Oh it's a good life. This morning we went to the Farmer's Market, then to a delish lunch at Casa de Luz, then to the library to pick up a couple of new reads (and pay our overdue charges. oopsy!). We brought the books home, read for a couple of hours and then had a great nap. I woke up around 6pm and made some vegetable soup out of the yummies we got at the FM. Sweet sweet day.
Veggie Soup: Onions Minced Garlic Olive Oil Zucchini Tomatoes Mushrooms Water w/veggie bullion Italian Seasoning Salt & Pepper to taste (not the band) Garnish with Avocado & fresh Basil
Maria Menounos was one of my original girl crushes. She used to be a correspondent on Entertainment Tonight and I just think she's lovely & intelligent:
I'm pretty sure it's impossible to dislike Julianne Hough. She seems like the sweetest, perkiest little gal! We could start our relationship as BF's.
I know Demi Lovato is too young for me, but she'll turn 18 in two years! I love her smile and dimpled little chin:
I saw Emmitt Smith's wife for the first time when she was on Oprah and I was smitten. Isn't she lovely?
Carl & I decided to join the Big Brothers Big Sisters program about a month ago. We had to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork, they called all of our references, and then we met face to face with a "match specialist". And we've been waiting for a couple of weeks while they attempted to find the perfect "Little" for each of us.
Well...they called me yesterday to say they found a match for me! I'm so excited! Apparently she's 11 and is really into artistic things like music, painting, etc.
I've decided to start featuring some girl crushes on my blog. Carl always calls me a "fake lesbian" because lovely lasses capture my attention. ;) I just appreciate beauty!!
My Girl Crush #1 is a model for Free People and her face floats into my inbox on a regular basis like a graceful butterfly. I think she's flippin' gorgeous:
We were leaving work the other night at like 9 o'crap and found a twenty dollar bill in the middle of the crosswalk. Knowing it wasn't ours, I asked Carl what we should do. He said the best thing to do would be to give it away to someone who needs it. So we found a homeless woman (not hard to do in Austin) and passed it on.
Our friend, Joe Smart, is flying to Austin from Washington to put on a flatpicking concert and workshop with Carl! They both won the Nat'l Flatpicking Championships in the past and have some awesome music planned for you...please join us!
“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”
“The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”
“No man can become rich without himself enriching others”
We went to a guitar "social" kind of thing tonight at a fancy little music shop here in town called Quincy's. A bunch of Collings Guitar fans from all over the country came to town to have a jam together, and a friend from Oregon came for it so we went to go see him!
I got to sing a song, and afterwards as we were leaving, a man came up to me and asked what my name is. He told me that he was standing in the back of the room, but when I started to sing, he was drawn to the front. He said, "I don't know what you're doing with your life right now, but you need to be doing this". He stood there and encouraged me for about 3 minutes straight!
It's amazing the impact someone can have on you just by offering their support and approval. Sometimes trying to be an artist can feel like you're trying to give a speech on a busy street corner where it seems no one is stopping to listen. I'm not looking for any sympathy here, because I'm so thankful for the people that do lend an ear. It was just really nice for a random person to appreciate my voice. :)
One of Carl's sandals broke today. The part that fits in between your toes snapped apart from the sole. We were at the office and I couldn't let him walk barefoot into the community potty room, so I got creative and attached the sandal to his footie with a big rubber band. He finds my resourcefulness amusing. ;)
1. Whole Foods (they had holiday sampling tonight) 2. My fuzzy blanket on the couch 3. Women with loads of junk in the trunk who insist on tucking their shirt into their pants with elastic waistbands. Thank you for the viewing pleasure.
I'll have more details very soon, but I wanted to let you know that Carl will be doing a flatpicking workshop and concert coming up in a couple of weeks with another former National Flatpicking Champion, Joe Smart!
In case I have trouble coming up with something to post, on my quest to blog every day this month, I've stolen the idea of another blogger...I'll post three things that I'm thankful for!
