My boat.......

No, I didn't have an uninteresting day. I chose to post a picture of my cat. Why? I was super busy and nothing I did was super picture op-ey. Unless perchance you wanted to see me get my eyes examined, or perhaps the annoyed face I was making every time Jason and I went into yet another store playing bad Christmas music. (It's not the Christmas music I mind.....it's that the yuck songs and renditions of songs far outweigh the good ones but everyone just throws it all into the same melting pot. Can we at least maintain a level of artistic integrity on the SURFACE if nothing else?) Or perhaps you'd like to see a picture of me eating a super light lunch 'cause I wasn't hungry at all then starving in German class because today was the day we learned FOOD words and I remembered how the yummy breads tasted when they were fresh von der backerei..........mmmm........sehr lecker! Nope, lots of stuff to do, lots of stuff accomplished, all interesting, none photo worthy. So, ladies and gentlemen, here's Spartacus.

Excuse you.

This afternoon Jason called up Dustin for something or other, and it just so happened that Dustin was in the area. His family was out of town until this evening and we were just about to sit down to lunch, so Jason invited him over. We had a great time and we were all sitting around talking when, inevitably, the subject of where some town or other was came up. I got out the map and was showing him, and then we we started talking about towns with weird names, and then we started talking about where we've been and such, so I pointed out my hometown and then showed him where my parents live. He saw that Lake Tahoe is right there so we started talking about Lake Tahoe and how deep it is, and before you know it, Dustin was so fascinated that he pulled out his iPhone to look up the facts, and Jason pulled out his iPod to see who could win the race of who can look stuff up faster. The air was heavy with the sound of implied lightsaber duelings. I don't remember (or care) who won, but it always amuses me when, in this day and age, people choose artificial interaction over face to face stuff, even when they're right there in the same room.

Sleeping EZ

This is a picture of one of my favorite streets in Kansas City. It's in the Crossroads District. I love it because not only is it picturesque, it has great shops and a sweet art space. My only lament is that this level of intense coolness is maintained for a scant block. Oh well, at least it exists, right? I had a meeting and photo shoot for the KC Crossroads Comedy project today. It went well, I got some good shots in. The space (The Fishtank) is really great for taking pictures in. I love it. Jason and I had band practice for New Year's this afternoon and then we went out to eat one last time with Tiffany and Thomas. They leave tomorrow, which is a bummer. It was great to see her. Speaking of seeing people and things, I'm going to shut my eyes for several hours now so the only things I see are in my dreams. I'm super zonked. Good night, all!

It's a chicken drawing kind of day.....

Today was the best! I spent the whole day with the family, we played Wii and I read non-school related books and magazines for the first time since September. It was wonderful! As evening was coming on I grabbed my things and headed out for some yoga with Tom and Julia, then we met up with Tiffany, Thomas and Joe and saw The Union, a sketch group out of Chicago with ties to Kansas City. Jason and I saw them last year when they were here around Thanksgiving and they were tremendous! This year he was working so the girls spent the night at a friend's house and I went with the crew. Loaded Dice and Spite did a couple thirty minute sets as an opener, and they were just fantastic. The Union, of course, was phenomenal! They did a couples therapy sketch and pulled a random member of the audience up on stage....it just so happened they picked Julia! It was too funny. One of the reasons they picked Julia is because we were sitting in the front row. We sat in the front row because when we showed up Dennis DuPont said, "We're going to have you go ahead and sit in the front row." Uh......okay. So we did. After the show was over, I was told by him and a few other members of the improv groups that I should sit in the front row for every show. Charley Bell said, "Yeah, in fact, we should pay you to sit in the front." I laughed at this point and he said, "Yeah, and that's why. You have this great laugh and it just trickles back like a tidal wave all through the audience." Too sweet! We went to Mc Coy's afterward and Cristela from Oklahoma City (see the entries from July 16-18th, that's when I met her) and her hubby were in town for Thanksgiving, so they met up with us! It was great to see her and introduce her to the Kansas City improv scene. I've been looking forward to today for several weeks now. Glad it exceeded my expectations so thoroughly!

Successful succulence

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I successfully pulled mine off without a single hitch. I'm actually really proud of myself for that. Seriously, it was a huge undertaking and I loved every minute of it. Here is the spread just before we dove in. At the table are me, Jason, the girls, Bob (Jason's dad), Tiffany, and Tiffany's boyfriend Thomas. He's from Germany and this was his first time EVER celebrating Thanksgiving! I feel honored to have been the one to provide the meal for him. Later in the evening Bob left and we had some pie and played massive amounts of Guitar Hero. It's what you do on Thanksgiving, like, seriously. After the girls went to bed we were joined by Tom and his sister, Julia. We had MORE pie and watched a couple episodes of Firefly. Great series, I'm really getting into it. A perfect Thanksgiving all around.

