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Friday, August 31, 2007

My Wonderful, Wacky, iPod Adventure

The iPod: It's a gift. And a curse.

My first task of this holiday weekend was a rather challenging one. I've often been boggled by my mother's iPod. You know, what's not on it, and what shockingly and cringe-worthingly is.

So I made a list, skimming through all of the artists and asking my mother if she really listened to [insert artist name here]. A sample conversation:

[Note: all facial expressions and/or actions are in parentheses; all thoughts are in italics.]

Me: Arctic Monkeys?
Mom: (blank expression on face)
Me: You do not listen to The Arctic Monkeys. I don't even listen to The Arctic Monkeys.
Mom: They must be on some playlist that you gave me.
Me: Yeah, like a year ago. But do you listen to them.
Mom: (silence)
Me: Yeah, that's what I thought.
...
Me: Click Five! I'm taking this crap off!
Mom: (silence, before she can object)
...
(Note: same pattern goes for bands like Green Day, Jewel, etc.)
...
Me: Hellogoodbye?! Do you even listen to them.
Mom (defensively): Yes!
Me: Seriously?! No you do not -- name one song of theirs.
Mom: You know I can't remember song names!
Me: Okay, then tell me how one of their songs goes.
Mom: (laughter)
...
Me: Panic! At the Disco?!!!!!!
Mom: I like them.
Me (disappointed): Mother.
Mom: It's only two songs.
Me: Mother. But it's so embarassing. Even though I have some of their songs on my iPod, but who needs to know?
...
Mom: Let me tell you how I listen to my iPod.
Me: Oh, geez.
Mom: I listen to playlists, I lsiten to shuffle songs, and, occasionally, occasionally (she stresses this word very much), I listen to a particular album.
Me: Yeah, I only listen to my iPod in playlists. You have way too many playlists, too.... Like here, you have 1-4, which are the same thing as this one, just broken up.
Mom: Yeah I know.
Me: You know? And here, this running one.
Mom: Ooooh! I love that one. It's, like, my favorite running playlist.
Me: This is all you listen to when you run?
Mom: Well, no.
Me: It's from April. But then again you have things on here that are year old.
Mom: Yeah, I know.
...
Me (nonchalantly): Okay, I'm taking off Weezer, too.
Mom: No!
Me: Oh my God, when do you ever listen to Weezer?
Mom: (silence, then:) I listen to them.
Me: You have like one song! How can you say that you listen to someone when you have only, like, one song from them on here?
Mom: I listen to them.
[I wonder if she can't bring herself to actually say "Weezer."]
Me: (mouth half-open, not believing it)
Mom: I want them on my iPod.
Me: Really? Do you really think that you'll ever be like "Man, I really wish I had that one Weezer song on my iPod!"
Mom: (uncontrollable laughter)
Me: "Gosh, if only I had that Weezer song!"
Mom: (in hysterics)
Me: My case rests.
...
Mom: No, let me tell you how I listen to my iPod. I have playlists, I listen to shuffle songs, and occasionally, I--
Me: Sugarcult?! Yeah, right.
...


And so it was as I scrolled down her many, many artists, compiling a list of artists that ranged from Goo Goo Dolls (?) to Matchbox Twenty (??) to Velvet Revolver (???).

But then I deleted everything off her iPod, minus 50 songs from the Marie Antoinette soundtrack and Elliott Smith's New Moon, per her request. And do you know what, somehow, somehow I found room for all of the songs that she listens to regularly (including 100+ Billy Joel/Elton John songs). It's a concept that I like to call "no mercy." Why have songs that you never listen to wasting space on your iPod when you could have free space (ah, what a novel concept!) for new songs, so that whenever you want to add songs to your iPod, you don't have to delete a whole bunch of song?

I see this whole thing working out as a MasterCard commercial.

Number of songs on your iPod: 763
Number of songs that you actually listen to: 259
Number of songs that you've never listened to: more than half
Number of dollars spent on music library: $1024.38
Number of playlists before: 3,643,018
Number of playlists after: 3
A clear, happy iPod: priceless

fridaying.

