money, money, money

$20 at Amazon.com. What do you spend it on?

Myriad Harbour, The New Pornographers

1.Put your iPod/iTunes on shuffle to get the first answer.
2. For each subsequent question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from.

IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU FOR SPARE CHANGE, WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Star Mile, Joshua Radin

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DATE?
Have You Seen My Love?, Barenaked Ladies

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A JOB?
Easy Way Out, Elliott Smith

WHAT IS YOUR LATEST DILEMMA?
Waterloo, ABBA

WHY DON'T YOU HAVE MORE MONEY?
Belle & Sebastian, Belle & Sebastian

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET NICKNAME?
Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You), Aqualung

WHERE DO YOU GO AT NIGHT?
Fighting in a Sack, The Shins

WHAT IS YOUR EMERGENCY PLAN?
Teenage Love Song, Rilo Kiley

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR FRIENDS?
Tournament of Hearts, The Weakerthans

WHAT DO YOU DO FIRST THING IN THE MORNING?
Curbside Prophet, Jason Mraz

WHAT IS YOUR RINGTONE?
Against All Odds, The Postal Service

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE IN FIVE YEARS?
Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid), Sufjan Stevens

WHAT IS YOUR POLITICAL AFFILIATION?
Kissing the Lipless, The Shins

WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY?
You and the Night and the Music, Frank Sinatra

WHAT CAN YOUR COUNTRY DO FOR YOU?
Put the Lights on the Tree, Sufjan Stevens

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
Shakin', Rooney

WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, PAL?
Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman), Counting Crows

WHAT IS ON YOUR CHRISTMAS WISH LIST?
I've Had the Time of My Life, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack

WHAT'S THE BEST SONG TO MAKE LOVE TO?
Cemeteries of London, Coldplay

WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR A KLONDIKE BAR?
The Last Unicorn, Kenny Loggins

WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE ?
If You're Gone, Matchbox Twenty

WHAT MAKES YOUR BLOOD BOIL?
Kingdom Come, Coldplay

WHAT MAKES YOUR LOINS ACHE?
Wild Pack of Family Dogs, Modest Mouse

WHAT'S THE SECRET OF YOUR SUCCESS?
Baby Blue Sedan, Modest Mouse

WHOM DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?
Giving It Away, Mae

WHO IS YOUR MORTAL ENEMY?
Painting by Chagall, The Weepies

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH YOUR LIFE?
Any Man of Mine, Shania Twain

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
Follow You Down, Gin Blossoms

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Myriad Harbour, The New Pornographers

Not tagging anyone, but everyone. (And if K and RG jumped off a cliff, I'm totally jumping too.)

happy christmas

The Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore

Actually, it was originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” but apparently that ruins the ending.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas, who lived in the 4th century A.D. He was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often he gave to poor children by throwing gifts in through their windows. This was a problem when the windows were closed.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

The average person gains 7 to 10 pounds during the holidays. Eat up.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

Quick survey: How many of your parents actually slept on the night before Christmas? I mean, toy assembly alone keeps them up until what? 1, 2 in the morning? And then the kids are up at 4? This is just perpetuating another vicious myth.

Where were we? Clatter. . . matter. . . flash. . . snow. . . You know all this. Mostly filler.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

Fact: Our idea of St. Nick was actually created by the Coca-Cola company. Seriously. So you can thank them for Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, and Santa Claus.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!

Two thoughts on the reindeer: One, some people argue that they replaced Pagan gods. Two, this poem is the first time they were ever named. You’d think a poet could have done better.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

Okay, assuming Santa is strictly visiting Christian children, he still has 300 million children to visit in one night. And if each child gets a 2-pound toy, then the sleigh has to carry over 321,000 tons plus Santa and his holiday weight gain. In order to get everywhere, Santa has to travel at 650 miles per second. 321,000 tons at 650 miles per second would create such enormous friction, Santa and his reindeer would burst into flames.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

why I wore pants to church

Maryn has now turned 14, and it is time to turn our attention to other issues. Or one other issue.

It is freezing.

Let me say that again.

Freezing.

When I suddenly decided (realized) I was moving to Chicago, everyone warned me about the cold. I listened, but I'm a tough Utah girl. I can take the cold. But here's the difference between Utah cold and Chicago cold (and yes, I'm aware that I should be more precise and compare city to city and state to state, but this is how I think. And I'm still not resigned to living in a state known as Illinois):

Utah Cold

Chicago Cold

See the difference? Look closely.

Utah cold has a car. Let me say that again. Utah cold has a Car.

I suddenly find myself in desparate need of coat, gloves, scarf, a second scarf to wrap around my head, and I'm still Cold. Which leads to why I wore pants to church yesterday.

If it's cold in jeans/trousers, it's even colder in a skirt. I've invested in tights (which I hate for various and obvious reasons), but with the snow, tights and heels seemed like a really bad idea yesterday. (Case in point: the week before I nearly did the splits on my 10-minute walk to the El. Luckily it was a narrow skirt, which provided some control.) So I decided I would put on my tights, but wear pants and boots until I got to church.

