happy birthday to ME!

Today is my 24th birthday.



You may all love and adore me now.

:)

December was lovely...

I really loved December in blog land, my darlings. Like really loved it.

Here are some reasons why I loved it so much:

chatterboxes

*Ioana

*Rebecca Louise *Leah*Amanda

*Christy*Stephany

referrers

these are just personal blogs, not things like Blogger or Twitter or SITS

*Law:/Dev/Null

*Always Imagining

*The Namby Pamby, Attorney-at-Law

*Thanks, But No Thanks

*(in)sanity soufflé

what are you searching for?

how about some new searches? (not necessarily the most common...)

"12 Men of Christmas" Lifetime - I really enjoyed this movie...don't judge

k.b. dixon "a painter's life" - I don't know what this is referring to...

"her spectacles" or "her specs" or "her glasses" or "my glasses" or "my spectacles" or "my specs" "pics" or "pic" or "picture" - WHO ARE YOU??

studies nightmare - I've had them, she's had them, we all have them

"we all know it's just" lyrics - I don't know, actually

admin.check - Check!

the amazing race s15 e5 - more than one variation on this, actually...not a bad episode, but I really didn't think it was revolutionary, y'all

what is brazzlefrat and bendleshnitz? - it's from Gilmore Girls!

distance!

I think this is really interesting...and don't worry, I'm not stalking you and I don't care where you live (unless it's across the street from me)

Top Country: United States, duh. But rounding out the Top 5 are Romania, Canada, the UK, and the Philippines.

Top State: Arkansas! by a landslide, actually. I've never been to Arkansas, but I know a couple fabulous people who live there and the rate at which you Arkansans (?) stalk my blog just made it climb up the "to visit" list :)

People from 43 states read my blog last month...amazing! However, where are Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, Maine, Rhode Island, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming? Basically, why does the Mountain West hate me? I LOVE YOU.

Also, don't tell me that adds up to 51. Google counts DC as a state. Please don't get me started on that.

farthest away: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (7,510 miles!)

I am dying to go to Australia! It's VERY high on my list...and it'll be moving higher if I have lots of Australian blog lovelies, you can bet on it! {if only tickets didn't cost $1000}

most popular posts

by views & comments: feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling

Thanks everybody, let's make January even better!!

Year in Review

I did this last year on my old blog (I can't believe it's been a year since the transition!) and while I was waltzing through those archives I came across it again. I thought it would be fun to look back over 2009.

The first sentence of the first post from each month this year, followed with some observations about what went on during that month:

• January -I am in the process of transitioning away from a public blog to an anonymous one…and it’s a little bit difficult.

January marked the birth of Teasingly Diverse. I decided, for a variety of reasons, to move my blog and I haven't regretted it in the slightest. I also decided to try anonymous blogging for the first time, using the pseudonym "Chère". I started my second semester of law school, a little battered and bruised mentally, but ready to tough it out. I caffeinated myself with friends, and began to feel at home here for the first real time since moving here in August 2008. I pondered deep things, and not so deep things. I marked a year since I moved to France, and I missed it.

• February-You know you’ve hit a wall when you wake up early to study/research and then spend four hours cleaning your entire apartment to avoid studying.

In February I caught up on my 101 in 1001 Challenge, ranted a couple times, did my first book review on my blog, called you to prayer, shared my heart, and shared some laughs. I wanted to update you, and encourage you to keep thinking about this family. After losing their little girl last year, they're expecting their second child soon - and I know it's not an easy time. I felt overwhelmed, and felt wise enough to give some advice. I shared the first installment of my Windows to the Past series recounting my trip to Oman. I shared some of my rules for Twitter, gave away my first blog award ever, and enjoyed reminiscing about snowy winters without experiencing one for myself for the first time since 2004.

• March -A one hour conversation left me feeling…wiped out.

I began the month of March with family stress, revealed which kitchen accessory I most see myself as, and spent too much time talking about The Bachelor. I got an interview for a summer job (and later, I got the job!) and reflected on what it means to be single. I joined 20 Something Bloggers which completely changed my blog life and life life in a great way, and continued remembering Oman. I compared my classmates to the cast of Saved by the Bell. I grieved alongside one of my best friends as she lost her Mom. I went home for spring break and hugged my Mommy a little tighter just a couple weeks later, all the frustration from the beginning of the month suddenly seeming not quite so important. I ran out of blogging material and started an ABC challenge (which I just realized I never finished! doh!), sharing A is for Angelic, B is for Bananas, and C is for Change. The most important thing, though, was realizing that for the first time in a long time I was happy to be just. where. I. was. I found my new church at the end of March, which might have been the single most pivotal thing to happen to me in 2009.

• April - D is for Daring...to keep an open mind.

