I Wonder Where I'll Be?

I’m not one to try to predict the future. Although I played MASH with a passion during my tweens, I always had the vague feeling it was a bit of a sticky wicket. A spiral drawn on paper and then the rings counted determines whether or not I’m married to Brad Pitt, driving a red LeBaron convertible? A spiral??

And I always chose the cities arbitrarily: where sounds the most exotic, the most exciting, to a twelve-year-old in Tennessee? New York, London, and Paris always made the list. I had never been to any of these places. (I’ve still never been to Paris.) And it’s not as though I grew up in a booming metropolis or anything. More people went to my high school than to my alma—I like it small-town.

Since we established during last week’s blog that I am, in fact, grown up, and actually have the wisdom (if not the resources) to know where I’d like to live, where would I realistically see myself living?

Right. Here.

I love MSO. Especially since, due to a mind-boggling swift turn of events, the longevity of my address here is under review. The irony of this week’s Wonder is not lost on me. It usually happens that just about the time it looks like I might be leaving a city, I want nothing more than to put down South-Pole-reaching roots. Although friends (and I’ve agreed) have called this my “Great Montana Experiment;” although it takes an unholy amount of money to fly to or from here; although I have no pre-2004 friends here and very little family for whom and by whom time is made to visit here; although there are too many Trustifarians and not enough adequate-paying jobs here; I want to stay here.

But I know it’s not practical. For The Boy’s career or for our hopes of staying close with friends and immediate family. The Boy deserves to live somewhere he can masterfully ply his trade with others who share his level of passion and skill. Despite the magic of technology, it’s not good to go years—years, plural—without seeing and hugging and laughing with and drinking with the ones you love.

So I don’t think I can say where I think I’ll live in the future. The future is dominoes—each decision a family makes is a piece that has a specific slant to its fall that will affect every other piece after it.

i know where i'll be.

disclaimer: before you begin reading, i want to apologize. i am slowly but surely recovering from a bout of the flu and a bonus sinus infection. my head is quite foggy and i am on 2 medications that warn me against operating heavy machinery. so, if this post makes little to no sense, please forgive me as my mind is somewhere far, far away. thank you.

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i have no doubts of where i will in 10, 30, even 50 years from now. while my physical home may change, i know that the location of it will not. yes, i feel quite confident that i will always make my home in and around the indianapolis are. i love this city. and i honestly don't want to leave.

i grew up in a small, small town called santa claus. (yes, really.) i loved my small home town and was always frightened a bit of the big city. jas and i lived further north right after getting married, but we were only there for a short time before we knew we had to move a little further south. we were closer to family in indy; had plenty of friends in the area; and it just fit us. indy is a wonderful city for many reasons, but for me, i love that there are things to do, but it still has that small town feel. it's a wonderful place to call home and i never want to leave. sure, i'd love to live in a more upscale neighborhood...or on a lake with a little more land...but regardless of where that might be, i know that it won't be far from this fantastic city.

I Wonder Where I Will Live . . . Later?

Right now I live in the South. This is a temporary situation. When Darlin' completes his schoolin', we will be moving to whatever university requires a stellar specialist in the Political Economy of Latin America (Brazilian focus), with additional experience in Irish Economic Development in the 1980s. Lord knows where that will be, but the job placement services at the school where Darlin' studies will certainly find him a few choices. After we retire, we will live in the coastal South Carolina city where we got married, with a holiday home in Rome. We plan on starting a Rome apartment fund once he gets out of school and we aren't scraping by anymore. (Does a family ever stop scraping by?)

But what of the thirty or so years in between? We talk about it all the time. Where will we go? What type of school? What type of town? Will we be close to family, or far? Will we stay forever, or move again after a few years? Below is a selection of places we may move, and how we/he/I feel about them:

Tuscon, Arizona - if Darlin' had his druthers we'd live in Tuscon, Arizona until retirement. It could be worse - his obsession used to be Texas. I have a few years to talk him out of it.

Western North Carolina - Each set of parents would be about 3 hours away. There are lots of universities there. The towns in the area are funky and cool. We'd be happy there.

Louisville, Kentucky - We Wonder Women went to college near there. It has a lot to recommend itself, especially a ready-made circle of friends, which is hard to find!

DC or NYC - Darlin' could get a corporate job in either of these places. But we'd have to sell our firstborn to be able to live comfortably there. How much $$ do firstborn children fetch nowadays?