I'm so clever.

Until I got to the church bathroom, claimed the large stall, reached in my bag, pulled out my heels, reached in again, and

no skirt.

Right before I left for church, I had decided I wanted to wear a different skirt than I orignally planned. So I took the first skirt from my bag

and never put the second skirt in.

Maryn, I luff you

even though I have no idea what "luff" means. But you do, and I trust you and your vocabulary.

I hope you have an awesome party tonight and a wonderful birthday tomorrow. And tell Mom to give you your birthday present from me. Now.



Seriously. Go get your present. There's nothing else here.



Luff. LoL.

Except that.

the stylish stylings of Miss Maryn

True Story: When I need to know if an outfit is working, I ask Maryn. The girl's got style. Need proof?

This is M at girls camp. Who looks this good at girls camp? Answer: no one.

M at. . . I'm not sure. But she looks awesome, as always.

An impromptu modeling session with Seth and Sophie.

It takes skills to pull off head-to-toe glowstick accessories.

A local photog asked M to model for her. This is one of my favorites.
Stay tuned for more Maryn tomorrow!

previewing tomorrow

the stylish stylings of Miss Maryn

iMaryn

I come from a rather talented family. Seth sings (and plays the guitar and woos the women), Lauren plays the piano (and is SuperMom), Sven is pretty much a genius (a guitar-playing genius), Mom quilts (and sings and plays the piano), and Dad is the genius from whence Sven came. But I would argue (and I believe most of my family would agree), that Maryn might just be the most talented of all--a kind of uberTalent, if you will.

Exhibit A: Maryn sings. Most recently, she was in iHappy, a musical revue at her junior high school. I didn't get to go, which is iSad, but I've been told she rocked the house with her rendition of "My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music.

Exhibit B: Maryn plays the piano. And the guitar. And the clarinet. In fact, she was so good playing the clarinet (with minimal practice time, mind you), that her band teacher begged her to stay with band this year. (I believe she declined in favor of. . .

Exhibit C: Maryn speaks Mandarin Chinese. Please join me in excessive eyebrow lifting and exclamations that only a Mormon would make.

Exhibit D: Maryn designs clothes. Not that unusual for an almost-14-year-old girl. But how many 14-year-old girls have already had designs put into production? Seriously, folks. (She designed a dress and a sweater for this clothing line. Unfortunately, she wasn't given artistic control over production, and doesn't love the results, but still--.)

Exhibit E: Last, but not least, and certainly not all, Maryn is a particularly gifted aunt. I hate to admit it, but she is the Abby Baby's favorite aunt, as indicated by her Abby-name, "Quack-Quack," meaning "the funniest, nicest, most attentive, patient aunt in the world."

Happy Birthday, Quack-Quack.

courtesy of Th.

Just in case you don't scour the comments pages, here we find Anne Shirley explaining Twilight.

your regularly scheduled programming

SuperCoolMarynFact 2: Maryn has great taste in men. While the rest of the world was swooning over him

Maryn was more impressed by this man

That's right, Gilbert Blythe. And while she found him via the movies, my brilliant sister soon moved on to the books. He's just as attractive there.

(I can't wait to introduce her to

. . . in a couple of years.)

(an interruption, or "There is no end to existential crises.")

(I just declared it a week of Maryn, which it is, and then I scrolled through my blog, as I am wont to do. And I'm usually pleased with myself, with my writing, even when it is Too Much. But today I was sad, I am sad. An entire string of David Cook videos? Seriously? And only a video of the Weepies as Puppets? And then I blog-hopped about, reading about people who I know and people who I love and people who I wish I could be like. There is one person who is living the life I think I should be living. There is another who is living the life I want to be living. And I'm wondering if even though I moved to a new city, and wrote new poems, and even got into an MFA, if I'm actually living. This weekend was lovely, but it was a borrowed kind of lovely. I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know when I get to find out. I wonder if I should start with who I was, or if that would be counterproductive. I want to be excited to be me, but I have to figure out who that is first.)

a week of Maryn

On Saturday, December 6, my baby sister will turn 14. Finally. After a year of me telling everyone that she is 14. And I won't be there. So, in honor of this auspicious occasion, the world's first unmanned flying deskset will be hosting a week of Maryn (not to be confused with the month o'Edgy or the Anna holiday). There will be food, drinks, laughter, dancing, and a whole lot of Maryn. And possibly a countdown as in. . .

"The Top Ten Reasons Maryn is Maryn"

or

"M.A.R.Y.N. is A.W.E.S.O.M.E."

Both are working titles.

Anyway, the point of today's post:

Maryn loves to share. Like sharing her favorite Bountiful cool spot, The Yogurt Stop. A serve yourself frozen yogurt mecca on the corner of 5th and Main. Maryn suggests the raspberry frozen yogurt with Oreos, or the Oreo frozen yogurt with Oreos. Or pretty much anything with Oreos. Just remember: frozen Swedish fish taste kind of funny.

Stayed tune for tomorrow, Twilight, and Gilbert Blythe.