Nougat Nougat Nougat

One year later ...

2011-01-15T10:37:00.002-05:00

2010 ... I'm not even sure how to describe it. Lots of good stuff. Lots of bad stuff. Unfortunately, we came out worse at the end of it than we did at the beginning, so the year is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Not sure what to expect from 2011 ... except changes. Lots and lots of changes.

Anywho, that's why I'm thinking about reviving the ol' blog. Maybe. Possibly. I think it might be a good idea to record the inevitable stuff that will be happening to me and Tim this year. It might help me get a better understanding of my thoughts and feelings. And if I ever have doubts about any decisions I've made, it will be good to be able to look back at the time I made a decision and read my thoughts. Maybe. Possibly.

It's hard to decide because I know I have a larger audience on Facebook. But then again, I hate the limitations of FB. And I hate the total lack of anonymity. And maybe I don't really want a huge audience. Maybe. Possibly.

Needs more fiber

2010-01-14T13:34:00.005-05:00

We've been back in North Carolina for 2 weeks. In that time, I've experienced the following:
* 2 dental appointments (ouch)
* 2 acting gigs at Duke (fun!)
* Finished 2 knitting projects (both of which were for ME for a change)
* Went to a wedding show with Jennifer (where I drank a fair amount of champagne and ate WAY too much cake)
* Partied at Kevin & Shawna's house (where I danced to "Pump Up The Jam" perhaps a little too enthusiastically)
* Invited Jennifer & Kyle over for dinner and the final episode of Doctor Who (sniff)
* Watched a TON of PBS (They've had some excellent shows on lately).

So all in all, I've been comfortably busy. But no matter what I'm doing lately, the thing that has truly occupied my thoughts more than anything else is knitting. I've enjoyed knitting for years now, but recently it has taken over me with a new intensity. I spend hours every day looking over new patterns. I find myself contemplating new stitches before I get out of bed in the morning. Less than 48 hours ago I finished up my most recent project and I have felt antsy ever since. I need something new to make!

Yes, it's true. I'm addicted to needles. And I intend to share that addiction with you - or at least the products of that addiction - over the next week or so.

Jiggity jig

2010-01-04T21:48:00.010-05:00

It's been 2 weeks since Tim and I got in the car and started our journey halfway across the country to Oklahoma. And it's one week since we got back in that car and headed east more than one thousand miles to our house in North Carolina.

Here are a few photos I snapped as we got further away from my old home and closer to my new one.

Sugar sugar

2009-12-19T18:33:00.004-05:00

I'm rather stressed out today. Tim and I are supposed to be headed out to Oklahoma for Christmas, but our trip has been delayed because of the following:
1. Rock slide blocking I-40 in the mountains of NC
2. Snow storm clogging up our detour route through Virginia
3. Freshly broken tooth in the mouth of yours truly.
Not a happy day. But there's nothing I can do to change those things on this chilly Saturday night, so let's focus on something happy, huh? Something like baked goods!

Back in the 1990s, Corey's mother, Karen, frequently brought home these amazingly tasty sugar cookies topped with apricot icing. I think she bought them out of the back of some woman's car or something. They were obviously homemade - placed on a paper plate and wrapped with cling film, no hint of a price tag or ingredient list to be found. They were so tasty - so soft and chewy without the artificial-ness I taste in most cookies from commercial bakeries. And that icing! So unexpected and delicious.

Occasionally I think back to those amazing cookies & long to eat them again. Since Karen, rest her soul, has left us, I cannot ask her where she bought those cookies. Even if I knew it doesn't matter because I'm stuck in North Carolina now. There was only one thing to do: try to recreate the cookies at home. After tons of searching for the right cookie recipe, I found one on-line a few weeks ago that looked like it had great potential. I tweaked the recipe a bit and was quite pleased with the results. Tim took some to the office & our friend, Kevin, declared them the best sugar cookies he has ever eaten. They're easy to make, too, so if you're in the mood to get your bake on, give these a whirl.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Dip bottom half of balls into sugar. Place balls sugared-side down on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. DO NOT OVER-BAKE!
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

I'm experimenting with the apricot icing. The icing I made this time is a blend of powdered sugar, apricot nectar, apricot extract, and a drop of red food coloring. I just kept adding stuff until it looked and tasted right. Don't you hate cooking directions like that? I know I do. At any rate, it was nice, but still not quite what I remembered. I think next time I'll try some apricot preserves instead. If I ever get it to a flavor I like I promise to pass it along.

Weeeee are the champions!

2009-12-14T22:49:00.011-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I had to turn down a part in a play back in November. If I'd taken the part, I would have been busy 6 nights of the week for about 7 weeks. Since I didn't take the part, I've had a lot of time on my hands. I chose not to waste that time. For instance, last Saturday Tim and I went out with some of my new gal pals for drinks and fooseball.

From left to right: Kathryn, Sarah, Laurie, and Tim. These ladies kick more ass than I can possibly express. The more I hang out with them, the more I like them.

I, as usual, was hysterically inept at fooseball. But when paired with Tim, we were unstoppable!

See that? Those are the EIGHT points Tim and I scored. The girls got just 2. Heh heh.

Because Tim and I were out with the girls on Saturday, we weren't home to watch TV and see that Tim had won more than just a game of fooseball that night. A video game he worked on - Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard - won the Best Comedy Video Game category at Spike's Video Game Awards! We missed the original broadcast, but I hear it'll be shown again this Saturday. Set your DVR's, people.

Victory looks good on us, n'est pas?

A "Really Terrible" Concert

2009-12-11T10:17:00.007-05:00

Okay, theater people. It's time for us to admit something. Sometimes when we have to say the familiar phrase, "I can't; I have rehearsals," we feel a bit of smug satisfaction. In those few, brief words, we tell the world that we are talented and creative - so much so that we have been asked by People In The Know to spend much of our free time working on some grand, artistic endeavor.

But sometimes ... sometimes ...

Sometimes there's sadness and regret and frustration in those words.

So here's the deal. Last month I was FINALLY offered a part in a play. Not a speaking part, unfortunately. It was one of those 3rd Spear Carrier To The Right kind of parts. Well, except for the fact that I would have been dancing and not carrying any sharp implements. But none of that matters. The point is it was SOMETHING. Besides, everyone knows that the people with bit parts tend to have the most fun on a show. There's minimal stress since there are no lines to memorize. As a bonus, you get to spend tons of time backstage socializing with the other ensemble players. Just imagine all the possibilities to make friends and connections! I was so thrilled. BEYOND thrilled. The door had been opened wide for me. All I had to do was walk through it.

Just one problem: the orchestra.

The play was running nearly every night for the first 3 weeks of December. The orchestra's Christmas concert conflicted with one of those performances. Just one. Just one night. But sadly, that was enough. Understand that the concert was scheduled for a Wednesday night. It's EXTREMELY rare for community theater groups to have performances on Wednesdays. However, this is the Xmas season and all bets are off. When the Powers That Be at the theater company heard about my conflict, I was given the maybe-next-time polite rejection. Uuuuuuuuuugh.

The non-performers out there will say, "Why not just drop out of the orchestra?"
But the performers will understand. We were one month away from the concert. Just 5 rehearsals left. I had made a commitment. I had to stick by it or deal with the inevitable karmic revenge. "[Director Guy] will understand. In fact, he will appreciate that you honored your previous commitment and will take it as a sign that you are a true professional who can be trusted." I said this to myself. Others said it to me, too. But that didn't change the fact that this was utterly heartbreaking for me.

Enter ... bitterness.

Just the thought of the orchestra made me grumpy. I tried to persevere. I told myself that one of the reasons why I must stay with the orchestra was because if I left I'd have to be replaced. I couldn't ask someone else to learn these pieces in so little time - especially not the Oklahoma Suite. Then our conductor decided that the First Flutes were too overwhelming during the Oklahoma Suite and switched me to the Second Flute part. Note that the Oklahoma Suite was our most difficult piece and runs 11 minutes long. I had logged many many hours on that piece, training my fingers to learn the difficult passages and my diaphragm to force out the extraordinarily high notes. The Second Flute part was not much easier - still tons of difficult passages, only the notes were a smidge higher or lower to create harmony. I found it painfully ironic that, in my attempt to save someone else from learning such a difficult piece in one short month, I found myself in that very position. Months of effort down the drain.

I did not just mumble my displeasure under my breath. I roared. Tim had to hear the worst of it, of course, but others got a fair share, too. A part of me thought about skipping the concert altogether just out of spite. But what would be the point of that? I'd already lost the part in the play. If I had to miss the play because of this concert then, by god, I was going to put in a good showing.

That catches us up to Wednesday night. The concert.

About 500 people paid to see us. They laughed at our silly jokes. They used the complimentary crayons to color the pictures in the program. They gave us a standing ovation. And you want to know something? I enjoyed it! And not just because of the audience's positive reaction, but because of the camaraderie I felt with my fellow musicians. I imagine no one is more surprised than I am by this. I wish I could describe what changed, but it's inexplicable. It's not that we were perfect (Tim says the brass section was especially cringe-worthy at times). But for some reason, it was fun again. I think it helps that the entire ensemble had to hang out backstage together before the concert and during intermission. For a change we were forced get out of our chairs and mingle - to socialize with one another. Compliments were given. Conversations started. I was reminded that these people were not the enemy. Instead, they were very nice. They were funny and kind and were happy to have a chance to play their instruments with a group. I felt a part of an artistic ensemble again, a part of a team. I think that's the feeling I've been looking for all along.

Our conductor, Sandy, sent out an e-mail this week. With the spring semester comes a new season for the Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle. There will be all new music to learn. He made no bones about it: if you want to drop out, now is the time to do it.

I've decided to stay.

george's gloves

2009-12-05T13:42:00.008-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my netbook was out of commission for a while in November. This turned out to be kinda a good thing because I was forced to spend less time on the internet and more time doing something else. I decided to get my craft on. One of the things I made were these fingerless gloves for george.

This was my first time to knit anything that wasn't flat. The process is ... well, it's kinda funky and strange, but in a good way. Instead of just using 2 regular knitting needles, there are 4 double pointed needles. Three of them form a triangle and ... well, it's just funky. There are pointy things sticking out everywhere. Knitting in the round like this kinda looks like you're manhandling a vicious looking insect or cuddling a hedgehog. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.

See the subtle stripe of colors? Notice how they match up on both gloves? I didn't even plan that. Seriously. It was pure fate.

The pattern is "Dashing" from knitty.com. Tim says that they're actually fingerless mittens rather than fingerless gloves. Semantics! Hair-splitting! Bah humbug! Whatever you call them, I loved making them. Here's hoping george loves wearing them!

georgious

2009-12-01T12:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was the birthday of my darling george! Huzzah! You can read about it on her blog.

Since I couldn't be with g on her big day, I was forced to sit at home and pout. Okay, I didn't just pout. I also played on-line and looked a old photos .... photos I was only able to look at because I fiiiiiiiiiiiinally have a working power supply for my netbook! My old power supply died many weeks ago & I've been dealing with the mess ever since. No netbook means no access to my memory cards. No memory cards means no new photos and, without photos, I don't like to blog. But now I can access my photos again! Hooray!

So in honor of g's big day and my brand new power supply, here are some of my favorite pics of me & my georgie-porgie.

And lest we forget everybody's favorite ... The Yeti

One month later ...

2009-11-15T16:13:00.004-05:00

Hello, blog. How's it going?

And hello, readers. Are you still out there?

I always hate when people write excuses for why they haven't posted on their blog for a while. I never really care why. As long as the author is okay, then I'm okay. So don't worry, gang. I'm happy and healthy and all that jazz. As a bonus, I'm in the mood to post a bit more, so stay tuned!

Signs of Autumn

2009-10-17T12:51:00.009-04:00

Break out the boots! Fall is here!

Apple cider is available at the grocery store.

Here's the first loaf of autumnal pumpkin bread in the making.

Our garden gives summer a fond farewell with one last burst of color: camellias in bloom.

Love it.

A familiar scene

2009-09-30T22:57:00.007-04:00

Today's pic is of my mom, but it could just as easily be of me.
Sitting on couch? Check.
Cat on lap? Check.
Netbook open and ready? Check.
Crafty project in hand? Well, after a 4 week hiatus, I returned to knitting a sweater this week. I suppose that's a long way of saying "check".
And although you can't see it in the photo, I assure you that the TV is definitely on.

Hey. I'm a multi-tasker.

Such an exciting life I lead, yes?

For my eyes only

2009-09-29T22:20:00.008-04:00

Most of the time when I take photos, I do so with the intention that I will share the images with others. Granted, it doesn't always turn out that way, but at least that's my intent. Today I'm going to share with you the rare exception: photos I take just for me.

As most of you know, I'm not terribly fond of spending money, but I am fond of research. That's where my camera comes in handy. If I'm considering a purchase and researching certain products at a store, I often whip out my ol' camera and take a few pictures. It's a great way to catalog the model number and price, as well as the general look of the thing.

Then when I go home to think over the purchase, I have everything I need to know on my handy dandy memory card! For instance, I need only look at this pic to remind me that the shelves of this Ikea bookcase are 13 inches deep.

I do this ALL the time. Usually it's for big purchases for the house like faucets for the bathrooms or the new lighting fixture in the dining room. I've found it's a much better technique than scribbling the details on a piece of paper (which I will inevitably lose amidst all the other junk floating around in my purse).

Yet another reason to love digital cameras.

Living up to their name

2009-09-29T00:23:00.003-04:00

Mmmmmm ... baked goooooooooods ...

I love baked goods.

Especially homemade baked goods.

Potato yeast rolls are especially tempting for me. I can turn away a slab of cheesecake or a plate of fries. But hot, fresh, homemade potato yeast rolls? Oh my.

Pass the butter.

One year down!

2009-09-27T21:17:00.003-04:00

Today marks one whole year since Travis and Veronica got married! Hooray! It was so lovely to watch such sweet people tie the knot. Plus it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many great old friends. I took TONS of photos from V&T's wedding weekend. If you're in the mood for a happy, inebriated trip down memory lane, check out the following links.

Part 1: Goofy Girl Time!
Part 2: Pre-ceremony prep
Part 3: Reception & English Country Dancing
Part 4: Trader Vic's and waaaaay too much alcohol

V&T, I hope you had a fabulous anniversary!

Hello Gorgeous!

2009-09-26T22:46:00.002-04:00

Allow me to introduce you to my new mixer. I've been thinking about getting a stand mixer for a couple of years now, but I remained on the fence because I never saw one in a color I quite liked. Then this baby hit the stores: the KitchenAid 90th Anniversary Edition Artisan stand mixer with a 12 cup glass bowl. Oh my. So pretty. Photos do not do it justice. That candy apple red makes it look like a sports car.

YUM.

15 Pounds of Patience

2009-09-25T17:43:00.005-04:00

I took Millie to the vet today. Not to worry. It was just time for her to have her annual physical. There are a couple of issues we have to take care of, but all in all we think she's okay. She was a perfect patient, as always, and totally stole the hearts of the employees at the vet's office.

It doesn't make sense, but her perfect behavior at the vet's office makes it extra hard for me to take her there. She doesn't cry. She doesn't fight. She submits to whatever they want. You would think she would wiggle or act annoyed or something, right? But instead she's a perfectly patient, patient. The only thing she does is fold her ears back and occasionally glace over at me so she can give me Bitch Face. Because she knows that the only reason why she's there is because I took her there.

Luckily, she got to go to the vet in a proper cat carrier this time. No more pillow cases for my baby! I think that made it a far less traumatic experience for her. Within minutes of coming home, she was already snoozing on the living room rug rather than cowering under the bed in the guest room. I'm taking this as a good sign. Maybe next time it won't be as traumatic for me, either!

Memory Card Month - Day 24

2009-09-24T19:50:00.007-04:00

Sometimes when I'm out & about, I take photos for me. Other times I take photos of things that remind me of loved ones. When I was at Parker & Otis I found all kinds of things that made me think of george .

Actually, this pupperson reminded me of Lindsey, but she's george's friend, so that counts. Notice that I found out who Otis is! But I'm still not sure about Parker. Hmmm.

Bacon wrapping paper, bacon band-aids, meat-themed stickers, and a bacon lunch box. I know all of these items would have been sold at Lulu Faboo.

You just know that george would buy these cookies. They have cute names! And they're shaped like bears! Eee!

My favorite things in P&O: the t-shirts. Are you a cake person or a frosting person? Let the world know with your t-shirt!

Personally, I'm a biscuit gal. I would honestly choose a quality buttermilk biscuit over a cupcake any day of the week. But when it comes to a t-shirt, I might choose pimento cheese just because it's fun to say.

Pimento cheeeeeeese! Eeeee!

Memory Card Month - Day 23

2009-09-23T23:30:00.007-04:00

Since I took you to Parker & Otis yesterday, I thought we'd stick around there for a little while.

I absolutely love this shop. It is deceptively large. From the street, you'd think it is a narrow little storefront. But it is DEEP. And it has great high ceiling with tons of light. For those of you in Tulsa, I'd say it's about 8 times the size of LaDonna's, but about 25% of that is seating.

In the back they have a bakery where they sell cupcakes amongst other things. I hear they serve some fabulous sandwiches for lunch, too. Maybe next time.

The front part of the store is the "pantry" section where you can buy fancy thing like truffle oil and swanky teas.

