AWESOME!

I impulse-purchased "The Book of Awesome" at Target a couple of weeks ago based solely on its title. It's pretty entertaining. It started out as a website, http://1000awesomethings.com/. Basically, the writer just reflects on things that people universally find appealing and expounds on why these things are so gosh-darned great - things like peeling off a price tag in one clean peel, finding money in your coat pocket, and snow days. This has inspired me to blog a few things I think are AWESOME. Here goes:

Rallying as a team to come from behind to win the game. This is what my volleyball team did today. Granted, they went on to lose games 2 & 3, but they were excited and I was proud of how well they busted their butts against a tough team in that first game. AWESOME!

Waking up at 7:00 am and realizing that you, and therefore everyone else, slept through the night. This didn't happen last night, by the way. After Cori's cute moment, it was a rough night. But those rough nights make the nights when she does sleep all the way through that much more AWESOME!

Going through your memory box. Since my company is on a furlough this week, I have been scheduling each day with a list of to-dos. On Tuesday, my big to-do was to go through my filing cabinet and get rid of old or unnecessary stuff (phone bill from 2003? Gone) and actually create files for the piles of paper that have been building since 2005 (birth/marraige certificates no longer just tucked in a drawer, for instance). In weeding through old files, I came across things like letters from college friends, my English thesis, my old headshots (check it!), and the rest of the thank you notes from our wedding that never quite made it out (uh...thanks, by the way). Now I'm feeling nostalgic in all sorts of happy ways, especially for my dear college friends. Love you guys; you're AWESOME!

Getting a good haircut. Ah, haircuts. I actually kind of hate getting my hair cut because I don't have any loyalty to a stylist, so I end up making the same small talk with a new person every time. Also, when the stylist actually styles my hair, I usually hate it (they like to make my hair big and curly...I fight both those things every day), but I generally just lie and say it's great...and then fix it at home. But today, I got a good haircut. Granted, it took about 2-1/2 hours (Aveda Institute - new stylists, so it takes them forever), but it looks good, it was cheap, and my hair is finally manageable again. Plus it cuts my hair regime down even further. AWESOME!

When the movie/play is actually as good as the book/script. I love reading, especially children's lit, and a lot of the books I enjoy end up as films, TV shows, plays, etc. I also love movies, and sometimes a new movie coming out (i.e. The Help) inspires me to read the book before watching the movie (I have yet to pick this one up, but I'll get there...). Reading the book first usually ends one of three ways:

• I read the book. It's awesome, or at least entertaining. I then watch the movie/play/TV show and it's terrible. "The Nine Lives of Chloe King" is my most recent example. Granted, the book is teen fiction, which I generally enjoy, and the follow up is a pre-teen TV show on ABC Family, so I shouldn't be surprised, but despite how awful it is, I can't seem to stop watching it. It's like "Twilight" all over again.


• I read the book. It sucks. I usually watch the movie anyway, thinking maybe they found a way to make it better...nope. It also sucks. See "I Am Number Four" for an example (but actually, don't see it. Just trust me...it's lame).


• I read the book. It's awesome. So I read it again. And again. By the time the movie comes out, I'm nervous that it's going to be a letdown...and magically, surprisingly, it's also awesome! Harry Potter movies 3-7.2, Lord of the Rings, and The Sookie Stackhouse series (True Blood on TV) are pretty obvious choices, but I've got to give props to a really good play, too. I went out to Spring Green with my mom and the girls a couple weekends ago and saw "The Glass Menagerie" while I was there. This is a play I've only ever read, not seen, and it's such a classic, you figure any production isn't going to measure up to your expectations, but this one did.

(Paul was in a fantastic play called "The Cure at Troy," which was intense and emotional and captivating and wonderful. I'd never read it before, so it doesn't fit into my formula above, but that doesn't make it any less AWESOME!)

Saying you're going to write a blog a day for a week...and actually making it happen. Five days down...two to go! Come back tomorrow for new updates. AWESOME!

Talking animal videos. You know you love them too. AWESOME!