| 2008-05-08 10:24 |
| Aria-ed! |
| Public |
 enchanted |
A new cd from Sarah Brightman... "Symphony"
mmm..... as lush and soaring as ever. Might as well roll up your windows if you plan to be on the road with me anytime over the weekend, or prepare to be "aria-ed".
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| 2008-05-07 08:32 |
| "Frame the Discussion" |
| Public |
 flourishing |
Why does it feel like I have nothing to say, when really it's just I can't think of how to "frame the discussion".
(quote from an NPR segment yesterday where the commentator was discussing how much you should tell your kids about your wild past. her concept was, not telling them everything wasn't lying it was "framing the discussion/conversation"...I can't remember the exact phrasing.)
At least there is this...
Finished Reading: "The Somnambulist" by Jonathan Barnes, "Games of Command" by Linnea Sinclair (new favorite!), "Enchanting the Lady" by Kathryne Kennedy, "The Accidental Werewolf" by Dakota Cassidy (not sure if I've listed this one yet), and "Bedlam, Bath, and Beyond" by J.D. Warren (cute titles...her next is to be "Crate and Peril"...but I have next to no idea what they have to do with the books.)
Two thing to share, I have fallen in love with the art of Carrie Chau
(great pictures...follow link above) and I have started reading a teen book that is absolutely fabulous "My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park" which I picked up quite by accident and had to force myself to set down last night in order to get some sleep!
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| 2008-05-02 08:43 |
| My Hound? |
| Public |
 on the trail |
Maybe.
I ran across this on Google, while looking again for something that would help me keep track of all those authors.
This one lets you search for an author or artist and then sends you an e-mail if they have a new release.
The Good News:
Only one of the authors I searched for did not come up, so it's finding a pretty broad range.
The search results show some of the recent "hits" for new releases so you can ensure that you are selecting the correct Robert Parker (for example.)
The "Bad" News:
Every time you select a new author it sends you a confirmation e-mail. Which could end up flooding your e-mail server initially if, like me, you have a rather lengthy list.
The Unconfirmed News:
I still have no idea if this will actually work well. It will take a few months probably before I can tell how "on top of things" the service will be.
But. It's clean, it's bright, it's easy to search....so far it seems like a good thing.
I'll keep you posted!
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| 2008-05-02 08:02 |
| A Series of Questions About Your Job Satisfaction....or the significant lack thereof. |
| Public |
 swamped |
Have you ever found yourself heading off for work in the morning, and looking up suddenly to realize you truly don't remember anything about the last 6 miles or so of your drive?
Hmmmm.
So have you ever looked up and realized that from the moment you pulled out of your driveway you have been headed in the exact opposite direction of your place of employment?
Have you then wondered if perhaps your subconscious was trying to tell you something critical about your current job satisfaction level?
At least it got my eyes open (wide open) when it finally dawned on me that I was a bit off course...shall we say. So I truly thought that my two store shopping spree earlier this week was the end of my library enhancing for the week, but that was before these two things happened: 1. I scoured my shelved but can not find "Wicked Lovely" and am left with the assumption that I did not in fact buy the book (shame on me) but instead checked it out from the library. Thusly, I will have to "book" back to Books & Co. for the hardback copy I saw there Wednesday. 2. NPR ran a segment this morning on the "darker urban fairytale" sequel to "Chocolat"...which I did not even know existed. For those of you wondering that would be "The Girl With No Shadow" Which brings me to this. Why, oh WHY is there not a site that allows you to key in a list (better make it capable of accepting a long list) of authors so that you can be notified by e-mail of any new releases by these people. To me this is a gaping hole in the web. I know some publishers offer this for their authors, some authors have websites and newsletters that would serve this function. But I have yet to find a one stop source for this. Anyone else know of something that works along these lines? Read a book, love it, sign up to find out about more of the same...I can't even find a really good upcoming release list! No wonder I am so unsatisfied! ;)
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| 2008-04-29 07:36 |
| A Poem to Share... |
| Public |
Remember back when I used to post a whole month's worth of poems for National Poetry Month?
Well, those days have fallen by the way side. It doesn't mean I'm not still reading a poem a day, at least thanks to the Academy of American Poets.
Still...the poem in their daily e-mail the other day was striking and so, I'm going to share!
