Speak.

The other day I overheard Anna talking to our dog, the conversation went something like this:

Anna: "Hey Greeley!"

Greeley: --

Anna: "You know what Greeley..."

Greeley: --

Anna: "Life is a roller coaster of ups and downs but it's one heck of a ride."

Greeley: --


Sweet kid.

Franklin said some things Whitey wasn't ready to hear.

I hate commercials but I love this one:


I have a feeling I'm going to have a child like that.

Spooky

Some of you may know my deep and loving relationship with the sci-fi channel series Ghost Hunters. For those of you who may not have realized how nerdy I truly am...well now you know and I'm okay with this.

Let me just tell you how excited I get about Ghost Hunters: You know that feeling you get right before you step on a ride at Disneyland? Or how about the excitement of seeing your food headed toward your table at a restaurant? All of these joyful feelings and more hardly compare to the geeky elation I feel right before a new episode of Ghost Hunters begins. To take it even further, I'll admit to having turned down dates in the past because they were on the same night as the show. I try not to do that anymore.

Indulge in my weirdness and watch this clip from one of the episodes. I want to share with you my love of all things paranormal and in this clip you'll learn the importance of the infrared camera during ghost hunting (stick it out until the end and you'll see a ghost).

No judging.

Lighthouse Jubilees

I found this gem posted on the door of a convenience store in Canada.

Ouch, my eyes.

There are two things that are guaranteed to make me sick to my stomach:

1. Some dairy products

2. Ellen Degeneres dancing

Now don't get me wrong, the girl is funny but the second she starts to pop and lock I run in the opposite direction...woof.  Watch the clip below and notice how her dancing gets increasingly disgusting as she gets closer to her chair.  Oh the humanity!

Birthday Dinner

Here are some lovely photos of Allison's little birthday dinner. As you can see there aren't very many of us since our friend group has decreased. Katherine now lives in Kentucky, Mallory was away looking for a house in Ohio, and Catie on a mission in Korea. Oh well, we still had fun.

Anna made these awesome candle holders. Her craftiness is comparable to Martha Stewart.
Also, here's a picture of Daisy when I brought her home from the vet after she had a minor claw removal surgery...if you can even call it that. However, I was so worried when I took her to the vet that I packed her a sack lunch with her favorite treats and believe me I was laughed at.

I'm seeing this movie tonight at midnight:

I only do it for Professor Snape.

Happy Birthday A-top!

Just a little shout out to one of my dearest and oldest friends on her birthday.  

Allison is one of the coolest people I know and here are some numbered reasons why I think so:

1. She has class, real class.  

2. Clothes fit her perfectly, she could wear a potato sack and make it look good.

3. She laughs at all my dorky comments constantly making me feel like a hilarious person.

4. Freshman year of college she ate an entire cake all by herself in one sitting thinking nothing of it.  Shocking, but truly amazing and of course she didn't gain one ounce of fat...I think I did from watching.

5. She puts 110% into everything she does.

6. Hosts amazing dinner parties.

7. She's on my top 5 list of best back scratchers.  

8. Always has mine and other's best interests at heart.

9. Extremely funny but in a random and sarcastic way, genius.

10. Even after 18 years of friendship we always have a fabulous time together.

I love you Atop, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Maine

Instead of posting the many pictures Anna and I took while in Maine, I decided to post only farm animal pictures and the special moments I shared with them, enjoy:

This was the only llama on the farm.  He and Anna despised one another...in fact, I recall overhearing Anna telling him to "adjust his attitude..." something like that.  Hilarious. 

Lobster.  I ate him, delicious.

A typical day of what I looked like the entire trip, an animal.  But check out the patriotic town of Lubec Maine behind me!

I LOVED the baby chicks, so sweet.

These guys were the life of the party.

My aunt and uncle's dog, Tippi:

Their other dog, Guapa:

My little cousin Eliza with one of the farm dogs, Gracie.  Gracie is easily the fattest dog I've ever seen.

That's my hand.  The calves love to suck on fingers, kind of gross but actually really cute.

Obviously I'm telling this calf something but I can't remember what I said.

We wrapped up our trip in Massachusetts.  Here I am in Boston on the 4th of July with perhaps my favorite animal of all, Anna.

We's all smart

The worst thing for me to hear from another person's mouth is "I'm just stupid," or "no I can't, I'm too dumb," oh it's awful to hear! I have always been sensitive to how people perceive themselves and when a person honestly feels that they are "stupid" or "dumb" the mother in me just wants to give them a big hug and say "no, not at all!"

I think our culture is caught up in the notion that if you get a grade below a C- in any school subject then you must be dumb. What people forget is that while school and receiving a good education is great--it hardly measures a person's intellegence.

