My Favorite Boy

My baby brother has an orthodontist appointment this afternoon...I don't know why, but for some reason his getting braces has solidified in my mind that he's not really a baby anymore. This morning he and I sat on the porch and just...talked. And it was weird because I realized that he's not some kid I can boss around anymore...

It seems like just yesterday little seven year old me was mothering my new best friend...



Wasn't he adorable?!? Also I'd like to add
that that is my bike he is riding and those
are my baby converse that he is wearing.

And watching him pretend to be a squirrel...I hope he never sees this because he'll die of embarrassment, but for years he talked about being related to squirrels. I don't really know why.

I feel like I'm allowed to post this super embarrassing picture of
him because it is also a super embarrassing picture of me...but
anyways, there he is, front and center, doing his squirrel pose!
Although I think he might actually be doing a groundhog imperson-
ation in this picture...it's exactly like his squirrel one though!

He's also always had a thing for explosives...one time my parents caught him trying to puncture a can of spray on sunscreen because he wanted to know what the explosion would be like.



This is him and one of our cousins running away
from something they had just set on fire...

I'd post a new picture of him, but I can't find one and I'm too sad to try to get him to let me take one. Also I don't want him to know I posted about him because he'll kick my butt. And he's the same size as me now, so he actually can.

Stuff I Love Right Now

1. My Pandora radio station that's based on Blondie's song "Call Me"

2. Sweet Tea

3. Walks with my dog

4. The Book of Common Prayer (a friend gave me a really pretty copy before I left school and I'm kind of in love with it)

5. This Song

6. This Song

7. The book about faeries that my mumzy got for me. It has really pretty pictures.

8. Leg Warmers. I'm bringing leg warmers back. Not right now though. In the fall. And I can't wait!


9. Chocolate Chip Cookies

10. The movie "We Bought a Zoo" (I love the lion!)

Conviction In the School Newspaper

About a week ago a guy from my school wrote an article about how he feels about the music department at our school. He called out the students and the staff for making fun of people, gossiping, and spreading malicious rumors. I, of course, had been in my own little world this whole time so I missed out on the ensuing battle of anger and retaliation. So when a friend told me about the article today, the Nosy Nelly that lives inside of me couldn't help herself from going on a quest to find a copy of the school newspaper.

Two buildings later...voila!

So I sat down to take in the juicy details because let's be brutally honest here...I worked in that building for a semester...so...it might have felt a teensy bit nice to hear them being called out.

But as I read I didn't feel the satisfaction I thought I would find there. I found...conviction.

For every hurtful thing that's ever been said to or about me I have probably said at least three. I mean, I'm really good at never saying anything mean to someone's face. I'm even better at saying atrocious things behind peoples' backs though.

And as I read that article I realized that it doesn't start with the music department changing it's ways. It doesn't start with the people around me becoming model citizens about whom I never have anything negative to say. It starts with me, because at the end of the day I am literally the only person I can control. The funny thing about words is that when you're around someone who only uses kind ones it's harder to use mean ones.