Tunes

I love music. You love music. Let's play music!

Here's my current playlist that's been on repeat for weeks now:

Bon Iver-Flume
Grizzly Bear-Two Weeks
She & Him-Sentimental Heart
Hurricane Bells-Monsters
Black Lips-Bad Kids
Bon Iver-The Wolves (Act I & II)
Dario Marianelli-Postcard to Henry Purcell
Joe Purdy-Wash Away
Bon Iver-Creature Fear
Portishead-Glory Box
Meaghan Smith-Here Comes Your Man
Doves-There Goes the Fear
The Drums-Let's Go Surfing
Sia-Breathe
Sea Wolf-Black Dirt

Enjoy!

New 'Do

Hello strangers! Today was so beautiful and exciting I had to share.

First off, the weather today was the kind of fall day I love; the ones that make me remember why fall is my favorite season. It was cool, the sun was shining and warm, and the leaves are every color red, gold, orange and brown imaginable.

To top off that, I went and got my hair cut today! Two feet of hair, four years of growth, gone in a heartbeart! Well, a few minutes longer than that I suppose...but look at what she was working with!

And then...SNIP! SNIP! SNIP!

TADA!!!!

In case you couldn't tell by my expression, I LOVE IT! I haven't had my hair this short since a terrible incident in 2nd grade which I never wish to think about again...and I definitely didn't love it then.

Lost (updates)

So I've just realized that the updates I was sending through my phone aren't getting posted. Grrr....

Anyway, I've been on the beach a couple of weeks and let me tell you...VACATIONS ARE GREAT! The day after I left Georgia, the rain started, and hasn't stopped yet. North Georgia is flooded to the max. However, life on the beach is sunny, awesome, and pretty much perfect. :)

And since my MIL has the bebes, I'm giving in to my hardcore Lost addiction. I just started season 3 and I'm pretty excited after the first episode. And I know it's just going to get better.

Til next time!

Addictions and Autumn

Not too long ago I realized how much time the computer was taking out of my life. When I realized that I was pretty to close to having an all-out addiction, I freaked a little, and kind of abandoned everything I felt was taking up my time, in a bad way.

Needless to say, running three blogs was a (fantastic and fun) drain on my time, and I noticed I was started to change things in my life to make more time for blogging. If I could do that, I should put that time towards other things like, oh I don't know...my kids, my husband, my tentative writing career?

Either way, I've found a good balance between real life and computer life, and while I'm not abandoning my beloved blogs, needless to say, I'll be posting...infrequently :)

That said, all is good in life right now. It's not great, but it's not terrible either. We're making ends meet most of the time, and the kids are growing in amazing leaps and bounds. I can almost taste the end of summer in the air, and I have to admit that I can't wait to see the mountain in autumn.

Till next time!

In Praise of Emma Watson

So I've loved Emma Watson for a long time, not just for her delightful ability to bring Hermione to life so beautifully on screen, but because she's just so darn precious! Only, now that she's 19, she's grown out of precious and straight into beautiful.

And while there are so many wonderful things I'd love to say about her, I've just now found out that my beloved Fug Girls have already done it for me. So, without further ado, here's their work, diligently cut and pasted by yours truly.

Enjoy!

Catching Up

So obviously, I haven't been blogging. I've been a little busy living, and I've also been trying to "disconnect" a little bit from my computer. I realized I was spening a little bit too much time on here, and not enough with my kids and husband and house, etc. But I also don't want to give it up completely, so here I am. :)

Life recently has been a little crazy, but in a mostly good way. My kids are growing up so fast, something I'm noticing especially in my 19 month old daughter. She's absolutely the most hilarious little thing! She puts on my high heels and clomps around the house, she pretends she's putting on makeup with my makeup brushes, she opens her dresser drawers and demands that I change her clothes repeatedly throughout the day...and she's not even two! I don't know what I'm going to do with her when she's older, but I guess what they say is true...our children pay us back two-fold :)

I'm not too worried that she'll be an ultra-girlie girl, something I wouldn't know how to handle, because her big brother helps her play in the dirt, and roughs her up a little bit, so she's a pretty tough little thing too.