The coast of Northern California - I love it here. LOVE. IT. Darlin' hates it. HATES. IT. Until I remind him of the proximity of Yosemite. The he just hates it. No capital letters.

Brazil - You never know! We could live in Brazil for a while, given his specialty. We'd both enjoy it. For a while. Plane tickets home would be a nightmare, though.

That's the short list. We have debated coast vs. inland, near the parents vs. far, small town/small school vs. big city/big university. We won't know until 6 months or so before we have to move there. So for now . . . it's just fun to dream . . .

i wonder who decided to eat a coconut.

my bff tara and i sometimes discuss this topic, so i thought i would pose it to you as well. i love coconut. i love bananas. i love pineapple. but who in the heck decided to eat them in the first place?

imagine it. you're walking along the sandy beaches of some distant (and most likely yet-to-be-discovered) island. the ocean waves are crashing onto the shore. a cool ocean breeze blows your hair into your face. the palms of nearby trees begin to rustle in the breeze when BAM! something knocks you on the noggin.

once you regain consciousness, you discover that you were assaulted by a hard, brown, bristly ball. upon closer examination, you find that it is covered with a coarse hairlike fiber. what do you do? do you throw it around with your buddies and play 'hard, brown, bristle ball?' do you use it as a weapon for hunting small prey?

hell no! you crack that sucker open and start eating what's inside. well, sure you do. that's only logical!

for serious, what was this person thinking? my first reaction to a coconut...or banana...or pineapple would not be to actually ingest what was inside. but, whatever the circumstances surrounding their discovery, i'm certainly happy about it. i mean, can you think of anything better to eat with nutella?

I Wonder When Anyone Feels Like An Adult?

I wonder when anyone feels like a grown-up. I've been thinking about this all week and I've concluded that the trigger event or series of events for feeling like a grown-up is different for everyone. to some people, it is getting their first job. For others, it is getting married. I think most people would agree that having kids makes you more of an adult. Looking back, I don't know that I can find one defining moment in which I suddenly felt like an adult.

I know I felt grown-up when I got my first "real" job after college. When I look back on it, the job taught me to be tough, to take care of myself, and how to live out of a suitcase for eight months at a time. What the job didn't bring was a rental payment, a telephone bill, or grocery shopping every week. So, I may have been a little bit more grown-up, but I wasn't shackled to a desk like some of my friends already were and I certainly got off easy in the bills department of adulthood.

Finally moving out on my own tossed me into the next step of adulthood. Now I was shackled to a desk for nine hours a day, I was making rental payments, and I had a cat to take care of. These were big responsibilities for a 23 year old. I knew that my entire existence was riding squarely on me and that if I took my eye off the ball for even one second, I could lose my newfound freedom. That year was definitely my wake-up call as to what the real world was like. I learned that being an adult isn't always fair or fun, but that it beats being 15 and stuck in high school.

During my twenties, I lived on my own and grew into more of an adult. I stopped staying out until all hours of the night, I figured out what it was that I wanted in a mate, and I figured out what I was willing to take and/or leave in a job. To me, those three things really made me an adult. I was taking care of myself and knew that I could without a doubt pay my rent, pay for groceries, and find someone that would make me happy. I think taking responsibility for myself, for my job and for my future really made a difference. I was miserable at times because of work or because I might not have found "the one" yet, but this decade taught me so much about myself and about the adult I was becoming.

Now I've entered my thirties. Oh. My. God. I've moved away from everything and everyone I've ever known. I've put my trust into a man who has promised to love, honor, and cherish me forever. I've taken on a more ambitious job and I have an investment portfolio. I've had discussions about having kids and about how to pay for those kids' college educations. I think it is safe to say that I've arrived squarely into adulthood.

However, there are still some days that I want to sit around, watch t.v. and have absolutely no adult responsibilities whatsoever. I'll have a few drinks, forget about the laundry, and read People magazine with wild abandon. So, while I may be an adult, there is still a lot of kid left in me. Thank goodness.

When Did I Grow Up?

I didn’t even notice.

I graduated from college eight years ago; got married almost six years ago; bought my first home eight months ago; have married off my brother, sister, and most of my friends; held one of my best friends’ newborns in December; have worked for five different companies; have moved from one state to another twice (once across the country); and spent a good two hours of chatting time this Christmas with my oldest friend … discussing insurance and investments.

