sneeze-faces and such.

Listening To: Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic ZerosLine Love: "Wishes. Before today, Keeper had made plenty of wishes, like wishes on falling stars and wishes on rainbows and wishes on wishbones, all kinds of small wishes, like for Hershey Kisses with almonds and tie-dyed shoelaces. But now she needed a big wish, a giant wish." - From Keeper by Kathi Appelt, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/S&S (2010), p. 61 (Note: I adore this book.)


I need to wait another week to post my musical-blog. Whenever I get a hankering to do something really creative on here, I get slammed with work (good work! good slammed! not complaining!).

This ....

is an appropriate metaphor for my week.

So instead of trying to blog for serious, I'm going to utilize this opportunity to 1.) say hello to you. Because you're cooler than a Polar Bear's toenails. I hope your first week of December has been a sparkly one! :)

And 2.) Show you a few pictures that make me laugh (they're old ... but I've had a hard time figuring out how to incorporate them into previous posts).

Necessary Backstory: Recently, The Rogue Accountant and I accompanied the parental units for what some might consider "a family outing." As part of this family outing, we drove over a mountain and through the woods and so on and such. At the spot on the mountain marked "overlook" we decided to get out and take pictures. Tis the proper thing to do. Also, we stopped because I get crazy-go-nuts-carsick and I needed a breather. For reasons I cannot quite understand, nobody thinks its cute when I barf in the car.

This picture was taken by my mother. I call it "the paparazzi shot." I'm pretty sure she said, "Hey, kids!" And so we turned around and SNAP:


And that's just funny. I think the very best part of this picture is the look on my brother's face. Be suspicious of everyone, says The Rogue Accountant with his steely glare.

This is also funny to me because, by the look on my face, I was obviously talking (or about to talk) while the picture was taken. Even though that was a candid shot, this is a common occurrence. I have a particular knack for always talking just as a picture is being taken. And so, the face that I end up making, the face captured forever on film (or until I sneak and delete it later), is that face. A look I affectionately call "The Sneeze Face." In fact, let's call this Example B of The Sneeze Face:

That's me, the deer-in-the-headlights girl, along with my bffMelanie (she's the gorgeous tall one). Melanie is, of course, cutely posed. Also, poised. She and my bffSarah not only a.) ALWAYS look good in pictures but b.) they always look good. The end. Drives me crazy. I bet they're even wearing matching socks right now.

This is me and my bffMelanie a few minutes later, when I finally shut my mouth:


I like that one a little better but the fact remains that I've never been photogenic. Cameras make me super nervous. And way too self-conscious. I think, to offset this, people try to snap candid shots. The problem with candids is that I always rock The Sneeze Face. The problem with posed shots is that I look mostly terrified. This is why I won't be auditioning for America's Next Top Model anytime soon. That, and the fact that I'm 4'11". And that I weigh twice as much as the girls on the show. Minor details.

Back to the family outing. Mom told us to strike a pose:


And it turned out better. We look much more approachable, I think. (That's my handsome dad in the background!)

Later, on that same adventure, we made two important discoveries:

We discovered this woman, who just happened to be dancing with a snake:


That picture makes me happy. Doesn't she look so happy?

And we also discovered this:

Fact: There is nothing quite like the smell of smoked wieners on a hot fall day when you are already moderately carsick.

(Fact: I'm impressed by that booth. When it comes to church-sponsored booths, I think they deserve a prize for creativity.)

That whole day ... that was an odd little adventure. I won't tell you where we went. I will only tell you that, and I mean this as a compliment, it was sort of like a redneck version of Diagon Ally. I'm still not sure if it was kitchy-fun or if it was just flat-out-weird. I know I got an Oreo Blizzard from the local Dairy Queen at the end of the day. Any day with an Oreo Blizzard is a good day.

Since I've been talking about The Rogue Accountant, I'll leave you with an appropriate song that makes me think of him. Chase and I have a playlist of songs we listen to on roadtrips. He's great at adding new songs to the mix (new fabulous songs). But we also have a list of our favorites that we listen to over and over and over. This song was Chase's favorite summer song. I've probably heard it 100 times at this point, and I'm still not tired of it. This lyric:"Home is whenever I'm with you."

Always gets me to thinking about the people I love.

I think it's appropriate to end a post about car-barfing, snake-charming, and redneck-wizardry by saying that I love my family (and my friends) (even though they take better pictures than I do) like crazy. I love roadtrips with them. I love sitting on the same church pew they sit on. I love it when we all sit around and catch up on "Top Chef All-Stars" together. They're truly fabulous people. I can't believe I get to belong to them. I can't believe they belong to me. I'm a grateful girl.

Hope you get to spend some time with the people you love this weekend.