All in all, things are pretty good right now, which is all that one can ask for!

Tourists, Traffic, Beach, & Homesickness

I'm still surprised with myself and how happy I am in this tiny mountain town. But, as a friend of mine put it, I can grow here, inside and out. Everything is green now, just like I knew it would be, and there are more bugs than I can put names to.

However....

None of that can detract from the sheer joy I feel about going home for a week. I am literally counting down the days, like a kid before Christmas. And the next 25 days are going to feel like forever, just like they did waiting for those presents under the tree.

Of course, me being me, I've already got this ridiculous itenerary in my head from the time I leave until I get back. Knowing it's ridiculous hasn't stopped me from planning it though. I know that as soon as I get there, all my planning will go out the window, but something in my genetic makeup won't allow me to NOT plan, so there you have it.

Ahhh, the feel of hot sand under my feet, cold, salty ocean waves breaking endlessly on the shore, tourists in neon speedos and too-short trunks trying valiantly to get out past the breakers on their inflatable rafts bought just that morning from Wings...the seagulls swooping and pooping, the kids screaming, dogs barking, the occasional low rumble of an engine as the lifegaurds cruise by on their 4-wheelers...

All of those things are integral to a summer on the Outer Banks, and every summer memory I have ties into each of those things. I gaurantee you that the people from the beach who are reading this now can see exactly what I see, and hear and taste and smell it too. It's just something that, once it's in your veins, there's no escaping it. You could move to Alaska for twenty years and still all it would take is closing your eyes, and taking a deep breath, imagining it heavy with the smell of ocean and traffic and sunscreen and hot pavement...

It really takes you away. :)

Okay, enough rambling, I have to go and make a list of everything I want to take. I mean, c'mon, I've only 25 MORE DAYS!!!!! Haha, just kidding...sort of. ;)

Today's song:
(push "play")

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello all!

It's been an interesting year all around for me, and my birthday this past Friday has been no exception. I haven't been really looking forward to turning 26, because it puts me on the downhill side of my 20's, and that much closer to 30. While I always say I think 32 is going to be a good year, I'm definitely not in any hurry to get there.

Anyways, I'd been planning my birthday for a few weeks, and I was really excited about it when I went to work on Friday night. It wasn't some big shindig, but for me, who never gets out of the house without going directly to work, it was a big deal. I was planning on going out for drinks with my new (awesome) friends, then spending the night with one of them, sleeping in, then heading to work at4pm.

It was a very long night at work, a constant thing and a huge issue in my life right now that I'm not even going to get into except to say- I work for my in-laws, my husband's father & stepfather. We are not the Brady Bunch.

But I'm not even going to get into that, right? So after a long night, we had about 30 minutes to go, and I was getting pretty excited. Then I was told that I had to be at work the next morning at 10:30am.

FML doesn't even begin to cover the depressed/murderous rage I felt.

I left work biting my tongue so hard it was bleeding and keeping a choke-chain tight hold on my temper, because I have to have this job, and I love my children. But I went straight from the bane of my existence that I call work to my friend's house to change and get ready, and that was when things got better. After a few minutes spent commiserating with her over the unfairness of our work lives (she was also not scheduled 'til 4pm and was told last-minute to be there in the morning), we gathered up her boyfriend and another coworker and headed to the local watering hole.

Things progressed at a normal rate from there.

Drink. Drank. Drunk.

It was a great night :)

The double at work the next day was really rough, and the double the day after that was possibly the longest day in history, but now it's Monday, and I'm off, and I've made a definitive decision that my birthday was a success. Thank wholly to the amazing friends I've made at work; unlikely compatriots in the struggle to maintain composure at the reality-tv-show-in-the-making-hell-hole we work in.

