Have y’all seen this?

After they changed up the news feed and sufficiently confused us all, per usual, I noticed that Facebook has a ‘featured loser,’ as TechCrunch so aptly puts it, on my sidebar. No joke, one of my friends was up there with a caption that said:

“Help JimBob find more friends.” <----name changed to protect the lonely.

If I’m ever your featured loser, pleeeease tell me so I can up my game.

I have a reputation to uphold.

Well, no I don’t. But still, I ain’t no charity case. (And I ain’t no holler back girl, FYI.)

Halloween is not meant for adults.

I've officially eaten a lunch of three Reese's peanut butter cups.

At least I only do that once a year . . . right?

oh my gosh, you guys!

Look!

Google is finally officially becoming what I've used it for all along.

Red letter day over here.

This snowman is shaping up to be an 8, but not out of 10.

I am soo excited for the holidays this year and I want my favorite blog friends to help me ring them in.

My two beefs with the holidays:

1) Thanksgiving is my favorite, but it’s often overlooked.

2) I am generally annoyed by too much poorly-done, overplayed Christmas music.

Anyway, before things get too crazy, what with all the shopping and the carbs and stuff, I thought you might be able to help me with a little guest post for my blog.

I would love it if you could share either:

A memory or tradition surrounding Thanksgiving (or Christmas, I guess) that you look forward to

OR

A favorite Christmas song or album.

These will be very short, sweet posts, snapshot-of-life type stories. Photos, the more dated/embarrassing, the better, are always welcome.

So, email me at hollylynnsays (@) gmail (.) com if you want in on the action! DON’T leave a comment with your idea, please EMAIL it to me. No need to write the post now, just let me know if you’re interested and then we can work out a deadline. I’ll accept as many as want to play and post them throughout the holiday season.

Thanks!

I've got the giggles.

Hey all, I'm over at Laughing at Life's Little Wedgies today, offering the Internets way too much information about my personal life.

Check it!

But seriously though, I'm musing on a topic close to my life and my heart, and I kind of can't believe I haven't blogged about it before. Give it a read and if needed, we'll hold hands and discuss more.

And while you're there...check out trublubyu's other posts. She's great, despite her screen name that denotes an obvious affinity for the BYU football program.

Have a splendid Tuesday!

WikiFAIL

Do you have a personalized iGoogle page? It’s a handy little thing to have. It combines your email, your blog comments, and then whatever else you want – weather, news, jokes, horoscope, stock ticker, whatever. If I could get a Facebook mini-feed and shortcut to my bank account on there, it would be a complete one-stop shop for my Web needs.

Well, for some reason I have WikiHow on my page (I think it was a default for the iGoogle pages and I never removed it) that gives links to things you might want to learn how to do. And today, there was one titled, and I’m not kidding here:

Six Steps to Witty Banter

C’mon, WikiHow.

First of all, they list seven steps (not six). So there’s that.

But more importantly, who do these clowns at WikiHow think they’re fooling? You can’t teach people how to be witty!

Some people are witty, and some people aren’t. Watching MASH or wearing glasses can’t make you witty. And if you’re trying to be more witty, it will come across like you’re trying to be more witty. And that isn’t witty. It’s sad.

So, if you’re not witty, just own it. Work it. Be the fiercest witless wonder out there. I’m sure you make other contributions to society. Not sure what they are…but…

Halloween S.O.S.

Help!

Last minute couple Halloween costume ideas needed.

We've toyed with:

Peter Pan and Wendy

Greg and Marcia Brady

Bonnie and Clyde

But I know there are others. What are some of your favorite costumes from Halloweens past? We’re kind of desperate over here.

The easier the better. (That’s the spirit! Right?)

If we pick your idea, then you will get … oh, who are we kidding? Great satisfaction in the knowledge that you won.

I don’t do causes.

If you could hack into my Facebook account, you would see numerous heartless rejections by yours truly to help do any of the following:

Save the Children (this is my all time favorite. What does it even mean??)

End Internet Porn

Cure Cancer

Keep Christ in Christmas

Stop Human Trafficking

Free Tibet

Save Silverman

The list goes on, people. And ok, that last one was a joke, but the causes are ENDLESS on the Book.

It’s not that these aren’t great causes. They are. I would love to do all of these. I would love to give you the world. But…joining up with a “cause” on Facebook isn’t going to do a darn thing to change the world. Unless I’m missing out on some very valuable information…I mean maybe they explain how Facebook causes save the world somewhere in the Farmland app, which is just one of a host of annoying apps that I continue to ignore/block/curse.