...haven't done a post like this in months. But it feels right for today - the friday of a three-day weekend, marking a new season, with lots of possibilities.

First up, wore my favorite sweater to work today with jeans and the pink flats - honestly in anticipation of a late lunch with Liz (who I haven't seen in weeks, but she had to cancel this morning because her mom's in the hospital - yuck!) - on top of that sad news, I was really glad I wore that sweater (another CAbi favorite, by the way). This is the sweater that goes with the pink skirt that makes up my power outfit... but I love it with jeans, too!

And a productive day at work - drove to Aiken, SC yesterday with two other team members for a client meeting. Very productive on the business front and we got an Enthusiastic Client Certificate signed, which is a big big deal in my office - so kudos to the team! But a tough drive home - it rained nearly all the way but the new car was a trooper and Greg figured out enough of the navigation system to show a split screen with the map on the left and the exit amenities on the right (maybe a bit distracting, but not too much!) ...so today was catching up on the emails from yesterday, and getting enough of this week's to-do's crossed off to be able to sleep this weekend. Success! in large part because several of my planned meetings were cancelled (yeah!) or postponed, leaving a good 3 hour chunk of time to actually...do work!

A quick trip to Bonnie's and some very impressive inspirations - aka papers and ribbons - to spark some creativity. I'm starting to re-think my scrapbooking ideals along the lines of papercrafting albums (like the beach album, except with paper instead of stamps). Or using those beautiful papers for my journaling. Maybe with photos. ...still thinking....

So - up for the weekend:
♥ shopping with Sara...she needs "cute tops" and I need "pants that fit (that aren't jeans)" - that's Saturday - and we have to be home in time for the game - when I will knit and Marc and Sara will get crazy
♥ three days in a row to run in the park - I realized last weekend that I have not missed a single run because of weather since I started back running outside in March - sure hope I haven't jinxed the fall, but I love those runs!
♥ starbucks/journaling on Sunday morning while Sara has a tennis lesson with Rob and her new racquet (sorry, not exactly sure the model to include a link!)
only ewe for sock yarn (they're closed on monday, but I really want to make those socks!)
♥ catching up on the KAL - three emails of comment summaries since my membership was approved last night (yikes!) - need to figure out the supply requirements and start scoping out yarn (and beads?!?!) and needles
♥ dinner for Tom & Vicki on Sunday - we haven't seen them since July (honestly, Marc has seen them both - it's me that's the problem.... they all golf and me lately, not so much!) and Vicki and I are both way ready for catching up
♥ Monday...no plans...so hoping to finish a layout (the one pictured at the bottom is done, but the other one I started that day is still in pieces!), read and catch up on some magazines (the pile is obnoxious now that the fall issues of Vogue and In Style have arrived)
♥ lunches with Sara - Saturday - definitely out, Sunday - maybe out, and Monday - definitely home

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

crazy.

probably!? curious? definitely!

I just submitted an application to join this stole KAL (knit-a-long, like a remote group knitting project for the knitting blog un-initiated).

Which I found while browsing knitting blogs - a favorite evening pastime while keeping Sara company with the Jane Eyre paper or math homework or chemistry homework - and this one in particular.

Lydia - join me!?

P.S. there are now only 11,691 people ahead of me at ravelry - I might need to get my stash organized in September!

P.P.S. I love these socks...and if Only Ewe is open Monday, I might buy yarn to make them...for a cause such as this, I think another project is definitely justified!

crazy? absolutely!!

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

fashion and fun.

...aka a CAbi party (click The Collection on the upper menu bar to see the clothes) that Lisa hosted last night. I tried to get a good photo of Lisa and Annalisa, but my no flash rule made it tough - here's the best one - you can still see how cute the baby is...and how much Lisa adores her!

and here's a picture of Melanie playing with the "glow bunny" (I'm way behind in kid's toys these days!)

The company was fun - ladies from work and not work that I hadn't seen in a while and catching up was good. Of course the clothes were fabulous as usual. Maybe even better this time around. This was my 4th (wow time flies!) show. I loved just about everything. Did exercise a little restraint because Marcia's planning a party in October. Can't wait!

