150 and Counting

HEY YOU GUYS GUESS WHAT???

THIS IS OFFICIALLY MY 150TH POST ON TEENYTINYTIDBITS.

Source: catchmyparty.com via Catch My Party on Pinterest

It's kind of exciting really. So exciting in fact, that I had to search on Pinterest for a nice virtual cake to celebrate. Isn't it fancy??? :)

Anyway, I guess I'll take a break from my studying and share a little of what's been going on in behind the scenes of teenytinytidbits...it's been quite a roller coaster, but I think things are getting a little better. Well, that is what I'm telling myself, life has been kind of tough here and there, and as I've been exploring my inner self (my thoughts, feelings, meanings, etc.), I am beginning to realize that there are a few things I need to take care of. The most complicated and difficult thing is, I believe, the clash between who I really am and who I strive to be around my friends, co-workers, and family. I'm such an introvert, and while I've been progressing bit by bit in hanging out more with friends, there are times when I just need to recuperate, contemplate my life, alone. I'm quite reserved and prefer to hold out on talking until it really is necessary to do so.

Now, I'm not saying being an introvert is bad---I love being a reserved individual---but these past couple of weeks I've seen the downside of introversion; because I tend to keep to myself (I rarely discuss my true feelings and reactions with those I love), I may be a little late on making a new relationship work out. Rational-me says I shouldn't worry or put too much thought into this, but when I have I ever really listened to Rational-me when it comes to love?

Anyway, since the start of this lovely month of December, I have decided to go through a mini-transformation of sorts. Well, more of a reconstruction: investing time, thought, and care into myself. I'm nourishing my mind and body through reading unassigned literature, going to yoga, and giving myself things I want and deserve. The yoga has helped tremendously; as I have become physically stronger, yoga has also allowed a wave of emotions to come over me, and it's forcing me to decipher what's going on inside my mind. I am choosing to figure out what I feel and why I feel that way. I've been reading another Raymond Chandler mystery, for fun, just because! Aaaaaand, while I haven't been shopping for new clothes and stuff, I have decided to dress up every now and then for the hell of it; I like using fashion (though an amateur I bet) as an art experiment on myself; it's been fun!

And so, I guess it's kind of cool that I'm sharing all this jumbled mess on my 150th post. I know struggles lie ahead, but I'm not hiding or running away from them. Just a request, if y'all happen to read my future posts and if they seem to be too sad or depressed, or even just plain apathetic, please, PLEASE snap me out of it. I'll accept any criticism and suggestions. :)

Have a lovely start of the week!

Hazelnut

A few things before I get into the main story...first, the weather has been magnificently lovely---quite unusual since it is still August (and this month is usually the peak of the summer heat). Second, I don't think I'm allergic to celery. Third, and this is a really BIG deal: I ate watermelon for the first time in over a decade. A decade!

What's the big deal about watermelon, you ask? I'm a super picky eater, in case y'all couldn't figure that out (it's not much of a surprise if you ask me), and frankly, I do not appreciate the texture of watermelon. And all those seeds. Even when my mom would buy the seedless kind, I ALWAYS managed to find a seed. And eating watermelon is just too messy to be worth it, you know...Anyway, these past couple of years I've been taking baby steps in broadening my "approved foods list," and now I can say that watermelon isn't so bad after all...but only in small quantities, and I must have a good (i.e. great for cutting small pieces of watermelon into even smaller pieces) fork while eating this semi-approved fruit. I must say, there is something charismatic about watermelon...I dunno why.



That's what I imagine a charismatic watermelon would say.



Anyway, honestly I've been really rebellious with my writing duties lately, and i have dragged this poor old post for too long. This should have posted last Tuesday, but I just kept procrastinating, getting on Pinterest, clicking the "random" button on marriedtothesea, and reading a bit of Economics stuff. Now it's Sunday and I've forgotten the real point of this post: it's not really as exciting as it was when it happened. THE MAIN STORY: I made really strong hazelnut coffee at work and drank quite a bit of it. Consequently, I felt like I had become hazelnuts. I felt like Nutella.

I know...definitely not as a great a story as it would've been had I written about this sooner. My apologies. Enjoy my latest Pinterest find instead, I might have shared this with a few people beforehand, but it's just too odd not to share it with the rest of y'all.

Source: Uploaded by user via Lucas on Pinterest

Clean Up!

Just a few things I had to share before I deleted them from my phone...FOREVER. Enjoy :)

Right as 2011 started, we had this long-time regular customer (at the bank, and by regular I mean he would visit the bank at least 2 or 3 times a week) who brought us one of those FANCY Edible Arrangements fruit bouquet. For some reason I was the ONLY ONE excited and thrilled by the fact that these Edible Arrangements people could produce the year "2011" with pineapples.