Okay, that was a bit melodramatic, and I apologize. I'm reading a fairly terrible fantasy fiction book right, and I think it must be wearing off on me, due to my diminished brain capacity from the offical "Longest Weekend Ever" and being sick and sleep-deprived.

Ali & Ryan - A Real Love Story

Something happened at work last week, and I feel like I won't stop thinking about it until I purge ala writing, so here goes.

When I introduced myself as Ali to a man sitting at the bar, he immediately responded with,

"Have you seen the movie The Notebook?"

To which I responded, "Yes. Yes I have."

He smiled and we started talking, and once we reached that inevitable point in most small talk conversations where I mention being married, the man said,

"Is he your Noah?"

I smiled and laughed a little, my first thought being "cheeeesy!"

But over the past few days I've thought about it, with increasing frequency. At first, because I was admittadly charmed with being compared to a character in such a beloved modern love story, something which has never happened before, despite having the same name.

But the more I thought about it, the more I really thought about it.

While our over 8 year long relationship has been anything but a fairytale, it's still been something we both consider ourselves very lucky to be a part of. We've hurt each other deeply, the way only those who love you can. We've made it over every hurdle though, held together by a bond that's been unbreakable, even when we've tried our damndest to break it.

Real love.

I don't know about "true love"; I think it's not quite the right wording for some reason. I've experience love that was true before, but it wasn't the same as what I have with my husband. Real love, flawed, impregnable, unbreakable; that's what we have. I don't really think he would or could, stop trying, and God knows I can't.

We can't stop, it's who we are. We aren't ourselves without the other.

So yes, I think he is my Noah. But better.




He's my Ryan.


♥

Thanks for the Encouragement!

Someone recently was kind enough to pinpoint every problem in my life, and casually state exactly what (they thought) I was doing wrong. Granted, they'd had a few drinks at that point. But still...

I'm all for expressing your opinion, but have a little bit of class.

The best part was that, after a serious, 15 minute dissection of why I should be desperately unhappy right now, this person said,

"And you're happy! How does that even work? Your life is shit, and you're still happy. That's either ultimate stupidity or ultimate optimism."

So thank you, kind soul, for your incredibly encouraging words of wisdom in my time of troubles. There is nothing like having someone who has nothing to do with your life make it clear that your way is the wrong way. Oh, and I'm stupid.

Actually, no. I'd rather be optimistic and grateful that I am alive to experience the troubles life gives us.

Being optimistic (and not a complete jerk) are what enabled me to simply smile at you after your rant; to smile and say,

"Thank you. Listening to you has made me realize how much worse my life could be. I could have my life, with your attitude. God that's a depressing thought. Bye!"

He who laughs last, laughs loudest, my friend, and I am still laughing.

Take a Deep Breath & Count to 10

A couple of weeks ago, the entire Northern part of Georgia was subjected to some pretty gnarly weather. We had high winds, rain, hail the size of golf balls, then the size of baseballs, tornadoes, and the weirdest green skies I've ever seen.

During all of that, we lost power, as we'd kind of expected to. After 26 hours without power, or a shower, since the well is electric too, we discovered something about our local power company.

They suck.

We're apparently about 3 miles outside the huge corporate power company that covers most of Georgia, so we have the smaller local company. And after talking to a number of neighbors, all of whom have generators, we noticed a basic line throughout all their stories; a combination of slight warning and simmering frustration.

Now we understand why. It takes FOREVER to get the power back on after a serious outtage. And less serious outtages happen frequently. Like when the power flickers off and right back on again.

Like this morning when it flickered off right when I was saving 10 hours worth of work on the computer. It cut back on so fast that out microwave didn't even register the outtage. The computer, however, registered it just fine.

If I thought it would do any good, I'd call the so-called "employees" at the power company, and vent a little of my current frustrations. However, I know it's useless, both because our neighbors, long standing haters of the company, have told me it's futile, and because Ryan tried it last time it went out.

