I enjoy being a girl

I'm definitely a girly girl. I have always liked shoes and makeup and hair and I have been reading bridal and fashion magazines for as long as I can remember. Playing dress-up was and always will be a favorite pass time. So, keep in mind that I like wearing makeup and wouldn't be caught dead without it at most times.But something has been irking me lately. Boys don't have to do any of this! They get up and take a shower and 5 minutes later, they are ready to go. I guess I hadn't realized the difference until my husband and I were getting ready at around the same time. His job is going great, he really likes it, and has been getting home at a decent hour. I'm very pleased with all of this. But it is not fair that boys don't have to do anything but shave. On the other hand, I would be mad if I couldn't use concealer on a zit. So I guess there is a negative side to their low maintenance lifestyle. But they don't seem to usually care if they get a zit.

Here is my question--is it that they don't care or is it that they don't need it? Why don't guys need moisturizer? Now I know that there are metrosexual men out there who use moisturizer, but why does Mr. Bunny (who doesn't use moisturizer) not necessitate it? Is it that the products we use dry us out? Are we creating the monster?

We have all seen the girls that look their best without makeup, and good for them (lucky ducks!), but I'm not one of them, and I know I'm not alone. So why do the majority of guys look great without makeup--clear complexions, perfect skin? And have you ever really looked at a guys eyelashes? Usually extremely long and curled up at the end. And usually guys get hotter as they get older--see example:
George Clooney Then

Hot but not as hot as

George Clooney Now

So while I enjoy being a girl, what gives? When God punished Eve and women for all eternity for eating the apple, was the eternal primping somewhere in the footnotes underneath all that stuff about painful childbirth? And furthermore, we all know that guys don't really appreciate this gift of natural beauty, and get annoyed with us when we take too long to get ready.

But, if you are lucky like me, you have a boy in your life who says you look beautiful and that makes all of the effort worthwhile.

I'm leaving for my beach trip tomorrow, so have a great weekend, and I will be back with a new blog on Monday!

Love,
Elle Bunny

My paperwork has paperwork

This was one of my favorite lines of another great book I just finished, Elsewhere. After looking at the author's website, I discovered that this is actually a quote from the movie Brazil. Do you ever feel like the paperwork of life is taking all of the fun out of it? And I don't just mean actual paper, in fact what is really driving me nuts right now are all the emails, the bills, the bank accounts. It makes me long for a time when the most stressful thing in life was getting my clothespin moved from the happy face to the sad face in Mrs. Walsh's kindergarten class.

I really feel like this book should be required reading. It made me realize the importance of relationships. Nothing else really matters when you think about it. All of my favorite memories involve another person or an animal. The interesting thing is that in Elsewhere, all of the relationships change constantly because everyone is growing younger rather than getting older. So if you die 10 years before your husband of the same age, when he gets there, you are 10 years younger than him. One of my favorite parts is when the narrator describes seeing two boys playing catch, one of whom is referring to the other as Dad.
We should not underestimate the power of relationships. I am happiest when the other people in my life are happy and I can become depressed in an instant if I think a friend or family member is mad at me. And when I really think about it, there wouldn't be any point in working if we didn't care about other people. The job I have wouldn't exist, and neither would the new job that my husband has. And what would we be working for? We work to pay for the things that keep our little family of three happy, healthy, and full. And yes, that includes paying bills. We wouldn't be very happy here in Austin right now if we didn't have air conditioning.

But sometimes it's hard to see the forest when you are looking at all the trees being wasted by the paperwork of life!

I'm officially a dork

I have now become obsessed with the Twilight book series. I finished Twilight in 5 days and have now bought the next one in the series, called New Moon. These books are really hard to describe. They definitely aren't fine literature, but they are really good. And Edward the vampire boyfriend is hot. I read it so quickly that two girls at work are interested in reading it, but I'm not sure if I want them to, because I don't want them to judge me. Well, one of them likes these kinds of books, so I don't worry about her, but the other one reads all kinds of classics, so I don't want her to think I'm a complete idiot.
The only thing more exciting than the fact that I have two more books in this series to read is that 1) there is another book, the final one in the series, coming out in August and 2) There is a movie coming out on December 12th--Happy Birthday to me!
Here is a preview for the movie. I'm so excited, and yes, I know that makes me a dork.

Summer Days are here again

Right now it is looking kind of dreary outside, but for the last few weeks, there has been no denying the fact that summer days are here again (at least if you live in Texas). This is the first time I will be working all summer. Last summer, I graduated from UT on May 19th, got married on May 26th, went on our honeymoon cruise for a week, then got back home on June 3rd and started looking for a job. I got hired mid-June and started my job on July 9th. So I had a good (and very busy) month and a half of summer before I had to start my current job. So I was thinking last week about how depressing it is to hear about all the people getting out of school and their plans for summer while I am still sitting here doing the same thing. I realize how lucky I am that I have never had to work through the summer before. And it's not that I don't like my job, it's just an adjustment to not be one of those people celebrating the start of summer. So I have decided to celebrate summer this year in my own ways.1) I am going to the beach with my best friend Meredith. We almost always go to Crystal Beach, but last year I didn't get to go because I was on my honeymoon (it was worth it). We go to Meredith's grandparents Mimi & Papa's beach house. We usually go the three of us--me, Meredith and Rachel, but this year we are pretty sure Rachel is not going to be able to come, which really stinks. But we are going for a four day weekend and plan to have fun anyway. On these trips we usually hang out on the grungy beach, read silly books and buy those puzzle magazines at the one grocery store on the Bolivar Peninsula. We also play the original version of Trivial Pursuit and read Mimi's old magazines from the 80's that she still has on the coffee table. It is always fun to spend time with my best friends. 2) I plan to stop for a cold refreshing treat every time I feel like it. I am not the kind of person who stops for a snack that often. I don't usually stop at the Texaco to get some gum and a drink or stop at Wendy's for a frostie. But this is going to change. I'm going to make an effort to stop and smell the roses by getting such wonderful things as a Coke Icee, an Orange Cream Slush from Sonic,

