Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Guilty Pleasure
I just finished a rousing game of Tiger Woods Golf with the boy. I didn't do that badly for someone whose golf experience doesn't really extend past the Chip N' Putt! I was tempted to hone my skills this evening while he studied for an upcoming test, but I opted to veg out on the couch.
I'm currently watching one of my #1 guilty pleasure movies.
It's a movie that came out my sophomore year of high school and currently has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That's really not that bad considering it's really nothing more than just another silly high school drama. Drew Barrymore saves it and Michael Vartan makes for some serious eye candy! Yep, I'm talking about Never Been Kissed. I'm embarrassed to admit I actually went to go see this movie in theaters (along with such other awesome movies as She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You).
The plot is so unbelievable and it's ridiculously silly, but it is just a movie that I always seem to get stuck on once it's on TV! I'd definitely put this and 13 Going on 30 as some of my top silly guilty pleasure movies. I could probably add a ton of movies to that list, to include Pretty Woman and Dirty Dancing, but I'm definitely not as hesitant to admit that I enjoy them as I am this film. I'm a sucker for a happy ending, I can't deny it! There are some really uncomfortably awkward moments in the movie (especially if you were a high school dork like me), but you just have to love Drew Barrymore in the role. No matter what my mood is, this movie will have me smiling by the time the credits roll. (Although it is debatable that that might just be due to looking at Michael Vartan!)
Do you have a favorite guilty pleasure movie? A movie that once you stumble upon you can never quite seem to change the channel? One that makes you smile despite yourself and that you might not admit to many people you enjoy?
I'm currently watching one of my #1 guilty pleasure movies.
It's a movie that came out my sophomore year of high school and currently has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That's really not that bad considering it's really nothing more than just another silly high school drama. Drew Barrymore saves it and Michael Vartan makes for some serious eye candy! Yep, I'm talking about Never Been Kissed. I'm embarrassed to admit I actually went to go see this movie in theaters (along with such other awesome movies as She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You). The plot is so unbelievable and it's ridiculously silly, but it is just a movie that I always seem to get stuck on once it's on TV! I'd definitely put this and 13 Going on 30 as some of my top silly guilty pleasure movies. I could probably add a ton of movies to that list, to include Pretty Woman and Dirty Dancing, but I'm definitely not as hesitant to admit that I enjoy them as I am this film. I'm a sucker for a happy ending, I can't deny it! There are some really uncomfortably awkward moments in the movie (especially if you were a high school dork like me), but you just have to love Drew Barrymore in the role. No matter what my mood is, this movie will have me smiling by the time the credits roll. (Although it is debatable that that might just be due to looking at Michael Vartan!)
Do you have a favorite guilty pleasure movie? A movie that once you stumble upon you can never quite seem to change the channel? One that makes you smile despite yourself and that you might not admit to many people you enjoy?
Friday, July 23, 2010
Feel Good Friday
I'm changing up my Five for Friday to Feel Good Friday! I got this from my fellow bloggers, Abby and Jamie (who got it from The Girl Next Door Grows Up). All you do is make a list of 5 things that made you happy this week. Easy enough, right? Here goes...
1) I found out my teaching schedule for the year and I have a study hall! AND it is first period AND I have 2 classes that only have 12 kids AND my largest class is only 18. I love teaching in a rural school district!
2) I got another A in my religion class! Even though I only need to pass it to receive credit, I'm obviously doing my best and am pretty stoked I'm doing so well. It is different from any class I have ever taken before and philosophy is really not my thing. Go me!
3) A friend of mine, who lost part of his left leg in a bad IED blast 3 weeks ago, took his first steps (sans prosthesis) yesterday! Read his story here. He is such an inspiration and I am so proud just to know him.
4) I got to see the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, which is something I've been wanting to do for a loooong time. It capped off a great weekend in San Francisco with the boy.
5) I heard from so many wonderful friends on my birthday and turned 27! Let the countdown to 30 begin (at which point, according to my favorite quote ever by author John Grisham, I'll finally have to be taken seriously).
My Roomies
So I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week and the weather has been awful here in California so I've been having a lot of lazy time. I'm laying on the couch and watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman, one of my favorite Travel Channel shows, and thinking...what would make this lazy day even better? Then it came to me: my felines. I miss my cats! If I were home right now Hobbes would probably be stretched out across me right now and Journey would be curled on the blanket at the end of the couch. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I adopted them! I really only intended to get this little guy when I moved last August:
He was a cat marked "special needs" by the Humane Society 'cos he required a special and more expensive diet. He had been there for a couple months and they were starting to get doubtful he'd ever find a home. After visiting with him once I decided it was about time I had a ginger kitty in my life. As I was finalizing when I was going to pick him up, the woman from the Humane Society told me about another cat on the same diet. She was a black tuxedo, which made me hesitant as I had a tuxedo cat I loved dearly that I had put down the month before. I really only had plans to adopt a single cat, but then they went and told me that she had been at the Humane Society for over two years! I'm a huge animal lover and volunteered extensively while in grad school at the local SPCA. The adult cats and dogs who had been there for 6+ months always broke my heart and I always worked so hard to get the 'old-timers' adopted. Speaking of volunteering and helping out cats, a friend of mine has started up a blog for the strays in her area. Check it out! I don't know much about dealing with strays, but if you have any ideas for her (two of the cats are pregnant) definitely let her know.
