Idiosyncracies



Once again, I heard a word on NPR today that got my brain a-movin'.

Claire Danes, a person from several of my most lasting childhood memories, was interviewed discussing some new TV show she's on (Sorry Claire, but I highly doubt it will ever compare to My So-Called Life. I just don't see that happening.)
 

argh, I miss that show.

Anyhow.

She used the word "idiosyncratic," describing Temple Grandin's physical mannerisms as a person on the spectrum of Autism.  I thought, "Hmmmm there's a word I've never used!" I guessed what it could possibly mean, but having never used it I actually wasn't sure.

Sidenote: I'd HEARD this word several times before, just never really thought about it; for the record.

So, I looked it up.

I looked it up in several places, and came to the conclusion that it can be used to mean "quirky" (which I view as a positive descriptor) or "peculiar" (not always used so positively.) Sure, those two words are pretty closely related, but in my brain there's a very big difference between the two.

I began thinking of what might be construed as some of my idiosyncracies...
...and I made a list:

My rate of speech.  Is it an idiosyncracy to talk so quickly that your own mother sometimes has trouble understanding you??

My inconsistent grooming habits. A solid handful of my friends seem to be grossed out intrigued by the fact that I don't shave my legs/armpits on the daily. or weekly. or.... monthly. Idiosyncracy? Maybe.

My enjoyment of kid company more than grown-up company. We understand each other more than I understand some adults; what can I say?

My obnoxious fear of bees. No, I'm not allergic. Whoever said fears have to be be rational?!

My less obnoxious (but slightly quirkier) sensitivity to people touching my neck. Don't ever touch my neck without warning me. You might get punched in the face, and it won't be my fault.

This list could go on and on for each of us....

So, do all of the "quirks" listed count as idiosyncracies?

...and where does the word come from??
((When I can't figure out words' roots I get nervous.))

So many questions about one word.  Imagine how many words are out there that you've never used....

my brain is full! must be time for a new blog entry.

I fear this blogging attempt may begin to resemble my journaling habits.  I'm a notoriously inconsistent journal-er (yep. it's a word.)  For years I've gone on month-long journal binges, then put it down for an entire month, then picked it up twice in a week, and then ignored it for two more months;  usually in exactly that order.

I give you my word that I'll try really hard to be a more consistent blogger (I'm pretty sure that one really is a word now.)

As I sit in my sky chair and watch my younger dog eat the older dog's poop (what, your dogs don't do that?!)  I realize that if I wrote things down more often I wouldn't come home after work with a brain that feels like my stomach did after Davo's birthday dinner @ our new favorite restaurant, Pizzicleta (if you live in or plan on visiting Flagstaff anytime soon, please do NOT miss this little gem)

I'll breeze through some of the oodles of super fascinating goodies that have been on my brain recently:

We're getting married in our backyard. Our day will be full of love, friendship, family and togetherness and I'm so excited to plan it just that way.

...interested in helping paint candleholders or make fabric streamers? let me know.

what else have I been thinking about.....

oh, wait. that's it. we're getting married.  that's what's been on my brain.

HA!

Seriously, though.

Our wedding...
...and babies.

I don't know if the whole "biological clock" thing is legit, but something switched in me over the last few months and I have some serious baby brain. 

Davo's got it, too.
.... I hope he's not trying to keep it secret. oops.

At this point the baby brain isn't so much a desire to have a child tomorrow as it is a sense of elation that we are, in fact, ready to consider it as a realistic option.

Pretty cool.

Davo likes to say that I've known I wanted a baby since I was nine years old.  He's not very far off.

There was a time in college (like, two weeks) when I thought "No way, I never want kids," BUT I'm pretty sure I was listening to too much Ani DiFranco (pre-Petah Lucia) and didn't really know what I was talking about.

So, yea. I'm getting married and I want babies.  I'm so predictable.

That's all for today.  I thought this one was going to be full of wisdom and inspiration, buuuuuut I guess my brain had other plans.

Sending lots of inspirational, loving thoughts your way,
~*la*~

thankful.

