What do I love? (Or, rather, whom do I love?)

Answer: friends who know me well enough to buy me the perfect gift. We all know that my latest tv crush is one Mr. Richard Castle ... what not everyone, I'm sure, knows is that ABC actually released the novel, Heat Wave, that has been discussed on this (and last) season of Castle.

Check it - it's a real book. And my friend Christine knew me well enough to know that this was the thing to get me for my birthday. (I so love her!)


And here's my favorite part. This is the head shot from the back of the book - with the author bio. Hahahaha that ABC had a fit of marketing genius and actually released the book, and faked that it was written by Castle, himself. AWESOME!

Oh, gosh, I love my birthday. Oh, gosh, I love Richard Castle. ... This is the best day ever!

My early birthday present...

Meet my newest little niece, Hillary Brea.

Isn't she adorable? I love her!

She was born tonight, about 6:30-ish... She was 8 lbs 12 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. (Not bad for being 10 days early, methinks.) She has a head full of hair that may or may not be curly (it's early yet), and eyes that look like they're gonna be big and round... but right now, her chubby little cheeks are helping her keep them shut. Oh, and her fingernails. They're pretty much the prettiest fingernails I ever did see on a baby. (I know, that sounds ridiculous and cheesy and more than a little bit over the top, but I swear... her hands are beautiful, and her fingernails have the prettiest shape.)

She's pretty stinking cute, right? Gosh, I love babies! :-)

I'd like to introduce you to my new celeb crush...

Oh, heaven help me...

Nathan Fillion, be still my beating heart.

I love him.

And this is what I know about him so far.

A) He's single.
B) He's 6 1 1/2 inches tall. (Delish.)
C) He's Canadian.
D) His parents are BOTH English teachers (so you know he has good grammar in real life).
E) He's single (which I know I've already listed, but as it translates into "available", in the world of make-believe that is Laurie Land, I felt that it merited a second mention).

My favorite Fillion character is still Castle (with the grammatical chops of Richard Castle, it would be hard for anyone to top him), but I have been grooving in a big way on Firefly this week. (Mal Reynolds is freaking hot, but his incessant use of the A word is grating just a little bit.)

In the end, here's the thing... I love him. I can't help myself. (Did you see those blue eyes? Did you SEE them?!)

I'm pretty sure Hawkeye has been dethroned... Welcome to the age of Fillion.

Oh, how I miss my Stuckeyville friends...

So, this morning I went to youtube on a whim to see if they had the lucid dream scene from Ed. (I don't know why I woke up thinking about that this morning, but I sure did.) I wasn't able to find the lucid dream, but I sure did watch all 6 of the Mike & Ed's $10 bet clips - and a whole bunch of other stuff. (Honestly, youtube is so addictive!) Anyway, I'm feeling all nostalgic. Seriously, I loved this show. LOVED IT. Why, oh why, has it never been released on dvd? There is nothing (NOTHING) I'd rather do today than sit and watch Ed all day long. But alas, it is not to be. So, I'll share this little clip with the world, them I'm gonna get dressed and head on over to the Verizon store to see if they can unstick my new phone. (If I've said it once, I've said it about a bazillion times - I am completely backwards when it comes to technological things. I got this new touch screen phone that I somehow overloaded, because now the touchscreen's all white - no icons, nothing. Don't even ask...)

Gosh, I love Ed. And Mike. And Warren P. Cheswick. And Molly. And Carol. I wish I could eat at The Smiling Goat, and I wish some super cool boy from high school (preferably a bowling alley lawyer, ala Ed) would kiss me at the pond. ... As much as I do love my own life, I do think it'd be pretty fun to live a day in the life of a tv sitcom. Does that make me crazy? Maybe. And the thing is, I don't even care.

I heart Ed.

The End.

I love my cousins!

I was looking through some old photo files tonight and found this lovely shot of my cousins and me - in WalMart - in Utah (a state that only three of these people lived in at the time this shot was taken).

I'd been visiting my cousin Julie (the tall one, with her arm around over my shoulder) and she and I took Bethy (the one holding the baby to the left of Jule) to get pedicures. As we walked out of the cheapo pedi place, we saw Becca (holding bags), Rachel (holding baby), Katie (standing betwixt the two baby ladies) and Robby (obviously, the only boy in the shot) at a register on the way out of the store. Un-freaking-believable, right?!

Of course, we stopped to say hi (because that's what cousins do). About 3 minutes later, my aunt *Cindy (the mother of none of us, but aunt to all) came up and said "Laurie, I heard your laugh from a register halfway across the store. I knew it was you, because I'd just talked to your mom and I knew she was in Arizona." (Seriously... one of my favorite stories ever about my loud laugh. My loud laugh that's just like my mom's laugh, no less. I heart genetics.)

Of course, we had an impromptu photo shoot there in the store (because that's how we roll). And this photo is the fruits of that photo shoot. Every time I see this pic, it makes me giddy. Gosh, I love my cousins. So flipping much, I love them!

*It's official. I'm getting senile. I'd totally thought it was my aunt Deb who took the picture (and commented on the loud laugh) - apparently not, since Cindy left a comment saying it was her. Huh... I'm losing it. Either way, I still love my cousins (and my aunt, whichever it was, for taking the pic). Ha!

The seeing and interpretation of signs (or pictures)

So, last night after work I went to The Outback for dinner (the steakhouse, not the actual Outback ... don't you worry about me, after a 12 hour work day, I'm up for a steak dinner, not so much up for an international flight to Australia). On the way out the door, I had the thought "oh, shoot! I'd better use the restroom here, or I'm gonna be in big trouble before I get home" (those 4 Cokes ... they got me). Anyhoo, I went to the little girls' room and as I walked through the door, I caught sight of this framed picture of The Twelve Apostles and laughed out loud. It being General Conference weekend, the twelve have been at the forefront of my mind ... but still, this surprised me.


Why did that picture surprise me? Because I thought the twelve looked more like this...

Hahahahahahahaha..........

Yup ... I totally just cracked myself up. A girl's gotta love a little General Conference humor every now and then. (At least twice a year, I'd say. ... Get it?)