I love the smell of my home. You know, when you've been away, and then you come home, and it just smells like home? I like it.

Vacation: In bullet points. 'Cause I'm tired.

§ I have a billion bug bites. And they are worth it, because the beach ROCKS. I'd live there if I could.

§ Southwest Airlines. The good half makes up for the crappy half.

§ I kicked Nolan's ASS at Scrabble. To be fair, he kicked mine a few times, too.

§ I've had costuming dreams, like nonstop since I've been gone. I need to reeeest.

§ I heart seafood. Good seafood. Not Red Lobster. Red Lobster = no good. Real, fresh, seafood? Awesome. Crabcakes. Lord have mercy.

§ Sanibel Island, Florida is a charming community. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a non-commercialized place to vacation.

§ Nolan and I got a tandem bike to ride around the island. For a few minutes while we were getting used to it, our marriage was touch and go.

§ Nolan says he has hip dysplasia from all the bike riding.

§ That may have been because I let him pedal some. Without any help from me. Hee.

§ The ocean is amazing. How it changes from day to day, how it's never the same experience twice. I love the waves. I love swimming in the ocean. It's made me want to write about it, I love it so much. I have a story idea percolating to write in, you know, all my free time.

§ My friend Jason, who house sat for us and took care of our dogs while we were away, left me Kerby Lane pancake mix he got for us from when he was in Austin last weekend. The pups looked happy and well fed, and I will be too, once I make my favorite Austin pancakes. :)


Here are a few shots, if you're into that. I took over 300 photos, so I showed posting restraint.

Paradise in one journal entry. )

That's it. Anything happen while I was away?
persephone33: (writer schizophrenia)
( Aug. 10th, 2011 04:34 pm)
Except I don't do tequila (Tequilq free since '93!), but daquiriville sounds a little bizarre.

Anyway.

I'm at the beach, updating on an iPad, which is the most trying part of my vacation thus far.

Here's some things I've noticed:

-Dolphins are EVERYwhere down here. People decorate with the foul things. Ugh.
-Vacations elicit more activity than being home does. Swimming, biking, walking on the beach... All good.
-Sandcastles are serious business. Don't be fooled into thinking otherwise.
-The Hunger Games trilogy can be read in 36 hours, if you've nothing else pressing on your time. I loved it, apart from the first person-present tense-fragmented sentences nightmare. And who is Suzanne Collins? Real or not real? The fact that it's marketed as a children's book horrified me, a little. Thoughts?

That's it. I have to go make myself presentable for dinner out, and finish a glass of wine. Life is trying, here in paradise.
Her name is Christine, and she lives in my mother's GPS.

The name Christine is a nod to Mr, King, of course.

(My name is not, FYI.)

Seriously, though, I've driven all over the Metroplex this week. I went to Dallas to see David, Ft. Worth to see Kristi and Sally, Hurst to see Deadra, and Irving to see Cherie and Rachel. These folks run the gamut of pals from my very oldest friend that I've known since we were three, to a former student of mine that just graduated with her theatre degree.

But to go all these places and not succumb to my truly hopeless sense of direction (Nolan says that I can't find my butt with two hands and a flashlight), my mother leant me her GPS.

I've learned that a GPS is a truly helpful thing. It's a bit unnerving, though, the first time you hear the placid, disembodied voice telling you, "In 1.8 miles, turn left." It gives you sort of a big brother vibe, all rolled up with the creepiness of the book about the 1958 Plymouth Fury come to life.

And even though she's truly a help, there's always room for operator error. If the girl said, "Recalculating," once, she said it four hundred times. I evidently don't follow directions very well. She got huffy a few times, and I swear I heard her roll her eyes more than once, but for the most part, she's a lot like me. She repeats herself ( a lot) when she doesn't get a response, gets a little irritated when things don't go her way, and shuts up when things are good.

I like her. I don't need one, given that I can drive anywhere I need to in my hometown in less than 20 minutes. But if I lived here, I sure would. I'd even have one built into the car, maybe.

As long as it wasn't a Fury.
Did anyone miss me?

No?

Okay. :) The past week was incredible. I spent it in a mai tai fueled haze.



We're back from our cruise, and it was fanfreaking tastic.

couple of pics )

I'll post more later, because I'm wiped and have a ton of laundry to do. Anything important happen while I was gone?
Our weekend to the cabin was abbreviated, although not by much. I got what I'm pretty sure is strep/flu combo and since I met Nolan there, had to make the two hour trip home by myself. Urgh. And since all I seem to be able to do since is sleep or stare, glassy-eyed at the television, propped up by pillows, I'd do a little photoessay of the two days we were in Childress.

