I hear a lot of "geez, Emily, it takes you so long to get ready in the morning...what's the deal?"
Answer: I have two cats, a 12.5lb little girl named Polly who likes to lay in my lap and howl in my face...and a 17.2 lb (mostly muscle, said the vet Monday afternoon) who likes to do this:
Yeah, that's my mousin' arm. And then he gets comfortable:
I took more, but you get the point. It's hard to disturb that. Not that I spoil my kitties or anything...
No kidding. Today (and yesterday) at the corner of Elm and Akard in downtown Dallas. Apparently, Carnival Cruise Lines got together with Guinness World Records to do some shenanigans with the Worlds Largest Beach Ball.
(in crowded restaurant) "What are you into?" "Murders and Executions!" "What?" "Mergers and Acquisitions!"
So true. On so many levels, isn't it?
Luckily, that's not that part I'm channeling. (I can't remember the format in which he does this, and I'm not going to be as thorough, either, so forgive me that, please.)
The Old 97's joined together 15 years ago - Rhett Miller, Murray Hammond, Ken Bethea, and Phillip Peeples and a year later put out Hitchhike to Rhome. Fast forward to the summer of 2000, when their full catalogue included 4 albums, the last of which - Fight Songs - had radio play on the alternative stations I listened to.
The night in question, I'm at The Sons Of Herman Hall with Chaz and a couple of his friends. I forget who we were there to see. On our way down the stairs to the bar, a couple of guys crossed our path.
Chaz: "Hi! I'm a huge fan..blah blah blah...." Cute Guy # 1: "Hi, nice to meet you. Rhett Miller." (Said while he's looking at me - as I said to Chaz later - like I'm on the menu. I remember this because I was 21 and still had that leftover high-school awkward feeling running through my veins and the thought that someone as HOT as Rhett would look at me like that...well it made an impression. Don't get me wrong - Chaz is a very attractive man. But we met through friends and I'm convinced it was my rapier wit that won his friendship.)
The rest of the stairway conversation is a blur. I'm sure I blushed and tried to hide while also trying not to drool over Rhett Miller. When we got down to the bar and had our beers I asked who that was.
"The Old 97's. I burned a few of their cds for you." The rest, they say, is history. Chaz and I saw them at least twice that summer and I've seen them countless times since. Always at small venues and the shows are ALWAYS high energy and so much fun.
So this past Saturday night...Rhett crossed party lines and performed at the homecoming of his High School rival: Jesuit. (Rhett went to St Marks) Because my husband belongs to that particular cult, we attended.
Behold, our view:
The weird thing is that we were closer - we were in the auditorium and, perspective-wise, Rhett seemed much closer than he does on the photo. But I also had the wide-angle setting on so that I could get everyone.
And then, because I was sitting on bleachers that rumbled constantly, my video was shaky and you can hear my singing...which is guaranteed to make your ears bleed....so I'll give you this interview that I found online, and link you to the post in which I posted their Nerdiest Video Ever (LOVE - and it's safe for work)
Also - I think a Guitar Hero: Old 97's would be something that I'd play a LOT.
Final Thought: this is my computer setup. The newest addition is the Union Jack Rubber Duckie on the screen. Little J brought it back to me from London. I <3 it.
When one lays on a couch for the better part of a year, the waistline tends to expand. This was brought home in a most unfortunate and unwelcome manner when I went to measure so I could purchase the right size coat. I was inspired to climb to failure today.
Pushing Daisies is hilarious. Also, total eye candy in every sense of the word.
Check out the embrita blog. Today is Blog Action Day so this one has some heart in it. Also I've applied for blogher sponsorship, so please leave comments! (That was so shameless.)
Swiss-German is a dialect which has 2500 unique words. I now know them all. Woot! Moving on to refresh my French. :-)
Lately whenever I'm having questions about the proper way to behave, I ask myself the Age-Old Question: WWDD? What Would Della Do? Who is Della? My late-grandmother (my mother's mother) and the quintessential Southern Lady. And let me tell you, it's making me view everyone else with that same filter and I am positively shocked at some of the things people do thinking that their behavior is perfectly ok.
