Tui

My Cute Roommate (who only sleeps in her mom's bed, not mine).

Finally!

Whoo hoo! Today I finally went snowboarding. It's been 2 years. Last year I was really poor and the snow was pitiful anyway, so I didn't go.

So after more painting this morning, I checked out the Dartmouth Skiway, which was pretty inexpensive and had decent snow coverage considering this year's weather...though I won't pretend that it wasn't icy and that I didn't fall on my ass a few times...hard to grab an edge on ice. In a very graceful move, I fell on my butt right off the first ride up the chairlift. I always fall on the left side of my butt, and right now it really hurts.

I'm so happy I went though. I've missed the sensation of my legs burning. It's hard to describe the feeling I get when I ride my board, but I love being outside with a beautiful mountain view and criss-crossing my way down the mountain. I'm amazed that an uncoordinated clumsy person like me can somewhat excel at at this sport that requires good balance. It's definitely helped me learn about my center of gravity.

Yesterday's hockey game rocked by the way. Not often in hockey do you expect your team to score a tie-ing goal with only 18 seconds left in regulation. Then even better, go on to score and win in sudden death overtime.

I just finished cooking a pot roast and it's late and it's making my stomach growl.

Tomorrow is a big day! I am thinking positive, confident thoughts. I'm also thinking about how lucky my friend, Lori, is spending this week in St. John, Virgin Islands while I'm freezing here in Sharon. I wish I had a pet at least to help warm my bed.

bits & pieces

independence day

and i don't think war is noble
and i don't like to think that love is like war
but i got a big hot cherry bomb, and i want to slip it through the mail slot
of your front door

you can't leave me here
i've got your back now
you'd better have mine
cause you say the coast is clear
but you say that all the time

so many sheep i quit counting
sleepless and embarrassed about the way that i feel
trying to make mole hills out of mountains
building base camp at the bottom of a really big deal

imperfectly

i'm okay
if you get me at a good angle
and you're okay
in the right sort of light
and we don't look
like pages from a magazine
but that's all right
that's all right

we get a little further from perfection
each year on the road
i guess that's what they call character
i guess that's just the way it goes
better to be dusty than polished
like some store window mannequin
why don't you touch me where i'm rusty
let me stain your hands

recoil

to all the people out there tonight
who are comforting themselves
if you should happen to see my light
you can stop and ring my bell
i'm just sitting here in this sty
strewn with half written songs
taking one breath at a time
nothin much going on
nothin much going on

-Ani Difranco

Ethan Frome Flashbacks

I haven't been on a Flexible Flyer in about 15 years. That fact made me extremely hesitant to go down a steep hill and around a sharp bend halfway down, for about a half mile of sledding fun down a driveway, covered in ice, with little to no snowbanks. On the walk up the road I thought to myself, isn't this how that woman was paralyzed in Ethan Frome?

I went down face first and attempted to drag my feet because I was chicken, but it was all ice and didn't help. It was so damn fast. I repeated this foolishness twice and thankfully escaped slamming into any trees but I won't pretend that when the sled hit probably 3omph or more I was fucking scared. My 50 year old roommate was less fortunate than me...she went off the road and into the trees, narrowly missed hitting a telephone pole, and received some nasty bruises and lots of little cuts on her face.

I think I'll go again when there are bigger snowbanks to crash into.

My Favorite Spot In My Room

An Auspicious Day For Flag Raising

Legolas

On Tuesday, Stella confessed that if she marries a boy someday when she grows up it would be Legolas from the Hobbit movie. I told her I agree that he is very handsome. I also told her she has seen him in another movie she likes: Pirates of the Carribean. She was like oh yeah, but he has short brown hair in that one.

She also told me the girl with the long dark hair who rides the horse was beautiful. I told her that my friend helped out when Liv Tyler had a baby.

When I hugged her goodbye at her babysitter's, her friend, Lucy, requested a hug from me too, so I pick her up and gave her a good hug too.

Little kids...I want to have a family again.

Yummy

One of My New Favorite Soaps

Sometimes taking a shower is my favorite part of the day!

Cabin Fever

I spent the last 2 days at home while it snowed and sleeted outside. To keep myself entertained, I made up my own tune today using just the G Major Chord on my guitar. I also cooked gourmet quesadillas today and made a batch of spicy refried beans, and yesterday I made chickpea stew (thanks Lori!) and guacamole. I shoveled, and then shoveled some more. And I watched the Patriots beat the Chargers in typical New England style...the comeback win!

