anywhere is…. – Page 63 – my scramblings & ramblings

Friday 5

2 December 2011 / friday 5, meme, pictures

What’s your favorite thing about cold weather?
NOTHING. I hate cold weather with the intensity of 1000 suns.

I look happy but trust me, I’m hating every second of it.

Soups and hot beverages seem to be everyone’s favorite cold-weather culinary combatant, but what’s another food that seems to take the bite out of the cold?
Beef and noodles.

When the weather is just starting to turn cold but is not yet in full frigidity, what do you add to your bed until it’s time to break out the heavy artillery? (I said what, not whom!)
I turn the electric blanket up a few notches and I have the space heater on til the room is warmed up.

What household chore seems especially unkind in these colder months?
Anything that involves leaving the warmth of the apartment.

Among people you know, who seems most oblivious to cold weather?
My husband. Also, kids seem to not notice the cold.

Ugh.

10 Comments

Hello December/Holiday Wish Meme

1 December 2011 / christmas, crafty, download, meme

My favorite time of the year is here again. It’s officially the holiday season, I’ve had my first taste of turkey and gravy and there’s another holiday involving those foods to come!, the stores/malls are decorated and people have lights on their homes and trees in the windows, I’m listening to Christmas music, Trader Joe’s has yummy Christmas treats everywhere, and my birthday (and my mom’s and Aidan’s arrival) is in 19 days!

For the 2011 holiday season, I have so much to be excited about and thankful for!

– My awesome Aidan. He’s now eight years old, in third grade, and absolutely the best little boy ever. EVER.
– My husband. It’s amazing to have someone so supportive of me, so ready to defend me, and willing to do anything to make me happy. And he puts up with my wackiness, which is no small feat, let me tell ya.
– My families. All of them.
– Two trips to Disney World!!
– My work study opportunity at Moksha Yoga. I get to do work I love in exchange for what I love. It’s a win-win!
– My friends.
– Fi living with me again. He’s the best cat ever. Plus, he’s a black cat, and everyone knows that black cats rule everything. If you didn’t know, then you know now. So I’m thankful I was able to pass that knowledge on to you.
– My Plurk crew. They are hilarious and fun. Love them!
– The abundance and blessings that have been and keep being rained down on us.
– Anywhere Is just got 100 followers!! WOW!! 🙂

It’s now time for the Holiday Wishes Meme. I started doing this in 2006, and I encourage you guys to do it as well.

Step One
– Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered…whatever you’re comfortable with) to your LJ/blog. The post should contain your list of up to 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun (“I’d love a Doctor Who icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
– If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
– Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your entry, or link to this post (it’ll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
– Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part:
– If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use—or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
– You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not—it’s your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just…wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you’ll have the joy of knowing you made someone’s holiday special.

With that said, here are my wishes for 2011.

1. A gift card, or for you to make donations to, DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose focuses on education. Teachers ask for classroom project materials. We donate. The kids learn. Most of these schools are high poverty, and the teachers are already doing all they can. Any amount is welcome.

2. Donations to Paws Chicago, the shelter where we got Helena. It’s a cage-free, no-kill shelter, and they are run completely on donations; they receive no city, state, or federal funding. It’s a great place. A shelter situation is stressful for the animals involved, and every animal I came in contact with there was happy and friendly. They have an extensive screening process to make sure you’re aware of your decision and commitment, and if somehow things don’t work out, the animal always has a home at PAWS.

3. Anything from my Amazon Let’s Celebrate 2011! wish list.

4. Gift cards to bookstores. I love bookstores. And books. But you already know that.

5. I also wouldn’t mind gift cards to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Target, or Kohl’s.

6. A mailbox FILLED with Christmas cards. Come on, guys. You know you want to indulge me.
Comment with your email address if you’re interested in fulfilling this particular wish and I will email you my address.

7. The Kanani American Girl doll.

The things that I’d like your prayers/happy energy for:

1. My mom to be as healthy as possible and to live a long time.

2. My friends and family to be happy, healthy, and secure.

3. Myself to be happy, healthy, and secure.

4. A mild winter.

Happy Holidays!

It’s December now, the holiday and giving season really is here! YAY!

Now, go download my Christmas Bucket List!!! Also pin it on Pinterest. Share it. Link it to me. It’s my gift to you. 🙂

*** If you do this meme for yourself, be sure to leave a comment with a link to your post, OK? I want to read your wishes!

Friends who are wishing….