Does this mean I’m done? The growing pains have all ended? I’m an adult? I wonder when it happened—I wonder if there was one defining moment when the universe said, “OK, kid, this is it. The instant you take this next step, it’s on. You’re playin’ with the big boys.”

Maybe it wasn’t graduating that made me an adult (although I still believe that going to HC ‘grew me up’ as I wrote way back in my very first entry), but it was the three things I did within a year after that: got a job, got an apartment, and found my lifelong love.

I think we each become an adult through different milestones. Just b/c someone has an apartment and a job but not a serious girlfriend doesn’t mean he’s not a grown-up. Or that someone who’s in love, happy, and in between careers isn’t an adult. What do you think? Is there just one thing that you do that confirms your adulthood? What is it? For me, I think it was the triumvirate of the above that brought me into the world of the big boys.

Turning 30 earlier this year didn’t hurt, either.

i wonder when i got here.

as i sit here waiting for jas to meet me at the office to make a kid swap (i have to take our oldest has dance class), i realize that by definition, i am an adult. it's weird how it just sneaks up on you, you know? one day you're having a blast in college; enjoying the freedom; enjoying the beverages; enjoying the friendship that surrounds your every minute. the next day, you're thrust into the harsh world of paying bills; repaying student loans; getting married; potty training; hauling your kids to dance class.

i was at a wedding this weekend and my single, childless friends were telling me how jealous they were of my life. i admit, it's nice to hear that, because sometimes i forget. i dream of the freedom i once had, and they dream of living each day with the loves of their lives and raising the next generation. it's amazing how much greener the grass is on the other side.

i don't feel so grown up. maybe once i hit 30? or maybe it'll be 40? i remember when 30 seemed so old, but now i hear of people dying at 34 and i think about how much life they had left to live. yes, i have a mortgage. i have a husband -- the same one, i might add, for nearly 7 years. i have 2 kids. a cat. a tank full of fish. i have a good job. a car payment. and everything else that accompanies society's definition of an 'adult.'

just don't bet on me getting a minivan anytime soon.

I Wonder How Long It Will Be Before I Feel Grownup

I just spent the weekend with my family, watching my middle sister graduate from college. It's been about 7 months since I last saw them. In those 7 months I've paid the mortgage 7 times, driven myself to work 137 times, hired 8 people and fired 4, haggled with vendors to get prices lowered, disciplined my cat, fought with my husband, flown out of the country and back in again, and bought a new piece of furniture.

So why do I still feel like one of the kids when the fam and I get together? All of my grown-up confidence flies out the window. I defer to my parents, I whine, I bicker with my siblings, I jostle for parental attention, I expect my dad to foot all bills. Then as Darlin' and I drive home, I think about all those grown up things I have been doing at home, all those grown up things for which I am responsible, and the chilly fist of fear closes around my heart. I can't do all these things! I'm just faking this! I don't really know what the heck I'm doing here. This shouldn't be up to me, how could I possibly do it right?

But it is up to me, so I just do it. And in just doing it, I guess I'm acting the way a grown up acts. I'll never forget when my high school sweetheart's mother looked at me and said "I still look 17 in my mind. I'm still the same me, 17 years old just like you, I've been 17 for 25 years now." Well, I've been 17 for 11 years. And most days, I just keep faking it, making the decisions because somebody's got to, doing the job because I have to if I want to pay the mortgage, paying the mortgage because I signed the papers saying that I would.

I just hope nobody figures out that I'm still just a kid. I would hate for them to take it all back, forcing me to go back home and live with my parents. Whoops, maybe I am a grown up after all!

Peace and Love to the Kids and Kids-at-Heart - G Love

I Wonder if my Brother will Marry This Girl?

My brother. Sigh. He grew up in a household of 4 sisters. He wore our hand-me-down girl’s shoes through most of his early years, watched many, many hours of My Little Pony, and has dozens of potentially lethal baby pictures of him with baby dolls and stuffed animals. But don’t pity him. Oh, no. Save your pity for the women he dates.

Picture it. You’re a teenaged girl, nervous because you’re meeting your boyfriend’s family for the first time. On the chosen night for the introductory family dinner, you follow him in the door, and are met by a half-circle of women, arms crossed, lazily assessing you under half-raised, scornful lids. After a perfunctory hello, the women link arms and troop as one into the next room, and you follow weakly behind your boyfriend, having been given the clear message that he has been THEIR brother for years, and you are an unwelcome newcomer.

