8/31/2005

True Valuables

There is no wealth but life
--John Ruskin


Normally, I would love this quote because I love to really live to the fullest. But right now, it makes me think of Hurricane Katrina and how this quote takes on an entirely different meaning to her victims.

Living life to the fullest without so many of your material belongings...a sobering thought. To me, it's a reminder that resilience and hope are far more valuable.

Sartorial Experiment

10 minutes to get out the door, my bed is piled with clothes.

Outfit after outfit, but I'm just not feeling any of them.

And I haven't even started with acessories or shoes.

A familiar morning dilemma.

Tonight, I decided to figure it all out before I go to bed so that I can just slip it on in the morning. I've always avoided that because I have to create the ensemble based on how I feel that morning. But I'm really trying to be more punctual in the morning.

We'll see how this goes....

Nawlins

I fell in love with New Orleans when I was in high school. Armed with my mother's (longtime New Orleans fan) lavish descriptions of the French Quarter, the one-of-a-kind cusine and cajun culture, I was not disappointed with my first trip to the city with so much soul and flavor. I went with my high school orchestra. Unfortunately, we were forbidden to set foot on or near Bourbon Street. Of courseI did.... how could I go all the way there and not? Not only was I just as enamored with everything my mom told me about, but I fell even more in love with jazz. I loved jazz, but hearing jazz where jazz was born..... Life changing.

When I returned as an adult, I had a completely different, but equally scintillating experience. Thankfully, I could spend as much time as I wanted on Bourbon Street and I still say that the finest music and musicians I have ever witnessed happens on about one or two blocks of New Orleans after dark. Unbelievable.

Every city has its own personality, but New Orleans is truly one of a kind in its architecture, culture and spirit of life. You feel it as soon as you're there. It's so much more than just Mardis Gras.

It's hard to believe what's happening to it now. Unspeakable tragedy. But even if some of the appearances change, I believe that the soul of the city will never be destroyed. The people and music will go on.

8/29/2005

You may find this 20-something in an unlikely section of your local bookstore

Growing up, my mother always made me check out one non-fiction read per library trip. Which roughly translated into one non-fiction book per 15 fiction books. She wanted me to "learn something." I don't regret that, but it took me years to convince her that fiction taught me more about human nature than anything else could have.

I don't read novels nearly as much as I did when I was younger, but I still love children and young adult fiction. I've been especially into the young adult fiction recently, maybe because I remember being a teenager and the delicious first taste of independent thought and self discovery.

I'm not sure what I like better... a novel that makes me say, "How did she get into my head and my life?" or one that makes me say, "Oooooh...so that's what it's like to be someone like that..." I just read one that fits the latter description.... Sarah Dessen's Dreamland (young adult). Trying to summarize it in this short blog post would trivialize the delicate complexity of the subject matter, so I won't. Sometimes you read something that means more because of things in your life at the moment. Maybe that's why I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it last weekend.

Everyone should read teen fiction.

8/28/2005

Happiness Anonymous

People like to assume that "happily ever after" is the same for me as it is for them. First of all, "happily ever after" is an ever evolving concept and second of all, I happen to be very happy right now. I am not and never have been waiting for anything to happen to make me happy. I expect to be happy whether my future unfolds conventionally or not. I'm not saying it's for everyone and people can believe it or not, but that's the truth and it makes me happy. :-)

Friendship is a Choice

When I was in elementary school, I had a friend, let's call her Gina, who caused a lot of stress in my life. When things were good, I liked her a lot and we had a great time. But when she was ultra-competitive, posessive and jealous, or saying, "Well, my mom says..," I would get a stomachache and lose sleep. I was the girl who was nice to everyone and I hadn't learned yet how to set my personal limits in a friendship.

One summer, after some time away from her, I finally resolved to tell her that I couldn't hang out with her anymore. Interestingly enough, the next time she called, it was to tell me that she would be attending a different school the next year. She was sad, but I was relieved. While I didn't have the opportunity to actually initiate the "break up" myself, after that, I never had any problems knowing when to distance myself from even a well-intentioned friend and I never thought twice about doing it.

