Mister Trumpet Man

Streets musicians have a soft spot in my heart. Especially this one.

He plays in the alleyway by my work everyday winter, summer, it doesn't matter, he's always there. Even this afternoon, and it was cold: -2 with an even colder windchill. He plays Johnny Cash (Walk The Line) to Frank Sinatra (My Way). Every day I give him a little money and he always pauses and says, "Thank you baby," and I say "Thank you for playing!" He grins and continues to play.
xoxx

New Car!

So a in this post I eluded to a new car.

In early December Handsome Randy and I were driving his car, The Blaze, a couple of blocks from our house when a man in a brand new Bonneville ran a stop sign. We t-boned him and while we were only going 20 mph & the airbags didn't even go off, The Blaze was totaled. This incident inspired the purchase of a new car. Exciting.

And here she is.

A fantastic 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback!

An nice departure from my Thunderbird & HR's Blazer. We are both glad to be back to good gas mileage, manual transmission, and all wheel drive!

xoxx

Bette Mae

My grandma, Bette Mae Langer, was one of the most amazing women I've ever known. She made a mean chocolate frosting, always, always had something delicious to feed you, loved to watch Grizzly Adams and That 70s Show, and was never afraid to speak her mind.

This month marks the three year anniversary of her diagnosis with terminal cancer, next month marks the 3 year anniversary of her passing. Her death was devastating for me and every year at this time I seem very sad. I think that I must be re-greiving her.

I miss her, but not in the way in which I pick up the phone to call her and then remember that she's gone; I'm used to her being gone. I miss her presence, the sound of her laughter, the Norwiegen accent that came out only when she was excited, the smell of her kitchen, and her mashed potatoes.

xoxx

a mini-break in the great northwoods

Northern Minnesota is a magical place anytime of year. But the solitude & silence that one encounters way up there in the middle of winter almost makes the snow on the tree branches sparkle.

Handsome Randy & I spent a couple days in Grand Marais, MN earlier this week. We arrived on Monday evening just after everyone finished digging out of the two feet of snow that fell on Sunday. This gave us a beautiful backdrop as we snowshoed through a few state parks on Tuesday.

The weather was glorious: a warm 20 degrees with the lightest of snow falling. and we stayed in a lovely little cabin right on Lake Superior! It was an amazing & relaxing time with minimal cell phone service (very nice for a woman whose partner loves his blackberry) and a lot of scrabble and giggling.

xoxx


for more photos from our trip go here

Debra Miller's World of Dance

I have 9 years of ballet and tap lessons under my belt from Debra Miller's World of Dance. The photo from the right was taken in June of 1985, "The Wee Rockettes", I was 6 & just finished up 1st grade. This was my third recital at Miss Debbie's (as we called her), and I had 6 more to go.
Miss Debbie was crowned Miss Columbia Heights of 1976. In the dance studio was a portrait depicting her royalty, her long flowing brunette hair with tiara and sash and a velvet blue robe over her shoulders. She was beautiful. As I got older I always giggled when dads would come and watch our classes thinking that they were probably there to watch Miss Debbie.
My years spent in that carnation pink walled dance studio are bittersweet. I was kind of an odd little girl; an only child, very contemplative and I talked to myself a lot. While I do believe that I had a gift for dance, I think Miss Debbie was puzzled by me and wasn't sure what to do, so she just let me be. That aloofness was hurtful and made going to dance a little tough at times, but I really loved the recitals, so I stuck it out.

Every year we had a Christmas recital, in red and green leotards, tights, and legwarmers we danced to "Jingle Bell Rock" and "We Need a Little Christmas" at the local VFW hall. Afterwords we all gathered around a couple of tables and shared Christmas Cookies and punch. Then Miss Debbie's husband, Bob, would come out dressed as Santa Clause distributing gifts to all the dancers. This recital was okay, but for me it meant that I was at the halfway mark to The Final Recital. This was my favorite and why I stuck out the aloof MIss Debbie all year long.

The Recital was in the local high school auditorium and hundreds of dancing girls ages 3 - 18 huddled in the cafeteria/dressing room and Got Ready. The older girls cordoned off their section of the cafeteria with bed sheets as walls which made them very mysterious and interesting to us little ones. We would imagine them eating up their downtimelounging around giggling and changing the colored rubber bands on their braces. Our downtie was spent playing Candyland and Shoots and Ladders. The cafeteria held garment rack after garment rack filled with costumes, accessories, and little ballet and tap shoes. There were tables with a make-up station for each of us. Miss Debbie required that we all wear blue eye shadow, mascara, rosy blush and dark pink lipstick. I knew how to apply mascera by the time I was 9 thanks to Miss Debbie. The costumes were elaborate and typically handmade by our mothers. In the last 4 years of dance lessons from Miss Debbie, I expanded from tap and ballet to Jazz & Hawaiian. Yes, Hawaiian. Probably not too authentic coming from a little hole in the wall dance studio in Minnesota, but we did wear leys and our costumes were made from Hawaiian Print fabrics, and that's the closest some Minnesotans got to Hawaii in the 1980s.

