In which I have too much stuff...

I've only been on this planet for eighteen years, one month, and twenty-one days. How have I amassed so much stuff?

It seems like every few hours, I lug a full garbage bag into the garage to either give away or throw away.

I have mixed feelings about the whole process. It's incredibly cathartic to purge, to simplify, to get back to the basics, but every so often...just as my hand is hovering over the garbage bag, the giant nostalgic monster attacks. It's not pretty.

Example:

Me: This doll is gross. Look at her dress; it's all stained.

Giant Nostalgia Monster: But...but...that was your favorite doll! When you first got her, you were the same size! How could you give away such an important member of your doll family?

Me: Doll family? What in the world? Seriously, did you just come up with that to make me feel guilty?

GNM: Yes. I know how to manipulative you perfectly.

Me: I hate you.

In the end, I won. Bye-bye, dolly!

I'm off to go through more stuff. This cleaning mood I'm in will not last long, so I'd better milk it for all it's worth right now!

Um, what?

Reality TV is my guilty pleasure, so I was enjoying America's Got Talent, up until Episode 12.

Ok, watch this girl.

Now watch this one.

Guess which one made it to the semi-finals?

You'd think it would be the harpist. You know, the one with actual talent. The one who is a motivational speaker and therefore already has stage experience. The one who is twenty-nine years old, and therefore, has a better understanding of what hard work is all about. You'd think that, wouldn't you?

But nope, it was bye-bye to Rashida, while Eleisha gets to stick around for a few more weeks at most. (Honestly, how long can they keep her? She has NO talent.)

I get it--she's cute, she'll boost ratings. Whatever. Just wait ten years...when she's a high school senior, and she still has that diva attitude, tell me it's cute. I dare you.

Best wishes, Rashida. You're too talented for America, apparently.

In honor of cousins... :)

July 25th was Cousin's Day--a very momentous holiday in my family. It's almost as important to us as "Sneak a Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day" (August 8th--get ready!).

It all started last year. Laura and I found out that it was Cousin's Day, so we used it as an excuse to get together. She came to pick me up...and she was wearing plaid shorts. Coincidentally, I was wearing plaid shoes and a plaid headband, and when Tomas came out of his room to say "hi," it was discovered that he was wearing plaid shorts as well.

We declared plaid the official garb for Cousin's Day. We made sure Jason wore it, too. Leah was on her honeymoon, so we decided she was exempt from participating. Stefan didn't really play along, but we forced him to drape a plaid scarf around his head...

This year, Jason's graduation party fell on Cousin's Day. I told everyone to wear plaid...and even though they complained, everyone did . . . except ONE person. That would be me. Heh. Oops.

Pictures from last year...

I truly believe that you do not know me unless you have seen me with Laura. We speak a different language when we are together. Or at least a different dialect. Our relationship...well, it's sooo spiritual--it's like we're joined at the soul. The soul!!! (Those who haven't seen Tim Hawkin's piece on "Young Love" need to go Google it!) Laura always makes me feel better when I have to do something I don't want to do...and she is the best person to tell my embarrassing moments to, because she understands how painful certain things are and doesn't say things like, "No one will ever remember." (I think that's a lie, but maybe that's because I always remember everyone else's embarrassing moments. I met a priest over two years ago at a rehearsal. His zipper was down the entire time he was on stage, and no one told him. I was hoping his wife would. I certainly wasn't!) Anyway. Back to Laura. She's amazing. :)

Then there's her older brother. Jason is...Jason. If you know him, you understand. If you don't know him, you haven't yet begun to live. He is unlike anyone you will ever meet. Totally insane, but in a good way. Laura, Jason, Tomas, and I make up the Awesome Foursome--also known as "The Only Cousins in Town Who Aren't Married."

Here are some pictures from my scrapbook. Sorry for the bad quality. I didn't feel like scanning them.

This one pretty much defines our early relationship. I was such an attention hog. Laura has forgiven me for being so bratty.

Remember those headbands, Laura?

One of our many sleepovers. One time, I had a play date over at her house. We planned that I would secretly pack like I was going to a sleepover...and when my mom came to pick me up, we BEGGED our moms to let me stay the night. They sighed and said, "But Tara doesn't have her stuff..." I triumphantly pulled my backpack out, and said, "Ha! Yes, I do!" I slept over. :)

Our other tactic was to write our moms a note that generally read:

Dearest Mothers,

Mayest we havest a sleepover? We love each other so much...almost as much as we love you. Won't you please letest us sleepoverest? Your Loving Daughters, Laura and Tara"

We thought added "-est" to the end made things magically more polite.

We got our ears pierced together. Who let me out of the house with that bow? My sense of style has changed slightly since I was ten...

More recently...

Cousin's Day THIS year. We went water-skiing...

The beach at our hotel in Key Largo.

We drove two hours to eat breakfast at this restaurant on the beach. It was so worth it.

Fourth of July!

The night David proposed to Leah. If you think I look frightening in that picture, it's because I was insanely giddy. We were drinking sparkling grape juice, but from the way I was acting, you'd have thought it was straight vodka. I was kinda happy about the whole thing. ;)

The Awesome Foursome in the Southernmost part of the U.S.

