Blogger geek question.

So, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t bother with tags (I’m aware this isn’t a question). I did for a while, and then I just kind of stopped.

Am I missing out?

Could plot for Web domination be hastened by using tags?

Do YOU use tags?

If so, what’s your strategy? What tips do you have for me?

Thanksgiving Countdown, episode 2.

Today's Thanksgiving Spirit post comes from Sarah of Sarah's Fab Day.

She loves coffee, pilates, her family and pretty things.

SFD is a daily dose of fab, and I recommend you visit often, as I do.

Welcome, Sarah!

I love Thanksgiving. The yummy starchy food aside, I love the idea of sharing a meal with your family while stopping to take a moment to really savor the memories that are created during these gatherings.

{image via Country Living}

At first you're sitting at the kiddie table and then there's that moment when you get to sit with the grown ups. The first time someone compliments something you brought to the feast you realize, "I'm a real Thanksgiving contributor". Watching 3 generations of men playing cards after dinner then watching your children playing with their cousins. It all goes by in a blink and sometimes the years meld together but what you really come away with is the warm feeling of Thanksgiving itself. The spirit behind the family and the food that's the best part.

Guess who just got a Google Wave Invitation?

I just got a Google Wave invitation.

As you were.

Worlds colliding.

(First of all, when I typed that title, for some reason I thought of Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. "Boys becoming men! Men becoming wolves!" Thought you should know.)

Today, I met Burnt Mustard in the flesh. She hand delivered a Gap Friends and Family pass to me from our mutual friend Jacque.

I love them both for this.

Alex is beautiful and smart and so so nice. I'm not even sure how I found her blog, but I'm thinking it may have been through Janessa. But who can tell, and who cares? If you're not reading Burnt Mustard already, I suggest you start. Find her Sesame Street videos and it will all just fall right into place.

Thank you Jacque, with the mad hook-ups for discounts at Gap Company, and thank you Alex, world's most fabulous courier!

May the Christmas shopping commence...

You look really good for your age.

Today I read this oh-so-illuminating post by Paige about how old (but well-preserved) she is. It never ceases to amaze me how enthralled the younger crowds in Provo and Rexburg (the Church school kids) are with “older” people in their midst.

Never mind that the “older” people usually have about five years on them, tops.

Never mind that marveling at the “older” people just makes you look even younger, where “younger” equals “kind of stupid.”

I remember my last year at BYU-Idaho, briefly meeting this spunky freshman boy at some campus function, then running into him again at the ticket kiosk, probably buying tickets for my graduation luncheon.

Boy: Hey, I know you!

Me: Oh, hi there.

Boy: What are you buying tickets for? We’re buying tickets for Guitars Unplugged!!!

Me: I’m getting some graduation luncheon tickets.

Boy: What?

Me: Yeah, when you graduate, there’s a luncheon and you hav-

Boy: You’re graduating?? Are you married?

Me: Yeah, I am. No, I’m not married.

Boy: What?

Me: Is that weird?

Boy: (looks concerned) You’re graduating single, wow. And what are you going to DO?! I mean you’re like..21 or something?

Me: 22. Uh…move away from here and start building my career.

Boy: Huh.

Then just two short years later, I was at a party in the much older and more sophisticated Provo, Utah, home of the Cougs (Go Cougs, I guess). Hannah and I were talking to an interesting boy who programs computer software and wears ironic t-shirts, and I noticed a clinger to my left.

You know, one who clings. Someone who just kind of shimmies into your group of people, kind of lurking for an awkward amount of time until they have something to say, and you would have greeted them if it weren’t for the fact that they sashayed up to surreptitiously that you didn’t really even notice they were there? So each person in the cluster looks either creepy or rude?

Anyway, the boy with the ironic t-shirt says to Hannah and me, “let me guess your ages. I’m really good at this.”

We let him, while saying to each other with just our eyes, “this oughta be good.”

He starts with me. He examines my face. He asks me to smile. He looks at my hands. He says, “24.”

Does the same with Hannah and pronounces, “and you’re 23.”

He was right on both counts. We ask him how old he is. He is 25, if memory serves.

Anyway, the clinger sees her moment to shine and win friends and influence people, looking at me starry-eyed, saying, “you’re 24? Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed. You look really good.”

It was as if I’d told her I was 56, blending in at this college party without raising any eyebrows.

I smiled and thanked her.

She will learn.

She was 19. I didn’t ask; I can just tell these things.

Thanksgiving Countdown: episode 1.

You made it!

Welcome to the first installment of the IRS (skinny, not revenue. This name WILL stick) Thanksgiving Spirit series.

I’m pleased as punch to welcome cute blogger and real-life friend, Marisa, as our first victim.

Marisa loves shoes, Carmex and drinking the sugary milk after a bowl of Froot Loops.

She is also a tennis star. You should ask her about that.

Welcome, Marisa!

In thinking about what I should write about, I toyed with a lot of ideas. I mean I am guest posting on “if I were really skinny!” Can anyone say “big break?” I daresay you can. This being the case I didn’t want to mess it up by blabbering on about nothing.

Maybe like I am doing now.

Moving on.

I thought about discussing my need to have the perfect outfit for the big feast in hopes that my relatives will think I am going places in life. Because we all know that the perfect outfit is worth a thousand words.

I thought about dedicating a whole post to how much I love rolls. Bread is seriously the staff of my life and if the bread is good the feast is a success. Homemade rolls just can’t be beat.

I thought I might write about how I find it interesting that celebrations and gatherings always tend to be around food. Why is this? Heaven knows I love that it is. Maybe it was our good friends the pilgrims and the Indians that began this tradition.

In the end I decided that I simply wanted to share how much I enjoy the one day out of the year that we take some time to really consider what it is we are grateful for.

I will never forget the Thanksgiving that each grandchild, aunt, uncle and grandparent shared one thing they were grateful for. Gratitude filled the room and it felt good. My heart was warmed.

This year I am grateful for Thanksgiving for the encouragement it gives us all to express our gratitude for all we have.

Here, here!

Hi all,

Just a heads-up that tomorrow begins the Thanksgiving Spirit guest blogger series here on IRS (which stands for "if i were really skinny" and not "Internal Revenue Service." I'm just trying it out, mind you. I didn't have a pithy shortened blog name in mind when I started this thing, so, I'm not really sure where to go with the acronym-ing process.)

So, you should stop by. You don't want IRS to be after you.

Especially in this tough economic clime.

And, if you'd like to graciously give to IRS, as all American citizens should, email me to get in on the action. hollylynnsays at gmail dot com.

Peace,

Holly