popping in to say hi!

quick hello :) had a wonderful time with cassie and are now enjoying visiting with john, linda, and ross -- they're having a (hopefully) wonderful time pin trading and running around disney :) more later -- have a great week!

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The Evening Star

by Louise Gluck

Tonight, for the first time in many years,
there appeared to me again
a vision of the earth's splendor:

in the evening sky
the first star seemed
to increase in brilliance
as the earth darkened

until at last it could grow no darker.
And the light, which was the light of death,
seemed to restore to earth

its power to console. There were
no other stars. Only the one
whose name I knew

as in my other life I did her
injury: Venus,
star of the early evening,

to you I dedicate
my vision, since on this blank surface

you have cast enough light
to make my thought
visible again.

ghoons (and the baby) in ghoonlando!

we had a wonderful weekend visiting with dave and maureen and their adorable son owen ;) we spent time doing all things we hoped to do, visiting, cooing over the baby, seeing a bit of the parks, and just in general catching up :) and nate and i also got a parenthood preview ;) we were sad to see them go-- nate especially catches a case of homesickness when pennsylvanians come around, but we'll see them soon up north ;)
speaking of which, we have two trips planned, one to pennsylvania for music weekend (april) and the other to nashville to visit drew and laura (may) - i am really looking forward to both!
and visitors to florida continue with cassie arriving on friday (epcot, shopping, wine bars, oh my!) and linda, john jr., and ross arriving just after cassie leaves on the following friday :) we expect to be entertaining ross with a lot of disney and wii :) should be a great time!
also, the screen porch will become a reality hopefully mid-april, the permits are in process as we speak!
that's all for now i suppose :) don't want to jinx it, but nate and i have been pretty good lately about biking/walking in the evenings, especially with the recent DST shift (yes arizona, the rest of the country experienced a time change recently).
k, i'm off to play the sims for a bit ;)

my work anniversary

was march 6th :) i can't believe it's been an entire year! the day snuck up on me actually, and when all my co-workers piled into my office to congratulate me and present me with my one year service pin -- i was completely surprised!
annivesaries and milestones are a great time for reflection and since i started working here i've thought a lot about what's different in this role verus my previous role. there are many many differences on the surface, but what i have really enjoyed are the differences in how i feel about my job. i enjoy working for a company that makes decisions that i agree with, decisions i would make for myself. maybe i have a one year rosy view, but i really enjoy all of the intrinsic reward programs they promote. pats on the back and verbal praise are common and much appreciated from my end! so i guess what i'm getting at is that i'm happy with my decision to change career paths, and happy that it's worked out even better than i hoped it would :)

what exactly we do at disney..

i forgot to post this awhile ago, but our department made a video about what it's like to be an industrial engineer at disney and what kind of projects we work on :)

http://www.iienet2.org/media/disney/flowplayer.htm

it's a pennsylvania football weekend

well, sort of ;) lastnight we watched 'invincible' the true story of vince papale and how he earned a spot with the philadelphia eagles.
today, we're off to find ben roethlisberger (omg i spelled it right..you know how i know? it's written on the t-shirt i'm wearing at the moment) and hines ward at espn weekend at disney mgm studios :) we got to see ben yesterday filming nfl live which was pretty cool. today we're armed with all kinds of steeler's paraphenalia and a camera in hopes of getting an autograph :)
after that, helping out at the iie regional conference job fair, then we're hopping on a chartered bus for a dive bar crawl in celebration of several of our friends birthdays. should be a good time :)
tomorrow is a bowl-a-thon for charity and hopefully a bike ride if it doesn't rain! then we get to head back to work monday to get some rest ;)

just another manic monday...

just kidding, it's not manic :) we had a nice weekend -- cleo got fleas! so we spent saturday chasing down various products and banishing them from both dog and house. we're proud to say she's now flea free.
in other news, i think we're definitely building a screened in porch! nate's calling to give the go ahead today but it will still be 4-6 weeks for all the plans and paperwork and then building. we're really excited :) i think we'll enjoy the florida weather even more with a nice breezy bug free room to sit in.
that's all for now, have a great monday!

drive by blogging

on our way out the door to work, but just wanted to quickly say we had a great time on vacation, relaxed, etc. and then i came down with something but have now recovered :) happy friday!

and we're off! (well, almost)

we leave friday evening (tomorrow!) for our hilton head vacation :) i'm really really excited about it. we'll be staying on the island and i have an entire list of restaurants to try! nate and i plan to ride bikes, read books, stay in, go out and have a wonderful time :)
we're leaving right after work tomorrow and i can't wait!
hope everyone is having a good february (brrr!) hear it's much colder than here in most of the country. nate misses shoveling snow and curling up in a nice warm house, but i'm the one whining when it drops into the 40s around here ;)
check out the picture page for pics updated through last saturday and get ready for a whole boat load of pictures from hilton head ;)

just six days until my one year anniversary :)

just call me inspector gadget!

so for nate’s birthday, my mom got nate a pair of heart rate monitors, one for him and one for me (mine’s pink!) she had given my stepdad one for christmas (she had one already) and they kept track while we went hiking and other various activities. i admit, i didn’t understand what the fuss was about or how it could be a motivator, but it really is!
to try them out, nate and i headed out on the bike trail yesterday- what a gorgeous day it was for biking too! we strapped up, and headed out. my bike is now accessorized with the following: headlight and tail light, pink streamers, bell, mileage computer, and now the heart rate monitor on my wrist. seriously. so anyway, the monitor knows when i’m working too hard, not hard enough, or just right! and beeps accordingly. i lovingly refer to it as the little beeotch on my wrist. we rode 14 miles and i burned 820 calories! stats like that appeal to the industrial engineer in me, i’m hooked ;)

things i can't get enough of lately :)

1. my husband of course!
2. orbitz mojito gum... mmm...
3. looking at pics of beautifully decorated rooms
4. thinking about our trip to hilton head next week
5. family visits! bring 'em on :)

The Americans Who Voted For George W. Bush Wish to Return Their Television.