Jenn · Dez · Nethilia · Lauren

Add yours:

8 Comments

Thanksgiving 2011

1 December 2011 / atlanta, christmas, family, food, pictures, thanksgiving

As promised, here is the long-awaited (tee-hee) entry about my Thanksgiving, only 1000 years after everyone has posted theirs! 🙂 To be fair, I did have an extended holiday, starting off Tuesday evening when Aidan arrived! He spent that night here playing and playing. Then he spent Wednesday playing and playing. Good times.

Thursday, we headed to our friends Jeff & Deborah for our annual Thanksgiving meal. Good food, and good times. Even when Aidan didn’t eat the yummy Yukon Gold potatoes. Hmph. After dinner, we went for a little walk, and I modeled my new coat:

Deborah and I also looked cute for the camera.

THEN it was off to the airport. It was SO NICE to fly on Thanksgiving evening during dinner time. The airport was so quiet, and the plane MAY have had 50 passengers total on it. It was so peaceful and smooth, and we arrived in Atlanta 50 minutes ahead of schedule!

Because Adam and I flew in Thanksgiving Day, we held off until November 25 to celebrate…..

THANKSMAS
The epic holiday combining Christmas,
Thanksgiving, and Family Portrait Day.

This happened. You’re so jealous. Just admit it.

Adam’s dad doesn’t look too proud of this turkey,
but HE SHOULD because it was DA BOMB DOT COM.

Good food was consumed, along with wine. Games were played, conversations had. Then it was PICTURE TAKING TIME!

After pictures, we sat around and talked until the sun went down. Then it was time for Thanksmas to start!

Thanksmas was awesome. I got some really neat things. But I had to leave them there because we flew Airtran and had our carry-on bags already packed to bursting (too cheap to pay baggage fees, ha). So Adam’s parents will ship all the big stuff to us.

His statue says “Best Person.”
It came from the Tacky Gift Exchange.
Aidan likes it.
I wanted the Justin Bieber toothbrush
but my cousin Annie got it instead.

Next day was stocking stuffers, naps, a morning of THIS cuteness:

and a visit to see……

Woooo!

Oh, and more pictures.

Gotta love that Atlanta in November is warm enough to go coatless. Back in Chicago now–we got back Tuesday afternoon. Another awesome Thanksmas!

Til next time! 🙂

8 Comments

Anywhere Is

28 November 2011 / meme, miscellany monday, pictures, site, sunday stealing

I fail because I forgot to wish anywhere is a Happy Birthday yesterday. I bought my domain on November 27, 2000 and have not regretted it ever since. Finally I had a space of my own. I didn’t have to worry about some free server deleting my stuff willy nilly (like virtue.nu had done a few days prior) or throwing ads all over my pretty pages, and well, having a domain name back then was a big deal. It was the *big time*.

So, fittingly enough, the Sunday Stealing meme consists of the following questions. VERY apropos for this topic, eh? 🙂

Why did you start blogging?
I liked the idea of sharing my thoughts with people in the Internet world. I also liked that blog content was updated and fresh, and easily done so!

Here I am in November of 2000, right around the time I bought Anywhere Is!

Why did you choose your blog’s name? What does it mean?
Anywhere Is comes from my favorite song by Enya. Watch the video here.

Have you ever had another blog?
Oh yes. Loads! I once had a book review blog, and I have two blogs on hiatus: Booknerds in Love, and Ronni the Writer. I also maintain Ronni Loves Disney, which is NOT on hiatus. You should go follow it if you love Disney as well!

What do you do online when you’re not on your blog?
Read other blogs. Pin stuff on Pinterest. Play games on Facebook.

How about when you’re not on the computer?
Read books. Yoga. Edit. Clean. Sleep.

What do you wish people who read your blog knew about you?
Go to the about me page. It’s all there.

What is your favorite community in the blogosphere?
I don’t have a favorite. There’s too much out there to explore!

What is your philosophy on your blog layout?
For now, free, simple, and adorable!

This was my first Anywhere Is layout.
See some of my other old ones here.

Tell me about your picture you use to represent you on your blog.
It represents me in all my geeky, dorky, wild-haired glory.

Pick three random blogs from your blogroll and tell us about them.
Jenn.nu. Jenn is one of the bloggers who is still around from my era. Her sites totally inspire me, and she has a lot of good information on her site to help me along as I master WordPress beyond playing with widgets and installing pre-made themes. Also, she has pink hair.
Mommy Bags. LOVE this blog so much. The author will tell it like it is. With awesome features such as WTF Friday and Bitch Slap Monday, she tells it like it is. I look forward to reading her every single day because she’s hilarious.
Growing Up Geeky. Both parents are super geeks, so their cute little baby doesn’t have a chance in hell of ever being cool! Such a fun blog to read.

What features do you think your blog should have that it doesn’t currently?
I need to do a more customized layout. Pre-made themes are easy, but once upon a time, I used to code my own layouts. I even made the graphics. I’d love to do that again, so my site could have a bit of a “brand.”

