Bear or bird

My Grandmother

2010-02-01T08:02:00.001-08:00

My grandmother had a gold box that sat on the table next to her chair. It was a large table and on the other side of the table was my grandfather’s chair. His was more worn and sank deeper when you sat since it had held his large frame so many years. His sat empty for a few years while my grandmother still occupied her chair on her side of the table. He chair faced the TV and the only thing I clearly remember her watching was the Cowboys. The gold box that was on her side of the table within her reach held things that she needed on a regular basis, an emery board, needles for needlepoint, a tiny pair of scissors, an extra pair of reading glasses, a thimble, a twenty dollar bill, and mints. These are the things I remember being in the box. The box was the length of a legal sized envelope and a few inches high. It was lined in a dark fabric, no latch or lock. The gold was dull and I remember there being some sort of pattern on the lid.

I don’t remember her ever telling me I could not look in this box and I don’t think I ever snuck a peek when she was not in the room, but I do recall thinking that the box was private and grown up. Looking back I think it was just a simple box to control clutter and hold things she used on a regular basis. I am sure there were other random things in there that I don’t remember or never saw.

Public Restrooms + Skittles

2010-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

I was driving to Fort Worth to visit my mother. I stopped at a random gas station to use the restroom. I walked into the woman’s bathroom where there were two stalls. I don’t know who had been in there prior or what exactly they had done, but they left one of the worst odors I have ever experienced in my life. I held my breath and ran into a stall. Right behind me was a mother and her little girl and they went into the other stall. I hear the little girl say, “Mom it smells like Skittles in here.” The mother started laughing and so did I. I am not sure how the little girl connected the two odors because for me they were worlds apart. I now laugh whenever I hear someone say Skittles and I will never be able to eat them again.

Coffee Shop

2010-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in a coffee shop late on a Wednesday afternoon and a young guy and girl are here to hang his art. It looks to be silk screened onto some sort of canvas. He is using push pins in the wall and then precariously balancing the frame of the canvas onto the wall. He also looks like he is going to jump out of his skin due to nervous energy. He is wearing a floppy fishing hat and seems to want to crawl inside so no one see him. No one is paying attention to him really. I can only assume that this is a relief as well as adding to his anxiety, “What do they hate my art? Do they not even see it?” No one has said a word. One man just looked up annoyed, I am not sure at the art or that the girl that has arrived with the young man is straightening the piece just hung behind him and it has slipped from the push pin and made a loud noise. I think they may be depictions of celebrities, though exactly which ones I am not sure.

It has been ten minutes since the young man and woman left. One of his pieces just fell from the wall. Everyone looked around wondering who was going to care enough to pick it up. A girl with long brown hair just slowly rose from her table and walked over pulling the piece from the floor and propping it up so that at least it is no longer face down.

Marriage

2010-01-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

I picked up Elizabeth Gilbert’s newest book “Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage” today. I was a big fan of her “Eat, Pray, Love” and I happened to read it at the end of a nine year relationship that I had not anticipated the end of. I got to go on a healing journey through a book and I do believe it helped me. I am not a big fan of so called self help books and I truly do not believe that is what Gilbert wrote. I think she simply wrote her story and people related to it and found solace and familiarity in her words. I have also read another one of her books, “The Last American Man”, this work was what she was more known for before “Eat, Pray, Love” she wrote about men and maleness. “The Last American Man” is about Eustace Conway and his struggle to live with and off the land as early American Indians did. He wanted to help pass on this knowledge to others. He also struggled with doing this in a modern society and proving himself as worthy to his father. It was a great book. Gilbert became good friends with Eustace and you got a very good idea of his life and the struggle that seemed ever present in his mind.

Gilbert’s latest book picks up where her last left off, in love with a man and happy. From the reviews and previews the book covers Gilbert coming to terms with marriage. In order for the man that she loves to stay in the states they must get married (he has Australian citizenship I believe) and Gilbert is willing to do this but it sounds like it is not something she is looking forward to.

Before I have even started the book it has made me think about my past, current, and future relationships. I mentioned that I was once in a relationship that lasted nine years. We lived together for nine years, never breaking up and never getting married. For a long time I really had no interest in getting married, I didn’t feel that we needed to; I also thought we would last. Do I think that if we had gotten married that we would have lasted? No. I think it would have ended much the same. I have now been living with another man for over a year, we dated a year before I moved in, unlike my last long term relationship where we knew each other for two days and then he moved in. I now want to get married. I am not sitting around tapping my toe wondering every minute when he will propose, but I want one day to get married to this man and have a family. I believe he is the man who I am supposed to have a family with and raise children. I don’t have an exact outline of how this will all occur but I see a big picture which for me is ok for now.