Our brother is 20 now, a rising college junior, and is super cute. Girls have LURVED him since Kindergarten. And we, his loyal sisters, have been there from day one, weeding out the weaker candidates with all of the wonderfully, subtly nasty tools available to the female sex.

Different girls have reacted to us in different ways. Some go for the lateral attack and pretend to be OUR best friends. When they call or come over they always ask for one of us, but we all know who they’re REALLY interested in. Others pretend we aren’t there – we prefer these because it is much easier to justify our malice. Still others save their wooing for the schoolyard and never venture to the house – we know them only through the faux-casual Myspace comments that they leave for him. Yes, we monitor it. He is our only brother and requires protection from unsavory women. To be fair to us, our brother has typical teenaged boy taste. That is to say, he likes ‘em with minimal brains and minimal clothes. They are as unlike us as he could possibly find, which is probably the point.

Until this one.

He brought her home, and within hours of her arrival the phone calls started. “I really like her,” whispered our surprised Mother over the line. I called ‘Frass. ‘Frass called Baby, who still lives at home and confirmed the suitability of the newest candidate. ‘Frass called me back to relay Baby’s opinion, and then Catwoman beeped me on the other line. Baby called me to re-hash even though I’d already talked to ‘Frass, and then I called Catwoman to relay the news. Our brother sent us pictures of her. I guarantee that in four different states, three sets of brown eyes and one blue stared without blinking at the girl.

She looks like one of us.

She gets straight As. Even in Organic Chemistry.

Her name is Laurel.

OK. Claws retracted.

Who's Really Reading Our Blog?

Do you really want to know who is reading this blog? I can tell you this. I know that all four WonderWomen read it, some of our husbands read it, some of our friends, a few referrals from G Love's other blog come over and a few readers from my other blog hop over. But we already knew about most of those people. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I know each and every person that has visited this blog. I told you I have super powers! Actually, I set up a site meter and it gives me all sorts of fun statistics about our little site. How many visits we have daily, how long each visitor stays, and what pages they are reading. I am most fascinated by the Google searches that bring visitors to our site. So, I thought I would let you in on some of the searches that have led new readers to our site -- readers that actually stayed once they visited and have come back for more! So, on with the show!

1. wonderwomen
Why, yes we are! We've actually been found with this search several times and some of the other results for this search are very interesting. There are comic book sites, a women's prenatal and post-natal fitness workout site, and a church group site. We are certainly not like any of those sites! Our blog is actually the sixth result for this Google search and the link is to my entry about my fellow WonderWomen hating Crocs! Ah ha! Crocs do have benefits!

2. how do you stop your skirts getting static
This search made me laugh out loud when I saw it! This linked back to MSO Rin's entry about people wearing dresses over jeans. I should have known that she would have the answer to skirts and static cling -- it is a slip, silly! Wear a slip! Okay, but seriously. We were the fifth result for this Google search. The other results include a site that offers "Annie’s six simple tips for getting rid of that nasty static cling" and uses for clothes pins!

3. professional crocs+static electricity
Crocs strike again! This search made us the tenth result and linked to G Love's entry about Swedish hospitals banning Crocs due to the static electricity build-up and subsequent machine malfunction. This was apparently a very hot topic as at least six other blogs come up as results and everyone's viewpoint is very different on this subject.

So, we do have readers outside of our family and friends. We have entertained people who have never seen our faces and probably never will. We've entertained a slew of Americans, a handful of Canadians, one person from Japan, a lone soul from Norway, and a South American! So, let me welcome you all on behalf of all four WonderWomen. No matter how you find us, we are very happy that you are here.

I Wonder Who's Not Reading This?

Actually, not true. I know who’s not reading this blog: The Boy. G Love’s count is off by one! He has no idea it exists. Not necessarily because I enjoy having one thing that’s a secret—a non-harmful secret—from the boy. I do. This is a fun, just-for-me-and-my-girls thing I do every day; I don’t feel badly about not letting him in on it like I do when I sometimes spend $ on things I don’t need. Mostly he doesn’t know about it b/c he and I are both traditionally anti-blog. (So never say “never,” dear readers!) The Boy and I have been vocally opposed to the blogosphere in the past, and the fact that there are three to five personal blogs (not counting this one) that I read on a daily basis is a source of embarrassment to him. Although when I have news to share that I learned from these blogs, he never stops me from telling him. Humph. Double standard, that.