What do you consider the 10 most “telling” interests we would infer from your blog persona?
a. Aidan
b. Disney World
c. taking pictures
d. yoga
e. books
f. meeting new blog friends
g. family
h. nature
i. cats
j. cleaning the apartment

Do you have any unique interests that you have never shared before? What are they?
I think I’ve pretty much covered everything. OH WAIT! No! I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about my interest in miniatures. I *really* want to build a doll house one day.

The best thing about blogging is all of the friends that you make. Besides those folks, do you think your blog has fans?
It might.

What’s your current obsession? What about it captures your imagination?
Hmm. This is a tricky one, because I am not sure what my current obsession is. Maybe finding new blogs to read? I like learning about people’s lives, looking at their pictures, and hopefully making new friends as I do so.

What are you glad you did but haven’t really had a chance to post about?

post coming soon!

How many people have you met face to face who were first blog friends?
At least five.

What don’t you talk about here, either because it’s too personal or because you don’t have the energy?
I don’t talk about writing much. Not like I used to. Only because I feel like a failure in that department right now.

What’s a question that you’d love to answer?
How are you going to spend this $500 million dollars I just gave you?

Have you ever lost a blogging friendship and regretted it?
Yes. 🙁

Have you ever lost a blogging friendship and thought, “That was overdue!”
I did at the time. Turns out I just needed a little bit of distance. I always miss those who touched my heart in a good way at some point. I think about reaching out to this person from time to time, but I don’t think she’d want to hear from me.

I’ve been busy with Thanksmas and visiting, so I’m behind with responding to comments, follows, etc. I’ll get back on track soon! I also don’t feel so well and need a rest. I will have a nice, photo-filled post up before long! So, til next time….

Also linking up with:

12 Comments

The ABCs of Thanks

23 November 2011 / happy, meme, pictures, positivity, thanksgiving

…a simple act of gratitude.

Write a list using the alphabet and then list one item that you are grateful for that starts with the given letter. Don’t forget to link up at Finding Joy when you’re done.

Here’s mine.

A – Aidan and Adam. Need I say more?

B – Books. Because reading is AWESOME. Beaches, because they smell like sand and sun and sunscreen. Babies, because they are a nice way to start people. Bananas. They’re funny.

c – Cats, even when they are bratty, or stinky, or naughty. Cupcakes from Molly’s Cupcakes. Chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm. Christmas. My favorite holiday.

D – Disney World! And for being blessed enough to visit six times so far!

E – Email. It’s my choice way of keeping in touch with people!

F – Family. ‘Cause I love them. Friends, too.

G – Green, for the color of grass and leaves in the summertime.

H – Hugs. They never fail to make me feel yummy inside.

I – Internet. I’ve made so many friends and learned so much thanks to the Internet being around. It’s integral in my life. Also, I am grateful for incense. It makes the place smell so good and it makes me *feel* good.

J – Juice. Especially 100% cherry juice. Delicious.

K – Kirtan. Beautiful call and response chanting. It’s non-denominational, and the music of my soul.

L – Libraries. A free way to feed my reading addiction.

M – Money. It helps me get the things I need and sometimes even extra things I just want. Also, Moksha Yoga. The community there is the best. I’m honored to be a part of it.

N – Nice people. They make the world so much better.

O – Opportunity. To work from home, to make friends from all over the world, to live in a cool city (even when it does get on my nerves/cost too much), to do yoga, to meet my favorite authors, to meet celebrities, to eat good food, to have a warm home, to wear skinny jeans, to improve my life every day, to be creative. To love. To live.

P – Pandernoodle. My favorite teddy bear ever.

Q – My favorite letter to sneak and push on people’s keyboards while they are frantically typing. Qs just make everything quirky. 🙂

R – Ronica. My name.

S – Sushi. It’s delicious and good for me. Sun, because it’s beautiful and warm. Skinny jeans, which I vowed I’d never wear. Until I started wearing them and loving them with boots.

T – Trees. I am a real life tree hugger. I don’t hug trees in the city because dogs pee and poop on them. But let me loose in an arboretum? Good times.

U – Unconditional love. There is a lot of it in my life.

V – Vacations. Especially to Disney World.

W – Water. I love water. I love to drink it, I love to shower in it. I can’t swim in it, though, and I don’t like it when it’s falling the sky in the form of any sort of rain. But I do like water because it’s what keeps me alive. And it tastes so good! No calories or fat! Perfect.

X – XP points in those stupid games I play on Facebook. I should quit all of them. Maybe I will one day.

Y – Yoga. It has changed my life. For real.