Procrastinate.

Word.of.the.day. 

I loathe the fact that I have to......

type up an observation and write up a research paper. 

UGH! 

So instead.....

I've rearranged my living room.

I've potted some peppers! 

(This wanna-be gardener is going to make her some SALSA! (Hopefully by August!)

I've written some e-mails. 

(And some "hello-it-has-been-to-dang-long" cards to send out.)

And now I'm here. Writing about my procrastination. 

If that isn't bad then I don't know what is... hmmmmppphh!

Want to see my dreeeeaaaam office? 

Who could procrastinate here? 

Well, maybe I could find a way...

Pure Bliss.

Happiness comes in many forms. 
But it definitely comes in the form of the Hubby's week off from work!
It was a last minute decision that was well received! Every so often, the Hubby's head looks like it's going to explode... so, I am very understanding when he needs to have some time for him.
A special bonus for me has been having him home when I get home from work.
Plus, it is nice to have him refreshed!!

Tomorrow we are back to a normal work week...
 
But, happiness also comes in the form of summer vacation, which is only 24 days away!

And it comes in the form of two little brothers traveling to Japan at the end of June.

We may even be bribing the housing office to allow us a pooch.
[We, the stupid humans we are, went to visit the pet section at our local equivalent of Lowe's (w/ a pet section!). And fell in love with a little fluffer.]
So, I said I would put in a call to housing and see what they can do. They allow cats, but not dogs in our buildings. But, my defense will be that we have a dog park at the park just down the road (3 min. walk).
Yea, I highly doubt that they will let us, but it's worth a try! 


Savor the rest of your weekend!

Disappointment.

I came across a group on Facebook that the Hubby and I have joined.
It's about a small community, not to far from my hometown, that is looking to honor a local hero and dedicate a small strip of [NY] State Route 13 in his name.

What is incredibly disappointing is that this has sparked some controversy with the community.
It seems that the village board has some reservations about this proposal. And unfortunately, this family has been on the receiving end of some insulting and cruel comments.

Basically, in not so many words, they are asking:
"Why is this one soldier so important?"

Which is a major disappointment!
Especially to the individual sacrifices that are made daily by these men and women. When I saw this, I choked up. And then I got angry.
I am angry that this proposal has been bogged down by misinformation and small town gossip.
I am angry that this family has to justify why their son should be honored.
I am angry that there are people that cannot muster up support for our nation's fallen heroes. 

All across the U.S. commemorative ceremonies have been made dedicating routes, buildings, parks, and playgrounds in the name of our fallen heroes. When the proposed idea came to the family, they graciously accepted to find a way to honor their son.

I know that this may not be YOUR city, YOUR state, YOUR community... but it is one of our service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

I give my fullest support to this group on Facebook, and I have already submitted my letter (Which is available on the Facebook Group page).

Here are some links to check out:
The Family's Statement
Sgt. Elisha R. Parker Memorial Highway [Facebook Group]
Eli's Obituary
Sgt. Eli Parker Page [They are doing some really great things, check this out!]

This was a great man. This is a great family.

Just take a little bit to learn about Eli and the Parker Family and their story.

Stress-Induced Baking

What happens when you have 2 papers due and don't know where to start? 

You whip up a batch of mom's-recipe chocolate chip cookies (a.k.a.the recipe on the toll-house package). 

[Mom must put extra love into them, because mine aren't nearly as good as I know hers are.]

I'm not a baker, but I sure do like taking out some stress while mixing the dough. 

And, the Hubby and friends benefit from this quirk, because good news is......

I share! 

Back to finish my last week of class & my last paper for this class. sigh.....

Maybe I'll bake some cupcakes this week. 

Addiction.

I'm a huge coffee fiend.

I discovered it very quickly in my first semester at college in NYC.
Late nights & early classes tend to lead to a craving for anything that will help keep your head off the desk and your eyes open.
(To be honest, I'm sort of a dork when it comes to school - so I really was that girl who was actually interested in class - you know the one... always asking questions, first to raise her hand, always answering first. Pitiful, I know. What can I say?? I'm a good student!)

Yes, I too needed to be alert for 8 am literature, so coffee found it's way into my heart and into my blood stream. Since then I've had a love affair with it. Plus, it didn't help that there is a coffee shop on every street in the city - so my addiction was readily available and there were cafes all over just waiting to take my money.

But as my semester neared it's end, my decision ultimately was to leave the city (partly due to my inadequacy to fit into a catholic college that I clearly was at odds with.), but mostly because I wasn't actually ready to be quite so irresponsible (how mature of me!).

