tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72965221063345157222024-03-05T04:50:05.567-06:00Aquatic CousinsBased out of Austin, Texas. Collectors of fauxconuts, harbingers of awesome, occasionally aquatic, always adventurous.Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-32532181577864904292012-01-26T10:31:00.019-06:002012-01-26T14:06:44.337-06:00My product IT list for 2012! It's finally here!<b><span class="Apple-style-span">You asked and I answered! Here are my must have beauty products for 2012! </span></b><div> <p class="p1">1. <a href="http://www.maybelline.com/products/153/eyes/mascara/great-lash-lots-of-lashes-washable/very-black/141?shadeId=837">Maybeline great lash</a></p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEill11kOWQVanoFTlm10dcNAyf2Wt5UlAZiQOKJ-KGtG4AslO4MMbUaNTNyc3DkIGIVNlSXfQRqjUPr9RNAQcctzDkPQQfWFsTfqqtCYHtJWmO_ewOJLMaQ5RY4PQgses6IlKZd2w5SZjZP/s200/great-lash-lots-of-lashes_detail-shot_080614.jpeg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 177px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701980064037329554" /><p class="p1">This mascara not only lengthens, but its tiny little brush gets every lash! This mascara out performs the pricey department store brands and costs around $6</p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ALTERNA-BAMBOO-Smooth-Kendi-Mist/dp/B0045WDQFA">Alterna Bamboo smooth Kendi dry oil mist</a></p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_1oTdNZyTFC7_ooszv-ciY4RUx1QyDtWJg-wOU3oodAkFzAMYm8_rHlPbWD1UA4w7hKH5FHcayseDcpEtzdNbVI85WuhoN8PrIVVjj_Elun_SmkO3M9-CmXrvzFUE0PAd8hMPRIH_9-C/s200/unnamed.jpeg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701980979122449682" /> <p class="p1">Hate Frizz? This mist is a great and natural moisturizer for your hair and skin! Spray it in your palm and massage through the ends of your hair for instant shine! Its bamboo complex helps improve the texture and health of your hair as well!</p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">3. <a href="http://www.clarisonic.com/shop/sonic_skin_cleansing_systems/sonic_skin_cleansing_system_mia/index.php">Clarisonic Mia</a></p><p class="p1"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS4Io8LG1YN6BahbrUg9XUFeqLbhgVB6t6U8uOH6TpVdMVI_enriL7ft2j3ZxHDTHjGazbTt9jGJJGgvvvHSHqOlse1Chpu_5InMwGpHmA-64UVNs7Allzu6cXqXqkT_mLvzv4burSj__v/s200/P285159_hero.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701981972947686642" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></p><div>Worth every penny! All the hype over this beauty gadget is well deserved! I have seen a 85% improvement in my skin since starting to use my Clarisonic religiously over the summer. My dermatologist even noticed the improvement in my skin texture!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Smashbox-Cosmetics-Finish-Correcting-Foundation/dp/B00161JJK4">Smashbox Photo Finish Primer</a></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfteLZc5_ZKAHLdSuKE-C9SzgTeiLDGXHGs7OyOdfSBUvZuODfTnxD-WwHf-Gwsz9sysse0lwFN_RDmBWrjnNtJBgLAyPbst_wk9izYwqpHoSqIEkVci2kXCftb2VUA_ON_uFekd_wrHP/s200/29145687-450x450-0-0_Smashbox_Smashbox_Photo_Finish_Color_Correcting_Fo.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701983187495918498" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Smashbox Primers kick so much ass I would pay double the price! My bestie turned me on to the green tinted primer recently and it helps tone down any redness in my skin and makes my make up go on flawlessly! All their primers are wonderful and help make your make up last, improve the look and feel of your skins texture while minimizing imperfections. I know that you are thinking $26 dollars is crazy, but trust me once you try it you will never go back!</span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div>5. <a href="http://www.stilacosmetics.com/product_detail.asp?PMID=954&dept=2&cat=6">Stila eyeshadow palette</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnH4v633hCxg_SrCptIMkkM86HqGxM14bb-usZyRMrPuGUl_AYSsAdsvG_UZMWwFq4gSG5LAvdT-W96k97pQ6xZQDLgDs3xmRo2c2WWUA1tagv3gooMx8Dwru3X31Yrag9AkjWQ-6KsGt/s200/+void%25280%2529.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701985944307089874" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 200px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div>This palette has all the shades you need. PERIOD! It also comes with a liner, and a handy little booklet of how to tips! These shades sell individually for $18 so, this palette is a steal! </div> <p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">6. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Olay-Professional-Pro-X-Clear-Protocol/dp/B004UDRUJW">Olay acne system</a></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5H1eH-AlUVrj2fum4AhSB6Z78ynOWLSwzaTxtJGAmpLm2yimiLr2rJT9WoI__mF84Fr1LhEIQ_4LaKEvzdLlO5Bb2ClNnPQ8vwACmVSus0Gt913tk1POzNX75_JSUgRVLXEawH2w7SFDg/s200/Pro_X_Clear_acne_protocol_265x265.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701987207736799602" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></p><p class="p1">Hello life saver! I have spent thousands of dollars and tried so many different systems to get my skin balanced and clear it is ridiculous! This system (along with my Clarisonic) have balanced my skin and improved its texture! I no longer wake up with new zits on a daily basis! The moisturizer is light but gets the job done without making me break out! </p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></p><p class="p1">7. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_5?url=search-alias%3Dhpc&field-keywords=sonicare+toothbrush&sprefix=sonic%2Chpc%2C243">Sonicare Toothbrush </a></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKVWMyupRw3-ej2xOev8AW-_1xyDG3xODQyZat36UbdFFFP1UqtuvJNRacYh3DMb28L7zPhLleTGp57gBNEFSkj6XuW8QIZBvdtw966blyTxKcMNjAZcKxyAopttQMydsku2JjV2sJEKB/s200/ref%253Ddp_image_0.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701989383055946338" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div> <p class="p1">Because no one wants dentures or yellow teeth!</p><p class="p1">Anyone who knows me well knows I use my Sonicare toothbrush religiously! I have had one going on 5 years now and haven't had a single cavity or dental problem since I began using it. My teeth are nice and white too! </p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">8. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V33OGS/ref=asc_df_B000V33OGS1874735?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B000V33OGS">Cover girl tinted moisturizer with SPF</a></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSuItWz4Ohh6zajErFrwbR3-_nlmn2QHA-ZHHSxaIbLd0t93okvBVzQGxup9t_fj8ZlyZVR7MEuk68vQSdNB17bkhK9vQeXj7m-7FNtgg-u0KxEj9iSaNMpYTyBCVQLtRdb3fNcucBT-fX/s200/ref%253Ddp_image_0-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701990731346476898" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><p class="p1">For those days when you just don't feel like doing anything! This tinted moisturizer won't make you break out, break your bank or make you look greasy! It also has SPF and offers sheer coverage. Just smooth is on all over and you are out the door! Use it alone or with concealer and or foundation. </p> <p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1"><br /></p><p class="p1">9.<a href="http://www.clinique.com/product/1599/5276/index.tmpl?cm_mmc=google-_-ENG_ENG|Vanity|Brand%20Product|Exact|PC-_-Makeup|Foundations|Even%20Better|Even%20Better|Makeup%20SPF15|SPP|OK-_-clinique%20even%20better%20foundation"> Clinique Even Better Make Up</a></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHbbyWtrlWEWjzaK9TcNUQcDZIsenLsVp1DlQBFuPDU_lFwZzs7eP3O2o2Erg0L66rTLLl-HL9edG6r9jjS3HZOWgZylY09JqLS4L14D4RggCFo9CRL9CN5-uuOYzD1erDWscGBmYlyV4/s200/clq_6MNY_250.