1. Evening couch time with my Mister 2. Clif Bars 3. Antiques Roadshow
First of all, Carl just saw this pic and said "that looks gross". So I apologize again for my lack of food styling and photographic abilities, but this was darn tasty, so I wanted to share!
It's called "Hot Heavenly Banana Bake" and I made it tonight because we had some bananas that were turning that certain shade of yellowish brown. The recipe said to put it in "custard bowls", but I'm not convinced most people own those, so I spooned it into two wine glasses. :)
Carl showed me this video that he found. It's of two girls that run a Jonas Brothers fan blog.
Behold the future of American Women:
I've been pondering this topic lately. Has the value of an intelligent woman been lost with previous generations? I don't know about you, but I personally know very few young females that even have an interest in learning.
It's sad to think that we could be regressing after all of the years women fought to become valued members of the workforce. It seems like in previous decades, females were extremely passionate about educating themselves and working hard to prove they were more than babymakers and perfectly teased hair.
But I don't want to sound like a feminist. If I'm keeping it real here, I think women generally make worse leaders than males. I've worked for about a half dozen female managers at various jobs and each one of them was horrible! When men are in management positions, they typically come off as confident, strong leaders. But if you put a woman in the same position, let's face it, they become Power Bitches. And then they cut all of their hair off and start wearing ill-fitting suits with shoulder pads. :)
Though the PB issue is based upon our natural emotional weaknesses, it's no excuse for girls to settle for being ditzy with no ambition. There are many things that we are just as good or even better at than males. The slogan of the United Negro College Fund is "A Mind is a Terrible Thing To Waste". We all should take that to heart. There is no limit to how much our brains can contain. So you might as well fill up while you're at the station.
When I'm hanging out with some of my girlfriends, I've noticed a trend; if they don't know something, they just laugh it off. Almost like it's cute to be dumdums.
To be honest, my passion for learning didn't start until I started noticing this scenario. So every time something comes up now that I don't know about, I look it up and educate myself. Sometimes I'll come home at night with a whole list of topics to research. And I feel so much more alive and enlightened! Carl is very inspirational when it comes to self-improvement. He not only taught himself how to be a world-class guitarist, he's also completely self-educated as a designer, programmer and web developer. He has and continues to spend countless nights studying books about coding, programming languages and design trends.
I don't believe you can blame your lack of smarts on the public education system. Parents, YOU are responsible for making sure your offspring become worthwhile members of society! And once kids reach a certain age, they MUST take it upon themselves to nurture their noggins. Don't act like you're the victim of a failed school program when you have so many resources at your fingertips.
I also think that kids should not be forced to go to college right out of high-school. Most people need time to experience life before they find something they're truly passionate about! When you don't put any emphasis on learning something you're actually interested in, you end up with a whole generation of girls with a "Communications Degree". Unfortunately, unless they diversify their interests, all they'll be able to communicate is "OMG & Myspace.com". ;)
I just read that November is National Blog Posting Month and I've decided to participate. That means at least one blog post every single day this month. Yow! I'm probably gonna have to post a bunch of stupid crap, but I'm sure that's one of the reasons you read my musings anyway.
My name is Beth. Short for Elisabeth Juliana. I was loosely named after a song called "I'm Not Lisa (my name is Julie)" by Jessi Colter. My maiden name was Singer, I once lived on Speaker Road. Music is part of me.
I've been performing since I was five years old and started playing with bands when I was 15. I also started writing songs in my teens. Though I still use my pipes whenever I get the chance, songwriting has become my true passion! I love sitting in my bedroom, fingertips on black & white keys, pouring my heart into lyrics, putting my soul into a melody. I normally don't have enough patience to work at something for days, months, or years, but this little writing thing has really got me hooked!
With that said, I am gearing up for what I call "Destination Nashville 2010"!! I really feel like I need to be there, to be a part of the huge songwriting machine that can swallow you whole or bring you to life. I'm excited & terrified all at the same time, but mostly happy to be able to chase after a dream.