With warmer weather hitting the land in April, a new spurt of engagements continuously reminded me I was single, but I was okay with that. Finals became an unfortunate reality once again as the end of classes loomed, but perhaps my favorite thing was walking through Holy Week through Scripture, leading up to Easter. Grace set an example. I shared my love for IJM, and wondered why Britain seems to have so much more talent than America. We paused to remember Columbine, has it really been 10 years? I walked through more of the alphabet (which required sharing a dancing cucumber), mourned the passing of Bea Arthur, stopped blogging on Sundays, and the parting words of a professor lingered.

• May -So, it's been a couple of months since my last check-up on the most frequent search terms people use to find my blog.

May got me thinking about community, and I was concerned that my name is dwindling in popularity. Finals completely took over my life and a picture of a baguette gave me an emotional breakdown. I watched The Bachelorette under protest, started and failed The Shred, and registered for 2L. I was enamored by the pilot for Glee and had high hopes that my grandmother's hair was hereditary. This is also the month where I realized I was spending way too much time writing this post and have decided to stop linking...browse the archives at your leisure. I launched my 101 website, but this was my favorite thing in May (other than being done with 1/3 of law school):

• June - If you live in France, mai is a fabuluous month - there's about a billion (okay, more like 3 or 4) holidays...really, nothing at all gets done.

June was what summer is all about - frippery and nothing serious, or at least not much. I got a bunch of blog awards, did a bunch of memes, answered your questions, and watched The Bachelorette. I unwittingly got sucked into the drama surrounding the April Rose scam and had to call out my very first really mean blog haters. I worked at my job and worked on my 101 blog. I shared my deep love for Lucy and came to the defense of Sarah Palin, and later criticized her {sparking my first and only comment war!}. I wrote a tribute to Michael Jackson, like the rest of the world, and surprised myself with how emotional his death made me. The most important thing that happened in June, though, was joining a group of ladies at my still new-ish church and taking that leap of faith into the unknown and try to put myself out there more. It so completely paid off. I might also have road-tripped to see Beth Moore :)

• July - I like to make categories for things.

In July I came up with the idea for my Where in the World Wednesday series, which was a lot of fun throughout the fall. {ANOTHER shameless plug for guest posters, I'd like to start it up again! If you emailed already, don't worry...I'll be writing you back I promise}. I also started sharing things from my Google Reader and realized that, oh crap, I had to pack and move at the end of the month! Moving, my job, and a lack of funds combined in my missing one of my college ladies' weddings, which I was really sad about. I really missed Paris. I started Saturday Snapshots, which was a bit of a dud, but I might try to breathe new life into. I shared some of my favorite movie moments on Monday mornings. I joined a lot of you in praying for Stellan. Mostly I just ran around like a crazy person. Moving will do that to you.

• August - I'm finally back online at my new place.

I settled into my new digs and had to finally accept that school was starting yet again. That bitter pill was easier to swallow thanks to visits from not only my sister but also one of my best friends, my first 2 visitors since I moved here and within 2 weeks of each other! I enjoyed playing tourguide and tourist with both of them! I reflected on my summer and on the Republican Party, and wrote a tribute to the financial aid gods. I finally came up with an answer to who would play me in a movie of my life, one of the toughest questions out there {answer: Ginnifer Goodwin}. I attempted to find a new routine and got back into the flow of school, while still working at my job.

• September - Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor...

The bestie who visited had a birthday, and the month started with a tribute to her. My Ducks got humiliated by Boise State and then humiliated themselves after the game {but that's okay, because they're in the Rose Bowl tomorrow!}. Remembering 9/11. Big blog changes when I decided to throw off the invisibility cloak and not only share my first name but also my picture. My car died on the side of the freeway and Patrick Swayze passed away {nobody puts Baby in the corner!} I got a new computer and shared my deepest law school fear - getting squished in the stacks.
I saw (500) Days of Summer and fell in love with it. I tried to curl my pathetically fine hair to add volume, resulting in an epic FAIL. My heart was touched by the Sullivan family and their loss, and I wound up the month with my "little" sister's 22nd birthday.

• October - Wow. Just, wow. It's October.

In October I let my law nerd side show with a really long post about the Supreme Court. I remembered last October and it felt good not to be a 1L!! You all shared my shock that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize. Watching The First 48 made me realize that maybe I was learning something in Criminal Procedure after all. My car broke down again. My (formerly) favorite show debuted, but this year the Amazing Race didn't pull me in like it has in the past, and I only watched about 1/3 of the season (my time primarily being devoted to Glee and Top Chef instead). I picked back up my Oman Memoirs and saw This Is It, which was amazing. My favorite quote of the month came from Colbert {"speaking of things that used to be popular...Barack Obama."}. I ran away to the ocean which was a blast, but resulted in the absolute worst blisters I've ever had in my life. I have a silver dollar sized scar on my foot to remember the adventure. I moved back to Blogger and think it was the best decision I've made in the life of this blog, other than starting it of course. The month can be summed up in this image from WeHeartIt (which became the official source of almost every image on my blog):

• November - Oh my, you have no idea how much work this has turned out to be!

