Baked Kitties

Every now and again we give our kitties catnip. It's a special-occasion drug pulled out when neither Steve nor myself feel like laser-pointing and ribbon-bouncing or ping-pong throwing. We've got a little pouch and some loose weed and we dribble the loose on their scratching post and toss the pouch on the floor and they go to town. Think Lions on a fallen Gazelle. If weed bled our floors would be saturated. They tumble over each other to get the best bit and then after several minutes they wander away to fall into a stoned coma. That's where they are now.


Ever notice that people who don't have kids talk about their pets as if they are children. Not in the "my baby got an A" way but in the "here's a funny anecdote about my dog/cat/parakeet/komodo dragon" way. It's amusing and something almost everyone can relate to. Because unlike children, if you don't have a pet of your own you know someone who does and they're completely whacked about it. Case in point: my parents inherited robokitty (Steve's name for Patience the grey cat) from a friend who met a guy on the internet and moved to England to marry him. It was supposed to be for a few months and turned into several years. The cat passed away at my parents house of plain-old-age (and she was up there - pushing the two-decade mark) and then the cats owner, who called on a regular basis to catch up with my parents and talk to the cat , asks for the ashes of the cat. At one point there was even discussion of saving the DNA so she could clone robokitty and have her favorite cat again. This was a serious conversation. You can't make this up.

I'm going to make m&m chocolate chip cookies today, as soon as we go to the store and pick up eggs. These, plus the pumpkin muffins, will be my dessert contribution to the Mexican-themed Christmas Eve Dinner at the in-laws. I'd rather make sopapillas, but those don't travel well and using the in-laws kitchen is something I'm loathe to do.

Sister-in-law posted a blog on her myspace bemoaning her hair. We've all been there. That's another situation everyone can relate to. I've got a wild-hair to do something different and drastic and yet I don't want to hate it next week because I went and did something rash. I have the solution - a cute style worn by Julia Stiles a few years ago. It's on the cover of the Aug 2002 Elle. How do I remember this? Because not only did I convince my sister to chop about a foot off of my hair not long after that, but I still have the magazine. That spread makes me want to chop my hair again. I'll settle by vicariously chopping it via SIL. ;-)

I'm feeling rambly and chatty this morning (clearly) but we've got present to deliver and I MUST do something about my nails. Oh, and there are cookies to bake. And now that I think about it, I like that I'm too busy to write an in-depth blog. And it's all fun-busy today.


PS - next year I'm sending out a letter in our Christmas cards next year. And I think we'll expand so that everyone gets a photo card rather than just immediate family. We'll pick a less-formal picture for next year, too. Something everyone will enjoy....... ;-)

Baking and Martinique

So this afternoon I'm going to do some baking. M&M Chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin muffins, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Might even try that peppermint bark again. :-)

This week has been crazy but it looks like it might be lightening up. Demanding clients are in Florida, miraculously actually leaving rather than canceling their trip to stand over the subcontractors like they did last time. (That was hellacious.) And I've just purchased the last of my Christmas gifts. Insert WOOT and imaginary glass of celebratory Emily Cocktail (champagne, pomegranate juice, cosmo mix, seeds for garnish) here. :-D

The Alaskan cruise has been put on hold - primarily because it costs more than we want to spend. Alternatively, a villa in Martinique in July (the off-season due to hurricanes) is going to be much less expensive. Especially when split with 6-7 other people. It'll be a 30th birthday on the beach :-D I'm considering chartering a yacht for a day so we can go wild-sea-life watching. Want to come? All you need is a passport, airfare, and whatever your share of the rent is. There's a full kitchen so I figure we'll let the men do some grilling and the women do some whipping up and go out a couple of nights, but it's better than spending tons of money on overpriced mediocre hotel food. And after my many hotel and hospital stays....let's just say I'm burned out on cafeteria food :-D

That's all I've got for now, so I'm going to go throw in Elf and make some cookies! Happy Day!

The Googlepage is caught up!

Until babies are born, the Alaskan Cruise is taken, and more happy hours occur, that is ;-)


http://emily.steve.googlepages.com/annualholidaysleepover

Baby Shower Pics Up

Please see:

http://emily.steve.googlepages.com/babyshower

Just Call Me Sleeping Beauty...or Einstein.

Last night I crash at 8. It's 8:20 now and I'm thinking that bed looks appealing. And not for anything other than sleeping, so get your mind out of the gutter. What time do I wake up? Anywhere between 7 and 7:30...on a good day. Yup, you did that math right. 11 hours. ELEVEN HOURS. Am I 3? I take comfort in two things: 1) it's the drugs and I'm only on them for three more weeks. 2) Einstein needed 12 hours of sleep a night. And he did great things. Maybe I'm resting up for greatness.

I have Jury Duty in the morning. To completely change the subject. I'm soooo looking forward to it. I've got magazines and a book for the waiting time. I'll take my pathetic excuse for an outline and work on it a bit there. Or probably I'll leave the outline and just take a blank pad so I can get the bare timeline down. The first step (after the creation of the main characters) is a very thin plotline. Then the timeline, then the outline, then the writing and multiple revisions. Then greatness. In theory. I have a thin plot -- this one is a "novel of suspense" rather than a "mystery" so there's not really the threat of Spoiling it. Here's how it ends: they get together or they don't. He lives or he dies. She lives or she dies. His wife forgives him or leaves him or dies. I could pull a Tarantino/Shakespearean tragedy and have them all die. That would be awesome.

Speaking of tragedies -- I watched the first four episodes of Entourage and quickly removed the rest of the dvds from my queue. I usually don't dislike things as much as I disliked this. It was so highly recommended and hottie boyfriend from Devil Wears Prada is in it....but I liked exactly one character and had little sympathy for 2. The 4th (hottie boyfriend) I could have grown to like but it wasn't worth watching to find out. Whoever called this Sex and The City for men has clearly never watched Sex and The City. Yes - 4 single women/4 single men. Yes there are parties and booty calls and fashion....but Entourage has something Sex and the City lacks: morons. Morons as main characters. Who started this trend of men being morons -- men in Role Model positions being morons? Why have we lowered the bar? Why is only 1 in 4 men a viable option? Maybe my standards are just too high.....(insert smugness: if, in reality, 1 in 4 IS the option, then 3 of my friends are going to be very sad......)