Monday night's Gossip Girl made me say "Oh S@%t!" Several times. Out loud.
The requisites for entry to Harvard's Graduate English program make me look like the Village Idiot. Of course, so did the requisites for sitting down to dinner with Julius Nicholas, AKA my great-great-great(-great?) Grandfather.
I picked up the new MGMT (Oracular Spectacular)on an itunes music binge last week. I dig it. It's got a very 70s feel that I can't quite place my finger on. So here are my two favorite songs:
First, Electric Feel...which features stellar lyrics along the lines of "ooo girl, shock me like an electric eel..." Word.
Bummer. I can't embed it. So you'll have to go here. It's their official video....which appears to have been directed by someone who was reading Tolkien at Woodstock.
And if you can figure out what to make of this video - The Youth - which is awesome - let me know. It's got a very Electric Company feel to it. And it makes me wish I could get away with Purple Sequins...(it's also TOTALLY work friendly...as long as your work allows you to sit around and watch videos ;-) )
There's PARK ACTIVITY. And by park I mean "Currently a Giant Empty and Potentially abandoned Block of Dirt With a Big Hole In It."
For reference: Main Street Gardens, as written about in my fave local news blog, Unfair Park. (In the image at the top of that article, our building is on the right - our bank account is glad that we moved in when it was a parking garage, before they could charge for "Park Views."
So I got home for lunch on Friday to discover ACTIVITY. Actual PEOPLE were in the block, and not cutting through or LOST. They were there with a purpose. Behold:
Of course, at the other end is the Bat-Cave, being filled in by some kind of back-ho thing. Wherever will the Wonder Twins meet now that their secret lair is full of dirt?
And just for giggles - here's the progress of the construction we've been witnessing since the Dawn Of Time:
Not Pictured: The Not So Grand Hotel.
Reference blogs. Older. (With an interior shot that makes me cringe.) And Newer, with information that I find galvanizing. The latter link has a picture of the outside. I'm not taking a picture of it because it creeps me out. If there were any place for something Shining-esque to take place, The Grand is it. And I'd have a front-row seat.
So that was exciting. For more excitement, see the Embrita Blog.
Item one: Do not let your sweet potatoes/yams sit too long before you use them or they'll end up looking like this:
If we had a backyard, they would have been planted. But we don't so they were de-rooted and cooked. They were yummy, too.
Item two: The Jewish High Holy Days = a day off for Emily. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They're yummy. Also - the wine room at Pogo's (the only work we did today) is looking smashing. Seriously. When it's finished it's going to be delish. Trust.
Item three: rescued a fifty-or-so year-old card catalogue from mom's library. It's solid wood and weighs FOUR MILLION POUNDS. It's still in my trunk. Yes, it fit in the Fit. My car is awesome. And even with a 4,000,000lb hunk of solid wood in the back of my car weighing it down, I bet I STILL got well over 30mpg on the highway. Take that, SUVs! As soon as I can get it upstairs it will go in between the fabulous tufted suede chairs. I'll post photos etc on the embrita site. :-)
Item four: all of my dinner alarms are going off. Time to go drool over - I mean watch Josh Lyman. On the West Wing.
PS - Item five: Yes, it is tasty that Jonathan Rhys Meyers spends a LOT of naked time on screen in the Tudors. But I still couldn't get into it enough to dedicate an hour at a time watching it. Too complicated. Too....something. Mostly just not what I'm in the mood for. But the eye candy is nice.
That's called an ellipsis. If you're in the 8th grade in Plano Schools, you haven't learned that. Yet another reason to go to private school. Stupid No Child Left Behind. I was in Plano last week with the girls.
Anyway, all the blogging has been happening over at the design blog the past couple of days. Check it out.
