Hello, my name is Nikki and I'm a Mac!

I've jumped ship and gone Mac people. I finally broke down and decided to get a Mac. I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the lack of a "right click", but there are so many things that have been streamlined to make the most out of this tiny 2.2 lbs of technology. My children have enjoyed Photo Booth and I am actually enjoying typing while sitting on the couch. It's the small things. 

The main reason for my purchase of a laptop, which ended up being a MacBook Air was for a huge step I'm about to take in the next few months. This fall with my youngest entering Kindergarten, I've decided there's no better time to go back to school and pursue a dream of mine. *mini freak out* I'll be re-enrolling in COLLEGE!!  

So with that I'm excited, because I've finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. No hints for you people yet, but soon enough.  Now let me get back to seeing all the neat things that my Mac has to offer.

Le Cirque des Rêves...C'est une rêveuse!

"There has been little opportunity since then for anything more than too-brief stolen moments."

~The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Ah, to have a Circus of Dreams, more importantly, your own dream with a circus of ideas. I began reading this book and immediately fell in love with the story. I have become drawn to this simple sentence and have become a "rêveuse". I wonder how simple a sentence can change our prospective, align the stars for us to look at and begin to dream. Like the circus, my dream arrived without warning. "It is simply there, when yesterday is was not."

Too-brief stolen moments, is all I've ever had with my dream, until recently. I have finally interpreted what it means. I've seen the cards laid out in front of me with clarity for the first time and I'm excited. Ecstatic and ready for my dream to become reality.

Social Media Overload....

I find it interesting the mundane and uninteresting things that people post everyday on social media sites and how many of us read it.

...just woke up. Thinking about making some coffee.
           3 people like this.

... Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. :(
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Or my favorite...

...Well, I woke up, took a shower, got ready, ate some breakfast, called a friend to see if she wanted to go shopping with me, but she had plans. I can't believe she already had plans. Anyway, then I decided to do some stuff around the house, I changed a light bulb in the hall and dusted my porcelain egg collection that I inherited from my Great Aunt's Third Sister-in-law Twice Removed. Funny story is she really didn't like me, but wrote the wrong name in her Will...

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However, I am guilty of this offense (reading or writing it) as well as millions of other people. We are a society that is too caught up with the when, where and now. But, I draw the line at posting my dusting habits. I recently came across a piece entitled "12 Types of People On Facebook". It's brilliant. The crazy thing is, people can be a combination of more than one type. I know a 2/9, otherwise known as a Lurker/Liker and Drama Kings/Queens are almost always Mr/Ms. Popular. How in the world do you have over 1,500 friends on Facebook and each one thinks the sun shines out your ass? At least one of them has to know the truth!!

Okay, back to my original rant....We are a society that is too caught up with the when, where and now. We spend countless hours browsing Facebook, playing "cool" games that will end up giving your computer the equivalent of an STD, tweeting, watching viral YouTube videos, emailing and what not.


My day starts early- checking the school day forecast text message sent to my phone, Facebook notifications, twitter mentions, emails, etc. All this while laying in bed. Craziness. I have priorities, but somehow a small electronic device made my priorities shift.  If you named the top 5 things you couldn't live without, how many of you would put your preferred choice of social media? 

It's hard to disconnect from this frenzy of information and feeling "connected" to family, friends and people you've never met. I've tried to distance myself from social media, but I have a problem. For me, it's the one way I still feel tied to my family and friends back home. It's a glimpse of what I miss the most, but it has kept me from enjoying what I have. 

I read an article that I strangely identified with, minus the job with CNN and the exotic vacation to Antigua. My flashing red light on my crackberry is like a beacon in the night calling to me too. 

This Christmas, my husband and I gave a record player to ourselves. When asked by a family member "Why?", my reply was very surprising to them. 

"I just want to escape back to a simpler time"

When I put on "The Best of Floyd Crammer Vol. 2" album or my 1976 copy of "Night Moves" by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, it's an instant vacation and my phone isn't anywhere near me. 

I realize in a few months there will be things that I can no longer post on social networks, blogs, in an email or say during a phone call to my mother. Due to OPSEC and as a Army wife,  I must abide by these standards and follow the rules in place to protect the one I love. Not only for my husband's safety, but for his friends, who are also Soldiers.


With that understanding, I'm slowly trying to withdraw myself or I at least hope to, which in turn with help me from experiencing  social media overload.

Happy New Year!

2012 is going to be great.

Happy New Year!

Happy as in....

Coming across a Canadian lumberjack with Tom Selleck’s mustache having a nice conversation with Sasquatch.

That’s right. My hairy-toe knuckle cousin by marriage, Brynlie (as in my Cheerwine Fanatic cousin by marriage) has started a blog originally known as "The skeptically humorous 6 foot tall hairy primate living in the Northwest region of the U.S.", which in my opinion would have been a very long name for a blog and I’m glad she stuck with the short version: The Sardonic Sasquatch. So “the Squatch” is now virtually ranting for the world to hear. Last night, I became the first follower of hers and made her as happy as squeezing a small puppy until its eyes popped out and a bit of shart to escape from it’s bunghole and propel across the room splattering on someone’s face.

As a tribute to Bennie I have awarded her with a virtual copy of Sasquatch Summer by Nate Wragg in hopes someone will love her enough to buy a real print for her to hang in her college dorm room. Congrats on your blog! :D

9999 cans of Halcyon on the wall.....

Last Saturday to expand our 4 and 6 year old children's horizons, we toured a local brewery here in town. Tallgrass Brewing Company in Manhattan, Kansas brews up lots of tasty craft beers and we joined them for a taste and tour. We tasted Oasis, Halcyon (Unfiltered Wheat), Buffalo Sweat, Ale, IPA and their newest craft beer that their head brew-master made.  On the tour, we learned the process of brewing beer from start to finish. 

  The grain room, the mash tanks, the transfer to the fermenting tanks and learning the importance of having giant fermenting tanks named after the original American Gladiators. Well of course they named the smallest tanks after two of the female gladiators. We learned lots and my husband and myself  found new beer we both enjoyed. 

However, with the addition of two older gentlemen attending the tour, who were equally impressed by 3 service members of the U.S. Army attending the tour with their spouses, a pair of little sweet Southern boys and a few locals from Kansas State University, kept us entertained and our glasses topped off from start to finish on our tour. These older men, obviously wanting to keep their identities a secret, but one of them spilled the beans when  Tom went to get a refill within the first 5 minutes of the tour. Just met Tom Clancy & John Locke from "Lost" today while on our tour at the brewery. Tons of doppelgängers in Kansas. :D   

Yep, Kansas is full of doppelgängers. Tom wasn't writing his next novel, Locke wasn't chasing black smoke on an island, nope they were both two guys doing some pre-game drinking before K-State took on Kent State and inviting everyone out to St. Mary's for a barbeque. Check out Tallgrass Brewing Company and see where you can pick up some of Kansas' best craft beer close to you. :D

Might be an Addicition...

The sweet cherry nectar from the South aka Cheerwine is now in my possession. Eleven cases were smuggled cross country from North Carolina to Kansas and onto a military installation by my in-laws. This is my private stock pile and hopefully I'll be able ration it out to last 25 weeks until we go back to North Carolina for my birthday/Thanksgiving. That is unless, someone breaks into my home and steals it. Do you think renter's insurance would cover such theft? :D