A favorite quote. Or maybe just a quote. (WBThirty Day 6)

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It's about time I discussed this theory with someone other than Y, because I'm almost positive he's just pity-agreeing with me.

If you've ever seen the movie Anchorman, you know that this quote -- about the effectiveness of Brian Fantana's cologne, Sex Panther -- is meant to be the epitome of his stupidity:

"60% of the time it works, every time."

But here's the thing - I get it. When I saw this movie for the first time, I laughed along with everyone else so they wouldn't think I was stupid. But it made total sense to me.

In my head, Brian Fantana is a scientist. He runs highly standardized Sex Panther trials. In one week, he'll use the cologne to attract the ladies exactly ten times. And every time he's tried this, it has worked six out of the ten times. See? 60%. Perfect sense.

Brian Fantana and I understand each other.

much love monday: a furry heart {wbthirty day 5}

{what is wbthirty?}

{what is much love monday?}

We're pretty sure that yesterday was Ike's second birfday. There are many things I've noticed since having Ike, like that all "th" sounds are now pronounced "f". Or that instances of saying "oh my goodness" have increased tenfold. Or that when your dog allows you to make him wear a pair of your glasses, you should capitalize on that and take as many pictures as possible, because it will probably never happen again.

The other day I started to wonder if Y was jealous of Ike. When I come home from work, Y gets an enthusiastic "Hi!" and maybe a kiss, if he's lucky.

But Ike... on Friday when I came home, I pulled Ike into my lap and spent ten minutes telling him how he is just the greatest little man on the face of the earth, and how impressed I was by how wide he opened his mouth when he yawned, and how squeezable his widdle belly rolls were.

I owe Y an apology. Y, your non existent belly rolls are squeezable too. But your mouth opening while yawning is not worthy of my praise.

Day 4: Why David Sedaris and I are not friends anymore

Today's WBthirty topic was originally "Your favorite book", which I broadened to "A post about books". I thought about being lazy and linking you to two other funny posts I've made about books, but I decided to be productive and tell you a story.

Y's mom just gave me David Sedaris's latest book, and I'm excited to read it... after I finish the teeny tiny list of other books I have on my to-read list:

Of course, the latest Sedaris book got me thinking about the time I met him. In 2008, Y and I decided we didn't want to spend the summer before his first year of med school relaxing at the beach like normal people -- we decided that we wanted to drive to Canada.

The view of Toronto from Niagara-on-the-Lake

In Toronto, we randomly discovered that David Sedaris was having a book signing at a bookstore near our hotel, and since his new book had been our reading material for the entire trip, and because we could find surprisingly little to do in Toronto, we decided to go.

After standing in line for an hour, we chit-chatted with Mr. Sedaris for a few minutes and then he signed a book for Y's mom. Apparently charmed by Y (Y has that effect on people), he wrote something like "To Mrs. P: You have a delightful son."

How sweet! I couldn't wait to see what he wrote about me in my book. I can be equally as charming as Y when I have to.

Mr. Sedaris (I don't know what to call him. David? Dave? ) asked me my name. Since I have a, um, unique name, he asked me how it came to be . Before I even started my story, Ole Dave started writing a message in my book. He finished the message before I even got to the good part. I was confident. He must have seen something he liked in me.

When I got outside, I checked my message:

Really, dude? Really? My story touched your heart? You wrote that before you even heard my story! Am I not delightful? Can't you just see the sarcasm dripping from that page? I must be a terrible story teller.

And then I found twenty dollars.

Day 3: Compare your dog to a fish. {wbthirty}

Okay, so if you haven't guessed, that wasn't the "correct" topic of today's blog post. It was supposed to be "a song that makes you cry", but I don't think I have enough room to list every song that's ever been made. Seriously, if you get me thinking about how every singer/songwriter was once a kid who probably dreamed of nothing but being famous, I can produce tears. It's a gift.

So, I went to the next logical blog topic: comparing my dog to a fish.

Ike makes this distinct face when he's scratching himself. Because Y and I feel a need to give everything a name, we fondly call it his Scratchy-Face.

When we visited the National Aquarium in DC --sidenote, just because it has a "national" in front of it, does NOT make it worth visiting -- Y pulled me away from the cast of Finding Nemo to show me a fish that "looked exactly like Ike's scratchy face".

favorite song + i made you something! {wbthirty}

[what is wbthirty?]

I do not have good taste in music. You've been warned.

There's a handful of songs that, when they show up on iTunes, I listen to the entire way through. I have song ADD, so, that's a big deal.

Most of them come from soundtracks. One of the first jobs I remember "wanting to do when I grew up" (right after vet; right before MTV VJ) was the very important position of Person Who Decides What Songs Go Where In Movies. I still completely appreciate that person; the right song during the right moment of a movie is one of life's simple pleasures.