Ah, in case you're wondering - the baby shower went fabulously. Sister in Law is stocked for BW and everyone got to see her and ooh and aah over her belly. I took 96 decent photos, which will get narrowed down and put up on the google page. Eventually. I'll let you know when that happens.

Dude. 8:31. The End.

Drink Up, Me Hearties, Yo Ho

Um...yeah. Watched Pirates 3. So glad I got it on Netflix instead of sitting in the theatre. The rest of the audience wouldn't have appreciated what Steve and I did to it. It started with an explosion scene reminiscent of Apocalypse Now and contained waaay too many Elizabeth Swann speeches - one of which made Steve say "What? This isn't Braveheart!" All Hail the Mighty Johnny Depp who carried the movie with great pizazz. He is very talented and were it not for him I wouldn't have lasted more than 10 minutes into the movie.

Moral of the story? Unless you need closure, don't waste your almost THREE HOURS. Seriously. And if you need a Johnny Depp fix, come with me and we'll see Sweeney Todd. Which will, of course, rock.

(PS - for good Bill Nighey, watch Love, Actually. With some insulin on hand ;-))

Anyway, I'm off to bathe - have a new stash of goodies from Lush that I adore - and mentally prep for what is going to be a very long weekend. Birthday dinner, Baby shower. In that order. There will be pictures of the latter on the googlepage.

Happy Weekend!

Withdrawal Sets In...

On Saturday I officially stepped down my dosage of the anti-seizure medication that is regulating the headache caused by the brain-swell. So far, not so bad. I did take an hour and a half nap instead of working out, though. But, man, do I feel rested. It was pretty sucky before I gave in with the nap.

My cats have reached new levels of genius/irritation. They've actually started peeling bark off the trunk of the tree and are now batting it around. Sheesh.

I've started building up the secondary characters for my next novel. And I've got some current contacts for agents for the first one. So that's good. I get all tense when I think about actually sending it out. The first couple of queries I launched don't count because I didn't have current info and then when I dug a little further, those agents are no longer working. At least not in fiction. Of course then I remind myself that I write because I can't not write (as evidenced by my immediate need to start researching the next one before the ink was dry on the second revision of the last one...) Writing is a way of life and if I happen to make money from it, then that's an added bonus. I do, after all, have a day job to keep me in sunglasses.

I did collect a nice little story at lunch today, and since I've found my commonplace book (lost for about a year...sad :-( ) I wrote it down. It will go in there somewhere. It pertains to wooden indians and made me chuckle. The first part of the book has descriptions of customers from when I worked at Counter Culture for a month and a half. You can tell I was reading Palahniuk at the time. And a bit of Graham Joyce, too , I believe. The Facts of Life -- given all of my blurbs about blitzing.

Here's a good one: "It's barely lunch and she's already drunk. She's let her poorly-dyed red-wine hair frizz around her head. She decided purple glitter eye and lip make-up would compliment her too-small purple lame dress. She spent our time together talking nonsense and laughing too loudly while she clumped around in too-big white heeled sandals."

Obviously the grammar needs a bit of work, but for something written surreptitiously between customers, I don't think it's that awful. And also I remember exactly what she looked like and I remember the sound of her laugh - braying like a donkey. You get all kinds in Deep Ellum.

ok -- I'm sure there's something else that needs doing, since I slept the afternoon away....

I'd like to offer moral support, but I have questionable morals

So this weekend was fun. Picked up the girls on Friday evening, had some delivered sushi (Bubble had a baked potato) and then there was card making, ornament decorating, and Santa Claus 3 watching. That movie made me sad I can't drink right now.

We crashed out and then Saturday morning camped out on the sidewalk to be stepped on and watch the parade. Many many pictures coming to the googlepage for that one. I dropped them off Saturday evening and was once again glad that when you actually have kids you've got nine months to prepare and you generally don't get 3 at a time. I would have slept all day except I've actually had to work this week and so there's too much to do.

I don't feel bad for not doing a whole lot of it, though. Steve just came into the office to vacuum and got distracted by the Eve game he hasn't logged out of all day. Apparently there's a lot of autopilot and he's playing with a friend who lives in New Jersey and is currently experiencing a "Wintry mix." Bastard. It's 75 degrees here. I'm in jeans and I'm hot. Guess I should do laundry.

We watched a movie called Vitus last night (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/vitus/) about a wunderkind. It takes place in Switzerland in nowish time. The kid who plays Vitus (pronounced vee-tus) is actually a talented Pianist himself. According to the onimscient IMDB.com, he's played with the Tokyo New York City orchestra this year. At the ripe old age of 15. He's generally a genius in other ways and has a hard time with it so he tries to fly and hits his head and that solves the genius part. It's quite good.

It started and we saw this 6 year old boy play the piano as if he we a well-trained adult and who then did higher level math In His Head and I looked at Steve with the horrific thought: we both come from a long line of ridiculously smart people. Having a smart child is almost a foregone conclusion -- but having a musically/athletically/whateverally talented genius child? That's too much pressure on all of us.

Anyway, you should watch it. I've got to go corral my retarded five year old of a cat (he's 2, really, but you should treat your pets as though they're retarded 5 year olds -- all of emotion but none of the brains. They'll never get any smarter than they are) off the table, where he's eating ribbon.

tchuss!

It's a Mad World

My boss's father died this morning. I was again told - by his wife, now widow - that I was a ray of sunshine in his life. Every time I came in it just made him smile. I didn't know him very well but the impact it is having on my boss breaks my heart. And his, I know. I left their condo today thinking that one day that could be my family. Myself a new widow, my family gathering around to mourn the passing of my husband. If I am starting into my 80s, well that's a bittersweet thought....more bitter than sweet right now.

