Crazybananas

Maybe it’s the change in the seasons. The blue skies of summer quickly transforming to grey, the leaves turning from green to red to brown, then falling to the ground. The air brisker, the wind stronger, the frost on the car windows in the morning. I don’t really know. But I have been so uninspired lately. I’m having a hard time reflecting, finding the beauty all around me, even though I know it’s there. I’m happy, I just don’t feel like writing about that happiness, putting it all out there for everyone to see.

I’m feeling fairly content, but I have found myself taking more mental pictures, as opposed to physical ones.

Until I get my groove back, so to speak, here are some things that have been making me smile lately. Little bits of inspiration from around the web, wrapped up in a pretty little virtual bow, just for you.

The Berlin Reunion - Read this and then watch the video below. I totally cried. And then Trent walked in on me and asked why I was crying about a bunch of giant puppets. Because I have issues, Trent! Let me be!

Steven Colbert Vs. Glamour Magazine Readers - Stephen wins “marry” in a “Do, Dump, Marry” game between him, Jimmy Fallon, and Conan as outlined in Glamour magazine. But then he realizes while the readers would “marry” him, they’d be cheating on him with Jimmy Fallon. Hilarity ensues. (via Jezebel)

The Bloggess - Do you all read The Bloggess? No. Well, stop reading this right now and get over there. Warning, you may snort out loud so refrain from drinking soda pop while reading. It will hurt. You’ve been warned. Also, you’ll learn what to do if you’re afraid of black people. Or pandas.

Where the Wild Things Are - The movie came out last week. You should go see it. And then let me know how awesome it is, so if I ever get a chance to get out of my parenting duties for an evening, I will go see it too. If you don’t trust me, you can check out my buddy’s Scene Stealers review here. They’re usually right about these things. (Save that one time they said Harry Potter was bad and I shunned them forever.)

On another note, the movie’s soundtrack by Karen O. and the Kids is seriously fantastic. Beautiful, haunting and lovely. Lucy’s current favorite song is All Is Love and she requests it at least twelve times a day.

New Moon Soundtrack - Speaking of movie soundtracks, our favorite sparkling vampire is going to be back in the theaters in a month, so to get all the crazy Twilighters all hyped up like kids drowning in pixie sticks, they released the movie’s soundtrack last week. While I know the shimmery blood suckers only appeal to a specific demographic (insane people, yes, myself included), the soundtrack is pretty damn good, and includes tunes by Death Cab, Bon Iver & St. Vincent, Lykke Li, Thom Yorke, The Killers and a ton more. My current favorite from the album is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (who I used to obsess over in college and love, looooveee, and don’t hype up nearly enough) with Done All Wrong. You can buy it here or on iTunes.

Balloons - Anyone else have balloons on the brain lately. I can’t imagine why. Whatever the reason I really want to take some balloon pictures. Maybe that will crack my uninspired streak.

Fortunes - This was in my fortune cookie last week. Am waiting patiently for this “unexpected event.” And hoping it includes copious amounts of pie.

A Day at the Office - Last week I sent this to Trent and Heath and was all “This is totally what you guys are doing in the office all day, isn’t it?” And they were all “No….” But I could tell they were lying.

Apparently all I need to be inspired is a good Backstreet Boys song. Who knew? I figured I was an *Nsync kind of girl.

This here website has been up and running for OVER FIVE YEARS now. Please, just take a moment to let that one sink in. Other than my husband, I’ve never even had a relationship last longer than three years, let alone five. And we all know what’s happened to most of my hobbies (oh, shut up, I’m very important and busy) that have fallen by the wayside. Sometimes I look back at this site and can’t believe how much has changed in my life. I mean, back when we started this site, I didn’t know anyone who had a blog, and now I read tons of them regularly. Other bloggers have taught me how to take photos, how to sew (ahem, I will do this…someday), how to do my hair, where to buy awesomely weird furniture and everything else that I could possibly imagine.

But the time has come for some changes around here, and since I usually go at projects like this with extreme vigor just to have them totally pitter out after a few days, I’m taking this one slowly. I’ve gone through four redesigns since I started writing online, but haven’t touched the design here since 2007. In web-years, this site’s design is having a mid-life crisis, and only I can save it from buying itself an overpriced red sports car and finding a boyfriend 10 years younger (although, if anyone has any boyfriend suggestions, I’m sure my site will consider them) is by giving it a facelift.

Step One: My masthead.

(For those of you that don’t speak “Internet,” it’s the title at the top of the page.)

Oh, golly, if I could only show you all of the mastheads that this poor site has had to endure. Do you all remember the “iPod Baby?” Technically, Trent did that one, right after we got our hands on Photoshop for the first time, but holy cow, it freaked me out. It was like a giant blob with headphones over a frightening color background that could only be described as “PINK!!!!!”

So the masthead that I’ve had on this site for the past two and a half years was one I created while still new to Photoshop and in the midst of thinking of a clever tagline to go after the whole “Crazybananas” part. I was messing around with the template and had the placeholder text “a working mom gone crazy” as my tag when I uploaded it to the site to make sure the sizing was correct. Then I fell asleep for two and a half years, woke up, and realized that tag is so dumb it makes my eyes bleed. And also, butterflies? Why did I think having a butterfly on my website was a good idea? I don’t even like butterflies.

