The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

I have been SO into the Olympics this year! They get me to the gym almost every night. The time just flies by on the elliptical, and when I start to get tired, I look at those athletes and convince myself I can make it another 5 minutes. For some reason, I've found that I really enjoy watching the skiing. I was on the elliptical last night when Lindsay Vonn fell, and Julia Mancuso was sent back to do her run again- craziness. I also love the figure skating (of course); it was so crazy when that girl from the U.S. gave herself a nosebleed from spinning so fast! And the snowboarding is just insane. I was watching them do tricks in the half pipe (I don't know what that event is called), and I just kept thinking about how awful it is that one fall completely eliminates you. You get two runs, and that's it. I don't think I could handle the pressure of losing everything by making just one tiny mistake. Good thing I'll never be in the Olympics. Anyway, I'll

My faith is still a mess. I'm still reading my Bible every day. I'm halfway through 1 Samuel, and I'm not liking what I read. There is just so much violence, and it seems like most of it is ordered by God. I can almost understand why He'd want to wipe out evil civilizations (like the ones that practice human sacrifice), but it seems like He always demands that they kill all the babies and animals, too. Killing babies is not okay. I got especially upset during Judges. Chapter 19, the Levite and his concubine, was pretty upsetting. (They're staying in an evil city, and a mob comes to the door wanting to rape the Levite, so they throw his concubine out there and she's raped and killed.) I wanted to throw my Bible at the wall when I got to Judges 11:29-40. Jephthah tells God that if he wins a battle, "whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a b

I haven't given up on blogging. But my internet is down about 90% of the time for some reason. Since I'm not actually paying for internet right now, I can't complain. I just use my phone. I don't have anything interesting to blog about anyway. I'm loving the Olympics; they make going to the gym so much better. Also, I work harder when they're on because I watch what those athletes are doing and think, "If they can do that, I can make it another 5 minutes on the elliptical." Last weekend my birthmom came for brunch, and we signed our DAR papers. Soon we'll be official. We found out they even have a little "gang sign." Too cute. My eShakti dress came, and it is gorgeous. I got tons of compliments. I wore it with a pearl necklace and earrings, and our school counselor called me June (Cleaver). So I ordered two more dresses, which should be here any day now. I have an addiction. I really want to go to the This is Next Conference

I had never seen Jersey Shore until last weekend. So when I heard they were going to have a marathon, I decided to record it and spend my Sunday figuring out why everyone was talking about this show. It was, as I had anticipated, completely ridiculous. It is a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. I must be old for real, because I am just all judgmental and disapproving as I watch. I just can’t believe the egos in that house. That girl Angelina (who left, thank goodness) kept going on about how working at a store was beneath her and calling other girls sluts. And the way they drink makes me never want to drink alcohol again. And the drama! Oh my goodness, the drama. People have called me a drama queen, but I don’t think they know what drama is. Oh, and the way those girls dress! Wow. That’s all I can say. So it’s entertaining, and I really enjoyed watching it. But then I started thinking about how these people are now famous. If their egos were bad b

I just read The Snowy Day to my students last week, so it was fresh in my head. I was dying to go outside and play last night, but no one was around to go sledding. So I bundled up and headed to the park a block away and thought about Peter from the Snowy Day. How he made his footprints go this way and that way. (I did the same.) I made a whole row of snow angels and thought about who would see them the next day. Then I trudged home and took a bath and thought about my adventures, just like Peter. I love snowy nights. It’s so quiet and beautiful and you feel like you’re the only person in the world outside. There’s this episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelei is talking about how snow is magic and it makes her do crazy things, and then she has a very sweet kiss at the end of the episode with a guy she likes out in the snow. Snowy nights make me feel the same way. When we were kids, my mom would always let me go outside and play on snowy nights, even if it was l

I love dresses and skirts. Winter makes me sad because I can't wear skirts as often (unless I want to be miserable on crossing guard duty). One of my favorite things about summer is wearing flowy skirts. But finding dresses that fit just right is a challenge. I am not tiny, but I am short. So the dresses that are usually most flattering are pretty expensive. So imagine my joy when I saw cjane's latest post on her dear cjane blog . She posted a link to a site called eShakti . It is amazing. They have women's sizes from 0-26, and when you place your order, they ask for your bra size and height. If you want to pay a little extra, they will ask for all your measurements and you can get custom-made clothes. I was sure that this site would be pretty expensive given all that, but no, the dresses are around $50. And they have other stuff besides dresses. I had a lot of trouble choosing just one, but I finally went with this: It reminds me of Leave it to Beaver. I th

I have a secret. It's a big one. And it's such happy news, I'm dying to tell everyone, but I can't because it's my friend's secret, not mine!!!! I don't have anything else interesting going on. I don't even really have anything to say, but I've been getting complaints for not updating my blog. Nancy's still not talking to me, which is starting to make me mad. It's a shame she wants to throw away a friendship just because I don't like her boyfriend. Ryan and I are stilling hanging out, and things are drama-free and lovely. He's one of the few people I actually see since my schedule is so busy. It's nice to have a friend in the neighborhood. And he is just that- a friend. I've been hanging out with Whitney a lot lately, too, which is fun. We went to Madison to see Rent this weekend and had a great time (despite a scary trip to Culver's in which we were frightened by a person in a giant ice cream cone suit). We a