With all that said, there are some very real ways we can help the causes we love, and none of them end with Facebook. Social networking is a powerful tool and I do believe that using it, groups can organize and gain momentum and then go out and fight. But I’m still not clear on how listing a cause on your Facebook page really proves anything or causes any action…but anyway.

And for the record, I do like good things and dislike bad things. Just because I’m not wearing it like a badge on Facebook, doesn’t mean I don’t support good causes.

I hope you understand.

Two things I like today.

Since you asked and all.

This beautiful Snow & Graham calendar for 2010:

And this Youth Group song called "What Is A Life":

That's all.

image via

Off the sauce. Kind of.

So here's the problem I've been having.

(By the way, hi! How are you? I sure ruined my solid streak of almost-daily posting, but after the return of 30 Rock, I've been in my own little world the past five days experiencing a little something I like to call NIRVANA. Liz, Jack, Tracy, Kenneth - especially you, Jenna and Josh...so nice to have you back.)

The problem I've been having is that I think I have a stomach ulcer thing.

(Don't you LOVE how I feel the need to detail all my physical ailments on the Internet?)

I'm fine and everything; I mean, I used to get these things in college and I know the drill. So I guess the problem really is my...how do you say...caffeine headaches?

I know, I know.

Diet Coke is really this big of a part of my life.

This is real.

Because I'm taking my meds and I'm skipping all meals with anything fatty, spicy, acidic or dairy-based (this is a new one). Basically maintaining a steady diet of saltine crackers and other white flour-spun food items. But when I drink a Diet Coke, it un-does the Prilosec. Also, it hurts.

But then I get cranky in the afternoon, because of the caffeine headache.

So I just drink a little bit of Diet Coke but I make sure it has some saltines to land on in my stomach. So far, I feel pretty ok about this plan.

Lest you think I am reaping any sort of reward from this private hell of mine, let me assure you that my saltine diet has thus far yielded a zero pound weight loss.

I am going to be so shocked if anyone comments on this post. Seriously, I don't even know why I wrote it, except to say:

Let this be a lesson to you, children. Contingency plans. Have them. If my just-a-little-bit-of-Diet-Coke-on-a-non-empty-stomach plan inspires even just one soul, it will have been worth it.

And also it was worth it anyway.

I'm going to stop typing now.

oh my gosh, you guys!

i almost forgot to wish you a

Happy 30 Rock Day!

what did you get me? i got you this:

"Us Weekly said I was on crack. That's racist! I'm not on crack; I'm straight-up mentally ill!"

hate mail.

Dear Body,

You’re on notice. Your refusal to maintain proper working order yesterday forced me into a sick day and two (2) naps, meaning that I only got four (4) hours of actual sleep last night, leading me to wake up groggy and achier than I felt yesterday. And now, I have an eye twitch that has reached a spasm level that is actually affecting my vision.

Kindly cease fire.

Yours,
Holly

And W's response to Obama's prize?

I know I’m a little late to the party with my opinion on Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but I just had to post a link to what Maureen Dowd at the New York Times had to say about it. I know no one ever clicks links, but let me just tell you again to click it.

Click.
Click. It.
It’s a hypothetical convo between W. and Bill Clinton.
(Click.)
Clickity click click clack.

I like Maureen. I don’t always agree with her politics, but I admire her writing skills a LOT. Read Are Men Necessary? It’s a good one for anyone interested in societal behaviors through the gender roles lens.

I have a theory that together, Maureen Dowd and Nora Ephron would write the world’s most perfect intelligent, bitingly honest rom-com. See, that description currently is an oxymoron that teeters alarmingly close to the world as we know it sliding off its axis and faceplaning directly onto Jupiter, but once they do the film, it’ll all make sense. Order will once again be restored to the universe. Trust me.

Nora. Nora, can you hear me? Can we get on a con-call with Maureen about this screenplay? I have ideas upon ideas for you both.

Next time you forget you’re Blair Waldorf, remember I’m Chuck Bass and I love you.

Chuck, I’m hoping for another good one-liner tonight. Don’t let us down.

Music to jumpstart your weekend.

Last night I saw an adorable movie. Paige would call it precious. Rachel Zoe would call it bananas. Emily would call it perfection.

You can call it Son of Rambow.

Upon inspection of the DVD case, it looked like it would be either:

a) a stupid “guy movie”

...or

b) a stupid “kid movie”

But it turned out to be neither/both/so much more.

It’s the tale of two best friends and taught me a great deal about friendship and British slang and family and the resiliency of the human spirit and edgy exchange students from France and the fact that Ed Westwick just walks like that all the time, it isn’t just a Chuck Bass thing (GG fans, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about).

