anne is an artist

So this is my first "Stitch-Stirrers" post. I really like the idea--gets my brain thinking! So without further ado;

What is your favorite thing about crochet?

Well, it would have to be the fact that I am wearing a sweater right now that my mom made me and it is keeping me decidedly warm. Especially with the snow falling outside right now.

Actually when I first started crocheting I hated it. It wasn't that I was impatient, but man was it BORING! My mom tried teaching it to me and I think we were both so frustrated that I just sort of got it, but didn't do anything with it. I knew how to crochet a flat afghan, but it killed me to do so.

After I found out about granny squares, I realized crochet was a bit more available to me and a lot more interesting. No more blankets! Gone were the days of flat crochet and stripes. I think my favorite thing to crochet these days are hand bags.

...

Also, when I came back to Kansas City, all proud of my mad crochet skills, I convinced my mom to do something other than afghans and flat scarfs. It was like pulling teeth.

She stinkin' busted out a sweater on her first try.

p.s. happy birthday mom!!

So instead of quietly relaxing this weekend, I spent it redesigning my dad's website.

I haven't really been too skilled in Flash, but I figure it is time I learn. With a little help from the boyfriend, I was able to click away and get the website up! Flash is actually a little bit more intuitive than I thought. I was required to take a class on it at MIAD, but I missed one day and never caught up. It is one of those programs that unless you use it all the time, you never really figure it out.

Take a look! Let me know what you think! (and tell me about bugs.....I know there are probably bugs..)

So Rachel has been kind enough to tag me for "Seven Weird Things." I've never really been one to fill out things like this, I imagine I'm not very good at it. But here goes:

1. Often I will forget to eat. This does not in any way equate the seriousness of an eating disorder, but I've talked to friends and family members who have struggled with weight and how they always think about eating. Sometimes I will go a whole day and think, "Jeez I feel like crap! Oh wait! I haven't eaten anything!"

2. I like to drink things way better than eat. If I could puree my dinner I would.

3. I can NOT stand fingernails. Especially long girly ones. They gross me out.

4. I rarely am in the mood to clean but when I am I go CRAZY and clean everything. Dust, vaccuum, moving to get behind things, polish, the whole nine yards.

5. I love sweating. Especially in hot weather. LOVE IT.

6. I pick up hobbies quickly and vehemently. I drop them just as easily. The only hobby that has ever stuck is knitting/crocheting. I have had gardening, keeping fish, bicycling, running and various other activities. I will pick them up for a couple months time to time, but I gain and lose interest very quickly.

7. I would rather eat fruit and vegetables instead of cake and ice cream.

I could go weirder. I'll save those for a later day.

Now who to tag? I haven't really made any "Blog Friendships" yet, so if you don't know me......hello! Will you fill out my survey?

thefourthstar
Mad Crocheter
Allyson
Elliot

So at the beginning of starting this blog, I remember thinking "aloud" how fascinating the internet is, in which I have a voice that lets me catapult my opinions and thoughts to, well, everyone with an internet connection. I try to maintain my writing with a reasonable responsibility (you will never know what kind of underpants I am wearing---unless I learn how to sew underpants. Then I'm telling everyone.) without boring people or boring myself. Granted, I have kept a "real" writing journal for a while. I by no means write in it regularly, but there is a certain satisfaction of having EVERY detail out on paper. Even the opinions I have that aren't so popular.

Apparently the new trend is to write about everything that you ever think. I read the entirety of that whole piece. The whole ten pages. It made me feel so strange that I left my computer and painted my entire bedroom.

So for those who probably don't want to read the whole thing, it is about a girl who pretty much wrote about everything in her blogs. Her life was online for everyone to share, and essentially it seems it backfired, as her then boyfriend decided to give her a taste of her own medicine and publish a story about her in some widely publicated magazine.

First things first. I wish I had a widely publicized magazine that would cater to my thoughts. People would probably buy a lot more of my art.

Second, the whole story never seemed to go into the moral lesson it was always pointing at. I was expecting it to end in some fashion warning youngsters of the dangers of posting intimate details, when I got to the end and realized that this young writer was just continuing doing what she always had been. Writing about herself for all the world to read.

What's weird is that it is a very compelling story. Of course, my first impressions were like most anyone else, "Whoa. How could anyone be so preoccupied with themselves?" or "Man, get a life!" or any other negative kind of comment. But it really made me rethink why in the world people have blogs in the first place. Isn't that what blogs are for? Sort of a "Hey, you over there! Look at me! Look at me!" purpose?

So in this, I don't really offer an opinion. I figure, there are enough of those out there, and since this is my blog I can do with it what I will. I think what fascinates me the most about that article is the fact that a lot of people think of what's private and what isn't very differently. Ultimately I post stuff that my mom can read. I always use that as a rule of thumb and have, up until this point, suggested others do the same. But I guess everyone's mom is a little different.

Coming off of a five-day weekend, I am shocked and appalled at how much I didn't get done.

But then I realize I actually got quite a bit done.

I think what was the most shocking and appalling part of my weekend was the fact that I watched Season One and Two of "The Hills."

Please, let me explain.

I swear, I didn't even know what the Hills was before this weekend. You know when over a period of a couple of months you keep hearing about some obscure pop culture thing? That was the Hills. I have been hearing about the Heidi Montag's and Audrina Patridge's for a while now, and finally I decided, "What the heck are these people celebrities for?" and lo and behold, MTV has full episodes on their website.

So I spent a good part of Friday night and Monday night watching this show. Ashamed, yes. Intrigued? Most certainly. I now have this overwhelming desire to grab a girl posse, go to a salon together and drink Vodka Gimlets.