Cape Cod

2010-01-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

I had the luxury of spending a good part of my summer in Cape Cod the summer after my freshman year of college. My boyfriend at the time was living in his grandmother's summer house and I was living in Boston but spent much of my time at this house. The boyfriend worked the breakfast shift at a restaurant in town so I woke up most mornings alone under more covers than I usually use in winter at home in Texas. I would shuffle into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. I would grab my journal and put on my house shoes. I don't remember where I got there house shoes or why because they were not particularly comfortable since they were made of rattan. They were slip on and bulky, they were perfect for this morning walks on the Cape though. I would step out the back screen door and walk through the wet grass into fog. I would start down the street and then take a left down another short street. I made sure to stay on the grass since I could barely see a foot in front of me I assumed anyone in a car would not see me. I don't recall ever seeing a car go by though on these mornings. I would eventually hot the beach and I would sit, drink coffee and think. The fog would start to roll back and I would gradually see a foot in front of me, then the edge of where the water was lapping the shore, and then the sea itself. By this time I could see my journal and the fog would also have cleared from your head and I would write. I would write what I had done the day before, feelings, dreams, anything that came to mind. That summer I lived in Boston/Cape Cod I wrote in my journal every day, I should find the box in my closet where it has been living and see what I did, dreamt, and thought.

Quotes for Life

2010-01-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

At the high school I attended many years ago you got an entire page for your senior year photo. Parents would have photos professionally done and then you would submit your photo as well as a quote. I still remember mine without looking back in that yearbook, "There is a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning." - Jimmy Buffet I don't remember why exactly why I chose this quote. If I had to chose a quote today nothing jumps off my tongue. I would look around in favorite books or look up what some of my favorite people said. Really,I hope I never have to pick a quote again. I feel as though picking a quote or motto that best describes you is a like a verbal photograph, will that truly be something I live by and preach in 15 years? Unless it is something as simple as "Be nice." I find that most people (no not all) that go around proclaiming what they live by so that others can hear end up being hypocrites. Is that why they feel the need to share what they want you to see in them?

I am thinking about this because I went to the bank today to get a document and as they are supposed to do, the woman helping me tried to sell me some additional services. She asked me what I did for a living. I told her I was unemployed. She asked with a shocked look on her face, "Well what are you going to do?" Ok lady um I don't know you and I don't feel like I need to explain my life's goals. I wished right then I had a one liner that would give me something to say and shock her a little like, "Live life to the fullest!", "Seize the day!" You get the idea. So maybe I do need a quote or as I will call it a little ammunition.

New Year New Start

2010-01-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

It is a new year and while I have never been one for New Year's resolutions this year will be full of firsts, I hope. Today I have officially been unemployed for a year. I have looked for jobs with no luck. While the last year has been good I look back and feel as if I wasted so much time. Was it fear, laziness, lack of direction that made me do nothing? I am not one that in the past has sat back and let the world pass me by. I have worked hard, travelled, loved, and have great close friends and family. Instead of dwelling on what was not done last year I am choosing to look forward and do. Writing is one of those things. I have gotten back in touch with people from my past thanks to social media and the thing they all have asked is, "What have you written?" I either ignore the question or reply with something flip.I used to write all of the time and claim I would one day write a novel. One thing I will do this year is at least try to write the novel I have spoken of for years. I have no idea what it will be about, if it will be good, finished, published, but it will be truly attempted. I will write here to remind myself how good it truly feels.

There will be other things I will do of course, work out more in hope a few pounds will be lost, take more photos, and refine my cooking skills, other goals that will keep me doing and moving forward

A new beginning and in a year I will look back and see.

Weekend

2009-04-13T09:40:00.001-07:00

I had a great weekend. Once day was go go go and then yesterday was nothing but lazy, a perfect split.