They also sell a lot of old fashioned candy like these Necco wafers. My mother LOVES these things for reasons that I don't think I shall ever understand.

I saw a number of things at Parker & Otis that made me think specifically of george. I'll post pics of them tomorrow.

Memory Card Month - Day 22

2009-09-22T23:36:00.003-04:00

This is a zucchini cupcake with buttercream frosting from Parker & Otis, an adorable gourmet food store in downtown Durham. I wish I had one of these babies in my mits right now. That would be so choice.

Speaking of Scooby Doo, today is the birthday of my brother, Mike! Did I mention that one of his photos was featured in a 2 page spread in Spin Magazine? So cool! Go to the link on the left to see his portfolio ... and prepare to be amazed.

Momma's First Wedding Show

2009-09-21T21:44:00.011-04:00

Thought I'd give you all a little up-date on Mom. She has declared the wedding show a great success! She had a great time showing off her wares. Her booth was situated next to a bakery that was handing out free samples of cake. When I heard that, I knew she would be fine. People have to look at something while they eat that cake, right? So why not take a gander at Mom's kaleidoscopes? Sure enough, it worked. Mom said that she & Helen did not have a single spare moment the whole time. They talked to tons of people & a number of them were particularly interested. One of the organizers of the show even heard a couple of guys (grooms perhaps?) talking about Mom's work in the hallway. "Did you see the kaleidoscopes? Dude, you gotta go back in there and check 'em out. They are so cool."

Photos provided by Storybook Wedding Photography

I'm especially happy for Mom for putting herself out there. We all know how scary that can be! It takes a lot of bravery even in the best of times. However, I think it may have been a little bit more difficult on Mom because of the timing; Today marks 5 years since my grandma - my mother's mother - passed away. Mom says she's coping okay. She decided to combat the blues by thinking about the beauty of the beach along the Outer Banks and the week we spent there in May. So in honor of Mom, here are a couple beach pics from that week. I hope she enjoys looking at them between additional viewings of "Nights in Rodanthe".

george!

2009-09-20T23:23:00.006-04:00

For those of you who don't know her, this is my Best Gal Pal, george.

Unfortunately, I did not have the honor of snapping this photo. Back in 2005 during a rehearsal for "On The Verge", a mysterious, unnamed individual snapped it with my cell phone when I was out of the room to try on a costume. This image has appeared on the main screen of my cell phone ever since. It's one of my favorite photos ever.

I also love that it reminds me of a certain video by The Cure. Anybody know which one I'm talking about?

Since I didn't take that pic, I still have to find another image to post. Last night george said that I should post a photo of her or Derek on the blog today. Sounds easy, but it's not. I didn't take many photos of them over the past year & I'm pretty sure I've posted every single one of them.

Then I found this.

This is a townhouse that george and I fell in love with last December. It's so adorable! The interior had nice details and it was situated on a sweet little courtyard with big trees and a fountain. Plus it had a 2 car garage! Unfortunately, the timing wasn't right, so instead of buying a house that day, we bought storage shelves.

Oh, but what's that? Over on the right next to the tree? Why, it's GEORGE!

Hooray! Goal met!

And, unlike yesterday, I managed to post this before midnight. I'm on a roll!

Bread

2009-09-20T00:59:00.001-04:00

George told me to post a pic of food. So here's some bread.

Memory Card Month - Day 18

2009-09-18T16:48:00.003-04:00

This weekend my mom is taking a big step with her company: She is participating in a wedding show! She has a booth at the wedding show in Catoosa where she will display her kaleidoscopes, necklaces, and other items that she makes.

Today while I was scanning through my memory card, I stumbled upon these photos of a piece I commissioned from Mom. It's a Christmas ornament in honor of Travis and Veronica. I sent my mother V&T's wedding invitation, some confetti from their rehearsal dinner, and pressed flower petals from their wedding reception. Mom took those items & incorporated V&T's wedding colors (orange and blue) into this beautiful ornament.

Here's hoping some people at the wedding show appreciate Mom's work and she gets an order or two. Or ten!

Lying for a living - Part 2

2009-09-17T23:31:00.004-04:00

Today's photo is NEW! It is a shot of the front door to the Admissions Office for Duke University's medical school. What do you think it means when such a competitive school is trying to instill hope in their prospective students? Hmmm ...

Anyway, I took this photo yesterday while I was at Duke for my very first day as a Standardized Patient (yes, that's my job title). I spent a couple of hours in a classroom with 2 faculty members and about a dozen first year medical students. I pretended to be a patient named Alexis who was suffering from Ulcerative Colitis. One by one, the students interviewed me about my symptoms, potention causes of my recent flare up, and potential treatment options. It was a complicated case that forced us to discuss a LOT of uncomfortable subjects. Talk about long form improv! Geez! But seriously, it was fun. The students were really engaged in the exercise and I was really impressed by their professionalism and sympathy. You would have that that they'd been in medical school for longer than a few weeks. Luckily, they seemed to love me, too. One of the faculty - the one who seemed the most critical & hard to please - told me that I was "wonderful". And everyone was surprised that this was my first time to be a Standardized Patient. Hopefully this is good news and means that I'll be called in to fake many more illness in the future! Wee!

I know this was an odd acting job - so odd that I don't even know how to put it on my resume. At times I found it very stressful, but I really enjoyed it. I felt that I was making a very positive contribution to the education of these students. Plus it was kinda invigorating to do SO much improvising! It's been ages since I've had an opportunity to do any sort of acting, so it felt really good to have a taste of it again.

Or to put it another way, working for Duke gave me hope.

Clover necklace

2009-09-16T23:45:00.002-04:00

While I was climbing over slippery rocks with Tim and Ray, my mother made a necklace for me with some flowers she found along the trail to the waterfall. Somebody needs to teach me how to do this 'cause I think it's pretty cool.

Waterfalls & peeps

2009-09-16T00:03:00.005-04:00

Ray next to Hooker Falls. Heh.

Tim triumphantly standing in front of High Falls. Love it when that man gets goofy.

It was REALLY hard to get to the base of these falls. Harder still to get back up to the trail again. I sprained my wrist while pulling myself up on a hunk of tree. Yes, my wrist! It really hurt!
I shall now pause while some of you pat my head condescendingly.

Note that I have lost 20 pounds since this photo was taken. And I'm posting it anyway! See, Mom? No one is safe! Not even me!

Lake Lure & Chimney Rock

2009-09-14T21:22:00.007-04:00

Exactly one year ago, Mom, Dad, and Ray were visiting us, so we did what we often do with company and headed out of town. On this trip we stayed at Lake Lure, a beautiful little area at the base of the mountains in western North Carolina.

For many years, this area was most famous for the site featured in the above photo: Chimney Rock. To get to the top of the rock, you have to ride an elevator that was built into the mountain back in the 1940s that travels up the equivalent of 26 stories. Thank god for that elevator. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to hike up to the top of this thing.

Back in the '80s, a little film called "Dirty Dancing" filmed a few scenes in this area. You know that scene when they're practicing the big lift in the water? That's Lake Lure!

I did not take this last pic, of course. I stole it from a random site on the internet. As I was writing up this post, I heard that Patrick Swayze died today. Such a sad, strange coincidence. Thanks for the fabulous dancing, Patrick ... and for taking Baby out of the corner, of course.

Terrible News

2009-09-13T19:38:00.004-04:00

I think most of my readers know this already, but for those who didn't hear, I have news.

I joined an orchestra.

It's all kinda crazy and sudden. A few weeks ago I found out that a community orchestra was holding their auditions & they needed flutes. On a whim, I signed up. I don't know what I was thinking. I hadn't even touched a flute in 18 months! And there I was, renting an instrument just 6 hours before my audition. Madness. And yet somehow I got in.

Note that the group is known as the Really Terrible Orchestra, so maybe their standards are low.

Today was my first time to attend rehearsals. It was EXHAUSTING. The other two flutes sound so good & I was so nervous I almost started to cry. I'm hoping it gets easier as the weeks go by. I'll keep you informed.

Memory Card Month - Day 12

2009-09-12T22:41:00.004-04:00

Points of interest
1. This is my 301st post! Wee!
2. Multiple readers have mentioned to me that Babies on Spikes looks mighty tasty, despite the name. Who'd a thunk it?
3. The previous 2 photos were from the Garden of Eatin' at the Durham Farmers' Market. In case you were wondering.
4. Today's photo was taken exactly a year ago. It features my mom on Wrightsville Beach, staring out on her beloved ocean.
5. I think I tried to post this photo last September, but that's when PhotoBucket & Blogger stopped cooperating so well & everything went wonky.
6. Mom told me last week that she didn't want me to post any photos of her during Memory Card Madness. But you know what? I'm an ADULT now, Mom! And I can do whatever I want! So there!!!
7. Ummmm ... love you, Mommy.

Memory Card Month - Day 11

2009-09-11T23:38:00.002-04:00

Memory Card Month - Day 10

2009-09-10T23:58:00.002-04:00

It's a catastrophe

2009-09-09T19:38:00.007-04:00

As some of you may know, certain individuals have declared today - 9/9/09 - A Day Without Cats On The Internet. These people seem to think that cats get too much play on the web.
Ludicrous.
Despite the obvious madness of this suggestion, these anti-cat people have somehow brainwashed a number of websites into participating. Cute Overload? No cats today. Even NPR has agreed not to post anything about felines for 24 hours.

In the words of Hall & Oats ...
I can't go for that.
Oh no.
No can do.

So I'm rebelling in the only way I can.

Internet + cats > belly rubbins!
And that's sayin' somethin'!

Babies on Spikes

2009-09-08T21:55:00.004-04:00

Welcome to Day 8 of Memory Card Month! Today we're featuring a photo of one of Tim's favorite desserts: a little something we like to call Babies On Spikes.

Yes, it looks like a trifle. That's because it is a trifle. There's sponge cake & fruit with a layer of cherry jello, then a layer of custard, topped with a layer of whipped cream. All of those layers look very pretty, yes?

Unfortunately, it doesn't look so pretty once you scoop it out & put it in a bowl. There are lumps of gelatinous red goo and ribbons of puss-yellow slime. Frankly, it kinda looks like what you might have if you took a cue from Eddie Izzard and, well, impaled some babies on spikes.

Who wants seconds!?

Kick it, kitten!

2009-09-07T20:54:00.003-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present ...
Millie
playing air guitar
in her sleep.

Extreme Close-up!

" ... but your not who I can search for ..."

2009-09-06T12:41:00.007-04:00

Okay, so I missed a day. But Memory Card Month is not lost. I'm making it up to you today.

On an ordinary day back in May, Tim and I went to the Tiger Direct outlet here in Durham. While Tim looked for whatever random computer part he wanted, I wandered the aisles. I found this amazing note lying between the netbooks.

"Every inch of me wants
to deny you, but I
find it hard ...

You are so beautiful
to me ... I can
see, but your not
who I can search for
Your smile, your laugh

makes the time seem
... endless.

wait this is just a
lame line to say.
I do miss our talks
but it's better that
I stay away from
you. You do things
to me."

I left the note where I found it, hoping the recipient might come back for it.

Lying for a living

2009-09-04T17:05:00.006-04:00

Up-date on Project Bloom: I got an acting job! Well, it's not your usual acting job, but they're going to pay me nicely, so I'm not complaining.

My employer: Duke University's Medical School.

Basically, I've been hired to lie to med students. The professors give me a character, complete with a fake name & very specific medical symptoms. They'll give me about a week to study the info. Then they bring me in and let the students question me as if I were an actual patient. The structure of it reminds me a lot of "Tony & Tina's Wedding" - some of the lines are scripted & specific, but a lot of the time I'll be improvising.

The weirdest thing about this job is that they want me to give the students feedback. I'm supposed to tell them whether I felt like they made enough eye contact, whether I felt they cared about me as a person or if they just saw me as a bag of organs, etc. etc. The point of the exercise is not just to teach the students to listen to their patients, but also to teach them about bedside manner & basic courtesy. So it's an acting job, but it's also a whole lot more than that.

It's VERY part-time work. I may only work for 5 hours this month & who knows when they'll call me in again. But I'll get paid! Woo hoo!

Durham Farmers' Market

2009-09-03T15:18:00.012-04:00

Last night the Travel Channel aired an episode of "Man vs Food" that took place in Durham. It only mentioned a few restaurants - none of them particularly noteworthy in my opinion - but amongst the shots of the DoughMan competition, I believe I spotted some shots of the Durham Farmers' Market. Since the farmers' market is on the same block at the Scrap Exchange, it's only right that we wander on down there and take a peek!

My pics were taken on a Wednesday when the market is relatively quiet (probably 15 vendors). My friend John recently went on a Saturday when it was packed with at least twice as many booths.

What I love about the Durham market is that every single thing sold there is grown or raised within 70 miles of the market, so you know you're helping local farmers. Veggies, eggs, meat, etc., it's all local. There's even a booth where you can buy whole wheat flour ground from locally grown wheat. I should buy some of that next time.

Go here to see more of John's pics.

Next to the booth area is the Garden of Eatin'!

Get it? Eden? Eatin'? ANYway ... It's a permanent garden full of fruit trees and herbs and flowers and such. It's a great place to waste time while you're waiting for the booths to open.

Young blueberries still on the bush.

An honest to goodness paw paw tree! Makes me think of that song from "The Jungle Book"

The Scrap Exchange

2009-09-02T14:21:00.010-04:00

Welcome to Day 2 of Clean-Out-the-Memory-Card Month! Hmm. That's not quite catchy enough. Perhaps just Memory Card Month? What do you think?

This morning I was looking through the pics on my newest memory card & I got nervous. I don't know if I can stretch this out for 30 days. It isn't that I don't have 30 pics to show you! I definitely have more than that. It's just that I hate breaking them up into just one or two images a day. Some days when I have the time I will definitely have to post more.

Today is one of those days.

All of today's pics come from The Scrap Exchange, a "non-profit creative re-use station" located in downtown Durham. This place is hard to describe. The basic idea is that they save stuff that would normally end up in landfills & encourage people to use it to make art! You can find all kinds of stuff there ... some of it more familiar than others.

There's even a lot of practical stuff like fabric, glass bottles, picture frames, and floor tiles. I was very tempted to snatch up some of these spools of serger thread.

Forgive the blurriness. Forgive, I say!

The warehouse is kinda dark and dusty (and REALLY difficult to photograph), but worth the effort. My favorite part? The little touches added by the staff.

I probably should have taken george here when she was visiting back in January, but for some reason it slipped my mind. Next time, g. Next time.

A Challenge (and Tiff's Visit - Part 3)

2009-09-01T10:11:00.014-04:00

Happy September, everyone! I love this month. It's an invigorating time It always makes me think of new challenges & fresh beginnings. In honor of that feeling, I'm going to attempt a little something. I'm going to try to post at least one photo on this blog every day for a month. I have TONS and tons of great pics that I've taken over the last year that have yet to grace the pages of this blog. I might as well share them, right?

To start out this month of photos, let's look at a few more pics from our trip to the beach with Tiff.

A nighttime shot of the beach and the full moon from our balcony.

There was a 15 minute fireworks display that night, too, but none of my photos came out well.

Parasailing! Maybe someday someone will agree to do this with me.

This was Day 2 of swimming, also known as the day we learned that Tim's hair EXPANDS after it has been in contact with salt water. Wowza!

Chillaxin'. As the kids say.

Digging holes in the sand. Why, you ask? Why not, we say.

No vacation is complete without a trip to an ice cream parlor.

Home again, home again. Thanks for driving us to the beach, babe!

Tiff's Visit - Part 2

2009-08-09T22:47:00.002-04:00

Tiff stayed with us for a whole week and it was great. We spent a few days just hanging around here together, but then we hit the road so we could spend some time at the beach. We had trouble finding a place on the water with vacancies for the 3 of us (teenagers aren't allowed to stay in a hotel room alone). Luckily, Tim poked at the internet and found a suite for us in Myrtle Beach with a balcony and a great view.

Tiff sent a pic of our view to her aunt. The aunt's response: "You suck!" ;D

We decided not to do very much in the town of Myrtle Beach. As far as we were concerned, the only point in going there was to play in the water. Tiff hadn't seen the ocean since she was 7 so it was about time we fixed that.

Tiff's Visit - Part 1

2009-08-09T21:17:00.006-04:00

Nope, not dead. Just busy! Once again, we've had loved ones in town. Are you sensing a theme here? This was the 3rd time this summer that we've had family staying in our guest room. It has kept us busy, but in a good way.

This time we were blessed with the presence of Tiff, my 15 year old second cousin. That would make her Tim's second-cousin-in-law-by-marriage ... or something like that! I've known Tiff since she was very little. Although she's always lived in Kentucky, she went down to Oklahoma a few times to spend Christmas or part of the summer at my parents' house. Tim first met Tiff 2 years ago when we all went to Florida for my parents' big 40th wedding anniversary celebration. Tim & I ended up spending almost every day hanging out with Tiff & we got along like a house on fire. We simply had a blast together. Tiff felt like a mish-mash of Tim's & my personality all wrapped up in one package. The 3 of us ran around the Disney parks, swam at Typhoon Lagoon and the resort pool, played word games as Tim drove us everywhere, and on and on. There was a lot of giggling. And a lot of ice cream. It was great.

