HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRISH TWIN!

We are not the same age anymore. And you are closer to 30 now than you are to 20. Can you believe it?!?

I don't have anything to give you yet. I'm working on something, and I have to make something else, so it's not ready yet. I'll make it for you on Sunday and re-post then.

Somebody told me this last night: "I'm glad you chose to come to earth." I'd say the same thing to you if you were here. Happy birthday, Le!

Two 25-Year-Olds

Lexi and I are both 25 today. Actually, we were both 25 yesterday as well, since it was my birthday. And this is the last day we'll both be 25 because tomorrow is her birthday.

But for now, it feels like I have a true twin. Not only are we interested in the same stuff, have the same fashion and design sense, listen to most of the same music, and have the same ideals and beliefs, we also are 25 for two days! I can't explain to you how neat that is to me. I feel special knowing that there is someone else a lot like me in this world. I mean, I'm sure I'm like a lot of people in this world, but am I the same age as those people for two whole days? Probably not.

It's always a little sad to me when the clock strikes 12 on the night of the 27th. Again, I can't explain why, but I'll say this: I hope I have two little Irish Twin girls one day myself.

See what Lexi thinks about our two days.

Thing I'm thankful for: thoughtful people wishing me a happy birthday; there's nothing better than people who care about you and show it.

Irish Twin Designs

To give you an example of just how in-tune Lexi and I are with each other, and to show you where all those hours of creative kid energy led us, I'm posting an image of something I designed last night. It started out as a Web page header that someone from my work created. It was okay, but a little busy for my taste (Lexi and I are pretty minimalist.). There were purples and oranges and slightly transparent greens going on. So I e-mailed it to Lexi, and she and I worked separately, but simultaneously, in Fireworks to make our own improvements.

This is the fruit of my labors:


I know it's not great (It was my first time using Fireworks.), and Lexi's the experienced designer, but I thought our layouts were quite similar.

Now, view the fruit of Lexi's labors.*

Thing I'm thankful for: kitchen stores, like Williams-Sonoma!


*Addendum: Lexi called me when she was done with her post so we could post these together. After she read mine, she said she was going to comment. I said I had to change something really quickly and re-post. Well, while she was writing the comment that you can see below, I was writing that very line with the asterisk beside it. Funny, huh?!?

Irish Twins in Elementary School

Missing 30 days of school in one year.
Sleeping in rooms of a Barbie Doll house.
Staying up late giggling.
Pretending to be mermaids when it was time to get ready for school.
Drawing house plans.
Thinking of company ideas.
Rollerskating on dining room hardwood floors.

These were just some of the things Lexia and I did when we were little. Every morning, we would get up and play, and our parents would yell at us to get ready. So we slowly got ready in the middle of playing mermaids or whatever else our imaginations could think up. Then we would walk to school because we only lived 2 blocks away (looking back, it feels like it was much longer).

I remember once that Lexia was sick or had a school project she had to finish up, and so I had to walk by myself. But Lexi stood at the driveway and waved goodbye to me. I would turn around about every minute, and we would wave to each other again. She was still there by the time I got to the end of the block, and when it was time to turn the corner, I didn't. We both just stood a block apart from each other and waved and made silly faces and probably did stupid dances or something. I remember being late for school that day.

If Lexi was sick, sometimes my mom let me stay home from school, and if I was sick, Lexi stayed home. Sometimes we just stayed home because our parents couldn't make us get ready. But I know that neither of us is the lesser for it. We started so many projects all the time. We painted and drew and built things. We would drape our mom's fabric onto her sewing model and have contests to see who could make the prettiest dress in a minute's time. We dressed up in mom's clothes, too -- our favorite shoes to play with were a pair of tall, high-heeled black boots and red pumps with purple lining. (I remember growing out of those at an unusually early age.) We would cut out the models in mom's pattern books for paper dolls. We rearranged our miniature dollhouse furniture. We watched tons of TV together. We had pretend gymnastics and ice skating competitions.

Despite these lovely memories, it was not all peaches 'n' cream. Lexi and I played "school," "bank," and "store." Being the oldest, she always got the fun roles of teacher, banker, and cashier. We would play for hours. When I would finally say, "It's my turn to be the banker now," she would cooly say, "I don't want to play anymore."

If only I had stuck up for myself! But such is the pull of the older Irish Twin. It's one that I probably won't ever get away from. That's okay, though, because I think it's done me more good than harm. Because ultimately, Lexi had my back. She was the mediator for me and our older brother Blake. Blake teased me a lot, so Lexi would step in and take some of the heat sometimes.

