Handsomeness or Why I am bad at being a girl. . .

There is a new guy at work who is very attractive. In fact, he is almost too handsome. He reminds me of one of my celebrity crushes.

Today, I was speaking to a group with him in it. Oddly, I found myself staring. After realizing I was staring (because he was watching me stare at him), I looked away. My face started to feel hot, and I knew I was turning red. So, rather than look at him, I would glance surreptitiously, trying with all my will power to keep myself from blushing; and then look away quickly--so as not to stare. I know--I'm special.

Later, I thought, "I am pretty sure he thinks I am mentally slow." Seriously, I couldn't talk, just stared or wouldn't look at him, and then I walked away awkwardly. He was just uncomfortably good-looking, and the rational part of my brain just found a place to hide.

Tiny Fey describes it really well. They did a few episodes about it.

Maybe I just need a paper plate?

Breast In Show

So, I tried to put a team together for the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. Sadly, our Breast in Show team ended up being a team of two, but hey, Yay! for me and Taylor (and honorary member Lindy). You can still donate to my race page if you want!

As I got up at 5:30am to head out for the race, I wondered why on earth I would do this, but as we gathered with thousands of women (And men--wearing "I heart Boobies" T-shirts--LOVE it!), saw survivors, and walked together for this wonderful cause, you could truly feel how amazing (and moving) it really was.

My favorite T-shirt: "Stop the War on My Rack!" in camo with pink sleeves, and a pink ribbon in the middle of the wording. Awesome! Totally want one.

I have been thinking this week about the lovely women I have known with this and other forms of cancer. Some who have beat it, some who haven't, and those still fighting, and I am so very grateful and blessed that they are fighting for the rest of us. I feel so very blessed to walk for all those women and to celebrate every woman in my life. Please get checked early and often for breast cancer.

My other favorite T-shirt: "Fight like a girl." All the women in my life are smart, gorgeous, and powerful Wonder Women who can do anything. Maybe if we all fight like girls, we can truly beat this thing.

Loves to you all.

Thank you, Armed Forces!

Daddy and Granpa Larsen were in the Navy. Uncle Cliff was in the Marines; and multiple friends have served in various arms of the Military. Because I could never do this, I am extremely grateful to those who are willing to put their lives on the line, so I can enjoy my freedom--and it usually moves me to tears. That is why I laughed (and cried a little) as Stephen Colbert visited our troops (though sometimes crude and completely crazy, he tickles me).

Here is his first broadcast from the Iraq (the Word and the Suprise Guest at the end were my favorite):

Late night musings. . .

My favorite part of tonight was watching the rain turn the screens in the window to sparkling treasures of light and diamonds. With the blinds slightly open and all the lights off, the sound of the rain outside is soothing and makes me miss the Midwest deep in the pit of my stomach.

I have grown to love this tree-infested area, but there are nights when the winds are blowing, the lightning flashes, and the rain pours; and I get a hankering for a Midwestern squall. The kind that reminds you that you are "not in Kansas anymore." The kind that makes you thirsty just listening to it. The kind that makes you shudder with its ferocity, but also take comfort in the drink of water the Earth is getting.

In The Rainmaker, the characters spend most of the movie trying to bring water to a drought-stricken area. When the rain finally does start to pour at the end, you can't wait to quench your own thirst; and yet your emotions well up and pour out of you. The Spirit of the Beehive also leaves your throat begging for water.

I have a bunch of posts I've been working on, but nothing I have finished because I have so much to say. The silence is nearly killing me, so here is a brief sip to quench the drought since I last wrote. There will be more soon, probably a deluge, but until then, you'll just have to content yourself with water droplets on a window screen.

My relationship with books...

I had a discussion with a friend where we came to the conclusion that all of our psychosis came from a point in childhood where someone just put us in the corner with a book--some kind of separation from other classmates. As in, "Well, I need to work with these kids, you are fine--just sit there and read a book." Not that that is bad--just that it explains some of our less social behavior at times.

Some of my earliest friends were books. There is something so comforting in picking up a fictional world, and wrapping it around you like a blanket--or B's snuggie as she lays in front of the fire.

A recent read described it best, "Books can be possessive, can't they? You're walking around in a bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on its own, just to get your attention. Sometimes what's inside will change your life, but sometimes you don't even have to read it. Sometimes it's a comfort just to have a book around. Many of these books haven't even had their spines cracked. 'Why do you buy books you don't even read?' our daughter asks us. That's like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat" (The Sugar Queen, Sarah Addison Allen p. 180). I'm allergic to cats (dogs, too). And you don't have to feed books.

Sometimes I think I have more book friends than friend friends. Goodreads.com lets me keep track of some of them. I also enjoy rereading some classics in bits and pieces via email. It is almost time to beg for another bookshelf, except B really doesn't like the design feel of a room where every available wall space is covered with a bookshelf.

The most recent?

• The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
• The Sugar Queen & Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• Jinx by Meg Cabot
• The Weather Warden Series by Rachel Caine
• The latest Sookie Stackhouse book from Charlaine Harris
• Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Books I'm in the middle of:

• The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
• The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The latest Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher
• A Single Voice by Kristen M. Oaks
• The Psychology of Joss Whedon, edited by Joy Davidson
• So many others. . .

Books I pick up when I am feeling blue:

• Jane Austen's Persuasion or Pride & Prejudice
• Robin McKinley's Sunshine
• Katherine Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved
• Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
• Television Without Pity's 752 Things We Love to Hate (And Hate to Love) About TV
• Black Heart, Ivory Bones--or any of the other retold fairy tales edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
• Douglas Adam's The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all 5 in the "trilogy")
• The Book of Mormon

Or whatever mood I am in, and a certain friend is called for--a swashbuckling adventure, a glorious heartbreak, a divine passion, a sneaky caper--I will pick up something I haven't read in ages, or something that is massively careworn in the one place where a scene seduced me with its magic, as books are wont to do. And more often than not, if left alone, I will be caught reading my favorite dialogue out loud--possibly in an extremely dramatic way. . . But only when I am sure I am alone. . .

ETA: Dad & Mom came to visit for the weekend. Dad suggested that instead of another bookshelf I sell some of them--and he was tickled by the horrified look on my face and my response, "Why would I sell a friend? Would you make someone with a pet sell their pet?"

I may be in trouble. . .

Because I totally need another show I am addicted to. Or that I can't stop listening to the music from (I adore the version of Rehab around minute 28, and the last 5 minutes are golden--Who doesn't love Journey?). . .



Yes, K, you created a monster.

Dollhouse

It took a while to grown on me, but as soon as we hit "Man on the Street," I signed on. Thanks, Joss, for the first (and possibly only) season. It was fantastic.


ETA: We got another season, YAY!!!!