Anyway. Favorite songs:

A few of my favorite songs are from Better Than Ezra. If you read my post yesterday about my "inspirational word art", there is one quote that is not inspirational in the least, but I love it so much I couldn't resist creating some word art and featuring it on my "wall of quotes". It's from a fairly recent Better Than Ezra song, and the chorus lyrics are:

Gulf breeze on the porch

me and my honey rocking back and forth

light it up again with my kin and friends underneath the yellow moon

Sweet dream, New Orleans

Mississippi river running over me

Pretty mama come and take me by the hand

Don't mock what you don't understand it's a southern thing

The song is about fugitives or something, but shhhh. I love the chorus.

And, voila:

I thought I would offer this out to anyone who might want it -- since I know at least one of my friends also loves that quote -- in case anyone else wants to print it out and hang it up in their office, or carry it in their wallet and pull it out anytime they get mocked for saying "y'all". (It is a totally legitimate word!!)

So if you are a proud Southerner who may or may not have a rocking chair on your porch and a soft spot in your heart for the Mississippi River, leave me a comment or e-mail me at werejustdandy@gmail.com and I'll send you the file.

blogging to you live from.... {wbthirty}

{What is wbthirty?}

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I always think it's fun to see pictures of other people's desks. This may have something to do with my weird obsession with office supplies and desk organization (I could spend hours in The Container Store. True story.).

In case anyone else shares my voyeuristic nature, this is where I blog (And do homework. And eat breakfast. And straighten my hair. And show Ike Youtube videos of dogs barking):

{If not, here's the Ikeskidoodles video for your viewing pleasure.}

When I made my "new year's roshalution" to be more creative, I decided I needed to be surrounded by inspiration...in the form of word art. My original plan was to create a "wall of quotes" but I was a little too ambitious with that goal. What I ended up with was 5 framed quotes.

"To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make the soul grow. So do it." -Kurt Vonnegut


+ some more temporary quotes to the right of me.

"In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock." --Thomas Jefferson (Who knew he was so fashion forward?)

The big bulletin board (framed with something I found at a thrift store and spray painted) is a mish-mash of things that make me happy and some more inspiration: a map and postcards from Portland, OR; a vintage postcard of Tiger Stadium; a picture of my dad finishing a marathon; a picture of some of my best friends and I at my wedding; Saints cupcake flags.



It may sound crazy, but I think being surrounded by this stuff really has helped my productivity/creativity.

Where do you blog?

baaaa.

Okay, I'm caving.

I need something to jump start my blogging. You may have seen the "30 day blog challenge" floating around, and I'm going to be honest -- I think it's kind of boring.

But I'm still going to do it.

Mine will be different, I swear! For me, the challenge won't just be writing every day, but trying to make it relatively interesting. Feel free to let me know if I fail miserably.

Plus, I made a graphic. And gave it a name: The Writer's Block Thirty.

See? Exciting already!

The list below is what you can expect. I changed some of the topics to try to make the whole thing slightly more interesting. They still might change...especially the bold ones. Any suggestions?

If anyone wants to embark on this slightly boring/potentially entertaining journey with me, feel free.

Day 1 - blogging to you live from...

Day 2 - favorite song

Day 3 - a song that makes me cry (or nearly)

Day 4 - a post on books
Day 5 - much love monday - as seen at Much Love

Day 6 - a favorite quote

Day 7 - a few of my favorite things

Day 8 - a photo taken over ten years ago of me

Day 9 - If I had a million dollars

Day 10 - a wanderlist

Day 11 -a house tour

Day 12 - my top 5 blogs
Day 13 - a week of outfits {because I secretly wish I were a fashion blogger}

Day 14 - today I believe as seen at a diary of little things and curiosities

Day 15 - fill in the blank friday -- as seen at The Little Things We Do

Day 16 - something quirky about you

Day 17 - my wedding

Day 18 - my day in great detail

Day 19 - a talent of mine {Other than my Shakira impression, which I'm not willing to post on the internet, my talents are limited}

Day 20 - a picture from a year ago; a picture from today
Day 21 - a recipe

Day 22 - the weirdest thing I own

Day 23 - favorite movie

Day 24 - where I live {region, state, city, house, wherever}
Day 25 - my day, in great detail

Day 26 - a collection

Day 27 - my worst habit

Day 28 - whats in my purse

Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

Scholarly Ike says, "I am approximately 105% more interesting than this."

Well, Scholarly Ike, you're probably right. So fear not, Mr. Puppy Pants. I will still alert the world to any interesting Ike/Dandy happenings while this little experiment is taking place. Don't get your collar in a twist.