A to Z MeMe

I stole this clever little MeMe from Ari. Enjoy!

Accent: New Englander meets Southern Bell with a sprinkling of Western PA. Translation--no accent, I just pronounce some words funnylike.

Booze: I'm a beer snob, my favorites being Smuttynose and Sierra Nevada. I also love me some Grey Goose. I'm a wine fan and whiskey fan. I guess that's a yes on the booze.

Chore I Hate: Doing dishes. And, cleaning out PingPong's tank--there's nothing worse than the algae/turtle poo goo that comes out of that thing.

Dogs/Cats: Love and Love

Essential Electronics: Laptop, MP3 player, Cellie

Favorite Perfume/Cologne: Love's Babysoft, Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea, RL's Beautiful, anything light and natural or coconutty.

Gold/Silver: Usually silver but I don't discriminate amongst the precious metals.

Hometown: Good Question--lately it feels like Portsmouth, NH though I'm not really from there.

Insomnia: I can fall asleep almost anywhere.

Job Title: Traveler

Kids: One day, in a galaxy far, far away I will have a gaggle of adopted babies.

Living Arrangements: Snottsdale Apartment Complex

Most Admired Trait: My level head

Number of Sexual Partners: Nice try.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Nada

Phobia: Scorpions, Random Crime

Quote: "This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time" Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Religion: My Own

Siblings: Little Brother and Sister

Time I usually wake up: Depends on when I went to bed.

Unusual talents: I can cross my eyes and then wiggle one back and forth

Vegetable I refuse to eat: mushrooms

Worst Habit: Smoking

X-Rays: I've had a few, in the arm and ankle area mostly.

Yummy Foods I Make: I make a million things--current favorites include red chili pork chops, quinoa & black bean salad, stuffed artichokes, and chai smoothies.

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Biatch!

take, take, take me home

The continuous churning of the escalator, the waves of travelers rushing to fetch their bags, the cart stand, Starbucks, and signage. I'm about to call the airport home. In the past two weeks I've spent time at Phoenix, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, LA, and Boston airports. Currently, I'm stranded at Logan.

I spent the weekend in NH visiting friends, living a life a I cherish more and more every day. I forgot what it feels like to be in a house full of people you absolutely adore. There is nothing I like more than being completely surrounded by the people with whom I am most at home.

It rained all weekend, there was not a dry moment to be had. Apparently it's been raining here for days and days. The flood waters are rising rapidly and there's no end in sight. It was a trip this morning, coming into Boston and seeing so many roads washed out, fields turned into lakes and rivers out of control and exponentially large.

I guess missing my flight this morning and being trapped at the airport for 8 hours isn't such a travesty after all. At least my home is warm and dry, albeit a little too warm and dry (current temperature is 101), but safe and in tact nonetheless. My prayers are going out to all the displaced people and the homeowners carrying bucketloads of water out of their basements!

hammock

There are not enough hammocks in the state of Arizona. It's probably due to the lack of trees. Cacti are tall but not very sturdy. While they can range from about 15 to feet in height, their root systems are as shallow as they come. I certainly wouldn't want to temp the 1 ton weight of a juicy cactus while napping in the Arizona sunshine. Saguaros are also quite prickly (duh) and not as easy to cosy-up to as a big oak tree.

These have quickly become my most favorite of all the cacti around here. It's probably because they are the most dramatic, and we all know I'm a sucker for the drama when it comes to nature. One of the coolest things about these giant plants is that they bloom at night. I have just recently come to find this out now that it's Spring and cacti are sprouting weird nodule out the tops of their heads and arms.

In my feeble attempt to find a picture on the interweb of a hammock strung between cacti, I found that the Cactus Hammock is actually a type of butterfly. Learn something new everyday!

manure

I've got another week and half left of traveling for work before my summer begins. Sure, I'll be doing work at home, following-up, working on summer projects but I won't be on the road alone. I love traveling, I love seeing new places and finding favorites to revisit in the future. It's just rough being alone so much. I find myself talking to myself even more often than I do when I'm at home and that sort of scares me.

I'll be doing quite a bit more traveling this summer though it will be for fun! Two of my bestest girlfriends and I are road-tripping it cross-country for a couple of weeks. We'll be spending most of our time in the Northwest so if ya'll have any suggestions for must-sees, holla at your girl.

My violin is cracking. It's so dry out here and my old fiddle is so, well, old. I need to get a little violin humidifier asap. Betcha didn't know there was such thing as a violin humidifier, eh? I'm full of surprises.

I betcha also didn't know that I was once in 4-H. I've been thinking about my experiences on the dairy farm with fondness lately. I miss being so involved with animals. I actually miss mucking stalls and scraping the manure out of my holstein's dirty hooves. I feel so far away from anything living in Scottsdale. It seems like even the people are fake, made of plastic and so far away from the earth it's scarey.


Lord, my eyebrows used to look like caterpillars!

I received this



in my inbox this morning. From my mother. This is the same woman who once grounded me for an entire summer when I was home from my Freshman year in college. I think she's lightening-up a bit with time. It's funny how relationships with parents change as we get older. Where there was once way too much bitterness, resentment, and embarassment just by way of association. There is now much appreciation, admiration and gratitude. A sense of humor makes it all the more special as well.

PS. This photo came from a forward. I have no idea to whom it belongs or should be credited. If this picture is of you and you don't appreciate me broadcasting the hilarity of your situation to the interweb, just let me know.