I'm creating! A mess!

Day before Thanksgiving! I made a few things today in preparation for the big meal tomorrow. The covered dish there is cornbread which is the basis of my family's heirloom cornbread dressing recipie (if I never get any other inheritance but that, I am beyond okay with that. Yeah, it's that good.) and the eggs are for deviling tomorrow. I had a request for them. Today was all about cleaning the house and preparing dishes that need a little advance prep. I also made sure the turkey is thawed and then began soaking it in broth and herbs to make it super juicy. Mmmmmm! Can't wait for tomorrow afternoon!

My little pilgrim, now in four colors!

'Tis the season.....Brianna came home today as an 'Indian.' The back of her FABRIC tunic (we had paper sacks when I was in kindergarten! We must belong to a really rich school district!) has her 'Indian' name on it, "Little Cloud." Awwww! So answer me this, if you can remember, dear reader: When you were in kindergarten (or whenever) were you a Pilgrim or an 'Indian?' I am pretty sure I was an 'Indian.' I was certainly fascinated with their way of life for the longest time! This evening the girls and I went to an improv show. Jason has to work at nights now, so it was just us girls at the Exit 16 show. They're high schoolers and it's at the school so it's family friendly, and Trish coaches them. I've been meaning to get to one of their shows for quite a while now, so I'm glad I got the opportunity. I guess that's one advantage to not having rehearsals on Tuesday nights any more. The show was fantastic, those kids really know their stuff! I wish I had known what improv was when I was in high school. I would have had SO much fun!

Security

Y2K10 is coming!!!! No, really, it is! In two months! In preparation for it's rapidly impending arrival, I have stored up supplies to last a while. Either that or I'm hosting Thanksgiving and wrangled up the necessary items today. Take your pick. Either way be creative and have fun with the story you envision of why I decided to stock up. (*rolls eyes* You picked Thanksgiving, didn't you? You're boring. Accurate, yes.............but boring.) The cool thing about knowing how to cook is that I went ahead and allowed myself to go a tad over the top when it came to buying such supplies. Why is that a good thing? Because this time of the year they're on sale, and whatever I don't use this Thursday can be made into all sorts of amazing yummy awesomeness in the coming months........before Y2K10!!!!!! Ahhhh! It all ties in, it must be fate! Either that or I'm creative. See how much more fun that is?

I'm already convinced that you're mad at me.

In no particular order, those three cars belong to Tom, Jen, and myself. Kind of fun to see them all lined up like that. It's like, "Hey, our cars are best friends too!" I had a very full day of stuff. I went to the school play production (Almost, Maine) because I had to critique it for my theater class, and I stayed on campus after that for Project Improv and Anomaly Orange rehearsal. I'm zonkered and tired and exhausted. Did I mention I could use some sleep because I'm out of energy? It's true. The good news is I have only a small amount of homework to finish. Yay to me for staying on top of things!

Ladies' night

Brianna had a girl scout sleepover tonight. One of the activities they did was swimming and they needed a parent to be there for that portion of the evening, so Jason elected to go. Since Leigha and I were then freed up to do as we pleased, we decided it would be fun to go down to the theater and see this evening's 7pm show. During intermission we felt the need to do some hand stands against the wall............yup. We're crazy like that. The show was fun and there was Dairy Queen to be had afterward, which is always good. I love getting to have time with her all to myself. Leigha is going to be ten in January, she's growing up so fast! It's nice to just take time and enjoy moments like this together. Even if they're upside down.

Alactric blue

I had a great day. *contented sigh* Everything about today was pretty great, honestly. I had a tremendous yoga session, a yummy pizza for lunch, coffee, and then I went to German class and found out that I had not, as I feared, skipped over a whole section of the test when I went up to answer my verbal questions. Ausgeseichnet! This evening we took the girls to the school to get them vaccinated against the H1N1 virus (which I have affectionately named the 'Heinie') it's not that we're paranoid.........or even worried, but if offered a free shot for the kiddos to keep them safe, we'll take it. Fortunately for them, the school had the shot AND the nasal mist, so they escaped puncture-free! Yay!