Once Lexi and I got in a fight (which happened quite frequently, but didn't ever last long), and one of us slammed our bedroom door (Yes, we shared a room -- complete with a canopy bed, a built-in window seat that doubled as a toy trunk, and a tea table.). When the fight ended, I tried to leave our room, but found that the old and rusty doorknob was stuck. The door wouldn't open! We yelled at our mom to help us out. Nobody could open it, though, and it turns out that my mom had to call the fire department. The firemen hoisted their ladders up to our second-story windows to get us out that way, but the windows wouldn't budge either. Somebody finally had the bright idea of drilling off the old doorknob, but until then -- and contrary to popular Snow belief that we were scared -- Lexi and I just found some kind of game to play.

It was actually kind of fun, being stuck in a roomful of toys with my best friend. That's kind of the general memory I have about my childhood. Not so bad, eh?

Now, what are Lexi's memories?

Thing I'm thankful for: being able to walk to school. It was fun, really.

Irish Twin Movie Quotes

I'm sure Lexi's written about this on her blog, but I'll tell you again: My Irish twin and I like to quote movies. A lot. But it doesn't end there. We try to recreate the accent and tone and body language, if we can. For example, I wouldn't say, "I'm BORED" without saying it with an English accent (Jude Law, Gattaca). And I wouldn't, under any circumstance, say, "HAROLD DOBBS!" without pointing my finger at someone to the right of me, if I could help it (Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof). Here are some more fun ones:

You've got your serious movies . . .

"He fights with something that I've never had. And I took it from him when I betrayed him, and I saw it in his face on the battlefield -- and it's tearing me apart." (Angus Macfadyen, Braveheart)

"Well, Dr. Marcia Fieldstone -- I'm gonna get out of bed in the morning . . . and breath in and out. And then, after a while, I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed in the morning and breath in and out. And then, after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and wonderful for a while." (Tom Hanks, Sleepless in Seattle)

"How could I love anyone more than I love my sisters?" (Winona Ryder, Little Women)

"Moses." (Anne Baxter, The Ten Commandments)

"You'll regret it -- maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow -- but soon and for the rest of your life." (Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca)


The romantic ones . . .

"You stay alive! No matter what occurs! I will find you!" (Daniel Day-Lewis, The Last of the Mohicans)

"What was that like, then? . . . You certainly didn't learn any manners on yer travels!" (Catherine McCormack, Braveheart)

"I don't want sunbursts or marble halls; I just want . . . you" (Megan Follows, Anne of Avonlea)

"I love you." (Carrie Fisher) "I know." (Harrison Ford, Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)

"You don't want to be in love. You wanna be in love in a movie." (Rosie O'Donnell, Sleepless in Seattle)

"I mean it. Just as soon as we get home, I never want to see you again." (Lauren Bacall, How to Marry a Millionaire)


The kid ones, which also fall into the 80's category for me . . .

"Child is no longer a child -- child is a MOUSE!" (Angelica Houston, The Witches)

"I'm sorry, Anne!" (Jonathan Crombie, Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea)

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave. . . . Then forget about the baby." (David Bowie, Labyrinth)

"You killed him wit' da shewz." (Henry Jones, The Bad Seed)


And the funny ones . . .

"I'm Elle Woods, and this is Brewser Woods, and we're both gemini vegetarians." (Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde)

"You don't think we mesh well togetha. Wait -- why am I even listening to you? You're a virgin who can't drive." (Brittany Murphy, Clueless)

"Now there are no rules in this house. I'm not like a regular mom; I'm a cool mom." (Amy Poehler, Mean Girls)

"WAIT! Before you say anything else, I need you to know that I am also reading the dictionary! What letter are you on?" (Michael Showalter, The Baxter)

"You . . . complete me." (Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire)

"Okay . . . but she's awful good with a quarter." (Marilyn Monroe, How to Marry a Millionaire)

"Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!" (Yul Brynner, The King and I)


And a course you gotchyer John Hughes movies -- they're in a class of their own . . .