Anyway, I went to their website and saw the picture of "Felicia" (I renamed her Journey) in her cage. This was her home for over 2 years:
Even though I said I wanted to meet her first, I knew I'd end up bringing her home and sure enough I did! She has plumped up extensively since that photo was taken a couple years ago and is quite the fat kitty now (though on her last visit she only weighed in at 12.5 lbs). They brought her and Hobbes (originally "Samson") to PetSmart and I just fell in love with both of them. And that's how my ginger kitty, Hobbes, and my big fat girl, Journey, came into my life. They can certainly drive me crazy (don't all roommates?), but they have been a wonderful addition in my life and I love coming home to them at the end of the day.
He was a cat marked "special needs" by the Humane Society 'cos he required a special and more expensive diet. He had been there for a couple months and they were starting to get doubtful he'd ever find a home. After visiting with him once I decided it was about time I had a ginger kitty in my life. As I was finalizing when I was going to pick him up, the woman from the Humane Society told me about another cat on the same diet. She was a black tuxedo, which made me hesitant as I had a tuxedo cat I loved dearly that I had put down the month before. I really only had plans to adopt a single cat, but then they went and told me that she had been at the Humane Society for over two years! I'm a huge animal lover and volunteered extensively while in grad school at the local SPCA. The adult cats and dogs who had been there for 6+ months always broke my heart and I always worked so hard to get the 'old-timers' adopted. Speaking of volunteering and helping out cats, a friend of mine has started up a blog for the strays in her area. Check it out! I don't know much about dealing with strays, but if you have any ideas for her (two of the cats are pregnant) definitely let her know.
Anyway, I went to their website and saw the picture of "Felicia" (I renamed her Journey) in her cage. This was her home for over 2 years:
Even though I said I wanted to meet her first, I knew I'd end up bringing her home and sure enough I did! She has plumped up extensively since that photo was taken a couple years ago and is quite the fat kitty now (though on her last visit she only weighed in at 12.5 lbs). They brought her and Hobbes (originally "Samson") to PetSmart and I just fell in love with both of them. And that's how my ginger kitty, Hobbes, and my big fat girl, Journey, came into my life. They can certainly drive me crazy (don't all roommates?), but they have been a wonderful addition in my life and I love coming home to them at the end of the day.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Expectations
So I've been thinking a lot this summer about expectations and how I am my own worst enemy sometimes. Maybe it's the history of religion class I am taking right now that has caused me to think on it so much, but I really think one of the biggest issues I need to work on is how I cope with disappointment. I'm not even talking about major disappointments, but little things I hype up in my mind that don't pan out.
So I've made it my goal this summer to let go of expectations with attachment to results. Maybe it's all the Buddhist philosophy I've been reading for class, but the more I think on it the more I see the truth in a quote my professor introduced: "expectations are just a future resentment". I build up things in my mind and then when they don't pan out I let it negatively affect my mood and my relationships. What I end up with is resentment because I'm just too attached to what I hoped or planned would happen.
So I'm trying to let go of that attachment. I don't think there's anything wrong with having expectations. I'm a planner and will always look into the future. If I'm expecting something - whether it's what I'll do with my brother when I return to NY or how I'll do my second year in the classroom - it means I'm living in the future, which isn't reality! I need to live in the present and focus on what I have and what I can do now. I need to enjoy the time I have right now with the boy because in 3 weeks I'll be long gone from here! I will still be mindful of certain outcomes - not to be would be antithetical to who I am. But I will be mindful of them and then let them go. I'm going to stay right here where I am: in the present. And if the weather is ugly or the boy is busy or we don't go out to dinner Friday...so be it. I need to get out of the future (and while I'm at it, out of the past too) and focus on today.
Now I'm off to go read the Torah! We've gotten to the major monotheistic religions in my class and I definitely am interested in getting a deeper understanding of Judaism, which I know little about aside from the basics.
What about you? Do you have a problem with building huge expectations in your life? How do you deal when they don't plan out like you hoped? Do you think it's true that "expectations are just a possible resentment"?
So I've made it my goal this summer to let go of expectations with attachment to results. Maybe it's all the Buddhist philosophy I've been reading for class, but the more I think on it the more I see the truth in a quote my professor introduced: "expectations are just a future resentment". I build up things in my mind and then when they don't pan out I let it negatively affect my mood and my relationships. What I end up with is resentment because I'm just too attached to what I hoped or planned would happen.
So I'm trying to let go of that attachment. I don't think there's anything wrong with having expectations. I'm a planner and will always look into the future. If I'm expecting something - whether it's what I'll do with my brother when I return to NY or how I'll do my second year in the classroom - it means I'm living in the future, which isn't reality! I need to live in the present and focus on what I have and what I can do now. I need to enjoy the time I have right now with the boy because in 3 weeks I'll be long gone from here! I will still be mindful of certain outcomes - not to be would be antithetical to who I am. But I will be mindful of them and then let them go. I'm going to stay right here where I am: in the present. And if the weather is ugly or the boy is busy or we don't go out to dinner Friday...so be it. I need to get out of the future (and while I'm at it, out of the past too) and focus on today.
Now I'm off to go read the Torah! We've gotten to the major monotheistic religions in my class and I definitely am interested in getting a deeper understanding of Judaism, which I know little about aside from the basics.
What about you? Do you have a problem with building huge expectations in your life? How do you deal when they don't plan out like you hoped? Do you think it's true that "expectations are just a possible resentment"?
Friday, July 16, 2010
Five for Friday
1. You bring me a glass of juice to bed
2. You're appreciative
3. You pick me up from class every day when you don’t have to
4. You like to cook (or at least try to!)
5. You got me a birthday present we can enjoy together
2. You're appreciative
3. You pick me up from class every day when you don’t have to
4. You like to cook (or at least try to!)
5. You got me a birthday present we can enjoy together
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