[Side note (Jess, you will get a kick out of this): I was scorned by the nun that I talked to about transferring & she reminded me,in a very sharp tongue, that I would not, under any conditions be accepted back. If only I weren't such a wuss...I would have swift kicked her right in her jaw. But she took an oath to God, but God help her if she hadn't. I'm kidding. You know that right?!]

Back to coffee.... So I left my cafes, baristas, and Starbucks in NYC and moved back upstate.
Just my luck - my city just scored THE cutest hometown coffee house ever - and it would become home away from home. I even dragged the Hubby there a couple times while we were first dating.

Sighh...the memories..

So again, here I am in a different place, still addicted to coffee.
Only now I take a little less sugar and a lot more espresso.
& I take less foam to make room for more caffiene.
And, just my luck (again) Japan is a coffee powerhouse. Seriously.
They have cafe au laits that would rival any European selection.

Where was my coffee yesterday (Friday) when I thought it was Saturday - which all started on Thursday (which I thought was Friday) - Hence me thinking Friday was Saturday, when really I was supposed to be at work (because it was Friday) - And how come no one said anything when I was telling everyone, on Thursday, to have a nice weekend, when really I had to come to work the next day.......FRIDAY!

Did you get that?

Ugh the woes of thinking tomorrow is today and today was yesterday....

Confused? Me too...

Happy Weekend-ing! 

Compliments...

I am not one to turn down any compliment, but recently I've discovered a slight annoyance.
Who am I kidding, it bugs the s#*t out of me.

It has plagued conversations for years, and started showing up in higher frequency in my facebook comments and in my inbox.
It has been used so much as a compliment, for me, it has become a non-compliment.

What is it?? 

'Cute.'

That shirt it cute.
You are so cute.
How cute!
You look cute today.
Awww, CUTE!
Cute.
Cute!
Cuuuuute!

Don't get me wrong, I take what I can get, especially in the compliments department.
But, I simply cannot escape this.
Is the word 'cute' a compliment cop-out?
Is it a safe and easy compliment that is dished out when there is nothing left to say?


Basically, I'm asking if 'cute' has any meaning any more?

This leads into a further discussion about compliments that I give.....
I use the word 'cute' very often,not only describe other people, but other things.

So I'm challenging myself to explore the English language to find words that will give better compliments.
"That dress is fabulous. Very flattering to your figure."
"I'm crazy about that necklace you are wearing!"
or some other compliments that my friend T and I came up with today were,
"If I didn't know you and I saw you wearing that dress, I would hate you."
"If we weren't friends, I would steal that from you."

It comes down to this:
Can we, as a society (American and beyond*) come up with better more specific and descriptive compliments that will evoke feelings of warmth, appreciation, and humbleness??

*I mentioned beyond American society because in Japan the word kawaii (directly translates to 'cute') is used for anything and everything. It is used the same way as it is in English and causes me to hate that word in TWO languages!

Please weigh in on this.
I've set up a poll to the right of this post. Let me know what you think!

Wednesday with Hepburn.

Not too long ago I blogged about some biographies I got from the library. Audrey Hepburn was one of them.

I LOVED that book. And I loved all the quotes that went along with it. She was a very approachable and warm person (so I read.) and was very affectionate. [For the purposes of satisfying my good mood, I'm going to skip over the parts of the cheating and the depression]. Here are a few quotes that Audrey has said that have really stuck with me:


“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" 

*"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." 
 

Once my life settles down (read SUMMER VACAYYYY!) I am going to try and create some pretty canvas with some of her quotes. Among the 100 other projects I want to start, not including the 50 already started...

Let's play a little game called Good News, Bad News.
(I'm a good-news-first-kind of person.)

Good News: There is only 5 weeks left of working with cranky middle school teenagers.
Bad News: For 2 months I eat cheap ramen noodles because I'm broke.

Good News: My brothers are coming at the end of June (after my brother graduates highschool).
Bad News: I'm going to be even more broke.

Good News: We finally got some sunshine around here! (My threats to the rain dancers were heard! They're scared!)
Bad News: It's not supposed to last through this weekend.


Good News: The Hubby and I are trying to plan a trip back to the states later this year, with all my fabulous students!
Bad News: I won't be buying any new clothes or shoes or purses or decorations, because all our money has to be saved towards this trip.

Well....training for tomorrow has turned into a field trip for some good student!!!! We are visiting the World War II Museum in Tokyo and going to visit the VERY controversial Yasukuni Shrine. Why so controversial? I'm planning a blog post about it when we get back. Can't wait, I wiki-ed it.


So I'm off to work, then out for some sushi.

Happy Wednesday-ing!


* I love this quote in particular because I recently started really LISTENING to the people I'm with. And it is so true, that you can learn more about a person from the way they are talking about others. Try it.