As I devoured the year 2011, I decided to take a picture of the "2." I'll have you know that it was both SWEET and FRESH. (I kind of want some now, just remembering this delicious number.)

Speaking of the bank (my old job), I had the pleasure of finding the weirdest and quirkiest things. Take, for example, this lovely $20 bill. Oh sure, you think I'm just talking about this 20 because of the dashing and debonaire Andrew Jackson---just don't mention the Trail of Tears to me and we'll be good---but take a closer look....

Looks like somebody thought it would be fun to play "punch buggy" (or "slug bug" or as I prefer "PONCH BOGGY"). I thought it was adorable. Who makes stamps like these anyway and where can I get them AMIRITE??? Anyway, I had taken it upon myself to be the "MUTILATED/UNFIT CURRENCY COLLECTOR" (the one who takes all the ugly bills out of circulation), and so this little PONCH BOGGY bill had to go away to the Fed.

Another one of those quirky things, you know. I'm guessing ARTHUR was the genius behind this work of art. Maybe...MAYBE...this ARTHUR kid thought Ulysses S. Grant was...dare I say it...ONE COOL G? My guess is it was too bright outside so my boy G needed a cool pair of shades.

A little side note on this one: this bill had to go to its final resting place, but a couple of months later, as I was making my weekly "mutilated currency collection" rounds, a co-worker gave me a $50 bill. Guess what? ARTHUR had given this new Grant another pair of sunglasses. Boy, I guess this ARTHUR has a lot of 50's floating around, at least enough to accessorize them all!

{That second G, by the way, went away to the Fed too, to finally rest in peace.}

This is me just being...me. I don't like taking pictures, especially with my phone. When I got my first phone that actually had a camera in it, I did what all girls do: take pictures of myself, well, in my case, TRY to take pictures of myself.

All my pictures were FAILURES. I could never keep my eyes open. I still can't, except when I make crazy faces like the one in this picture. Or when I have at least one full "special" beverage. It's a true story. If you ever hang around with me and have a couple of drinks, that's when you'll see me wholeheartedly take part in group pictures and junk like that.

FYI, just because I can keep my eyes fully open doesn't necessarily mean the pictures are good. You've been warned.

I just thought this was funny. If you're near a Whole Foods Market, you might wanna go just to see the huge mango promotions going on. Like, seriously.

I honestly don't know if these mango specials are still going on or whatever, but I burst out laughing when I saw these happy mangos all over the store. I thought they were dancing but I don't really care---not my favorite fruit, but I admire the effort. (P.S. is it MANGOS or MANGOES?)

Lastly, I found this little piece of paper on my kitchen counter a while back. My first thought: why is there a Texas-shaped confetti in the kitchen?

Nobody in the house provided an answer or a reason for its existence or how it came to be in the house, but in any case it was sort of adorable. Not that I am a Texas-patriot or anything, but seeing as how I was born in Texas, live in Texas, sleep in Texas, I couldn't help but marvel at this unexpected surprise.

And so...

I had to do glam up this little Texas confetti picture, just so y'all could see how AWESOME Texas actually is.

Are you READY?

Oh yes, I totally did that. Now you can totally tell this is Texas.

Whirlwind

It's one of those moments in my life when I step back and look at what's going on. Where am I? Am I where I need to be? Are there any changes I need to make in my life to get to where I want and need to be?

Let's see...I have a job---a good job, but not my dream job---and I work 8 or so hours a day, and sometimes I'm busy, while other times I go crazy not knowing what to do with myself.

I read, though not as much as I would love to---that should change in the next couple of weeks, as I FINALLY subscribed to The Economist, and should have complete access to relevant news of the economy and whatnot. (On a side note, I will make time so I can finish reading Glamorama---another Bret Easton Ellis novel---I feel soooo bad for not finishing it sooner, and making all of the other books on my "Read Me" list collect dust on my dresser.)

I have more than enough clothes, and I need to STOP buying new clothes every time I go to the mall. It's a really bad habit, and I should be saving that money instead---who knows how tight my budget will be this summer, fall, and (hopefully) next spring when I add schoolwork to my life again.

The March of Dimes March for Babies is coming up---I've gotten into a routine now and hope to maintain it now and after the march. I kind of want to see if I can train a bit harder and maybe (a HUGE maybe) participate in a more intense run in the "near" future.

I've started to keep in touch with close friends (from my "younger" days and from my times at the bank), and I'd like to keep it that way. It's not fun when you stop talking and hanging out with good friends.

