Windows part 2

Here's the view from the WEST. Uh oh. Dark gray clouds. More rain. This will probably not allow me to finish watching What Would Brian Boitano Make on the Food network. He is hilarious and his delivery style is killing me. Another bummer.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Windows part 1

Here's the view to the EAST of my porch. Goegeous day, although the farmer's market was full of swarms of wasps searching everywhere for sugar. At least that's what one farmer told me... There's been too much rain, and there aren't enough flowers. The bread guy was literally sucking bees into a shop vac, over and over. (But then what??? I have no idea)

Carly(via Blackberry)

Today my daughter's friend came over so we needed something to do. Since I was cleaning out the cupboards (oh, my fascinating life) we got creative.

We found cake mix and made carrot cake cupcakes.... then I made frosting with confectioner's sugar, one stick of UNSALTED butter, two dunkin donuts plain cream cheese packages from the other day, and some lemon and vanilla. Yummy. And plenty of frosting left over.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Cookies

Cookies have become my comfort. No, not real cookies.

For as long as I can remember, at christmastime my mother has made cookies. Spritz and butter-walnut balls dipped in sugar, then meringue kisses and Finnish breads, each tiny "bread" carefully flattened with one finger, brushed with milk, and sprinkled with nonpareils. (Not too much milk, or the tiny nonpareil balls will dissolve into a sad tiny circle of color. ) There are chocolate chip cookies and her cornucopias --something like a pizzelle, with anise, and rolled to an ice cream shape...made one at a time in a 60 second dance...you can't even go in the kitchen. Pour batter, wrap the previous one on a wood cone, flip the iron, slide off the cone, .....repeat.

Triple-double batches of cutout shapes, decorated with various flavors of jimmies/ sprinkles. But not too many red hot balls on the christmas trees. Those are for the reindeer nose, and you know there is only one Rudolph so don't go crazy with that either. And don't use so many silver balls that you break someone's teeth. Just one as a star on top of a tree.

A good number of her recipes, like the cinnamon nut bars and the shortbreads, come from her Danish grandmother, so our family's recipes start with a pound of butter. I use unsalted butter and my friend once had a heated debate with me that I was WRONG to do that. But I gave a recipe for cutouts to another good friend and her husband made her call me because they just weren't the same. It was the butter.

The first year I was married Mr C. knew I was taking a day off in Christmas to make some cookies. He didn't expect 14 kinds stacked on the counter when he got home.
I have calmed down somewhat but still make at least 8 kinds, including Scotchies, with butterscotch and white chips, pecans, and a touch of scotch whiskey.

And did I mention, christmas is less than 4 months away?

At any rate, it's the cookies that get me through the night. I am NOT sitting in a dark family room, nibbling. I promise.

When I wake at four-something in the morning, I make cookies. I do this to stop myself from "thinking".... about jobsites and bills and the upcoming school year and....

Silently, on the movie screen of my mind, I start with butter. I unwrap the sticks, one at a time, and see them going into the bowl. I see her old wooden spoon stirring, incorporating the white sugar into a pale, fluffy yellow. We did NOT use a mixer. She still doesn't. Then the eggs. One, or maybe two. I watch them breaking, sliding into the bowl...and more stirring.

I usually don't get past the eggs. One of these days I may have to decide what kind of cookies I'm making, but that hasn't happened yet. I fade back into sleep.

Sweet, sweet dreams.





Carly(via Blackberry)

Fun times

#1.... my dentist determined today that two of my teeth hit imperfectly and as a result, one is rocking every time I bite anything. I felt very equine as he was inspecting my teeth and gums. Awesome. So I can let him file them down, or I can look forward to that top front tooth maybe falling out. We all have to make choices.

#2.... the search helicopters are circling the river near me again. This is never good. Since Rain is The New Normal around here I am guessing some boater got more than they bargained for. It's very sad.

The last time I heard choppers like this it was a search for an immigrant and his family was leaving things for him on the riverside hoping he'd find his way back. It broke my heart.

#3... I had an odd dream. My daughter had found my blog. She was not pleased. I am blaming JustPlainBeth for that dream since her son is reading her blog now. Darn kids.

#4... My son has grown 2.5" in the past year. We cannot keep the boy fed. My friend called him a tween the other day and I died. I realized he's not my little boy anymore.
Oddly, for the past month or so he has told me compulsively that he loves me, over and over, each night before going to bed. I walk out of his room after giving a hug, kiss, and saying 'I love you' and I am hearing "I love you mom, goodnight, I love you... Goodnight". He will keep going as long as we do, and so I just walk out, hoping he can't see me roll my eyes after the 4th or 5th replay. I am blessed. I am also tired.

#5.... The helicopter is now very low and circling a wooded area just up the hill from me. It's freaky. I'm going to go hide under my bed now....