There are too many commas in that sentence. My fever is too high to figure out what's wrong.

I should preface this post with the fact that I finally got a new camera. Thanks Dad and Jerry & Lanell. :D
Lots of pictures under here. As per usual. )

If you are inclined to do so, would you mind shooting up a prayer to the Big Guy? I haven't been this sick in a long time. Thanks!
We went to the family's cabin in Childress, TX (which is right between Quanah and Estelline, thanks for asking) for the long weekend. Below are the pictures to come out of it all.

Warning: There are a lot of pictures. I'm not kidding. A LOT. And there are cows. And strangely dressed children. And one victim of a hunting excursion. Be forewarned. I'm not listening to any whining.


The best thing about the cabin is that there's literally NO ONE AROUND. No people, that is. There are lots of cows. And deer. And cranes (minus one). And various other wildlife. You can imagine my moue of distaste on my face. But this weekend was fun. It was just the four of us. Well, six if you count the dogs. And we do.

Home, home on the range... )

And I showed restraint by only posting HALF the pictures. The other half got lost in my second crappy camera. I think I'll buy a new one with my birthday money. Then I can inflict GOOD cow pictures on you, and not the slightly blurry ones.
This week, I am the queen of fruit and sugar, and have prevailed (mostly) over all I have surveyed.
Plum Jam... the ambrosia of West Texas. )

I'll choose three random people (with one of those random generators to be fair) who comment of this entry, and I'll send you a jar, because I feel the need to spread the jam love.

Comment before Saturday morning at 10 am, central time.


I'll leave you with this.Cute kid pictures! )
It's image intensive. You've been warned. )
After five days at the cabin, we are home.

We got rained in. The county roads to get to our place are dirt, and if it rains more than a little, they're extremely hard to navigate without a four wheel drive. And sometimes even WITH a four wheel drive, you get stuck and have to have someone tow you out. So rather than risk THAT nightmare, we just toughed it out. I missed an appointment Monday morning, but other than that, it was a really lovely time. Family and friends came over on the fourth and we grilled and popped firecrackers until we were all too tired to keep our eyes open.

Pictures and post about the weekend forthcoming. There were more bugs, fireworks, fish, cows and kids than you can shake a stick at.

Whatever that means.  Childress makes me folksy. ;/

However, I will say that it is hard, sweaty, painful work to pick wild plums.

Wasps - 2, Carrie - 0 (Wasps are no respecter of persons. In my cleavage! The HORROR.)
Thorns 4,325, Carrie - 0
Plums - 0, Carrie - a gazillion

Pond water is... murky and suspicious.
And no matter how smart I think she is, my 12 year-old black Labrador retriever can't open doors for me when I lock myself out.

That about covers it, for now.  Tomorrow we start making those plums into JAM.  Wild Plum jam is SOOOOOOO good. 

*LHOTP = Little House on the Prarie
  • The boys had an awesome time at golf and tennis camp.  They are tanner and blonder and worn out, but happy.
  • I did some fun shopping with mom, got to cook with my little sister, fix my niece's gorgeous hair, argue the semantics of a properly drawn sun with my nephew, absconded with some custom made pottery from my Tom, drank a bottle of wine with my girlfriend and discovered my BIL's sense of humor.
  • Traffic.  Good heavens.  It took 30 minutes to get out of Arlington today, and another 45 to get out of the metroplex.  How the heck did I ever live there?  I 35 has got to be on one of the rings of hell.
  • Also, the heat.  The heeeeaaat.  The humidity.  The freakin' mosquitoes.  Good heavens above.  My skin may dry out on the caprock, but at least my hair looks good. ;)
  • I slipped an fell (on my face!) on Mom and Tom's deck this morning and I'm a mass of aches and pains.  Man, I feel old.  Knee and shoulder are not working properly, even after having been iced down after it happened.
  • The boys and I listened to Deathly Hallows on the way home.  Six hours of listening to Jim Dale, and we're not even to the 500 page camping trip.  Long winded much, JK?
  • I like Jim's character voices, but his narration voice drives me cuh-razy.  Also, his Hermione voice. "Harrrrryyyyyyyyy!."  Good gracious.  Do people talk like that?
  • Six hours in a car.  I stopped in a drive through for dinner and the boys ran in for a pit stop, but I realized once I was home that I never got out of the car, from Arlington to Amarillo.
  • We got a new mattress while I was away, apparently.  The Carrie and Nolan bed saga (with a MPAA rating of PG)  deserves a post of its own.  For now, I'm going to say, "Um... no."
  • I took two Advil Pm about 30 minutes ago (so I could sleep through the aches and pains from my idiotic fall) and it's like typing with gloves on.  Lots of backspacing.
  • It's good to be home.  I'd say it was great to be in my own bed... but this ain't it.
  • Since I'm about to crash face first into the laptop, (twice in one day on my face would be a bit much, methinks) I'll bid everyone a good night and happy weekend!
*crashZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*
&hearts Go HERE and read [livejournal.com profile] obrien_blue's recap of the Glee finale. She does fabulous Bones recaps (or squee!caps) and this is the first one she's done for Glee. She's funny and smart and a hell of a writer (warning for language). I always laugh aloud at her entries. Go read. You won't be disappointed.

