happy halloween
Posted by the girl at 6:00 AM
2 comments
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
status
I am sore. My shoulder feels like someone sucker punched it really hard. My arm feels incapacitated as a response. Feeble and helpless. Sad. I feel crampy too. Bloated. I can't shower until after Wednesday and my boyfriend has disappeared to the Sunshine Coast for work until sometime next week. Did I mention it's cold and raining outside?
There was nothing else to do except go to MEC and buy a pair of fleece pants, do laundry and watch a movie.
There was nothing else to do except go to MEC and buy a pair of fleece pants, do laundry and watch a movie.
Posted by the girl at 5:07 PM
1 comments
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Saturday, October 27, 2007
cut it out
There was a pin prick and a faint numbing when the anesthetic was pushed under my skin through a tiny needle. I began to feel nauseous and nervous. I did not anticipate any of this when my wheels made the leaves crackle beneath them as I rode to the doctor's office. I felt drops of cool fluid flow into my tiny ravine made by the bones and flesh of my collar. The wetness ran across my shoulder and down my back. Dr. Irving swabbed the area with a disinfectant.
I could feel my skin separate from the pressure of the blade. I knew there was blood but couldn't feel it. The entire surface of my skin tensed and my blood rushed in an automatic response to flee this danger. I begged myself to not vomit or pass out and I screeched involuntarily as the doctor clamped and tugged and tugged and clamped. He asked me questions and my mind reeled and I spoke random thoughts, a stream of consciousness and facts came gurgling out of me..
I have a cat. She is white. Her name is Ruby. My apartment is a mess. I need to do laundry. I want to go home. This hurts. I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this. Can it be over now. I will not throw up. I feel like I am going to pass out. OUCH. OK. Stay calm. How much longer? Minutes or seconds? OUCH. OUCH. My arm! There was a shooting pain up down my arm. Oh my god ohmygodohmygod..
I lay there wondering if I could ever endure childbirth. I tried to actually notice that nothing was actually painful but rather just so disturbing and invasive. I knew I had an opening in my skin. I knew my skin has been clamped back and I knew someone was digging around and snipping something away from the body that created it. It was a mini, tiny C- section below my shoulder and I was begging for it to be over.
And then it was. I could feel my skin being tugged and stitched back together. I started to relax. Disinfectant squirted over the fresh wound and bit of dressing and bandages applied. That was it. It seemed like it would last forever but it was over in 5 minutes and my body no longer housed a lipoma, but I was not handed a tiny bundle wrapped in cloth.
Instead, blobs of yellowish, shiny, tissue material lay bloody on a stainless steel table looking
...deceptively... like organic chicken.
I could feel my skin separate from the pressure of the blade. I knew there was blood but couldn't feel it. The entire surface of my skin tensed and my blood rushed in an automatic response to flee this danger. I begged myself to not vomit or pass out and I screeched involuntarily as the doctor clamped and tugged and tugged and clamped. He asked me questions and my mind reeled and I spoke random thoughts, a stream of consciousness and facts came gurgling out of me..
I have a cat. She is white. Her name is Ruby. My apartment is a mess. I need to do laundry. I want to go home. This hurts. I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this. Can it be over now. I will not throw up. I feel like I am going to pass out. OUCH. OK. Stay calm. How much longer? Minutes or seconds? OUCH. OUCH. My arm! There was a shooting pain up down my arm. Oh my god ohmygodohmygod..
I lay there wondering if I could ever endure childbirth. I tried to actually notice that nothing was actually painful but rather just so disturbing and invasive. I knew I had an opening in my skin. I knew my skin has been clamped back and I knew someone was digging around and snipping something away from the body that created it. It was a mini, tiny C- section below my shoulder and I was begging for it to be over.
And then it was. I could feel my skin being tugged and stitched back together. I started to relax. Disinfectant squirted over the fresh wound and bit of dressing and bandages applied. That was it. It seemed like it would last forever but it was over in 5 minutes and my body no longer housed a lipoma, but I was not handed a tiny bundle wrapped in cloth.
Instead, blobs of yellowish, shiny, tissue material lay bloody on a stainless steel table looking
...deceptively... like organic chicken.
Posted by the girl at 2:00 PM
3 comments
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Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
in the distance
I love going home to the Prairies.
Lots of old truck photos are up. Lots of Prairie shots. Go look.
When I die, my ashes will be spread through the ditches and dirt roads of the of rural Alberta to mingle with the wild roses and wheat fields. Hopefully someone can get an old pick up truck and just roll down the window while going 80 down a gravel road and let it fly.
Posted by the girl at 12:16 PM
1 comments
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sweets for the sweet
Check out this candy store website.