Saturday morning I took both of my 90 pound black labs to The Mighty Texas Dog Walk. One of my best friends had called and asked if I was interested in doing the three mile walk. This event helps to raise money for Texas Hearing and Service Dogs. These dogs are given to people who need them free of charge but it costs about thousands of dollars to get them trained to where they can be of service. It was amazing to see all of the dogs. At the beginning my dogs were so excited I was not sure that they were going to listen to me at all and instead just drag me around where ever they pleased. Molly the two year old almost knocked over a tent in order to get to the free treats. After the walk got under way they calmed down and sniffed hello to the other dogs along the way. It was fun, the dogs loved it, and we helped with a great cause. www.servicedogs.org

Then it was off to the grocery store to grab the fixings for baked beans, the dish I had agreed to bring to the boyfriend’s family Easter gathering that evening. Once all that was in the crock pot it was off to my sister’s to take pictures of her new house. She wanted a picture of her new husband, the new puppy, and herself in front of the house for the house warming invitation. She also wanted pictures of the interior to send to my grandmother and great aunt.

Then home to put the baked beans into a serving dish and head over to the boyfriend’s oldest brother’s house which is less than five minutes away. The boyfriend is the youngest of four. His oldest brother is sixteen years older. He also has 8 nieces and nephews, six boys and two girls. They are a very large family that was born here in Austin and they all still live very close. His mother lives about 5 blocks away in the house where he grew up. I really enjoyed seeing them all and getting to know them better. Even though they are all in town and the boyfriend and I have been together for almost two years, they all lead very different lives and it really is hard to get that many people together. There were kids running in every direction, tons of food, and then they turned on the Wii. Know the boyfriend and his brothers, no matter how old they get they will always be brothers and competitive beyond belief. It was fun to watch. Next thing I knew it was 10:30 and I was done.

The next morning we were up early and with a whole day of nothing to do. We went downtown to a favorite brunch spot before the crowds hits and had yummy food and then came home for a mid morning nap! The rest of the day was spent cooking snacks, reading and watching movies. A perfect day hanging out with the boyfriend and laughing.

Out of Town

2009-04-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

I just got back from the pharmacy where I wanted to hug someone and punch someone all at the same time. I had gone inside to pick up a prescription; there was a woman who was waiting at the drive thru. The pharmaceutical tech was helping the woman and going through the basic, confirm your date of birth and address so you do not get the wrong medication routine when the customer snapped. She started yelling how this is ridiculous, she is there at least once a week why does she have to answer these questions? I am hoping that what ever medication she was picking up will help with the awful demeanor she has. The poor pharmaceutical tech basically ignored her out burst but I could see she was visibly shaken. I hate assholes.

On a lighter note I just got back from visiting my mom in Fort Worth for several days. It was so relaxing and I can really never get enough mom time. The bonus was that her best friend was in town from Tampa. This particular best friend was on the show Survivor Thailand and almost won. They have been best friends since high school and she was like a second mom to me so it was nice to spend time with them both this week.

I also got to see a very cool photography exhibit in Fort Worth which has several great museums by the way. This was the Barbara Crane exhibit at the Amon Carter, http://www.cartermuseum.org/. This woman has been taking amazing photos for over 60 years. I enjoyed how varied her work was. I was happy to stumble upon her show while I was in my hometown.

My First Garden

2009-04-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently I have lost my mind. I have never kept a plant alive in my 32 years of life. I also have not tried very hard to keep plants alive. Everyone I talk to these days is doing the whole raised garden deal in their back yard, so I thought why can’t I? I did not want to build one, so I looked online to see if someone had basically a raised garden kit, I was thinking something along the lines of Linkin Logs. Well they have something like that but for $200 dollars. Since I am unemployed and there is no guarantee that anything I plant will survive I looked for another option. I found it, cinder blocks! They are cheap and you can make the space as big or as small as you please. Also the holes, you can put herbs in them! Bought the cinder blocks and then headed to a local nursery to talk to someone about my non green thumb. I found a very nice woman who is convinced I will have a very robust garden; I love other people’s optimism. I bought cilantro, dill, basil, eggplants, tomatoes, okra, squash, chili peppers, and green beans. I listened to everything the nice woman told me to do, I even took notes. Came home and got everything together and it looks really promising right now! My camera software is being a pain right now so I will have to post pictures later but right now I am filled with the optimism that the garden center lady had. I didn’t plant very much of each since I am the only one in the house that eats vegetables, I also wanted to kill as few plants as possible.

On another note one of my oldest friends is coming over from London and I can’t wait to see her! We went to high school together and then later lived in Boston together for the summer. She is now married to a wonderful British photographer. One of my favorite memories of my friend was when we were living in Boston and it was her birthday so we were going to have a party for her at our apartment. She was seeing three different men, and of course saw no problem with inviting all of them even though they did not know about each other. We had to put Happy 13th Birthday on the cake because she had lied about her age to all three men. She somehow pulled the evening off with not one of them realizing she had three dates there that night.

