Crazy Dog Lady Has a Christmas Photo Shoot

Even though I'm just a single crazy dog lady, I still enjoy sending out a Christmas card and I take it very seriously...  By seriously I mean I seriously hope to capture a cliche picture of myself with my two dogs and send it out with a big ol' smile.  Last year, for example, we all wore Santa attire and it was glorious.  Next year I'm thinking we'll need to sport matching ugly sweaters, but we've got time to prepare for that...  However, this year we dressed our best and had a photo shoot with two of my dear friends (the pictures seen here were taken by the lovely Julie Mohl).  Whiskey Jack wore a necktie, Gertie Sue her pretty pink tutu, and I (being the less stylish of the three) sported a sweater dress. 

 

 All puffed up.  The dogs, that is.

 Fluffing Gertie's ginormous tutu.

 

She is such a ham for the camera!  I love it.

  

Whiskey could totally care less.  He'd much rather be running all over the place!

 

Gert' is a solid 40 pounds, so I really had to lean to balance out her girlish figure...

  

We even took some photos of me sans the dogs, 

which was a bit unnerving because I'd rather take pics than be in them.  

However, they did get one "model" pose out of me before I felt super silly and awkward.

 Merry Christmas 2010

A Simple Observation

I have found that the more at home I feel within myself, within my own body the more at home I feel spiritually and emotionally.  And, well, the more at home I feel with where I physically am.

Different strokes, for different folks and so on and so on...

At work the other day I was completing a lease with an incoming group of tenants. While they were starting various utility services in their name, I left my office to write out a receipt for their pro-rated rent. I forgot that I had left my cell phone on my desk with my ringer volume on...

"This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot! This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot! I'm hot 'cuz I'm fly..."

Yup, those profound words rang loud and clear and sent me scurrying back into my office to grab my phone and silence Mims. What came out of my mouth next, I don't know why...

"It's a stupid ringtone."

One clever young man stated, "You can't spell 'crap' without it."

I left my office annoyed by his line and perplexed as to why I said what I said. Now that song is by no means legendary, but I do enjoy it when I'm "shaking a leg"--as my mom would say. So why, why did I say that? More than likely it's because the threesome (get your mind out of the gutter) were more so a "rocker" crowd. Punk, alternative, what have you. (I can't keep up with labels and I don't really care to, actually. They just distance us from one another.) Perhaps I wanted to be viewed as cool, or something of the likes... What is that?! Who cares what I rock out to?

I don't understand this obligation to edit myself to fit into some category. I don't know why I feel this need to explain myself to strangers. Deep down I don't care, but yet on the surface it escapes me... I try to find the common ground between myself and others in order to relate, but finding those threads that unite us doesn't mean I need to cut the loose strands where we differentiate. The differences don't divide us by any means. The differences tie us to more and more people and create a big, beautiful, diverse web. It's important for me to honor that web of people, to honor my true self...Mims lover and all.

Focus

I am trying to focus on love and peace and hope and progress. This day to day life I lead can be so uneventful, so frustrating, so nothing, so repetitive. It's easy to succumb to the 8:00 to 5:00 work schedule--to work, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. It's easy to become consumed by anger regarding the stupidest things and to fall into a person I don't necessarily want to be. I mean, it's not that I become this horrible person. That's not the case. But there are moments where anger swells within me. Times where I don't care. Days where I'm not productive in pursuing a greater life.

I need to shift to the good. Need to keep my head up, my heart open. I don't want all of this "noise" to get the best of me, to fill my head and take me over. It's important to shed all that weighs me down. To shake off the negative. To wash off daily the dirt of yesterday.

Each day is clean. A new beginning, an opportunity for rebirth, a chance to make some small difference in my life and in the lives of those around me. So I ask God to help me focus, to help me be present in place and time, and to work steadily with peace in my heart.

Love and peace. Peace and love.

I like it like that...

• I like that when I Google my name the first blurb in the search results is associated with The Joyful Heart Foundation.
  
