My new path

So, I've been toying around with the idea of a new career for myself. This career would involve some of my favorites things: me, running, blogging, traveling and lots of fancy restaurants.

Here's the plan: I run across the USA, stopping and eating at hip foodie hot-spots along the way while blogging about it. It would become such a sensation that these restaurants would start to feed me for free. Running shoes companies would sponsor me and give me free shoes and running gear. Jason and the dogs could follow me in an RV. I figure at an average of 20 miles a day, it would take 128 days to get to California via I-40. I would then run up route 1 and then back across the northern part of the USA. All together, I'm thinking this would take a year or so, 20 pairs of shoes, and lots of good food.

It would kind of be like when Forrest Gump ran across America, except way cooler. Sure, people have done it before, but are they me? Did they do it while eating amazing food? Did they blog about it? Were they followed by a baby pit bull/boxer mix and a red wolf in an RV?

I even have a name for my project- but my lips are sealed- I wouldn't want anyone to steal my perfect nomenclature.

Anybody want to fund me?

the things kids say

Student: Hey Ms. Barbee, guess what?! This weekend I saw a movie with a man making sex to a horse.

Me: Uhhhh
(while thinking- Ahhhhhhh! What do I say???? Either this girl must a have seen a movie production of Equus, or pretty crazy porn of some sort...woah.)

Teachable moment, anyone?

the new hot

Sufjan, you've done it again. When you promised me 50 albums, one for every state in the US, I doubted that you would ever pull it off. At 1 album a year, that would have had you not finishing until you're 75 or so... It is a daunting task. So instead, you said F-it, I will make beautiful music about other things and the 50 states project can wait.

And you did make some beautiful music.

This new album is pretty awesome. Epic. Grandiose. Peaceful and restrained at times, and gargantuanly bombastic at other times.

Jingle Bells!

Trumpets!

Think mad scientist creates robots that destroy the Earth and all of human civilization, and then remorsefully laments his creations in his final hour as they devour him.

Gorged

Sufficiently so...








And there's evidence of me blogging about it. And I'm blogging about me blogging about it...deep.

Happy Thanksgiving

We galloped and now we will gorge.

Oil paradox

They say that if you keep your oil changed and your tires rotated that your car will last forever. But here's the problem: when you go to get your oil changed and your tires rotated, they try to trick you into getting more stuff done. All of a sudden your something needs somethinged and you should probably do it if you want to survive or something...
They know that I don't know the truth. But do they know that i know that they know that i don't know? Ha!

Could avoiding this dance entirely be one of the many benefits of not owning a car?

Artist me

With my new iPhone app, I am now an artist.

November 2010...deceptively somber

November has come to be one of my favorite months over the past few years. November is the month of our wedding anniversary. November is the month of, not one, but several school holidays. And, November has Thanksgiving- one of the holidays which I find tolerable and actually somewhat enjoyable. November has come to be the new October! Better leaves, better weather!

But this year, something strange has happened. This November has been riddled with tragedies and family crisis. Without going into too much detail, sparing those involved and their loved ones, I will just say that this November I have heard about 4 deaths, 2 family crises, and one in between. What is going on??? Dealing with this much sadness is tiring and makes one wary of hearing any news at all for fear that it is another piece of sadness.

I am just having faith that good things are happening somewhere.

Baby barometer...part 2

In follow up and juxtaposition to my satirical and yet mostly true baby barometer post, I feel it is necessary to highlight the fact that indeed there are times when I am sprinkled with tiny inklings to reproduce small things when I see the fruits of our friends' labor in images like this:*

You can take naked bathtub pictures of your baby to save for future humiliation when they are acting like a ridiculous teenager.





You can dress your baby up like a pink Patagonia bear cub




Or you could just have a damn cute baby, call it weasel, and make a fortune on YouTube with videos like this






* Special thanks to Mandy and Mai, Amanda and Derek and Lily, and Anne, and Adam and Dominic for going against the grain with their awesome babies and amazing parentdom.

All too easily we forget...

I've done a lot and yet not a lot in my short yet long 28 years of life. And somehow, within the confines of this life and the world, I seem to forget what it is that I have done and what it is that I need to do. I can't figure out why the day-to-day seems to mask the over-arching theme of life. There has to be a common thread, a path, down which I am traveling and without shaking myself to wake up from the banality of the day-to-day, I may not wake up until it is too late. And then I will think to myself: What have I done with my life?

