Technology free weekend

First of all, I want to say how much I appreciate your response to my last post. To be honest, I didn't know so many of you read it on a consistent basis. Somehow it helps knowing that I am being read. So thank you for indulging me.

I'm not sure how I'm going to change things, but there will be changes for sure.

In fact, I was so burnt out about thinking of everything that I didn't look at a computer from Friday when I left work until last night around midnight. I have many emails to respond to, but it felt SO good just being away from it all.

To take it a step further, my iPhone died on Saturday and I didn't get it back up and charged until LATE last night.

It was lovely.

And now, after this weekend, I have more perspective. I gained some great insight from people that I admire and respect and feel like I am re-energized...ready to make the blog happier, funnier, and pantsier.

In other blogging news, I'm debating doing the whole NaBloPoMo thing again - mostly because I apparently like punishing myself. In case you didn't know, NaBloPoMo is "National Blog Posting Month" and the whole idea is to make blogging as painful as possible challenge bloggers to write one post a day.

I did it last year...and while I won't say that it was the most exciting series of posts, it was fun.

I know for sure that I'm going to vow to post at least 5 comments a day on the blogs that I read. I figure everyone can use a little comment love...and I'm vowing to be better about spreading it.

The love, that is. :)

Move over, Jackass!

I have a new reader. Her name is Patty...and not only is she thoughtful, funny, and has great taste in blogs, but she also has the cutest blog name, Little Miss Sunshine. I LOVED those books when I was a kid so every time I see her little blog picture, I smile.

Anyway, Patty awarded me with a "I Love Your Blog" button/award. It shouldn't make me gush and feel like an awkward 15 year old boy...but it does. Mainly because I am a cheap whore for any type of praise.

Up until now, the most recent award I got was from a training that I had with my company a year ago. It was a little donkey statuette that was kicking in the air. Since I wowed the people at the training with my quick wit, sly looks, and blackmail attention to detail, I received the award for "kicking butt." BUTT my workplace already had a running joke of calling people JACKASS when they messed up, so it shortly became a traveling trophy in our office as a way to further humiliate someone and remind them of their stupid mistake. More on that later.

Anyway, this award comes with strings attached. And since I LOVE lists and rules, here you go:

Here are the Rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person from whom you received your award.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours, and
5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated!

I'm awarding the I Love Your Blog award to...

1. Kristi at: From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
2. Lisa at: The Girls' Blog
3. Ginger at: De-Compostion
4. Jen at: Following the Footsteps
5. Mrssa (I'm not allowed to type her name) at: Turleybenson
6. Mark & Jo at: The Sommerhauser Family
7. Wratch at: Better than a poke in the eye

I picked these people because they are the seven people I know well that I have that blog and have updated it within the past month. It like some of the super blogs I link to are people that have about 50 million readers and I'm not sure that they'd appreciate a blog comment that says "Uh...hey there dooce Heather...whenever you're done counting your money and thinking of hilarious things to write, could you post this blog button? What? Your cyber bodyguards never want me to come here again? Oh. Okay then. Thanks." Like seriously? Some of the people I read just went to a weekend getaway paid for by Quaker Oatmeal to learn about oats. Dude. I read blogs that were written by people who were recruited by oats. Come to think of it, maybe a blog button would be refreshing for them.

For the record, I'm going to add a list of people that I do not know (have never met) but I read their blogs and they are not super duper mega millionaires. I didn't pick them for this award because since I haven't met them, I don't know if they could take me in a knife fight or kick my ass for giving them an award. These cool people? They're like me and you...only more normal than me. So essentially they're you.

Look for changes soon - w00t!!!

My slumps, my lovely lady slumps...

I'm in a slump...so I needed a blog that wasn't quite so pretty, quite so bright, and quite so summery.

I'm okay - really I am. And despite my written spewage to Ginger yesterday, I've got a plan to get myself out of the slump. The plan: figure out my poop.

Not my literal poop. But my mental poop. Like wanting to date guys and then me being completely freaked out when someone shows interest. Me not wanting to move from Denver but being unhappy with where I'm at. Me not wanting to make plans for anything long term for fear that I will move...and instead finding myself in a holding pattern.

Oh, and there's the small subject of a certain someone. A person who does not read this site anymore, a person who I miss very much but can't really talk about for the fear of what that makes me as a person. I know, I'm being cryptic. I know, it's probably irritating. Just suffice it to say that out of all the things I don't even know if I want (including what to have for lunch), this is the one thing I know I do want.

This post didn't intend to be this dark...but rather to introduce my new dark design. But I guess I felt I owed you some insight into my life.

Love at first site...

I love my blog.

Jen created this beautiful specimen that you're looking at right now. Seriously people - she rocks it out!

First, she was so very helpful. She is so patient and her customer service can't be beat. She made it to my liking and was great at coming up with ideas. I love the light background with a hint of green. I love the daisies (even the little one at the top of this tab!) and I love the plaid border (an homage to my first pair of happy fun pants). Doesn't seem like they go together? Well, they do. So there.

I love my blog.

And just so I can beat you to it, I love it so much I think I *will* marry it.

Spousal privilege

So I envision my future with my husband. It goes a little something like this:

It's in the morning and we're eating croissants and sipping mimosas while still in our robes. My hair is still a little tousled but it's in a sexy way rather than a "I couldn't get a brush through this hair even if I tried" way.

I'm reading the New York Times while he's catching up on my latest blog entry. We laugh and laugh at my witty sense of humor. He winks at me after he notices that I put a reference in for just him. Our eyes lock across the table and he knows that he is so lucky to be with this funny, brilliant person.