by Wayne Gladstone

AMERICA: Yeah, hi. I bought this TV here about two years ago and I'd like to return it.
BEST BUY CLERK: Oh, yeah. I remember you. You loved this TV. What happened? Is it broken?
AMERICA: Broken? Well, I'm not sure. It's just that ... hmm. How do I explain?
BEST BUY CLERK: Well, what's the problem?
AMERICA: Well, I've heard there are other TVs? Like a smart TV that knows when your shows are on and can record them for you? One that can be programmed with parental controls and specifications.
BEST BUY CLERK: Yeah, sure, but you said you didn't want a smart TV. I remember. I tried to sell you that. But you said it was "haughty." That it gave you too much information—like it couldn't make up its mind. You wanted a "simple" TV that you could relate to.
AMERICA: Yeah, I know ... but this TV. I mean, sometimes I'll put it on a channel and it just stays there. No matter what. No matter how bad the channel is or how much I want something different. I even changed the batteries in the remote control and banged on the side of the set, but nothing works. It's like it's ignoring me.
BEST BUY CLERK: And that's a problem?
AMERICA: Well, yeah.
BEST BUY CLERK: But I thought you liked that. I remember. You were all like, "I like a TV that knows what it wants."
AMERICA: Well, yeah, that's true. And don't get me wrong. Sometimes I like what's on. I'm a very spiritual person, so sometimes I like the religious programming, but that can't be all there is.
BEST BUY CLERK: But that's why you bought the set. We watched The 700 Club together right in this showroom. I pointed out that all these other TVs had that channel, too—they just don't show it all the time. And you said you weren't sure you could trust a TV that didn't show it all the time.
AMERICA: Yeah, I remember ... Well, it gets confused.
BEST BUY CLERK: Confused?
AMERICA: Yeah, like sometimes—and this is going to sound crazy—but sometimes I'll tune in to one show and it will show me another.
BEST BUY CLERK: What do you mean?
AMERICA: Well, like the whole fall schedule. Supposedly, there are options out there. I've been reading about all these new shows in my local paper, but I can't watch them. I'll ask for Heroes and suddenly I'm watching 24 again. Just like that. It switches one thing for another like I'm not going to notice the difference.
BEST BUY CLERK: How long has it been doing that?
AMERICA: Well, in truth, probably from the beginning, but I didn't notice at first. I'm a pretty big 24 fan. And, also, I only just started reading the newspapers. They're mostly opinion, you know.
BEST BUY CLERK: Yeah, but, you see, nothing's really changed. Your TV's not broken. This is exactly what you wanted. You just changed your mind. I'm sorry, you can't just—
AMERICA: Oh, I know! It uses way too much energy. My utility bills are through the roof! Wasn't there some warranty that this TV would keep those costs down?
BEST BUY CLERK: No. Not in the warranty. It was in the advertising. They're not the same thing. TVs use energy. That's just the deal.
AMERICA: So there's nothing we can do?
BEST BUY CLERK: Sorry. Nothing now. There was talk of building more-efficient TVs. Ones that are better for the environment. That would free us from our reliance on our enemies' resources. Technology that might even provide a new source of revenue for America and create jobs for its people. And then we ...
AMERICA: Whoa, whoa. Easy. You're giving me a headache with all that.
BEST BUY CLERK: Yeah, that's what you said in 2000.
AMERICA: Oh.
BEST BUY CLERK: Yeah. You take care, now. But mark your calendar. Big sale coming in '08.

our dining room.. before & after :)

so i put some pics on the picture page of nate installing a light (actually, three lights!) one of those was a new dining lamp, complete with dimmer! the pics below are of the house with the seller's stuff (on the left), and how it looks now -- we still need to paint, but don't know what color just yet.

happy groundhog day!

phil did not see his shadow, which means spring is just around the corner! news that doesn't have quite the same impact down here in FL... ;) we'd maybe rather have 6 more weeks of winter, but i'm not complaining! :) nate and i made the traditional groundhog cookies lastnight and brought dozens in to work to share- here's some pics of us making all the little groundhogs!

it may be a small world, but i wouldn't want to paint it!

well we've been having a wonderful time with nate's family, the arrived this past weekend after spending a weekend running around disney with us, they've headed to venice beach to hopefully catch some sun :) the house seems too quiet without them around!
the weather in florida has been beautiful, sunny, and warm until this week- it actually frosted lastnight and we had to turn the heat on this week! they've been calling it "the big chill" - that's right, bundle up your children, the high is only in the 50s this week! :) but i have to admit, i'm spoiled, i really didn't appreciate that 40 degree weather as i ran from the car to work this morning!
cleo is spoiled as ever, snuggling with all the family members that will offer a lap and ruling the household. she's warming up a bit to florida grass but is still pretty wary of how high and thick it is.
nighty night everyone ;) and glad to see everyone is blogging again, missed the updates!

what's a wii?

wii is a video game system :) but it's way cooler than the usual one because the controller is motion sensitive -- meaning you can wave it like a tennis racket when you're playing the tennis game. it's awesome ;)

wii got a wii!

so for nate's birthday and each of our valentine's, we are now the proud owners of a wii! definitely lives up to all the hype. we've been playing it since we got it sunday morning and it even inspired us to finally setup our wireless router. which is why i'm now blogging from the living room watching nate play wario smooth moves. it's pretty entertaining ;) we've been playing golf, bowling, tennis, etc. all from our living room and really enjoying it :)
our party was a great time- at least, the two of us had a great time! we were up late and drank and ate until our heart's content.
friday nate's family arrives, beginning with alan, mickey, dan and hopefully matt! then satuday, john and nina arrive :) it will be a fun and activity filled week for sure :) we're looking forward to showing them all the things we've discovered around property since the last time they were here.
speaking of things we've discovered, we had some great italian food lastnight at a new place called Guso's- i only mention it because we've found great italian food is harder to come by then you'd think around here!
that's all for now! hope you're having a great week so far :)

happy birthday dad!

saturday... and the living' is easy...

good morning! so after having a great time in blacksburg, i came back to florida, and guess what? (this part's exciting) i missed florida while i was gone, it was good to be home! i always gauge how well i'm adjusting to a new place by how i feel when i come back from a trip. for example, last spring, after spending weekends in atlanta and nashville, i was all but depressed returning here. but this time, i missed the balmy winter weather and the latin music spilling from nearby car windows, it was good to be home :)
in other good news, nate and i accomplished some things around the house! we can now fit no less than 1 car in our garage! AND we also replaced some outdated light fixtures in the house for what we think is a world of difference in the entry, dining room, and hallway :)
in celebration of all our housework (that is to say... work around the house) we're having a bunch over tonight for a party :) all the more motivation to make it loook like we've lived here for four months now! :)

in the 'burg :)

so i'm in blacksburg! well, technically i'm in radford at the moment (in a morning sun brightly lit coffee mill). here to see cassie and everyone else (call me!) :) lastnight, we went almost directly to the cellar (did not past go, did not collect $200) but we did stop by boudreaux's first for a little 1/2 price wine. mmmm... wine tastes so much better when it's 1/2 price.
it's odd being back here- both in that when we were wandering around downtown lastnight i feel like i'd never left and also because i've been gone long enough for changes to spring up all over the place. new buildings, new faces. there's someone at the counter at the moment that i recognize and he recognizes me too because he said hi but i can't rememer.. ah! he just came over, he's the owner of my favorite restaurant, sal's :)
psst.. sal's has a new high class restaurant downtown roanoke called nico's so if you still live in the area, check it out ;)
coming back to somewhere you've left always spawns some level of ...well pondering i guess. reflection... thinking about why you left and where you've gone since then. and i have to say, i'm quite happy :) which in no way negates the incredibly soft spot in my heart for this part of southwest virginia. but it's been a big year of moves and new starts and a new name ;)
more later!

An Open Letter to My Blogger Friends Who Have Seemingly But Not Definitely Abandoned Their Posts (pun intended).

Dear Blogger Friends Who Have Seemingly But Not Definitely Abandoned Their Posts (pun intended):

I know we've all been busy lately, but c'mon! Are you really leaving me to read nothing while on the internet but cnn.com? Checking my bank balance? Reading theknot.com when I got married almost a year ago? This is disgraceful Blogger Friends Who Have Seemingly But Not Definitely Abandoned Their Posts (pun intended)! Some of you haven't updated your blogs since last summer! Your URLs are wasting away in cyberspace, longing for an update... where have you gone? Have you opened up a myspace.com page and left me in the dark? Dedicated your time to macrameing pairs of denim shorts for next summer? I've not been that great about my own blog but I need entertainment from you people! We're down here in Florida with no link to your lives! I'll be forced to write personal e-mails in order to get updates! What is the world coming to??

Okay Blogger Friends Who Have Seemingly But Not Definitely Abandoned Their Posts (pun intended), quit reading my blog and go update your blog! I need reading material! I don't even care if it's good reading material so long as it's an update! Maybe post a new website to keep me busy with all this freed up time?