If (or more likely "when") I get homesick in Idaho, it'll be these people I think of...

LOVE YOU GUYS! :)

The Gadsden Purchase

Late Night TV isn't always the best entertainment, but this cracked me up...

Free Books...

Any takers? All are paperbacks unless otherwise noted. The red ones have already been snagged.

Caddie Woodlawn

The cover is bent, and I pencilled my name in it...but it's definitely readable. Trivia: Carol Ryrie Brink was from Moscow, ID. :)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Old and yellowed, but not falling apart yet...

Sense and Sensibility

Hardback, but without the paper cover that goes on the outside of hardback books. (What is that thing called?) It is readable, but the bottom half of the book got dunked in a tub of soapy warm water. Yeah, I don't read in the bathtub anymore. Come to think of it, I also don't take baths anymore...

A Wrinkle in Time

One of my absolute favorites. We owned a copy when I was little. I read it, hated it, and gave it away. A few years passed, and I decided to check it out at the library and give it another try. This time, I loved it so much that I went out and bought myself a copy. It's the first book I remember buying. I bought another copy at Goodwill a few years ago just because it was cheap, so it's up for grabs. It's in great condition for a paperback...

Many Waters

This is a book in the same series as A Wrinkle in Time. The first time I read it, I didn't like it. I thought there might be some magical wait-a-year-and-try-again formula with this one too, but I've read it multiple times, and I still don't like it. Someone take it, please...

Braids and Bows

Didn't every girl in the '90's have this book? I'm not sure that anyone will want it, seeing as it's quite easy to learn hairstyles online now. The cover is falling off, but the inside is fine.

It doesn't come with the bow-making supplies though--this is just the book.

Madeline's Rescue

I'm giving this away because I got a collector's set of Madeline books for Christmas one year. I was fourteen. Haha.

And these are the books I just couldn't part with...

A quick Google Images search for "dream library" produced this...

I think the drool ruined my keyboard. I would replace the busy floral sofas with simple brown leather ones and add a few rolling library ladders...and then, it would be just about perfect.

Sigh. I'm off to write the tenth commandment one hundred times...

Edit to add: I also have exactly 34 issues of Family Fun. They are from the late 90's and early 2000's, but they could be useful if you need to do a collage...or perhaps write a ransom note.

So, which do you think is more ridiculous: the fact that I've been hoarding these magazines for more than a decade, or the fact that I subscribed to a magazine that was written for fun moms when I was still in my awkward preteen stage? Demographics, schmenographics...

Bookstore Conversations

I had the sweetest older man help me out at the bookstore today...but I had a hard time not laughing as we talked.

Me: Could you help me find a book?

Employee: Sure!

Me: It's called Alas, Babylon, and it's by Pat Frank.

Employee: At Last, I Belong?

Me: No, Alas Babylon...

Employee: Alas, I Belong?

Me: Alas. Babylon. BABYLON.

Employee: I don't know if we have it...

Thankfully, they did. It was in the Science Fiction section. Isn't that supposed to be reserved for books about aliens and spaceships?

Last year on this day...

Two of my favorite people got married...

I think I was as excited as they were. ;) I felt like I was going to explode from sheer joy.

The first few tries of this picture were unfortunately focused in on "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints." While certainly good advice, I think skipping down a few lines was a good idea. :)

The veil did it. At first, she wasn't planning on having one, but she tried one on in the bridal store at one of her fittings, and I about fell out of my chair when I saw her. She suddenly wasn't just my sister in a fancy dress...she was a bride. Yeah, Tara...you don't miss much, do you? Moral of the story: though the practical might say "Why would I want a piece of tulle hanging in front of my face for half the ceremony?", listen to the people who say, "It can't hurt to try on one..."

Putting on boutonnieres. Spelling "boutounnieres." I stink at both.

I've always wanted to be a witness on someone's marriage license. I don't think this had any legal importance, since I was only seventeen at the time, but they let me sign it anyway, and yes, it was the highlight of the day for me. Seeing Leah and David being united in holy matrimony before God was a close second.

The only speech that I have actually enjoyed giving. :) It's so easy to say nice things about those two.

I'm not sure why, but I find wooden fences so romantic.

Can you say "Broadway musical?" Haha, being in this wedding party was so much fun. :)

David and Leah, congratulations on winning the prestigious "Tara's Favorite Couple of the Year" award. Continue being awesome, and you might be repeat champions. Thank you also for getting married on 7/11, because it means that every year on your anniversary, I can celebrate by getting a free slurpee.

I am no fun when it comes to fireworks...

If I had a penny for every time I said "Run!" that night...

Guys can be so stupid. ;)

The ending pretty much sums up how I feel about amateur firework setter-offers.

And does my voice really sound like that?

Leaving...

My sister and I have always been close to each other. (Although for the first decade of our lives together, the word "close" only be used truthfully in a geographical context--it wasn't until a few years ago that the emotional closeness really kicked in. )We lived in the same house until she got married, and even after she moved out, she was just a few minutes away. I always had an apartment key and lots of pitiful excuses as to why I needed to drop by.

