Upworthy

Love doesn't discriminate, hate, judge. Love is for everyone. Everyone can feel it, everyone can give it and every one deserves it. This video brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. I just love this video.

OK Go

I might have posted this before, but watching this video never gets old. Not only does this band make good music but their videos are wickedly clever.

A Great Read

Mmmmmmm finally. A book that when I have finished it, I clutch it to my chest hoping to get it to sink a little deeper into me. I just finished reading ROOM by Emma Donoghue and it was such an amazing story.

First off, this was the first book I have payed full-price for in nearly 5 years.

Secondly, this is also the first actual book I have bought that wasn't on my nook since last July. My nook has lost it's appeal at the moment for me. I have been missing actual books, being able to see how far I have read and how much more I have to go, turning a page rather than digitally moving it. Seeing the cover in my bag and then closing it tight when I have finished it and clutching to me chest with a sigh.

Thirdly, this book... what a story. (If you don't want to know what happens, stop reading.) Told from the child's point of view and yet as an adult completely understanding why he is confused and lost. He and his mother lived such a sheltered life for so many years that you really feel for them. The mother was kidnapped as a freshman in college, held captive in an air-tight shed for 7 years, raped, gave birth to 2 children (one of them stillborn) and raised the other, where we meet them when he is 5 years old. It's so touching to read how she managed to stay sane and raise a well-rounded if extremely sheltered little boy. When they escape, the author manages to capture the simplicity with which children look at something new. It either makes sense or it doesn't. He has a very hard time understanding that there is a whole world outside their room, that there is more than just him and his mother.

I can't imagine being the mother, knowing that she may never see anything she knew or loved again and yet having to raise a child with the thought process that their life was totally normal. I can't imagine being the little boy and having to discover the world at 5 years old. How would you grasp the fact that you can open a door and go through it any time you'd like after being kept in a square room your whole life? And somehow the mother for the most part maintains who she is, remembers where she came from and manages to wholeheartedly love her son. The bond between a mother and her child can be unbreakable and can also be the one thing that holds your sanity.

I couldn't put it down, I wondered throughout my day when I was going to be able to pick it up and read it again, I needed to know what was going to happen next. It was so good to find a book that grabbed me, made me feel for the characters and made me not want it to end.

Read it, it'll move you.

Perhaps...

So I feel like I've dropped off the blogger train. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps I talk now more than I write (which actually could be a possibility.) Perhaps I'm more grounded and don't feel the need to air my thoughts on the interwebs. Perhaps I have too much going on to take the time to write about (which is what lazy writers say.) Perhaps I'm just going through a dry spell. A very long dry spell. And when I say dry I don't mean I'm inspirationless. I am so lifted up in my daily life these days that some times it doesn't seem real. By dry I think I just mean not feeling the urge to write.

That's OK, right?

I remember a little over 2 years ago I had finished a writing class and was jazzed about sending my pieces to magazines and publishers. And then I just never did. Looking back I think I was more stoked about having finished that class, something that I did just for myself with no outside advice or push. it felt good. And then I guess I just didn't have to do it anymore. Or I got lazy. Or both.

So I don't write that much these days. And it's funny, since I got a car last fall and am no longer riding the bus, I don't read that much any more either. I want to change both of those. I miss the cathartic state of writing and I miss the investment in a good plot and deep characters I get from reading. Read write read write read write. Good writers read. I need to get back to both.

Perhaps this early delivered Spring will reinvigorate me.

Perhaps.

65 Degrees

It is 65 degrees, 9:45pm and it is March 14th in Minnesota.

Spring has arrived and we have a new hangout spot. It's our balcony revamped.

Sometimes home is the best place to be.

It's just a little table and chairs from Target with a few lil candle holders and a few beers and we may never leave.

Happiness is a spot to sit with your partner and just be.

POLAR PLUNGE!!

Oh yeah, baby!! I did it! And it was so freaking wicked and so freaking cold!! I'm still reeling off the adrenaline!!

Yep, colder than cold. Once you come up from the water it's such a shock that the rest is a blur. Thank goodness for the hot-tub that was 50 feet from the lake.

Only in Minnesota. And you bet your frozen butt I'll do it again next year!! Thanks to all who donated, know that your money went to a good cause and that I had a blast jumping in the water!!

Holy Schamoly!

I can't believe this! Thanks to a woman I've never met, I've surpassed $500 in my Polar Plunge fundraising! To A Miss K. B. (I know your name thanks to the email notification I received from the Plunge, but am opting to keep it private because it seems like the right thing to do,) I can not thank you enough. You don't know me but you donated to a great cause and so many others will benefit from your generosity. I'm just so touched that you 1. read my blog and 2. were kind enough to donate.

This goes for everyone that I know that donated as well! I love you guys for so many reasons and the fact that you donated makes me love you much more!!

Tomorrow I PLUNGE!! All decked out in my "Frankie Says Relax" t-shirt, side-pony and lots and lots of neon! I'm going 80's, baby!

Thanks for the donations everyone!!