I've found a new website to play with. Nymbler is a "personal naming assistant" based on name info from Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard, one of my favorite baby name books.
Yeah, I have a collection of baby name books that all my expecting friends love to go through. I'm like a library that's always open! And my mom is so cute when I mention some baby name book, and she asks, "Is that a hint?" She really wants it to be one, but I've been collecting baby name books since I was a little girl because I'm fascinated by names and because they're always handy for naming characters in stories or role-playing games.
Anyway, I found Nymbler on Laura's blog - Baby Name Wizard Blog - and I think it's really cool. Type in a name that you like the style of, and Nymbler gives you a selection of names that are thought to be similar because of the sound or "feel" or the origins or the popularity. I don't agree that Brandy is similar to Farrah, but I do see that whole 70s connection, so I get it. (I just don't like it. LOL) I also get Shaun, Misty, and Sunny, and I think they have a similar 70s feel to them. Plus, Misty and Sunny have that whole hippie nature connection and end in the same sound as Brandy.
What names come up when you enter your own name or your favorite name? What do you think of them? And if this helps all those families in my neighborhood expecting their own bundles of joy, then even better. I'm having so much fun with this! I'll probably mention this again as I play with it more.
Thanks to Krissy, Phisch, and Amy for playing along with my "two truths and a lie" post.
Item #1 that I was kicked out of children's choir for noting that ewes and rams are different is technically true though oversimplified a bit. We were doing a program called something something like All We Like Sheep, which was a strange children's musical with talking animals learning about forgiveness if I recall correctly. All I really remember is that the two main characters were a ram named Ramsey and an ewe named Eunice. The ram had the biggest speaking/singing part and I was one of the better ones in the choir for memorizing parts, so they decided to make the character a girl by changing the name to Ramona in order for me to play the part .
I pointed out that it was silly to change the name to Ramona since Ramsey and Eunice were supposed to be playing off "ram" and "ewe". I suggested either leaving it a boy part with me still doing it or coming up with another "ewe" name. The director had a meltdown and kicked me out of choir for "trying to shame an authority figure". I was overjoyed because my mom had been "encouraging" me to stay in the choir even though I didn't want to be there. They later tried to get me to come back to the choir, but my mom gave them a piece of her mind about the whole silly situation, and that was the end of children's choir for me! The next year I was able to join youth choir because I started middle school, and that was much better.
The second item about never being a vegetarian because I could never give up steak is definitely a lie, which Krissy correctly guessed. I'm actually not a big fan of steak. During my years as a vegetarian, the only non-vegetarian item I really missed were bacon cheeseburgers. I'm a simple girl.
I also really hate raw meat, so cooking with meat is a little bit of a hurdle for me. (And that aversion is something I still don't really understand because I dealt with a lot worse than a little raw meat on my grandparents' farm.) If Matt were willing to give up meat, we'd definitely be vegetarians at home at least. Oh, I also said in that item that I don't like most vegetables, and that's a lie too. At the moment, I can't think of any vegetable I don't like unless you count tomatoes as a vegetable. I do not like tomatoes at all.
Then there's the third item about wanting 26 children. That was actually a reduction from the number I mentioned when I was really young. My earliest opinion on the matter was that I wanted to adopt a boy and a girl from every country in the world. I think I was fixated on my coloring book with all the little kids dressed in native costumes.
Then I realized there were a lot of countries, so I cut that number by half and said I'd just adopt one child from each country. I got a little older and came up with the coolness of using the alphabet to name my 26 children. At one point, I had all the names picked out with A-Z for the first names and Z-A for the middle names in the style of Abigail Zinnia to Zoe Amalia or Andrew Zane to Zachary Asher. Then I decided an even dozen would be a good number.
Matt was thankful that I'd dropped down to wanting four kids by the time we got married. Now I'm 31, and we've been married for close to 11 years with no kids and no kids planned for the future. It's funny how plans change over the years. Sometimes, that makes me sad, and other times, I don't even think about it one way or the other.
Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.
OK, you tell me which is the lie.
- When I was in 5th grade, I was kicked out of my church's children's choir program for pointing out that rams and ewes are different.
- I could never be a vegetarian. I'd miss steak way too much, and I don't even like that many vegetables.
- At one point in my life, I wanted 26 children so that I could name each one with a different letter of the alphabet from Andrew/Abigail to Zachary/Zoe.
Audio: Show us the best album (new or old) that you've bought this year.
Well, I spent last weekend going to two Jason Gray concerts in two different states, so it's probably not a surprise that his All the Lovely Losers CD is my favorite album of the year. Unfortunately, it's not sold on Amazon, so I'm including "Into the Mystery" from the album for your listening pleasure. You can hear more of Jason's music at his MySpace page and his regular site.
I'm not great at describing music other than to say that I like it or I don't like it, but I'll take a shot at describing this album. Jason is a folksy singer-songwriter, and the songs on the album range from folk-pop to folk-rock. I can easily imagine this CD playing in a coffeehouse if that helps to give you sense of its vibe. I'm in love with his lyrics and how he really speaks to those of us who just don't feel worthy of God's love. Faith can be scary, and he's not afraid to talk about that and to also share how God works through our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
Apart from his wonderful singing and songwriting, Jason is also one of the good guys. He supports World Vision and has a real desire to ease the suffering of children who are being orphaned by AIDS around the world. One of the songs on the album - "You are Mercy" - was written after a trip to Africa with his family to see the work World Vision is doing. The song encourages us to pray for the world while also being a part of the answer to those prayers by taking action.
If you're interested in buying the CD, it's available on iTunes, and you can also order from echotunes to get a bonus acoustic CD from Jason with your purchase.
