White Room

Happy Leap Year! See you in four years.

To Be & Not To Be

Latest Shortcomings:

The only song I can play on the piano is the theme to Jurassic Park.
I only read 5 books last year.
The Walking Dead scares me.
The teeth whitening kit left my teeth the same color.
Can't shake Simon's 4 AM feeding.

Latest Achievements:

I can play the intro to Stairway to Heaven on the guitar.
I've read 5 books so far this year.
The Fourth Kind did not scare me.
The baking soda method seems to be working nicely on my teeth.
Simon likes to sleep in 'til 9 AM.

Little List: Tagged

I don't usually fill these little Q&A diddies out, but I got excited when a new blogger I follow (Allison of Show & Tell) posted one. Feel free to jump in and do your own!

TAGGED: 11 Things

THE RULES:

1. Post these rules
2. Post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag
5. Go to their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged! (I'm not going to do this because I don't want anyone to feel obligated . . . and because I'm a rebel)

11 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME:

1. I'm never caught without nail polish.
2. I love love love making stir fry.
3. I once went on a date with and was kissed by a "popular" Mormon actor. It was kind of awful.
4. President George W. Bush grabbed my face in 2005. True story. Long story.
5. My favorite kind of day is a snowy, sunny day.
6. My nickname in high school was "Daria." I'm both proud of and embarrassed by that.
7. I'm related to James Dean.
8. I loved the Spice Girls when I was little. Loved. Like, saw their movie on opening night.
9. I had a crush on Sonic the Hedgehog when I was 8. I made up a girl hedgehog character for myself named "Shelda" and wrote stories about how we fell in love.
10. I have a terrible phobia of fish.
11. I own 5 Tamagotchis. Currently.

11 QUESTIONS ALLISON ASKED ME

1. If you had the day off, what would you do? Go to the beach! Now that I live near one.
2. Who is your favorite cartoon character? Ha! Well, Sonic, apparently.
3. What book do you display just to impress guests? Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You, solely for the pretty cover.
4. Are you a dog or a cat person? Both! CUDDLES
5. Describe an awkward high school moment. A teacher comforting me in the hallway after catching me crying over a guy who dumped me.
6. What part of your morning regiment can you NEVER skip? Contacts. So blind.
7. What was the last album that you purchased? St. Vincent's Strange Mercy, I think?
8. How do you sign your emails? Nothing fancy, just my name. A "Sincerely" if I'm feeling professional.
9. What’s one of your guilty pleasures? Recently, YA novels.
10. What’s one food that you could eat every day? Cereal! I love Apple Jacks.
11. If you could sing like anyone, who would it be? That girl from Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeros.

11 QUESTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE I’VE TAGGED (and anyone else who wants to participate):

1. What is currently your go-to outfit?
2. If you could be a character in a fiction novel, who would you be?
3. When did you start blogging & why and is it different from your current blogging style?
4. What is your all-time favorite album?
5. Are you closer to your mother's or father's side of the family?
6. Which celebrity do friends say you look like?
7. What advice would you give your fresh-out-of-high-school self?
8. Best & worst reality TV shows, go:
9. First kiss? Last kiss?
10. You're offered a job in both New York and L.A. Where do you move?
11. Cosmetic/luxury item you can't live without:

WHO I TAGGED (don't feel obligated, it kind of takes forever to fill out):

1. Monika
2. Lindsay
3. Liz
4. Kate
5. Brandilyn
6. Maddie
7. Kenz
8. Maria
9. Chelse
10. Mallory
11. And, just for funsies, Beyoncé. Congrats on Blue, girl!

The Rain

Sometimes I miss the clear ocean and sandy beaches of the Florida Keys. Sometimes I miss the glittery snow and chill air of Moscow. Sometimes I miss the muggy heat and tangy scent of China. Sometimes I even miss the bitter cold of Rexburg.

But, oh, oh, how I've missed the rain and thick forests of Oregon.

Why you don't have to capitalize your "i's" to be a good writer

Simon and my cousin Monika playing peek-a-boo.

I'd like to thank you all for your kind and meaningful comments on last Monday's post - it's led me to write this current post, which was something I never thought I'd do for fear of offending somebody.

Several months ago, I set up a folder in my Reader called "The Bloggernacle" where I started to follow all the major Mormon blogs I was aware of to see what all the fuss was about. I ended up unfollowing the majority of them; I simply couldn't relate to the writing and I just couldn't stand to see another bold-on-bold clothing combo (ladies, please pair your jewel-toned tights with neutrals).

It was easy for me to dismiss the frequent grammar and spelling errors I saw as vapid, but one blogger in particular stood out. Readers would comment on what a wonderful writer she was, and I just couldn't believe it. But I soon realized readers weren't referring to her unapologetic crusade to never capitalize her "i's," but how easy she was to relate to. She struck a chord with her readers by writing very honestly and openly. This realization didn't dismiss her musings from sounding naïve, but rather, allowed me to view them as simply beautiful and kind - and funny! I began to care for her as a person and enjoyed following her blog and keeping up with her daily thoughts.

