[saturday night live]

It is 10:18 on Saturday night and I have just finished watching 'Rumor Has It'. At this very moment I am sitting at my mac sipping some Cook's Spumante (sparkling wine) and enjoying every single drop of it (thank god for random grocery store cravings!) It's so far been a fun and productive weekend, as I've spent loads of hours in the studio finishing up a relief panel (at least the wet work is done), building an organic bottle form, and breaking up several sheets of handmade/glazed tesserae all the while rockin' out to some Allman Brothers Band, Steve Miller Band and the very danceable - Franz Ferdinand. I am happy with my progress, to say the least. I will post some pics of the new work as soon as I get the chance!

Interesting Notes of the Evening:

1. It has been so slow at Cosi that between last night and tonite (both nights I was cut within the first two hours of my shift), I have made a net profit of $7.05. Talk about rollin' in the dough.
2. The only thing (non-condiment) in the fridge right now is the sparkling wine, a brita filter, organic free-range eggs, cottage cheese and real Vermont maple syrup. Shopper's, anyone?
   
3. Coney Island has a new flavor of ice cream called Kristen's Dream Flavor - just kidding...it's called caramel peanut butter cookie dough. Can you even wrap your mind, stomach and thighs around such a thing?
   
4. tracie just called me and is on her way over to pick me up for a drink...so the girl writing on her blog on Saturday night in her chick boxers is now running to the bathroom to put on powder and clothes and head out!
   

Hope your night is great!

"Celebrate to elevate." Badly Drawn Boy

[itunes playlist #2 - preparation for the download]

In preparation for my next download...

• Long December by The Counting Crows
• London Calling by The Clash
• Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
• Beat City by The Flowerpot Men
• All She Wants To Do Is Dance by Don Henley
• In the Closet by Michael Jackson
• My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down by The Ramones

If you have any musical suggestions, please feel free to put them in my comment box!

[quote of the day]

"Vice, Virtue. It's best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you're bound to live life fully."

-Maude (from the 1971 movie, Harold & Maude)

[two for one]

I've been in weird spots today. Since Monday, I've been living my life as two different people. There's the person I've always been, who spends her evenings off at her apartment, watching netflix with The Boyfriend and playing with the kitties, thinking about laundry and dishes and blogging. Then there's the girl I've become again this week. The studio girl. The girl who enjoys the occasional 'terrace break' and pitcher of beer at Froggy, who relishes in the new arrival of dozens of bags of smalti and multiple varieties of grout all the while listening to DC101 and talking art with Geelite. It's a strange union of things to leave work early on Thursdays @ 1:00 p.m. to head to class at the studio only to return to the office on Friday morning with a whole day of office and an evening of waitressing ahead. A strange balance, indeed.

There's also the weirdness that comes with knowing I will be running 6 miles tomorrow morning with Running Guru Fred and knowing that I have enjoyed some beers and 'breaks' at the studio this week. It's like the completely focused and healthy, organized and athletic persona meets with the bohemian partying art chick and the two seem to have no way to communicate with eachother. They don't really mesh. Can you go out for some beers and have a smoke and then go run the next day @ 8 in the morning? It is wrong? If I can physically do it, should I? There's a constant state of guilt that I usually exist in and it is especially strong right now.

I am good at rationalizing and I like to look at the situation as this, as pointed out by The Boyfriend. I have a good month in the studio. I should live it up and enjoy every minute of it. Geelite will be heading out to Pompeii to dig up history and I will once again be left to my regularly scheduled programming. What's even stranger is the fact that tracie is kicking ass and if you check out her blog today, you'll see just how f*cking out of control IN CONTROL the girl actually is. Nothing like extremes to make you feel confused as hell. I am two people rolled into one right now...but it's a kind of oil and vinegar relationship. I'm tied to the person I have been since I graduated, who is healthier and happy to spend time at my apartment - and to the person I was, who spent hours and days in the ceramics studio, drinking beers, partying, indulging in the occasional 'terrace break', making solid artwork, rockin' out to some classic rock while floating around in a mini world that is the ceramics bubble...the place that changed my life....the place where I found my groove...where my life became more clear...where I met The Boyfriend...and The Artist Formerly Known as Mentor...and my brain expanded to see things differently...

I am two people struggling to live within one body and one life with one right and one wrong and no in between.