Nonderstanding

I kept thinking, "I'm going to take a picture later......." Then later came. Oh well. There wasn't a lot of interesting photographic moments earlier anyhow. But hey, check out my guinea pig, Terwilliger! Isn't he cuuuuuuuuuuute? Yeah. Nothing much to say about today, really. A full day of classes, I gave a speech and delivered a monologue at school today. *shrug* It was an okay day.

What guilt?

Today I decided to have lunch on campus, since I was in the area early anyhow and have a 2 o clock class. The restaurant they have downstairs was serving a Thanksgiving meal. Mmmm! Good stuff! And cheap! I love the cafeteria at school! Anyhow, I came home after school and did some homework, then Jason and I saddled up the girls and took them to church......for the Thanksgiving dinner. Hey, guess what I forgot was tonight? Dinner? Turkey? You betcha! So I ended up having two turkey dinners with mashed potatoes and stuffing today. Children of divorced parents...........I feel so bad for you right about now. This tryptophan overload thing is a killer!

If only it were Tuesday

I forgot it was Tuesday until Jason said, 'Okay girls, time to get your shoes on, we have to get to girl scouts!' Oh yeah. Tuesday. How odd to not have rehearsal tonight. Fortunately for you, I had plenty of exciting adventures to take pictures of today...............erm.........either that or the highlight of my day was when Jason and I went to pick Leigha up from the school when her meeting was over and found a piece of artwork by a kid whose first name was Eminem (seriously? SERIOUSLY?) Yeah. Fun to laugh about, not so much with the picture taking opportunityness. The day was just fine, honestly, but it's amazing how no rehearsal makes Tuesday kind of a wash in the 'interesting things to take pictures of' spectrum. Enjoy this picture of me looking bored and lonely without the benefit of a hipster outfit to at least make me retain a semblance of coolness. Think of it as a study in irony.

P.S.-I am feeling SUPER duper snarky at the moment. It happens. Enjoy!

Putting on chapstick is different now...

I woke up this morning to an e-mail from my German teacher saying there was no class today. German being my only class on Mondays, I felt like I was getting away with something! Since it's also Jason's day off but the girls were at school, we behaved like two children playing hooky. Jason said, "You know what...I want a sandwich and a beer." So we went downtown to Grinder's and giggled at each other across a philly cheesesteak. We tooled around in the Westport area for an hour or so, then got a coffee and headed back to the house, where the kids had just gotten home from school. Insult to injury, we made them clean their rooms tonight. Yup, we acted like a couple of kids all day then made the girls work like responsible adults. I love my life. The above picture is a hand drawn rendition of Daria from the bathroom wall of the lady's room at Grinders. Sweet.

Uncle Jessie's ice cream stand

One of the problems with having a busier lifestyle is that I have a lot going on that I could write about but it just isn't interesting to anyone but myself. You know? I do a lot, but it's mostly business any more (lolz, did homework today. Wester Civ is, like, so hard and stuff!) and I have less motivation to fill in the gaps with fun wordplay. (Today I changed my socks and went to class, then I drove my car to places with people doing things.) This is something I have to work on if I'm going to continue this daily picture thing. Bear with me if I get a little ugh now and then, this is meant to be a huge 'every day is special' kind of thing. (it's true.) So here's the whatnot for this day: We had a great afternoon downtown, eating lunch, having coffee and chasing the kids around just for the pure pleasure of torturing them. I gave them each a huge lipsticky kiss on the forehead as one of my torturous acts. Mua ha ha! As evening was coming on I went and coached a great Project Improv rehearsal, which was immediately followed by AO rehearsal. Jason's schedule is changing, so in order to keep me on as a member they all accomodated me by switching nights so I didn't have to find a regular babysitter. Seriously, they are the best friends a gal could ask for. We continued working our new format and it was SUPER cohesive tonight! All we focused on was character and relationships, and the whole thing played out like a wonderful movie. It was an absolute blast! We also played some short form games to flesh out our next show, which is a longer one. I am super bummed about having to rehearse on not Tuesdays, though. I love that everyone is willing to help a sistah out, but I'm totally bumming that they had to. Plus, I liked that rehearsal was in the middle of the week. Gave me a happy island to look forward to. Oh well. It is what it is and I'm happy to have it one way or another.

