Sunday might easily be my favorite day of the week, and today was no exception.  Jeff came over to hang with me before we both depart for our hometowns, and we had a great day together.  Our afternoon began with cookie bakin’ and fudge makin’ before seeing Will Smith’s new movie, I Am Legend.  What a freakin’ awesome movie!  The best way to describe it would be 1/4 – Children of Men, 1/4 – 28 Days Later, 1/4 – Castaway, and 1/4 – Die Hard With Avengence. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  Just be prepared to be prepared for the suspense and a few tears that might fall.  After the movie, we grabbed dinner at Chili’s and did a bit of his last minute Christmas shopping.  The best part… we were both home by 9:30 pm.  Yeah, productivity mixed with a good time with a great friend is a good thing.

It’s a chilly Saturday night in Flagstaff, and I’m lounging on the couch, eating Carmelized Pear & Toasted Pecan ice cream, and jamming out to Stevie Wonder on my iPod. I’ve been listening to Stevie quite a bit lately because 1) he’s amazing and 2) I just saw him last Sunday night in concert. You see, Stevie Wonder is one of the many musical artists I grew up on, but one of the few that my parents actually agreed on. My parents are both music aficionados in their own unique ways. My mom, being a pianist, band geek, and music teacher, has a love for more classical and traditional music. She loves things she can sing along to and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to music theory and classical composers. She loves ABBA, Bach, and the Carpenters. On the other hand, my dad is my own personal music wikipedia. He has a massive music collection (even more than me) and can spew trivia and random facts about the past 6 decades of music. He loves CSNY, Steely Dan, and Cream. I always tell people that the simplest way to describe my parent’s different musical loves is my mom adores Neil Diamond and my dad loves Neil Young. Growing up, music was always playing whether it was my dad’s early morning Oingo Boingo jam seesions or my mom’s mid-afternoon piano sessions. It was a natural progression in our home that both Zac and I develop our own eclectic and broad musical style (and obsession).

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Work has been D-E-A-D this week. I assumed with fall semester finals taking place from Monday-Thursday we’d be slammed, but that was a big negatory. In an effort to stay busy and not lose my mind or fall asleep with my eyes open, I spent a large portion of my boredom today fiddling with Twitter. If you haven’t heard of Twitter, it’s a social networking tool that allows people to stay caught up with each other no matter where they are or what they’re doing. It’s similar to the status updater on facebook and myspace but with the ability to update by email, instant message, or text message. So why would I need a twitter if I’m already using another of these social networking tools? For a few reasons, actually. First, there’s a chance if you and I are ‘textually active’ that you may on occasion might receive some random text message from me… a song lyrics, a quote from The Office, or some random Laurelisms. Some of these texts are sent with great purpose, and other times they are just some random thought, quote, or moment I just need to share with anyone who’ll listen (sort of a soul cleansing). Additionally, there are times that I’m so caught up in the activities of my real life that I can’t find the time to keep everyone updated and don’t see a need to blog about every little happening. This is where twittering comes in. Now when I have a moment or happening that needs to be shared, a random thought, or a ‘What I’m Up To’ update, I can text message it to my Twitter account and it will automatically post a tweet or Twitter message for all to read. I promise it’s way easier than it sounds, and the only hiccup I experienced came when I decided to try and integrate it into my blog. After many failed plug-in installations and theme modifications, anyone and everyone can read my latest tweet by looking in the Twitterific section on the right-hand side of my blog in the sidebar or go directly to my Twitter page. I’d like to be able to promise that this will cut down on the number of text messages I send to some of you… but who am I kidding?!? Morever, texters beware. All it takes for the rest of the world to see your witty responses and comebacks is a single forwarded text message to my Twitter account.

Heather’s cream of mushroom soup at Frisco St. Grille today..

Finally… finally… finally, my house is decorated for Christmas. After waiting out the snow storms and digging out the decor, Casa Laurel is ready for ‘most wonderful time of the year’. After some last minute errands, Lauren and I (with Keri’s help later on) were ready to get to work and add some holiday cheer to my apartment-white walls. I really love the way my house looks at Christmas. So much, that last year I didn’t take the Christmas decorations completely down until February, and to be honest, I didn’t even take the decorations down. Zac did. (You know how I know Zac did…. because all the ornaments, lights and ribbons were still attached to the tree inside its box. Nothing like being able to take the tree out and be ready to go in 5 minutes.) So after a few hours of late-night work, it’s finished and ready to share!

	Part of the living room and Christmas tree.
	Outside my apartment (at 2am this morning). Once I start decorating… it’s hard to stop.
	My Christmas Village. (Sorry, Zac. Michael Vick will not be part of this year’s village scene.)

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Last Saturday night, John Mayer help a triple-treat musical extravaganza in LA where he played an acoustic set, a set with the John Mayer Trio (Mayer, Pino Paladino, and Steve Jordan), and a set with his band. Rumor has it there’s supposed to be a DVD of the experience for all who couldn’t attend. Until then, I’m gonna share some of my favorite songs from the show…

John Mayer – Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty Cover)

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John Mayer – In Your Atmosphere (LA Song w/ outro)

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John Mayer – Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

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Meet Colossus, the 8.5 foot snowman, built by frat guys outside our office.