My boss is like the older brother I always wanted. And the older brother I never wanted. 12 years my senior and it only took a few months for us to fall into the easy relationship that siblings who work together have. Good natured ribbing and a fair amount of bickering. It's odd - despite everything I have never seen the inside of a therapists office, nor have I ever found the need for any kind of mood stabilizer...and he's on more than I can count. His mother said that of all her sons he is the most fragile and I think she's right. And by now I know how to deal with fragile - unlike before when my response was pure self-preservation - nothing but fight or flight. I am, however, leery of how he'll react. He has just lost his father.

I reacted by forcing myself to the gym, where I lasted 20 minutes and then threw in the towel. The How To Climb Like A Girl lessons have stuck with me. The finger-skin and muscles have not. Thursday evenings are still mostly member nights, so I'm going to force my way in then and see what I can do.

Unrelated news, but still resonating oddly with me: the psycho roommate has gotten married. I know this because I spy. It adds a new dimension to things and once I've digested it I'll be less weirded out. It could make an interesting twist for the villainy...a married villain? Does that happen?

At any rate, this is my mood today, please have some:

Dusting out my brain a bit

I'm going to climb tomorrow. I've been saying this for months, but I'm going tomorrow. It's been three months since I've done any serious physical activity and the muscles are showing it. It's sad. I'm hoping that it will release those endorphins I'm starting to miss...and I had an encounter with my boss's father (who is quite literally on death's door) that left me feeling a bit "what's the point?" So I'm having a Meaning of Life crisis on top of the waning endorphins. Where' Monty Python when you need him?

Other things to help: picked up a couple of trade-mags to re-start the agent search. What a total PITA. It's not like if I were going to take up modeling again or something: you show up, they think you've got that "Thing" (models aren't really good looking, they've just got that "thing" -- watch Top Model if you're curious) or they don't and you work or you don't. When you've spent years writing a (badass) novel you have to get it to the write selection of people before they'll even put it into their slush pile. And then you've got to have a kickass query letter and synopsis and then you've got to hope that a) they haven't already filled their projections for the year and b) the sample chapters you sent were in the right format and don't suck. Or at least that they show enough promise to get them to want to read more.

And you have to have current info for them.

Anyone know a literary agent? ;-)

I'm also finished compiling the "soundtrack" to the next novel. I use songs the way movies use them - they set my mood while I'm writing and that translates to the prose. In theory. So I need to build my "villian" and some of the secondary characters and then I'll outline it and do the necessary research.

The heroine is pretty well lined out - she's going to be one of the secondary characters from the first book a few years later. The villian will be loosely based on a man - then a boy - who I think about more than I should. Too many things remind me of him and so this will (should) be cathartic. Of course, when I made this decision, I started to wonder how much of his life reminds him of me. And because we all know how much I like spying, yes I googled him. Yes I found him. I have a rough idea of what he's doing with his life and while I'm happy that he's happy - I'm also happy that he's far far away.

Anyway - enough about that.

The other decision I made is that when the Bear is home for Christmas the husband, Tranny, Bear and I - and anyone else who wants in on it - are going to go to the Lizard Lounge. Relive a bit of that 22 year old craziness. Even if I'm still on the wagon....anyone got a glow stick?

Gimme the Beach Boys To Soothe My Soul

Ok, those aren't the real lyrics, and we didn't actually go to the beach, but the beach could have been in the plans if we'd wanted it to be and I'm not the only one who spent my formative years thinking that only the Beach Boys could soothe their souls (I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away....)

Just got back from a week in Florida. I'm fairly fried from the return trip; we were 1.5 hours out of Tampa and our plane took off at 7:30....you do the math. :-D Also, the rental was in my name so I'm the one who had to drive it up so guess who got to drive instead of sleep. In their defense, neither mom nor Kris slept. They chatted so we could all wake up.

google map of where we were: (roughly)


View Larger Map

So mostly there was laying about with some magazines/books/knitting and chatting and eating. Which is always nice.

I don't have a whole lot to say because, as mentioned above, I'm pretty fried. So I'll leave you with a little video (it's not long) that my aunt showed us. We were all rolling with laughter. It's funny because...it's true. Trust me :-)

Stars V. Avalanche...or Gay Chicken, Moby Dick Style

Stars game last night. We were a little late (Steve, J, and I) because traffic held J up. It was all cool, though. One train ride later and we were there in time to witness that the Stars were already up one. We found the Gang and kicked some would-be-usurpers out of our seats.

It would have been a Shut Out if I had kept my big mouth shut, but I jinxed it.

Photos on the googlepage :-)

Afterwards, J, Steve and I wandered down to the Neimans Tree and noticed the Pox on the city. Follow the vaguely naughty link to find out what that's all about.

http://www.yourdspot.com/


Leave for Florida tomorrow to visit the family. Can't wait. Looking forward to a nice, relaxing week doing a whole lot of Not Much.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few PSAs

1) People live downtown. If you're standing in line for a motivational seminar at the Majestic Theatre on Sunday morning - don't just wander out in the street without looking. Buses, taxis, churchgoers and I could be coming down the street trying to get home. And we need to turn where you just walked out into the street without looking while you're carrying your baby. Good thing I have a horn...and the green light...and I naturally drive 5 miles an hour when there are people spilling off the sidewalk there. (Normally it's for the club at Harwood and Pacific because those hootchies and Thugs just meander across the road and then give you the finger for driving on your green light.) So seriously -- I know is elemetary-ish but for God's sake LOOK before you step off a sidewalk. If your wife hadn't have hit you, I might have. sheesh.

2) If you want to gather odd looks from people, hop on your early Christmas present (A shiny new red bike) and take a leisurely ride through Deep Ellum. You'll throw everyone for a loop. I can't wait until my cup holder comes in so I can ride my bike AND have a milkshake!

3) I've updated the googlepage. Follow the link on the right. The NY trip (on the vacation page) and the Halloween 07 (on the part pix page) are both full of photos now!

4) Stars game this Friday. I'll have my camera :-)

I've given up on the editing

I have a lot of half-assed photo editing programs. I've demo'd a couple and then there's what came with the computer and camera -- all of them are lacking something key. And very few of them are intuitive and/or easy to use. And one of them likes to save pictures where they can't be retrieved. Iphoto doesn't like you to be able to upload to the web directly from iphoto unless it's being published to your .mac account - so like if you're browing on tinypic you can't pull directly from iphoto. It's the dumbest thing apple has ever done and my only real complaint about their programs. Everything else rocks, but that. I'd also like it if you could shrink the resolution on iphoto. Fix those two things and my photo editing search will be over. Because frankly, I'm not getting paid to put a whole lot of effort into the post-editing, if you know what I mean. My pictures rock from the moment I click the shutter and if I have to do more than a bit of cropping/red eye/retouching then clearly I need to head back to classes.


