Two in One Day!

P.S. I'm worried about this guy. I hope Matthew McConaughey survives this diet.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

It's been too long. Now that we live in the same city, our blogs have dropped off the ether. Today I am making the first effort to bring them back!

Hey, remember these guys?

Ay dios mio

Here's to having a good septiembre mang!

An Awkward Afternoon

Get used to this sight! A coupla awkward Mulberry Manorites. Ps. I put this shirt in a big ol bag of clothes I'm gonna give you.

Here's to:

tubing down a 2 inch deep river - tubing our asses right off
hiking / tubing while enjoying the last warm days of 2012
rigging up our 2-woman hammocks and switching off between yours and mine every few minutes
taking Jude camping somewhere
getting awkward morning noon and night
carving a pumpkin
eating pumpkin dishes
applying for jobs!!!!!!
growing my hair long while maintaining bangs
eating vegan witchu
flirting with josh hryciak when he comes back into town
going to racine, buddys, or curbside
setting up our fall tour schedule of Breanna and the Bad Language
watching you and Mat cart

Onward and Eastward

The List of Things I'm Pumped About:

no more wasp stings (i hope. this may be a premature hope, but seven stings this summer is annoying.)

no more foot rot (the skin on my feet is rotting off, and it kind of hurts)

hanging with people i know

hanging with friendlier, laid back folk

getting out of america's smelliest city

seeing jude

having personal time

singing along to songs!

having music back in my life

eating better

porches

greenery

fresh veggies!

Cindy's Famous Pesto

practicing gee-tar some more

delicious coffe, all day, e'ryday

All Hallows Eve

brainstorming the next step (an all time fav)

watching The River Wild

making you a mix. 

One of the prettier sites from this summer, this view comes from the drive to the Snake River just outside of Joseph, Oregon I believe

the weather is here, wish you were beautiful!

Schwing

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference - Winston Churchill

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VMFA clashes

Billie Patton's garden!

Yo! So our girl Amy Patton along with her husband Curtis have started selling their produce/ blorrgging. I believe this is their first blurg post... thought you would like this recipe! I'mma make it when my eggplants come in!

http://billiepattonsgarden.tumblr.com/post/27300917525/garden-dinner-with-amy-o

Same bathing suit... new 'do

I'm terrible at taking photos of my own kid but good thing we got Ganny Sue for that. Here's a 4th of July shot with the new haircut!

chill, mon

This article makes me want to do nothing on a warm rock even more than I already do!

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/

How could something so right look so wrong?

Anne: Thespian Enough?

Just dressed up for a walk around the city with a good pal.

Post orchestra/thespian fundraiser at the high school.

Finale of the high school play!

This is just a little taste of Idaho. Roadside waterfalls and roadside rapids make for some very distracting drives on winding roads. Thankfully, riddled throughout the twists and turns of these roads that follow rivers you want to gawk at are crosses and signs commemorating the lives of the many drivers and passengers that died on these roads, or if not on the roads then died taking the plunge into those rapids. Seriously, even knowing full well how dangerous looking at the rapids while driving would be, and seeing the warning signs in the forms of those crosses, it was so difficult to keep my eyes on the road every time I passed the entrance to a class V rapid or saw kayakers getting read to run something gnarly! I was scared for my life but also really ADD. But I made it.

That last picture is a hot spring (115˚F? damn hot!) coming out of the rock, those molecules' first breath of fresh air in a  million years! 

That dash is just a piece of Idaho that seemed kind of funny.

Vernal may not have much, but it does have a wide open sky and some beautiful sunsets. And horses next to the base camp. The iPod camera doesn't quite capture how amazing those bright orange and pink blazing clouds were beneath the dark bluish gray ones.

the atlantic ocean is calling youuuu

This actually happened!

On this last painting, the look of an old man was not intentional - but that's why I love it so much!!!

Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic!

wha ay?!