Anyway, this blogger did more than open me up to her - she opened me up to being less judgey, and to appreciate a life with less snark. She was, is, a good writer for the simple talent of being able to get her points across. And it's her points that keep me coming back.

I'd also like to add that it's all right to write the way you speak. I've thrown in enough "GAH!'s" and "OMG!'s" into my writing to make it inexcusable for me to point the finger at anybody. Because, come on: these are blogs, not the Next Great Novel. So. You know. It's okay.

The Fault In Our Stars

I've been trying to establish a blogging schedule for myself, though I'm finding it's not an easy thing to keep up . . . sometimes it feels like too much of an obligation. Like homework. But it was a goal I set for myself this year: to write daily. Because, you see, I'm writing a book. I won't bother to share much more than that, because I've taken enough creative writing classes to know that the phrase "I'm writing a book" elicits the glazing over of eyes if the polite "Oh, what's it about?' is answered.

So instead, I'll recommend you to pick up my new favorite read, John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. Do you ever have those days when your schedule is so swamped that you feel you'll be buried alive if you don't meet some kind of a quota by bedtime? I was so caught up in this novel that I put my buried-alive life on hold just to finish its cancer patient pages. Yes, it's about two teenagers with cancer who fall in love, but don't worry, it's not a Cancer novel. Because, to quote the protagonist, "Cancer novels are shitty."

And Simon seemed to enjoy it? Enjoy falling asleep while I read to him, anyway. Or when he'd occasionally get excited and reach over to swipe the pages on the touchscreen. Amazing to me that his generation gets to have a thing like touchscreens as the norm.

Be Mine

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! My sweatheart kicked off our celebration by snuggling up close when we woke up Valentine's morning, only to quickly turn away and suggest I brush my teeth before we smooched. Embarrassed, I moped over to the bathroom sink - where I found a heart-shaped box of chocolates waiting in my toothpaste drawer. Dirty rascal.

Suffice it to say, we ate half the box for breakfast.

Rude boy

Simon helped me fold all the laundry the other day. Or maybe he just took a nap. Tomayto, tomahto.

I was thinking the other day about how my blog has more than likely become a "baby blog," "mommy blog," "Simon and his drool blog," or whatever. I don't mind. But I read a rude review recently concerning someone else's blog and how it's just become "all about the baby," like it was an annoying thing. This was off-putting to me - I've been blogging since high school, back when Livejournal was where it was at and you never posted pictures of yourself; just shared Elliot Smith mixes or ranted about homework. Blogging was an honest journaling experience and comments, if you got any at all, were from friends you knew in real life.

Perhaps it shows my age to think the reviewer was being rude. Blogging isn't what it used to be and I'm fully aware that it's turned more into personal marketing than real journaling. Nonetheless, I don't get upset if a blogger continues to blog "for Mom" no matter how many followers they have. I blog for my Mom. Hi, Mom!

Another review I read discussed how we're quick to judge and hack apart the lives of celebrities, but with friends and acquaintances we're much more forgiving. So where does the line fall for bloggers? What makes a blogger distant enough to mock but intimate enough to keep coming back for every post?

Of course there are blogs written solely for profit and attention, much like a magazine that's All About Me. And no matter how intimate, the internet is a public forum and we know what we're getting into when we hit publish.

I could dig deeper here, but I'm kind of tired now. It's late and Seve's pulled up a new episode of The Walking Dead. So, you know . . . priorities.

'Night.

Nooky Wook

Whenever asked what the greatest gift I've been given is, I usually stumble and say "life," or "cake?", but this past Christmas changed all that when my mother-in-law bought Seve and me a Nook. I'll admit to having hogged the thing since we got it, which Seve has made fun of me for since I'd previously been known to rant: "What's the point of an eReader when I already have a laptop and smartphone and can just download a book app?" I'll tell you the point: books are cheaper on eReaders. If you're not into reading often, the price of the eReader itself might negate that, but if you're like me and have a penchant for John Green or you're like Seve with a penchant for R.A. Salvatore, and, of course, when the eReader is a gift, then a Nook (or that other fire-related reader) is right up your alley.

I love our Nook. I think Russel Brand titled his autobiography "My Booky Wook," and likewise I call my greatest gift ever received my "Nooky Wook." Oh, Nooky Wook! I love you. Thanks, Mom!

P.S. friend me on Goodreads!

Over the river and through the woods

When I wonder about alerting my 19-year-old self to the possibility that I would one day be trudging through the rugged grounds of my grandparents' property with my arms occupied by the wiggleworm that is my 4-month-old son, I think I would have said, "Oh. Well, all right, if I must."

BOI to PDX

We finally made it to Portland after what felt like a completely hectic and harebrained moving process. Now that we're all settled and everything's in its place it's easy to look around and feel like the move itself was nothing more than a bad dream. Ace Ventura and marionberry ice cream help, too. Bloggies and The Daily Simon (to those who receive it) to resume shortly.