Get love, make more, try to stay alive.
-Rilo Kiley

I can't even see the suburbs lately, all I see is tiny specs of pale green and white and pink flowers, oh and camellias. And I just discovered my neighbor's exuberant japanese quince hiding behind one of my disgusting 70's style shrubberies which is overgrown to look like a bald man with a combover. I feel very thankful for this Spring and all the love, remodeling, and brunches it will bring.

In case you are thinking about starting a compost pile, here's a great link from the coolest school in the universe: Project Compost. I just wonder why pulled weeds are considered "browns" instead of "greens?" It seems like they would be the same as grass clippings?

Oh, and also did you know that I'll be signing my refi papers tonight and tomorrow getting a haircut and a pedicure? The boringness on this blog has reached a new low.

I have nothing interesting to say. A certain someone's comments have led me to believe that a listing of the seeds, bulbs, and plants I've been ordering for the Spring would not be welcome. And while it's very fun to sit at home every free evening making out and watching videos on your gigantical tv, it's not really an activity that translates well to blog content. Let's just say hybernation season is in full effect boyee.

I do wish I had something to offer that would solicit this type of comment:

Dr. Johnny Fever said at 06:46PM, 02.16.2005:
Why don’t you post a pic of your ugly-ass self, badweebisis, and let us see how much you actually resemble a squirt of food poisoning diarrhea at the business end of some 10-year-old BVDs?

On Valentine's Day for my Special Valentine:

British term of the day: Fucktard

My results of the Fucktard quiz:
25% Fucktarded.You are pretty normal although you
do have your moments. Mainly you're just a
smartass and you have horrible luck. Hey, we're
all allowed to be a Fucktard sometimes!

How much of a FUCKTARD are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

meme from Lori O

1. Total amount of music files on your computer? about a dozen songs. I normally just download a cd's worth of songs off of links on largehearted boy, burn it, and then erase everything. Also I always make copies for people who never listen to them.

2. CD you last bought?
Oh, no! It was a Starbucks compilation CD: Sweetheart 2005 and it sucks except for a few songs.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
New Slang by the Shins, I'm obsessing over it.

4. 5 songs you often listen to, or which mean a lot to you?
a. clam crab cockle cowrie by Joanna Newsom because it reminds me of my valentine
b. perfect world by Liz Phair because I wasn't always this hot
c. earl had to die by the Dixie Chicks because maryanne flew in from atlanta on a red eye midnight flight
d. your belgian things by the Mountain Goats because it's hard with no one here to help me through it
e. making love out of nothing at all by Air Supply because it's the best song to sing while driving on the Bay Bridge

5. 3 you'll pass this on to & why:
nobody because if you want to do it, just do it!

Happy Valentine's day! Celebrate your Love!

Make cupcakes for Valentine's Day! I also really like the picture of saturday night cupcakes and the story about surprising strangers with cupcakes when they least expect it.

link via not martha

I am really good at step aerobics and I take pride in the fact even though it is not a skill that's useful in any other area of my life. Sometimes I think I would like to become an instructor when I have more time to work out. Sometimes while I am at step class and effortlessly following a particularly intricate pattern, I like to day dream about a Bring it On type scenario wherein I would be forced to practice step moves night and day to show my stuff in a high school gym thereby winning a national championship and the loving support of my quirky punk rock boyfriend. But without all of that "it's already been broughten" crap.

french kiss: I had a really good one last night, the kind you feel sort of dizzy after and think about the next day

three things I like on Apartment Therapy today:

1. painting the inside of your closet something colorful. Wouldn't it be cool in my magenta bedroom to have a cantaloupe or turquoise closet? Raped by color goes storagy

2. using a venetian mirror for your bathroom mirror. I know they're trendy right now, but they're so beautiful.

3. Making a design on a wood table top with copper nails hammered in. Mighty look sort of country, but it would be really cool for an indoor/outdoor room.

Apartment Therapy man, they're so cool but I have a love/hate relationship with their New York fixation.

I am refinancing my house and getting new and better car insurance. It's time for a drinking binge before I start talking annuities.

