A fun winter night with friends and family!

Photos: jbrandick

Whew!

With cars not starting, eyelashes freezing together as you walk outside and the silence that goes along with the bitter cold, you know it's been cold. Just waiting for some sun dogs... :)

Kind of cool! :)

This Year in Auto-Tune 2009

A little Christmas...

Photos: jbrandick

Symphony of Science

I can't seem to get it to post properly (shocking, I know!) but this would be an amazing thing to participate in!

Whale Song

Hm...

A great Hope fell

You heard no noise

The Ruin was within

Oh cunning wreck that told no tale

And let no Witness in

Taken from: A Great Hope Fell - Emily Dickinson

A little U2, a little Vegas!

Photos: jbrandick

In Vegas! Lovin' every minute! :)

“I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds.”

“You're not here to become an entertainer, and you don't have to sell yourself. The truth is you don't have anything to sell; being a musician isn't about dispensing a product, like selling used Chevies. I'm not an entertainer; I'm a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You're here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.

Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet.”

~Excerpt from "What's It For?" Welcome address to freshman class at Boston Conservatory given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory.

"Follow your heart, but be quiet for awhile first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart."

Author Unknown

In the words of C-3PO...

"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."

Is Gilmour really Falkor?

At work today

Someone at work today sang this song to me, complete with all the voices. I couldn't help but laugh, so I thought that I would post it here and perhaps someone else will get a good laugh from it too!

:)

09.09.09

HAPPY WORLD DAY OF INTERCONNECTEDNESS!

A little info...

How to celebrate :)

Something to think about too:

"By the way, if somebody tells you that it's all made up, they are completely right. That's one of the secrets to life, somebody came up with everything you see including all that business of changing of the guard and Buckingham Palace or whatever. It doesn't have to be old to be significant and you don't have to the one billionth soul served like it was a spiritual hamburger. Some things are meaningful because you say they are."
~Michael Skinner~

A few questions...

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

Hm.

Very true

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.

Hello!...Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?!

Ah, the memories...

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in North America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

Haha! :)

Observation

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

:)

Camping in a tipi. :)

Our tipi!

Hikes...

Walks...

View from our site!

Photos: jbrandick

Fun!

Cute. :)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye. - Miss Piggy

K-Country

Fabulous drive and short hikes in Kananaskis today. Picnic at Spray Lake, wading in rivers, and lots of wildlife made for a great day! The short but sweet getaway was just what I needed. :)

Photos: jbrandick

So that was fun!

OK. Frankie caught a sparrow.

Since my patio door was open he brought it into my place. I couldn't catch Frankie, so he took it into my bedroom and then released it. It scampered under my heaters and then ducked into a hole in the wall that connects the heaters between my bedroom and living room. Frankie was freaking out. I was freaking out. I got a flashlight and was finally able to see where it had gone and it wasn't moving at all.

I lock Frankie out and have all my "tools" ready. I took apart my heaters, grabbed my flashlight and pliers, grabbed onto the little bird and started to pull it out. To my AMAZEMENT the little bird was actually still alive. He "ran" and "flew" out and then went under my bed. I can only imagine what my neighbors though if they could hear me screaming from time to time (scaring the bird just as much too!).

I finally was about to catch it in a Tupperware container. I wasn't sure if it would be able to fly but to my surprise when I took it out to the balcony it flew away!

So, way to go Frankie for being a good hunter and bringing me a present, but I hope that word gets around that my balcony is one to avoid from now on!

A recent visitor...

Hm...

Well...9:30am and I already know it's going to be one of those days.

*sigh*

Photo: jbrandick

Word of the day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day:

higgledy-piggledy

\hig-ul-dee-PIG-ul-dee\

Meaning: in a confused, disordered, or random manner

Just kind of fun to say! :)

May long baby!

(a few photos from the weekend, chosen from far too many to post!)

Had a fantastic long weekend filled with friends, family, good food and great times! Big thanks to everyone involved, you know who you are, how you made this a fabulous weekend, and what you truly mean to me. Thank you!!!

:)

Less than 48 hours...

It seems like I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for Michelle to arrive, but now, she will be here in less than 48 hours!

WOOT WOOT!

;)

Short trip to Canmore today. :)

Photos: jbrandick

Hashima Island

~ also known as Gunkanjima - Battleship Island

Fun with Henna!

Before...

After...

Thanks Andrea!

Mmmmm!

Happy Earth Day!

Let's all do what we can!

:)

Hm...

Ever have a day where you simultaneously get the best and worst news all at once?

Boo.

Bizarre.

Surgeons find fir tree 'growing inside patient's lung'

The countdown begins!!

192 days!

Interesting quote...

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always gotten there first,and is waiting for it."

~Terry Pratchett~

New Math

A couple of sites to check out!

Chernobyl Today: A Creepy Story told in Pictures

100 Abandoned Houses

Love this!

Mix Tape Flash Drive

The only good thing about spring snow...

Sticky snow = awesome snowman!