"I write, therefore I am."

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – Willa Cather Love is such an incredible force, one which drives us to do unthinkable things – even at the cost of life itself – for those we care about. I would trade love for nothing in this world, especially when it comes to my family. I’m sure I’m not alone in my sympathies. In 1998, I extended my love to a new member of my family, a sister adopted from a lonely orphanage in faraway Russia. She was just four when we welcomed her into our home. What happened in those four short years will always be a mystery, but the impact they had on her life will not. Unable to do anything to stop her, my family and I watched helplessly as my sister’s past swallowed her in the present. Her pain seemed unmanageable, her behavior got progressively worse and nothing seemed to help. At the beginning of this year my parents made the terribly difficult decision to enroll her in a long-term residential treatment center - for her own protection. ...

Yes I know. It's pretty much 2011, and I'm still talking about 2009. Honestly, sometimes I get so far behind I feel like quitting and never writing another blog. Ever. But sigh. Let's forget about the fact that we are in month 5 of 12, and pretend it's still January. I mean, the weather outside TOTALLY reflects the "still-January" mindset. Why shouldn't my blog? (Other than the fact that I'm so sick of snow I might die). So in 2008, I joined the masses in the world of iTunes. One year (and 5 months we are erasing) later, I still abhor iTunes. But kind of love my ipod. Like alot. So I guess it's a love/hate relationship. Anyway, I already did my Tops of 2009 , except MUSIC. So let's get on with it shall we? First off, I must say that the play counts are all kinds of skewed. I had iTunes only for a limited time in 08, so the difference in clear. The #1 song of 2008 had 122 plays, whereas the #25 song in 2009 had 260, more than double, lol. 25. Li...

Sigh. Want/need to blog. No energy or desire. I just let the apathy consume me as life and my dreams keep walking. Here I sit.

Somehow I seem to have taken up reading almost purely books that are part of a series. Call it laziness? I dunno. I call it, hey that book was pretty good, there's another? Fantastic! Gimme, gimme. Heh... Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Winter Night - Grade: A+. What I said before. Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief - Grade: A. I 100% felt like a 10-year-old prepubescent reading this book! L O V E. This book was...genius. The pacing was spot-on, the characters believable, lovable, AND validly humorous! Win, win, win. Let's just hope they don't screw up the movie. Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games - Grade: A. I'm not sure what it says about me that I like this book. I feel in a twisted way that makes me just like someone from the Capitol. Hmm. But wow! What a great read! There were slow parts and things that annoyed me, and an occasional unbelievable moment, but I let almost everything slide because the story was so grippingly wonderous. Jame...

Here's to 2009 (screw you!) and all the memories (and nightmares...) Let us recap the best of the best. Best Trip of 2009: Idaho/Washington Trip with NFJ (which pretty much is the whole post). Hands down, no contest. That trip RULED my summer. Best Restaurant of 2009: I'm actually going to go with most FREQUENTED restaurant of 2009, which makes the best. Obviously. That would have to be Toaster's, the coffee shop right down the block where I work (hence part of why I frequent it so freaking much *grin*) Best Article of 2009: Yeah, I don't read too many articles, just blogs? So I'm going to opt out on this one. Best Book of 2009: Yikes. Hold on to your hats for this one. I mean how many books did I read in 2009? Oh wait 45 (including 11 I haven't reviewed yet - that's coming soon, don't worry!) In reviewing the thousands of pages I've devoured, I'll add myself a caveat here and make this best NEW book of 2009, because let's be honest I did m...

And cue Winter. Though I don't really know when because there's pretty much been no snow this whole winter in the valley. Not that I'm complaining. Ushering in December brought its own slew of Holiday get-togethers and reasons for me to make amazing appetizers including my now-famous Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts. Yummmers. I think that's really all I want to say about that. I took cute pictures though of my new suit and Turtle got a smokin' new dress. Toward the end of the month, I of course went home for Christmas. Thankfully it went pretty fast. My synopsis of the experience is: "It could have been worse." Christmas heralded the attempt to get me a new phone - again. This would mark #7 in one year. Can you believe that? 7 phones. Wow, not the best of years for me and phones. The pre-festivities went rather quickly, and Christmas arrived. Yayness. Christmas day after opening presents I wanted to get away so BigBro, LilBro and I all went Christmas caching...

The moment I got back from Ohio, it was pretty much Turtle's Birthday. Which means my time to shine, because I'm awesome at birthdays (especially when 1) you're my best friend and 2) I know you better than you know yourself, and 3) you live the same place as me. Heh. Birthday pretty much owned). I got her a computer game from my Childhood (since she'd been so taken with MYST), King's Quest. Actually I got the collection of all 7, and so we spent most of the day just playing that, enjoying ourselves. She loved it. Then we went out to a very elegant restaurant for dinner, where she ordered whatever she wanted, and I got her a super yummy dessert. The very next night we hung out with the S Family to carve pumpkins, which is always a blast for me. Now I will admit to being something of a pumpkin snob, and with good reason if you've seen any of my pumpkins. Turtle's Pumpkin: Last year I carved three pumpkins (I lived in a backwoods lodge and had tons of free time...