shoes and a haircut, or a certain sour existentialism or a certain sweet decay? That is one of my first definitions of art. Blood."

This is my blood.

My intentions when I wrote this poem where to echo my current thoughts in certain post-modernistic thinking. I did this in two ways. Firstly, following the belief that everything that is created has already been created before, I used either a line from another poem, another song or another work of art for each individual line. I also tried to allow the cyclical nature of the subject matter of the poem to further echo this sentiment. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!



A Love Song for a Saviour

Tarnished with things unseen

I’m taking the blame

Since the words to comfort

Suddenly rebel at questioning.


Longest I’ve been impermanent

Unsettled and unkind

Shuffle to grace

Summon my demons

Just to push them away…


Falling silent

To stumble...

Grapple with heaven’s mercies

Simple and stained

Searching remains to find you again.


Love’s soft breath strokes the cheek

In time to find…

Resolved, I am to love you

With whatever means are mine.

Words that may not fit sometimes do.

I wrote this as a worthless experiment. It was launched on a separate blog that I am in the process of shutting down.

I want to share it with you.


syntax
syntax
forgot
in the eve of
the tiresome
paragraphs
cant break
beginnings
period.
breaks Love's
trust bonds
and
when the pause
comes
effect
no longer