It's sad to think that my sister and I will have a long-distance relationship from now until...a very long time, if not forever. A few weeks before I leave for Idaho, she and her husband are off to Atlanta. (I knew I should have applied to Agnes Scott!) At least we have modern technology. She can post pictures of her food on her blog for me to drool over. Her electronic superhero of a husband can control my computer through the internet and fix all my problems. We can chat with webcams, and I know it'll be fun to swap stories about the new places and new faces we meet.

Oh great. Now I have this stuck in my head.

Old school Disney movies aside, the word "flitterin'" describes my life perfectly these days. I've realized that my time here before I leave is quickly running out. I leave August 12th, and I doubt I'll be coming back to FL until December. I've been cramming my schedule full of the things that I want to do before I go, but I have realized that even if I were to go without sleep until I leave, I wouldn't be able to do it all. How do you check things like "Spend time with friends" off your list? Can you ever spend enough time with friends? I guess that depends on the friend... ;)

At the same time, I want to enjoy my last few weeks without running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I need to schedule in time to just do nothing but savour this time here. I want to have a root beer float at that random ice cream stand I pass all the time but never stop at. I want to go visit the friends I have in my neighborhood, whom I never see despite the fact that only a few blocks separate our houses. I want to give all the elderly and sick people I know enormous hugs, just in case some of them aren't here when I get back. (My enormous hugs are not solely reserved for the sick and elderly, so if I give you one, don't automatically assume that I'm calling you old and infirm, ok?)

I know, I know. It's not like I'm leaving forever...but still, I won't be involved in people's lives here as much as I'd like. It's killing me that there will be babies born at my church, and I won't get to see them until Christmastime!

Anyway. Even though this blog entry apparently just got attacked by the Giant Nostalgia Monster, I have to say that I'm super excited about college. Yes, I will miss my hometown, but I'm looking forward to broadening my horizons. I can't wait to see what life as a college student is like. Around this time every summer, I begin to yearn for a scheduled life again. I am a horrible steward of my free time...I need a routine to feel productive!

In which I blog...

So here I am, blogging again. Yes, I've done this before. I started my first blog shortly after I turned thirteen. I'm not sure why. Maybe to tell the world about the time I accidentally-on-purpose put sweetened condensed milk in my hair? To make sure everyone knew how annoyed I was when my video tape of Random Harvest cut off right before I could find out if Greer Garson's amnesiac husband recognizes her or not? (SPOILER ALERT: He does. Roll credits.) I guess I started a blog because everyone else was doing it, and I knew it wasn't as dangerous as jumping off a bridge.

After about a year of writing such profound posts as those, it dawned on me that my blog was pointless and fairly self-absorbed, so I quit. But even if I hadn't stopped then, I know now I wouldn't have continued blogging much longer. A few months after I shut my blog down, my mom had her first seizure in years, and we found out that the lesion on her brain had grown. I was fourteen years old, in that terribly awkward stage between child and adult, but my mom's cancer pushed me headlong into the adult world. That blog I had started? It was bubblegum pink and dripped with smilies and exclamation points. I could barely look at it without gagging, much less post anything.

The next blog I started was dark brown and the subject matter was death. Juxtaposition, much? A few days after my mom's funeral, I was sitting by a playground on the beach, ranting to my sister about all the insensitive comments I'd received. It was the most cathartic experience I've ever had. I wanted to be angry. Anger was familiar; grief was not. I needed to feel something besides the numbness. My sister suggested that I channel my crazy emotions into writing about funeral etiquette. Let's just say that after swapping horror stories, we both agreed there was a need for education in that area. I had been to over fifteen funerals before I turned fifteen, so I was no stranger to death, but I gained such a different perspective on things when it was my family getting all the casseroles and flowers. That blog never really got off the ground though. Death is not easy to write about, to say the least. I didn't want to claim that my own experiences were the norm, because I had ample proof even within my own family that people deal with grief in different ways. I also didn't want my friends to be paranoid about having offended me, when in fact, there were so many dear people who surrounded me with the love of Christ and helped me more than they'll ever know. So once again, my blog fizzled out.

Third time's a charm, yes? Hopefully, this will be a middle ground between my last two attempts at bloggery. I started this mainly for my Florida friends who might want to know what I'm up to way out there in Idaho. I am going to miss so many of you. It will be hard to leave my church, where people have known me since I was stealing cardboard bricks from other kids in the nursery (and I don't mean that time last week...). I think all the women in my church should get giant Titus 2 plaques for investing so much time in my life. No one can replace a mother, but they did a great job of filling in the gaps.

I'm not sure if I'll have the time and inclination to blog a lot while I'm in school, but I will try my best. Watch and laugh as I learn about this magical phenomenon...what do they call it again? Snow? Yes, I think that's it...

And for all the people who ask me why in the world I'm going to Idaho...

In the immortal words of Rhoda Morganstern, "...because it's cold there, and I figured I'd keep better."