This morning, I noticed a friendly little duck hanging out on the edge of our shower.
John spent some time working on his car last weekend and got grease and grime under his fingernails for the first time in months, so he dug out the cute little nail brushes with ducks on top that we got as stocking stuffers last Christmas. I had completely forgotten about them, but how cute is that little guy? The other one is pink.
Makes me think I should get a rubber ducky or two for my bathtub in Oregon.
I have had this Andy Grammer song in my head for the last several days. It’s nothing great, but it’s catchy and upbeat and good to sing along to, but oh my god just get out of my head already! It keeps coming back. I wouldn’t mind so much except that it reminds me that he ALSO did a HORRIBLE song that I will not name that makes me think of Cotton Eye Joe (the awful dance version – you know which one I’m talking about). His horrible song and the association to Cotton Eye Joe make me ashamed to kind of like this one.
I am sharing with the hope that sharing will make it leave me alone. Find a new brain to bother! (Sorry, all new brains.)
While I’m on the subject of Christmas songs, I just heard this version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones. Willie Nelson’s delivery cracks me up. Half the time he’s talking more than singing, and sometimes he just sounds annoyed with poor Norah. I was quite amused.
I was doing some tedious work this afternoon, so I decided to start the Christmas music. All was going well for a while – I was working away and occasionally bopping along – until THE song came on my Pandora station.
My work came to an abrupt halt. Who can work when there’s singing to be done?
I love the Mariah Carey version, too, possibly more, but this is the one that came on and made me realize I HAVEN’T WATCHED LOVE ACTUALLY YET THIS YEAR.
We’ve decided we’re going to Christmas it up in Annapolis before we head to PA for the holiday, so we’ll enjoy the lights and the stores and everything this weekend, but we may have to sneak in a viewing of Love Actually, too. After Return of the Jedi, of course. We have priorities.
I had to change the title of my post so as not to give away the hilarity of this scene. It’s a 2-minute clip. If you enjoy(ed) Downton Abbey, you’ll love it. The choices they made – the best.
I was sitting at my desk in the early evening the other day. It was pretty dark out already. The overhead light was on (I don’t remember turning it on, but there it was), and my keyboard was in shadow. It was getting hard to see the keys. I have a desk lamp, and I reached over to turn it on. Nothing. It wasn’t plugged in. I wouldn’t even have to get up to do it, but I just…didn’t. Too much effort. Instead, I listened to this YouTube video, and I felt much better.
I didn’t need to know this about myself, but now I do, and I’m going to share it with all of you. When I’m running, and I think I’m going all out and looking smooth and streamlined and super-fast, I am not. I am not any of those things in that moment. I got to the end of yesterday’s race and revved up for my final kick across the finish line, and yeah, I picked up speed. I was going faster than I had been, and I passed a few people. But I do NOT look smooth. I do NOT look all head-down, speeding bullet-like. I do NOT look like a cheetah.
I look like a robot. I look like a robot on springs. Who thinks she’s a gazelle. Seriously, I catch air. And my arms! What the hell am I doing with my arms? I’m pretty sure when I run normally, they stay pretty close to my sides. But here…man, here my elbows are flapping, and my hands are out – am I trying to grab hold of the air and pull myself along?
On the plus side (I guess?), I have very good posture.
I would show you the actual video, but I can’t figure out how to download it. Wait – here’s the link. I’m in the center of the screen by about 4 seconds in, wearing sunglasses and a pink jacket tied around my waist. It’s probably just as well I can’t embed it. And I don’t know how long the site will keep it up. So, you know, if you’re going to watch it and make fun, better do it fast. I’m not going to tell you how many times I’ve watched it. John looks normal, and Jess looks cool. I look like a crazy person.
We are 100% convinced the episode 3 of the new Muppets show (The Muppets) included a callback to our favorite moment of the original Muppet Show ever. Here’s the original:
LOVE that joke. So tonight, we watched the third episode of the new show. Fozzie is out in the woods, and Kermit is looking for him. Some campers come running by screaming, “Bear! There’s a bear!” Kermit shouts after them, “Wait a minute! Is he wearing a tie?”
John and I got so excited. No other explanation will do. I love the Muppets.
We have people coming over tonight, and I have to clean up, so I don’t have time to write anything today. I’m cheating by posting the NFL Bad Lip Reading video, but you’ll thank me. It’s funny.
Have you seen the Rollin’ Wild videos? They’re adorable. Jess sent me a link to the meerkat video (link here), but I think my favorite ones are in this video.
Jess sends me the best links. From here I ended up watching compilations of dance scenes in movies. YouTube is dangerous.
Hello, everyone! I’m sorry I was missing for a week. I was in (mostly) sunny, (mostly) warm Cancun with my sister, Ilyana Clover Mel, having a wonderfully relaxing time. I came home basically the same shade of pale that I was when I left. I consider that a win.
See how relaxed we look?
