File: Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah tonight to all who celebrate.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Reids.

File: Holiday Cat

Rio checks out the decorations above the mantle. We got all the around-the-house decor up. We will do the tree and its trimmings later in the week.

File: 37 inches of happy

Wow, HDTV really does rock. And there are so many channels hidden in the channels! We may never leave the house again.

File: Black Friday

Happy Black Friday to us. Yes, we were at Target at 6am. Yes, we struck out. Yes, we went to Best Buy and scored!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

We're leaving now for Columbus and the first snow of the season is falling.

Many wishes and blessings to our family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

We're leaving now for Columbus and the first snow of season is falling.

Many wishes and blessings to our family and friends.

File: Windows to the World

Matt hung the windows his mom designed. I really like how cozy it makes the den look.

This place is coming along. Thanks again, Mom/Barb, for designing and giving us such beautiful windows!

File: Dinner ala Adult, Part Deux

The finished dining room.

File: Dinner ala Adult

The honorary Clairmont Wilson table has been paired with director chairs. And, Matt sawed the chairs down to the right size. We can now invite people over!

File: Frankencat

A little late for Halloween, but clearly Rio enjoys dressing up all year long.

File: Suitcases

So, we've been traveling a lot. Last Friday, we flew to Florida for an extended weekend, celebrating my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. It was a blast.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Cincy for Matt's dad's 60th birthday party. We're packing a lot into the day. We're driving down, helping Heather with the decorations, having dinner, then going to see Nolan in a football game in a real stadium. (Wow!) Then, we're driving to Columbus to stay at Dave and Karen's (they're so good to us and don't mind us strolling in around midnight).

We'll leave mid-morning to spend time with Nanny and Papa (and the rest of the clan). Papa is currently in the hospital. I hope he gets out by the weekend.

On a lighter note, Julie had this fun quiz on her blog: what color are you? It turns out that I'm deep sky blue, a color I had not previously identified with myself. Here are my results:

"Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect.

Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.

Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation."

It's been one of those crazy weeks, packed full of things that make the heart beat faster.

File: Fall

Can there be anything more beautiful than Rogers Park in the fall?

File: Family

The Ks and Ls at the I.

File: Run

The runners are on the course. May it be an easy race. Happy birthday Mom and Kate!

File: Moldings!

Another of Matt's cool home improvement tricks. He cut, installed, and painted the moldings. Thanks to Pop Larsen for the design.

File: Writing in Rooms

I felt completely inspired by this Guardian photo essay. The one above is from Hilary Mantel's writing room.

I adore Seamus Heaney's room, if only for the book stacks:


I also liked this one, too, from Carmen Calill's quarters:

She says, "I can only write surrounded by the silent presence of other people."

I understand this sentiment. I have photos of my mother and father, rocks from my travels with Matt, a typewriter from Matt's grandfather, pictures behind me of my grandparents, a photo Matt's mom gave me, photos of my best friends, a bottle of sand from the beach near where I grew up. These are the things I need around to silently cheer me as I face the page.

Perhaps I'll take a snapshot of our writing room.

File: Deer!

My lunch companions.

File: Pip

Driving back from Cincy. Just hit 20K miles (and one). Yay Pip!

File: Harry Potter

I have the new one. It is 759 pages. My plan is to read it this weekend. I hope this one does not cause me to hurl it across the room like the last one.

Update: 7.22.07 12:30pm: It is done.

File: Tourists in Our Own City

Obligatory Navy Pier climbing shot.

File: Long Hair!

Clair and I went to brunch yesterday. She's the one responsible for my new-found love of synthetic hair.

So it seemed natural that we we would continue our day at the local wig shop. On Clair's suggestion, I bought this one. (Tilt head sideways.)

The weather's still too warm for me to wear it outside yet, but come fall and winter I'm going to have long hair all the time.

For the record, I love having short hair. I don't quite understand why people tell me "it's so brave," because it doesn't feel courageous at all; it's just easy and cool in the summer. There are some days, though, when I long for the joy of gathering layers of locks into a simple, stunning braid. To those days!

File: Food

When I was a kid, my dad and I used to go to the Farm Store (a gas station) and buy sweet rolls. I have never seen them since I grew up. Good news! The vending machine at work now offers them. And today is half-price Friday! Mmm, delicious.

File: A Party of Books

My favorite author at his book signing party.

File: Family

The best part of Florida is my parents.

File: Oh, Florida!

My high school was separated into art areas: theatre, dance, visual, music, and communication arts. Here is my department on the day before graduation.

I'm headed to Florida this evening. I'm attending my high school reunion tomorrow night and my dad's book-signing party on Sunday. I'm excited to see my family and old friends. And a little nervous, too.

File: Summer

The picnic. We went down to the beach near our house armed with sangria, a veggie tray, havarti cheese, crackers, tomatoes, pasta, grilled veggies, watermelon, ginger snaps, and strawberries. We watched the sunset over the lake and it was lovely.