Things that I have done:

1.) Survived 28 years, 4 months, 1 week and 1 day without ever becoming an alcoholic, a drug addict or a self-righteous christian and without ever breaking a bone or getting a cavity.
2.) Been to 4 out of the 7 continents
3.) Earned 2 Bachelor's degrees and a Master's degree
4.) Run 2 marathons
5.) Taught yoga
6.) Learned to be somewhat conversational in a second language
7.) Co-owned a house
8.) Driven across the USA
9.) Slept in the street
10.) Been in the newspaper
11.) Been in a movie
12.) Fasted for a week
13.) Grown my own food
14.) Married
15.) Acted on a stage
16.) Taught English
17.) Been a pet parent
18.) Been a vegan, a vegetarian, and a moderate omnivore
19.) Blogged my very own blog
20.) Seen a ghost

And...

Manged to cultivate just enough happiness that all too often I forget that there is much left to be done

The Paddy Wagon

I'm loving to say "Paddy Wagon" today. Like, "hey everybody..hop on the paddy wagon"!

I'm thinking it needs to be the name of a cool bar or fun restaurant.

Or....at least something that is remotely blogworthy.

ink

There was a Ray Bradbury book that I read in middle school called The Illustrated Man. It was one of my favorite books at the time. It was a collection of short stories- each of which represented a tattoo on the illustrated man, a man who was covered from head to toe in tattoos. I can't really explain why I loved this book so much. But, now as I have gone back and thought about it and googled it, I'm remembering that all of the stories had something to do with the psychological struggle of people and their survival in a world where technology has propelled us into a place we might not be ready to handle. And even now, this is something that fascinates me.

I think about The Illustrated Man often, when I think about my tattoos. Now, I know for some of the older folks out there, tattoos are somehow socially unacceptable and a symbol of heathenism. But I like to think about tattoos as a way of artistically representing the chapters of my life.

Tattoos. Mementos of things that have meant something to us. The ways that we can illustrate our lives.
And as we all know, the best books are those with illustrations.

An extended metaphor

If I were a phone, I might be a smart phone. Maybe an iPhone, maybe a Blackberry or something like that. A smart phone can't run forever. It needs to be plugged in, left at home on the charger for a bit, or even over night.
If you don't charge it, it won't work. It can't play songs, take photos, check email, tell you what time it is, or pull up images of the latest visually stimulating thing.

Pushing up the Sky

So, today I read a legend with my students. It was a Native American story that explained stars as holes in the clouds through which the light from the moon shines. The holes in the clouds were created when people pushed up the sky with long poles carved from fir trees. All of the tall people in the village were bumping their heads on the sky! Rather than ousting the "giants", the village came together and decided to push up the sky.

Interesting.

This got me thinking about tall people. I'm married to one, and yet I never really think about what it must be like to be tall. Or what things must look like from way up there. What is it like to be looking down on everyone? Or to have everyone looking up at you? People always asking you to reach things? Not being able to find pants long enough? Or cars big enough? Bumping your head on the sky and whatever else is up there?


To the tall people of the world, we salute you. And I would gladly participate in a "sky pushing" just for you!

it's that time again

I think it's time to get out this bad boy again

And another important thing

If by chance you watch Glee,
and, by chance, you caught last week's episode,
you may have noticed that Kurt's private school buddy crush
is
named
Blaine.

I feel famous.

This is serious.

In case you didn't catch it* the first time.


*Thanks be to SubPar Design for logo design.

Casual Fridays

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love Fridays. Not only, is everyone happy at the thought of the impending weekend but people are also much more relaxed. And what goes along with being relaxed? Jeans. Sneakers. Maybe even a hoodie.
I know the sentiments about casual dress in the work place- it's not professional and if people aren't dressed professionally then they won't act professionally, blah blah blah. However, it is my personal opinion that when people are relaxed they are more apt to let the genius flow forth...at least I am. And today- my genius shall floweth forth.

My Daughter...the star

Edie's Pumpkin Ale Tour Video from smellsgood productions on Vimeo.

Our good buddy, Dan, is a sketch comedy mastermind (you can check out some of his other work here). A skit about Edie and her fine pumpkin ale has been in the works for some time now. I break the laws of video-blogdom to present to you my daughter's television commercial debut.

yes!

I couldn't be happier than next year Disney will release a Winnie the Pooh movie that will rival its roots. It's won't be in 3-D or CGI animated-PIXAR- blobbity blob freak out mode. It will be simple Pooh- exactly how A.A. Milne would have had it.

