Southern Constitutional

Bye there, Blogger.

2010-02-23T21:35:00.003-05:00

I've defected.

Test Pattern

2010-02-22T13:23:00.002-05:00

I shall return. Soon.Needed a break (a good long one, apparently) to figure out what to do with this space and myself as a blogger. Not sure I've 100% concluded that discussion yet, so perhaps what comes next might be a serious work-in-progress.Regardless, if you're still coming here, please call again.

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2009-09-22T16:49:00.004-04:00

September 22, 2009 :: MasteryRecently I'm taking stock of the things that own me and pass my time, and I'm wondering if I need to shorten my list. I'm what? A writer and an amateur photographer, a branding firm employee and a freelancer? A band manager and a website administrator, an eco-enthusiast, a gardener, a blogger and a cook and a decorator, a thrifter, a reader, a pet nut, a handyperson,

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2009-09-07T01:34:00.001-04:00

September 5, 2009 :: patio music, 2 amAt 10, we grab the wine and head outside. Bats swarm the stacks, flitting, flickering UFOs swooping insectivous snacks. Cicadias razz the trees, the back-and-forth call of the end of summer. We set the iPod in place, run the cords, light the devotional candles and pray to the alter of Costello, Lovett, Cash, then Sia, MacLaughlin, Mitchell. We sing and

Henry Porter @ Kavarna

2009-09-04T22:55:00.001-04:00

Perusing vinyl

2009-09-04T22:54:00.001-04:00

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2009-09-04T14:54:00.004-04:00

September 4, 2009 :: Date NiteProbably every married couple does this. And, to be honest, I resent being so typical, as well as having to set a night for Blake and I to ditch our pots, pans, dogs and couch time with Netflix and join the messy pot of regular society we used to jump directly into nearly every night. I mean holy majoley, we don't even have any kids. But, stuff changes, our finances

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2009-08-31T14:32:00.004-04:00

August 31, 2009 :: Bye, bye summer spendingI've dubbed it the September of Nothing. Blake would rather I refer to it as the September of Very Little, (out of simple dread) but I think that's splitting hairs. After spending a small fortune in home upgrades and seeing a stagnation of freelance work that's simply apocalyptic, we're battening down the hatches - happily. Starting today (a day early!

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2009-08-25T19:55:00.002-04:00

August 25, 2009 :: The WalkThe route - from Cabbagetown through the tunnel, down Edgewood through Inman Park, onto the East-West line, to the North-South line, to the High Museum, down Peachtree to Ansley Park, around the circle and up the stairs in the modern-mission building, then reversed, eight-some hours later.Done twice a day, four miles of walking, 20-some minutes of headphoned

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2009-07-26T13:49:00.002-04:00

July 26, 2009 :: Urban CornI've apparently broken some cardinal law of nature that says that you cannot grow good-producing corn in a less than 10'x10' plot, and certainly not in an urban area where pigeons and squirrels and theiving neighbors will surely decimate your crop yield.The stats: 5' or so by 6' or so of Silver Queen corn, planted in wonky rows, staggered in three plantings, has so far,

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2009-07-24T23:09:00.001-04:00

July 25, 2009 :: Ten 'tilStill figuring out this posting-via-iPhone thing. Bear with me.

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2009-07-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

July 13, 2009 :: All You Need*I want flowing dresses and the easiest summer beauty, full of sunlight, with tousled hair and gossamer jewelry. I want good walking shoes, red with a buckle. I want smoky green tea kissed with honey. I want fiction to pour from my fingertips--just the right words, just the right story. I want cool sheets in raging air conditioning, a warm cat snuggling the small of

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2009-07-10T11:58:00.004-04:00

July 11, 2009 :: Knee-high by the Fourth of July (and then some)Growth abounds at the little house this spring/summer. Wow. It is full-on summer now, isn't it? Boy. It's been a while since I've been here.Things have been cruising along this year it seems, and I've been caught off-guard by the passage of time. I planted seeds some three months ago, and above you see a tiny bit of the fruits of

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2009-05-26T12:42:00.004-04:00

May 26, 2009 :: Scenes from the bedroomHats, Blake. Old stuff, me. Add "musical instruments," "books," and "vinyl" to that list, and you'd have a summation of most of the objects in our house.

