All The World's A Stage

I like to pretend that I'm addressing a large group of unknown people when I write. I don't know this vast audience and thus I write anonymously. No names. No specifics. Except for the fact that if you do know me and read this, you would easily know most of the people or things to which I refer. And also excepting the fact that I do know my majority audience, but in keeping with my convictions of anonymity, I shall resist the urge to "give a shout out" that would name her. Oh what the heck. Hey Renee! Thanks for reading!

Ok, that's out of my system. From now on, I'm not writing names or specifics.

In general, I think when I make a point of stating that I have rules or standards, I end up really wanting to break them! Like every time that I tell a guy I don't kiss on a first date and then end up kissing him anyway. Or when I tell people that I much prefer salad to french fries but don't bother to ask for salad to substitute my fries. While I'm confessing, I might as well say that I forgot to put my eye creme on tonight and I don't intend to get back out of my bed to go put it on. I'll probably have more wrinkles by morning because I didn't admonish the advice I give to women every day at work about consistently caring for one's skin. And everyone knows that the eyes are the first place to give away a woman's age.

Ok, I'm back. I convinced myself that I do need eye creme after all.

Now that I've rambled about nothing, I won't try to redeem this post by feigning something eloquent. Although, I've got earth-shattering ideas about starting a training service for turning shy and awkward boys into charming husband material, and I've got a thought or two on New Year's Resolutions, as well as several grievances/annoyances I'd like to vent about. But nonetheless, I shall stop this incessant ramble-fest tonight and save my unfulfilled rantings for another day.

So Many Thoughts....mostly not related to actual Christmas

Today is Christmas on the calendar, but if you live anywhere near the midsection of the country, you may have been snowed in and had to reschedule holiday plans.

So many thoughts I'd like to blog about today...houseguests who stay even when I think they could safely drive through the snow and make it home...how snowdrifts can make the furnace stop working and the house frigid...spending christmas with friends instead of family--the oddities of single adulthood...my new bubble bath caddy that holds my wineglass, book, and of course bath accessories...flirtation out of apparent boredom with people to whom you normally are not attracted...and very importantly, how to re-meet the neighbor up the street who has a four-wheeler with a snow plow blade and who looks extremely sexy when he rides it...

All of these random thoughts I may expand upon later, but on this day that feels nothing like Christmas usually feels, the only thought I want to emphasize is this: For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

If I believed in Santa, I probably would have gotten a lump of coal in my stocking this year. I've spent more time being naughty than nice this year. But since Christmas is about Christ not Santa, I'm so thankful for His grace that still lets my name be written in the Book Of Life despite my naughtiness (of which I've repented.) I've been so distracted from the real reason for Christmas, and even with seemingly unlimited time on my hands being snowed in I haven't had a chance to slow down and thank the Lord for being born. So now with less than an hour left of this Christmas Day, I'm finally going to spend some time alone with my Saviour and wish Him a happy birthday.

One of those days

Most days, I think of myself as a capable and competent woman...some days I am proven wrong. Today I pulled my car too far into a parking space and crinkled my license plate like an accordion, burnt a batch of gingerbread men--who were by the way already somewhat mis-shapen, and broke a shelf in the fridge that I was too lazy to fix just yet to name just a few of my klutzy spells today. I'm choosing to blame my quirks on the cold medicine I took today and also perhaps the distraction of my Bestie who came to bake with me today. Sometimes two heads are not better than one, but at least two are more fun than one.

On the bright side, I was having a good balance day because my tree pose in yoga tonight felt especially well-rooted and stable.

I'm embarassed for you

Sometimes I'm really embarassed for other people when they write very personal things on facebook. Honesty is a good thing, but there's such a thing as oversharing. For example, "I'm in so much pain! Why doesn't he appreciate me for who I am?" or "I have been angry all week, but I was finally happy last night." "Jealousy is such a hopeless emotion. I don't like what I'm feeling. And I was doing so well." And then there's the overly spiritual ones that are either cheesy or kind of depressing. I don't need to quote any of those to you because you know them when you see them.

I'm also horribly embarrassed for couples who are so codependent they even share their facebook account. Facebook is built for individuals so to make it into a couple's site means you can only choose one of your birthdays on your profile, you can't both be tagged in a picture, it's confusing to other people (especially long lost friends trying to find you), you're screen name sounds effing stupid, your friends will have to be very specific in whom they are addressing with wall comments, and finally you're broadcasting to everyone how codependent and clingy/insecure you really are. I mean, seriously, what is the point of sharing your facebook? The only plausible reasons I can think of are that one person is not technologically savvy enough to check email by him or herself or that they don't trust each other not to communicate with exes on there.

Now, let me add this disclaimer...I realize that everyone expresses themselves in a different way, and I know that at different points people have been embarrassed for me because of things I've posted. But this is my blog where I get to post my opinions. When you want to vent about me, you can do it on your blog!