Sunday Fun Day

2009-03-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

I had quite the Sunday. My little sister ran the Capital 10k yesterday. For some reason I had it in my head that the race began at 8 am. I got up early to shower and get ready, thought I was running late so I was going to park at the one mile mark thinking I could catch her there. I find parking; call my sister to wish her good luck since I thought the race was starting in 15 minutes. She answers and it does not sound like she is in a crowd of people ready for a 10k.

“Hey what are you doing?”

“Oh downloading music to listen to for the race.”

“What?! You are going to miss it! You have 15 minutes!”

Laughing, “It starts at 8:45.”

So I was an hour early. I made my way down to the starting line and since I was so early I got to take in a whole bunch of people watching. Several people wear costumes which is great. Over 18,000 people were registered for this race, it was crazy. The day was beautiful but freezing. I got to see my little sister start the race and then went to finish line. There were so many people I missed her finishing, but I was happy to be there for moral support. It also inspired me to sign up next year.

I then grabbed a paper and headed to a new bar/restaurant. I had some time to kill until I met friends for lunch. I ordered what was possibly one of the most expensive cocktails I have ever had in my life. While it was very tasty, for what it costs it should have been served in a bucket. I can’t remember the name but it had fig infused Jim beam, roasted grapefruit juice, a vanilla liqueur, an orange slice and one or two more ingredients I can’t remember.

Next I met some friend’s at Fino. This is a wonderful restaurant that my best friend’s boyfriend manages. They have decided to start doing Sunday brunch and this was an invite only soft opening. The food was great; I got scrambled eggs with house cured salmon. As an appetizer I got the fried olives with anchovies, which I wish were always in my kitchen. They are also known for their classic cocktails. The bloody mary’s were great, they made their own tomato juice. Overall we had a great brunch and the restaurant will benefit I think from having Sunday brunch.

We had finished eating and my friend asks if I would like to come over and have a glass of wine on her back porch. This sounds great as the day has warmed up and was perfect for a porch and a glass of wine. Well she tricked me. Once in the car she says that she has to stop at the grocery store to grab a couple of things. Um a couple of things translate to her shopping for the week. My idea of hell is a centrally located grocery store on a Sunday afternoon because everyone is there! We made it fun, and actually got through the place pretty quickly. We sat on her back porch and finished going through the paper that I had bought that morning.

Then it was off to my sister’s where they were having an impromptu get together to break in their new grill. We laughed and I got to catch up with some people I had not seen in awhile. I consumed vast amounts of queso, I am not sure how one can not consume vast amounts when you standing right in front of it. Yes I could have moved, but I was helping cook so I HAD to be standing there!

Then it was home to bed. I am excited because the boyfriend is about 7 hours away. He has been helping pack up a friend who just got out of the military. They are driving from San Diego to Austin. I have not seen him for 6 long days. I am off to bake him cookies!

Cars

2009-03-27T08:55:00.001-07:00

I just got my car back from the body shop! I hated the rental I was driving so it is nice to be back in my familiar car. Oh cars how I hate and love thee. I had three things fixed on my car. I had the part where the lady side swiped me along my two passenger doors fixed. Then I had the front passenger fender dent fixed that had been done by a family friend um two years ago. I also had my front bumper fixed so it was no longer held on by wire. I like having a car; I have had my license since I was 15. Also living in Texas, things are spread out here, a car is handy. What I don’t like about cars is the up keep. Oil changes not so bad, everything else a pain. All of the body damage was on the passenger side and so I never saw it, nor did it impede me driving it. If it had not been for the boyfriend I may have never gotten any of it fixed. Things like that just don’t bother me. I have had 6 cars in the 17 years I have been driving and never had a car payment. I believe in paying cash for something used. That is how I roll! My first car was a baby blue mini van that did not have the middle seats because my grandfather forgot where he put them, no I am not kidding. My grandfather bought and sold used cars as a hobby and so he gave me one for my first car. The man was not very honest and so he would unhook the speedometer so that you could not tell that the car really had more miles on it than it said. So I had to take my car to get the speedometer reattached and tell why I was getting it reattached. Life lessons. I had to have a crow bar in the van at all times because if the sliding side door went too far I had to crow bar it back on the track. My other favorite feature was if I hit a bump the radio would go into scan mode and not stop unless you turned the car off.