So all I can really say is,

AMICALOLA POWER CAN SUCK IT!!

Back to work, grrrrr......

Finally a Friday Night!

Finally, after months of no life, I'm getting a weekend-ish reprieve. My mother in law is coming to town, and all she wants is for us to leave her alone with the kids.

Let me assure you, the hubs and I are more than willing to oblige her. She'll stay at our house, we'll stay at her hotel. Works for me!

The best part about it is, I can't wait to hang out with my new friends! These girls are so sweet, and downright awesome, I feel so lucky to have been basically set right down in the middle of them. Making friends is not something I do, generally. I get that that sounds strange, but it's true. I have tons of acquaintances, and few friends. Those I do count as friends are people I can go months without talking to, and when we finally see each other again, it's like only hours have passed.

So this Friday night I'm going to act my age, drink too much, and probably struggle at work on Saturday with a hangover and some embarrassing stories about what I did the night before.

I cannot wait. ;)

Skidoosh!

Sorry (again) for the delay in posting. But the weather is finally warming up, and somehow my house messes itself up when I blink, and I just seem to have a lot on my plate. And while it is one of my most satisfying treats, blogging often gets put on the bottom of my to-do list, under other things like...feeding my kids. And showering.

And I've found a new love (big surprise, right? I have a falling in love compulsion I think...it happens at least once a week....people, places, things...whatev. I'm full of love and it overflows sometimes I guess.)

Anyways, I've been teaching myself how to work with vectors, backgrounds, paint.net, and I'm slowly getting the hang of it. My next project is to make my own background for this blog...which I'll probably get around to in....a million years.

Tons of people I know have Photoshop, which I'm jealous about. However, there is no way I can afford that, considering I'm already living off mac-n-cheese and tuna sandwiches, but I found this FREE and just as awesome program called Paint.net. It's free and awesome, and did I mention that it's free?

Then I found about a billion sites with free clipart, copyright free vintage images, and free vectors. I'm working on getting them all together so I can post all the links and all that jazz.

Plus, I've realized that I've got these ideas for stories that are all kind of the same...which leads me to realize that there is something I'm wanting to write about, something I'm set on in my mind, but unsure of exactly how to go about it.

And, I've got two kids.

So life is busy, but I'll be back. Soon.

SKIDOOSH!! :)

Best music vid EVER!!

For some probably ridiculous reason, I can't embed this video. BUT GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW! It's the greatest music video ever! Oh, and the song is awesome too :)

Like Vintage and Free? Go here!

My bloggy-buddy Carolyn pointed me in the direction of one of the most fantastic blogs,



Seriously, if you like getting crafty, or just looking at awesome vintage pics, check it out. There are more free, vintage cliparts than you can shake a stick at! I'm lusting after enough free time to decoupage a box with vintage images...one day!!

Um, Edward who?

My husband watched Twilight with me last night.

I'm neck-deep in love/lust with him right now.

Find out why over here ---> ;)

Also, I'm feeling super excited about life for some reason, it's literally brimming over and I had to put a little bit of it down here so I wouldn't explode. Just sayin'. :)

Took The Camera-Finally!

So when we went for a walk yesterday in the gorgeous, almost too warm, weather, I actually remembered to grab the camera on the way out the door! Yay Ali!

Not to go off on too much of a tangent, but having kids seriously screws your memory capabilities. I was once famous for my detailed memory skills- it's one of the reasons I was such an awesome cocktail waitress...I never wrote anything down, not for a party of ten with all different meals and drinks. I just didn't need to. And I took it for granted. But after having kids, a large portion of my brain is constantly taken up with thoughts about them...even when I'm not consciously thinking about them. They've simply taken up a permanent spot in my brain which leaves it capable of nothing else. So now I write down all my orders, and still sometimes forget something, which drives me crazy to no end!!!