So it’s Finals Week here on campus, and a snowstorm is not something we really need to deal with. Do you keep campus open so finals can happen? Do you close for safety? These are definitely questions I’m glad I don’t have to answer. I, myself, didn’t go into work today until almost 1 pm. Our parking lot at the apartments didn’t get plowed, and my car was under 2.5 feet of snow. Oh joy! I plan on decorating for Christmas tonight and will post a few pics tomorrow along with my review of Mr. Stevie Wonder. For now thought you might enjoy seeing some Flagstaff snow…

	My car was just a bit buried.
	View from outside the apartment.

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The first big snow of the year came this weekend, and not a moment too soon. I’ve been struggling for the last few weeks with a lack of excitement that we had entered the ‘holiday season’. My Christmas shopping is all done, but I don’t have my Christmas cards done or my decorations up. I haven’t baked a single cookie, and every time I start to get into the spirit of things, something happens like an issue at work or some personal hiccup. But as I walk around in the snow today, I can’t help but want to go home and decorate. Can’t wait to watch Elf and play my favorite Christmas songs so I can sing-a-long at the top of my lungs (or at least mezzo voce). I’m excited to get out my cookbook and make a shopping list for my favorite cookies and fudge and drink cider or chai as those cookies bake. The Christmas spirit has finally arrived… and not a moment too soon.

xkcd.com = brilliant comics galore

I’m feeling pretty insignificant today. Pretty forgotten. Unnoticed. Unimportant. It’s not a feeling I like. I like to be the center of attention. “The hostess with the mostest” as my dad would say. I like to know I matter. To know that there’s a reason I exist. My gloominess started with the pleasure of driving to work in the fog. There’s nothing like not being able to see more than 20 feet in front of you to make you feel isolated and alone. The wind has howled longingly all day, and you can’t go outside without being soaked to the bone and chilled to your soul. Work didn’t do much to help the situation, and as I drove back home in the rain, even my favorite songs seemed to be too sad and forlorn to listen to. (Then again, most of my favorites aren’t found in the “If You’re Happy And You Know It” songbook.) But, alas, I’m home… in pajamas… drinking hot tea… rockin’ out to Matty Nay. All the problems of my world aren’t solved, but if I’m gonna feel lonely, I wanna be in a pink room listening to a pink iPod. Wouldn’t you?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five weeks, I’m sure you’ve heard of (and, more importantly, your favorite television shows have been affected by) the great Writer’s Guild Association Strike of 2007. Just to make sure you’re up to speed on the strike, I’ll recap. Every three years the WGA negotiates a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. However, this time around, a negotiation was not reached and a strike vote was passed. The key issues hindering an agreement include DVD and Internet residuals. So what does that mean? It means the writers aren’t writing… so the actors aren’t acting… and no writing and no acting means no new tv shows being filmed. Most shows were able to finish anywhere from eight to twelve shows before the strike, so your favorite shows should be approaching a permanent rerun status in the next month of so if they haven’t already. Sad, I know. But what’s even sadder is the chance that some of this season’s best new shows may never get a fair chance at surviving and being picked up for a second season. In case you’ve missed some of this season’s gems, here are my 5 favorite new shows and why you should be watching them.

ABC’s finest new comedrama, Pushing Daisies, is an adult fairytale centered around Ned, a mysterious pie maker, with the ability to bring the dead back to life by his touch. However, there’s a catch to his gift… if he retouches the revived at any time they return to the world of the deceased, and if he doesn’t touch them within the first minute, another living (within the same physical proximity) creature dies in the reborn’s place. Pretty crazy, huh? Olive (the quirky pie waitress with a thing for Ned), Emerson Cod (Ned’s ‘business partner’), Chuck (Ned’s recently returned childhood sweetheart), and Chuck’s eclectic aunts round out this charming cast. If you enjoyed Amelie or have a soft spot for romanticism with a side of dark humor, this is one show you don’t want to miss. (ABC- Wed 7/8c) Click To Continue Reading…

How is it possible that R. Kelly has made 22 chapters of Trapped in the Closest and that 10 of the were nominated for a Grammy???

Best Long Form Music Video

• Loud At The Fillmore – Dierks Bentley
• Trapped In The Closet Chapters 13-22 – R. Kelly
• The Confessions Tour – Madonna
• 10 Days Out – Blues From The Backroads Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Various Artists
• Liberacion – The Songs Of The New Cuban Underground Various Artists

The complete list of nominations can be found here.

There is a lot to be said for having a good day. I’ve been feeling a bit off the past few days, probably just my recovering from being ill all weekend, and was in need of such a day. I’m not talking about a normal good day. I’m talking about a day where you wake up feeling refreshed and find your car keys hanging on the hook where they belong when it’s time to leave the apartment and don’t have to search for 10 minutes only to find them in your top dresser drawer. A good day where you the layer of ice on your car has melted by the time you get to the parking lot in the morning because you had the forethought to park where the sun could warm it up for you. An amazing day that reminds you of all the reasons you want to wake up in the morning and take another ride around the earth’s axis. Today was that day. I woke up, showered, got ready, and left the house …early. On the drive to work, the classic rock station played both The Stones’ “Angie” and Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” back to back. Work was slow and without stress for the first time in what seems like a long time. The lab was full of students writing papers and studying for next week’s finals, but none of them were screaming at us or demanding that we fix their iTunes or printer drivers. The phones didn’t ring. Emails trickled into our inboxes at a pace that ensured that we could read and respond to them before the next appeared. Like I said, it was a good day.

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There is no way this video or this guy is for real. Why does he insist on singing like a girl??? I’m calling him the anti-chocolate rain.  I’m so confused.
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Part of Your World
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