What I need from you people are some suggestions for a new tagline and anything you’d like to see in my masthead. Any ideas, oh creative ones? Should I just stick a LOLCatz up there and call it a day? Do you miss the butterfly? Too bad, it’s gone forever. But any other ideas I’ll definitely consider. Especially since I don’t seem to have any of my own.

Let the creativity commence!

Having a daughter has to be the hugest trip in the world for a woman. I mean, with boys, there is always a sense of mystery. I can’t identify with what a boy goes through when he is young. But a girl. Whew, can I ever identify with that. The dolls and the tomboy-ish tendencies and the mean girls and all that pink. Okay, so I wasn’t really a “pink” kind of girl, but in general, Lucy and I are fairly similar. She’s more outgoing than me, prettier (she got her daddy’s eyelashes, lucky kid) and definitely more enchanting. I feel like the traits she got from me, for the most part, are what make her totally awesome. She’s funny, sarcastic, silly, nerdy, kind, a good friend…all things that I hope I have passed on to her and that she will continue to cultivate and use throughout her life.

But along with all of those lovely things has been one teeny, tiny, little problem. Lucy is a hair twirler. And it’s all my fault.

When I was a kid, most of the negative attention I got in terms of nasty habits was in response to my semi-constant thumb sucking. I twirled my hair too (and still do, at times), but I sucked my thumb until I was twelve, and my teeth and dignity paid the price. My parents were more concerned about how much braces would cost then how awful my hair looked due to how much I’d yanked out. Lucky for me, my niece was also a thumb sucker, but her mom (my sister) was able to break her by the time she was in kindergarten, so when the time comes for Lulu to stop, I’ll have a template, a plan to go by. The hair twirling isn’t so easy.

I know it shouldn’t be a big deal. And it’s not, really, but I can’t help but feel like I’m failing her. It’s a crutch, a neurosis that is difficult to break. She does it when she’s tired or bored and sometimes when she’s just sad. I send her off to school every day in cute little pigtails, and by the time I pick her up, her fine, blond waves are waving loose in the breeze, resembling a mullet more than any three-year-old’s hair ever should. When she absentmindedly pulls out her hair ties, she takes chunks of hair with them, and every time she twirls her loose hair, it gets caught up in tangles that have to be cut out. Along with her naturally fine hair, these missing chunks are making her look, for lack of a better word, totally ridiculous.

And then I start to beat up on myself. Why do I care so much? Who cares if her hair is silly looking? Am I actually that vain?

And the answer to that question is, unfortunately, partially yes. I think it’s human nature to want our kids to be adorable and not being able to control that is hard. The deeper issue, of course, is getting Lu to release that mental crutch so she doesn’t have problems later (kids with issues like thumb-sucking/hair twirling/fingernail biting are more likely to become smokers as adults…in fact, the only time I stopped twirling was my two years as a semi-smoker in college). So we’re doing our best. Catching her mid-twirl and identifying what she’s doing so it isn’t an absent-minded thing. Sticker reward charts for leaving her pigtails in all day. Giving her ribbons to rub between her fingers when she’s tired or nervous. I guess it’s working, although I really don’t know. She does fairly well at home, but goes to school and has a pretty hard time. Her lovely teacher is trying to help, but there is only so much she can do with a class of ten kids to oversee.

I guess what I’m asking is, any advice? Anyone out there dealt with this sort of issue before? Should I just shave her head? She could always be psycho-Britney Spears circa 2007 for Halloween!

For those of you who are still not watching, Glee, I give you a preview of tonight’s episode.

Gah! Finn’s spastic dancing and Kurt’s lady-fabulousity and Artie’s popping wheelchair wheelies and Random Football Player #2’s breakdancing! If I could, I’d marry this show. Unfortunately it’s not legal to marry television shows in this country, but just you wait, Congress! I will prevail! Equality for all!

I guess until then, I’ll have to be content with making out with my television when no one is looking.

What?! What did I say?

For the love of all things good and holy WATCH. THIS. SHOW. 9/8 Central on Fox. Please.

Because if this gets cancelled or something because not enough viewers are into a musical dark comedy that routinely does songs by Bon Jovi or Journey (or Rhianna or Beyonce or Queen), then I will lose my shit. Totally.

In honor of my prestigious induction to the Blunt Brigade over at Hair Thursday (written by the always awesome Whoorl, who just so happens to be a fellow Jayhawk, ROCK CHALK!), I decided to write a short list of reasons why I’m totally obsessed with my new haircut. Being a person who really hasn’t changed her hair since 1997, save that year when I dyed it red…which in retrospect was probably a HUGE mistake, I was a bit nervous about the change, but so far, the blunt bangs have been one of the best decisions of the fall. Why, you ask? (God, you’re so nosy.)

1. I can now wear red lipstick without looking like “the joker from batman…the dead one…the one that died.”
2. No matter how little time I spend on the rest of my hair, if I blow dry the bangs, it looks like I spent hours. Which is good since I usually spend a total of 5 rushed minutes.
3. I can type on my computer without my hair falling in my face constantly.
4. I have learned how to use liquid eyeliner and it looks freaking hot on me. Special thanks for GGC for the “How To,” since I’m mildly idiotic and would’ve never figured it out on my own.
5. I am more modest than ever. And hot.

And apparently in need of some concealer…yikes.