Again last night, the anorexic lady at the gym said I look like I've lost weight. I'm starting to think that's just her way of being friendly: it's the compliment she would most like to hear.

I bought a 32" tv today. Pretty big, huh? It's not fancy or anything but it should be an improvement over my old 17" tv. Now we can watch movies with subtitles if we want. (I had to take Hero back unwatched because it just wasn't going to work) I feel like such a grown up.

Licensing Class Update:

1. I have started a tally of the number of times our instructor mentions riding the bumper of a MAC truck down Highway 99. The tally sheet is bracketed for each hour we are in class. Today I was disappointed to discover that he only mentioned it seven times, peaking with four mentions in the 10 o'clock hour alone. Today's saving grace was that once he specifically wrote it on the white board and twice students adopted the euphemism.

2. During the afternoon break I discovered that a student sitting on the opposite side of class is also keeping a tally of the number of times our instructor mentions ornamenting the bumper of a MAC truck on 99. Our data concurred.

3. I drew a picture of a unicorn that was referred to as a my little pony and a llama and as having eaten too many raspberries.

4. A pen full of glitter is apparently a necessity for license preparation survival.

I'm busy taking a licensing class this week where the instructor is fond of telling stories about insurance he tried to sell to self made men with stay at home wives and at least 4 kids who end up riding the bumper of a MAC truck down 99 and about how they used to live in a beautiful home at the top of a hill overlooking a valley but they ended up in a trailer park in the valley looking up at their former home on a hill. He also likes to talk about how he would track the wives down and they would have a good cry together and out of the rear window of his car he could see the women mouthing the words "what will I do now?" It sounds horribly depressing, but it's actually really funny how many times he can mention riding the bumper of a MAC truck down 99. I've proposed a drinking game but I'm not sure if anyone in the class has the guts to do it with me. Also I could probably lose the license I'm trying to get.

Look how beautiful! What was I thinking, I didn't order a single white lily

Inspired by this Loobylu entry

sometimes this website can be a bit namby pamby, saccharine, and revolting

Life is pretty good:

1. I get to go out on a real date tonight and eat sushi

2. There is a giant baby kitty asleep on my desk at work

3. I have plans to be crafty this weekend

4. My abs are sore from the gym

5. Kim has signed us up to receive fresh organic produce from Farm Fresh to You

6. It poured last night and now the sun just came out

I am getting very energized about gardening, due in part to this beautiful page about getting ready for a beautiful Spring now:

You just gotta start now - during January or February. Starting your garden in Spring (April- May) does not a spectacular garden make. Starting your garden in Spring means long hours spent pulling out weeds run rampant. . .If you love to grow your plants from seed, sow them now. Most Spring blooming annuals like to germinate during the cool weather – around 50 to 60 degrees. They are called hardy annuals and love to grow when its cool and bloom before the temperatures reach the high 70’s. Sow your seeds no later than mid February and they’ll bloom in April to early May.

I bet this is not what you were hoping for when you wished I would post some pictures already. This is my front yard and, yes, my neighbors hate me. Please note all the ugly-ass shrubbery, some of it dead. The black plastic has been removed (I was trying to kill the mutant crabgrass and the other piece blew off in a storm) and some very hard working gentlemen have mostly removed the mutant grass from the area. I have a clean slate to fill with a big hippy garden party, pretty cool huh?

Did you know Monday was the most depressing day of the year? The point of the article seems to be that now is a good time to book a vacation. Hmmm. . .

I'm not into having too much white but I like this idea to paint ugly bookshelves a color similar to, but not the same as, the wall they will stand in front of. I have some ugly bookshelves that I tried to stain but the results were not impressive, perhaps I will try this.

Weekend update: I did quilt one top, but was foiled on the second. More prep/laundry is needed. It felt really good to just hang out and be crafty. I bet you'd like to see a picture someday, huh?

Favorite thing that has happenned so far today:

My friend Sandra sent me an electronic 2005 David Hasselhoff calendar. All of the pictures are so awesome! I can't decide whether I like the January picture of David swinging on a tire swing in a sleeveless shirt or the April picture of him wearing black bikini underwear with a black leather biker jacket better. My favorite is probably July when David is shown holding two adorable puppies up to his ruggedly handsome face. Thanks Sandra!