Carly(via Blackberry)

Wonderful Batty Bats

A few days ago I went in to go to sleep. I opened up the windows because it wasn't RAINING and put a small fan near one, to pull in the cool air. I do have central a/c but it was one of those evenings that feels like autumn, and makes you want to hold on to summer as long as possible.

I conked out, but then I woke from a sound sleep when I heard a thwack against the screen. I don't think burglars flick the screen with their big meaty hands before they climb in and kill you. But in that moment I wasn't sure.
I decided it was probably a moth or something and that I should get a grip and go back to sleep.

Then I heard it again -- from the other bedroom window, five feet down the same wall. Hmmm. Two big meaty-handed burglars?

I got out of bed and tried to look out. By the dim light of the streetlight just past my house, I eventually figured out that a bat was swooping around outside my window, probably for dinner. Great. Was he trying to get IN my window, or just bumping it by mistake now and then?

I quickly looked into my crystal ball and saw ME, not Mr C, as the one who would be more coordinated and have to try to sweep that bat somewhere, somehow, if he got in my room at midnight. Maybe the problem is that I'm a control freak and would feel like I could do it better, and not want to stand by. I digress.

At any rate I shut the windows, and settled back in and was almost asleep when I thought of my daughter, with windows a few more feet down the same wall. Windows which she likes to open before bed, since they have a safety latch that won't let them open more than 2".

Sweeping a bat out of a screaming, and possibly PMS-y daughter's room sounded lile even LESS fun. So I went in and closed her windows, although frankly since she never heard me do that, I almost think a bat could curl up on her pillow and munch bugs and she might not notice under that eye mask.

This long rambling and fairly anticlimactic story has been brought to you because I woke up about 5 am and knew I was done sleeping peacefully. I crept out into the dark family room, where I have a recliner near one window. I opened the window and settled in to check a few things on my crackberry.

And then I heard the bat hit the screen.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Clue and the Office

Someone, please please pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase buy me this for my birthday? Thanks

( http://www.officetally.com/clue-the-office-edition?page=1&cp=1 )

Anyway....

Let's get that rant off the top of my blog page, shall we?

Here are some parts of our vacation I never got around to blogging...robots and huge train layouts and submarines and oh, the view of the Falls is always better from Canada.

I'll let you imagine most of the stories, but the fact that I got us over the border was a triumph. At one point my daughter was sobbing on my shoulder on a bench in a tiny park on the NY side, stomach churning because of taking tooooo much migrane medication, while Mr. Carly and D went wandering off for blocks looking for ice cream. She wanted desperately to go back to a hotel room that we had checked out of.

My triumphs so far today are small, but they are victories nevertheless:

• went to sleep before 11, woke at 2 am for only about 15 minutes, then slept until 6:30. I call that a BIG victory. I don't feel like my head is encased in cement today
  
• dinner is already made, in my brand new "it's only $16 at Target so I will buy it to make sauce like the Boyfriend does" crock pot. (Slow cooker, if you don't like the phrase "crock pot", which my daughter has some peculiar aversion to....). For the record, I am trying "chicken pot pie" today. I was cutting and browning chicken at 9 am and wondering how exactly a crockpot will save me time, since I was still spending 1/2 an hour prepping ingredients and cleaning up.
  
• I have fixed my thermostat.

No really, that needs much more rambling.

I have been fighting with said thermostat since the heat wave started. (detour here: IT"S SUMMER. IT'S FINALLY HOT AND SUNNY AND IT'S summer!!!!!) When we put the addition on our house last summer and switched to gas heat, we got a programmable thermostat. Which would be swell, I suppose, if (a) I actually worked out of the house 9 - 5 like "typical" people, and (b) didn't take aspirin every day and consequently bruise and somehow freeeeeeze all the time.

The thermostat is designed to save energy, by making the house less comfortable when you're not there and awake to "enjoy it". So the day is divided into random periods of morning(6-8), day(8-6), evening(6-10), and night, with a temperature set point for each.

The wizards that programmed Thermy decided that it's really ok to let the house get to 78* at night. Um, no... it's not THAT easy being green. Everyone in my family has a peculiar affectation for having a blanket on their bodies in the dead of summer, so 78 really doesn't work. Thermy is also convinced that I wouldn't mind having the house be 83* all day long. Again, not so much true since I am here at home.

There is also no way to bypass Thermy's evil intentions. Oh sure, I can temporarily move the set temp up or down.... until the next setpoint time starts. Then he goes right back to what he was doing before I asked him nicely to do something different. Just like a man. So that's annoying. The extended Hold doesn't seem to work either, even though I made SURE it's not set to "24 hours" but to indefinite. I am a computer geek. I have the manual. I read the manual. This thing doesn't do what they say it will do.

So today I went through and set EACH period to 74*. Dammit. Yes, for every day of the week. Buttons, buttons, buttons. So much fun.

I'm off to eat lunch and apply for a job I may or may not be qualified for, that sounds really fun.

Where Kelby got it wrong

This is ANOTHER person's blog post about that Kelly Clarkson cover that was retouched.

