12 April 2011

Just kidding. I'm lame.

I suck at the blog... sorry dudes.
I will try to get me arse in gear... My inspiration has been stifled by busyness lately.


You should check out my businesses though:
stelladot.com/dawnashleyharris
and
dashspersonalstyling.blogspot.com

They are way fun. :) Find something for your mom for Mothers' Day, you smug twerp.


xoxo,
dash

09 February 2011

Dream Trip challenge

Today the weather is crappy. Like, "so cold my balls are gonna crack off" crappy.
I am stuck alone in the house because Boo's job made him go in, even though every other business in town is shuttered. So.

What I need to do now is work out. I ate my Luna bar, watched the news, and checked my email. It is time to get in shape. However.

I am planning a dream trip. The trip Boo and I would take if we had no restrictions on time or funding. The trip we really hope to take while we are alive.


Let's start with some ground rules:

1. Anyone can come - you have unlimited funds, so you can get anyone a flight/boat/caravan/taxi.
2. When I say anyone, I really only mean people you like. Be choosy.
3. Nowhere is off-limits.
4. You can't stay more than a month in one place at one time - but you can return to the same place multiple times.
5. Don't be too selfish.
6. Look up the actual cost, and post it! Expedia, orbitz, whatever.

UPDATE: In answer to Micah's question - YES HOSTELS are on the list! I am a huge proponent of hostels myself. That being said, STAY WHEREVER THE HELL YOU WANT! Hostels, hotels, ships, underwater resorts, jungles, treehouses, boxcars, the belly of a whale. You want it? You got it.

Now that we have some ideas churning, let's start tomorrow. I think I will plan a week's worth of travel per day... let's see how far we go!



And: go!

xoxoxo

27 January 2011

You came and you gave without takin'!

When I was a kid, I was super into learning. Like, to a really weird level. My education reigned supreme in my life.

As a result, I was very concerned with my study environment. My room was next to my sister's, so not a totally quiet area (she was having a "SpiceGirls" phase, I think). So, when I heard that listening to classical music whilst studying helped boost concentration, I was like, "MOM I NEEDZ MOZART."

My mom, though, only really listens to... cool music. Like, '70s groovy tunes, Los Lonely Boys, Michael Jackson, the like. On the intercom radio. Everyday. Really loud.

For her, the prospect of having me listen to some boring old dead guy in the next room was too much to bear. When you homeschool, your children have to make sacrifices.

A few days later, Mom returned from a shopping trip. I was hoping she had found me a classical cd.

She reached teasingly into the Barnes & Noble bag.... "I got you a surprrrrisssseee!:)"

me: "ooh, yay! I am so excited! I have a book on the Italian Renaissance to finish - I need some soothing music! What's this??? Ooh, who is it............?"


mom: "it's.......Barry Manilow!!!!!"


me: "urm, who's Barry Manilow.....?"

Mom: "OMG, Sister, you will love him. He has a huge band, like Mozart, but it is waaay hipper."

me: "mom, when was he alive?"

Mom: "Oh, he was cool when I was a kid! He is still around! Unlike farty old Mozart, he is STILL MAKING GREAT MUSIC!!! He will probably even make a Christmas Album this year!!! For youououououou!"

I went to my room, put on the cd... and drank it in.

So, until I found the classical station on the radio, I listened to Barry. A lot.

And now, whenever Barry Manilow comes on, my reaction is much like this:



I frickin' love Barry Manilow.


Sigh.

15 January 2011

I haven't disappeared...

Hey friends,
I am not retiring this blog.... I just have been working on some stuff... :)
Also, I was a little reprimanded over the holidays about making certain people look bad. My apologies. In the future, know that it is all caricature, and no one (even me) is as dumb as I make them seem. :)
Be on the lookout soon{ish}.

xoxo,
dash

16 December 2010

Desert Reflections

Well, today Boo and I move back to Tyler.

Hmmm.

As much as the desert is not beautiful, and the entertainment consists of movies and eating, we really did make some beautiful friends. So. So. Beautiful.

I'm gonna miss these kids. Here are some thoughts about each of them:

Allie is an angel. She is totally honest with people about herself - the good, the medium, the rough. She is honest about it, but doesn't expect people to take crap from her... I feel like most people who are up front about themselves expect some kind of free pass for honesty. Not Allie. She says, "I'm like this, but if you love me and think I'm being crappy, let me know." (however, I have never seen her be crappy. ever.) She is a truly lovely human. She took me under her wing, even though she is super-busy. She kept up with me even if I wasn't making a proper effort. She cared genuinely about my struggles and joys. She is a treasure, and I will miss her sweet smile, bubbly laugh, and Uggs. ;)

Katie is as cute as a flower. She has a great amount of talent in lots of areas, and she really works it. :) Katie opened her life to me immediately, and we have had so much fun. She puts people at ease, diffuses situations easily, and makes me laugh all the time. She cares so much about people's feelings, and makes them feel special by being with her. She is a beautiful dear, and I love her.

