AND my mind goes blank again.

I have FABULOUS rants throughout the day--sometimes in the form of inner monologue, and sometimes real rant-y conversations.

But then I get to the blank blogger screen and my brain says, "What? I've never concocted anything interesting in my entire existence. Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

My brain lies to me in my times of creative vulnerability.

How frustrating that my friends' ears get all the good stuff, while the best thing on my blog is an entry about my roommate's embarrassing public bathroom experiences.

Meanwhile, my journal is wildly neglected. Where is that thing anyway...

Where did my nerdy mental get-up-and-go scurry off to without the rest of me??

PS, my most exciting purchase of the day was a jumbo sized windshield sun-screen-thing. Black leather interior, you have met your match.

But sad grocery moment was when I learned that my all-time-favorite-tea-EVERRRR is no longer carried at the ONE place that I knew of that sold it in FtW. What am I going to do??? *twitch twitch*

BOOKS!

Those that are recently behind me:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon

Those in progress at the moment:

Let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Elliot (shoutout to Meg who's reading it with me!)
A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra which is a lovely collection of letters and documents that follows their precious and tragic romance.

Those on the horizon:

Frost On My Moustache by Tim Moore. A British fellow's Arctic travel memoir.
The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French History by Robert Darnton
How Cities Work by Alex Marshall (shoutout to the gentleman caller, who is contagiously interested in proper urban development)
Embracing the Wide Sky by Daniel Tammet (which I'll first bless onto Lindsay to read to further her interest in the wonders of the brain)

If you have reading suggestions that fill any of the following criteria, by ALL means, please suggest away:

-I must leave the book having learned something. This is a requirement. Reading something that teaches me, deliberately, about life, God, myself, or mankind makes me feel like I've spent my time well with that book.

-Currently trying on some non-fiction, but by heavens, PLEASE offer something that will entice me and not bore me. See above for examples.

-I'm always a fan of a little romance, as long as we're not talking about long hair, glistening abs, and torn shirts on the cover (shudder...).

-Open minded about the type of book--I could go for poetry, a children's book, a mystery novel, whatevs. Talk me into something I won't regret :)

Cole's Happy Liver, or How High Fructose Corn Syrup Got Told

This page includes a lot of fascinating information on the health issues we're facing thanks to unnatural sugars.

Follow me now: fructose (fruit sugar) is one of three monosaccharides, or simple sugars, that can be found in the foods we eat (glucose [basic table sugar] and lactose [milk sugar] being the other two). High fructose corn syrup is kinda fructose on crack. And we're not even supposed to have that much fructose because the liver is the only place that we can absorb fructose in our bodies. Glucose (the main mama of the sugars) can be absorbed in all kinds of places in our bodies, like our muscles, brain, kidneys, heart, AND liver. Consuming MASSIVE amounts of high fructose corn syrup (which, whether you know it or not, we have been trained to do over the past 35 years) destroys our liver and confuses the crap out of our insulin levels. It's added to most processed foods to extend shelf life, but think about it. You could eat healthy, fresh foods tonight (which is, ya know, what you're buying the item for) rather than eating something that is hurting your body and will last longer than your your kid's current favorite pair of shoes. *shudder*

If you want to know what the big fuss about HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is, read that transcript. It's a dialogue, so it's easier to follow than a humdrum scientific article.

"Fructose actually is a hepato-toxin; now fructose is fruit sugar but we were never designed to take in so much fructose. Our consumption of fructose has gone from less than half a pound per year in 1970 to 56 pounds per year in 2003."

And that is why I'm making my own pizza crust tonight. When I stayed at the Cat's Cradle Bed and Breakfast, the lovely and chatty owner showed us a list of companies that allow/endorse HFCS compared to a list that has banned HFCS from their products. Pillsbury was on the bad side. I usually use their pizza dough, just because I've never made my own before. WELL that's about to change.

Whole wheat pizza crust topped with pesto, mushrooms, spinach, tomato, and mozzarella, here I come. That's tonight's culinary adventure.

And ya know what?

I do apologize for the high difficulty rating on the spelling of my blog title.

Consider it a challenge to overcome.

(My little secret: google reader. Collects all my favorite blogs in one place so I don't have to remember how to spell, oh, my own blog.)

I wonder how many people I've scared off just by having an 8 syllable blog title...

Oh dear.

And then everyone who ever liked my blog disappeared

Because for about 7 days Cole fell off the face of the planet.

At least that's what Anton tells me will happen if I don't post regularly.

And I trust him on blog things.

And travel things.

And most movie things.

And probably all God things (this hasn't been fully tested--simply because that's not exactly possible. I mean, "What do you think of God's haircut?" "Rubbish." "I disagree!" It could happen.)

And urban development things (though I did pick up a book on it in the library so I can at least keep up with him when he talks about it now. Well, I have to read it first, I guess).

And physical safety things.

He is real strong, after all.



Ok, folks. I miss him. Ok? There. I said it. In type.

And I ain't apologizing.



Dear California,

Please release my gentleman caller and return him safely to me.