• I like that toothpaste can double as silver polish.
• I like my handwriting.
• I like that when I empty spam from my email account Gmail proclaims, "Hooray, no spam here!" We need more "hoorays" in our daily lives.
• I like that when I'm with my friends and one asks for chapstick to hydrate her parched lips, it becomes a quick draw race and multiple hands thrust forward to the friend in need clutching a tiny tube of lip balm.
• I like that there is a certain stretch of storefront windows on North Washington Avenue in Minneapolis that flatter me with a long and lean reflection. Seriously, I have legs for days in those windows.
• I like that my local Dunn Bros knows me by my drink of choice: medium Chai Latte.
• I like that when I hear a particular song it reminds me of a fantastically random memory.
• I like that when I let my curls down for the evening, after being pulled up all day, they hold on to their form somewhat. It makes my hair look like its flying in the non-existent wind and it makes me giggle.
• I like that my dogs absolutely love me just the way I am.
  
• I like that my family thinks I am phenomenally talented even when I don't.

Find My Way

Sooo... My brother obtained a new job back in our hometown of Minot, ND. I'm extremely happy for him because it is a great opportunity that will enable him to get his foot firmly in the door of education. It will also be a nice break from his current job, which definitely tears at his heart from time to time being he works with emotionally disturbed youth. Finally, he'll be closer to our parental unit--something both he and my parents will enjoy.

I, on the other hand, am still unemployed and apparently turning into the black sheep of the family. And when my brother moves I'll be homeless since I live with him. Even worse, I'll be separated from my four legged nephew.

My beloved Butkus.

But worse yet, if I don't get my life in control I, too, will be moving back to Minot. If that were to happen I'd at least be close to Butkus, but truly that would not be my ideal living situation. I am proud of where I come from, but for a girl who dreams of NYC that would be a depressing step backwards.

There's nothing and no one there in Minot for me...

I'm just sooo completely frustrated and exhausted. I have shut down and I feel horrible for doing that because it's silly when there are people who are actually fighting their way through a true ordeal. I have no idea what I want to do, what I should do, and where I should be here and now in my life. I've never felt so lost, so alone. I've never felt so absurd. How do I not have a "real job"?! It's ridiculous on my part, I know.

I don't expect to have my dream job at twenty-three. Heck, I don't even know what exactly my dream job is because there is just so much I hope to do. But this world of business seems so petty. I guess I have my head in the clouds. Forgive me, I'm just not equipped for the real world. I never have had to "put myself out there" before and the thought of having to do so now is...is...slightly terrifying.

I want to be brave. I need to be brave.

I should backtrack because I do know what I want to do with my life... I want to write and paint and design my own cards and draw and craft a message. I want to create. And through my creations I want to reach people, touch their hearts, and impact them. I want to make a difference...


But how can I pursue all of that when I am broke? Money doesn't make the world go 'round, but it definitely helps one make her way around the world.

Please pray I find my way.

More of the randomness that is me...

• A life goal of mine is to develop a nonprofit that uses the arts to raise funds and awareness for various social issues, as well as to assist those affected by tragedy, illness, poverty, and violence.
• I love when the moon rises at night and also when it shows its face during the day.
• Bruises and scrapes resulting from playing sports, or being physically active make me feel tough. Bruises and scrapes caused by my own clumsiness make me laugh at myself.
  
• I have several quote books filled with the many hilarious comments my friends have made. In the future I plan on writing a novel using only their quotes as the dialogue. It should be interesting--very, very interesting.
• Ever since becoming a fan of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit I have been extremely suspicious of plain white vans like those used by painters and maintenance men. It seems that "perps" frequently drive those vans in particular.
  
• The first time I had a Twinkie I was in the sixth grade.
• I have incredibly weird dreams nearly every night. For example, I recently dreamed that I was swing dancing with Al Pacino.
  
• I love Robins. Last summer my mom woke me up one morning because there was an injured Robin in our driveway. We named the bird Chirpy and tried to nurse him back to health, but unfortunately were not successful in our efforts. Since I have lived in Minnesota I haven't seen a single Robin and it makes me miss Chirpy even more.
  
• I think that Free Runners are positively amazing athletes/artists.
  
• On the back of my left hand there is a small, faint, double "l" scar due to a tubing incident when I was in junior high. I hit a wave, my head whipped down and the braces bracket on my front left tooth collided with my hand cutting it.
  
• Men who can cook, build, speak a foreign language, draw, play a sport, make music, tell a joke, and/or love dogs and kids are incredibly attractive to me.
  
• I sort of wish I was a firefly so I could shine light on darkness. That's a strange wish, I know, but it's more metaphorical than anything.