Lisa Marie is a boss. She knows who she is, and works to be that - even when life would be easier another way. She can karate chop your face off, but she also knows how to cry. She is an encourager. She cherishes people in a really special way, seeing what God sees in them, rather than the mess they may appear to be. She is devoted. She has the best scarf collection ever. :) She is totally beautiful, in that effortless way that makes everyone simultaneously jealous and hopeful that maybe we, too, are beautiful like her. She is so excellent.

Kayla is a doll. She is strong and opinionated - which i love, since most women somehow missed that boat in favor of being just sweet. I need alpha-females, because I am one. And Kayla is an alpha, for sure. She has a lot of confidence in herself, which is why she has a kick-ass business, a great marriage, and a fun life. She rocks my socks off. She is sweet and beautiful, extremely fun, and knows how to be herself in a town where many people seem to be in a box. I lurve lurve lurve Kayla.

Lisa ( the blond one:) ) is beautiful like diamonds. She is clear and sparkles with sweetness. However, she has a kind of strength that is undeniable. She is driven. Her life has purpose. She comes across as really precious, and she is. But she if a force to be reckoned with - and you can tell that she has discretion with her strength. I admire that, because I tend to put force first, followed by thought/feelings. She is an amazing woman.

Sarah has one of the sweetest spirits I know. She has a kind of innocence that is a grace from God. Her heart is tender, but she is strong for the people in her life that need her. As a teacher, she blesses her kids with discipline and love. She can see through what people expect of these kids, and pushes them to something better. It is a true gift.

Heather is an amazing woman. She can take care of herself, but has so much capacity for love that people gravitate toward her. She is strong and capable. She is honest and vulnerable. She is extremely funny - gawd, that girl makes me laugh. I adore her.


I will miss seeing these darlings every day, but I am confident that we will be keeping in touch and taking girl-trips. These women have been the reason I could be happy here in a strange, strange town. They have loved and hugged me, and I am so very grateful.

Well, there is a little packing yet to do... ugh. Wish me luck.

xoxoxo,
dash

14 December 2010

May She Rest in Greece

In the summer of 2009, Boo and I lived in Rome for 6 weeks of study-abroad. When the program was over, my two best friends flew over to meet us for a month-long backpacking extravaganza.

We stayed in Rome for a few days when they arrived, then we boarded a little plane to Greece.

Greece... is a hilarious place.

For starters, we stayed in Athens, where Boo woke us up by springing to his feet and doing the "stanky leg" until we were laughing too hard to go back to sleep. Our hostel's owner was a cute older gentleman who looked like a love-child between my father and the Skipper from Gilligan's Island, and he sang all the time.
After Athens, we went to Ios. Essentially it was Pleasure Island - not one person was over the age of 28, and people drank at the clubs until the sun came up. Totally out of control.
There were a lot of silly things that happened in Greece, but the best story was probably this one I am about to tell you, because it really showed our character as friends. And it really showed the jankiness of all things Grecian.

We boarded our plane back to Rome, from the scariest airport ever. The runway was like 9 feet long, dropping off into the ocean. We were all feeling a bit nervous about the take-off, and expressed this to one another.
But, the plane took off okay, and we survived it.

Once in the air, we knew we had about an hour to kill. I was sitting in the aisle seat, across from Boo. Liz had the window, and Caitlin was between us.
Caitlin swiftly fell asleep. None of us talked. We just waited to be off an airline that served you Baclava on a 45-minute flight - that just doesn't make sense.

About 20 minutes into the flight, things started getting weird. The Greeks in front of us had been jabbering and trying to flirt with us the whole time, so when they went silent along with the rest of the passengers, we got nervous.

Then...

SMOKE starts pouring from the air vents. Thick, odorless, white smoke - filling the entire cabin.

I was waiting for the flight attendants to announce a problem... but... Silence.

No one made a sound. I looked over at Caitlin. She was sound asleep. Liz and I made eye contact, and a mutual, wordless agreement was made: We would not wake Caitlin. She deserved to perish in peace.

Also, what were we going to say? "Wake up! Panic! The plane IS FULL OF SMOKE!!"

