Valentine's Day 2014

     This year I'm celebrating Valentine's day a little differently--spending the day with my dogs. It isn't all that much different than my usual relaxing night at home with a book, but this year my family went above and beyond.
     You see, I'm house-sitting for my parents and they left something behind for me. The dogs didn't get the awesome-ness of the family, but they're not allowed to have any chocolate. It looks like this year I get not one, but four valentines; it's a great improvement!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stephie

Happy Tidings!

     Just a two weeks ago my younger sister sent me a text while I was at work. Unfortunately so did all the rest of our mutual friends. My sister was trying to tell me the wonderful news: her boyfriend asked her to marry him! While I'm completely ecstatic for my sister, I am a little frustrated with everyone else's responses. They ranged from "I thought she said they weren't getting married" to "How do you feel about this?".
     I am kind of stunned that my friends would want to talk to me rather than just wish her congratulations, but at the same time I understand that they might want to confirm what they're seeing on Facebook and other social media. Not only am I not the expert on their life together, but I was supposed to be pleasantly surprised by the news. A surprise that was ruined because of this instant communication we now live with.
     The one surprise they couldn't ruin was her request upon seeing me for the first time: "Hey, will you be my Maid of Honor?". I have never been so proud of my sister as when she started behaving like the adult she is with a request rather than expectation or demand. And I am honored to be asked to share such an important part of her most anticipated day.

Congratulations Kaitlyn & Robert!

Old Family, New Friends

     I love it when I can visit with family. It's been a long and frustrating few years since we all lived close to each other and gas prices made it easy to just plan a trip for the weekend. When we were little it was easy because our family lived in Portland, Gra'ma and Papa lived in Central Oregon, and out of my seven aunt-uncle sets the furthest lived in Central California. Since we moved everyone else has moved too, but it seems we're moving closer together.
     What is it about Central Oregon that draws us all back? Is it that my parents' generation grew up there, or is it that all of our best memories are there? I don't know, but for me it's that my family is mostly close by no matter where in Central Oregon I am.
     I came down to Madras to visit my aunt and her kids. I wasn't expecting to see much of my oldest cousin, but I've been given the opportunity to meet his children and I absolutely adore them. The older two are girls and sweethearts. They're brilliant for a nine and seven-year-old, they love to cook, they're outdoorsy, and we all get along so much better than I'd have thought with our age differences. The youngest is a four-year-old boy who looks just like daddy. Their boy is a ladies man, as young as he is, and I can't sit in a room with him without him curling up next to me.
     My cousin's kids are wonderful, so is his wife, but I'm most glad I got to know him again. He's several years older than me and when the family started going its separate ways he was just starting his family. Now that we're adults it's great to become friends as well as family. There is something to be said for creating friendships with family, even the ones you don't see very often.

Just thinking...
Stephie

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

     Lately a lot of my friends have been talking about several different vlogs, my favorite has been the "Lizzie Bennet Diaries" which is produced by Hank Green. (I'm fascinated by pretty much anything Hank or John Green make--even though I haven't gotten to the books--right now.) The premise is that Elizabeth Bennet is a graduate student making a video diary of her life, it essentially follows the arc of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the modern communications field.
     The episodes are between two and eight minutes long and a new one comes out each Monday and Thursday morning. Recently they released the 94th episode, but there are rumors going around that the series will end on the one-hundredth episode. One friend and I are following the story pretty closely and we are a little confused how so much of the book will be squished into only six episodes. Yet, if they boil it down to the essence of the story, all they'll have to do is get Lizzie and Darcy together, and they'll be done.
     I'm super stoked about the next few episodes, but will be sad to see such a good show go. I wonder if the producers will be willing to continue with other classic books?

Just a thought...
Stephie

Valentine's Day

     This isn't going to be one of those ushy-gushy love posts, nor is it going to be an "I hate Valentine's Day" post. I just want to question why it is so important to have a relationship on a random day in February?
     I understand the history behind why the day itself is associated with love: in Roman times St. Valentine was marrying couples in the Christian faith against Roman law and was killed for his faith in Christianity and for breaking the law. We celebrate his commitment to love and to his faith (didn't think it was a religious holiday, did you?) every year. But why do we have to go out and fight to have plans on the one day? Maybe I'm happy with my book and music, or maybe I want to spend the day with my boyfriend; why do I have to go to the effort of planning something on February 14th? Answer: Secularization. When people noticed that there was a story that celebrated love and they could make money off of it, capitalism picked up the ball and ran.
     That's all fine and dandy, but why is there such a pressure on girls (I'm not sure guys are pressured nearly as much, or looked down upon for not having a date) to find a date and spend time with them. I love the idea of planning out a time to celebrate love, but quit pushing me to give my time to someone I'm not going to invest the rest of my life in, let alone the next couple months. Let me find love and romance in my own time. Let me make plans with friends and celebrate romance the rest of the year rather than just one week in February. But thank you for February 15th when most people flock to the stores and find chocolate for much cheaper than normal, it's a nice break for those chocoholics out there.

Just a thought...
Stephie

Paper Airplane Love

     Last year, Disney came out with a new short, it's called "Paperman" and I saw it for the first time today and completely fell in love with it. It's a combination of Computer Generated Imaging and the hand-drawn line which is apparently new...? I thought they'd have tried the combination before transitioning into CGI only, but that's just me.
     The short is in black and white and it shows this young man in the 1950s who works at some corporate job filling out papers with a bunch of other men. When he meets a beautiful girl at the train station he thinks it's a one-time meeting: he'll never see her again. He's surprised when she appears in the window of the building across the street. He starts throwing paper airplanes, trying to get her attention but failing. Some of his reactions are so lifelike they're priceless to watch.
     Eventually the man runs out of paper and decides to go find her, but she's turned a corner out of sight. He finds the last airplane and throws it out of frustration, but the airplane (and I can just hear that little voice in my head) thinks "Oh no, buddy, you're not giving up on love." It goes and finds a bunch of the failed attempts and they push the young man along, keeping him sitting still when he tries to fight them. Then the one airplane finds the beautiful woman. It's fascinatingly adorable watching the airplanes bounce along on the wind because they look like the mops from the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia, where Mickey enchants the mop to clean the floor.
     It's Disney, so of course there's a happy ending, but I strongly encourage you to watch through the credits. It's an amazing story of 'love conquers all' and an especially helpful reminder that sometimes you just have to wait, and sometimes fate needs to be shown that you're serious about it. So, now that I'm done fan-girl-ing about it; Enjoy!

Just a thought...
Stephie