Dangerous for Girls
by Connie Voisine
It was the summer of Chandra Levy, disappearing
from Washington D.C., her lover a Congressman, evasive and blow-dried from Modesto, the TV wondering in every room in America to an image of her tight jeans and piles of curls frozen in a studio pose. It was the summer the only woman known as a serial killer, a ten-dollar whore trolling the plains of central Florida, said she knew she would kill again, murder filled her dreams and if she walked in the world, it would crack her open with its awful wings. It was the summer that in Texas, another young woman killed her five children, left with too many little boys, always pregnant. One Thanksgiving, she tried to slash her own throat. That summer the Congressman lied again about the nature of his relations, or, as he said, he couldn't remember if they had sex that last night he saw her, but there were many anonymous girls that summer, there always are, who lower their necks to the stone and pray, not to God but to the Virgin, herself once a young girl, chosen in her room by an archangel. Instead of praying, that summer I watched television, reruns of a UFO series featuring a melancholic woman detective who had gotten cancer and was made sterile by aliens. I watched infomercials: exercise machines, pasta makers, and a product called Nails Again With Henna, ladies, make your nails steely strong, naturally, and then the photograph of Chandra Levy would appear again, below a bright red number, such as 81, to indicate the days she was missing. Her mother said, please understand how we're feeling when told that the police don't believe she will be found alive, though they searched the parks and forests of the Capitol for the remains and I remembered being caught in Tennessee, my tent filled with wind lifting around me, tornado honey, said the operator when I called in fear. The highway barren, I drove to a truck stop where maybe a hundred trucks hummed in pale, even rows like eggs in a carton. Truckers paced in the dining room, fatigue in their beards, in their bottomless cups of coffee. The store sold handcuffs, dirty magazines, t-shirts that read, Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free, and a bulletin board bore a public notice: Jane Doe, found in a refrigerator box outside Johnson, TN, her slight measurements and weight. The photographs were of her face, not peaceful in death, and of her tattoos Born to Run, and J.T. caught in scrollworks of roses. One winter in Harvard Square, I wandered drunk, my arms full of still warm, stolen laundry, and a man said come to my studio and of course I went— for some girls, our bodies are not immortal so much as expendable, we have punished them or wearied from dragging them around for so long and so we go wearing the brilliant plumage of the possibly freed by death. Quick on the icy sidewalks, I felt thin and fleet, and the night made me feel unique in the eyes of the stranger. He told me he made sculptures of figure skaters, not of the women's bodies, but of the air that whipped around them, a study of negative space, which he said was the where-we-were-not that made us. Dizzy from beer, I thought why not step into that space? He locked the door behind me.
For some reason my LJ is looking ill this morning, which is making posting this rather distracting...so I'll just wrap things up with a quick:
Finished Reading: "Down Home Zombie Blues" by Linnea Sinclair....not what you are probably thinking, and actually quite good.
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| 2008-04-26 17:23 |
| Evidence... |
| Public |
Evidence that I'm still out of it?
I totally forgot to mention that:
A. The gals at work gave me the most breathtaking bouquet of mixed colored tulips with scads of baby's breath and a pink ribbon, it was the cheeriest thing I've ever seen...and I LOVED it. Very lovely birthday gift.
B. My 2Good2BTrue little sister gave me a typically snarky card and practically front row tickets to see Chris Botti later this summer at the Fraze, which is really just the perfect gift and I'm already crossing my fingers that the weather is nice that evening.
C. She also drug the rest of our family out for dinner the night before my birthday to the extremely charming El Meson, which is a local high end Mexican/Cuban style restaurant which packs a punch of color onto an outdoor patio (tented in the cooler months) and a menu that is completely indescribable. It just is. I had a perfectly divine Carne Asada marinated in lime and orange juices with a slice of grilled orange on top, I could have savored it all night. Finished the meal with "plain ole" (cept you knew it would be anything BUT) chocolate ice cream served in a tall silver metal "martini glass" topped with a rich sprinkling of cinnamon and a quick swirl of a coffee liqueur which made it dark and complicated and divine.
The whole place makes you want summer to last forever so badly you just sob all the way home.
And all those great things badly needed mentioned before.
I swear, I'm going to get things together one of these days. Hopefully before I go back to work full time on Monday!
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| 2008-04-26 16:47 |
| No Reason! |
| Public |
There really is no reason it should have taken me this long to get back to things....after all, my big birthday trip was a wee bit of a joke!
I think in retaliation alone, I was "off" all last week....even when I was actually here.
I did take yesterday morning off to do some gardening, and things are just too lovely for words around here this week so I will try to take some pictures and post next week.
I did take some pictures while I was in TN, but nothing much came of them. In honor of the tradition though I will post them in this gallery before I take off.
