Family

There are a good many writers/comedians out there who make a decent living by telling us about their family.
In fact I think it's quite near comedic genius to be able to take one idiosyncratic element about your own family and tell it in such a way that people can relate and laugh along with you.

(Example: "If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'" -jeff foxworthy)

Without that group of people that we all both strongly love and sometimes strongly hate we wouldn't be who we are today and would probably take out our frustrations on strangers more often then need be.

I love getting together with extended family. Not just because it's fun to catch up with these people who will always be in your life, no matter the frequency, but because it's fun to learn that you share more than a nose, you share personalities, senses of humor and it just makes you feel a little less unique (in a good way).

My brother got married this past weekend which gave us all a good excuse to get together. And while it was undoubtedly relaxing to not be the bride, it was also great fun seeing old faces together with the fresh additions.

The greatest thing about my family is there needn't be a comedian around to make them funny, they do it pretty well on their own. In the hours we were together more jokes were cracked then eggs in a bakery (hey that's a good one). And laughter was shared like an infectious disease (hmm).

I love that though. And I love seeing where I came from and being able to blame my sometimes all too silly nature on my aunts and uncles :)

Free Range Thoughts

Today is what I'm calling Free Range Thought Day.
Hopefully by calling it this my thoughts will come organically (whatever the flip that means) and I'll have a wildly creative day.
I'm not even going to edit this blog. I'm going to write it, run it up the flag pole and see if it flies.

I'm giddy with possibilities cause today is a day when I have little to no writing responsibilities imposed upon me by the outside world, and I get to work on whatever I want to.
So I thought I'd start on this blog and go from there.

I was in conversation recently with someone about what I do.
I love it when people ask me that now, by the way, because I love saying it but I think sometimes I get too giddy about it and it doesn't eek out with as much smoothness as I'd prefer.

Instead of a silky nonchalant, "I'm a writer" it most often, at least in my head, sounds like, "I'm a writer..HuHu..yeah..*giggles"

In the course of our conversation I was presented with the need to explain why I love what I do and I answered it with this...Back in July someone (who I consider to be a notch above an acquaintance of mine) started spouting out deeply person problems to me.
In the moment that this was going on I was confused and could think of more to say to a block of cheese then I could to them about their problem.
It was then that the thought was born, "this is exactly why I want to be writer, that way I can work for hours at a time and not have to talk to anyone."

I think it's truly amazing how we're all built different ways and how our personalities match up with what it is we're supposed to do.
I also think it's perfectly satisfying to be content with your own personality. When you can settle down with a hot cup of coffee and relax in your own skin, that's a good day.

*holds up coffee* Here's to a warm blanket of skin....wow, that sounds horrible, but since I'm not editing, it's what I will end on.

Post One Hundred and Fifty

Ooo a post milestone! How exciting.

I have lots and lots of writing to do today so I've set up my office perfectly:

Clean chalkboard (giving me eight feet of free range thought).
Autumn wreath candle (because fall inspires writing like nobodies business).
Cup of "Awake" tea (which does the caffeine trick *see twitter).
Window open (I love LOVE outside sounds almost as much as I love jazz).
Blinds completely open (cause that's HOW I LIKE THEM).
Banana (in case of a wandering urge to go to the kitchen and break concentration spell).
Cloudy day (set up by God-appreciated by me).
And
Dog bed-Why? Oh I don't know, right now the picture would have been perfect if my new puppy (now 3 weeks new to me) were sleeping peacefully in the large zebra bed I've carefully placed next to the desk and on top of his cage insuring the perfect height he apparently craves. But no puppy. He's been lured by the sliding glass door and the constant entertainment there. So I'm one Jax short of having the perfect office set up.

But he'll come around.

He likes to sleep on top of the couch (not on, but on top of where the pillows reach the highest height) but this poses a problem. Last time I was writing in the office I heard the jingle of his collar..jingle jingle...BAM! He had shifted positions and then fallen off the back of the couch. Silly boy.
That's how I know he'll come around.
*sips tea*
It's going to be a good day.

With the promise of other blogs...here's something entirely different.

I just finished an email to a dear friend of mine who lives in another city but who provides me with the release of writing emails that Jane Austin herself would appreciate.

It's a curious thing, and I am using this blog to wonder aloud (and by aloud I mean in black and white to the internet community) why is it that certain people evoke certain abilities from us?

For example, when I try to write well worded emails to other people I feel as if I come out tripping over my words and blubbering pedestrian things like "hey whats up" but when I write to a particular group of people the Austin-esq words and phrases just flow out of me, "with you, what is up?" (that was a joke).

The same is true for joke-making. There are certain people who when I am around them the funny comes spilling out the way God intended it, but around others (particularly those who I would like to consider me as the go to for comedy)...eh...not so much, "knock-knock?"

