1.30.2006

Why Tall Chicks Rock Reason #1

I'm starting with 1 because I think I'm actually going to keep this list. :)

We provide shade in sunny places.

1.29.2006

Happy Monday

This has been the most lovely weekend.

I dogsat a friend's toy yorkie. Not my favorite dog, but it's fun for a couple of days when it's not my own. It was a nice little glimpse into how Pete and I will deal with having a pet together, and it was definitely fun having people constantly coming up to us to pet the dog.

My 3rd grade boys team did amazingly well at their game on Saturday, showing that they actually do listen to me occasionally. I was sooooo proud of them. I've got some great players when they want to play ball.

That night we hung out with the kiddos' dad and Carrie and played Katamari and chilled. It was so nice just to get to hang out with the kids and have a chill evening but still be having a great time.

Today we got up and made crepes. It was the first time I made anything other than dessert crepes, and they were fabulous. Then we took the yorkie to the park and played/read/kept her from trying to attack dogs that could swallow her without chewing. Tonight we made a nice dinner and Pete is currently making creme brulee for us. I have a fabulous boyfriend in a fabulous city. It's actually quite the fabulous weekend. Monday will be nice and floaty.

Yay.

My boss told me she wants to let me move out of the cottage whenever Pete and I are ready to get a place, even if that happens sooner than we thought. (The flip side is the she may want me out before Pete's lease is up, and that would be a bit of a problem.)

1.28.2006

Ode to Bolivia

The Bolivian president just cut his salary in half, also mandating that all cabinet members' salaries would be capped at the same amount. Why? So the funds would be available to hire more public school teachers.

Not that Bolivia is a shining example of all that is great and advanced in the western world, but they certainly hold role models for our own politicians.

This is how it's done, boys.

1.22.2006

Things you don't do until you're married #72

Tonight I cut Pete's hair. Wait...let me go back and say that I've never before cut a man's hair. I intended to do just a bit of a trim to get him away from the mullet look he was starting. Apparently he was under the impression that I was planning to do the whole thing. He got upset because he didn't want to go into the barber with "half a haircut" and have the barber mess it up because they hadn't seen the original. When I finally figured out that what he wanted me to do the layers and all, I finished it up and he went on his way. He's wonderfully sweet and is telling me that he thinks it's fine, but I'm not so sure he's not just being nice. I think it turned out rather well, myself. Ahh, well. Guess I'll have to wait until I have kids to torture them with my scissors.

As a child, my mother cut 8 inches off my hair in an attempt to even up the trim she started. I should have learned my lesson then.

I suppose I was trying to make up for the fact that I got Pete an appointment with a $70/cut stylist who didn't give him anything different than what he'd always had. I think I'll cut my losses now and just fork over the cash for him to get a nice one next time. :)

1.20.2006

Attack of the Giant Woman


Someone once told me that anytime you see a giant woman stomping through a city on tv, you know someone with a giantess fetish is behind it. It was supposedly a fact in that strange little community that one of the guys who created the Suddenly Susan intro was part of the group. So now I've gotta wonder about the guys out here who are having a giant carpet sale somewhere in the city. I just saw a commercial that began with a news flash of a giant woman walking around SF. A tip of my hat to the giantess guys out there (the few that didn't freak me out anyway :)). Credits to Tim Stotz for the pic.

Ack!

I found more great big shoes!

1.19.2006

locker posters

Sometimes I wish I was in high school just so I could cut pics out of magazines and tape them to the inside of my locker.

I think I've just developed a bit of a new celebrity crush. Josh Lucas, of Glory Road (and known for Sweet Home Alabama, although he's been in many great movies), was on Daily Show tonight, and is adorable.


He's from Arkansas and grew up with the same accent I had. He worked hard to get rid of it, and now regrets losing it. He has a difficult time playing a southern guy, he says (although he always seems to get those roles), because it's difficult to force the accent.

He also, as a southerner would, once laid out a man for disrespecting a lady.

Rock the fuck on.




I love my amazing boyfriend, but if I find myself using a locker anytime soon, next to the pic of he and I (around which I'll draw a heart and write M+P 4-Ever) I'll put up a pic of Josh Lucas.

1.18.2006

Genetics of Autism

Researchers at the University of Utah have been exploring the genetics of autism, and recently confirmed that Chromosome 3 probably holds a gene that "causes" autism. I use the quotes because I think it's ridiculous to say that a gene causes the disease when researchers have shown again and again that autism is not entirely genetic. Autism cannot, in fact, be entirely genetic because over the past decade the disease has spread in epidemic proportions. While the cause of the rise in cases is unknown, it most certainly cannot be genetic. This leaves environmental factors. The most popular theory is mercury, in the form of thimerosal, in childhood vaccines. This is a hotly debated topic that I have addressed before, so I will not go into my rant on the bumbling idiocy and corruptness of our government in regards to the health of these children. Instead I'll point you to Evidence of Harm and Safe Minds to catch you up on the topic. I will add, however, that if the cause of autism was mercury in the vaccines, the rate of autism would go down when the mercury was removed. We now have proof in California that the rates have done just that. While the cause of the drop has not been confirmed, it is exactly what supporters of the mercury theory predicted.

