text vs. talk

i've been thinking for a while about how these days, it seems that texting and e-mailing and the like have almost completely replaced and/or obliterated the more personal forms of communication such as phone calls, handwritten letters and even actual face-to-face contact. It led me to think about how this ties into the wonderful world of dating and relationships, since it's a world that i'm at long last nosing my way into.

so maybe i'm a little bit old-school, but i think that these days, too much time is spent texting and messaging, whether it's e-mail, facebook, or some other form. i'll admit that i'm guilty of it too, just because it's sometimes easier to fall in line with others rather than try to revive what's, sadly, a dying method of communication. i miss talking to people on the phone. granted, i still do talk to my closest friends on the phone, because sometimes, nothing beats a good old-fashioned phone conversation, especially when there is much to discuss. but there are some people that i wish i could hear their voice, listen to what they have to say, rather than see it so impersonally as words on my phone.

why did we stray from talking? is it really so bad? with a text, there's always the ability to think for a moment, to craft the words that will come from you, but i think that lacks a bit of the spontaneity, the nervousness, in some cases, of what's going to be said next.

i just miss a more personal form of communication. who's with me?

ten guilty pleasures...

in the interest of learning how to blog, which i think can be intimidating if you've never done it before, i started looking up some good/fun/interesting topics to blog about whenever i haven't already thought of something that's on my mind. so here's one that i think can be a fun one, because hopefully it will provide some insight into my wonderfully wacky and whimsical mind, be of some entertainment value to someone, and indulge me in my passion for making lists...though i'm not counting that as one because that one's not just a guilty pleasure, but a necessity for me. so here are ten of my guilty pleasures...

1. i love to read. to anyone who knows me, that's no secret. i love to read almost anything, from classics to best-sellers to romances. but every once in a while, i love to go back and reread books that i loved as a kid, like the john bellairs series (the house with a clock in its walls; the treasure of alpheus winterborn; the mummy, the will and the crypt), or my trixie belden books (an old nancy drew-ish series written between 1946 and 1986), and even my sweet valley high books sometimes.

2. the spice girls. i won't even bother to go into this one, because it doesn't even matter. i just love them. and yes, i own spice world.

3. sitting for hours on end playing zelda: twilight princess on my wii. the world sort of falls away and i AM link.

4. bad/silly/fluff tv shows. i love 'em. charmed, the o.c., gossip girl, ghost whisperer, dawson's creek, buffy, angel, gilmore girls...just plain love 'em.

5. putting on 80s power ballads and playing them really loudly, and singing and dancing around my apartment with a hairbrush as a microphone. no one will ever see this, but yes, i do it. i bet you do too... ;)

6. i spend hours "window" shopping on the internet, going to sites and putting things in the shopping cart, then closing the window. it takes care of the urge to get something, without actually getting it. i do this in actual stores too every once in a while.

7. taking the meyers-brigg test every so often, but sometimes modifying my answers if i take it twice in a row, just to see how my answers will change...

8. providing colorful "commentary" at a movie, a la mystery science theater 3000. i can't help it. i love to make funny comments and try to make my friends laugh. if you go with me to a movie, though, feel free to tell me to shut up. :)

9. harry potter / twilight

10. the following movies: a walk to remember, because i said so, what a girl wants, the craft, center stage, grease 2, the legend of billie jean, never been kissed, clueless, bring it on, the day after tomorrow, willow, beastmaster, heathers, and emma, to name just a few. but that's all i'll admit to.

etsy love...

i absolutely love browsing through the etsy website (which for those of you who don't know, is a website where you can buy and sell handmade things). here are a few things that caught my eye tonight...

this is a beautiful briolette necklace that looks so simple and sweet, but stands out too...

i love peonies, and i love hats and headpieces, so this gorgeous stunner was a no-brainer for me...

and lastly, if this knit baby bunny cap isn't the cutest thing i've ever seen, then i just don't know what is...


sweet dreams! xoxo

my alternate reality

there's a secret dream life that i want to live. if i can ever make it a part of my reality, i totally will, but for now, it's just something that i imagine and daydream about in my head.

so in my dream life, i live in a small town, something a la gilmore girls, or the like. i live in a small, charming little cottage-style house, and it has a beautiful whimsical garden in the front. imagine a thomas kinkade painting of a cottage, any cottage. yeah, that's pretty much what i mean. so my little house is my private little oasis, and it's charmingly cluttered, with lots of colors and textures everywhere. i can putter around in my garden in the backyard, or play with my cavalier king charles spaniels or sit in the tree bend in the twilight with lanterns hanging all around. on weekends a group of us will barbeque or relax by a lake, or go for bike rides.



so this house is, in my mind, located somewhere that has seasons, primarily autumn. and because it's something drawn out of my imagination, there is also no winter. :) i'm not sure how i'd manage that in real life, but if winter can be skipped, i'm all for it! but i can see it decorated for each holiday...carved pumpkins and spiderwebs in october, bales of hay and cornucopias and pumpkins and squash in november, eggs and hyacinth in the spring.

i know almost everyone in town, and they know me. i have my own little business, a flower shop, or an antique store, or something artsy and crafty like that. it's an easy-paced life, a serene life. my little corner of the world, as i like to think of it.

i know i have a family in my dream life. i haven't seen too much of it though, because it's such an unknown factor. i can imagine and dream all the details of everything else, but this one eludes me, probably because i want it to be a surprise to me. i don't want to imagine who my husband will be, or what my children will look like, because i want to experience it for the first time in reality, not in my dreams. i want to have that moment of "ah, there you are!" when it happens...

so for now, i'm building my dream-world, and who knows? maybe one day i'll discover that it's become my reality.