Engaged!!
Current mood: ecstatic
Category: Romance and Relationships

It's true.  I'm engaged.  Jaime is going to (try to) make an honest woman out of me. 

We were on vacation in Yellowstone when he popped the question, in the middle of a thundersnow (yes, it can thunder and snow at the same time) while we were waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.  It was romantic and cold and totally sweet and cold and unforgettable and cold and oh yes it was cold.  It was snowing so hard we could barely see OF erupting. 

I've waited a long time for a wonderful relationship.  I've had my heart broken a few times, probably done some breaking myself and made a lot of bad choices in the name of romance but here I am, finally making the right decision.  I'm marrying him before he changes his mind. 

Currently listening : The Turtles - Happy Together Release date: 2000-12-19

5:46 AM - 24 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Five Questions
Current mood: breezy
Category: Life

My friend Mama Loves Puppies sent me five intriguing questions to answer in a blog.  Her "interview" questions are quite thoughtful.  She'd been sent five questions of her own by another friend and offered to interview anyone that wanted to play along.  I'll do the same, so pay attention to the last paragraph if you're interested.

And now, my blog interview.

1.) Flying, invisibility, superbounce. You have one and only one of these super powers--which one?

Oh, definitely flying.  It would help out in the morning when I'm running late for work and traffic is snarled.  Plus, I'd love to be able to get from one point to the other under my own super power.  Fun!  Fast!  Flyer Kay!  Okay, okay, I'd use it for the greater good, too. 

2.) You may make only one change possible that is GUARANTEED to alter your life--permanently for the better. What is that change?

To be in the best possible health, the most fit I can be. That would permanently alter my life for the better.  I'd love to be off my htn meds, for one.  I have a lously family history of cancer and diabetes.  I'm slowly working on changing my physical self but it would be awesome if that could happen in a snap of the fingers and all I'd have to do is maintain.

3.) Laurell Hamilton, JK Rowling and Benjamin Saenz invite you for a private two-week cruise to discuss books, life, fantasy fiction and whatever you desire. The catch is, you must bring Sally Kern and develop a 3 question agenda to find common ground between 5 of you. What is this agenda?

Wow, this is a tough question.  Our three question agenda is the followning:

Why do people fear the differences in others instead of embrace the opportunity to learn via diversity?

What is one way you have felt singled out and persecuted for your culture, lifestyle or beliefs?

Do you believe your higher power or God is one of judgement and harsh law or one who wants followers to feel love and acceptance?

4.) Your favorite meal prepared for your 5 favorite, myspace people with your 10 favorite songs and your favorite cocktails/libations. What are these things/people?

Gosh, I have so many favorite meals....but for this one, it'll have to be a crowd pleaser.  I'm making roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus with yeast rolls and a peach cobbler ala mode.  My guests are tricky.  I'm leaving out people I've met in person so as to make it truly "myspace".  I'm feeding Mama Loves Puppies, Angelnina, Douglas, Margaret Cho, Leslie and Epstein Barbie.  We'll be drinking the guest's choice of the following offerings: a delicately balanced full bodied montpulciano d'abruzzo, Jack Daniels, JW Dundee's Honey Brown Lager, Tito's Vodka tonics or iced tea...cause ya gotta have a non-alcoholic option. 

The 10 favorite songs are harder, especially since it is a dinner party.  We'll stick to soft sounds, easy on the ear but providing great background music.  I'm going with Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, Frank Sinatra's "The Lady is A Tramp", Bessie Smith's "T'ain't Nobody's Bidness", The Girl from Ipanema, Ella Fitzgerald singing "It's Delovely", Peggy Lee's "Fever", Harry Connick Jr singing "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" by Dinah Washington, and of course Billie Holiday's "Lady Sings the Blues" and "God Bless the Child".

5.) The pope called. He's got an opening for brunch next Easter and asks you to join him. You can ask any 2 questions of him --and as he is God's mouthpiece on earth--he must answer you. Truthfully. What are those questions and what are his answers?

Question number one: Why in the world do you own red Prada shoes?  His answer: European men, myself in particular, follow haute couture.  I have given up my life to the church and the red shoes give me a chance to show some of my personality while still wrapped in holy vestments.  (Yes, the pope is full of shit).

Question number two:  The world knows you are a cat lover.  Is it true you harbored a pet cat in the no pets allowed apartment you rented prior to becoming pope and moving into the Vatican?  His answer: Yes, I did.  I love my cats and my home villa has many. In Italy I felt I had to have companionship and since it was such a little thing, I didn't consult with apartment management but just moved my pet in. (Side note from me: A friend's mother lived in the apt building when the pope did and this did, in fact, happen.)