I mention this because with the confirmation of a genetic link to autism, adversaries of the mercury theory are going to come out in droves stating we now have proof that it's not about vaccines. This is soooo not the case.

What the genetic link confirms is that some children have a biological propensity to get autism. One of the theories in the mercury explanation is that some children have a defect that leaves them unable to process the mercury as normal children do. This causes mercury to build up in the brain and leads to autism. IF that's true, this genetic link might cause the defect that causes mercury to accumulate. Regardless, the genetic link does NOT make autism a genetic disease. It simply leads us to the area that might make a child more susceptible to something in the environment that does cause autism.

Visitors

I'm so excited! I just booked Corey's ticket to come see me in March! I finally get to show this beautiful city to him. If you're out here, you can help me work on getting him to make the permanent move. :)

I'm so proud

my boyfriend is a rockstar

1.17.2006

slippin' around

I lost interest in hockey when the NHL went on strike. Honestly, I just went without seeing a game for so long that I threw my interest into my other sports passion, baseball, and forgot all about the puck. With hockey back in play this year, you'd think the thought would have at least crossed my mind.

But what do you do when your team just stepped down from its pedestal?

sadness

1.09.2006

Shoe Fetish

Someone FINALLY did it!

How many times have you walked into a shoe store, picked up a gorgeous pair of shoes, asked for a size 10 or higher just to have the salesperson say:
"Sorry we don't have your size"?
Well ladies, Taceri has your size and more.


This beautiful shoe

is in my size!

And so is this one


And this one!


Thank you, Taceri!
Taceri is a designer shoe line dedicated exclusively to women who wear sizes 10-14 medium. Our line is crafted in Brazil and is made of quality leathers and fine fabrics. We have something for everyone. These shoes will make any woman feel vibrant, sassy and confident. We think you will agree...

Now's the time to indulge, go ahead fulfill your passion, you are worth it.

Now, I've just got to keep myself from going broke. :) I could go broke on shoes. What a great problem to have!

1.05.2006

waiting for the other shoe to drop

I'm in one of those moods that nobody really understands. It's making it difficult to do anything, much less make decisions about fun or productive things I could do with my evening.

This morning I was faced with the fact that my employer doesn't realize just how much I bring to my position. Most likely, I haven't shown her; and that, of course, is entirely my fault. I was a little stressed out over it, knowing that I would have to prove myself, but it wasn't a huge deal. Somehow, though, it grew as it festered in my mind today.

I loved my job at Happy Camper. I worked tons of overtime and still barely made it financially. I gained 40 pounds because of the stress and the laziness of sitting at a desk all day. I had no social life. But I loved it enough to consider sticking around.

Then I found out what my employers thought I was worth--or better, wasn't worth. It hurt like hell to have something I put so much of my heart into be devalued like that. I'm terrified of that happening again.

Spending the few days surrounding New Year's with Pete really brought out how happy I am. I've never been this happy for this long. I have a great job that pays enough for me to be financially responsible. I have an amazing boyfriend and (for the first time ever) no questions about when it's going to end. I'm closer to my family than I've ever been and they all seem to be getting along. I have great close friends who show me how much I mean to them. I'm even making friends here. This is absolutely incredible.

And that scares the bejeezus out of me.

My life doesn't go well. This doesn't happen. Parts of it go well while everything is falling to shit (sometimes--other times it just all falls to shit at once). Occasionally it looks like something might go well and then it blows up in my face, too. This happy/calm/stable thing just doesn't fit.

Tonight I had planned to stay home and clean and what not, but this evening I knew I needed to spend it with my boyfriend. At the same time, though, I was in a rotten mood and didn't really want to expose him to it. I wasn't quite sure, so I sent him a text telling him I'd like to hang out. When he wrote back that it wouldn't be bad for us to do our own thing tonight, I swear I got teary. It didn't have anything to do with him, just with the day and the fears and the big scary world out there or something. I let him know that I was in a weird mood and would like to spend some time with him, but I wasn't sure how fun I'd be. Being the great guy he is, he assured me that my mood wouldn't last for long once I was with him. He's right, and I knew that, so I hesitated again. Maybe I want to wallow in my misery. Maybe I just want to sit on my couch and watch something dumb that makes me cry and feel sorry for myself before waking up and realizing how great my life is and how fucked up I am for not shouting with joy instead of sitting here feeling sorry for myself.

Ultimately, the cute little kiddos I watch cheered me up enough at dinner to realize that I need to be out having fun and taking advantage of however long I've got left on this crazy happy streak. So off I am to see the best man I know. He'll make it better for awhile.

Listening for the thud.

1.04.2006

Plagarist

So I haven't had anything original to say in a while. I really do believe I might catch up soon, but for now I have to admit that I could not possibly describe the transition from year to year as beautiful as Kendall:

Looking Back...

And so 2005 is gone. There's a certain danger in looking back over the last year. Do I regret anything? Did I learn anything? Am I better or worse off today than I was a year ago? And so the questions spill forth. I'm masterful at asking way too many questions and analyzing every little choice.

The cost of such a review, however, causes me to miss the moment. To make decisions on what was or what might have been instead of what is. Today was full of uncertainty, and I suppose at some level I should be grateful because with uncertainty comes opportunity to enjoy the moment.

flat on your back