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701992182180326306" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></span></p><div>Why not wear make up that improves your skin right? Helps remove dark spots and even tone. It also comes in a wide variety of shades with warm, neutral and cool tone bases to exactly match your skin! </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div>10. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Mitchell-Conditioner-33-8-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B002N5MIBE/ref=sr_1_1?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1327598750&sr=1-1">Paul Mitchell The Conditioner</a></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9c_9Q57EY87XQbfTNYRZeNBAKv_w0hUKF2qz7fG5-NcMZDhi_CJknXuru5A09wwEudtG5R5KF-3ykXULi5L_Mw5FEEEJGVahZeuY1elBiCY21GQGq6czaPaHm94EAwA5cekyjMPKKrTwg/s200/ref%253Ddp_image.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701993438013390674" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></div><div>The original and still the best! Moisturizes and improves your hair without weighing it down or making it look greasy like most leave-in conditioners! I apply a generous amount right out of the shower when my hair is still dripping wet before wrapping it up in a towel.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>11. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/RUSK-Rusk-THICKR-THICKENING-SPRAY/dp/B003116ICE">Rusk Thick body and texture amplifier</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNMDD90W0mSG5j_UOJagQ3qxwnrJf18kKaEksPApzBDHWnXedhFeY4C924OmZZbN5uCd84iQxTYKSUHTzCWtJ_fqAO2xLvZ0nJ8w8aF4uCbAaRfJpMrUPKQT7fmwgnLfV2Qasq-curTw-E/s200/sleekhair_2192_711619605.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701995207997721330" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 67px; height: 200px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div>This spray adds volume to flat hair and makes it appear thicker. Really great on any hair type, just spray it in at the roots and comb through towel dried hair and style as usual.</div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-15114732586028795502011-11-20T16:34:00.009-06:002011-11-20T16:55:54.123-06:00Vintage Fashion 101 with Mia Shannonhouse<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>From the couch of AC1 @ The Barbie Dream House, the headquarters of the Aquatic Cousins:<div><br /><div>We present to you the darling and fabulous Mia Shannonhouse! Shop all of her fantastic vintage items on her Etsy site located here: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://www.lilaroseaustin.etsy.com/" rel="nofollow me" target="_blank" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(59, 89, 152); text-decoration: none; "><b>http://<wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block; "></span>www.LilaRoseAustin.et<wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block; "></span>sy.com</b></a></span><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZGcYL-6gSvm6ls0ruBeiNTPD9mV7VRJBjNbInqJ3qvF8qKt_4ZTF-61fOmm6P37H3FgWI_nGtaVvqPB_DFEMfsjwF2BZxfG5Q_TUS3naEIgON2crIPYVTU0JeQvVg4XDZF-V_M4uo0Ld/s1600/IMG_5506.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZGcYL-6gSvm6ls0ruBeiNTPD9mV7VRJBjNbInqJ3qvF8qKt_4ZTF-61fOmm6P37H3FgWI_nGtaVvqPB_DFEMfsjwF2BZxfG5Q_TUS3naEIgON2crIPYVTU0JeQvVg4XDZF-V_M4uo0Ld/s400/IMG_5506.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677212296222797810" /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0zZLKb6iM1tczOTacC285pcM341s0K3TT-XizbsQyOtZx4a1axJT27Q6haudUs2l6zIp45qwJlL75tDnVaFlCpHvRmpqEP4J-D72bU4KGLl0EZe45cfvgq5j8Qc1K3kBM0_hCTSU0w4am/s400/IMG_5534.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5677213848104741794" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-38996880483737951462011-07-27T16:08:00.001-05:002011-07-27T16:09:59.120-05:00Ke$ha isn't gone, and just incase you thought she might be....WATCH THIS:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ9nykstdAE&feature=related">OOOHHH OHHHH OOOOOOO O O O GLITTER!</a>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-2127221243810935562011-04-29T00:21:00.005-05:002011-04-29T00:32:05.935-05:00He just wants your nail care love, guys.<i>From the kitchen table of AC2, laden with thesis-writing-related items as she slowly and painfully finishes that bitch. </i><div><br /></div><div>Some people have religion as a way of feeling connected to something bigger than they are, existing as some small part of a much larger and more important journey. I fail to see how comparing oneself with the universe- even as limited as we know and understand it- couldn't bring about the same feelings ("<a href="http://aquaticcousins.blogspot.com/2011/04/storm.html">Isn't this </a><i><a href="http://aquaticcousins.blogspot.com/2011/04/storm.html">enough</a></i>?") but then again I really like my own fantasy stories. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><center> <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mObK5XD8udk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br />SNAPE!</center><center><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">July 7th. </center><center style="text-align: left;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">I guess it's the idea of struggling against something that seems so impossible, knowing you are so insignificant and hoping you get you live out your own little life anyway, with whatever small happiness you're allowed. It may be small in the scheme of things, but damned if it won't light up your whole world, especially after having to look at Ralph Fiennes in that snake nose with those terrifying fingernails. </center><center style="text-align: left;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">Voldemort is evil because nobody ever thought to buy him a mani-pedi. </center><center style="text-align: left;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">I return to my own insignificant struggles, until 5am when I'll probably don a velvet hat and watch the Royal Wedding so my hat can see all of its hat friends. Sleep deprivation is said to be similar to being drunk (at least while operating motor vehicles) so it'll even be like I'm having themed cocktails instead of drinking my own tears of "why the fuck do I have two jobs right now". </center><center style="text-align: left;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">FRIDAY! </center><center style="text-align: left;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">-AC2</center>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-9119919998240944102011-04-26T23:37:00.006-05:002011-04-27T00:11:01.352-05:00Carl loves you all.<div style="text-align: left;"><i>From the couch of AC2, Sparker.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>When I'm feeling a bit lost and unsure of how to go about things*, I like to wade through the archives of <a href="http://therumpus.net/">The Rumpus</a>, particularly the Sugar columns. Okay pretty much only <a href="http://therumpus.net/sections/blogs/dear-sugar/">The Sugar columns</a>. I love her words. I love <i><a href="http://therumpus.net/2011/02/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-64/">Tiny Beautiful Things</a></i> so much that one night during a manic-thesis-writing phase, I sat down and wrote out all the little parts of it I love best in different colored permanent markers and tacked them up around my apartment. The first time someone asks about them should be interesting to explain, but Carl the Taxidermied Longhorn Head usually keeps people pretty distracted. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJaF8Y34fqUJN2FOkL3q32vlILWIN6BZ2c7TvDOPumWBc5TonRSQKRuF4buS3QYRx3lV4F9sqdefTmmLqgxrJ-PozYWbLEee46bPv-cg8ZnWt0wNOh4mx0bI1jVK46LORmwCgDoBjnWN8/s200/IMG_3319.