Posted by the girl at 7:37 AM
0 comments
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
when in blog block- borrow
The longest one-syllable word in the English language is
“screeched.”
“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters
“mt”.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe.
The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.
Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the
English language.
“Underground” is the only word in the English language that
begins and ends with the letters “und.”
There are only four words in the English language which end
in”-dous” tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
The longest word in the English language, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary,
is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
The only other word with the same amount of letters is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
The longest place-name still in use is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimau
ngahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill.
Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la
Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula” and can be
abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, “L.A.”
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
In most advertisments, including newspapers, the time displayed
on a watch is 10:10.
Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button.It was eliminated
when he was sewn up after surgery.
Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.
Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.
Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have
the same pattern of whiskers.
Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the
book ‘The Naked Lunch’.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses
II who fathered over 160 children.
There is a seven letter word in the English language that
contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters,
“therein” the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are
registered blood donors.
John Larroquette of “Night Court” and “The John Larroquette
Show” was the narrator of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in
Frank Capra’s “Its A Wonderful Life”
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw
up.The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of
it’s mouth.Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the
stomach’s contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully
ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
The male gypsy moth can “smell” the virgin female gypsy moth
from 1.8 miles away.
The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.
The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the
creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z,
hence “Oz.”
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.
To “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a
statement made by swearing on their testicles.
The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different
ways.The following sentence contains them all “A rough-coated,
dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough;
after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct
order, as does arsenious, meaning “containing arsenic.”
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the
Australian coat of arms for that reason.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.
The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase
“Shah Mat,” which means “the king is dead”.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days
of lore when the engines were pulled by horses.The horses were stabled
on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight
“screeched.”
“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters
“mt”.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe.
The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.
Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the
English language.
“Underground” is the only word in the English language that
begins and ends with the letters “und.”
There are only four words in the English language which end
in”-dous” tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
The longest word in the English language, according to the
Oxford English Dictionary,
is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
The only other word with the same amount of letters is
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
The longest place-name still in use is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimau
ngahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill.
Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la
Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula” and can be
abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, “L.A.”
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
In most advertisments, including newspapers, the time displayed
on a watch is 10:10.
Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button.It was eliminated
when he was sewn up after surgery.
Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.
Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.
Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have
the same pattern of whiskers.
Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the
book ‘The Naked Lunch’.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses
II who fathered over 160 children.
There is a seven letter word in the English language that
contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters,
“therein” the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are
registered blood donors.
John Larroquette of “Night Court” and “The John Larroquette
Show” was the narrator of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in
Frank Capra’s “Its A Wonderful Life”
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw
up.The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of
it’s mouth.Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the
stomach’s contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully
ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
The male gypsy moth can “smell” the virgin female gypsy moth
from 1.8 miles away.
The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.
The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the
creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z,
hence “Oz.”
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.
To “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a
statement made by swearing on their testicles.
The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different
ways.The following sentence contains them all “A rough-coated,
dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough;
after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct
order, as does arsenious, meaning “containing arsenic.”
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the
Australian coat of arms for that reason.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.
The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase
“Shah Mat,” which means “the king is dead”.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days
of lore when the engines were pulled by horses.The horses were stabled
on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight
Posted by the girl at 6:20 PM
1 comments
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
and now this..
..a note from your neighborhood friendly party pooper..
..what 200 calories looks like in pictures.
Please go forth fearlessly to the next post.
..what 200 calories looks like in pictures.
Please go forth fearlessly to the next post.
Posted by the girl at 10:20 PM
1 comments
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the best dessert in the world
It used to be Pumpkin Pie followed with a shot of Creme Brulee. But now, I have found a new love. Problem is is that it's a little bit unusual and not often seen in the bakery shelves and pastry cases of your favorite grocery store. What is this mysterious decoction that has tantalized me?
Pavlova, my friend, Pavlova.
What is that, you ask?
It is the most delicious menage et trois of meringue, custard and fresh fruit. It's like some crazy upside down love affair. More delectable is that it was named after a Russian ballerina.
Thanks to my aunt Heather for introducing me to this sweet treasure and to my aunt Jane for blogging about it.
And to make it a little tiny bit more common (come on, who reads this thing anyway?) I have found a recipe.
Pavlova
* 1 cup superfine sugar (250 ml)
* 1 tsp cornstarch (5 ml)
* 4 x large egg whites
* 1/4 tsp salt (1 ml)
* 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (1 ml)
* 1 tsp vanilla (5 ml)
* 1 tsp white vinegar (5 ml)
* 1 cup whipping cream (250 ml)
* 1/2 pt fresh raspberries
* 1/2 pt fresh blackberries
* 1/2 pt champagne grapes
* 1 bunch fresh mint
Directions:
Pavlova
1. Preheat oven to 275 F.
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a medium glass bowl combine ¼ cup sugar and cornstarch; mix with a fork until smooth.