This spring when we went to Kentucky at Easter we tried our best to get in touch with Tiff so we could see her, but wires got crossed and it didn't work out. We were crushed. So when Tiff called us this summer and told us that she had permission to visit us & stay at our house, we were over the moon! Hooray!

Tomorrow I'll post some pics from our week together. In the meanwhile, I need to finish reading a book that Tiff recommended to me. Tell you more about that later ...

A British Invasion

2009-07-21T17:42:00.008-04:00

First, let me pass on my belated thanks to everyone who wrote or called to say that they liked the video. I know my contribution was extraordinarily small, so it was sweet that so many people were so complimentary and encouraging. Hopefully in the coming months I'll have more little successes to report. Fingers crossed!

I didn't get to thank you all earlier because I've been a busy little bee. We just experienced our 2nd wave of family this summer. Tim's dad, Ken and Ken's friend, Pat, came all the way from England to spend some time with us here in North Carolina.

They were in the state for nearly 2 weeks. They spent the first few days at the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers here in NC, then they stayed with us for a spell. This was Ken's first visit to NC and Pat's first time in the United States, so there was a LOT to see, but we tried not to overwhelm them too much. We spent a couple of days in the mountains ...

... and a couple hours by the ocean ...

... but most of our time was spent somewhere in between.

Not to worry. We let them relax some, too. Movies were watched. Card games were played. Chocolate chip cookies were consumed ... and buttermilk biscuits and homemade ice cream and every variation of tea imaginable. Sounds like a good vacation to me! If it sounds good to you, too, just let us know. Our guest room awaits!

Combating a case of wilt

2009-07-07T10:49:00.010-04:00

I've been thinking for a couple of weeks that I should post a progress report on Project Bloom. There are a couple of reasons why I've been reluctant to talk about it.
1. For a long time, the news was all bad.
2. Lately I feel weird about talking intimately about myself. Photos are great, but when I think about writing about myself here, I kinda freeze up.
But I'm going to get over that because I know that some of you really care. So here goes.

June was a tough month. As soon as the family went away, Tim and I were forced to confront some ugly realities. He had applied for a job he really wanted, but had not gotten it. More than a month had passed since my audition in front of those 13 directors and not a single one had called back. I joked that it was our Spring of Rejection and tried to make it seem like we'd bounce back and we'd be fine, but in reality I took it very badly. This was no ordinary bout of rejection for us. It was a turning point. It was as if the world was telling us that we were no long good enough ... that we'd reached our peak and were now experiencing the long, painful decent into uselessness. This was made worse when I met a couple other people who had been trying for quite some time to break into the local theatre scene and who had been unsuccessful. "Too clique-y" one said. "Too much competition from transplanted professional actors," said another. Then one night we went to The Monti and the woman who auditioned right before me - the woman whose one-minute monologue stretched to four - stood up and told a story. Her bio listed all of her amazing accomplishments: her job as a college professor, her multiple professional acting and singing gigs, her appearances on NPR, and (of course) the one-woman show she had in the works. How could I - a lowly housewife from Oklahoma - compete with that? Everything began to appear pretty damn bleak. I felt hopeless.

I began to slip into a deep depression - the kind of darkness I haven't felt since 2003. I stayed in bed. I didn't get dressed. I easily went a whole week without leaving our house. I cried and cried and screamed at Tim and cried again. I didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't know what to do with the rest of my existence. Frankly, I began to think that there wasn't much point to my existence. I know that sounds ridiculous, but if you've ever experienced depression, you know that it is extremely illogical. That doesn't stop it from being painful, though.

Luckily, I recognized the symptoms and they scared me into action. I know that deep dark well of depression - I lived there for quite a while in the early part of this decade - and I'd really REALLY rather not live there again. So I forced myself to get up. I made myself leave the house. And when I got an e-mail informing me that a local theater company was holding a one-day class on cold readings, I signed up for it. I still had my weak moments and I almost talked myself out of going to the class. But I stuck with it. I forced myself to go.

To be honest, the class was not my shining moment. I'm out of practice. Plus, I was paired up with a less-than-ideal scene partner. But after the class, I stuck around and talked to the instructor, Jay. He teaches acting at Duke plus he's the co-founder and Artistic Director of two theater companies in town that have caught my attention. We chatted for about 5 minutes, during which he asked if I would be available to appear in a promotional video for a local bookstore.

That's right. He offered me an acting job. Not a big one, mind you. No lines or anything. I would play a factory worker amongst a lot of other factory workers. But it was something! He had tossed a crumb of nourishment at my starving soul! So of course, I happily accepted the offer.

Last Thursday we shot the commercial. I woke up that morning with a raging infection in my right eye, but there was no way I was missing this! I knew I looked freakish so I was too shy to make friends with the other dozen girls. I feel bad for missing out on that opportunity. But it was still fun! It only took us about 30 minutes to shoot our scene. To thank us for our time, the bookstore gave each of us a $20 gift certificate. All this and free books, too? Woo hoo!

And luckily, Jay - the instructor/director/AD guy - has been extremely warm and encouraging and welcoming. I doubt I'll be on-stage anytime soon, but I feel like I have an opening. I have a chance to be a part of something more. I'm still a little reticent, but I also feel a spark of hope that I haven't felt in a long long time. It's a good feeling.

Enough dilly-dallying! The promotional video was sent out today, so I'm posting it here. You'll notice me at the 28 second mark. Enjoy!

Just Around the Corner from Jim Haverkamp on Vimeo.

OBX with the fam - Part 5

2009-06-16T12:12:00.022-04:00

Before I get into this post, I'm going to ask my regular readers to do a little something for me. Just a tiny little something.
1. Turn towards northern England
2. Smile and wave
Thanks! You just gave a warm welcome to the newest reader of this here blog: my father-in-law, Ken. Glad to have you here, Ken!

Now some more photos from the Outer Banks.

Yes, I've been dragging this out too long, but time has been slipping through my fingers. It's been a whole month since our week at the Outer Banks. Hard to believe! But you all will indulge me as I share just a few more photos, won't you?

Here's a pic from the top of Corolla's Currituck Beach lighthouse. I've heard people describe the Outer Banks of North Carolina as "The Ribbon of Sand". This is why. Off to the left you see the Atlantic Ocean. To the right, there's the Currituck Sound.

Mom and I bravely climbed the steps up the lighthouse, despite Mom's fear of see-through stairs. Luckily, we survived unscathed! Hooray!

Now back to the beach.

I have discovered that whenever Tim and I go to the beach, we have a little ritual that plays out along the water's edge. First of all, Tim steps out into the cold water while I stay back and take some pictures.

Then Tim assures me that the water isn't that cold. My toes tell me otherwise, so I stay on shore and use my camera as an excuse.

Tim ventures out deeper. Occasionally he turns around to give me a big smile that says, "This is fun! And a bit cold, but fun! You should join me. You'll love it. G'wan now. Put the camera aside and get out here!"

And I don't know why, but that totally melts my reserve. He just looks too darn cute and happy out there. Besides, we're at the beach! What's the point if you don't actually go out there and get in the water, right? So I venture out. In this case, I handed my camera off to Mom and Aunt Fay, who chose to remain under our beach umbrella.

Wimps.

Here is Tim's big tip for surviving the cold of the vast, open ocean: Embrace the cold. Just accept that the water is going to be freezing. In fact, imagine that the water is so cold that it will literally freeze your toes solid. Then when the water hits you, it won't feel quite so bad after all. An interesting strategy.

My survival strategy incorporates Tim's advice, but I also like to lift my arms in order to keep them dry as long as possible. I also yell, "YAAAR!" whenever a wave hits me. It's kind of a cross between a battle cry and a squeal. But it works! Want proof? On this trip I was the first in the family to completely submerge myself in the ocean. Long hair and all. Take that!

Tim, our own Pied Piper of the Sea called others into the ocean, too.

This was a really nice vacation. The family enjoyed it so much that we're planning to do the same thing together next year, probably further south so we can enjoy new area attractions. Can't wait!

OBX with the fam - part 4

2009-06-03T17:47:00.017-04:00

Yes, I have more photos to share from the beach. This time I thought I'd feature the wildlife ... some of it a little more wild than others.

A real live starfish! Cassie touched it and everything.

I guess this is some species of gull? Maybe? It was a lot bigger than most of the birds on the beach.

Numerous times a day, a line of pelicans flew low right by the house. Dad called it Pelican Patrol. Unfortunately, my timing was terrible when it came to the pelicans. They always seemed to fly by just as I shut off my camera! This is the best pic I could snag of Pelican Patrol. Hope you had better luck, Dad.

This dog is named Honey. She likes to wear hats.

Crabs on the beach at night. Note that each one of these is bigger than your hand.

Crabs found in our pool during the day. Yes, in the pool! Five of them!

Run away, little crab. Run far, far away!

One afternoon we hired a guy who drives a monster bus - yes, you read that right - to take us to see the wild horses. There are no proper roads up there, so only 4x4 vehicles that can handle the sand are allowed.

The horses are allowed to roam freely in this 12-mile stretch of the island. There may be no roads, but there are still plenty of houses.

Monster bus! Woo!

OBX with the fam - part 3

2009-06-01T20:28:00.010-04:00

It's been a whole week since we got back to the beach & I'm still in a funk. I miss it! I miss playing cards and splashing about in the waves and eating dinner at a big table full of my loved ones! But enough whining. On to the photos!

The weather stayed cool until Tim arrived on Wednesday, but we managed to find plenty to do. We realized that we could see the Currituck Beach lighthouse from our 3rd floor balcony ...

... so we moseyed on down the road to check it out in person.

The area around the base of the lighthouse was absolutely adorable. Great old houses, quaint landscaping, etc. I wish I'd documented it better. I managed to snag a cute shot of Fay, Sammy, and Buster, so that's got to count for something, right?

Just a hop, skip and a jump away from the lighthouse is the nature center. They have some interesting exhibits about the wildlife in the area. I was oddly entranced by the display of old swan decoys.

Some of these decoys are about 80 years old. A number of them are made of fabric stretched over a wire frame. I especially love the decoy on the top right. It's a swan butt! Tee hee. Did I mention that I am 5?

Here's the view of the area outside the nature center from the footbridge.

It may have been too chill to put on a swimsuit, but at least it was windy enough to fly kites.

OBX with the fam - part 2

2009-05-22T10:38:00.005-04:00

The weather has improved VASTLY in the last couple of days and this trip has been feeling like a proper beach vacation ever since. In the words of Calvin and Hobbes, the days are just packed!

One important piece of advice: If you ever decide to venture out on the beach in the dark of night in search of crabs, please PLEASE wear proper shoes - the type that cover your entire foot. I went barefoot and was soon terrified that I was going to step on one of the many many MANY crabs that were scrabbling across the shore. They were everywhere! And they'd stay still when we shined our flashlight on them, but as soon as we'd move that light they'd run TOWARDS us! Holy jebus, did I squeal. Cassie got a great laugh out of it, though.

At the Outer Banks with the family - part 1

2009-05-18T20:51:00.018-04:00

On Sunday night (yesterday) we arrived at the beach house in Corolla. Unfortunately, this is not turning out to be the sunny, summer vacation we were hoping for. It's cold - highs in the upper 50s today - and very windy, but it'll get a bit warmer as the week progresses. No matter. We're having fun anyway!

The name of the beach house we're renting: Wave Watcher.

And there are certainly some waves worth watching.

Here's Ray on our boardwalk to the beach with the house in the background.

It's hard to tell in the pic, but this place is 3 stories tall, as are most homes here. It sleeps 14 people & has 3 living room areas. I think there are 10 TVs in this place. It also has a pool and a hot tub. It's totally insane ... as are we. Clearly.

What with the rain and all, we chose to stay indoors for most of our first 24 hours here. We played "Pretty Pretty Princess", which David won soundly (Can you see his earrings and necklace?), but he graciously let Sammy wear his crown.

We went to the aquarium. The otters were adorable, as one would expect from otters. I was also happy to see the giant puffer fish! Yay!

And we visited The Lost Colony, but I only managed to take photos of the ampitheater where they put on the big Lost Colony play every summer. This is the view of the stage from the stage manager's booth. Snazzy!

Just after dinner, a few of us decided to take a stroll along the beach.

Smile, Mom! You're at the beach!

Mom and Cassie search for interesting seashells ...

... while David and Sammy (and Ray) chase the waves.

At some point, somebody has got to get wet first. The four-year-old volunteered herself (and her mom) for the job.

Mom described the outing as "invigorating". I think that sums it up perfectly.

Pink Cake!

2009-05-08T18:21:00.006-04:00

On Tuesday my mother will arrive. In approximately 90 hours, her plane will land & 2 weeks of fun & frivolity will ensue! We're going to visit the state farmer's market and see "The Color Purple" at the DPAC and maybe go to an arts festival. Next weekend my dad and Ray will show up and we'll all drive out to the Outer Banks where we'll spend a whole week hanging out with Uncle Buster, Aunt Fay, my cousin David, his wife Cassie, and their daughter, Sammy. Ten people in a beach house, visiting historic sites or splashing in the ocean by day, playing Rock Band and poker by night. It should be fabulous!

But before then, I have to get the house ready. That has been my whole goal this week. I'm trying not to be too much of a perfectionist this time around, but it's hard to turn that off. A part of me wants to make sure that everything is JUST RIGHT. Every surface must be scrubbed! Or freshly painted! Every need must be anticipated! Right?
Wrong.
I need to relax. It's just my family, right? They won't care if I still haven't painted the upstairs hallway. They won't care if the shower curtain is still a couple inches too long. They'll be happy just to be here. Right. I'll keep reminding myself of that.

By the by, it has been 2 weeks since the Big Ol' Audition and I have not heard from anyone yet. Le siiiiiiiiiiigh.

Random side notes (a la george)
Other things I did to celebrate my birthweek
1. Saw the "This American Life" live broadcast with Tim, Jennifer, and Kyle
2. Drove down to the new Ikea (only 2 hours away!) & bought a ton of stuff for the house
3. Got a giant 8 quart stainless steel mixing bowl that, luckily for me, also works well as an impromptu rain bonnet
4. Had the gang over (the usual 7 people) for a dinner party, for which we made the following
- swedish meatballs (yes, Ikea was the inspiration)
- boiled new potatoes
- sauteed french green beans
- yeast potato rolls (soooooooo amazingly good)
- 2 layer strawberry cake with buttercream frosting (because pink cakes are the best)

2009-04-30T10:41:00.013-04:00

As I mentioned before, a bunch of movie stars have been in town over the last month to make an independent film. A local paper asked Colin Firth what he thought of the Bull City:

Firth, after looking up images of Durham on Google Maps, was not particularly excited about Durham as a destination but was happily surprised upon his arrival. "You go a mile in every direction and it's green paradise," he said. He's taken his family to the Nasher Museum, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and Eno River State Park. "I feel strongly about how gorgeous it is here."

Isn't that nice? In my personal experience, it's very rare for an Englishman to say that he feels strongly about anything. They usually maintain an air of polite aloofness even when pleasantly surprised. If an Englishman tells you that something was "rather nice" that is HIGH praise, people. So thanks for the enthusiastic response, Mr. Firth!

What he says is true. It's been gorgeous here lately. Like Mr. Firth, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather a few days back & head out to Duke Gardens. I didn't have a lot of time, but I just had to find a few minutes to snap some photos at the height of Spring.

The oddest thing happened as I left the parking lot, Walking ahead of me was a woman playing a flute - yes, playing the flute as she walked - followed by a couple ladies carrying what appeared to be a wedding dress and a lime green bridesmaid dress festooned with rainbow fairy wings.

It was as if the Pied Piper was leading us into the garden. What a shame the ladies weren't wearing those fairy wings at the time. It would have been deliciously surreal.

I love this little cottage. They serve drinks and ice cream there during the summer months - a necessity during that steamy time of year.

And here's the real show-stopper in April: the wisteria arbor.

Don't call it a comeback

2009-04-28T08:47:00.003-04:00

So ... the audition. First of all, thanks to EVERYONE who wished me good luck. I've gotten so many phone calls and e-mails and text messages. It's been about 3 & 1/2 years since I've been on a stage, so it really meant a lot to me to have so much support.

A lot of you have heard the details already. For those of you who haven't, I'm going to cut & paste what I posted at my favorite on-line forum. Please forgive my laziness. I've gotten a bit tired of repeating myself!

There are good things and bad things to report. First of all, they had us audition in groups. My groups was made up of 6 people - 4 females and 2 males. Before we entered the audition room, we were told that we would be watched by 13 directors. Yes, THIRTEEN!!!! ALL at once!!! Can you imagine going on 13 job interviews simultaneously? Because that's what this was. I was expecting only 4. Astounding! Most of them were theater directors, but there were a few film directors, too. We were told that part of the point of them holding a group audition like this is because they're trying to compile a big database of area actors. So that's nice. It means that even directors who were not there might get a chance to see my headshot and resume, so that's a good thing.
Anyway.
The 6 of us were escorted into the audition room. We were called one at a time to step forward & perform our monologue. And that was it. That's all the time we were given. But a problem immediately became apparent to me. In case you don't remember, we were asked to prepare a one minute contemporary monologue. Just one wee little minute. In all the pre-audition FAQ stuff I read, they seemed to make a point of emphasizing that we should follow directions and find a monologue that fit this exact description. Unfortunately, it seems that I was the only person from my group who read that information. Everyone else performed monologues that were AT LEAST 2 minutes long. One woman went on for over 4 minutes. And no one interrupted them to say their time was up! They just let them go on and on and on. Which meant that they had more time to show off their talents, more time to show their range, more time to tell a full, colorful story and more time to make an impression on the directors. I worked so hard to find a piece that met their requirements! It wasn't my favorite monologue in the world & I knew I could better show my strengths if I could perform something longer, BUT I didn't perform anything longer because I'm not a diva!
GRRRRRR!!!!!!!
I honestly don't know how well I performed. I kinda went into "the zone" and just let it all flow over me (which is really for the best). But I fear that, since other people spent 400% more time on stage than I did, then they're all going to stand out in the directors' memories better than I did.

