ACC Ignoramus

 Sadly, Chris is a Carolina fan. And due to March Madness, he has been donning his Carolina apparel more than usual these past few days. I'm a Duke fan and last night was the first game I had watched all season (listen, I didn't say I was a GOOD Duke fan, just a fan...) Anyway, the Duke game was on TV last night while Chris and I were at Chilis. So we both crammed into one corner of our booth, necks craned, to watch the final 10 minutes from across the restaurant. We were both cheering for Duke- me from the depths of my heart, and Chris from the depths of his bracket... This waiter walks by and says "Who are you cheering for?" Chris, thinking that someone had caught him in his Carolina gear cheering for Duke, shame-faced, pointed at me, and I cheerfully told him "Duke!" And he looked at Chris and said, "Oh, ok, that explains your shirt!" 

...What??

Who says that? Who in their right mind thinks that it's acceptable for somebody wearing a UNC shirt to cheer for Duke?? Or the other way around? CLEARLY, it's not. Not even close. Not even for a bracket. Not even for your mother dying of cancer whose one wish is that you, a Duke fan, cheer for Carolina for just one game. Not even then. 

Clearly this man was out of his mind.

Homesick

Let me tell you something about my parents' house: it smells like laundry detergent. It smells like the most amazing laundry detergent you've ever smelled in your whole life. In fact, it smells so incredible that when you smell it on your husbands shirt 6 months after your last visit home, it makes you cry... a lot. Well, I guess that's just speaking from my own personal experience, but I would assume it's the same for anyone else as attached to my home as I am! Sometimes, I forget how homesick I am- it's like a defense mechanism. If I forget how much I miss my family, and my home, and North Carolina, then it doesn't hurt so bad. And if it doesn't hurt so bad, I can pretend like I'm happy here in Utah. And if I can pretend (very convincingly) that I'm happy in Utah, then maybe I'll survive these next 3 years while my husband is in school. And if I can do that, then I know he'll take me home as soon as he can and then I can stop pretending. Now, I know that sounds bad. But really it's not nearly as awful as it sounds. Like I said, most of the time I forget how much I miss my home. But every once in a while, it sneaks up on me and takes me by surprise. Like the other night when Chris said to me: "come smell my shirt! It smells like your house..." I closed my eyes and held the shirt up to my nose, and I remembered every time I walked into our house on my visits home. I relived that same pang I feel every time I've walked into the house and remembered that I don't live there anymore and that I can't stay. It's funny how just a smell can do that do you. It can jolt your memory in the funniest ways. Even though my mom is a wonderful baker, and I came home from school on numerous occasions to cookies or brownies baking in the oven- it's the scent of her laundry detergent that says HOME to me. I tried to hide laundry sheets all over our apartment, hoping the smell would permeate through the three rooms we've got, but no such luck. It smelled for about a day, and then went away. And now I just have dryer sheets hidden all over the place, I can't even find them all! When I have a home, even just when I have a washer and dryer in our apartment, that will be the first thing I do- make sure it smells like home. 

Check it out! Look who can blog!!! ...sort of.

I would just like to announce that I am officially jumping on the blogger bandwagon! I finally figured out how to get an awesome background and I'm determined to figure this whole thing out. The best is yet to come, my friends! :)

Something I want to say...

I come from an extremely conservative, southern, mormon background. And for most of my life, I've been ok with that. Chris and I are both pretty laid back people. We don't tend to get very involved in most political debates or anything like that. We are your classic fence sitters. And yes,  I do understand the evils of sitting on the fence and not rushing to eagerly defend the "right." Regardless, it's often hard for me to take a side. I'm easily swayed, yes. But more than anything else, I just believe in moderation and tolerance. It's difficult for me to "join a cause," because I'm always putting myself in the other person's shoes, imagining what the other side to the story is like. And it's hard to be very passionate about one idea, when I make so many allowances for an opposing view. And before you judge me, remember this is a trait that makes me a caring and empathetic person. This is a characteristic that makes me a good friend, easy to get along with, and non-judgemental. So before you rush to tell me that I'm too liberal minded, remember: this part of my personality is probably something that makes me likeable.  

NOW, with THAT being said, I'd like to pick a bone with the conservatives of America: Stop being such brats! I am so sick and tired of hearing about how gay people are sick and wrong, and how if they are allowed to get married it will be the end of the good and moral world as we know it. This is not me saying what is right or wrong regarding gay marriage. This is me saying that it is wrong to be so mean about it. Just because you believe acting on homosexual tendencies is a sin, like I do, that doesn't mean you parade around that gay people are sinning. Show some compassion! Be human! These people are still human, and this is their cross to bear. I truly believe that these couples do love each other and that they have the same needs and desires to share their lives with the person that they love as much as any heterosexual couple. And sure, it makes me feel nervous to think about my children being so exposed to a lifestyle I don't believe is right, but at the same time, I hope my children DO learn tolerance and love no matter if the difference between people is white and black or homo and hetero. My children will know how we believe the right way to live is because we will teach them in our home- NOT because I'll have a bumper sticker or a facebook status that harshly parades a political view. Just love people for who they are. You don't have to agree, in fact, in this situation specifically, I don't think you SHOULD agree, but you don't have to tear people down either. And the door here swings both ways. If you are super pro-gay, that doesn't mean you need to call everyone who doesn't agree with you, bad people (hmmmhmm, that means you Mr. Sean Penn!).  It doesn't mean we're ignorant or inhumane because we believe marriage is between a man and woman. We are entitled to our beliefs, the same as homosexual people are entitled to theirs. I guess what I'm saying is live and let live. Try to spread your beliefs in a positive way- serve people, be kind and patient, be tolerant, love your neighbor. But don't bring other people down. There is enough negative in the world, YOU don't need to add to it with your facebooks and your myspace. 

Um...again not wanting to clean...

So apparently the only thing that ever drives me to blogging is the last desperate attempt to not clean my apartment, lol. Because here I sit, yet again, with a floor covered in frosting and sprinkles, and all I want to do is update my blog :) 

What this blog is really about is that I have watched Anastasia approximately 8 times in the past 24 hours! When we were at Costco the other night, I stumbled upon a two-pack DVD set: Anastasia and Thumbelina (PLEASE! like I even had to THINK about letting such an opportune purchase pass me by), and Anastasia has been constantly playing on the DVD player for two days now. And I am so not ashamed, because it is a spectacular movie! I mean, seriously, look at the voices they got: John Cusak, Meg Ryan, Kelsey Grammer, Angela Lansbury, Kirsten Dunst, Christopher Lloyd! It was bound to be incredible, period. And I'm not going to lie, I have a tendency to have crushes on animated disney heroes. And although this one isn't Disney, I'm pretty in love with Dimitri. 

I really miss the days of the classic Disney picture. We were talking about this in the office today, and of course the guys could only talk about the political agenda disney "subtly" incorporates into all of their movies. But can we just forget about being grown up for a second and remember how big a part of our childhoods those movies were? I mean, honestly, who does not know every single word to every song in Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast? And tell me that you seriously did not shed a single, heartfelt tear when Mufasa was trampled to death. We LOVED disney! And I miss that. I don't care if Disney is pushing a socialist, or gay, or dysfunctional agenda. And I especially don't care that not a single one of their movies is historically accurate. I loved those movies as a child, and I'm bound and determined to own every single one of the classics before I bring children into this world. I will not raise my children to a bunch of singing vegetables!!