I really think that is why I've always been blessed with wonderful, positive friends who inspire me and lift me up, not bring unecessary drama to my life. It's 5% luck and 95% choice.

I have wonderful friends!

8/23/2005

bebe Me's Celebrity Lists

Three Most Beautiful Females
  • Faith Hill
  • Michelle Pfeiffer
  • Jessica Simpson

Two Most De-LISH Men

  • Jason Lewis (in Sex and the City. I saw some Hugo Boss model shots...not quite as de-lish)
  • Josh Lucas (in Sweet Home Alabama)

Celebrities I'd Most Want to Meet

  • Amy Brenneman because she's exceptionally smart and interesting and I can't get enough of Judging Amy
  • Ellen Degeneres because, well, who doesn't want to meet her? She loves to dance, she loves pop culture, she loves animal rescue and she's not mean spirited.

Celebrites I Was Born To Be

  • Britney Spears, of course! (only when she's on stage performing...let's make that very clear)
  • Any of the Dixie Chicks (again...on stage)

8/22/2005

Fun Facts About a Couple of the Men in my Past

Within the last 3 months, I've found out the latest on 2 men I used to date:

  • WLSH lost his job and his company and almost lost his wife, house and all of his possessions as a result of a nasty cocaine habit.
  • NM is a recent law school graduate.

Nobody can tell me I only date one type of man.

*Initials are not their real initials, but are quite possibly representative of my "affectionate" ephitets*

As a girl who values freedom in every sense of the word, perhaps above anything else, may I never forget...

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

--Elbert Hubbard

8/21/2005

It was an Accident...I promise

I don't like to think of myself as and elitist in anything; but ok, I'm a bit of a food snob. Being a food snob, I feel comfortable in "upscale" places; that is that I know how to act, what to do, etc. However, that does not mean that some of these places can make me feel a little repressed. Let me explain. I'm referring to the restaurants that are so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. Everything from the quaint decor to the servers' perfectly proper manners seem, well, uptight to me. Something about it makes me want to bring in some dancing music and get up on the table..especially in the early evening when the few patrons are usually a little older and more proper. I would never do that, but inevitably, I will accidentally do something to cause a minor spectacle.

A couple of years ago, I was at such a restaurant and I dropped all of my flatware on the floor at the same time. CLANG!!

Last week, I found myself in another very quiet, proper restaurant week. This time, we were sitting right next to the window and my purse came crashing down into the mini-blinds.

No, these incidents do not embarass me (I sincerely hope they don't embarrass my dining companion), but rather, brings a much needed balance to the much too proper setting. At least in my head.

bebe Me!

Morgan Spurlock says, "Supersize Me!" I say, "bebe me." I almost exclusively wardrobe myself in one brand of clothing. I'd like to thank my wonderful friends at bebe for letting me, once again, model at the fall premier. I love my new purchases and I will, of course, be back soon!

If you haven't been shopping for fall clothes yet, check out the luxuriously textured jackets and shrugs, the sheer and/or shimmering feminine tops and the dramatic and layered jewelry (gun metal is my new favorite jewelry color). Any store is good, but you know where my heart is....

http://bebe.com

Telltale Signs That You are Sick....and boringly responsible

  • You don't attend a party that you've been looking forward to, guaranteed to be fun and hosted by one of your very favorite people on Friday night.
  • You cancel a salon appointment on Saturday morning even though it is very possible that you will not be able to get another appointment in for a while.
  • You literally spend all day Saturday, in your bedroom, sleeping.
  • You don't attend a bachelorette party that you've been looking forward to for almost a year on Saturday night and you LOVE bachelorette parties (and the bachelorette).
  • You spend half the day Sunday sleeping.
  • You realize that you've spent an entire weekend that was supposed to be fun at home sleeping, feeling lousy, and disappointing firends, but you're relieved that you won't have to miss any days of work.

Ok, I'm not that boring. I'm just responsible enough to realize that my upcoming travels to London and Mexico do not give me a lot of room for extra vacation days. You have to pick your fun sometimes I guess.

