Don't Wear Mascara If You Don't Wanna Cry.

It seems to be a reality, a truth, an inevitability. If I wear mascara, and while applying it occurs to me that if I cry it'll be a pain, and then reassure myself that I won't cry.... I WILL cry.

Nothing, absolutely nothing legitimate caused my tears today- including PMS. No reason. I mean, yes, it looks like Frank and Vinney are going under the knife (translation: thyroid cyst to be removed at tbd date in next year-or-so). But that is not exactly new, not exactly shocking, and actually what I do want... oh, and not prompted by a cancerous biopsy or anything like that, so really ALL positive.

I went to a "reintegration" briefing today and learned all about the homecoming ceremonies and details which was, as you might expect, absolutely fabulous!

And yet, because of the mascara, I cried. Like a maniac. Hehe. Oy.

Anyway, that was my day. Plagued by the doom of mascara, I suppose :) The great part of the day, on top of chatting with my husband, drinking great coffee, learning about the homecoming of my beloved, and having a great class, I am happy to report I received an A on my first graduate level paper and also received the support of my professor for submitting it to a state-wide literary conference! I am thrilled!

And so, there you have it. But ladies, is it not true? Not every time you wear mascara, no. Am I the only one that this happens to? No foreseeable reason to cry, and yet as you apply it occurs to you that "of course I won't cry" and then you inevitably do?

It Has Been A While.

So Melissa tagged me in a little thinger, and since I haven't done one in... a year or more, here I am, doing it!

The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and / or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

_______

My 7 Thingies:

1. I prefer eating with small forks and spoons-- ie: not the entree fork and spoon, but the salad fork and coffee/dessert spoon.

2. I love burning my Pumpkin Spice candle at night, but during the day it actually makes me feel a little sick if I smell it when it's not burning. Something about the wick burning must help the nausiation factor.

3. I make a list of at least 13 things to do every night before I go to bed. My to-do list paper size has grown since college, so now I can write larger. OCD much, you're thinking? Well, it's not so much that I have to have 13 things, but that my little pad of paper I use has 13 lines. In the end, it is an amazing day that gets all those things crossed off.

4. Lately I have been watching a lot of TV series, and in at least two cases, I have finished them but thoroughly disliked a large portion of them. The two thoroughly disliked are, so far, Gilmore Girls, and Felicity. In both cases I find myself repelled by the main characters at a certain point, and that never quite goes away....but I still watch.

5. I have a small addiction to cooking magazines. I love them. They are wonderful. And beautiful. And delicious.

6. I carry a book everywhere I go, just in case I have a moment to read. This, lately, is a symptom of grad school, but has pretty much always been the case.

7. I used to hate blue cheese, but happily have grown into the taste, at least to some degree. My current favorite salad is iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, and crumbled blue cheese with kosher salt, fresh black pepper, and italian dressing! MMMmmmm.

And there you have it folks. Probably not very interesting, but ya know. The victims of my tag are: Kimmy, Julie, Whitney, Leslie,Megan S, Josh Z, Laura Z

Best of luck friends!

Colorady.

This last weekend I went to Colorado. My friend Chanel was kind enough to take me to the airport so I wouldn't have to leave my car there. I arrived there on Thursday at noon (and my plane was actually 30 minutes EARLY). Once I made it to the hotel we all went to Cafe Rialto for lunch (and it was delicious!).

Me and Kimmy!

Ma and Da!

Jay and Jayson!

My delicious fennel and roasted red pepper haddock sandwich. Kim had an AMAZING caprese blt -- take a blt, add fresh mozzarella slices and basil... and then sink into the oblivion of satiety that the flavor provides. Sigh.

So that afternoon we wandered around the 16th street mall and hung out, then that evening we got some cocktails, and then headed over to the venue for Ian's concert. The concert was fun- the venue was cool and the fans were cool too. They sounded great-- this was the first time I'd seen them since they got the two new dudes on drums and piano and they were great!

After that, Gav and Kelley stayed at the concert to see the Kings of Leon, and the rest of us (Ian, Elizabeth, Dashiell, Ma, Da, Kim, Jay, and Jayson-- who, may I say, is getting cooler by the second) went to Maggiano's for dinner. It was pretty late and we were all kind of worn out, but we did a family style meal and it was yummy.

The finishing touch was... ICE CREAM! And Dash, not surprisingly, loved it!

Here you see Grammy's efforts at giving him a serving... it ended up being the large bowl, hehe.

Good times. Here are these two, stretching. I love this picture. I think it perfectly demonstrates the quirky and loving strangeness of my parents' relationship.

This is the fabulous game "beep boop" where Dash gets to push the room key through the grates of the door, and then it is returned to him by the person on the other side of the door (which was, for a while, yours truly).