Also at the concerts where we saw Jason Gray were downhere and Sevenglory. Downhere was actually the main band at both concerts and is great, but I was fixated on Jason Gray. :D I have all of their albums, but the only one I bought this year was Wide-Eyed and Simplified, which is an acoustic version of their Wide-Eyed and Mystified. It's a great album with the band telling the stories behind the songs, which is always something I enjoy from musicians I like. The main reason I'm mentioning them here though is simply because I've been listening to so much of them lately. I didn't want to leave them out!
I heard Sevenglory for the first time this weekend, bought their CD, and then went to the next day's concert and completely enjoyed them again. They have a great rock sound, and their lead singer Fred Butson has a really unique sound.
Then I have another recent CD purchase with Decemberadio, a more Southern rock or classic rock sound. They're playing a few hours away from us this weekend, and Matt is dropping some heavy hints that he'd like to go to that concert. I'd be more interested if it wasn't part of a big outdoor festival. I don't know if I'm up for another one of those yet when I'm only interested in one band that's playing. We'll see how the weekend goes, I guess.
Which band or artist which is no longer performing or alive would you have loved to have seen?
Submitted by Rev Stan.
Anyone who knows me well already knows the answer to this one. It would definitely have to be Elvis. No contest on that one. I'd pick either very early Elvis around 1956 when he had his first single ("Heartbreak Hotel") for RCA or the 1968 Elvis in the black leather for his comeback special on NBC. Of course, any Elvis would be better than no Elvis, and I still enjoy watching my DVD of Aloha from Hawaii from 1973 too.
I honestly think last week lasted about 3 times as long as most weeks. I was so happy to see the weekend, and I was planning on lots of books and sleep. Matt had other plans, and those turned out to be even better. We saw downhere and Jason Gray in concert, and we had such a blast hanging out with people at the concert. Lots of singing and bouncing around. Lots of hugging and smiling.
Unfortunately, I was thrown off by Matt's surprise and completely forgot to take one of my nice cameras. Instead I just ended up with some blurry photos from my mobile phone. Think of them of abstract portraits of energy and joy. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. ;)
Jason Gray opened for downhere, and I would love to see him in a longer concert by himself. I enjoy his CD All the Lovely Losers, but he's honestly even better in concert. It was just him and his guitar, and his incredible songwriting and voice were the stars of the evening as far as I'm concerned. His talking between the songs was also really positive and uplifting, and I loved his focus on letting God use our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
When we walked out of the concert, the world just seemed better. I need more concerts! I could totally see myself following some groups around the world if I had a life of leisure. Instead, I'll just make sure to catch them when they're in the area.
This is my first time answering the Friday 5 on Vox, but of course I have to answer one that's about time and/or being on time because that's a little bit of an obsession with me at times. :D
1.When you need to be somewhere, do you tend to be late, early, or right on time?
If I'm not at least 15 minutes early, then I feel like I'm late. I'm actually a little bit more relaxed about that now than I was as a kid, but I still want to be early anywhere. I think part of it is just hating to draw attention to myself, and people who are late to places always seem to get noticed.
2.Have you ever been pulled over, or gotten in trouble because you were in a hurry?
Nope. Again, it's that whole hating to be noticed thing. I'd be so upset if I were pulled over for speeding. And I hate being in a hurry anyway, which is one of the reasons why I plan things to have plenty of time to get somewhere. Then nothing out of the ordinary happens, and I end up there an hour early, or something unexpected comes up, and I still get there 15 minutes early unless it's something awful. And if it's that bad, then I'm not going to worry about going wherever I'm trying to go anyway.
3.What was one of the reasons you left a previous job?
I quit my last job because I had a great opportunity working with much nicer people. :D
4.How long does it take for you to get ready to go?
If I'm showered and my hair is dry, then I can be dressed and ready to go in about 15 minutes. If I need to wash my hair and then wait for it to dry, then I need to tack on an extra hour or so. My hair is a little bit longer than waist-length, and it takes forever to dry. I don't use anything with heat on my hair, so that makes it take a little longer, and then the humidity here makes a difference too. When we lived in Fairbanks, my hair dried in a fraction of the time.
5.Show us something you can't leave home without.
I travel as lightly as possible. If I'm just going out to run errands, then all I take is my wallet with my license, credit card, and a little cash if I have any; my mobile phone; and my keys. Those are all the bare necessities as far as I'm concerned.
Video: Show us your TV crush.
Submitted by quornflour.
The first one that came to mind was my first TV crush. My mom is a huge Days of our Lives fan, and I grew up watching that with her. Around 1985/1986 when I was 9-10, I developed a major crush on Bo Brady. I loved his hair and his black leather jacket, and I thought motorcycles were really cool, so that was great too. At that time (and now too actually) Bo was played by Peter Reckell. He's still a handsome guy, but I don't crush on him. It was really 80s Bo Brady that won me.
With Dean, I think it's just the obvious love for his family and that protective older brother thing that gets me because I'm a big sister, and I really relate to that. And the cool black four-door 1967 Chevy Impala and his fondness of classic rock are just added bonuses.
My friend Layna and I have decided to meet one morning a week at the local park to enjoy some fresh air and walk together. She's a stay-at-home mom, so she enjoys having time to talk to another adult, and I enjoy the time with her and her daughters. Sabrina and Tabitha are 19-month-old twins who are absolutely adorable beyond words, and it's wonderful to get all the fun parts with them and then let them go back home with their mom when they're ready for their naps. :)
I'm going to have to remember to take my camera next time and take some photos of all the things that fascinate Sabrina and Tabitha as we walk. To gain a new appreciation for the world around you, I highly recommend going on a walk with someone whose eyes are around your knee level. They notice every pretty bug, rock, and leaf anywhere in your vicinity, and it makes you remember that the world is a pretty incredible place. I needed that.
