Sunny Day, Sweepin' the Clouds Away

So the sunshine and cool temp today has me all excited because it's fall and my wedding anniversary is this week. I'm just a little giddy.

We woke up this morning to fighting cats (no surprise there) and brilliant sunshine. As I was drinking my coffee the Sesame Street song popped into my head. When I was a kid, I LOVED Sesame Street. In fact, there isn't a person I've met that hasn't seen this iconic show (if they live in the US that is). Its so hard to pick my favorite character. I think Snuffleupagus, then I change to Cookie Monster, then I change to Ernie, then Grover, then Slimy the worm (he didn't say much but I liked his colors), then Oscar the Grouch. I never really liked Elmo. He kind of annoyed me so I really don't get why he's such a big deal these days.

Anyway, I really like the little stories and the characters. The slightly scary thing is that I remember way to much about that show than I think I should. If they used whatever ninja tactics they used in Sesame Street, on me when I was in school, I would definitely have excelled at match, science, and maybe even gym. Yes. Gym. Here are some the bits I remember that are so inconsequential (big word!) I wish I could forget them and remember really important things like where I put my extra set of keys for the Saturn I just turned in.
Drumroll please....In no particular order...

• Mr. McFeely (wait. Nope. That's Mr. Rodgers)
• The story about the kid who's mom wants him to go to the store and buy a stick of butter, a container of milk, and a loaf of bread.
• Teeny Little Super Guy
• When the guy who ran the grocery store died (Mr. Hooper)
• When James Taylor sang on the show and I told everyone he and my dad were best friends
• When Gordon and what's her name when to an art museum
• When Gordon and Maria (that's her name!) got married
• Some bit where kids were playing in a park
• The Ladybugs picnic
• I dance myself to sleep
• "Waiter! There's a fly in my soup!"
• Something with a ballerina and eating cottage cheese? How random is that!
• Something with a little house and flowers. I have no idea.
• Near........Far.....
• Cookie!
• Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches!
• 1. Ah Ah Ah 2. Ah ah ah
• Sesame Street Theater...something about a flower.

Okay, with all of this reminiscing, I'm off to watch the clips. I'm sure I'll remember more! What a genius show.








Ha ha ha! I was watching the Jelly Man Kelly and the kids woke up the cat! Awesome.

It's Hamm-ock Time!

Today may be the best hammock day yet. It's sunny, cool, and there are still leaves on the trees. In our yard, we have the best hammock trees. In fact, I'm slightly suspicious that those three trees were what made me like this house.

The trees make a triangle over a little patch of grass. They are big oak trees (I'm ashamed to say I think they are oak. My parents would be so disappointed.) that have a great canopy of leaves. When it's summer, they provide great shade and an amazing sound while the wind goes through the boughs. (Yes. I am in fact trying to redeem my lack of tree species with throwing in official kinds of words.) In the fall, they do the same but towards the end of the season they begin to drop and the sun warms your face and blinds your eyes. Not a win win scenario but I'm in the hammock so who cares!

I love the hammocks. They were a birthday present for my 30th from my husband. There are two of them and they are striped with a great color combination. If you've never laid in a hammock you should. Something happens. It's kinda like Narnia. Well, that may be a stretch. You definitly won't see Mr. Tumnus and if you do, you may need to get checked out. You just sink back, relax, and have no choice but to relax and feel comforted. This year hasn't had nearly enough hammock time.

When I was a teenager, my parents bought our first hammock. They live in the woods and have two great hammock trees just inside of the yard. Sometimes at night, I'd take a blanket out there with a pillow and just lay and relax. It always surprises me how hammocks have an instant relaxing effect. I'm not sure what it is about them that has that soothing effect. I can be stressed, upset, or exhausted and I'll get out feeling like I've woken up from the best nap in the world.

Mad Skillz

Okay I'm a slacker. Or rather, I've become one. I need to get back on this blogging soapbox. I've been to lazy to even say how I feel or what I remember. Oh well.

There's a quality I've discovered about myself that I'm sad to say I have grown to like. It's a skill that a "creative" person like me should not like. A skill that is really helpful but totally left brained. In fact, it verges really close to accounting and math (who am I kidding? It is math at least.). If you know me, those two things are nothing like me. In fact, the word math gives me hives. I've developed... mad Excell skillz. Now, you'll notice that skillz has a "z" because although I can do some fancy cell and spreadsheet footwork, my college statistics prof would still give me the abysmal grade he felt I deserved back in the day. And he'd be right. And yes, I did take statistics. And no, I did not do it of my own free will. Just like I didn't take Business Law of my own free will...but I digress.

This realization that I actually like getting stuck in a spreadsheet hit me a little while ago but I didn't want to own up to it until tonight. My husband MattyG and I were pouring over our finances. I had exported our bank statement as a csv file and was reorganizing and calculating like a wiz. I pulled out the random costs (does a vet really have to pay that much?), added up the meals we ate out (WAY too many), and tallied the regular expenses (XM is how much?!). I actually enjoyed it! Never mind the fact that the budget had a good result. I've also gotten like that in work. I used to get stuck in InDesign or Illustrator all day and months would go by without opening a Office program other than Entourage. No more my friend, no more. Now, a few days will go by before I open the beloved Adobe programs. It's a dark day. A dark day indeed. Now, where's that calendar? I need to get it color coded. (Sadly, I'm not kidding.)