never fully-clothed or intentionally misinforming

I've realized: cheese cake can be had for breakfast from time to time. even when your c0-workers have been in foul moods, let it be . They might be fouly mooded because they were up all night trying to make you a red velvet cake from scratch. there are few unexpected experiences in life. When a good one comes around (like a perfect stranger wishing you happy birthday before anyone you actually know), embrace it. ---- "Hey Alison! Sounds like today is a special day for you! We don't know each other ( yet ) but I sincerely hope that all your projects come true, that you’re very happy, that you may celebrate many, many birthdays! Happy birthday from Morocco " I received this on my wall on my penpaling site (interpals.net), from a young guy named Naoufal. being involved with programs like Postcrossing and Interpals is more like being a member of a really large, but close family. You make relationships you'd never know if not for the site, you create bonds, write le

Today, 24 years ago, I was born to two happy parents and a hopefully eager big brother and big sister. As I've gotten older, the parties have gotten less important. While spending time with the people I care about has become my primary birthday wish. Last year's birthday celebration consisted of dinner at Golden Corral and bowling with my friends and siblings. But I couldn't even recall that until I searched for pictures. By the end of this year, I won't remember today's celebration either. But that doesn't mean it's not important to me. I just like low-key, close-knit friends, food, and laughter. That's all I ask for. And I decided I'm terribly unkeen on surprises. I can think of two times in my life that I was genuinely surprised. One was the morning of my 16th birthday when I opened my present from my dad. It was a matching sterling silver necklace and bracelet and I cried. a lot. The only other time I can currently think of being genuinely surpri

I wrote this for Myspace (on Monday, Jan 26), but it works here too. After last Tuesd ay -- the inaug urati on day of the best chanc e of a bette r count ry we' ve been given in 8 years -- I witne ssed more racis m than I care to ever be affil iated with. And it's even more sad consi derin g the only peopl e with acces s to this profi le are the peopl e I consi der my frien ds. But I am no frien d to a racis t. It's one thing to think Barac k Obama will not do well for Ameri ca becau se "he lacks exper ience ." You' re entit led to that opini on, and as much as I stron gly disag ree with it, I will still respe ct it. But it's a compl etely diffe rent thing to say " he's going to destr oy Ameri ca" becau se his skin is darke r than yours might be. It blew my mind to read the names some of my " frien ds" were calli ng our newly elect ed Presi dent -- names I won' t even repea t becau se such disgu sting ly malic

I've begun to realize life is not a string of succeed/fail situations -- although most people perceive it as one. If you do what you set out to do, and what you set out to do is morally and legally just, then there's nothing wrong with doing it. I'm pretty sure everyone dies in the end of this story we're living out, but I imagine if you live your life according to your faith, values, and convictions, there's no wrong way to get to your happy ending -- which in my case, happens to be Heaven. I had a really difficult experience recently, and am still not quite clear on how to handle it. I saw the ugly side of a woman I know and highly respect. It scares me, actually, to have this knowledge that these qualities exist in her. I battle with the observed behaviors of the quote Christian masses frequently. I struggle with Christianity because of the behaviors I observe from people who claim to be wholehearted, Bible study attending Christian people. People who bury their

I've been back on flat, peninsular land for three days now and things haven't been that awesome. Including my mood. American Idol started. But even that didn't shake the funk off me. Ryan talked to me about his 1/2 marathon training progress and inadvertently got me revved up for the gym. I'm so proud of him for working toward this goal of his. When he does run his 1/2 marathon (which, he will), I'm going to be on the sidelines with a bunch of cute cheerleaders in mini-skirts chanting "Ryan, Ryan, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can!" Being that I figured I needed to blow off some steam, I made all plans to go after work yesterday. I even had to buy clothes for it, and I did. And I went, and it was exhilarating. So much, in fact, that I'm going again today. I miss the gym. I know that much. Anyway, Florida's not being nice to me since I've returned. So to stick it to the Man (the Man, being Florida), I'm going to tell stori

Often times I find I'm doling out relationship advice and I just have to stop and laugh at myself. I'm not sure how I came to be in a position to give advice -- Jon-Michael is my first authentic boyfriend ( and second and third, humorously enough ) -- but if I'm being helpful, I don't mind. I think my insight may have come from watching many relationships develop and or deteriorate as I grew up. I remember being the only girl in my group of friends in middle and high school who didn't date someone (and I just don't count James Todd these days ). That, combined with being a shoulder to a lot of people, really helped me to assemble quite the cabinet of relationship knowledge before I ever stepped into that stage of life myself. And it certainly helps that my parents have been happily married for 30+ years now. There's not many better examples of sustaining a happy, healthy relationship than the example of my mom and dad. And believe me, I've analyzed the

son of a bitch, we finally made it to Padre Island. I'm so sick of the car. AHHH! I'm sleepy and less that excited that I spent the last 45 minutes doing necessary updates to the 365 Project blog. Who woulda  thought that site would take so much maintenance!? Anyway, I'm getting ready to flop. Patrick let me sleep in his bed while he sleeps on  the couch. He's such a gentleman. Last night in Pensacola he slept on the floor so I could sleep on the couch. awwww. Sweet boy. Then he had to drive 12 hours today. Sometimes I love my best pal! Nay, all times. We talked so much about the past. =] I am happy with this trip.

