Wants and Needs: Christmas Edition

Wants

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Needs

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Merry Christmas??

I'm pretty gung-ho about Christmas this year.
Well, actually, I'm forcing myself to be pretty gung-ho about Christmas this year.

I used to get excited about the IDEA of the holidays. I remember being in middle school band, and every year we would play a mini Christmas concert, or maybe just songs for funzies (I can't remember), but I would get AMPED when I first heard Christmas music. But after a while, it would fade and I would be over it.

Last year's Christmas party veggie pizza - FESTIVE!

As I've gotten older, my Christmas cheer has lessened even more. Part of that, I think, is just getting growing up and having more holiday-related obligations and trying to budget time and money to make all of them work. Especially now that we're married, we have to try to cram 2 or 3 whole Christmas celebrations into 2 days.

But, I think my MAIN struggle is buying Christmas gifts. Britt touched on this in one of her posts, but I'm a TERRIBLE gift-buyer. Let me preface this with - I'm a terrible shopper in general. I start out with all these great things in my arms, and by the time I'm ready to check out, I've put almost everything back.

Last year's Christmas party - MATCHING TURTLENECKS

In addition to that, I just NEVER know what to get. I over-think the gifts I pick up, then I put them back, and then pick them up again, and say "fuck it! I'm buying this!" Then I walk around for 15 more minutes, usually talking to myself about how this gift is stupid, and they're just going to return it, before putting it down and then picking it up one last time. Before you can say "Rudolph", I'm sending frantic texts to Rachelle and my mom and Mike about how I want to shoot fire out of my eyes.

On top of all this whining, I was at my parents' house two nights ago, talking Christmas with my mom, and my DAD comes in and starts hating on the holidays. And that's when it dawned on me: I am my father's Scrooge-y child.

But this year? I want so DESPERATELY to be Christmas-y. I WANT to be cheerful. I WANT to feel celebratory. I WANT to be festive.

Last night at my house
Hot spiced cider, chocolate chip cookies, Christmas Glee

So, since Dec 1, I've been listening to Christmas music...NONSTOP. My house is already decorated (since BEFORE Decemeber). I've started shopping (the earliest EVER), and I've purchased Christmas cards.

I'm going to be festive, GODDAMNIT. I'm going to be so festive it HURTS. And I'm going to be that FESTIVE, even if it kills me.

What are your thoughts on the holidays? Do you LIVE for this time of year? Or are you having trouble channeling your inner St. Nick?

Civil Unions?!

For the first time in a long time Illinois is doing something good - voting YES on Civil Unions.
I know it's not 100%, but it's a step.

"If the measure passes the Senate and is signed into law by Quinn, who has pledged to do so, Illinois would become the sixth state offering gay couples the right to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships." Chicago Sun Times

"Civil unions for same-sex couples would be allowed in Illinois under historic legislation the state Senate swiftly sent today to Gov. Pat Quinn, who is expected to sign the measure...The Senate voted 32-24 after the House, viewed as the toughest hurdle, passed the measure on Tuesday." Tribune

"Less than 24 hours after it was passed by the Illinois House of Representatives, the state Senate voted to approve a measure that would allow gay couples to enter into civil unions." Huffington Post

Pat Quinn just needs to sign it!
And he would be STUPID AS SHIT not to, because he has publicly stated that he would.

"After a heated, hour-long debate, the legislation will now head to Governor Pat Quinn’s desk. He has said he’ll sign the bill. He got a standing ovation when he entered the Illinois Senate Wednesday during debate and on Tuesday in the Illinois House." Fox Chicago

Yay!

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C'mon!

So, my mom send me this badass video:

First and foremost, I love flash mobs. And I cried while watching this, because the music is AMAZING, regardless of the religion attached.

So, after watching it, I started to browse the comments, which was obviously a mistake.

While there were people praising the beauty of the music, the logistics and rehearsal that were obviously involved in putting this together - a good handful of creeps turned it into a gross religious debate.

Someone said this:

acts and celebrations of faith have their place in this country. And it's not where people are trying to eat dinner. If it was held in a public park, people would have the option of avoiding it. How can you be sure that everyone was enjoying it? They could have edited out the people who stood up and took their dinner else where. This fragrant (sic) act of flaunting Christ should not be so intrusive in our lives. They should have been more respectful of other faiths during their meal time.

And while I DO understand the point of view, to a very small degree, why is it about THAT? Why does everyone freak the FUCK out if they can smell religion in the air? THE MUSIC WAS BEAUTIFUL! Why can't it be left at that?

Beyond THAT argument, people started throwing Muslims under the bus:

...However, I wonder how people would take it if a bunch of Muslims did the same and sang God is Great in such a diner/food court. Would other have been offended? Free speech you say?

I hope not. I hope that no matter what religion you are, and what you believe, you can respect the beauty of the arts. Why don't we understand and appreciate each other better, and say "Oh yes, that was a beautiful song!" Rather than "Your God is not MY God, and I don't want to see or hear about YOUR God ever! Especially through song." Can't we all just get along? Can't we all be friends? Seriously.