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600119260517929890" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; ">I decorate him for holidays. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>Tonight I was reading <i><a href="http://therumpus.net/2010/12/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-60-the-world-lit-by-other-people/">The World Lit By Other People</a></i> and especially loved the last question: What is love? As Sugar said, it takes more than one person to answer that kind of question and thankfully we live in an era of crowd-sourcing technology. </div><div><br /></div><div>__________________________________________<br /><div><br /></div><div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(128, 0, 0); line-height: 24px; font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is love?</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:medium;"><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; "><strong></strong></p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; ">Love is so many things that it’s impossible for one person to answer that question, so instead of answering this one myself I decided to ask my readers. Here are the replies I received when I posed this question on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SugarontheRumpus" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">Facebook page</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/Sugar_TheRumpus" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">Twitter feed</a>:</p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; "><em>Spike Aroo: Love is the ability to be vulnerable.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Allison Mcg: Love is the opposite of fear.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Jennifer Ad Meliora Reeves: I think love, real love, means acceptance of the whole person—their faults, attributes, shortcomings, gifts, abilities, inabilities, etc. Love shouldn’t be based on hope or potential, which I am learning the hard way. We would never want someone to say to us, “I love you, but…” and then tick off the ways we could be better or different. We want someone to love us just as we are—here, today. And we need to love ourselves, and forgive ourselves, in this same way. Love is a state of grace.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>@Miss___B: Love is something infinite and sublime that can only be made wrong or less-than when you try to box it into definitions.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Jan Cooper: Favorite quote: “To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten” (unknown author).</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Sara Habein: I can’t be the only one who, despite seriously considering the subject, had visions of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3uE3xKnt0" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">A Night at the Roxbury</a>” dancing through my head. (Woah-oh-oh-OH-oh-oh *ahem*) All right, I’ll go back to serious contemplation.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>@RumpusPoetry: </em><em>It’s a song that causes severe neck injury and won’t leave your head once it gets in there.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Terry N Teros: Love is the glue that holds the whole program together.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Carolynne Reina Mielke: Love is thinking of others before yourself!</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Bill Mazza: Generosity without expectation and trust without judgment.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Joan Rogers: I tend to think of it as the profound knowledge that the equation is more important than either of its component parts.</em><strong></strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline; "></span></strong></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>@ayse: I just read <a href="http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/12/14/christmas_cancer/index.html" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">a beautiful evocation of love</a> by @<a href="http://twitter.com/tracyclarkflory" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">tracyclarkflory</a>. [ETA: My favorite line from this article was "I suppose that's one definition of love: You do something for someone else and it ends up feeling like a gift to yourself."</em><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><em>]</em></span></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Roberta DiBisceglie : For me, love means caring for someone not despite their flaws but because of them. Love transports us to a better place, not always a happier one, but one that helps us to grow and find balance. Love is truth and it will set you free.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>@blandroid (Jason Asher): Acceptance, faith, patience, healing, openness, honesty, cherishing, giving, receiving, growing, and being vulnerable.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>SonYa Eick: Love is when you’ve found someone who makes you want to be the best version of yourself possible. To fix all your flaws, yet accept them at the same time. It’s when you’ve found the one who inspires you and motivates you especially when you’re weak and unable to do so on your own.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Denise L. Moore: Love is a relationship without apathy, honesty without judgment, laughter without embarrassment, belief without proof, compassion without end on a road traveling both ways.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>@saribotton (Sari Botton): Whatever love is, you can’t experience it until you stop confusing validation with satisfaction. Awesome when you do, but so many don’t.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>April Cooper: I have always liked this definition: “Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled. I also think love is the energy that powers the Universe (all of reality) and that it is our life purpose to lose our fearful perceptions of separation and experience Oneness with All That Is as fully as possible.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Brenda Lehman Gorenc: Love is the act of putting someone else first, even when your heart doesn’t feel like doing it.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em></em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><em>Ryan Nance: Love is what we have decided to call the world lit by other people.</em></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">Amen to that."</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">_____________________________________________</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">I started thinking about all the other various ways to define love ("I wanna know what love iiissss/I want you to shoooow meeeee")-- my first thought (okay second) going back to <i>Tiny Beautiful Things</i>: "Real love moves freely in both directions. Don't waste your time on anything else." That can take a surprisingly long time to learn in life. For so many people it's easier to wait, to hope, to stay beyond all reason for something that was once true but no longer is. <i>Be brave enough to break your own heart</i>. It's not an easy thing to do. I've watched it. I've lived it. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">My own definition is still forming, it would seem; for things such as this I believe the best works are a lifelong revision process. I know it has a lot to do with patience and giving, with being a whole woman who acknowledges I still have much room to learn and grow. That you should spend time with those you can learn and grow from and with. To never compromise the parts of you that are silly or loud or outrageous and never expect anyone else to do the same. To understand that even the most silly, loud and outrageous person also wants to be quiet sometimes and wants you to share in all those parts of them, and they in you.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">It is something we all have the deepest longing for and often, the least understanding. That is what makes it so beautiful and frustrating and exciting in all its many forms. Love isn't just romantic; it is food. We must learn to feed ourselves before we can feed others. </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">-AC2 </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">*This thesis is a labor of love that is the closest I want to come to children for about the next decade or so. </p></span></div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-7697531213602565212011-04-19T23:59:00.014-05:002011-04-20T01:37:16.846-05:00So I may have some baggage...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHr-CSQsqn1xXzKSYfUA8yQoZp6bbaHjU2AKspInU_fbx1smi1-xzcaSITGoiHQ27wh2xoUXd1HcNIwHMb0fXw3l3BhQx7ys6j-glwuT7UaawLmLsMNiQqFPx_EWiYWAA3FXfSgBAaHsyv/s1600/167867_494659388121_589083121_6185863_340750_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHr-CSQsqn1xXzKSYfUA8yQoZp6bbaHjU2AKspInU_fbx1smi1-xzcaSITGoiHQ27wh2xoUXd1HcNIwHMb0fXw3l3BhQx7ys6j-glwuT7UaawLmLsMNiQqFPx_EWiYWAA3FXfSgBAaHsyv/s400/167867_494659388121_589083121_6185863_340750_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597548377565648626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><i>From the keyboard of AC1, Manda.</i><br /></span></span><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Recently, but then again not so recently, it has been pointed out to me that (<span style="font-family:georgia;">in addition to never posting on this blog here)</span> I have some barriers built up.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />So, I asked myself...What is a barrier? By definition a barrier is a noun, an obstacle, something that is built up to bar passage. Alright then, self, what are your "barriers"? I asked <span style="font-family:georgia;">(definitely allowed, and maaaybe in a Russian accent)</span>. Do I have a hypothetical glacier which I refuse to melt? Or if you prefer it, <a href="http://kewpiedeluxe.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dita2.jpg">picture</a> an image of me sitting in a martini glass so large and tall that you just can't reach me way up there.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />After a long conversation with self <span style="font-family:georgia;">(not good friends Michael and Rebs, but the inner self)</span>, she told me it is neither of these things. "<span style="font-style: italic;">Amanda</span>," said self <span style="font-family:georgia;">(in a small French accented voice)</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">"you are not an Ice-Princess or an emotional shut it, you are more of a layer cake, or an onion if you will ...you do kind of smell today, you should shower." </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span></span><i><br /></i>During my shower I thought about what I had been told and after the water ran cold it came to me: knowing me takes time and like Lady Gaga said <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T4X5nu7m1g"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Loving me is like chewing on pearls"</span></a>. And while I may have my very own matching <a href="http://www.louisvuitton.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">luggage</span></a> set that I drag around to every place I go, I don't have barriers; I have layers. These layers I've got just take time to peel back. Most people don't get past them, but the ones who stick around, the ones I love see my core and truly love me for me (even if it is painful and crunchy).<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T4X5nu7m1g"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">-AC1</span></span></div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-22928526255443930522011-04-08T16:04:00.003-05:002011-04-08T16:18:05.867-05:00Storm.<i>From the couch of AC2. </i><div><br /></div><div>I found this video this morning on YouTube. God posted it. (No <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/almightygod">really</a>.) It is completely amazing and you should watch it. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><br /><center> <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HhGuXCuDb1U?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></center><br />My favorite bit: <div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">"Isn't this <i>enough</i>? Just this. . .world? Just this beautiful, complex, wonderfully unfathomable natural world? How does it so fail to hold our attention that we have to diminish it with the invention of cheap, man-made myths and monsters?"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>And for those of you who will disagree with me: </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">"But here's what gives me a hard-on: I am a tiny, insignificant, ignorant bit of carbon. I have one life and it is short and unimportant. But thanks to recent scientific advances, I get to live twice as long as my great-great-great-great-uncleses and auntses. Twice as long. To live this life of mine. Twice as long to love this wife of mine. Twice as many years of friends and wine, of sharing curries and getting shitty at good-looking hippies with fairies on their spines and butterflies on their titties. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And if, perchance, I have offended think but this and all is mended: may as well be ten minutes back in time for all the chance you'll change your mind." </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Brilliant</i> spoken word performance. </div><div><br /></div><div>-AC2 </div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-72262403611148954642011-04-03T13:59:00.006-05:002011-04-03T22:34:17.430-05:00Prisencolinensinainciusol!<div><i>From the couch of AC2, on a grey Sunday afternoon: </i></div><div><br /></div>In case you ever wondered what English sounds like to those who don't speak it:<br /><br /><center><br /></center><center> <object width="640" height="390"></object></center><br /><br />That certainly could have been weirder. (Sourced from <a href="http://www.bakadesuyo.com/">Bakadesuyo</a> where all the best things are.) <div><br /></div><div>-AC2 </div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-53169738285397451652011-03-31T18:15:00.008-05:002011-04-20T01:30:26.763-05:00Dear Sugar, You Deserve Tiny Beautiful Things.<i>From the couch of AC2, during a manic phase. </i><br /><div><br /></div><div> I always find the best things when I am supposed to be working. This is a letter of advice, from a writer in her forties to a writer in her twenties who asked for wisdom. It is beautiful. It is exactly what I needed today. It is from <a href="http://therumpus.net/2011/02/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-64/">Dear Sugar (The Rumpus)</a> which I will be a devoted reader of from now on. (I bolded the bits that particularly resonated with me because it's the equivalent of my mother highlighting the bits of books she likes and we all have to start becoming our mothers sometime.) </div><div><br /></div><div>_______________________</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 24px; font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dear Seeking Wisdom,</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:medium;"><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 24px; ">Stop worrying about whether you’re fat. You’re not fat. Or rather, you’re sometimes a little bit fat, but who gives a shit? There is nothing more boring and fruitless than a woman lamenting the fact that her stomach is round. <b>Feed yourself. Literally.