It is time for me to undergo a crafty renaissance! I will commence this weekend by machine quilting two (2!) tops that have been waiting patiently for months and rewarding myself with milkshakes. That doesn't sound too ambitious, does it?

Today my godson, who is two, called and told me he got a new 101 Dalmations video. I told him that I missed seeing him since I was sick and that I couldn't wait to come over later in the week. He replied in the sweetest voice "I love you . . . Suckers!"

Everything on my grocery list today starts with the same sound:

cereal
salsa
salad
satsumas

Fascinating. I've been in bed or at work every minute of the last week, I officially have no life.

If you are going to stand on my roof using a chainsaw without my permission, I don't think 7:30 a.m. is an appropriate time to get started. that's all I'm saying

I have been so sick with the flu. I've been spending all of my time in bed watching the entire first season of the only television show on DVD I'm allowed to check out with my free rentals membership: The L Word (yes I'm that cheap). Um Hello, naked lesbians having sex everywhere. How come I haven't heard about anyone watching this? Anyway, now I have the biggest crush on Shane and I hate Jenny more than anything (if she says "eviscerate" one more time!). Also the really mean girl from Popular guest stars and she loves Shane too.

p.s. this show really demonstrated to me how skinny tv stars have to be. In their clothes they look like normal slender women, but when they're naked their little ribs are about to poke out of their bodies. Cheeseburgers ladies! Also, I guess lesbians never wear bras?

I love my OB/GYN! It's a really good feeling to actually look forward to a pelvic exam. So if you are a girl, have Kaiser, and live in the Sacramento area check out Dr. McCue.

Since I keep telling people about this I thought I'd put it up. An excerpt from Alton Brown's blog entry from July 18, 2004 about Supersize Me. (he doesn't have permalinks so you have to scroll if you want to read the whole thing)

Feed yourselves. Feed your loved ones. And for God’s sake feed your children. Don’t trust anyone else to do it…not anyone. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go out to dinner every now and then…that is after all one of the great joys of life…but it isn’t life itself and that’s what I’m talking about. Is MacDonalds food bad for you? What do you think? Does that mean you shouldn’t eat it? No, it just means you shouldn’t live on it or anything else made by someone you wouldn’t hug.

I love this since nourishment/feeding myself is such a concern for me. And in a move of extreme hypocrisy I will now go and buy McDonald's french fries from a McDonald's actually located inside a Walmart.

I think it is difficult for a man to sound more awkward than when doing a high-pitched laugh.

I just happenned to stumble across the project page for an insanely gorgeous finished Rogue. Um, wow. Did I mention that I have a half finished Rogue sitting in a basket on a very high shelf. It's January, maybe the time has finally come.

There is a fierce storm here for the weekend so I'll be spending my time on the following deliciously hip activities:

cleaning the shower

making crockpot food

hosting book club

sitting in front of a fire making s'mores

drinking tea

making out

What a wonderful idea: the makeout radio station!

This is the perfect January hibernation activity: "dim the lights, kindle a fire, pop open the bubbly, turn on this station, and let nature take its course." I can just hear Simon purring now.

link via Largehearted Boy

Best of 2004 List: My Life

Funnest Crafty Thing I Did: t-shirt alterations

Best Pina Coladas with Whipped Cream: provided by Kim

Best Hair Stylist/Life Coach: Kabra Moss

Best Cat: tie between Simon for eyeliner and fuzziness and Sabine for getting her groove back

Most Rewarding House Thing I did: kitchen linoleum

Best Kisser: Thadeus Dietzen

Best Level 11 Dragon with Technicolor Dream Cape: Thadeus Dietzen

Suckiest House Thing I did: tie between back patio tile and the whole plumbing situation

Funnest Person to Go Downtown and Pick Up Girls with: Chris Fallis

Best Life lifestyle change: started going to the gym regularly and quit smoking

Most Overused Blog Format: List


I'm a planner and 2005 is my year, I marked it on the calendar and everything!

