Tuesday's Top 5

I love music. Not in the "I know every album of every band who was ever worth knowing" kind of way. More just in the sense that I love what music does. It stirs memories, creates smiles. For me, it makes me want to dance.

When Max was a baby and I was staying home with him I discovered this whole genre of children's music that is so funky and out of the box. Let's just say it's not your typical "itsy bitsy spider" stuff. Children's music these days is funny and creative and happy and I love it. Some Saturdays I will just throw on an itunes play list and Max and I will dance around the living room like Fraggles for a half an hour. Truly, it is good for the soul.

MY TOP 5 FAVORITE CHILDREN'S SONGS

5. Jump Up (It's a Good Day) by Brady Rymer. I dare you not to literally want to jump up and dance when you hear this song. Seriously, pull up itunes right now and try it. I dare you.

4. Pop Fly by Justin Roberts. This song makes me laugh thinking about what a terrible little right fielder I was once upon a time. I can't wait to see Max out there looking at the cotton candy clouds rather than looking for the ball.

3. I Like Yaks! by Roger Day. It's a song about yaks. What's not to love?

2. My Best Day by Trout Fishing in America. This is another one that just makes me happy. Wouldn't you just love to have your BEST day? When anything can happen? Oh and it's your birthday, too! Sweet.

1. The Song of Life by Scribblemonster. For all of you who like to throwback to your childhood, this song's for you. It's a reminiscence and a love song all at the same time. I love you and I love Life!

What kind of music gets your toes tapping?

p.s. In case you're looking for some more great kid's music, check out Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Robbie Schaefer, Meredith Brooks, Frances England, Billy Jonas, The Sippy Cups, Imagination Movers, SteveSongs and so many more!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone has a lovely day filled with lots of hugs, kisses, and chocolate. I like to do a cute card for Max each year to give to his friends at school and to send to family. This year Max was very excited to "be my helper" for the pictures. His excitement wained a bit when he found out he was going to have to wear a tie, but thanks to some m&ms and the idea of standing on a pile of books (he thought this was the coolest), we were able to work it out. I used the first two images for his card. I love the third one too much not to post it and the last two are some outtakes so you can see what he's really like!

Tuesday's Top 5

Valentine's Day is just around the corner (speaking of which, have you voted in the Share The Love contest yet? Get on over to the KSP Fanpage and cast your vote!). I am not really a big one for Valentine's Day. I don't dislike the holiday. I'm just not one of those "you better get me a dozen roses and a box of chocolates and take me out to dinner and name a star after me" kinda girls.

Nonetheless, the holiday has its charm, and there are some things about Valentine's Day that are just classic. Take candy hearts for example. Don't you remember sorting through these in elementary school to make sure you got just the right message for just the right person. Can't be giving Mr. I Have A Secret Crush On You the heart that says "Be Mine," now can you? These days candy hearts are a lot more creative than they used to be.

MY TOP 5 FAVORITE CANDY HEART MESSAGES

5. Sunshine. This one's sweet and happy. Plus, I love sunshine, so it gets two thumbs up from me!

4. Book Club. Really? This is a candy heart message? According to infoplease.com, this was one of the sayings for the year 2003. I probably wouldn't give this one to Mr. Crush, either, but I guess it's good to know it's out there.

3. IM ME. Okay, I think this means "instant message me," but isn't it nice to think that it means "I'm Me"? As in, "I'm me and this is what you get. Take it or leave it."

2. Mi Amore. I accidentally bought a bag of Spanish hearts last year. Fine, except I speak like ten words of Spanish. They're still in my cabinet. Who knows? They might be useful sometime.

1. Friend Me. This one is for real. I can personally attest that it was in the box of hearts I purchased to make the picture below. Truly, nothing says "love" like a facebook notification, right?

What is the best candy heart message you ever saw?

A blizzard and a new body

Camera body, that is. What were YOU thinking?

In case you hadn't heard, we had some snow here in the Chicago area this week. About 24 inches of snow. So not that much.

A few days before the blizzard my new camera body finally arrived after waiting two months for it (actually, a second new camera body should be arriving tomorrow, but that's another story and it's going back to the store as soon as it gets here).

I haven't gotten to test the new camera out in a session yet (darned winter), but I took a few snappy snaps around the house when it got here and also gave it the blizzard test. So far, it is love.

Tuesday's Top 5

So here's the deal. I'm a nerd. I mean, I know this. You don't just become Law Review Editor of the Year and not accept the fact that you are (despite occasional episodes of moderate coolness) a nerd. So today I'm going to celebrate my nerd-dom by ranking something you (all you very cool people) have probably never considered before.

MY TOP 5 FAVORITE FORMS OF PUNCTUATION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (and my one least favorite)

(I know, it's so nerdy, right?)

5. The Period. Sure, periods are not all that exciting, but they have a purpose, and if you fail to use them, you risk confusing your reader with an overly-long and complex run-on sentence, like this one. Enough said.

4. The Question Mark. Por que? I don't know. Why do you ask? Wouldn't you like to use an upside down question mark like in Spanish? Doesn't it seem sensible to indicate at the beginning of the sentence that the words to follow are meant to form a question? Still, even in English, don't you think this is a useful piece of punctuation? At the least, don't you enjoy being able to employ the traditional "questioning head tilt" when asking or reading a question?

3. The Exclamation Point. Yay! I love exclamation points! The only problem is that exclamation points are meant to be used sparingly, but in this internet-based world, where tone, intent and sarcasm frequently fall prey to the dangers of being reduced to text, the exclamation point is becoming to punctuation what the word "like" is to pre-pubescent vocabulary. And, let's face, it, I am personally guilty of exclamation-point-overuse, too! Oh well!!!

2. The Em Dash. More formal than parentheses, less formal than off-setting commas, the em dash is the perfect--albeit underused--piece of punctuation. Unfortunately, blogger won't let me type an em dash--a dash the width of an 'm'--but you should note that an em dash is different than an en dash which is different than a hyphen. Have you em dashed today?

1. Parentheses. If you have spent any amount of time reading this blog (and if you haven't, why haven't you?), you know that I LOVE to use parentheses. Just like when I am talking, I frequently find the need to pause mid-sentence to interject a bit of information which, if left to later, might become forgotten or seem random. I would say (per an unofficial estimate) that I use parentheses at least once in every blog post and at least twice in ever Tuesday's Top 5 (but at least 6 times in this post).

And finally, as a special addition to this week's list, my LEAST favorite form of punctuation is the semi-colon. Why? Because despite diligent study, repeated application, and the aforementioned Editor-of-the-Year award, I still cannot manage to use semi-colons correctly 100% of the time. I'm not even going to attempt it in this post. Instead, I will wish you a Happy Tuesday and remind you to enter the Share the Love contest. And, if you live in Illinois, don't get eaten by a blizzard.

p.s. Please note that, while an apostrophe is pictured below, it was replaced in the final hour by that work horse of the English language, the period. My apologies to the period for its omission from the visual aide.