Did you know Mandy Moore is married to Ryan Adams?

The shades were not polarized

Rainy beach day at the aquarium! Check out the seths.

Rules are for Fools! Except for These Rules

Let me just say here that the first rule of improv has been a general favorite of mine for as long as I can remember, especially when it comes to joking around with anyone. Instead of thinking of it as the rule of SAY YES or AGREE I have always thought of it as Always Play Along. I am easily irked by people who don't want to play along with a joke, or shut it down.

So I loved this part of Bossypants because it made these rules applicable outside of comedy. I hope you enjoy! 

Tina Fey’s Rules of Improvisation That Will Change Your Life and Reduce Belly Fat*

     The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. So if we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not a gun. It’s your finger. You’re pointing your finger at me,” our improvised scene has ground to a halt. But if I say, “Freeze, I have a gun!” and you say, “The gun I gave you for Christmas! You bastard!” then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun.
     Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.
As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is no. “No, we can’t do that.” “No, that’s not in the budget.” “No, I will not hold your hand for a dollar.” What kind of way is that to live?
     The second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but YES, AND. You are supposed to agree and then add something of your own. If I start a scene with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say, “Yeah…” we’re kind of at a standstill. But if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect? We’re in hell.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “Yes, this can’t be good for the wax figures.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “I told you we shouldn’t have crawled into this dog’s mouth,” now we’re getting somewhere.
To me YES, AND means don’t be afraid to contribute. It’s your responsibility to contribute. Always make sure you’re adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile.
     The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying “Don’t ask questions all the time.” If we’re in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers.
     In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag. It’s usually the same person around the office who says things like “There’s no calories in it if you eat it standing up!” and “I felt menaced when Terry raised her voice.”
MAKE STATEMENTS also applies to us women: Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says, “I’m going to be your surgeon? I’m here to talk to you about your procedure? I was first in my class at Johns Hopkins, so?” Make statements, with your actions and your voice.
     Instead of saying “Where are we?” make a statement like “Here we are in Spain, Dracula.” Okay, “Here we are in Spain, Dracula” may seem like a terrible start to a scene, but this leads us to the best rule: THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities. If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what? Now I’m a hamster in a hamster wheel. I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a police hamster who’s been put on “hamster wheel” duty because I’m “too much of a loose cannon” in the field. In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents. And many of the world’s greatest discoveries have been by accident. I mean, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or Botox.
*Improv will not reduce belly fat
-From Bossypants

Appalachia!

We went on a 10 mile hike sans Judy on Sunday! I think you've done this hike before - the Riprap Trail by Chimney Rock. So beautimus! Gawd we would have had a blarst swimming in that hole and chillin on top of those craggy rocks!!!!

we knew it all along.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/coffee-drinkers-may-live-longer/?src=me&ref=general

Coffee makes you live longer!

Thar she blows!

Owen Chase

Thomas Nickerson

Strwbrry Rhubbrb Pie

Now I just need to find KP's famous strwbrry crumble recipe!

Princess Carwash

Herb Jenkins

Drying herbs upstairs from our garden bed. Don't they look purty hangin' there? We got some sage, oregano, and lemon balm drying. It's planting time - my fave time of the year! I miss you again!

Don't you just love a hot tribute?

The casting of the Hunger Games characters irks me. The only one of the characters that is referenced to be attractive is Gale. Anyway, of course all of the emaciated pre-teens and teens in the book need to be played by 20-something hotties, right?

This doesn't change the fact that I have a serious thing for Peeta. I finished the trilogy by the way! I realized though reading novels may be my favorite pastime, but it can be very self isolating unless I have a pal to discuss it with. Literally, I need a book club with you again!!!!!!!!!! You'll be proud to know, however, that Mat is on the third book.

Sleeping Judy

Sleeping Judy

Couple Looks I'm Trying Out

I'm trying to get out there, try some more daring looks, and just embrace being single. These were two of my best.