I guess the key word is "try" maybe it is that when we try to hard it doesn't work. Which would make sense like that "cool" blog I wrote, the harder you try to be cool the less it actually works out for you (duh, elizabeth).

Ok well, I don't know how to remedy that cause there'll always be people you want to impress, maybe we (assuming you have the same sort of issue) maybe we need to approach it like a lie detector test. They say the way to beat those things is to trick yourself into thinking that when you're answering simple things like "What is your name" you are actually telling a lie that way when you tell a lie the stress that registers is the same as when you said your name.

So maybe I need to think that when I'm writing to my dear friend I need to amp up the stress level making my other, more professional emails come off beautiful.

There. Problem solved.
Thanks for listening internet community :)

Coming soon to a blog very near to you:

Here are some subjects that I am now committing to write and have been twirling 'round my brain as of late:

1. My new puppy!!! (this one not so much twirling 'round my brain, as it has been twirling 'round my living room floor :)

2. Worship. I have been reading, and experiencing and loving this avenue of God so much more than ever lately and have decided to write a few blogs about it. SO get ready cause it's a subject I'm quite passionate about. :)

My Brush with the Shoulder of Fame

The night I got to touch Keith Urban was, quite simply, magical.

In fact, the whole way we got there was an act of God. The guy I bought my phone from at Verizon wanted to know if I liked country music to which I replied "Mmm...Eeeeh" but then when he said Keith Urban my reply was more like "Oh..Well YEAH" haha

Urban is currantly on tour with Sugarland, which (pardon the pun) sweetened the deal because I have recently become a HUGE fan of watching Jennifer, the girl from Sugarland, perform. She's got such stage presence and she really translates how much fun it is to be doing what she's doing on stage (a job I would pay to have, and by pay I mean bleed out blood if I had to).

The concert was well worth the hundreds of dollars others paid to be there complete with fantastical lighting and screens that, if laid flat, I'm sure half the auditorium could fit in. But that wasn't even the best part.

To be able to fully appreciate the best part, you must understand that my husband has a special love tucked away in his heart for the chicken sandwiches sold by the Coliseum. There were jokes made when I graduated in the Coliseum that he was going to stock up on sandwiches, but had they been actually selling these sandwiches, they wouldn't have been jokes...
While Keith was about 1/3 of the way through his set Dayton wanted to go get said chicken sandwich and I, wanting to walk about agreed to go with. As we were walking to the stairs (because our seats were on the floor *she says as she stretches with a nonchalant pride*)
Anyway as we were walking we saw a commotion to our left.

Turns out Urban left the stage the exact time we left our seats and arrived at the back near the sound booth at the exact same time we did causing us to be unwittingly in the way of where he was walking...I stuck out my hand, touched his sweaty shoulder and squealed like a 12 year old girl at a Miley Cyrus concert. I had touched the shoulder of fame.

At that point I thought the dream was over but no, there was a small stage set up right behind where I was standing so a 180 later I was directly in front of the man as he sang about three ballads then hoped back on the real stage. Magical.

I tell you, my shock and awe of how the whole thing fell into place that we would be there to touch him and everything just causes me to be that more amazed at the awesomeness of God. And it assured me in my little head that I am on the right track. I know that might sound out of left field to you, but there was nothing coincidental about that night, nothing. It was a prize package sent directly from heaven.

My renewed opinion of my now, you know, best buddy Keith is that he's a great singer, even better performer, sweats a-whole-lot, and is a tiny, tiny man. I know for a fact his right shoulder is super bony :)

Waaa....Waaa....

I am truly fascinated by the negative mind.
There are times after conversations with people that I just want to open a window to their brain and briefly peak inside at how they find the most disparaging spin on any situation.

Our neighbor could rule as Mayor over all negative people. It doesn't matter what you talk to him about, the cracks in his walls are going to grow and send his ceiling crashing down on his head the same day his truck explodes and his boss decides they are better off without him.

Yesterday, in fact, I ran into him as I was leaving Sam's. I was leaving the store with a succulent Rotisserie Chicken that smelled DELISH and was making my craving mouth water with ever whiff. As I was walking out of the store I handed him my receipt to verify my purchases and his response to my succulent chicken was, "Make sure that top is on tight or juice will spill out all over your car and leave a bad smell"
My response, "haha yeah and then I'd get hungry every time I drove"
My should-have-been-response, "Mmmm YE-YEAH Mama LIKE!"
Haha I was desperately hungry at the time.

It was that little transaction that caused me to wonder once again at the negative mind. I realize it's not difficult to acquire that train of thought because negative thoughts are about as cheap and as easy to get as candy bars; no, it's the decision to maintain that thought process that boggles my mind. Why you would want to go through life thinking the sky is going to fall and good riddin's cause it's a dull shade of blue anyway is beyond my being.

Here's something I guarantee will pop in your head next time you experience a strong dose of negativity...
(Ps. My favorite thing about these Debbie Downers is how everyone looses it towards the end :)