</b> The sort of people worthy of your love will love you more for this, sweet pea.</p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 24px; ">In the middle of the night in the middle of your twenties when your best woman friend crawls naked into your bed, straddles you, and says, <em>You should run away from me before I devour you</em>, believe her.</p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">You are not a terrible person for wanting to break up with someone you love. You don’t need a reason to leave. Wanting to leave is enough. Leaving doesn’t mean you’re incapable of real love or that you’ll never love anyone else again. It doesn’t mean you’re morally bankrupt or psychologically demented or a nymphomaniac. It means you wish to change the terms of one particular relationship. That’s all. <b>Be brave enough to break your own heart.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; font-size:medium;"></span></p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; ">When that really sweet but fucked up gay couple invites you over to their cool apartment to do ecstasy with them, say no.</p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; ">There are some things you can’t understand yet. Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding. It’s good you’ve worked hard to resolve childhood issues while in your twenties, but <b>understand that what you resolve will need to be resolved again. And again. </b>You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.</p><p face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" size="16px" style=" line-height: 24px; ">One evening you will be rolling around on the wooden floor of your apartment with a man who will tell you he doesn’t have a condom. You will smile in this spunky way that you think is hot and tell him to fuck you anyway. This will be a mistake for which you alone will pay.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. <b>You don’t have a career. You have a life.</b> Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. <b>You are a writer because you write.</b> Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don’t know what it is yet.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><b>You cannot convince people to love you. This is an absolute rule. No one will ever give you love because you want him or her to give it. Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><b>Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">One hot afternoon during the era in which you’ve gotten yourself ridiculously tangled up with heroin you will be riding the bus and thinking what a worthless piece of crap you are when a little girl will get on the bus holding the strings of two purple balloons. She’ll offer you one of the balloons, but you won’t take it because <b>you believe you no longer have a right to such tiny beautiful things. You’re wrong. You do.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">Your assumptions about the lives of others are in direct relation to your naïve pomposity. Many people you believe to be rich are not rich. Many people you think have it easy worked hard for what they got. Many people who seem to be gliding right along have suffered and are suffering. Many people who appear to you to be old and stupidly saddled down with kids and cars and houses were once every bit as hip and pompous as you.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">When you meet a man in the doorway of a Mexican restaurant who later kisses you while explaining that this kiss doesn’t “mean anything” because, much as he likes you, he is not interested in having a relationship with you or anyone right now, just laugh and kiss him back. Your daughter will have his sense of humor. Your son will have his eyes.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; font-size:medium;"></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><b>The useless days will add up to something. </b>The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. <b>These things are your becoming.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">One Christmas at the very beginning of your twenties when your mother gives you a warm coat that she saved for months to buy, don’t look at her skeptically after she tells you she thought the coat was perfect for you. Don’t hold it up and say it’s longer than you like your coats to be and too puffy and possibly even too warm. Your mother will be dead by spring. That coat will be the last gift she gave you. <b>You will regret the small thing you didn’t say for the rest of your life.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><b>Say thank you.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">Yours,<br />Sugar</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">____________________</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;">I would paint that on my walls, were they big enough and I wasn't renting. </span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; ">-AC2</p></span><p></p><p></p>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-11006130149318575592011-03-15T20:11:00.003-05:002011-03-15T20:17:24.163-05:00Bad Cat reminds us why she's named that. Constantly.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSFatOnXdDVpQaHBqt7mR5OXbRT01jMCfzoElBNAVsqNkdp6RjadnlapsfveR6_KAjOrxV-BLMg4DJgMdcVXZ-A2alcWytVk3E_ZBoEcmEOONiXuVDQgxC6sNoN7O_KlxuVwl1PzG2XY/s1600/spray+bottle+.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSFatOnXdDVpQaHBqt7mR5OXbRT01jMCfzoElBNAVsqNkdp6RjadnlapsfveR6_KAjOrxV-BLMg4DJgMdcVXZ-A2alcWytVk3E_ZBoEcmEOONiXuVDQgxC6sNoN7O_KlxuVwl1PzG2XY/s320/spray+bottle+.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584479227804376274" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And ye, the Mighty Bad Cat was vanquished from the yoga mat, where she did desire to claw all that was dear to the practitioner, climb upon her contorted body and generally make a goddamn noisy nuisance of herself. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">-AC2 </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">PS: I (that's AC2) am in the midst of a 40-Day Yoga Challenge. Mostly I've been practicing at home because with two jobs (part-time obviously or I would already be rooming with Andrea Yates in the hill country) and the thesis deadlines looming ever closer, making it to public classes suitable to my practice level is something of a job in and of itself. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Enter <a href="http://www.yogaglo.com/">YogaGlo</a>, who have an amazing 15-Day Free Trial. I'm falling in love. It's dangerous. I've warned you. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It would be perfect, except for the damn cat deciding yoga time means cat time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My life is hard. </div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-49531306349480503532011-03-08T07:50:00.004-06:002011-03-08T07:55:36.002-06:00Daniel Craig would like to drag your attention to a matter<i>From the kitchen table of AC2. </i><div><br /></div><div>Today is International Women's Day (I'd never know anything if it wasn't for Twitter. . .no really, I follow several news sources there, in addition to P. Diddy) and is, in fact, the centenial celebration of the first one held in 1911. </div><div><br /></div><div>What's sad is how far we are from the hopes expressed for equality 100 years ago. Daniel Craig would like you to think about that. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><center> <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dIjiqeUx4fk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br />I want to be the person who had to find those shoes for him.</center><br />-AC2Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-32175034305633438352011-03-03T08:03:00.005-06:002011-03-03T08:08:13.683-06:00Single White Feline.<div style="text-align: left;"><i>From the couch of AC1 writes AC2. That's not confusing at all.</i></div><div><br /></div>BBC Comedy reveals the startling truth as to why so many cat-owning women remain single:<br /><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aYe1d5_LS0s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></center><br /><br />Oh dear. And here he's just been proclaiming himself as my thesis coach. <div><br /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhhva6nFrwEj98_eA540bBiUNY1M5Gxglf8BkN0eTl11uKsdzg4I-4U-T-yn_M5cwu_taMxpI0zFGnbbQK8XTYO7KXdRqgga8ZZTyVn3-m6nhNHRFD2kaov2qOWdbbtkIbIwBNnNQm0AQ/s320/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579854791055342850" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; ">-AC2 </span></div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-47273588646160279552011-02-24T12:08:00.000-06:002011-02-24T12:09:41.551-06:00SIgn The Petition!<h1><a href="http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/stand_up_for_women/?rc=fb_share1">Tell</a> pro-choice senators to filibuster the House's all-out attack on women </h1>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-37691652459730378642011-02-09T21:45:00.004-06:002011-02-09T21:59:49.215-06:00Free Jams! And not the kind you put on bread either. Because they're intangible files.<div><i>From the couch of AC2, Sparker. </i></div><div><br /></div>As evidenced by my last post, I am Not Hip. I usually listen to music that was popular when I was seven (ACE OF BASE 4EVA) pretty unapologetically and when one of my hipper friends gives me a CD or something I tend to leave it in my car for 12-24 months on repeat, punctuated by periods of me yelling at the radio for being horrible. <div><br /></div><div>True story: once in my old car the CD player was broken so I was listening to the radio and one song was so horrible I started laughing and immediately Shazamed it to see who it was. Answer? <i>Miley Cyrus</i>. There's your safe driving PSA, Texas. Don't play that shit on the airwaves and I won't endanger other drivers trying to Shazam the awfulness through my laughter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, aside from Twitter being a virtual goldmine of unintentional hilarity from P. Diddy and grounds for the millions of fights among sexually frustrated thirteen-year-olds who love teh Biebz, it also sometimes has actual useful information. </div><div><br /></div><div>SUCH AS: <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/02/06/free-legal-music/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29">This post from Mashable</a> which lists for you ten resources for getting your un-hip self some free mp3s so you're not reduced to playing your one passable Pandora station (I haven't even set up a Grooveshark account yet, I know) whenever anyone comes over. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tLPZmPaHme0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br />Do the creep. With my Pandora. </center><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>At least that's what I'm hoping for here. So far I have frightened at least one of my friends by excitedly playing loud music at her when she called me earlier. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Are you at a club?" </div><div><br /></div><div>I look down at the tights I slept in last night, through the lenses of my dirty glasses and the haze of the sugar snacks I've been eating all day. "Uh. No. I'm dancing. At my kitchen table." </div><div><br /></div><div>"Oh. Okay. I'll talk to you later?" </div><div><br /></div><div>"Yeah. Okay bye!" </div><div><br /></div><div>-AC2 </div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-21575308834823081232011-02-02T21:30:00.005-06:002011-02-02T22:08:29.736-06:00Winter is Coming.<span style="font-style: italic;">Oh hell I'm writing about fantasy. You know it's AC2 (Sparker). </span><br /><br /><br />Let's just gloss over the fact that it's now February and move right into something I'm waiting to happen on April 17th- HBO's mini-series adaptation of George R.R. Martin's <span style="font-style: italic;">Game of Thrones</span>.<br /><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8ixEWrTLiZg" allowfullscreen="" width="640" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe></center><br /><br />The<span style="font-style: italic;"> Song of Ice and Fire </span>series has been sitting on my to-read list for absolute ages and news of this going into production spurred me to finally order the books and read them, aside from the bit I read and don't remember from when I was 14 or so.<br /><br />Whether you've read them or not, if you're into fantasy this looks promising. The casting for my favorite character- fierce little Arya- looks dead freaking on, I am so excited.<br /><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A4BWRMfSPHM" allowfullscreen="" width="640" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe><br />Who's my little BAMF?!</center><br />I will try to restrain myself at this point from yelling about how much I hate the character of her sister, who is a dumb, <span style="font-style: italic;">dumb</span> bitch. Ah. . .that was my restraint. Ahem. They seem to have aged some of the children, which I honestly expected due to some of the content of the story; it would be difficult finding child actors to handle some of the things that would have to happen to them (Chloe Moretz cannot be in all of the things). I mean damn, this series is dark-- a reason I love it so. Beheadings! Incest! Rape! Murder! Betrayal! No one is safe; it's not black-and-white fantasy where you can line up all the characters on either side, with maybe one dude dawdling in the grey area. In this, everyone has their own agenda and also many of them HAVE THEIR OWN LITERAL GIANT WOLVES, HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Ahem.<br /><br />The cazzine* will be excited to find me on her couch for this come April, I am sure.<br /><br />Further selling points? DRAGONS AND MAY I AGAIN MENTION <span style="font-style: italic;">GIANT FUCKING WOLVES</span>. Where is my direworlf <span style="font-style: italic;">I want one</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://seantcollins.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/robb-bran-direwolves.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 442px; height: 293px;" src="http://seantcollins.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/robb-bran-direwolves.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Characters of Jon Snow (the bastard son!) & Bran (the middle son!) with their direwolf pups. <span style="font-style: italic;">Oh hai dad look what we found in the snow CAN WE KEEP THEM?! </span><br /><br /><a href="http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sansa-adoi-500x332.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 457px; height: 303px;" src="http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sansa-adoi-500x332.