to georgeann and jesse...

glad tidings and best wishes on your new life together.

love, laci (who's running a month behind...)

lauren says i've got guts...

i did it. the bravest thing i've done in years, i did this morning.

and that's all i'm going to tell you. if something comes of it, i promise to spill the beans.

but for now, i just wanted to publicly pat myself on the back. yay, me!

wip...

stands for work in progress. yes, friends, you've got yourselves a knitting post...

clapotis:
after knitting on the damn thing since august, i finally finished my clapotis shawl on tuesday morning. i've still got a bit of finishing work to do (weaving in ends (ugh) and blocking), which i'm hoping to knock out this weekend. in celebration of my accomplishment (that is, finishing the infernal thing...), i'll be wearing it for at least a week straight.

steam scarf:
this is my sister cami's christmas present. lest you be thinking that i'm way ahead of the game, i'm talking last christmas. but it's done now. and it's lovely. again, needs a bit of finishing work and it'll be ready to go. my consolation on its tardiness is that unfortunately for chicagoans (?), it's still cold enough in march to wear scarves.

rucksack:
this is my niece grace's christmas present (yes, same christmas...). i'm still working on it. fingers crossed for a weekend completion...

once all of these three items are completely finished, i'll post photos.

the next project in my queue is a hat for rusty. i've been promising him one since before thanksgiving. my goal is to finish before hat-wearing weather in boston passes. which is, what, mid-may? :)

good lord, i'm running behind...

priceless...

a post to tide you over until i get home from boston (and i'm not sure now when that will be, as a nor'easter is moving in tonight and my flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow morning during a period of blizzard-like conditions...)

WARNING: this video contains inappropriate language of a sexual nature. if your sensibilities are more proper than mine, you might want to skip this one. and if you're in a public place, you might want to don a set of headphones.

that being said, i offer you this funny, funny video.

and i was doing so well...

i'm in the midst of conference planning mania. so that with the fact that the wifi signal i've been stealing from my neighbor has been super sketch all week (see wednesday's post) has left this little space of mine a bit neglected.

i leave sunday for new haven, and then wednesday, on to boston for a few days.

see you when i get back!

i think i'll move to australia...

i'm having a terrible horrible no good very bad day.

white ghost shivers...

we saw the quirkiest band play last night at the brick. seriously, it's the oddest show i've ever been to. it was fabulous. and really fun.

hailing from austin (they're doing an EXCELLENT job of keeping austin weird), they're spending about a week bringing their particular brand of acoustic vaudeville (yes, you heard me) to the sunflower state.

here's a note from their myspace site that perfectly describes the evening:



o my!
what a show!
i shiver with delight.
delicious. glorious. silly. sad. raunchy.
little hot tomato in a red dress.
hot tunes. hot music men.
hot night in a cold city.
we must play together.
love,
ruby

i'm pretty sure my life will never be the same. for whatever reason...

quote of the day...

the war in iraq is the biggest evil on the planet earth right now, closely followed by reality tv.

benjamin zephaniah, dub poet, bulb#5

a word of advice from my good friend nicole kenley crowell...

an optimal parking space at your local supermarket is not defined by said parking spot's proximity the supermarket entrance. instead one should endeavor to find the closest spot possible to a cart corral so as to alleviate the frustration of hauling your cart (and your ass) across the parking lot to its proper disposal.

go ahead and try it. soon you, like me, will be proclaiming nicole to be quite possibly the smartest person ever.

justache...

spotted this t-shirt last night at jardine's...

absolutely brilliant.

i heart ny...

so did i tell you that i went to new york last month? well i did. and i LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

a few highlights: i narrowly missed the transit strike, had my picture taken with santas in central park, got lost only once (and technically i wasn't lost - i knew exactly where i was, i just wasn't sure where i was supposed to be going), had lunch with my friend katie (a fellow WHS alum), saw some live music, walked across the brooklyn bridge, and had a proper introduction to new york pizza.

it's official. i heart ny.

thanks to the good folks at continental airlines (i also heart onepass miles) and the sensational anh dang for enabling me to have such a lovely christmastime visit to this fabulous city.

tell me if you've heard this one...

so my recurring dream made an appearance last night. that damn thing absolutely destroys me emotionally. fortunately, it only takes about a day to recover.

so how, you ask, did i medicate? a killer yoga class with a pride and prejudice chaser.

i'm a complete masochist...

and she moves at the speed of the world...

and there's bullets on the highway

and there's sorrow in the belly of the world
but there's hope just like the morning sun rising
on the shoulders of a little girl
and she moves at the speed of the world

from speed of the world, a new song by barclay martin

you're the reason god made oklahoma...

until i was in the fifth grade, we lived on the nipper place - a section of land where we farmed alfalfa, burned our trash, rode our bikes down a long dirt road, and chased skunks out from under our porch. the nipper place was eighteen miles from town.

farm kids unite!

anyway, after a lightning strike blew out our TV, we never replaced it. instead, we turned on the radio. back in the day, KGNC in amarillo played 70s and 80s country (you know, country music of the past decade...). the sounds of the oak ridge boys, ronnie milsap, the highwaymen, and dolly parton were my elementary school soundtrack.