And, by the way, if you haven't read the original book, Winne the Pooh- do it!

You down with SOP?

How is one to properly state one's purpose in 1-2 single spaced pages? Not only does this person have to state their purpose, but they must do it eloquently and intriguingly so. How?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A few things that we did today...

So, I ate this








Then we enjoyed the sun and the 66 degree weather and I waited on the NYC marathon registration page for 2 hours as hundreds of millions of billions of people clicked 'submit' at the exact same time






We took a walk
























Viktor's not too bright




And tonight... Some clues

Wine
Boots
Wine
Italian food
Wine
Cuddle

Again, Happy Anniversary to all and to all a good night!

And would you look at us now...

Brunch at acme...what more can I say?

It's just damn good food!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our official 2 year anniversary of marriage. That's right, 2 years ago today, we were married. I had pneumonia, friends were abounding, everybody got dolled up including the dogs, and we had a grand old time.

Being married is great. Anniversarily appropriate, we had a conversation with some friends the other night about the perks of being married and we came to the conclusion that, when married, you are a real team; you have true togetherness in a way that you could not have with anyone else in the world. You also have to solve your problems no matter what, whether they be about paper towels or life decisions. When married, there is no leaving and you absolutely cannot stay mad at one another, because what a waste of time in our relatively short lives!

NYC Marathon!

Today was the day!

NYC marathon.

A great thing. A tour de all 5 boroughs, finishing out in Central Park.

People from all over the world come together to run 26.2 miles in one of the craziest cities on Earth. Hopefully, Jason and I will be there next year. It's a lottery system, which opens tomorrow at noon, that will decide our NYC fate. We shall see...

In other great NYC marathon news- Subway guy, Jared and a Chilean miner ran it this year along side of many other random competitive skinny people.

Still little?

Yesterday, while driving home from work, I noticed all of the high school kids walking down the road and I thought " Damn, they are small."
It's weird. I don't remember being that small. And, I don't feel like I've changed that much since high school. I wonder if I went back and enrolled in classes if any one would noticed that I am 10 years older than all of them?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

don't mind if I do...

For some reason, this morning I've been thinking about people and how some people have an overwhelming need to be "polite". Now, I am all for politeness, but I think it has to come from the right place. We need to be polite for the right reasons, rather than being motivated by the self aggrandizing that can sometimes result from being "polite".
Be nice for the sake of being nice. NOT because it's what you should do. I hate should. Should automatically makes me want to NOT.

In my mind, I like to have a little private joke with myself by imagining little scenarios in which I take people up on all of their should be polite offers.

For example:

1. You are eating a delicious sandwich. I have already eaten. Out of obligation, you say "Oh! Uh, would you like to have my sandwich?" I say "Yes, why yes I would!" And I eat it. You watch, hungrily, as I eat your sandwich. He he he

2. It is cold outside. I am cold. You are cold. You offer me your coat. I take it. You are now wearing a tank top. I am wearing two coats. He he he

3. I am carrying a moderately heavy object. You offer to carry it for me. I give it to you and run ahead to talk to someone else. You are left behind carrying said heavy object. He he he

4. You have a cute baby. I say "Hey, that's a cute baby!" You give me your baby because it's the "polite" thing to do.

But, really, in all seriousness, let's be nice and polite for the sake of being kind to each other rather than for the sake of the imaginary should monster who says we have to be.

I Love Soup!

I do. I love it. I love making it. I love eating it.

I love the way it makes me feel. All warm inside and soupy. The benefits of soup eating are enough to make me appreciate the cold months. That and boot wearing, of course. In a perfect world, I might be wearing boots only and eating soup.

Last night I made Broccoli Cheddar Soup, with extra sharp cheddar cheese. We were slurping it up with giant hunks of crusty delicious bread. And now, today, I reap another of the great benefits of soup: leftovers, a soup that somehow becomes more delicious after stew-potting in its soupness all night long.

Return of Combo

I am officially on my way home from Pittsburgh. It's a beautiful day for driving, and I'm slowly but surely plowing through the 8 hour drive. I'm reminded of a song I used to sing on past trips to PA, and it goes a little something like this:

I love you in Pennsylvania
and North Carolina, it's true
I love you in West Virginia
and regular Virginia too!

Other noteworthy thoughts include:

- Fog, how strange
- Wow, there is a lot of road kill
- What is Tanger Outlets and Why?
- Every Starbucks is the same
-Thank God I don't live in suburbia
- I will never eat combos again... Or at least not until my next road trip adventure