Sincerely,
Bri ;)

happy new year from bri and nate!

off to arizona!

nately and i celebrated christmas for the two of us tonight - it was great :) we wrapped all the gifts yesterday - santa brought me all kinds of good stuff (photography books, poetry books, 600-thread count sheets, a football, a bunch of random disney whatnots, and more!) i am totally spoiled this christmas and it's not even over yet!
our flight is tomorrow afternoon which gives us a bit of time to get organized (read: do laundry) and get cleo all packed up for her big trip to arizona! i'm excited to spend time in AZ, haven't been home since the wedding! big plans to take nate hiking, to rito's (our favorite mexican), maybe even sedona and/or flagstaff.
since i never post pics anymore on this blog, thought i'd include one from castaway cay- disney's very own island in the bahamas. as we were disembarking from the ship, they handed us eggnog and had carolers and fake snow -- it was pretty entertaining ;) so here's me with my eggnog and a gorgeous blue sky (i'm a bit blurry, but you get the idea). happy holidays!

my life in short

went on a 7-day cruise, loved it but missed nate like crazy! christmas for nate and i on friday, headed to arizona saturday, christmas with my family on christmas. work's busy but pleasant, FL is warm for this time of year!

back to junior high...

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

it's thursday already?

how did that happen? and it's the last day of november too! well our christmas tree is up -- he's so cute! we decorated with our joint collection of ornaments and it's lovely :) i need to amass wayyyy more holiday decorations than i have though, barely fills a room in the house!
tonight i'm making dinner for nately and then i don't know what we'll end up doing -- probably cleaning the house because the termite inspector is coming in the morning!
oh and i posted more pics -- TONS from our thanksgiving/christmas weekend in PA :)
i guess that's it... our weather here lately has been gorgeous -- it's even supposed to be in the 80s tomorrow! and tomorrow's an all day team building event, so should be a good day for it!

santa, the christmas tree

will be decorated tonight! nate and i got a real tree this year, which i haven't done in years :) i'm so excited! it's a little 4' baby - tonight he'll be all lit up and christmas beautiful!

take a look at the five & ten, glistening once again

with candy canes and silver lanes agloooooooooooooow! it's beginning to look a lot like christmas... :)
as always, we had a wonderful time in pennsylvania, filled with family, food and fun! i have many pics to post. we had thanksgiving on thursday (well, duh!), a little black friday shopping and put up the tree friday, and had christmas morning on saturday! it was great ;)
i have all kinds of wonderful christmas gifts to play with- and expect more pics from the new camera as i now have a bag to tote it around in!
all for now, i'm trying to blog more often -- stay tuned ;)

bri's list of exciting news

1. we're off to PA for thanksgiving (and christmas!) i can't wait!
2. i'm going on a 7-day carribbean cruise in december!
3. we're going home for 10 days to arizona in december!
4. it's the holidays :) i love the holidays!
5. the ghoons are planning a FL visit in '07!

have a wonderful turkey day, i'm thankful for so very much this year :)

Butterball Help-Line Help-Line

By Alysia Gray Painter

Q: A caller just said she forgot to baste every 10 minutes. I advised her to serve the turkey anyway. Was I correct?
A: Not at all. The turkey is merely the vehicle for the basting. In a recent poll, nine out of 10 people would rather sit down at the table and suck on the end of a baster full of buttery juices than gnaw at some dry old wing. Bad call.

Q: I just overheard my co-worker advising a home cook to truss the bird. I arrived late at the "Talk Turkey" seminar last week and missed the trussing segment. Can you advise?
A: Trussing, while not the chef's best friend, is that pleasant acquaintance you see about once a year and always have a compliment for. Trussing is legal in every state. Trussing comes from the word "truss," which means to truss, or tie string or put pins in a turkey to help it stay in a pretty poultrylike shape that is pleasing to the eye. Cooks must remove pins and string before consuming. If a caller wants to know if she should truss, you should tell her you only go around this crazy world once. Trust truss.

Q: Cinnamon or nutmeg?
A: Cinnamon is a nice spice people are comfortable consuming throughout the year, sprinkled either on toast or in a delicious coffee beverage. Nutmeg is a nasty, gritty substance that wants nothing to do with us in the spring or summer but demands our favor come November, only to disappear to the back of the shelf for another year. Why do we continue to accommodate this so-called seasoning? Nutmeg is a stupid jerk.

Q: I just hung up with a caller with the words "gobble gobble" instead of "goodbye"—was this appropriate?
A: No. Make sure you note that in your report to your supervisor on Monday.

Q: The vending machine on the second floor is broken and we're starved. Should we call maintenance?
A: Maintenance is home eating a proper dinner with family and friends. Go to the office kitchen and look in the cupboard behind the fridge. There will be a half-eaten box of Triscuits there, because every office kitchen in existence contains a half-eaten box of Triscuits in the cupboard behind the fridge. Triscuit dust is an acceptable snack when poured into a small paper cup and drunk in the manner of water. Do not use a straw.

Q: My boyfriend didn't care if I worked the holiday. Is our relationship in trouble?
A: Perhaps your boyfriend wanted to watch football unencumbered and without you fussing around with gravy boats and miniature marshmallows. If your boyfriend is a fresh-faced soap star who wants to move up to Broadway, look for him tap dancing his heart out in front of Macy's around 10:35 a.m.

Q: I've been answering calls from perplexed home cooks all day and I still don't know why we bother, really.
A: Everyone talks about the bickering relatives and the burnt yams, but few talk about taking a weekday to eat and nap and gossip with a sibling about another sibling. No one owns it. No focus group studies it. Just you and a mostly empty bowl of stuffing and no clean utensils, so use your fingers already.

pictures galore!

i posted tons of pics for you to feast your eyes upon-- enjoy :) they're in the october and november folders.
nate and i had a great weekend -- we spent saturday running errands and then at beer fest which was great fun :) then we went to see "the prestige" -- i liked it...but i don't know - it was odd.
sunday we had a tasty breakfast (thanks chef nate!) and then worked in the yard- pics of our developing herb garden, coming soon! we watched the steelers win a very exciting game (go willie parker!) and then had yummy hot sausage in spicy marinara for dinner and FINALLY got caught up on desperate housewives. all in all, an unquestionable success ;)

poem

we spent our first years
flying away so often. pulling
away from the earth together.
i want to be at home
with you. i want to soak
in the waters of our new life
together until our skin
is filled with wrinkles.

if dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts...

hola! como estas? i'm good -- and need a weekend from my weekend! we had a fun activity filled weekend :) friday we had some of nate's family and even extended family over for dinner... exact count? 16 people counting nate and i! satuday morning we spent with nancy and dick and granny and pappaw :) got to show them around winter garden a bit and eat at our favorite greasy spoon for breakfast.
the rest of saturday and sunday we spent with the glen sandusky family and had a great time :) water parks, epcot and animal kingdom, followed by a great seafood dinner :)
speaking of dinner, nate's home from work so time to eat!

cleo was a pumpkin this year!

happy halloween!

pics from the new camera coming soon- nate's getting really tired of being followed around the house with me snapping a picture every five seconds. he wants to know how many pictures of him drinking a glass of water are really necessary!

