biablo wedding

highlights -

seeing my friend glowing from the inside out

meeting the man that adores her and understanding why she fell in love with him so quickly

the beautiful peacocks prancing around the garden at dusk

seeing her brother's eyes tear up with pride, hope and love

the bacon wrapped shrimp hors d'oerves (farewell feeble attempt at vegetarianism)

sitting on rocking chairs on the porch with ry, mar and dev as the evening came to a close

*
photo credit: who other than ryan-i-have-a-gift-lash.

me and my squeeze. and his other squeeze - the iphone pocket guitar app

photographer extraordinaire: ryan lash.

the answer to your question is YES. YES THEY ARE. actually,that's not true at all so all you ryan lash stalkers can take a deep sigh of relief

conversations with the people i heart a whole lot.

g: so ryan just sent me a message to say he's coming to stay

m: when?

g: um. tomorrow.

m: what?

g: he just said 'i'll be there tomorrow'

m: okay...well. for how long?

g: till we go to austin

m: were you going to give me advance notice?

g: isn't this advance notice?

m: (sigh) parrots. canadians. whatever. invite them all.

and at that point i put my head on the table and laughed for about three minutes straight.


8:36 PM

r: can I bring you anything from canada?

g: MAPLE SYRUP
we love it
i'll make you pancakes

r: you can't get maple syrup in nashville?

g: the maple syrup in nashville tastes like cowboy boot insole
well not really but it's not legit
isn't canadian maple syrup legit?
go tap a tree
get tapping

r: the legit-ist

**

meet polly

we are parrot-sitting for a day. i'm undecided about birds. i like birds in the sky, perched on trees, the silhouettes they create on telephone wires. but i'm not a fan of captive birds.

(and yes, i know that screech owls are birds too but they are an exception to this rule because they are adorable and their heads swivel with robotic precision)

my mum and sister on the other hand love these beady eyed winged beasts, so this photo is for them.

no bears. but bliss nonetheless.

i loved our weekend escapade to banner elk, north carolina.

first of all, how can you not be charmed by a place called 'banner elk'. the name alone conjures up steaming hot cocoa in a log cabin.

it reminded me a lot of small towns in new zealand - what with the clean air, the mountains, the rivers, waterfalls and good, wholesome, toothless people. actually i have no idea if they were wholesome. but i can't imagine how you could live in that kind of natural loveliness and not be a nice person.

the weekend was full without any real agenda - my favorite. we explored collin's college and drank copious cups of coffee. we fed ducks. and napped. we played pool and i found out dev is a ping pong pro. we learned useless trivia and hurt our brains playing boggle. i ate the best lasagna of my life and got to do it all with a family that adores each other and life in general. can't really beat that.

*

in other news, a lot of tennessee gas stations are running dry because of the shortage due to the hurricane. so then people went crazy and decided to panic and keep topping up their tanks causing huge lines. supposedly there was a shooting the other day because someone cut in line to get gas. it makes me wonder what americans would do if crisis really hit. not just 'i can't drive my SUV because it's out of gas' crisis, but 'i can't feed my child' crisis. how would we handle real adversity?

*

this week i'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of lashface.
i'm also planning on going to a yoga class. or hiring two people to grab my arms and legs and stretch me out. the second option sounds like a lot less work on my part and perhaps more satisfying.

*

over the weekend i met a screech owl at the wildlife rehabilitation center. and now i want one. if you saw it you would want one too.

'dev and ducks' banner elk, north carolina

lookalike

this woman, spied on the wonderful sartorialist, looks just like my dear friend afrooz.

things i miss about afrooz:

her impeccable sense of style
how she would call me golum
her springy ringlets
her husband luke
her homemade ferraro rocher chocolates
her ability to turn anything she touched into a work of art

lions and tigers and bears. oh my.

this weekend i'm going on a little roadtrip with dev and his maw and paw to boone, north carolina. we are going to visit devon's younger brother. and frolic in the mountains.

i don't know why i wrote 'maw' and 'paw' but i think it has to do with the fact that i've decided that this is how people in boone talk. and i'm getting ready.

like any savvy traveler i looked up where we are going. but then i got distracted by pictures like this brilliant kodak moment.

in other news, next week sir ryan lash will be back in nashville. we will smoke hookah and drink tea and reminisce on days of yore. then we will all pile into his mum's car and drive to austin. oh so much fun to be had.

to conclude, if you have any spare time can you whisk up an iphone roadtrip application for me? complete with games and audio books and a complete listing of all the cracker barrel's in america?

thanks in advance.

genius invention of the day

pop bread and fillings in these little bags (reusable up to 300 times), put it in the toaster, and hooray - you can make delicious toasties without the messiness.

i heart inventors.

oh yes, they sing and dance. and hillary is on sale.