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>My favorite dumb, dumb bitch Sansa (Arya's sister, who they appear to have aged a bit from eleven) with her direwolf. <span style="font-style: italic;">'Sup. Just takin' my wolf for a stroll. </span><br /></div><br />-AC2<br /><br />*Cazzine=childhood interpretation of cousin, which has recently come back into vogue for usSparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-34808952781784544622011-01-18T20:41:00.005-06:002011-03-31T20:27:41.716-05:00The More You Know.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHm1XpXtEjKsrFIVov0jRD8vCldnXVCkMueQrH7efVh48orAuUOzP9ZTmV7gLbiz8pGL7lgH9AOpZbcJgBXPXUBJtjcA8A9WSoQXvhfFO632n5f98_fgj_FCbIJpvsqlSgBjJ5v40S80/s1600/aquatic+cousin+2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 115px; height: 86px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHm1XpXtEjKsrFIVov0jRD8vCldnXVCkMueQrH7efVh48orAuUOzP9ZTmV7gLbiz8pGL7lgH9AOpZbcJgBXPXUBJtjcA8A9WSoQXvhfFO632n5f98_fgj_FCbIJpvsqlSgBjJ5v40S80/s200/aquatic+cousin+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563724129662269362" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From the kitchen table of AC2, Sparker. (There is still Christmas stuff on it. On the table. Not on AC2.) </span><br /><br />Well then. More than halfway into that first month of the New Year, aren't we? And it has already been pretty eventful (not even counting both Aquatic Cousins being infected with some sort of long-lasting plague disease).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM YOU SO FAR, OH YEAR TWENTY-ELEVEN?<br /></div><br /><ol><li>Tragedy did not stay behind in 2010, as was proven by an unstable young man <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/10giffords.html">attempting to assassinate</a> Congresswoman Giffords of AZ. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/10green.html?_r=1&ref=us">A nine-year-old girl </a>and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/09/us/20110109-arizona-shooting-victims.html?ref=us#/all/">five other people</a> present at the time weren't so lucky in their escape. Nine years. Far too short a time to live.<br /></li><li>Okay. Let's take a second. I'm crying everywhere. Pause. Pause pause pause. Breathe. Okay.<br /></li><li>The world needs to remember: <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2280619/">mental illness isn't an explanation for violence</a>. </li><li>People will <a href="http://jezebel.com/5734084/your-astrological-sign-probably-isnt-changing-but-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted">go bonkers</a> over the Zodiac. And we are not talking about the serial killer.<a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/comment/39/2011/01/e62bbdab733402ffcd115e514002d2dd/original.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 424px; height: 550px;" src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/comment/39/2011/01/e62bbdab733402ffcd115e514002d2dd/original.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></li><li>Cabbage sauteed in butter is DELICIOUS. Less so when you leave the Tupperware in your fridge for two weeks. </li><li>Calphalon pans are not the same as cast iron and your Paula Deen biscuits won't be fluffy. Also touching that pan will result in an enormous and terrifying blister on the side of your hand. Great job there, freakshow.<br /></li><li>Gorilla suits. . .molt. . .a lot. Also you can totally manicure gorilla hand gloves. </li></ol>I think that about wraps it up. I'm sure as I attempt to (FINALLY) finish my thesis and graduate from grad school this semester, I will learn some other things.<br /><br />Until then, kids: <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">~*The More You Know!*~ </span></span><br /><br />-AC2Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-67960637627155890382010-12-31T16:17:00.007-06:002010-12-31T16:32:44.415-06:00Especially that last bit.I resolve, as always, to do all things better in the New Year. My favorite wordsmith puts it all quite well.<br /><br />A wish, a toast, a statement. See you on the other side, the lot of you.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs953.snc4/74637_560010582719_57802685_32576517_3202011_n.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 527px; height: 315px;" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs953.snc4/74637_560010582719_57802685_32576517_3202011_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Aquatic Pal Val, Moi, Aquatic Cousin 1. </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art-- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."<br /><br />_________________<br /><br />"I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind."<br /><br />_________________<br /><br />"To absent friends, lost loves old gods and the season of mists; <span style="font-weight: bold;">and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due</span>."<br /></div><br />-Neil Gaiman (brought to you by AC2)Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-25875590142053356992010-12-23T17:11:00.004-06:002010-12-25T15:51:13.342-06:00Our Lord & Savior, Old GreggIn honor of Christmas, the Aquatic Cousins offer you the following:<br /><br /><br /><center><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nn2h3_aH3vo?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nn2h3_aH3vo?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />A Very Bad Cat Christmas! </center><br /><br />Merry Happy Tra-la-la to you and yours- whether yours is a very Bad Cat, a very Floofy Cat, your terrifying and/or loving family or a strange woman next to you at the grocery store making chicken noises while choosing eggs*. Also if you don't celebrate Christmas at all, just use it as an excuse to drink.<br /><br />-AC2<br /><br /><br /><br />*This actually happened to me, today.Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-40975607793478562462010-12-23T12:47:00.007-06:002010-12-23T13:10:01.269-06:00We are good at lots of things...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_H0BT9DgttrY5CvMiJq3z6DpOqFWl9SctRtmGTzuID270JJDSry8ycXPt0aXu4K4ILZfXwAQkGQMUZ32WGvUmXFJiLUtfWd1y8SZxr_wG7CfrbbftHFQ8GEN8qyoc7Y6CyBlj6Ja277VC/s1600/166370_560389129109_57802685_32583607_3293881_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 343px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_H0BT9DgttrY5CvMiJq3z6DpOqFWl9SctRtmGTzuID270JJDSry8ycXPt0aXu4K4ILZfXwAQkGQMUZ32WGvUmXFJiLUtfWd1y8SZxr_wG7CfrbbftHFQ8GEN8qyoc7Y6CyBlj6Ja277VC/s400/166370_560389129109_57802685_32583607_3293881_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553956141971138146" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Merry whatever you're having from the Aquatic CAZZINES!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">(and Valerie)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); ">Here are your holiday trends for 2010 direct from us to you:</span></div></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">1) Hair Tinsel! I am rocking some gold strands right now! </span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5TPMmDcUk6WTQuNDjkBa9OQVv4bTAEsZscK598Tjqr5PXs0iQS6mIdDkGW8v0vsMVdo6xpBmT6cND6c0_VFyWdWxKaTGQR7DgjW0l07h-mU2MrlJ14jiIAG3q9Soz8PleYEmbj-dDifU/s320/p3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553952904274916466" style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 281px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">It is fun and festive for the Holidays! You decorate a tree, how about your head (see how I write in red to make you feel more christmas cheer) ?</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">2) Being de-friended by family members on Facebook! That is what it is all about kids, being with loved ones and celebrating the birth of our savior Old Gregg.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">3) The previously mentioned (see post below) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3iFhLdWjqc">Cat Patty Cake</a> video!