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2009-05-26T12:16:00.004-04:00

May 26, 2009 :: Luxurious WeekendOllie is the queen of snoozing. See the above sprawl captured directly after Saturday's trip to the Reynoldstown coffeeshop/dogpark as evidence. I, however, did no such sprawly, snoozy thing this long weekend, and will still call it luxurious. Bathroom, painted (from aggravating 80s hunter green to a much more agreeable sagey grey). Rusting garden furniture, spray

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2009-05-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

May 8, 2009 :: HarmonyBlake doesn't read this blog. I've mentioned its existence a few times to him, offhandedly, mostly in the interest of letting him know that snippets of our personal lives are up here for the world to see (and potentially for my father-in-law to google. Hi Ricky!), but he doesn't seem particularly interested. I think he somehow considers it spying on me to read my

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2009-03-30T21:42:00.004-04:00

March 30, 2009 :: Ramona G. Quimby, age 8 monthsI didn't intend to do this. Jane died. She deserves a full eulogy, but maybe we'll ring in the new first. This blue-eyed cutie is Miss Ramona. The next generation of puppy love in our house.As I said, I didn't intend to do this. I wanted an Australian Shepherd. Knew I'd wanted one since I wasn't Mr. Arrow's owner anymore. Sweet, smart, velcro-y dogs

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2009-03-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

March 12, 2009 :: Less TakenAmazing how a decent camera and a great (but stupid-cheap) plastic lens can make what is, in reality a festering cesspool of chickweed, thistle and some hellish variety of insidious, prickly bloodletting vine look like somewhat of a verdant wonderland. Regardless, I give you, the path through my front yard, as of March first, 2009.It's not going to look like this long.

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2009-03-11T19:30:00.001-04:00

March 11, 2009 :: Starting OverRe: long, unintentional absence.Dear interwebs,Well, hello there! Good to see you. I'm glad to be here as well. A recap? Ok. Blake and I kind of became the X to the Nth power of Y victims of the sucky global economy in a number of ways recently, and as such, I've been busting my little writerly butt and not blogging or doing any discernible home improvements. But,

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2009-02-09T11:51:00.003-05:00

February 9, 2009 :: This is not my house.But it is, very close. So very, weirdly close - aesthetically. I found it at Apartment Therapy; a fantastic home tour that must belong to my San Franciscan doppleganger--a kindred home design spirit. Check it here. Then come back.The oddities! The leggy foliage sprouting from pop bottles! The three-dimensional stuff stuck to walls! The

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2009-01-14T15:58:00.004-05:00

January 13, 2009 :: The photobooth callsI know, I'm supposed to be posting about my house. I'll get to that. Just wanted to mention in the meantime, two pieces of advice I have for anyone considering throwing a wedding or wedding-esque party:Freaking Out (about anything) is totally unnecessary. Why? Because things are going to happen the way they will happen. My best formula for curbing worries

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2009-01-13T10:56:00.004-05:00

January 13, 2009 :: Wedding AccomplishedI'm pooped, people. And it's two days after the big event. But, that was that. With the kiss, the picture and the whole big night on Sunday, thus ends my holiday season. Blake and I are so, doubly, amazingly, completely married now--and a couple hundred people witnessed it.Thanks to everyone who came and partied, wished well, played, spun records, manned

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2009-01-06T23:50:00.001-05:00

January 6, 2009 :: Starting OverOn January 1, 2008, Audrey and I started northern and southern constitutional as a walking/blogging/photography experiment. Boy, did we have grand ambitions, too. A post a day, a walk a day, a photo a day. I think it lasted about two months before Audrey irritated an old injury and stopped walking, and I started posting once every 20-some days (if I was lucky).It's

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2008-12-29T12:24:00.003-05:00

December 29, 2008 :: Blue ChristmasI used to be a bit of a decorating nazi. There were rules. For a while, everything had to be shabby; flowers, toile and pastel, chippy paint. Then it had to be mid-century: Scandinavian angles and burnished wood. Oh, and then there was christmas. There had to be a real tree, it had to be decorated with matching silver-tone ornaments (or fully decked out with

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2008-12-10T16:48:00.004-05:00

December 10, 2008 :: Happenstance.Two years and one day ago, to my knowledge, I had never heard the name Blake Rainey. Given that I'd lived in the same town as this person for nearly 8 years, frequented the same dives, seen some of the same bands, and even rented an apartment that overlooked his at one point, it's likely we crossed paths, but fate or karma or the great spaghetti monster or

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2008-12-01T11:23:00.003-05:00

December 1, 2008 :: Just you wait a second.Things that have been going on around here:Mad-dash branding presentations in which I do the work I would normally take 6 months to do, in 2 weeksIndiana visits - 2 in one monthThanksgiving Indian, black Friday pizza, Sunday night post-thanks turkeyWedding planning--cupcakes, hummus, room-measurement, chandeliers, fabric, mailing tubes, secret songsLots

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2008-11-11T12:48:00.004-05:00

November 11, 2008 :: Oh, It's ON.Mr. R and I are already officially married. But now, it's becoming evident that we will soon also be officially weddinged.The invitations came back from the print house today. There's your sneak peak, above.And here's a little plug for the creator.Coming soon to a mailbox near you.