So back to the story, I finally remembered the camera, probably because it was right in front of me as I was walking out the door. So let me share some pictures with y'all! :D

This is the road I'm always going on about, that's cut into the mountain. My camera doesn't do it justice at all (I've got the oldest, still-functioning digital camera in the universe), but you can get the general idea I think.

As I was walking I was taking them (there's no stopping and setting it up with two kids who are ready to roll), so they may be blurry. This is at the top of the road-





















And about halfway down-





















And you can see the way it turns to the left down there
at the bottom-





















Onto this little road, which I'm in love with and want to live on-




















We always come on on this pond on the right-




















And Chloe starts yelling "DUH!" which is "duck", even though
we've never seen ducks on it-




















And Colin and I rush to turn around to see our favorite place-



































The little boy fishing was just so Norman Rockwell, I loved it-
The pipe he's sitting on is where that lake with no ducks across the street drains out of. All over the mountain there's drains like this, keeping the water in little pools and streams as it runs down the mountain.-
































And another view, because I adore it-
































I wish the brush wasn't on the left there, but I also kind of
like how it's all green on one side,
and gray-brown on the other-


















Then it's time to head back-
































And then my favorite time-naptime!

This Kid is FANTASTIC!

Makeup artist extraordinaire Amy Chance had this link up on Twitter, and I am SO glad I checked it out! Because this kid, Arlo, is the most fantastic dresser I've seen...especially since he's ONLY 5 YEARS OLD! And he dresses himself no less. Check it out here, and make sure you check out the slideshow link, it's awesome.

You gotta admit, this kid's got style! ;)

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

The weather today is PERFECT. It is GORGEOUS, FANTASTIC, and also AMAZING. Sunny, warm, with the perfect breeze to keep it from being hot. I am in love with today! And after the past few days (weeks, months...) of freezing cold, I was as ready as the kids to get out and play!

Ryan went to get groceries, and took Chloe with him (yay!), so Colin and I went for a walk around the area again. And while I'm generally extremely (overly) thorough with my stories, trying to leave no details behind, I've realized that today's walk would make for a very boring story. Play-by-play just doesn't quite capture the magic, so here's the highlights instead. :)

*Colin picked up two handfuls of dirt and threw them into the air above his head, scattering dirt all over him. The dirt here is so chock full of mica, that pretty reflective stuff you see in roads, that it litterally looks like someone poured diamonds all over the ground. With the sun hitting him, Colin looked like he was surrounded by a cloud of pixie dust, or a ton of silver Christmas glitter. It was beautiful, and he was so happy it was raining sparklies on him that I just let him do it, with a smile on my face.

*Colin adores watching water in it's various forms as much as I do. When Chloe is with us, it's go go go, but today, we spent 10 minutes holding hands by the side of the road, listening to the water running down the mountain, rushing over rocks and leaves and sticks. We threw the biggest sticks we could find into the pool and watched them float down the stream until we couldn't see them any more. We threw rocks and laughed together at the kerplunking sounds they made.

*A tiny little terrier puppy ran out of a yard we past and followed us for the rest of our long walk. When we passed his house on our way home, he stayed with us, running alongside Colin, or chasing him, or being chased by him.

I am in love with today, with the weather, with the world, and everyone and everything in/on it. Days like today are what I live for.
As close to perfection as I think we can get this side of heaven. I drive past this on my way to work. It's the wrong season (I took this from a local realty website) but still...gorgeous!

Completely Pointless. And Sexy.

I got sucked into Twitter for a good solid half hour earlier today, time which was already dedicated to putting away some portion of the laundry mountain threatening to take over the bed. As I'm sitting here now, I can see in the mirror the laundry mountain behind me. I'm ignoring it in the hopes that it will eventually all either a.) fall to the floor, where I will put it away piece by piece over the next week, or b.) all get worn in the next few days so I don't have to put any of it away.