There is good news, though.
Ours was the last group before the directors broke for lunch. I was the last female they saw perform in the group (the 2 guys went after me). Therefore, the directors were given a nice mental break to digest the performance(s) I(we) gave. They had more time to think about what they saw and (hopefully) to remember me and maybe even discuss me amongst themselves. Plus, they probably appreciated that I kept things short because at least I wasn't the one cutting into their lunch time. Also, after we left the audition room, I got to meet 2 of the directors briefly and they shook my hand and they definitely seemed interested. The look in their eyes was not just mild politeness, but genuine interest in me.

So. I'm trying to hold onto those happy thoughts.

There is no official call-back for this audition. It's up to the individual directors. If they want to cast us or hold their own call-backs, they will contact us in their own sweet time. I haven't heard from anyone yet, but that's okay. They probably saw about 200 people over the course of 2 days, so I'm sure they'll need some time to process all of that information. Let the waiting game begin!

34

2009-04-27T13:06:00.007-04:00

Did I mention here that Friday was my birthday? I don't think I did. No matter. I was so focused on preparing for my big audition that I barely noticed it myself. I fiddled about with my headshot (Option 1) and had it printed at Walgreens. And I tried out a few outfits to determine what I would wear to the audition. And I studied my monologue and performed it numerous times for my cat. I also spent far too much time typing and editing my resume so that it would fit onto one page. Note: Word 2007 can bite me. No, actually it can't because biting me is too simple & obvious a task for such a convoluted, unnecessarily complex piece of software. Grr.

Amidst all of this fevered preparation, I had to make time to do one indulgent thing on my birthday. I had to go to the mall. Normally I don't spend my free time wandering about the mall. If I'm there, it's usually because I have a particular goal in mind. Friday's goal: go to the new Anthropologie store.

I know it doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside this store is a cornucopia of girly-girl happiness. When I heard that we were getting our own Anthropologie store just a few miles away from my house AND that it was opening on my birthday ... well, if that isn't a sign, I don't know what is. So I went & I bought a couple things - not because I need them, but simply because they made me happy. I got a mug ...

... and some porcelain, painted measuring spoons. They're decorated on the back, too.

Yes, I made an indulgent purchase, people. It really does happen.

Sometimes Tim makes indulgent purchases, too. In this case, he purchased some aquamarine earrings way back in December at my family's favorite jewelry store & kept them hidden until my birthday.

Isn't he a sweetie? And isn't he grateful that I don't go snooping through his things while he's at work? Yes and yes. By the by, taking a photo of one's own ear is much more difficult than I imagined. Give it a try sometime.

We finished off the night with Indian food, coconut cake, and some episodes of Veronica Mars. Nothing too special, but that's okay. I'm definitely going to take many opportunities to celebrate more over the next week. After all, it's not everyday that a gal discovers that she's lived longer than Jesus. Granted, he came back from the dead, blah blah blah. But unlike Christ, I survived my 33rd year on this planet without being tortured by my enemies & left to die. What more can a gal ask for?

Headshots!

2009-04-23T11:18:00.009-04:00

Help! I need to pick a headshot! My audition for 4 (yes, 4!) theater companies is Saturday morning - just 48 hours from now - so I need to make a decision pretty quickly. What do you all think?

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

I'm leaning towards option 1. These theater groups tend to do more contemporary pieces, so #1 suits what they're looking for best. The second one seems like it would work better for more mainstream theater - Neil Simon and musicals and such. As for the 3rd, the more I look at it, the more it looks like a portrait. Headshots should have a slightly different feel than portraits I think.

By the by, getting these shots was not as effortless as it may appear. There are now about 150 photos on my memory card of me trying to look subtly pleasant but not sullen. Or happy but not forced . Or sweet but not insipid. I'm lucky I found 3 that don't repulse me. My best strategy: pretend I'm watching the cat snooze in the sun which, conveniently enough, she was doing just a few feet away at the time.

Now if only I had Photoshop ...

Our garden - Spring '09

2009-04-22T12:41:00.019-04:00

Recently some of my on-line pals at the forum where I hang out requested that I post some more photos from our garden. What better day than Earth Day, right?

Here's one of the wild violets that grow on the west side of the house. They are the #1 reason why I won't use harsh chemicals on our lawn.

We have 8 azalea bushes in the back garden. This is my favorite one this year. The color is amazing!

Millie loves soaking up the sun, too.

And that's not all! I took some pics at the gorgeous Duke gardens last week, so I'll share those next time. Hope you can get out & enjoy the beauty around you this Earth Day.

Third, second, first

2009-04-20T14:25:00.010-04:00

Project Bloom continues, so last week I got out & did a few new or newish things.

Lately 'round these parts, when people hear "Main Street" they think of the movie that's being filmed here. But for me, I also think of Alivia's - the restaurant on Main Street where The Monti holds most of their shows.

This was my third time to attend a storytelling show by The Monti. This time we took Jennifer and Kyle along with us. Jennifer is a big fan of The Moth's podcasts, so she was excited to hear that there's a local group doing the same sort of thing. My favorite story of the night (and the winner of the Story Slam) was about a Jewish vegetarian boy's first glorious experience with bacon. Jennifer's favorite story included a pair of rabbits named Crocket and Tubbs. Really great stuff. The food was nice, too. Mmm ... cheeeesecaaaaake.

Thursday was lining up to be a perfectly normal, ho-hum day, but at the last minute I decided to do something a little different. I ended up going to a synagogue for the very first time.

How is this possible? Why did it take me almost 34 years to enter a synagogue? Granted, I ate at a Chinese restaurant for the first time when I was 19, so maybe this isn't so surprising after all. I must admit that it was not a crisis of faith or any other religious motivation that drew me to the synagogue. Rather, it was dancing - specifically, English country dancing.

If you'll recall, george and I tried out English country dancing for the first time at Veronica's wedding reception. Well, maybe not at the actual reception, but during it. Anyway! I know it's kinda dorky and old-fashioned, but I had a really good time & I seemed to catch on to it fairly quickly, so I was interested in trying it a second time. I heard that there was an English country dance group locally that meets every week on Thursdays at the synagogue. I wanted to go, but I kept forgetting about it! I cannot tell you how many times I've woken up on Friday morning and thought, "D'oh, I missed the dancing again!" so when I finally remembered it on a Thursday afternoon, I had to jump at the chance.

The group was so nice, so warm, so welcoming. About a dozen people showed up. They had all been attending for a while & had a fairly good grasp on the terminology, but they were also very good about explaining things to me. I didn't get a chance to snap any photos of people dancing because I participated in every. single. dance. For two hours. If you know anything about English Country dancing, you'll know that it's really more of a challenge for the mind than for the body. It's very fun, but it's also very complicated! If you want to see what I'm talking about, just watch this this video of a dance called "Faithless Nancy Dawson".

Some of the dances were really elaborately detailed & I never got them quite right, but I faked my way well enough. The dance of the month - Old Friends - was especially mind bending. The only way I survived it was by watching the other dancers & trying my best to spot the people who were doing what I was supposed to be doing. I guess I managed okay because our teacher for the evening, Allan, said I was a natural. I'll definitely have to go again - especially on the nights when they have live musicians!

Ten random notes ...

2009-04-18T11:02:00.005-04:00

1. Mom and Dad made it home safely from the Holy Land. Apparently it was a great trip, but I haven't heard many of the details yet because both of my parents caught a terrible bug that made it very difficult for them to speak. It's been nearly 2 weeks since they returned and Mom's voice is still rough. Funnily enough, they started feeling sick shortly after visiting the pyramids in Egypt, so Uncle Buster has concluded that they've been hit by The Mummy's Curse. And we thought that was a myth!

2. I discovered that my aunt makes the BEST yeast rolls in the history of time. So soft and pillow-y and amazing. And the dough raises to heights that are not to be believed. Check it out.

Crazytown! I watched her closely & found a recipe on-line that looks extremely similar to hers, so I think I'll give it a try this week.

3. We ate a LOT while visiting the fam. Tim was introduced to Cincinnati Chili (he likes it "4-way"). We tried to take him to Ann's Ice Ball shop, but it's closed for the season. Boo! We took him to the ol' Dari-Bar instead.

Remember how I'd reached my goal weight? Ummmm ... that was kinda short-lived! I'm sure I'll get back down again.

4. Hollywood descended upon the Bull City this week. A movie called "Main Street" is filming around town & causing a bit of a stir. It's pretty amusing, actually. The movie stars Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom (among others). Definite heart-throb material. If you want to know where they're filming, just look for a small crowd of women with hopeful looks on their faces & cameras in their hands. You'll find them outside of buildings or lingering on street corners around town. And if you miss them, just watch the evening news. Every night this week - EVERY night - the TV news has gone out & interviewed these women. My favorite interview was of a 50-something lady who hoped "that little hottie" Orlando Bloom would come out & give her a hug. The reporters response: "Well, uh, I hope you get what you want." Snort!

5. I've been pretty busy doing all sorts of stuff. I'll post more info in the next day or two. My problem is I took more than 100 photos & I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the volume. I'll definitely have to spread it out over a few days.

6. One week until auditions. Eep. I found a monologue that fits the time limit (from "Stop Kiss"). It isn't the most spellbinding monologue on the planet, but it'll do. Guess I better work on memorizing it now, right? Ugh.

7. Watching the first season of the following shows: Veronica Mars, The IT Crowd, Mad Men. All of these were new to Tim, but Veronica Mars was the only one I hadn't seen before. Tim bought Mad Men as a surprise for me. I think I won him over when he learned that the hot redhead from Firefly was on it. Hooray for delicious eye candy!

8. My 2 closest local gal pals are really busy with school right now. It really sucks because I feel like enjoying some girly time. Within the next few weeks, Jennifer will defend her masters dissertation and Shawna will graduate with her Bachelors in Architecture. Shawna says she won't be able to come out from under her pile of books until May 9th. Poor thing! Luckily, Jennifer has a little more wiggle room & we've made some plans, but not much. Le sigh!

9. I've been thinking again about how desperately I need to paint the kitchen. Still having trouble settling on a color, though. I want something light and warm that will look good with the oak cabinets. However, I don't want the kitchen to look like a bland cliche. I've been stewing over this for nearly 2 years & I think I'm now frozen with indecision. Maybe Mom can help me with this when she arrives in a few weeks.

10. Speaking of which, I can't believe my family will be here in less than a month! Mom has already told me that she's looking forward to relaxing with a cup of coffee & taking in the view of our backyard. Well, Mom, here's a little something to tide you over.

A Quick Pictoral History (Kentucky continued)

2009-04-15T14:35:00.009-04:00

Once upon a time in a tiny little town along the Ohio river, there were just 2 little churches. One day, the young minister at this church ...

went out on a blind date with the daughter of the minister at the other church ...

which eventually resulted in the birth of the person pictured on the left.

The end!

My Old Kentucky Home

2009-04-14T09:32:00.003-04:00

A few days ago, george called me & I answered the phone by saying, "I'm in Kentucky!" Tim was given a few days off of work before Easter & he said he wanted to spend those days meeting the rest of my family. My Uncle Buster & Aunt Fay were more than happy to put us up in their guest room, so off we went. Luckily, a lot of other family members chose that weekend to visit, so we had a pseudo family reunion going on. We spent the days driving around, enjoying the countryside, & occasionally stopping by someone's house to see varous family members. It was probably a bit overwhelming for Tim (19 people made it to Easter lunch!), but he managed very well. Surprisingly, I ended up meeting some new family members, too - most notably, 2 month old Ava Nichole.

I wish I weren't so self-conscious about taking photos of human beings. I really really need to get over this. If you visit my aunt & uncle's house, you'll see that their walls are COVERED with photos of family members, so I'm sure they'd be all-too-happy to pose for me, but I get shy. Bah. Fortunately, everyone expects you to take pictures of babies, so I got a number of pics of Ava.

Ava is my cousin Doug's granddaughter. Does that make her my third cousin? Second cousin once removed? Great-grand cousin? I don't know. I just know she's cute & looks just like her daddy, Mike.

Here's a photo of Ava with her mom, ReAnna, a fairly new member of the family, too, and a really great addition to the group.

I wish I'd had more time to talk to ReAnna. She seems like such a kick-ass woman. Smart, quick, funny. It takes a very special person to match up to my second cousin, Mike, and she definitely fits the bill.

Here's Ava in the arms of my second cousin Samantha as my Aunt Fay looks on.

We haven't seen Sammy since our wedding when she was still a baby (she's 4 now), so it was great to see how much she has grown. She is SUCH a girly-girl! And like many girls in our family, Sammy took a real shine to Tim. When she was sorting through her Easter candy in the kitchen, she took a chocolate egg & walked off to the living room & gave it to Tim. This is big because she LOVES chocolate and because she didn't give any of her Easter candy to anybody else - not even her beloved grandma.

Speaking of whom, can you believe my Aunt Fay is a great grandmother? How did that happen? Actually, don't answer that.

Lastly, here's a group shot of the whole group minus Tim and my cousin, David, who were busy wrangling cameras.

Front row from left: Uncle Buster (aka George), Aunt Fay (aka Orveda), my second cousin Samantha (covering her face), Janine (Aunt Fay's sister-in-law)
Standing from left: Cousin Donna, Cousin Doug, Ava, my second cousin Mike (Doug's son), Mike's wife ReAnna, Cousin David's wife Cassie, Dale (Aunt Fay's nephew), Laura (Dale's wife), Elaine (Doug's girlfriend), my second cousin Mandi (Doug's daughter), me, Adam (Mandi's fiance), and older Dale (Janine's husband).

No foolin'

2009-04-02T11:53:00.005-04:00

April 1st was a really good day around here. Here's a quick run-down - from the inane & the significant.

1. I finished our taxes! It took me over 3 hours, but they're finally done. And we're getting money back, which makes things all that much better.

2. The Project Runway legal battle is over! The season that recently finished filming will air on Lifetime this summer. Finally!

3. I got some fabulous boots. Actually, I've bought a lot of cute things lately. Maybe I'll feature them in another post.

4. Anybody have a great one-minute contemporary monologue? 'Cause I need one. Four area theater companies are holding joint auditions in a few weeks. The good news is that it's efficient: multiple opportunities, very little effort. However, if I screw up, then I screw up in front of FOUR artistic directors! Simultaneously! As a delightful bonus, I have never ever ever had to do an audition with a monologue. I've only done cold readings. So, yes, I'm scared, but I'm going anyway. My appointment is at 11:40am on Saturday, April 25th.

5. I don't talk about it much, but I've been on a health kick over the past 7 months. According to my scale, I hit my goal weight today. I am, frankly, in shock. I weigh less now than I did back when I went shopping for wedding dresses 5 years ago. Which reminds me ...

6. Today marks 4 years since Tim and I exchanged our wedding vows in front of friends and family. Aaaaaaaaw!

Finding my sea legs

2009-04-01T15:55:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I watched some of the figure skating world championships on TV and I found myself loooonging for the ice again. It's strange to think that I used to spend multiple hours a week training at the ol' Williams Center in Tulsa. I quit competitive figure skating about 15 years ago. Since then, I go skating about once every couple of years, which is a shame. I really do enjoy the feeling of the ice under my blades, the smell of the cold, dry air. I feel different out there - stronger, more free.

The rink closest to our house has a special adults-only session on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. There's a coach on hand to offer help & give lessons. They even provide coffee & muffins. I've known about this for years, but I was just too nervous/lazy/whatever to go before. This week I was ready. I uncovered my skates from the box on the top shelf of our closet & away I went.

Do you still call them "sea legs" if the water beneath your feet is frozen? Obviously, my body is a lot different than it was back when I skated regularly. My legs are simply too weak to do the things I used to do. But some of it is still there.

All of the other adults were so welcoming, so encouraging. The coach - Mary Jo - was marvelously helpful, too, and helped clear away some old cobwebs in my brain. She reminded me of some little tips, encouraged me to do some things that frightened me a little & was so impressed by my progress that she even asked me to demonstrate a few moves to other skaters. I managed to do a few spins & even a number of waltz jumps, but some simple things like back 3-turns are still escaping me. Gimmee time.

No, that isn't me. It's Coach Mary Jo doing a bit of ice dancing with one of the men in our group. Watchinging them take those familiar steps made me smile. Maybe after a few more sessions I'll fell confident enough to try my hand at it, too.

