I'm Soooo Popular!

Woo! Two followers!

I feel like I passed a huge hurdle today... I'm no longer the loser with only one friend. I've never been so excited in my life.

Jenny and Lisa... you two are my heros!

Everyone else... that means you mom... feel free to join them:)

I Have A New Face!

Yesterday I decided to venture into the world of new eye wear. I've been wearing glasses since I was 10 years old and until college, I got a new pair of glasses every other August like clockwork. I didn't get a new pair because my old ones were broken or anything, I got a new pair because by after two years, I was sick of my frames. They were always too big or too round or not cool enough. Then, my the summer after freshman year in college, I decided to switch to plastic (I'd been wearing wire before). And I found these lovely frames.

I loved them. They were pretty, they made me look intelligent, and they had super cute lions on the arms and on the cleaning cloth. I wanted to keep them forever. And I did... almost. But after four years of abuse from the sun and the stress of daily activities, my amazing frames started to wear down. Even the lenses had taken abuse from my body... after four years of blinking, my lenses were covered with tiny eyelash gouged scratches. Crazy!

So I decided that it was time for a change. So my parents and I headed over to Lenscrafters and started to go through the store's gazillion frames. Of course, the first pair I found was a new pair of my old frames. And I almost got them again.

But then I found these beauties and I fell in love.

They are super pretty, but they also look kinda like my old ones, so I'm pretty sure that no one notices that they are different... bummer.

One Spark Starts the Fire

This could possibly be the coolest thing ever. Quotables makes matches, something I've known for a while, but what I never realized is that each match box features a "spark=inspiration" kinda quote. Cool huh? Check 'em out!

Nothing Like a Little Déjà Vu to End the Week With a BANG!

Five years ago, my ballet studio performed Cinderella for it's spring performance and a Disney themed baby recital. It was my senior year in high school and I was supposed to be the Winter Fairy in the former performance and the Little Mermaid in the latter.

But, I broke my foot. No ballet for me. Story of my life.

Fast forward to Saturday, when this year's ballet and parts were announced. Our spring performance is going to be parts of three different ballets, act 1 of Cinderella, act 2 of Coppelia, and the first half of the Little Mermaid.

Sound familiar? I thought so.

Well as you can probably imagine, when I heard what ballets we were doing, I sort of had a mini freak out. It was small and in my head, and I was very contained on the surface, but internally, I wanted to cry a little bit. You see, when I found out that my broken foot would prevent me from dancing in (what I thought would be) my final ballet ever, I was devastated. Now, when I sort of feel like I'm re-living high school, it's a little weird to also be re-living the spring ballets I never got to dance in.

And then, after I finished my mini-freakout, I had another. What if, by some crazy universe altering something, they decided to cast me in the roles I never got to be? I'd get to wear a tutu one last time. I'd get a solo. I'd be murdered by all the girls who actually care, no, obsess over what part they get. The girls who put up with class four days a week and go to summer camp and basically do whatever it takes to look good in class. (I did this, too, only back in my day I had class five days a week). The point is, it would never happen. In a way, I don't deserve to get good roles anymore because I'm basically just a pseudo-student. I'm not real. I don't care about it the way that they do anymore. But, a little part of my unfulfilled high school senior self, hoped for a miracle.

In the end, I got two very good roles. I'm going to be the dancing teacher in Cinderella (a small solo) and one of the Little Mermaid's sisters in the Little Mermaid. I'm pretty excited about this, but at the same time, I'm still a little sad and honestly, a little apprehensive. Hopefully the déjà vu won't go as far as my health :)

Is Your Mind as Amazing as Mine?

I was cleaning out my old emails today and I came across this one that my grandmother sent me. Normally I think forwards are pretty silly, but this one was cool...

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

yes. I could read that with no problems at all...

Because I'm Still A Bio Nerd at Heart

Best. Video. Ever.

via http://multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/ and youtube

Why? Well...
1. its awesome
2. it reminds me of college and all those times that we watched this... for fun
3. it reminds me that I'm still smart
4. it reminds me that I don't totally fail at life (science-wise) because I still understand most of what's going on in this video and could probably still whip out some of the pathways that surround it.
5. it has super fun music


Go on. Watch it. Be nerdy. I am.

Wise Words to Live By

You'll never make a three course meal out of a bicycle...

it's better to get on it and ride!

It's a good thing you can make a meal out of butternut squash...

Autumn Chicken Stew

There are a heck of a lot of foods that I like just as much as this stew, maybe even more, but it's definitely up there on my list of preferred dinner foods! It's even great as leftovers because the potatoes and butternut squash all mush together and create a goopy delicious mass of potato and squash. Of course, my favorite part of this meal is definitely the dumplings, gotta stay true to my "carbohydrate kid" past!

Stew

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 cup bisquick mix

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

A big butternut squash (cut into 1-inch cubes)

2-3 medium potatoes (cut into 1-inch cubes)

1 medium onion (chopped)

1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 cans of vegetable broth

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground allspice

Dumplings

1 3/4 cups bisquick

3/4 cups milk

1. Coat chicken with 1/4 cup Bisquick mix. In a 4.5-quart dutch oven (or soup pot), heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until it's no longer pink in the center. Add onion when chicken is almost done so it browns a little

2. Stir in pumpkin, spices, potatoes, tomatoes, and broth. Heat to boiling; reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, mix dumpling ingredients in a bowl.

4. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto stew mixture. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes or so.

5. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Thanks Betty Crocker!

Fear

You know, fear is a funny thing. Sometimes it's there, gripping your throat and squeezing your stomach, and sometimes it's gone. It can wreak havoc on your emotions and just generally sucks or it can make you stronger... push you to do things you never thought possible.

Everyone is afraid of something. For some people it's clowns or snakes or ants or walking into a building completely naked or in my brother's case... beavers (when he was little).

For me, it's fire.

I don't remember a time when I wasn't afraid of fire. When I was a kid, it terrified me. Field trips to the fire department in pre-school guaranteed at least a week of nightmares. The same for fire department field trips in kindergarten and summer camp. In sixth grade we watched the movie Across Five Aprils and in it, the main family's house burns down. Bad news bears for my sleeping habits.

And when I say nightmares, I don't just mean a bad dream that you can wake up from, get over, and go back to sleep after. My nightmares were intense and very real. Then, when I finally woke up, I would be convinced that it was real and that my house really was on fire. I would be super hot, my ears would be ringing (it always sounded like the fire alarm to me), and I would be convinced that I smelled wood smoke. It was terrifying.

I've since moved on to more adult fears, like being alone forever, getting fat, and not being able to pay back my extremely large college loans, but every now and then, little things will spark that fear. I hate electric blankets because someone I know once set their house on fire with a faulty one. I love having fires in our fireplace, but it scares me when we leave it smoldering at the end of the night, just in case it explodes or something. And of course, attempting to watch Ladder 49, was a really bad idea... I only made it through the first 15 minutes before I had to leave the room because I thought I was going to be sick. Then I had to sleep with the light on that night because I was scared and I kept thinking I smelled wood smoke.

Fortunately, I no longer sleep with the light on and I very, very rarely wake up in a cold sweat caused by a dream in which my house has erupted in flames. I'll just need to remember to never watch Ladder 49 again.

Weekly Wisdom

I don't know why, but I really love this card/quote.

Maybe someday, someone will feel this way about me

It's Glittering!

There are very few things I enjoy about glitter.

I'm occasionally ok with it on cards, rarely when it's on or in clothing, and on shoes, almost never (unless you are under 6 years old, then as far as I'm concerned, you can go to town and wear all the glitter you want!).

Yes, it's pretty and it sparkles and it can make things look kind of magical, but it also has a tendency to get all over you and everything else in a 20 foot radius. "Fairy dust" is the worst. It's this super fine glitter that they use at my ballet studio as a reward for all the little kids when they do something right. Occasionally the big girls get dusted, too. The one time I was fairy dusted, my teacher pretty much coated my entire body and it took two showers and some intense scrubbing to get it all off. My laundry glittered for a week. Good.

But there is one kind of glitter that I love. The snowy kind.

I love all kinds of snow, but there's nothing better than the kind that glitters as it falls and sparkles when it's on the ground. It's glittering outside right now. That makes me happy :)

Three Weeks of Happiness

After around five months of relative seclusion from most of my friends (and frankly, anyone within 5 years of my age) I finally broke free from the monotony of living like I'm back in high school again.

On December 16, I embarked on a three week whirlwind of travel, family, and friends. I went from Virginia to Florida to Vermont to Pennsylvania to New Jersey and finally back to Virginia. I never left a place when I was supposed to and I stretched my vacation out as long as humanly possible.

In those three weeks, I made new friends and saw old ones. I got two new nicknames, "Tea Girl" (from some rando woman at Epcot) and "Feathers" (from some rando dude I met in Florida haha). I went from the happiest place on earth (Florida/Disney) to the coldest (Vermont). I did Christmas five times with my real family and once with my school family. I had about 40 diseases and lived to tell about them all, my brother got the flu (not swine...we think). I won the Sherman Family Christmas Sweater Contest. I went sledding and built a snowman. I played a never ending game of war on new year's eve and tons of rummy and May I. It was a great time. I wish it hadn't ended!

My Florida family

My real family

The cousin sweater contest (and grampa)

Sledding

My Etown family

Sam, our sea monster snowman

Hello 2010, Goodbye Perfect Yellow Purse

As some of you may know, this summer I was given my first ever Coach purse as a birthday present. It was beautiful, yellow, and my favorite. Ever.

Unfortunately, sometime around the beginning of November, it died.

Well not exactly, but the binding on the handle started to peel off. So, I took it to a Coach store and told them that my bag was breaking. They told me to send it to the repairs center in Florida and that if they couldn't fix it, I would get a credit for a new bag. So (with great sadness) I sent my purse off into the great beyond, hopefully to get repaired to "Coach Quality" and returned to me in all its yellow splendor.

I received a letter several weeks later informing me that my bag could not in fact be restored to its former glory. To make up for their inability to repair it, they would either award me a credit of 344.40 (the value of my bag) or they would send back my bag in lieu of credit.

Now, 344.40 is an awful lot of money to give up when you only paid 90ish for a bag (thank you coach factory store super sales!) even if it is an amazing yellow bag... so I took the money. It was almost enough for three more bags (again, thank you coach factory store). I gave one to my mom for Christmas, so now she's styling, I kept one for myself, and I returned the third for 127 in store credit... not too shabby, I think!

So, goodbye beautiful yellow bag! Hello new year and new Coachness!

Mom's Mine