Aren't you glad the holidays are over? It's amazing how my equilibrium straightens right out when it's over. Time to get down to the delightful business of hibernation:

1. fires in the fireplace

2. videos galore

3. hot hot tea with milk and sugar

4. s'mores for dinner

5. clean laundry

I am making a vegetarian feast right now in my crock pot!

This girl I work with got a crockpot for her wedding shower. She said "you know you're really growing up when you get excited about a crock pot." But I think sometimes you just get hungry.

On another note, I think love looks like glitter. I told someone to send me love in a Christmas card and I keep picturing glitter falling out of the opened envelope sort of like fairy dust.

this week promises champagne, tears, curry, cleaning, driving, a haircut, and love. Here's hoping for the best

I am getting very excited about 2005 as the year of me nourishing myself and my new kitchen dreams becoming a reality. I picture the crockpot bubbling away (thanks Jan!) on my new tile peninsula while I lounge in the adjacent hangout area reading Fine Gardening; Friends coming over for dinner and lounging at the bar with wine while I pull something out of the oven; inviting my grandma and aunties to brunch on Sundays and having somewhere for them to sit down. I guess lounging will play a key role.

It's like my dream come true: Karaoke Revolution

Not like I need it, but the review says the game will actually help you sing better. The only problem is that if the fans on the game don't like my singing my best friend can't go over and yell at them to start clapping.

Vreeland:

Make collars for you cats out of vintage brooches?
Pass out evergreen tiaras as party favors?

Check out Fimoculous list of top 25 blogs of 2004. All of the blogs noted seem to have content which is probably why I wasn't on it.

link via my favorite mp3 blog, No. 18, Largehearted Boy

Look how sweet this little garden design map is! It has little links to pages about special places in the garden and little pictures of what is probably happenning and everything. It's color too which is so cute, mine is just a ballpoint pen thing with circles and blobs for planting areas. The whole site is very special and I'm having fun exploring it.

something funny:

" . . .as I've come to realise, 'rustic' is a useful word for describing something you've done that looks a bit crap." (please see my back patio tile for further examples)

Last night I got my ass kicked at Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. Now I know these things about myself:

1. I do not know who Boromir, Denethor, Isildor, or Gimli are.

2. I cannot share any type of sentiment such as "of course! the Pool of Mirrors!"

3. If I land on the same space as my boyfriend, I will make our game pieces kiss.

4. I will never guess "oh I don't know, how about Midas Tirith"

too bad I'm already seeing someone:

Daniel Erenberg lives in a gothic-looking house in a suburb of Long Island shrouded by trees and darkness. His backyard is so overrun with shrubbery that he can't plant flowers in the soil. He's penned articles for numerous magazines (and a couple of websites for free). Currently, he's writing his first novel, entitled People That I've Long Since Forgotten. He's also written two plays, Little Room and Dystopia and a screenplay called Youth Or Consequence. He lives a fairly happy life alone except for the mind-numbing loneliness he feels on occasion. If you’re a beautiful woman that’s fallen in love with Daniel, or you just want to talk Buffy with him, you can contact Daniel at daniel@slayage.com.

Things that will make me happy this week:

1. Sleeping in my own bed with my kitties

2. Champagne

3. My new lemon verbena and munstead lavender houseplants

4. My abutilon/flowering maple is in crazy bloom

5. Chocolate birthday cake

6. Smoking, oh wait I don't do that anymore, bastards

7. Godbabies

8. Advanced step class on Christmas Eve

9. Getting back in touch with a Magnificent Bastard

The Twelve Days of Vreeland are back! Here's one of my favorite posts: of course I'm planning on giving my friends signed first editions of their favorite authors this year. I love these fancy imaginings and some of the ideas are good, like decorating for Christmas with white feather boas!

oh, no she didn't

Falling Petals is totally trying to run game on my man!

look what the topic is for Illustration Friday: Home, my favorite subject

Okay, The 6-8 ft. tall Helianthus with yellow daisy looking flowers backing a prostrate reddish rose ground cover with some lavender mixed in, my two flowering quinces (moved from the bed by the house where they hate it) peeking through the helianthus to give year round structure and maybe a couple of butterfly bushes to make a really thick dense hedge. I think it should give me a cheery hippy garden appearance while sheilding the yard (and me in my underwear when I'm getting the laundry) from the neighborhood. I wish I had some crayons, I would draw you a picture.