So if we ever start wondering things like “Why are men so truly strange sometimes,” I’ll have quite a bit of freedom to expound using personal anecdotes with no fear of retribution.

The cats don’t read it, either. Not that they can read … I’m just sayin’.

A PS to my fellow WonderWomen: happy anniversary! Here’s to one month of the most superpowered blog out there!

who's here?

wow, g-love, you know more people reading this blog than i do! i'm quite excited to learn that there are 10 wonder women readers out there. that's about 6 more than i thought we had.

i still blog in secret, therefore, most of my friends and family do not know about this blog. a few do, but the majority would be appalled to know that i contribute to 2 blogs. after all, don't i know how scary the internet is? don't i know that people can actually find me on this thing? well, of course. all they have to do is look up my phone number on whitepages.

i hope our reader base grows someday, but even if it's just the 10 of us (wow, what a great name for a sitcom!), i'll be as happy as a clam. it is kind of fun to blog when no one knows who is on the other side of the computer. muahhahahahahah!

I wonder who is reading our blog anyway?

We’ve been at this for almost exactly a month now – MSO Rin can celebrate our official one month anniversary in her post this Wednesday. Four great topics, four great Free for All Fridays; four great weeks of wondering with the Wonder Women.

So, 22 blogs later, rolling into our fifth superheroine week of blogging, who is reading us? Besides us, I mean?

Did any attendees of HC read our posts about our shared alma? How about those PB&J lovers, all I got comments from were semi-haters. Speaking of haters, where are Wicked M’s fellow Uggs and Crocs devotees? Stand up with the woman, she was a lone voice of support for the trendy and fabulous (not forgetting the trendy and ridiculous). While Wicked M is fabulous, LiLo and Pammy Anderson fall under the category of ridiculous, and I can say with conviction that they’re not reading us.

Ooooh, I wonder if any sickos googling for shots of Pammy’s mammary glands got linked to our site? How about people looking for Jay Zee, the rapper, who were undoubtedly fascinated to read that his first love was a little blond girl in a North Dakota playground? (And that he used to have freckles and brown hair)?

I wonder – did any of our husbands read our blogs at the exact second that we were wondering what they were doing? Wouldn’t that be ironic. Don’t ya think.

Oh well, until we get a few more comments with names on them the only people who I know are reading this blog are the four Wonder Women and two of their (biological) sisters, Kat and Amanda. I also know I force my husband to read this blog, though I know he secretly enjoys it. I imagine the rest of the husbands read it, too. So that gives us an audience of 10, including the contributors.

Any readers want to comment and make yourselves known? Now’s your chance!! ;) Peace and love to ya, commenters, lurkers, and contributors – readers all. G

I Wonder When Chivalry Died.

I've noticed as of late that chivalry doesn't seem to exist anymore. It isn't something that is valued, apparently, by a great majority of people and I guess parents no longer teach their sons to open doors for ladies and to do other nice things for them.

I started noticing it about a year or two ago. Most of my experiences were in the elevator in my apartment building. I noticed that when I was in the elevator car with a man, he would almost always exit ahead of me. There is no longer such a thing as "Ladies first" in the elevator car. Now it is a "me first" mentality.

Then, I started noticing that other men don't open car doors for women. My husband does this without fail and I guess it is something I've taken for granted. When we are with other couples, they almost always comment on it and some of them seem beyond shocked. I rarely see men doing this these days.

The most glaring example of chivalry dying is that men rarely hold the door open for me anymore. Hardly ever. It has gotten to the point that I am surprised and moved to gush over them when it does happen.

Maybe it is just me but I really like it when a man holds a door open for me or gestures for me to walk out of the elevator first. I like it when my husband does these little things for me. I am glad that he values chivalry and likes to treat me and other women like ladies. When did these things that are so easy to do become a lost art?

I Wonder Where All The Hate Comes From...