On a side note: Last night The Boyfriend and I watched 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (the 1981 version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange).

...That probably didn't help.

[they're here...]

All I have to say is:














The Tickets Have Arrived.
The Tickets Have Arrived.
The Tickets Have Arrived.

[always]

Lesson of the Day:

Always always always always ask. You never know when they'll give you your money back...and make your day.

[insert: smiley face]

P.S. The kitties are home and healing and healthy and fiesty as usual. Note: shaved kitty tummies are the cutest sweetest thing in the world.

[bag lady blues]

I know that many of you will disagree or become even downright volatile when I declare what I'm about to declare. All I can say is that my sense of aesthetic is different than yours and I admit that I am drawn to some pretty bizarro things. Having said that, I will now declare my undying love of Kirsten Dunst. Many of you out there think she is a crap actress. I disagree, I think. There have been times when I think she is remarkable and one of the best actresses out there today. There are other times when I'm just not certain. One thing I am sure of, however, is that I love her pixie boy hair cuts and if I had straight hair, I would most certainly wear it like this:










I also love her sense of style. She wears a lot of what some people (including www.gofugyourself.com) call the 'bag lady' style. Big oversized shirts and very generic looking loose clothing. She also wears leggings, which I personally find to be very attractive. She's also a fan of flats, and I dig that look. All in all, I think she's cool to look at. I also enjoy her movies, especially those listed below:

• Spiderman 1 & 2 (and almost 3!)
• Elizabethtown
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• The Cat's Meow (loved this movie - they Charleston in it!!!)
• Bring It On
• Dick
• The Virgin Suicides (our first taste of Sofia Coppola's work - can't wait for the new arrival of Marie Antoinette, starring but of course, Kirsten Dunst)
• Interview with the Vampire

Your assignment: Leave a comment with a link so we can all see an image of your dream hair.

Audience participation is so much fun.


(photo: courtesy of http://neuromancerwp.free.fr/)

[shredded paper]

I feel like it is a big deal when people go out of their way for other people. For the most part, I don't feel like strangers or acquaintances are particularly friendly or giving. The people in my building do not go out of their way to shout a friendly hello and for the most part, I like to keep to myself, as to avoid the phoniness that usually accompanies such hallway transactions. This week, however, has been different.

Yesterday morning, while delivering a form to be signed, a professor in my building was cutting some beautiful irises and putting them in short bowl-like vases. As I walked out of her office, I said, 'those are really pretty!' and once through the doorway, she stopped me and said' here - for you!'. I was so shocked by the gesture! I walked out of there with three lovely irises that look like this:















Then, just a few minutes ago while I was returning from my tea-making venture in the kitchen, I noticed a large trash bag full of shredded white paper on my office floor. I was informed that the Mildred, my favorite kitty-lovin' housekeeping employee, had fought for that bag of shredded paper so that Roxie and Charlie's litter box could be filled with a safe patch of paper to aide in their post-operative recovery.

How nice was that?


(photo: courtesy of http://www.saundersbrothers.com/)

[the final fertility dance]

It's almost eleven at night and I have just arrived back at the apartment from an evening of waitressing. As I prepare to enter the bathroom and wash my face, brush my teeth, etc., I know I must be certain to close the door as quickly as I open it and slide on through within a matter of seconds, as the frisky kittens full of fertile fiestiness will attempt to make their great escape from their evening quarters.

Our bathroom has become this nighttime lockup for them, as we've had no other choice - unless you consider a cat urinating on your legs when you wake up, a choice. Or a cat urinating on every blanket including that new beautiful down comforter, a choice. It's sad that we must force them away to the tiny dwelling free from soft surfaces and pee-worthy squishable fabrics, but the pungent fluid has touched so many surfaces, that The Boyfriend and I no longer trust them and their bodily functions, nor do we feel capable of letting go of that fear. That's right. We live in fear of the urine. Desperate, agonizing fear. The dozens of loads of laundry that I have done in the past month are proof that the stress caused by heat for these precious dolls, is immense and out of control. Poor darlings want to snuggle and get attention and yet, they feel the urge to pee on the very people doing the nurturing. It's a sad sad world.