CIB in Flagstaff

I was lucky enough to catch the CIB tour in Flagstaff last night. The music was hot, the message empowering, and the community inspiring. I have to admit I've been woefully unaware of the Native HipHop movement.

It was a beautiful thing to see so many native kids out supporting and rallying for the music, the cause. This movement is inspiring a new generation to walk proud and to stand tall. Their message is clear--it's about Unity.

My favorite performer of the evening was Quese Imc, DJ ShockB and 2020 who make-up Culture Shock Camp. These guys effortlessly blend hiphop and reggae with their native voices calling for awareness and ascention.

The CIB tour heads to New Mexico next so if you're out and about in Albuquerque go on and support the movement.

12345

I just had an epiphany about where my love of all things funky, jazzy and shiny came from...

12345

I love this extended version. Takes me back to the good ol days...

Thanks, LeahPeah.

Ostrich vs. Llama

I stopped by an Ostrich farm yesterday on my way down to Tucson. It's a strange place, this Ostrich farm. It's in the middle of nowhere on the side of the I-10. It's real dusty and there are about a gazillion Ostrich out there in fences hanging out. They sell Ostrich meat and Ostrich eggs--though I don't know what the hell you are supposed to do with an Ostrich egg in the kitchen. That's a damn large omelet.



My short stop got me to thinking about Llamas and Ostrich. They are actually quite similar in size and stature with elongated necks and curious eyes. I started wondering what would happen if you put a Llama and an Ostrich in close confines. Would they duke it out. I imagine lots of spitting and pecking.

Maceo Parker and a Moon in Scorpio

I love Maceo Parker. "People Get Ready" from Roots Revisited makes me so insanely happy. It's my new favorite morning-time song. I listen to it and drink my tea with the sunshine streaming in the window. PingPong dances along in his tank; he loves the saxamaphone. I sing all the words real loud so my neighbors can hear, there aren't any lyrics in this version so it's all me--loud and proud baby!

I've taken to checking my horoscope online again. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I would do this daily. It was a time of uncertainly and change, and I think I was looking for some kind of road map in a muddy puddle, something to tell me that good things were going to come my way if I was patient. I find myself in this mode again currently. Life is so full of changes--some fantastic, some heartwrenching. I think I have to realize though that my yahoo horoscope isn't going to give me any serious insight into my life. If anyone has a legitimate free daily horoscope sight, hook me up.

Happy Friday!

full moon

Summer has arrived here--or what I've always considered summer, which may, in fact, be Spring in Arizona. It was a beautiful 85 degrees today with a slight breeze from the East. The sun here is so bright, I love it. I bathe in it. After living so many years in New Hampshire where it's dark at 4:00pm in the winter, I am soaking in the sun here. I get to wear all my favorite little sun dresses, long flowy skirts and tank-tops galore.

I've found myself in more than one thrift shop this week. It was my lucky week for second-hand shopping, I'll tell you what! I found myself gravitating to bright yellow muscle-tees and pencil skirts in every color. I also found an exact replica, (brand new) of my favorite grey t-shirt skirt which I coinsidentally ruined with bleach last weekend. I won't even skip a beat with my favorite weekend ensamble which also includes my DC Sisterhood shirt (whoop!) and my worn-thin teva flip-flops.

I played tennis tonight and sucked ass. Sometimes I'm good at tennis. I don't hit anything over the fence, things land in the appropriate places, I'm fast as lightening. Other times my feet are lead and my arms are jello. This is more mental and motivational than it is anything physical.

Lately I've realized that my mental state and attitude can totally alter my performance in life. The challenge then becomes figuring out how to harness that energy in a consistent way so as to continually evolve and grow like a bean stalk into a glorious future.

Z and I recently watched the documentary '911:In Plane Sight'. I have to admit upfront that I fell asleep halfway through. It suggests that a Boeing 747 aircraft did not actually collide with the outer wall of the Pentagon. If all the evidence they're presenting is scientifically and factually correct, then I'd certainly give some thought to the ideas presented. They go so far as to say that the planes that crashed into the WTC were not, in fact, commercial jets but that they were perhaps US military planes. I don't know if these theories have any merit, but they did get me thinking 9/11 vividly again. Is it me, or is the frequency catastrophic disasters-both man-made and natural increasing?

under seige

This weekend, we found one of these scampering across our kitchen floor:



I'm now wearing shoes at all time, shaking out anything that could possibly house a scorpion before picking it up, and having nightmares about getting stung in the eye.

The exterminator comes tomorrow.

Today I bought a Glamour Magazine. This superficial indulgence may have been a response to the inner tumult that I've been wrangling with this month. It's funny how things sometimes just gain momentum and you start examining your life more critically. All of a sudden you can't turn back, you've internalized a lesson. Motivation and sacrifice become totally subjective. The balance between obligation and independence is a tricky mother-fucker.

I'm in Santa Barbara this week and though it is cold and rainy, it is beautiful. This town is a little oasis--the palm trees here seem much wilder and more massive than they do at home. I love the missions and all the history in this town. The best part is being so close to the ocean; there is something so comforting in salty air. Today, I stood in the pouring-down rain on the beach just breathing.

So, Glamour says that 36C is the average American woman's bra size; this is up from 34B 15 years ago. I'm afraid that I fall woefully short from the norm these days, especially in Snottsdale where plastic surgery is practically a drive-through industry. Glamour goes on to say that the average woman pees 6-8 times a day and that only one-third of women think about sex every day. As you can tell, I am in need of a good book...suggestions sincerely appreciated.

Happy Pointless Post Day!