Confession No. 3:

I bought something that I want and I don't think anyone else will really like for my office white elephant gift exchange, and I am going to try to "win" it for myself. I'm basically self-gifting through the mechanism of the gift exchange. This could backfire big time. No one ever likes the gifts I bring and I'm always pretty bitter about it (I'm petty like that). Something tells me that since I'm trying to pull this, my gift will be very popular this year.

and while I'm in the confessing mood, I really love the Brittany Spears song Every Time

Extreme Dork Alert! whedonesque.com: A site devoted to every show Joss Whedon ever directed and every thing that has happened to anyone or anything affiliated ever. I could handle Buffy going off the air because I still had Angel, but now . . . there's nothing. Aparently the Serenity movie is either really good or really bad?

Found that link via the USA top 100 pop candy list which is very fun.

Coach Roz is a hottie!

My boss's sister is Coach Roz of the Sierra College Women's Basketball team. She was very dismayed to see she did not get any hottie points, indicated by a little chili pepper, on the ratemyprofessors.com website. If you go to Sierra College and have had Coach Roz please go and give her some chili peppers.

How does everyone feel about me putting a bunch of Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' in the front next to the sidewalk? It could be cool.

MagnificentBastard has a weblog. I went to college with this guy. Please keep in mind, he's very smart and completely full of shit. You know how I feel about people who move far away, but Ladies, you could do a lot worse.

Things that were said to me this weekend at parties:

1. I like your . . . holiday outfit.

2. You're an outsider now, just go with it.

3. Are those the ultra-low-rise cut? Let me see the pockets.

This is how I used to get dates. It worked pretty well, but the dates you get tend to be assholes. By contrast, now I look for the sweetest, dorkiest fellows. I've been very pleased with the results.

My adult acne is going to look so festive with my red sequined holiday top this weekend. I can do sort of a Picassoesque-Rudolph look.

Nectar of the Goddesses! Don't even try, we already bought the domain name.

Things that make me happy right now:

1. When girl bloggers refer to their husbands as "Mr. Theirblogsname." Mine would be called Mr. Lady Candyass Sharkbite, and I'm sure he would love that.

2. Thinking about the names of the children Lady Candyass Sharkbite would have with Rex Venom. Actually I have an exteme internet crush on Rex Venom.

3. old Wilco.

4. The new Gwen Stephani album and my friend Allyn singing along at the top of his voice to the new Gwen Stephani album.

5. Being inside on a clean happy bright snow day like this.

6. Living in Roseville where it is currently 63 degrees Fahrenheit .

7. Cake with plastic rings stuck in the side as decoration.

8. Being called Auntie K-Rock.

I'm in the paper today, sort of.

Since I feel like some of what I said was taken out of context, I will rectify here in my own little publication:

1. When I said "all bloggers want to make money off their blogs" I meant that anyone would want to get paid to do their hobby. I also mentioned that my friends provide good content which I would pay to see.

2. When I said I was the "granddaddy" of my blogging friends I meant that I've been blogging in a very simple way for a couple of years now and I'm excited to see all the creative new things my friends are doing with their blogs.

You know what I mean right?

Also, I think Chrisanne Beckner has the hots for me.

I think this is funny: Future Lincoln in You Got Served

Unedited email chain between me and my friend Julie about her husband Brian, his best friend Justin, and my boyfriend Thad who plays Dungeons and Dragons:

Julie: Hey Karin, remember when I called Brian "baby boots" in front of all his work friends and then as Cheng was leaving he poked his head back in the door and said "See you at work on Monday....BABY BOOTS"?

Karin: yeah that was awesome: especially because you said that right after you said YOU wear the pants in the relationship.