we had a wonderful time with my parents this weekend -- spent time at every park but magic kingdom and also got plenty of things done around the house (like putting curtains on the bay window!) animal kingdom was the reigning favorite i think- the weather couldn't have been more beautiful- we really enjoyed the entire weekend :)

alrighty, time to get to work! hope you all have a wonderful halloweenie! :) the pic of cleo is a few years old, but i think she'll be a witch again tonight for all our trick or treaters :)

will blog for...

pretty much anything ;) you people are lucky i don't blog for comments. actually, blogging has replaced journaling for me, but serves the same purpose -- a loose record of my life i can go back and read at any given time.
so what's been going on? nate and i have been making progress lately on the house -- you can even see part of the garage! last weekend, we had an absolutely wonderful time with the raynors :) we spent time at the food and wine festival and at emeril's restaurant (food and service was unlike anything i've seen or experienced!) it was fun to see charlie react to the various things in the parks -- he loved the new nemo ride and calls water "maya." they even took time out of their busy vacation to come see our new house and have lunch, which was great :)
so this week we bought something i've wanted for a REALLY long time. a canon rebel. i actually wanted one (the film version) back before digital was even really a blip- then they went digital and many years later, i'm about to be the proud owner of one! :) i'm so excited -- should arrive friday just in time for my parents to visit (yippee!)

off to kansas!

and this is our last trip until thanksgiving! we're off to see my cousin tara marry tommy :) so quick trip -- we leave tomorrow after work and head back sunday evening.
i STILL haven't located our camera cable and we still don't have the internet, so no pics still- hopefully soon :)

ikea products or lord of the rings characters?

by Caley Feldman

1. Faramir
2. Freden
3. Grundtal
4. Boromir
5. Molger
6. Galdor
7. Freda
8. Agerum
9. Babord
10. Frodo
11. Grima
12. Akurum
13. Brunkrissla
14. Sultan Högbo
15. Deagol
16. Grimbold

Lord of the Rings characters: 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 16.
Ikea products: 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14.

off to pittsburgh!

we're headed out to PA today to kim and steve's wedding. also in our plans is my first trip to punxsy (yay!), eating italian food (mmm..), visiting with dave and maureen and baby owen (who's probably now considerably bigger!), going to the 'O' (Original Hot Dog Shop) for my birthday, and getting to see John and Linda's house for the first time :)
on the house update, we've turned in our apartment keys, but still have many many boxes to unpack! loving the neighborhood though :)

A Marriage by Michael Blumenthal

You are holding up a ceiling
with both arms. It is very heavy,
but you must hold it up, or else
it will fall down on you. Your arms
are tired, terribly tired,
and, as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.

But then,
unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens:
Someone,
a man or a woman,
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get
to take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your partner's arms tire,
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.

hip hip hooray!

we spent the weekend with cassie and mike, had a wonderful time :) cassie and i did some dress shopping (sorry, those pics are passworded until after the wedding!), we of course spent time in the parks, and even were able to take them downtown orlando and to winter park! it was a busy busy weekend, but it was so great to see my sister- i wish all our families could live so much closer! i'll just keep holding out for a "beam me up scotty" machine for christmas i guess ;)
in other news, we have our house!!! closing went off without a hitch (thanks sarah!) and lastnight, nate and i celebrated by using the new grill (thanks john and nina!) for a tasty dinner of hot dogs and beer :) is there a better way to celebrate? i think not.
i can't even describe what it felt like to back down the driveway and think, wow... i live here!
john (nate's dad) will be here tonight to help us pack and move which will be a huge help. tonight, nate's going to cut the grass while i clean the house - tee hee :)

escrow: e-s-s-c-r-o-e

when i was in 5th or 6th grade, i was in a spelling bee (as i'm sure many of us were!) in my memory, i was doing pretty well.... until ... they rolled out with the word "escrow"
.
.
eh? es-wha? i'd never even heard of the word and i certainly didn't know how to spell it. turns out, i overcomplicated it. it's quite phonetic. (i don't think the above is how i spelled it, but i know it was incorrect!)
with that in mind, we close this friday, which is incredibly exciting :) escrow and all. cassie arrives on wednesday, we're headed to a better than ezra concert wednesday evening, wedding dress shopping thursday evening, mike arrives on friday morning, then nate and i will sign more papers than we ever thought possible! we're planning a minimalist bbq on friday evening with mike and cassie before showing them the orlando sights all weekend :)
next tuesday, nate's dad arrives to help us move- which is going to be an incredible help! we're trying to get organized to he doesn't arrive to a total mess! :)

my new favorite travel website

is www.kayak.com - it searches all the other sites and i love the search functions :) try it out for your next trip :)
in other news, we had a wonderful time in PA! i posted pics a few days ago. if i could spend every morning of my life on the porch of the river house, i would! it's so nice waking up there- and this weekend, it felt like fall! kicked up my pumpkin cravings again (i was just starting to get into a key lime groove down here in florida!)
more later, but right now, i'm going to bed!

i want to live in the house already!

now! i feel like i'm just biding our time at the apartment until we can:

1. use our grill (now waiting patiently in storage)
2. let the dog out the backdoor instead of walking her downstairs every morning, afternoon, and evening
3. blare music while i cook :)
4. have lots of rooms to fill! not with babies yet though parents, calm down! just furniture for now :)
5. have people over for a housewarming party
6. put in cool new floors
7. ride our bikes to the trail after/before work

i can't wait ;)

ernesto's a comin'!

"Bands of heavy rain and high wind from Tropical Storm Ernesto began lashing South Florida this afternoon, sparking a wave of school, government and business closures across Central Florida.Ernesto is expected to run up the center of the peninsula overnight, bringing the tropical storm across the Orlando area Wednesday afternoon and evening. The storm, once a hurricane, continues to have maximum sustained winds of 45 mph today, but is expected to strengthen before hitting Florida tonight with winds in excess of 60 mph.
Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Polk and Brevard counties already have decided to close public schools on Wednesday, while Lake County will close an hour earlier than its usual early-release time on Wednesday.Some local colleges, most courthouses, and a few businesses also will be closing, but local theme parks said they plan to be open."

hurricane? party?

so as ernesto looms closeby, the city appears to be gearing up for a hurricane. it's interesting, in some ways, it feels a lot like waiting for an impending snowstorm but in others... not the same at all. this morning on our drive the hotels had their marquis(s?) advertising evacuation rates- all tourists have been kicked out of the keys it seems.
if it hits big, apparently everyone gathers at a safely constructed house for a hurricane party- fun twist for a pretty scary and serious event! but i'm all for it, i'd much rather be in a house than in our second story apartment if one hits.
supposedly we could see ernesto come this way wednesday evening or thursday, our area is considered high to moderate risk currently. we'll keep you updated though! :)

i posted pictures...

but i'm going to add captions soon -- so check back ;)

hello from dallas!

