Beautiful World: Skink in a Jar

My mom took this picture, not me! And don't worry, she released the skink afterwards.

Beautiful World: Wooden Mouse

This is a wooden mouse that used to belong to my great grandfather. He is sitting on a pillow we just got from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It's absurd: looks like a lawn, but is incredibly soft!

Beautiful World: New Flower

A beautiful flower on my new plant

Beautiful World

omething New:

As a campaign to attempt to stay more current with my blog, I've decided to try adding a picture or a link on a daily-ish basis of something that I admired or felt inspired by. I'll hoping to share my smiles with you. These posts will be short, simple AND hopefully sweet; the rambling ones will continue at the usual pace.

If you would like to sort these, just go to the end of one of the posts and click on the link for posts labeled (tagged)either: "Musings" for the normal ones, or "Beautiful World" for the new ones. Or you can use the altered web addresses: http://typicaladventures.blogspot.com/search/label/BeautifulWorld or http://typicaladventures.blogspot.com/search/label/Musings

Let me know what you think of the change. Believe me, I don't want to clutter your inbox; so let me know if this doesn't work for you.

Beautiful World: BAD Sushi

Friday Night Dinner at our favorite restaurant: B.A.D. Sushi:





Best Quote from Night: "I know that we're walking side-by-side, but in my head, your soul is giving my soul a piggyback ride."

Christmas Morning Part IV and V

hristmas Morning is the precious culmination of the entire Christmas Season. No, it's not all about the presents for me; as I've previously said, I also really relish the cookie making and decorating and the time spent reflecting on how to be a better person, but it is undeniable that Christmas morning is the moment all the preparation leads up to. It is the time when everyone near and dear to you sits together, bathed in the glow of the glittering tree and reveling in the final moments of anticipation before the paper-ripping orgy. Christmas Morning is when everyone finally sees if the gifts they've been so excited about giving really pleased their intended mark or not. As I've gotten older, as my family-members also aged, and as I added new groups of people to what I consider my "family"- blood relations or no- Christmas Morning has split up into smaller pieces. This year I had Christmas Morning five times!

Part I was traditional- in the early morning with coffee, my parents, and the stockings ALWAYS coming first. Part II- was at my grandparents' house, after Christmas dinner was served and devoured- with my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. Part IIIa & b- were when I went to M's house a few days after Christmas to celebrate with his family, and when M came over to mine to do the same.

And this year I even got Christmas Morning Part IV and V!

Part IV happened when I got back to my apartment after a week's absence and a week's held mail. (It's really easy to hold mail guys, the Post Office does it on their website!) My mailbox was literally stuffed with letters and a few packages from my wonderful friends. This was a very special Christmas Morning, because it let me feel close to dear friends that I haven't been able to see in WAY too long, and who are sadly way too widespread to have all at my side at one time!*

And so, I'll offer you a simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two: Thank You to all my correspondents at Christmas and since I moved out to L.A.:
To:

my bro, sis, and little elflings in the icy North,
my former kawaii roomie and future-life-saver in CT,
my bag-lady in MD (if bag-ladies' bags were usually full of crafting supplies and chinchillas),
my earth-saving superhero lately of DC,
my foodie historian, my magical/athletic/sparkling friend, and my dog-loving/cake baking cousin in the Old World,
my librsuperheroarian in NC,
my beautiful newly-minted nurse in AL,
my Navy-bride-Zumba-instructor in GA,
my parents, my grandparents, my former Orchestra teachers, my bouncy/giggly/wicked smart friend, my former M and his beautiful girlfriend in DFW,
my grace-filled math teacher in Lubbock,
my wise and giving newlywed friend formerly of College Station,
and finally my mathematical/theatrical philosopher, my pair of world-wandering stargazers/earth diggers/music players, my persevering bird-watcher, and my pair of van-driving/Mango-having/shoemakers in H-town,#

Thank You!
I can't wait to continue our practice of the ancient art of stamp and postal box in the New Year.