There were two or so that I thought came off quite nice though, so for you who haven't the time to check out the rest....here's a tease (and trust me, it's all tease, because the rest are pedestrian at best):
I took a whole series of these from different angles...just managing to dodge the sun flare.
So the drive was nice, that's about all I can say. Cheekwood itself was not exactly a "destination"...as much as it would have been a great place to stop and stretch your legs...which with all the hills it would have been ideal for that purpose. The art was minimal, and that's being nice...although I will say what was there was worth seeing.
My cake?
William Edmonson
Really lovely stuff, things I would love to tuck in my garden if I would dare leave them outside....if I had some in the first place, natch.
That and the mini creme brulee I packed in a pink cooler bag with ham and muenster on croissants and iced coffee's which I ate at a rest stop, almost made the trip worthwhile!
Well, I need to get moving...cookies to bake, and ice, and NOT eat....and some errands to run.
Finished Reading (with bonus added commentary): "Notes From the Back Seat" by Jody Gehrman (LOVE! WANT MORE GWEN!), "The Last Command" by Timothy Zahn, "Savor Me Slowly" by Gena Showalter (something a bit different from the vampire sci'fi I've been slurping up lately...key word: Alien Huntress...tell me you aren't a bit curious!), "Blood Brothers" by Nora Roberts (never lets me down. never.), "Dragon Slippers" by Jessica Day George (Amazon recommendation, cute breezy read), "Fire Study" by Maria V. Snyder (nice series, nothing too flashy, but solid good reading and I keep going back...mostly for Valek!), "Like A Charm" by Candace Havens (sugary, but I would read a sequel)....whew, I think that's it! Although I did listen to "The Spoken Word Revolution, Redux" while driving home last weekend.
And two side notes:
Thanks for the Birthday wishes, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) groovyrooster
and to _illumina_ can I just say....WOW! That photo is awesome, and I CAN'T believe you did that without even a hint of "...so, I'm thinking about tossing myself out of a plane at X# of many feet above ground someday. Maybe tomorrow."
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| 2008-04-17 07:37 |
| Green |
| Public |
Can I just say, as a redhead, it's nice to have green back for a season or two?
And speaking of green, it's going to sound crazy....but yesterday was rather a great day for me investment wise! I had kind of quit looking around the middle of February, before I became tempted to yank it all out and stuff it in a stiletto under my bed. Yesterday though, I got to thinking that as this is the time of year I should be looking at rebalancing a little...maybe I should suck it up and see where I am. That way I can increase my contributions enough to cover...or at least partially cover...the sinkhole the stock market has become this quarter.
So imagine my surprise to find myself at a record high yesterday morning, and after a good day on Wall Street...another record high this morning!
(HUGE GRIN OF SHEER DELIGHT.)
So, all that said...I am totally justified in having been suckered into buying another pair of Betsey Johnson earrings. Yes, they are almost as ridiculous as the first pair.
So, today is supposed to be unseasonably warm. I swear this "weather girl" on NPR must love the frigid temperatures because she said this with a tone that implied she was scandalized and we had all better enjoy this while we could because she was not going to let it happen again.
I don't really feel like it, but I guess I better make a cup of coffee and settle in for the morning.
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| 2008-04-14 08:26 |
| Drowned Worms |
| Public |
This entry is going to be really disjointed so go with it...
Everyone who knows me well, knows I love the rain. I really do, especially soft, warm, spring rain that leaves the new grass almost unearthly green. But there is one thing I hate about rainy days.
drowned worms.
Today is Cookie Sale day! Too bad none of you can just drop by my desk and buy some...they look real cute. Surprisingly enough I haven't eaten more than one or two that broke while I was trying to ice them...mostly because I was sooo dang tired. It took me almost 12 hours to bake and ice all of these, now I'm just hoping to sell most of them off before they do start looking good to me!
I couldn't sleep at all last night, I slept the day away and then started watching (finally!) the second season of Dynasty which is just as ridiculously toe curling as the first season...and I have no earthly idea why.
And speaking of curled toes, you should just see my new shoes....but that will have to be another post. Maybe tomorrow if I feel more like tottering!
I have made plans for my birthday trip, but a last minute second option is weighing in. I had planned to drive down Sunday morning, visit the art museum/botanical gardens, spend the night at a Hotel Indigo, and head home the next day. But. I've just found out that one of the author's whose blog I read (see Friends Page) is going to be "close" the very next weekend. Close being a relative 300 miles away, but in an area I have very much wanted to visit again. I have a feeling this is ALL going to depend on the weather that day, but if I am not road tripped out by then....
