♫ Random Monday: 9/20/10

Rolz and my new puppy, Nova! We call them, "Rollanova"

*One more week of commuting. Just one. It's bittersweet. But lawdy am I ready to not be making that long commute anymore.

*I found my girls a preschool! Screeeeeeeeeeee! Bless you, little church preschool, for being the most time-sensible, curriculum desired, safest place I've found yet.

*I got glasses! I've got 20-25 vision, but two astigmatisms. Which is fancy for "you can't drive, operate machinery, or even a computer, without wearing a cute accessory."

*Thanks to Christie (don't worry when you don't recognize her name, most of you don't know her...your loss, really), my girls will soon be doing three flavors of dance classes, AND having recitals. *prepares to cry*

*This weekend had the perfect balance of reality, romance, and go-time. I got swept off my feet, swung around a dance floor, time alone to think hard on some things, and epic sleep-in time, and bonus shopping time with one of my best girls. The things that can be accomplished in one weekend!

*Have you heard the latest Octomom drama?! After showing a co-worker (Octomom), he said "she's gotta looked like a popped balloon, right?" Ew.

*I'm job hunting. Officially. Know somebody hiring in the area I've moved to? Let me know! (Creepy blog stalkers, I'm SO glad you find our blog interesting, we hope to continue entertaining you, but I'm not going to tell you where I live. Sorry.)

*Ever notice how when you're reading a really good book, the chapter ends on such a cliff hanger that you're dying to keep reading? Ever notice that life is the same way? Weiiiiird, huh?

*Speaking of that, how the HECK are they going to make the seventh book in the Harry Potter series TWO movies? I'm going to die of anticipation, that's how. Along with the other 7 million addicts. They'll torture us with three hours of The Titanic, but Harry Potter? No...you get to pay double the money for that feature. Jerks.

*Autumn does indeed bring cooler weather, but with it comes good tv! I'm right back to addicted to Sons of Anarchy, and have huge plans to disappear entirely in to Grey's Anatomy Thursday!

*It's weird how I just started a blog with nothing to say, and here I am writing your eyes off.

*I am absolutely in love with this:



*If you can handle Jewel's voice, listen to these lyrics.



Yours Truly,
Nomz

♥ I heart books

I found a fantastic quote by C.S. Lewis (fitting, since he's my favorite author) that goes like this:

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me”

This quote reminds me of my youthful, summer days, lazing in the shade cast by our peaked roof, partially listening to a far off lawn mower, slapping at bugs... loving imagination. Nothing has changed. My love for books is an unquenchable thirst. I am a book scavenger- I'll take left over books, ragged and beaten; I'll take hard-bound shiny and new, first edition or fourteenth edition; I'll read one book just once or a thousand times. I'll lend one, buy one, borrow one, rescue one.

It's a funny thing that happens to me when I am submersed in someone else's gift of tale-telling: the story becomes alive. Not in the sense of the mind's eye, but... I actually begin to hear and see it everywhere. A dog will bark at the exact moment one does in the story; a child will cry in perfect timing with the character's own; I begin to pick up on smells and sounds that I had not heard before reading about them. I could chalk it up to an over-active imagination, but I'd rather keep the magic and call it story-stalking. *smile*

Libraries are quasi-sacred, to me. By stepping through its doors and choosing to peruse the pages of different font, of different words, you are honoring each author's inner most feelings and quest of their dreams. After all, there would be no books without readers. Taking the time to indulge and decipher a plot, I know, is so rewarding for those who wrote it.

The smell of a book, in itself, I could fill my house with, every day. It's a smell that doesn't take on a scent, it takes on a character: old, wise, cherished, dignified. I don't smell the pages of a book to smell the book, I flip the pages mere inches from my face to get a feel for it- for where it has been. A book that has been read a thousand times, carries a thousand smells. A new one carries only the smell of the factory. Needless to say, I adore used books.

Have you ever purchased a new Bible (or book with very thin pages) and listened to each leaflet crackle as it is pulled away from it's neighbor for the first time? Try it, it's like the crackling leaves in the beginning of fall.