Scott Kelby, an industry expert on photoshop, wrote about all of the aspects of professipnal portrait photography (lighting, makeup, etc) on his Photoshop Insider blog. His point was that retouching is one step of many.

I was right with him until he dropped in the phrase "her battle with weight". Which is the real point .... She has said MANY times that she DOESN'T battle, and she likes herself no matter what number pops up on the scale.

Yet in this cover-model crazy country, that can't REALLY be true... Of COURSE we all want to look skimpy and perfect, right?

I am a size 14 now, and believe me when I tell you that it is not my # 1 priority to get back down to the 12 I have worn most of my adult life. It's not even priority #2, or 3 or 4.

(If you're keeping score, they are "get a job so I can sleep through the night, take care of my kids day in and day out, have fun with them, and get them ready for the upcoming transitional school year. ")

Do I want to be healthy? Yes. Is there at least one person who knows me IRL who will privately think that I SHOULD "want to" lose weight? Absolutely, and I could name names. Eff them.

Do I want to be skinny? Not really.
The reality for my frame is that I will NEVER be a size itty-bitty.

Do I want to be healthier so my doctor will stop kvetching at me? Yes.

Do I get hit on regularly by men who seem to really like the curves I have ? Hell yes. My last boyfriend absolutely made me feel beautiful no matter what numbers I was charting. He just wanted me to enjoy life, be healthy, and fool around with him as much as possible.

(Can we not mention that previous paragraph to Mr C? Okaythanks. )

Every day there are people in my life who tell me I'm beautiful right NOW, just as I am, crazy and funny and sentimental and everything else that makes me ME. And some of the people I love most in the universe are beautiful RIGHT NOW because they are funny and empathetic and supportive and sometimes deliciously snarky, and I don't give a shit what they weigh, just that they're still alive to be a part of my life.

The tossaway remark that Kelby makes, assuming all curvy women "battle" day in and day out, to be beautiful according to ONE, ironically "narrow" definition, well... It makes me crazy enough to post a long rant at almost 5 am.

Insomnia sucks.



Carly(via Blackberry)

I think I can, I think I can

It has been a horrible, rainy summer. But I might have tomatoes by my birthday.

If you're keeping score at home, my birthday is in November.

Pffffft.

Carly(via Blackberry)

A poem by Moi

There once was a girl named Carly

Grocery stores make her snarly

She watched this cute guy

With a gleam in her eye

then saw that his feet were gnarly

The sight of his feet
made our Carly so sick

She put down her list
so she could leave real quick

"Forget the milk and the bread

I'll just go home instead

-I hope he won't hear
my phone camera click"

Carly(via Blackberry)

The scene

To see the scene I was describing in my previous post, forward to about the 8 minute mark here since I can't seem to embed this...

It is Hope that moves us forward

Today I sang at the funeral for the Mother of one of my oldest friends.

I actually slept fairly well last night. I have become accustomed to waking about 4 am, to lie for at least an hour in the quiet darkness of the house and worry. My weight/health, the state of the various relationships and people in my life, my kid who is anxious about starting high school... oh, and that job thing. Money and bills and where will I work and when might that be and will I be a manager or not and will they like me and what I will I wear...good old fashioned fretting of all sorts, large and small.

My friend called the other day, to tell me herself so that I wouldn't see it in the paper, and said that she was going to put me to work. I realized that she meant, to sing at the funeral. So last night I called Stanley, and asked him what the family had arranged for him to sing.

And then I slept. Someone close to me wished a restful night for me, and I received it.

While we waited for the family to arrive at the church this morning, Stanley and I spoke softly. He estimated that he has, in the last 19 years, played for 2200 funerals.

He told me that as he grows older, he wonders what will happen when he dies. I told him about the curtain call scene at the end of the movie, Titanic. The entire cast is in the grand staircase, which is fully restored under the glass dome, and everyone is joyful as Leonardo and Kate enter, reunited. I said that I thought that would be what it was like, for him. They will all be there to greet him.

Of course, then I told him it had better not be any time soon.

Stanley knows my voice, and knows when to nudge me forward, and when to drop the organ down so that it transposes to fit my range. With him, I can sing. There are times when I sing and what I hear isn't how I want it to sound, and I was so happy that today was NOT one of those days. It sounded nice. I sang entire solos whenever he nodded his head at me, and my voice didn't crack, or vanish on the high notes. It was clear. It was everything I wanted it to be, to comfort L. and her sisters.

L. hugged me outside of the church, and told me how much it had meant to her. "It was my gift to you" I replied. I forgot to buy a mass card, but I could sing for her.

Rest in peace, Dorothy...

More fun at the zoo

Tiger close up
Originally uploaded by carlyq80

I have tried a couple of times to upload photos directly into Blogger, because that's what I'm in the mood to do right now, and it won't have it.

