Imaginary Boyfriend Thursday... Riotous Joy Edition

I was inspired by Aunt Peaches (who is doing a series of blog posts highlighting the awesomeness of others), and decided to choose an imaginary boyfriend that inspires and delights me.

He's not everyone's cup of tea looks-wise (but, then, who is everyone's cup of tea? Jude Law probably), but he is seriously awesome.

His name is Rob Dyrdek...

... and he has a lust for life that is staggering and inspiring.

He is a skateboarder, entrepreneur, multiple world record holder, pop star, actor, and star of the MTV reality shows Rob and Big, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, and Ridiculousness.

What I love about Rob is the way he approaches life... like it's one grand experiment/quest to find things to delight himself and others.  He lives with joy.  I think that is great.

He also loves dogs, mini horses, and tiny baby piglets.

He doesn't mind looking like idiot for a fun idea.

And he understands the importance of spontaneously breaking it down to a soulful ballad while going through a car wash.

When I'm struggling with anxiety about doing something... talking to a stranger, making a difficult phone call, or doing anything out of my ridiculously confining comfort zone... I try to think 'What Would Rob Do?'.

And the answer is that he would approach any situation with boundless enthusiasm and optimism.  He would treat it like his success was inevitable.  He would be relentless.  He would laugh at himself and carry on no matter what.

We all need to find some of the Rob in ourselves, and, if we can't do that, we can pretend he is our imaginary boyfriend, standing beside us to cheer us on.

Have fun today, kids.  The world is your oyster.

Waffle Christmas

I bet you didn't know today is the most important day in the whole waffle calendar!

IT'S NATIONAL WAFFLE DAY, KIDS!!

It's also the day that I chose to eat less carbs for a week.  *Sad trombone*

I'll just have to rest easy in the knowledge that I've celebrated waffles pretty hard and thoroughly all year round, and in the meantime I'll think about the Patron Saint of Waffles (and one of my role models), Leslie Knope.

And always remember what Leslie says, "Waffles, friends, work".

And on a non-waffle related note, I think this essay called What Love Should Feel Like by Danielle Campoamor is wonderful.  Here's one of my favorite parts:

Love should feel like a marathon. It should exhilarate your heart and exhaust your mind and challenge your resolve. You’ll tell yourself you can’t keep going as you continue to put one foot in front of the other, taking every helpful and rejuvenating cup of water along the way. At the end, you’ll realize how many contributed to your happiness and success.

To All My Neighbors, You Got Much Flavor

Feeling a little down today for various intangible reasons.  I think I need to dance it out with a little impromptu internet dance party.

Join me, won't you?

CRANK IT, MONTELL!

Okay.  I feel a little better now.  How are you guys doing?

Vanity

One of my main hobbies besides navel-gazing and talking about myself is vanity.  I devote a lot of time to all 3.

I swear to Glob if any of you are actually nodding your head and thinking 'yes... she is indeed very vain and self-involved'... well I'll just... i'll just... write about you in my diary.  HOW DARE YOU?

Seriously, though,  I spend an unsettling amount of time thinking about very shallow things.  I have a lot of flaws, and this is the most minor of them... so I haven't spent a lot of time correcting it.

What I have spent a lot of time doing is watching make up and hairstyling tutorials on YouTube!!

I thought I would share some of my absolute favorites.

My #1 A+ Gold Star Go-To for make up tutorials is world famous make up genius Lisa Eldridge.  I treat the video section of her website as my own personal face closet.  I browse it before getting ready for a social event the same way I do my actual closet to find an outfit. (Also I find her voice incredibly relaxing)

 Here are my absolute favorites:

1. Grown-up Girly - This is the perfectperfectperfect going out/date make up.  This is my absolute favorite out of all of her tutorials and the one I duplicate the most frequently.

2. Gold, Sparkly, Glittery, Glossy - This is the simplest, most awesome party make up.  Super terrific for holiday parties!  I love this one so hard... I wish I had a party to go to right now so I could wear this again.

3. Chocolate Berry - I love this one for fall.  So warm and slightly dramatic without looking overdone.

And now for hair tutorials!  My favorite hair tutorials are by the gals at Luxy Hair.  Unfortunately because this is a company that sells clip-in hair extensions, you kind of need somewhat long hair in order to make these tutorials useful.  I chose my curling wand because of their recommendation and I love it (it's the Cortex 4 in 1 Pro).  These ladies basically taught this clueless hair-haver how to curl and style my hair.  For going out I rotate one of these two looks.

1. Perfect Curls

2. Easy Everyday Waves

And that is the sum total of my hair styling abilities.


This morning I felt motivated so I decided to try out a tutorial for my Urban Decay Naked Palette.  I tried this one because it looked the least drag queen-y.  I have to say... it's a lot more eye shadow than I'm used to wearing to work, but I like it!  Maybe I should get all gussied up for work more often.

This is the tutorial I used:

Do you have any favorite tutorials you can recommend?

What's Right?

Mondays, for the most part, tend to be underwhelming.

So I think it's a good day to practice a little thankfulness.  What could it possibly hurt to identify a few things that are going pretty okay for you?

Here are some things I think are pretty cool today:

1. Rainstorms!
2. Beautiful full moon on my morning walk with Henry
3. Super nice co-workers that give you brownies for no reason at all
4. This recipe for slow-cooker "refried" beans... I make it about once a week.  So good. So cheap. Fat free!
5. The book The Energy of Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh
6. This lush tuft of grass I saw growing on a pile of trash in the middle of the river. Perseverance and determination, you guys.

7. Cake
8. Still listening to 'Must Land Running' by Stepdad like a mental patient.

9. Knitting projects... Fall is so close! I can't wait to huddle around wood fires and eat pumpkin flavored everything.
10. Good people... just so many good people on this planet.  And I get to know so few of them, but they kill me with their love and kindness every single day.

Riotous Joy In Our Hearts

It's Monday and I'm thinking about all of the things I have to be thankful for in this batshit insane life of mine. Everyday I see things that make me excited about pushing forward.  I hope you do too.

I think we should all tell the naysayers of the Universe to stay pressed and go write about it in their diaries.

Now let's listen to happy music and dance like maniacs!!

1. Must Land Running by Stepdad

2. Bright Whites by Kishi Bashi

3. Tongue Tied by Grouplove

Also this gif set illustrates exactly what I'm like in real life:

Never Apologize For Being Human

Antilamentation by Dorianne Laux

Regret nothing. Not the cruel novels you read
to the end just to find out who killed the cook.
Not the insipid movies that made you cry in the dark,
in spite of your intelligence, your sophistication.
Not the lover you left quivering in a hotel parking lot,
the one you beat to the punchline, the door, or the one
who left you in your red dress and shoes, the ones
that crimped your toes, don’t regret those.
Not the nights you called god names and cursed
your mother, sunk like a dog in the living room couch,
chewing your nails and crushed by loneliness.
You were meant to inhale those smoky nights
over a bottle of flat beer, to sweep stuck onion rings
across the dirty restaurant floor, to wear the frayed
coat with its loose buttons, its pockets full of struck matches.
You’ve walked those streets a thousand times and still
you end up here. Regret none of it, not one
of the wasted days you wanted to know nothing,
when the lights from the carnival rides
were the only stars you believed in, loving them
for their uselessness, not wanting to be saved.
You’ve traveled this far on the back of every mistake,
ridden in dark-eyed and morose but calm as a house
after the TV set has been pitched out the upstairs
window. Harmless as a broken ax. Emptied
of expectation. Relax. Don’t bother remembering
any of it. Let’s stop here, under the lit sign
on the corner, and watch all the people walk by.