fast forward twenty years...

two encounters this week with harry's country club have taken me back to those days when my age was measured in single digits.

fortuitously, when i was in houston this fall, lauren introduced me to her favorite radio station - country legends 97.1. as i was reminiscing my favorite country hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s last week, (and recovering from my mandrell sisters shock), i remembered lauren's radio station. i promptly located them online and ever since, country hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s have been filling the air in my dining room-slash-office.

a few of my favorites:
deeper than the holler - randy travis
y'all come back saloon - oak ridge boys
who's cheatin' who? - charly mcclain
lousiana saturday night - mel mcdaniel
good hearted woman - waylon/willie
you never even called me by my name - david allen coe
king of the road - roger miller (who, by the way, grew up just down route 66 from my grandparents)

i'm sure, at some point, i'll move back in to listening to my iTunes, but for now, this sure hits the spot.

beware the white bronco...

drink apple juice 'cause OJ will kill you

if loving you is wrong...

barclay had a gig last night at harry's country club down in the river market. after he finished playing, i was sitting with some friends, and we realized that our shirts were all variations on the same color (which, coincidentally, happened to match our napkins...).

to which i responded "we're like the mandrell sisters!"

and they all said, "who?"

"THE MANDRELL SISTERS, people!!! you know, barbara, louise, and irlene? they had a variety show in the 80s and their outfits were variations on one another. they all played different instruments - i remember irline played the drums"

no luck.

"i mean, i've heard of barbara mandrell..." "barclay, have you ever heard of the mandrell sisters?"

"who?"

oh good lord...

"are you sure you're not making this up?"

so to prove my own lucidity, as well as serve you a proper introduction to the sisters mandrell, here you go.

i'll bet these people have never watched designing women, either...

absolutely pitiful...

Spurs should fear finals matchup with Pistons

As stingy as Detroit's defense was, the biggest mismatch occurred on the glass where the Pistons grabbed 56 rebounds (including 16 of their own missed shots) to the Spurs' 32 (including only four offensive caroms). The Pistons' big men were quicker laterally, quicker to the ball and quicker off their feet than were Duncan, Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed (who only saw six minutes of action).

ugh.

my sentiments exactly...

The Comforts of Soup
by Christena Eng
for NPR's series Kitchen Window

When people in the Northwest talk about the incessant rain, I look out my window and curse the blue sky. More sun in California. I long for the wet winters in Oregon and the afternoons I spent years ago in my studio apartment cooking soup. A pot would last a week.

I am reminded of the energizing chill in that corner of the country, the smell of the air outside after a night of hard rain and the red scarf that helped to keep me warm. Soft and thick, it was one of my favorite items of clothing. It now sits neatly folded near the bottom of a dresser drawer, mostly untouched.

When friends in New England speak of the biting cold, I sympathize. They grumble about the low temperatures and slick pavements; I worry about their health and safety. But I envy them as well. When they describe the icy weather, I think of the small, cozy kitchens to which they will eventually return.

I imagine the steam rising from the bowls of soup they will undoubtedly enjoy: hearty chowders prepared with russet potatoes, chopped clams and heavy cream, spicy gumbos simmered with chunks of seafood, meat and vegetables. I get nostalgic for places I am not.

On cold days in the Bay Area, when close friends and neighbors complain about falling temperatures and increasingly wet roads, I smile surreptitiously. Deep down, I welcome the wild weather. Finally, there is an excuse to make soup. Craving things like split pea and barley, I eagerly dig into recipes collected from books and magazines.

One rainy afternoon, I consider making a pea and ham soup by Australian food writer Donna Hay or a squash, parma ham hock, sage, onion and barley broth from British chef Jamie Oliver. In the end, I settle on hamburger barley soup, made from a recipe given to me years ago by an older sister. It promises to be easy and satisfying, tasty and comforting.

First, I brown the beef. Ground turkey could substitute well, too; I make a mental note for the future. Using a pot instead of a frying pan helps to facilitate cleanup. Into that large pot, I add chopped tomatoes, tomato juice, water, vegetables, seasonings and barley, saving the carrots and potatoes for later. When things come to a boil, the heat gets turned down.

As the soup simmers, I work on other things. I write. I wander through the house, tidying up the living room and the bedroom. I flip on the radio. I surf the Internet.

Roughly 45 minutes later, back in the kitchen, now warm and fragrant, the colors in the pot are impressive: deep reds, dark and light greens, sprinkles of black. Carrots and potatoes go in next, giving the dish additional colors and textures.

While the ingredients continue to cook, I grab my keys, my coat and my red scarf, and head for the front door. I go for a walk around the neighborhood. The chill in the air outside keeps me alert. Life is good, I tell myself, wiping a raindrop from my forehead. And when I return home, there will be soup.

you can find the original article, as well as recipes mentioned above on the NPR website

in case you were wondering...

how to do harsh death metal vocals
how to play guitar like eddie van halen
how to dress for a real metal show (not a nu metal show)

and most importantly...
how to sing in church without feeling embarrassed