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2008-11-04T17:30:00.001-05:00

November 4, 2008 :: Let the Games Begin.I spent a little over three hours in line this morning to cast my vote. This is longer than I would wait, standing outside in the sun without a chair, a bottle of water or a bathroom, for nearly anything not life-threatening. And, if I do say so myself, I am a bit proud of myself, because years ago, I would have cared very little about the outcome of any

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2008-10-31T15:30:00.002-04:00

Oct 31, 2008 :: boo.Halloween in the Time of Cholera.Looks like things were much scarier back then.Mr. Rainey and I are off to the ABC Halloween party in a bit, $1.20 vintage monkey masks in hand. (No reprise of the Joker and Henchman getup. We're holiday-lazy.) Have a sweet, scary night!

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2008-10-30T15:59:00.003-04:00

October 30, 2008 :: my IOnce upon a time, I was a bit of a daredevil. I spelunked, unguided and untrained, through northern caves. I scaled a treacherous quarry wall, no tresspassing signs blaring, to fall, intentionally, into 80 feet of crystal-clear water. Spun front-wheel drive sedans backwards through cornfields, gravel roads, icy parking lots. Spent endless winter school-nights launching

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2008-10-27T15:33:00.003-04:00

October 27, 2008 :: A pretty great joke.My goodness, I love Halloween.I also love slathering clown makeup on Blake and torturing him with eyeliner pencils. The suit, though, that was all him. Who owns (and has, in regular rotation in their wardrobe) a purple velor single-breasted suit jacket? My husband, that's who. There was no question who he should be for Halloween.I, by the way, was a very

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2008-10-08T10:38:00.002-04:00

October 8, 2008 :: On/In the AirDespite the books on my shelves, I've been kind of a lazy reader lately. When I was a kid, I could plow through a book a week; a book every three or four days, if I were so motivated. I've skipped school to read Stephen King, shooed away summer games of kick the can for Orwell, stole secretly into my mother's stash of books I was "too young to read" and to find The

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2008-10-03T11:38:00.010-04:00

October 3, 2008 :: I have a confession to make.About a month and a half ago, Mr. Rainey and I hauled ourselves and our friends (and Blake's bandmates) Kevin and Blake P. and their significant others (the lovely Alli and Mariela) to hot, steamy New Orleans to play a couple shows. We were met there by other people from Atlanta and some friends from NOLA and surrounds, and things were set to be a

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2008-10-01T16:02:00.005-04:00

October 1, 2008 :: Still ProcessingAbove: Young Antiques at the Star Bar. CD Release for Soundtrack to Tear Us Apart. 150-some people. Lots of loud. More to come.

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2008-09-26T13:37:00.003-04:00

September 26, 2008 :: And sometimes we talk about music.Every day has a soundtrack around here. Always has for me. And I love it when I encounter other people for whom there's a song, some song, just for that moment. A couple weekends ago, I met and got to hang out with one of Blake's significant ex's, and at a point during one of the many conversations, she asked the group, out of the blue, "

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2008-09-23T08:13:00.001-04:00

September 23, 2008 :: Shameless Plug, #1This week will be a week of unrelenting pandering, I feel. Hang in there. It's worth it.At the end of this week (Saturday, September 27) Blake and his band the Young Antiques will be releasing their fourth full-length album titled "Soundtrack to Tear us Apart" at a rocktastic party at the Star Bar in Little Five Points. For those of you who do not live in

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2008-09-22T09:35:00.003-04:00

September 22, 2008 :: On the road. Again.Whew. Now that's what I call a weekend. Two mornings up at 7. Two full days of art projects and long dog walks and yard work. Two amazing dinners that ended with Blake and I both asleep on the couch soon after. Something (Claritin overdose? First breath of fall weather? Spider bite?) got into Blake and I the last 48 hours and we busted ass. Weeds, cleared.

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2008-09-19T10:27:00.011-04:00

September 29, 2008 v2 :: We did Good.A short little blurb (that is actually a week late...sorry), but a project I worked on at my full-timey job can be found in every single Starbucks in the nation. It's the first in a series co-sponsored by GOOD Magazine that gives caffeinated voters the lowdown on election-worthy issues. We made a little world that explains Carbon Emissions and called it "A

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2008-09-19T10:27:00.007-04:00

September 19, 2008 :: You complete me. Or at least my library.When I met Mr. Rainey, I was already a habitual hoarder. I get it honestly. My father keeps a two-story barn jammed full of odds and ends--the plastic colander my mother probably threw out 20 years ago, drawers of nails jimmied free from old boards for re-use in future projects, a barco-lounger frankensteined into a giant, rolling desk

