i n • p u r s u i t

I've really gotta say that I am just loving this year's March Madness. Why? Look at that above. Numbah ONE, baby (well, for now)! This is only my third year of filling out a bracket and I have never come even remotely close to this before. Also, I have far fewer friends filling out brackets that I once did--only 12 on Facebook this year--so that makes it easier. Don't forget the sheer dumb luck on my part. I've got the Michigan State Spartans taking it all the way and I think we've got a shot. To be honest, I didn't truly expect it to go this far. The last two games with Kansas and Louisville had me on the proverbial edge of my seat. The next game will be against UConn and, hopefully, another against UNC. *Fingers crossed.* So, I want to know if any of you have filled out a bracket and, if so, which team you have going all the way. Tell me, tell me, tell me. I want to share the excitement that is March Madness! ♥, TiffanyAnne and in case you're curious, my

After an absolutely wonderful date night with my absolutely wonderful boyfriend, I very spontaneously joined my roommate at a local dive-y joint. It was fun; there were people I hadn't seen in ages, loud techno-y/indie rock music, and dancing. I wanted to dance, but it was the sort of dancing that is *hard* for me to dance like these days. There aren't any steps. It's not swing music. I can improvise in lindy hop and all, but I also have some sort of base to go off of.  With this music , I felt like I was having a seizure and trying to do it with style. I don't think I failed too horribly--hopefully. At the very worst, there will have been people at the tables that I will never see again making fun of my dancing. But, stylin' or not, I had fun with my dearest roommate with whom I had never been out with before. Totally worth it. And now my ears are still ringing...but its time for bed. ♥, TiffanyAnne

♥, TiffanyAnne

I got my new, super cute glasses today! The cool part of them is the teal on the inside...which is why I took the picture like that. Also, I was trying to go for some kind of hot librarian look to show you both sides. I totally failed with the hot librarian thing (I mean, who do I think I am--Anne Marizzle? No.) but I think you can see the insides. If you need to see it better, there's a stock photo below. ♥, TiffanyAnne

When you start lindy hopping, it isn't long before you learn where everybody buys their dance shoes (dancestore.com) or the right places to get those shoes fixed. You know the same YouTube videos that all the lindyhoppers have seen a dozen times (2006 fast lindy liberation finals, anyone?). You also know the famous people of swing. One of the most famous persons you'll learn about is Frankie Manning, an award winning dancer and choreographer. Frankie is well loved by the swing community and today he turns 95--and still going dancing! For his birthday, one of the ways for lindyhoppers to honor Frankie on his birthday was the Global Shim-Sham . We did this in Greenville and you can watch us in the above video. ♥, TiffanyAnne

Great video we watched at church this morning. ♥, TiffanyAnne

Hey guys! Do you ever read my sister's blog:  MaryCommentary ? It's a bit more ...um...  controversial liberal sexy ...it's just different from In Pursuit . Mary a.k.a.  Stargirl  is not only my super sweet twin sister, but she was my first ever inspiration to write--and now I'm a journalism major! So, go check out her blog. While you're there, read the guest post I wrote for her Free For All Fridays about  online games that help do good . ♥, TiffanyAnne

You enjoy giving gifts of yourself to others, you will be rewarded! ♥, TiffanyAnne

Do you twitter ? Since I started twittering, I have a lot of people following me that I've never met. Some of these are random and some are even spammers. But I'm holding out hope that maybe I have fans. (Ha-ha-ha.) If you follow me on twitter, send me an @reply or a DM to let me know that you're one of my readers and not a total stranger. I'll totally follow you back. ^_^ ♥, TiffanyAnne

ANNOUNCEMENT: ladies pls. DON'T go to any WAL-MARTS 2nite. news has CONFIRMED gang initiation will take place 2nite. target to kill 3 women. Someone I follow tweeted the above earlier today. I've seen similar warning pop up in the facebook status of some of my friends or in email chain letters. Have you been bombarded by "gang initiation" text messages, emails, or tweets lately? I'm going to take this opportunity to share with everyone a wonderful website called Snopes. If you haven't heard of the website, I think their logo tell you what they're about: rumors. The website determines the truth value of rumors, urban legends, old wives tales, strange news stories, etc. Some fantastic stories are actually true while others, like the above, are false. For me, Snopes.com is the place to verify something that's been handed my way. Oh, and the page for the gang initiation rumor can be found here: Gang Targets Women at Walmart . ♥, TiffanyAnne