Holy crap, November. Where did you come from? All of a sudden, classes were winding down and I had to deal with finals again. Terror. Run. I networked a lot, and actually got excited about being a member of the legal profession again after meeting some absolutely awesome people. The trackball fell out of my Crackberry rendering it practically useless, but in the crazy of finals I didn't get around to replacing it. There is still a hole in its face. Maybe next week. I applied and interviewed for internships for next spring and got my dream job offered to me during the interview. The holidays peeked their faces around the corner and I decided to send some of you a little Christmas cheer. I stocked up on Peppermint creamer and spent Thanksgiving in Napa with family, which aside from the traffic was perfection. I started the 5000 Question meme, which at the rate I'm going will be finished in 2015. I guess that means I can't ever stop blogging until I finish! :)

• December - It's been awhile since I did one of these!

Finals. Ugh. December 1-16 were consumed with finals, some of which I felt okay about and at least one which had people in tears between the essay and multiple choice. I'd just like to pass that one! I decided to try something new and brought my iPod with me to the exams, so before and during the breaks I listened to the Glee soundtrack and pretended like nobody else existed. Fabulous idea! I handwrote all my exams again, and plan to keep at it in the spring too. I went into a bit of a post-finals coma, but came out of it long enough to spend some QT with one of my best friends who is moving here in just a couple months. Woo! I went and saw The Nutcracker ballet, one of my Christmas traditions, and potentially started another by going to the movies with another single friend on Christmas Eve. I spent the holiday with my extended family, doing not much of anything other than eating (my aunt makes the most AMAZING white chocolate peppermint fudge. You have no ideal) and the cousins watched Harry Potter. My 5 year old cousin cuddled up in my lap for the movie and it made me want babies. Stat.

I filmed my first ever blog video and had an epic month in terms of new visitors, comments, and followers. I'm planning a quiet evening at home for New Years Eve because a) I hate clubbing and b) I'm cheap. And while it's not in 2009, one of the best birthday presents I get is watching my Ducks in the Rose Bowl on my birthday. This was the first year in a decade I didn't set foot on a plane. I stayed right where I am, for the most part, and it was good. My life is turning into something lovely right before my eyes, and I have big hopes for 2010.

Thank you for journeying with me this year and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

over the top!

This sweet girl gave me an award. Seriously, y'all (I'm saying y'all because she's from Georgia) - she's such a great blogger. I wish I'd had this great blog community when I was in my teens. Go leave her some love!

This award requests that I fill out the "one word" meme, but since I've been sharing all these fabulous insights into my life, I'll direct you to my collection of 5000 Question posts. I'm passing this along to six great gals:

*Christy

*Amanda

*Leah

*Iva

*...Kate

*Caity

Thanks again, Tarver!

sloth

I've slept until 10 am the last two days...I'm becoming such a bum! Seriously...I have no desire to do anything but lay on my bed in my Snuggie watching I Love Lucy.

Which I've decided is what I'll be doing tomorrow night...perhaps not the most thrilling way to ring in 2010, but after spending 4 hours yesterday balancing my checking account (all the way back to Nov. 2008!), I'm so not spending money ever again.

The good news is it balanced perfectly. For every month. Since November 2008. And given my amazing math skills...this is impressive. The bad news? I spend way too much money at Target. I may have to ban myself. It was encouraging to see though how much better I've been this year so far (academic year) than last year...I guess having less money makes you more responsible with it? Shocking.

Yesterday I need to go grocery shopping, but it got dark at like 4:30. I completely lost my motivation to do anything, so I had a bag of microwave popcorn with white chocolate chips for dinner. I'll wait for you to marvel at how nutritionally balanced that was.

My Mom gave me Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for Christmas, which of course meant I needed to watch all of them again, so that's what I did yesterday and the day before.

I'm making reservations for my birthday lunch today (it's Saturday). Nothing fancy, but it'll be nice to get three different types of my friends together - high school, church, and law school. Hopefully that doesn't make the universe implode.

In the spirit of actually working on my 101, I requested a bunch of books from the library, and they've arrived! Woo! I'm going to go get them as soon as I stop being so lazy. So probably tomorrow, haha.

I set up fare alerts for flights to Vegas...I think I may be crazy, but I'm going (barring anything untoward happening). I figure it's my gift to myself for surviving second year. If I do.

Anyway, that's the skinny on my life at the moment.

And you?

head to the polls, all you twentysomethings!

If you're a member of 20 Something Bloggers (and you should be, if you're a 20sb!), make sure you go vote for the annual blogger awards!