"Blane??? His name is Blane? That's not a name; that's a major appliance!" (Jon Cryer, Pretty in Pink)

"Applause, applause, applause." (Annie Potts, Pretty in Pink)

"The only things I care about in this [expletive deleted] life are me, and my drums, and you." (Mary Stuart Masterson, Some Kind of Wonderful)

"What's hanging up in that church, huh? My soul? No, it's my face. Paint it whatever picture you want. It's still you using me." (Lea Thompson, Some Kind of Wonderful)

"KEVIN!!!" (Catherine O'Hara, Home Alone)


I think I kinda went overboard with this post. (Hey, that's another good one -- Overboard. See? I can't stop!) Believe it or not, I could go on like this all night. But I won't. Just know that the quotes you see above come from some of my most favorite movies of all time (minus "Jerry Maguire" -- although, I think that movie has a very good message). If you haven't seen them, you should check them out. Now. (And these, too. But not these.)

Watcha got, Lex? Let's see what she has to say about movie quotes . . .

Thing I'm thankful for: if you've read through this entire post. I know it's not some people's idea of fun. So thanks.

October = Irish Twins Month

What's up, people? Long time, no blog! I have about 5 sets of pictures I still have to post on here, and that story of the jellyfish is gonna have to wait a little longer, too. You see, Lexia and I have had this great blogging idea for a while now, and it's time to get it off the ground. Time is really of the essence, here, because it's October -- our birthday month!

It goes like this: My mom got pregnant with me while she was nursing Lexia (dispelling the myth that you cannot get pregnant while nursing -- nursing mothers everywhere, WATCH OUT!), and 363 days later, I was born. So Lexia and I are the same age for 2 days in the year. Cool, huh? In our formative years, she watched out for me a lot. She was the assertive older sister, and she invited me to hang out with her and her friends. Since around the middle of my college days, though, I think things have turned around a little bit. I'm more independent (as far as that goes for humans, anyway) than I have ever been. But most of the time, she tries things out first and then explains it all for me later, usually by way of a diagram or flow chart (Remember, she's an artiste.).

Ever the trend-setter and original thinker, Lexia had a really great blog idea one day in July of this year. I rounded out the idea because I'm a good follower and supporter, and here we are almost 2 months later, giving you what we call Irish Twin month. To get the idea, you can follow the string of e-mails that we used to communicate the idea to each other:


Lexi's E-Mail to Sara, July 18th, 2:04 p.m.:

Maybe you could write [a post] sometime if you want to. It doesn't have to be for this theme. I'm thinking of devoting a month to my future kids. You could write a great post then. You know what, though, I kind of want to keep talking about this subject because the end of the month is approaching and I don't feel finished yet. Maybe I'll extend it.

I've thought about us having a post together. Or, having you post comments on my blog a lot -- a sisters theme. Maybe we could do Sisters one month.

Sara's E-Mail to Lexi, 6:12 p.m.:

In order to drive traffic to both of our blogs, we should capitalize on this sisters theme. Here's how I see it: We pick a topic, and without talking about it, you post your thoughts on your blog, and then link to mine. I'll do the same. Like this:

Lexi and Sara on (Bees):

Bees are really cool. I like bees a lot. Sometimes they're a little bit scary, though, because they sting you. It hurts. Apparently I really like bees because when I was little, I wore a bumble bee swimsuit.

Now read Lexi's thoughts. (The words "Lexi's thoughts" would link to your post.)

See? Then you would do the same thing, but have a link to my blog. It's really a great idea, and I'm glad you included me!

Love you.
Love,
Me.

P.S. I'm havin' a thought. Maybe we should come up with themes in the next couple of weeks, and then August can be the Sisters theme. Or maybe we can just do it whenever we want. We could even do a future husband one for this month. Won't it be so interesting to see how different our posts are? People will love yours more, probably. :(

Lexi's E-Mail to Sara, 6:43 p.m.:

YOU'VE DONE IT!!! You resolved my issue. You see, my initial thought was to put both posts on one page (to compare and contrast of course). But this would either have to make my blog have both posts and yours have nothing, or both of our blogs posting the same two posts. The latter is just reduntant and not interactive. So, by clicking a link to your blog, YOU get traffic and I (also capitalized for stress, but I couldn't double capitalize an already capitalized letter) get traffic. HURRAH!!!

Maybe these emails could be posted as a way to explain to our viewers how such brilliant thoughts develop. It could be like a study for pyschologists to unravel the innerworkings of genius minds! Yes, I wrote that last paragraph knowing it might go on my blog...but not the first one.

So, what should our first subject bee? How 'bout what you look like in that swimsuit?
:o)
Lex

Now read Lexi's post on Irish Twins Month.*

*Note: There are incriminating photos of me on her blog. Let this be a sign to all you readers that I am an honest blogger. I may write and look silly a lot of the time, but at least I'm sharing parts of myself with you -- something I believe adds to solid journalism.

Thing I'm thankful for: fulfilling work.