Now if you'd like to play along, please follow these instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by e-mailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog (so you have to have a blog) with a post containing your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

6:16 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Caramelized Cauliflower...mmmm!
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Food and Restaurants

I had an evening to myself the other night & decided to make something different for dinner.  First, I had a nibble:

Some brie and parmesan cheese with wasabi tamari almonds, dried cranberries and medjool dates...and a glass of Jake's Fault Shiraz.  Mmmm! 

I had a bite or two from the cheese plate before putting it away and moving on to my next course of tomato brie bisque.  I cheated.  I bought pre-made tomato bisque and melted brie into it.  It was amazing, not too tomato-y, rich and creamy.  Here's how the soup course went:

And then...

Until...

While I was devouring my soup, I had the cauliflower in the oven.  To caramelize cauliflower, you first cut it into 1/4" slices.  Most will crumble but you'll get some whole pieces.

Next you toss it in a large bowl with a tablespoon or two of some good olive oil and season with fine grain sea or kosher salt.  Spread it into a baking dish keeping it a single layer (or as close as possible) and bake at 400º for about 25 minutes, until the cauliflower is golden brown and sweetly caramelized. 

I paired it with an herb grilled chicken breast and a few crumbly bits of parmesan.  It was superb.  I don't eat cauliflower often, maybe two or three times a year.  I'd totally eat this again next week, though.  Yum!

I've never had fresh brussel sprouts, only those icky frozen kind, so next time I'm up for something new I'm going to try some.  Anyone have a great brussel sprouts recipe??

6:32 PM - 18 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Sally Kern is a Gaybashing Homophobe Who Owes Us All An Apology
Current mood: angry
Category: Life

I am still all worked up about Sally Kerns.  Freddy has already blogged about his reaction and my initial reaction along with our letters we emailed to Kern.  But still...In the vernacular of the state I grew up in, I’m not only "all het up" I also have "a case of the mean reds". But no matter how angry I am that Sally Kern is a bigot who lives with her fears by pointing the finger of hate toward the groups she’s scared of, I can’t be half as eloquent in expressing myself as a teenager named Tucker.

I happened by chance upon Tucker’s letter to Kern. Tucker is a teenager who was robbed of his mother by the Murrah bombing in Oklahoma City. Some of you may know that my mother’s best friend, Vera, had a niece who died in the bombing. Baylee was one year and one day old on the morning of the bombing. She was a beautiful girl but the only way I remember her now is in that infamous picture where she is cradled in a firefighter’s arms. The photographer, Charles Porter, snapped the picture of firefighter Chris Fields as he carried Baylee, dying, out of the rubble.

It’s hard to believe that there are some in America who think that terrorists can only be Muslim and that homosexuals are a larger threat than terrorists. Such skewed beliefs are more of a threat to society’s downfall than any perceived morality issue. Sally Kern, the Republican representative from Oklahoma City, has attested to these beliefs.

Tucker, whose mother was killed in the same bombing as Baylee, wrote an incredible letter and tried to deliver it to Kern. He was unable to give it to her. The Oklahoma highway patrol intervened and stopped him from delivering it. Here is a link to Tucker’s letter, as reported in not THAT different, with citations from the News9.com story about Kern.

Tucker’s letter is amazing, such insight into pain and such empathy for the pain of others. I’m grateful and appreciative that there are Tuckers in this world, who can look beyond the easy blame and find the root of the problem.

I urge you to check out Jami’s blog at not THAT different. But if you’re not wanting to navigate away just yet, here is Tucker’s letter. Thank you Jami, for blogging about Tucker and his letter, or I’d have never known.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From comment page 112 of the News9 story, here is the letter. At the time of this posting, there are 136 pages of comments to the story.

Rep Kern:

On April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City a terrorist detonated a bomb that killed my mother and 167 others. 19 children died that day. Had I not had the chicken pox that day, the body count would’ve likely have included one more. Over 800 other Oklahomans were injured that day and many of those still suffer through their permanent wounds.

That terrorist was neither a homosexual or was he involved in Islam. He was an extremist Christian forcing his views through a body count. He held his beliefs and made those who didn’t live up to them pay with their lives.

As you were not a resident of Oklahoma on that day, it could be explained why you so carelessly chose words saying that the homosexual agenda is worst than terrorism. I can most certainly tell you through my own experience that is not true. I am sure there are many people in your voting district that laid a loved one to death after the terrorist attack on Oklahoma City. I kind of doubt you’ll find one of them that will agree with you.

I was five years old when my mother died. I remember what a beautiful, wise, and remarkable woman she was. I miss her. Your harsh words and misguided beliefs brought me to tears, because you told me that my mother’s killer was a better person than a group of people that are seeking safety and tolerance for themselves. As someone left motherless and victimized by terrorists, I say to you very clearly you are absolutely wrong.