It was great. Easy to get to (although we had to fly through JFK – wrong direction, guys!), no reason to leave the resort. Every day was the same, in the best possible way. We got up early every day so we could watch the sun rise on the beach. (Sun rise was around 7:20 – getting up in time for that was still sleeping in for both of us.) I left Mel meditating on the beach (and/or taking pictures – there was time for both) to go to the gym at 8am. The first day was yoga, on the beach, just me and the instructor. (It was always just me and the instructor, three days in a row. I took a well-deserved day off on Thursday, and we left Friday morning.) Yoga on the beach, in the morning before anyone else is out, is SO COOL. The other two mornings were aerobics/resistance/pilates-type workouts in the gym, and they were HARD. The instructor (Israel) kicked my ass. But it made me feel better about all the food I was eating. Totally worth it. Anyway, after the class ended (9am), I’d go back to the beach, round up Mel, and we’d go to breakfast. Mimosas arrived shortly after we were seated and were kept filled. After breakfast, back to the beach, lunch in one of the beachside restaurants or the grill, more beach time (so much reading), then off to the pool in the midafternoon, where we made friends at the swim-up bar (and Mel practiced her accents and various personalities – she had a LOT of people completely fooled). Pool until early evening, then shower and dinner, and we were in bed nearly every night by 9:30. Rinse and repeat. It was a little bit of a shock to have to return to winter.
This is the sunrise when God gave us our instructions. “I’m averting my eyes, oh Lord.”
Warm toast is one of the best smells. Have they made a candle scented like that yet? Probably, but why don’t I have one? Hm. It would make me hungry. I should stay away. If you love toast, too, children, please enjoy the following video (introduced to me by our very own Sparky).
Obviously, everyone’s musical preferences are a matter of personal taste. There’s no right or wrong. (Yes, there is.) No objective right or wrong. (Yes, there is.) There are classics (the Beatles, Elvis, etc.) that it seems like everyone should like, but I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like them. (They’re wrong.)
Then there are the influential groups or people (who often (always?) overlap with the classics). Is it as imperative that everyone like them? I hope not. I’m thinking of the Doors in particular. I heard two songs of theirs this morning, and they’ve been stuck in my head most of the day. I’m not enjoying it. I mostly don’t like the Doors. Jim Morrison seemed like a pompous, self-important jackass. The only Doors song I really like is “Touch Me” (I like horn sections), and I’m okay with “People are Strange”. I could do without all of the others all of the others that I recognize as the Doors. I suppose it’s possible that there’s another Doors song out there that I’ll like, but I haven’t heard it yet. Or I’ve heard it, liked it, and didn’t know it was the Doors. Find me a handful of those, and I’ll consider revising my opinion of the band as a whole.
I found how muppets earn extra cash! If they live in this area (and many others), second jobs may be necessary. In their off-hours, when they’re not taking Manhattan, capering, or hanging out with kids (none of which pays much, I’d imagine), they’re washing cars!
Tell me those brushes couldn’t be the cousins of these guys…
Yiiiiiip yip-yip-yip-yip
I would TOTES* pay more for car washes if the muppets sang me a song while they did it. In the meantime, this will have to do.
*I apologize for my unironic use of “totes”. I got carried away by my enthusiasm for muppets.
I’ve almost certainly posted this video before, but Mom and Dad were telling me about playing in the leaves with Gaby yesterday, and I was reminded of it. And I love it. It’s super cute.
Today is going to be a good day. It’s nice and cool, perfect weather for running. I ran three miles, listening to Welcome to Night Vale for most of it. When the episode ended, I switched to music since I don’t have the next Night Vale yet, and one of the last songs I heard as I pushed to the end was “Waiting for a Star to Fall” by Boy Meets Girl, which I LOVE. Always have. So yay happy song, right? I got home, put Riley’s collar on (making him a happy dog – yay for a walk), and as we left the house, “Mr. Blue Sky” came on. Super yay happy song! So I was singing along as we headed up the hill, and Riley seemed to be doing well, and really, how could the morning be better? The answer, apparently, is to follow ELO with some Queen, since “Hammer to Fall” came on next. Now I’m home, stretching (and typing), all smiles, and today is going to be okay.
Speaking of music, we saw Guardians of the Galaxy Saturday night (liked it a lot) – the soundtrack is fantastic.
Weird Al has been releasing videos from his new album over the last few days, and my favorite by far is “Word Crimes”, a parody of “Blurred Lines”. It’s fantastic.
Of course, it puts the original back in my head (damn catchy tune), but I can go with these words and feel better about it.
John and I started a mini bathroom remodel this morning that is turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected. Not a lot, and I’m certain it’s still within our capabilities (or John is certain, which is enough for me), but it’ll take a little longer. I’ll have some pictures tomorrow. We went to Home Depot this morning to pick up some things and came right home to get started. There were a few things John had to do that he didn’t need my help with, so I busied myself with the music selection. I tried a bunch of existing genre stations I wasn’t in the mood for and then decided to create one based on “Modern Nature” by Sondre Lerche (which you may recognize (I know Mom will) as the song played over the credits of Dan in Real Life). My new station (which is on John’s Pandora account – I’ll have to create it on mine) is AWESOME (in an indie pop/rock kind of way). And I discovered some songs I like very much.