Howard Gardner, a psychologist based at Harvard, has developed a theory of multiple intellegences. I completely think he's hit it dead on and if his theory was more widley recognized (especially in our schooling system) then I bet people would become more confident in themselves and really discover what they can offer to this world besides a report card from school that says "I can or cannot pass a math test."

Here is Gardner's theory of the nine types of intellegence:

1. Naturalist Intellegence: Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef. It is also speculated that much of our consumer society exploits the naturalist intelligences, which can be mobilized in the discrimination among cars, sneakers, kinds of makeup, and the like.
2. Musical Intellegence: Musical intelligence is the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. This intelligence enables us to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music, as demonstrated by composers, conductors, musicians, vocalist, and sensitive listeners. Interestingly, there is often an affective connection between music and the emotions; and mathematical and musical intelligences may share common thinking processes. Young adults with this kind of intelligence are usually singing or drumming to themselves. They are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss.
3. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Logical-mathematical intelligence is the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations. It enables us to perceive relationships and connections and to use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning skills; and inductive and deductive thinking patterns. Logical intelligence is usually well developed in mathematicians, scientists, and detectives. Young adults with lots of logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories, and relationships. They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments.
4. Existential Intelligence: Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.
5. Interpersonal Intelligence: Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand and interact effectively with others. It involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. Teachers, social workers, actors, and politicians all exhibit interpersonal intelligence. Young adults with this kind of intelligence are leaders among their peers, are good at communicating, and seem to understand others’ feelings and motives.
6. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Bodily kinesthetic intelligence is the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. This intelligence also involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind–body union. Athletes, dancers, surgeons, and craftspeople exhibit well-developed bodily kinesthetic intelligence.
7. Linguistic Intelligence: Linguistic intelligence is the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. Linguistic intelligence allows us to understand the order and meaning of words and to apply meta-linguistic skills to reflect on our use of language. Linguistic intelligence is the most widely shared human competence and is evident in poets, novelists, journalists, and effective public speakers. Young adults with this kind of intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing crossword puzzles.
8. Intra-personal Intelligence: Intra-personal intelligence is the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directioning one’s life. Intra-personal intelligence involves not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition. It is evident in psychologist, spiritual leaders, and philosophers. These young adults may be shy. They are very aware of their own feelings and are self-motivated.
9. Spatial Intelligence: Spatial intelligence is the ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination. Sailors, pilots, sculptors, painters, and architects all exhibit spatial intelligence. Young adults with this kind of intelligence may be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles, or spend free time drawing or daydreaming.
   
   *Info from: Overview of the Multiple Intelligences Theory. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and Thomas Armstrong.com

As I went through the list I could easily place people who I know fairly well into the different catagories of intellegence and it totally made sense.

It's my opinion that there are more than nine types but I think Gardner's theory is worth considering especially for those of you out there who are parents and/or educators.

If I ever get a tattoo...

Happy BIrthday Mal!

Today is a great day,  Mallory's birthday.  

Mallory,

I could name a billion reasons why I love you and why you are one of my favorite people in the world, but for the sake of my bath water is getting cold I will limit the list to 10 wonderful things:

1.  When Mallory gives you a hug you feel like a million dollars.

2.  Nobody's laugh is more contagious, it's the best.

3.  She shares my vision of a world half populated with muppets.  

4.  We both have a ridiculous love for chocolate chip cookies, we even wrote a song about cookies in high school. 

5.  She laughs at even my lamest attempts at humor.

6.  She isn't afraid to speak her mind.

7.  She is an incredible example to me, her life is a pattern of good choices.

8.  She married Jimmy and together they continue to blow my mind.  What a duo!

9.  She is the one of the most genuine people I know, she never tries to be anyone but herself.

10.  And lastly, she's the first person I'd pick to watch Goosebump movies with...hours of entertainment.

I love you friend, 

Happy Birthday!

The simple life

Anna and I had the great pleasure of joining our Uncle Pat and his family for a week and 1/2-ish on a farm in Maine.  Definitely a very different experience but completely wonderful. 

Tide Mill Organic Farm is the name and it's located in Edmunds, Maine...a very northeastern region of the state.   The farm is surrounded by hundreds of acres of trees, water, and more trees.  

Our days were filled with visiting and milking cows, playing with pigs, watching Anna gag from looking at the chickens, holding chicks, sea kayaking, hiking, making fun of the llama who hated us, etc.  Lots of fun and only confirmed that the hobby farm I've always wanted will happen someday.

We also had the opportunity to spend some time on Campobello (Campbell in Italian?) Island and Deer Island which is part of New Brunswick Canada.  Also spent a day in Acadia Nat. Park--very neat.  Unfortunately Anna and I left our camera at my uncle and aunt's house in Boston so when I get that back later in the week I'll post pictures and some pretty hilarious stories to go along with them.  

Stay tuned.

*heads up:  Anna falls out of a kayak and panics beyond belief in an upcoming story.