Finally, Part V was with M and myself, a week ago today, when we finally managed to get ourselves and our presents in the same place and the same time. M had to rush home from work to get Amazon boxes that had been held at the post office, and then we had Christmas Morning with each other.



So maybe having a Christmas Morning that lasts from December 25th to January 5th is a little unorthodox, and I'm going to shoot for a slightly smaller duration next year, but it sure worked for me this year!

* Yes I did steal the map idea from PLadd, even if I did fail to execute it quite as well she did.
# Feel free to scold me if I've forgotten you/anyone, I'm sure I didn't mean to!

Resolve

and I made a few (very achievable) resolutions this year. Say what you will about resolutions: maybe they are good for you, maybe they are hokey, maybe they ultimately lead to failure and tumbling self esteem- but we made some. And so far, we've managed to keep doing them. 11 days! Go Team! I have graded each on how much better it's made me feel about myself/my life; the grading scale is arbitrary.

They are:

1.)
Quit being so emo about how L.A. isn't our kind of city and actually GO out and DO something in it/achieve projects at home. First Objective: Go to Chinatown with Joel.


Achieved? Yes

Grade: B

We actually explored more of the city instead of sitting in our apartment like dopes, which was the point of the objective. Joel was fun/chill to hang out with, and having tins of dumplings shoved at us in a Dim Sum restaurant because we had white-people-body-language and couldn't appropriately convey "NO! Go Away!" to the cart wielding ladies was exhilarating if initially bewildering. The experience made me wish I'd been able to go to Yum Yum Cha Cafe in the village more than once. But mostly, Chinatown didn't provide us with much diversion, unless we (meaning "I" -the only girl of the operation) were interested in spending lots of money on trinkets and souvenirs. In fact the whole outing served to reinforce my suspicion that L.A. doesn't have that much to do. Not only was Chinatown far less exciting than expected- many of the shops were sadly closed, and the "most touristy" plazas were bizarrely empty despite it being a 60 degree Saturday in January. However, we achieved bonus points when M and I agreed- against our original plan- to go to a movie with Joel.
--> C and M Gain the Power of Spontaneity! <--
On a related note, go see The King's Speech; it's awesome, sharp, polished, moving and wry.

2.)
Sit together at the end of every day and record in our tiny diaries between 1 and 3 things that stood out from the day.


Achieved: Yes

Grade: A+

M found a pop-psych book: 59 Seconds which provides a scientific approach to self-help: It says "here are quick things you can do that studies show will make you happier". One of the things the book encourages is writing down something that made you happy at the end of the day- this can really, truly provide lasting warm fuzzies. So far it's really worked, plus it's a little moment of bonding, where M and I cap every evening in a few minutes of unity, sharing the things we did and experienced with each other, as well as with the eyes of the future.

I've often been interested in keeping a diary, especially after my thesis-writing last year, which wouldn't have been possible if nineteenth-century women hadn't faithfully kept diaries in the awe-inspiring circumstances (frontier settling and the Civil War fighting) that they did. I would love to be able to offer a similar, if hopefully less dramatic, perspective on my life and times to my future children and grandchildren. The trouble is that I always find myself either writing too much about whatever is stressing me out at the time- which is depressing/irritating to read- or forgetting to write at all. That's why I'm hoping that writing a diary twitter-style will work for me. So far, so good!

3.)
Go on a walk every day. It doesn't have to be far- we just have to get out of the apartment and walk somewhere EVERYDAY.


Achieved: Mostly Yes except for M one day when we forgot.

Grade: A

This has been great too. We don't have any mileage or weight goals- just a general wish to improve our health/stamina through going on a walk every day- rain or shine. I miss the boost that walking around the Rice campus gave me. Walking was the way I exercised, the way I experienced little moments of beauty, and the way I refreshed my brain. It's been great to find that again, plus it gives M and I more time to talk to each other about our days, rather than getting lost on our computer screens. Final bonus- it's helped us notice more of our neighborhood by exploring. Good deal!