Tonight Heather and I are going to see John Tucker Must Die. It’s okay. I was due to lose a few brain cells.

Interesting Google searches that bring people to my blog: dictator names for pets and Kevin Bacon resemblance to a pig.

Okay, so remember how I attract Mormons? Maybe you didn’t know. Well, I do. In more ways than one, but I won’t get into that right now. Let me just say that I could be used as a divining rod for Mormons. Really. Try me.

This is just a little something that isn’t quite a story for you.

When I was in Branson with my family a little over a week ago, we went to see Cars with my grandparents. They hadn’t seen it (in fact, I don’t know what the last movie my Grannie saw in the theater was…probably years ago) and Ryan and I thought they would enjoy it. Grannie did, Paw paw didn’t, but that’s not the point. When we were walking out of the theater Grannie was elbowing me. “What?” I asked. She didn’t say anything and kept elbowing me and I don’t know…I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. She cleared her throat and kinda threw her head to one side. So, for a split second I’m thinking that maybe she’s having some sort of fit, but I decide to look in the direction she’s throwing her head.

Walking beside me I see a gray-haired man. I turn to Grannie and whisper, “That’s an Osmond!” and she says, “I know! Talk to him!” and I say, “No!” because in reality I am overcome with a sort of schoolgirl butterfly-giggly-feeling and I would make a fool of myself. Why, you ask? I really like the Osmonds. I often wonder if I was a crazed fan in a past life. I’ve actually met and had my picture taken with this particular Osmond before, but that is another story, for another time.

It was Merrill Osmond in case you were wondering. A little now and then for you:

What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones. That’s the book. I read it either my junior or senior year of high school, though the reading level is much lower than that because at that point in my life I was feeling as if I had missed out on lots of children’s literature altogether (also one of the reasons that I took Children’s Literature this semester - I highly recommend it for anyone at OU). When I was a child I went straight from Bill Wallace to Mary Higgins Clark and never looked back. In the 6th grade I tested on a college reading level and I wasn’t reading any of the books on the teacher’s bookshelf. None of the books in the library looked interesting to me. The day I started 7th grade and got to visit the high school library for the first time was one of those days I will never forget.

Back to the subject at hand. I was buying children’s literature so that I could get caught up. At the time I was planning to be an elementary school teacher (if you want to know my major changes at OU, they go something like this: Elementary Education, Language Arts Education, and lastly, English-Writing) and you know, I needed to be prepared. So I picked this book up at the book fair. It is really, really good. I think children around the age of 12 should have this book or one like it as required reading. It’s about all sorts of family troubles that are just on the fringes of the story, because as a young girl, Sophie (the main character) doesn’t know all the details, but the point is that she does know that something is going on.

And then there is Murphy. The one I am posting this about. Murphy is a boy in Sophie’s class. Murphy isn’t the best looking kid, and Sophie knows she would get teased for hanging out with him…there’s more I could say, but I’ll just post the poem. Whether you were a Murphy or you loved one, I think you will understand.

Watching Murphy During Art Class
from What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

He is so homely,
so downright ugly
that none of the girls
even think about him.

He’s too lowly,
too pitiful
to even bother
making fun of.

So something must be
very wrong with me,
because I want to kiss him.
I want to kiss him real bad,

even though his nose is crooked
and his ears are huge,
even though his hair’s a mess
and his lips are tight and scared.

I want to kiss away
those circles under his eyes
that make him look like
he’s never slept a second in his life.

And those arms of his
seem like they’re just aching
to hold on to someone.
I wish I could let them hold on to me.

When no one was looking,
I’d walk up to him
and say, “Hey, Murph.
Would it be okay if I kissed you?”

And he’d look hurt
because he’d think I was joking
and he’d turn away
to hide his face,

but I’d touch his shoulder and
look at him with gentle misty movie eyes
and say, “Come on. I mean it.
I really want to.”

And he’d look dumbstruck,
and all the gray
would fade out of his eyes
and this light would come into them

and his lips would look like
they were getting ready to smile and then,
before I had a chance to change my mind,
I’d kiss him.

And he’d wrap his skinniness around me
and his arms would be shaking,
and suddenly I’d feel all this love,
all this need pouring into me

right through his lips
into me
and it would feel great,
and I’d close my eyes to feel it better.

(Whoa.
I can’t believe
I’m having this fantasy about Murphy,
when I’m so totally in love with Dylan!)

My current away message on AIM: “it’s the last day of ballroom dance. thank goodness. i’m tired of smelling like onions and cheap cologne.”

(My screename is alliterationliz in case you were wondering.)

