Ali "The Organizer" or Thanksgiving Was Great

I love Thanksgiving! I love the food, especially the leftovers! (Apple pie for breakfast is delicious!) I love the time spent with family and sometimes friends. I love the smell of food being prepared. I love time spent reflecting on blessings and gratitude. (I haven't made my gratitude list yet, but one of these days . . .) I love tasting all the food and doughs while preparing them so that when I sit down to eat I am almost already stuffed. I love the relaxed nature of the day - I feel like I can do anything I want without regret. I love looking through the ads in the paper and cutting out the pictures/prices of the things I want. Basically, I just love Thanksgiving!

In other news, I feel like all I do is organize lately. I don't feel overly creative (which is sad) so instead I organize.

• I organize my music and videos on itunes. It's amazing how many copies I have of the same song! Not only do I have to have all of the information correct I also want an album picture to go with it, so that my itunes is pretty.



• I organize all of the sister's info for Relief Society. I spent over 2 hours on Wednesday dividing the sisters up into lists: sisters who've come to church at least once; sisters who have never come, but who we have some sort of contact info; and sisters on our roles that have never come and who we have absolutely no contact info for. (As a side note: I love google docs! It's awesome for sharing info easily and quickly!)



• I organize the family photos. Every day I'm trying to scan a few pictures so that we have a digital copy of them all. Then, in Picasa I tag them all. I have to say tagging is addictive!



• I organize my piano students into recitals and try not to have the same songs repeated.



• I organize the Relief Society Christmas gift. I get ideas and people to help make them and people to pass them out.



• Heck, I even organized this list!

Anyway, right now I feel like there is this tiny burning ember of creativity being squashed by my organizational flame. I have been able to pin point why this is happening, but it doesn't necessarily stop it or solve it.

When I organize I am in control. I decide what goes when and where I want to do it. There are never any unanswerable questions. Everything has it's place. I become extra organized when I feel I have very little control on the things around me.

Therefore, when I feel super creative I have more control of the world I live in. It's ok to have abstracts and questions without answers.

Neither my creative self nor my organizational self are good in abundance. I like a balance of the two. So the question I ask myself is: how do I swing the pendulum back and stop it in the middle?

Christmas Movie Round Up

Most of you know that I love quotations - especially movie quotes. Well, I've decided to make a Christmas movie quote poster. So, that means I am in the process of finding and choosing the best Christmas movie quotes. If anyone has some they'd like to share with me, that would be so awesome! Either comment or email me your favorites. This should be fun!

Twilight: The Movie

I went and saw Twilight last night. It was a lot of fun to go with a group of friends. We rented out the whole theater, so it was just a huge group of friends and family. We even got a box of popcorn and a drink with our ticket.

As for the movie itself . . . it was good. I came out of the theater with a feeling not unlike that of December 26. I had been anticipating it for so long and now it's over. I think I need to see it again with different expectations or less anticipation, I don't know. I did enjoy it and I'm not saying it was bad. It was well made and I think that the actors did a good job. It was interesting what they changed from the book, but it wasn't bad. So far everyone I've talked to really enjoyed it.

List Mania

It's been a while since last I posted. I don't feel like I've done a lot, but we'll see. I seem to be making all sorts of lists lately, so in the same spirit I'm going to list the things I've done in the last little while - in no particular order.

• made a jack-o-lantern



• 50 cent movies at Movies 10 on Mondays: Swing Vote, Hancock, Get Smart and Mamma Mia! (twice)
  
• went to a ward sponsored service auction which ended up raising aver $4,000 for sub for Santa
  
• babysat my cute niece and nephew a couple of times - we take a lot of pictures!
  




• started picking Christmas piano pieces to learn for the season
• bought 3 pair of shoes in one day (all much needed): nice black shoes, brown and pink tennis shoes and brown Sunday shoes
• shopped clearance sales - my favorite was the $5 tank and t-shirt sale at Anchor Blue
• watched Lars and the Real Girl
• watched The Golden Compass
• watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
• watched Pride & Prejudice - the new version
• watched Love at First Bite
• held a Halloween piano play-off for my students
• converted several movies for my ipod
• learned about Pepsi points
• bought a tv show accidentally while trying to find out how many Pepsi points it was worth. (It was the first episode of season three of Psych so, at least I like it!)
• read my friend, Aaron's, book he wrote and am now editing it
• listened to the new James Bond song and was underwhelmed by it
• watched season 5 of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• started watching season 7 of Smallville
• watched The Christmas Card (especially the ending!)
• designed some new cards and invitations - there are 12 in the card series
  
  
  
  
  
• had a tasty peach Astro Bar from Dairy Ann's
• got my flu shot
• strained some muscle(s) in my back that ached pretty painfully for a couple of days - I am ever grateful for 800 mg Ibuprofen
• went to a regional YSA activity where we saw the group, Comedy Sports. My favorite was the song about Shadows of Darkness
  
• found a drug that reduces migraines and shortens the duration and times I have a bout with my ibs - unfortunately it makes me super tired, so early mornings are killer!
• designed some magnets for the Twilight movie night tomorrow



• started organizing the music in my itunes. It's amazing how many copies I have of the same songs!
• was sick with a cold for a week - that was not fun
• helped my piano students enter their pieces into the Reflections contest
• picked several Christmas duets to learn with my mom
• got my visiting teaching done before the last day of the month (I'm so proud of myself)
• finally helped get my brother's birthday package in the mail
• had my first glass of egg nog for the season
• ate a lot of Halloween candy - actually I still am snacking on remnants - my most favorite are Nerds and Reese's peanut butter cups
• painted my fingernails for the first time in forever
• made fall shaped sugar cookies with orange frosting
• given a lot of tech support, both close and long distance

Well, that's all I can really think of right now. Hopefully I won't take such a long time posting my next entry.

Wordle

Ok, so this might be the most fabulous thing I have seen, (well mostly played with) on the internet in a long while. You type in a list of words and in seconds it creates a work of art. I mean really, how awesome is that?!