A. I'm not pregnant.  My previous post referred to my beautiful (future) in-laws, Chrissy and Andy, who are expecting in March. Congratulations, sweet friends of mine. I can't wait to meet the little Shaw!
....obviously, I will NOT be that vague when I'm actually pregnant. I promise to make a huuuuuuge deal out of it, so as to not create any confusion. :)

2.) Today I am thankful for so many things.  I try to remain thankful throughout my daily life, but every once in a while it overcomes me.

Last weekend Davo and I visited my dad, who spent hours with us shopping for our new home.  We only actually purchased one (fantastic) mirror all weekend, but we came home with motivation and endless ideas to use in our new house.  I'm thankful that my dad is still able to take us on these adventurous shopping trips (IKEA is no small task) and that our schedules are (sometimes) flexible enough to take the occasional trip down to sweaty Phoenix to see my family.  Both of my generous parents also donated lots of goodies for the new house, and it's hard to explain how grateful I am to have a house filled with family, even when they're not actually here.

Today I'm thankful for the ability to appreciate stuff, but not depend on it for my happiness.  I'm thankful that I have a job which allows me to decorate our new home, but more so for the fact that, as long as I have a bed and a couple cute dresses, I'm pretty damn happy. 

Sometimes I wonder if happiness annoys people.  That's a sad thought, but I think it's true for some.

I'm SO thankful that, even though I don't always have happy days, I know another one is just around the corner.

let's see, what else......

peanut butter.
true love.
water.
sunshine.
doggies.
forgiveness.
honest friends.
clean sheets.
the sound of rustling aspen leaves.
my legs.

I could go on, but I'll stop there.

The (future) in-laws will be here in 3 WEEKS and I'm SO excited!!!

AH, there's another one.

I'm thankful that we have a home with room for guests. I love houseguests.
....I love temporary houseguests. let's keep it honest here.

I can't wait to see the Smith/Shaw crew and spend some quality time together celebrating each other and the upcoming marriage of Ashby (Davo's brother) to his fiance, Meredith.  It's going to be so fun. 

I think that's all for today.  I wonder what you're thankful for...

love love love to ya,
~*la*~

Yayyyyyy for mamas!

Motherhood has been the ongoing musing of the week.

((((my mom refers to this blog as my "musings." I like it.))))

Yesterday my mom was on my brain.  I pulled weeds for the first time in my life, and all I could think about was how proud my mommy would be of me for pulling weeds.

HA! I'm ridiculous. First time pulling weeds? who am I???

Today I removed the horrific wallpaper border in our downstairs bathroom (if you love Thomas Kinkade, I apologize for the insult, but it was horrific. see photo below.)  As I was scraping and spraying and spraying and scraping to get this obnoxious wallpaper out of my life forever, my sweet mother's voice was in the back of my mind, reminding me that I can do anything my male counterpart (or the people we hire to do the job) can do. 

goodbye, hideous Thomas Kinkade wallpaper. You will not be missed.

As I live longer, I get better at processing and understanding the daily happenings in my life.

Lately I've thought about what it must have been like to be my mother as I grew up.  

I wonder what it was like sending me to school for the first time.

I wonder how my mother felt when I won the spelling bee in 5th grade.

I ache at the thought of how my mother felt when I drank myself unconscious at the ignorant age of 13 and she was the one who had to take me to the hospital.

I am amazed at the thought of how loving and honest my mother was with me as she separated from the man who gave me life, who she'd been married to for the last 23 years of her life.

I wonder how I will be at motherhood, and how I will instill the same values in my children that my mother has instilled in me.  I'm proud of who I've become, and mama is hugely to thank for that.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2010.  It was the most tumultuous year of my life.  I had just finished grad school, begun my career, was living with the man I knew I'd someday marry, and all of a sudden my best friend in the entire world was very, very sick.  In the midst of all of these beautiful life changes, when it seemed I was finally living the life I had always dreamed of, nothing else mattered so much as to make sure my mom knew how loved she was.  I lost hope there for around a month, when I imagined my wedding without her, my baby's first steps without being able to call her and tell her all about it, and I've never been so deeply saddened.  

Mom received chemotherapy for a year, radiation for several months, and a double mastectomy in June of 2010.  She has since completed her treatments, and now proudly embraces the title of "cancer vixen."  I spend as much time as I can with my mom.  I love her in the truest sense of the word.  After our recent visits I've told Davo how positive she's become.  She's back to her old self, but even better.  She seems happier than she's been in a long time.  I hadn't shared with her my acknowledgement of her new attitude before I read her latest Facebook musing, which I've posted below.  Sounds like she knows she's back, too.... good on ya, Mamasita.  I'm so very proud to call you my mom and friend.

.....even though you misspelled "bedside manner," you silly girl.

"Anniversaries are on my mind. I woke up this morning after a good night's sleep blessed with some interesting dreams, made myself a great cup of coffee and put fresh white peaches in my morning yogurt. I paid some bills, renewed licenses for my car and my doggies, checked my calendar for the day (again), listened to a voice mail, talked to Human Resources then did the breakfast dishes. While I was rinsing the sink, it occurred to me that this morning was like mornings BC: Before Cancer. This time last year I was still in intense post-surgical recovery mode and just returning to work but had no energy for anything else.  As streams of consciousness and mindful thankfulness would have it, I then thought "Thank you, God!" Then I said aloud, "Thank you, Dr. Clarence "Should write the book on bedside manor - dish it out as you can wrap your head around it while respecting your intelligence" Sarkodee-Adoo, Dr. Joan "Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200, go straight into Herceptin" Dahmer, Ashley (the hands down sweetest nurse on earth) and Kara (the hands down best receptionist on earth) and those wonderful Chinese Hamsters whose ovaries saved my life. Thank you, Genentech research scientist who recognized a new application for something as common to research but so esoteric to the rest of us as Chinese Hamster ovaries. Thank you Diocese of Phoenix for excellent Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage. Then, once again, came a flood of gratitude for all my friends and family who showed up with patience, understanding, companionship, optimism, lies, smiles, ears, fresh vegetables, patience, rides, meals, lawn care, shade, trips to the farmer's market, patience, vegetable garden weeding, did I say patience? Thank you Bahney Dedolph, Claudia Ness, Vicki Davis, George Davis, My staff at Catholic Charities Westside Head Start, Deb and Dan Hermann, Paula Hernandez, Steven Vitali, Kristen Schmidt, Kim Castellano, my sisters Martha, Catrina and Linda, my daughters Erin and Laura, David Smith, Janet Nellis, Joann Braucher, Nancy and Tyrone Williams (and Annika, Sean, and Zane), Mary Jo Miller, David Castellano, Sha McFadden, my goddaughter Alix Davis, Merle Salus-Herbig, Penny Davis, The Wellness Community, Suzanne Jordan, Kathy LaTour and my own stubborn nature. I got a card that called me a “cancer vixen” (vixen not victim, get it?). I guess when it comes to cancer one can’t be too much of a shrew. I look back over this year and amaze even myself. It is great to be back. I missed me. I’m glad you were there for me when I was a bit distracted."

...she LOVES that Chinese hamster ovaries saved her life.  I'm pretty sure it's the coolest thing she's ever heard of. and the strangest. 

Anywho.

I'm proud of my mama, and I'm excited to someday be someone's mama.  I'm proud of my dear friends who have been mama's for years, are just entering into mamahood, and who just found out they're going to have their first little one sometime soon (like, March 14th.) 

love to you. 

..and your mama.

baby La and her Ma

Oh, my lambchops.

Thank you, Neil Patrick Harris, for my new favorite catchphrase.

Two thoughts for today:
1. I want to get my PhD SO badly.  I want to do research, I want to write, and I want to teach.  First, I want to be a clinician for a while, but deep down I really want to go the PhD route.

b. If there were a Real Housewives of Flagstaff it might be the MOST boring television show on the planet. HOWEVER, it wouldn't be nearly as annoying as some of the other trashy "houswife" TV shows I watch, which I see as a plus.

.....yes, I'm a complex being and those are two of the most polar opposite statements I've ever made.

I'm okay with it.

I'll continue with the more ridiculous comment first.

I watch The Real Housewives of [insert the wealthiest city in our country you can think of here] and I like love all of them.  Why, oh WHY do I watch this nonsense, you might ask?

"But, Laura, you seem like such a well-rounded individual... you're better than that."
"But, Laura, you're killing brain cells one trashy episode at a time. You know better."
"But, Laura..."

Yes, well, I don't understand it, but I can't help it.

If there were a Real Housewives of Flagstaff I can only think of a small handful of women who would make it at all entertaining.  The rest of us would just talk about things like hiking, whose Chaco's are cuter, how to grow organic tomatoes, and what's on sale at Patagucc all day (pronounced /pattagooch/, as in Gucci, if you weren't sure.)

No one would watch.
.....except for me; I'll watch anything with "The Real Housewives" in the title.
 

(((((Patagucc)))))










Back to the more important statement mentioned above:

I know I will be more than able to complete my PhD someday, but my indecisive self still has no idea what I want to focus my studies on. 

My dear/sweet/beautiful/intelligent friend, Crystle (love ya), attended a workshop with me today on how to successfully work with bilingual clients, as a monolingual therapist or otherwise. 

The presenter was an obviously brilliant woman who has successfully hyphenated her last name to Fabiano-Smith .

(Tompkins-Smith? Smith? how will I ever choose??)

Anyhow, she spent a few hours discussing how to ethically and effectively assess/work with bilingual students (she has focused the majority of her research on English/Spanish speakers, but had wonderful insight into working with other populations, as well.)

This woman stood in front of us, (she looked about 30, maybe 35) and spoke as if she was born with all of this information in her brain.  She discussed "hard l's" and "stridal stops" as if it were everyday conversation.  She talked about the phonemic inventory of Haitian Creole as if she was literally born for this.

I found myself very jealous of her accomplishments. 

and by jealous, of course I mean inspired.

So, big thanks to Crystle for getting me to the workshop today.

and big thanks to Dr. Fabiano-Smith for lighting a fire under my bum, one I am not yet aware of how to put out.

Love me some linguistics, love me some phonetics, and LOVE me some trashy houswives.

.......and all of you, of course :) 



They're really mean to each other. don't start watching if you haven't already.



UPlift yourself and think POSTIVE!

My dear friend Vanessa, over at http://www.msladyday.com/, told me I need to "uplift myself and think positive." 
...she didn't like my last post's title.
I told her to calm down.
:)
BUT.. fine. Today I will chat about all things great in Laura's world.

Another one of my dearest ladies, Rachelle (who just got engaged! YAY!), recently made fun of the people who post pictures of their dogs as if they're their children.

Naturally, I agreed with her.

....but, since I know you're ALL itching to see pictures of our fabulous dogs....

That's Atlas........................... & that's Woody

and I LOVE THEM!

Sorry, Rach. I lied.



The dogs have started training with Michael from http://www.developingdog.com/ and they're doing so well :) I'm a proud dog mama, what can I say?! I'm not allowed to hug them and squeeze them and tell them how cute they are all the time, which is a serious challenge for me, but it seems to be working. Thanks, Mr. Tentindo, and your magician-like dog training skills.  We are very appreciative.

...and so are our future houseguests, who will no longer be lovingly attacked as soon as they enter our home.

Moving on to more happy thoughts...

I'm currently reading two books (I rarely finish one at a time. it's a curse.):

written by the "world pun champion" of 1995. The book is fascinating, but also cleverly written with puns sneakily slipped in here and there. Pay attention or you'll miss them!

 &

 

Wonderful history of euphemisms and the English Language. LOVE it.

If you're at all interested in language, where it comes from, or why we use it in all the ways that we do, I highly suggest both of these books.

...and I'm always looking for more geeky language books to get my attention, so send them my way when you find them, please!

Let's see.... one more uplifting tidbit for today....

I'm SO EXCITED for my friends Carly and Walker, who are getting married tomorrow :) 
...what should I wear?! I'm not prepared.