Anyways, once I was sucked into Twitter, there was no escape. So many funny/silly/smart tweets to read! And the thing I love about it is that it's a quick and dirty form of communication. Not dirty/perverted, but in the sense that, since there is a limit to the number of characters you can use for each mini-message, you have no space for flowery, rambling speeches. It's like distilled thoughts, only the necessary keywords needed to make what you're trying to say coherent. Or not. It's entertaining to read celebrity tweets which are purposely vague or misleading, and wondering what they really mean. And it's even better because (most of them) actually do their own tweets, so it's like a quick connection to a star...and who doesn't love that? While people like Obama have staff members upkeep their Twitter accounts, others like Ingrid Michaelson, Tina Fey, and Dane Cook are on regularly, and often reply to fan's queries.

It was Dane Cook's page I was on earlier when I saw a link to something that made my heart stop suddenly, and then beat furiously, sending my pulse flying along with it. I wanted to share it with you, but beware: you may experience trouble breathing during and after watching this. I did.

DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE!









So...

How do you feel?


Yes, I know. It's a trailer for the new Terminator movie, starring Christian Bale. Probably not quite what were you expecting, huh? =)
Christian Bale is like lust personified. Seriously. His face, his eyes, his VOICE, his unbelievable acting skills, his ability to do any accent in the world. (He's Welsh in real life, by the way. You'd never guess it from his movies, all of which have a different accent. Just a little trivia for you. No, I'm not obsessed.)

And aside from the fact that he is really, really, really ridiculously good looking, and a great actor, he chooses the best movie roles. I mean, I've never been a huge fan of Batman...or even a little fan. But I watched Batman Begins, and went from completely apathetic about it to watching it every time it came on TV. And then Dark Knight came out...and I don't have to say more. A+, times a billion. Seeing him play the snobbish, haughty, gorgeous Bruce Wayne next to the haunted, humble, gorgeous Batman just makes him doubly hotter.


And Terminator, while I enjoy it as a sort of classic, something that brings back fond memories of younger days more than any sense of really liking the movie, and I'll watch it on TV maybe once every 3 years or so, has never been anywhere close to my idea of a great film. But you add Christian Bale to that (along with a slew of awesomely talented people in charge of location, CGI, screenwriting, directing, ect.) and I cannot wait to see it.

But the one I'm really excited about is Public Enemies, which comes out this year. Let me just say, whoever the casting director was deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Okay, maybe not a Nobel Prize, but something really awesome, like a chance to make out with Christian Bale......sorry, totally sidetracked myself. In case you're too lazy to click the link, or just don't realize what you're missing out on by not doing it, I'll give you a hint:

Christian Bale,
(yum yum yum

yum yum yum
yum yum yum
yum yum yum)











Johnny Depp,









Billy Crudup,
















Channing Tatum,





















Giovanni Ribisi,










David Wenham,






















Stephen Dorph,



















and

Rory Cochran

(from Empire Records!)


make up the male cast.



Um, can you say GORGEOUS?!?! I mean, how many good-looking guys can you squeeze into one movie?! And then, to cap it off, the female lead is played by





Marion Cotillard,


whom you may remember from her Oscar winning performance in La Vie En Rose, where she played the troubled and famous singer, Edith Piaf.








Also starring is Leelee Sobieski, whom I've always liked for her completely non-classical beauty, and her strangely piercing eyes, and her very quirky choice of movie roles.









and

Emilie de Rahvin,

who is best known for her character Claire Littleton on Lost, a show I've never seen before.











Also in it is Carey Mulligan,
who played Kitty Bennet in my all time favorite, Pride & Prejudice, and has a surprisingly large indie-credit list.










Needless to say, I'm excited to see this movie.

And now, some more completely gratuitous, and gorgeous, photos of Mr. Bale. And for all you out there who are going, "yeah, he's hot, but he's a jerk, didn't you hear him freak out on that guy not too long ago?", and the answer is yes, I did hear the entire thing. It only makes him hotter. ;) Trust me.