You represent a district in Oklahoma City and you very coldly express a lack of love, sympathy or understanding for what they’ve been through. Can I ask if you might have chosen wiser words were you a real Oklahoman that was here to share the suffering with Oklahoma City? Might your heart be a bit less cold had you been around to see the small bodies of children being pulled out of rubble and carried away by weeping firemen?

I’ve spent 12 years in Oklahoma public schools and never once have I had anyone try to force a gay agenda on me. I have seen, however, many gay students beat up and there’s never a day in school that has went by when I haven’t heard the word **** slung at someone. I’ve been called gay slurs many times and they hurt and I am not even gay so I can just imagine how a real gay person feels. You were a school teacher and you have seen those things too. How could you care so little about the suffering of some of your students?

Let me tell you the result of your words in my school. Every openly gay and suspected gay in the school were having to walk together Monday for protection. They looked scared. They’ve already experienced enough hate and now your words gave other students even more motivation to sneer at them and call them names. Afterall, you are a teacher and a lawmaker, many young people have taken your words to heart. That happens when you assume a role of responsibility in your community. I seriously think before this week ends that some kids here will be going home bruised and bloody because of what you said.

I have not had a mother for nearly 13 years now and wonder if there were fewer people like you around, people with more love and tolerance in their hearts instead of strife, if my mom would be here to watch me graduate from high school this spring. Now she won’t be there. So I’ll be packing my things and leaving Oklahoma to go to college elsewhere and one day be a writer and I have no intentions to ever return here. I have no doubt that people like you will incite crazy people to build more bombs and kill more people again. I don’t want to be here for that. I just can’t go through that again.

You may just see me as a kid, but let me try to teach you something. The old saying is sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Well, your words hurt me. Your words disrespected the memory of my mom. Your words can cause others to pick up sticks and stones and hurt others.

Currently reading : The Laramie Project By Moises Kaufman Release date: 11 September, 2001

9:50 PM - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

February Recap: Weddings, Etouffee, Marathon & 80’s Singalong
Current mood: hyper
Category: Life

My February has been busy.  Every weekend has been jampacked with stuff to do, people to see, places to go.  I hadn't updated much this month so I thought I'd kill several birds with one stone and recap.  I'll try to do a bootcamp update sometime soon, too.  I'm almost finished with my second camp.  It's been awesome!

My friend Rockett got married at the beginning of the month.  I was privy to the planning and that means I was also in on the stress.  Ugh.  It was a beautiful wedding but I think when it's my turn I'll go for a casual affair that will hopefully be easier on the blood pressure than this one.  But it all went off, with only a hitch or two or six, and when the reception kicked in we did what all sane people would do, after such an event.  We partied.  Here's a pic of the group, after we'd lightened the keg quite a bit.  I'm unsure why I'm looking so solemn since we were having a blast.

February is the month of love...and I love to cook.  I made crawfish etouffee for Valentine's dinner.  I don't really care to go out on V-Day.  Too busy, too crowded and too chaotic.  I'd much rather stay in and have a delicious meal and relax at home on that particular holiday.  So that's what we did.  Here's a picture of my plate of food.  I'm sure in a restaurant the china would be fine and certainly wouldn't be chipped and there'd be a much nicer plate presentation.

The AT&T Marathon was this month, and my rockstar BF was at mile 23ish, with his band SuperCrash, rockin' out for the runners (and walkers).  We had a great time even though I forgot to bring sunscreen.  Here's a picture of the band sitting on a wall across the street from where they played.  From left to right it's Steve (drums), Jim (bass) and Jaime (vocals, lead guitar).

The fun times continued this month with Chel's birthday.  We met up on Friday at Alamo Drafthouse for the Love Bites 80's Love Power Ballads Singalong...in full on 80's drag.  We sang along to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart among other songs.  Tons of Journey, Bon Jovi was in there, too and much more.  It was more fun than I'd imagined.  They're planning a Queen singalong in March or April and I'll be checking the website for dates.  I definitely want to go to that.  Chel and I pulled out our 80's best fashions for the singalong.  Here's the pair of us before the show with our blue eyeshadow and high side ponytails.  Chel manages to still look sexxxy but I look ridiculous.  LOL

It's been a fun, fun month!

Currently listening : Love Bites : More Romantic Power Ballads By Various Artists Release date: 16 June, 1998

6:25 PM - 14 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Eight and a half inches!
Current mood: ecstatic
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Yes folks, 8 1/2".  A potentially great sex partner?  Hell yeah.  But nope, that isn't what this blog is about at all.  This blog is about me going to bootcamp for 3 weeks and losing 8 1/2" overall off my flabby, dough-y body.  Seriously.