I have to admit that I've been dreading this week's entry! The hatred my fellow WonderWomen feel for Crocs and Uggs is palpable and I fear for my safety if I dare go against them. But I must. But before I do that: a disclaimer. I never said that Crocs and Uggs were cute or attractive. I only ever espoused the benefits of wearing them. These benefits far outweigh most other trends as they are merely for show -- these two types of shoes actually have benefits. Unlike tight rolling jeans. That was just for show people! And it looked good in 1985 when I was in elementary school wearing my tight rolled jeans with three pairs of different colored socks and with my bangs hairsprayed to kingdom come. That was all about show!

In the beginning I was totally against both Crocs and Uggs. I thought Uggs were ridiculous as the only time I ever saw them was on Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. And they wore them with mini-skirts in the middle of the summer! Where I come from, sheepskin lined boots are for the winter. Then, as winter turned nasty the year that Uggs had become a fashion phenomenon, they were pretty much all I could find in the stores. I was searching for a pair of boots to wear when cleaning seven inches of snow off my car at 6:00 in the morning. I finally settled on the least offensive color, sand, and shelled out the cash. And I love them. Thankfully, I only have to wear them about ten times a year and I never wear them for more than about fifteen minutes at a time. And I never wear them with a mini-skirt. I don't even own a mini-skirt, so there! Those boots have saved me (and my toes!) on more than one occasion.

The Crocs were also something that I shunned at first. They were ugly, who would wear those, etc. They were marketed as gardening shoes at first, for goodness' sake! And yet. Once I saw a pair of the black Mary Jane Crocs, I was sold. I love them. They are comfortable and breathable. I mostly see shoes as utilitarian and while I do have some gorgeous shoes for special occasions, I choose comfort over form whenever possible. Crocs are great for your feet and some physicians are wearing them and asking their patients to wear them as well. In the winter I mostly wear tennis shoes and heeled boots for work. In the summer I wear flip flops and strappy slides for work. The Crocs get me through the odd part of the year that is between winter and summer. Too cold for flip flops, but too warm for boots. I don't own a pair in any fluorescent colors. I have no desire for a pair in college colors or to match every outfit. Mine are just in plain boring black and I've worn them less than a handful of times! And my friend C, who is more stylish than anyone else I know, had a pair on when I saw her two weeks ago. Vindication!

Please don't hate me!

But please don't even get me started on the Jelly shoes that I saw in the store last weekend. At Nordstrom's no less.

I Wonder Who Decides Current Fashion Trends

I’m not addressing Crocs/Uggs today. I’m taking on another fashion trend that I despise.

Wearing a skirt over jeans or other pants.

To quote Seth & Amy’s segment on ‘Weekend Update’: really?!? Really.

Is one garment not enough? Why is it necessary to put something over your jeans or under your skirt? (I’m not talkin’ about a slip, either. Those who know me well know my love of a slip.) That’s just wasting fabric. It does not look cool to appear that you couldn’t quite decide what to wear—the jersey-knit black mini or the rolled-to-cropped-length dark-wash denims—so you just decided to not decide. Personally, my rear is big enough when viewed in one layer of clothing (this whole rant assumes you are also wearing skivvies. That’s an entirely different wonder). So maybe it’s jealousy that makes me feel such burning, passionate dislike for such an ensemble. There’s no way I could get away with walking around in two different forms of bottoms without feeling that I had created some massive target at which small children might practice throwing things like chalk or empty juice boxes.

Isn’t it hot? In the spring, summer, and even fall, isn’t it enough to have jeans on if you’re taking a stroll around the Farmer’s Market? Do you maybe not have pockets in your skirt and you really need someplace to put your $5? Is there a hole in the front of your jeans at the bottom of the zipper (you know what I’m talking about, Old Navy) that you have to cover up?

If you know who’s responsible for this fashion travesty, please, write in and let me know. I have some hate mail to send.

are you kidding me?

i really would like to know who decided that oversized plastic gardening shoes were okay to wear outside of the garden. uggs i don't mind so much, although i would never have enough confidence to wear them. i'm not a fan of tucking your jeans into them though. it reminds me of back in the day when we would 'tight roll' or 'peg' our jeans...and wear 3 different colored pairs of socks. yeah, i'd like to forget those days. so, uggs, you have a semi-fan in me. again, i could never wear you, but lindsay lohan sure knows how to rock you out like somethin' fierce.

let me return to crocs. i think i remember seeing them in lillian vernon or some other catalog of that sort. but, i don't remember ever seeing young people wearing them in the photos. no, i seem to recall that only old people had them on and the picture almost always showed them nosing around in the garden. or maybe i'm mistaken...either way, they remind me of something you wear in the garden. not actually in your real day-to-day life, you know? so when did that become trendy?

i have recently returned from a trip to europe and found some of the shoe fashions in paris to be quite...er...interesting. it's almost like it's cool to wear ugly flats over there which is fine. whatever blows your skirt up. what's really interesting though is that i did not spy one solitary pair of crocs while there. not one. so if crocs are even too ugly for parisians maybe we need to take a lesson from our french friends. let's leave the gardening shoes for the garden, shall we?

