what it will sound like when i fall in mushy, disgusting, reciprocated love

when you feel embarrassed, then I'll be your pride.
when you need directions, then I'll be your guide.
for all time.

[ ( ! ; . ? , : " ) ]

Happy National Punctuation Day!


In light of this national holiday of ours, may we all be keenly aware when using "your" or "you're".


Love,
Mara



(thanks to Julie for telling me about this glorious holiday)

two exciting matters

#1-

I have been dwelling in a scene-kidesque desire for a bike for a while now. But I run into a few issues. The issues being named Bikes Are Pricey and I Am The Height Of An Eight-Year-Old. So I have told people the Perfect Bike would be at a garage sale, beckoning me with its perfection and inexpensiveness. I found one back in August at a garage sale and it was only $5, but it didn't have a seat and I decided that was an important part to a bike, so I kissed it goodbye. But this weekend, my friend David and I went to a garage sale and I FOUND THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. SURE, David had to tighten the brakes a little and my sizable rear sometimes moves the seat over big bumps, but it is perfect and $20 and I love it. Step 2-- Making sure I remember how to ride a bike. . .




#2

For your good music fix, look up a band called Lesser Birds of Paradise. The song "Take the Leaves" is on YouTube.



I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what kind of message that music video is trying to tell me, but I love the song nonetheless. Go to their myspace if you like it and listen to their kick-a rendition of "You Are My Sunshine".


fact: life is a crazy b.
mara.

the best way out will always be straight through

It seems to me as though it is the breakup season. This season appears out of nowhere every once and a while. No one really sees it coming until it stands three inches from your ear and is all, GOTCHA!

As I watch people I love go through this season, I feel compelled to give some words of advice from an Experienced Professional. Breakups and I have an unfortunately close relationship. It's like that friend that you don't really want. My friend Breakups follows me around, kinda slinky and in the shadows. And I'm all, dude, kindly find your own niche and back that ass up. But to no avail.

So basically what I'm saying is that breakups. totally. suck. And the best thing you can POSSIBLY DO, is to live in it. There will be some days where you will love yourself and think that anyone would be SO LUCKY to mother or father your future children. And then there will also be days that suck and the lingering thought of dying alone will make you want to die. I say all this because it is just the way the world works. But if you surround yourself with those wonderful friends who make you feel like you don't suck at life, things get a lot easier a lot faster. It takes time, but, dude, Jesus takes that time to say, HELLO! The world works out the way it's supposed to work, I'VE GOT IT UNDER CONTROL. And then you start to forgive and love pretty much everyone no matter what** and see the world in that silver-lining kind of way that is truly quite sickening.


This, is what I'm saying.


love,
mara

**this part takes time. please do NOT confuse me with one of those people who gives you about a 48 hour grace period and then tells you that MY GOD, MAN. YOU HAVE GOT TO GET OVER IT. what is with those people?!

everyone has talents

I just felt as though it was IMPERATIVE that you all know that I completed a hard level sudoku for the first time in my life today.

What? You'd like proof?




Thank you for your time.

mara

13.1 miles of [expletive] bliss

This past weekend, I went to Chicago with my sisters and brother-in-law. Chicago is a beautiful city and I WILL live there one day, but that is neither here nor there. The main reason we went is because my sisters have been training for their first half marathon-- which, in case anyone was wondering, would be a Mara.

Anyway, it rained a God-forsaken amount this weekend, and they STILL RAN. IN THE RAIN*. Which was impressive enough that Jon, Luke and I managed to not end our lives as we stood in the torrential downpour desperately trying to find my sisters and our friend Katie Lewis while sacrificing our lives to protect our laptops. It was an act of God that we found my sisters, and then widdleTatie standing in the middle of a crowd holding her dislocated shoulder. Something that I didn't see, but the mental image of her standing in the rain amidst a crowd of 15,000ish people looking for us is depressing but also so funny that I laugh out loud (lol.) thinking about it.

Anyway. THEY DID SO WELL. and I am like a proud mama.







*This is an amazing feat (HAHA!) but the the price is high (see below) and the victory seems to me as though it would be relatively not worth it. But then again, I didn't do any running.


The post-race toes of a runner featured in this blog whose name I have chosen to omit for security purposes and also a sense of dignity.

love,
mara

to whom it may concern

To the cute guy on the Chicago subway that was sitting across the aisle from me,

You should move to Kansas City and pursue me. Because our kid would be EVEN CUTER THAN THAT. I'll be awaiting your love letter, babe.

Love,
Mara

i'm not crying, it's just been raining... on my face

My weekend was pretty amazing. But enough about that.


I've decided that I should be forcing my own passions upon you all. My first tactic at achieving this will be to start a Series of Music That Will Change Your Life In A Positive Manner Boi. The first installment of this Series will feature a wonderful duo from New Zealand called Flight of the Conchords. They recently started a television on HBO and are wicked amazing. It was a hard selection as far as which song I thought would get you hooked on them, but I decided to show you "Rain Ballad (I'm Not Crying)". So, friendz, enjoy.*







*What's that you say? You love Flight of the Conchords and want more? I knew you would, you know. Look for "Business Time", "Part Time Model", and "If You're Into It". "Bret, You've Got It Going On" is also pretty life-changing.

a story about buttons

Let me tell you a sweet story:

So there's this thing called Etsy, right? And basically it's where people make things, like art or jewelry or clothes or anything you can think of really, and you can buy it on this website. And it's very awesome. So I found this right that I loved, right? So I buy it. And it came yesterday in this package with a note that said:

"Hi, Mara! I hope you like the ring! I threw in a pair of earrings for you too. I hope you like them!"

And PEOPLE, this is like the greatest thing anyone has ever done for me. I don't know this woman, and she just gives me these real cute earrings! And they're just buttons on studs so it's not like they are extravagant but they are wicked cute and HOW NICE IS SHE?! I tend to overreact to things like this because when Jesus is present in people, it makes my life a better place.

Anyway, I'll probably write her a thank you letter and creep her out but if you think I'm not okay with that? you're totally wrong.

The weather is beautiful and I have wicked awesome friends.

Love,
Mara.

love.

life is full of beautiful contradictions

seemingly insignificant things that make me significantly upset:
-"chill out"/"relax"/"calm down"
-the horrendous noise of the girls' bathroom door at Radina's
-"you shouldn't feel that way." ("I will tell you what is appropriate to feel")
-people assuming that everyone from a large city is high maintenance
-Bear Grylls
-people tuning out the sound of my voice
-people editing my papers and crossing out what is CORRECT grammar to replace with INCORRECT grammar


seemingly insignificant things that make me significantly happy:
-finding grammatical errors in textbooks
-the fact that I create some wicked awesome Pandora stations
-cookbooks
-balancing my bank account to find out that the math TOTALLY ADDS UP CORRECTLY
-coffee that gets room temperature and is still delicious
-feeling needed
-when I unplug my laptop and it gives me a good 5 minutes before turning off completely (rare. but mind-numbingly beautiful.)


amen.