My second car was a gift (a used one), a red blazer. I loved that car, probably my most care free car.

My next car was my mom’s old Acura that had a billion miles on it and I loved it! The only time I did not love it was after it would rain. The water would go somewhere, never found out where and then when you made a turn it would come pouring out of the sunroof onto your head. The first time it happened I almost had a wreck. After that I carried towels and a rain coat in my car. This was also the car that was vandalized in college. It was black and someone spray painted BIG PIMP across the driver’s side in white. I actually drove around like that for a month. Then when I did finally take it in they called and I thought they were going to say I could come pick it up. No they were calling to let me know that some one ran over the top of the hood when it was in the parking lot. Yes OVER the top of the hood. The guy thank fully had insurance. Oh and I of course never got the whole sunroof dumping water on me fixed.

Then came my 1995 shiny blue Cadillac. My grandmother passed away and it was one of the things she left me. This thing was just a huge shiny box of metal. Someone hit the side when I had it parked and I never knew who did it nor did I get it fixed. The cloth on the ceiling started coming off and so on a road trip to Houston to see a concert I bought multi colored push pins and had a friend put them all over the ceiling to keep it up. That car eventually had to be towed away and I got $100 for it.

Next came the turquoise Buick. This was given to me by my other grandmother for a nominal fee. The air conditioning did not work in it for a year because I got an estimate for $1500 and I could not afford it at the time. So yes I lived through an Austin Texas summer with no AC, miserable. I was getting an oil change one day and the guy said it could be fixed for $150, I almost kissed him. I did not wash this car for at least two years. When I moved in with the boyfriend it was sitting in my apartment parking lot because my grandmother had sold me a new car. The boyfriend got the car to his house, cleaned up and somehow sold it for over $1000. It did have really low mileage.

I now have the Passat, which I love. I also now love the color since they washed it after doing the body work; I had no idea what a pretty red it is. I have made a promise that I am going to wash it on a regular basis from now on. I just need to find out what a regular basis means.

It is 10 on a Thursday Morning

2009-03-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

From my home office I can see down onto the neighbors back porch. I could hear constant giggling so I looked out the window and there is their daughter (maybe 16) and a guy friend smoking pot out of an apple. These are the same neighbors that called the cops on us for playing a board game outside on our porch. This is all making me laugh.

Migraines

2009-03-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have had migraines for the past 5 days. The kind that makes you want to vomit so I have pretty much been on the couch or in bed. I had acupuncture this morning and I finally feel like a normal human again! This happened to me about 5 years ago and acupuncture did the trick. I was told I have a wiry pulse which means disharmony. This was not a great surprise as life is always a little weird when you have been unemployed for three months, applying like mad and have had one interview. I am off to Yoga to hopefully stretch some of this disharmony out!

Trains and Books

2009-03-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

The weather here is gorgeous, and being unemployed I am taking full advantage of it! Yesterday I went with a friend and her four year old to ride the Zilker Zephyr. He is all about trains so he loved every minute. It was great to sit and watch a four year old take in the train, the people, Town Lake, and anything else that crossed his path.

I came home and finished “The Story of Forgetting” by Stefan Merrill Block. It was a good book, especially if you have ever had anyone close to you have Alzheimer’s. The story is told from the perspective of the old and the young which I thought was a nice structure. There were a few boring parts for me where the author really got into the science of the disease, but I know some will find this fascinating. I would recommend this book, a soft loving story that like most lives has their record of grief.

After making dinner I started another book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. This book has been given a lot of praise as well as the one that came before, “The Kite Runner”. I had been told by friend that I should have nothing to do for a couple of days when I start this book because all I am going to want to do is read it. They were right. I lay in bed for almost two hours last night thinking about the book, wanting to get up and read more but telling myself I have plenty of time today to finish it. I am about to sit out on my upstairs porch and finish it. Pics included on where to find me today, I am very lucky.

View from my porch.

On the train with my favorite four year old.