&hearts If I were in charge of the world, like a High Empress Over All Things, there would be a few changes. Manipulative people? Incarcerated for life. Mean people who insist of ranting about insignificant things and belittling others? Mmmm... the rack, I think. I'd be just and fair. And the bastards of life would need to re-think their positions on being jerks.

&hearts I've been feeling crappy lately. Like a low-grade nausea and intense tiredness. If I didn't know better (and I mean really know better), I'd say I was pregnant. And LHM, if I was pregnant, it would be a baby that would have a purpose, because it would be a freaking miracle. That is, if I didn't jump off a bridge, first.

&hearts I've been trying to write, poking around at a few things, but I'm just not inspired. When the muse takes a vacation, she really hits the road. I have no idea what to write that might spark any sort of even mildly acceptable results. It's sad.

&hearts We leave for Dallas on Friday, and we'll be gone for a week; the boys are going to a golf and tennis camp, and my sister will be there for the weekend. I want to get together with some old friends and family (I'm looking at you, [livejournal.com profile] deedsk_tx and [livejournal.com profile] tadpole_bac) and I think it'll be good to get away for awhile. When I get back, Nolan and I are going to the theatre's awards gala. I've been nominated for best actress, an award I fully do not expect to win. There are too many other great actors up for it, too. That's okay, there's a lot of that being nominated but not winning stuff going on. Luckily, my self esteem is high enough that it doesn't send me into a tailspin. Anyway, as I've been nominated, it's a great excuse to buy a dress. And I'm at -22 pounds, so shopping in the semi-formal departments in the Dallas area might even be pleasurable.

&hearts Nolan brought me 3 charms for my bracelet today for no reason whatsoever. That's nice, huh?

&hearts I love summertime. Seriously, having the boys home and going to the pool and making brownies and waking up whenever we feel like it? Nice. Really, really nice.

See you all on the flip side!
We're back from the whirlwind trip to Denver/the mountains.

Home sweet home.

Their kids were sick before we got there, BIL got sick Saturday night, and I was up 'til 5:30 last night with poor Ethan. I've never seen him so sick, and I had nothing for him. The middle of the night in a strange town? It was a stupid, helpless feeling. And there was nothing I could do but hold his little head and pat him. He's marginally better today. He drank some Sprite, had some bread and part of an apple. Poor kid.

But. We're home. And summer has officially started. I'm not even waiting on the summer solstice. It's dragging it's feet, anyway. It's warm, the kiddos are out of school, the pool is beckoning, and I'm determined to make the most of it all.

Got some new recipes from the SIL. (We drank some great wine, too.) Will post about them because they are supper yummy. And summery. But not today. Because I don't plan to move too much more, today.

Ah, and one more thing, The Contest For May ends tonight (or before I get up in the morning - I don't anticipate that being super early, either). All you lovelies that wanted prompts, tonight is the night! Go here to post or request a prompt, if you're that girl (or boy? I have 2 on the f-list) who enjoys the pressure of a impending deadline. :D

Ready to write. And sleep. And cook. And sew. And lay (in the shade) by the pool.