So about 15 of my other zoo pictures are on my flickr feed ... please go and take a look... and OKAY INTERNET, I WILL GO OUTSIDE AND WALK IN THE SUNSHINE NOW..... if I must...

Arriving at the zoo (Road trip, day 3)

We went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. The funny thing is, S and the Boyfriend have each wandered past there, for reasons somewhere between "lost" and "in search of an easier commute home". But she waited for us to roll on into town before going and paying admission ... in other words, this time we went ON PURPOSE.

We barely got out of the car, and I noticed this little darling next to the brake light on her Jeep. Oy vey. I have never SEEN a bug like this before, and I did not get as close as it might seem from this photo, for fear that he might lift off, with those impossibly thin wings, and somehow carry me away and drop me over the tiger cage.

Seriously, WTF is that? (The Boyfriend said it's a locust. But still, WTF is that???)

I have easily 200 photos of zoo animals, and some of them are actually good, but for now I need to go rewrite my resume (I want to make a second version and change it from chronological order to skills, then work history, then volunteering..... just for some of the jobs that I plan to apply for, that are a little bit of a stretch from the formal job duties I've had in the past.)

It's August, and August is hanging over me saying "get a job. Get a job get a job." Booooo.

Wii?

Or nay...

It would appear that our little Mii's missed us while we were on our road trip. As you can see, we have not worked out in over a week and they are bored with us and SLEEPING.

Can't wait to see my fitness test graph.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Nightlife (Road trip day 2)

IMG_0700
Originally uploaded by carlyq80

On our second day in Pittsburgh we took it easy since we were still shot from the drive the day before. The Boyfriend made pancakes with fruit in them... yummy.

We introduced my daughter to the world of Sephora. Cha ching! We also took the kids to Fat Head's and they both loved it.

This photo was taken later that evening, high on a hillside overlooking the southern edge of the city. We were right near a beautiful church, and you can see two shots of that in my Flickr feed.

I love using a digital camera, because you can take a few shots and change the settings around to try to get what you're after. I didn't have my tripod, but I used a manual mode to set the shutter to be open for a few seconds - I also used the self timer feature so that I could avoid capturing any shaking of the camera that might come from hitting the shutter button. So even though I was holding the camera, I braced myself on a railing post and held it as still as possible while the shutter was actually open.

I had some success... I ended up using a film speed of 800 to capture this shot, which has the least blur. The shutter speed was 4/10 of a second, which is fairly long to hold a camera still without a tripod. I did try one at 200 ISO and 2.5 seconds, and it's just a bit too blurry for my liking, but would have been acceptable if it were my only shot.

:::saving my coins for a "real" camera and a nice tripod..... :::::::

Road trip day 1

The day I threw the kids in the car and left for our road trip started out bumpy. We went straight to Dunkin' Donuts so I could begin to apply my strategy of keeping them happy via regular adminstration of junk food, and two things happened. Keep in mind I hadn't even hit the highway yet.


One child began quietly crying because we weren't going to see Mr. Carly for a week. The other child, when casually asked "Do you have any money?" admitted to bringing ALL of the recently received graduation gift money along. Um... time to go to the ATM to deposit most of THAT.


Sirius has a spy camera aimed at me, because "Turn the Car Around" started playing. Oy. It was already 8 am when I was at the ATM, an hour past my threat of "I'm throwing you in the car, ready or not, and we're leaving."

***

For the next seven hours it went something like this:

1. Drive.
2. Potty break.
3. Put a new movie in the portable DVD player. (thank you, Express, for loaning it to me).

Rinse, repeat.


We managed not to tour EVERY rest stop on the NYS thruway. But we didn't get to Erie and Quaker Steak & whatever until almost 3 pm, and that had been my target place for LUNCH, SO WE WERE GNAWING ON THE MENUS.



At Erie you turn "south" and keep going for a couple of hours, to Pittsburgh. Drive. Potty... you get the idea.

***

We got to Pittsburgh somewhere around 6pm, not bad all things considering. The Boyfriend had cooked BBQ pulled chicken for us. Delicious. We walked around the neighborhood near their apartment and enjoyed not sitting in a car.


Then we went to Oh Yeah for icecream...




Amazing. I had peaches and grahamcrackers since the peach cobbler (that day's ice cream special) was all gone. The Boyfriend had something with Baklava, and maybe orange zest? I can't remember. Everyone loved their stuff. No one had bacon.

We could hear the concert starting - the Gin Blossoms were performing a few blocks away, on Walnut Street. We walked over to check it out. I got fairly close, but not close enough to take a photo, because my kids were not enjoying being the shortest people in a dense crowd. But I heard a couple of my favorite songs and then we headed back to the apartment for some SLEEEEEEP.

Mia porcha

I have driven 1400 miles in the past 10 days. I found my way. I rocked it. I knew where I was at all times (I heart blackberry gps plus google maps ). I adapted as needed, changed plans when required and enjoyed myself immensely.