No. Caitlin was too precious to us. We were going to let her stay unaware.

I grabbed Boo's hand and mouthed, "I love you."

We prepared to die.

And then................






Nothing. Happened.




The smoke, which had filled the cabin and obscured all vision, cleared. Slowly. The flight crew never made any mention of it. All the passengers remained silent until the landing, at which point we realized we were not going to crash into the ocean.


Fuck Grecian Airlines. And their  over-condensing air conditioners. 

30 November 2010

Like pearls before extremely confident swine.

Last summer, I went on a road trip to New England with my dear friend, Laurie. She had to go to Rhode Island and New York for some research, so we decided to make a vacation of it.

We flew into Providence, and from there we went to Boston, Nantucket, Lake Champlain, and a lot of other nifty places. Mostly we stayed in little hotels, but toward the end of the trip, we were going to be staying in upstate New York in something we assumed was "student housing." Because when you are paying $25 a night, you anticipate some kind of skeezy dorm room.

We were surprised, then, when we arrived and the little town was so quaint. You remember all those storybooks we read as children that had farms with black and white cows, big red barns, and tall silos? Remember how you then looked out to the Texas countryside and thought, " LIARS! Farms look like crap!"?  Well, I guess the guys who wrote all these books were from upstate New York, because every 5 minutes there was another red barn, tall silo, and herd of black and white cows. AWESOME.

The little town was so darn cute. It had a town square, like Mayberry or something. And on one of the nights, they had a polka band on the lawn. And all the townspeople came (even the teenagers!).

Our housing was on the square, right in the middle of everything. Now, remember that we were expecting something like this:

What we found instead was this:

Our jaws dropped. It was a victorian mansion, 3 stories high, seemingly painted with gold and onyx. We were stoked. We were greeted by our host, Bob.

Bob was a delightful guy. His eyebrows were the size of Twix bars, and he had a deep, billowing voice - which he used to tell us all about how important he was.

Laurie: "Yes, my advisor is Dr. So-and-So.'
Bob: "Ahh, my dear, I am sure she would tell you that I am 98% responsible for her success! I worked on such-and-such article with her several years back..."
Laurie: "Oh... Great! Um, I also work with Dr. Whatchamacallit on my dissertat-"
Bob: "Ahhh, yes, I got him off the ground! I am sure he would tell you, as he told the New York Times, that I am fully responsible for him getting that job. So nice to have clout, isn't it?"
Laurie: "....."

Don't get me wrong, Bob was great fun. But we heard a great deal about his entrenchment in scandal, his Presidential Medals of Awesomeness, and his involvement in the career of every important person in accademia. We loved Bob.

When Bob showed us into the mansion, we were still in shock. So. Much. Fanciness. There was a suit of armor by the door, a dining area set for 100, and an industrial kitchen. 8,000 square feet. A dungeon. An attic apartment. A fully stocked bar.

As we were taking in all in, Bob made an announcement:
"Oh, and you will be having the place to yourselves this week! Please enjoy the fully stocked bar, and any of the amenities. Just don't set anything on fire. :) and if you need anything, call Kevin - the groundskeeper."

UM, are you kidding me?

Bob was not kidding. He gave us the full tour, then headed on his merry way - leaving us in charge of the mansion.

Laurie and I are both oldest children, prone to bossiness and overconfidence. We wandered around for a while, feeling like we were 12 and our parents had just left us alone for the first time while they went on vacation. We became drunk with power. We decided to use the industrial kitchen.


Thing is, the stove was a huge gas stove. We didn't really know how to work it. And it was covered in awkwardly-written warning signs:

We were feeling pretty confident in our choice... until:

We ran outside, and prayed the house wouldn't explode.
Then, we noticed the fire department was next door to us! Hallelujah! Except - there was no one home. We banged the door for a long time, until it became evident that we were alone.

We sat on the curb for a few minutes, pretty panicked, because we did NOT want to be responsible for an exploded mansion. Then Laurie remembered: Kevin! The groundskeeper!

We felt bad about not being up front with Kevin, about the house maybe being a gas-filled deathtrap and all, but he arrived and walked right into the house with great confidence, so we followed him. If he got exploded, we were going with him.

Kevin traipsed right up to the stove and began to fiddle with the knobs. Laurie and I held hands and kept perfectly still. Then.....

WHOOSH!

Not an explosion. Just a perfectly normal gas-stove fire. Turns out we were hearing gas whoosh out because there was a pilot light on at all times. We just hadn't tried hard enough.

We felt really smart after all this. So, we took Bob's advice.


....We partook of the fully stocked bar.