So, to the point of this posting. Charlie and Roxie are in lockup for one more night. They have not eaten since before 8 p.m. They have no idea that their ovaries are about to meet the human hand, nor do they understand that tomorrow, when they are in post-op care with The Boyfriend and I and a litter box full of shredded newspaper, that they are finally free from the fertility bonds. That they will (hopefully) no longer crave the male companionship they've so longed for...and meowed for...and screeched for....and bolted out the apartment door everytime it's opened and run for dear sexual life down the dead end hall where they've only flirted with new hallway carpet and different apartment doors, perhaps hiding their other feline friends.

We will not look at tomorrow as an end to their childhood or adulthood or sexual revolution years, but will instead stare full speed ahead into a future where kitties can be kitties without all the grown up responsibilities of dating and reproducing. We will celebrate tomorrow as their independence day. They will once again be free to be frisky and playful and fiesty...all in the name of curiosity.

Good luck Roxie Tyler and Charlie Bella. We love you babies.

[the key to tracie's heart]

Directions for bringing large quantities of cheer to tracie's day:
If followed carefully, childlike sounds of glee and babytalk will follow and continue for a lengthy period of time. Do not attempt to try this with real animals, as they may be hugged and squooshed to death.

1. Google images of puppies and doggies and other furry four-legged critters.

2.Be absolutely certain that at least one of the images contains at least two small, medium or large dangling ears.

3. Extra credit will be given if there are hanging doggie tongues flopping around.

4. Roll in your success.















(Courtesy of This Link)
NOTE: You'll wanna check out this link right here.



















(Courtesy of www.redamma.com)
















(Courtesy of This Link)

[the consequences of office life]

if you're bored and your day needs a kick,
check out these sites that make me tick.
they're funny, clever and oh so mean
celebrity gossip for the office queen!

paris, lindsay and all those girls,
long straight hair or curly curls.
hair extensions loads of fun,
red carpet, shopping, lots of sun.

some they work and some just play,
photographed twenty times a day.
and in the end, they're ridiculous,
the sites for them, too fun to miss.

make your work day breeze right by,
by occasionally stopping by.
they're always there,
they never sleep.

so go ahead and make that leap!

...into celebrity gossip world, that is. Enjoy!

http://www.socialitelife.com/
http://www.egotastic.com/
http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/
http://idontlikeyouinthatway.com/
http://www.perezhilton.com/
http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/


admit it...you wish you were this insane.

[weekend summary #1]

Highlights of my weekend:

• Enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with The Boyfriend at the Old Ebbitt Grille (15th St., right next to the White House - yes, I'm name dropping for all you out-of-towners!) Scrambled eggs atop a bed of fresh sauteed spinach on an open-faced english muffin, drizzled with a perfect hollandaise sauce and topped with FOUR FRIED OYSTERS - Go. There. Now.
• On Sunday a.m., I met up with Running Guru Fred at 8:00 at the Georgetown Run Site (right across the street from the 'Exorcist Stairs' - yes, I'm name dropping, AGAIN.) We ran 5 miles (@ a 10:30 minute mile, I think) and I am happy to say that it was everything a 5 mile run (for the first time since the MCM in 2004) could and should be. Brilliant conversation. Check! Wonderful nostalgia - but in a good way - Check! Beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic, amazing spring-like weather. Check! A fresh and almost perfumey smelling C&O Canal. Check! (I know - can you believe that last one)!?!?! Afterwards, Running Guru Fred gave me a post-run massage that could sedate the most hyper person in the world. It was amazing.
• The Boyfriend and I grabbed bison burgers at Ted's and enjoyed a dessert of strawberry shortcake that I cannot fully tell you about without passing out from delight.
• Went to the AMC theater at Hoffman Center and saw Mission Impossible III which was the BEST ACTION MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN A WHILE. It was awesome. Crushed the first two Mission Impossibles with it's action, plotline, characters, actors and sheer awesomeness. (And no - I'm not just saying that because I'm a Tom Cruise fan)
• Sunday night, The Boyfriends (mine and tracie's) attended our last night of Swing Lessons where we showed off our charlestons and swivels and showed our sass by dancing with other men and paying to do it. The Boyfriend (at least mine) is ready for lessons so we can swing our way to couple coolness.
• Yesterday was my first day of Mosaics class. Spent the entire afternoon and didn't get home 'til midnight. Made tons of tesserae. Tons. Cannot. Wait. To. Live. Every. Free. Moment. In. The. Studio. Period.

(...because it's important to start the day off right)

(courtesy of www.darwinpress.com)