Cheap is the new black--Have a spa night at home!

One of my favorite pastimes with my single gal pals is spa night. I started back when I lived in the dorms, and my wingmates and I would host spa nights in our big community bathrooms. (which worked great for making a steamroom out of a fourstall shower!) Anyway, tonight Good Girl and roomie will detoxify our pores, exfoliate our feet, and moisturize from head to toe. I'm fairly certain that when I do marry someday, spa nights will not be something in which my husband will want to partake. So I relish this particular activity because I know that in the future it will occur less often.

If you want to do your own spa night, which by the way will save you a hundred dollars compared to going to the salon, you will need a selection of your favorite facial scrubs and masks, foot scrub, pumice, nail file, and your favorite nail colors. I like to start with a deep cleansing treatment (my favorites are Estee Lauder Idealist Dual Action Treatment or Clinique Deep Cleansing Emergency Mask) While that treatment is doing it's job on your face for about ten minutes, I soak my feet in a warm bath and start scrubbing with my pumice and salt scrub(If you don't have any scrub, make your own with coarse sea salt and olive oil). After pumicing your feet, apply foot lotion (I recommend Origins Reinventing the Heel) and let it absorb while you remove your facial mask. I personally like to follow my deep cleansing facial with a moisturizing creme mask (such as Estee Lauder Resilience Lift Extreme Mask or Origins Drink Up Mask) to get a range of benefits that complement each other and let that set while I paint my toes. While painting your toes is a good opportunity to multi-task your entertainment so feel free to pop in a movie, turn up the music, or break out the magazines.

So there you have it, Good Girl's basic spa night. In case you are one of those women who has never tried to do your own beauty treatments, I think you'll find it's still fun and pampering but you'll pay a fraction of salon costs (the first time you buy all the products, it will probably cost you what one salon trip costs but you get to use them for many months to come). And if you haven't already heard cheap is the new black.

Eating In A Winter Wonderland

Today I had to be weighed at the doctor's office....It wasn't pretty. I was so upset I went straight to McDonald's to stress eat. Actually, I stopped to get breakfast since I had to be fasting for the appointment (and also because the kitchen is a mess and I didn't want to clean up the kitchen mess in order to make food at home.) In my defense I got the egg and cheese mcmuffin which is the healthiest and lowest calorie fast food breakfast item. And as a side note, I choose to believe the fact that the drive thru girl remembers me just means that she is a people person with a knack for faces--even those she rarely sees!

Hips Don't Lie

Today is zumba and yoga day! (Pending that this snow and ice doesn't derail my plans, of course) I've been doing yoga for a while and, being the closet hippie that I am, I absolutely love to put on my organic, aromatherapy lotion and indulge in sun salutations and savasana until they turn on the lights and tell me to get up. But zumba is still a little new to me. I've decided that as a tall, very white, Norwegian girl with only a modest amount of hips, a dance workout like zumba that focuses on me shaking "it" is like a tool for reinventing myself in certain ways. The more my hips shake, the more I feel like an exotic island girl who probably spends her days picking flowers to put in her hair and dancing on the beach.

Maybe one day I'll sign up for one of those pole dancing classes that tout finding your inner goddess. I'm all about finding my inner goddess--I even believe some days that I am that goddess on the outside. But as I mentioned previously, I've always been the good girl and even though I would actually love to swing myself around a pole and have everyone think I'm a smoldering goddess, I'm only willing to be a little bad. By that I mean that I've been saving myself physically for the love of my life whom I have not yet found, and I feel that advertising the goods in that kind of way makes people assume that I'm giving the goods away. So for now, I will continue to shake it in zumba and feel like that exotic island girl, and whenever I do find Mr. Right, he will eventually be privy to the unleashing of 27 years of pent up goddess energy.

Good Girls Go Bad

I'm 27 years old. Single. Working on my second bachelor's degree. That's right two bachelor's instead of a master's. On the brink of starting the career I want. My family gets crazier every day, and my friends my age keep pairing up and starting their own families right and left--which seems to cause verbal dysentery of such phrases as "It would be so nice if you were part of a couple, too" or "It's so odd to me that there are people my age who are single and don't have kids." or this one from Captain Obvious, "You're a nice Christian girl, why don't you try to meet someone at church?"

Lately, I've been listening to Cobra Starship's "Good Girl's Go Bad" on my iPod. It makes me think I could be bad, too. All my life, I've been the good girl. I try to make sensible decisions and live the life I think God wants me to live, and then I look around and think 'this is it?' Obviously, God is in control of the universe and knows much better than I do; but seriously, I can't figure out if I've horribly screwed up somewhere along the way or if this is really God's best for my life! This must be my life's equivalent to the Israelites 40 years in the desert before entering the promised land.