File: Summer

Picnic supplies.

File: The Cicadas Are Coming!

Cicada. Ick.

Before this summer, I had never heard the word cicada. It seems to be an Illinois thing. Cicadas are these nasty insects that come out every 17 years. They come out of the ground, attach themselves to trees, find mates, and die. Their young fall down from the trees and bury themselves into the ground to finish gestating for sixteen more years. Then, the cycle repeats itself.

This particular cicada flew up my skirt (and out it) when I examined another cicada lying on the ground. A few bits of hysterics later, this kind gentleman picked up the cicada so I could photograph the offender. Look at how big it is! Yuck!

File: Shameless Plug

Troubleshooting and Repairing Major Appliances, 2nd Ed. (Hardcover) is the best book on this subject on the market. Every homeowner should own a copy because it lets you know what you can fix and when you need to call in the experts. It's also written with a great voice.

Buy it, love it, learn it.

I'm so proud of him that I could cry.

File: Insomnia

Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I get creative.

I dressed a doll, courtesy of Cartoon Doll Emporium.

File: All Scuffed Up

Been having a bunch of medical tests recently. In the most recent one, a stress test, the technician scuffed me so the monitors would stick. He used the medical version of a Brillo Pad, telling me that I'd be able to understand how my pots feel. I would imagine that a little rubbing is nothing compared to the extreme heat they're used to, but who am I to argue with the feelings of cookware?

My scuffing hurts, but not horribly. Most of the marks have faded, but this one continues to plague me. Of course, it's smack dab in the center of my chest.

File: Movie Set

Close-up.

How to transform your basement into a movie set bar in an hour or less:

1. Look at basement. Panic about painting the wall or using wallpaper.
2. Have spouse suggest using faux wood paneling.
3. Drive to Home Depot. Buy faux wood paneling at $17 a piece, totaling $38.
4. Roll twine cart to the outside cutting station, where it should have been in the first place. Use twine to strap wood paneling to the top of your tiny, tiny Scion XA. Drive away as children point.
5. Unload panels into basement. Drop spouse off at local grocery store to pick up Mexican saint candles, plastic tablecloths, and diet 7UP, although diet ginger ale would have been preferable, especially if your principal actor is a diabetic.
6. Cut panels to fit basement. When spouse returns from grocery store, apologize for all the holes you're drilling into the brand-new walls. Laugh together.
7. Send spouse upstairs to brew coffee to turn the diet 7UP into beer.
8. Hang walls. Hang window.*
9. Spouse, once upstairs, will realize that she has no idea where the coffee is. She'll come up with the idea of using diet iced tea instead, noting that it is also sugar-free. Spouse will also gather the six-pack holder of Mike's lite Hard Cranberry Lemonade and place salt and pepper holders, a napkin, and plastic utensils in it. Spouse should also collect empty bottles, the two cans of Miller Lite you keep in the house just in case, and bottle caps to give the actors something to play with. Spouse will also put pub glasses in the freezer to create frosty mugs, corral the cat, and bring all of this down to the basement. Stare at spouse in awe as she attempts to feed you Cheerios because your hands are too dirty to touch food.
10. Have spouse peel the illustration of the Virgin of Guadalupe off the candle. Say a small prayer in thanks. Experiment with plastic tablecloths. Yellow may not hide the white of the table. Yellow over red looks like a picnic. Red over yellow looks like a magician's table. Choose red because it looks like a bar.
11. Decide you need art. Watch in awe as spouse opens her craft supplies and immediately begins ripping photos of bikini-clad women out of the stock photography books she's kept through four moves for this very purpose. Hang onto wall using duct tape. Open storage bin to get Christmas wreath. Hang on the wall with a screw gun. Apologize again to spouse for holes in wall. Curse yourself for leaving the dart board in the attic of your last apartment. Watch spouse in awe as she breaks one of her cigar boxes, used for making purses, in half to give you more substance on the wall. Hang cigar box lid using screw gun.
12. Spouse will decide that it needs "those warning signs in real bars." Spouse will go upstairs and hunt the Internet for the actual wording, as well as statute numbers. She will choose Alaska's statute number because "it looks like the most realistic."
13. Set up lighting.
14. Have spouse answer the door, twice, to have actors climb two flights of stairs to send them down two flights of stairs to the basement. Send actor down with frosty pub glasses.
15. Mix iced tea and diet 7UP in frosty mugs to create beer.
16. Spouse, in the interim, should print out warning sign, crumple it, give it to the cats to lie on, and decide it needs to be more ragged. Spouse should then douse it in vinaigrette dressing, find that sticky and disgusting, then try and wipe it off the page. This will be unsuccessful. Spouse should wipe harder. Spouse will find that vinaigrette will attract dirt. Have her throw it on the floor for the cat to play with. She'll be struck with a brainstorm to take a teaspoon of tomato sauce and plop it into paper. She'll then wipe it off, creating the perfect stain. Have her run the warning sign downstairs. Allow it to slip out of her hand, get caught in the wind, and fall in the drainage ditch. Have her stomp on it with Chuck T's. This will create the perfect amount of raggedness. Hang onto paneling with duct tape.
17. Hang green screen on another wall.
18. Insert actors. Begin shooting.