Monday, August 27, 2007

back on campus.


...again today - I volunteered to be Hewitt/Atlanta's liaison with Georgia Tech campus recruiting for two reasons: first because it gives us access to wonderful candidates and second because (duh!) it gives me access to Katie. Although I didn't get to see her when I was there this morning, I always feel a special something when I'm on campus, or even when I drive by her dorm! Today's meeting was with Career Services - so really getting ourselves linked in with the graduating students. And it was positive. I have a few to-do's, but it looks like Hewitt will be back on campus this fall - thank goodness!

I spent the rest of the day out and about as well - to our Riverwood office for an interview, then to Norcross for a site visit with H.E.R.O. for Children, another fantastic-get-yourself-fired-up organization that the HA Foundation supports (as does Katie - check this out). Picked up Sara and then home for a final conference call - co-ordinating more foundation stuff - this time raffle ticket sales :-)

Yesterday was fun-filled, too - especially lunch. I decided on this. And Sara gave it a great review. It was easy to make. I only used one pound of shrimp (bought a one-pound bag of pre-cooked, peeled, frozen shrimp and thawed it while I made the mint dressing). Worked like a charm. I kept the other ingredients the same. So - Ellie's version:

and mine:
it wasn't cheating to add the beautiful dogwood plates to show off the salad colors, or the beautiful baby greens, or the half-tomato rose, was it?!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

this and that.

...and what we've been up to.

Friday, in between meetings with the Georgia Tech Alumni Ass'n recruiting liaison and two HA Foundation organizations, I managed a quick trip to Knitch to add 3 more projects to my stash.
a new sock pattern and yummy gray yarn to knit it; the wound balls are for hats

Then had a late lunch with Katie at The Globe.


Friday night, while we watched a new Monk, Sara worked on Chemistry and I worked on her hat. Yesterday started early with a quick run, then a trip to visit Jo and an ALTA match for Sara (she didn't win, but she's gotten a lot faster on the court). After dinner, we watched Chicago and I finished Sara's hat (I think it needs blocking, but I need to consult the LYS for instructions).
a side view and a top view, to show off the pretty star-top pattern

On tap for today - laundry, a longer run, groceries, photo organizing and more knitting. Sock #2 is growing!

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

julia's chocolates.

...was one of many topics at last night's bookclub, wonderfully hosted by Aileen, with the (supposed?!) purpose of discussing the book that Terri picked back in June. Most liked the book and loved the happy ending - there were a few dissenters (Aileen suggested they read The Road :-) In true bookclub fashion, we also talked about a lot of other things:

::Aileen's lovely newly finished basement - she says it's the "coolest" spot in the house - maybe literally and figuratively - it was a great party/gathering place (I especially loved the poppy art - see left)

::the weather, the start of school, school sports and the importance of having regular exercise, even as a kid

::weight - and how tied it seems to be/is? to a woman's self esteem; I hate this, but everyone tells me it's normal - based on what I've observed, I think they're right

::social services - how prevalent the need is...even in an area like ours and how disappointed we were in the way they were betrayed in the book - based on Donna's experience, in Roswell, it works differently and if she made a call like Julia did, people would pay attention

::happy books vs books that make you think - my favorites are the ones that do both

::we love the Aunt Lydia character, but some of her parties, especially the one with tacos, we wouldn't want to attend (this was actually an "on topic discussion")

::how to spot a meth addict (ditto this one!)

::...and just a little bit! my aversion to flash photography - ugh - don't you hate red eye and washed out faces too?! ...so here are the three (out of eight!) photos I took that were even half-way decent - problem with no flash is that the pictures can be pretty blurry! Donna, sorry, nothing with you (or me!):
terri and shari
in true bookclub style - note the 3 different conversations! - kay & lise, aileen & michelle, terri & shari


Sadly, I'll miss next month's meeting because it's the Yarn Harlot night!!!, but I would definitely like the chance to discuss the book! Aileen has selected Water for Elephants (which I loved!)