It's been a disappointing weekend.

8/15/2005

All in a Morning's Drama

It's amazing how much can happen before 8 am.

I can be annoyingly perky in the earliest hours of the day, but this morning, I was already scowling by the time I got to the office at 8. I sort out a lot of my thoughts and ideas during my morning workout (which is why I'm not big on workout buddies...but that's a whole other topic) and I spent this morning ruminating about an unpleasant situation from the past weekend. Already in a disheartened state of mind, I then got on the scale at the gym. Big mistake. So as I'm getting ready for work, I can't stop thinking about either one of these mood wreckers. A little while later, I got honked at on the way to work because I had the audacity to stop at a stop sign. As soon as I got to work, the first thing everyone wanted to know was about the weekend... Sigh.

Fortunately for me, the day turned completely around and my optimism returned. But it got me thinking about many a past dramatic morning. In college, I showed up to my 8:30 a.m. Music Theory class, slumped into my chair and announced flatly, "I hate men." I'll never forget a friend's incredulous reply, "It's only 8:30!" But yes, I'd already had a full on fight and was exhausted. I also had a fight with a cricket one morning (this is more dramatic if you know the extent of my fear of crickets). My bathroom flooding... ah, yet another lovely morning. Or the time that I found a dying baby mouse in my kitchen, 2 minutes after I got out of bed.

Thank goodness for the good drama mornings. The morning phone call reporting the birth of my first nephew. Blissful mornings with a new man. Christmas mornings. Birthday mornings.

But most of the time, I'm hoping that the next morning will be a nice, ordinary morning.....

8/14/2005

Venom

I cannot pretend to like a toxic man. Even if someone I care about is in love with him.

8/13/2005

Thank you to my Mother

  • For allowing me to change my mind and not apologize for it.
  • For supporting and indulging my fantasies of a future career in all of the following: architecture, art, performance, and motherhood. And I don't mean just pick one. It was going to be all of those things at the same time. This was all before the age of 8. (I added writing later)
  • For teaching me how to live independently, both emotionally and physically. This includes making me honor every teenage monetary debt I had to my older, more responsible brother.
  • For teaching me how I should be respected by a man and how to respect a man (in that order).
  • For insisting on good nutrition and fitness habits.
  • For not accepting a grumpy pout or frown when she woke me up in the morning.
  • For rearing me in a household where women and men were different, but equal.

8/12/2005

All she needed to know, she learned in high school...

Jessica Simpson may have fooled some Americans, but some of us fellow N. TX girls recognize her smart girl's M.O. for attention, which in her case, reaps fame and fortune. I heard that Reese Witherspoon recently expressed disgust at Jessica's airhead antics for attention. I sat through many a high school "honors'' class, watching smart girls act dumb because they thought it was cute and it would get attention from the boys. I think we all have some natural ditziness that actually makes us all the more endearing and approachable. But the exaggerated and obviously contrived ditziness has never been my style. Back then, I would roll my eyes and say, "puh-LEEEZ," but I never truly recognized its marketing value.

Who knew?

8/10/2005

Shout out to my fave Florida Girl (and it's not J Lo)
















A photo tribute to the famous, beach-hopping loooong weekend with one of my now happily married friend in Florida! Thank you for checking out my blog. And even more thanks for your unconditional friendship....

I miss you!

---From your former bar top dancing buddy

8/09/2005

Manipulative Minds

Yesterday, I was involved in a meeting between sales reps to try to work out a few issues caused by, uh, conflicting sales styles. At one point, I threw all tact and diplomacy aside and decided to just get to the heart of the matter. So I said, "Look John*, you're trying to manipulate me and Mary. Just don't do it." And he actually seemed surprised that I'd caught on to it.

He's got some cajones trying to manipulate a couple of girls. That's what we do, sir.

*not their real names

8/08/2005

Once upon a compound meter....