We watched this in Mass Communication Theories along with a Cha Cha Slide video. We were discussing the knowledge gap hypothesis (which you can read about by clicking on that link) and the exception that areas of specific interest take. Take the specific area of dancing, for example. Dances such as the Macarena , the Electric Slide , the Cha Cha Slide , and, of course, the Cupid Shuffle , are known by people of all different socioeconomic statuses. Because of this class, the cupid shuffle song was stuck in my head for the rest of the day. ♥, TiffanyAnne p.s. the " shim-sham " from the title is a jazz line dance that we do at swing dances

...it's the freakin' highest midterm grade in the hardest class I've ever been in. I clearly remember walking out of that test thinking that I had NO idea how it went. Did I make and A or did I fail? I was just happy to be out of there and on to spring break. I didn't want to think about it. Imagine my surprise when I was handed back my midterm today and my teacher announced that I had made the highest grade. "I know," he said, clapping his hands a few times, "how much work goes into getting a 58 [out of 60] on this test and I want to recognize that." I did a little dance. ♥, TiffanyAnne

Three notes 1) My eyebrows are a lot less scary than they appear to be 2) I know it's choppy. I tried to edit out all the long silent pauses--there were a few. And the stupid things I said--there were are lot of those. 3) I really would like to be on Jeopardy. Mike and I watch it almost every night. ♥, TiffanyAnne

When my PC crashed, I lost all of my music. I was pretty dang bummed about this. Later, however, I found out that you can download free MP3s over at Amazon.com! My friend Paul , who runs the swing dance scene around here, sent out a link to a Willie Nelson song that was free from Amazon. I did a little looking around and found the list of almost 600 FREE songs! This include songs by Beirut, Ani DiFranco, Barenaked Ladies and more. As per my own music, I did some searching around and found out how to get the songs I purchased from iTunes off my iPod and onto my new computer. Thank goodness! ^_^ ♥, TiffanyAnne

My sister wants to know why I paid so darn much for a computer. It was a hard decision to make. Because, really, I could have gotten a perfectly decent computer for 600. But, then again, the Mac was only 999. And that's not so darn much. I saw the beautiful computers with their glowing apple the minutes I walked into the store. But a mac? Seriously? I don't need a mac. And I quickly bypassed them and wandered around for the next 30 minutes or more--probably driving my mother crazy. Finally, I settled on the same computer my brother has. That was the computer I wanted. Pretty dang nice computer, I think. (I'm pretty sure it's this Toshiba computer.) But Mike called and was giving me some computer buying advice that, in the end, boiled down to... A Toshiba for 899 or a MacBook for only 100 more? That's a no brainer... B-b-but...it's a Mac . I mean. I'm not a creative person who needs a mac for any sort of appley things. I'm a simple computer user. I mean

Lauren, what's this baby's name? Umm... Fayden . But isn't the other baby named Zayden ? Those are really similar names. Maybe you should pick out one that sounds a little different so they don't get confused. Okay...um.... Hayden ...yeah. You see, that sounds a lot a like too. Zay-DEN, Fay-DEN , and Hay-DEN . See? Those all sound alike. Ohhhhh. Okay. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. {thinks for a moment} How about Jayden ! ♥, TiffanyAnne

My roommates and I have an agreement as far as most things go. They're not to be shared without explicit permission. No one likes to come home with a great meal in mind only to discover that someone ate one of the vital ingredients. So what is one great way to annoy me? Be my roommate but not respect me enough to not drink my fresca. I had a 12-pack of fresca and everyone knows its mine. I come home to discover that half of my cans have gone missing. I have no idea where or to whom they have gone to. NOT COOL ♥, TiffanyAnne

Do you know what this is? It's my new MacBook. Booyah. ♥, TiffanyAnne p.s. the thrilling saga of the duck will be continuing tomorrow. though, i have lost a lot of the photos

In lieu of a daily photo (yeah, daily, I know you're laughing), I'm posting another dance video. This time it's this super-fun video me dancing with my friend Kristen who I have known since the 1930s . We are successfully figuring out how to take turns leading and following all while looking like we actually know what we're doing. She is much better at it that I am. But, then again, she is a much more talented dancer than I am. :) That part where she kicks up high? That's her almost kicking Robert in the face for saying we look like eight-year-olds. Ha. I look at least sixteen, thank you very much. ♥, TiffanyAnne

♥, TiffanyAnne

This video is me dancing with my friend Erdi last weekend at a local coffee/ice cream shop. The local swing scene hosted a lindy fest and this was the Saturday afternoon dance. The song is "Banana Split for My Baby" by Louis Prima...one of my favorite songs to dance to! ♥, TiffanyAnne

In the middle of the snowfall last night, my roomie and I went outside to take pictures of the snow. We don't get it often here and we just loved it! The blanket of white is so beautiful! ♥, TiffanyAnne

Mike W and me at the Speakeasy. Yeah, we're cool. ♥, TiffanyAnne