I Wonder Who Decided Uggs & Crocs Were Cute?

When reviewing this topic, I realized that my expertise in the area was limited. In my closet you will find nary a Croc, nor an Ugg. From outside the shop window, Uggs look warm and comfy to me – I have no beef with Uggs. Crocs, on the other hand, are completely ridiculous, and I am a card-carrying member of Ihatecrocs dot com. I apologize to the one reader of this blog who I know owns a pair. Much love to you, M, but I can give no love to your Crocs. They are neon colored. They are plastic/foam. They have lots of huge holes (apparently now one can purchase trinkets to stick in the holes – sounds like the purpose of the holes was solely to get consumers to spend more money "accessorizing.") They perhaps fall into the category of So-Ridiculous-They’re-Cool. Or – they’re just Ridiculous.

However, this is not answering the question at hand. The question I am setting forth to answer is who decided these two types of unusual footwear were cute? I did some exhaustive research on the subject (ahem, Wikipedia), and discovered that Pamela Anderson, Kate Hudson, and Sienna Miller popularized the Ugg, while also apparently ushering in an(other) era of boho chic. Oh. That was easy.

When searching for info on Crocs, had less success. Word of mouth caused their explosion in popularity, says the company. What?? Nobody famous shilling for them? Nonsense. I did find out, however, that children wearing Crocs have been injured when their shoes melted . . . that Crocs have issues with getting stuck in escalators . . . and finally, that nurses in Sweden are not allowed to wear them at work because the static electricity they tend to carry interferes with electronic equipment. No word on whether the author of this article is also a member of ihatecrocs dot com, though s/he seems not to be a fan.

I will close with this scintillating statement, from my source (still Wikipedia), which is in reference to Uggs, but I believe could be applied to both:

“The popularity of Ugg boots has polarized the fashion-conscious. Some wear them almost exclusively year-round, touting their comfort and warmth. Others call them plain and ugly, and prone to causing foot-odor.”

Peace and Love to all you lovely strange-shoe-buying folk,

G

I Wonder Where My Week Went

I mean, really. It's a little ridiculous. This week, I have:

1. Sweated happily in 80+ degree sunshine
2. Watched it snow--and stick, at least on Mt. Sentinel
3. Advised two new undergrad majors
4. Gone through an entire copy-machine toner cartridge
5. Performed in a ten-minute play
6. Attended a play and a dance concert
7. Eaten McDonald's, Taco Bell, and 7 granola bars (I don't even pretend to be healthy anymore ... )
8. Spent two mornings and one evening at the gym ( ... except when I do)
9. Cried on more than one occasion
10. Laughed until my cheeks hurt
11. Missed out on many important catching-up phone calls from other WonderWomen

Where did all this living come from? And why am I not noticing it until now, at the end of seven days of it? Sometimes I wonder if I'll spend my entire adulthood continuing to take things for granted as I did when I was younger. But it's not really taking things for granted so much as forgetting to stop and breathe--stop and notice all the things I'm doing and having and feeling. Must remember to breathe. Now I sound like my wise little sister Kat. :)

Wherever you are, I hope you live this weekend. I know I'm going to try.

I Wonder What _____ is/are Doing Right Now?

I know you aren't wondering what I am doing right now, but I am currently at work. I am working hard, obviously. But you don't really care about me. Let's talk about what the peeps in my life are up to.

1. Husband - He's still sleeping, the lucky duck. One of the few upsides of having liver and kidney failure is getting to stay home and sleep as much as you like. He'll probably be up in the next 45 minutes or so to take more itch medicine and to growl at Wondercat.

2. Wondercat - Sleeping too. That cat does virtually nothing to expend energy and yet he is still exhausted enough to collapse almost anywhere and become comatose. He's even started snoring sometimes. As soon as Superman gets up, Wondercat will be on him like glue. He's got to know where his people are and once he has located Superman, Wondercat will be back to sleep.