Julie: Poor little Brian, good thing he's such a good sport! Whenever he's being cutesy and then the phone rings he answers it like he's all tough-"Hey dude!" Then we laugh about it when he gets off. Does Thad have cool dude tendencies like Brian? Maybe they could have fun playing together. Brian and Justin can put on their camouflage and pretend to be GI Joe while Thad can pretend to be a fantasy dragon and they can hunt each other. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Yum! Doesn't Banana Pear Pecan Crumble sound so good! That little French chicky sure has yummy food ideas.

Alright. In honor of Rex Venom and Robot K. Synagog I would like to put forward my new internet name: Lady Candyass Sharkbite! So if you see me on the street, you can call out "hey, Lady Candyass Sharkbite, lookin' good today!" And I'll say "right back at'cha," and act like I'm shooting you a bunch of times with my thumb and fore-fingers.

How awesome is it when someone named Rex Venom comments on your site! It's on a level with getting an email from Robot K. Synagog!

p.s. Apparently I use the word "adorable" too much. I never considered the possibility that this would happen to me.

Random acts:

Three of my favorite things in life are as follows: Girl Party, Hot Girl Party, and Girl Crushes (especially when they are on me, but any configuration makes me happy).

That said, last night at the gym I couldn't stop staring at this incredibly fit and beautiful pregnant woman. She's been in my sculpting class all along but in pregnancy she has really blossomed and just glows now. Anyway, I went up to her after class and said "you are the most beautiful pregnant woman I've ever seen*, you look great." By the time I started stuttering the "you look great" part I realized that this interaction was a mistake. I had stumbled on one of the most horrible women there is: the woman who doesn't like compliments from other women. I hate these women. More than anything. The side of the woman's mouth turned up in a polite half smile and she didn't really say anything. She acted like she wanted to ignore the very uncouth thing that had just happenned.

On the flip side, I recently received the most delightful email from my internet (and one time in real life) friend Lori. She had been to see a band and loved the guitar player so much she thought he would be just my type and that I would want to date him. I was so touched that she thought about me in her real life and cared about my dating plight** enough to look for men I would like. I emailed her back and told her so and we both went about our happy ways with extra Girl Love in our hearts. Now that, my friends, is how it's supposed to go down!

So, to my lady readers: You all look very beautiful today!


*This was not actually true. My friend Kim is the most beautiful pregnant woman I have ever seen, but it felt true at the moment.

**I am currently very happily seeing someone but she didn't know that.

Cut + Paste has so much adorable gifty stuff up for the holidays. If you are looking for interesting handmade unique gifts and want to support independent artisans, check it out.

Check out Miss Charrming! Charr's 15 minutes in the Sacramento News and Review. The picture is adorable.

Dear Weblog,

Here are things I love:

1. puppy paws, dog paws, cat paws
2. white wine
3. shaved legs on flannel sheets
4. honeycrisp apples
5. purring
6. answering the phone when the caller says "hey, gorgeous"
7. burning candles
8. the skyline of my town
9. Tres Chicas
10. finding something I thought I had forgotten
11. seat warmers

it's good to be home . . .

because I'm obsessed:

Buff Beauty
Champney's Pink Cluster
Cramoisi Superieur for front hedge
Hansa Rugosa
Lady Hillingdon

Weekend highlights:

1. drank a milkshake with a hot boy

2. made horrible waffles verifying that Thad and I are the worst cooks in the world and should not be allowed to make food together

3. planted 2 roses, 8 lillies, and transplanted what I think are about 1,000,000 irises of unknown description

4. played a prayer bowl at the "Indiana Jones Store"

5. danced for roughly 5 hours including at an unidentified after hours bar in the City

6. ate ginger altoids which actually make your mouth feel hotter and dirtier

7. walked for days while ranging from slightly to very hung over and back again to see the installation at the Adobe bookstore, totally worth it! (f0rgot my camera, seriously)

8. embarked on a crochet project, remember when I used to be crafty?

Apparently I have won the Lead Belly of 2004 award! I am so honored, but really it was nothing.

Hey, like my new color scheme? If you scroll down (or click here) you can see that my new background matches my bathrobe exactly. Trippy, huh?

Want to know who the 40 best bands in America are right now? Information Leafblower has compiled a list according to a bunch of cool music webloggers. Here's the list my favorite music weblogger, Largehearted Boy, submitted.

