Chicago, take 2!

Paul & I went up to Chicago yesterday, mostly for the purpose of picking up some things he left there over break, but also to get away during this last week of holiday vacation and see some other sights in his hometown. This time we went to Chinatown, Rainforest Cafe, an outdoor mall where we picked up some Frango holiday chocolates for 70% off, and back to his family's place to visit and pick up everything, have our FHE, etc. ...oh yeah, and pick up some Dunkin' Donuts on the way back. :) It was a fun day-trip and I'm glad I got to come along for the ride! Here are some pics of the happy Monday...it only would have been happier had I remembered to take along my ear antiseptic (I got my ears pierced over the weekend) so that I wouldn't have to panic about infection!

My big strong Atlas-Man. :) And below are the stars up above us...

Mmm...Frango! Apparently it's a Chicago thing.

2008 in Summary

I came up with a rather dandy newsletter for the year, but if I didn't send it to you it's because I don't have your email address saved in my contacts. If you're curious, send me a message at omadarland@hotmail.com with your email addy and I'll zip that right over to you. :)

Pics and tales of the holidays to come...right now I'm getting ready to head off with Paul to the bookstore! (Can life get any better than having a man who loves books as much or more than you do? I submit that it cannot!)

Happy New Year!

Character Interviews

I was nosing around one of my favorite blogs for creative writers, pymprompts.blogspot.com, when I stumbled upon an idea that I tweaked and thought I'd share with everyone. The idea is basically this: before you start a story, or if you're stuck on what to do next, pull away for a bit and examine your main character(s) in-depth. Interview them with these questions, and any others you can think of that might be pertinent, and you might find yourself knowing where to lead them next. If not, you'll at least get to know them better, which is always important for a writer if you want to write well. :) If any of my fellow-writers comes up with any more great questions, please let me know! I added about 20 to the list from PumpingYourMuse already, but I'm always up for more!

Relational:
How old are you?
Who do you look like? Your mother, father, or someone else?
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Are you married or single?
Do you have someone you care about?
Did you or do you know your grandparents?
Is anyone in your family famous?
Are your parents still living?
Are you adopted?
Who is your best friend?

Personal:
What do you like to drink?
Where did you grow up?
Are you a morning person?
What are your hobbies or interests?
What nervous habits do you have?
Do you have any quirks, secret talents, etc?
What kind of music do you listen to?
What do you do for a living?
What is your education level?
What's your favorite food (or drink)?
Do you travel much?
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?
What burning question(s) do you want answered?
What (or who) haunts you?
Do you like to read?
Where are you going?
How can a person cheer you up when you’re sad?
What’s your biggest secret?
What is your biggest regret?
Do you have any allergies/health problems?

What is (or was) your favorite subject to study?

Which Describes You Best?
Nervous or calm?
Teacher or student?
Leader or follower?
Brave or fearful?
Religious, superstitious or neither?
Humble or proud?
Tall or short?
Long hair or short?
Honest, stretch the truth when necessary, or all out liar?
Introvert or extrovert?
Lover or fighter?
Reactive or proactive?
Creative or Paint-By-Numbers?
Popular, Liked, or Loner?
Spontaneous or a planner?
Dreamer, cynic, or realist?
Philanthropist or Scrooge?
Clueless or Quick?
Organized or chaotic?
Trusting or guarded?

Complicated or What-you-see-is-what-you-get?

The Twelve Days of Christmas--12 (and final)

Paul really outdid himself on this one: "10 of these and 2 of these will keep you warm and cozy while I'm away..." Ten fingers & two arms, as pictured below--and the hands are detachable and filled with rice so I can pop them in the microwave anytime and use them as a heating pad! (Although, I'll have to find some fleece gloves to cover them because the rice spills out of the knit ones.) :) And yes, he stuffed and sewed the whole thing up by himself, by hand. What a catch I have! :) Of course, I'd rather have the real thing there with me on holidays, but our time will come soon enough. This is our last Christmas as singles and we're determined if not to enjoy it, then at least to grin and bear it. :)

Merry Christmas to all! I hope this time fills you with gratitude, love, and celebration of togetherness. May you stay warm and healthy, and may Santa bring you everything you really want this year. :)

The Twelve Days of Christmas--9, 10, & 11

A daydreaming prince, a sleeping duke, a lyin' king...Lion King! (9 lives...)

Ten is made of a line and a ball. The written clue looked something like this: l O o. Well, if you put those together differently, it looks kinda like this: o---O, which kinda looks like a Skip-It, which is what day ten's present was.