Anyway - I've gotten the pumpkin patch page updated, finally. Next on the list: NYC and Halloween. yippie!

http://emily.steve.googlepages.com/pumpkinpatch

You know what I like?

Basketball. College Basketball. And, conveniently, guess what time of year it is? (www.goduke.com will get you what you need ;-) )

It's also Hockey season. November 16th, baby. If you're reading this and you also have plans for the Stars game that night, please keep in mind that the Neimans Tree Lighting is happening at the same time and parking is going to be nightmarish. And that I'll be taking pictures of the tree the next day, I guess. I <3 Christmas.

So I decided ( to change the subject) that the Pixelmator, which seemed so promising with its filters and its layers, is actually a gigantic waste of my time. It seems smart but really it's stupid. So I'm downloading an Aperture trial. NYC and Pumpkin Patch photos will be uploaded once I determine how much fiddling around I'll be doing with them.


In other news, I figured out the reason that I didn't get so into Halloween this year. Because while I certainly never stared Death in the face, I was reminded pretty frequently that it was in the next room and I was a lucky girl. Apparently I was reminded often enough that when Steve made an innocent comment at dinner in NY (the big family dinner) I snapped and told him that we're never talking about how close I came to dying again. Seriously. It pissed me off. So Halloween was anti=climactic and I find myself wanting to fast-forward to Christmas so I can decorate and do warm-fuzzy things. (I don't decorate for Thanksgiving. Too many phallic symbols and Turkey butts for my taste.)

But first I must strip our coffee table. It's glossy white which seemed like a good idea at the time but which now just does not work. I'll post pictures ;-) I'll do halloween, too. We hung out at Thomas's until my head drove us home. It was fun. Saw Celeste and Vinny and Caroline for 30 seconds. I think it's a good thing I'm so behind on the blogging and the webpage updates. I may be a genetically-trained archiver, but I still enjoying doing all of thee things I'm archiving. Fo sho.

Peace out. Yo.

I'm leaving on a Jet Plane...

So tomorrow we leave for the Big Apple. 4 days of fun, frolicking, booze, and women....oh wait, that's the Boss's trip....

So here's the plan so far: Leave tomorrow a.m. at the butt-crack of dawn. Yeah. We have to be at the Commune in Grapevine by 7 so that a) my sister can take my car to work and b) we'll be there when the shuttle arrives. Why is my sister taking my car to work? Well, because her car is a heap of...well, we'll just call it a heap, and in the spring she'll be replacing it. She thinks with a car like mine. So while we're gone she'll be test driving mine. She has two rules: I want gas in it when I get back and I want no trash left in it. I took out all of my cds because she has a habit of "borrowing" them and then misplacing them. Not Cool. I might slide in a copy of my Lilly Allen, though, because I bought it on itunes and can always burn another.

Saturday we'll be laying about the hotel rooms - maybe a trip up to the Hamptons where I'll don a snooty accent and pretend that I hate everything. (pretend...?) Followed by MASS (at which I'll be struck by lightening. If this happens, know that I love you. And there's no more pot hidden in my house. You could look, but it would be fruitless. Unless you have a thing for catnip.) Mass is followed by fancy dinner celebrating the 65th wedding anniversary of the grandparents-in-law. Awesome. If we hit 65 then I'll be 102. I'd like to think I'll live that long. If I don't get struck down upon entering the church, that is.

Sunday we're having drunken brunch (well, I'm having sober brunch) and meandering about the city with R and E, who live in Jersey now. Steve lost his sunglasses, so we'll probably replace them with some street-bought Farmanis or Prados or something. I also wouldn't mind a Shermes Birkin...if we happen to run across one. I'd take a Kelly if I needed to.

Monday we fly back and come home to some snotty cats who will ignore us for a day just out of spite.

Whining: My scrapbook store is closing! Recollections. Because some Canadians bought Michaels and are utterly clueless. I'm going to write an angry letter. I enjoy the scrapbook store. And I *hate* Michaels. There aren't words for how much I will not be patronizing a michaels just because they shut down their specialty store. blargh.

Question: is it wrong of me to be vaguely relieved that I didn't get knocked up this year? As odds go I would have had a boy (most of the pregnant people I know are having/have recently had boys - with a couple of girls thrown in. Speaking with friends I know that this is fairly widespread...) I'm partial to girls, though. Hey- if I wait a couple of year we can the in-vitro where you pick the gender. Gattica, here I come!

Ok...I really should be packing. Motivation, please...?

Also - I have this song in my head. So I found the video. I love the song - and I'm totally digging the Fosse Dance Breaks. Makes me want to dance. Wonder if I'm cleared for that....?

Confession

I just serenaded Husband with the theme song from Cheers.

You know you're jealous.

Gettin' things accomplished :-)

I updated the googlepage a bit. With the park pictures. I can't tell you how glad I'll be when the construction is finished that it happened so quickly because they worked 24/7...literally. But right now I'm wishing they'd take a day off for goodness sake.

So follow the link if you're interested: http://emily.steve.googlepages.com/dallasdemoandconstruction

I haven't uploaded the pumpkin patch pictures yet because I downloaded an editing program called Pixelmator and I'm learning how to use it. So once those photos are tweaked to my satisfaction they'll go up. In the meantime I'm enjoying all the little gadgets it comes with.

I did reference a song on the construction page: Secret Meeting by the National. I tried to find a decent video to embed so you could enjoy it if you've never heard it, but the sound was atrocious. So....moving on.