"ornament of honesty"

- inspired by the quotes we are studying in our 'reflections on the life of the spirit' class:

"Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues"

"Without truthfulness progress and success, in all the worlds of God, are impossible for any soul."

"Beautify your tongues, O people, with truthfulness, and adorn your souls with the ornament of honesty."

coming home to devon's notes makes any day, the loveliest day.

sh-croc horror

marabeth came home the other day with a confession. she had bought her first pair of crocs.

i know.

I KNOW.

what is the world coming to? first the turbulent economy and disastrous hurricanes. and now this. really? is it too much to ask for a peaceful, non eventful weekend full of picnics and posies?

what is a posy/posie anyway? and who cares enough to look it up?

the feeling i have about crocs is pretty much hostility with a dash of repulsion.

i know they are just shoes. and i know they are "super comfortable". and yes, i've even heard you can eat them for sustenance if you are stuck in the dessert with no food. but i was still in the 'vehemently opposed to crocs and probably won't be changing my mind any time soon' camp.

until i tried on her pair.

it was like stepping into a cloud of marshmallow magic. little invisible trampolines put a bounce in every step i took. so light! so easy to slip on and off! suddenly i felt like dancing to ABBA.

sudden realization: i didn't want to take them off.

just so we are clear: i still loathe the original crocs. the only exception being those on toddler feet, and then it doesn't matter because little feet look cute always. preferably shoe and sockless actually.

the pair marabeth bought are the 'malindi' version. they pretend to be a ballet flat. and they don't knock you on the head with their blatant disregard for style. under jeans you barely notice them. i call them convert crocs. because, let's be honest here, now i want a pair.

in order to reclaim some dignity i can attest that i EXTRA hate the shoes below. the merging between original croc and heel. whoever thought up this marriage should be locked away. with the person that designed the cellophane wrapping on CDs. they would probably get along.

chromeotastic.

okay so i admit it, i'm a flighty blogger. nothing for days and then BAM(!) i'm bulk blogging to make up for it.

my bombardment of posts would not be complete without mention of the below song. it will always remind me of dev because he will decide, at random intervals in the day, that we need to listen to it. that it's important to stop everything and start an impromptu dance party.



in other news:

i've been busy gearing up for the broadway season to start - the first show we are presenting is avenue q. i'm preparing for an outraged overly conservative southerner to throw a bible at my head. i'm just hoping it's the paperback version.

i have discovered (thanks to anusce) the perfect sweet treat sans cane sugar: key lime pie lara bars. mmm. now i'm craving one.

i refuse to acknowledge that summer is nearly over.

raw onions give me headaches but i forget and eat them anyway.

i'm planning a road trip extravaganza with ryan lash to austin.

pine nuts take any dish to the next level. that next level is 'level awesome'.

i'm spending a whole lot of time with this boy which results in feeling like the luckiest girl.

agreed.

like i just told Q

i want to marry this music video and have it's babies, tend to its grandchildren and hold hands with it on my death bed.

for nina

i don't have apple stock...

but i should. everything they do is magic. i love their advertising. the trendy mac vs dorky pc ads? brilliant. i even love the packaging apple uses. my iphone box was so pretty that i want to cuddle it as i sleep at night.

how can you look at the ad below and not want to lick the screen? case and point.



















i don't think i've been blatant enough about my iphone adoration in this sphere, so let me rectify that by stating for the record that this little contraption has firmly lodged itself into my heart.

and it continues to astound me with its powers. for instance, midomi -an application you can get for free- where you hum or sing a few bars of a song and it can tell you the name of the song, the artist, and a direct one click method of purchasing the track.

