Blog award!

Thanks to "Newbo" I have my first blogger award! Awesome, thanks :)

The rules of the award are:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

So, Im gonna cheat a bit because I actually just did a post with 15 things about me. Also I don't know about the sharing with 15 bloggers thing, so here are 5 that I would like to share the award with;

Unlawfully Wedded Wife - her blog just makes me smile :)

Lisa's Yarns - Ive been following her for a while now (so not exactly a "recent discovery"), but she is always just so uplifting and interesting to read!

Evolution of Darwin - Because who doesnt want to see daily pictures of a big beautiful Dane?!

Mel's Way or No Way - Her posts are always interesting and often include pictures of her cute foster dogs :)

And, my "in real life" friend Rachel, who also has a blog!

Have fun ladies!

Its a dangerous thing....

....when I get obsessed with an animal! I have had a soft spot for French Bulldogs for quite some time, they are just so quirkly (yup, made that word up!) cute and they have the best personalities of any small dogs. Im generally a "the bigger the dog, the better!" kind of girl.

Well, we were at a friend's house this weekend and another friend had one there, plus their neighbor has one. Its torture! Luckily, they are very rarely found in rescue organizations. Im counting on my strong convictions to never get a dog who is not a rescue to save us from adding to the zoo! :)

my favorite new family members!

Just come out already girls, your both cute as a button!!!

Kristen Stewart (aka: Bella Swan and Joan Jett!)

I love love Ellen Page!! She is adorably quirky and freakin hilarious!...plus she plays two of my favorite new characters; Juno and Bliss :)

I love that we are entering a generation where people are saying, "come on girls, just come out" rather than "oh, she just needs to find a good guy, hook her up with that boy who plays the vampire!"

Virus?! (update: not anymore!)

I may have a virus, so don't come to my site now. But, if you know what to do; email me crystalkaymarie@gmail.com!!!!! -thanks

Update: ok, no more virus yay! apparently it was just a "common cold" not a virus, but still annoying. But...now I need a new "safe" hit counter, any suggestions?!

Castle!

We really don't watch very much tv, but there are a few shows that we watch on a fairly consistent basis. I posted already about Modern Family, which is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Well, our other favorite is Castle. Apparently though, we are the only 2 people who watch it because everyone I ask replies with the same "ive never heard of it" response. Seriously though, it is awesome. It is another crime show, but it has humor added in. There is an author who is following around the detective as a muse for his novel series. Its a really good twist on the typical overdone crime show. You should really check it out. Mainly because I want it to get a better time slot, Mondays at 10 are just too hard on my sleep schedule!! :)

What is social networking doing to our society?!

Hi all, so this may be a venting session...just an fyi!

I didn't join myspace when all the craze was going on for quite some time because....well I like to stay out of the craze! Finally I decided to join when my best friend who lives back home in ND got pregnant. Yeah, I caved in for the pictures :) Well, I did the same thing with Facebook, but caved again because I really missed the connection to all my friends back in ND. Ok, that is what these sites are supposed to be for in my mind. Its a great way to catch up with friends who so often live far away in our increasingly mobile and distancing society.

So what are they not supposed to be for? Drama! Why does this happen? I have talked with classmates about the ways that facebook comes up in therapy and it is astounding to me. It has made our society collectively passive aggressive! If you don't like someone, in my mind you have 2 choices; 1) don't have them be a part of your life or 2) talk it through and figure out how to either fix it or make a compromise. Now though, we have option 3) post a "cleverly" disguised hate comment on your facebook status in an attempt at being "sneaky" (please note the sarcasm!) and attempt to start a war of statuses!!!

I don't get it! These are adults doing this, not just teenagers. I know you all know of someone who made a fake profile to stalk an ex, or posts these annoyingly vague yet blatent status messages as a childish dig, or posts pictures with the sole purpose of pissing someone off.

What are your thoughts on this? It really saddens me because this is obviously affecting our society. I don't want future generations to think this is ok, what will that mean for the future of interpersonal conflict resolution and relationships in general? Cant we go back to the days of hand written letters and corded phones that the whole family shares? How do us facebookers who really just want to keep in contact with friends, shield ourselves from the "other side" of facebook?

ps: in case you are wondering, yes someone did post something (not-so)cleverly vague as a dig towards me. It is something that is pretty much out of my control and they did it after I tried to choose option #2. Im writing here about how much the whole concept of facebook interpersonal drama saddens me rather than joining in on the facebook war. The blog fits its name, this is my catharsis....

Brandi's new video

I love this song, I think its a very brave song to put out there. Its emotional and strong, at the same time. The video just came out and it is beautiful also. Good job Brandi! :)

Vitamin D, yay!!

Ive been a bit blue, there is nothing like rain season in the pacific northwest to bring out the seasonal affective disorder in a person! Well, today (finally!) was beautiful! I had a crappy start to my day, but got done with class early and decided to go take a walk along Alki to renew my spirits. We have been moved now for about 3 months and due to the stupid rain, today was the first real walk along Alki; which, for those of you who do not know, is one of the most beautiful places in the Seattle area!! It worked, Im replenished with Vitamin D and am back to loving this beautiful state!