After skating for 2 & 1/2 hours, the last few members of our group wandered off the ice & we all swapped our skates for street shoes. The coach and I chatted for a while, speaking in an old language I hadn't spoken in a dog's age (words like "scribe" and "patch" mean completely different things to skaters). Before I left, the group told me again how nice it was to have me there & encouraged me to come back anytime. I think I'll have to take them up on that.

Secrets of the postal variety

2009-03-28T18:23:00.010-04:00

Recently Tim and I found ourselves in front of Duke Chapel. No, we were not there to pray for the Blue Devils during the basketball championship. We were there to launch Project Bloom. That's the name I've given to my effort to get out more & become more involved in our community and all it has to offer. On that night we went to a lecture at Duke's Page Auditorium, located next to the university's chapel.

Once again, I'd found out about an event that was certain to be popular. I snagged our free tickets on-line 30 minutes after they became available. About an hour later they were all gone. What sort of speaker could fill up a 1200 seat auditorium on a college campus in less than 2 hours?

The speaker was the one and only Frank Warren, creator of Post Secret, also known as "the most trusted stranger in America". He told us about the Post Secret project, how it started, his family's reaction, etc. He showed us postcards that could not be posted on the website or included in books (mostly because the images on them were owned by Disney & the like and they didn't want to risk being sued by Mickey Mouse). Towards the end of the lecture, people were invited to step forward and share their secrets with the room. Some secrets were silly, some scandalous, some utterly heart-breaking, and some revealed people at that beautiful stage of recovery when one finally starts to see the light again and feel that glimmer of hope that has been gone for so long. Tim and I both identified strongly with some of those who stepped forward. One of the microphones was set up right beside Tim (he sat along the aisle shown on the right in the photo below*), which made those moments feel all the more intimate and touching. I just barely kept myself from crying.

Of all the stories we heard, the one I found most inspiring was the story of Frank, himself. Frank was a late bloomer. It took him many years and numerous failed attempts to find his way in the world. He even married and started a family decades after most of his friends. As we sat in that auditorium, surrounded by brilliant, 20-year-olds, it was comforting to hear that it wasn't too late ... that these bright young things seated around us were not necessarily the only ones in the room who had a chance to find happiness, success and fulfillment in this world.

*I did not take the photo of Frank. It is from the Post Secret website.

Bloom

2009-03-21T16:15:00.003-04:00

This week my parents left on a long trip. They're going to spend 3 weeks touring northern Africa & some of the safer corners of the Middle East - aka "The Holy Land". This is the trip of a lifetime for them. See, my father used to be a Christian minister & my mother was very involved in the church as well. By the time I was born my father was no longer a full time minister, but both of my parents had large roles in the church. Dad taught adult Bible study, Mom taught Sunday school, Dad gave the sermon when the minister was away, Mom ran the youth group, things like that. We were at church every Sunday and every Wednesday. It was a major part of our lives. So you can imagine why this trip is such a thrilling experience for them.

In addition to all the other balls my mom juggled in my youth, she was a songwriter. Specifically, Mom wrote contemporary Christian songs (and pretty good ones if you ask me). She had a friend named David who was also a songwriter. Sometimes we'd go to his house where I'd play with his daughter, Summer, while Mom and David would play their guitars together. After writing for other artists (I believe Amy Grant recorded one of his songs), David made an album of his own. I can only remember a handful of the songs that were on that recording, but one that sticks out in my mind is called "Bloom Where You're Planted".

I've been thinking about that song a lot. See, last week I was given a great opportunity. A kind soul called me & offered me a part in a play. Yes, really! I haven't performed on-stage since November 2005, believe it or not, so I was shocked & thrilled. There was a wee problem, though: the show was in Tulsa. If I took the role, I'd have one week to learn my lines before I flew in for tech week. Then I'd spend 2 weeks performing in the play. Even so, I was VERY VERY tempted. But for some reason, I was hesitant, too. I've been in a good mindset lately. I've been getting out a bit more, seeing more shows, getting more involved in this community bit by bit. If I went back to Tulsa for this show, I knew it would kill my momentum. Sure, it could be fun for a while, but then I'd come back to NC. And I'd crash. HARD. Harder than any other time I've returned here after a trip to OK. I couldn't do that to myself. I need to teach myself once and for all that there IS life outside of Tulsa - and not just any life, but MY life.

So I'm staying. And I'm not just going to sit on my ass & feel sorry for myself, either. I'm taking a cue from the trees (and David. I'm going to bloom right where I am. I've made a commitment to get out in the next few weeks & take advantage of some of the things that make North Carolina special. I'm really looking forward to it, too. I'll let you know how it goes!

Why be blue?

2009-03-10T16:22:00.008-04:00

A number of months ago I found out about a quirky little film that's been playing on the festival circuit & ever since then I've been dying to see it. It's an animated film (but it's not for kids) that tells an ancient Indian love story and how the events of that fairy tale are mirrored in the life of the writer/animator who created the film. It isn't all happiness & rainbows, though, so don't confuse this with some sappy Disney fare. Need more convincing? then get this: it's got monkey warriors! And who doesn't love animated monkey warriors? It's called "Sita Sings The Blues" and it's now available on-line. You can watch a video stream or you can download it - all with the blessings of the woman who wrote, directed, animated, and produced the whole thing. I really really LOVED this film, so I urge you to watch it as soon as you can.
http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html

But before you push play, you need to spend a couple minutes in the kitchen. Because you will want to crunch on roasted chickpeas while you watch the film. Oh yes.

This is a really easy recipe. See that photo? That's all of the ingredients. Seriously! Not quite as easy as the dulce de leche I talked about a few weeks back, but almost. But this recipe is a whole lot healthier than dulce de leche, so that makes up for it - especially since these crispy little babies don't taste healthy. Actually, I feel I should warn you that these spicy nuggets can get addictive.

Garam Masala Roasted Chickpeas (from the Bitchin Camero blog)

2 15 oz. cans chickpeas (AKA garbanzo beans)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. Garam Masala (or curry powder or whatever spice makes you happy)
1 tsp. fine-grain sea salt (or regular table salt. Don't buy special salt for this)

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
2. Dump the chickpeas in a colander and rinse them off really well. I don't know why, but my chickpeas always develop bubbles while I'm rinsing them off. When there are no more bubbles, I know they're properly rinsed.
3. Let the chickpeas sit & drain for about 5 minutes. You could also pour them out onto some paper towels. They don't have to be bone dry, but you don't want them drippy wet, either.
4. Put your drained chickpeas into a bowl. Add the oil, spices, and salt. Stir until chickpeas are well coated.
5. Spread chickpeas out in an even layer on a rimmed cookie sheet.
6. Roast for 40 - 45 minutes. Be sure to stir them half-way through cooking in order to keep the peas in the corners from burning. When the chickpeas are crispy, they're done!

There you have it. Your plans for the evening are set!

Hot & Cold

2009-03-06T21:11:00.006-05:00

Last week the daffodils in our yard bloomed. I looooooove it when the daffodils finally show us their happy, sunshiny faces because it means that soon the azalea blossoms will burst forth in happy mounds of pink and the trees will be covered in big clouds of white & there will be colors everywhere.

So just imagine my surprise when this happened.

Snow! Hooray!
Understand that I grew up expecting this very sort of weather-related rollercoaster every March. However, that was in Oklahoma. North Carolina is different. Or at least I thought it was. I was sure that we'd already had more than our fair share of snow for the year. Now I'm wondering if we need to buy a snow shovel.

Like the weather, my emotions ran hot & cold this week. I started out happy & excited. On Tuesday night I finally - FINALLY - got to see The Monti again. In case I haven't mentioned it before, The Monti is kinda like a live, local production of This American Life. Each show has a theme & 5 people are invited to tell true, real life stories based on that theme. I managed to see one of the Monti's shows last fall, but its popularity has exploded since then. The tickets for this week's show sold out in just 7 minutes. Yes, just 7! So I was thrilled that 2 of those tickets belonged to me.

The show was everything I'd hoped: Funny and inspiring and wonderful. Just like the first time I saw The Monti, I felt like I was surrounded by like-minded people - people who love the art of story telling, yes, but people who were on my same wave-length in lots of other ways, too. Tim loved the experience and as we walked to the car he said we'll have to find a way to get our hands on more tickets next time so some friends can see this, too. It was wonderful. I felt elated. To be honest, I felt as though I may have finally found a creative, intellectual home.

But you know how rollercoasters go. Just after you reach the highest peak, you plummet down to the deepest depth. That's what happened to me the next day. You know how the color quiz said the my "problem" was that I admired original, creative people? Now I understood how that could be problematic. I couldn't stop thinking about the bios of the storytellers at The Monti. These people had interesting degrees from impressive universities. Or they had intriguing careers. They were published authors or they sang in cool bands or they operated impressive arts organizations. Or or or or.
And it hit me.
What would I put on my bio? I'm a housewife. I spend my days poking about on the internet and, on a good day, whipping up some food in the kitchen. Why on earth would these people be interested in talking to me? Hell, even I wouldn't be interested in making friends with a person like that.

Obviously, something must change.

As the week progressed, our weather has warmed up again. Our high temp should top 80F this weekend. And I am going to use that as my inspiration. Why should my life be cold and bland? It should be bursting forth with color. It should at least be interesting. So I'm thinking about what I should do next. I need to do something that requires me to get out of the house & meet new people. Take a class or something. See more shows. Just start LIVING again. I'm open to suggestion, so if you have any ideas, lay 'em on me. In the mean time, I'll be doing a bit of research next to an open window.

ColorQuiz

2009-03-03T15:48:00.004-05:00

Derek recently took this Color Quiz & posted the results on his blog, so I decided to do the same. The results make me sound really difficult & inflexible. Do I have a stick up my butt & I don't know it? Also, it says that my "problem" is that I'm impressed by originality. What's problematic about that?

Mary took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Longs for a tender and sympathetic bond and for a ..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

Mary's Existing Situation
Pursues her objectives and her own-self-interest with stubborn determination; refuses to compromise or make concessions.

Mary's Stress Sources
Has an unsatisfied need to ally herself with others whose standards are as high as her own, and to stand out from the herd. This desire for preeminence isolates her and inhibits her readiness to give herself freely. While she wants to surrender and let herself go, she regards this as a weakness which must be resisted. This self-restraint, she feels, will lift her above the rank and file and ensure recognition as a unique and distinctive personality.

Mary's Restrained Characteristics
Wants to broaden her fields of activity and insists that her hopes and ideas are realistic. Distressed by the fear that she may be prevented from doing what she wants; needs both peaceful conditions and quiet reassurance to restore her confidence.
Circumstances are such that she feels forced to compromise for the time being if she is to avoid being cut off from affection or from full participation.

Mary's Desired Objective
Longs for a tender and sympathetic bond and for a situation of idealized harmony. Has an imperative need for tenderness and affection. Susceptible to anything aesthetic.

Mary's Actual Problem
Greatly impressed by the unique, by originality, and by individuals of outstanding characteristics. Tries to emulate the characteristics she admires and to display originality in her own personality.

What we've been doing

2009-02-28T17:19:00.010-05:00

I know I sometimes give the impression that I spend my days alone, watching an endless loop of Gilmore Girls reruns and obsessing about my cat's every movement. That's not really the case, though. I actually get out &, ya know, do stuff & hang out with people. Here's a little photographic evidence.

Tim and I went to LEGO-palooza at the local planetarium. Why? Because we love Lego! How could you not? As a happy bonus, it was free. Many of the creations - especially those made my adults - were very impressive. I wish you could see the detail on this Arabian-inspired castle.

The guy who made this even decorated the interior of the castle: spiral staircases, checkerboard floors, furniture. The only thing I might have liked more was the Harry Potter Quiddich scene.

This thing looked even cooler in person. The talented woman who created this made one scene inspired by each Harry Potter book. I should have asked her how long it took to make them, but my jaw was too busy hanging open.

We also went to a car show where Tim got to sit in an Audi R8. If you look closely you can see him in there, grinning like a school boy.

We spent a lot of time sitting in an A3 while Tim said, "See? Isn't it nice? Don't you like it? Don't you?" while hope radiated out of his pores. We also checked out Porsches, BMWs, & Maseratis. I must admit that the suede interior of the Maserati felt kinda ... pervy. But the back seats recline, so surely it must be worth the $150K price tag. Could someone tell me why the Maserati logo looks like a W? I know it's supposed to be the business end of a trident, but it's confusing. Also, the new Jaguar logo kinda sucks.

If I keep insulting the little details it won't bother me that I cannot afford these vehicles. That's my excuse & I'm stickin' by it.

We are pushers ... Rock Band pushers. The last few times we've eaten out with friends, we've still ended up back at our place playing Rock Band. Here's a pic of Tim teaching the finer details to our most recent addicts, Dana & Benni.

When Kevin & Shawna tried Rock Band for the first time back in January, it was as if they'd taken Video Game Crack. They were instantly hooked. Sometimes they stop by twice in one week just to get their rock on. It's a sickness, I tells ya.

Although we love going out & seeing people, sometimes we're happiest when we're at home alone. It's even better when I've been experimenting in the kitchen. Last week I made my first souffle. Cheese souffle, to be precise.

Doesn't that look luscious? Neither Tim nor I had ever eaten a souffle before, but we were very happy with the results of this baby. Mmmm ... fluffy cheesy goodness ...

Ya know, sometimes staying home isn't so bad afterall.

How to feed a cat in 10 steps or less

2009-02-24T12:22:00.011-05:00

Sunday afternoon I was sitting around, playing about on the computer, when I realized that it was February 22nd. That was the same date that we adopted Millie last year. That meant is was - tah dah! - her first Cat-iversary! Woo hoo!

It's strange to think of our lives without Millie around. That's especially true in the mornings. Millie has a VERY specific morning schedule that we must adhere to, lest she pester me until I get it right.

1. After Tim leaves for work, Millie plants herself by the open bedroom door & looks at me as if to say, "Get up, lazy bones. I feel the need to feed."
2. I walk out onto the landing & scratch Millie on the head. As I descend the stairs, Millie takes a fake swipe at my leg with her paw. She never actually makes contact with me or my clothing when she does this, so I totally don't get it.
3. Millie waddles to food dish & looks at me expectantly. She may meow as I get out her food.

4. I put a scoop of dry food in her bowl. Then I must pet her. The petting is an important step for her. If I don't pet her, she'll give me The Look. If I've already left the room, she may find me & give me The Look. And if that doesn't work, she'll poke my leg with her paw. If I ignore her, she just keeps prodding at my leg & The Look gets slightly more severe.
5. Millie eats just a bite or two, then waddles into the living room & positions herself in front of the glass doors.
6. By this time I have usually opened the drapes so Millie can look outside. If not, she will find me and remind me to do this (see step 4).

7. Millie stares outside. She may also meow - her way of asking to be let out on the back deck.
8. If Millie goes outside, it's only for a minute or two - just long enough to make sure there are no squirrels invading her precious deck.
9. Millie returns to the kitchen to eat more of her breakfast. But, again, she wants to be pet while she eats. No, not just wants - needs. As mentioned before, she will hunt me down, stare at me, and repeatedly tap my leg with her paw until I give in to her whims.
10. After a few more strokes along her back, Millie settles in and happily eats her breakfast.

Other than this, Millie is very laid back. She naps in sunbeams. She hangs out on the couch while we play Rock Band. She curls up by my side every night so that I can cuddle her like a doll from my childhood. She's a wonderful cat. She's just picky in the morning.

Hey, we all have our quirks, right?

Nothin' says lovin' ...

2009-02-14T16:32:00.009-05:00

Last Sunday was Tim's birthday & I wanted to do something nice for him so over the past couple weeks I've been busy in the kitchen cooking up lots of tasty stuff - mainly baked goods. Arguably too many. We had 7 people in this house for Tim's birthday party but they barely made a dent in it all. I gotta admit that it was fun to make, though. I just need more people to come over & help me consume my creations!

Here's a little taste (heh heh) of what I've been making.

Dulce de leche. Also known as Confiture de Lait, milk jam, or simply wonderful, caramel-y goo. This is the easiest thing in the world to make. Do yourself a favor & try it.

The famous chocolate chip cookies from The New York Times. These babies require some unusual ingredients & have to sit in the fridge for 24 to 36 hours before you bake them. Honestly, I think the recipe is a bit fussy, but I rather liked the big chocolate disks & the way they melt out in thin layers throughout the cookies.

Almond bundt cake. Hope you can spot it in the pic. This was Tim's official b-day cake and, like the cookies, it required some unusual ingredients (good luck finding almond filling!), but it certainly was tasty.

Touch of Grace biscuits. Yes, that's a biscuit in the photo. These were by far the MESSIEST things I have ever made in my entire life. Even messier than pie crust. When I was done, there was a thick layer of flour all over the oven & my hands were covered in gluey gunk. But oh my ... so yummy. Light yet moist with a touch of sweetness.

Tutti Fruiti ice cream ... or at least that's what Tim calls it. Following Tim's suggestion. I made strawberry ice cream & mixed in candied cherries (Tim's favorite) plus candied orange & lemon peel. I don't know if it's technically "tutti" but it sure is creamy, fruity, & delicious.

Somehow we've managed to consume most of this stuff in the past week. There's a good deal of ice cream left (it keeps better than anything else), as well as one cookie & a slice of cake. I suppose Tim and I have probably put on an extra pound or so in the past week. Oh well! I guess I'm just trying to put the "love" back in love handles.