Bizarre baazar

Today was SOOOOOOOOOOOO WEIRD!!!! I mean we're talking freaky weird here, people! Here are a few of the odd things that happened to me today:

*I woke up BURSTING with energy and crashed shortly after my first cup of coffee

*Drew red hearts on two hundred and sixty small pieces of paper

*Had breakfast for lunch....at two

*Played on a bouncy slide for an hour

*Hugged my best friend because we were both incredibly pissed with each other

*Had a snow cone in one hand and cotton candy in the other

*Walked past a group of about six ladies in white tights, white shorts, and white hoodies that had pink patches on them and were stuffed to make themselves look fat (I think they were supposed to be bunnies?) and didn't bat an eye about it.

*Had lunch for dinner

*Went to bed by eleven

There's more, but I'm tired and finished trying to think about it. Needless to say, I'm going to seek theraputic care of some kind. Probably by making it all into improv scenes. :-D

A matter of time

Friday the 13th was good to me. A few things got jostled and sloshed around, but at the end of the day I got everything done that I needed to get done, AND got to do several things that I wanted to do! How lucky am I? Triskdeccaphobia is one thing I certainly don't have. It's nice to feel both productive (in the doing that which needs done) and complete (in the doing things I like.) This is a good place to be.

Get well soon

My husband, the gangsta. Aw yeah, that lollypop is off the CHAIN, dawg! You put the 'hood' in 'hoodie!' Things turned around pretty much entirely today, and the world is once again shiny. Just in time for the weekend, yay! We went to Dustin and Alanna's this evening. Mikey was there too and we played a monster game of Taboo that only resulted in one piece of stemware breaking. Bonus: It wasn't me that broke it this time! Yay!

The throne of funk!

I didn't have a good day. It wasn't AWFUL, but it was as though everything I did or attempted to do was doomed to failure from the get go. Life can't always be magical, and with as good a run as I've had these past couple weeks (all things considered) something was bound to give eventually, but I do wish life would be a little more even handed with me. It seems to either be all rainbows and faeries or all isolation and foiled plans. Even the minesweeper guy isn't having fun up there. But then he's dead, so..............yeah. Given the choice between the two of us, I'd pick my problems over his any day.

Baby, get in the truck!

I totally only took one picture today. This was it. I said to myself as I was taking it, 'Boy, I should get a few so that Tom putting improv eyeliner on Jen while Zak and Joe hang out is only one option of many.' Yup, forgot to take any more. Oh well. Exciting coolness, though.....I came up with a new format and we worked on it tonight at rehearsal, and it TOTALLY worked and was perfect for the group!!! Yay! I love creating customized awesome for these amazing people. We are going to continue to work this format to hopefully kill any and all lingering bugs (if any) but yeah, this is exciting. Go improv!

Zwanzig Jahre Maurerfall!!!!

Yup, that's a ladybug on my knee, and yes, it's November 9th. The weather has been just beautiful lately! 70 degrees, not too windy for the most part, and mostly sunny! We had a little rain move through this evening, but still! Just gorgeous! I took this picture while I was sitting on the hill at my school, just before German class. Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, so in lieu of actually studying in the book and such, our teacher showed us pictures, postcards, a Newsweek magazine, and a documentary all about the wall. So fascinating! Communism sucks! Seriously, if I had to live in as beige and gray of an environment as the East Germans did, I'd die. It would not work for me. Yay, capitalism! (wait.......)

The art of the perfect weekend

Dahhhhhhhhhhhling, you look fantastic!

Oh thank you, dear, it was nothing, I assure you.

Nothing? Why you're positively glowing!

*fake chortling laughter* What? Why......surely you don't mean this old thing?

Oh come now, dahling, surely you know you look smashing!

*feigning modesty* Oh, well, you know I hate to toot my own horn.........

(under breath) You do?

But the word 'bling' WAS invented just for me!

*fake chortling laughter* Ohhhhhh! Yes, I seem to remember you telling me that story. Was it yesterday? Maybe the day before? Oh yes.........(with a hard edge) it was BOTH.

(pause, slightly taken aback) Well there's no need to get vicious, love.

*eyes wide* Did I? Just now?

(skeptical) Perhaps I've had a bit too much punch.

(smug look) Perhaps you have.