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2008-09-11T12:36:00.003-04:00

September 11, 2008 :: Sunset with Shoes, Wylie St. 30312Ah, things. They are good. It's just about fall here in Atlanta - I can smell it on the air - and since fall is my hands-down, most favoritest time of year, I'm all fired up and busy and ready to get down to business. Like the business of teaching a new class at Portfolio Center - "Content-Oriented Branding" where Juliet and I will tag-team

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2008-09-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

September 5, 2008 :: The Omnivore's 100Now, for the meats. And other stuff.There are things on this list that I actually will never eat - out of principle or simple lifelong dislike. Those are crossed out. Things I've had are bolded. Others, commented upon heavily. 1. Venison - if deer jerky counts, then yes2. Nettle tea - Probably. But I can’t say for sure3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5.

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2008-09-04T14:30:00.003-04:00

September 4, 2008 :: One-oh-ate. There's always some time-suck of a meme going around the internets. And I'll glance by them, generally, but usually not follow suit. Recently, I've done two. They're both about food. Here's the first one.100 things every vegetarian (or, in my case, person-who-eats-more-vegetables-than-meats) should try in their lifetime. I've bolded the ones I've had, and

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2008-08-30T08:38:00.002-04:00

August 30, 2008 :: Chucks vs Vans, St. Louis CathedralWhat else can I say about our trip to New Orleans:I think I hate Bourbon Street. I mean, the hour or so we spent at Pat O'Brien's piano bar, swilling down $10 kool-aide-of-death and requesting songs the piano mistress hadn't played in decades (Tom Waits and Nina Simone fall to the bottom of the list when smashed 21-year olds in tiara'd

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2008-08-29T07:07:00.003-04:00

August 29, 2008 :: NorthSometimes I think back, way back, to a sunny day when I was probably thirteen. I was trying (in vain) to tan in the backyard of my parents' house in Indiana, attempting to bronze myself into the confidence to wear skirts that bared my twiggy, pasty legs. I was reading Orwell, and thinking not about 1984, but about 1994, 2004, 2024. I wondered very specifically that day

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2008-08-28T18:32:00.002-04:00

August 28, 2008 :: SouthWe came back talking about moving there. The candy-colored shuttered windows had gotten me. The music-friendly vibe, the fantastically cool ordinary folks, him. The fact that New Orleans is a city, but a small one; a scene, but a wildly eclectic one; a place that's surface-level debaucherous but somehow very sweet, impressed us both. Everybody falls in love with New

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2008-08-25T17:03:00.004-04:00

August 25, 2008 :: All Hail the Green FairySo, the last thing I said (a million years or so ago) was something about absinthe, right? Ah yes. Considering I drank the gorgeous elixer above moments after I snapped this picture, I'm a bit surprised I remember.Ok, enough romanticization of alcohol. The green stuff up there is fascinating, and caustic, and knocked me out like a handful of Benadryl. It

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2008-08-13T17:07:00.001-04:00

August 12, 2008 :: The rubber and the roadI love road trips. And tomorrow I will be leaving on a rather fantastic one that will entail at least two (a third is in flux) rock-type shows, a suite at a hotel I know will be clean, well-appointed and feature ice-cold air conditioning (Starwood-owned hotels just plain rock the hell out of any motel 6, La Quinta, HoJo, Best Western-type establishment.

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2008-08-06T13:33:00.002-04:00

August 6, 2008 :: "Laid Back" Wow. Been a long time. I think this blog has already captured the 3 words I’ve felt inclined to say this summer. Between the heat and the smog, the crazy month at work and now the dead month, I’m out of whack, uninspired, and on the edge of making some kind of drastic change. Ideas this week have included digging up the entire yard and re-planting every square inch

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2008-07-31T15:49:00.005-04:00

July 31, 2008 :: A quart low.Monday night I came home with the intention, and, uniquely, also the motivation to clean the house. Blake was out with a friend, the dogs were acting fairly well-behaved in the front yard, so I broke out the Method spray and the swiffer and the vacuum and got down to it. An hour or so later, laundry in arms, and with Ollie (now inside) trailing merrily behind me, I

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2008-07-21T13:48:00.005-04:00

July 21, 2008 :: Bruce Berry was a workin' man...*It's taken me a full week to recover. After four shows, four days, three states, and a gazillion hours in a sweltering 1991 Econoline van, I came to work heat-stroked, worn to the bone, and more grateful of the invention of air conditioning than I'd been in years - and I didn't play a NOTE or exert myself in front of even one person, much less

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2008-07-17T13:19:00.005-04:00