4th Elope-iversary

2009-02-04T12:26:00.019-05:00

Yes, it's that time again. Time for spice cake cupcakes! Woo hoo! I have yet to locate the official twin-packed Hostess variety of spice cake cupcakes (What happened to them, Hostess?!?!), so yet again I'm making them from scratch. With cream cheese frosting. Yum.

Last night before we went to sleep, Tim and I talked about the whole "elope-iversary" thing. He said that "elope" doesn't seem like the right word for what we did, but we couldn't come up with anything better. I guess it was kinda-sorta a shotgun wedding (with the Department of Homeland Security figuratively holding the gun), but that doesn't sound quite right either since we actually wanted to get married to eachother. And since we had a proper wedding ceremony 2 months later. Any ideas?

We really do think of April 2nd as our real wedding anniversary since that's the day we said the vows & all. February 4th is just a footnote in our story. An odd little anecdote. We didn't even take photos of the elopement. It was just a legal thing we had to get out of the way to stay together. Just papers that had to be signed. Heck, I didn't even take off a whole day from work. It's not a big deal. Right? Nevertheless, I kinda like to acknowledge it now. I was so nervous leading up to it, but when it was all over a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. Tim was here. With me. Finally. And he didn't have to go away again. When you've been engaged for a year & doing the long distance thing for longer, that means a HELL of a lot, lemme tell ya.

Speaking of weddings, lately some people have expressed an interest in seeing our wedding pics. Nope, not just you, Mom. "People" plural. While I was in Tulsa over Xmas, I finally got a disk that contains some of our professional photos from our wedding day (not elopement - wedding!). The photos are a bit jumbled & out of order on the disk and some really good pics are missing (we will HAVE to fix that), but I spied a few good ones amidst the mess, so here they are. Enjoy!

American Tobacco and the new Durham PAC

2009-01-31T13:45:00.018-05:00

One week ago - last Saturday afternoon - I went to see "Rent" with my friends Mariah & Rachel. I was really looking forward to this for a number of reasons.
1. Mariah & Rachel are cool & I like hanging out with them.
2. The actors who originated the roles of Mark & Roger in the original production of "Rent" were performing with this tour.
3. I finally got to check out Durham's new performing arts center - the largest PAC in the Carolinas! Wee!

The show was great. The performers totally blew us away and sounded even better in person than on the original cast recording. Very impressive. But the only thing that may have been even more impressive was the PAC. Mariah loved it & declared it her new favorite place to see shows. That's quite a compliment, considering she sees just about every touring production that rolls through Raleigh.

After the show, we walked over to the American Tobacco Historic District. It's basically some old, brick cigarette factories that have been converted into restaurants, office space, lofts, & even our local NPR studio. There's also a cool river-water feature-thingamy, some interesting sculptures, and a green lawn where concerts are performed in the summer.

I thought it was pretty cool, so when I found myself back in downtown Durham this week I decided to snap a few pics to share with you. Since it was the middle of the workday, there weren't as many people around, plus I intentionally avoided including people in these pics. Maybe I'm weird, but taking photos of people without their permission makes me uncomfortable. I almost overcame my nerves & took a photo of one of the police officers zooming around on a Segway, but I just couldn't do it.
Anyway!
Here's the old water tower & the lawn where people enjoy small concerts.

Here's part of the water feature.

The local campus of The Art Institute is located in this building.

Here's a reminder of the trolly system that used to bring workers to the tobacco warehouses.

I love this bike rack! Durham is the "Bull City", don't'cha know.

Right across the road from the American Tobacco Campus (and just south of the DPAC) is the new Durham Bulls ball park. It's not the same stadium featured in the movie "Bull Durham", but this new place has more seats & better bathrooms, so it's all good!

One thing has not changed: "Hit Bull, Win Steak".

Around about this time, my fingers were numb & my ears really hurt. As I walked the 2 blocks back to my car, I discovered that there's a bit of Civil War history in downtown Durham. I'll have to investigate this further for when my dad comes to town. He's a big Civil War buff.

So there ya go! Despite the freezing temps, this was kinda fun to do, so maybe I'll venture out & take more pics of local landmarks. And if you happen to have, say, a gnome sitting around the house that needs to see the world, just send it my way. I'll try to get it a good pic with some of the numerous bulls around town.

Goods - mostly of the baked variety

2009-01-27T14:03:00.008-05:00

It's coming up on February, which means I've got a lot of cooking in my forecast - our elopement anniversary, Tim's birthday, Jennifer's return from California, and ... ummm, because I want to? Oh, and Millie's birthday! Hooray for more excuses to bake!

In honor of these occasions, I think I'll make some things from my new cookbooks, but I've also found some recipes on-line that caught my interest. I'm going to post links here just so I don't lose them. So I guess this post is really just for me. Unless, of course, you're also in the mood to cook.

Pink strawberry cake made from scratch with real strawberries (no Jello!)
Check comments for buttercream frosting recipe. I've been looking for a recipe like this for, oh, 4 months or so. Who knew is was so hard to make pink cake without food coloring?

Homemade perogies!
Because everybody loves perogies ... even if they don't know it yet.

Dorrie Greenspan's perfect party cake
So pretty! Perhaps I'm developing a thing for pink food.

Almond bundt cake
Originally found here. Tim loves all thing amaretto, so I might make this for his birthday.

The recipe that swept up a baking frenzy in the cooking world last summer ...
NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Changes & substitutions from The Kitchn

Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies
Droooooooool.

Edited 1/29/09 to add ...
I found more stuff I want to make!

Dulche de leche made simply in the oven.

Truffles 4 ways

Peanut butter fudge rice krispie treats
Just read that name again. Amazing, no? At it's easy to leave the chocolate off for people like george.

Big hearted cookies
'Cause V-Day is coming fast

Whipped Shortbread Cookies
I've eaten the tinned variety of these so many times. Time to do it from scratch!

Cherry chocolate chip cookies
Why have I never thought of this before? Brilliant!

Whisky soaked dark chocolate bundt cake
I feel a little light-headed just reading this recipe ... but in a good way

You > pork

2009-01-25T23:09:00.014-05:00

Hey, remember about 2 weeks ago when I made that post that said something about george & Derek coming to visit us? Well, they did indeed come here, stayed for nearly 5 days, & left a week ago.

George's first words upon laying eyes on my fur-baby: "Planetoid!" Yes, my cat is round. Very round. In a truly fabulous way.

A few things did not go the way I would have liked (Tim had to work extra after all, a show I wanted to see sold out, blahblahblah). Luckily we still managed to have a good time. We ate biscuits & lamb & Ethiopian food & sushi & pastries & eastern Carolina style BBQ & more biscuits. We saw a wacky Bollywood-Kung-Fu movie. We met the manager of a local theatrical troupe. We checked out some art - some of which we bought. We played Rock Band (george's version of "Rio" has forever changed that song for me). We found horrifically politically incorrect postcards (gotta love The South!). And we went to Trader Joe's. Twice.

Sadly, I was absolutely crap about taking photos. I've totally gotten out of the habit. Need to fix that. The few pics I managed to grab are very random & confusing ... in a kinda fabulous way. So I thought I'd share them anyway. Prepare to be befuddled.

This is the only pic I took of george ...

and this is the only pic I took of Derek

Alternate title of this post: "Greatness Is Within"

Substitute "pork" with "steak" and you'll have george's version of this button.

Snowy steps

2009-01-23T10:43:00.005-05:00

Yesterday morning Millie went to the back door - as usual - and stared outside. She didn't seem terribly thrilled with the snow on Tuesday & Wednesday mornings, but I thought I'd give her another shot at it.

She didn't get far.

But she tried. And trying is good.

Today's high should be in the 50s & all of the snow will be gone, but before it does, I would like to post this little video for george. Yes, it's juuuuuust for yoooou! It features Ingrid Michaelson and it's cute so you'll have to watch it.

Snow-bama Day!

2009-01-21T10:28:00.004-05:00

Yes, snow! And not just a light dusting like what we usually get. I think we got about 4 inches! The news said this was the biggest snow storm in 7 years, so that meant the whole area shut down. Schools closed, trash did not get picked up, and Tim even got to stay home from work. As I mentioned before, we watched some of the TV coverage of National Obama Day. Tim was a bit disappointed that he had no chance to drive in the snow, but he changed his mind after he spent a few minutes brushing the snow off of his car. Even Millie thought she might want to venture out there, but as soon as a few snow flakes landed on her head, she thought better of it.

In the afternoon I told Mom about the winter wonderland that was right outside our door. Mom LOVES snow, so she told me to build a snowman in her honor. The snow turned out to be pretty dry & crumbly, but I did the best I could. He's not even 2 feet tall, but he's all for you, Mom!

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T16:32:00.006-05:00

I choose not to talk about politics here on the ol' blog, but I don't consider today to be a really "political" day. Rather, it's a historic day. And thanks to a freak snow storm, I was able to experience this day with Tim. We sat on the couch, curled up under our fluffy red blanket, watched the inaugural address, and allowed the emotions of the moment to wash over us. A few tears were definitely shed. It was very special.

A few hours have gone by since then & now I'm just waiting for the parade to start. And that, my friends, is an issue on which I can speak from personal experience. Ya see, way back in 1993 I was in the inaugural parade for President Bill Clinton. My high school band was chosen to represent the state of Oklahoma in the parade. We showed up a couple of days early which gave us plenty of opportunity to visit museums (the National Gallery kicks ass!) and pick up some commemorative buttons. The Bill & Al button is nice, but the button of Bill & Hill is definitely my favorite.

January 20, 1993 was a looooooong day. Full of a loooooooot of waiting on a bus. I have no idea how many hours we sat there in full uniform, starving & desperately needing to pee. I remember that I played Tetris for the first time that day on a friend's GameBoy. And I remember that we heard the inaugural address of the bus radio. Eventually they finally let us out of the bus & that's when we saw Carl Lewis, the Olympic athlete, because he was walking in the parade, too. When we finally started marching, we discovered that, unfortunately, some horses were allowed to march ahead of us & that the roads weren't, um, properly cleaned up behind them. But of course the thing I remember most was the moment when we finally marched in front of the presidential viewing stand. Forgive me, but I didn't play my picollo with proper gusto at that moment, but I think I can be forgiven. It was worth it. Unfortunately, Bill was posing for a photo with some Boy Scouts so I didn't get a great view of him, but I certainly saw Hillary. She was waving like mad! She seemed absolutely thrilled to be there. It was great. I'm sure the people who are in DC today have a pretty good idea of how she must have felt.

Company's comin'!

2009-01-13T18:02:00.003-05:00

Good things happenin' 'round here! Let's break it down, shall we?

1. Went to a great party at Dave & Megan's house on Saturday. Played a lot of Rock Band. Laughed a lot. Enjoyed ourselves without getting drunk! Wee!

2. A friend noticed that I've lost weight. Pretty darn encouraging. Now if only I could get properly back on the wagon. I've only worked out once this week.

3. I bought tickets to see "Rent" with a couple friends. I'm excited to finally see a show at the brand spankin' new Durham Performing Arts Center. It's the biggest performing arts center in the Carolinas. And since I bought our tickets in person (and NOT through MicketTaster), I saved us $18! Woot! I love saving money.

4. Tim has been a bit stressed at work because he was told there was a bug in his code that was causing the sound in the game to shut down. After a few days of banging his head against a wall, he discovered the problem! So now he can fix it and, with any luck at all, he won't have to stay late for the rest of the week. And it's especially important that Tim doesn't stay too late at work because ...

5. Derek & george are coming to town! They arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Yes, that soon! We haven't even gotten a chance to properly miss each other yet. I suspect the the main reason why they're coming right away is because george is jealous that Derek has met Millie & she hasn't. Yup, it's aaaaaaaall about the cat. Whatever the reason, it should be fun. We're going to eat Ethiopian food & see a show featuring giant puppets and shop at Trader Joe's and other stuff. It'll be good.

Must run. Gotta check a few items off my to-do list before Tim gets home. EEEEE!

Homecoming

2009-01-07T08:55:00.006-05:00

The Xmas break is officially over & we're back in North Carolina. Usually this is the week when I sit around the house & mope. After spending 2 action-packed weeks surrounded by friends and family, it was always hard to return to an empty house in a town where I barely knew anyone. After Tim's first day back at work, he would come home in the evening and find me still in my robe, curled up on the couch, with streaks from dried tears (or possibly fresh ones) running down my face. The first week of the year had become the worst week of the year.

But this year is different. Late Monday night, I found myself back in the same house in the same town, an 18-hour drive away from so many people I love. And yet I've been smiling contentedly ever since I got back. I think the difference this year is that I didn't return to an empty house. Rather, I returned to a cuddly little lump of love named Millie who was thrilled to welcome me home.

Millie is a pretty laid back cat and doesn't seem to show much emotion, but it's clear that she is just as relieved to see me as I am to see her. Since I got home late Monday night, she has rarely left my side. If I'm sitting, she's on my lap. If I'm lying down, she's curled up next to me. Sometimes when I step out of view, she emits a panic-y meow which only stops when she sees me again. Yes, she's a bit clingy and needy at the moment, but honestly, I missed her so much that I'm happy to spend so much time with her now. Her soft purr makes me feel - more than anything else - that I am home. And it feels really good to be home.

Not quite the Osmonds

2008-12-28T19:42:00.005-05:00

See this image? This is what life has been like at my parents house for the past week. Ever since Tim arrived, it's been All Rock Band All The Time. I swear this game must send out some sort of subliminal message to the male mind that tells them to play this game incessantly until they master it because they MUST master it! Must must must! Granted, I enjoy the game, too, but there's a certain gleam in the eyes of the males who play this game that isn't quite as powerful in the females. The other night my brother Mike was so engrossed that he plugged some headphones into the TV so he could continue practicing the guitar after my mother went to bed. And at what early hour did my mother choose to retire? Only 2 am. She's mildly addicted to Rock Band, too.

As you can see, we're having a really great time this holiday season. Sometimes we kids can get a bit spikey after hanging out with one another for a few days, but this time we've all gotten along really well. I actually find myself reluctant to leave the house because I want to spend time with my brothers. Wacky! Stranger still, all of us kids cleaned up the kitchen together yesterday without anyone asking us to lift a finger. What?!? Maybe the same messages that lure people into playing Rock Band for 12 hours a day also encourages tidiness & pleasant behavior. What a lovely thought.

This year's Xmas loot
* Cool photo prints of Mike's work
* Cookbooks! "Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey", a dessert book that is as faboo as it sounds, and "Back to Basics" by Ina Garten
* A new kaleidoscope made by my mom
* Last but certainly not least, Tim gave me an Acer Aspire One netbook! Just like george's! It's blue and cute and makes me so happy. Wee!

In our version, Derek is John Candy & Tim is Steve Martin.

2008-12-20T02:15:00.006-05:00

Have you ever had houseguests show up with very little notice? And although your guests were perfectly welcome, before they arrived you found yourself dashing around the house, hiding piles of mail, vaccuuming the carpets, checking the bathroom to make sure it didn't look scary, etc.? Well, imagine how it feels to discover that you're having a last-minute houseguest ... and you're over 1000 miles away from home.

Derek is in my house right now. Yes, Derek. In my house in NC. While I sit here in my parents' house in Oklahoma.

A mere 24 hours ago Derek was in New York on a business trip, preparing to fly back to Tulsa. Then a snowstorm hit & flights were canceled. The weather forecast gave the impression that Derek could be stuck in New York until next week ... unless, of course, he made a change of plans. A few phone calls later & Derek was driving south in a rental car towards North Carolina so that he could meet up with Tim and they could travel to Tulsa together. A brilliant plan! I wish I had a hand in planning it, but I was blissfully unconscious through all the hubub. The guys will drive for 2 days together, during which they'll be able to listen to as much heavy metal music as they want without annoying me or george. They'll even get to stay at the La Quinta together! It's perfect!

The only problem is that I am not there. And my newly-discovered Hostess Gene is freakin' out about that a tad. I feel a tiny bit embarassed because my house isn't really ready for overnight company. Don't get me wrong. I did a lot of tidying before I left town. Most of the house looks perfectly respectable. However, I tossed a bunch of crap in the guest room (like ya do) thinking that no one but the cat would be in that room over the next couple of weeks anyway, so why worry about it? As a result, I had to ask poor Tim to maneuver around the stuff I've gathered to donate to Goodwill and the piles of paid bills that need to be filed so that he can put sheets on the bed in the guest room. There's a whole half of the room where Derek cannot venture because of the layer of detritus that blankets the floor. Granted, it's not an impenetrably thick layer, but it's there nevertheless. Sigh. I don't even want to think about how little food is in the house. Ugh. I pride myself on being a good little hostess! And now my BestGuyPal is in my freakin' house for the first time ever & I'm not there!

The great thing, though, is that I know Derek won't care one bit. He'll be too exhausted from driving those 10 hours from Albany. Or he'll be too busy rubbing the belly of our sweet Millie kitty. Or he'll be too hypnotized by Rock Band. Or maybe he won't care because he's such a great old friend and that's just the way great old friends are.

Hope you have fun, boys. Drive safe!

Pirate George (aka "Girl, you got a panty on yo head")

2008-12-19T01:05:00.007-05:00

I am in Tulsa! Wee!