4. With a high speed mixer beat egg whites until they foam, add salt and cream of tartar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining ¾ cup sugar, 2 tsp at a time, while beating constantly, until peaks stiffen. Beat in the cornstarch mixture until just blended. Add the vanilla and vinegar, continuing to mix until just blended. Spoon the mixture onto the cookie sheet. Making small 3 inch rounds. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the meringue in the oven for 1 hour to dry thoroughly. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Peel the paper from the bottom of the meringue and place the dessert on a serving dish or cake plate. Just before serving, whip the cream into soft peaks and spoon into the center of the meringue. Top the whipped cream with the fruit and serve immediately.
Now get to it. And send me the pictures!!
Pavlova, my friend, Pavlova.
What is that, you ask?
It is the most delicious menage et trois of meringue, custard and fresh fruit. It's like some crazy upside down love affair. More delectable is that it was named after a Russian ballerina.
Thanks to my aunt Heather for introducing me to this sweet treasure and to my aunt Jane for blogging about it.
And to make it a little tiny bit more common (come on, who reads this thing anyway?) I have found a recipe.
Pavlova
* 1 cup superfine sugar (250 ml)
* 1 tsp cornstarch (5 ml)
* 4 x large egg whites
* 1/4 tsp salt (1 ml)
* 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (1 ml)
* 1 tsp vanilla (5 ml)
* 1 tsp white vinegar (5 ml)
* 1 cup whipping cream (250 ml)
* 1/2 pt fresh raspberries
* 1/2 pt fresh blackberries
* 1/2 pt champagne grapes
* 1 bunch fresh mint
Directions:
Pavlova
1. Preheat oven to 275 F.
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a medium glass bowl combine ¼ cup sugar and cornstarch; mix with a fork until smooth.
4. With a high speed mixer beat egg whites until they foam, add salt and cream of tartar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining ¾ cup sugar, 2 tsp at a time, while beating constantly, until peaks stiffen. Beat in the cornstarch mixture until just blended. Add the vanilla and vinegar, continuing to mix until just blended. Spoon the mixture onto the cookie sheet. Making small 3 inch rounds. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the meringue in the oven for 1 hour to dry thoroughly. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Peel the paper from the bottom of the meringue and place the dessert on a serving dish or cake plate. Just before serving, whip the cream into soft peaks and spoon into the center of the meringue. Top the whipped cream with the fruit and serve immediately.
Now get to it. And send me the pictures!!
Labels: recipe
Posted by the girl at 9:57 PM
0 comments
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Monday, October 15, 2007
meow
"If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Posted by the girl at 9:47 PM
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deer in the garden
Is a common occurrence.
They are attracted to the color of flowers. They like to eat red things. I think my grandmother told me this once.
It was a lovely an sunny weekend in Alberta. Hot too. 20'C in the middle of October.
More too follow except I am just so tired.
Posted by the girl at 4:41 PM
0 comments
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Saturday, October 13, 2007
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
my lovely pond jumping blondey boyfriend who let the sausages burn to take this photo.
Posted by the girl at 10:18 PM
2 comments
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thanks for..
1. Art Nouveau- it's waves and swirls comfort my soul
2. Paris's cheese shops- for awakening a sleeping passion
3. Flowers in black buckets in front of Vancouver corner stores- constant color no matter how gray the sky
4. flannel bedsheets
5. Feather duvets with feather pillows and small purring white cats- self explanatory, I think
6. Bergamont Rooiboos tea with honey and milk-how can this be wrong ever?
7. Hostels and boutique hotels- you give me hope.
8. Letterboxes- you are beautiful and seriously need to be reborn in 21st century architecture.
9. Wheat fields and prairie roses- what great tattoos are made of
10. The women in my life- my aunts, MY MOTHER, my sister, my grandmother, my friends Sonia and Bess- you remind me of my innate strength, the pull between being a girl and not so girly, and along side you, we are so beautiful.
11. No I don't think I'm 'missing anybody', but I suppose I could give thanks for my father but that's another post altogether.
Posted by the girl at 6:46 PM
3 comments
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is it butter or is it margarine?
Ever have one of those days when all of a sudden it feels as though you have no idea what you are doing or where you are going and suddenly the future looks dark and scary instead of bright and sunny??
I think I have too much water in my ears.
I think I have too much water in my ears.
Posted by the girl at 6:02 PM
0 comments
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Monday, October 08, 2007
Brasserie
One of my fondest photos from the last time I went to Paris.