I have been fighting this cold all week, hence the long "radio silence"...but even still I've managed to get some reading done.
Finished Reading: "Spectre of the Past" and "Vision of the Future" by Timothy Zahn, "Mystic and Rider" by Sharon Shinn, "Treasures" by Nora Roberts, "Iron Kissed" by Patricia Briggs, "The Last Days of Krypton" by Kevin J. Anderson, and "Planet of Twilight" by Barbara Hambly
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| 2008-03-31 08:12 |
| Wot-A-Weekend |
| Public |
Sorry, couldn't resist...after our garden stone class, Dawn took me to a fifties style drive-in hot dog joint called Wot-A-Dog. Foot-longs with chili and cheese and onions and mugs of root beer. groan. ;)
On top of which, Bill opted to make "Veal Scallopini stuffed with Pecorino and Prosciutto with a Cognac Cream Sauce" last night.
Is it any wonder I feel like a mutt this morning?
Mixed meat products topped with more meat products followed by baby meat products stuffed with salted meat products....
Actually, the chili dogs were pretty good. It's been years, literally, since I've eaten a hot dog.
Dawn is supposed to go back and pick up our garden stones later this week, once they have dried. I will be curious to see how they turn out. The concrete was so dark when it was wet...and so soupy it kept squishing up over the mosaic pieces. They said the concrete on the glass will wash off...but I'm just hoping enough of the design shows through! I'll try to remember to post a picture.
Well, I need to get started. Monday morning paperwork diminishes little no matter how fiercely you glare at it. Plus, I need to make some calls and set up appointments to get my car in and try to get a salon appointment before Erin goes out on maternity leave again.
Finished Reading: "Specter of the Past" by Timothy Zahn and "Challenger Park" (audio) by Stephen Harrigan
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| 2008-03-29 11:00 |
| Not the Worst Thing Ever.... |
| Public |
so. the glasses aren't
the worst thing ever...
after all.
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| 2008-03-28 11:31 |
| Pink Ribbon Cookie Sale - April 14th! |
| Public |
One thing off my list to do...
a litte clip art tweaking, and I'm in business! It's a little Stepford wife-ish...but I think it works.
I'm going to sell them 6 for $5.00, I set it up for April 14th...so hopefully the cutter will be in by then.
Maybe I can talk Dawn or Shannon (or both) into donning aprons with me that weekend!
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| 2008-03-28 09:30 |
| Friday, Again, Already. |
| Public |
 mildy panicked |
Not that I am in any way disappointed to find that the weekend is just around the corner...but I have been experiencing this phenomenon more and more lately.
I'm working my tail off...and all of a sudden I flip the calendar page and it sinks in that it's Friday and I haven't the slightest idea how I am going to manage a weekend as it doesn't conform to my "schedule".
Maybe you have to be a bit of a workaholic before that makes sense.
Oh well, fresh bag of Kona coffee...a cd of stadium anthems from ESPN...I'm ready to go!
I actually have some plans for this weekend. Dawn and I are taking that garden stone class and I even have a vague idea what I'd like to design.
Couple of things coming up.
#1. I am going to be holding a one woman "bake sale" for the Walk for Women's Wellness. I ordered a "pink ribbon" cookie cutter this morning, and plan to make a couple batches of the Nutmeg Sugar Cookies and ice them...pink of course! I haven't decided for sure if I am going to just bag them 6 ea. and ask for a donation, or set a price.
#2. I need to round up some volunteers to help make the hats for the walk. This year we are doing a white ball cap with a hot pink daisy pinned to it. The hats are in, and headed my way...the daisies just got ordered yesterday. So I need to locate some good heavy wire cutters to trim the stems off with, and some pin backs, and cross my fingers I can pull this off.
I'm started to rev it up for spring though, got my taxes done yesterday and didn't even cry this year! I have a list of things I would like to get for around the house, and I need to make a final decision on what I'm going to do about getting a hammock (I won't go another summer without one, I swear), and I need to plan my birthday trip, and find coffee for Lashley's hawaiian wedding, and print up some signs about the bake sale, and.....
Breathe deeply, sip coffee, do not sucumb to mild feelings panic induced by organizational overdrive!