I was (am?) a very, very classically trained violinist. I am now a patron of pop culture and am almost completely removed from the classical music network. I guess you can take the girl out of the classical training, but you can't take the training out of the girl. For example, I'll be listening to Janet Jackson and think, "Man, I love that hemiola right there." Or I'll hear any kind of melodic line and automatically try every fingering and every position on my imaginary fingerboard until it's just right. (Ok, I realize that if you're not a violinist, that just sounds dirty) Or I'll admire the way Alicia Keyes just nails that descending minor sixth. (or is it diminished? Crap, this brings me to my next point).

Much more often, I realize how much I've forgotten. I played a gig a little while ago and it took me a week to remember that "2nd violin-I" means 2nd violin, first stand. I kept thinking, "I? What the heck is I?" This past year, the National Spelling Bee champion's winning word was appoggiatura (and I did have to look up that spelling). When I heard that, I immediately thought, "Oh, I know what that is!............or, wait....do I?" I did end up remembering, but I had to dig deep. But nothing is as funny as a couple of years ago, as I was going through some old school stuff and I found my Tonal Theory II keyboard audit book. I must have looked like Justin Timberlake watching the famous Britney-Madonna kiss as I stared down at my own handwriting on the page. I used to be a genius!!

Am I already breaking the rule just by considering it?


I know I shouldn't wear white to a wedding, but is this appropriate?
Sorry, the picture quality is terrible. I'm in a hurry. I need to get to the dry cleaners if I'm indeed going to wear this.

8/07/2005

Please Step Back

I love the self checkout at the grocery store. I just love scanning. It was my favorite part of working retail. What I don't enjoy at the self checkout is the person behind me who feels compelled to stand right next to me while I'm trying to scan my purchases. I never have this problem in the regular checkout. Why does this person figure that this is acceptable behavior in the self checkout? It's not going to make things go faster and it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay in my personal space.

8/04/2005

Hot in Hur

This week has been the kind of week that makes me a Proud Texan.

A little triple degree temperature isn't going to slow me down. I start every day with the fresh make up, styled tresses, fresh clothes...the whole Texas girl enchilada. I may end up with my hair up, a little melted make up and..well, the clothes definitely need a washing. But I survived the heat. I look around at all my fellow Texas girls and we still look hot. Paris Hilton's kind of hot.

And I'll do it again tomorrow.

Day Planner Fodder for the Eternal Optimist

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
--Lewis L. Dunnington


My beloved Franklin Covey Day Planner gives me a quote every day. This one rings true for me.

8/02/2005

Lotion Cocktail

This is my routine every morning when I get out of the shower:

First, I put on my Jergens shave minimizing lotion with soy protein. Next is the Coppertone Gradual Tan sunless tanner lotion. On some days, I follow that with Jergens Soft Shimmer lotion. Before I get dressed, I put on SPF 45 and then just before heading out the door, a spritz of perfume.

Every time it's time to restock one of the many lotions, I consider getting an additional lotion with alpha hydroxides or lactic acids. Or maybe some of the companion lotions to the perfumes I wear to layer under the actual perfume.

Just in time, I will stop myself and think, "Wait a minute. What am I thinking?" I'm certainly getting enough moisture. And let's face it, self tanners and SPF are not without their own fragrance...on top of the perfume...

I once read in a magazine about the need for a lotion which combines soy proteins, alpha hydroxides, SPF, and whatever else you could ever want. It is, evidently, scientifically impossible. Sigh....

Cardiolusional

Not only am I a gym rat, but I'm a certified cardio nut. Intensity intervals, uphill climbs, 3 different cardio machines in one workout... anything to get my heart rate up. I will push myself until the latest possible minute until I have to leave the gym in order to get to work. Truthfully, I do enjoy it. We cardio cross-trainers have our own version of runner's high. But I'm not going to lie...some of it is all about burning calories. But this week, I decided to cut my cardio sessions 15 minutes short and do more extensive stretching. I feel great after I stretch and I know that in the end, the stretching reduces risk of injury and enhances your cardio performance.

So why do I still feel cheated? I mean how many more calories could I really be burning in 15 lousy minutes? Have a I crossed a line into some kind of cardio addiction? Do they have support groups for this?