When we're done gazing at each other, we get up from the table...allowing our maid to come in and throw away the dishes (we're so rich, we can afford new place settings daily and besides, it's smart to conserve water!). He then picks up the phone to call his buddies and they go over the humor of my blog like most guys go through plays made by their favorite football teams. Comparing blog posts like others would compare stats.

Okay, I know...you're thinking that I'm not being realistic at all... and you're right. I mean, we probably couldn't afford new place settings every day - we'd probably have to re-use them once.

Seriously ladies, is this realistic? Do your husbands/boyfriends even read your blogs or is it a special occasion when they do? If they used to read it often, has it slacked as your marriage has continued? I'm wondering if they still read it when you're essentially blogging about their life too. Even if you're not blogging about your life together, they probably hear all the stuff you're writing about anyway, right?

So sad it's silly...

So the blog page is coming along beautifully thanks to Jen.

I've been looking for some cool fonts to use as my header. Wait, let me rephrase. I've been looking for new fonts for Jen to use in my header.

I came across a font called "Bring In The Frowns."

These are so sad, they're cute.

I wonder how they got to be so sad... maybe it's because you'd have to pay $24.00 to use them. I would think they would be vastly under-used. Our economy must be bad when even letters can't get work.

And by the way, when did the test sentence of change from "the quick fox jumped over the brown log and some other words to make this sentence have every letter in it including z" to the, by comparison, lengthy statement they have at the bottom of the page?

The paragraph starts with us picking jonquils and ends with jaded zombies driving oxen quietly. Which, in all honesty, perplexes me. I mean, if zombies are going to show themselves in public, will they really be intent on motivating oxen? And what do they have to be jaded about? They're frickin' UNDEAD. Cranky, smelly, or even tired I could buy...but jaded?

Why, it makes me frown just thinking about it.

New look coming soon!

My good friend Jen is designing a blog page especially for me! I am so excited about it that I'm having a hard time making decisions!

You can view the preview of it here and see how it evolves! :)

Thanks so much Jen!!!! :) :) :) :) She has designed several websites so far and they all have their own feel - which I think is absolutely great. I have some ideas about what I definitely do want (three columns, label cloud, etc.), but the general design is what I'm stumbling on.

I'm sure I'm the worst client she's had. Because I'm all "Oh! That would be pretty too!" I having a hard time deciding what I would like - which I'm sure makes her want to beat me silly with a pair of happy fun pants. :)

I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to try to work in the story of the happy fun pants or if I want to go with something with daisies. Because, unless you live in some sort of compound, you probably know by now that I adore daisies.

Take that, high school English teachers!

I got this from my friend, Jen. I'm not sure where she found it from, but yay!

Movie Reviews

I have to say that I don't think that this is accurate because really? Nothing about my blog is genius.

That, however, will not stop me from sending that picture to my high school English teachers who clearly did not like my writing style, content, readability, or even font.

So. Very. Excited.

Remember the whole reason of why I started this blogspot account? It was because my blogs on myspace were getting deleted...as I entered a new blog, I would erase my oldest one. And that's just sad.

Today, I was remembering that statement that once something is on the internet, it can't really ever be erased. So I googled "happy fun pants" and came up with a cached version of my old blog stuff on myspace.

I wish that I could have copied the comments too. Suffice it say, I was thrilled that the stuff I'd written was found again.

I do remember deleting a lot of stuff about Jon after we broke up. And honestly? I wish I hadn't. I'm not necessarily happy about how that relationship ended, but at the same time, it happened. And I don't ever want to delete things in my life - I'm stronger for having gone through them - no matter what hell it felt like at the time.

Anyway, I'm not necessarily expecting you to go back and read the archives (everything pre- February 2008) but I'm glad that my favorite blog posts are reunited with me. :)

My favorites? Funny or not so funny?, What's In A Name?, and How Not to End a Date.

(sigh)

I love the internet. :)

Tough Times

Okay, people. If you've noticed that my take on things have been absent or that I haven't been blogging as regularly, that's because you are right and I haven't wanted to face it.

At times, I want to blog about so many things at once...so many things are bouncing around in my head that I think I have almost a writer's block on how or what to write. Other times, I'm afraid of putting what I am thinking down onto my blog because: 1) I don't want to read everyone's comments about how crazy I am and b) then it will be down in print and I can't take it back.

I've been following dooce.com like a lot. And a HUGE part of me thinks that I would love to have something close to what she has. I see the good stuff in what she does and I love to laugh at her website. This morning I sat and watched her interview on Utah NOW (really? Is there so much going on in Utah that we have to capitalize NOW?). She's one brave cookie because she does write about miscarriages, about her daughter, and about tough things in life. And she writes and talks about the therapeutic part of writing...which is why I started this thing in the first place.

So, I'm telling myself that it doesn't matter if someone writes "BORING" as a comment to a blog I've posted, that it doesn't matter if someone's interest in reading my blog or me wanes because of what I put, and that it doesn't matter if people think that what I'm writing about is so weird that they back away from the computer slowly.

What matters is that I use it for what I want to use it for...and if you like it and want to come along for the ride, then great. I'm happy to skootch over and make room.

My new favorite thing to read...

is dooce. :)

Thanks Lisa D for introducing her (and the year's best blog) to me.

She is funny, people. Funny funny funny funny funny!

This one made me laugh.

This one was funny AND sweet. Gosh - I think being a parent and blogging about it would be nifty. :) Plus her pictures are absolutely adorable. :)