I was talking with a friend of mine about why I read so many Young Adult Books (I'm currently reading the second novel in the Private series by Kate Brian: Invitation Only) and Murder Mystery/ Suspense Novels. I'll occasionally pick up Chick Lit, but only if it has nothing to do with her trials and tribulations as she tries to find love. I think it's because I burned out after so many Bridget Jones clones. The murder mysteries and suspense novels I like for obvious reasons: I'm completely morbid, I like puzzles, and there are little-to-no vapid, simpering beauties convinced that they're going to get the hot guy only to end up hooking up with the guy they'd always considered a friend in the end. :-D The young adult books I like because they, too, are so infrequently about romance. Yes there are relationships, and yes they are often intense because at 16 (or 14 or 18) it is always true love and the are always complicated. Nobody in the books I read is wondering if they can get pregnant, pay the bills, find a job, etc. All of the mundane things that plague adult life are gone and replaced with sneaking out after curfew, taking over the world, thwarting an evil master plan....they have more possibility. They aren't chained to reality or a pre-ordained notion of what Adult Fantasy should look like.

My next, next novel will be a young adult novel. (My next novel involves skateboards and pyrotechnics...I'm still researching it.) I've already got the characters.

Speaking of novels...Where, you ask, is the progress on my recently completed and revised novel? I'm paralized at Query Letter. What they ask for: Title, Genre, Word Count, Brief Description of Story, Brief biography of me. Um...Title: Putting The Damage On (working title, there might be copyright issues with Ms Amos), Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Word Count: 33,769 (which is shy of what they consider but I'm sure with the re-writes that are still forthcoming I'll push over the top). It's the brief descriptions that are stopping me. I'm going to work on it on the plane to/from New York next week. In between reading Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster - non fiction. The graphic on the front is a McDonalds Combo Meal wrapped in Prada logos. It's considered a must read for anyone in fashion, finance, marketing, or luxury industries. I consider it educational.

And now it's 11 am on a saturday morning. Laundry is in process, website updated. Blog updated. Next on my list is mopping or organizing my closet to pull out my Fall But Not Winter Clothes....neither one is appealing. Hm. There must be something I can do...

Insert Clever Blog Name Here

I just got back from Neimans. I wandered down to pick up a little gift for a cousin who's expecting a baby girl (out of the four pregnant women I know, two are having girls and two are having boys -- but one of those women is having twin boys so they're in the majority) and to pick up a cami to wear under my wrap dress so that I stay decent at dinner.

It's their 100th anniversary and they've got exhibits all over the store. And not just fashion - although the first floor seems dedicated to that. Up on the children's level (floor 1.5) they have a furniture exhibit, including a badass lego chair and a carved wood table - the wood carvings are tadpole to frog and *very* cool. Words fail me. Floor 3 has a shadow art exhibit - mangled wires reveal turns outlines of recognizable shapes when the spotlight hits them. Floor 4 has bedazzled walls - something I'm going to employ in the next child's room I get to do. Floor 5 has a Jetsons exhibit.

I'd forgotten that they lived in the 21st century. In houses up in the clouds with flying cars and robot companions. I'd like a robot companion. The exhibit is cool - clips of the cartoon are showing and there are plexi boxes with "Jetsons, then and now" displays. Example: robot floor cleaner = roomba. Worth a look if you're in the neighborhood before November 3rd.

And if you are in the neighborhood you should call me. Unless it's next weekend, because then I'll be in New York.

The night before the Christmas Parade (Dec 1 at 10 am) the twins and bubble are coming to spend the night like they did last year. Unlike last year they're staying until Sunday morning. We felt rushed last year so this year we're going to kick back and take it a little slower. I have a feeling I'll be renting High School Musical 2.

Speaking of - High School Musical On Ice is coming to AAC at the end of march. The twins turn 13 in March. Guess what I'll be doing that last sunday? Freezing my ass off watching high school kids be melodramatic. Whoopie!

There was something else I wanted to document, but I can't remember what it is...I'm sure it'll come to me...eventually...

I completely forgot to blog yesterday.

Yesterday was blog action day -- and the topic was the environment. What's Blog Action Day? you ask...well, it's one day a year when everyone who blogs is supposed to write on the same subject. To promote brotherhood or some such nonsense. But it's blogging about the environment and you'd think I'd be all over that.

Except that these drugs I'm on make me vague, easily distracted, and frustrated. (don't worry, will be calling the dr today to see if I can switch. I'd be better off on pot. For reals.)


So I'm going to blog really quickly (at 6:50 am on TUESDAY - a day late, sorry) about how saving the world has become so trendy. Not that I'm bothered by the trendiness - a little awareness here, a little action there...and voila- you've got some habits that stick and we're cutting down fewer trees, having access to more sources of healthy water, and hopefully preventing the death by drowning of several thousand polar bears who don't understand what's happening to their home. Seriously - I've always been sad about things like Deer and rabbits and squirrels whose homes have been demo'd in the interested of the newest suburban sprawl (and we all know how I feel about sprawl...) but the thought of polar bears drowning because their home is melting makes me want to cry.

One thing that does bug me: I've been a "Take my own bag" girl for years. My mom was a "take my own bag" woman for years before that. It seemed like the thing to do - she goes to the ALA conference, gets a boat load of canvas totes and instead of leaving them in the closet to take up space and collect dust - she leaves them in her trunk to carry bread, cheese, etc in. No plastic or paper pile up at her house, either. Because hauling plastic bags back to the store to be recycled was something we always forgot. We'd get to the store, see the bin, and smack ourselves on the forehead. Taking our own bags became habit before the city started curbside recycling.

I have a ton of bags picked up from various locations - ALA conferences, container store, the grocery in Dusseldorf where you have to buy your own bag - plastic or canvas and I thought "Badass souvenir! Canvas please.. four of them, since they're only $0.25E!" And I drag those with me everywhere. Will actually be taking them to the butcher today.

And then some genius thought up the idea for this:




And suddenly taking your own bag is popular because it makes a statement that the world can see. So those of us who have been quietly taking our own bags to whole foods and the farmers market and the butcher, etc, seem...passe? for not having a cool bag... Or we're seen as slobs because Yes, I have seen this bag. At Central Market. Being carried by a glamozon with perfect hair, makeup, heels, skinny jeans, and a humongous rock (probably from some questionable mine in Africa).

I'm either jealous that I didn't think of it or pissed that it trivializes what is actually a very environmentally-impactful gesture (how many of these bags will be collecting dust in the closet in a few seasons? I'd wager over %60)

And then I saw this:



That's a bag I'd buy. I'd probably get double the "brought my own bag" discount at my Whole Foods. Or maybe I'm just bitter ;-)

Shower time! (oooh -- and the coffee's ready...)

The Happiest Of Hours

Have added a Happy Hour page to the googlepage. Click the link at right, click on outings, and then, obviously, Happy Hour.

There was some tomfoolery. And a bit of shenanigans. No debauchery last night, but this is a weekly thing.... ;-)

Check Please.

I'd like to explode my body and start over. Anyone know of a good body shop?

Thanks :-)

ok - short blog. Have an educational video courtesy of the Chemical Brothers: (this one isn't edited for language, so be aware)

Le Weekend...

Updated the googlepage with pics from Bubble's birthday party - click the link at left, follow the party pics!

That was Saturday night. It was fun. I feel like the twins are getting older and I'm staying the same age. Sister says that's because we're beginning to have more in common. I think it's because they're destined to be the Cool Kids and I'm destined to be perpetually 17 in my mind. I'm ok with that.

Sunday was a baby shower. For the Big Taquita. It was fun. Nice to see my friends that I didn't get to see while I was sick. It's amazing how much happens in a month. It's nice to be on my feet again.

Anyway - I mostly just wanted to let you know I updated the page with some photos. This Saturday coming up I'm taking Bubble and The Twins pumpkin picking. There will be lots of photos there :-)

Happy Monday!

Self-Branding

I read the Essay in this weeks (Well, October 15th's) Time. It's written by Joel Stein and titled "You Are Not My Friend" Subtitled: "Yes, we're on Facebook. But I don't care about your cat. And stop poking me."

I don't normally read Time. We were awarded a free subscription when I ordered the totes I gave my bridesmaids and - like a Cosmo subscription awarded at the same time - it Won't Go Away. If there's a good cover story, or I'm really bored, I'll flip through it. It was the title of this Essay that got me, as I have recently ceased the majority of my activity on Myspace. (see first blogpot blog for full story)

He makes a good point - saying that people who would have originally been just friends of friends would suddenly, upon "adding him" become great friends pushing pictures of their new living room set and their cat's fifth birthday party on him.

He also notes that these sites aren't really an invasion of privacy (as older generations fear that they are) because we're not posting or sharing anything we don't want the world to know about. He says:

"We're showing you our best posed, retouched photos. We're listing Pynchon books we want you to think we've read all the way through. We're allowing other people to write whatever they want about us on our walls, unless we don't like it, in which case we'll just erase it. If we had that much privacy in real life, the bathrooms at that Minnesota airport would be empty."

All of this is true. Look through the myspace pictures and the blogs. Everyone is happy, everyone is in love...except those people who have to have something wrong with them to get attention. You know those people - they're always injured, poor, sad, achy, tired, grumpy, just-been-fucked-over...or they're the people who have to be More Than everyone else: happier, sadder, in more pain, cooler, have better names to drop: you know them. They're the Competition Whores.

So I'm not going to do any of that. I'm going to make a conscious effort to not shield any of my self. I'll write what comes into my head. Stream of consciousness. And if you don't like what you read...nobody's forcing you. I'm pretending that you don't, anyway. We're more honest when we're by ourselves. That's when we crank up Barbie Girl and sing into our hair brushes.

For reals.

So now I'm going to stop blogging and go to iphoto and adjust the photos I took at Bubble's 9th birthday party last night. I might do a bit of imovie, too...but I'm a little intimidated.

Oh yeah - that's the other thing I'm going to do. With the exception of my husband (and my cats ;-) ), if I talk about someone I will use a nickname. If you're In The Know then a) you probably are aware of the situation in the first place and b) can figure it out on your own. If not...sorry.

Ciao!

Confessions

I was at Target and I bought the new Harper's Bazaar just because Mary Kate Olsen is on the cover.

I watched Gossip Girl and painted my nails vamp after work. Then I scoured the internet for the hat that Serena was wearing in the last scene of the episode. To no avail, alas...

I couldn't even make it through the first 15 minutes of RENT. I don't care if Taye Diggs is hot.

Scarlett Johansen (sp?) does nothing for me. I see the appeal, but she's not my type.

I have the Devil Wears Prada almost memorized and yet I still watch it whenever I'm having a case of the Fargos. I will probably own the Gossip Girl series on DVD and the same will apply to that.

We have too much furniture.

I am as shallow as a kiddie pool (although I guess that's not news...)

While I do have Bill Clinton's new book (Giving) and a book about the downfall of luxury on hold at the library, I also have the new Gossip Girl and the new Scott Westerfeld on hold. I might still be a 17 year old kid, for all we know.

I had a dream last night and my little brothers were in it. It ended the way it ended in real life - with me not talking to them anymore. I've been dreaming a lot about people I don't talk to anymore lately. Maybe it's got something to do with the swelling - my short term memory is shit, but my subconscious keeps pulling up things I've buried and playing them for me in my dreams. Seriously - it's weird. And some of them are cathartic and when it ends it feels final and I'm ok with it when I wake up, but some of them make me want to give that person a call. Not like I'd even know where to begin to find their numbers. Or what I would say. Can you imagine? "Hi, I almost died and I had a dream about you while my brain was still swollen so I thought I'd call you up and see how you are. How are you?" There's no PC response to that. I imagine a lot of awkward silences.

I haven't written my query letter yet. All of a sudden Steve is all about reading and revising and if I've got another round to do, I'd like to do it before I start pimping it out.

I'm going to use the storyboard feature that I found in one of my iwork programs to layout my next novel. I've got the soundtrack all planned. And I even know what the climax will be. It hit me in the car today. Remember the scene from Scream where Lars Ulrich (hottie) and the other guy are telling what's her face their plan and they say "Everyone Dies But Us" over and over - it was sortof like that, except that's not my climactic point. I'm not telling you my climactic point, you'll just have to read it.

