I'm only me when I'm with you

Dudes, what's up?

I have been going out a lot lately. Kind of leaving my hermit existence behind. In the process I've also been neglecting Sugar. Which makes her angry and leads to stuff like this. 

So, anyway, tonight I was hanging out with my friend Jennie, her boyfriend Jake and their friend Susan. All of them are extremely hilarious and after watching the new Footloose we were feeling super inspired. Which  led to us making duh..duh...duh...

Our OFFICIAL SPRING/SUMMER 2012 TO DO LIST!

1. Go to a evangelical church. (not in mockery, but for the experience)

2. Go LARPing. (Live Action Role Playing)

3. Susan has a personal goal to hook it up with her manager 

4. Dance all night 

5. Steal Mr. Squeakers (our friend Amanda's cat) back from her ex-boyfriend and his new weirdly older girlfriend.

6. Take artistic pictures. Like one of us posed as a tree, while someone else in the picture cries- you know, those pictures that everyone pretends that they get.

7. Go to Harry Potter World. Not sure if this is going to happen but super excited that Susan loves HP as much as me!

8. Jennie has a goal to read all the HP books. Or else our friendship is over!

9. ******************************** (cannot be listed- don't worry, it's not illegal. Just slightly immoral)

10. Karaoke

11. Help the Elderly

12. Resolve our childhood issues (Jennie, Susan, and I are all therapists and Jake's mom is a therapist)

13. Go to a concert (anyone but Santana)

So, yeah. It's going to be one crazy summer. I will keep you posted as we accomplish all of the above!!

Lori Ann

You were right for me

Most of my clients (like 99%) suffer from depression and anxiety.

 Sometimes it's their primary diagnosis, other times it's just part of a greater mental health issue.

A visual imagery technique I use to help cope with the depression/anxiety  is

 "Moments of perfect happiness".

Which is as simple as it sounds.

I ask them to describe one or two moments of their lives which were moments of perfect happiness.

This helps those who are unable to see the positive in their past or future. 

As I was doing this with several clients today I started thinking about what are the moments of perfect happiness in my life.

 Here's some that came to my mind.

1. Seeing my mom enter the front door of the mission home to pick me up from the mission.

 A minute later we were both laughing and it thrilled me to hear the elders say "Now we know where Hermana Hinsdale gets her laugh"

2. This one night when my sisters and I stayed overnight in a fancy hotel in Greensboro.

 We get to the GC ( Golden Corral) and Erin went up and got like 8 different desserts and kept saying

 "What's wrong? Haven't you seen fat people eat before?"

I couldn't stop laughing. 

3. I was sleeping in the living room at my sisters house, sometime around Thanksgiving.

 At 5 am I could hear someone get up. It was Elly (at age 5).

She was holding little Christmas ornaments in her hand and she kept mumbling to herself  "We've got to decorate, decorate".

 It was the first time I realized that she really was a little like me.

4. Every single time I step out of my parents house I feel like the sky looks stunningly beautiful.

 And it makes me Pennsylvania happy.

I have a few others.

But lists longer than 4 always lose my interest:) 

Lori Ann

My heart will go on and on

Some of you may not realize this, but we Hinsdale's aren't super rich upper class people. 

We just seem like it because we are super classy. That's right. 

Anyway, we do have one priceless heirloom to our family name. 

An original menu from the Titanic, listing what was served on the night the ship sank.

Yes, as you can see from the picture below, the menu's were electric blue and apparently "chicken, hamburgers, jello, and bread" was being served that fateful night. 

Now, here's where I reveal the truth. This isn't really a real menu. Gotcha.  It's one my mom made up for her "Titanic dinner", which she insisted we all attend. As "characters" from Titanic. (I kept reminding her that these were REAL people, but whatever)

Anyway, the dinner was delicious. Or at least that is what I heard. Apparently the Titanic didn't cater to vegetarians... strangely, just like my parents. 

My mom made Waldorf salad and we talked about how sad it must have been and theorized about what each of us would have done if we'd been on board. 

It was kinda fun and cool. Just like my mom.

The evening ended on a controversial note when my dad stopped my mom from reenacting the sinking of the ship's captain (who was played by Thomas the cat). She was either going to put him in the bathtub or spray him with a water bottle or something. 