Brittish Aisles

Today was another amazing day. Not quite as 'one train ride of awesome to amazingsville' but pretty close! I had a meeting this morning at Mildred's coffeeshop in the Crossroads and figured, 'Well, as long as I'm halfway across town I may as well hit that great looking estate sale I saw on Craigslist.' So I drove to the far end of town only to discover that the sale was lame. Card tables and nic nacs? Srsly? Nahthanks. So I called Jason and asked him where the nearest Sally Beauty was. I'd been thinking about dying my hair (you just glanced up at the picture and looked closer didn't you? If not then, surely now) for a while so I decided, "I've got time, let's do this." If you noticed it's darker, congratulations. If you noticed that down in the lower right hand corner you can see a peek of blueish greenish, then you win a fabulous prize! (Well SOME people consider being observant prize enough by itself, sorry if you don't!) Yes, my hair is now black on top, blue-green underneath. I love it so much! Naturally, a 'do this cool deserves a proper showoffage, so Jason and I took the girls to the theater to see the 7pm show of the evening, 'It's Debatable.' After the show I went to see a band that Tom had told me about. He invited several people via Facebook but I was the only one besides him that ended up going. Oh well, we had fun and the band was amazing (Tigercity was the name.....that could be two words, I don't know for sure. I saw both on posters) I feel priveleged to have gotten to see them at a small small venue before they become huge, because they will be.

For only 15 minutes a day you can feed an artist

Today was one of those rare days when everything aligns just so and BAM! Perfect day. Love it! It began with yoga, moved on to coffee, a great class session in German, wonderful time with my family, and closed out with a bang, a performance arts piece hosted by 'Andy Warhol' with brilliant, beautiful, moving, and creatively inspired pieces. Even the weather complied beautifully! If I took any tiny bit of today and placed it anywhere in any given day of this year, that day would be considered a good day. Seriously, even if it was a fictional day in which the ceiling caved in while I was in the bathroom and the only way my rescuers could find me would for me to scream N'Sync's entire discography at the top of my lungs for eight hours until they pulled my bruised pruny body out of the tepid bathwater it would be good!

In flux

I decided to put up a vid in lieu of a picture today. This is me doing my daily presentation for my voice and speech class today. Everyone else has stood and read their pieces off their papers thus far, not an option I am particularly comfortable with if I have a choice in the matter. Oh, and yes, I do know I accidentally said 'burbled' instead of the correct word 'chortled' at the end of the piece, but if that's what you're going to choose to focus on, go read someone else's blog. FYI, my teacher gave me a perfect 50 points for this. Aw yeah.

P.S.-On this day 54 years ago, the fluxcapacitor was invented. Yes.

What's up, Chuck?

I'm sure I could have taken a better picture today, but this one just felt right. So here you are. I had a really full but laid back day. Just enough stuff on my plate to where it was full but with just enough downtime to where it didn't feel like it. That's a good balance to have, but uncommonly hard to find. Finding it for a day, yeah, I'm good with that. I had a few funny thoughts that occurred to me during the course of the day that I wanted to jot down and put in here, but I didn't get around to it and now they're gone. Ce'st la vie! So as long as I've written about virtually nothing, perhaps I'll just keep this mystery train rolling and tell you nothing else about my day beyond, 'it was sorta full sorta not' which, at this point, is the entire essence of this blog posting.

Oh don't look so disappointed.

Good and bad: There's a difference.

Rehearsal tonight was awesome. We took last week off because of all the performances we did the two weeks prior, so we came together tonight ready to work our improv butts off, and we went above and beyond. Our scenes were tight knit and fun, nobody was overshadowing or talking over anyone else, and there was an incredible sense of play and teamwork. Not to mention there were several scenes we were patient with and let breathe so we could discover them at a natural place that went Ker-POW!!!! I love nights like this. Oh, and all the gray and black we're wearing-welcome to fall in the Midwest. Color largely goes bye bye around here when the trees fade. Well, for most people. I just happened to wear a black shirt tonight. Usually I'm like a technicolor butterfly.

Look at me when I rock with you

I decided to take the instructions that my self-portraited......self issued from my chalkboard. I did indeed have a spiffy day. Sure, I had classes and the kids were a little more boistrous than was strictly necessary, not to mention the fact that I had a TON of homework that I'd been putting off and had to do it all at the end of the day......but that's okay. That's life. I've got a lot going for me. I've got a great family, incredible friends who are as close as family, and I'm able to do the things I love on a semi-regular basis. What on earth do I have to complain about? Nothing.

But what is the daylight saving?

Happy daylight saving's time everyone! Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep! I barely noticed mine, personally. Today was exceptionally sunny out so it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and rake the leaves. We have a lot of huge trees in our neighborhood and the leaves go EVERYWHERE. Fortunately, we employ the help of slave labor. Today was one of those weird days where you do lots of stuff but it doesn't feel like it because by the time you get to the end it's like, "Oh.............is it still just Sunday?" It's disorienting to try to smash ten days into one. Fortunately for me, I got an hour's extra sleep last night to help make up for it..........that's why we do that, right?