Dinner Party

2009-03-16T17:26:00.001-07:00

About midnight on Saturday night after quite a bit of wine I decided that I wanted to have a dinner party, the next day. I sent out a mass text to those I wanted to invite and woke up the next morning to several replies of yes. The boyfriend called several more people and while he had meetings and worked I started cooking. There was no theme I just cooked a bunch of stuff I had wanted to cook. The boyfriend’s brother had killed a deer but didn’t want the meat so he brought all of it to us. I am a vegetarian but don’t mind cooking meat so I have been seeing how many different ways I can make venison. I chose one of the boyfriend’s favorites, venison burgers and put that on the menu. (Quick note I chop up raw bacon and mix it in while forming the patties and this apparently is a big hit. Of course it is bacon). I made a chick pea salad with asparagus, brussel sprouts and mushrooms. There was a homemade vegetarian pot pie, Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, shrimp, and a bunch of wine. The food went over very well and so I had full happy guests.

One of my best friends is a consultant for some board game companies. She brought over a game for us to test. I have to say I do not enjoy playing games with the exception of Catch Phrase. But my friend needed my help and apparently everyone else that I had invited loves games. We were sitting on the back porch playing the game, drinking some wine. There was knock on the front door and when we answered there was a police officer. We were informed out neighbor called because we were causing a commotion. When we explained it was six of us playing a board game, all young professional in their 30s the officer laughed and said, “You guys must not be friendly with your neighbor?” The thing is we are! We can talk to each other from out back porches; we have each other cell numbers. Why they couldn’t stick their head out and ask us to quiet a bit or call, I have no idea. We actually laughed pretty hard and then moved the game inside because we are courteous. I would like to recommend the game Loaded Questions! Like I said I do not like games and was in total agreement when everyone wanted to play a second time.

Made Me Smile

2009-03-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JzMsZTf9EU

Puppy

2009-03-10T15:39:00.001-07:00

My little sister and her husband have adopted a collie mix from the shelter. He is 9 weeks old and adorable. She brought him over to meet his cousins, my nine year old lab mix Evan and my 2 year old lab Molly. You can imagine he is not much bigger than their paws seeing they both weigh over 75 pounds. He was not scared and when you held him towards the other dogs face he pawed at them like a young cat. At one point he tried to nurse from Molly, she can’t sit still for two seconds so that didn’t last. Then he walked over to Evan and began to try and nurse from his………yea little man that is not what you want. Evan politely sidestepped away from the confused 9 week old pup. Sampson (the pup) falls over constantly but had no fear with tackling the steps or the bigger dogs. My favorite was how he would just suddenly plop down out of exhaustion. My other favorite part was when my sister walked in our house and eyed the black hair on the wood floors. “Um when did you last sweep?” I laughed and told her, “Yesterday!” My sister the neat freak is going to love all of the hair!

Jobs

2009-03-09T14:13:00.001-07:00

If you have turned on your TV or read a newspaper lately then you know the world of unemployment is big and a mess. I am a current member of that world. I was on one of the very popular job websites and it said it had found some matches based on my previous employment. COPY TECHNICIAN?! Um this made me go and check all of the information I had given them. For the past 5 years I have been a buyer of snow globes and musical figurines, how in the word does that translate to Copy Technician? I will have to draft a much longer post on my past employment because yes I really did buy and import snow globes and musical figurines.

Dinos in your front yard?

2009-03-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

I walked by this house the other day and was simply amazed by the succulents in the front yard. The giant aloe plants were twice my height, (I am 5’5”). Those with the cactus it felt very primitive, like some sort of animal from a primitive time were about to walk around the corner of one of the plants. Since we have done zero landscaping to our yard and I have a great deal of time on my hands I was thinking about starting to put our yard together. I like the idea of succulents since I am not very good at keeping things alive and we live in Texas. I have it on my grand list of things to tackle so we will see what happens. Here is a picture of the giant aloes I encountered.

Book Review

2009-03-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished what I found to be a very interesting book, The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. I thought of it as historical fiction meets a modern day murder mystery. The historical fiction is based on a wife living a life of polygamy in 1875 separating from her husband. What brings more attention to the situation is that her husband is the prophet and leader of the Mormons at that time, Brigham Young. She chooses not only to separate but to travel and speak against polygamy. The story flashes back and forth to modern day where polygamy is still practiced in a compound in Utah. This group refers to themselves as the Firsts. I found it interesting in the way it examines faith, not the validity or even the form it comes in, but simply the strength. The way in witch individuals truly believe and can not fathom wavering from that faith even if the situation it puts them in is not ideal. I liked the back and forth between history and modern day to give the faith that this sect, the Firsts base their polygamist beliefs.

How Amazon Cracks Me Up

2009-03-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

Things came up so we did not make it the greenbelt yesterday, another day.

