Chopin Ballade No.1 in G minor, Opus 23 by Tzvi Erez HQ

One of my faves:

Friendship, Friendship, Just A Perfect Blendship

I tend to be a fairly independent person. I think it stems from being the youngest in my family. My sisters and I were close growing up as I think is evidenced in many past blogs of me strolling down memory lane. But as my middle sister is 4 years older than me and my oldest, 8 years, they got older and I was inevitably left to entertain myself. So, I did delve into my own imaginary world. And that was fine. I managed to keep myself busy. The saddest, when I look back at it, is when I would try to play board games by myself - just not quite the same. A few of them worked, "Park and Shop" worked well enough. So my imaginary world became my companion. And I still value my alone time. I love love going on walks/hikes. I am totally fine going to movies by myself. I am good doin my thang. Now, this can be a good thing. I like this about me, but as of late I've realized that this can be dangerous too.

My life has been rough lately - dealing with some pretty big challenges. And as per my mode of being, I was just sort of dealing with them on my own. But that weight and loneliness was starting to be a bit much, even for me. I was told by a very wise man that I need to turn to people, I need a support system. So I started to allow people in and I started to open up to people, to make myself, and it has been really surprising and nice.

Now in saying all this, it's not like I have no friends. I've always had friends, I'm not a total social outcast. I've had great friends in my life. But, I'm not great at staying close or initiating friendships.

Luckily some awesome people have found me. This is where the surprising part of it comes in. Friendships have emerged from unexpected places and it's been great to be surprised by this. I had a doctor who really gave a damn and gave me his time and fantastic advice. I've had friends from church help me and surprise me with their candor and understanding. I've had people at work make me feel loved and lifted. My family also made me feel like I can be honest and that they are there for me. And, most recently, a friendship formed from facebook, that made me feel really good. Lately I do feel like I've been talking way too much about myself and I don't want to be that person either, because it sometimes feels like once you open those floodgates it's easy to let it all flow, but what are you gonna do?

These were unexpected and appreciated. When I stop to think about it I am actually surrounded by good people. I think people in general are good, but with me, at least, it is a matter of letting them in.

In summation:



which, inevitably, makes me think of "Wonder Years" - such a great show:



I hope this post doesn't come across as some weird cry for help or something. I'm good. Things are weird, but gonna be fine. And my spirits are good. Just wanted to give a shout out to my peops and I want to try to get bloggin more as my blog has been a bit of a wasteland lately.

TP

Grocery store, toilet paper aisle

Rude Guy Berating His Wife: "What is the difference between the two? what's the difference? why do you want that one? huh? do you even know the difference?"

Me, tired of his talking down to his wife: "One's soft and thick and one's soft and strong!"

He seemed shocked, but then went on to tell me how most people at the store are so rude, but how nice I was to help out to talk to them. He didn't seem to get that I only said something because he was being so mean to his wife. Oh, well.

I went with soft and strong.

The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Exp...

Super informative. I thought I knew a lot of this, but lots I did not know:

Icehouse - My Obsession

Last one, but come on, so good:

Icehouse- Crazy

Maybe even better:

Icehouse - Electric Blue

One of my favorite songs from my childhood. His mullet is so mullety!:



No Icehouse on itunes! Boo!

What's Up Doc?

I just want to acknowledge for my own journaling purposes that my doc John G. is one of the greatest guys I've ever met. He just spent an hour with me just to talk and listen and help. And he did. Feel more uplifted than I have in a while. As Obama said last night, "Let's fix what needs fixing and move forward."

New Hair.

I have so horribly neglected my blog. I am going to try to get back to it. Unfortunately, the timer just went off on dinner, so I will just quickly upload some pics of my new hairdo. I NEVER dye my hair, but I wanted to mix it up, so I got a trim, along with some full bangs and dyed my hair an auburnish color. The color doesn't quite translate in the photos, but it gives you an idea.



Right when I got home, so the styling looks a bit severe:


This photo is weird, but it shows the color a little better. I was at Griffith Park and pointing to a peak I'd like to hike:


Okay. So the dinner still needs a few more minutes in the oven. So I'll post a few pics from yesterday. I went to Griffith Park and wandered around a bit. There are so many trails I want to explore, but I feel like I need a hiking partner to be safe, I suppose. It's so rad to have that huge park like five minutes from my house. I really need to take more advantage of it. I can't tell you how much I am loving the weather in SoCal right now. It's perfect. High 70's, low 80's, sunny, gorgeousness.

The LA Zoo used to be located in Griffith Park and the old animal cages remain, which are creepy and awesome.


There's also an old rad carousel. I was hiking along, turned a corner and heard the pipe organ music - sort of surreal. The horses are ancient old looking, but still functioning and the pipe organ is super cool.




All right, now it's for real dinner time.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Gingerbread House

The young women in my ward gave us this adorable gingerbread house. I appreciated the Hansel and Gretelness of it.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

It just doesn't get any better than this. The whole concert is great (no, I didn't get to go in person, but man, I wish I had!), but this song is perfect. Just posting this as I've been listening to the CD lately:

Christmas Tree

This will be the first Christmas I spend in California. Since we'll be around, we got a real tree to enjoy. It's just a lil thing, it's cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my ornaments, which must be stored in Utah, boo, but Whit's mom let me use Whit's Grammie's ornaments. They are all white, silver and gold and look really nice with the white lights. I found a pretty topper - it's an old fashioned style cracked glass, pinkish topper. I also added a few birds, because...well, because I like them...and voila - a classy, cute little tree. Merry Christmas!

Hugh in Concert

Tonight I went to a benefit concert that Band From TV was doing and my dear, lovely, Hugh Laurie was performing. I was a few feet away and got to just watch him play all night. He was funny and cool as ever. It's fun to watch him play music because you can tell he loves it so much, that's he's on cloud 9 when he's at his keyboard. Jesse Spencer who is also on House was also in the band playing violin - he's really good and seems dope too. After the show I saw Hugh walking out, but he was in quite a hurry, I mean, I'm sure, he knows if he stops a crowd will form. So I just quickly told him thanks, that he was great, and he thanked me. Still crazy to be that close to my #1.

Here are a few pics and little video.

The King's Speech

Couldn't have loved this movie more. Splendid. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are ridiculously wonderful.

I'll Fly Away

One of the greatest TV shows of all time - certainly in the top of my favorites - was I'll Fly Away. It was perfect. These opening credits almost make me wanna cry. What I wouldn't give for this to be released on DVD. PLEASE!!!

California Raisins

I mean, so bizarre, but I loved this as a kid. I had their albums on cassette tape...yeah.

I think it holds up:

Nutcracked.

I think nothing puts me in the Christmas mood more than the Baryshnikov Nutcracker ballet. I grew up watching this every year and loving it. It's very different from the traditional stage ballet, but it will always be the best since it's ingrained in my mind as THE Nutcracker. I remember dancing around the living room lit only by the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree with my Mom's nutcracker in hand. I love me some Tchaikovsky!

Some more adorableness

Nothing will top the cuteness of my last post - but I have some random cute animal pics I thought I'd throw on here - because I am a sucker for cute animal pics.



Real Bambi & Thumper

Real Simba & Timon








Okay and I'll post one more pic of baby Blyth to add to the cuteness (I think she looks like Chelsea here):

Blythe Iris Taylor

Yesterday after quite a long birthing process for poor little Chelsea, our little niece, Blythe, was born. She is absolutely beautiful, a perfect little girl and we love her.