i'm sitting in julia's studio in dallas and we're a flurry of activity this morning (after sleeping in until 10:20!) ashlea's headed out for a run, nate's going on a coffee run, jules just jumped in the shower, and i'm blogging!
let's see... what has happened since i last blogged? oh! we had some wonderful visitors :) nate's parents were here last weekend and we had a fantastic time. i finished phase one of a looong project and was pretty tired on friday- what a lovely surprise to come home to a tasty smelling apartment and a set table! after dinner in (thanks nina!) and some tasty desserts, we headed out to downtown disney for some sightseeing and shopping.
the next morning, we headed to the beach! venice as usual :) we spent some time in the shops and grabbed milkshakes/floats/sodas before heading out to the beach- but it's a good thing we did because venice beach had red tide. i'd never even heard of this and for those of you that haven't you'll have to do with my explanation- algae presence somehow surges in the water, consuming all the oxygen and depriving the fish of it. this results in tons of dead fish washing up on the beach. as soon as we got near the beach, it stung our eyes and made us cough.
not to be deterred, we headed north slightly to nokomis beach! there it was present, but not too bad so we sunned, but didn't swim. then we had a tasty italian dinner out.
sunday back to the beach, but this time, siesta key! it was beautiful with fine white sand and warm warm water (87 degrees!) we hung out there most of the day before swinging back to venice to pick up cleo and heading home. their trip went be entirely too fast, but at least we'll be in PA at the end of the month and will see them again soon!
this past week, i've started helping cassie plan for an august 2007 wedding in sedona and nate and i had some nice relaxing evenings :)
i think that's it for now! oh and p.s., nate and i have been married for six months as of yesterday :) my my how time does fly!

sparky's engaged!

cassie and mike are engaged as of yesterday! :) so far, i have a blurry cell phone picture of what looks to be a gorgeous ring and am waiting for more :) congrats to them! and three cheers for more wedding planning!!

home inspection?

check! we had a great a thorough home inspection today- nate followed him around and learned A LOT! he ran the dishwasher, oven, flushed the toilets, plugged something funny into all the outlets, poked and prodded in the attic, etc. he found a few minor things, but overall said it's a great house :) it was great fun- i entertained myself while they were busing nosing around by taking tons of interior photos about the house :) check them out on our photos page.
thanks for all the comments about the house! we're so excited to have visitors and can't wait to figure out what to do with all those bedrooms!

happy birthday sparky!
cassie is the big 2-7 today!

yay! we have a house!

here it is! it was actually the original one we put an offer in on -- we're so excited! :) and we close september 15th! start planning your visits :)

phooey!

no house! well, at least not that one... they weren't willing to deal- oh well! :) more fun walking around in other people's houses anyway... stay tuned for our real estate adventures and thanks for the well wishes ;)

i'll give you... $10, a breath mint, and this piece of lint in my pocket

for that house! so it's been a blogging while, but we've been busy! nate and i made an offer on a house yesterday which we're really excited about and are currently in negotations ;) pictures to come if and when it's ours!
other goings on are i have a huge four-week long study at work and i'm in week two- if anything, that's the biggest reason i've dropped off the face of the blogging earth ;) but things have been great :) we had some friends in from punxsy both last weekend and this most recent past weekend and got to spend some time in the parks and at dinner with each.
nate's be-all, end-all of adult life has arrived- not marriage, not his own home, not a full-time job, but his very own brand spanking new leather chair ;) he's been smoking a pipe and playing the master piece theatre soundtrack ever since! no, not really, but it's a funny mental picture, eh? :)
oh, and you've probably forgotten by now, but the 'island of inappropriate clothing' is disney, and here's why: if you happened to be in an early morning canoe race, and then needed to be in acceptable business clothing but happened to forget an important required item such as ... say... pantyhose, you'd be up a creek without a paddle. seriously- there is nothing for miles where one could purchase business acceptable clothing! in a nutshell, i forgot my pantyhose the first day of canoeing practice, and then next day forgot them AGAIN, and the next day remembered the pantyhose but managed to leave my shoes at home- i was a mess! but it all worked out and i got dressed okay so no worries ;) think that's all for now :)

blog candy

so i have a new design :) even though m was the only one cool enought to both notice AND comment. way to go bloggers... way to go ;)
but if you're interested despite all evidence to the contrary, here's the site i pulled the template from: http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/ they have some cool ones :)
ps: stay tuned for a mildy entertaining story about a lack of pantyhose and island of inappropriate clothing. actually... that makes it sound more entertaining than it really is, so don't get your hopes up!

photos updated!

i added 3 galleries to july ;) thank you, that is all. you can now return to your regularly scheduled weekend!

happy 3rd of july!

(almost the 4th!) :) i have a very important announcement to make. after living in disarray for quite sometime, nate and i finally unpacked completely! that is to say... there are no visible boxes in our living spaces. take it for what you will and note: living space does not include closets! :)
tomorrow we're having friends over for the 4th -- we'll be missing the ivey celebration :( but hope to fill the day so we don't sit around thinking about the great party we're missing! so we're going to kick off the day with a breakfast of refried beans and fried potatoes and a little mario (like the good old days at my dad's house!) :) and then start preparing to grill and swim and then possibly go in search of fireworks! should be a full day :)
have a safe and happy fourth!

Falling in Love Is Like Owning a Dog

by Taylor Mali

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breaths
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Somethimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

congrats dave and maureen!

brand new parents to a baby boy :) born yesterday! :)

beach bound iveys!

lots of reading, eating and laying around are in order this weekend ;) see you on the other side of sunday! we're off to venice beach!

thursday :)

ah, the week's almost over! nate and i finally have things settling a bit - he's going to work on his dissertation some tonight and i'm going to do whatever it is that i do when he's not entertaining me :) namely, working on our wedding album, reading my latest dessert book (that is to say athe literary equivalent of dessert, not a book on the subject of dessert) and whatever else i happen upon :)
this weekend we are headed to venice beach thanks to nate's aunt's condo which is a short 2 hour drive from here -- we wanted to pack up the bikes, but mine's out of commission since we've not made it to the bike shop just yet to get those brakes fixed!
rambling a bit, i know. last night we went to trivia with friends (think m.c. type guy announcing trivia questions, not little computers like i orginially pictured).
i think that's it for now :) hope everyone is well and a bit cooler than it is here in FL! i know phoenix is definitely warmer than us in the triple digits!

last time i actually blogged, it was MAY!

and now it's june 18th- which incidentally, is my four month wedding anniversary :) nately and i celebrated with some tasty mini beef wellingtons for dinner and a busy day!
since it's been so long, i guess i'll work backwards ;) this morning we went out for brunch downtown (tasty stuff! and $2 mimosas!)
yesterday evening we spent in since we wore ourselves out! we went biking on the west orange trail in the morning with some friends from work and had a great time :) the first 7 miles, i was really worn out and had everyone finish out the last couple of miles without me. i thought "wow! i'm even more out of shape than i thought i was!" but i did a bit of detective work and figured out my front brakes were essentially "on" the entire time-- must have been banged up when the bike was moved! so on the way back, nate rode my bike with the front brakes detached and we all had a much easier time of it ;) on the bright side, i got a much better workout!
last weekend anna and rick were in town with anna's family, so we had a great time at the park with them over the weekend and then spent an evening in winter park at dinner with them :) we took them to one of our favorite orlando discoveries, a wine bar where you have a smart card and the wine is dispensed and charged off your smart card ;) 1 oz, 3 oz, or 5 oz! it's quite an entertaining rip off and a nice way to pass an evening.
ooh i left out a great highlight :) nate took me on a surprise data last week to a "cinema cafe" -- v. cool -- you eat dinner in comfy chairs and tables in what otherwise is a normal theater (you know, big screen, big room) -- we had a tasty pizza and wine while watching prarie home companion, which i really enjoyed :)
yaaaaawn... okay, time for bed-- and since it's 11:30 pm on sunday, i've kept my weekend blogging promise!

baby steps!

in my quest to update the blog, i've posted pics of rick and anna's trip to FL, as well as an outing to downtown disney for work (a rainy one!), and our foray onto a great nearby bike trail! :)

kettle? it's bri. you're black!

