Old Tweeter

Was going through old Tweets tonight when I found this one about taking our beloved gnome, Cotton Cuddlesworth IV on vacation with us:

Jon on Cuddlesworth's trip readiness: "He's probably looking foward to seeing the lady gnomes on the beach."


So that made me laugh pretty hard. But like my family always says...I'm easily amused.

Runner up Jon quote from Twitter (for now, because this list could get long if I continue):

"April, I know my presidents and vice presidents and brothers of presidents." Jon, when asked if he knew who Ted Kennedy is.

The Wives Wait

And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman
May 28, 2009: At Ease

I never forget to take a peek at Maira Kalman's work, this week was especially beautiful and poignant. But, that's usually the case.

More Taylor

I swear I'm not becoming a Taylor Swift blog. It just seems that way.

Anyways, me and my people watched this George Strait Artist of the Decade thing on CBS tonight. A bunch of singers covered their favorite George song. Taylor did 'Run' and we instantly decided it was one of the only songs of the evening that we didn't wish George was actually performing instead. (2nd place going to Jamie Foxx of all people!)



Jon says she is one of his 'favorites', which is totally teen boy code for she's hot. And if you tell him I told you all this I'll call you liars. But I doubt he'll deny any of it. Her poster is hanging on his wall.

*****
Final Plant count for those in the know:

54 tomatoes
18 peppers
14 squash/zucchini
10 cucumbers
5 melons
2 eggplant
47 silver queen corn
15 okra
an onion bed
basil, parsley, chives, cilantro

And we reused the trays that all of the plants came in to start seeds of sunflowers, gourds, and pumpkins. We'll also start fall crops in more trays at some point.

Sound Familiar?

AN AMERICAN FAMILY was television’s first reality show, shot documentary style in 1971 and first aired in the United States on PBS in 1973. The show was twelve episodes long, edited down from about 300 hours of footage, and chronicled the experience of a nuclear family, the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, during a period of time when parents Bill and Pat Loud separated (in a infamous and powerful on-camera sequence) and Pat filed for divorce.

The parents had five children. One of them, Lance Loud, was a gay 20-year-old man who occasionally wore lipstick and women’s clothes and took his mother to a drag show in the second episode of the series. He lived in the Chelsea Hotel during its Warholesque heydey and this is captured in the second episode (Holly Woodlawn was his neighbor and appears in several scenes, along with Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, and other famous drag queens of the time).

On airing, the show drew over 10 million viewers — phenomenal viewership for PBS in 1973 (or even presently) — and drew considerable controversy. The series was widely discussed in the media in 1973, and the Loud family appeared on the cover of the March 12, 1973 issue of Newsweek magazine.

--An American Family: The Story of the Louds (1973)

In the wake of the news that the Jon & Kate Plus 8 trainwreck last night was its (and TLC's as a whole) highest rated episode ever (no doubt giving fuel to what appears to be TLC and Kate's desires to not end the show) I find it interesting that this isn't the first time America has become captivated by a family in trouble.

What exactly does that say about us as a society? I'm not entirely sure.

Best Hamburger EVER

1 pound or so of Ground Round
teaspoon (or more) onion powder
teaspoon (or more) garlic powder
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
several slices of crumbled bacon
dash (or more) janes crazy mixed up salt
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup bbq sauce
1 egg
crushed crackers

Mix all together, eye balling some ingredients as you go (more seasoning or less depending on how you like it). Form into patties and grill. Makes for a sort of meatloaf-y burger that is SO STINKIN' DELICIOUS.

Video of the Night

Taylor Swift, John Mayer, White Horse, Staple Center, LA, 5/22/2009.



and a million more clips from that concert, HERE.

I wanted to post them all. She makes me smile. So does John Mayer's guitar. And I don't mean that as a euphemism. Promise. ;)

Quote of the Day

The years between college and marriage are in many ways far more self-defining than any others. They're filled with the simplest, yet most complex, decisions in life: choosing a city, picking a career, finding friends and a mate--in sum, building a happy and satisfying life. For me and for my group of friends, these years have been eye-opening, confusing and fabulous at the same time.

The more choices you have, the more decisions you must make--and the more you have yourself to blame if you wind up unhappy. There is a kind of perverted contentedness in certainty born of a lack of alternatives. At my age, my mother, whether she liked it or not, had fewer tough decisions to make. I don't envy the pressure she endured to follow a traditional career path and marry early. But sometimes I envy the stability she had.

Once again I've been unable to resist the lure of a new city. So, as I start my legal career in Chicago, I'm again building friendships from scratch, learning my way around a strange new place. Yes, my friends and I could have avoided the loneliness and uncertainty inherent in our journeys, and gone back to our hometowns or stayed in the college town where we had each other. But I doubt any one of us would trade our adventures for that life. I have a sense of identity and self-assurance now that I didn't have, couldn't have had, when I graduated from college. And I know someday I'll look back on this time--before I had a spouse, a home and children to care for--and be thankful for the years that just belonged to me.

I Can Do Anything, So How Do I Choose? - Newsweek.com

Sometimes I find articles that just speak to me, this was one of those articles. We all take different paths in life, and for those not traveling on the one I am this probably meant nothing to you. But just know, this is where I am as a person. And sometimes it's very important for me to take a step back and really appreciate it. I don't do that enough. I think I spend too much time wishing my life away, or wishing I was living someone else's journey...I really need to stop that.