A few of my most favorite novels:

The Oath, Frank Peretti

The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis

The Circle Trilogy, Ted Dekker

Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carrol

Harry Potter (every.single.book), J.K. Rowling

Running with the Demon, Terry Brooks

The Princess Bride, William Goldman

Quick, share your favorites so I can buy more books and more shelves and more books! ♥

♫ Eat, Pray Love...a review that turned in to a blog.

I'll admit, I logged on here to post a video trailer of my favorite book, and "TaDa!" it turned in to an entire blog. Sorry about that. I do hope I've inspired you to read this book, and see this movie. Immediately.

Here's the thing. I'm divorced. And dating. And happy. That's my story in a nutshell. On a deeper note, I was so misplaced three years ago in my marriage, that I was lost. I was confused. I was depressed. And I wasn't me. All feelings I thought were completely normal. All feelings I assumed were part of the process. But they weren't. That's not it. Granted, marriage is supposed to be forever, and it's meant to be HARD, and you should try your damnedest to make it work. But I did. With everything in me, I did.

I can look at pictures of that place I was in three years ago, and not remember a thing. I was so lost when I was there, that I was in a haze. I was buried so deep inside myself, that the pictures aren't even OF me.

So, June of 2008 (Holy crap, it's been two years), after months of therapy, I moved out. We had been sleeping separately for several months, living completely different lives...and I left. I picked up this book, at the recommendation of my therapist, and underlined almost the entire thing, cried through most of it, and got inspired to take the steps to find myself again. Her words spoke my heart, and wrote the things that couldn't find a way to escape me.

If you're in any of those places, if you're unsure about what you want and need reassurance, if you want the inspiration and hope to find yourself, or just need a new beginning... to find the real definition of peace and love, pick up this book.



And, check out this movie trailer. I plan on crying.



Yours Truly,
Nomz

**While this blog IS about that place I was in...it has very little to do with him, and a lot to do with my personal issues. Please do not assume anything, or take things out of context, or think that I am attacking him...or that you should. kthxbai

♫ Books and Quotes

These blogs lately are a bit deep, offensive, or emotional lately huh? So, on a lighter note, let me share some of the things that have been occupying my time in my "me time".

Three of the best books I’ve read recently:

#1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert











This book was the most inspirational, heart wrenching, and emotional connecting book I’ve ever read. Im not sure that it will be for every single person, but the words she wrote, couldn’t have been better said for myself. It’s a non-fiction book about a woman’s journey to finding herself. She wakes up in the middle of her life, and realizes that it’s not what she ever thought it would be, and she wasn’t happy about it. She took three huge steps to turn it around, and will inspire to un-root yourself. If you feel in a rutt, unhappy, or out of place with where your life is right now, read it. It will make you laugh, cry, and inspire you to leap.

#2. Leven Thumps by Obert Skye











As quoted by the girl that got me hooked on them: "It’s the new Harry Potter!". I cant agree completely, because I’ve never gotten around to reading Harry Potter. I can tell you, that these books will drag that inner child out of you, and make you imagine and dream things you never thought possible. They’re written with a child’s imagination, but in a very grown-up language. They’re a quick read, with a few cool illustrations to help your imagination to come out and play. They’re a series of five I believe, Im on book three, and officially addicted.

#3. My Daily Dose of Quotes

Not really a specific book, or even a specific website. I try, every day, to find a new quote that I love. Mister Emerson is probably my favorite of all time. I keep a running list of quotes, in both my hard-cover journal that travels with me everywhere I go, and my computer journal.

A few of my latest favorites:
"Prince charming can kiss my ass. Unless of course, he sweeps me off of my feet. We shall see..."

"The moment we cease to change is the moment we stop living."

"There's always something waiting at the end of the road, if you're not willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn't be out there..."

"When you’re forced to stand alone, you realize what you have in you"

"Dance as though no one is watching you; love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth."

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

If any of those inspired you, made you smile, or made you think you, you, my friend, need to find a new addiction to quote-age.

What are your favorite quotes? Books? Other things to do in your down-time?

Yours Truly,
Nomz