goodbye to those frustrating moments when you have a song running through your head and you don't know who sings it. hello genius who created this application, can we be friends?

obsessed? maybe. ashamed to love an object so much? heck no.

for all your elvis impersonator needs

the security guard in my building continues to amuse me. today he pointed out that he has an 'elvis duck'. of course, i had to take a picture. please note the makeshift elvis calendar he has fashioned for himself in the background. oh and lest you forget, he is also an exotic dancer.

i think i just threw up a bit in my mouth.

my life could actually be a sitcom.

status check: no longer pals

so we went to the sushi nazi (sam) last friday and he is back to hating me. sigh. i don't know how to handle this emotional roller coaster ride.

as soon as we walked in, all cheerful and ready for some delicious sushi, he started barking orders and telling us we needed to back away from the counter. followed with a demand that we write our three orders on the same order form.

he pointed to a table where there was already a customer and growled 'you go. sit there'. do you know how awkward it is to go to a table where someone is unassumingly eating their lunch and tell them that you have just been instructed to sit with them? super awkward.

so we figure out what we want. write it carefully on one form. double check it, knowing there is no room for error. and i gingerly go up to give it to him. i thought if i made eye contact an smile he'd remember me, and in that moment of recognition he'd drop his malice and we'd be buddies again.

no such luck. he glares at me and i retreat back to our table.

when our sushi was ready we didn't hear him say our name, and so he begins yelling at us from behind the counter. the other customer's sympathetic eyes follow me as i go up to the counter and retrieve our plates heaped with sushi and seaweed salad.

we spent our lunch talking in hushed tones, scared to tip the delicate balance of sam's tolerance for us.

did i mention that he doesn't accept tips? that he actually has a no tipping policy and if you tip him he gets mad and throws the money back at you? he also has a sign that says 'i'm fine' because he doesn't want people to ask him how he's doing.

the problem is that now all i want is to be liked by sam. i want to walk in and have his face light up as he calls me 'golzi'.

something tells me that is not going to happen any time soon.

ps. only $5 for these two massive rolls. such-a-deal.

summer is winding down and...

i'm so grateful for:

1. las paletas (today dev had his first - pineapple/lime - otherwise known as so refreshing you want to bathe in it deliciousness. i had hibiscus - hol's favorite. who knew a flower could be so flavorsome?)

2. open, honest, communication. i love being able to talk without censoring or layers or filters. consulting has taken on a whole new meaning.

3. pandora. and the fact that my iphone has a pandora application so while i sit at my desk i can just play 'chromeo radio' all day long. i'll give YOU bonafide loving iphone. mwah.

4. friendships that are not weakened by distance or time apart. i have many friends who i haven't seen in months, others who i haven't seen in years. and yet, i know with certainty, that if they walked into my house right now i'd make tea, carefully choose a mug that suited their style, and we'd start up wherever we left off.

5. DHG and his infectious enthusiasm and unbridled happiness. a tangible, inspiring example of what it means to be a 'team mate' and how to love with complete abandon.

6. the flowers i notice that grow out of the cracks in the concrete as i walk to work.

7. adventurers and artists.

8. the sushi nazi who used to scare me and now begrudgingly puts up with me when i go in an order just a heaping plate of edemame. on my last visit he even gave me a nickname - golzi.

9. the moments big and small where nothing else really matters.

iteammate (obviously the i-preface has not yet lost its novelty)

americano with whole milk.

so after several months of staying away from coffee i'm back on the coffee band wagon. or off. i can never remember how the wagon analogy works. i should just stop using it.

i'm really enjoying the daily cup. or three.

in other news, this weekend was everything i needed. well, except for sleep.

pharmacy finds

for whatever reason a recent trip to some random drugstore in middle-of-no-where-america with roxanne and marabeth proved to be a denizen of hilarity. maybe it was because when we walked in there was a weird tapestry of a hero who we didn't recognize at all, or the near impossible hunt to find ear plugs, or the eye patch that for whatever reason i nearly purchased just so i could wear it and speak like a pirate.

what i want to know, is who, under the age of 80, buys ear plugs? dear world - i present you with marabeth joy reichel.

iobesession

rox has one too. this makes her the only person who is not annoyed by my devotion to my new toy.