Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. Marsha Norman

I thought I'd start off this blog with a recent dream.

Dreamdate: August 24, 2010

PDA (Pre-Dream Activity): I had this dream while taking a nap, from approximately 8:00a.m. until about noon. Before I slept, I had a cinnamon bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a glass of milk.

Setup: This dream involves my friend Stephen, from Ireland.

In my dream, I was working at a Wal-Mart that basically doubled as a prison. Like, shoppers couldn't get out. Stephen was working there too, and we were basically rivals for a management position. In my dream, I was taking a shower in this little cubicle that was in between the entrance to Wal-Mart and the parking lot. I remember using some weird shampoo stuff from inside the store, and somehow arguing with Stephen, who was also taking a shower nearby.

Then, after the shower (I guess) I was giving one of the shopper/prisoners a makeover. She had a really bad hairdo, kind of like a black mullet. So I cut her hair and made it all blonde and pretty. Then I gave her a bunch of makeup from Wal-Mart to take with her.

The next thing I know, I am in a hot-air balloon with Stephen, and we are flying to his parents' house. We land as they are having a picnic outside, next to a really loud outdoor heavy metal concert. But the food is really top-notch gourmet stuff. And his parents and sister kept trying to set us up with each other. And somehow we go along with it and start dating.

The next minute, we are married and living together in this fabulous apartment in Chicago. God, I loved this apartment, even though it's not real. Everything was really stylish and done in this deep burgundy color. And there was a huge flat screen TV in the living room. And in the dining room, we had floor to ceiling windows that looked down into an atrium. And we had a Tempur-Pedic bed. Wow. Anyways, we were married, and he was still on the Wal-Mart management path, but I was working at a prestigious auction house like Sotheby's or Christie's. (I know this comes from watching so much Antique Road Show!) Anyway, I had some of my colleagues over for dinner, including those Keno twins who appraise furniture on ARS, and they were all basically scoffing at Stephen's career. And that's where I woke up!

This is a relatively tame dream, as far as my dreams go. I guess I'll wean you onto tsunamis and volcanic eruptions later.

Oh yeah! I welcome any analysis of my dreams, no matter how amateur, because they are beyond me.

Well, it's 2:30a.m. so I'm off to cook up another dream for y'all. You're welcome.

Dream On!