I am drinking cheap white wine...out on my porch. Not even BOX wine, it's sold in INDIVIDUAL bottled servings. Sad. But I am happy to be back on my porch... at home. Even in the rain. Well, maybe LESS RAIN would be awesome.

I saw tigers and submarines and waterfalls... ate cupcakes and steaks, and there were wines... I need to do laundry and pull the best photos so as to not bore you, internet...

I promise...more soon... I am so tired.

Your road trip girl,
~C

Carly(via Blackberry)

two thousand

(this is my post #2000. I just noticed on the dashboard...)

I have 2000 photos already that I will need to download from my memory card on my camera. Or at least it seems like it. Can't do that until I get home, and I won't be home for a few days.

I feel like I have driven 2000 miles, but it's been more like 700 so far on our road trip. The kids and I first headed to Pittsburgh. This required driving ALLLLLLLLL the way across NY state. Which, while being HOME, and sunny for a change, and fairly straight roads and all, sort of began to suck because eventually it seemed like the drive would never end... as if perhaps we'd ended up in some sort of purgatory and we will just keep driving down a road that doesn't really end.

My plan was to stop in Erie for lunch, and never having made the drive before with three people in the car who have bladders the size of fancy shot glasses.... it seemed like a plan. We literally stopped at EVERY OTHER REST STOP. Oy.

So, Erie was where we had lunch, but at 3:30 when we were ready to gnaw on the menus.

We made it to Pitt by about 6 pm I think. The Boyfriend was absolutely wonderful to us and cooked 3 wonderful dinners while we were there. He drove us around and took us on walking tours and just generally was awesome. He even gave up his bed for a couple of nights so that we would be more comfortable. Keeper.

We managed to see the city skyline at night, and get to the zoo, and the Science museum, and a submarine outside, and as I mentioned my camera card is darn near full. We also got to see Suzy's new hospital, just the public areas we were permitted to be in, of course (since it's new employees can bring family in for tours)

Sometime next week you will start seeing all of those photos.

We are in Ohio now and an old friend of mine and his wife have taken us in for a couple of days and made us feel very much at home. We've been lounging and swimming in their pool and watching their tv which is the size of my son's mattress at home. Between that, the xbox, and the giant lovable dog here, my son doesn't want to leave. We watched Ghost Town, which was a fantastic movie, and I am not smart enough to get a link to work on my host's MacBook (it's probably stupid blogger...) but you should really netflix that movie, and make it your business to see it. HYSTERICAL. And sweet and just a great movie.

SO now it's off to Niagara Falls today. Yay. More driving. If you see someone on the highway with a giant stuffed Sully in the passenger seat, that would be me. Point me to the nearest rest stop.

PS: I also found out that after saying NOT to submit a photo of a flower, the walk leader at our site picked a flower picture in the Kelby contest. :::rolls eyes:::: I think APB's shots were better.

Giant Pez dispensers

As seen in Kards Unlimited...

www.kardsunlimited.blogspot.com.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Pasta fool

Shopping at williams sonoma on Walnut street

I'd like this, some carbonara pasta sauce, and a jar of carmelized shallots... Please?

Carly(via Blackberry)

Sunday art

Just a few more shots from the day of the photo walk. Here is a sidewalk "thing" that I liked but it wasn't actually IN the park so I didn't work on the image at all with my photo editor. It could use some darkening, and I don't know what else.

I like photographing small details like this, that people usually ignore as they go about their business.

This kid was running and I thought he was adorable. I panned badly and the shot is not well composed.. but I love that neither of his feet are touching the ground. I wonder if good cropping would help this? ::::resists urge to play with this photo for 1/2 an hour while I should be packing... yes, I am writing this as a future post, on Saturday afternoon...::::::

This one almost was entered in the contest. In the end I liked the car photograph better...and we were only allowed to submit two.

Dead

it's aaaaaalive.... master...... to me, this looks like a zombie clawing out of the earth...

anyway... this is the shot I entered into the contest associated with the photowalk... sorry for the repeat to some of you who have seen 3 different versions of this while I tried to refine it...

This

...picture I took at a restaurant tonight will give you an idea of how good my dinner was....mostly nice (veal picatta, great lemony/buttery sauce) but with a little bit of weird (aren't oven browned potatoes supposed to be cut smaller than just "in half" ?)

Carly(via Blackberry)

Today

Side note... My current pet peeve is people saying "tuh-day" instead of too-daym

Tuhday I took my son and his friend kayaking. They weren't into it at first and I had to wave snacks in the air and race away to get them to follow me.

The weather wasn't perfect but there was no rain, and there were some wonderful sunny patches.

I also got to listen in while they talked about upcoming Giants training camp (which lead to a rehash of "Plaxico shot himself...")

Also Lady Gaga's lifestyle choices came up. I had to laugh because R said "she's bisexual.... And you know what else? She likes girls AND boys...".

I had the pleasure of wearing a life jacket shared by countless sweaty men... And the guys at the boathouse dropping my fleece in the lake.... And leaving it there until I explained that Yes, I Do Still Want That.

