for like the third time this year it was raining today... when i was younger, one of my very favorite things to do on a rainy day was to color. today was a little more ambitious: marble magnets.

i've read about these and seen them for sale, so when crafty sites started offering advice and instruction, i was inspired.

the link above has great examples. the photo above is of my attempts so far.

the friday five

1. what are your favorite ways to relax and unwind? stretching, yoga-ish; but mostly the ways my dance teachers used to warm us up and stretch before classes began.

2. what do you do the moment you get home from work/school/errands? take off my shoes and put on my pajama bottoms/sweatpants, pull up my hair if it hasn't already been done.

3. what are your favorite aromatherapeutic smells? vanilla

4. do you feel more relaxed with a group of friends or hanging out by yourself? by myself... i can really relax, be quiet and not feel anything or be disturbed

5. what is something that you feel is relaxing but most people don't? in college when i got stressed out i would just get in my car and go for a drive anywhere. for a few minutes or a couple of hours. it was soothing to some extent. but, about 5 years ago i stopped liking to drive in general, so that doesn't really do it for me anymore.

postcardX.net gives you the random address of a person who is registered on their site. you mail them something, anything, and might get something in return.

i made a little postcard for the other girls named michelle, and i'm mailing them out tomorrow. it's fun for no reason.

the friday five

1. would you say that you're good at keeping in touch with people? i have my moments. right now i'm absolutely horrible at keeping in touch.

2. which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? why? i prefer e-mail and being in person. who writes letters and stamps 'em anymore, anyway? i like email because it's easy, quick and convienent. being in person is so much better for reading reactions/emotions. telephone is not and never has been my favorite thing. although, if i'm on the phone i'm going to talk, but i don't like the phone because it's too easy to be distracted by others/things around you, and it's generally a boring activity. but, given the situation, it's my best means of communication with everyone back home (unfortunately, i just suck at it).

3. do you have an instant messenger program? how many? why/why not? how often do you use it? i used to have aol instant messenger; used to use it a lot to talk to my friends. now i have the mac i-chat thing. i've only used it once or twice to talk to jon for fun. but he was downstairs and i upstairs. so that doesn't really count. i go online every now and again to see if i can catch my friends, but with the time differences and everything that's difficult.

4. do most of your close friends live nearby or far away? fa, fa, far away. all in new york, tennessee or alabama.

5. are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makes the heart grow fonder"? distance makes the heart grow fonder, most definitely.

someone would make a killing if they'd compile a huge multi-disc set of music featured in commercials over the past few years...

lyric find is another search engine that allows you to search by artist, title, phrase or "scattered words."

and, in case you're wondering what that snappy tune is in the commercial for the 2002 kia spectra (with the girl driving around with her "boyfriends" over the years) -- it's from a very small chunk of a mariah carey song called "fantasy" off the album "daydream."

UPDATE: as noted in the comments section by reader mike... the song, from the kia spectra commercial, is actually called "genius of love" by the tom tom club. ms. carey sampled/ripped it for her song, "fantasy."

I've decided to move this discussion into a site I run. Please visit and check out Adtunes.com. There you will be able to find out all the information that has been posted here already, and some great search tips for finding commercial music.

Thanks!!
Michelle

i hate not having updates except when i remember to do the "friday five." honestly, nothing is going on of interest here.

one of my friends back home emailed me today about finding a powerpuff girls ice cream at the grocery store. it's dreyer's brand out here in california, but edy's back home -- same container, though. anyway, later tonight i had to go buy something else and found the ice cream as well -- how appropriate that it's powerpuff girls AND mint-chocolate chip, my very favorite flavor!

b! beads has lovely hand-made jewelry.

the friday five

1. what was/is your favorite subject in school? why? english. i've always enjoyed reading and writing. (grammar and spelling, that's another thing) but, i was always good at it. i really enjoyed it during high school.

2. who was your favorite teacher? why? hmm... mr. swanson, 9th grade geography. he made it beyond interesting. everyday we would watch films from all over the world. and for our major assignment for the semester, we had a huge packet of maps we had to memorize everything about.

3. what is your favorite memory of school? my best friend, sarah, and i always keeping our chemistry teacher nervous about us in the lab. we were always squeeling or screaming when something would happen. i don't think mrs. shultz really appreciated that.

4. what was your favorite recess game? when i was in pre-school, i used to play "dukes of hazard" with my two best boy friends and sarah. we would all sit inside those big concrete tubes often found on the playground and pretend it was our car. we always played that game.

5. what did you hate most about school? the cliques, p.e., the back-stabbing, the dances, the two-faced-ness, the general evils of teenage girls.

it's hard to believe that a year has come and gone, and here we are at the anniversary of september 11th. i didn't have anything to say that day, and very few things to mention the days following. much like now. i can't say anything that someone else hasn't already said, or will say.

i've never opened up and expressed how september 11th made me feel. i think it's because it was so overwhelming, terrifying, unbelievable, distant... that i was at a loss for words. i started pasting a few things i found in magazines into my journal... pictures of the flag, the numbers "9-11," the lyrics to our national anthem.

tomorrow, i'm going to watch some coverage of what took place last year and reflect on it all. it's so difficult being so far away and physically unable to see where the towers stood, that i want to and need to watch just to make it more real to me.

the friday five

1. what is your biggest pet peeve? why? off the top of my head, i'd have to say people smacking their gum, especially when they have their mouth open during. even thinking of the noise bugs me.

2. what irritating habits do you have? i pick at my nails. i like to ask "why" a lot. i pop my fingers and toes a lot, too. i'm positive there are other things, but i can't think of them right now.

3. have you tried to change the irritating habits or just let them be? well, i don't realize i'm doing it most of the times... so, let them be.

4. what grosses you out more than anything else? why? people picking at other people's zits or sunburns. that's just fowl to want to do that.

5. what one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do? #4.

with next week's arrival of the one year anniversary of 9-11, i'm sure every single channel will have "remembering september 11th" programming scheduled. pbs has a line-up of documentaries airing september 3rd through september 11th.

in particular, "NOVA: why the towers fell," is a documentary on the trade towers and what went structurally wrong to cause them to come down so quickly. i saw it a few months ago, and thought it was very interesting.

also to note, "america rebuilds," about the clean-up effort and future plans of ground zero. and, "faith and doubt at ground zero," focusing on how the attacks challenged our spiritual views and beliefs.

ladoucefrance has some beautiful photos of paris.

i've found something new to obsess over that's even cuter than the powerpuff girls! her name is pucca. i don't know what's better -- the way she runs or her little ponytails bouncing on the side of her head. she's just adorable. the sound effects for the cartoons are great, too.

here's a short description all about pucca: "funny love is an up and coming korean anime about a cute little chinese girl named pucca who enjoys chasing down her 'boyfriend' garu to assault him with kisses. pucca is the daughter of a chinese restaurant owner. she loves garu and noodles. garu is a ninja out to restore his family honor, but he is constantly being pursued by pucca. his cat mio is his pet and sidekick." |from live journal|

lovepucca is the only comprehensive (and english) site that's got just about everything that is pucca. best thing are the flash cartoons. the site even has a quiz to find out which pucca character you are.

the official pucca site has some additional flash cartoons to watch. great site, but in korean.

the ice palace has the flash cartoons listed with english titles and release dates, although the rest of the site is not in english.