Domino also loved it, doesn't he look pretty?!

Lilith Fair!!!!!

I am so excited!! Have you looked at the lineup?

For starters, there is my girlfriend; Brandi! We all know how much I love her!

Also, Indigo Girls, Miranda Lambert, Norah Jones, Tegan and Sara, A Fine Frenzy, Kate Nash, Ingrid Michaelson, Missy Higgins (love her!!),

Plus, Sugarland, who I love also!


 And of course, Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris!! And a ton of other awesome women!!

Are you kidding me?! Everyone rocks! Can you tell Im excited? Im just waiting for the dates and prices (yikes!) to be released, and hoping I will be able to afford it without breaking the bank!!

Is anyone else planning on going? Any great artists that I forgot to mention that you are excited about?

On a side note: I was playing Taboo with a bunch of friends a few years ago and my friend Kyle got a card with the word "laissez-faire" on it. He looked at it for a while, then glanced at me and said...."I think its a lesbian festival?!" I think we all almost died laughing once we figured out what he was trying to say!! just thought I'd share... :)

Random

So I stole this from a facebook thing, but I think its interesting (of course I do, its all about me!). So here it goes, 15 random things;

1) I have two middle names; Kay Marie. It is each of my grandmother's middle names, which I really like. It does make my name awfully long though (25 letters!) plus I feel a bit sorry for the Marie part because it often gets left off on forms or things that only allow 1 middle name or when just initials are used. Hmm...Im going to make more of a conscious effort to include it!

2) My eyes change color, apparently that is more common than I initially thought though. They are brown, hazel, and occasionally green-ish. My favorite is when they are dark brown and I hate when they are hazel.

3) I had a squirrel named Sammy when I was little. His mom was hit by a car so we took care of him. After we let him go outside, I used to think he was the squirrel in commercials :)

4) I pick at my cuticles when I am nervous or stressed. Due to grad school, they are often ragged and painful.

5) I would rather read a good book on a Saturday night than go out and party. Its not that I don't like to go out with friends, its just exhausting. Happy hour I like, just not long nights anymore. Oh, and I just really really like to read!!!

6) My biggest pet peeve is people who smack their gum or chew really loudly. Honestly, its to the point of interfering with my life, I have to move if someone is sitting next to me chomping!! Plus, I find that I actually do not like people who are perpetual smackers...for no reason other than their annoying chewing habits. I think I need to address it in therapy or something!

7) I am obsessed with purple!...but you probably know that :)

8) On a weekly basis, I find myself envying my cats. Think about it, they have a damn good life, I am always jealous when I come home after a long stressful day to find them sleeping on the bed in the exact same place as when I left!

9) I have a list of "alternate careers" that I think I would love if I wasn't almost a psychologist. I may also be addicted to school because if I was to win the lottery, I would seriously consider trying out a few of them. Plus I just think that I would make a good nurse, animal acupuncturist, surgeon, xray tech, and writer/used bookstore owner!!

10) I have found that no labels fit me (or anyone for that matter!) which makes answering personal questions awfully difficult at times. Take for example my sexuality; I guess I am closest to bisexual, but I don't see it that way; Im fluid, but stable when in a relationship. Also with spirituality; Im closest to Agnostic I guess, but that doesn't seem to fit. I don't follow a religion, but I am open to all religious beliefs and practices, plus I think they all can coexist together rather than negate eachother. Im ok with my lack of labels, but I think people just want a simple "straight or gay" "catholic or not" answer when they ask!

11) I fully embrace individuality! I find quirky, eccentric, unique, and different far more attractive than cookie cutter "attractive!" I would rather be thought of as weird than boring any day!!

12) Im an introvert and a pisces, and that is fine by me! But, I love meeting different people and having experiences. If anyone knows any psychodynamic personality theory, you know how that makes sense. Its really fascinating to me!

13) I once had a hamster names Hector who lived much longer than expected for hamsters, then died because our landlord closed our vents when we were gone for a winter vacation. Now, I have a lizard named Gator who has lived through 6 moves, one of which was in a car across 4 states, a 5 day power outage (I covered his cage in hand warmers), and a cat who likes to knock his light off and bat at the cage!

14) I really like red wine and may just be a wino :)

15) I really hate scary movies, I can not even watch them! They honestly scare me to the point of not feeling safe alone and having nightmares for weeks. I absolutely love thrill rides though and thrive on the adrenalin rush in that sense! Weird.

Thats me, in 10 bullet point format, how about you?!

