Tortuga Twins, Turkey Legs, and Caricatures

It has been ages since I've been to the Renaissance Festival. I've gone at least five or six times, but I think that the last time I went was when me and Tyler had just started dating -- maybe 6 years ago?

Anyway, I was looking through pictures at my parents' house and came across this gem (circa 1997?).

And then this gem (circa 2004).

We are in almost the exact same pose (plus another Tortuga Twin). Slightly creepy, no? Especially since at least 98% of the jokes from their show went completely over my head in the first picture, but then in the second picture I'm pretty sure blondie was hitting on all of us. Okay, who am I kidding, I was not being hit on, but that's beside the point.

All creepiness aside, I do want to go back, eat a delicious turkey leg, and maybe get another caricature done by that artist with the awesome laugh.

Maybe once it stops raining every weekend.

Here we go again...

As you may have noticed, I think about and talk about my hair way too much, maybe to the point of obsession. Yes -- definitely to the point of obsession.

Ever since I last cut my hair, I've been wanting to try a pixie cut but I hesitate because I just don't know how it will look on me. Trying to picture it, I'll bobby-pin my hair like crazy but I know it's not the same.

Anyway, I'm going to do it, but now I'm torn about just how short of a pixie cut I want and whether I should dye my hair darker too. Here is my current inspiration. Any suggestions?

Emma Watson

theneotraditionalist

theglamourai

Carey Mulligan

And of course my Mom & Aunt Kelly. :)

Working for the weekend...

I was at work this afternoon looking on TED for a video to show to my juniors. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything for them, but I did find something for me. Maybe for you too.

From now on, I am going to make a more conscious effort to think and do more than just work. Of course, the act of deciding not to think about work may inadvertently cause me to think about work, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

This video is worth 10 minutes of your time.

Goodbye, Goldie. Hello, Puli.

Today I got rid of my first car. It was always having problems and about a month ago, it broke down on my way to work.

I loved the color (gold/metallicmustard/whatever), but I think that was its only endearing quality. I was ready to part ways with Goldie, but I never anticipated that the hardest part would be listening to it get pulled onto the tow truck.

The car was stuck in park and wouldn't go into neutral, so it screeched all the way up and almost sounded like it was crying out, "Please don't sell me for scrap! Please don't sell me for scrap! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

It was awful. I felt like an evil villain from a Disney movie about cars with human personalities (aka Cars).

Here is a picture from four and a half years ago when I first got Goldie.

On an entirely unrelated note, Tyler and I were looking at dogs and have decided that pulis are the coolest dogs ever.

My Stats

Not gonna lie, I've been a little obsessive about checking my blog's "stats" because how cool is it that you can see what countries your blog is being viewed from? Pretty sweet, right?

I'm not sure what I did to get 38 page views from Australia and 11 from France, but I'm definitely not complaining.

Avez-vous deja vu... l'anniversaire de mon grand-pere.

It has not been the best week, so to relax and procrastinate on all of the things that I need to get done before Tuesday, I've been resorting to my "avez-vous deja vu" youtube obsession. Let the French nonsense commence.

Edit: Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Cue Star Wars theme...

Does your boyfriend shave with a lightsaber?

Yeah, I didn't think so...

What is it with us and Star Wars all of a sudden?

Baby girl

Born February 3rd, my niece Nicaea Grace is finally here.
Congratulations to Aaron and Lynette!

Obviously this is not a picture of Nicaea, but it makes me laugh.

Too early for flapjacks?

Happy (almost) Groundhog Day!

I'm sitting here at my place, reminiscing about watching Groundhog Day with my family over the years. It's one of those movies that I think all of us could watch over and over and over, for almost as many days as Phil Conners repeats Groundhog Day in the film itself.

Every time that I watch it, I discover something new. Phil's character development is impeccable, the epitome of a dynamic character. As silly as it may sound, I don't think that there has ever been or ever will be a film that affects me more profoundly than this one. And as of right now, if I had to live one day over and over and over, it would be this one:

She floats through the air, with the greatest of ease...

A few weekends ago, my sister and I went to Trapeze U in Gilbert for a 2 hour beginner class. It was 9 am on a Saturday and we were both totally dreading it, preferring to stay home in bed. But we promised each other that we would put on a smile for our mom since it was her gift to us.

They strapped us into our harnesses and started explaining the first trick we would do, the knee hang. Unfortunately, I thought that the instructor was just messing with us, so I wasn't paying attention to his directions at all, expecting him to start laughing and say, "Just kidding, guys. You're just going to practice landing softly on the net." No such luck.

Climbing the ladder was the scariest part. First of all, you're barefoot, the ladder is a succession of cold, metal bars, and even though you do have a harness on, you're not actually strapped onto anything yet. You feel totally vulnerable and can't stop looking down, hoping that if you do fall, you fall backward onto the net instead of forward or to the side into the ground. And of course, your dad is videotaping the look of utter fear on your face the entire time.

Once you actually get onto the platform, one of the instructors is holding onto the back of your harness, not letting you go until you do the take-off correctly. I had several false starts. The key to doing well is just listening to them and doing exactly what they say exactly when they say it. I was always a bad listener when it came to the take-off. At the end, they were teasing me and saying that I must have glue stuck to my feet whenever I'm on the platform.

After you let yourself off of the platform, the worst part is over. Performing the knee hang and dismounting were fairly intuitive and you feel completely safe, even though you're flying through the air. As far as the rest of the tricks go, the video speaks for itself.

I had an amazing time and can't wait to go back. Thanks, Mom and Dad!