Seriously, there are so many FABULOUS bloggers nominated I wouldn't even know where to start to tell you who to vote for. I'm discovering a ton of new bloggers to check out, just perusing the nominees list! I thought I'd share links to some of the bloggers that I read on the daily...go check them out, tell them congrats, and vote!

Nicole is Better * Your Wishcake * Erin * LiLu * Nora * Stylish Handwriting * Brandy {I just recently discovered her blog under less than stellar circumstances...keep her man in your prayers, kids!} * Jamie * Amber * Nikolett * Lauren

I'm sure everybody is worthy, but these ladies are in my Google Reader and I look forward to their posts every day. Congrats to you all!

félicitations!!

The holiday season has brought a super special kind of joy to some of my favorite bloggers - they got engaged! :) My Google Reader has been so full of good news this weekend!

So, to Nicole, Steph, Kate, and Carrie - warmest congratulations on your engagements!

AND and and...this lovely lady announced that she's having a baby!

Me? I got a Snuggie for Christmas. That's going to have the guys knocking down my door, I bet! ;D

you're a heart attack, just the kind I like...

91. In Star Trek people ‘beam’ back and forth between different places. What this means is they stand in a little tube and their molecules are deconstructed and sent to another tube somewhere else where they are reassembled. Only problem is when the molecules are deconstructed the person is dead. When they are put back together it is only a clone that has all the dead person’s memories. So…Is the person who gets beamed the same person on both ends?

• I hope whoever wrote this knows that they just ruined Star Trek for me. I'll pause for your laughter. Alright, you done? I haven't seen a LOT of Star Trek in my time, but I always thought the beaming was pretty sweet. Now I think it's kind of creepy. Since I think your soul is what makes you who you are, and your soul leaves your body at death, I don't think it would be the same person at the other end. And the idea that every reassembled person is a clone? Creepy. Memories alone don't make a person. If your soul didn't move on and instead just hung around to re-enter your body and it was REALLY you on the other end, it'd be sweet. I just devoted way more words to Star Trek than I ever thought was possible. I need to go read Vogue or something...

92. What insects are you afraid of?

• I hate creepy crawly things

93. If you could print any phrase on a T-shirt, what would it say?

• je fais ce que je veux - I actually saw this on a shirt in Paris and I wanted it so bad! It means, "I do what I want"

94. What’s the most eccentric thing you have ever worn?

• Arm warmers? Not really eccentric, but very fashionable. Let me tell you.

95. If you could pick one food that you could eat all you wanted but it would have no effect on how much you weigh, what food would it be?

• Pizza!

96. What are your parents interested in?

• My mom collects pink flamingos
  

97. Have you ever caught an insect and kept it as a pet?Have you ever caught and tamed a wild animal?

• Um, no. Never. And never gonna happen.

98. What is more helpful to you, wishes or plans?

• Well, it asks what is most "helpful" so I'd have to say plans. Wishes are by their very nature rather impractical and not very productive! Not to say that they're not fabulous, but I'd leave them to the stars and not to my to-do list.

99. When do you feel your life energy the strongest?

• When I’m by the ocean

100. You are spending the night alone in the woods and may bring only 3 items with you. What do you bring?

• A gun (momentarily disregard my answer to #81)
• A GPS
• A sub-zero sleeping bag to keep me warm and dry

PS - the fonts on this post are all out of whack, but I can't seem to fix it. And now I don't care anymore. Don't judge me!

help a blogger out...

Hi friends! I've been a bit silent round here, just enjoying some quiet time for the holidays with friends, family, and of course - myself! :) No big substantive posts just yet, I've still got to get back in the groove (although I've got a couple things pre-scheduled for y'all).

Still, I thought I'd pop in to ask one teensy little favor of my regular readers. You know how much I love you. And how my love for you grows exponentially when you leave me comments {hint hint}.

Well, here's the one thing you could do that would make my life (and yours!) so much better. Ready? It's easy. PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ON YOUR BLOGGER PROFILE.

I'll say it again, not yelling. Please put your email address on your Blogger profile. If you don't want the world to see it, create a Gmail account for your blogging separate from your personal account, or use your junk email - you know you have one, the one you use to sign up for things.

Why, you might ask? Well, let me tell you. When you leave a comment, I get a nifty little email from Blogger requesting that I moderate it (which I do, as promptly as possible!). If you have your email on your profile, I can reply directly back to you via email. If you do not, however...I just get a "no-reply" email address. The only way I can respond to you is if I actually know your email, go to your blog to find it (or comment back) or respond directly in my comments section. Sometimes I do that...especially if it's something that everybody else would benefit from too. But how often do you go back to check my posts for replies? If you're like me...not very.

I'd love to start getting back to you all individually, but it'd make my life a lot more efficient if you could meet me in the middle :)

PS - if you need a step-by-step on how to actually show your email address, check out this post from Sweet Simplicity...she did screen shots and everything! :)