BUSY!!

Usually, when people depict a cross roads, it's very lonely and eerily quiet. Why? The hard decisions are the ones that are crowded by the opinions of other people in a person's life. Otherwise your path is your path, and you have to follow it.

** photo from thecassandrapages.com

Dance, Monkeys! Dance!

I first saw this in my intro to anthropology class a few years ago. It's a little quasi-intellectual bit of fun. Please enjoy.
*note:There are, in fact, no monkeys in this video...they're all apes. Anything that looks like a "monkey" is actually either a bonobo or a chimp.

I was talking to my lover over dinner this evening, and for one reason or another I decided to share with him several women who I aspire to be like. I think it would be a good idea to record this for posterity ( and for days when I feel like crap).

1) My mom. Yes, I know most people put this on their "heroes" list because you're an asshole if you don't. But seriously, my mom is the most patient, caring (sometimes to the point of meddling/worrying), funny woman I know. She can say "roof shingle" and I will laugh. She is also an amazing cook. Try to make better Japanese curry rice than hers. You WILL fail. End of story. Thank you. Good bye. She also has a supremely strong character. I choose to believe I inherited that from her, I'm pretty hard to sway. Add all that to her crazy good looks (half of which I inherited as well) and you got on amazing person.
2) Sarah Raven. Historian, medical doctor, florist, gardener, author, culinary school teacher, cookbook author (it's different from author), business woman, television hostess, wife, mother. She is the renaissance woman of our day. If you are able to, buy her book "In Season". Everyone will think you are amazing, and you will think you are a freak because you just read a cook book cover to cover. ( Thank you for the best Christmas present ever, Lover!!!) She allows me to continue to believe I can be a nurse, reform American medicine, have a cake shop and a family...all before I hit 50.
3) Nigella Lawson- I think I've said this before here...or somewhere, but Rachel Ray cannot even begin to be as great as Nigella Lawson. This woman is FOR REAL. She cooks out of her own kitchen, and uses real ingredients from her pantry ( like, sometimes the ice cream isn't brand new...sometimes there are a few scoops missing from dinner last night.) She tastes everything, and most of her recipes are fudgeable. She also is so gorgeous, kind of in the same category as Kate Winslett. Totally glamourous, yet approachable. She eats a fairly healthy diet...with some midnight chocolate cake thrown in for interest, and considers laughing for hours on end an ab workout.

Yes, all three women can cook ( I'm not saying it is important to femininity or anything like that...just it's a passion of mine and will always be in my life). I think I can too...I hope I'm on my way to being someone's inspiration.

I am employed!

I have not exactly been prolific in my writing lately. I got a job! I hope to have lots of things to write about later since I think the job will be a wealth of resources. Until then, I haven't quit blogging, I've just been busy. I have the afternoon off though...

Assorted Goodies

- Yesterday was my lover's birthday, so I made him a Black Forest cake per his request and we shared it with all our friends (except one, poor thing had only 8 hours of sleep in the past 72 hours) and it was such a hit (*big smile here!!*) that it was all gone before I got a chance to take a snap shot. I wanted to get the filling and layers because, lets face it the outside of a Black Forest cake can be very nondescript. I'm very sad to not have documentation of my work...I guess I'll have to make another one very soon!

- It was my lover's turn to pick what we checked out from the Library DVD collection, and he picked Black Adder. It's a show starring Rowan Atkinson (most famously known as Mr.Bean) who plays a member of a different generation of the Blackadder family in each season. In this clip (from the second season) Lord Blackadder is having dinner with some relatives who are very strict Christians. I just so they are there to discuss what could possibly be his rather large inheritance on the same day he accepted him to a drinking contest/bet for who can handle his drink the best. In his efforts to keep the two parties separate Lord Blackadder faces some pretty funny situations.


SO FUNNY!
Also, Hugh Laurie plays some pretty humorous, non-House-like characters which are pure gold.

- Finally, I have just seen that Zoe has mentioned me in her blog, and I couldn't be more pleased! I'm going to get real here for a moment...I screamed like I had won the lottery. Not only was I surprised to find that ANYBODY read my little fledgling blog, but that it was the author of Glorious Nonsense, which is the first blog I ever read on a regular basis (I've been a fan since the A Boy Wearing Makeup post.) Zoe, you made my day. :o)

My dearest friend,

Everyone needs to see, nay experience the HBO miniseries, John Adams based on the book by David McCullough which is in turn, based on the volumes of correspondence and personal writings of John and Abigail Adams. The attention to detail is stunning, the authenticity breathtaking, the story far more compelling than other (romanticized) tellings of American history.


WATCH IT! WATCH IT NOW!

Tall and tan, young and lovely...

It's a nice warm evening. The windows are open and it sounds like this in our apartment:



I just love the way everyone looks in this little clip! Even the lady randomly wearing just a leotard to a jazz performance... her hair is great! But no one is a cute as Astrud herself. That bow is just darling!