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happy birthday.


...to my mom - and I forgot to photo the card before I mailed it, so I found this gorgeous picture instead (courtesy of Martha) - is boston cream pie still a birthday-worthy favorite?!
your birthday comes to tell me this

-each luckiest of lucky days
i've loved,shall love,do love you,was

and will be and my birthday is

(yes, currently obsessed with ee cummings, but he says things so well!)

love, m.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

html lesson.

...thought this might be helpful for at least one person I know who blogs - and my mom - sorry we lost you yesterday!

First, the hearts. Sara provided instructions to make a heart shape show up on the page. I frequently use hearts in my journal - they're easy to draw and fun to look at! - but didn't know how to make one on-line. The trick is to put three things together (& + "hearts" + ;) to make an html command. So when blogger displays it, it executes the command and shows this ♥ Sara learned this while posting on my space, so I am now (finally?!) convinced that my space has some redeeming value!

Now, what I learned today about line spacing. I updated the ee cummings poem in the sidebar (the beach was seeming like distant past and this one spoke to me!) and noticed the line spacing was almost like double. Did some research. The blogspot help directed me here and then here and I experimented and came up with this (a shortened version to illustrate the point!):

here's the html:
<+span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.1;font-size:85%;" +><+em+>i shall imagine life is not worth dying,if (and when)roses complain their beauties are in vain but though mankind persuades itself that every weed's a rose,roses(you feel certain)will only smile<+/em><+/span>"

and here's the formatted text:
i shall imagine life is not worth dying,if (and when)roses complain their beauties are in vain but though mankind persuades itself that every weed's a rose,roses(you feel certain)will only smile

Note that when you type the html for real, you have to leave out the "+" (I couldn't get the example text to display with the html unless I added the "+") Also, the sidebar poem has different line breaks, but I didn't keep them for this illustration.

Point is the LINE-HEIGHT command. I experimented with 1.0 and it seemed too close together. 1.2 was too far apart. 1.1 was just right. The font-size command makes the text smaller (and this was originally 78%, the smallest, but I decided I liked 85% so it went better with the box below). The "em" makes it italics (don't forget the <>). And I think there's a way to embed that in the span style, but in all my experimenting, I lost that part. Fortunately, this way works!

I do feel a bit (just a bit!?) behind the times and slow compared to my filles - am certain this is all second nature to them, but at least I'm learning!

my new office?


...sadly, no, I still have the office at 3003 Summit Blvd. But for 45 minutes this afternoon, I enjoyed the air conditioning at my local Starbucks, waiting for Sara to finish an after school tennis meeting. Amazing how portable our work can be with cell phones! I do have some work to do with the bluetooth connection in my car, though. When I got in, the phone automatically connected and I didn't know how to un-connect - so I sat in the driveway for 20 minutes after we got home to finish the call (in the air conditioning, thank goodness - temperature reading outside is 100 degrees!)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

p.s.


I was so excited about the indulgence post that I didn't even look at the mail first. The september pottery barn catalog arrived today. With this photo on the front.

And my preview shot of the posting tells me you might not be able to tell that the photo displayed on whatever that middle device is (help?) is of colored pencils. Standing up in a jar. Just like this.

I like my picture better :-) but I LOVE that recharge station!

scatter joy.


Katie truly inspires me. For my birthday two years ago, she gave me a "scatter joy" jar. A beautiful white teapot that she personalized and filled with paper hearts, all sizes and yummy red/pink colors, on which she'd written a few short words of inspiration. Every single one of them guaranteed to bring a smile to face. Some are outright funny, like this one.