title shamelessly hijacked from mark's comment below ;)

yes, i need to blog -- and i will! this weekend ;) expect a looooong update and details on my love-hate relationship with orlando :)

never go to bed mad. stay up and fight!

just kidding ;) guess who officially moves in today?... nately does! he'll be arriving on an 11 pm flight and hightailing it to our apartment where i will be scrambling to clean and shove furniture aside to make room for all the boxes scheduled to arrive in the morning! i can't wait ;)
in other news, i had a fantastic weekend with the ivey clan and co. in PA this weekend. lots of great hits were played and i discovered my hidden talent for the kazoo (also known as the substitute horn section). i also sang the dolly parton classic "why'd you come in here lookin' like that" which was fantastic fun :) we also celebrated john and nina's anniversary with songs specially written from them by granny :) after a day of music, we canoed down the yough, ate some great pizza and wings at phil's, and canoed some more! monday we played crouquet and drank tasty cocktails :)
tonight, i'm picking cleo up from "a pet's palace" on my way home, her orlando home away from home :) she appears to enjoy it - she was scheduled to have a bath this morning and should be nice and worn out from playing with the other dogs :)
lunch hour's about over- back to work! :)

how much is your house worth?

crazy internet and it's privacy controversy. know someone's address? well then you know how much their house is worth, complete with a satellite picture and assigned values for all nearby homes. check it out. i'm not sure how i feel about this... mostly, i think i like being able to easily access the info but still. what do you think?

happy middle of the week!

this week is speeding along quite nicely ;) nate headed home yesterday midday and returned to a flurry of packing and getting ready for the movers this morning. mom and marty are in england this week, so i'm missing my regular phone calls with my mother :) they'll be back on her birthday next week!
i'm so excited to leave for PA this weekend :)
i had a great time at the industrial engineering conference (it was here in orlando). it was so much fun to be a "disney IE" running around wearing my pin lanyard and talking to people about what i do. we had a great time clowing around with the engineers from starbucks (based out of seattle! i'm jealous!)
in other news, the powder princess (my lovely blue bike) has returned home after a stint in new york city and multiple trips out on the huckleberry trail thanks to my sister :)

beat the five o'clock rush, leave work at noon!

The Soul by W.S. Merwin

Is anyone there
if so
are you real
either way are you
one or several
if the latter
are you all at once
or do you
take turns not answering

is your answer
the question itself
surviving the asking
without end
whose question is it
how does it begin
where does it come from
how did it ever
find out about you
over the sound
of itself
with nothing but its own
ignorance to go by

hip hip hooray!

nate's coming to florida today! :) it's smooth sailing from here on out (at least from my end- he still has to pack and move!) we'll be hanging out in orlando this weekend, and then next weekend we'll both be in PA for music weekend and everyone will be home :) i can't wait! i sent nate a list of lisa loeb songs per his request so i'll know at least one of the songs he plays. then we're going to hit the road with our talent! (visions of tobias and lindsay on arrested development are playing in my head)
i've gotten lazy with blogging about travels and visits since i can now post entire albums of pictures ... but my mom and i had a WONDERFUL time! the flower and garden festival at EPCOT was tons of fun as was magic kingdom. we had breakfast with winnie the pooh and friends and dinner at the animal kingdom lodge. i think my favorite was the spectro magic parade though. i know it's silly, but i tear up. i'm a sucker for the music and the characters and the magic of it all ;) but i guess that's why i work here! it's a bit of an occupational hazard to be that emotional about your product though, don't want to be reaching for the kleenex box at meetings!
last weekend, m was here to visit her sister and family and i got to spend some time with them which was great :) we had a great time at animal kingdom with her nephew s and finished off the day with ice cream (as every good day should end).
i think that's it for now :)

stolen from jilian's blog...

i belong in paris! :)

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris.You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

notable 'quote'able

"There are people who think that everything one does with a serious face is sensible."
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

stranger than fiction.

there are 58,000 people that work for disney in orlando. the nation's largest single site employer. that's more people than live in blacksburg! isn't that crazy?

low lowercase word of the random interval in which i will post one

is innocuous.

Pronunciation: i-'nä-ky&-w&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin innocuus, from in- + nocEre
1 : producing no injury : HARMLESS
2 : not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility : INOFFENSIVE, INSIPID
- in·noc·u·ous·ly adverb
- in·noc·u·ous·ness noun

i heart orange yogurt

mandarin orange to be exact. i used to LOVE that stuff and then i could never find it at the grocery store anymore. but here in sunny florida, the grocery store has it's own tasty brand of it...mmmmm.... okay, back to my breakfast!

exciting visitor to the orlando realm

my mom arrives tomorrow! :) i'm so excited to show her around -- we have a few things planned, but mostly plan on playing in the parks since she's never been to walt disney world :) (we were a disneyland family, which made sense geographically).
short post as i'm off to bed, but i'll post pics next week from our many adventures :)
oh! and 26 more days until nate moves to FL!

home again home again...

well after two wonderful weekends and wonderful hosts, it's hard to come back to a city you don't know very well yet! i spent last weekend in atlanta with ashlea and jules, and this most recent weekend with nate visiting laura and drew in nashville (pics posted). had a wonderful time at both!
i flew back to orlando this evening and realized, i'm not so crazy about it yet. i can always tell if i've grown attached to where i live by whether i'm excited to come back home or not. i'm sure there are several factors at play here, the main one being that my husband doesn't live here yet! also, cleo is at the kennel still tonight since i'm back too late to get her tonight.
so, i was a little down on my "city beautiful" this evening, and spent some time researching new places to check out. i did find several :) on my list to explore (keep me honest!):

1. brandywine books: used bookstore with over 30,000 titles - i'm excited about this one ;)
2. tim's wine market: organized by type, then by region - they not only have tastings, but also wine classes!
3. harry p. leu gardens: apparently beautiful gardens and a house that can be toured as well- $4 admission for a nice way to spend an afternoon.
4. park avenue shopping: a refreshing absence of strip mall- just neat bistros, boutiques, etc.
5. orlando science center: what it sounds like! complete with planetarium :)

so that's the start to my list. when i'm done, i'm writing a guide to orlando that's for residents, not for toursits! ;)

it's friday!

for gram :)

any any others seeking photos of nate in florida at easter :) click here:

http://floridaiveys.smugmug.com/gallery/1378670

should take you right to it! :) and grandma, for nate's blog, click where it says "mr. ivey" on the left of the page. but he NEVER updates it so you might get bored ;)

I Crave Your Mouth by Pablo Neruda

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

check this out...

this guy has traded up from one red paperclip through various items and now has 1-year's worth of rent in phoenix instead. his ultimate goal is to trade up to a house. i would have never thought that kind of thing would be possible, but he's already gotten this far! isn't that crazy?
it reminds me of the story of the guy that sold his every possession on e-bay, then trekked across the U.S. to visit his possessions in the hands of the people who bought them. then he wrote a book about it!
where do people come up with this stuff? i love it! :)

pictures from nate's trip

i posted pics from nate's trip :) (link to the left) -- also available on our photo website is any and every wonderful photo taken by red turtle at our wedding :) they're password protected, but if you know our dog's name, you'll be fine- oh, and capitalize it :)
so nate and i had a fantastic time the past few days- we had all kinds of grandiose plans to go to the beach, etc. but decided to just spend the time at home instead :) the easter bunny found us both sunday morning- i got headwear this year for easter, one in the form of a pink bike helmet (with flowers!), and the other a member's only hat for my favorite house on the yough river ;)
more later- i'm sleepy! :)

happy easter!

hope everyone has a wonderful easter! we didn't ham shop until yesterday, so we'll be having easter beef wellington ;)

nate's home :)

"To a Stranger" by Walt Whitman

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as
of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste,
matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only
nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take
of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake
at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

*Constance Merritt comments:

There is the all-encompassing Whitman, container of multitudes,
wandering, restless, appetitive, sprawling, desperate to be everywhere,
everything, everyone (There was a child went forth every day, / And the
first object he look'd upon, that object he became...) -- is fragmentation
the end of such desire? wholeness? -- , anywhere but here within the
prison of the self (And you O my soul where you stand, / Surrounded,
detached, in measureless oceans of space...) and a quieter, self-
possessed, concentrated Whitman, who speaks with such poignancy and
clarity of loneliness and longing:

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark
green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there
without its friend near, for I knew I could not...

