The Friday Afternoon Post

Sorry, Erin, the Morning Post has shifted to afternoon publication due to business in the morning this Friday :)

Let's see, what's in the news for the Friday Afternoon Post this week? Lent has begun, and given my recent Anglicanism, I decided I should probably give something up. So, ladies and gentlemen, I will not be purchasing any clothing between now and Easter. For some of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but the two emails I received today from J.Crew and my March Vogue are both indicators that this might be a tricky lenten season, which I guess is kind of the point.

I also cut my hair this week, having not done so since like, August. It was crazy long, and making me crazy. So after reading an article in said Vogue about the new haircut, I decided it was time. Turns out, I wanted exactly eight inches removed, so in addition to a new look, I inadvertantly got a new title - philanthropist, because the haircut lady (Kim, p.s., if you ever need your hair cut or colored, she's pretty awesome - I'll give you her number) is sending it to Locks of Love, for little kids who are sick and need wigs! Don't worry, it's not as short as that makes it seem (if you were concerned about my now needing a wig or something.) So far I am thoroughly enjoying the new shortness.It is now similar to Miss Moss' hair here, except I wear pants or a skirt whenever I have tights on.

Due to recent bursts of spring-like weather, and the emergence of daffodils (which, sadly, will meet an untimely end this weekend as the forecast calls for SNOW, SO lame), I am totally over winter and ready for the full conversion to Spring, the happiest of seasons. Although it is sad that Isaac Mizrahi has left Target, he has now moved to Liz Claiborne New York, and his spring collection makes me very happy.
Spring means that baseball is back, and this means the Lookouts!! Only 46 days til the opening game, on April 14, with the new roster, new coaches, and new Dodgers blue uniforms at BellSouth Park! I'm very excited.
I am also looking forward to the Nightfall summer concert series in Miller park, but that won't start until the end of May, so I can't think about it yet.
So many wonderful things about my city, but so many more once the weather gets pretty! Come see for yourself! I'd be happy to show you around, and take you to some of the fabulous eateries around town.

Happy weekend!

The Friday Morning Post

Kind of makes it sound like I have my own newspaper...

Yes, it's Friday, and yet again I have neglected to post until today. I know, I've been a blog slacker this week, and it's not even like I have that much going on. I just haven't felt inspired. And since some people openly complain when my posts aren't, shall we say, riveting (yes, Chase, I'm talking to you), I shy away from posting unless I'm really feeling eloquent. But today I'm just going to go for it.

Commune Reunion 2k9 v.1 this weekend! For those of you out of the know, that means Tapley (Fain), Krisan, Krisha, Claire and Lucy are all coming to Chattanooga! It is very exciting. Since we are all now scattered across the country (well, mainly the southeast, except Claire, who as an outlier in Houston makes it possible to use the phrase "across the country") it is much harder to reunite than say, when we lived in the same apartment or dorm. Lucy, since she is but a child, has not yet formally been inducted into the society, but is currently a pledge. Once she is able to talk, she'll become a full-fledged (or delta, ha) member.

Francis the cat spent an evening being mystified and horrified as a process went on in my apartment he has not really experienced before - thorough cleaning. Since Lucy the baby now crawls, I felt compelled to make sure the floors she might crawl upon were as clean as possible. I now know that Francis is NOT a fan of vacuums, but that his sprinting capabilities have not diminished. I also know that he IS a fan of pinesol, and were it not for my watchful eye, he would be like Mischa Barton in the Sixth Sense. Even after I hid the bucket in the bathtub, he was not tricked. He almost hopped in face first, but due to a swift grab by self, he hopefully remained unpoisoned. He was also angry because he can no longer hang out in my closet as it is full of things now (There is one extremely tiny closet in my extremely tiny apartment - don't judge it's packed-ness.)

Our plans are loose for the weekend, but one place I can guarantee we will be visiting is Mercatino. It is so fabulous for so many reasons, one being the very hip european bistro vibe and decor. They have great paninis and salads, as well as beautiful, made-from-scratch pastries and candies, and gelatto. The coffee at Mercatino is the best coffee I've had (mochas especially). However, the best thing of all are pastry chef Dane's belgian waffles. Omg. These huge waffles are light and fluffy, with a hint of cinnamon in the batter. When ordered topped with nutella, along with maple syrup, it just can't be beat. Not to mention the fact that a giant waffle with nutella and syrup is only $3.50! You could get a really gross breakfast somewhere else for that. OR you could go to Mercatino because it's terrific! (No, they're not paying me, but if they want to that's fine...)

Ok. That's about all I've got today. Is it lunchtime yet?

Friday the 13th, or, Valentine Eve!