July 17, 2008 :: pwnedWell, that little internet-speakage is a bit rough, actually. Let's just call it a symbol of sticktuitiveness on both of our parts. In general, I don't like many of the wedding-esque traditions (including garter-tossing, male patriarchs being required to "walk me" anywhere, having/holding/obeying, etc and etc). And this engagement-ring thing even is something that we bucked

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2008-07-08T12:34:00.002-04:00

July 8, 2008 :: Helllooooooooo.....Er hm. Yeah, yeah. I'm here somewhere. Work wedding house fourth Waits parties vacation laundry crankiness freelance tequila gardening tattoos whining sleeping cooking...there you go for reasons that relate to not posting.Actually, there's kind of another reason too. I'm a little honked off at the internet in general right now. Disappointed. Mainly in the timbre

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2008-06-27T16:20:00.003-04:00

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.June 27, 2008 :: Art and DestructionThere is an ongoing debate in my neighborhood about graffiti. Some love it. Some hate it. Some think cans of spray paint directly equate to muggings, shootings and break-ins. Some decry any use of goo-gone a soul-slaying act of artistic tyranny. I have a stance, and it lies firmly on the

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2008-06-21T08:01:00.001-04:00

June 21, 2008 :: Happy Saturday Flickr MemeThe Rules:a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.b. Using only the first page, pick an image.c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.My Answers:1. What is your first name? Kendra2. What is your favorite

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2008-06-20T10:01:00.004-04:00

June 20, 2008 :: And a good Friday to you, madame.This morning, Atlanta was cool and quiet, Peachtree and the trains empty of both tourists and commuters. Apparently vacation-Fridays pull everyone away from here. I wish I was at the beach, but instead I pretended my cool-aired walk past the midtown skyline was a vacation in London or San Francisco. The city smelled different, and I could envision

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2008-06-19T14:02:00.006-04:00

June 19, 2008 :: I 'yam what I 'yam (and that's all that I 'yam)I bring you proof that that garden thing from earlier this year has worked out famously. The spinach up there is the very first real harvest from the raised beds Blake and I built behind our yellow house. Despite a squirrel infestation, drought, bugs, and my general lazy ineptitude when it comes to such things, I seem to have not

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2008-06-13T16:21:00.003-04:00

6/13/08 :: Now, with Features!No photos, but features. It's been a long week.Scroll down a bit and glance to the right half of your screen, and you will find a little box marked "tweet tweet". That list of general inanity is my new Twitter feed - a neato little service that gives you 100-something characters to type or text the answer to the question "what are you doing?" I'm not 100% sure how

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2008-06-10T18:07:00.001-04:00

BONUS. Because this borrowed Mac laptop has got me all motivated.For me, because I am the geekiest person alive, using a different computer than my normal one is like going to your best friend's house in elementary school and having peanut butter and jelly WITH THE CRUSTS CUT OFF because even though its very similar to the peanut butter sandwiches your own mother makes, it's different and

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2008-06-10T10:57:00.003-04:00

June 10, 2008 :: Crash! Bang! @#$%!!!Yesterday evening, as I closed up shop and got ready to walk 45 minutes in 97-degree hellishness, my PC laptop (the aforementioned 100-pound Dell monolith), was behaving strangely. It was hard-locked, two ticks away from the blue-screen-of-death. So, I shut 'er down and left it at work to have a nice nap. When I arrived this morning, it wouldn't start. I think

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2008-06-09T12:28:00.005-04:00

June 9, 2008 :: Comfortable FoodThe other day it occurred to me that my physical activity level and my level of domestic contentment may be at odds.Years ago, in the middlin' times of a loooong relationship that eventually ended, left alone to my own devices, I maintained a very high level of physical activity. (Specifically, I was alone brooding in an ancient, cavernous apartment in a city I

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2008-06-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

June 3, 2008 :: Panorama WorkdaySee the flickr version for notes.

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2008-06-02T15:52:00.005-04:00

June 2, 2008 :: Reading at the dinner table is So allowed.Things I've learned (from Blake).All meat tastes better marinated in beer.So many more people carry loaded weapons in their cars than you'd think.Patience is a virtue. But not when it comes to traffic. That's war. And there is no virtue in war.One does not eat grits with sugar. One does put coffee in gravy, and garlic in everything

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2008-05-30T11:10:00.006-04:00

May 30, 2008 :: Bright Lights, Big Round HeadI have a weakness I need to confess. For all my practicality, my allegiance to do-it-yourselfness, my despair of overwrought consumer culture....for all my apparent non-girliness (the 3-ton floor jack in my tool shed, the seven types of industrial tape that hold my house together, the self-cleaned drain traps), I have a distinct weakness for the