I was just checking my email and got another hilarious email from Amazon. The company I used to work for was partially owned by Barnes and Noble so I was lucky enough to have an employee discount. This means all books I bought in the past five years came from Barnes and Noble. Since I no longer work for said company I have ordered a few books from Amazon. The books I have ordered are the last two in the Twilight series and then a book that we read for one of my book clubs, it had been written by one of the member’s half sister. I was happy to support this new author but it was not really my genre of fiction, there was softball, stalkers, and detailed sex. I read it and at the book club described it as reading a Lifetime movie. Because these are the three books I have purchased from Amazon, they have been making suggestions of what I may want to read next. The last two emails I have received from them have been titled; Discover Romance and Adventure Between the Covers‏ and New Releases in Books for Teens‏. Oh Amazon you are cracking me up. I need to buy some new books to change my reputation with you, but I will miss the emails for teen lit and soft porn reading!

Bull Creek

2009-03-06T12:42:00.001-08:00

It was absolutely gorgeous here yesterday, so I took my boy Evan to Bull Creek which is part of the Greenbelt here in Austin. I had fun taking pictures and watching my dog sniff around.

I have been going to one part of the Greenbelt or another since I came here for college. I have done the, have several beers and stay all day times, just walking with friends times, and the by myself times. I had always stuck to the south part of the Greenbelt because that was closest. Now that I live up north I am exploring and loving new parts!

One of my best friends has lived here for awhile now; she went to a college close by. I was telling her about going to the Greenbelt yesterday when she tells me she has never been. In the next couple of hours I will be taking her for her virgin walk on the Greenbelt!

Here are some pictures from yesterday and hopefully I will have more tomorrow!

This Blog

2009-02-21T13:48:00.002-08:00

For the last month or two a company where I worked for 5 years paid me to read blogs. No, no one came to me and said we need you to review these blogs; I had nothing else to do. I received an email one day about a JC Penny catalog, found out it was from a blog. I started clicking on blogs he read, then blogs she read, and so on. I was laid off from that job. I knew it was coming since I would tell my boss I had nothing to do, she would shrug and walk off, this is not a good sign when the year before my budget has been over 50 million dollars. I took her shrug as an affirmation that I could read blogs so I did.
Now I am starting my own blog. Hopefully it will not be about the unemployed life for long. I am waiting to hear about a job where I know it is between me and one other person. I have not had this much time on my hands since, well maybe ever. The house is clean and there are no dirty socks. I ironed the duvet cover last week. I have been unemployed for ten days.
I do not have a mission statement for this blog and am just as curious to see where it goes as anyone who stumbles upon it.

My boy

2009-02-20T20:45:00.000-08:00

What was she thinking?

2009-02-20T19:40:00.001-08:00

I went to pick up my dinner at my favorite Thai place. When I walked in there was singing, the table closest to the font of the restaurant was singing. What made this strange and funny at the same time was not so much the singing but the fact that the people at this table obviously did not want to sing. There were about ten people at this table. The woman at the head of the table was standing and had one of those sack things to put your baby in hanging in the front and yes there was a baby in it. I could not tell due to the lack of enthusiasm if this woman and simply written the words to “Sweet Caroline” down for everyone to use or she had redone the words for what ever occasion they had gathered for. Now the woman standing was singing and the other nine we mumbling I turned around to look and hopefully get a better idea of what was going on but I started laughing and that is really rude when you are looking at the people you are laughing at, so I turned away and kept laughing. I almost decided to eat my food there just so I could get a better idea of what was going on. When I got in my car I thought if I had gathered ten of my friends together at an alcohol free place to celebrate ANYTHING I would know better than to pass around song lyrics and demand they sing along, because my friends would not do that. It made me wonder then, were these not people that this woman knew well? Does she just have expectations of her friends that are totally unrealistic? Is this the crazy friend of the group that got to organize this time and they just decide to mumble through? So many questions that I will never have the answer to. At least I have an odd story to tell.