I have been asked to be a part of a show in one of the art galleries in Vancouver's Yaletown. Means I have to go through the 900+ photos I took and edit them for a show. Bit nervous about it all. I really blew through Europe in March-April, snapped all I could and have avoided looking at the shots since. My 1st meeting with the curator is on the 15th.
big.deap.breath.in.
Posted by the girl at 9:46 PM
4 comments
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kitchen adventures
What do you do when you make a pumpkin pie and forget to add the eggs and find that after 35 minutes of cooking it's still soupy?
You pour out the pie into a bowl and whip in 2 eggs and pour it back in the shell and recook it.
At least that's Michel's bright idea.
I still say we should stop at a bakery and buy a proper pumpkin pie.
You pour out the pie into a bowl and whip in 2 eggs and pour it back in the shell and recook it.
At least that's Michel's bright idea.
I still say we should stop at a bakery and buy a proper pumpkin pie.
Posted by the girl at 4:18 PM
0 comments
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
call me waterlogged
Something about buying an expensive bicycle has made me feel guilty about the thought of hanging it in the laundry room for winter. Neither did I like the idea of putting away my nifty (and matching) riding shoes with clips that attach to the pedals. It didn't make any sense to me. But then again, neither did riding in the rain. Unprotected at least.
So another trip to the local MEC was in order to kit myself for the impending winter rains. To go along with the silk long johns and rain coat I bought to travel in Europe earlier this year, I got a few more things to make my commute a little bit nicer.
-A pair of bizarre looking gloves that are actually intended for paddling in water. They won't keep my hands dry but they will keep them warm.
- A pair of riding pants. Pretty self explanatory. Not at all fashionable and actually quite ugly but they are roomy enough for layering and will probably make the ride slightly more comfortable if my legs aren't soaking wet.
-And for the fancy riding shoes- a pair of shoe covers to keep them dry and my feet warmer. They also complete the look and make me look as though I have suited up for a journey into toxic waste.
That's what riding in the Vancouver rain will be like though.
The last thing I did was but a new one of these. Michael got my old black one that served me for 2 winters and it looks damn hot on him too.
Wish me luck. The goal is to commute 2-3 times each week by bike and if I survive, this may be my reward.
So another trip to the local MEC was in order to kit myself for the impending winter rains. To go along with the silk long johns and rain coat I bought to travel in Europe earlier this year, I got a few more things to make my commute a little bit nicer.
-A pair of bizarre looking gloves that are actually intended for paddling in water. They won't keep my hands dry but they will keep them warm.
- A pair of riding pants. Pretty self explanatory. Not at all fashionable and actually quite ugly but they are roomy enough for layering and will probably make the ride slightly more comfortable if my legs aren't soaking wet.
-And for the fancy riding shoes- a pair of shoe covers to keep them dry and my feet warmer. They also complete the look and make me look as though I have suited up for a journey into toxic waste.
That's what riding in the Vancouver rain will be like though.
The last thing I did was but a new one of these. Michael got my old black one that served me for 2 winters and it looks damn hot on him too.
Wish me luck. The goal is to commute 2-3 times each week by bike and if I survive, this may be my reward.
Posted by the girl at 8:32 PM
1 comments
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giving thanks for You Tube
Lately, I'm obsessed.
Posted by the girl at 7:22 PM
0 comments
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Friday, October 05, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
look out here she comes
It was only a matter of time and frankly I'm surprised it didn't happen a bit sooner. Another member of my family has joined the online revolution and started blogging. You know, it's frankly a bit surprising that it's taken this long. A have a few friends who have blogging siblings, cousins and even mothers.
Well I am the first one to have A BLOGGING AUNT.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Jane. I hope to be a regular visitor and commenter.
Why did you do it? Why haven't others?
I wonder what compels people to have a blog or to put random things on the Internet. I do it for the novelty. The fact that I could register a domain and put things somewhere where other people could read them or that I could look back on what I had done. I do it for a place to put the random things that cross my path that I think are interesting.
I do it, because, unbeknown to me at the time I started this little creation, all the people in Tehran who Google "More Kisses", can find me and wonder why aren't there more pictures.
Well I am the first one to have A BLOGGING AUNT.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Jane. I hope to be a regular visitor and commenter.
Why did you do it? Why haven't others?
I wonder what compels people to have a blog or to put random things on the Internet. I do it for the novelty. The fact that I could register a domain and put things somewhere where other people could read them or that I could look back on what I had done. I do it for a place to put the random things that cross my path that I think are interesting.
I do it, because, unbeknown to me at the time I started this little creation, all the people in Tehran who Google "More Kisses", can find me and wonder why aren't there more pictures.
Posted by the girl at 9:41 PM
3 comments
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