And yet (solitary in a wide flat space, / Uttering joyous leaves all its
life without a friend a lover near) he does precisely that, the thing he
knows very well that he could not. And yet one feels that I could not,
the dislocating wrench between the soul's deepest necessity and the
accidents that condition a life.

Founded on the bedrock of human estrangement, "To a Stranger" approaches
this universal problem not through imaginative merging, a penchant for
which D. H. Lawrence takes Whitman to task, but rather through a vision
of mutual recognition. The moment of encounter is pregnant, an
unprepossessing acorn opening out into a glorious oak, a moment which not
only extends future promises, but also one that heals the past, the
passing stranger recalling the speaker to a life of joy already lived. A
life before the schism of gender, before and beyond the compensatory
couplings of sex, a life at once redolent of the uncompromising
innocence of childhood and the sensual and spiritual ripenings of age
(fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured). And note how Whitman's syntax
enacts reciprocity at every turn and the delicate balance between
restraint, passive receptiveness, and active willing (I am to see to it
that I do not lose you) struck in those last three lines. In "To a
Stranger" Whitman figures a way of both losing and finding the self.
Finding through mutual recognition: we can only hope to know ourselves
through another's eyes; becoming is always and only in relation. And
losing because in relation one no longer stands apart (surrounded,
detached in measureless oceans of space...), but rather becomes a part
of something entirely new and larger than the self and is thereby healed
of (quoting Randall Jarrell) "that long disease" the self.

CONSTANCE MERRITT, author of *A Protocol for Touch* (University of
North Texas Press, 2000), lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.

short post!

i've had such long posts lately i felt the need to mix it up a little...

happy monday!

good morning! another day, another week :) except THIS week nate is coming to visit! he'll be here wednesday night :)
yesterday i worked at the park- it was interesting. i had a 5 hour shift in one of the "quick service" restaurants which is really fast food :) i filled trays and handed them over to happy guests. i arrived home lastnight around 8ish appreciating my office job more than ever before and wound down with a glass of wine and a good book :) it was a lovely relaxing evening! i'm reading da vinci code - i actually held out until it came out on paperback but i did want to read it before the movie hits the screen this summer - i'm about 1/2 way through and am really enjoying it so far :)
also, i cleaned! finally unpacked and hung the bags and bags of clothes that have plagued the corner of my room since i moved- wanted nate to think i'd done something while he'd been gone!
this weekend marks the beginning of a flurry of weekends: nate's here this weekend, atlanta the following weekend to visit ashlea and jules, nashville the following weekend to visit laura and drew, my mom's in FL the following weekend to visit me, the weekend after that is open, the weekend after that nately is in FL, the weekend after that i'm in PA :), and the following weekend nate moves in! whew! i got tired just typing that! :) so needless to say, the next couple of months will fly by!

i feel bad for this poor guy!

DEAR MARGO:
I'll try to keep this brief. I'm a 45-year-old guy who met, fell in love with and married my beautiful wife, who is 28. We met in January, married in September. The relationship was very strong for the first year, and then started dissipating to where it is today, with me sitting in this apartment, by myself, writing to you.
I spent very lavishly on her, to the point where I had to sell my house because I couldn't keep up the payments along with all the other debt I'd acquired. We had been looking at places together, until one day she decided to get an apartment by herself, "to take a break from each other" and have friends of her own. So now she lives across town in her place, and I'm here, in mine!
I let her take all my stuff (furniture, etc.) to her apartment with her, I guess because I hoped that within a month or so I'd be there with her, but now it doesn't seem that way. She does not want a divorce; she says she just needs her space and her friends. This makes me jealous because all of her friends are male.
She is adamant that there is nothing sexual between her and her friends, but still I feel my heart being ripped out of my chest when I know that there is another man with her watching movies or just hanging out. To make it worse, she has all the comforts of a home, and I sit here on my only chair.
What do I do -- wait for the love of my life to realize she misses me, or get my stuff and move on?
-- DAZED AND CONFUSED!

DEAR DAZE:
You have proven once again that love is blind. I regret your heartbreak, but here is what you need to do: Get off your only chair and find a good lawyer. This babe has you totally bamboozled, and you need to inform her that the jig is up. You will no longer finance her "space" or her "friends," and you don't care if she wants a divorce or not; you do.
By all means, get your stuff back, stop being Daddy Warbucks, and fire up some anger about the way this gold-digging femme fatale has been using you.
-- Margo, correctively

giving blood in florida...

... is way cooler than virginia for the following reasons because:

1. they put a cool colored bandage around your arm (i got pink!)
2. they give you a cool sticker that says "take me out to eat! i gave blood!"
3. they give you a $10 grocery gift card
4. you get to watch disney movies

i also found out during my physical that my pulse is approximately that of a comatose person: 54!

in other news, my apartment has been under construction and i have my windows back! lovely to have the light flowing back into the apartment (they were covered in black plastic). plans for the weekend? cleaning! i still have residual unpacking to finish and nate will be here next wednesday! i'm also working a shift in one of the parks :) which means i'll be off the friday when nate's here :) have a good friday all :)

do you know what month it is?

it's national poetry month :) as a result, poetry daily delivers poems to my inbox not weekly, but daily :) here's today's, followed by a brief discussion on it (and if my posting of long poems scares you, don't even bother reading the discussion) :)

"Friendship After Love"
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

After the fierce midsummer all ablaze
Has burned itself to ashes, and expires
In the intensity of its own fires,
There come the mellow, mild, St. Martin days
Crowned with the calm of peace, but sad with haze.
So after Love has led us, till he tires
Of his own throes, and torments, and desires,
Comes large-eyed friendship: with a restful gaze,
He beckons us to follow, and across
Cool verdant vales we wander free from care.
Is it a touch of frost lies in the air?
Why are we haunted with a sense of loss?
We do not wish the pain back, or the heat;
And yet, and yet, these days are incomplete.

*David Baker comments:

Issa's masterful haiku

The world of dew
is the world of dew.
And yet, and yet--

is one of my favorite poems. The delicacy of the simple first image is
one thing. But the reiteration of that image in line two becomes a
mirror in a drop of water, which in turn prepares the ultimate
reflection inside the last line. "And yet, and yet" quivers as though
the bead of dew is about to spill, or evaporate. What restraint yields
what power. The poem's last repetition seems hesitant, even as it evokes
acceptance of its own transience. It is 1819. The poet's young daughter
Sato has died, in June, of smallpox. The provisional, Issa reminds us,
is what lasts.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox's sonnet, "Friendship After Love," haunts me for its
kindred reiteration in the last line. I love the way poems echo and arc,
calling to each other across time and languages. Wilcox's poem is
resigned, rueful - Issa's provisional. Even in her first lines, I admire
Wilcox's fine craft and complex syntax. "All ablaze" points back, as a
modifier, to "midsummer," the object of the preposition; but also
resolves forward into the predicate after the line break. Likewise
"St. Martin days" closes a phrase but further modulates into the
participle in the next line.