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2008-05-27T10:58:00.005-04:00

May 27, 2008 :: Empty. Manhattan Cafe, Athens, GAI do love the city. Don't get me wrong. But visiting places that confront me just a bit less with the seething crush of humanity one experiences in downtown Atlanta always soften me around the edges a little. It reminds me of growing up rural. Makes me slow down and take notice of detail, light, sound (or the absence of it). Where I live, there's

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2008-05-23T18:16:00.000-04:00

May 23, 2008 :: It's time to play the music...It's time to light the lights...Oh my. Why did no one tell me that this came out three days before my birthday last year?I think I fully imagined when I was a kid that I would marry Kermit the Frog. He was so humble. And kind. And musically talented. And genuine. Fortunately, I can say that I do get to marry someone genuinely kind, and talented, and,

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2008-05-22T18:37:00.002-04:00

May 22, 2008 :: high on workI've held many a job in my scant 31 years on this earth. I've been a truckstop waitress (No joke. I was a 15-year old truckstop waitress at a slimy, German-esque restaurant on I-74, on the Ohio/Indiana state line. That's a whole other post.) I've fired and painted pottery. I've sold wicker furniture, "containers" of all shapes and sizes, and bloomin' onions on big

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2008-05-20T17:17:00.001-04:00

May 20, 2008 :: A tiny grr from Ollie.Charmed Life.I am smitten with a book. (Blake is in love with Tibor Kalman. I am in love with his widow. Read the book.)I am smitten with a blog. (where did this person GO? Five amazing posts and they disappear. Maybe this was intentional mystery?)I am smitten with a recipe. (Isn't that the most unappealingly delicious thing you've ever seen?)(I am also SO

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2008-05-19T10:37:00.009-04:00

May 19, 2008 :: Partridge Restaurant, that place named for that other place, USAOh my, weekend.Considering what we usually do on the weekends goes something like: plant something in the yard; sit down/nap; clean a room or two; sit down/nap; play 'the game*' on rhapsody; walk with the dogs; sit down/nap; eat, drink, repeat - this weekend was a veritable whirlwind of activity. I'm tired. Good

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2008-05-15T13:25:00.002-04:00

May 15, 2008 :: ABC3DToday is rainy and on the introspective side, and in lieu of a photograph from me (my cards are full, but I've got no reader today), I send you this amazing alphabet book. Pop-up books and books with 3-dimensional elements have always been huge favorites of mine, ever since my mom brought me home a beat up copy of pat the bunny a zillion years ago. I also thought that this

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2008-05-14T07:43:00.000-04:00

May 14, 2008 :: what me, worry?Words of wisdom:"Productivity means never wasting time on what doesn't matter." (via Lifehack)"One does not own what one cannot carry." (Daniel Philippe Mason in Harper's)"It could be worse." (subversive cross-stitch from headless press.)

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2008-05-13T12:17:00.007-04:00

May 13, 2008 :: Nu shoozChuck Taylor One-Stars from Tar-jay. Made for walkin. Which I did yesterday and Blake and I will do tonight with our newly-clean doggies. A point: allow a white puppy to play with total, unbridled joy and abandon in an underdeveloped yard for the greater part of a sunny weekend, and you end up with a dodgey dirt-bomb on four legs, and muddy paw prints all over your green,

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2008-05-09T12:01:00.002-04:00

May 9, 2008 :: Jukebox Hero. Star Bar Elvis Shrine, L5PTonight, the company I work for is putting on a big-deal cajun-flavoured shindig on our building's rooftop deck, complete with lobster-printed bibs to catch low country boil juices; an open bar that serves beer, wine and hurricanes; and, so I thought, live entertainment. It's a "thanks for workin' with us" kind of get together for 200 or so

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2008-05-07T16:06:00.004-04:00

May 7, 2008 :: success.Few things feel better than watching five inches of cantankerous hair fall to the floor. Well, maybe watching fifteen pounds fall off your ass. That's next.

073

2008-05-06T11:58:00.004-04:00

May 6, 2008 :: "it"I've had it. The frizzy unruliness. The christmas-tree shape. The raging, schizophrenic, matted cacophony of homeless-chic nesting on the top of my head. Blake meant well when he suggested, months ago, that I might look great with longish hair. I protested. Told him that every attempt I've ever made to pull off rita hayworth locks that tumble down my back and lay luxuriously in

072

2008-05-02T18:00:00.002-04:00

May 2, 2008 :: That kind of day.First: After waking up, an hour late and with a fun little UTI, I catch a ride to work with Blake, where I check email and find that the project several of us busted ass to finish yesterday was unilaterally despised by the client and must be redone immediately, as the deadline was fairly "tight" to begin with, and now has reached designation that might be better