Eleven little letters on a little heart carried by a teddy bear ornament: "BEST TEACHER".

:) Day 12 is going to wait until either tonight or tomorrow, right before Paul leaves for Chicago. Curious...

Writing Club--The First shall be Last :)

For this prompt, we took the last line of our favorite poem and turned it into the first line of our own original poem. Mine's from Archibald MacLeish's "Ars Poetica":

a poem should not mean, but be.
as dewdrops freezing on a flower petal,
or bumpy itch from the stinging nettle,
the laughter from a tiny child
as he stomps through strawberries grown wild,
a poem dances on the world’s tongue, free.

a poem is the cover of our waking sleep.
it tilts and rises, sways and falls
over model planes and porcelain dolls
and bumps against the nightlight thrice
whilst whistling through sugar and spice,
and up the pipes like a chimney sweep.

a poem is an Artist’s masterpiece
it frames itself in frivolity
and cultures inequality.
it’s painted fears, love, wonder,
our triumph blended with our ev’ry blunder.
it defies the meaning, seeks release.

a poem should not mean, but be…
to puts our insides out to see.

The Twelve Days of Christmas--8

8 Disney Princesses! Aside from being Disney, which gets an automatic A in my book, and aside from being figurines, which takes me back to my youth when Charissa & I would play with "Thumbelinas" and Polly Pockets for hours and days, this mostly makes sense to the Ya-Ya's, my old college roommates. One day my roommie got "Sleeping Beauty" on DVD and we all took the Disney Princess quiz to find out which princesses we were. Some of us took them multiple times. :) But the long and short of it is that each of us were tied to a different princess, which was pretty amazing, and so these Disney princesses became a part of us:

ME: Belle

Mel: Snow White

Erin: Ariel

Shirley: Jasmine

Jamie: Cinderella

Clair: Sleeping Beauty

I've been looking for some Disney princess memorabilia to take with me as gifts/souvenirs for our reunion in Summer 2010, and these are a perfect go-along to what I was thinking! Happy days! PLUS there are two princesses that came along in this package that I get to keep because they weren't on the Disney princess quiz. I'm pretty stoked! :)

The Twelve Days of Christmas--7

Today's gift was a children's picture book called "Sector 7" by David Weisner that I "read" for my children's lit class this semester. It's AMAZING. It's a wordless picture book that I can actually follow and enjoy! I'm giving my copy away for Christmas, so Paul got me my own copy! Yay! I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone who loves art and imagination. Especially if you have toddlers and little people at home, it's fun to watch them "read" and tell you what's going on in the book.

The Twelve Days of Christmas--6

Today's gift had the clue from Paul, "This is something that I have, and what I would be if you left me..."

It was a 6-pack of orange Crush. :P

On another note, it's sort of sleety outside and very slick, which is just so much fun and of course makes me want to go out for my final this afternoon! Oh well. At least I have only 3 finals this week, one today, one tomorrow, and one Saturday, and I get to return a few books and hopefully get my paycheck & go shopping on Wednesday! Can't complain about that.

The Twelve Days of Christmas--4&5

Day 4 was a 4-in-1 math tool, which will come in QUITE handy for my final on Monday!

Day 5, I'm not sure yet how the "5" plays into it other than maybe that it's 5 oz...but it's a little Christmas-y tube of Oreos (my favorite!).

On another note, here are some pics from the PMO Christmas show! Being something of an amateur musician myself, I had SUCH a great time listening to the talent around campus. I should've known, but somehow I didn't realize that Purdue doesn't really have any music majors, so everyone in the show is doing all this while studying other things, like political science, nursing, engineering, and so on. Sweet!

I couldn't help but compare this show to BYU's...it's interesting to see how Christmas music is always, always, always, always so beautiful and invites the Spirit in--it's a testimony of Christ! But there is something special about an entire body of young Latter-day Saints celebrating all we know of Christ through music and dance that Purdue just can't quite capture. Oh well. It was still AMAZING and I still had a FABULOUS time!

The snowglobe-like curtain of the 75th annual PMO Christmas Show...

Paul, enjoying the pre-show stretching, with the crazy Santas all over the walls in the background.

Us! :)

Yes, this is the program. I'm a nerd!

As close-up as I could get without a flash of the Purdue Kids Choir performers...and a friend of ours from the ward, A.K., in the background! (The one in the blue right in the middle.)