Monday Fun Day

2009-02-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

My best friend and I have had many “Fun Day Sundays” as we call them. Since I am unemployed and she has Mondays off, we chose to have a Monday Fun Day. We were going to try a place where neither of us had eaten before, an airstream trailer that serves crepes, they were closed. So we went to a favorite that we do not indulge in often. If you have never had a fried avocado, find one now and put it in a tortilla with cheese, so yummy. Then she agreed to go along on my errands which really turned into window shopping.
We went into this beautiful furniture store to browse and this nice man treated my as if I was about to buy everything in the store which was nice, but again I am unemployed. I was also simply confused by what would give him the impression that I had unlimited funds, but I silently thanked him for treating me as such.
We walked by a new restaurant that while we have no idea what the cuisine is just by how amazing the architecture is alone we can’t wait to eat there.
I bought a yoga blanket and took her to Anthropologie which I was surprised to find was a place she had never been. They had a million wonderful things. I was shocked when I picked up this bird and saw that is was $29.99. I rarely buy trinkets but fell in love. The nice man rang me up and told me, “That will be $322.00.” Um what? I had to explain that I had read the tag wrong. In my defense the tag had been torn, I do know how to read numbers.
We continued to have a wonderful day until I had to take her to work, on her day off, which is another story. I did get to run into her store and get a Topo Chico which I had been craving for 24 hours.One of my favorite moments was when I noted that I felt people had been glancing at us all day, in a good way. We had to giggle since we are both jeans and t-shirt kind of gals. We had both dressed for the day without conferring, we felt very put together, which of course made us laugh.

Strep Throat

2009-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

I have finally gotten out of bed and put on real cloths after three days with strep throat. I have decided it is the worst thing to have that does not put you in the hospital. My body was so depleted of energy that I had 200 pages left of the 4th book in the Twilight series left and I could not finish it, because it was too heavy for my sick arms to hold. Then I tried to lie on my stomach with a pillow propped under my chin and the book lying on another pillow so I did not have to hold it. My throat was so sore that it hurt to be touched from the outside and so the whole pillow under the chin thing was torture. So I watched a lot of TV. I have the sheets in the washer and I have disinfected the bedroom, a is door open to the balcony so that fresh air can replace the germy air. Now I am off to get some Thai soup to begin replacing all the nutrients I have lost due to not being able to swallow any food since this sickness took possession of my body.

The first time I got strep throat I was in kindergarten. My mom had just been given her reel to reel movies of when she was growing up. She set it up to watch on her bedroom wall. As the light flickered on the wall and the back and white image came to life I turned to her and asked when she took these of me? She responded, “This is me!” Yes we look very much alike. I still remember watching them as my body became made of lead and my throat became a pit of fire. I missed my last day of kindergarten because of strep throat.

This time I was sitting outside at a bar drinking whiskey on the rocks. I had a blanket wrapped around my shoulders wondering why I was the only one that was cold. Then my body became heavy and my throat began to burn.

Josh Radin

2009-02-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

I saw Josh Radin last night and once again he did not disappoint. His music is wonderful, he is adorable, and everyone respected we were there to hear his music. Opening for him was Meiko. I have her album and have enjoyed it, but seeing her live was a real treat. She is adorable and I could see she can be naughty in that way you want a true friend to be. She is a tiny woman who has a voice that is bigger than one would expect. I enjoyed the entire evening with a very good friend. We were planning on just buying tickets at the door and were sad when we got to the front of the line and saw the sign that it was sold out. A man heard our distress and held out two tickets saying they needed a third. They had not been able to get the third and would love for us to have the two. I pulled out my wallet to pay and he walked away saying he did not want our money, just please enjoy. We were blessed with the random kindness of strangers.

Listening In

2009-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

I used to work with a woman that shared a hobby of mine, listening to other people’s conversations at restaurants. When we were out together we would split up the restaurant and then share what we had heard after dinner. If we could not hear them we would guess what they were talking about by their body language. I actually always enjoyed the ones we made up over what we actually heard.
I used to wait tables. It was Valentines which is the absolute worst night to wait tables. I had this one couple and the man had me put a ring in her dessert. I noticed that she already had a wedding ring but this one was larger, I assumed an upgrade. I served the desserts and when the woman saw the ring her eyes got big and I got ready for the squeal of excitement. Instead what came out of her mouth was the voice of incredulous disgust. I of course quickly walked away. From what I could tell they were having financial problems and while he thought he was doing something kind she saw it as foolish and on par for his idiocy. I felt sorry for the guy.

Today at the coffee shop

2009-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

A man just walked into the coffee shop where I am sitting. He looks British, we are in Texas. He has on a pea coat and just tied his Lab to a chair outside. The Lab looks as though he barks with an accent. The man has on a tie, ripped jeans, and canvas sneakers. I can’t hear him order because the music is loud. His brown hair has a slight curl and is short. He sits outside staring, his face looking as though it wants to cry. He is on his way with coffee to go and a small brown bag. I wish I could have heard his dog bark.