But there were a few times when the boys were far enough away... I just enjoyed the trip. I won't be able to move tomorrow. My shoulders already ache. ;-)


Carly(via Blackberry)

Blueberries

...from the farmer's market, homemade biscuits, and real homemade whipped cream.... Yum!

Carly(via Blackberry)

Take a Hike

I took a walk around a nearby state park that has two hiking trails marked... I was pretty proud of myself for successfully following the one I wanted to... and for making it up and down a steep embankment or two, to get shots I wanted, without falling into the river OR managing to get hurt... the trail looked pretty much like this...

And, well...

You know I have to do this, right??? I neeeeed to. My daughter likes the way these pictures come out. She's got some of my quirks. :-)

it's all her fault.... sorta...

Friends

My friend APB has always been a go-to guy for PC help (he talked me through installing new memory into my dust chamber, um, desktop), and photography is a common interest that we share. Along with cheesecake. Mmmm, cheesecake.

APB has been very kind to me, especially since I got job eliminated. When my last day was approaching he brought me Starbucks goodness and more or less convinced me to take a road trip with my free time this summer.

But now I am rambling... at any rate he passed me a link to the Kelby photowalk and I was all excited and replied with something mature like "DUDE, we have to do this!" Then I lost my password at the last minute and couldn't remember the time the walk started, so he gave me that info too. See? A good friend to have in your contacts list.

My friend John captured this moment at the photo walk of
me, laughing at APB because I cracked him up with a "that's what she said" joke... ruining his concentration and all.... I'm known for being something of a distraction I think...

and then this one of me letting him take the picture he was actually trying to compose... (we were shooting the very old robin's egg blue Dodge pickup)

my friends put up with so much nonsense from me! You rock, Andy.

(and wow, John, this light made my hair look fabulous! thank you! )

PS: John? could you do something about my arms?? (they do NOT look this big in the mirror...woah... I'm off to do some pushups on the wii now...)

Sunday art... a walk in the park

Yesterday at the local Scott Kelby photo walk site I took pictures, but based on what our walk leader said, I was trying hard not to do the standard "tree in a park" or "pretty flower" pictures for purposes of the contest... these were a few I liked...

Henry Johnson ...(wiki link) ... who was kinda cute if I do say so. That's inapropriate, but not as much as what I accidentally said to APB when I saw the statue. ("Huh, I never saw this before, ... I never came in this end before" - since we were doing "that's what she said" jokes all day, he doubled over laughing. Sorry A. I actually didn't INTEND to act like a 13 year old in that moment.)

part of a statue... me, fixated on tiny details. How true this rings...

While I was taking the above picture, the two poets besieged my companions, wanting to read to us and have their photo taken. I began hiding. I should have stayed hiding. One poet had a poem about a Girl, who was a godess, and he looked my way at key points in the poem and I wanted to sprout wings and fly away. :::hangs head in shame::::

this for some reason is one of my favorite shots of the old Dodge we saw. I know. Not much to it, but it really appeals to that quirk part of my brain that likes robin's egg blue, and tiny details of things (and tonal curves. Look, this post has NO WIERD PICTURES WITH FREAKY TONAL CURVES. Are you proud of me, internet? thank you. I will post a couple tomorrow from my hike today.)

this is the door handle of the car. It probably DOES need a tonal curve adjustment to punch it up. If only I knew the RIGHT way... hahaha. Look, no electronic keypad to get in. Me likee. Right after I took this picture I told APB yet another TWSS punch line, and our other friend took pictures of us cracking up. They're awesome. But I don't have a model release on APB so I won't share them with you. There are rules, you know.

technically, I suppose this is a flower and so I can not enter it in the Kelby contests because flowers are boring, yada yada.

I have a few others, that I am actually thinking of submitting; since I can only submit two I will wait until I see what I have on the memory card on J's camera. He was crazy, um, nice enough to bring a spare memory card and let me shoot for a while in RAW format on his REAL camera with multipoint focus and a 70-300 lens.... damn I want a real camera!!!

More tomorrow, my friends.

Photo walk

Today I went on scott Kelby's Photo Walk
(http://worldwidephotowalk.com/)

I went with a couple of friends and had a blast. It was interesting to see what they shot and the angles they used, vs. what I was seeing and wanted to shoot. Plus we made 1,000 "that's what she said" jokes. Awesome.

We saw (in no particular order)lots of scary stuff in the "lake", a classic old Dodge, a guy who had a crazy big dog AND a tiny yappy dog (midnight snack?) ...and a pair of discarded panties that I DARED my friends to photograph and submit as one of their two entries for the contest. Somehow I'm afraid I'll see a photo of those panties soon. Yecccchhhhh.

We also met some self proclaimed "real poets" who read us their work for a while. Interesting. Of course I missed the opportunity to snap them shaking my friend's hand. D'oh!
I also was afraiiiiiid to ask this guy in a flashy golf shirt carrying a guitar on his back if I could take his picture. Unclicked. Live and learn.

