Thursday Ten: Thinking Pink Edition

1. Today, my girls are dressed in pink from head to toe for a breast cancer awareness day at school – and in that spirit, we made some pink ribbon cookies yesterday (these are some of the prettier ones). In the spirit of all things pink, my goal is to raise $150 towards my Avon Walk goal by the end of the week. It’s a small goal – and any donation helps. If you would like to donate – even a dollar – please click HERE. I may just send you a cookie for donating.

2. While I type this, I have hair dye working its magic to (hopefully) eradicate the gray hairs that have become so obnoxious since all this stressful stuff going on with my stepson. It’s true – in times of stress, the gray hairs really seem to multiply for me. I hate this vanity about gray hair. I really dig my natural hair color – and hate covering it up because I don’t want gray hair.

3. In guitar class this week, my teacher brought up another Kansas song – “Carry On My Wayward Son” because she likes the riffs at the beginning. The last Kansas song she stuck me with was “Dust in the Wind” – and they are harder for me to learn because I’m not TOTALLY familiar with the songs (except the chorus of “Wayward Son” – but I think that’s the only part anyone really knows).

4. Did you wear purple yesterday? I loved the prevalence of purple on Facebook and Twitter – and while I know that there are always going to be bullies, I think a great step we can take, particularly those of us who are parents, is to let our kids know that bullying isn’t okay – and that our differences is what makes the world a pretty freakin’ cool place. I may be an idealistic hippy-dippy idiot (Okay, I probably am) – but I think just embracing those things about us which make us who we are is a great start.

5. In a fit of nostalgia the other day, I picked up a bottle of Mr. Bubble for Pumpkin who loves taking bubble baths. I love the smell of Mr Bubble. I’ve given serious consideration to swiping her bottle and using it for myself!

6. Last week’s Project Runway somewhat boggled my mind – given the direction to find inspiration in NYC, the remaining designers took off. Two sought inspiration from The Brooklyn Bridge, one from the Lower East Side, one from Lady Liberty and one from Central Park. The Central Park design? It was black and edgy and what-the-what? That doesn’t say CENTRAL PARK. Not to me, anyway. CP was my favorite part of my trip to NYC in April and I find it kind of mind boggling that someone spent any time there and came up with … that.

7. I finally finished reading Little Bee. Fabulously crafted, well done. I really enjoyed it… far more than I thought I would. Check it out.

8. This week’s new music…I’ve just added “Gotta Have You” by the Weepies to my music library, as well as that new Cee Lo Green “F*ck You” song (can’t help but love it). I also downloaded “No Love”, the Eminem/Lil Wayne collaboration and realized… I don’t love Lil Wayne.  And the folks at MuseBox have hit me up with a link to some new music to check out. You can give it a listen Here.

9. Finally saw “The Social Network” last weekend. Hm. You know, I have mixed feelings about the movie and haven’t read much of the press to determine how true they were to representing Mark Zuckerberg. Frankly, he was TIRING.  I don’t know how Jesse Eisenberg managed to spit out dialogue like he did – but sheesh.

10. My hair ended up kind of dark (Oh yes. I took a three hour break in writing this post, btw.) It’s alright. It’s darker than I wanted, but… I don’t see any stupid gray hair. Which is good.

Thursday Ten: Art and Music and Onion Rings, Oh My! Edition

1.  Last week, I posted a review of Maroon 5’s new album, “Hands All Over”. This week, I’m letting you know that A&M is letting me giveaway an autographed copy of this album. You want it? Leave a comment for me telling me so. I’ll randomly pick a winner next week Thursday.

2. I’ve been still hooked on visiting ArtPrize. I had a two day span where I didn’t go see art, and I was starting to get a little bit TWITCHY. It’s one of the coolest things Grand Rapids has to offer, and I look forward to them announcing the Top Ten pieces later today. The public votes on the winner.

One of the pieces I love is made entirely out of wine corks. Wonder if the artist drank all the wine himself?

3. During ArtPrize, I’ve been loading all my pictures into a Flickr – it’s been fun to see other people’s shots of ArtPrize and to share my own. The downside? Even though I do not have my photos labeled with a Creative Commons license, I’ve noticed that a few of my pictures have been used on other blogs. And it’s a weird feeling – I want to be flattered that someone liked it enough to use it but… That’s Stealing. Odds are, if someone had asked, I’d have said okay. Please pay attention when you’re taking images from Flickr to see if the owner of that picture has authorized its use. If he/she hasn’t, try asking them if you can use it. (Okay, off my soapbox)

4. As I type this, the dog is at the vet getting neutered. Poor little dude – not. Meanwhile, while he’s not underfoot, I have vacuumed and scrubbed my floors. Having the dog not in the house is not unlike when your toddler takes a nap at the crucial point where you need to get a lot of stuff done. Yes, I’m saying dogs and toddlers are similar… except I’ve never REALLY been allergic to a toddler.

5. Music of the week — My friend Lotus clued me in to the free single on iTunes this week, Cory Morrow’s “Second Chance”. Loter’s hubby plays guitar for Cory, and though country music is not usually my thing, the song is pretty good and hey, it’s Lotus-by-proxy. And that’s a good thing. Other recent downloads include (blush) a few of the Glee renditions of Britney songs.

6. Let’s talk about Glee for a second, why don’t we? I like the show – a lot. But I’m beginning to hate these themed episodes. It feels like all the dialogue in between is just filler to get to the next themed song. And while Britney’s music doesn’t annoy me, this episode kind of did and not just because of that BIG EFFING SNAKE. Of all the Britney things to copy, they had to copy the snake? Why didn’t they copy the ratty jean shorts with the gas station bathroom key in one hand and a bag of Cheetos in the other? MUCH less freak-outty than the snake.

7. I saw this clip posted of Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake and The Roots with the History of Rap. Starting and ending with Sugarhill Gang, this is a pretty awesome clip. (If the embedding doesn’t work, it’s worth the click through)

8. After three days of craving onion rings and a failed attempt making healthy oven baked onion rings at home, I caved and ordered them in a restaurant last night. They were SO GOOD, as I knew they would be. They also made my stomach hurty later. Me and fried foods? Not friends.

9. Tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER. And you know what that means? My birthday month. Yes, month. Eventually, I will get to hate my birthday and won’t celebrate it (no, I won’t) and won’t require a whole month of celebration, but for now? OCTOBER’S (almost) IN THE HOUSE!

10. And since October is traditional Breast Cancer Awareness month, I want to remind you to not limit your awareness of this disease to a mere 31 days a year. So many amazing groups doing great things. My friend Rachel and her friend Tricia are working on a Saving 2nd Base project – also, if at any time you feel like donating to support me in my 2011 Avon Walk, my donation link can be found HERE.