071

2008-04-30T17:55:00.001-04:00

April 24, 2008 :: Four day workweek. That's what the %$*% I'm talkin' about!When I started this post, it was last thursday. See above for evidence of my procrastitude.Today is my Friday. A good mantra for any day of the week, actually, as just thinking those four words kind of puts me in a freer state of mind than say, the galumphing dirge of Tuesday, or the anxious resignation of Sunday

070

2008-04-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

April 17, 2008 - Two :: "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon."I'm feeling uninspired. And I'm telling the internet as if it'll somehow sprout wings and rush through my screen and anoint my empty, heavy head with an atomic burst of creativity. Feelin' a bit desperate and worn, I am.What's worse, is when I'm here, in boring-land, I get critical and snarky. Over-excited by little arguments. It's why

069

2008-04-17T07:13:00.000-04:00

April 17, 2008 :: It's only a misdemeanor. Milledgeville Asylum, Milledgeville, GAUrban exploration is suddenly everywhere. Wonderful pictures in Harper's this month of the decimated Detroit schoolbook depository building (legendary in the break-in-and-take-a-few-pictures circle). A CSI New York episode that takes place in the New York subway's fabled City Hall station--a place that, stale and

068

2008-04-10T10:25:00.006-04:00

April 10,2008 :: The phones go marching one-by-one, hurrah...My head has been crammed full of work this week, and therefore not so full of posting ideas. Fortunately, I came upon a fantastic list on Mighty Girl that has restored my faith in this week. (A side note: That's a blog I check in with quite often, because she's smart and creative and has a sense of grace about what she chooses to say

067

2008-04-04T17:06:00.002-04:00

April 4, 2008 :: Capturing a good floor, wherever I find it.Happy Friday. I'm off to the Atlanta Brewing Company happy hour to watch Mr. Rainey tear it up in a beer factory on a stage made of pallets.Speaking of Mr. Rainey, if you can't embarrass your partner in good fun, what can you do?Second from the left. Electric blue is SO his color, don't you think?

066

2008-04-02T11:36:00.004-04:00

April 2, 2008 :: Two loves.Blake and Ollie.Damn, I'm lucky. 'Nuff said.

065

2008-04-01T19:37:00.000-04:00

April 1, 2008 :: No Tomatoes Allowed. Boulevard from Memorial Ave. So, the wedding thing's gotten closer. Time-warp closer, since we first decided to get married in fall of '09 and now we've upped the big day to spring '09, in the spirit of curbing both of our procrastitative natures. (That's not a word, no. But neither is "hangry" really, and it's possibly the best descriptor ever.)So, I'm

064

2008-03-31T14:58:00.003-04:00

March 31, 2008 :: You know you're a carny when...A text from Blake:"I just saw jeff foxworthy! And 2 midgets. Not together, though."

063

2008-03-28T19:34:00.000-04:00

March 28, 2008 :: high chroma, kirkwood ave, c-townQuestions that need answering:Where does your belly button lead to?Can eating only raw foods really change your eye color?Are anthropomorphic animals really less scary and soulless looking than humanoid androids?

062

2008-03-24T15:20:00.003-04:00

March 24, 2008 :: The texture of MondayEarly spring for me has been all about new information, new friends (hello!), new music, new growth, new satisfactions, new projects. New is the new new around here for sure. Some things I'm digging, anew:Curry Mondays at the Standard (though since last Monday was St. Pat's, it was Bangers and Mash Monday.)Heirloom Seeds. They arrived today, along with a

061

2008-03-20T16:40:00.001-04:00

March 20, 2008 :: Spring Outfitting. U/O dressing room, Ponce de Leon.The sun is blazingly, gloriously out, and oh, it's time to shop. Fortunately, I also have the tiniest bit of expendable income right now. It's as if the planets have suddenly aligned for the first time in months. I need spring clothes, gardening tools, paint, truck tires, a new glasses prescription, lighting fixtures, and table

060

2008-03-19T18:10:00.000-04:00

March 19, 2008 :: I love it when my food is photogenic.Today, it was spring.It all started last night at ten thirty pm, after Blake and I attempted to concentrate on No Country for Old Men while passing a lunatic bundle of white fir and pointy daggers back and forth. (You take her...no, you take her...no...get a chewy...aaarrgh! She's on my back! AAARRRgh! She's biting the cat's tail!...and so it

059

2008-03-18T07:50:00.000-04:00

March 18, 2008 :: Nature. One beautiful bitch. Apparently in addition to being a very talented musician, songwriter, and all-around smarty pants of a guy, Blake is also a pretty fantastic photographer. Huh. Who knew? (Not me, because the Canon has become sort of an extra appendage for me recently. He's hardly had a chance to touch it.) Anyway, I handed over my digital baby this Saturday morning