Then THIS happened.

It was the best part of the night. 

I love my family.

Lori Ann

p.s.- I don't know if any of you are on Pottermore (the official Harry Potter website). I got on yesterday and they sorted me into GRYFFINDOR. I never ever would have put myself there. So yeah, I'm a gryffindor, people. (Now I've just got to work on that whole "bravery" thing)

One way or another

I had some of my favorite work friends over last night for a sleepover/crafting party.

We ate pizza and Easter candy and had way too much.... caffeine?? 

Or something.

Anyway, 

We had face paint, crocheting, friendship bracelets, and adding goals to my friend Sandy's bucket list.

 ( pictured below)

It was pretty festive.

 We didn't really go to sleep until 5 am.
 (and all of us are in our thirties)

Anyway, she must have gotten really tired because when we woke up and looked in Sandy's bucket list book, the following goals had been added. 

HUG A MIDGET 

 SMACK THAT

LEARN TO USE UM CHUCKS? 

BELIEVE IN THE LEPRECHAUN 

 DANCE WITH HOPE

RUN WITH RAINBOWS 

 RAH

LISTEN TO THE OCEAN

My favorite one is "rah".

 Not sure what that goal is all about.

I think this is the first sleepover I've had in about 15 years.

It was completely epic.

 I will be featuring my craft creations in the next post. Don't be jealous!

Lori Ann

No se

Ok, so for the last couple of years I haven't really gone out in the sun during summer.

 One, because North Carolina was hotter than Hades. 

Two, because I'm a vampire.

 Just kidding.

 But not really.

Anyway, then my doctor told me that I was Vitamin D deficient. 

Every day (without rain) since I have made it a point to get out in the sun for at least 30 minutes. 

Which leads me to my point.

 I've always been jealous of my mom and both my sister's skin.

 They all have radiant, clear amazing skin.

 And Erin and my mom have really cute freckles.

 Which I've never had before in my life. 

Until now. 

These are freckles, right?

I took like 12 pictures today

(I believe that's the official narcissism threshold!)

 Trying to figure out if they were freckles

Or not.

As you can see, my life is consumed by important matters of self reflection. 

Lori Ann

61

I love this picture. It makes me look both evil and emo. It's a win-win. 

Oh yes,

For all of you doubters out there and all of you who say "eat responsibly and exercise" is the way to go..

I just lost 9 lbs on my 48 hour juice fast.

Bringing my total weight loss since December of 2011 to 61 lbs. 

61 lbs, baby! 

Vegetarianism and the occasional extreme dieting technique have been amazing! 

Yours truly,

An even more sexy

Lori Ann

For my Frenemies

Word has it that recently there has been some unrest amongst the 10 and under set.

They claim my blog is "boring". 

cough ..Cannon..cough

Well, there is a lot of things this blog is. It is: awkward, poorly written, self obsessed, not socially relevant, lacking in pictures of me in cotton dresses, a tedious chronicle of the minuate of my bizarrely uninteresting life, a tribute to my emotionally unbalanced cat, a scrapbook of weird photos of my sister's offspring...oh yes, it is all of those things and more...but the one thing it isn't is boring. 

I guarantee you that almost everyone that reads this blog is either laughing hysterically, crying bitterly, shrieking in either joy or pain, sobbing as their heart breaks, or perhaps slowly giving in to the inevitable rage that jealousy of my life inspires in others. 

No, but no one, should be reading my blog and saying "eh". 

So, instead of my usual 'blah, blah, blah', today I am going to be talking about a few topics that all kids love. Here we go..

Topic # 1- Eating healthy!

I have been a vegetarian for 100 days! Yay for me. I only miss barbecued ribs and chicken nuggets. Also, I am doing a 48 hour juice fast today and tomorrow. Today was intense.

Topic # 2- Investments

I am thinking of saving up for a nice camera. My iphone is great but I want to take weird artsy photos and make my eyes much bluer than they really are. 

Topic # 3- Crafting

My subway art continues to be abysmal. I don't think I have even one hint of artistic sensibility in me. Que tristeza.

Ok, well I hope you like all the new excitement, children. Buckle up for tomorrow when we will discuss mental illness and the costs of pet care. 

Lori Ann