and another "absolute" falls . . .

so today . . . i think i love shania twain.

this worries me. i hate country music. really. a lot. it all sounds the same to me. and the twang just kills me! it makes me want to walk like a chicken. i can't explain it--it just does.

(yes, that is diandra holding a chicken! i thought this might be a good spot for a chicken picture, even though you can't see it walking. i guess you will have to imagine it!!)

and then two summers ago diandra and i took a road trip to portland to visit my parents. we took my new car, crammed every inch of trunk space full of stuff (well, it is kind of a small trunk, and we are girls so we had a lot of stuff,) and headed north on I-5. we talked, we laughed, we listened to my music--for the first twelve hours of the trip . . .

then we crossed the oregon border, and stopped at the talent, oregon wal-mart.

there is nothing special about this particular store. we actually pass several wal-marts on our way to portland, (not to mention that there is one just a couple of miles from our house,) but for some reason i always feel compelled to stop at this particular store. even if i don't need anything, i will usually stop. because you just never know . . .

(part of the appeal is probably the lack of sales tax. we have adjusted to the outrageous sales tax that we are forced to pay here in socal, but when you don't have to pay it, it is like everything is on sale! so we shop until we run out of money and feel perfectly justified in doing so, because we save so much money without the sales tax . . . yes, that is our story, and we are sticking to it!)

anyway, we went into walmart, and diandra bought a cd by a cute little blonde girl named taylor swift. and then she wanted to play it in the car. i don't live in a cave, so i knew this was country music--which i hate--so i wanted to say no. but i love my daughter, and she was in the midst of some pretty difficult circumstances. i wanted to see her smile, so i reluctantly said ok, we could listen to it. once.

and then a strange thing happened. i liked it. i really, really liked it. the words of the songs just seemed to resonate with both of us that summer, and before we reached portland (two days later, because we went to over to the coast first,) i was starting to sing along to some of the songs. even the ones that started out twangy.

we listened to that cd all the way to the oregon coast, all the way up the oregon coastline, back inland to portland, AND THEN all the way back down to LA!! yes, you read that right. we did not pull another cd out of a jewel case for the rest of the trip. we put the top down and sang at the top of our lungs. it was cathartic. for both of us. (i know i am not singing at the top of my lungs in this picture, but when we were singing, we weren't taking pictures. so this is the best i can do.)

i had to admit that even though i hated country music, i liked taylor swift. then i learned that i liked some rascal flatts and a little carrie underwood. and tonight, while watching american idol, i kind of think i might love shania twain. i'm not 100% certain yet though . . .

i am thinking maybe my debit card and i should wander over to itunes, listen to some shania, put a few songs in my shopping cart, and see what happens . . . ;)