Finished Reading: "Necklace of Kisses" by Francesca Lia Block, "Just A Taste" by Deidre Martin, and "The Mages Daughter" by Lynn Kurland
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| 2008-03-24 12:59 |
| Spoiled |
| Public |
Just spoiled myself with a Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel, and while I was at it...ordered some sample sizes of their moisturizers in case I decide this spring requires even more treats!
But more importantly...
Finished Reading: "Firebird" by Mercedes Lackey, "Stranger in Paradise" by Robert B. Parker, "Manta's Gift" by Timothy Zahn (although I don't usually read too much sci/fi this one was intriguing), and "Reader and Raelynx" by Sharon Shinn
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| 2008-03-24 09:40 |
| Fairy Garden |
| Public |
For some reason, I could never really get a very good picture of the fairy garden I made last year when we took the class at Meadowview....and this year yielded about the same results.
With a better of idea of what we were going to be doing, I was more prepared this year. I made a little stone cottage last week, and ordered a fairy figurine on-line. I feel like this year's garden looks a little more complete and structured than last years...which was mostly one big lawn (I got carried away with the moss!), a stone path, a tree, and a gated archway.
I'll post some of the photo's I took Saturday right after it was planted...and once I can get it outside and the moss grows out more, I will try to remember to take an update shot.
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| 2008-03-18 10:17 |
| Lucky "Charms" |
| Public |
You know it occured to me this morning as I was eating my Kashi probiotic fiber cereal...that if you close your eyes and fire up the old imagination those vanilla covered rice puffs could almost be mistaken for the little marshmallow Lucky Charms.
almost.
Here's a cute cartoon someone sent me that I really loved...
it reminds me of hanging out with my sister.
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| 2008-03-17 11:40 |
| Maybe These? |
| Public |
| "questive" |
I've been scouring the internet in quest of what I should expect when I go in later this week to pick up my new glasses....and it's possible I got these:
 That would sure be grass green all right. The frames are described as tortoise though, so maybe the plum color was all in my imagination? yeah, right.
Ah, wish me luck though.
I've taken the added precaution of contacting the only real live diabetic I know and he has promised to pass on some sage advice this Sunday over lamb shanks and chocolate bunnies.
My kind of mentor!
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| 2008-03-17 08:25 |
| Kate Spade and the Sugar Bitch |
| Public |
 anxious |
Well, this weekend was just full of fun and frivolity.
I kicked it off Friday morning at the optometrist by finding out that due to my very sudden shift in vision...towards the worse, naturally...it seems there is a very good chance I'm a diabetic.
I gotta tell you, for someone who has rarely been more ill than the occasional annoying cold, that came as a bit of a shock. Of course, I've still to be tested, and I don't exhibit many of the symptoms...but that's the treat about diabetes according to what I've read so far. Lot's of people don't exhibit any symptoms at all.
Isn't that just vastly reassuring.
I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I don't sweeten things like coffee or tea, I don't gravitate towards candy or donuts, I love vegetables enough to eat them all day every day for the most part, I know a lot about eating a balanced diet...and with the threat of impending blindness hovering over me I suppose I could stick with one. ha. ha.
Still, the suddenly more imperative need for exercise doesn't thrill me, and for someone who spends part of almost every weekend dreaming up a new dessert for Supper Club...a sugar restriction is a bit rich!
I don't know if I'm just resigned to this as "my luck", or if I'm in what one book called "diabetic denial"...but so far I'm not really flipping out about it. I'm just sitting here, quietly thinking "oh, fuck".
The part of me still exhibiting a sense of humor is more worried about what frames I went on to choose while widely dilated and "mildly" freaked.
All I really remember is they were Kate Spade and there is a chance they might be in shades of grass green and plum.
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| 2008-03-07 09:02 |
| peeling my lips back and snarling. |
| Public |
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 4 PM EST SATURDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 4 PM EST SATURDAY. LIGHT SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE REGION LATE THIS MORNING. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVIER THIS AFTERNOON...AND LAST THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON. FOUR TO SIX INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED TONIGHT...WITH AN ADDITIONAL FIVE TO SEVEN INCHES FALLING SATURDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL TAPER OFF AND END SATURDAY AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION...NORTH WINDS AT 20 TO 30 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL CAUSE SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING...AND LIMIT VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. BY LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON...TEN INCHES TO A FOOT OF SNOW IS EXPECTED WITH DRIFTS OVER TWO FEET. REMEMBER...A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR HIGHLY LIKELY.
 ain't that just lovely.
The only bright spot to my day was seeing that Island Coconut coffee is finally available again. Ironically that is one of my favorite signs of spring. ha. ha.
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