Step one of learning my guitar is learning the G Major Chord, C Major, then D Major. C Major is the hardest for my fret fingers to hold down. I am working on remembering where my fingers go with these 3 chords without having to look at my instructions. Progress is slow, but I'm okay with that.

I also taught myself how to make a slip-knot, then how to cast on stitches for my first attempt in probably atleast 15 years to knit. I was surprised how easily it all came back to me.

I bought a ball of green yarn and 2 different size pairs of needles this past Friday. Also, I purchased a really cool piece of funky, madris-style fabric I want to make a blanket out of or a bag of some sort. And for $1.75 I scored a huge bag of artist grade tissue paper in a multi-color array. And I got 5 used books to help pass the winter...all thanks to the LISTEN Hobby Sale. The books are Snow by Orhan Pamuk, I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (already read, but now I own the hardcover!), Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins, and Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith.

As I waited for the snow to taper off, (but it just kept plink plinking off the roof) I also hung up some lights around my window seat (Stella's favorite place to curl up with me for a book on her visits), and hung my 2007 Moon Phase Calendar.

SUPER VISION was cool on Saturday...though it was kind of short, but I loved the AV geekiness of how the play used lots of visuals on multiple sliding screens...giving depth to what felt like watching a movie more than a play. It was good to see Hannah and Rene too...we had a variety of Six Sisters margaritas at Gusanoz and more drinks later at Murphy's. Rene showed me her special wrist-flapping talent.

Then I drove home, not knowing I would be stuck at home for the next two days. But hey, now I have a green scarf to work on.

My New Boarding Jacket

Yeah, no more snow up my back and down my pants...

I have graduated to a gator!

And it's got underarm vents for when I got all hot and sweaty!

I Heart Chickens

This is how I get my eggs delivered to me!

HOLY CAT!

This may be the fattest cat EVER! Casey The Hut has nothing on this beast!

To read the article, click here.

I'm a Winner!

I won a $50 gift certficate today to "International DVD & Poster" in Hanover, NH. I've never been in there...but I'm sure I can manage to blow 50 bucks. All I did was enter a contest at the Dartmouth HOP website for SUPER VISION, which I'm going to see with Hannah & Rene on Saturday. It sounds really cool.

<---This is my winner face

Crochet This!

My Pretty New Scarf From Lori

2007: The Ice Storm, The Bear, and the Primary Colored Pajamas

C'est finis! 2006.

Closing out the year in style, I spent New Years Eve at my friend Jon's farmhouse where my roommate, one of my very best friend's Lori, and I watched the world premier of "Finding Boris" with many of my WRJ friends. Then we all got a chance to bond as a very slick Ice Storm decended just after the close of 2006.

Gabriel's outfit answered Lori's question from the day before, which was, "Does he always wear primary colors?" Nice heels!

Bonnie was rockin' the striped socks and mini-skirt.

The bear, Winston I think, kept getting his nose in the middle of everything. He offered his artistic opinion to some fellow friends, made out with Matt, and got felt up by Lori who was confused due to champagne consumption. I was having "Hotel New Hampshire" flashbacks, though to my disappointment, Winston never actually said one word to me.

After the ball dropped and the drag queens dropped in Key West, each group headed out to their cars only to find that everything was covered in a layer of ice. Foolish thoughts of making it home occurred and we all chipped the ice off our cars and headed off to begin the decent down Jericho St to Route 14. After making it several hundred yards going 2mph, I noticed all my friends had stopped their cars. One of them went down the hill in their jeep straight into a tree. We all reversed direction, blew up some camping mattresses, and snuggled into our blankets for a night at the house where Nenah Cherry had once lived.

So Lori and I spent the night on the living room floor with 8 gay men, sad that no one had any contact solution on them.

The next morning we started our commune, in case we were stuck up on Jericho for weeks, but as it turned out we were able to skate down off the hill in my Kia at about 1pm New Years Day. My car slid into a ditch about 50 feet after backing out of Jon's driveway, but after some heaving and hoing, my trusty Kia was on its way back to my ice encrusted house on Beaver Meadow Rd.