I'm going to New York JUST for this.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious love of peanut butter. It is by far my favorite food. Well when I was channel surfing the other night, I stumbled across a show about sandwiches on the Travel Channel. Low and behold, they were at a restaurant in NYC called Peanut Butter and Company where they serve nothing but...wait for it...PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES!!! Holy peanut butter heaven Batman.

They also sell their specialty peanut butter all over the country. Here are a few of the choices: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl (peanut butter with cinnamon and raisins...not sure about this one), The Heat is On (who likes a little fiery spice added to their peanut butter?), The Bee's Knees (peanut butter with the honey mixed right in...GENIUS I say), Mighty Maple (maple syrupy peanut butter...after watching my dad mix these two together in a bowl for breakfast, I know how delicious this mixture is. I probably sound like a peanut butter maniac...well, maybe I am. I will go to New York...just for this. In the meantime, I will buy my gourmet peanut butter at Wal-Mart.

Love and Marriage and a Baby Carriage.

Jon and Kate plus 8. We all know em (or think we do). Some of us love em...some of us don't. I pretend to dislike them but find myself getting sucked in to their daily lives and the drama that ensues with 8 children. The drama sh** hit the fan on tonight's show. Dun-DUN-DUUUNNN. Yes. TV producers love it. The BIG announcement...a life changing decision...bringing peace to our family...blah blah blah. D-I-V-O-R-C-E. After watching the show in which they made this BIG announcement, I found myself feeling sad. Sad for the kids. Sad for the two of them. Sad for the whole situation. It made me think.

I told my best friend that I was feeling inexplicably sad about this show. To which she replied..."Get a grip. It happens everyday to people who aren't millionaires." Good point. It does happen ALL the time. Does that make it OK? Does that make it any easier for the parties involved? I feel as though our culture and society has become so callous to divorce because it IS SO common. I am a strong believer in marriage. I take it quite seriously. It upsets me when people don't take it seriously. I have had some great examples of marriage in my life. My parents are the first: 32 years of marriage and going strong. My grandparents: 59 years of marriage (my grandpa died 4 months before their 60th wedding anniversary). I have a lot of friends who still have married parents. When they committed to their partner, when they said those cliche vows, they understood the promise they were making. Forever. The promise of forever loving...forever supporting...forever being there...forever laughing through the tears.

I am not married. Nor have I ever had a serious relationship. I am not speaking from experience. I am speaking from my heart and what I believe. Bill Cosby has this view on marriage, "For two people in a marriage to live together day after day is unquestionably the one miracle the Vatican has overlooked."

Maybe it is a miracle for two people to stay married for a lifetime. I wish it was a miracle that happened more often. Maybe for some people marriage is not the right path to take. That is fine. Better to realize the truth from the beginning than to try and fail. No one ever claimed marriage would be easy...did they?

D-Day.

Well, today is Father's Day. My dad is one of a kind. I know everyone says that about THEIR dad...but honestly, who can argue against my dad? He's the best. To prove this point, I have created a Top Ten list of my favorite things about my dad. Enjoy:

Top Ten Favorite Dad Things:

10. His uncanny ability to drive like a Nascar driver on any highway, interstate, or freeway.

9. The way he types on a keyboard (like a chicken pecking its food).

8. His musical talent. Guitar, harmonica, trumpet, AND he can sing. Who knew?

7. The way he inserts swear words into daily conversation. Example: I was driving down the damn interstate...etc.

6. His love affair with the dog. He will never admit how much he loves that mutt.

5. The amount of time he can spend talking about one subject, especially politics and current events.

4. His woodworking ability. Dude can build ANYthing.

3. His handyman ability. Dude can fix ANYthing.

2. The fact that he has been married to my mom for 32 years.

1. His eyes. He is a rough guy on the outside, but he has the softest eyes of any construction worker I have ever seen.

This list is very limited. There are about a bajillion things that I love about my dad. I couldnt possibly list them ALL. I love you Daddy!

Movie Madness

I have been really good about watching the movies on my list. So far I have checked off 4. Here are my humble reviews. :)

• Fireproof: Awful acting. Awesome story. Made me excited to be married someday.
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape: Two words-Leonardo. Dicaprio. He is my favorite actor by far. I also enjoyed seeing Johnny Depp in his younger days. Good movie. A little depressing.
• Anchorman: After watching this for a few minutes, I realized I had seen parts of it before. Still, Will Ferrell definitely delivered on this one. I am not a huge fan of other Will Ferrell movies (Blades of Glory=BOO!), but I LOLed at this one several times.
• Sleepless in Seattle: L-O-V-E!!! The ultimate chick flick. Could Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks be any cuter together? For serious.

4 down. How many to go?!?!

My other summer goal: read all 7 (holy crap!) Harry Potter books. I read the first 3.5 books when they first came out, but I gave up when the length surpassed my attention span. I am giving it another go. I am starting book numero tres this evening...and actually really excited about it. Ahh...lovely summer!