I am sitting on george's couch right now, trying out her new tiny computer (I'm makng this post purely to test what it can do). I think it's called an Acer [Edit: It's an "Aspire One" made by Acer] & it's about half the size of a sheet of printer paper and I LOVE it! I covet it! I want one of my very own. Too bad Santa has probably already bought this year's gifts for me. However, if Santa or some other kind person finds themselves in possession of, oh, $350 or so, they could buy one for me [available at BestBuy, TigerDirect & other fine retailers!] I'd appreciate it VERY very much. Very. Really. Truly.

It's been a low key but fun night with dear georgious. We went to LaDonna's & talked about cheese with the proprieter. Then we ate cheap burgers at Full Moon. Before going to her pad, we went to Target where I informed george that I call g-strings "eyepatches" because that's what they look like to me. The following hilarity ensued.

You're welcome, world.

Top 10: What's Happenin'

2008-12-12T14:48:00.005-05:00

I'm such a fan of Liz's bullet-point posts that I thought I'd do one of my own today. However, I'm not sure how to do bullets in Blogger, so I'll just do a top 10 list of What's Happening in Mary's Life Now.

1. I've been spending FAR far less time on-line lately. I sometimes go 2 or 3 days in a row without poking about on the internet. Does this mean I'm turning into a cantankerous old lady who is totally out of touch with the rest of the world? I mean, I haven't watched a cute video of fluffy baby animals in nearly a week. Is that good or bad?

2. A friend of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer in both breasts. I'm still a little too shocked about this to discuss it. Her surgery is December 30th.

3. I made Yorkshire puddings for the first time ever. Tim says they were perfect. Note: Yorkshire puddings are very similar to popovers.

4. My next-door neighbors are living my worst nightmare. Their names are Alex & Maria (and their daughter, Auriela). Alex is originally from El Salvador and, due to various visa issues, he was deported recently. Yup. The US government shipped him away. His wife, Maria, is an American & she is doing all she can to get her husband back in the US, but it's going to take a long time to get everything straightened out. This week she and their daughter moved to El Salvador to be with Alex until this whole mess is fixed. Can you imagine? Ugh.

5. Immigration officials have NOT carted Tim off anywhere. Speaking of Tim, he's working a lot of late nights because the game he has been working on for the past 2 years is almost finished! Woot!

6. Speaking of video games, I have a confession to make: I am enjoying Rock Band 2 far more than I expected. Tim likes to play the bass guitar while I sing along. The super-creepy part is that some of our favorite songs to play are by bands like Boston and Kansas. Ordinarily I don't like these songs so much, but playing them is a whoooole other matter. I'd be thrilled if there were more '80s tracks on this game (I'm dying for some Hall & Oats!). There's a smattering of Duran Duran & a few other bands, but we fear that the popularity of synthesizers and saxophones back then makes it difficult for songs of that era to translate well in this game. Sigh.

7. I got the itch to knit again. Check out my latest project here: Versatility on Knitty.com.

8. I scored a FABULOUS dress for super cheap at Target! It was normally $50, but I got it for $12. It's very cute and classy and perfect (V owns this dress, too, natch). I also got some really adorable heels for $12. A swanky outfit for less than $25! Hooray for fab sales!

9. I was planning on wearing this amazing ensemble to the annual office Xmas party, but alas, that won't happen after all. The party had to be rescheduled for the day after I fly off to Oklahoma. Boo.

10. I arrive in Tulsa on December 17th. That's less than a week away! Eeee!

So just to sum up ... when I'm not cooking, knitting, or shopping, I'm singing along to "Carry On My Wayward Son" in our living room. And before too long, I'll be singing in my parents' living room, too. So despite the occasional blips of cancer and deportation, life is all good.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"

2008-12-01T16:22:00.011-05:00

Happy Monday, all! I know Thanksgiving was a few days ago, but it's not too late for me to share with you one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions of all time.

Recently I was trying to explain this episode to Tim. Now thanks to YouTube (and a person who goes by the name of CrystalCheats) perhaps he can finally appreciate the glorious wonder that was WKRP.

So what did you all do for Turkey Day? As usual, Tim and I went to the home of our friend, Doree (pronounced Door-AY). For those of you who don't know, we met Doree through the same website where Tim and I met. She is the owner of a certain, famous chicken that was previously featured on this blog. Unfortunately, Doree wasn't able to be with us! Her job kept her in Africa this Thanksgiving, but we carried on as best we could without her. Her husband, Chris, made a fabulous dinner & many others (myself included) brought sides & dessert. It wasn't the same without Doree's effervescent spirit, though. Larissa - Doree's niece - decided we should all do our own part to fill the void. She got out a blonde wig & a camera & istructed us to do our best Doree impressions. Here's a small sample.

Here's Chris, Doree's husband and our gracious host.

Here's Larissa, Doree's very favoritist neice ever.

Here's Larissa's best Doree impression. Note: the following image was taken BEFORE the bottles of bubbly were opened.

Larissa's baby boy, Finn. He's obviously trying to capture Doree's hangover face.

Here's Meryl, Doree's best friend, showing us all how very important champagne is to her BFF.

Tim flirts with that certain Doree style.

Are we starting to make our beloved friend look like a floozy and a lush? Be honest with me now.

As you can see, despite the absence of dear Doree, we still had a great time hanging out with the gang. If you're looking for a little fun next Thanksgiving, let me know & I'll get you a spot at their table.

The power of positive cleaning

2008-11-25T12:13:00.005-05:00

First off, thanks to all of you for all the nice things you said to cheer me up. It really meant the world to me. I was in SUCH a HORRENDOUSLY bad mood the week I wrote that last post. Just ask Tim. Or George. Or my mom. They can all testify that I was in a multi-day state of rage that could not be calmed. Not even with chocolate & red meat. It was ... unpleasant. I was the Queen of the Grumpy Gusses that week. It's a good thing that the Queen of the Grumps does not traditionally wield a scepter because, lemmee, tell ya, I would have felt a strong urge to use it on others in a most violent & un-lady-like manner. Much carnage would have ensued.

There were soooooo many things that brought out the rage in me that week. Some of it was the phase of the moon. Some of it was money issues. But most of it was probably because I felt totally powerless & worthless. A number of things have contributed to that feeling. Probably the thing that sums it up best is the state of our lawn.
Leaves.
Leaves everywhere.
I estimate that this month I have spent about 7 hours raking, vaccuming, & mulching leaves on our little patch of earth. As soon as I'm done, the wind blows or the rain starts and more leaves fall & I feel like I have to start all over again. It's maddening! I can spend hours working on the yard, but when Tim comes home from work, he can't tell that I've done the slightest thing. It's a soul-crushing endeavor. And it isn't just the leaves, either. There are other things in my life that I've been working on & working on & I have very little to show for all of my hard work. It's so infuriating to work and work and work and work and see NOTHING for all of your efforts. It has made me feel so weak and powerless. I couldn't stand it.

I had to do something that would give me the gratification of a job well done. Something fairly inexpensive since I'm trying to be frugal, as well as something that wouldn't be ruined within hours of completion.

So I cleaned out our bedroom closet. A small gesture? Perhaps to some. To others it is much more.

The truth is that I am the messy one in our house. That's why it's fair that I clean up most of the messes. One of our biggest messes was our bedroom closet. Ninety-eight percent of the stuff in there belongs to me & none of it was in any semblance of order. Sure, a number of items hung neatly on the rods, but there were also bags & boxes full of clothing & shoes & paperwork & craft supplies that I hadn't set sight on since we lived in Tulsa. But no more! I took out every random item, & organized EVERYthing. The clothes are categorized & arranged by color. It's truly a thing of beauty. It also made me realize that I have a very limited color pallet. Everything I wear is black, blue, purple, or pink. Gotta work on that.

I told my mom that the progress in the closet has made me feel much better. She isn't convinced, though. Mom suspects that my whimpers of powerlessness are all a front. She thinks I am much more powerful than I seem. She is convinced that I have my eye on world domination ... that I am concocting evil plans up in our attic. She suspects that I am actually creating cyborg cats which I will somehow get into the homes of world leaders across the globe. Much like my Millie kitty, these cats will be sweet and cuddly and round & impossible to resist. One day - according to my mother - I will send out a coordinated signal to these cyborg cats, ordering them to hop up on the laps of the most powerful people of the world, forcing those people into a state of feline paralysis, where they cannot get up or move lest they disturb their beloved kitty cats. And then! Yes then! The world shall be at my command!!!! Mwah-ha-ha-haaaaaa!

Of course, now that you know my plans, I'll be forced to kill you all. Blame my momma.

Ready for my close-up

2008-11-13T16:06:00.004-05:00

No, not dead. Just frustrated & sad and bleeeeeeeeeeeh. Bleh blah bloo. That's me.

Still haven't worked out the problem with posting photos. Grrr.

I'm kinda turning into a shell of my former self. Just like george, I watched "Sunset Boulevard" on the old movie channel a few days ago. Now I'm convinced that I'm turning into Norma Desmond. I stay in the house all the time & occasionally talk about the good ol' days when I was a STAR! of the theatrical STAGE! and such. Granted, Tim is not my butler & I don't have photographs of myself plastered all over the house. Plus, Liz can pull off the Norma Desmond eyes far better than I ever could. But you know what I mean.

It's not that I was ever a paragon of self confidence or anything, but at least there have been times in the past when I managed to (1.) figure out what I wanted and (2.) went out & got it. Now I'm not sure what I want, so I don't know what I should get. Do I miss theatre? Yes and no. That's partly why I haven't made any real attempts at joining a theatrical group here. Plus I don't have any theatre friends here. No one who can hook me up with a good group. No one to go to auditions with me. No one to really encourage me to do this thing. Yes, there are people we know who say, "You should audition for a play, Mary". But it feels empty because they don't understand what's involved. It's like those people who hear me talk about how we'd like to go back to England and then say, "Well then, you should just go!". Meanwhile, they have no clue how much such a trip would cost or the miserable exchange rate or how much vacation time Tim has left (answer: none), etc. It's all just pleasant platitudes with no real substance. "You should audition for a play!" Sure. And you should go to the moon.

I'm suffering from a very third-world problem. I know this. I have fallen into extremely fortunate circumstances & I understand that. Some people tell me that I am their hero ... a comment that instantly puts wrinkles between my eyebrows. Yes, I live in a cute house in a cute neighborhood with a cute husband and a cute cat where I cook cute food and watch the cute leaves fall from our cute trees. But what does any of this have to do with me? Please forgive me for the cliche I am about to utter, but Who Am I, Anyway? When I meet people at parties and they ask me what I do ... well, I don't do anything, so I don't know what to say. I don't want to tell anyone I am a housewife because they'll assume I am a boring, empty soul who is not worth time or effort. And maybe there's some truth in that, but I don't want the world to know it. So when I meet people, I make a point of steering the conversation a bit just to ignore that little question. I want people to realize that I have thoughts of my own and that perhaps I'm actually a bit funny &/or pleasant to be around.

But it's hard to convince people of that when I don't honestly believe it myself.

So there you have it. A lack of self esteem. And probably a lack of self respect, too. And a ton of confusion about what I want from this tiny little life of mine. All this complicated by a severe lack of motivation to do anything but sit around and watch reruns of Gilmore Girls. What the hell does Rory see in Logan anyway? I seriously don't get that.

Visit from the Fam - Sept. '08: Part 2

2008-10-28T15:54:00.009-04:00

Note: Blogger & Photobucket are not getting along well today, so the pics are not showing up correctly. I'll try my best to fix it.
For our second day of familial shenanigans, I took the family to Wilmington, a town on the coast about 2 hours away from where Tim and I live. It's the closest ocean beach to my house because it's a straight shot down I-40. This is also what makes it so popular & why you may not want to go there on the weekend. Seriously. The parking is unreal during the high season. Luckily for us it was September and a weekday so we were in good shape.

Dad and Ray spent most of their day on the USS North Carolina, a battleship that was active during WWII. Mom and I are not big war history buffs ("No, really?" I hear you exclaim sarcastically) so we went off on our own. We walked around the quaint area of downtown Wilmington, ate ice cream, poked about in shops, enjoyed the architecture. But deep down we all knew that there was just one reason for this day trip:
The beach.

My mother loooooooooves water. She will swim in her backyard pool every chance she gets, but nothing compares to her love of the ocean. Mom loves hanging out on the beach. She loves the whole sun, surf, and sand combo.

Mom says that someday she wants to rent a house on NC's coast for a month just so she can enjoy the beach. She says she doesn't even care if we visit while she's there. She just wants to feel the ocean breeze on her face, the warm sand between her toes, the roar of the waves in her ears, etc. etc. etc.

We wanted to eat dinner right on the beach. Luckily, we found a friendly local who recommended The Oceanic Restaurant. The food was nice, but not too fancy. They had Mom's major requirement (fish and sweet tea) and mine (hush puppies!) so we were happy. We got a nice table on the pier. Here's my view.

There were a handful of surfers out that evening.

... including one surfer who used an oar. Have you ever seen that before? I hadn't.

There was even a fisherman. Wonder if he caught anything.

Here's Ray on the restaurant's pier watching the activity below.

Sunset. Just about time to go home.

Just before the sunlight was gone, we noticed a rainbow.

What a lovely way to end a lovely day with some lovely people.

Visit from the Fam - Sept '08: part 1

2008-10-27T13:15:00.004-04:00

So this weekend I was sitting around the house, listening to NPR for hours like I normally do, when I heard that this week's episode of "A Prairie Home Companion" was broadcasting live from Tulsa! EEEE!!! How could I miss that, you know? So of course, I tuned in and I pictured Garrison Keillor standing up on that familiar stage and wondered how many of my friends and acquaintances were in the audience. And I thought about the numerous shows I've seen in that building and the many many more performances and rehearsals I've taken part in myself.

Sigh. I miss Tulsa a lot. I miss that old familiarity. I miss the theater companies there. I especially miss the people. My friends. My family.

All of this wistful longing to be with loved ones reminded me that I have yet to post photos from September when my parents and my brother, Ray, came to visit! Shameful! So this week, I'm going to share some of the best shots with you from their visit.

Unfortunately, I did not take any photos on their first big day here. We walked around Duke University, where we saw beautiful flowers, the gorgeous chapel/cathedral, and spied way too many expensive cars ($100K and up! Those Duke kids ain't broke). We also stopped by Hillsborough & drove out to Maple View Farms where we ate ice cream while watching the cows in the distance. But possibly the most transformational moment of the trip occurred at Allen & Sons Barbecue where we ate Eastern Carolina style BBQ for the first time. It was at this venerable institution that Ray made a profound and shocking discovery: Ray prefers this vinegar-based shredded pork BBQ over the Texas & Oklahoma style Q that he has been eating all of his life. Astounding. If the wrong Okies find out about this, he may be kicked out of the state, so keep that news under your hats.

Anyway. No photos of that stuff, gosh darn it! But there are plenty of other photos to share. I hope to begin posting them later today. Just let me finish wrestling with Frankenputer. This may take a while ...

Busy bee

2008-10-10T14:30:00.004-04:00

Hey, gang. It's been a busy week, hence the lack of posting. Also, I decided to take a wee break from the internets. I'll be back soon. In the meanwhile, the website for Keepsake Kaleidoscopes is finally up and running! Check it out! Gaze in awe and wonder at my mother's miraculous talents! You'll be glad you did. As a bonus, by checking out her site, my mom's presence on Google will scoot up the list a tad. Maybe someday when you do a search for her website, you'll actually find a link to her site! As it is, when you search for her business on Google, you're more likely to find this blog. That ain't right. We want to bury this blog, don't we? Of course we do! So click on the following link!

http://keepsakekaleidoscopes.com/

Thanks!

V&T's Wedding Weekend: the 4th & final chapter!

2008-10-03T22:27:00.008-04:00

Hey, gang. Sorry for the delay. My internet connection has been funky for the last 2 days. I think we're all fixed now.

So! Anyway! The reception was over. Next it was time for the after-after party. I love this new tradition of going to a bar with a group of friends after the reception. It's a great way to end the festivities. We descended upon Trader Vic's, a tiki bar, for our nightcaps. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued.

See that blue rose hairclip that I'm wearing? The groom made that. Yes, our Travis is a man of many talents!

Tony ordered something called a "Rum Giggle" for Holly & me to share. It came in a conch shell with the longest straws I've ever seen. I could not tell you what it tasted like, but I'm guessing it was good since we drank every last drop.

You can't see it very well, but I'm wearing a nametag that says "James". I have no earthly idea where I got that, but I remember declaring at some point that my left breast is officially named "James". Hmm. Can you believe I didn't have a hangover the next morning? Amazing!

I have no idea what Tony ordered for himself, but it was served in a SKULL! So it's gotta be bad ass, right?

Tony also made a little ... request. Just a little something he'd like to see on the ol' blog. Let me get back to you on that, Tony-Tone.

Last but not least, here's my favorite photo of the whole night.

Eventually we all finished our drinks & stumbled back to the La Quinta. George, Derek, Holly, Andy and I shared the double room "suite". I remember bits & pieces of the rest of the night. I know Holly's finger got banged up pretty badly in Andy's car door. And at some point I managed to put on my pajamas. And then Andy broke out the Mad Libs I bought at Froggies & we had a good time completing a couple (Holly, please tell me you now know what a "taint" is because, honey, I don't want to try to explain that to you again). Surrounded by ice packs & shreds of paper, we eventually fell into a deep slumber.