St. Martin's Day comes from German culture, and commences on the 11th
hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to mark the end of farming, the
beginning of harvest. This reference is part of Wilcox's larger pattern
of seasonal imagery. It's a familiar association - the seasons of the
year reflect a person's life and love - notable in Wordsworth and
Barrett Browning, notable in Yeats's chilly tropes in "When You Are Old."
Less effective is the bathos of Wilcox's phrase "large-eyed friendship,"
though I remind myself that her image anticipates by a century the
cartoonish greeting-cards, Anime, and black-velvet urchins we find so
saccharine.

The real power of her poem derives from the way Wilcox leads to the
clarities of the final four lines. She proceeds from conventional
romantic tropes of language and love toward the surprising modernity of
the last lines. Notice how her earlier long clauses and heavy enjambment
resolve into her ending's more deliberate lineation, each taut line a
closed clause with no syntactical inversions. A powerful clarity. Notice
finally how she slips from one mode into another, the way the erotic
poem - with its requisite pain and anguish - becomes the more serene
love poem. The grief of her lyric arises from Wilcox's realization of
that transformation. She wants the summer back. The fire.

the results are in!

pick four club

since i received this by e-mail, i decided to join the pick 4 club :)

Four Jobs I've Had (I'll pick the coolest ones) :)
1 - Industrial Engineer - Disney
2 - Engineer on an Oil Rig in the Gulf
3 - Typsetter for a local copy place
4 - Bagel girl at Bagel Nosh :)

Four Movies I can Watch Over and Over:
1 - Music from Another Room
2 - Something's Gotta Give
3 - Love Actually
4 - So I Married an Axe Murderer

Four Places I've Lived (again, I'm picking the coolest, not listed in order of coolness):
1 - Burlington, VT
2 - Blacksburg, VA
3 - Phoenix, AZ
4 - Orlando, FL

Four TV Shows I Love:
1 - Arrested Development
2 - Desperate Housewives
3 - Sex and the City
4 - CSI

Four Places I've Vacationed:
1 - San Diego, CA
2 - Acacia National Park, ME
3 - Pacific Northwest (Portland/Seattle)
4 - England!

Four Of My Favorite Dishes:
1 - Dough noodles (childhood favorite) :)
2 - Bean burritos (or ANY variation involving refried beans)
3 - Mom's Chicken Pot Pie
4 - Nate's Hot Sausage and Pasta :)

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1 - gmail (of course!)
2 - a gammet of blogs :)
3 - theknot (yes, i'm that sad still)
4 - cnn (most of the time)

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1 - Virginia
2 - Arizona
3 - Italy
4 - San Diego :)

i have a date tonight...

and it's with my husband and an online scrabble board!

"Make a list of things you need, leave it empty

Except for number one, write 'love', gamble everything Keep it under lock and keyIf you wanna, you can gamble everything for love"...
i'm recently addicted to ben lee :) he opened for carbon leaf as a one man show and was a commanding performer-- the lyrics above are from 'gamble everything for love,' my hands down favorite. makes me want to get groovy and dance ;)
since i've lived in orlando, i've seen a sky writer write 'jesus loves u' no less than 3 times. some days, it's too windy and the wording is gone by the time they're only 2 letters away. i wonder who sponsors it. it's interesting.
went to see big bad voo doo daddy lastnight at the house of blues and loved it -- had a lot of fun singing along and dancing while standing in place so i didn't lose my view of the band ;)
today switched my clock, got up late, went shopping, did some cleaning and organizing, finally tracked down the spyware on my computer and played the sims (not necessarily in that order) :)
and now, it's back to cleaning and then a bit of tasty dinner i'm looking forward to (flank steak spiraled around mozerella and fresh spinach) mmm...
lifestyle change #313 when living alone: i bought wine in mini bottles- they're so cute! they're even fairly good wine, so i'm no compromising my quality $7.99 limit on bottle purchases... ha ha :)

stealth blogger...

i feel like a stealthy blogger now that my address has changed :) but i know nate and jil have located it at the very least ;)
in short: love my job, miss nathan, learning florida.
:)

Aubade by A.R. Ammons

They say, lose weight, change your lifestyle:
that's, take the life out of your style and

the style out of your life: give up fats,
give up sweets, chew rabbit greens, raw: and

how about carrots: raw: also, wear your
hipbones out walking: we were designed for

times when breakfast was not always there, and
you had to walk a mile, maybe, for your first

berry or you had to chip off a flint before
you could dig up a root: and there were

times when like going off to a weight reduction
center you had a belly full of nothing: easy

to be skinny digesting bark: but here now at
the breakfast buffet or lavish brunch you're

trapped between resistance and getting your
money's worth and the net gain from that

transaction is about one pound more: hunting
and gathering is a better lifestyle than

resisting: resisting works up your nerves
not your appetite (already substantial in the

wild) and burns up fewer calories than the
activity arising from hunger pangs: all in

all this is a praise for modern life — who
wants to pick the subrealities from his teeth

every minute — but all this is just not what
we were designed for, bad as it was: any way

I go now I feel I'm going against nature, when
I feel so free with the ways and means, the

dynamics, the essentialities honed out clearly
from millions of years: sometimes when I say

"you" in my poems and appear to be addressing
the lord above, I'm personifying the contours

of the onhigh, the ways by which the world
works, however hard to see: for the onhigh

is every time the on low, too, and in the
middle: one lifts up one's voice to the

lineations of singing and sings, in effect,
you, you are the one, the center, it is around

you that the comings and goings gather, you
are the before and after, the around and

through: in all your motions you are ever
still, constant as motion itself: there with

you we abide, abide the changes, abide the
dissolutions and recommencements of our very

selves, abide in your abiding: but, of course
I don't mean "you" as anyone in particular

but I mean the center of motions millions of
years have taught us to seek: now, with

space travel and gene therapy that "you" has
moved out of the woods and rocks and streams

and traveled on out so far in space that it
rounds the whole and is, in a way, nowhere to

be found or congratulated, and so what is out
there dwells in our heads now as a bit of

yearning, maybe vestigial, and it is a yearning
like a painful sweetness, a nearly reachable

presence that nearly feels like love, something
we can put aside as we get up to rustle up a

little breakfast or contemplate a little
weight loss, or gladden the morning by getting

off to work . . . .

saturday! s for shopping! :)

that's right, we're headed out to the mall today :) (call the credit card company!) cassie and ashlea are headed back to atlanta/blacksburg today but first we're going to do some shopping! we've been all around lately, epcot, magic kingdom, etc. lastnight we had some great chinese at a place i plan on taking nathan to when he moves down :)
check out our adventures and our new apartment at FloridaIveys.smugmug.com -- yes, yet another pictures site- HOWEVER -- the one on msn spaces will go away and this will be our main site for posting pics :) it allows comments and people are able to download the full pic size from their computers :) all that comes in handy when your families live far away like ours do!
i'm sure i'll be posting much more now that my company is gone and i have no nathan - sniff sniff :( i'll try to keep it interesting ;)