3. My Parents - My mom and dad are both at work and have been at work since the early hours of the morning. They both work in education and this requires them to be at work before most people have even started their morning commute. My dad is probably dealing with some administrative issue or some wily kid and my mom is probably enjoying the silence in her classroom today as her students are reading a new book. They are loving it and this pleases her to no end.

4. My Brother - He's arrived at the office in the last thirty minutes or so. He's checked his e-mail, read the Wall Street Journal and already has a plan for his day. He's got appointments to keep, clients to keep happy and money to make.

5. The Other WonderWomen - Well, super jane and G Love are both at work. At least they should be. They probably do what I do most mornings. Arrive at the office wishing that it were Saturday instead of Thursday and the minute that their computers boot up, they check out this site to see if it has been updated. Welcome! MSO Rin is probably just out of bed and is also wishing that today were Saturday. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

I Wonder What My Family's Doing Right ... NOW!

At 8:39A Mountain Time, The Boy is probably at his desk, checking email and looking down at his sleeping shop (design/tech students don’t have shops during the last week of classes so they can work on their portfolios), and wondering if he can log onto our Sirius account from his computer or if he needs to check with me first. A worthy wonder, since every time he decides it’s OK to just go for it, he knocks me off the account and I call his office and bless him out for it. After all, he gave Sirius to me for Christmas, not the other way around! And he’s also without a doubt drinking a Coke. It’s his addiction. Thank goodness for that Costco subscription that keeps 24 cans in our fridge at all times.

P&J are at home, curled up with their tails on their noses, side by side (no, they’re not Siamese, but they’re brothers from the same litter) on the bed. Maybe one paw stretched forward for flexing purposes, but otherwise, they’re snoozing compactly. Dreaming about the moment we get home and they can caterwaul at us to remind us that under no circumstances are we to do anything at all prior to feeding them.

My sister Kat is likely either pressing the snooze button (they live in Oregon, so it’s only 7:50A there) or showering before she wakes up enough to drive to her job as manager of a custom framing store. Her hubby Owl is already at work, dutiful little carpentry-shop assistant manager that he is.

And what am I doing? Thinking about refilling my coffee mug, saying good morning to the faculty members wandering in to pick up #2 pencils (it’s time for course evaluation bubble sheets to be completed), and thinking about how much we need the rain that’s pattering outside. Admiring my polka-dot umbrella. Listening to Fall Out Boy on a mixed CD a friend made me. Having a pretty good day.

i wonder what _____ is doing right now.

hmm...good question. i'm not sure what they're all doing, but i'm pretty sure it's more fun that what i'm doing right now.

i'm at work, wondering how i'm ever going to learn everything that i need to learn. i started a new job 3 months ago and i feel as though i will *never* get it all down. the world of higher education financial aid is a crazy one. and a confusing one.

but i digress...

*my better half, jas - well, i just spoke with him on the phone, so i know that he has set up camp in front of the computer playing everquest, a very evil and addictive game. i hate when jas plays it, and when we first got married, he spent more time on everquest than he did with me. we had to lay down some rules on how long and when he can play. but, since he has a week sans the kids, he can play his little heart out. and he has. no doubt about that.

*lj and aj - lj and aj are my adorable and incredible daughters (ages 4 and 2, respectively) who are currently spending the week in missouri with my parents (thus allowing jas to play everquest for 8 hrs straight). knowing my mom, she probably has the girls in the backyard running through the sprinkler...or, if it's cooler today, they are most likely at the park. if in fact they are physically in the house, there is no doubt that lj and aj are cramming dog biscuits down my parents' pooches' mouths (was that grammatically correct?). the girls love to feed the dogs as many biscuits as they will eat and i'm quite certain that the dogs each gain 5+ lbs each time my girls visit.

*my parents' pooches - there is no doubt in my mind that they are both fast asleep - winston under the dining room table and madison on the floor of bathroom - content with full bellies.

*hank, my cat - he's such a weird cat, so i can't pinpoint where he may be. sleeping on my pillow? curled up on jas's lap? out catching baby bunnies? plotting how to sneak another near-death mouse into my living room in order to watch me completely FREAK out? your guess is as good as mine, but i sure hope it's not one of the latter. after my day at work today, i'm hoping the rest of my day will be uneventful. *knock on wood.*