I've decided my 3rd book is going to focus on high school kids. Might as well put all this researchy stuff (ok - obsession) to good use. And by the time I get to book 3 the Twins will be freshmen and I can pick their brains. I look forward to it.

Ok - have to go finish my Bazaar and do something about dinner.

Ciao!

just some stuff that's bouncing around in my head

First off, I seem to be on the cosmic radar lately. I won the lottery and picked up the virus that stole over a month of my life. And then I receive not great news about a mole that was removed -- which sent me on a sunscreen rampage. It's a good excuse to buy hats. Cute ones with floppy brims. :-) And now I'm going to come out and say that Steve and I have been trying to expand our family since March. Don't worry- Emily's not getting a baby for Christmas this year. I've been told to wait - until my body is healed. Until the drugs are out of my system. Until sometime early next year. Who knows when we'll start up again. At least I have a nephew on the way.

I wandered around Northpark yesterday after picking up Christmas cards for the company (do it now while it's on my mind and before all the good ones are gone, right?) and I went in and out of baby stores. Unfortunately, I think my sense of humor would scandalize - or at least not appeal to - my brother and sister in law. I *know* it would scandalize my mother in law.

On a funnier note - we got a card in the mail the other day saying that a 21 year old sex offender had moved into our building. Reading the card we discovered that his crime was compelling prostitution. He got a 7 year sentence and is on probation. Steve and I were very amused at the thought of a pimp living in our building. In my mind I crossed the guy from the Motorcycle Diaries with Austin Powers and then placed him in our building. It's still and amusing mental image. Then we read a little further and saw that his victim was 13. Not Funny Anymore. Then we got a letter from the Powers the Run Our Building saying that he does NOT live in our building - he registered a false address and is now considered a Wanted Felon. Niiiice.

There's more up in my head, but I need to call my optometrist and Steve's Dermatologist and then I need to ice some cookies.

Happy Weekend!

Wear Sunscreen

Visited the doctor yesterday and got a bummer of an update: no booze until after the holidays (likely) because I'm on drugs until then. Yippie! But I'm improving.

Also, I had a mole removed in august and instead of me preaching to you, I'll let Baz Lurhmann do it: (there's some controversy over who wrote this speech - according to snopes it was written in 97 by a Chicago Tribune columnist named Mary Schmich and made its way around from that. It's some Australian guy named Lee Perry who's speaking.) Oh, and it's got Spanish subtitles if you're so inclined :-)

edit: I don't know why it embedded twice but not the code is all the way gone from my text box so I'm not sure how to delete one of them....

By George, I've got it!

I figured out the name. It came to me while reading Slummy Mummy in the bath last night. (a fun little read about a mom who's not yummy or totally put together, she's not harried because she works full time, she's just a little more scatterbrained than your average mom and she's not really ashamed of it -- most of the time. It's fun.)

Anyway, back to the important topic: the novel has a name. Are you ready? Drumroll, please....


Putting The Damage On
A Novel

By Emily B. (I'm considering using an ancestral surname in the interest keeping stalkers from finding me and allowing my cult-following type fans to pronounce my pen name...all the cool kids are doing it...)

There's a nice double entendre in the name - if you've read it you'll understand. ;-)

I'll leave you with Tori Amos performing her song of the same name (which has nothing to do with my novel) live:

What's in a name...

this is hard. I'm having such a hard time naming my novel...and I know what it's all about....hm...so here's some brainstorming:

Scope
Scope of Death (which sounds like a B movie now that I say it in my head)
Through the Zoom Lens


Why am I feeling like all the good names are taken? Let's see...photographer, wedding planner, pre-vet student, mysterious death, small town, missing corpses, grave robbery...

Picture Perfect Corpse
Framing the Corpse
A View to a Kill (taken. by James Bond. Told you all the good ones were taken.)
Contact (taken.)


Well...I guess it'll come to me at like 3am or something. This is really holding me up. I feel all stagnate. Perhaps I should go do some laundry.

Oh bloody hell...

I need a title before I can start querying. And my brain is still swollen.

This could take some time.

Suggestions? Here's my synopsis again: Molly, a globe-trotting photojournalist has just returned to her twin sister Marti's home in Dallas when they are visited by their niece, Nelle, who brings news of a tractor accident which has killer her parents. Mourning the loss of their brother and sister-in-law, Molly and Marti take Nelle to the family farm in the Texas Hill Country with the intention of getting everyone's lives back on track. They are met with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the accident. To Molly's chagrin and at Nelle's insistence, they investigate their small town and neighbors in an attempt to determine beyond a reasonable doubt just who or what was responsible for the accident.


yeesh....just when you think you've turned a corner....

Money Matters...to everyone

In the interest of saving our pennies for a mortgage downpayment (and other large expenses...hospital bills anyone? Seriously, just let me know if you want one and I will make sure one comes your way. We've got plenty to go around.) I hopped on a money chat board and asked if there was some place I'm overlooking to shave expenses.

And the thing is - if there's one, I don't know what it is and neither do they. For all their good intentions, that group of women focuses very much on how inexpensive something is over how well made it is - or how good it is for you. I'm sure if I searched back months they would all be tossing recalled food because they bought cheap instead of smart. There's an entire thread dedicated to the cheapest place to buy pet food. I'm all for saving money and not over-spending, but I'm not giving my cats (my only babies for now) cheap food. I won't eat it - why should they?

Anyway - we're going to be more diligent about how we spend our money and where and when. If you've got tips (Aside from- buy whatever is on sale...regardless of brand) I'm happy to hear them.

And for the record...a lot of the things I do to save the planet also save us money. Using rags instead of paper towels, for example: less paper towels we buy, which means less trees used in the production, less oil in the shipping, blah blah blah......

This is one of those subjects people don't like to talk about at parties. It's TABOO. Much like income and plastic surgery. Well, the way plastic surgery used to be. Now people throw parties and glorify it. It's truly scary.

I'm about to start sending out queries. I feel that I've done all I can on my own (and with the help from my friends) and I'm chomping at the bit to start getting rejections in the mail. Any tips on that one will be nice, also. Here's hoping for a contract...!