Random Me

Well I haven't posted for a little while, but I can't think of anything poignant to share with the blog world so I am opting to disperse some random information about me. Please don't think I'm self-centered for doing so because I'm really not a narcissistic person, promise. I just truly cannot think of an important topic to discuss. Anyway, on with the randomness...

• My thought process is all over the place. Let me tell you, it's quite the process of how I start at point A and arrive at point B. It's a good thing my friends and family are patient and have a good sense of humor.
• I have diagnosed myself as "slightly O.C.D." For example... All of my frames, knickknacks, and other decorations have to be "just so" (I inherited this trait from my mother); any labels must face forward; and CDs have to be the right side up in their cases. I'm not a "neat freak" when it comes to everything, but there are certain things that I like a certain way.
  
• Because I have extremely curly hair my older brother used to tell people that I stuck my finger in a light socket. This was absolutely hilarious to him when we were kids. Charming, isn't he?
• I can't leave home without chapstick in my pocket. But just in case I do forget to stash it in my pocket I have chapstick stored in my desk, nightstand, makeup bag, purse, and vehicle.
  
• I am very fond of bags of all sorts and wish that I had a Mary Poppins Carpet Bag. You know, like the one where she pulls a lamp out. It would make packing sooo much easier.
  
• I pass out when I donate blood, but I don't mind it too much because that means I get all the free juice and cookies I want. Yesss!
• I always have to have a full glass of water next to my bed at night.
  
• My feet look exactly like my mom's. It's almost eerie.
• My childhood ambition was to become the first woman in the NBA and then in about fifth grade I came up with the WNBA. Of course, it wasn't until 1997 before anyone paid any attention to me.
• I'm not a one word answer kind of gal, in fact I tend to ramble. It runs in the family.
  
• When I was in the first grade I was stepped on by a sheep in the face during my ride in a Mutton Bustin' contest. I took home the glorious first place trophy, however, complete with a golden plastic sheep. The next day at school my best friend asked, "What happened to you? Did you get stepped on by a cow?" Close enough.
• In high school I slept with my basketball. I swear that it helped my shooting touch.
• I'm very much so indecisive. Never ever ask me the following question: "Where should we go out to eat at?"
  
• My claim to fame is that I was referred to as "the artist" in a Page Six article of the New York Post a couple of years ago.
  

Icebreaker

Hello there! I'm Annie. Pleased to meet you. I hail from the "Magic City."

Oh, sorry... You don't know where that is? Okay, okay. Well, I'm from Minot, North Dakota. "Why Not Minot," if you will.

Still don't know? Okay, um...

Yeah, Minot is the fourth largest city in the great state of North Dakota and is located north of our state capitol...

What's that? Bismarck, yes, Bismarck is the capitol of NoDak. Anyway, back to Minot...

Minot is also located to the west of the Geographic Center of the United States, which before you ask, is Rugby. And of course, North Dakota itself is north of South Dakota. Hey, don't give me a hard time about that either because no one makes fun of North and South Carolina and it's pretty much the same thing. Pff.

ANYWAY...

Minot is the home of the Magi, Josh Duhamel, the North Dakota State Fair, the Great Anhydrous Ammonia Spill of 2002, North America's largest Scandinavian festival (the Norsk Hostfest), and me.

I know what you're thinking... Yes, it's basically the shiznit.

But Minot is behind me now because I live in an even smaller town north of St. Paul, Minnesota. I like to call it The Boondocks. I came to Minnesota because I graduated from the University of North Dakota in May of 2006 and after a few months living with the parents it was time for me to become an adult and I had no where else to go. The only problem is... I'm still working on that adult thing. "Working" being a sort of ironic choice of word because I'm not working. Ha!

No, it's really not that funny. Not funny at all. I shouldn't laugh. It was a nervous laugh, but I shouldn't laugh because I need a job. Or as my brother puts it, a J-O-B.

Congratulations to him, by the way, for his superior spelling skills. Really, give him a round of applause.

But yeah, I'm a Job Hunter and I've got the camouflage and neon orange gear to prove it. Well, that's a lie; it's a joke. Ha ha. Anyway, since I'm jobless I prefer to call myself a Dreamer. Yup, it's my official non-official job title until I'm adult enough to earn a job title.

So until then, you can call me Annie. Annie, the funny girl from North Dakota who is a dreamer. That's me in a nut shell. Not an actual nut shell, but...

Oh, you get it.