Obsession of the Day: House Hunters

I am not the HGTV watching type. However...I LOVE House Hunters. I cannot explain it. Well maybe I can. I have this very dreamy dream (far far far from reality) of moving somewhere foreign and immersing myself in the culture and the language and the food and the people. So I guess I live vicariously through the people on the show...especially House Hunters International, where people find houses in far away lands (usually costing them an arm, a leg, and their first born). It is just fascinating. My favorite episode thus far was about a young-ish couple ( mid 30s) who were relocating to (insert tropical island here) from (insert United State here). Obviously I cant remember the details. Anywho...they just decided to pick up their lives and move. So they did it. Clearly they had the career flexibility and lack of financial woe to make this happen. Right after they moved...they found out they were having a baby. How perfect?!?!

Isn't it interesting how life makes itself happen???

Movie Ketch-up.

There a lot of movies that I have not seen. Obviously. But for some reason people seem shocked that I have not seen certain films. My goal for the summer is to ketch-up on movies that I seem to have missed. Here is a list of movies that I will be trying to watch this summer (in no particular order):

1. Fireproof

2. Anchorman

3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape

4. Schindler's List

5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (this one is a BIG maybe)

6. Fight Club

7. Rocky (only the first one...not the other 52)

8. Sleepless in Seattle

9. Rainman

10. The Godfather

11. White Oleander

12. Stranger than Fiction

13. Office Space

14. Gangs of New York

15. Suggestions?? 

 

Looks like I have a busy summer of watching movies ahead of me. :)

Music of the Heart.

Dave Matthews Band is one of my favorites.  They just released a new studio album called Big Whiskey andthe Groo Grux King. It is amazing...if you haven't bought it yet, what are you waiting for?!?! This band is sort of myserious and elusive to me.  Usually when I love a band or artist, I immerse myself in their bidness...personal and musical (example: John Mayer).  Dave Matthews Band has not been this way.  I found this awesome behind the scenes special on Hulu that sort of satifies that "obsession" need for me. 

I love that Dave Matthews himself drew the artwork for the album cover. That makes them even more amazing.

Lyrics from one of my favorite songs on the new album: Dive In

I saw a man on the side of the road with a sign that read will work for food
Try to look busy until the light turns green

I saw a bear on T.V.
And his friends were all drowning
Because their homes were turning to water
Strange kinda sad big old bear
I'm sure he'd happily eat me
He'd tear me to pieces out there

Wake up sleepy head I think the sun's a little brighter today
Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising
Summer's here to stay, and all those summer
games will last forever
Go down to the shore kick off your shoes
Dive in the empty ocean

Tell me everything will be ok
If I just stay on my knees and keep praying
Believing there's something
Tell me everything is all taken care of
By those qualified to take care of it all

Wake up sleepy head I think the sun's a little brighter today
Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising
Summer's here to stay, and all those summer
games will last forever
Go down to the shore kick off your shoes
Dive in the empty ocean

One day you think we'll wake up in a world on
its way to getting better and if so can you tell me how?

I have been thinking that lately the blood is increasing
The tourniquet's not keeping hold in spite of our twisting
Though we would like to beleive we are not in control
Though we would love to believe

Wake up sleepy head I think the sun's a little brighter today
Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising
Summer's here to stay, and all those summer
games will last forever
Go down to the shore kick off your shoes
Dive in the empty ocean.

Another year goes by.

My birthday was yesterday. Ho-Hum. I remember getting so super excited about birthdays when I was a kid. It was ridiculously fun to get presents and eat lots of cake and ice cream.  These days I don't find birthdays to be as exciting as they once were.  I suppose this just comes with the whole growing up shenanigan of which I am currently experiencing. Blech. Being a kid is so much simpler...maybe that's why I decided to be a teacher? 

On a positive birthday note, I had a great celebration with lots of great friends last night. I am a LUCKY girl to have such a FABULOUS group of friends.  I also got to spend the weekend at the lake (FAVE!) with my family and BFF. Good times were had by all. 

All in all, 21 was a good year.  A year of major growth and realization and thoughts.  I can honestly say I am not the same person I was on June 1, 2008.  While I still have the same basic traits, I feel like I have experienced a large amount of LIFE this year. Finally I feel as though I am living. Yes. It took some minor modifications in aspects of my life but I am happy with where I am IN THIS MOMENT. :)

I hope to make 22 a year equally full of growth and realization and thoughts. I hope I am a new person on June 1, 2010. This year I will: start my first day of school (as a teacher!), move out of my parents house for the first time (finally!), fall in love (maybe?), fall out of love (possibly?), find a new cuddly pug faced friend (in honor of the late great Bubbinator), and live. All in the best way I know how: the Whitney way. Here's to another great year...23 here I come!