The group leader was cool and encouraged us to not shoot "just a flower picture" because that won't win the contests associated with Scott Kelby. His point was to be clever, creative, etc. Wouldn't you know, my best shot is a flower that apb insisted that I should shoot from underneath? The backlighting is awesome. Grrrrr.

I already have one favorite shot, will pick my other one asap.
My friend brought a spare memory card and let me use his camera for a while. It was kind of like going from a fairly nice four door sedan with automatic transmission, to a convertible sports car with stickshift... sweet. I have to wait to see how those pictures turned out. But I will post some of mine from my 'sedan' tomorrow.

Great day.... ;-)


Carly(via Blackberry)

I guess

...that I am really hungry. Never goto farmer's market and grocery store when hungry.

No fresh bread or wine at the farmer's market - boooo!

(Stupid rain!!! The guy I got the fresh mozzarella from said "that's what we get for living in Seattle..." Heh. )

Decisions, decisions. The steak or the pasta?

But if I cook all of this now there will be leftovers - yum!

Carly(via Blackberry)

It's SUMMER????

IMG_0354a
Originally uploaded by carlyq80

I lifted my head from a pile of papers today and it was gorgeous outside. So I dragged the kids away from the television and we went to the sub store, and then to a nearby park, to sit outside and eat lunch.

We walked around and I took some photos while they tossed a baseball back and forth. I wished aloud for a kayak several times. Amazingly, one did not materialize out of thin air.

Of course being the age they are, they got bored after a while. It was nothing but excitement after that. Groceries! Dinner, dishes, and laundry!

My life is nothing but adventure.

(more pictures on my flickr feed... )

Today's retail therapy

Long morning.... But my MIL's surgery seems to have gone well.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

So I got this for Mia Porcha after lunch...kind of a "yay I made it through this day".

Here's a song in rotation on my ipod these days....

(Kate Voegele/Silver Lining)
Most days I try
My best to put on a brave face
But inside
My bones are cold and my heart breaks
But all the while
Something's keeping me safe and alive

[chorus]
But so many people are looking to me
To be strong and to fight
But I'm just surviving
And I may be weak but i'm never defeated
And I'll keep believing
In clouds with that sweet silver lining

Carly(via Blackberry)

Things that make you go Hmmmm

I'm pretty sure that FOUR fish went into this pond yesterday. I only found THREE today.....

Carly(via Blackberry)

Apparently it IS

...too much to ask, for it to NOT RAIN for two days in a row here in upstate NY this summer.

But we planned that it would rain, and everyone fit in my house (thanks to last summer's addition) and we had this...



so who cares about rain? Suzy and I teamed up to decorate it Friday after dinner when we were both exhausted; I had baked the cake earlier in the day but hadn't frosted it. So I did the basketweave, which really made The Boyfriend confused until I showed him the way it's done. Suzy did the writing and the awesome diploma (rolled fondant) and we slapped on some gum paste daisies left over from the 50th anniversary party (saved for this cake, actually).



We looked at it and said "I'm fine with that. You fine with that? Let's go to sleep."

The party itself was awesome. One of the highlights was my mother showing up with four tiny goldfish for my mini fake-rock pond that I break out for family gatherings. Glug. I have THE most adorable picture of my almost-2 nephew looking at the pond and laughing at the fish.

The Boyfriend helped with fetching cold cut platters and making beans and just generally was my assistant caterer/dishwasher for the day. I need to bring him lots of beer next time that I go visit. His assistance allowed me to a) enjoy the party b) have time to TALK to my guests and c) drink lots of wine.

We ended the evening with a few favorite people on the porch wherein I had more wine. Speaking of the wine... I do not actually remember taking my contact lenses out. ::::blink:::: I'm pretty sure I did though. Hmmm.

I like that Boom, boom, pow

It's gorgeous today and I'm cooking for the partay... Just the cake left.

Peace out people...... cross everything you have two of that I get decent weather for a change tomorrow!!!! Is two days in a row too much to ask?

Carly(via Blackberry)

What a day

Crazy busy, tons of groceries, and spilled THIS on myself on the way to my daughter's haircut appointment. So much for the post about how it was a little oasis in my day. Sigh...

Carly(via Blackberry)

Uh oh, we're having a party in 3 days

:::looks around:: Hmmm. this place is a mess.

Hey, did you guys know that today was 07/08/09 ? at 10:11 I made my kids stand in front of the microwave for a photograph. They know I'm crazy... it's easier just to give in to my wild demands. (You know you want to do it too... there's always P.M. people! )

I rewarded them with an introduction to the Village People. I started singing "In the Navy" for some reason I can't recall right now... then found the video for it, plus this one too....


Ymca - The most popular videos are here

So yes, we are goofing off. The party is Saturday. Somehow I'll pull it together, but I always do this for some reason.