Love,
Mississippian in Texas

Cole: Adventurer and Master Napper

Hey folks :)

I spent the last AMAZING week traveling around the West Coast. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures a the moment because A) my camera died, and B) my handsome boyfriend has a Canon EOS Rebel digital camera. My point-and-shoot hid its face with embarrassment while his took fabulous pictures. And then it died of shame (aka: batteries went kaput).

SO I'm waiting on him to send me his pictures so that I can send them to family, post them on FB, post them on blog, and plaster them jumbo sized to my bedroom wall so that I feel like I'm still in the redwood forest with a tall blond stud. Maybe I should wait on that last one, since I won't live here after the end of this month.

Speaking of that, I can't speak of that yet. Let's just say, circumstances have altered the course of action and I will no longer be living in cute one bed/one bath efficiency apartment.

God's providing a different way, and it will be even more beautiful :) I can feel it.

I really feel like some Italian food.

Specifically I want the "Fiocchi al Gorgonzola e Pera- $14- Gorgonzola & Pear filled Pasta with Walnuts, Arugula & Dolce Latte Cream Sauce" from Taverna in Fort Worth.

"Why not??" you may be asking.

$14 for dinner is not in my budget at the momento.

But if I put a PayPal button on here, would you contribute to the happiness of Cole's taste buds?

I kid, I kid.

OOO OOO OOO! I went garage sale shopping today! Always an excellent adventure. Got all sorts of fantastic goodies. My favorite item being a black ladder bookshelf:




















It's one step closer to my dream-home library:













ok... or even better...













I love being SURROUNDED by books.

In related news, check out http://bookshelves.tumblr.com/ Kinda makes my heart sing when there's an especially good one posted.

Sooooooo after a morning of epic success at garage sale shopping, I took a 3 hour nap. On the floor. In the living room. There may or may not have been drool. I woke up quite a while ago, and I'm just now losing the sleep-face-ness.

Garage sale shopping is exhausting. Not for the faint of heart.

A joyous 7/4 to you, mate!

We date things 7/4/2010.

This makes no sense.

Think about it.

Smallest to largest would be 4/7/2010.

Largest to smallest would be 2010/7/4.

But no.

We have to create our own weird nonsensical way of dating things so that it defies reason.

Anywho, happy 4th of July folks. I'm sitting in the living room area of a kickin hostel in San Francisco (USA Hostels - San Francisco. Look it up. Check it out).

Crazy how you can spend 24/7 (notice: largest to smallest) with somebody and feel like you have had zero time to talk to each other. How does that even happen?

Tomorrow we head to Fort Bragg to check out Glass Beach, then Tuesday we head towards the National Redwood Forest. Prepared to get my mind blown.

I'm learning a few things about universality thanks to this hostel. People from OODLES of different countries are here, and I absolutely love it. No matter the language barrier or country of origin, a pool table bridges that divide. As does oatmeal. And pancakes. And superhero graphic tees. And "hot water?"

From Denver International Airport

I'm using free wifi.

They said it couldn't be done in this airport but they (the elusive they) were wrong.

Because here I am blogging, suckas.

Lots of people watching, lots of overpriced food that's really not that good for me.

I observed this woman, who is apparently going to Alaska, for a couple of minutes. She yammered on to her poor friend--without stopping--for a solid 5 minutes. The woman didn't take breaths to breathe. She just kept going and going and going and it was SO loud (she was at the opposite end of the gate waiting area. And I can tell you her complete travel itinerary and all the stories that she peppered in). So then her son, about 9 years old I'd guess, taps her on the arm repeatedly, as little boys are wont to do when they are not immediately noticed, and she barks at him, "Excuse me, I AM TALKING!"

I was like, yes, lady, you are. It's his turn.

God bless America.

In other news, I have been reminded of just how incredibly tasty and horrible for you McDonalds chocolate chip cookies are. Mmmm...

AND I'll be in Sacramento (and then on to San Francisco) in 3 hours. It's taking SOOOOOO LOOOOONG!

Ooo ooo ooo! And I got to sit next to a flippin precious 2 month old baby on the way here! Oh my goodness she was a delightful traveler. We played smiling games at each other and I bet I looked real goofy. Totally fine and worth it to see an infant smile. I heart babies.

Other people's babies. Don't freak out.

I like:

candles. Gently scented. I like the living light.

imagining that my jeans and pajama pants have a secret romance. They meet and entangle their legs in the washer.

packing minimally and efficiently. 1 carry on, 1 personal item, 6 days of epic travel. Perfect.

the smell of books. New, old, used, dusty (bless you), even academic.

index cards. Of all sizes. Lined, preferably.

countdown to travel :) I'll see you in 42ish hours!

writing letters that will remain unsent. Dear you, This is how I feel. Love, me.

my red tea kettle.

successful breakfasts (examples: cheese grits and pigs in blankets--two of my favorites).

fitting comfortably into my jeans (not something that happens after successful breakfasts like those mentioned above).

bright blue eyes days. Sometimes they feel bluer than other days. It's usually a better feeling day all around.

feeling poems flit around my head. If I wrote them down, they'd be disappointing I think. These belong in my head just like some belong on the tongue. I just wish I knew how to share it with you!