Now I didn't lose much pound-wise, only 3.5lbs, and my waist only lost a quarter inch.  But I lost 3 inches off one arm and 2.5 inches off the other.  My substitute teacher arms are looking good.  I lost off my hips & calves, too.

And my glutes...whoa!  I was tottering around the house in high heels, practicing walking in them (had a wedding to go to) when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.  And did a double take.  And then a triple take.  My butt is firmer, rounder and higher.  I'm turning my derriere into a derri-RARR!

Sure bootcamp is brutal.  But I can do 30 pushups in a minute.  And hold plank for 90 seconds.  The other day at camp I did 100 pushups.  Yeah, technically I was supposed to do more but holy shyte people, I did a HUNDRED.  If you turn up your nose at that then bite me.  On my hard ass.

Currently watching : G.I. Jane Release date: 22 April, 1998

7:35 PM - 19 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

Are You Going To Eat That??
Current mood: hungry
Category: Food and Restaurants

Currently watching : Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern: Collection 1 Release date: 08 January, 2008

5:01 PM - 11 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Servin’ Up a Frosty Cold Helping of Bootcamp (Last Day)
Current mood: energetic
Category: Life

Did I mention that my bootcamp is outdoors?  I had on multiple layers of clothing and it still felt as if I was in Siberia instead of South Austin this morning.  We'd been promised (threatened?) with the Ring of Fire exercise routine today but the icy cold wind gusts in the parking lot were just too much to endure.  Coach Stephanie switched us to a combo leg & abs day to spare us from the wind chill that was in the teens and twenties...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

My legs felt like tree trunks this morning.  Stiff, unyielding thick wooden legs.  If they were removable, my right leg could prove useful for tasks such as batting practice or a ski pole for a child.  They were hard and sore and really not wanting to move, bend, stretch or do anything except carry me back to the car and into the nearest Starbucks. 

Instead, after our warm up we launched into a series of lunges and squats.  I have discovered that I like plié squats.  I'm not certain why they feel easier, but they do. 

Lunges were extremely arduous today.  The outsides of my lower calves are bitingly sore.  My thighs ache from the hips to the knee.  My form was probably not the best but I delivered as deep of a lunge as I could, all shaky and off-balance.  They weren't pretty but I did what I could and was satisfied.

The hugest hurdle today was a series of ab work called "The 300".  Yes, like the movie.  If you've seen it, you'll remember the etched granite abs of the Spartan warriors.  Stephanie's 300 program is designed to strengthen and define abs.  Mine are currently covered with a warm layer of fat, as it is winter and time to hibernate.  Imagine my shock when I was able to complete 50 leg raises, 50 bicycle crunches, 50 regular crunches, 50 flutter kicks, 50 reverse crunches and 50 criss-cross applesauce crunches.  I did 300 repetitions of ab work!  Who knew I was capable?  (For those of you wondering about criss-cross applesauce crunches, you fold your legs Indian style, lay on your back and do crunches).

After the agonizing ab workout and the moans and groans had died down, our coach had us finish out with plank rolls.  Plank rolls are a two exercise combination.  You hold plank for 30 seconds then roll onto your back and do crunches for 30 seconds.    For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the plank, it is similar to the "up" part of a pushup only instead of resting on the palms of your hands you are resting on your forearms.  If you think that a 30 second plank sounds easy I suggest you try it out.  On Monday I could hold one for 10 seconds before dropping like a rock.  Four classes later and I've tripled my hold time.  For me this is a major victory.  Granted, I didn't hold plank for 30 seconds each time we did them today but even one time is enough for full gratification right now.

I am proud of making it through my first week of bootcamp.  Yes, we get up super early and torment our bodies only on Monday through Thursday.  After three days off I'll be back to pushing myself at the start of a 3 week bootcamp.  There's still spots available in camps all over Austin and Round Rock if anyone out there is up to the challenge.  I can't say it's fun (yet) but the reward is beyond measure.  And just think, when you've worked hard first thing in the morning it's soooo easy to stick to a healthy diet.  I know.  I'm too tired to walk to the fridge!

I will give periodic updates during my 3 week camp.  I'm curious to see how many inches I can lose.  Trust me, I've got plenty o'inches to spare.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
(Andre Gide)

Currently watching : 300 (Widescreen Edition) Release date: 31 July, 2007

6:26 PM - 10 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Bootcamp Day 3: Guess Who is The Most Uncoordinated?
Current mood: determined
Category: Life

Currently listening : Double Dutch Bus By Frankie Smith Release date: 01 March, 1996

8:52 PM - 8 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

Bootcamp Day 2: "Excuse Me, Coach. I Can’t Feel My Legs.
Current mood: sweaty
Category: Life

Currently listening : Push It to the Max EP By Zap Mama Release date: 08 January, 2002

6:51 PM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment