A Teenage Crush Gone

Paul Walker was one of my very first Eye Candy subjects on my blog. He was also my very first crush, like cut out every picture of him from my Bop magazine and taped them all to my wall. I fell in love with him in Meet the Deedles back in 1998.  Then again in Varsity Blues, and pretty much every movie he's ever been in.

Then tonight the breaking news was that Paul Walker, age 40, had passed away in car accident. My childhood crush has died, it's very very sad. 

I cannot believe that he is 40, that makes me feel old. I'm too young to lose my childhood crush! Just another reminder that life is short and can change in an instant. RIP Paul Walker :(

An Abbreviated Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was pretty far from traditional and slightly abbreviated. It started Wednesday night, when we got a call from NiBo that his car wouldn't start and he just replaced the starter (he's having one of those when it rains it pours moments with his car) so insert amazing sister and we have a sibling adventure on our hands. I drove down to the big town to assist. 

Our original plan was to get the battery out, with one forgotten tool, we were onto plan B, jump start. Minus one set of jumper cables and a run to Advance Auto Parts to purchase said jumper cables we were back in business? After popping the hood on my car (which has a cover for everything) we located the battery cover to reveal an awkwardly placed battery with no access to the negative cable. How can this be we asked ourselves, thank God for Google, and a quick video viewing we were back on track. With a red to red and black to black we had the cables in place, we let it sit for a few minutes, and with a turn of the key success!! We had errands to run and would be back.

Turns out we were no match for a completely dead battery, though we fought valiantly. We learned important lessons though and can now jump a battery like it's our job.

Which brings us to Thanksgiving itself, but I have to backtrack a few days first. Earlier in the week our poor dad who is never ever sick and does not miss work, caught a nasty case of the stomach flu and missed the three days of work we had this week, so we decided to move Thanksgiving to Sunday when we have a family photo scheduled. But who could expect all that food to wait, we had rolls from the Beef House just calling our name, so we ate those yesterday. And the turkey was basically all done, so we ate that today. We still have pies to enjoy tomorrow though, but the weather will be warmer so we decided to grill out instead. So there you have it, the story of how this years Thanksgiving because a slightly abbreviated and drawn out event! 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and if you braved the stores yesterday I hope you found lots of savings! 

Postcard Arrival: Minsk, Belarus

This postcard traveled for 33 days and 4,923 miles all the way from Minsk, Belarus. This postcard is a picture of the palace in Pruzhany which is on the Western edge of Belarus. There were lots of stamps on this postcard too! 

Christmas Time in Small Town

Well, like it or not it's that time of year again. Jack frost is nipping at our nose (and car windows in the morning) we've had our first snow on the ground but if that wasn't enough, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Small town. The lights on our the trees downtown and the Christmas tree is up in the square. That means it's time for the annual lighted Christmas parade.

Could it have been anymore freezing for the occasion?! I'm pretty sure it felt like 13 degrees, I even had to finally break out the winter coat. Luckily there was hot chocolate to keep us warm! Most people opted to park in a prime location and keep in their vehicle for the event, BUMS! Suck it up and sit outside like it's a real parade will ya! 

A.Drama and I toughed it out, Marvin and dad joined us too, they weren't particularly thrilled about it, but when the floats started by, you can't help but feel the holiday magic! 

You might remember that here in small town, we are serious about our parades and serious about tractors. So you better bet there were light covered tractors in the parade and lots of em! 

It's Santa and Mrs. Clause! 

We finally thawed out and made our way back to the warmth of home, I bundled up in my warm blanket with my cozy slippers and watched some TV  what a great night! Hope you all kept warm this weekend! 

Throwback Thursday: Top Gun

Here is one of my favorite pictures. This was way back in 1989 (age 3) when the Air Force Base was a few towns over and they had an air show going on. I'm told that my dad was given a little bit of crap for bring a kid in a Navy jacket to an Air Force Air Show. But here I am rockin' my Navy jacket in an Air Force plane givin a thumbs up. I'm one cool kid.

I Read It Somewhere: Humans of New York

Welcome to a new blog segment I'm calling 'I Read it Somewhere' In this segment I will share news stories and fun little blips I read about, well, somewhere. 

I've noticed more and more lately that there are things I read about and would like to share with you all, because once I know something it's fun to share (I'm pretty sure I've hooked OL on a few things now and again) But as of late the only thing my Facebook has is stories I've read somewhere and shared on my page, oh and also things like "I was not emotionally prepared for this episode #soa" or something like "o m g" because really can we just have a moment for the amazingness that was last night's Sons of Anarchy?HOLY MOLY... but I digress... back to my I read it somewhere. 

So here is my first 'I read it somewhere' that I would like to share, Humans of New York.

I'm pretty sure I read about this on CNN (it's one of my daily check websites) but what is Humans of New York you're asking. Humans of New York or HONY, is a project by photographer Brandon Stanton. It started out as idea to create a visual census of New York with humble beginnings as a blog showcasing just the pictures, http://www.humansofnewyork.com, then it developed into something more, he began collecting quotes and stories about the subjects of his photographs and HONY took on a whole new feel.

He now has a book out the shows off 400 photos in a hardback edition. I bought this book at Barnes and Noble and love flipping through the pages. I like photography books like this, it's awesome to read the stores and quotes of people that he basically just met on the street. It really drives home the reminder that everyone has a story, and this is a great way to see that presented in beautiful photographs. You definitely need to check this out. Be sure to check out the Humans of New York Facebook page so you can get all the stories and photographs right in your news feed!

Postcard Arrival: Germany

4,347 miles in 12 days all the way from Northern Germany. This postcrosser works in a school that will be celebrating it's 425th anniversary this year. He said his town was a Medieval city with cobbled streets and half timbered houses, which sounds like such a beautiful city! 

Happy 21st NiBo!

My little NiBo is all grow'd up. Today he turned 21, I wonder what kind of trouble the sibling adventures hold in store now that we are all 21+

Here's a photo montage in celebration! Happy Birthday Bud! 

Happy Birthday NiBo!!

2 Postcard Arrivals: Spain & Austrailia

This postcard traveled 4,461 miles in 10 days all the way from Valencia, Spain. The sender says this is a picture of Paella, a typical food from the region. It's a rice dish with different ingredients and meat or seafood, looks yummy to me! 

This postcard traveled 9,618 miles all the way from Gisborne, Australia in 11 days. This sender works in the library of the local high school and enjoys quilting! 

Postcard Arrival: Kaohsiung,Taiwan

You can never go wrong with a postcard of a cat! This postcard from Taiwan traveled 7,741 miles in 14 days. I had to show you guys the back of this one too, you might have to click it to make it bigger, but this sender wrote several things in Chinese, including my name! The stamps have been neat to see on the postcards as well.

I mentioned last time that I needed new stamps. I went to the USPS website to check my options and I'm torn. They have really cute new global stamps for the holidays.. 

But if I combine two stamps, a 0.66 and the regular stamp of 0.47 (yes I would be giving the postal service an extra three cents) then I can get all the cool forever stamps that are out. A Harry Potter stamp series will be announced on November 19, but here is my favorite holiday stamps.

Can you help me pick a favorite? 

The First Snow

If you follow from a warmer climate you might be surprised to know that here in Central Illinois we've already had our first snow. Now the old wives day that the day of the first snow that you can track a cat, that is how many snow's you will have that winter, though technically it's not even winter yet so I wonder if this will hold true? But according to this we will have 11 snows. OL has already marked her calendar to keep track, this may be the first year that the 'track a cat' part hasn't been disputed. I'm can promise you can track a cat because I'm pretty sure there was a creature, not a cat, that took up residence on our porch last night, I'm guessing it was a raccoon or an opossum.

I'm especially happy that our furnace was finally fixed yesterday too, just in time for the first snow. We have radiators throughout our house and there was a malfunction with a water valve and the part was on order for over a week, luckily I don't mind sleeping a little cold. I made sure to bundle up in my sweatpants and a couple blankets. I actually had to shed some layers last night! Today I'm thankful for warmth and heating. Keep warm my fellow Illinoisans! 

Update: it appears I spoke too soon, our furnace is out again, water all over the basement, I'm in for another cold night! 

Poscard Arrival: Russia

From what I can tell, this postcard came from the Moscow area. In 16 days it traveled 5,106 miles. The sender told me his favorite book is The Kite Runner.

I've run out of stamps! I'm going to have to make a stop at the post office and pick some more up! It's fun to just look through the postcards that other people have received on the website too. I think I spend too much time on the internet.. oh well, at least I'm kind of learning something new.

Postcard Arrival: Japan

Yes, you'll note the date, Sunday, but this was in the mailbox this morning, I believe it was delivered to the neighbors or it was just left in the mailbox on accident, don't even ask why the mailbox was checked on a Sunday in the first place. This postcard is postmarked from Matsuura, Nagasaki, though the sender did not add their city in the text. It traveled 6,832 miles in 12 days. The sender of this card said she lives in a small city that has terraced rice fields and a few islands, it sounds lovely

I Met a Canadian Astronaut

You might remember a few months ago in the post 'How is Canada Cooler than the US?' where I mentioned that I was slightly stalking Canadian Astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield on twitter? Well it just so happens that Colonel Hadfield has just published his first book 'An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth' I've been reading about this book for months, and when I went to check about a book signing I just happened to notice that he was going to be in Chicago! Sure it's a 2.5hr drive but it would be totally worth it, I've never met a real famous person. I had told A.Drama about him awhile ago too and when I told her about this opportunity she was in. 

We left about 3, and managed to hit Chi at about traffic time, yay! (not) but we managed to arrive with plenty of time for the 7pm start. This signing was at the Barnes and Noble in Skokie. 

This is a picture from Col. Hadfields twitter and Facebook pages, this was the gathering as we waited for him to speak. I actually kind of thought there would be more people there to meet him, but it was a manageable crowd and very well organized. You bought your book and were given a number, we were 77 & 78 and we heard others mentioning their numbers in the 150's. The talk began promptly at 7.

Col. Hadfield began his book talk with a story about the bathroom facilities on your way up, as one would imagine they are quite limited. He said you are encouraged to really go before you leave, which ends up meaning 2 enema's. Yeah he went there.

Most of the talk time was allocated for a Q&A session. The first question came from a little girl about 8 or 9, her question to him was "What does it feel like to be in space" and "were you sad when you had to leave"  With a short pause he repeated the question and his answer was "magic" being in space feels like magic. Um insert heart melting here. He went on to explain it in a way an 8 year old could appreciate, he says you feel like Tinkerbell and can do all kinds of Tinkerbell flips in space. He also said that he enjoyed being in space but was glad to have his feet back on the ground.

He went on to explain a little bit about his social media presence during his stay on the International Space Station and explained that it's not something meant to be a ploy or anything wanting you to donate your money to space, he looked at it as an opportunity to share. Space is a limited experience that only a few will have the opportunity to visit, and he wanted people to see where their money was being spent. He shared his thoughts about the future of space exploration. He thinks we will go back to the moon and that there will eventually be a collaborative International Space program that will allow us to pool multiple countries' resources to continue exploration of the unknown.

The evening ended with a final question "What is the prettiest thing from space?" He explained that while your in space the first things you look toward are the familiar, where you are from and places you have been. Then it just becomes something more and you are able to see the beauty of the whole Earth. After a short pause and really thinking about it, he determined that his favorite site from space is the Bahama's. He says the way the dark waters of the ocean meet the shallow blue waters over the reef's that it's just so beautiful from space to see all those colors coming together.

Then it was time to get in line for our signing. We were placed in numerical order from our tickets, I won't lie when it was my turn in line I was a little bit nervous. I was kind of star struck and didn't want to be one of those geeky people that wants him sign something weird. So I simply shook his hand and said it is a pleasure to meet you and thanks for sharing the images. He said, no problem and that he liked my shirt.

After the singing we couldn't help but notice there was a Cheesecake Factory a few doors down from the bookstore, so we stopped in and helped ourselves to a piece of strawberry cheesecake, and it was DELISH! 

So if you haven't yet, I highly suggest googling Chris Hadfield and take a look at the amazing photos he shared from his time in space, then hop on over to YouTube and watch his videos. Check out 'Space Oddity' first then if you're curious check out how you go to the bathroom in space or how to brush your teeth in space, I promise you won't be disappointed. And be sure to check out his book, sorry yours isn't signed like mine is ;)