The Birthday Post!

Today is Brian's birthday. Now he is old like me. Now he can legally go and get wasted with his friends, not like me. Sweet. (this is a joke..you can laugh)

Happy Birthday, love. Have fun. I will miss you.

Lovingly,

Anna

Speak for Yourself

It has been a few weeks now since I first heard Imogen Heap's album "Speak for Yourself," but I just started actually listening to this album a few nights ago. While I was shopping with my sister at the Gap, we heard Imogen's voice over the speakers. I don't even know which song was playing, but on the trip home we listened to the album, and I haven't really stopped since. You can read a rather long conversation with her here.

Yesterday while I was attempting to work hard in front of my desk with a glaring computer screen in my face, the idea of making top ten lists sounded extremely appealing. I started these right then and there and have just completed them today. In reading these, you may find out things you about me that you do not really wish to know....don't say I didn't warn you.

top ten songs of the week:
1. The Frankston Line, Youth Group
2. Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple
3. Lua, Bright Eyes
4. Misunderstood, Wilco
5. Champagne from a Paper Cup, Death Cab for Cutie
6. Born, Over the Rhine
7. Ripchord, Rilo Kiley
8. This Charming Man, The Smiths
9. In The Cold, Cold Night, The White Stripes
10. Ten, Jimmy Eat World

top ten movies I've seen over the past months:
1. Magnolia
2. The Big Sleep
3. Toy Story 2
4. The Producers
5. King Kong
6. Kill Bill, Vol 2
7. For A Few Dollars More
8. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
9. Casablanca
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

ten strange and/or annyoing habits I posess:
1. cutting up fruit before eating it
2. checking myself out in a mirror/window as I walk by ("to see what my hair is doing, it is kinda skywalker, or is it kinda stupid?" Yes, I am vain.)
3. eating the same kind of sandwich for lunch every day of the week
4. making my bed before climbing into it at night
5. rubbing baby lotion on my stomach before I am able to sleep (hey, it's calming)
6. poking people to show that I love them
7. using a lot more chap-stick every day than my lips really need
8. asking "why?" too much
9. pressing the snooze button too many times, which causes me to get up late
10. working out at 11pm

highlights of the last ten days:
today. so far, taking pictures of anything and really nothing
yesterday. watching "The Big Sleep" for the first time
day before. kids at Head Start arguing about what foods contain water
wednesday. shopping with my mom and my sister
tuesday. finding out I have enough vacation time to get paid during my trip to Europe
monday. getting up early enough to work out before work
sunday. making muffins
saturday. driving the back roads to Big Timber and back with friends
friday. nothing I did has stuck in my memory
thursday. being with Brian

These lits are multiples of five, only because five is the most I could think of...

five things that are really nice to drink:
1. water
2. chai tea vanilla silk latte
3. black coffee
4. cloudy apple juice
5. herbal tea

five of the most annoying books I've read:
1. Preparing for Marriage God's Way, Dr. Wayne A. Mack
2. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
3. The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective, Martha Peace
4. How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
5. Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink

top five favorite colors to wear:
1. brown
2. pink
3. black
4. white
5. blue

my five favorite things to take pictures of:
1. feet
2. shadows
3. close ups of faces
4. the sky
5. random corners and meaningless things

five places I visit most frequently:
1. Target
2. Gap
3. Hastings
4. jcrew.com
5. Old Navy

tastes like summer

I ate strawberries for lunch today, which I purchased from Wal-Mart (seriously my least favorite store on the planet) a few days ago. They were amazingly good, and to think, I almost passed them up because they didn't look ripe enough. All this to say, strawberries in January...mmmm yeah. I'm happy about this.

The weight is a gift or, this life is a gift, or, thoughts about things I do not deserve...

This past week has been one never to be forgotten. It sends me into a fury of thoughts at the amazingness of God's goodness. I can spend an entire week not really doing anything in particular and love it so much and know that it was a week well spent. Brian has documented things beautifully, so go read about it while I save my breath.

So friends, I have decided it is time to become a more faithful blogger. A post every month (or less) doesn't cut it. (Especially when my posts are really not about anything.) I am not promising my future posts will be about "anything" more than my previous ones have been, but they will be more frequent, and hopefully more worth-reading.


Album of the week:
"The Weight is A Gift" by Nada Surf
(especially "Always Love" and "In the Mirror")