A parting tip: squirrels don't have lots of nuts because they make lots of nuts. They have them because they SAVE lots of nuts.... ;-)

Lilly Allen: A Review

Ok, so I'm a little behind because this album has been out for a while, but since I was laid up I couldn't review it. So here goes:

Lilly Allen: Smile.

I'd first like to say that overall I love this album. It's cynical, amusing, funky, you can sing along, and she cusses like a sailor. Which I like - because I was raised by a sailor and my boss drops f-bombs like they're going out of style. Sometimes colorful language is just what the doctor ordered. In general, her rhymes just trip off your tongue in a way that's interesting and almost literary.

My first imporession was that she is doing what Mike Skinner was aiming for on his second album. It's like she listened to the Streets first album - Original Pirate Material and thought "let me take his basic style and make it my own...and add some pop. And oh yeah, I can carry a tune so it'll be fun to listen to." :-D

Track One: Smile. This song is the ultimate "I'm so glad you're out of my life because you are a cheating bastard" song. It's catchy, it's a little bit mean and it will stick in your head. Don't worry, though, people who don't listen to all of the lyrics will think you're just singing a really happy song.

Track Two: Knock 'em Out. Every girl (and guy probably) can relate to this song. You're in a bar and someone can't get the hint that you're just not interested. Part rap, part pop song - so much fun. She spends the song sprinkling amusing examples of why she doesn't want to get involved with this guy through the chorus. Also - going to get stuck in you head.

Track Three: LDN. This is another lovely song about how great everything is...until you take another look. Telling lyric: "When you look with your eyes, everything seems nice. But if you look twice you can tell it's all lies..." I love that people use this song as their "Feel good, look how great my life is" song. Cracks me up.

Track Four: Everything's Wonderful: Yet another sing-along song. Telling lyric: "Oh Jesus-Christ Almighty do I feel alright? No - not slightly." But it's such a peppy upper of a pop song if you don't listen to the lyrics too closely ;-)

Track Five: Not Big. This is a really fun break up song. She's vicious and snide and - quite frankly - such a bitch. But every girl I know has been in her shoes. Of course - this is a catchy little ditty that you can't help but sing along to.

Track Six: Friday Night: This one is one of my less favorite songs. There's nothing wrong with it outright...but this lyric completely turns me off: "don't try and test me 'cuz you'll get a reaction..." I'm not down with people walking around talking about how tough they are. But I pretty strictly adhere to the "Show me, don't tell me" school of thought. She's trying too hard here.

Track Seven: Shame For You. This one doesn't hold my interest. After the poppy quickness of the previous songs, this one feels like it's dragging. It's a break up song, and she sounds like she's looking to start a fight and looking forward to kicking this guys ass. Overall, on this one....meh.

Track Eight: Littlest Things. I skip this one because she stole the opening riff from Cat Steven's "Wide World" and then it quickly shifts to a less-interesting "oh poor me" song. Whatever.

Track Nine: Take What You Take. I like this one - it's a nice little ditty about looking up and making the best of things. And then she turns around and throws everyones advice back in their face with one line: "What the fuck do you know?" which segues into a chorus about being whoever you are as long as it's who you really are - which is a philosophy I subscribe to.

Track Ten: Friend Of Mine. A nice little story about a girl realizing that while she has been a friend to this other chick, this other chick is really a honking-big bitch who has not been her friend. So she's basically ending this friendship - with lines like "You're no friend of mine...You're just a waste of time...I was hoping this was all a stupid phase - who are you anyway? " The music has a nice little reggae feel to it. Slow without dragging. Fun to sing along with.

Track Eleven: Alfie. Oh...the memories. In this song, she's singing about her little brother Alfie who spends all his time in his bedroom playing video games and smoking out. Favorite line: "Oh Little Brother please refrain from doing that/ I'm trying to help you out/ so could you stop being a twat?" This is also one of her upbeat and catchy little tunes.

Track Twelve: Nan You're a Window Shopper: Catchy, about how her grandmother is living on pennies and is completely out of touch. I'm not a fan...

Track Thirteen: Smile- remixed by Mark Ronson.

Track Fourteen: Blank Expression. She goes out to visit her friend who greets her as if she doesn't even know her - with a completely blank expression. Another vaguely reggae beat - beware of the bass hitting in your car. It's crazy. This song could be about me. I tend to greet people I'm not interesting in with a blank expression. It's bitchy, but it's what I do. I dig this song - it's a nice ending to the album.

Even my charred and blackened heart was moved

Even more myspace suckage

I'm post happy today. Deal with it ;-)

Myspace resurrected my account....devoid of friends, blogs, my mail is there and pictures are still there....but so what? *THOSE* I have copies of (the pictures. the mail is inconsequential since I have EMAIL)....stupid Myspace. Seriously. Deleting that account and if I feel the need to spy on people, I use one of the kitty accounts I created one sleepless night... :-D

Yeesh.

Aunthood

I'm going to be an aunt. I'm so excited.
Check it out (this is old, but it's the only one I've got for now) that's at about 5 weeks. Can you imagine? Something this small is going to grow and be born and become one more person I get to spoil. I love spoiling people. Not sure why, but I do. Make their lives a little sunnier and a bit easier.

And I can't wait for this little person. Until then, I'm utilizing the Event planner spreadsheet in iwork08 and planning her baby shower. It's going to rock. Best Baby Shower Ever. As soon as she finds out the sex. I might be more impatient about that than she is...if you can believe it.

And then after the shower...the nursery. There's some serious vicarious living here. Too bad she's in Houston...although, that might not be so bad...keeps everything in moderation. :-D

New Blog

Stupid myspace deleted me. For reals. Maybe I was too avant garde for them. Maybe they thought I was a terrorist...at any rate, I'm over their "oh no an unexpected error has occured!" baloney and I will just blog here from now one.

So that's all I have to say for now.


Oh wait - remember when Steve almost carjacked someone? I almost got carjacked today. They poor guy looked mortified when he figured out that there's more than one Blue Honda Fit in Dallas. I just chuckled and waved and turned because my light turned green. I should have told him it's ok because my husband did that once...but I was hungry and he hurried away quickly. So that's my funny story for the day. I almost got carjacked by someone who looked like an accountant. :-)