Today is (or was, since we're at the end of this fine Sunday) Easter Sunday, and with this celebration comes a sense of renewal and security. Lent is over, and I am now able to eat potato chips (and all those deliciously bad junk food snacks) again. In the past 40 days, I also made an effort to entirely ignore and not search for any information about the former love of my life. I hid his stuff from my news feed on Facebook, I made sure I was always offline to avoid any (though unlikely I think) potential and unwanted conversations from him...I even blocked his current girlfriend from my account---sometimes, and I'll admit it, I can get carried away with the whole "creeping"---I mean, INVESTIGATING---thing, so I knew it was the best thing for everyone for me to just do that. It's been good for me, not preoccupied with what he might be thinking or doing or whatever. I'm free. Sure, I think about him from time to time, and I miss him and the memories, but it's still okay. I live my life, he lives his life. I'm not ready to unexpectedly encounter him someday yet, I need to work on that. To be totally alright and unaffected by seeing him again.

So I have a few things to work on, but breaking them down like I did above has calmed me a bit. I don't need to fret, panic, or worry about anything. God just has a way of making things all come together at the right time. I'm in the right place right now. :)

P.S. I will totally write about my GAME THEORY tidbit and my healthcare opinion fairly soon: I don't have MS Paint on my laptop, so please bear with me as I need to make cute charts and for those posts. I hope it's worth it! :)

Just Another Tidbits Sunday

OH MY GOODNESS!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! OH MY GOD!!!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW GIDDY AND EXCITED THIS MAKES ME FEEL???????

I

ABSOLUTELY

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

SILVERSUN PICKUPS!!!!!

So, their newest album, Neck of the Woods, is coming out on May 8th, just in time for my birthday (which happens to be on the 15th)! They are simply amazing, I really could just listen to them over and over and OVER again. Endlessly. OH, by the way, the song above (you should be listening to it while you read this), titled Bloody Mary, is a new one, and was just released earlier today! I immediately fell in love with it.

Ok, I should probably talk about something else in addition to the above-mentioned good news. Did y'all know that I did get to the Fun. concert??? It was all very much short notice. And an impulsive yes on my part. BUT the concert was, well, FUN. There is, however, something that's bothering me---but I suppose it's only bothersome if I let it bother me. And I won't. Not anymore.

On a kind of unrelated (but not really) note, why---when I want to be---can't I just be "one of the guys"?? Let's just dwell on this, and I'll see y'all tomorrow!

Grass. Green Grass.

So I had another interesting dream early this morning; these are the remnants:

It was a summer evening, and I was running around a campground. I don't recall who I was with, but I do remember seeing these really wide steps made of massive rocks. In the blink of a dream eye it was morning (within the dream), and I was speedily crawling along a well-known street from my childhood town. (I still see the street, from time to time---there's really no business for me to frequent it). I remember seeing the familiar fire station that sits upon this street, but there was no paved road. All I remember was grass. Very green grass.

Source: pay.diary.ru via Tim on Pinterest

Fresh green grass. Cool as my hands and knees crawled over it. I had to get to a field. When asked by a faceless stranger why I crawled, I totally logically explained I was making the same motions one makes when riding a bicycle. (I still don't know how to ride a bike...in real life.)

I opened my eyes. Tried to hold on to the dissolving images and scenes from my dream. This is all I could keep.

It's overwhelming.

Lights

Good evening, and Happy Sunday to everyone! :) Noted, it is quite cold and rainy outside, but it's quite alright---it's the holiday season! My mother and I have been getting more and more into decorating our home for the holidays, and this year, Mom really outdid her crafty and creative self with a string of Christmas lights, a vase, and some decorative filler stones---so I'm showing off the creation with the following pictures:

I love Christmas lights. Bright, but not too-too bright, you know? And you should see our Christmas tree: we opted for a skinnier tree this year, and decorated it with white/frosted-white/red round lights and redbird ornaments...so pretty!

On a side note, I'm feeling a lot better than last week. I was ill since before Thanksgiving, and I was bedridden on both last Sunday and Monday. I actually lost my voice, and let me tell you, it was not a fun experience. Luckily, I'm getting over the sickness now, with only a nasty cough that scares children as the last dwindling piece of evidence of illness.

On ANOTHER side note, isn't that Pop Tarts commercial jingle super adorable? Or is it just adorable because of those unrecognizable and androgynous critters?

Why does only one of those Pop-Tart eating creatures have hair? Anyway, they're adorable, and their charm might convince me to buy their advertised product, even the product itself isn't quite as precious as these little guys.