I was the first one to wake up in the morning, but that's just my way. I can't sleep in. It's one of my least favorite qualities about myself. It's not all bad, though. As the old saying goes, the early bird gets the waffle.

Why do they call it "table syrup"? Is it made out of tables?

Andy and I had flights in the afternoon & the Tulsa contingent had to hit the road, so before we all went our separate ways we went out for Ethiopian food. As usual, george ordered for everybody. Someday I need to learn to order Ethiopian food for myself. What's the name of that lamb stuff again? 'Cause, man alive, it's tasty!

I think we're supposed to be acting like beauty pageant contestants in this photo. Or perhaps like we're on America's Next Top Model. Smile with your eyes, ladies!

Time for one final shot ...

Then we all hugged & said our good-byes.

I have to admit that usually it's very painful for me to leave my old urban family & fly back to NC. I miss them all so very much. This time felt different, though. As I left Dallas, all I felt was joy. I can thank Veronica and Travis for that. Nothing fills a heart with hope and love like a wedding ceremony.

Thank you ALL for such a wonderful, memorable weekend. Can't wait to see you again!

V&T's Wedding Weekend: Part 3

2008-10-01T15:10:00.007-04:00

The ceremony was short & sweet. Before we knew it, Veronica & Travis were hitched!

Mr. & Mrs. Day, accompanied by various cohorts (aka the wedding party)

The best man knows his way around a bustle. Heh heh.

I missed taking photos of the first dance because my hands were full of iced tea and fried pies. Just trust me when I say that this couple has some very impressive dance moves. They really know how to cut a rug!

They also know how to cut a cake.

Here is the best man, Andy (not that one, a different one), making a heartfelt toast. He is accompanied by our Holly, bridesmaid and luscious eye candy.

Here's the Tulsa branch of our urban family. There were 10 of us in all: George & Derek, Ed & Rhiannon, Jenny & Tony, Andy (yes, that one), Kris, Holly, & little ol' me. How great was it to see them all? Very very great.

Andy even brought Kit Kat's for all of us. Gotta love those old inside jokes.

We also made new friends! First, there is V's other bridesmaid, the fabulous Cat. It's hard to tell in this photo, but she was 9 months pregnant & already feeling some contractions. She gave birth to a little girl named Moxy less than 48 hours after the wedding ceremony.

And then there's Eddie, with whom we developed an all new inside joke involving Chick-o-sticks.

Kit Kats and Chick-o-Stick. What more could we possibly need?

English Country Dancing?!??! Why not?

So here's the story. The reception venue upstairs was packed. All of the tables were full and there were few chairs to be had, so most of the Tulsa bunch went downstairs to hang out in the bar. That's when I noticed the sign above. It pointed towards a room with a glass window in the door. When the dancers saw some of us peeking in, they invited us to join them! I was thrilled because, frankly, I've been thinking about trying out English Country Dancing for many months now. You know the formal dancing that is always featured in those Jane Austen costume drama films? That's what this is. It's complicated, but very fun.

Many thanks to Peter, my partner in the grey shirt. Without his patient guidance, I would have been lost.

Since I had so much fun, George decided to try it out, too.

This group was so nice! They invited us to stay & keep dancing with them, but we had to get back to the reception. If I lived in Dallas I'd definitely look them up. They were really great.

The reception continued. We drank more wine & beer, ate more cake, listened to more live music, and laughed much. Tim called so that he could congratulate "The V-Dog". We watched V's parents perform some amazing moves on the dance floor (now I see where she gets it!). As V&T left the building, we didn't have any rice to throw, so instead we performed the wave. Or at least we tried to perform the wave, but ... well ... did I mention there was free booze? Yeah.

The party wasn't over, though. Next stop: Trader Vic's!

V&T's Wedding Weekend: Part 2

2008-09-30T14:04:00.003-04:00

Saturday, September 27. The big day finally arrived.

Shortly before 11am, V and Travis stopped by the La Quinta to pick up me, Holly, and george. We headed off to the venue to set it up for the night's festivities.

The Sons of Hermann Hall (or "Home" depending on which sign you read).

The ceremony & reception took place in the main performance space on the 2nd level. On the ground floor there is a bar & various other rooms. It's a really fabulous building & was the perfect spot for V & T's wedding.

The color scheme for the wedding was blue & orange. When V first told me this, I thought she'd lost her ever-lovin' mind. Then I saw the venue & it all became clear. Perfect choice, V.

Centerpiece! Notice that george is off in the background (to the left), ignoring the centerpieces with all her might. Because that's what she does. She's a chronic centerpiece-ignorer. You need to learn to confront the centerpieces directly, george. It's the only way to overcome this problem.

The favors were custom-made matchbooks. Very cute.

"Are we done yet? Do we need another blue tablecloth? How should I wear my hair tonight?" So many questions, one weary-yet-excited bride.

The next thing you know, 6 hours had passed & it was time for V&T to tie the knot.

Pre-ceremony:

I didn't take as many photos as I might have liked (I didn't take any at all during the ceremony). I preferred to experience those things rather than document them; That's what professional photographers are for. So if you want to see pics of the ceremony, you'll need to go to the website of V&T's photographer. I'll post a link when I get my grubby mits on it.

Next up: Party time!

V&T's wedding weekend: Part 1

2008-09-29T18:25:00.009-04:00

Hello, gang! After a long hiatus, I'm back! And I have oodles of photos to share with you all (although not quite as many as I would have liked). As I may or may not have mentioned before, my dance card was pretty full for the month of September. First my parents and my brother, Ray, came to NC to visit us for a bit. Then I traveled to Dallas to attend Travis & Veronica's wedding. It's been an absolute blast & I'd love to share some of the details with you in photographic form.

First of all, I'm going to throw chronology out the window & focus on pics from this past weekend & the big wedding celebration. Today's batch of photos are from Friday, the 26th of September ... AKA Veronica's last day as a swingin' single gal. I was spoiled on that day because I got to spend a lot of private one-on-one girl time with the Woman of the Hour. We went to a fabulous Elvis-themed Mexican restaurant called Chuy's, where I was so stunned by the fabulously tacky scenery that I forgot to take any photos! So now all of you will have to go there & experience the fabulosity for yourselves. It's worth it. Trust me.

Next we walked & shopped. 'Cause that's what girls do best, right?

Outside "Wild About Harry's" hot dog emporium. I could make a very tacky joke here, but I'll leave that up to your own imaginations.

And if that's not classy enough for y'all ...

I loved Froggies, the shop where we found these glasses. Imagine Lulu Faboo, only bigger. I refuse to disclose how much money I spent there.

V wasn't the only one craving wieners that day.

I love that "Do Not Climb On Me" sign. There's something hilariously sad about it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Holly & george, wandering around Target's lingerie department, wondering if adhesive bras actually work or if they're just a bunch of malarkey. Then it was time for the rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's! Sadly, I have few photos from the dinner (I feel self-conscious about taking photos of other people), but the two I got are awful cute.

Aaaaaaaaw! What an adorable couple!

Preppin' for Fam

2008-09-06T15:27:00.003-04:00

Hey gang. Sorry to be MIA for so long. There isn't much to report ... except that my parents and my brother, Ray, will arrive here in just a few days! Wee!!! Unfortunately, I have a ton of things to do in preparation for their arrival (boo!) but it's all worth it to have them around (yay!).

I've been rather distracted over the last few weeks (first the sickness, then the political conventions) so I haven't done as much research as I would have liked in preparation for my family's arrival. Here's what I've got so far. I'm going to post the links here because I'm having a heck of a time organizing my favorites in Firefox. If anyone can give me some tips on organizing bookmarks in Firefox, I'd appreciate it.

Waterfalls!
Photos of NC Waterfalls: http://www.pbase.com/waterfallrich/north_carolina_waterfalls&page=all
Visit NC Waterfalls: http://www.visitwaterfalls.com/
Sliding Rock: http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/sliding_rock1.htm

Stuff for Mom
Wrightsville Beach: http://www.visitwrightsville.com/
Carolina Beach: http://www.carolinabeachgetaway.com/
The Cotton Exchange (across from the battleship): http://www.shopcottonexchange.com/

Stuff for Dad
Bennett Place in Durham (Civil War history): http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bennett/
Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington (WWII history): http://www.battleshipnc.com/index.html

Stuff for Ray
Busch Gardens: http://www.4adventure.com/BGW/default.aspx
Kings Dominion: http://www.kingsdominion.com/

Oh, The Places We'll Go ... or not
Durham Visitors Center: http://www.durham-nc.com/
Raleigh Visitors Center: http://www.visitraleigh.com/
Chapel Hill Visitors Center: http://www.visitchapelhill.org/
Lake Lure: http://www.lake-lure.com/
Biltmore Estate: http://www.biltmore.com/
Duke Gardens in Durham: http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/
Pullen Park in Raleigh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullen_Park
State Farmers Market (and restaurants!): http://www.ncfarmfresh.com/FarmMarketDisplay.asp?FarmID=1529

Mmmmm ... TV ...

2008-08-23T15:25:00.005-04:00

You know what sucks? Summer colds. You know what also sucks? Killer period cramps. Experiencing them both in the same week is ultra sucky. And yet, this week was somehow extraordinarily tolerable. For that, I thank television.

As you may have noticed, the summer Olympics have been airing on TV for the past 2 weeks. I have always loooooved the Olympics. It is my crack. An addiction that rears its ugly head every 2 years. I don't give a rat's ass about most sports, but when the Olympics come around, it seems that nothing else in my life matters. I cannot explain it. The summer Olympics are especially bad because there are so many more categories of competition. It can be a major time suck. So this year I was going to try to resist. I didn't even watch the opening ceremonies (Tim and I went out for cake instead). My will power did not last for long, though. The siren song of men's gymnastics pulled me in and, dammit all, I got hooked. Again. I watched for hours and hours and got so emotionally involved that I actually made myself sick to my stomach with worry. Tim is not as interested in the Olympics, but he politely watched with me during our evening meals. We rooted for a Cuban runner together. And we noticed that volleyball players are the most affectionate people on the face of the earth (Seriously. If you're ever feeling lonely, just join a volleyball team. Group hugs every 2 minutes at the very least). Luckily, the Olympics are ending this weekend & my addiction will fade away for another 2 years.

But the Olympics are not enough for me. Oh no. I have additional televised addictions, too.

1. Mad Men
Smart, subtle, slick, & sadistic. Soooooo good. My cable system has all of the old episodes available to watch for free on an On Demand channel. I watched the entire first season in 2 days & I eagerly anticipate each new episode. It's sick. It's wrong. It's fabulous.

2. Project Runway
The gang this season is a bit meh, but I'm hooked anyway. At least Tim Gunn has been marvelous. "You tell her you've been to a different rodeo!" Thanks, Mr. Gunn! I'll do that!

3. Gene Kelley movies
Turner Classic Movies aired a Gene Kelley movie marathon the other day. I watched 6 of his movies. In a row. He was a pretty crap singer, but he made dancing look masculine & powerful. Love!

And last but certainly not least ...
4. Gilmore Girls
Do not call me between 5-6pm eastern time on weekdays. Just don't. If you do, I probably won't answer the phone. That's because I'm watching Gilmore Girls. Back when the show originally aired my brother, Ray, told me over and over and over again about it and how I should really really try watching Gilmore Girls sometime. I didn't pay attention to him then. Well, I'm paying attention now ... as is my mother. We call each other every few days and gossip about this show as if we were two old biddies discussing General Hospital. "What's the deal with Jess? And why wasn't Chris at Rory's graduation? And can I please punch Taylor? Pleeeease?" The moment when Lorelai sang "Wind Beneath my Wings" to an appalled Rory is one of the best moments in TV history. Warning: they talk FAST & the number of pop culture references are overwhelming, but that's half the fun.

8/8/88

2008-08-08T22:41:00.004-04:00

George was picking on me the other day because it seems like half of the posts on my blog pertain to the anniversary of something or other. She says she's waiting for me to write a post on the anniversary of the day I started using that new brand of dental floss or something equally ridiculous. So georgie-porgie, this thread is at least kinda-sorta for you.

I don't know if any of you noticed it, but today's date was 8/8/08. What's special about this date is that I can remember what I was doing exactly 20 years ago today. I was on a picnic with my mom and some close friends of our family - Judy & her children, Tiffany and Brian. These 3 people had lived with my family during those crazy days in the early '80s when as many as 12 people lived under my parents' roof at one time. Twelve people! In 4 bedrooms! How we kept from killing one another is a mystery, but this just goes to show that my parents earned their nominations for sainthood long before they even hit 40 years old.

But back to 1988. Judy had finished her nursing degree a couple years before & moved away with the kids, but they were still family & we liked to visit with them. We had gathered together at a park on that day in August to enjoy some of the final days of summer before we kids had to return to school. During the picnic someone commented on the date: 8/8/88. That's a lot of 8s! We wondered when those numbers would come together again in such a mystical way. Someone mentioned that it would be 100 years, of course, but then someone else pointed out that it was only 20 years until 8/8/08 came around. We sat, munching on sandwiches under an overcast sky, wondering what we'd all be doing in 20 years time.

And now here it is. Two decades later. I'm a proper adult now. House. Husband. Cat. I can't remember what I expected of myself back then. I suspect that I thought I'd have a child by now. Maybe a job in publishing. Certainly I wouldn't be a housewife married to an English guy who makes video games. That seems far too far fetched for even my childhood imagination.

But the thing that surprised me most ... and I hope you'll forgive me if I get serious for a bit here, but ... the thing that surprises me most is that Judy is gone. She passed away about 2 years after that picnic. She had cervical cancer. She was the first loved one I'd even known who had died. It was a very painful time & I hope you'll forgive me if I don't go into the details here. Suffice it to say that Judy was a great lady who loved my family very much. If she were here today I'm sure she'd be very happy and proud of us. I think she'd also tell my mom that she should practice her guitar more often. I can almost hear them singing along together in the kitchen.

It's astonishing what can happen in 20 years, isn't it? The painful times & the good times, too. The days when you thought you'd literally die from heartache. Then the days when you laughed so hard you couldn't breathe. So much has happened. It seems that even when I thought I knew exactly where I was going, fate grabbed me & pushed me in a different direction. So forgive me if I don't speculate on my own future. I prefer to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Besides, if history is anything to go by, the future is far better than anything I could come up with on my own.

Talent

2008-08-01T12:56:00.011-04:00

In the last couple of weeks, I have been reminded how lucky I am to have so many intelligent, talented people in my life.

For example, there's Tim. In the last week, he has used his magical computing skills to get me back in the saddle. First he tried to revive Hamilton, but it didn't work out so well. But he didn't give up! He tuned into his inner MacGyver & cobbled together a working PC for me. He took some parts that we had lying around the house as well as a few pieces from his own PC (which we replaced with upgrades) and he built a computer for me. It didn't cost us much, either, which is always an enormous plus in my book. FrankenPuter still has a few glitches (I can't get the memory card reader to work), but all in all I am thrilled and impressed and quite happy.

The other talented person in my life who has impressed me lately is my mother. I believe I've mentioned that my mom is a nurse in an ER, but she's more than just that. She is a song writer and a musician and a painter and a designer and seamstress and - more than anything else - a student. Mom loves to learn things. That's one of the reasons why she went back to school and earned her associates degree in Spanish this spring (yay mom!).

About 6 years or so ago, Mom decided she wanted to learn how to make things with stained glass, so she took some lessons. She has made a number of items over the years including a stained glass window that is in my home. The things she likes to make most, though, are kaleidoscopes. She especially enjoys customizing her kaleidoscopes to reflect the personality of a person or to capture the memories of a special day. That brings us to the next label that identifies my mom: entrepreneur. My mother has started a company to sell her bespoke creations. The company is called Keepsake Kaleidoscopes. Recently she has been in the process of getting the details of the business off the ground. She has already filled a few orders & has others in line, so to keep the word spreading she is building a website and designing a brochure. That means she had to have photos made of her kaleidoscopes. Luckily for all of you out there, I can share some of those photos with you now. Enjoy!

By the by, talented person #3 is my brother Mike who, with the help of one of his friends, took these great photos for Mom.

These first 2 photos are of a kaleidoscope Mom made to honor a young man who passed away unexpectedly. The young man loved the beach and the boy scouts, so she used a shell and one of his scouting pins. The pressed flowers are from his memorial service.

I like the way Mom incorporates flowers in her work. She made a similar kaleidoscope to these for my Aunt Fay featuring flowers from her own garden.

Last but not least, the wedding kaleidoscope. I wish you could see the details of this one a little better. Mom made a similar kaleidoscope for me and Tim for our wedding. It has pieces of glass featuring the colors of our day - the blue of the sky, the pink and purple of the flowers - and a red piece of glass in the shape of a heart. There's also a piece of our wedding invitation, a bit of ribbon from our gift bags, and some pressed rose petals from my bouquet. It's a really special keepsake of the day ... hence, the name of Mom's company.

I'll be sure to add the Keepsake Kaleidoscope website to my list of links when it's finally operational. Can't wait to see it!

Update (9/29/08): Mom's website is up & running & it is beautiful! Check it out here: keepsakekaleidoscopes.com