Oh Love!

I just thought of the perfect place to put aVeilchenblau rambler rose! In front of the house I have one of those ugly green pencil looking shrubs (I have so many icky shrubberies I don't know how I will ever get rid of them all) . My idea is to train the rambler as a pillar around the tall skinny green shrubbery? What do you think? should work, right? Very nearby I am putting a yellow carolina jasmine vine on another undesirable shrubbery. It looks so beautiful in my mind's eye, I hope it will be beautiful in real life.

p.s. fall evenings are the best: fog, apple crisp, hot cocoa, slippers, a mass of yellow leaves on the tree out front and the driveway thick with orange ones.

Why haven't I had a fire yet this year?

I am lucky enough to have professional (i.e. motherly) people who cook Thanksgiving and invite me to eat it. If you are not so fortunate Bookslut has started a food magazine review and this month all of the magazines are about cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Check it out if you want to know which one could really help you.

Plus: Jessa is very funny and insightful, and she used to work at Planned Parenthood, my favorite!

My favorite roses from Antique Rose Emporium (that I don't already have):

Trier
Cherokee Rose
Alberic Barbier for white garden
Jacote
Veilchenblau blue rose
Lady Waterlow
Applejack
Max Graff pink and yellow ground cover

I haven't been able to figure out the differences between the types of roses yet, but don't Bourbon roses sound so enchantingly gothic?

One thing I love about the www is that the dorkier (i.e. smart, fun, silly, unpretentious, talented, interesting) you are, the more attention you get. Conversely, the cooler you are in the high school sense, the lamer you seem. Enter Oh My God It Burns and their recent experimentation filtering cheap vodka through a Brita filter. 6 times!!! This is definitely something my friends and I would have tried but we would've been drunk as skunks by the first filtratation and would never have had the discipline for the scientific method. Bravo, gentlemen.

link via not martha

p.s. someone has documented the occasion and I am so jealous, but I can't look yet. I'm going this weekend!

woo hoo! My lillies have shipped and should be here Friday! I am very broke now but everything I have ordered in the past few weeks should pretty much all arrive this week. Lucky me! One thing is an antique climbing rose called Reve d'Or for the front of the house by the front door. Here's what Antique Rose Emporium has to say about it:

Reve d’Or
Noisette
1869
French for "dream of gold", this lovely, graceful climber lives up to its name with ease. Nearly thornless it is useful in close quarters. It is especially recommended for use on porch pillars, where the pendulous, globular flowers can be seen and appreciated more easily. Once trained up and established ‘Rêve d’Or’ will display for its admirers a wealth of large, loosely double, buff yellow roses with a rich Noisette perfume. It blooms all season, but we enjoy its fall performance best.

Garden dork is in full effect, Boyeee!

In other news, I saw the Megan Slankard Band on the weekend. Her voice is beautiful and sort of reminded me of both Ani DiFranco and Jewel by turns, if you can believe that. See her live if you can.

p.s. two shrubberies were also removed on the weekend using only my bare hands. Well, and a shovel. And I was wearing gloves.

Even though I have a really fun weekend coming up, I kind of wish I could go see Joanna Newsom's show on Saturday in Cologne, Germany. The modern art museum in Koln behind the Cathedral is probably my favorite place in Germany, having a little euro-fever lately.

highly suggestable:

After reading this entry on Angela's Sacramento Gardening Blog about 8 foot tall Lillies, I decided I needed some too, more than anything. If I got my order in under the deadline, next year I will have these in the flower bed I'm planning near the driveway and these in the back between the pink and yellow garden and the herb garden. It may have been too late, but hopefully they will take pity on me and give me the lillies I so desperately need.

World, last night I removed my old broken kitchen faucet and replaced it with one that works. Watch out World, I can do anything!

next up: shrubberies!

Here's a belated picture from my night of indecency. I'm sitting on the hood of a car in my bathrobe with the Sacramento skyline behind me (which you can't see) and Charr is testing some of her light techniques. It was a very cool experience being outside of what's allowed and yet not evil at all. I guess I don't think nudity should be against the law.

p.s. I don't really have a mullet. Anymore.

p.p.s. In a moment of blog synchronicity, Charr put some of the actual shots up today.