Let them eat cake 09

Went with "cute lazy" this summer. Wilton pan, strawberry frosting on funfetti...gotta have sprinkles!!!

Carly(via Blackberry)

Farmer's market

.... yum... (sourdough bread... in case you're wondering...)

I would love to show you how beautiful the farmer's market was today, but I didn't bring my camera ::::thud:::

We went after church. I watched Stanley play Stars and Stripes (both hands AND feet working on the organ, it's amazing...) and then my mother in law received (in her words, "last rites") the Sacrament of the Sick, because she is due to have surgery a week from tomorrow and she's very nervous about it.

SO, no camera. But sunshine, boats, (the farmer's market is on the waterfront) and great clam chowder. Sometimes it's good to put the camera down and just enjoy the day, I guess.

I like to photograph food on my new counters.. I work with the light I have usually, which isn't "Pro" I suppose. Maybe after the graduation party I will have time for more "serious" photography. Heh.

Mmmmm. Fourth of July parties require cherries. (Our family party is a day late because we* had to work at a Steamboat Festival yesterday.)

I'm now going to eat a slice of this lovely bread, and some tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, sugar, fresh basil, and grated parmigiana cheese. Talk amongst yourselves.

* to be honest, I snuck out to see The Hangover and didn't go out until later.

Stormy

I am SO over the crappy weather. Can't we even have a nice holiday????

Carly(via Blackberry)

Finito

No one is allowed to measure or go near these with a level.

BECAUSE I AM HAPPY WITH THEM.... :)

Now to clean up the sheetrock dust and little bits of insulation...

Carly(via Blackberry)

Tim Taylor is my muse

I just hung this shelf by MYSELF. And it's level, biyatches....

Carly(via Blackberry)

Why do they have stuff like this at registers?

....they see me coming.

I don't usually buy much lipgloss because anything petroleum based makes me blister almost immediately.

But it's summer, hiking, boating, etc... And I fell for some good product placement last night.

Badger Balm is great. It's all natual stuff but has no SPF. I first discovered it in Bath & Body works years ago and I regularly shop their website.. Www.Badgerbalm.com

Last night I was charmed by mini Yankee Candle lip balms. Whata sucker I am! But the ingredients look safe, and they were only $3 so I grabbed one, and I like it. Nice and soft, and a few flavors like Vanilla Cupcake to pick from. Plus, SPF of 15.

The Gap product is actually the same quantity (0.14 oz) but looks bigger and has higher SPF, so they got me for another dollar. But in looking at my receipt, the Yankee was on sale. Badger kills them at 0.75 oz for $5.50 plus s/h. But it has the ick factor of being a big tub of goo you have to put a finger or brush into, so it grosses my sister out. ;-)

I'm sure this is the most exciting post you've read in a long time, but THE SUN IS APPARENTLY GONE FOREVER. So I have nothing better to do. My pain is now yours.

Happy 4th of July everyone! Kiss a soldier!!




Carly(via Blackberry)

Too funny

Enhanced id's have a RFID chip. They come with a handy foil sleeve to convince you that Big Brother can't really track you. RiiIiiight.

Carly(via Blackberry)

A little project

... I've had this frame ABOUT a year and finally decided to put photos from the two recent graduations and the big 50th anniversary party into it... the pictures were full of clashy and bright colors, until I had a brainstorm(it was a very SMALL storm....more like a passing shower ) and converted all three of them to sepia.

Now it goes very nicely in that big empty spot on my kitchen wall. It was a floating glass frame but I stuck paper in since I don't have kitchen wallpaper.

The middle photo is the golden anniversary couple and all of their grandchildren. Awwwwww.

And for you scrappers... Paper Adventures, Heirloom Interiors, Vintage Rose-Peach. I've had it a few years... so good luck finding it. But it is archival paper.

Frasier

Photo by moi... this morning, on my rainy walk... it took 20 minutes of stalking to get one good shot, but I love this...

I have an odd affection for this bird... he has been hanging around my pond for years. Sometimes I see him in the old dead tree, up in the woods behind my house. He will eventually decide to go back to the pond and fly over my head with a whooop whooop whooop.

Once (long ago) I saw him standing on one foot for no particular reason in the back of my yard, and figured my neighbor had made some sort of a bizzarre scarecrow as a practical joke. Then I opened the window for a closer look, and about had a heart attack when he spread his wings and took off.

Really, they're big.

(The largest North American heron, with a head-to-tail length of 91–140 cm (36-55 in), a wingspan of 167-201 cm (66-79 in), and a weight of 2–3.6 kg (4.4-8 lbs), it is blue-gray overall,..... thanks wiki... )

And it's not ACTUALLY a Crane. But back when I watched him fish every day, I named him Frasier. That was right after I'd had my gallbladder out, and was just starting to take walks to get my strength back and recuperate. I'd walk to the bench, sit for a while, and since it was usually around 9 am, he'd be out looking for his breakfast.