The make-up, the costumes, and the cafeteria dressing room were a piece of what made The Recital so exciting for me. Waiting in the wings and watching the class whose dance was before us was another piece. But stepping onto stage, feeling the lights come up (always with my eyes squinched closed as tightly as possible) and then the first steps of our Recital Dance routine was the biggest excitement for me. I relished those minutes dancing on stage, they always seemed to go too fast and the minute they were over I began looking forward to next year. The Recital that is, not the classes.

xoxx

'twas a doozy

Being in the restaurant industry I have had some pretty tough times at work. But nothing like tonight. Tonight my I left my shift wanting to quit on the spot & never look back. Tonight I became so angry that I needed to go in the bathroom and a have a mini-cry. The difference between tonight's shift & the others? Tonight's shift problems and frustrations had to do with one of the higher ups of my lovely place of work (not being sarcastic, it is quite lovely) while the others were purely to do guests**.

On the bright side, I feel proud of how I handled myself and that I spoke up in a professional and respectful manner. What I don't feel good about is that the same treatment was not bestowed upon me.

hmph.

My solution to this:
Well, I am not quitting - the flexibility and fun far outweigh how upset I am. But, a stiff drink with a good listener followed with a really nice hot bath have nearly done the trick (& writing this helps too). I will now ice it all by watching DALLAS with Handsome Randy. And as far as at work, well, I just nod yes and then do what I think is right & that's advice straight from my grandpa.

**My apologies for the lack of juicy details regarding this matter, but this is the internet afterall, and well, you just never know.

Oh, and we also bought a new car today (before I went to work). That helps too. But I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.

xoxx.

eye of the tiger.

Has anyone else been following the Tiger Attack at the San Francisco Zoo? I am plagued by it & check the San Francisco Chronicle website everyday for new information. This event is very tragic. A young man and tiger died, two more people were seriously injured. Nothing good has been accomplished except maybe a brief press frenzy regarding conditions in zoos, and even that has been a little too hysterical for my taste. While it is looking as though these individuals taunted and teased Tatiana prior to her escape, the zoo completely F'ed up by not complying with recommendations for enclosure heights. But at the same time, who goes to a zoo and F's with the tigers?

And then there is the issue of zoos in general. They're bad, they're good, they're important educational tools, they're a stressful place for species to live. I agree with all of these statements and am obviously conflicted. I know that I wouldn't want to be on display 8 - 10 hours a day for all the world to see and I still avoid a certain local Polar Bear exhibit because they always look so stressed, but I also know that zoos can be magical place for a child and there are some species that do alright there. It's all very incongruous as you can see.

Salon.com posted a great piece a few days ago and it was the most though provoking piece I've read on the subject so far. Read on.

xoxx

sickie, that's me.

This is what I get for thinking things like "You should drink more tea," or "Take better care of yourself," as the majority of my comrades announced that they were sick. Well, apparently I should have had more tea and taken better care of myself as I have been battling for the last week and tonight I have finally been knocked down. I have a fever, the chills - the whole bit. And the Chicken Angel Hair Noodle Soup from Jasmine Deli I lunched on this afternoon didn't do the wonders I had hoped.

Off to bed.

xoxx

Dallas Frenzy.

This is what Handsome Randy & I look forward at the end of most of our weekdays.

It started as a half witted joke between us one evening when we stumbled upon it. Now it has evolved into something we look forward to & make sure we don't miss.

We're really into it.

We loathe J.R. & Cliff while cheering on Sue Ellen, Bobby & Pam, and we love Miss Ellie. We have even referenced The Official Dallas Website regarding the family tree and back stories.

I grew up watching Dallas with my mom on Friday nights. During the opening credits I would strut in front of our living room mirror flipping my hair and pretending to be Pam or Jenna. So the love was already there on my part - it just needed to be re-tapped.

Tune in if your up, every weekday night/morning at 3am on Soapnet.

xoxx

& one more 07 List.

I got this idea from rex.
Cities/Towns I visited in 2007.
1. Saint Paul, Mn
2. New York, Ny
3. Atlanta, Ga
4. Birmingham, Al
5. San Diego, Ca
6. Los Angeles, Ca
7. Tacoma, Wa
8. Seattle, Wa
9. Portland, Or
10. Bellingham, Wa
11. Avon, Mn
12. Duluth, Mn
13. Two Harbors, Mn
14. McGregor, Mn
15. Phoenix, Az
Hmph, That's not that many and one third of them are in Mn - no good. I strive to do better this year.
xoxx

hopes & dreams for 08.

An old college mate, Jesse posted this on her blog. In reading it I was tagged and a little inspired. I hadn't really figured out a way to articulate my hopes and dreams for 08 yet and this seems like a pretty good way to spark my thoughts.

Hopes
1. A democrat will be elected in November.
2. To travel overseas, even if only for a few days.
3. To increase my income.
4. To visit my dad in Kansas City, and bring Handsome Randy with me.
5. Handsome Randy's work travels enable me to travel to new places!

Goals
1. To figure out a way to make a living that does not include waiting tables but is as social and rewarding.
2. To hone in on one (or two) of my art mediums and explode with it.
3. To do a better job of marketing and talking myself up. This is probably the toughest one!
4. To volunteer on a regular basis for a women centered organization.
5. To look forward to 8.3.08 (my 30th birthday) instead of dread it.

Fears
1. A conservative will be elected in November.
2. I won't find a different way to make a living.
3. I'll find a new way to make a living & hate it.

Predictions
1. More friends will have babies.
2. More friends will get married.
3. I will find a new way to earn money and I will love it. love it!
4. Some traveling will be done.
5. A democrat will be elected.

we will see. best of luck to myself as I trudge into the New Year with my hopes and dreams written on my sleeve (& my blog).
xoxx

one more motion picture to see

Charlie Wilson's War.

check it out, I think you'll be glad you did.

xoxx