* If you know you're going to turn your basement into a movie set, scavenge your alley for windows people may be throwing away. Take window into your basement and cover it in hot green plastic so that you can chroma key it during post-production.

File: Movie Set

The bar in the basement with stage lighting.

File: Hearts!

They do love each other. Here are Patrick and Rio being bestest friends.

File: The Best PA Ever

Matt is making a movie in our basement so we are at Home Depot tying wood paneling to the roof of Pip. Our basement will look like a bar. This is crazy awesome.

Home now. The basement looks like a run-down bar. I'll have Matt post a still once he's finished.

File: Pip's New Friend

Mom and dad bought a car over the weekend. They sent me the cutest video.
I'm having problems getting it up (and have a feeling Mom would kill me if I posted the movie to YouTube and then put in a link), so you'll have to be satisfied with this photo:

Yes, their car has eyes. It's a Toyota Camry. I'm so happy that Mom now has a set of wheels.

File: Pets

This is the most literate cat in America.

File: Home

For our next home renovation project: this bookcase is actually wallpaper.

Awesome!

File: Take a Final Bow

Matt's final ComedySportz show. He is the figure centerstage bathed in white light. He was amazing.

His exit was very sweet. The CSz folks gave him a watch, just like when a person retires from other companies. I know it's scary to forsake the safe route for the unknown, but he is such a ball of creativity that I know he'll land somewhere great.

This sounds corny, but I cried after the show. I was just so proud of him. And I'll miss seeing him in the dorky red bowling shirt.

File: The Bean

Because I am an idiot, I took pictures of Darrah's Chicago vacation with my phone instead of my actual camera. I am in the process of getting them onto my computer now, but it's tedious because I have to do it one by one.

Here's a sneak preview: Darrah, Marla, and I in front of the infamous Chicago bean.

I had so much fun with everything we did last weekend. I spent most of the week a bit blue, but I've bounced back okay. I'm glad that Darrah has found her home in Seattle. I just wish it wasn't so far away.

But, we like to visiting.

File: Movies about Reading

Hilarious.

File: The Office

A view from the office. The stained glass window Matt got me for our anniversary. The Tiffany lamp we bought in St. Augustine. And our new addition, Fiona Herbert, the Fukien Tea bonsai tree. Note the flowers!

File: Home Transformation, Part Deux of Deux

The after. Ta da!

File: Home Transformation, Part Deux

More painting. This the before of the dining room wall.

File: Good Blogkeeping

Just updated the links to the left, including my current reads. Wow, I read 11 titles so far this month. Three things you can tell about me from my recent reading list:

1. I went to Florida.
2. I'm an obsessive planner.
3. I use my vacation time to read, read, read.

File: Love

Matt is going for a run, but post-sunblock, his wedding ring felt too loose for him. So, he took it off. Then he felt weird about leaving the house without a sign he was married.

So, he gave himself a wedding ring using marker. What a cutie.

File: Florida

Goodbye, Florida, Goodbye.

File: Trav via Destination Disney

Put that in your damn blog! Travis, as pictured here with my head and a quarter of Matt's face, has been enjoying the minutia of my blog. Especially the step-by-step basement painting. We met with him at Downtown Disney for dinner. He took us to this great Cuban restaurant called Bongos. It was great to see him. And now, he's famous* via the interweb.

*By famous, I mean not famous at all.

File: Destination Disney

Epcot! I heart Spaceship Earth!

File: Destination Disney

Yeah, ok, Disney has the mountains, the castle, and the ears, but I come to the mouse for one thing: TURKEY LEG! Here, Matt attempts to conquer mine.

File: Destination Disney

We are here!

File: Barack Obama

I know I've posted before about how Barack Obama is a great presidential candidate and why we should all vote for him.

Here's another reason:

Barack Obama is giving back $50,000 in campaign contributions because they came from lobbyists.

What politician gives money back? This man is serious about wanting to change Washington. Refusing lobbyists' contributions is a great first step. It shows that the Obama campaign puts its money where its mouth is. I respect that a lot.

I just donated another $50 to his campaign because of it. You can donate to the Obama '08 campaign, too. Or, show your support in other ways. I repeat it again: Barack for President!

File: Food

Matt makes acorn squash. Mmm mmm good.

File: Snow

Not sure if you can see this or not, but it is snowing. Stupid Chicago. Stupid, stupid. I demand spring!

File: Next Year in Jerusalem!

18 people. 14 wine bottles. Countless dishes. 2 Pesach-themed Muppet songs. One successful Seder. Happy Passover!