My goodness, we're a country of crybabies.

Reaaaaaaaaaaally random.

I stayed home from work yesterday, and I love staying home from work.
I love the quiet hours, and the TV in the background. I love making a to-do list and ACTUALLY getting things done during those stolen hours.

I'm confused, you guys. I wish wish wish I could expand on this here, but I can't.
Which is PROBABLY why this post is going to be really crazy and disconnected.

I have these dreams, sometimes, where the floor is melting underneath me. I think I looked up the meaning once, and it has to do with feeling overwhelmed or out of control. Duh.
I'm feeling exCEPTIONALLY disorganized lately. Our office has become a storage room - again.
HA!

I've been in the process of repainting one of our bathrooms (pictures to come...eventually) and it's turned into a much longer and much larger project than I anticipated (isn't that always how it goes?). Hopefully I'll get it done before 2012.

We also had a flooring place come over and give us an estimate to get laminate put in on our first floor, and HOLY SHIT - what a ripoff. He told us that our "Retail Price" was $13,000. For laminate. In a VERY small townhouse. Stop it. Right now. But, oh! Don't worry. He discounted us down to $5,400, which is still EXTREMELY high. Frustrating, frustrating.

I need to change my blog-life. I've been debating the switch from blogger to wordpress for a while. Maybe I'll get around to it? Let's add this to my ever-growing to-do list!
What I need to do, REALLY BADLY, is clean out my reader. I'm way behind on my reader (my sincerest apologies to those who I used to comment on, but haven't in a while...I'm getting there), and I want to clean it out - so if you're still here, still checking in on me periodically, leave me note, leave me a link, leave me something, and I'll make sure to bug you back.

Harry Potter!!

So, I'm totally nerding out because Harry Potter comes out RIGHT NOW. I set this post to publish on 11/19 at 12:01am.
Unfortunately, I am NOT seeing it at the moment - I'm planning to see it first thing Sunday morning. I know I SHOULD be part of the gung-ho midnight crowd, but I've done it three times, and I just don't enjoy the MOVIE as much.
The crowd - awesome, and fun, and soooo entertaining to see the elaborate costumes, but unless I'm up and moving at midnight, all I can think about is my bed.

In order to make up for my movie viewing failures I put together this for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure, whichever)

Please don't judge me. I know I make some weird faces and get really close to the camera, but there was NO WAY IN HELL I was remaking that video.

For serial, I was planning this for a while, and I've been practicing nightly, and for a while I HAD it. But tonight? When I went to record it - EFF - I couldn't play it for BEANS. Mike was in the house though, and it made me NERVOUS.



You guys. I'm so excited and so depressed about this movie. I mean, Harry Potter is the longest love affair of my life. I've read those books over and over, and they are so comforting and wonderful. It's amazing to be transported to this other gorgeous world. But SO SO SO sad that this is the beginning of the end. Even when the 7th book was released, I knew that there were still movies to look forward to. But after this? We only have July.



Take a second and vote for this kid, but THIS, RIGHT HERE? is commitment:


I hope, deep down, that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is real. Even if that DOES mean that I'm a Muggle. I just want our world to have magic in it somewhere.

Bloggers and People that Blog

I feel like there are bloggers, and there are people that blog.

Bloggers are those who write, and advertise and network and are good at it.
Bloggers go to meet-ups and are people you may someday get to meet in person. They're the queens (and occasionally kings) of the internetz, and all of us their loyal followers. A single post garners 50+ comments, and their passages are shared via Reader, stumbleupon and Twitter. You don't know the ins and outs of their day, but you sew together a picture of their lives. Bloggers are impressive.

People who blog are like me...sometimes we are at a loss of what to write. Sometimes our posts are inconsistent, and ridiculous, and we struggle. We posts memes when we've got writer's block, and sometimes feel weird calling it "writer's block" because that's a term for WRITERS. We occasionally share Waaaaaaaay too much about our lives, our day and our pets. But that's ok, because we're pretty cool too.

But I do wish that more of the people I know in real life would become people who blog.
For instance, Rachelle blogs. Rachelle is my BFF since 7th grade, and thanks so the internet and cell phones we're in contact almost constantly, on top of that we usually see each other at least once a month, but usually more. HOWEVER, I find her blog posts to be FASCINATING because we don't talk like we blog. Like, we wouldn't have this conversation, right here, face-to-face.

And Katie, my BFF since HS, and thanks to distance and time differences and our mutual disdain for phone calls (haha), we don't get to talk as often as we would like. But she blogs, and I can read about her weekend and her feelings and thoughts. And again, I find it fascinating because people don't write like they talk.

I mean, sure, you can "be real" in your blog, but mostly I don't speak in full sentences, without punctuating them with "AWESOME!" or "SHUT UP!" They are filled with slang and pauses and verbal fillers.
Writing a blog post is closer to writing a speech or a presentation because it is so one sided. It can CERTAINLY open up a dialogue after you've read it, but by that point the author has said their piece.

In summary, more people I know in real life should blog regularly (if for no other reason than my enjoyment). That is all.