Tonight, Heather and I had dinner at T.E.A. Cafe. Delicious. We came back here and started getting all packed up for Our Big TRIP! that we’re leaving for…today at 6 a.m. (I need to go to bed!). Anyway, if you want to pretend like you are going on the big shopping trip to Frisco, TX with us, then you can listen to our playlist and imagine you’re having fun with us, walking all around the mall and Sam Moon and eating at the Blue Mesa Grill and ICE SKATING! Ahem. Enjoy and I will be back Sunday evening.

Rules, commentary…whatever.

I am nothing if not alliterative. Now! A list of things you may not be aware of about me (of course, if you’ve known me very long, you’ll be aware of all of these things).

…or The One Wherein I Lose My Male Readership.

The only reason I’m doing this is because I should be writing a paper right now. Having papers to write usually makes me very productive in all the other areas of my life. It never fails that my countertops are clean, the dishes are done, and the bathroom…well, if you know anything about me at all you know that I’m the Bleach Queen and my bathroom is really clean more often than not. Except right now. My house is a pit. Because I took a little trip this weekend. More on that later. (Well, I was writing a paper and all of this was true when I started writing this over a month ago. Nevermind all that now.)

Now! Wedding! No, I am not getting married anytime soon. At least not that I know of. No one has approached me with a ring and I have a feeling it’s going to be a while yet. So I’m going to hang out around OU for a bit. Unless someone worth changing my mind for happens along. I wouldn’t marry someone not worth changing my mind for.

First of all, I am a girl. To the core. I have been planning my wedding since that day I crawled up into PawPaw’s lap and asked him to take me to the mall so that I could find a husband.

More than likely my wedding will be rather large. I have a family that stretches to the ends of the earth and if you don’t invite every single member then you’ve got a riot on your hands. That’s okay because you know, it won’t bother me to have a wedding with lots of guests. I plan on getting married at my church back home and it can do more than accommodate my leviathan of a family.

After the ceremony, I would like my reception to be outside at my grandparents’ house (the ones that live in Duncan). Now, I want an October wedding or sometime in the fall at the very least, so I realize that it might be a little chilly. Hopefully not too bad though. Maybe I can have heaters set up.

The reason I’m posting this now is because today is the “big day.” Two years from today, I plan on getting married. October 27, 2007. (And there all the boys go.) It’s the 2 and the 7 together. I like it. And it is a Saturday. However, I recently discovered that it’s the same day as the OU/OSU game so that could cut down on the number of people there (at my wedding, not the game). If you skip my wedding for the football game I will strangle you.

And now for the fun stuff (!!) that I’m currently interested in. Gowns: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Rings: 1, 2, and 3. If you are interested in buying me a ring, you can also see my Amazon wishlist for a few other selections. Ha. I didn’t go all out and post all my flowers and stuff like that, but rest assured, I will at some point. I want reds and yellows and oranges and browns. You know. Autumn leaves.

I do have a few songs picked out though. I keep a little file on here with a list of things that I’d like played, along with the people that I am on good terms with that I would like to be in the wedding party. As for the songs…pre-ceremony I want “Annie’s Song,” “My Own True Love,” and a Phantom of the Opera medley. All instrumental of course. I’m trying to talk my brother Kyle into playing “Annie’s Song” but he isn’t into John Denver. I want my bridesmaids to walk down the aisle to Hagood Hardy’s “Together” from Anne of Avonlea. It is gorgeous. During the ceremony I would like someone to sing Across the Sky’s “Do You Dream of Me.” It was originally done by Michael W. Smith, but I like the version by Across the Sky much better (blasphemy). For the reception there will be much more than this, but here are just a few of the ones I must have: “Come and Get Your Love” - Redbone, “360° Of You” - SHeDAISY, “If You Wanna Be Happy” - Jimmy Soul, “Lost Without Each Other” - Hanson, “Jump (For My Love)” - Pointer Sisters, “The Shoop Song” - Cher, “Kissing You” - Des’ree, “Wig Wam Bam” - Sweet, “Shining Star” - The Manhattans, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head” - Westlife, “Nobody Does It Better” - Carly Simon, “I Will Take Care of You” - The Bangles, “I’ll Be Seeing You” - Billie Holiday, and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” - Roberta Flack. And “It’s Raining Men” - Geri Halliwell. Almost forgot that one.

Maybe I went a bit overboard there. Hmm. Oh well, you get the idea.

By no means am I in any real rush to get married. I would like it to happen before 26ish, but if I’m not, I can just Bridget Jones it for a little longer. I just know that I’ll be ready when the time comes. If you lift up my ponytail you’ll see a little label and it reads, “Just add groom.” No. Really