or a dipped cone from Dairy Queen.

It is just way too hot not to.

3) Hula Hooping. It makes me happy and (if I do say so myself) I'm awesome at it. It is impossible to hula hoop without a smile on my face and I am almost always brought back to a time when my sister and I would hula hoop for hours on our back porch.

(And for those of you wondering, no this is not a picture of me, but it does look a lot like I did as a child, and I think I even had a similar dress. It is amazing what you can find on google.)
So as I embark on working through the summer for the first time I plan to prove that summer vacation is a state of mind and does not necessarily mean 2 months of not getting up until 11 AM.

Random blog thoughts

Today, two things have been posted on most of the gossip blogs and I feel the need to comment on them. First of all.Does anyone else think this picture looks like one of those things at the fair where you put your face in the cardboard cutouts? It looks very unnatural and they don't look like they go together. She looks like Jenny when she married Forrest Gump and he looks like a used car salesman/frustrated accountant. And it also looks like they stood in front of a green screen and the background is totally fake. I have no ill will towards these people and wish them all the best, but this is an odd photo. I really hope that they are actually playing a trick on OK magazine and they really got married in their swimsuits in Cabo. They just got this crazy cardboard cutout picture made and sold the rights to OK to torture Denise Richards and to pay for their honeymoon.

And can I also comment on how annoying/ridiculously funny the headlines are on this page? Charlie's dream wedding! DENISE'S WORST NIGHTMARE! "I'll never utter her name again. You can't reason with crazy." Thanks for that wonderful psychological assessment Charlie. You have always been the picture of mental health yourself. And why do they feel the need to point out the fact that he wore a Men's Wearhouse suit. Is it really that hard to believe that he would wear a suit from there? Oh, that's right. Her diamond ring is 11.6-CARATS!! AHH! She must have his babies right away. Maybe this is just me, but I think it is so gauche to talk about how many carats your ring is. How about how he makes you feel? Does he cheat on you with tranny prostitutes? Probably not, but that's what Denise Richards wants us to think.

So I also have to comment on this piece of greatness.

Anybody who works in this kind of office can see how this guy could go off. Maybe not to this extent, but I think you're lying if you have never wanted to beat the crap out of your computer/fax machine/copy machine/phone at work. My one piece of advice for people who work in cubicles is to thank their lucky stars that they have the privacy of a cubicle to escape to. I know it sucks and you feel caged in, yada, yada, yada. Here at the non-profit we have to save space by all sitting on long rows with no dividers in between us. This is "good stewardship."

This just does not seem that practical to me considering we are a call center and a lot of the people who call us are old and can't hear so we have to yell into the phone. There is nothing like apologizing to your caller because they can hear a coworker screaming the word "prostate" or giving a detailed explanation of how to do a self breast exam. Think about me and my long row of publicness the next time you pick your nose in the privacy of your own cube.

Have a great Thursday!

Elle Bunny

This American Life

There is a great show on Showtime that I just discovered called "This American Life". It looks at one aspect of life that is experienced by some or all Americans and investigates it by profiling 2 or 3 people who are dealing with this issue in different ways. The first episode I watched was one called "Two Wars". In it, a young man from Iraq who now lives in New York talks about how the war has changed his life and changed his family. He also gives Americans the chance to speak with him by setting up a booth in different cities offering them the chance to "Talk to an Iraqi." It is very interesting to hear his perspective. Here are a couple clips from that episode(if you only have time to watch one, watch the second video).


One of my other favorite episodes is called "Escape." In this episode there is a man named Mike is dealing with a muscular disease and is dependent on his mother for care. He asserts his independence by hiring nurses and finding a girlfriend on Craigslist. He has recently lost the ability to speak so the producers of the show asked him who he would like to voice his words (which he painstakingly writes on the computer he spends most of his time on). He said Johnny Depp, and that is who provides most of the voice overs for the episode. Here is a short clip from that episode.

To watch full episodes, you can click on this link.
http://www.sho.com/site/order/preview.do
Mike is in episode one and "Two Wars" is the second episode of the season.
I love this show because it gives you a chance to see the challenges that others face and also gives you the chance to see ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances. It also makes you think, which is the best thing that a television show can do.

Happy Hump Day everyone!
Love,
Elle Bunny

Remember when Marlena was posessed?

Those were the Days. Now, when I turn on Days of our Lives, I am lucky if I know who half of the people are. Let's go back to a more simple time in Salem.

Have fun watching!

Love,

Elle Bunny