Well, I'm in Pensacola for the night. I'm happy to be stopped. It seemed like it would take forever to get here. And this part of the drive was literally less than half the distance tomorrow's drive is going to be. What was I thinking? Oh yeah . . . that I wanted to see my boys. Derr! I'm sitting Trevor's living room with two dogs and three boys and the biggest projection of Guitar Hero (World Tour) you've ever seen. It's monstrous. Trevor has a projector instead of a television and the screen literally takes up an entire wall in the living room. I'm blown away. Nice set up, really. I played about six songs - six grueling songs, but after the sixth one was done, I realized I couldn't feel my fingers, so I took a leave. As soon as Patrick, Diamond (his Alaskan Malamute), and I got to Trevor's house, we turned around and went out with some friends. I didn't even get to freshen up. It was ridiculous. We went to Carrabba's and then to their f

I wake up one morning and drive past on my way to work, the sign says "hay and azaleas." Typical, I think. On my way home there's a truck in Bossman's usual place. An hour later I return. "He sold the place," she said. And my heart skipped a beat. "He's gone." I was cordial and happy for her. Happy if she was happy. And honestly, I was happy for him for finally being able to move on. But in my heart of hearts, I thought ... what do I do now? For 23 years I've lived in this town and for all my memorable ones, he has owned that store. I used to go with my mom when she would get copies of her newspaper column or use the fax. I would buy a gumball or some Chiclets. I went once with Dad to find a fixture for our ancient bathtub. He didn't have it, but he knew where to find it. Today I drove by on my way to work and the sign read "new hours" and listed them. Part of me wants to strongly dislike the man who bought the shop, but I'

Today is a great day. First off, I'm only at work so that after work I can go to dinner with J.M. . . . man, I miss our sweet dates. When I got to work today, I'd a conversation with Christina (from Austria. You're just going to have to learn that's who I'm talking about). We were talking about how we both love getting letters in the mail. Word. She and I met through interpals.net. It's a pen pal linking site. But she suggested I look into this site called postcrossing.com . If you look it up, brace yourself for total coolness. I can't even put it into words, but if you like postcards, this is the site for you. Well, I wrote that on the first part of my lunch break. The last 30 minutes or so of the break were spent laughing and making charades like gestures via web cam with Jon-Michael. We've got these (matching) laptops and they came with web cams built in, so we logged into YahooIM and "talked" to each other this afternoon. It was so neat. I

So it's seven days into the new year and I haven't written anything worth discussing. It's kind of tragic really. Tragic, but only if you don't consider the reason I haven't been writing. Enter the 365 Photography Project . Words can't really describe how proud I am of this blog. Or how pleased I am with all the photographers contributing. The diversity is vast and the optimism and excitement is not just evident, but fervent. I guess I need to just make a list. That's the best and quickest way to get my life these last seven days jotted down in an orderly fashion. 1. 365 Photography Project . I'm so fatigued I can't even put it into words right now. Just look at the site. You'll get the gist. It was my New Year's resolution. It caught on with some friends and some friends of some friends. And before any of us knew it, we had a collaborative blog of 15 photographers/world-observers contributing their one of a kind photography. 2. My dearest, J

Friday, January 2, 2009 Right now I’m sitting in the living room, on the love seat, watching Harrison Ford’s version of Sabrina. I’m freshly showered, thoroughly exhausted, and excited that I’m watching Lifetime on the family TV while typing on my micro-mini laptop. Earlier today I edited photos while sitting at the breakfast bar two stools from my dad while watching the evening news. I’m looking forward to the day I get to curl up in my queen-sized bed with my pint-sized laptop and blog. Quite the polar opposite of what I have now – a twin-sized bed and a tank-sized computer. The upgrade makes me feel like science fiction. I believe the moment in slip into that gargantuan bed with that micro computer I’ll know what Neill Armstrong felt like when he stepped onto the moon. This weekend is going to be a good one. I’m coming into the last two days of a four-day weekend, the second extended weekend in the last two weeks (the last one being a five day weekend!). Tomorrow (Saturday) I’m goin

Russians. Lighting sparklers inside. . . near a Douglas Fir (orwhatever) blanketed in tinsel, while sitting on a couch that appears to be covered in some kind of synthetic material is only a slight fire hazard. Not to mention, according to American culture, this decor is so 1973. I love little glimpses into other cultures like this one. Almost makes my day as much as daily photo blogging does. I shrieked in disbelief, but then I laughed. I'm sure no beautiful foreign girls were injured in this holiday lapse in judgment.

It's only January 2nd and the 365 Photography Project has more than grown wings! It's flying! We've got friends from several parts of the country (and world!) posting photos already. And we've got more waiting to be added to the list of authors. Then, at the suggestion of a facebook savvy friend of mine, I sent out an invitation to everyone on Facebook. Even though those participants might be a day late, they'll still get the full effect. I'm so excited that something I initiated is taking off so rapidly! Who knew. Who honestly knew. On a slightly unrelated note, the New Year's party we had out here was hella fun. We had some new faces and some reliable ones! And the mix of people was pleasant. The bonfire was toasty warm and the hay ride was substantially chillier than some seem to have anticipated (even though I warned beyond reason). We had more than enough food and are still snacking on it all. And as far as alcohol goes, I think there's enough here