One last note: I'm working on a Whales post, so y'all best be getting ready! You're gonna have....a WHALE of a time...(yes, I totally just went there...)

Much love to all! :)

I love May

Good evening, all, so you know how I was on vacation a few weeks back? Yeah, and I gave a tiny update about wind turbines? Well, I had hoped to write more often during vacation, but instead I spent it reading, stretching, job searching, and just staying at home. It's quite alright though, I'm not apologizing for the delay of posts; I honestly believe I distributed my time correctly.


Anyway, inevitably, April has become May, and I am a mere week away from my 23rd birthday. This is crazy on so many levels. I thought it was amazing when I had reached my 21st birthday, given my behaviors and bizarre eating habits/conditions. My 22nd was a little different last year, for not only did I earn another year of life, but a B.B.A. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics as well. It's kind of like my graduation overshadowed my birthday, actually, but it was overall an amazing day. And now this 23rd birthday comes along.


These paragraphs have been about me for too long. Enough. In other news, I came across this mini debate over cutting down the deficit. Paul Krugman, an admirable economist, makes it clear, that even though President Obama's plan on cutting down the deficit isn't absolutely perfect, it is more realistic and "plausible" than the Ryan Plan...





If you have time and aren't easily bored by these topics, I do suggest you view the above video. If not, well, you really should view it anyway, I mean, come on, it is Paul Krugman.


In other-other news, my hair has grown quite long, and I need to trim it! Part of me wants to chop it all off, but the more curious part wants to see how long it can grow before it becomes unhealthy. We shall see...


Note: I do apologize if you find this whole budget subject thingy to be boring. Might I suggest you start reading the news more often? A good old-fashioned newspaper every now and then is actually quite fun...or the online version, at the very least.

Sunday Night

It's Sunday night, patio door is open, the feeling that occurs right before a thunderstorm is making itself known. Just another wonderful, peaceful Sunday to add to my memories.

Before you read on, I do strongly advise you to scroll all the way to the bottom of this post and "play" the video. That way you'll have some music accompaniment to this winding post. DO IT!!!

I could apologize for the millionth time for not posting as frequently as I used to, but I'll feel guiltier because I'm not quite sure when the next time I'll post will be after this one. (Rest assured, I'll be on vacation next Saturday, and after I walk in the March of Dimes (for BABIES!) I'm gonna have so much time on my hands I won't know what to do with myself! :)

I had planned to go to New York during this vacation time, but alas, it is not the right moment to do so for countless reasons. But it's okay, I have modified my plans to go in October, which I think is a wonderful time to travel anywhere. And nothing (I'm gonna fight if I have to!) is going to stop me from going this time haha.

Anyway, there were quite a bit of topics I wanted to write about prior to today, but I never got around to writing them down, just because I know that upon reflecting on specific topics, I would become enraged and disillusioned with humanity and death, so I have chosen to hang on to my faith and hope and live on optimistically. Basically, the best I can do is the best I can do.

How about Friday night , eyy? We were mere hours away from a government shutdown, and I seriously had no idea what that meant. I felt ashamed of myself for not being more informed, so I decided to do a little bit of research to educate myself on the topic. Apparently, had Congress not come to an agreement over the budget, all but the "essential" government jobs would shut down, cease to operate, and those employees would be placed on furlough. Oh, but the good ole Congress people would still get paid, because they can only be affected by direct law. (Does that seem fair?) Meanwhile, we'd be essentially defenseless: no one to monitor diseases at the CDC, no one processing/approving passports or visas, etc. As I went through my research, I found out that a shutdown did actually happen back during Clinton's first term (1995 I believe?). I was only a child at the time, so I had no idea this had ever happened. Crazy stuff. Anyway, what's this stuff about the so-called Ryan Plan? I attempted to (seriously, I gave it my all) read this budget plan, and even though the website that promotes the Ryan Plan is all colorful, has fancy slides and whatever, I could not, for the life of me, read past the introduction. Perhaps you can, go ahead, read it, and explain it to me! Well, I'll give it another try, see what they have to offer (on the conservative side), and hopefully none of my "big government" influences blind my judgment lol. Frankly, I'm enjoying Paul Krugman's blog posts more, but who wouldn't!?

Here's the link for the Ryan Plan, I promise I'll read into it more and become a more worthy debater. Ha!

Now I seriously do apologize for making this particular post kind of sort of political (though I really haven't [or have I?] made it too biased). If you play this video below (Oasis, ohmygoodness), maybe it'll make you feel, well, high bahahaha, or like you're just driving around. Enjoy!