Ah, Valentines day. For a pretty insignificant holiday, this one is awfully controversial. I try to be like Kirsten from the OC, who loves Valentines day and all it connotes, and that is pretty easy when you're dating someone (or married, I suppose I should throw that in there since like half of ya'll are by now.) The pretty pink tulips currently sitting on my desk are a testament to this fact. (My valentine is a good one.)

On the first floor of the newspaper building, BiLo has set up a "Valentine Shop" for people who work here (read: men) who forgot it was Valentines weekend and haven't gotten their significant others a gift. In addition to ridiculous balloons and stuffed animals (really? I'm an adult. I have no interest in a stuffed animal. What on earth is up with that? Like people need more useless crap to sit around in their houses? Rant over), there are a couple tables full of bouquets of flowers (now, talk about a great gift for a girl. Take my word for it, guys. Flowers are always appreciated.)

Seeing this took me back to high school. For those of you who don't know (weird...), I went to an all-girls high school. For the first few years I was there, Valentines day was pretty much crazy. The commons area, which is a huge open space, big enough for like 400 people to stand around, would fill with folding tables. These tables were there for the sole purpose of accommodating the literal thousands of bouquets that arrived at the school at a rate something akin to rainfall during a monsoon all day long. By lunchtime, the room would be covered in blossoms of every type and color, enormous bouquets of long stem roses, cute little nosegays of yellow daisies, fluffy poofs of peonies. Row after row of folding tables crowded with vases of every shape and size - it was like a florist's Valhalla.

The thing was, out of these thousands of bouquets, how sad if not a single one was for you? My nice mom always sent me something, so I wasn't one of these unfortunate few, but at a girls school, you can imagine the sting. So eventually the school banned floral deliveries on Valentines Day. While it makes sense in the emotional, non-competitive scheme of things, I was always kind of sad not to see the commons filled with flowers once a year. The carnations the Honor Council sold quickly filled the role of making people feel bad for not being in a relationship or having thoughtful parents, as they would stick them to your locker, and it was even more clear who got flowers and who didn't. Ah, girls.

I conclude with a flashback from the old-school (read: sophomore year) days of Livejournal. Hopefully, it will make everyone chuckle. My, how some things have changed...

"Everyone has begun receiving their pink and red gifts. Ben [finally] gave Krisan pink and red daisies, tap made walker some pink and red cookies, and Krisha has a couple of pink and red cards sitting on the ol’ desk. I’m sure that tonight’s slew of dinner dates for the roomies will fill our room with even more lovely flora. I have had one request to be someone’s valentine today, and it was immediately followed by a demand for cookies, which definitely weakens the validity of the first request. Never fear, however, my mom sent me a package…

Claire, with whom I would most likely ordinarily be spending my valentines evening, as I do every evening, pretty much has the flu and has been asleep all day, except when she went to the doctor. I am not sure what to do in this situation, but suspect that it will involve me studying for Wednesday’s geology test and going to sleep early tonight.

I see some positives in not having a valentine, however.
1) I do not have the responsibility of buying/creating an incredibly imaginative and thoughtful v-day gift for a significant other
2) One of the football players in geology lab today informed us that his “girl” had her baby this morning. (Note: he was in geology lab this afternoon.) This will also not be a problem for me.
3) less chocolate given to me = less chocolate consumed, and conversely, less chocolate consumed = me still fitting normally into my formal dress this weekend, and that is always good.

I suspect my English teacher of trying to be clever by making us read Wordsworth for homework last night. Coincidence that we start the unit on romantic poetry on valentines day? I think not. I have previously mentioned my dislike for poetry of pretty much any sort. E.e. cummings is the only one worth anything. But romantic poetry is the worst. Ick. And I used to think Dr. Himmelwright was pretty normal…

Claire saw someone [male] walking around campus wearing very large slippers that were modeled after bananas [the fruit, yes.] This is made better by the fact that we think it is someone we know, and therefore might have the opportunity of ridiculing later.


“My name is cupid valentino
The modern day cupid
And i just wanna say one thing

Happy Valentines Day (Everyday's the 14th)
I don't think yall heard me,
I just wanna say
Happy Valentines Day (Everyday's the 14th)
Can you all dig that

Now, when arrows don't penetrate see,
Cupid Cracks the Pistol
Ah, yeah, now, now looka here
He shoots straight for your heart
Now,(And he won't miss you)” – Outkast

*more evidence that cupid is employed by the Devil himself; blatant violence, he is a felon. Watch out for him."

If everybody was jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?

Apparently.

25 Things About Me. I have been tagged, and feel that I should comply.

1. In third grade, we were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I drew Sandra Day O'Connor, as I planned to be a Supreme Court Justice.

2. I hate red roses because they are so cliche.

3. I have a somewhat uncanny auditory memory. There is no telling how many movies, songs, and Gilmore Girls episodes I could quote almost entirely if I tried.

4. I am really bad at conversing with children. The third graders I taught last year quickly learned that the only story I could tell at lunch was the one about the lady whose son stole a baby penguin at the Georgia Aquarium. They learned to simply ask for "your story about the penguin."

5. One of the few times I distinctly remember getting in trouble as a child was for eating pop rocks on the couch. I had previously been instructed not to do so.

6. As a child, after discovering a drafting table in my grandparents' basement, I spent long hours drawing detailed sketches of various dinosaurs, in hopes that they would be sought after due to my skilled artistry and published in the newspaper. I don't know why I thought drawings of dinosaurs were something the Dayton Herald would be interested in.

7. One of my current favorite foods is the waffle at Mercatino with nutella and syrup. Omg. So amazing.

8. I almost never purchase clothing with a pattern, other than stripes. I really like solid colors.

9. I currently have 44 post-it notes stuck to my desk with assorted messages on them.

10. When I was about five, my stepmother gave me a B-52s tape, because I LOVED it. My mother took it away, and then gave me a boxed set of the B-52s Greatest Hits when I was a junior in college as recompense.

11. I sometimes justify expensive purchases in this way: Hmm, this shirt is $75. Would I pay $7.50 each time to wear it ten times? ...probably. Then it's a fair purchase.

12. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I like summer, I like America, and I like fireworks. Perfect.

13. When we were about 2, my cousin Corey was climbing on a rocking chair. I warned him against it, and then said "Corey, if you fall out of that rocking chair, don't you come crying to me." This anecdote of compassion is a classic in our family.

14. I don't really think Seinfeld is funny.

15. I do, however, find The Simpsons hysterical. Especially the Lord of the Flies one. "I ated the purple ones. They taste like burning."

16. I pretty much hate rap music but I would love to meet Snoop Dog, because that guy is just cool.

17. I still know all the words to "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies because Maggie and I printed off the lyrics so that we could memorize the fast parts.

18. I find "Legally Blonde" inspirational.

19. When I was four, I wept while watching George Bush, Sr.'s inauguration, because I wanted Ronald Reagan to be the president forever. My mother's explanation of term limits did nothing to console me.

20. I once wrote a three page essay on a final exam in Dr. Israel's Reconstruction to the New Deal class about a book I've never read and received full credit. I can make stuff up with the best of them.

21. When I lived in Atlanta, I bought more stuff at the Junior League Nearly New store than any other retail venue. And that includes J.Crew. It is awesome what rich people throw away.

22. I, as Ellie Lee is rumored to have done, attempted to walk my first cat, Chester, on a leash. Two leashes, actually, because I thought perhaps the problem lay in the first leash itself. Turns out, cats really hate walking on leashes. Or rather, slinking along the ground while tethered.

23. My favorite date so far has been the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera 75th Anniversary concert followed by a very late dinner at Porter's. Ideal.

24. In middle school (and maybe high school...) I had a very serious crush on Pete Sampras, and there were like 25 pictures of him in my room.

25. Quentin Groves (only Auburn folk will recognize that one) used to play with my hair in Geology lab. I was too intimidated by him to ask him to quit because it freaked me out.

"Ooh we ooh, I look just like Buddy Holly..."

So this morning on the way to work, I heard on Morning Edition that today was the fiftieth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. You know, he sang "Peggy Sue" and "That'll Be the Day" and "Every day" ("...it's a-getting closer, goin' faster than a roller coaster, love like yours will-a surely come m-y-y way, a-hey, a-hey hey...")You always hear about Buddy Holly, especially if you're a big Weezer fan, and perhaps you have wondered, like myself, why he is so well-remembered, all these many years later. After all, my research tells me that he only released one album while he was alive, but after his death his label could barely keep up with the demand for posthumous recordings. So, here's my brief explanation of Buddy Holly. If you know more about him than me, feel free to add.

He was only 22 years old on what Don McLean immortalized as "the day the music died" in February 1959. He had a wife he'd only been married to for like, six months. Charles Hardin Holley had grown up listening to, and playing, bluegrass in Lubbock, Texas. He was also heavily influenced by another great, Elvis Presley. Now, if you've read "The Little Book," (Ali, this means you, because I know no one else has)you know that a lot of people had never heard the kind of 'rock-a-billy' style music Buddy Holly came up with, and if you think about the music that preceded the fifties (I'm thinking "Swing, Swing, Swing," or pretty much anything people were doing the pretzel to in the 40's), something like "That'll be the Day" would sound pretty fresh.

People loved it. Bob Dylan considered making eye contact with Holly at a 1959 concert such a formative experience that he talked about it in a Grammy acceptance speech almost 40 years later. The Beatles supposedly chose their insect-ish band name with Buddy Holly and The Crickets in mind, after being significantly influenced by Holly's music - as were the Rolling Stones. Particularly, apparently, the rhythm structure. He also had a unique style of singing, involving a "hiccup" stop that he used to emphasize words (please see the quote from "Every day" above for brilliant phonetic examples.)

That is a very brief synopsis of a very important musician, but I have lots of other things I am supposed to be writing. For those of you who are curious, or for those of you who were in me and Amanda Youell's art class in eighth grade and still remember all the lyrics thanks to us, I close with a link to an article attempting to decipher "American Pie."

(Sing along...)

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn't take one more step.

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."

Wet paint

Please click on this link, and enjoy. Before you do, make sure you have some free time ahead of you.

Paint me a Birmingham

As intoned by the title, I spent the weekend in the Magic City. (Why is Birmingham, of all cities, "the magic city?" I mean, granted, it is a nice city. But magical? That seems like a stretch.) It's so fun to be in a place where so many friends from college are all constantly around.

Friday evening, after my arrival, Tapley, Dobbs, David, Brad and myself went to Sol Azteca, a popular hangout for Auburn people in Bham, as evidenced by the vast amount of Auburn alumni we saw while dining there. We then went to check out David, Brad, and Chase's new house, which is very neat, with lots of windows and a very creepy basement. David's room has a full wall of mirrors, like a dance studio, and Chase's features a four wall mural illustrating Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Both of these upgrades were inherent to the rooms upon arrival. Feeling that his seemingly normal room was lacking in fancy features like these, Brad installed a very large mounted deer head which stares with it's shiny glass eyes directly at his bed. When questioned about whether or not this creeped him out, Brad insists that the positioning on the wall was intentional, and that the deer "watches over him." And the She-trout (a human-sized, trout-shaped pillow.)

We were soon joined there by Walker, just in from a business trip in Jackson (yeah, we're grown-ups now. Or at least he is.) Chase, just in from a long day taking care of the infirm at the hospital, and Reed, just in from cooking some deer meat on his green egg. Reed regaled us with many amusing tales, as only Reed can do, including the tale of the time he may or may not have impersonated an officer. I would attempt to retell it here, but only he can tell it the right way.

He also shared that the deer meat he had recently cooked left a little to be desired, and so he did not want it for himself. However, he had decided he wanted to take some to the homeless of Birmingham in an act of generosity. We thought he was probably joking, until we realized that he had already bagged the meat individually and it was waiting in his truck. Deciding this was something we did not want to miss, Dobbs and I joined Reed and David on their mission. Not moments after we arrived downtown, we came across a man who looked down on his luck. David asked if he was hungry, and the man said yes, and was handed a bag of food. He asked if we had some water also, which we did not, and we all felt extremely bad that we couldn't help him with his thirst. After actually seeing someone in real need, the task lost any amusement factor it may have had, and I think everyone hoped we would be able to help a few more hungry people like the man we'd just seen. To the credit of Birmingham and I suppose their homeless shelters, we only ran across three more homeless people in the downtown district, all of whom said they were not hungry. We then wished we had given the first man more food.

At this point, a disappointed Reed (who had hoped to share his wealth of food with many, and still had several bags left) saw some [clearly not homeless] bar-goers crossing a street, and queried a young man decked out in necklaces, rings, and one of those hats with the flat bill and the sticker on it, whether he and his two [very dolled-up] lady friends might be hungry. "Huh?" said the young man, and Reed clarified "would you like some cooked deer meat?" The young man, clearly insulted, replied "man, do we LOOK like we hungry for some COOKED DEER MEAT??" Reed, nonplused, said "well I thought so, but I guess not," and drove away. We then went to an establishment in possibly Mountain Brook [?] and then returned home. I will include some photos despite how amazingly unflattering they are of yours truly.


Me and Dobbs



David and Myself



Self, Dobbs, Reed, and Kacey Eoff

Saturday, Tap and I enjoyed a lazy day of television and perhaps a little shopping, then a pleasant evening of pizza and the Miss America pageant (alternated with the Senior Bowl, to help the males not feel bad for watching the pageant) along with Walker, Dobbs, David, Brad, and Will and Jana Flinkow. It was a nice college flash-back, although Claire, Krisha, and Krisan were notably missing in the Commune line-up. Sunday was church and of course CSI: Miami, which Tapley thankfully tivos, and on to Atlanta where Jason made pizzas from scratch! After such an eventful, college-esque weekend, it's tricky to come back to the real world, although I am attempting by tallying up timesheets.