</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">4) Old School anthems of female empowerment a la <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q96-e042bk"> Salt N Pepa!</a></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">5) The always adorable Christmas Trolls, I recently discovered that I own one much to my delight!</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJzWi0FUM_q05iF1mNsgTAfjeNhIU0p417iWBFRkM5Vs1VtaGoncvLBLDHWB_c0jguGCV-zdmRUaSgGUMp2Xn7uHYuekX4UHLLS0PEH3Sd814qneupUx4YqLXTQ4OC9Xv8E8kwtnByEwVk/s400/3880468431_1588c52510.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553955216265620082" style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 400px; " /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">6) Last but not least, getting hammered with your parents while wearing an adorable Xmas Sweater! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5ArUtcCxiABURlbxMhFbK7d8-4KD8FubgPqak8E9kaM9BqBY_GHP0gJ1K3aLrAfUanVHOXrpk2ZvHbcNb98GORQYC2o3v5d1GXGBDLGJSXV_fIUFVUB9jmCtLznMMInMjDk9E51tCrcn/s400/13952_537288642669_57802685_31905627_2632997_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553955983104830306" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 366px; " /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">CHEERS! AC1</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">* Cazzine aka Cousin as spelled by seven year old me!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><br /></span></span></div></span></span></span></div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-19019646074253423312010-12-09T09:50:00.004-06:002010-12-09T09:53:21.963-06:00Patticake Cats: I invented it. I started it.I will never stop watching this video because it is hilarious. Make sure you're watching it with the sound on- the commentary is what makes it. Whoever made this is my hero for all of time and space (right behind Captain Tightpants, that is). Thanks be to Aquatic Friend Christine for this and may all of the Patticake Cats in the world help her through 2L finals at the schoolings of law that she undertakes.<br /><br /><center><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X3iFhLdWjqc?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X3iFhLdWjqc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />IT NEVER ENDS! </center><br /><br />Bless.<br /><br />-AC2Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-78298453317532999492010-11-18T02:37:00.003-06:002010-11-18T02:39:33.377-06:00Trashy CrabsSee them or else<a href="http://trashycrabs.tumblr.com/">!!!!</a><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIpItrd9RTmYaCp_b5ISf11oCdL5W3JzXQjk-sh7t5Y4-1JpWAVOjt1U-qcQiqv5Yz16B7VWu0Lh4eUEHJ-YH4rHvo3nleu0qoGIXAvEIt5HgwFhENk-J5hZf2sjXff_KIaWeYxdsj4dPH/s400/tumblr_lb0swofnDw1qen4hzo1_500.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540806240625319858" />MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-43978718980341028752010-11-16T12:04:00.002-06:002010-11-16T12:12:00.179-06:00Don't worry you can just ask Joan!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMr0qvua0Uhyi2zGBO9wXpdfKZxqqDCkRhulZ0LeIG0gbpwjQOodfVNiv3Xa_QseykIF4eNjLd2vUm3iAXFuxOz5eQ49XCcmOHEva5yesCEvVOaMpH7KopaRGCc3dVIQvmc41pDUNIkDl/s1600/top-10-manhaters_10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMr0qvua0Uhyi2zGBO9wXpdfKZxqqDCkRhulZ0LeIG0gbpwjQOodfVNiv3Xa_QseykIF4eNjLd2vUm3iAXFuxOz5eQ49XCcmOHEva5yesCEvVOaMpH7KopaRGCc3dVIQvmc41pDUNIkDl/s400/top-10-manhaters_10.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540211766847261506" /></a><br /><div><br /></div>Having a fashion emergency? Personal crisis? Well never fear because Joan Rivers is <a href="http://au.eonline.com/uberblog/b211360_joans_mailbag_how_wear_hollywoods_hair.html">here</a> for you! Personally I think that she may actually be god. How else could she still be alive after having so much plastic surgery?<div>~AC1<br /> <div><br /></div></div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-23044150979669767302010-11-15T06:18:00.005-06:002010-11-15T06:52:51.789-06:00Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rain[bows]<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtKpeJQ84kfx-wLHC7bWDiFmkdMZK6394cRfcNr2FpxheW8IBube4nqq3qlejIR8LZs2cSphnfNoswi5Af_Q3tRjeTUWJTTi6vEShk7jbZLy1mRhGdrfXzTlYnRhwubKxcuocBF7pqzE/s1600/aquatic+cousin+2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 98px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtKpeJQ84kfx-wLHC7bWDiFmkdMZK6394cRfcNr2FpxheW8IBube4nqq3qlejIR8LZs2cSphnfNoswi5Af_Q3tRjeTUWJTTi6vEShk7jbZLy1mRhGdrfXzTlYnRhwubKxcuocBF7pqzE/s200/aquatic+cousin+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539750710706627010" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From the desk of AC2, Sparker.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Aquatic Friend Bonnie found this and deemed it my theme song. I absolutely cannot argue this point, as it has so far made my Monday 110% better and IT'S NOT EVEN 7AM.<br /><center><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eWM2joNb9NE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eWM2joNb9NE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></center><br />Now if only one of these would show up to take me to my soul-crushing job, things might be even better. By that I mean a pink fluffy unicorn with some sort of vehicle made of rainbows, not one of the embodiments of the kid singing this video. That would just be awkward. Unless he brought the cardboard keyboard. I'd probably ask to play it because it magically sounds like a xylophone.<br /><br />Cheers.<br /><br />-AC2<br /><br />ETA: I tried Google-image searching for a pink fluffy unicorn dancing on a rainbow, but somehow it came up with Paddington Bear and a shirtless Native American brave. Also Gary Oldman in some sort of flowing purple wizard's robe.<br /><br />I think I've just commissioned some sweet artwork FROM MYSELF. (Of a pink fluffy unicorn dancing on a rainbow. Not of Gary Oldman in that robe.)Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-61174878312612888572010-11-13T16:18:00.004-06:002010-11-15T06:27:07.933-06:00Veteran's Day<span style="font-size:180%;">Veteran's Day</span> may have been Thursday, but I personally feel our service men and woman deserve to be thought of and thanked more than once a year.<br /><br /><center><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XG11XbSADXE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XG11XbSADXE?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></center><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;">To every person who has served: Thank You.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">-AC2<br /></div></div>Sparkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16654176025905317995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296522106334515722.post-49804457224733093542010-11-12T09:57:00.002-06:002010-11-12T10:01:00.872-06:00Bout to do the Boot Scootin' Boogie<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7ESsetnsHiV5AIv-vXLsj11ygRDRIQkARVvx5o-0rVdQn0fiibQdW-jYJhk_oTNrfNhOb-cLBqRsqYKpYDMbpDHuuO8HlgMm6sFzECWywCHYOODw1Fk4lbOCGq4DI7hAgzBz69CasIRO/s1600/nelson.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 332px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7ESsetnsHiV5AIv-vXLsj11ygRDRIQkARVvx5o-0rVdQn0fiibQdW-jYJhk_oTNrfNhOb-cLBqRsqYKpYDMbpDHuuO8HlgMm6sFzECWywCHYOODw1Fk4lbOCGq4DI7hAgzBz69CasIRO/s400/nelson.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538693717065593090" /></a><br />Get ready to get your country on and click<a href="http://www.8tracks.com/mandiromano/thick-cedar"> HERE</a><div><br /></div><div>AC1</div>MandaPantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00706426543017670038noreply@blogger.com0