And also, the soundtrack gave me the music to jumpstart your weekend:

A few items for your consideration.

a) I have my Christmas presents 85% planned. And when I say that, I mean the ones I will be receiving. I’m not getting you anything.

b) Today as Nathan is in deviated septum surgery, I’m thinking about that time that he taught me how to unlock my taskbar on my computer so I can see ALL the applications I’m running at once. “And then if you like, you can right click to lock the taskbar again. And of course every time I see ‘lock the taskbar,’ I think of (sheepishly) ‘Rock the Casbah.’”

c) Hannah sent me this link that is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Who wants to learn the dance with me? I’ll try to find the outfits when I go on my next thrift store excursion.

the desire to create.

lately, i've been all about creating (hey mom, look for pictures of my new chalkboard soon!), and this video gives me the warm fuzzies. enjoy:

and now, mysteries of the human condition.

worlds are colliding, people, right before our eyes. i will now present you with a mystery of the human condition that i contemplated, wait for it, while buying an icy diet coke at 7-11.

i know.

yesterday as i made small talk with jon the cashier, i asked him how his monday was going. he proceeded to tell me that it would be great, if he only he could find a girlfriend, lamenting that it was one of his goals to be married by the time he was 30, and now fears he’ll die a bachelor. he explained that the difficulty was in the fact that what really interests him about a woman is her mind, and “you can’t tell that just by looking at her!”

(you know, morrissey tells us that some girls are bigger than others, and i would submit that some girls are harder to read than others.)

we all crave companionship, and i think that this, in the “that which is too easily obtained is too lightly esteemed” kind of way, is what makes it so hard. for the vast majority of us, failure is inevitable. multiple failures, in fact. you hear sweet stories about people marrying their first loves, but these stories are not the norm. most of us fall, then go for it again, having a perfect knowledge that another failure is pretty likely, but also knowing that going for it again is the only way we’ll ever succeed.

i guess what i’m saying is, i sure hope jon keeps his chin up with the whole girlfriend sitch, and i hope we all continue to press forward in whatever ways we’re trying to progress as people.

that’s all.

PSA

I just wanted to tell you that my not talking about Lady Gaga is ON PURPOSE.

If we talk about her, she (and the terrorists) will have won.

Just sit tight.

It’ll pass.

(I hope.)

Music to jumpstart your weekend.

hello my dears,

one of my 43 former roommates (i think that is actually how many roommates i’ve had – for realsies), melissa (aka tex), is finishing up her b.f.a. in photography at the ol’ y of i and she has a darling blog to document her shoots. visit gallupphotography.blogspot.com and check out her work, then let her playlist keep rolling for a couple hours. a couple faves:

kiss on my list, hall & oates
gotta have you, the weepies
don't ever, missy higgins
greatest, cat power
when u love somebody, fruit bats

enjoy your weekend. mine will include a football game, cinnamon rolls, time with people i love and general conference.

till monday,
holly

As a P.S. to my cute car post...

Nathan commented that inside the door of the cute tiny Honda there appears to be a "butt scooter" which you can look at, if you must, by clicking here.

It can go sideways, y'all.

You can ride it down the hall in your office building.

It reminds me of the pair of gentlemen I saw riding down the street in their matching Segways the other day.

Fun fact: Segway is still in business. Ponder.

These guys rode down the street, side by side, wind rippling through their bowl cuts and silk shirts, beaming like the kings of the street that they are. I think I could see them looking up diagonally like Zack Morris did when he had a blissful thought, only this time, instead of the voiceover scheming a way to get out of detention, it said this:

"We are SO awesome."

"I am so GLAD we made the conscious choice to purchase Segways."

"That chick WANTS me."

And I can't really blame them for thinking that, because I was staring. I mean really, could you have looked away?

I have so many questions.

1) Am I the only one who didn’t know that Kate Hudson is dating A-Rod?

2) Am I the only one who didn’t know they made dry-erase board paint?

3) Am I the only one watching “Modern Family?” You should click that link for the pilot. My brother tells me it’s the new Arrested Development and I think he might be right. The potential is there at least.

4) Am I the only one who feels seriously so dissed in a “I’m not even mad; that’s amazing!” sort of way by this Seriously So Blessed post?

I stopped reading Seriously So Blessed because I felt the person behind it becoming kind of embittered and way too negative about way too many topics I hold dear (Café Rio, handmade/vintage inspired decor, etc.) but lately I’ve been checking in.

I noticed that when I blogged about loving fall, I was in good company. Like…all my other bloggy friends loved it just as much as I do.

I never claimed to be unique, and I’ll continue loving fall.

Some things are just good ideas.

But you know that when TAMN is raving about something you love, you’re not very original.

*Sigh.*