All I have to say today is that my friend Kim and I are excellent at making lip balm and solid perfume and we smelled fantastic last night.

Scratch all that. Tonight I am making lip balm and we have pina colada flavoring. Also if I am very lucky I will get to drink a pina colada while I am making the little lip balms. Get your kissers ready!

Tonight I am dumped for Halo 2. But I don't care because . . . well, I will have to think of something. Oh, I know, I will hang twinkle lights and quilt. That's right, remember once upon a time when I used to be crafty? And maybe I will make apple crisp with the 27 pink lady apples I brought home from Apple Hill.

p.s. and maybe if I am very lucky my internet connection will work and I can post a photo to this blog, wouldn't that be novel!

p.p.s. now that fall is here and the light is dimmer, thinking about twinkle lights always makes me feel better. It's like hot cocoa. Oh, I can make hot cocoa tonight!

Thanks to Tashia for finding my favorite post election website so far: SorryEverybody.com

I would like to submit and will have to think of what I would like to express.

How awesome is this:

For one amazing week in November, Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco has agreed to allow its estimated 20,000 books to be reclassified by color. Shifting from red to orange to yellow to green, the books will follow the spectrum continuously, changing Adobe from a neighborhood bookshop into a magical library—but only for one week.

All I have to say about that is that I'll be there! Finding a book based on color sounds like fate to me.

via Bookslut

I don't think I got enough sleep last night. I'm starting to compose business emails in my head as follows: Dear Foo Foo Face,

The Washington Times has an article out about weblog journaling versus paper journaling (via Largehearted Boy). Here's what my friend Julie says about it, at least the kind that I do: "I finally 'get' the weblog thing. It's kind of like all the random thoughts of the day I send you and my other friends, only your friends get to choose when they want to hear them. It's brilliant!"

My favorite moment on election night: when the NPR correspondent related Obama's wife announcing her husband "and now here's my baby's daddy."

My least favorite moment on election night: pretty much everything else.

"The bible-banging poor vote for the bible-banging rich man who has done nothing to improve their lives over the past four years. In fact, he's done many things to make their lives worse. And now THEY are the ones making MY life worse. Thanks. Thanks a fucking lot." -girlreaction

I know they're just people and they deserve my compassion but why do they have to be so very very stupid?

I was wondering how we would get through. Bookslut posted an Election Month Survival Guide. Check it out in your time of need.

I don't suppose it's possible that Kerry will win by such a large margin as to make reality-phobic Bush concede? We can always hope! Like all those Boston folks keep saying: Believe!

Julie helped me to figure out what I was for Halloween:
I think you were the daughter of a casino owner in Las Vegas, named Eliza. You left school at 15 to become a show girl, but are really an innocent at heart.

Unrelated news: countdown to the OC in T minus two days.

I've owned my house for exactly one year today! I wish I had a photo to post, but I've never taken one, will have to remedy now that we are entering the year of curb appeal for my home (currently a bit/very low in that area so maybe no photo is for the best). Warning: the following lists will only be interesting to me.

1st year changes, chronologically:

1. painted kitchen cabinets and counter
2. painted living areas
3. gussied up light switch plates
4. tiled bathroom, replaced toilet (thanks Paul!)
5. put checkerboard linoleum in kitchen
6. took out three shrubberies
7. tiled back porch
8. planned garden, installation of many key features
9. built new fence for back of backyard (thanks Chris!)
10. painted and installed new light fixture in bathroom

projected 2nd year changes:

1. replant lawn
2. rejuvenate front planter
3. tile kitchen counter and install new sink
4. bust out kitchen and install peninsula cooking station
5. reframe inside doorways between living areas for new traffic pattern
6. redo gutters to match trim and not leak

Kim posted a few pictures from our joint Halloween on her website 1, 2, 3. We had a wonderful time! (just don't ask me what I was supposed to be)

Tomorrow's the big day and so far I know how I'm voting on exactly one question (President). Let's just say I have a lot of reading to do tonight!