Pavlov would be so proud

I'm going to just go ahead and say it...I don't like screaming kids! I know, horrible child hating monster right here! Seriously though, its so annoying to be trying to eat a nice dinner, enjoy a movie, buy some groceries, or whatever daily life task you may be doing, and have to listen to some kid screaming at the top of their lungs! Now before you write me off as a horrible person; I do have sympathy for both the kid and the parent when I see that the kid is in pain or something and when the parent is attending to their child and trying to remedy the situation. That circumstance is valid and does not annoy me in the least. BUT when the kid is screaming bloody murder because he wants a video game or some overpriced toy that their mom won't buy them, and the parent just lets it go on...that is not ok! The world doesn't need to suffer because of your spoiled kid and lack of adequate parenting.

Why is this coming up? For some reason, I have felt surrounded by screaming brats this weekend. Thats right, "brats" not the valid screamers! The last straw though; I was just in Target and this kid who was probably 5 or 6 was screaming so loud that you would have thought his legs were being sawed off. Much to my despair, I wound up in the same aisle with the kid and his mom. He was screaming because he wanted a candy bar and his mom was on her G.D. cell phone! As it turns out, we were on the same shopping path, even though I tried to change mine multiple times. The kid screamed the entire time and of course, the mom was on her cell phone the entire time talking about some party and this "jerk on facebook"! After hearing this for the entire 45 minutes I was in Target, they ended up in the same line as me (lucky me!) and what did the mom finally do? She gave in, told the person on the phone to hold on, and yelled at her son to "just go get the damn candy bar!" Awesome. I wonder why he screams....because it works you idiot!!! Pavlovian parenting at its best.

I love my owl friend!!!

Remember a week or so ago when I posted about my etsy wishes? It was wishfull window shopping at its finest right? Well fast forward to today...I had a super busy, crazy, stressful, overly long day. I was gone and running around for about 14 hours. I came home though and found a package waiting for me. I never get packages, aside from the textbooks that suck up all my money (and time!). Guess what it was? The super cute owl decal straight from my etsy wish list!

Apparently my friend Lynn decided to order it for me, how awesome is that? Anyways it made my entire day better. How cute is he in my office? I put him by my books because a) its cute coming out of the bookshelf, and b) he is in my direct line of sight while I am sitting at my desk stressing over homework and dissertation. I love him! Ahh, the simple things in life....

Thanks Lynn, you made my day!! : )

Material things seem so mundane after an enriching experience...

I am a huge proponent of volunteer work. I think it is one of the best ways to give back to the community. It doesn't often involve much monetary commitment, and can be one of the best experiences you can have on so many levels. There is a unique personal growth that happens from helping someone in a situation where nothing tangible is returned to you. The experience and personal aspects that are gained are far superior to any monetary aspect...in my opinion!

That said, it has been a few years since I have done any volunteer work and I was definitely feeling the void. I have been interested in hospice work for quite some time and have had roadblocks for one reason or another. Well, I finally made it to the training this weekend; 18 hours of grief and death work...thats enough to drain even the strongest person! It was an absolutely amazing experience though, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be more comfortable with death. I am drawn to grief and love to be with people who can talk about death and who are ok with allowing that space for anxiety and discomfort. It was very honored to be in a room with such diverse and interesting people and be allowed to share in the emotions and growth. (I know Im being a sap here, but I was truly moved!) There is something amazing about sharing an experience with a bunch of people who are so different, but who have a common goal and outlook on life and the meaning derived from personal experiences. The people there this weekend ranged from first year computer tech students to practicing acupuncturists, where else do you get to share profound experiences with such a diverse range of people...for free?!Thats another great thing about volunteering, its free training and a free chance for personal growth. You can't beat that!

I am so excited to start working with patients. I know excited may not be the best word, but its just so amazing to think that I will be allowed into these people's homes during such a difficult and personal time. To me, that level of sharing and exposure is the highest honor someone can give you. Im so excited for the journey.
What have been your volunteer experiences? Does anyone else get as much joy out of these things as me?!

Coveting Etsy...

My friend lynn turned me on to Etsy a year or so ago and I am hooked! Granted, I have no money to buy things...but its a really fun place to browse around and make wish lists! Here is a sampling of my "to buy, someday when I make money off my career rather than spend money on it, list!!"

I am obsessed with big fun bags, and I am absolutely in love with this awesome purple bag!!

Ok, so the bed itself is a bit "old fashioned" looking (yeah, ugly), but I love the idea of having a connected pet bed! Although I am sure it is only good in theory and is never actually where the dog sleeps :)

I have this new love for owls and this guy is adorable! How cute would this be in my office?

...and this decal over our bed! Im really liking the wall decals, they are simple but really interesting. What an easy way to decorate!

I think I could wear these sweater dresses every single day! I love them and they look amazingly comfortable.

And there is oh so much more.....now if I only had money!

I love this show!!

Tell me you have watched Modern Family, it is hilarious! :) Cameron is the best character on tv!



I think he is hilarious, I love him! He makes the whole show....well Gloria helps too I guess ; )

Have you seen it? Don't you love it?! What is everyone else watching this season?