058

2008-03-17T11:08:00.005-04:00

March 17, 2008 :: Ok, so that was really freaky.This'll be short and pictureless for now as I am at work and in front of a working internet connection for the first time in three days (and also busy as hell).For anyone who reads here and also knows that I live in the part of Atlanta called Cabbagetown (I'm sure people all over the nation asked "what the hell's a Cabbagetown?" during every

057

2008-03-14T10:50:00.004-04:00

March 14, 2008 :: Daily Ollie. Ollie vs Aeron.Apparently the steel base of an $800 dollar chair is much tastier than any chintzy, green dog chewie that might happen to be lying around.

056

2008-03-12T07:49:00.001-04:00

Mar 12, 2008 :: Food for Thought. Heh.Eat food. Not much. Mostly plants. (Unfortunately, that link requires Times login - it's the only way to do this without pasting an entire article here. Get one though. It's free.)That article is great. Long, but great. But it's really ancillary to what I wanted to say here.I read an interesting blog the other day that I found had some points to make about

055

2008-03-11T09:33:00.003-04:00

March 11, 2008 :: Daily Ollie. "Nosferatu"She wants to suck your blood. Or maybe just on your fingers for a bit.

054

2008-03-09T11:02:00.004-04:00

March 9, 2008 :: We call her Ollie.The wait is over. Operation puppy, 2008 has commenced, and oh, the cuteness. I'm sure this is kind of like what people always say about their children - that they're hands-down the cutest, but dude, this dog is more adorable than any animal that's ever snuffled my neck and then snuggled in for a nap. As you can see from the picture, she's got this look in her

053

2008-03-07T16:22:00.003-05:00

March 7, 2008 :: By the hair of my chinny chin-chinI have this hair on my chin. A monstrous black cord that projects laterally from a tiny scar just on the crag of my jaw. I remember getting the scar (an unfortunate but sadly not uncommon meeting of a very hyper young me and the solid-wood door jamb in my parents' house). What I don't remember is when I turned into the wicked witch of the west

052

2008-03-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

March 5, 2008 :: Soundtrack of my MorningWhen I'm not walking with a partner (Jane doesn't count, because she is not quite the sparkling conversationalist Blake is), I generally rock the iPod. The 4 year old, green iPod mini in the matching leather case, thankyou. It's chipped, the navigation wheel is dingy, and the play/pause button works only 1/3 of the time. It's about time for a replacement.

051

2008-03-03T20:07:00.005-05:00

March 3, 2008 :: "It keeps the dead in" Oakland Cemetary via BoulevardBlake said this as we trailed along the massive wall. He meant it literally, as in "This retaining wall keeps the bodies and coffins from tumbling into the street in the unlikely but nonetheless frightening event of a massive Atlanta flood." But I am also glad, metaphorically, that this epic, 100-year old barrier is between

050

2008-03-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

March 2, 2008 :: Available Light. The Young Antiques @ Sweetwater LiveSometimes I forget the camera with the good lenses and the ability to capture crispness (and not blurriness) in low light. Nearly all rock clubs have low or variably unpredictable light. And, as evidenced above, my little pocket standby Casio can't cope.It is pretty. But poor Justin (left) is a ghostly blur, Blake (middle)

049

2008-03-01T14:30:00.002-05:00

March 1, 2008 :: And we walked. Kirkwood Ave, CabbagetownToday, one last weekend trip through the neighborhood toward the coffee-shop-dogpark, just Jane and Blake and I. One last trip before PUPPY.Every time I mention the p-word, it's in screaming, all-caps in my head, so I've started typing it out this way. I'm both exhilarated and terrified to meet the new little bundle of white fluff. I

048

2008-02-29T23:16:00.003-05:00

Feb 29, 2008 :: Secondary Contrast. El Myr bathroom, L5PIn my head I can hear the little color song we learned in elementary school art class. "Red, yellow and blue. Red, yellow and blue. The first three colors, the primary colors, are red, yellow and blue." Miss Booth, a soft, be-aproned woman taught us this, in the big old room at North Dearborn Elementary--the room that smelled of melted

047

2008-02-27T11:28:00.005-05:00

Feb 27-point-five, 2008 :: Surprise!Blake and I walk into the indie-rock burrito bar. The room is full of scruffy hair, black jeans, elaborate tattoos and vintage sneakers. A contingency of emo kids barely old enough to buy their PBRs sulk stylishly in a corner. The Rent Boys play on the jukebox. The air is layered with ten coats of obscurity and the smoke of a thousand Parliament lights. We move