Bring it on, summertime. I'm ready.

persephone33: (Mini Scotty)
( May. 25th, 2010 01:09 pm)
Because I need to see this in black and white:
  • Make Ethan's birthday dinner tonight.  He could have chosen anything in the world, and he chose hamburgers and hot dogs, God bless him.  I used to ask my mom for Chicken Kiev and Chicken Fried Steaks for my birthday dinners.  Sorry, Mom.
  • I still have to decorate his cake.  With a Marine Corps insignia?  Um...  going to have to Google that.  Oh, good grief.  Looks hard.
  • make 2 dozen deviled eggs for the funeral meal I'm in charge of coordinating tomorrow.
  • also make 2 peach cobblers.
  • also finish dipping 4 dozen cake truffles
  • also prepare two briskets
  • also be at church to set up, receive prepared food and clear up after
  • clean house for home group dinner tomorrow, pick up fajita meat and peppers and onions from Ruby Tequila's
  • mow the yard before home group tomorrow?  I don't see this happening.  People can see the long grass.
  • Thursday...  there was something on Thursday?  Shoot.
  • Write (heartfelt?) thank you notes to each of the boy's teachers (5) and send them to school before Friday
  • Pack for our trip to Denver on Friday
  • Fix Nolan's ipod with all the stuff he wants on it before Friday
  • Find some time in there to workout...
Okay.  That doesn't look so bad.  Cover me.  I'm goin' in. 

**You know how some people say, "OMG!" as an acronym? I'm instituting "LHM!" for "Lord have Mercy!" It's gonna catch on. I can feel it.
Since Nolan decided to read the ENTIRE New York Times Saturday paper this morning and I really don't want to explore San Fransisco without him, it appears I have time to tell you a bit about our foray across the bay and into Oakland.

Oakland = O.o = Yikes.

San Fransisco, thus far, seems like a mini- Manhattan, with a distinctly noisy concentration of crazy people. And I'm not talking crazy like mildly, facial tics crazy, I'm talking about shouting-curses-at-the-top-of-your-lungs-while-wearing-a-fennel-hat-and-paper-pants crazy.

I'm not kidding.

I, who admire crazy people on the whole, and the bravery that those folks have just for getting up in the morning and being them, decided to move to the other side of my six foot four, three inch husband to use him as a shield to deflect some of the unwanted lunacy.

Other than that, I love this town. It's kind of granola - the girls here could use a little hairspray and Mary Kay, but I DO love it. And I kind of love the crazy, too, in a wary, 'I'd like to watch it through bulletproof glass,' sort of way.

What the hell is a churro? I didn't get one last night because I was sure it wasn't part of my diet food plan, but I was intrigued. Very much so.

Lat night we went to see the Oakland A's play - they lost. And for a woman who loves baseball and all that goes with it, I have to say that the Oakland stadium? Kind of a hole, no offense to anyone who lives there. If you're charging $8.25 for a pint of Guinness, I'm thinking maybe you have enough cash to spruce up the place a little, is all I'm saying. We had seats behind home plate, and although it wasn't nearly as nice as The Ballpark in Arlington or Coors Field, we had fun. (Though Nolan and I could have fun in the middle of nowhere with only a stick, a rock, and a hoop for entertainment.)

There are crazy people in Oakland, too, FYI. I just don't have the time to discuss it here. But they aren't nearly as interesting as the ones in San Fransisco.

Now, however, I'm off for a fun day of exploring the city! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Tags:
persephone33: (Mad Ninja Skillz)
( May. 6th, 2010 03:35 pm)
It's documented. Look it up.

(It's only documented right here, but whatever.)

Nolan decided to take me to San Fransisco this weekend! We only just decided to go on Monday, and we leave in the morning, so it all sort of snuck (not a word. sue) up on me. I have managed to exercise with a friend, do all the laundry, pack for the kids and I, and get Ethan's choir uniform and tie dyed t-shirt ready for his performance tomorrow (Which I'm going to miss! I'm a bad mom. A mom who will be in California having goooooood wine). I've been to the chiropractor (because my back protested all the mopping I did yesterday -- but the floors are SOOOO mopped), the dollar store to get supplies for my acting class this afternoon, managed to cook my lunch for this insanely healthy VLC diet, AND went to JoAnne's, got fabric, filling and thread, and made AJ a phase 2 moon costume (Um...don't ask. I didn't) for his school play on Tuesday.

I did not get to the post office. Sorry Mom and [livejournal.com profile] leigh_adams, the stuff I need to send you is sitting on my dresser, mocking me. It'll be next week and late, but still super cool. My most sincere apologies to the both of you.

My literary friend Holle Wood (aka [livejournal.com profile] norablackbird, not that she ever uses her LJ and YES, that is her real name) dropped off some new books for me to read! Wheeeeeeeee! I love reading on airplanes. It's the BEST. Thanks, Holle!

Now I'm off to teach class have dinner with a group of girlfriends and see the musical 'Grease,' for which I made two quilts , three kelly green cheerleader skirts and sewed a ton of hot pink rickrack to fuzzy white bathrobes for the Beauty School Dropout number. I cannot think of a better way to kick off my vacation weekend!

See you all on Tuesday!

And happy mother's day to my sweet mom, and all you other girls out there with kidlets. Have a great day!
As I now live in my sedate, homely little burgh of one hundred-eighty thousand people, I sometimes forget that I grew up in Irving, Texas; that's a suburb of Dallas, for those of you not well-versed in the geography of the Lone Star State. The city, if you include Ft. Worth and count the surrounding cities, comes to a staggering one point something kagillion people; no lie. Anyhow, I grew up there, traveled all over the metroplex, learned to drive on the highways and byways in the nebulous group of towns where one bleeds right into another and the only way you know you're somewhere else is the tiny green sign you blow by at eighty miles per hour.

I say eighty miles per hour, not because it's the posted speed limit, but because if you choose not to go that fast and say... obey the law, you and your car run the risk of being flattened into a greasy spot on Interstate 635.

I wasn't even driving when we were visiting this past weekend, but Nolan did a great job of maneuvering us through the mess. And he didn't even seek retribution of the other drivers - regular readers of this journal know that my husband has to sometimes be convinced that he is, in fact, NOT the right hand of God, distributing justice to those who've wronged him or others on the road - especially with the people that change lanes giving a hairsbreadth of space between cars. It's an adrenaline pumping, heart-racing thrill ride that you simply forget about when you live in Amarillo. That is, until you come to a screeching halt and you're just STUCK in a line of traffic that you think stretches perhaps as far as Indianapolis, making me absolutely PINE for the annoying series of stoplights on Bell street surrounding I-40, and the fifteen minutes that gets you absolutely anywhere you want to go in town.

I miss the shopping in Dallas, the nightlife, my family and friends, but driving fifty minutes to work for a fifteen mile trip is not something that I ever want to go back to. Amarillo's breezes may not be the best perfumed if they come from the general direction of Hereford, but there's wide open spaces y'all, more sky than you can shake a stick at, and some of the most awesome sunsets that you'll ever see. Come visit and see for yourself, only behave yourself on the roads. I can't watch Nolan ALL the time.
None of which are very educational. But Nolan and I had a good time. We got glared at some, though.

Image intensive. And don't expect to learn anything. )

I'd make a fun, but pretty crappy tour guide, huh?
persephone33: (Default)
( Nov. 13th, 2009 12:24 am)
American Museum of Natural History - pictures as dinosaurs. :D
Shake Shack
Mac Counter
Wrote three words
Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking
Havana Cuban Food
*ded*
persephone33: (The Winchesters look disgusted)
( Nov. 11th, 2009 11:07 pm)
Happy Veterans Day!

I spent the morning in the NYC garment district with Mom buying fabric and trims... SO cute! Makes me want to sew, for sure.

Also, had dinner at Nick and Stef's steakhouse... dear heavens above.  It was decadent.  A (one) glass of wine, a prime rib, mashed potatoes, bread and creme brulee.

Then we saw Men Who Stare at Goats.

...

No.  Just... no.  Don't.  Save yourself.  It's too late for me, but you... you still have hope.

persephone33: (Theatre)
( Nov. 10th, 2009 10:48 pm)
Just saw The Understudy at the Roundabout Theatre.  If you didn't click the link, it had Mark Paul Gosselar in it as one of the three in the ensemble. (Also Julie White - the Mom in Transformers - she's stinking funny.)  I was never a Saved by the Bell fan (I'm a touch too old) but the boy is BUILT. And the show?  It was HYSTERICAL.  Nolan and I laughed harder than I have in weeks.  In fact, my voice is hoarse from laughing.  I don't think that's ever happened before.  Also, got hit on in Times Square by three Latino boys of whom I'm old enough to have given birth to, but who scattered when Nolan came back to the table. ;)  Had a piece of ribbon cake at My Most Favorite, and have written next to nothing, but I'm happy.
.

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