Others are a bit more serious, like "I am thankful for everyone who loves me like crazy" (which I happened to draw the day of my car accident - hummm.... interesting timing, no?) For my birthday last year, she gave me my first journal. And I figured out along about January or so that the scatter joys made great journaling prompts. So I take a few, tuck them in the back pocket of my journal, and when I need a spark of inspiration for journaling, I pick one. Today, I picked this one:

...and a few of the "hearts" from my own favorite indulgences:
(can anyone tell me how to make hearts on a blog posting? eta "yes", sara can - it's & + hearts + ;, like this ♥)
*spa sydell and jo - for a wax every 3 weeks and a facial every 6
*starbucks, and my starbucks card on auto-reload
*nice wine...during the week
*a week at the beach every summer with the girls
*taking 30 minutes every morning to read my favorite blogs - gets my day off to a happy and "inspired" start
*time with my blog and my journal (both provide so much enjoyment, but just in different ways)
*the food network, especially ina and giada
*stamp club
*picking up dinner at Harry's so I don't have to cook (and having married a guy who cooks better than I do, likes to do it AND does!)
*unlimited text messaging for our family's cell phones (actually turns out this is also a smart economic move - this plan costs less than the separate ones we had, but the indulgence part is truly not having to worry about the volume)
*sending my khaki capris to the cleaners just so I don't have to iron them
*my yarn "stash"

...you get the gist - what are your indulgences?

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Monday, August 20, 2007

adpi and nancy drew.

...lately I've been trying to keep my posts to one topic - not that I'm trying to drive up my daily posting average, but I think a little bit of something "on topic" is probably easier to read... and maybe I can figure out a way to merge these two topics but for now:

I've joined the ADPi Mother's Club at Georgia Tech - mainly because I will grab on to any opportunity to see Katie, but also because I would like to meet other moms...strike up a new friendship, maybe - or just a way to feel more connected to Katie.

One of our first projects was to provide two dinners and a lunch for the girls (120 of them!) during "recruitment" (fka "rush"). I volunteered for dinner tonight - along with Teresa, Pat and Lauren and Carol - and had a ball, despite the wicked heat, serving wraps, pasta salad, fruit and drinks [in case you're wondering, my contribution ended up being paper goods and ice] to the most beautiful girls on Tech's campus. Yes, we served dinner outside their back door, in the parking lot and they still looked terrific (is Katie in this picture? I don't think so...)

pat and teresa

another fun note - for the first time in 3 years, I found a legal parking space...right outside the ADPi house. Fed in quarters to buy 1.75 hours of parking and there were 1.32 minutes left when I pulled out. Cool, no?

Then home and a serious need to catchup on my journaling (which saw a full week absence - no entries since last Monday morning). Ugh - so missed "the routine, the habit, the opportunity for reflection and for introspection". So I filled up three pages with words, a sketch of the hat I'm knitting for Sara and 4 colors. Feeling back to normal...a bit.

Which gets me to the nancy drew part. Karen gave me this book for Christmas 2004. And I have so enjoyed not only the words, but also the illustrations. Takes me right back to #39, The Clue of the Dancing Puppet, my first nancy drew read in the fall of 1971 (I think - I had started 4th grade and just discovered the school library). I remember nothing of the plot today - just that it was my first one and I proceeded to read all the others, somewhat obsessively I guess til I burned out in the 6th or 7th grade. I do remember that my mom read the entire book in about 45 minutes - either right before or right after dinner the night I brought the book home. And I remember thinking how cool it would be to read so fast so I could read more.

And this bit of wisdom (p. 100) seems perfect as a momento from the past weekend:
When shopping with your friends, take into consideration thier personal tastes when they comment on the outfit you are trying on. If your friend calls a dress "fussy", it may be because she always wears casual togs. Consider the source and if possible, shop with a friend whose style you admire.

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Sunday, August 19, 2007

reunion.

(wow - nearly a week has passed since I last posted - busy, busy! - missed you, mere-et-filles, but I'm back now!)

The H&A reunion was ... everything we hoped. And the girls weekend that accompanied was ... simply spectacular. I cannot capture in words how wonderful it is to have such friends as these. Smart (yes, decided to list that one first!), caring, beautiful, successful, real...and best of all fun! pinch me - these fabulous ladies are my friends!

In the tradition started here and continued here - a few of my favorite shots (all of them are here) and memories:

*sue and francie flew in for the weekend - so good to see them...and the atlanta friends that I should see more often but don't (note to self - change this!)
*trying to figure out the navigation feature on my new car to avoid a huge traffic jam on GA400 Friday night - 11 miles in 1.75 hours was not a great way to start the weekend, except that it gave me and sue plenty of time to catch up
*easy, sharing roomies - everyone contributed something and we had everything we needed, plus a lot more!
*just 2 rules - 1) no smoking and 2) turn down the comforters :-)
*saturday morning walk with lynn, roxanna and alex - 5-ish miles and some great catchup conversation
*wine, cheese and crackers - complete diet for 36 hours, with just a few veggies and some yummy dark chocolate thrown in
*fashion advice from francie (but only if you ask for it :-)
*pre-party drinks - discussing books and movies and music (because we're smart...and fun!)
*shopping at walmart - honestly quite fun, but only because of the company
*the party - sadly no group shot, but we loved the house, the flowers and the company
*+/-/= with me as paula abdul, francie as simon and kelle as randy (because she has such good taste in music)
*laughing til the early morning two nights in a row - I haven't had this much fun on so little sleep since...maybe ever!

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Monday, August 13, 2007

ending and beginning.

...with Sara's help (coloring is contagious!) I got the beach album photos and art done yesterday. Added the journaling this morning and it's done:



Then picked up the last 17 photos from the summer blowout and got them into the album - this is probably the most caught up with photos I've ever been!

...and thanks to Katie I have great patterned paper on the covers:

Katie left at 7 am - little katie-car was packed, but she managed on her own (I think she was ready to do it by herself and I only cried a little bit). She was all the way moved in before 9 am.

So instead of lugging boxes and bags on move-in day, I got to finish the albums, get my scrap area cleaned up and organized, pull together a donation for North Fulton Charities (one of the great organizations the Hewitt Foundation supports) and get inspired for two new scrapbook layouts. Note to self - I feel much more creative in an organized space!

Then I picked up Sara and we visited Only Ewe for yarn - I'd promised her a pair of socks when she finished her summer reading, but she was more inspired about the hats - fine by me - I can knock out a hat in an evening!

of course the one she wants (cross-top with one big stripe) takes three balls of yarn - get ready, girls, with the yardage on these balls, I'm thinking I've got five hats - we'll see how many different ways we can combine dark brown, blue and cream :-)

and best of all, I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow - today was perfect for getting my head around the end of summer and the beginning of another year.

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Saturday, August 11, 2007

one day left.

...before school starts and Katie moves back on campus. And I am very sad, but consoling myself just a bit - and yes - a smile, too - when I look back on this:

more photos here - the only regret so far is that we've watched ZERO chick flicks - zero movies actually. but we did watch a whole season of entourage :-)

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one thing done.

...finally - honestly never thought it would take a month and a half - to get from this (see the end of the post) to this:

now just need Katie's advice on how to fill up the title blocks - stamped dates, pretty paper (maybe both of those together?), other ideas?

and of course, I can't finish one thing without gearing up for the next:

34 pictures, 2 stamp sets, watercolor pencils and crayons, the beautiful blue kolo album and a lovely week of memories...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

ravelry?

...I worry that I'm a joiner (because I don't think that's a good trait) but I waited this one out a bit, so maybe that makes it ok (better?) because it's really now to the point of "following" (which could be a bad trait on its own?!)

ravelry - seems to be the next good thing in the knitting world (aside from the Yarn Harlot's Sept visit to Atlanta)- see here and here. And it was that last post that prompted me to sign up last Friday. So I could be #22727 on the list, with 14,842 ahead of me and no one (right, ZERO, people!) behind me.

The good news is that the list moves pretty fast - from my perspective anyway. I checked again on Sunday and there were 450 people behind me. I checked this evening, and there are now 1,131 people behind me (yes, ~700+ additions in just 3 days - wish this were my web-site!) and 14,308 ahead of me. At this rate, I should be in by Thanksgiving...and I've figured out I need to have my stash catalogued and indexed and my knitting projects photo-ready. uh...I'm currently loving simply photographing what I purchase - catalogs, indexes, any lists, yikes, whatever? (I haven't even managed that much organization for my stamping stuff!)

p.s. - this is what I have from knitch today - still thinking the group photos of yarn, bag, needles, patterns, magazines, etc. are fun!