There are so many of us, all of a sudden, who have found our persons.

Davo is, truly, my person, and I am his.  that's it.  he's my heart.

I believe that not everyone is built for partnership, but for those of us who are, to find our person is truly one of life's greatest blessings.

So, to ALL of you who have found your person I extend my deepest excitement.

To those of you who haven't yet, trust that you will.  To love partnership is to find partnership.  I have no doubt.

Love love love to my partnered friends, my seeking friends, and my friends who love the single life. 

I am thankful for EVERY single one of you!  

I have SO many things in my brain EVERY DAY, how will I EVER fit it all into this little stupid blog that no one actually reads??!!!

WOW.

several days a year I'm reminded what a deeply emotional being I really am, and am constantly reminded of what truly matters, and what truly doesn't (but still affects me.)
***"affects" me? or "effects" me? DAMN I always mess that one up.***
I'm even more often reminded of what a big baby I am.

...wait, is there a difference?

In March I eagerly jumped on the bandwagon of this phenomenon many refer to as "P90x"; maybe you've heard of it.  I got SO amped and SO into it, and I was so very proud of myself.

..perhaps I should preface this "conversation" with the fact that I've always been an active person, having played softball until I was 17 and baskeball for several years somewhere in there, BUT once I graduated high school, my motivation to remain active has struggled.  to say the least. 

So, yes, I am the person whose activity and diet go in waves - I get on some random kick (this year it's P90x), I lose some weight, I feel GREAT about my progress, and then something else happens that throws me completely off track.

can I get an amen?

This year, amidst my P90x bender, Davo and I went on a little vacation down to Bisbee to meet our new friend, Josh Snyder, (http://www.joshsnyderblog.com/) and get our engagement photos done.

**Josh is an amazing photographer and a wonderful human being. Look into his work and give him your money if you can!**

We returned from our 5-day trip to southern Arizona (after several days of margaritas and all kinds of delicious eats) and I tried SO very hard to get back in the swing of the "working out" thing; I just couldn't do it.  A month later we became deeply entrenched in the drama of purchasing/moving into our first home (so exciting, don't get me wrong..) But, needless to say, my workout plans have gone to hell in the last 3 months.

.....where the h did this string of thought come from?
(((.I warned you. try to keep up.)))

ah, yes.

The point of today's ramblings: I had a meltdown this weekend over the fact that I've gained 3 pounds.
yes, 3 pounds.
I had my first "fitting" for my wedding gown on Sunday (I'm having a custom gown made.. I'll write more about that later), and the seamstress seemed deeply burdened by those 3 pounds. Yes, it is her job to ensure that my wedding gown is perfectly fit to my body, and yes, I understand that if I GAIN weight I am making her job more difficult. Whatever. It still felt crappyyyyyy to have someone annoyed by my 3-pound weight gain.

And, so, I cried.

I cried yesterday, and I cried today. at work.

As of 2 hours ago I'm back on the P90x bandwagon! Yay for me!!

...and I'm very sorry to say that I will likely be adding P90x to the list of things I will continue rambling about here. 

((((((I promise to NOT post any pictures of myself, such as the one below, on this blog.
...and I'm sorry to the lady in these pictures, but this is what she gets for posting her pictures on public P90X websites.))))))



I figure if I put some of my P90X challenges/successes in writing and force random people to sit through my whinings eventually I'll become less of a big baby and stop whining so much! 3 pounds do NOT MATTER, but feeling great does. P90x here I am. put me to work, please. not for the 3 pounds, but for my mood, and for the sanity of everyone who has to deal with my mood on a daily basis.

okay, that's all for today.

P.S. Someone on NPR used the word "implacable" today, and I thought to myself,

"What an idiot! That's not the right word!"

I knew it had something to do with the root "placate", but "implacable" just did NOT sound right.

...I was wrong.  Implacable was the perfect word choice, and I'm an ass who sometimes thinks she knows things that she really doesn't.

..hence the title of this blog.

Peace and love, boys and girls. Peace and love.