#57: Make a list of 100 things that make me happy

1. My toes in the sand
2. Sunshine
3. Palm trees in December
4. My family and friends
5. Pedicures
6. Sephora
7. New shoes
8. Being blonde
9. Bubbly
10. Bubble baths
11. Flowers, unexpectedly
12. Peeenk things
13. Snuggling on the sofa
14. Quiet time
15. The smell of books
16. Christmas
17. Hot coffee
18. Yorkshire pudding and roast beef
19. Sunday mornings
20. Brunch
21. Sushi
22. Swimming
23. Reading
24. Making lists
25. Checking items off those lists
26. Coupons
27. Writing
28. Love notes
29. Birthdays
30. High heels
31. Wine
32. Surprising other people
33. Baking
34. Trying new recipes
35. Cashmere
36. Heated blankets
37. Slippers
38. Glossy magazines
39. BBQ
40. Kaleidoscopes
41. Thanksgiving
42. The library
43. Ballet
44. How I feel *after* the gym
45. Shopping
46. The Georgia mountains
47. My hometown
48. Celebration in the Oaks
49. Beignets and cafe au laits
50. British spellings (behaviour, colour, etc)
51. Napa Valley
52. Eggs over-easy with toasted rosemary bread and butter
53. Pumpkin
54. The beach
55. Salt water
56. The smell of sunscreen
57. Taking walks
58. Riding the streetcar
59. Fairs
60. Travelling
61. Planning
62. A clean home
63. Old movies
64. Barnes & Noble
65. Filling in my budget
66. Chocolate croissants
67. Confetti
68. Date nights
69. When my "skinny" jeans get loose
70. Baseball on a warm summer night
71. 3... 2... 1... Happy New Year!
72. Driving fast with no traffic
73. Unscheduled days
74. Cozy socks
75. Research
76. Dessert
77. Updating the Netflix queue
78. Obscure words
79. Sudoku
80. Foreign films, in general
81. Dancing
82. Gooey brownies, straight from the oven
83. Dreaming
84. Santa Claus
85. Cleaning out my in-box
86. Organizing
87. Making packing lists
88. Mittens, in theory
89. Happy hour
90. New contacts
91. Ripe nectarines
92. Cocktail parties
93. Rain
94. Watching fireworks
95. New nail polish
96. Lip gloss
97. Summer
98. Bathing suits
99. Looking through photo albums
100. Sculpture gardens

#50: Read 10 new books (completed!)

Started 11-17-08
Completed 01-02-10
1. The Testament, John Grisham
2. The Partner, John Grisham
3. The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks
4. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
5. Girls Night In, Meg Cabot, Jen Weiner, Sophie Kinsella, others.
6. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, Tucker Max
7. The Verdict, John Grisham
8. The Night Buffalo, Guillermo Arriaga
9. Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
10. Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger

In the interim, I present: my purse!

Contents:
1 camera
1 memory stick reader/USB transfer drive
1 chapstick
1 lip pencil
2 lip glosses
1 lip balm
1 lip stain/stick
1 package of blotting papers
9 first aid related items, including but not limited to:
-floss
-asprin
-shout wipe
3 highlighters:
-1 blue
-1 yellow
-1 pink
1 pencil
3 pens
1 flash drive
1 mini binder clip
1 necklace
1 hair barrette
1 pink birthday candle (slightly used)
1 driver’s license (class E)
4 coupons for 5 free wings at Plucker’s
1 parking stub (from December)
3 love notes from The Husband (awwww)
2 Visa gift cards (used)
2 Costco coupons (expired)
13 receipts (assorted)
1 Barnes and Noble gift card (not used—yet)
7 business cards (self)
4 business cards (others)
4 random notes to self
1 stack of sticky notes
$6.69 in change
$26 in cash

Missing:
1 cell phone (answers to the name Louis)
1 wallet (answers to the name Bob)

In other news, I think I'm a pretty good bet for the next time you have a scavenger hunt.

Lessons learned today (all before noon!)

1. The day you decide to replace your lost ID card will be the day that the line stretches out the door and onto the street.

2. It takes an entire family to get one 18 year old's new driver's license.

3. The state of Texas will take a new photo when you order your new replacement.

4. The state of Texas will also require you to fill out another ID application form, despite verifying that all your originally provided information is still current.

5. Despite you writing your address "Grey Fox Road," the Public Safety employees will enter it as "Greyfox Road" just because they can.*

6. Getting your replacement ID is a quick and easy way to gain an inch in height. Woohoo!

*The street name mentioned is fictional and any resemblance to your street name is purely coincidental.

Sophie has a posse.

Indeed she does. ;-)
Please to be checking out Miss Circe's page for linky-loos on Sophie, Tulane and the lawsuit.

I'm thisclose to taking my ball and going home.

Dear Blogger and/or Google Gods and/or Lords of These Intertubez,

What the heck, man? We had a beautiful thing going, or so I thought. I signed in every morning, glanced through my blog reader, answered e-mails and then, every so often, contributed something semi-witty to this little blog.

But lately, you've been acting a little strange... dare I say, distant? A bit passive-agressive?

You deny me access, declaring my browser incompatable, or the interweb inaccessable... You give me only a few of the editing buttons, allowing me to type but not publish or type only in the font you like, or not make clickable links at all.

You fail to update the blog reader, so I don't know what all those other bloggers are saying the minute they're saying it and oh my dear lord, do you know what that's like in this age of instant gratification?!

And now, oh Lords of These Intertubez, you've gone and yanked my access to Facebook and Twitter.

::sigh::

I mean, SRSLY. It's as though you've read through the playbook of dysfunctional high school relationships, also known as: How to Get Her to Break-up With You in 5 Easy Steps.

It's cool if you need some time alone to figure things out. I just wish you were mature enough to just say it. Yeah, I went there.

XOXO,
Ashley-cita

PS- See you tomorrow? Maybe? Call me.

How Netflix gets your movies so fast (article)

Like this reporter, I, too, thought that the Netflix DVD/movie delivery system was run via magic-- fairies and nimble-fingered elves-- alas, this article proves me wrong.

I've used Netflix since their humble beginnings, when the local video shop couldn't keep up with all those random documentaries and foreign films required by my fabulous film history professor in college. I lub them and their service, so this was tres cool to read.