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tuesday.

...was fun today - because I accomplished some good things and got to spend real catching up time with Katie.

Got a good (early) start. Heard good news about Hewitt's earnings finally?!). Confirmed five appointments to followup on Hewitt Foundation organizations - site/phone visit summaries are due September 7 and I represent 10 organizations...all of them are wonderful, awe-inspiring and I wish I had more time to spend. Two folks returned my intro-emails with phone calls. And I so wish I could've had the phone visit right then because their enthusiasm was/is contagious!

Katie met me at 3:30 and we drove to Virginia-Highlands to visit Knitch (certain someone has a birthday coming up) and Key Lime Pie (Katie wanted a haircut). Fun, fun, fun! even have to laugh now at the poor Key Lime Pie person who had to tell me...15 minutes into a cell phone call with Karen...that I was in a "cell free zone". Ooops! but it was way too hot outside to carry on any conversation, so we ended it fast!

We'd planned to have dinner within walking distance, but nothing that sounded good was close - and "close" was required because it was 95 degrees outside (as I get older, and after Katie's summer, we just don't "do" heat!). So we got back into the car and drove to Nava (I totally crave the smoked salmon appetizer all the time) - and even Katie was impressed with the car, and how it adapted to our initial left turn onto Ponce (to Briarcliff, then Lavista, then Piedmont) when the original instructions were to turn right (Ponce to North Ave to P'tree). Still need a bit more work with the navigation system to figure out how to turn it off, and how to recall the destination info to call ahead for reservations (fortunately, no wait at Nava on a Tuesday night!) We totally enjoyed a full meal - shared.


but sadly, Katie didn't like our "two of us" shots. More photo ops tomorrow

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Monday, August 6, 2007

christmas in august.

...what it seemed like at our house last night when Katie shared all the goodies she brought us back from Europe!

The scene at the airport reminded me of the closing scene in Love Actually, where someone says (something like) if you want to know about love, hang out at the arrivals gate at Heathrow. And it's so true - well the arrivals gate part, at Hartsfield-Jackson, anyway.


Saturday was lots of fun, too, except I didn't get any pictures of me and/or Sara enjoying our movie and lunch. The movie was delightful - superb performances by John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer and a crew of very talented younger actors. And we left Phipps before I remembered we hadn't taken a picture. So much for loads of photo ops! So I took a few shots of the different flowers in our yard right now (we do have something other than mandevilla and hibiscus!)

...and one of my favorites - the new car! (with a reflection of Katie's, which served me very well these past three weeks - thank you, Katie-car!)

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Saturday, August 4, 2007

sb kickoff.

...the summer blowout is officially underway! Sara and I experimented a lot with sandwiches this past spring and created this healthier version of the Barefoot Contessa's tomato, mozzarella & pesto panini. Our version uses just a little bit of pesto spread on the top and bottom slices of bread, then sliced tomato and sliced fresh mozzarella with a few basil leaves. We put the sandwiches on non-stick foil (or parchment paper) in a 375 degree oven until the bread is toasted. Flip the sandwiches and toast again until done. About 15 minutes altogether. No butter or oil on the bread - that's why we call it healthier!

Then we had a scrabble rematch (Thursday night, I beat Sara 264 to 177 - she didn't stand a chance - I played "jaded" on my first turn for 44 points!) and just for fun figured out that "mere et filles" is worth 114 points:

Last night, she beat me fair and square - 231 to 158. At one point, I had 4 A's and 2 I's. We were playing in English, not Hawaiian, so I couldn't do much!

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

big smile.


...you would, too, right, with a nearly-done (tried to finish last night but fell asleep) book, a glass of wine and a snack...all enjoyed in the beautiful summertime evening sunshine. life is good.

later...so I did finish the book and it was good - enjoyed it even more than the first one in the series. But ready, now, I think for something different, maybe "meatier"? not sure what, yet....