Now a really fabulous thing! So Megan shipped off to Japan a few weeks ago, and unforunately had to come back to the states due to a death in the family. Obviously that is very VERY far from fabulous. The GREAT thing that came out of it was that Megan was in Colorado, and so was I! So we went to coffee and it was SO awesome to get to catch up! I hadn't seen her since our wedding, and probably wasn't going to see her til her committment (of 2 years) was over in Japan... so this was a GREAT suprise! The girl looked great, and it was so excellent to sit down and talk for a few hours. It reminded me of meeting on Friday mornings and doing the same thing in NY :)

The classic mommy-and-daddy-swing-dashy game.

This is back at dinner... sorry these are out of order but since ther are so many I'm not goign to worry about it. HEre are Kim and Jay (who was not actually miserable, even though he looks it here) at Maggiano's.

Here are a few pictures of the next day when we hung out at Gavin and Kelley's and John and Kelley (John is Kelley's bro who also lives in Denver with his wife Brooke) made us a FABULOUS beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, and a nice fresh salad. MMM.

Anyway, here is Gavin's GORGEOUS kitchen!

I love love love the exposed brick. I love love love the marble counters, the color of the appliances, the color of the fixtures, the wood cabinets!

This is their living room. They didn't choose the paint colors here, and you'd think "huh, purple in the living room, eh?" but it is SO beautiful! I love the built in thing on the left, and notice the cool buffet over on the right side (you can kind of see it)-- my big brother made that! I know! And yes, it is gorgeous! Also EVERY room on the main floor (and perhaps upper too) has awesome detailed crown molding.

Here is Kimmy modeling on the stairs. Notice the gold detail on the staircase, and if you catch that window on the left above the stair landing- that is an awesome stained glass piece that is repeated in the glass above the master bedroom entrance (sadly, I don't think I got a picture of that).

Here are Jay, Jayson, and Elizabeth. Jay was helping Gav out doing some wiring for the chendelier light in the entryway- he got it to work and you'll see that in a later picture. check out the pretty front door!

Here is the room between the dining room and where they have their living room with the couch and tv. I love the fireplace, the paint color, the window covers, beautiful!

here is the sitting room, and here are a close-eyed Da, Ian, and Gavin :)

The stairs again, with a different model. This is sweet, sweet Josie dog.
She is a VERY sweet doggy!

Kim and Jayson playing Golf on the Wii.

Part of the back yard---- Gav built this pond and they are working on finishing it off. It is a very cool ecclecticy little area!

This is a fabulous feature- this is the cieling in the kitchen, it is just gorgeous! Stamped copper, SO GORGEOUS! (can you see my little head spinning around?)

And perhaps the best fixture in the house--- the FATTEST KITTY EVER! This is Lucy, and you may remember her and Kitty the cat from pictures several years ago. Well here she is, weighing in around 16 pounds. She's a giant! I got some good kitty loves.

here's kim's weirdo clip-on hand sanatizer. You know you are a germ freak when....

Jayson bowlin' it up.

There's that great window. And there is the poof of Kitty, the cat, also a beasty, but not nearly as actually fat as Lucy, though her fur makes up for it.

Jayson and Josie.

Dash and I got to play a LOT that day. It was so fun- he has such a great little imagination!

He liked throwing the hacky sack to me, and me hitting it with the ping pong paddle.
Endless fun!

This game was "boing"-- I tell you, you add a funny noise and it makes ANYTHING better. Ian got worn out, then Gavin took over.

This is Cookie, the little mutty dog, on Gavin's shoulders. Gavin loves holding and cuddling all his animals, including his dogs. Jerico loves when gavin is around cause he gets cradled like a baby. Gav is a good little daddy!

Muy musical.

Gavin, and the chandelier!

Jay and Jayson and their tres cool hats!

Les Boys.

Wheat thins are known as "Papa Crackers" because my dad eats them a lot :)

It was a really fun time. Saturday everyone but the Utah party, me, and Gavin had left. Kelley is back in DC For the last two weeks before the election, and Ian is on to Austin (or somewhere else now) and E and D are back in NYC. That night we went to this GREAT little place called Table 6.

Here is the board above the open kitchen. I loved it!

We had an awesome salad, some great hors d'ouvres, and then I had this fabulous hanger steak with blue cheese bread pudding (which honestly DOES sound absolutel revolting, but holy crap, it was amazing) and a sweet cabernet glaze sauce, and then some spinach. MMM. MMM. MMM.
So delicious!

On Sunday we got up, all had breakfast, and then the Utah folk (Ma, Da, Kim, Jay, Jayson) piled back in the car and drove home while Gav took me to the airport. My trip home was good (even if I was in the very last seat in the middle, thank you Southwest) and Heather and Adam very kindly picked me up from the airport. I got a surprise call from Matthew as I was getting my bag, and it was so great!

It was a fun time. I really enjoyed the mountain air, seeing Denver (our potential future home), and getting time with family. It was a nice break from Clarksville, and I had a very welcoming little kitty awaiting me :) Good to be back in the routine, and in the home stretch before Matthew gets here!